By Alex Villafania, hackenslash Reporter
INQUIRER.net

INTEL PHILIPPINES and the Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP) are in discussions for a nationwide independent game development contest targeted at Filipino budding game developers.

GDAP will work with Intel through a current partnership with the Creative Media and Film Society of the Philippines (CreaM), which is already conducting several digital art development activities with Intel, the latest of which is a workshop on creating machinima, or movie-like videos using spliced video game animation.

In a presentation, Intel Philippines country manager Ricky Banaag said their partnership with GDAP started as they realized there is innate Filipino interest in creating video games. “We’re in a unique position to have them [game developers] not just as players but as creators for these games.”

Banaag said the basic guideline for the competition is that a team of three players must build an entire game within 72 hours or three days.

Intel will be providing its latest Core 2 Quad-enabled PCs to be used by the contestants to build their game.

In a separate interview, GDAP president Gabby Dizon said the details of the competition are being finalized. Dizon said the game is intended to encourage young programmers and visual artists to create original video games.

By Alex Vilafania, hackenslash Reporter
INQUIRER.net

HERE are more words of wisdom from members of the Philippine gaming industry’s Who’s Who. Read Part 1 if you haven’t checked it out yet.

Leo Magno, INQUIRER.net executive editor and ‘Father of hackenslash’

Ups: Competition is becoming tighter than ever, leading to more choices in the online and console gaming spaces. The gaming industry is now being seen as serious business, and investors are pouring in. On the media front, more coverage is being given the gaming industry, an indication that yes, there is a market for gaming information and that yes, journalists in the country are starting to cover the emerging “gaming beat.”

Downs: After the much-ballyhooed release of next-generation consoles, not a lot of good games were released in 2007. Same is true with online games. Some of the games released this year still hinge on enriching your character’s local currency warchest to gain power instead of customizing your character for it to become unique. I know real-world scenarios are being simulated here, where wealth equals power, but we need a fresh idea from online game publishers.

Prospects for 2008: Online, it’s going to be tight. The big players might end up seeing themselves switching from the top position to number 2 or 3, then back again to the top, as competition continues to heat up and telecommunications infrastructure chug along, limiting the number of potential gamers and forcing the major players to compete for the same small pie. Consoles: No end to piracy in sight; Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony still won’t take the Philippine market seriously as modified devices continue to proliferate; the gray market will still be the primary distributor of consoles in he Philippines. Mobile, cell phones will still be a viable platform for casual games, but more mobile gaming devices will be seen in the country for longer, more elaborate and “serious” games; let’s face it — Filipinos use the phone to text, not to play games for an extended period.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Alex Villafania, hackenslash Reporter
INQUIRER.net

USUALLY, December means reflecting over the things that have happened in the last 11 months, remembering the good things and trying to forget the bad things. Gaming is no exception and this year has seen the most active movement in the industry since the first online gaming company opened shop three years ago.

Some of the Who’s Who of the Philippine gaming scene were asked to assess 2007 and share their prospects for 2008, while also spilling the beans on what they would like to have this Christmas.

Paraluman Cruz, Anino Games producer

Ups: GDC! I went to the 2007 Game Developers Conference with other Philippine delegates. Attending such a big event and being able to show other companies around the world that the Philippines makes games was a huge thrill for me.

Downs: None at the moment

Prospects for 2008: GDC 2008 — I’m going again! Anino will be releasing some games next year — I’m looking forward to that too.

Christmas wishlist: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, a PC good enough to run Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, an upgraded Internet connection good enough to play Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare online. See a pattern here?

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Alex Villafania, hackenslash Reporter
INQUIRER.net

THE ASIAN Gaming Journalists Association Workshop at Club Manila East in Taytay, Rizal set the stage for encouraging further development of the country’s gaming industry and more media coverage on the gaming scene in the Philippines.

It also opened more opportunities for collaboration between the local gaming media and the video game industry in the Philippines. The two-day event is the first workshop of AGJA since it was founded as a way to strengthen and legitimize video game industry coverage across Asia.

AGJA founding president and INQUIRER.net multimedia editor Joey Alarilla started the ball rolling with a talk on the purpose of the workshop, which is to gather the country’s video game journalists and come up with methods that would help improve the quality of writing and uphold journalistic standards in covering the gaming scene.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Alex Villafania, hackenslash Reporter
INQUIRER.net

“THE KEY industry that can benefit from advergaming is basically everything.”

This was the statement of Level Up! gameboss Ben Colayco, who spoke during the recently held Asian Gaming Journalists Association Workshop in Taytay, Rizal.

Colayco’s presentation centered on a fairly new concept called “advergaming” wherein product advertising is done within a video game. However, Colayco went beyond in-game advertising and said traditional consumer product manufacturers are willing to create cross-deals to promote the games on their own.

[Read the rest of this entry »]