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? 
Steve Tsao, IP-eGames president
Ups: The industry as a whole has shown tremendous success this year. We are certainly happy with our progress and achievements this year and we are also happy to see that our competitors have gained a lot of success this year as well. So collectively, the industry has really grown by leaps and bounds this year, 2007.
Downs: I think we still continue to see a lack of attention given to the Philippine market by some of the developers worldwide, and we hope to change that. Also, the perception of the industry in general is unfairly negative and that this is something we also work to correct in 2007 and hope to do more in 2008.
Prospects for 2008: We only hope that the industry continues to grow the way it has shown this year and the previous year. We are looking forward to working closely with more content and development partners to bring the best content to the market to the Philippines. And we look forward to working closer with various organizations. This is an industry that we can be proud of and gain great benefits from more reading and writing, more computer usage, more internet usage, more investments into the country, more attention to the country
Christmas wishlist: We hope that our gamers have a Merry Christmas, have a Prosperous New Year in 2008. We hope that our employees and their families have a happy holidays and we want to bring better, new content to the Philippines in 2008 and beyond. And an iPhone.
Mitch Padua, head of Amped Games
Ups: WarRock enters the Philippine market as the first massively online tactical shooter. With DSL and computer hardware prices going down, the emergence of new games into the market clearly shows that the gaming industry as a whole is growing. Advergaming begins to take steam as marketers experiment on emerging channels and realize that the Net Generation consumes entertainment in a different way as they shift their preference to interactive media as opposed to broadcast media. Support from universities, as Ateneo De Manila University plans a degree on game development. The Philippines becoming a destination for game development outsourcing as local game developers showcase their talents.
Downs: City ordinances hampering the growth of the gaming industry. [Internet] infrastructure still far behind our neighboring countries. National Broadband Network cancellation.
Prospects for 2008: Advergaming starts to catch on and Ad spend on the Internet will grow as more brands become aware that their target market is shifting its time from traditional entertainment to an interactive one. Social networking sites, online games, mobile VAS, e-commerce sites become a blur as virtual worlds show real money. Network infrastructure further improves with lower costs bringing in richer content. Emergence of cybertournaments/professional gamers start gaining recognition as more Philippine players participate in international/nationwide tournaments. Prepaid broadband services.
Christmas wishlist: Free wifi. Fiber to the home (100MBps) — faster to download a 500MB file than to burn a CD at P999. 24-hour gaming channel. HDTV/IPTV broadcast. Government recognition, support and incentives for the gaming industry.
Joan Guevarra, independent video game reviewer
Ups: 2007 is the year of the Nintendo Wii! Hurray for console gaming! A lot of good online casual games also came out which is a perfect lure for the mainstream public.
Downs: Where’s the Xbox 360??? There’s not even a peep from Microsoft here in the Philippines.
Prospects for 2008: The next-gen console sales will continue to be off the charts with the Nintendo Wii leading the pack. Portable games also take up a big chunk of the gaming industry’s global increase and Nintendo DS Lite sales will continue to grow strong. I think while the Wii will have more hardware sales, PS3 will make a killing with software sales. It’s obvious I’m a Nintendo maniac at this point.
Christmas wishlist: Nintendo Wii with all the trimmings! I’d love to get my hands on a Bleach game which is a non-fighting game for a change — it’d be great to kick serious hollow and arrancar butt with bankai!
Nobuhiro Fujii, PixelStream president
Ups: Got Nintendo DS project.
Downs: Nothing
Prospects for 2008/Christmas wishlist: Get more Nintendo DS games and another project for console games. Get more projects from foreign countries not only from US and Japan. Increase staff; programmers from five to eight, 3D artists 15 to 20, and 2D artists four to five.
Niel Dagondon, founder of Anino Games
Ups: Game development in the Philippines is growing. Universities are introducing or will introduce courses in game development in the future.
Downs: Not much original (commercial) Pinoy games out there. We are still too focused on outsourcing game work. Local game developers going to work in other countries.
Prospects for 2008: Industry growth. Game development studios adding more capabilities (such as doing console work)
Christmas wishlist: Unreal Engine. X360 dev kits. More talented game developers applying to our company. Cute female game programmers applying to our company. And world peace.
Ranulf Goss, Philippine coordinator for International Game Developers Association
Ups: GDAP participation at GCA event last September, UGotGame X3m Xpo event, Philippine presence in IGDA Leadership Forum, Expansion of Philippine game development companies
Downs: Still no push for locally developed MMO games
Prospects for 2008: New arcade games, advergaming and Philippine handheld platform development will grow. Game development courses will become available.
Christmas wishlist: For devices, it would be a PS3, a new LCD TV, and an Alienware gaming laptop. Cheaper original games and cheaper electricity wouldn’t hurt either.
Jane Walker, Level Up! Inc. CEO
Ups: Perfect World performance: number one game in more than 8,000 cafes. Four Level Up! titles in the top five games in the Philippines. Pioneering new advancements like LU! Mobile. Winning the Web Awards and ending 2007 with a big bang!
Downs: When we postponed the Ragnarok 2 launch. But it’s all for the best.
Prospects for 2008: We have a great lineup of new content and more pioneering efforts next year and our existing games are stronger than ever. It will be a great year for Level Up!
Christmas wishlist: Nothing but the best for the entire Level Up! Family. I love the LU! guys for their dedication, passion, sense of humor, exuberance and warmth. I could go on and on. I have the best team. For myself, more tennis.
Ben Colayco, Level Up! International gameboss
Ups: Finishing the year strong, and maintaining our leadership position.
Downs: Not being able to spend more time in Manila.
Prospects for 2008: Very bright. Level Up! Philippines is pumped up, the whole crew is tighter than ever. Bring it on, 2008!
Christmas wishlist: A new rig so I can play Crysis at maximum detail, an extra black wireless controller for my Xbox 360, Rockband, and finally more free time to play all these d@mn games!
