By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

WHEN it comes to game complexity, developer Ubisoft almost always lands on top of the list. Nearly all its action-oriented games require a considerable learning curve just to get through the controls. This is common in its Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter series wherein every aspect of the Xbox 360 controller is used. Nonetheless, these controls become essential to the entire gameplay. The company’s latest game is Assassin’s Creed (designed by no other than my favorite game developer, Jade Raymond), which melds together a lot of gameplay elements from Splinter Cell, God of War, Elder Scrolls, and Prince of Persia.

Just as the gameplay is complex, so is the storyline; the plot is set somewhere near the future. Desmond Miles is a bartender but is a direct descendant of a long line of assassins from the days of the historic Crusades nearly 1,000 years ago. Miles is kidnapped and experimented upon by scientists of the Abstergo Industries, which has a machine called the Animus that pulls out memories of long-since dead people as long as their DNA structure remains intact with their descendants. Desmond holds the memories of Altair, one of the Assassins who knew the location of the “Piece of Eden,” which seems to be an artifact that can cause mass hypnosis. Abstergo scientists want this artifact. In between the plot, as they say, thickens and the player might get confused with the integrated story between Altair and Miles. The story, while linear, is so complex that players can start their adventures just about anywhere in the map and still be able to continue the story.

More than 90 percent of the action happens during Miles’ usage of the Animus. The player/Miles becomes the Assassin Altair upon entering into a dream-like state then the adventure begins. The world is set in the year 1191 during the Third Crusade that saw the war between the real-life King Richard the Lionheart and the Muslim warrior-king Saladin. While the two kings battle it out, the secret society of the Assassins are facing off against the Templar Knights. Altair, having failed to kill the Templar Knight Grand Master, is stripped of his weapons and skills by the Assassins’ leader Al Mualim. As such the player will have to complete tasks set upon Al Mualim to recover parts of his skills and weapons. Likewise, the missions will lead to the discovery of the “Piece of Eden” as well as a conspiracy set by Richard the Lionheart and Saladin. The plot can be likened to a video game version of a Tom Clancy novel and is surprisingly well implemented in a video game.

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By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net

LOCAL game developers are looking to ride the outsourcing wave and likewise get juicier contracts from overseas.

The global gaming industry is predicted to become a $30-billion market by 2010, according to Gabby Dizon, president of the Game Developers Association of the Philippines.

As an industry, gaming has evolved into several sub-sectors and closely related to animation and graphics design.

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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

UPDATE: Editor’s note: Added video and photo.

I’M certain Internet-savvy Pinoys will have, at least once, read about “Cloverfield.” The Web is already abuzz with information about the new JJ Abrams film that has been making the virtual rounds since the middle of last year and it won’t be a surprise if giddy movie enthusiasts here already know a bit about “Cloverfield.” Fortunately, all that viral marketing through various websites and social networking sites actually worked well with the movie’s production as the movie became a record breaker for raking in the biggest opening gross ever for a January release. In countries where the movie was first shown last Jan. 18, it’s actually a surprise that there were no user-generated clips showing what the monster looked like, despite the fact that the synopsis was already written, edited and expanded in information sites as Wikipedia. Even up to now, those who watched the film seem to have a conscious, unwritten non-disclosure agreement to even describe or mention what it looked like.

Solar Entertainment Corp. and United International Pictures held a press and VIP screening for “Cloverfield” on Jan. 24 at the Gateway Cineplex in Cubao, Quezon City, and we were among the first in the Philippines to see this highly anticipated movie on the big screen. Here’s a video I took of INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter Erika Tapalla interviewing Selina Gecolea, general manager of the Philippine office of United International Pictures, right before the start of the press screening of “Cloverfield.”

Online Videos by Veoh.com

And here’s a photo I took of (left to right) Erika, Selina and INQUIRER.net multimedia editor Joey Alarilla.

I’ve tried to make this review as spoiler-free as possible, but of course I have to touch on some details, so don’t read on if you absolutely don’t want to learn anything about the movie before you watch it.

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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

UPDATE: Editor’s note: Article edited to correct top-up rates.

LINEAGE II publisher Asian Media has reported a significant retention rate of players even after the massively multiplayer online role-playing game’s transition from open beta to commercial launch.

The game had its commercial launch on Jan. 22 at 11 a.m. Lineage II, which is a pay-to-play game (Editor’s note: Changed “play-to-play” to “pay-to-play.” Thanks to anomalous_underdog for pointing out the typo.), is distributed by Asian Media in the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia. Top-up cards are sold in denominations of P20 for 1 day, P50 for 30 three days, P100 for seven days, and P350 for 30 days.

In a telephone interview, Asian Media chief operating officer Ronald Allan Aquino said the retention rate is pegged at 65 percent, the majority of which was from the Philippines.

“We were expecting a lower retention rate but most players got engrossed with the gimmicks that we had during the launch,” Aquino said, referring to in-game item offerings for players who bought their top-up cards, as well as the doubling of experience points during the launch.

Aquino said they have distributed over P20 million worth of game cards, though the demand continues to be high. “We were getting calls from our distributors in the provinces that they were running out of cards, especially the P350 denominations.”

Aquino said they are expecting to start a year-long nationwide competition for Lineage II, which will culminate in a regional contest pitting Filipino players against their Singaporean and Malaysian counterparts.

By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

DIGITAL Media Exchange Inc. (dme) will soon launch its second casual online game, Goal or No Goal (GONG), developed by Korean Japanese (Editor’s note: Made the correction. hackenslash regrets the error.) firm Tose Shanghai.

dme vice president for Publishing Steven Coleman said GONG will be free to play and will be launched simultaneously in the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia, where dme has operations.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

GONG can be played by up to six players in two teams or as a one-on-one contest. It will also be item-based, with weapons and potions to either strengthen or improve on the players’ avatars. Players can also cast spells on other players for certain effects.

Coleman said the game will be targeted at all age levels.

dme marketing director Eric Roceles said the game is currently in closed beta but will have a commercial launch by mid-February.

dme is among the first online game publishers in the Philippines. Among the titles is has introduced are MU Online, Rakion, EVE Online, and Gunbound, their first casual game.