February 2008 Archives

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net WITH a blazing speed of 9 minutes and 24 seconds, Philippine Team (Team PH) member Ayhin dealt the coup de grace to the Chinese Team's King for Team PH's win at the Supreme Destiny World Championship League. This win gives Team PH at a chance for a tie with leading team Korea, and a sure shot at the quarterfinals. Team PH was the blue team for this match, with China, um, playing red (talk about coincidences). As usual, Team PH showed solidarity with the full field of 26 team members and four reserves present. China had to deal with only 18 members on its team. "It's surprising," said Sonny Carlos, IP e-Games product manager for Supreme Destiny. "We were expecting a full field from China." "Hindi naman sa nagyayabang pero parang sinagasaan ng Team PH ang Team China eh," Carlos added. According to reports, Team PH used the same strategy that gained them the win versus Brazil recently. The team spread into three commander hunter-killer teams, reformed into a barrack siege unit, and after one barrack went down, broke into two teams, one for barrack siege and another to take down the King. The strategy of China was to break into two teams with one immediately going for the King and the other taking down the barracks that strengthen the King. Though they were able to take down the first barrack at the same time that Team PH also took down their first barrack, Team China was unable to sustain the attack. "By the time the game ended, Team PH's second barrack was still at 80 percent life and the king was at 90 percent life," Carlos shared. "They were only able to kill one commander. Nakakatuwa na some members of Team PH were protecting the commanders this time, parang utang na loob for one of them helping last time with Brazil." The next scheduled match is Team PH versus the "strong team" Korea. The match will be held at the Team PH headquarters at i-Hooked Katipunan at 7 p.m. "Crucial ang next na laban. It's the last match for Team PH before the semifinals. If we win versus Korea, we gain a tie for the lead. If we lose, we're still a shoo-in for the quarterfinals," Carlos said. Supreme Destiny is a medieval massively multiplayer online role-playing game locally distributed by IP e-Games. The Supreme Destiny World Championship League was organized by With Your Destiny Global. At stake is a total of $10,000 in cash prizes and rare in-game items.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net TIMEZONE will hold a Manila Cup Challenge for Maximum Tune 3. Players of the third installment of this manga turned arcade driving simulation game need to have have a fully tuned 820 HP car memory card to qualify. Competitors may register at any Timezone branch with Maximum Tune 3 machines on March 8 to qualify for the pre-final round. They will need to shell out a P200 fee to cover the welcome kit, pre-finals and championship rounds. They will then compete in the pre-finals on March 15 at the branch where they registered. The finals will be held at Timezone Glorietta 4 on March 31 at 2 p.m.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net AMD has announced that their newest graphics processor, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2, is now available in the Philippines. "The GPU was launched internationally last November 2007, but was still unavailable till last week when the first shipments arrived," according to Ryan Sim, ASEAN sales manager of AMD. The ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 is the first to break the teraflop barrier, or one trillion floating point operations per second, and is nearly double the performance of its predecessor. It is also the first performance-leadership graphics card to support Microsoft's new Direct X 10.1. The ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 has support for the ATI CrossFireX, though the software support to enable it is still planned for a late Q1 2008 release. It supports the Unified Video Decoder and ATI Avivo HD for H.264 and VC-1 high definition content. It also has integrated HDCP and audio for HDMI video. Combined with ATI PowerPlay technology the card will be able to "dynamically raise or lower GPU power depending on the usage scenario," according to the announcement. The suggested retail price of the ATI Radeon 3870 X2 is P17,960.

By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net IT certainly is the most absurd mini-cartoon series ever created but it does a lot of good for the heart, because it'll make you laugh pretty hard. Harvey Birdman is one of the characters in "Adult Swim," a late-night show that is one of Cartoon Network's most original comedy animations. It is quite a surprise that a video game was released by Capcom to emulate the show's off-beat humor. The PlayStation 2 game Harvey Birdman, Attorney-at-Law is largely an interactive video game that takes the player to the world of Harvey Birdman, a retired 1960s superhero-turned-lawyer for a law firm called Sebben and Sebben. The entire series is very short; about four to five hours, depending on your speed of gameplay. Speaking of which, this game doesn't have much gameplay. Would-be players of Harvey Birdman may have to be told to watch out for its lack of the normally fast-based gameplay that is expected of a video game. There is barely enough playing around and it's basically a TV series offshoot squeezed into a DVD game. Its interactive nature is more of pointing and clicking on items on the screen, moving forward and backward and, well, that's basically it. However, what it lacks in gameplay it makes up for with its utter absurdity to comedic effect. The humor used in this game is just as good as the Adult Swim TV series and it will give players moments of laughter, especially with the dialogue of the characters. Just as in the TV series, Harvey Birdman will take on court cases that range from finding out who robbed a bank to proving that Harvey's partner, Peter Potamus (another Hanna-Barbera cartoon character way back in the 60s) is not an arsonist. You play Harvey Birdman to solve these cases. Each case will require Harvey to search for evidence or clues that he can use during the court case. Harvey can interact with witnesses (most of whom are also 60s characters) and police officers to help him out with his cases. It's quite easy to examine crime scenes as the animation would almost always point these out and the relevant items themselves stand out already. All throughout his investigation, Harvey will have to contend with characters whose idiotic statements could be used in his case. Investigations will require Harvey to ask questions, which the player will have to choose via an on-screen menu. Many of the selections are just very easy but once in a while you'll want to ask stupid questions and most often, the responses are comic. Some statements are truly funny but definitely not for kids. Once the investigation is completed, off he goes to the courtroom where the gameplay moves somewhat faster. Here, you will examine your witnesses and cross-examine the other lawyer's witnesses. Just as in the investigation, you'll have to ask questions and listen to witness testimonies before using your evidence, which you could either present or press against the characters on the witness stand. Making correct choices in pressing or presenting evidence will give the players additional crests, which serve as life bars. Making wrong moves, however, will reduce the crests and it's game over if you run out. It's fairly common that you'll be making mistakes and running out of crests but the good part here is that the game has its own save system so that you can backtrack a few times to make the correct choices. It can become a bit tedious at times but the verbal exchanges between the lawyers, witnesses, and even the judges and jury are very funny and sometimes it you almost wouldn't even be able to tell if you were playing the game or watching a really long episode of "Adult Swim." The overall look and feel of the game isn't any different from the TV series. In fact, it is the TV series. The only difference is that it that gives the player/viewer a chance to play the second-rate-former-superhero-turned-second-rate lawyer for a firm that defends has-been cartoon characters. The storylines for each of the cases are continuous so there is little downtime. It's even a form of encouragement for players to finish their investigation quickly so they can move to the courtroom where much of the witty dialogue takes place. For anyone who expects action and lots of clicking, this isn't the game for you. Only fans of the series or just anyone who wants a hearty laugh should watch/play this. Not everyone will say it's worth P2,000, but people who love cartoon comedies will be happy to have paid the amount.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net IT took all of 10 minutes and 33 seconds, and this time, there wasn't any doubt with the win. With over a fourth of their King's life left, the Philippine team's (Team PH) Spy99 dealt the killing blow to Team Brazil's King in their latest battle in the Supreme Destiny World Championship League. "After the loss to the Global Team, Team PH learned their lesson and didn't take any more chances," said Sonny Carlos, IP e-Games product manager for Supreme Destiny. "They went with a new strategy and it worked very well. Nasasayangan nga sila, kasi dapat sweep na kung hindi nangyari iyung sa last match." Once again, Team PH fielded a complete team of 26 soldiers to Brazil's 22. Team PH split into three teams, each taking one of the paths to the opponent's fort. They hunted down the King's Commanders and took them down. Once inside the fort, they reformed to create one siege unit and took down one barrack. They then split into two -- one group to keep destroying the two other barracks and the other moving on to assassinate the enemy King. Brazil on the other hand took the lower path and then split into two teams, one for the barracks and the other for the opposing King. Though they were able to destroy all of Team PH's barracks first, they were unable to finish off the King and one Commander for some reason. "Actually nagulat pa ang Team PH kasi sa bandang dulo may isang Commander na biglang sumali sa barracks demolition team. It helped a little, nakakagulat lang na nakalusot iyung NPC na iyon sa hunter killer team ng Brazil Team," Carlos said. "We were all ecstatic! Saya! Kitang-kita mo iyung cooperation of all the members, walang nag-bossing-bossing, talagang usap usap lahat. It also helped I guess that there were more SD players who came to this battle to show their support for Team PH. Siyempre iba iyung may nakikita kang moral support," he added. The next match is against Team China, slated for Tuesday night. The battle will be held at the Team PH headquarters in i-Hooked Katipunan at 7 p.m. The Supreme Destiny World Championship League was organized by With Your Destiny Global. At stake is a total of $10,000 in cash prizes and rare in-game items.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net WOLFGANG, the legendary local rock band known for its hard-edge style, has agreed to collaborate once more to make a song for Rising Force Online, the sci-fi massively multiplayer online role-playing game of Level Up! Inc. "It's the communities that asked us to see if we can get Wolfgang. It's not a secret that Wolfgang disbanded, but we gave it a shot. Luckily, Patrick Pulumbarit, the manager of Razorback, who also made a song for RFO, knew the guitarist of Wolfgang, Manuel Legarda. From there, they were able to contact Basti Artadi, the lead singer of Wolfgang, and they are currently collaborating with other artists to make 'Novus is Burning' for RF Online," RF Online brand manager Keith Morales told hackenslash. "So Basti wrote the lyrics, and sent them to Manuel who put basic music in, then back to Basti. If ever, this is going to be the very first song that will be released by Wolfgang after their break-up. Hopefully it will come out by late March or early April," he said. Rumors have been making the rounds within the RFO community during get-togethers and eyeballs that an RFO album is in the works. Other songs made for RFO are "Birthright" by Loquy, "Battle Cry" by Greyhoundz, and "Empire Accretia" by Razorback that actually became a #1 song in local radio station NU107's countdown. You can download these songs for free.

By Scott Hillis Reuters SAN FRANCISCO, California--US video game giant Electronic Arts Inc. on Sunday said it had made an unsolicited $1.9-billion offer for Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive Software, escalating its battle with Activision for the title of biggest video game maker. Electronic Arts said it had pursued the deal privately since December, and Take-Two on Sunday immediately rejected the offer, a 50-percent premium to its Friday close, and accused EA of trying to scoop up a company in turnaround with an "inadequate" bid just before the publication of its next hit. The $26-per-share all-cash bid is Electronic Arts' answer to Activision Inc.'s $18-billion acquisition of the gaming unit of French media and telecoms giant Vivendi. That combination, announced last November, is set to challenge EA's long-standing industry dominance. Electronic Arts, publisher of blockbuster games like Madden and Need for Speed, would become the largest sports game maker by far if it buys Take Two. The offer follows months of speculation that Take-Two would be acquired by a major games publisher or media firm, with News Corp. and Viacom often mentioned as possible suitors as they eye the fast-growing video game industry. Take-Two said the offer valued it at a "significant discount" to peers. EA's offer would be about 18 times its expected fiscal 2008 earnings, while France's Ubisoft trades at 34 times expected earnings in the year ending March 2009 and Activision, with a similar year, trades at 24 times. Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick, who helped oust former management last March after it was laid low by accounting scandals and controversy over its games, said he hadn't ruled out a potential deal. "We didn't slam the door, we just said look, the price is not right and the time is wrong," Zelnick told Reuters. He declined to say what price he thought Take-Two should command but said it was clear EA was trying to pick up the company cheaply before the April 29 debut of Grand Theft Auto IV, which is widely expected to be the biggest game of 2008. Asked if Take-Two would enter into formal discussions with EA before the game's launch, Zelnick said: "We have to see what steps they take, and we have and will continue to operate in the best interest of shareholders." "If something happens that creates a reason to do something different, its our job to do something different." In an interview, EA chief financial officer Warren Jenson said the company hoped to clinch a deal quickly for Take-Two, but would keep its options open for a possible hostile bid. He said the purchase would add to earnings at least by its 2010 fiscal year if it can close a deal by the yearend holidays. "Our objective is to make this a friendly deal, but we have to keep all options open," Jenson said when asked it EA would consider a hostile bid for Take-Two. EA had $3.4 billion in cash and short-term investments at the end of December. A key question would be whether EA could retain Rockstar, the development studio behind the Grand Theft Auto franchise, said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan. "Of the video game companies that could manage Take-Two's assets, EA could do it," Pachter said. "But the Rockstar guys are not the classic kind of studio that fits into the EA fold," Pachter said. "It seems like an awful lot to pay for GTA with no guarantee that the team sticks around and is not a great cultural fit." A purchase would also hand EA a virtual monopoly in sports games since Take-Two also makes some of the only titles capable of rivaling EA's powerful football, hockey and basketball franchises. EA said it made the $26-per-share proposal after an earlier offer at $25 was rejected by Take-Two. EA said the rejection of the proposals by Take-Two's board prompted EA to make its offer public to appeal to Take-Two shareholders. "It represents a significant premium and certainty versus risk and lots of uncertainty," EA CEO John Riccitiello told Reuters. "We see a great deal of risk for Take-Two. Many companies that held the number three, four, five or six position in US publishing and they are no longer there today or they are penny stocks," Riccitiello said. A former EA executive who ran private equity firm Elevation Partners, Riccitiello returned as EA's CEO last April. He has tried to revitalize the company by reorganizing it into four divisions, or labels, and in October engineered the purchase of two top independent game studios, Bioware and Pandemic, in a deal worth up to $860 million. Shares of EA rose 79 cents, or 1.6 percent, to close at $49.74 on Nasdaq on Friday.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net THE LINEAGE II Game Girls performed at the recent Red Fox launch. I took pictures. The blonde one is Nicole, the short-haired brunette is Doren, the girl with the cap is Sarah, Jackie is the redhead, and Lorraine is the long-haired brunette. Rio Encarnado (second from left in photo below), marketing events manager of Asian Media, acted as chaperone to the girls. Enjoy!

By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net A GROUP of student entrepreneurs from the University of the Philippines-Diliman is organizing a Metro Manila-wide WarCraft III: Defense of the Ancients (DOTA) tournament that aims to bring together the various groups of DOTA players in an effort to find the best players for a chance to compete in international DOTA events. DOTA is one of the most popular local area network games worldwide and has a wide following in the Philippines. It is played on a five-on-five team-based match wherein the opposing teams' primary objective is to destroy a structure in the middle of a map called "Ancient" while staving off each other. The UP Circle of Entrepreneurs (UPCE) organized the Aenigma 2008 DOTA Tournament as part of their annual business-related project. This is the first time that the group has organized a gaming tournament on a wider scale and the group also hopes that it will be a regular event. The tournament is being marketed across different DOTA forums in the Philippines, as well as through a special UPCE website for the event. In an interview with hackenslash, UPCE president Kevin Velasco said the competition will have three qualifying legs: Makati, Quezon City and Manila, wherein DOTA players nearest these areas will be able to compete for a chance to get into the finals, which will be held on March 1. The grand prize is P30,000 for the winning team and P15,000 for the first runner-up. Velasco said the winning group will get a chance to represent the Philippines as members of the international DOTA community called Razer, which will evaluate if the Philippine team is capable of competing in the international circuit. UPCE chair for Operations Aldrin Macaraig said there are many DOTA teams in Metro Manila alone, some of whom are already very good players as they have beaten teams from different areas. "Unlike online games, DOTA teams have to meet up to play against each other. The Aenigma 2008 tournament hopes to bring them together and find out who really are the best players," Macaraig said. One disadvantage, however, is that some teams have already become so good that other teams do not want to play against them as they know they will be beaten. "This is the perception we're trying to change. These teams must know how they would fare against better teams so they could learn new strategies," Macaraig said.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net THE PHILIPPINE Team (Team PH) in the Supreme Destiny World Championship League lost by a slight margin to Team Global in their match on February 22. "It was a very close call," said Sonny Carlos, IP-eGames product manager for Supreme Destiny. "The target boss had only about 5 percent to 10 percent life left when Team Global eliminated the boss of Team PH. Even the organizers said that this is the closest the outcome of a battle ever came since the beginning of the matches." Carlos shared. Team Global is composed of players from the international server, from countries that do not have a local distributor for the game Supreme Destiny, a medieval massively multiplayer online role-playing game. The object of the matches is to kill the main boss of your opponents. The boss is protected by guardians and cannons and his relative strength is based on the number of existing barracks in the camp. Three lanes lie between both camps as the only paths of attack. Three barracks regulate the strength of the boss. "Team PH chose the middle lane of the map, while Global chose the lower lane. Team PH got two barracks using a focused attack maneuver before going for the cannons and the boss. Meanwhile Team Global went for a two-pronged attack, with half the team going for the boss while the others went for the barracks and cannons. In the end, it was a matter of numbers and luck with the amount of damage. It could have gone either way at the end of the match," Carlos said. "The battle lasted all of almost 12 minutes. Thirty seconds, that would have been the difference between the win and the loss. Both teams had one barrack left by the end of the match. The members of Team PH were very disappointed, but they showed good sportsmanship, no one did any trash talking. They were very gracious in their defeat," he added. The Supreme Destiny World Championship League was organized by With Your Destiny Global. At stake is a total of $10, 000 in cash prizes and rare in-game items.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net RED FOX Technologies is currently in negotiations with local game providers to provide specialized gaming PCs by the second half of the year. "We are in communication with two other major game providers to sell gaming PCs that are specialized for their specific games. Units will be designed with characters from the games in mind aside from the specs," said Red Fox product marketing manager Dio Vasquez. Red Fox has been in partnership with Asian Media for five years now according to Vasquez. Specialized units for Lineage II with designs based on characters from the game are expected. They have also revealed that they are talking to IP e-Games and Level Up! Inc.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net THE PHILIPPINE Team (Team PH) won via disqualification versus the team from Japan in their first match for the Supreme Destiny World Championship League. Team Japan's GM was in the arena, but after only five members of their team arrived, the handlers of the game, With Your Destiny (WYD) Global decided to disqualify Team Japan in this round. A team must have a minimum of 13 members to compete. As for Team PH, all of the 26 starting members and even the four reserve members were present. Team PH will face the Global Team composed of players from all over the world who play on the international servers in their next match scheduled Friday, February 22. Here's a photo of Team PH going out for pizza after they were declared the winners. "We were already prepared, but practiced for an extra two hours before the match began anyway. It was sort of disappointing, with what happened with Japan, but a win is a win," said Sonny Carlos, IP e-Games assistant (Editor's note: Carlos handed an old business card with his former official designation by mistake.) product manager for Supreme Destiny. Most of the members were at the Team PH HQ at i-Hooked Cafe in Katipunan. One even flew in from Cebu to join the team here. Other team members logged on to the Kingdom War Map remotely from Cebu, and one even as far away as Korea. The Supreme Destiny World Championship League pits teams from various countries using the medieval massively multiplayer online role- playing game's Kingdom War System. The objective is to slay the leader of the other team within the allotted time frame. At stake is a total of $10,000 in cash prizes and rare in-game items.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net RF Online Episode 2: Crimson Dawn was officially launched Wednesday at a press event in Makati. The next patch for the sci-fi massively multiplayer online role-playing game includes a graphics upgrade, and new maps, weapons and armor. One of the most awaited new objects in the game is nuclear weapons. Yes, the sweetest three little words a warmonger can hear: weapons of mass destruction (okay, so technically it's four). In a Chip War (the mass combat aspect of RF Online) the leader can launch a nuclear weapon into the battlefield and decimate the opposing forces. No friendly force gets hurt and fallout damage is in effect for 300 seconds. Very, very effective tactical maneuver, considering the opposing force only gets a few seconds' notice before they glow in the dark. As for the new items, the Accretia get Inferno Siege Kits; the Cora, Army Grade Animus and Sealed Animus; and the Bellato, the Red MAU (Massive Armor Unit). The patch also includes all-new Dark Weapons, Dark Armor and relics for everyone. The game level cap has been raised to Level 55 also and new areas are available, namely the Cartela Biolab, Outcast Lands, Beast Mountain, and Hora the Dark Hall. "These are just some of the new features of the Crimson Dawn patch. There are still the new item mall inventory, monsters, and guild modifications," said Keith Morales, Level Up! brand manager of RF Online. "You have to try it to believe it. Let's take just the nuke for example: Imagine it, two armies clashing in the middle of a field, then: without warning, 'Nuclear Warhead has been launched!' Patay! Panic time! The Chip Wars will never be the same again," he added.

By Agence France-Presse SAN FRANCISCO, California--The firm that set the standard for digital photo editing intends to do the same for video game making with the Tuesday release of Adobe Director 11 upgraded multimedia software. Director 11 made its public debut at the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco and will begin an international rollout in March. The software is designed to make it simple for people to manipulate video and audio and create three-dimensional graphics for video games, virtual worlds, and even interactive store kiosks. "It really is about digital literacy," Adobe senior product manager Rick Jones told Agence France-Presse. "In the growing world of user-generated content, more and more people trying to take control of their video. We are giving those creators the same kind of tool Adobe Photoshop gave picture takers." Photoshop software became the premier tool for editing photographs after the California company released the first version in 1990. Adobe Director is the descendant of multimedia software released 20 years ago and was last updated in 2004. Director 11 is revamped to let programmers write code any language and customize video creations by simply "dragging and dropping" icons. "Publishing is really a matter of one button click and away you go," Adobe Director evangelist Allen Partridge told Agence France-Presse. "From greeting cards or wedding albums to corporate presentations or folks that want to make interactive media or go all the way deep into it and create video games." Ageia PhysX software engine gives video three-dimensional playback and lets characters or vehicles in games move realistically, a demonstration showed. "In the gaming world, if you create a race car that careens off a wall it will look like the real world," Jones said. "It's an opportunity for people to take their games to the next level." Jones added that Adobe wants to make inroads with makers of serious games, those designed to improve health or for training or education. Game makers can combine Director 11 with Adobe Flash software to craft online games. "Director takes advantage of the vast group of Flash users that may not have development skills," Jones said. "Entry-level users can create content of their choice and it is natively 3-D." The price of Director 11 will be $999, a drop from the previous generation. There will be a $99 version for classroom use.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net EDUARDO PASION, VP for Marketing of IP e-Games, has revealed to hackenslash that iPlay, the newest mash-up in the local gaming community, is set to evolve the casual gaming titles of eGames. "Even Audition and O2Jam will evolve into something we have never expected them to evolve into," Pasion said. This is in light of his revelation that iPlay is to focus more on the casual gaming market. "We feel that the casual gaming market is a much bigger market than the MMO market. One is massively multiplayer online (MMO) people play casual games as well, unlike casual gamers who don't necessarily play MMO," he said. "If you look at the markets of China and Korea, a more mature market, the casual gaming market is really big. With the tie-up with GMA 7, we feel that it will strengthen our position in the market. Casual games, specifically Audition and O2Jam, involve music and localization and of course GMA is the bigger network and they have a lot of stars and they have a lot of songs, and shows that we feel might be able to complement our games." "We call this iPlay because gaming is about playing," Pasion said. "On (the official launch) we will definitely show why that tie-up was born. We will show you the new logo, a lot of new things. But definitely 2008 will be an exciting year for iPlay as we bring in new games; there will be a lot of content." Audition and O2Jam are free-to-play casual game titles from eGames Philippines that involve virtual dance showdowns for the former and keyboard-based music playing for the latter. iPlay is a 50-50 venture between IP e-Games Philippines and GMA New Media set for launch this February.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net TEAM PH, the Philippine team joining the first Supreme Destiny World Championship League (WCL), will have its initial match on February 20 versus the Japanese team at the i-Hooked Café Katipunan branch. At stake, aside from the usual bragging rights, is a total of $10,000 in cash prizes and rare in-game items. The representatives of Team PH for the WCL were chosen from the local players of IP e-Games' medieval massively multiplayer online role-playing game Supreme Destiny. Selection was based on their performance and rank in e-Games ground events, in-game tournament wins, character levels and even player votes. The 26 representatives will use the Kingdom Wars system in Supreme Destiny. The objective is to slay the leader of the other team within the allotted time. The representatives will log on to the WCL main server to face their opponents rather than having to go to the host nation for the games. The first matches were held on February 16. Korea took the first win in Match 1 versus Brazil. However Brazil bounced with a win over Japan in Match 2. Other scheduled matches for Team PH are on February 22 (Global v Philippines), February 23 (Philippines vs Brazil), February 26 (China vs Philippines), and February 29 (Korea va Philippines). Ranking matches are scheduled from March 5 to 7, with the announcement of final winners and awarding set for March 11. The World Championship League is organized by With Your Destiny Global. Korea is the host for this inaugural year. IP e-Games has given "its full support" to Team PH in this tournament, according to Supreme Destiny product manager Sonny Carlos. "We've been planning things out in terms of beefing up the strength of our team by organizing online training camps. We are likewise planning strategies that the team can use in their matches," he said. Carlos said that Team PH's headquarters for the duration of the tournament will be i-Hooked Katipunan. IP e-Games group product manager for MMORPGs Heidi Mendita also expressed confidence in the team's abilities. "The WCL is a much-awaited event for our SD gamers as this is the first big worldwide tournament for the game. We've chosen the best members for the Philippine team and we are confident that our representatives will dish out a good fight against other participants," she said. Ed Pasion, VP for Marketing for IP e-Games, added: "We can expect a bigger, better and more dynamic game from our developers and this includes more functionalities and challenging quests. This will be the start of SD being in the map of the gaming market given its promising potential." IP e-Games) is a subsidiary of IPVG Corp., operating the online gaming business unit of the company. IP e-Games has the exclusive distribution rights in the Philippines to RAN Online, O2Jam, Audition, Supreme Destiny and Granado Espada.

By Erwin Oliva INQUIRER.net AFTER Singapore, the Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP) is set to go to the biggest game development convention in the United States, the group's president told hackenslash during the recently concluded e-Services 8th Global Sourcing Conference and Exhibition in Manila. Dizon said their organization will attend the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, California, which is slated on February 18 to 22. "[We want] to showcase the Filipino gaming firms to possible clients," said Dizon who is also co-founder and president of FlipSide Games. Last year, GDAP was part of the Games Convention Asia in Singapore, Dizon said. Dizon said GDAP's participation in both events is supported by the Department of Trade and Industry through the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (Citem). Citem said in a statement that GDAP "took home $1 million in business sales, five times more than they had originally targeted" after the Singapore participation. Game development was one of the tracks in the e-Services forum last year. This year, GDAP was part of the Creative e-Services track along with the Animation Council of the Philippines (ACPI). GDAP is scheduled to go back to Singapore for the Games Convention Asia this year, Citem added.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net THE MONIKER for the next small set booster for the Magic: The Gathering Lorwyn Block was announced a few days ago by Wizards of the Coast. The new booster set will be called Eventide and will be released on July 25, with pre-release events set for July 12-13. Previews will begin at www.magicthegathering.com on the first of July. According to the announcement, the set will have 180 cards. Eventide follows the recently released Morningtide boosters. Local hobby and gaming hub Neutral Grounds has placed a link on its website to the Eventide announcement as well. You all know what that means! Magic: The Gathering is the most successful Collectible Card Game (CCG) in the world, and is the basis for most of the newer CCGs in the market today. It boasts of over 6, 000 different Magic cards and six million players in over 75 countries in the world.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net HACKENSLASH caught up with Game Developers Association of the Philippines president Gabby Dizon in the afterglow of the recently concluded e-Services Global Sourcing Conference and Exhibition. According to Dizon, the summit was very successful. "Our goal (for the summit) was to inform people about the emergence of game development as one of the fastest growing sectors in the IT and entertainment industries. People who came into e-Services not even knowing that we had a game development industry here now have a good idea of what we do and why it is an important sector in the country," he said. The success of GDAP's participation in the summit was largely in part due to the government's help, according to Dizon. "The government has recognized the potential of the Philippine game development industry, and has been really helpful in showcasing us to the rest of the world," he said. Dizon said the Board of Investments helped them with their initial efforts in the formation of GDAP, and the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions helped "in a big way" when they organized the Philippine delegation of GDAP members to the Games Convention Asia for Singapore in September 2007. "This year, we had a significant presence in e-Services Philippines, and we will also have a booth at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco next week. Overall, we're very happy with the support and recognition from our government," Dizon said. Dizon said they would not forget the assistance the government extended in pushing game development as a future major IT industry in the Philippines. "We plan to pay back their generosity by accelerating the growth of game development into a major industry that will create a lot of new revenue streams and high-value jobs for Filipinos," he stressed. "This means that we can look forward to a world-class game development industry here in the Philippines -- and it will happen sooner rather than later."

CHECK it out: we scored the very first teaser trailer of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” thanks to our friends over at Solar-UIP Philippines. Here's a photo that was also provided by Solar-UIP. Harrison Ford stars in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which will be released on May 22 by Paramount Pictures. (c) Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All rights reserved. Photo by David James. INQUIRER.net VDO, the multimedia channel of INQUIRER.net that offers online video, blogs and podcasts, has been tapped by Philippine film distributor Solar-UIP Philippines as the official Philippine site that will make the clip available online for the first time in the country. The clip will be exclusive to INQUIRER.net in the Philippines for one day. Click here to watch the first "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" teaser trailer. This trailer debuted worldwide on ABC's "Good Morning America" TV program on February 14 and was subsequently made available on the official IndianaJones.com site, Yahoo! Movies and movie theaters on the same day. Oh, and in case you missed these clips, Solar-UIP Philippines also tapped INQUIRER.net VDO for the online debut of other movie trailers in the Philippines, including the “Wanted” and “ Iron Man” trailers that were aired during the Super Bowl.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net ROLL out the MCV! On March 1, from 1 to 8 p.m., EA Games and DataBlitz will hold a Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars tournament at Villman, Cyberzone in SM Megamall. The winner gets to go to (brace yourself) EA Play 08 in Singapore (you can scream now). Contestants must be 18 and above. Simply register at www.DataBlitz.com.ph to be included in the roster. "Being the exclusive distributor of EA Games here in the Philippines, we were contacted to hold this EA-sanctioned tournament," Jo Oliver, operations manager of DataBlitz, told hackenslash. Oliver added that the rules for the tournament came directly from EA. The first prize includes a roundtrip ticket to Singapore with one night hotel accommodation, C&C Kane's Wrath with Limited Edition Razer Death Adder Mouse from EA, P5, 000 in cash, Internet Security 2008 with jacket from Trend Micro, Imation products worth P1, 200, Villman premium items worth P500 and a year's subscription to Playground, the newest gaming magazine in the Philippines.

By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net GAMING really is serious business nowadays. Game consoles such as the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii are selling like hotcakes, and the sheer number of online games being distributed in the Philippines is transforming Internet shops into gaming cafes. The old haunts for video games, the arcades, seem to be facing more challenges from the new video game systems than from other arcade operators. But who says the gaming arcade business is dying? Tell that to arcade operator Timezone, which has in the last 10 years operated over 51 outlets across the Philippines and is still opening new shops, including two outlets at TriNoma Mall in Quezon City. "Our market is much different from the game console or online gaming businesses. We try as much as possible to be as family-friendly as possible, targeting people of all ages," said Timezone business development and marketing manager Lelet Volfango. Volfango said the company invests heavily on its machines, some of which could cost as much as P500,000. They also replace or retain these machines depending on customer reception. The selection of the machine is based on what specific market they want to target. Timezone's popularity can be attributed to its whole visual design and arcade machines. Volfango said that while an arcade shop is always aimed at younger ages, some of the services they offer also cater to the older generation of players. For example, parents who are waiting for their children playing the video game machines can treat themselves to videoke. Likewise, older video game players can play some of the more serious video games offered. Some of the video game machines offered in Timezone include popular fighting games such as Tekken, Street Fighter, Guilty Gear and King of Fighters. They have shooters such as Time Crisis, Virtua Cop and House of the Dead, as well as various racing games, such as Maximum Tune, Initial D, Need for Speed, and Daytona. Of course, they also have non-video game machines such as Air Hockey, basketball and a newly-released pinball game. Volfango said that some of their games, particularly the racing games and motion-based ones such as Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Freaks, and Percussion Freaks, are so popular that they have spawned groups that show off their skills. It is more apparent in some of the racing games, particularly Initial D and Maximum Tune, where players take advantage of a separate memory card that saves the attributes of the cars they upgrade as they win races. "It's quite a surprise because these customers are really serious about playing," Volfango said. One of the main features of Timezone is its use of a centralized gaming card wherein players can load up a play card with credits to play any of the arcade machines. Playing customers are given reward points that they can exchange with prizes from the redemption center. Volfango considers this an add-on service that entices people to come back and play more in the hopes of collecting more points to be redeemed for bigger items. "Even kids who just played once will be given a small toy in exchange. Once we've even had a customer who has played in Timezone so much that he's redeemed a laptop," she said. An advantage in using the gaming card is that the company would know the frequency of a person's game time and how many times a machine is played. "We can make more informed decisions based on the trends we get from Timezone card holders." Volfango said that so far, they have an average of 1.6 million unique users per month and the number is still growing. Incidentally, their most popular arcade machine is the new Deal or No Deal box. She said they already have 40 units being distributed among their outlets. Volfango also said Timezone prides itself for being open to customer comments and suggestions as to what they would like to see in the arcades. "We get lots of e-mails and we sift through these and see what else we can offer. Our president, Raffy Prats Jr., looks through these e-mails himself." Timezone will be celebrating its 10th year in 2008 and Volfango said they are preparing for new activities, including a racing competition in Maximum Tune 3 and their annual Celebrity Match. Despite the huge market for home-based game consoles and the online gaming business, Volfango said they still see a huge market for the arcade shops in the Philippines. "What we're offering here is a place for families to come together and play. For them, it's an experience and a lifestyle."

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net TO CELEBRATE Valentine's Day, Asian Media Development Group has come up with various in-game events for its massively multiplayer online role-playing game Lineage II (L2). First is "Be My Valentine" from February 12 to 19, wherein you collect puzzle pieces that are hidden by monsters. The pieces form a heart that you can give to the NPC Sprockets the Kat. If you beat him in a game of "Janken-Pon" you win in-game items like a scroll of resurrection, scroll of escape, enchant weapon grade A-C, etc. Janken-Pon is simply Rock-Paper-Scissors a.k.a. Bato Bato Pik or Jack en Poy. Another activity is "Declare Your Love," which allows Etherians (players of Lineage II) to send love messages to other players. The Guardians of Ether (GMs) will wait for and screen messages from 1 p.m. onwards on Valentine's Day. Messages that pass the screening process will be broadcast worldwide. They will also hold "Toughest Couple," where couples battle other couples in elimination matches for prizes. Only male and female couples are allowed, with eight pairs per server. At 4:30 p.m. on Valentine's Day, the competing couples will be summoned to the Coliseum and after a briefing, the tournament will begin. Prizes include Formal Wear, a Scroll of Enchant Armour (Grade A) for the four semifinalists, and the option for the winning couple to get married by a Guardian at their temple of choice. Last is a fantasy date scenario called "Date with the Guardian" where a lucky Etherian will have a date with one of the Guardians for an hour. The player must complete the "Be My Valentine" event and using the clue provided, locate the Guardian and woo him/her. The Guardian chooses the winner, who gets Formal Wear and free buffs, healing, and teleport for the hour-long date.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net THE BARON and Baroness of Granado Espada (GE) will be chosen at the coming Victorian Valentine Party at Casa Manila Patio across San Agustin Church in Intramuros, Manila on February 16. The Victorian Valentine Party is a costume ball/party where participants are enjoined to come dressed in period costumes from the medieval, Renaissance and Victorian eras. Victorian era activities such as poetry reading, court dancing and even a sword fighting demonstration will be held at the party. Interested participants may register at the GE booth at the venue. The chosen Baron and Baroness will receive exclusive GE merchandise. The GE booth at the event will also be distributing installers and posters at the venue for registrants. They will also be selling assorted GE merchandise, limited edition GE boxes and game value cards. Granado Espada is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game from IP e-Games set in a fictional Victorian era world. Check out www.victorianvalentine.info for details and http://veya-esthesia.blogspot.com/2008/02/victorian-valentine.html for more details.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net AS part of its launch activities, the newest game portal in the country, MyGame.ph, is holding two contests with over PhP700,000 in prizes. Beginning February 14, registered users to their portal may enter the Soldier of Fortune Raffle. The game is open to all gamers from the Philippines. By simply registering at MyGame.ph and playing their free-to-play first-person shooter Special Force Online for at least nine hours, players are automatically entered in the free raffle. "This is just the start. We have plans to come up with an even bigger contest with much bigger prizes in the future," said Nikolai Galicia, director for Marketing of MicroGaming Technologies Corp., the online game publisher behind MyGame.ph Prizes include one Xbox 360, one Nokia N95 cell phone, one iPod Touch 8GB, one Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP), and five Nokia 6070 cell phones. Ten winners will also get Burger King gift certificates worth P500 and fifteen winners will get Starbucks gift certificates worth P200. The contest will run from February 14 to March 31. Internet cafe owners on the other hand also get their own contest with the MyGame Café Community Rewards Contest. To enter the contest, cafe owners need to register at http://mcc.mygame.ph/ (this demo site is a temporary one and is still under construction) for their Cafe Code which they then ask new users to include in their registration details during account creation. The more players a cafe refers, the more points it gets. They can track their points through the MCC website. Prizes for the MCC Rewards Contest include P200,000 in cash, a Boracay vacation package, a Toshiba laptop, a Nokia N95 cell phone, an Xbox 360, an iPod Touch, and a Sony 21" TV, among others. This promo will run from March 1 to June 30.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net PHILIPPINE online game publisher IP e-Games has launched another promo for one of their games in time for the Valentine's Day celebration. On February 11, they launched an in-game item hunt/boss kill for RAN Online. Players will hunt a Cyclops that stole Cupid's arrows of love and hid them in a Destiny Box. Killing the Cyclops releases the Arrows of Love. Every 30 pieces returned to Cupid gives a Power of Love, an in-game item. Meanwhile, ongoing for O2 Jam is their O2Jam EXP-Valentine Promo, where they have a 3XP event and a 50-percent Item Mall sale until February 17. Also ongoing for Audition is the Audition Marry Me Valentine Promo where a free Fashion Box Item with a Boy/Girl in Love Face Item comes with any Wedding Ticket, Wedding Tuxedo or Wedding Dress purchase. Also, Buying a Set Item (Head, Upper and Under regardless of duration) with a "New" tag comes with a free Fashion Box and a Love Potion. This will also run until February 17.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net FOR the third straight week, the Guardians clan of the Perfect World Tiger Server survived another slew of attacks by the three other major clans on the server. Surprisingly, they were able to add another territory to their roster of lands in the face of the assaults. hackenslash was contacted last week by a founding council member of the Guardians clan to speak about the siege on their territories. "We have been under constant attack from Exiled, Kairus and Legacy, not to mention their extensions." Based on data posted on the Perfect World forums, Guardians fought a total of 11 Territorial Wars the other weekend. The maximum amount of battles that can be set weekly for a clan in Perfect World. "We didn't lose any territory this week, and our counterattack for Near Water Town against Kairus worked. But the win almost cost us! Overconfidence ruled the match versus Legacy for Lantern Mountain. We lost five towers in their initial assault. Good thing we managed to push back," the council member related. The territories held by the Guardians have been under constant assault every week since the beginning of Perfect World's Clan Battle System, but this is the only time that three major clans have "ganged up" on them. During the earlier days of Perfect World, two clans held a loose alliance against them, clans Testament and Qin, to be exact. A schism weakened Qin, and Testament's territories were taken by the Guardians a few weeks ago. The council member relates, "Basta, ang point lang diyan is that the big clans are now ganging up on us kasi ang perception nila we are after the entire map. Or ginagamit nila iyon as justification to attack us even more. Not to mention the constant verbal abuse we get every TW, calling us gay, etc. for bid blocking most of the attacks." "We did what we had to survive when we had the war with Testament. Our actions were defensive, it does not mean we're after the whole map. Sana maintindihan iyon ng ibang major clans." The Guardians is the first clan to claim a Level 2 City (Sword City to be exact) in the Tiger Server of Perfect World. The clan is ruled by a council composed of the members with ranks of Major and higher. Perfect World is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game from Level Up!

By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net A GAMER at heart, Marenza Dangla is a Computer Science student at the De La Salle University who aims to become a part of the game development community in the future. Dangla, known as "Em" among her peers, last year put up the Game Development Society (GDS), perhaps the first school-based game development student organization in the Philippines. She said she got the idea from one of her professors who indicated that having such a group would be interesting. Already, the group has a website featuring its upcoming activities that include forums on character design, storytelling, and mobile game development. "There was interest in game development in DLSU, especially since we have tracks (subjects) related to game development so that gave me the idea of putting up this group," Dangla said. When the group started about 40 students who joined but now it has about 100 members, some of whom are graduates already. She said that GDS has split its responsibilities according to the specific interests of students, some of whom want to get into game design; others into story, programming and arts. In fact, Dangla said some of their members have undergone on-the-job training with game development firms, with the hopes that some of their members will go on to join the local game development industry. While GDS is still an organization under DLSU's College of Computer Studies, Dangla hopes the group will be recognized as a university-wide organization by the coming school year. Dangla said the organization is not just limited to students in IT fields, stressing that anyone with the interest and passion for the gaming industry is most welcome.

By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net IF there's one thing that Xbox 360 owners don't like to see on their beloved game consoles, it's the dreaded 3RL, the three red lights that indicate there is a major hardware malfunction. The 3RL has been around since the first batch of the Xbox 360 came out. The most common thread with the 3RL is that the unit, particularly its graphics processing unit (GPU), overheats and would not work until repairs are made. The 3RL is such a big issue that it may be the main reason why wannabe buyers of Microsoft's gaming machine are holding on to their money, perhaps until better manufacturing processes are put in place so that new batches of Xbox 360s are less prone to hardware failure. In the Philippines, Xbox 360s outnumbered the PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii but owners often complained about the 3RL. Some early users of the Xbox 360s experienced this mishap with a few sometimes buying a new Xbox 360 just to replace the dead one. However, a few enterprising electricians have learned of a potentially huge market for Xbox 360 repairs and have taken it upon themselves learn the innards of the game console and see if they can resurrect a dead and expensive device. Ronald Caleb San Pedro is but one of them and so far, he's making some positive rounds among the community of Xbox 360 owners, especially with members of the local forum PinoyXbox.com. San Pedro, who is just barely out of his teens, said the Xbox 360 repair business was huge enough to convince him to provide repair services -- even if he has never opened any game console before. A PC building enthusiast, San Pedro already had advanced computer hardware knowledge by the time he opened an Xbox 360. He and his friends have years of experience testing different motherboards, processors, graphic cards and other components. Often, he would overclock computers, which meant pushing a computer's processing limits outside its normal threshold. And so he moved from tweaking and fixing computers to trying to salvage lost Xbox 360s. "I started doing this after seeing that there were people who lost their investment in the hardware. It was scary at first but then I learned a lot from information I gathered from the Internet," San Pedro said. San Pedro said that he repairs an average of three units per day. Once a unit is repaired, which takes only a day, he tests it for another day to make sure it works well. However, the sheer volume of damaged Xbox 360s pouring into his shop pushes back the return of the units by at least two weeks. Of course, as in all first attempts at everything, he experienced false starts. San Pedro said he "ruined" three Xbox 360s. It was on the fourth attempt that he first resurrected an Xbox 360. From there, he tested around a bit to find the optimal operational capacity of the Xbox 360 and then make appropriate changes, particularly to the hardware's cooling system. He notes that the Xbox 360 is an efficient machine on its own, being able to beat the latest PC gaming rig at the time of its launch. It had the latest processor, an integrated graphics that was ahead of its time, and wireless connectivity making it more convenient to play with than using wired peripherals. He likened it to a personal computer but only without a traditional operating system. San Pedro gave hackenslash a glimpse of what he does with an overheated Xbox 360. While he claims his process is a "trade secret," he did say that the main component that burns out is the GPU. By cleaning the GPU, then increasing the revolutions per minute of some of the Xbox 360's fans, the unit comes back to live. "The main enemy of the Xbox 360 is heat. Remove the heat and you reduce the chances of hardware failure." Fixing Xbox 360s is no mean feat, according to San Pedro, though it is somewhat like fiddling around with a computer, as the layout would be familiar to PC builders. With only some knowledge of the hardware, one could start fixing an Xbox 360, though it would come with risks. Because all pertinent components are integrated into a single motherboard, the risk of damaging the entire hardware is much greater. A single mistake could render an Xbox 360 useless. But San Pedro said he is confident that the majority of his repairs were successful and very few have returned for further repairs. "Besides, I give a six-month warranty," he said. For now, San Pedro said he is comfortable with his business fixing Xbox 360s. Even fresh manufacturing processes by Microsoft intended to produce more stable Xbox 360s does not worry him. "I think I have a few more years in this business as long as there are people wanting to repair their consoles."

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net AS part of its 25th anniversary celebration, STI is continuing its student scholarship program for deserving high school graduates. One of the courses available is their ICT course, which incorporates game development. "Students who wish to try for the scholarships can apply at the STI campus nearest them. Applications are open all of February and longer in some STI schools," Karen La Rosa, STI media relations officer, told hackenslash. Other courses that are open for the scholarships include Business & Management, Healthcare, Education, and Engineering. "The scholarship program has been a tradition for STI -- to tap deserving students," La Rosa said.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net GUILDTXT is an SMS-based service that game clan masters in the various Level Up! games may use as a management tool. "We decided on a soft launch for this new service. It is available and is already being used by the clan masters of our games," said JC Medina, new media director of Level Up! Launched two weeks ago, Guildtxt uses SMS group sending so one message can instantly be sent to many members. "This makes the handling of announcements to clan members more economical," Medina said. The reality is that clan members are not all online at the same time and announcements in clan forums or even on the guild page in-game are easily ignored. This leads to problems with managing the whole clan before a major activity such as before a clan or territorial war. "With this new service, clan masters can text all the members of the clan for only P2.50. The clan members receive the message if they are registered to the clan's Guildtxt group," Medina said.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net HUSBAND and wife gamers and bloggers Philip and Joanne Ortiz recently had their blog Third World Gamer added to the official communities recognized by Xbox.com. Xbox Singapore held a promo last month looking for "Friends of Xbox," bloggers who talk about the Xbox and their experiences with it. Philip Ortiz's blog was one of those chosen by Xbox Singapore, and is now linked within the communities. "I tried it, knowing that there are other blogs out there that are better than mine. So I was pleasantly surprised when mine was one of those chosen," he said. "After that I told them about PinoyXbox.com where I and my wife are moderators. We hope that my blog's inclusion would be the foot in the door for PinoyXbox.com to also be recognized, and eventually our country to become a supported country for Xbox," he added. Not all countries are supported by Microsoft when it comes to their Xbox product. The Philippines is one of them. "It has been suggested that Xbox players [here] should form communities and hold Xbox-related events. This is in the hope that in the future, recognition and eventually support would follow," Ortiz said. Right now, PinoyXbox has an estimated 3, 700 users. PinoyXbox.com was launched in 2002 while the Third World Gamer blog was started in 2005.

UPDATE: Editor's note: IP e-Games has issued a reaction, which has been incorporated in this article. By Erwin Oliva INQUIRER.net LEVEL UP! Philippines said IP e-Games was ordered recently by the Advertising Content Regulation Committee (ACRC) to stop using a print ad. Level Up! Philippines said the ACRC has asked IP e-Games to discontinue the print ad, "E-GAMES Growing, Evolving, Expanding, Not Stopping." IP e-Games officials were unavailable for comment as of this writing. The decision of the ACRC came after Level Up! contested its rival's claim through a complaint filed with the AdBoard. A post-screening session was held on December 7 questioning IP e-Games' print ad, Level Up! said in a statement. "The Adboard screening panel ruled that the ad of e-Games was in direct violation of Section 1.1 (Presentation) and Section 6.1/a, 6.2/a and 6.2/b (No. 1 Claim or Leadership Claim), Article IV of the Code of Ethics of Advertising," Level Up! said. Reacting to the Level Up! claim, IPVG Corp. chief executive officer Enrique Gonzalez said they will comply with the rules of the AdBoard. IPVG Corp. is the parent company of online gaming subsidiary IP e-Games. Gonzales stressed, however, that IP e-Games' print advertisement is based on a third-party survey, which showed that RAN Online, one of its online games, was the number one massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) in terms of sales and concurrent users. "IP E-Games fully recognizes the rules and regulations of the AdBoard. However, we would like to emphasize that our 'No. 1' position is based on a third-party survey. We are willing to back up our claim that RAN Online is the No. 1 MMORPG in terms of sales and concurrent users," Gonzalez said. He said the company will openly challenge Level Up! to also "open themselves to a third-party audit."

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net THE LATEST installment in the Turok first-person shooter series will become available starting Thursday at DataBlitz stores, according to Maricel Espiritu of DataBlitz. "Turok for the PS3 will be available tomorrow at all our branches, though there is still no advisory yet when it will be available for the Xbox 360," Espiritu said. One thing going for this latest version of the game is the simplicity of the story. No longer are alien masterminds or alien technology involved (well, not too much, anyway). Also, what sets it apart is the multiplayer FPS setting where aside from worrying about your opponents, you have to worry about dinosaurs walking around trying to have you for lunch. Turok has the beginnings of a survival horror survival game as you start with nothing but your trusty knife. But from the initial images and videos, you will be using your trusty knife a lot as the game has a lot of cool knife action scenes built into it. Considering that Turok has always been a great bows and arrows and knife game, this was sort of expected, but using current generation console technology, it is an immense leap from the unrealistic dagger waving of old. Turok, Son of Stone began as a comic book character that first came out in 1954. Since then he has appeared in various incarnations of the comic, the last being from Valiant Comics and Acclaim Comics. Turok will also be available for the PC in March.

HEY, check out this 30-second "Iron Man" ad that was aired during the Super Bowl. This upcoming movie based on the Marvel Comics character stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, the billionaire industrialist who becomes the armored superhero.
Online Videos by Veoh.com Video provided by our friends from Solar-UIP Philippines.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net TO SUPPORT its pay-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game Lineage II: The Chaotic Throne, Asian Media Development Group is touring various campuses with a series of exhibits. Asian Media now has exhibits in Ateneo De Manila University at the SEC Building beside the PLDT Convergence Center, and at the Technological Institute of the Philippines, Casal Campus. "The exhibits feature free play kiosks, a shop for Lineage II gear, and will act as a center for the distribution of Lineage II installers. Both exhibits will run till Friday," Asian Media marketing events manager Rio Encarnado told hackenslash. AMDG is also promoting their new unlimited game time cards. They are available in denominations of P20 for 1 day of unlimited play, P50 for three days of unlimited play, P100 for seven days of unlimited play and P350 for 30 days of unlimited play. Encarnado added that Asian Media will bring the Lineage II tour to the University of the Philippines-Diliman for the You Converge information technology convention at the UP Information Technology Training Center from February 12 to 13.

AFTER THE ENTRIES were submitted at the Pinoy Indie Games Competition, Intel Philippines marketing manager Jerome Matti walks around to the different teams and looks over the games. INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter Erika Tapalla also tries out some of the games herself.
Online Videos by Veoh.com First clip of Tapalla playing one of the games taken by Game Developers Association of the Philippines president Gabby Dizon and second video taken by Aaron Alvaran at the i-Hooked Internet cafe in Recto on February 3. For more videos, visit INQUIRER.net VDO.

AFTER A TIRING 48-hour game development marathon, some of the participants at the Pinoy Indie Games Competition share how they feel about the unique experience.
Online Videos by Veoh.com Organized by the Game Developers Association of the Philippines and Intel Philippines, the Pinoy Indie Games Competition was held from February 1 to 3. Video taken by INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter Erika Tapalla at the i-Hooked Internet cafe in Recto on February 3. For more videos, visit INQUIRER.net VDO.

INQUIRER.NET multimedia reporter Erika Tapalla interviews Game Developers Association of the Philippines president Gabby Dizon and Intel Philippines marketing manager Jerome Matti an hour before the deadline of the 48-hour marathon Pinoy Indie Games Competition held from February 1 to 3.
Online Videos by Veoh.com Video taken by INQUIRER.net gaming reporter Relly Carpio at the i-Hooked Internet cafe in Recto on February 3, 2008. For more videos, visit INQUIRER.net VDO.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net THE PHILIPPINE leg of the worldwide release of the first booster for the trading card game Magic: The Gathering's Lorwyn series was successfully held in various hobby shops throughout the country this weekend. The Morningtide booster set boasts of 150 new cards with randomly-inserted premium cards. It is available in booster packs of 15 cards each, preconstructed theme decks, and Fat Packs according to the Wizards of the Coast site. This number will increase the 301 cards contained in the Lorwyn set. According to information from various hobby shops, stocks of the new set were nearly cleaned out during the launch parties. Small numbers of individual booster packs are still available in some hobby shops (i.e. Neutral Grounds Galleria). New deliveries are set to arrive within the week to keep up with the demand. A box of boosters, containing 36 packs, is priced at P3, 950. Individual packs are priced at P150 each. Lorwyn tournament packs, which can be used as a starter deck, are priced at P500. Magic: The Gathering is the most successful Collectible Card Game (CCG) in the world, and is the basis for most of the newer CCGs in the market today. It boasts of over 6, 000 different Magic cards and six million players in over 75 countries in the world.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net SO there I was, walking along aimlessly browsing at the cameras and lenses and whatnot for photography at the recently concluded Photoworld Asia Photoshow & Convention 2008 at the Glorietta Activity Center, when someone dressed as Hard Gay of YouTube fame passes in front of me. Of course my first reaction was... OMG?! Next thing I knew I was surrounded by Naruto, a couple of Sailor Warriors, and there up on the stage in the middle of the whole convention was a Chaos Khrone Berserker waving his Chain Sword. It meant only one of two things at that point: 1) either I was going insane because I couldn't afford the cameras, or 2) I was in the middle of a cosplay! Whipping out my cheap digital camera, I clicked away! Enjoy the photos! Incidentally, our Chaos Marine was the winner of the cosplay contest of the Photoworld Asia 2008 Photoshow & Convention. Who, when he isn't revering the blood god, is Guy Singzon from Laguna, who won a Fuji FinePix A900 for his faith.

THIS is the 30-second "Wanted" ad that was aired during the Super Bowl. Loosely based on the comic book miniseries by Mark Millar, this upcoming movie from Universal Studios stars James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, Common, and Kristen Hager.
Online Videos by Veoh.com Video provided by our friends from Solar-UIP Philippines. For more videos, visit INQUIRER.net VDO.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net IN 48 HOURS, they made the seemingly impossible, playable. The teams that participated in the recently concluded Pinoy Indie Games Competition came up with games that "amazed" the judges. Overcoming fatigue, sleep deprivation, disobedient randomization, convoluted code, mal-rasterized pixels and, in one case, the laws of physics, the participants submitted their final designs to the organizers. In his closing speech, Gabby Dizon, president of the Game Developers Association of the Philippines. said, "We are very happy. We are amazed with what we've seen. What we've seen in the quality of the work -- ang galing! Some people here are even college freshmen, or fresh out of college or hobbyists and we really like the games that we've seen. So hopefully we will have more of these events to give the community a chance to express themselves and their creativity." Jerome Matti, marketing manager of Intel Philippines, was also pleased saying. "This whole competition has been amazing,. This is the first time that we had this type of game development competition in the country, and I hope we can have another one sometime soon." Last Sunday, with 12 hours to go before the deadline, hackenslash sneaked in exactly at midnight to see if any team was slacking off. To our surprise, one team was rumored to have already given in their submission, and two teams were nowhere to be found. The other teams noticed our arrival and there was a sudden burst of activity when we announced that 3/4ths of the time had passed. By 5 a.m. (seven hours to go), some teams began rotating breaks to keep up the pace, while others went to sleep outright in the face of the deadline. Later with only two hours left, it was a cacophony of sounds from the games, being debugged by the teams, punctuated by loud arguments between team members on what to do about them. When Matti arrived at the scene, it was like a jolt of electricity went through the participants and what was already controlled chaos became even more frenetic. But in the end, the teams made the deadline -- and what a diverse collection of entries they were. Team Calmado of Asia Pacific College (APC) created Quadron, a platform shooter where a futuristic soldier is in a firefight with a cyborg snail. Team Intimidating Face, also from APC, created Robocat, where a gravity-defying robotic cat paces, jumps and runs collecting power-ups along a tunnel-view obstacle course. Team Pre-Productions of De La Salle University (DLSU) made UnstopAball, a player vs player (PVP) game using classic Pong-like elements mixed with manga/anime-like characters controlling the paddles. Team Guilty Pleasures from Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) made Unstoppable, where a double sword-wielding hero battles it out with flaming hell-hounds protecting the precious Intel Core 2 Quad chip core. Team Crates, Kitchen Sinks and Duct Tapes of ADMU made Cores & Cords, a LocoRoco-like game where two circular blobs controlled by one person each try to traverse a Mario Bros.-like side-scrolling terrain. This game is arguably the one with the most advanced physics in the lot. Team Fuchikoma, composed of hobbyists, made Teddy's Happy FuN TiEm Wonderland, where a giant zombie-like monster teddy bear rampages through the city collecting power-ups while crazy hang gliding ninjas try and stop him. Resty Aldana Team of STI Southwoods made Anomalous Maze Dimension, a 3D maze where an anthropomorphic Intel Core 2 Quad being walks through question and answer gates in search of the four Intel seals hidden within the maze. Correct answers let you through while wrong answers teleport you to a random area. Take too long in answering the questions or miss collecting the heatsinks scattered in the maze and you melt from the heat of the digital motherboard maze. Team Adrastos of STI Angeles created Force of Intelletsu, a side-scrolling game where, as an armored ninja, you have to plow through enemies to reach the end. Team Op. 3 of ADMU made Space Soldier, a side-scrolling PVP space shooter, that binds very well with the use of a game pad. Team Taguro of APC made QuadQuest where you navigate a 3D motherboard maze to reach the Intel Core 2 Quad core. Team Trillema of APC made UP&UP, a 3D jumping game, much like Frogger 3D. Team 3D Taho, composed of Nonoy Dadivas and his son 17-year-old Roy, made the creepiest game, a survival horror game called Labyrinth, where you have to try and escape an ever changing maze of walls covered with bloody mouths while being chased by a Sadako-like ghost who has an eerie, hollow childlike laugh. It's like Pac-Man directed by Wes Craven and Hideo Nakata. Other teams whose games hackenslash was not able to test were Void made by Team Null from ADMU DLSU (Editor's note: Thanks to Andrew for the heads up; made the correction.), but based on the artwork seen during the creation phase it would have fantastic backgrounds; and Quad Bot Factory by Team Untitled Psychedelic Jam Production from APC. Fourteen out of the fifteen teams that registered were able to complete their entries. After the closing ceremony teams were invited to try out each other's games. Matti and Dizon went around previewing the entries and discussing the games with the participants. The winners of the competition will notified this Friday, February 8. The awarding ceremonies will be held on February 29.

IT was the first day of the 48-hour marathon Pinoy Indie Games Competition that's being held from February 1 to 3, and INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter Erika Tapalla was going around interviewing some of the participating teams. Meet some of the teams:
Online Videos by Veoh.com Video taken on February 1, 2008 at the i-Hooked Internet cafe in Recto. For more videos, visit INQUIRER.net VDO.

JEROME MATTI, marketing manager of Intel Philippines, tells me and INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter Erika Tapalla why Intel and the Game Developers Association of the Philippines launched the Pinoy Indie Games Competition.
Online Videos by Veoh.com Video taken by INQUIRER.net/hackenslash community evangelist Alex Villafania at the iHooked Internet cafe. For more videos, visit INQUIRER.net VDO.

INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter Erika Tapalla and I interviewed Game Developers Association of the Philippines president Gabby Dizon during the first day of the Pinoy Indie Games Competition, which is being held from February 1 to 3 at the i-Hooked Internet cafe in Recto. Here's what Gabby had to say:
Online Videos by Veoh.com Video taken by INQUIRER.net/hackenslash community evangelist Alex Villafania. For more videos, visit INQUIRER.net VDO.

CHECK out this video taken by hackenslash/INQUIRER.net community evangelist Alex Villafania of the opening day of the Pinoy Indie Games Competition organized by the Game Developers Association of the Philippines and Intel Philippines. GDAP president Gabby Dizon (right) welcomes budding game developers to the first Pinoy Indie Games Competition at the i-Hooked Internet cafe in Recto. With him is Jerome Matti, marketing manager for Intel Philippines, which is one of the major sponsors of the event.
Online Videos by Veoh.com For more videos, visit INQUIRER.net VDO.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net MICROGAMING Technology Corp. officially launched Thursday the beta testing phase of the newest online free-to-play game in the Philippines. Special Force, an online first-person shooter. The installer is available online at MyGame.Ph, MicroGaming Technology Corp.'s game portal. "We invite those who loved and played Counter-Strike years ago to try this game as it gives the same feel and pulse racing action as Counter-Strike, but online. It's free to play, and players can customize everything about the way their avatars look from gear to weapons," Paul Buencamino, marketing associate of MicroGaming Technologies, said in an interview with hackenslash. The game provides maps on which players can either duke it out in a classic Deathmatch with up to 16 players, or Team vs Team Battle with up to eight members in each team. There is also the familiar Demolition scenario among others. There is the Retrieval scenario where one team is to take a token and bring it back to their base, much like Quake's Capture the Flag scenario. The game also has the Extraction scenario where one team must make it to a designated dust-off point while the other team tries to prevent them. Unlike Counter-Strike on which the game is based, there is a rank-up system. "Players get experience points as they play and eventually they rise in rank from Trainee up to General. Though rank may have its privileges, it does not insure immortality. Those with higher rank may move a little bit faster, or resist damage more than those of lower rank, but does not mean one becomes eventually invincible," said Buencamino. Characters retain all gear that is purchased in the pre-scenario setup phase even when killed, unlike in Counter-Strike. Multiple set-ups and gear-sets are available per character, allowing in-mission specialization and further customization choices. "The game developer Dragonfly built on the taste and flavor of Counter-Strike but added that little oomph to it," Buencamino added.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net LAST week saw the latest addition to the anthology of Kratos the God of War. Subscribers to MyGlobe's WAP site Download Station received the announcement last week that one of Sony Entertainment's most successful third-person adventure game is now available for download for mobile phones. God of War: Betrayal follows the exploits of Kratos, the Last Spartan, in his quest for glory. The game is a 2D scroller which includes certain famous aspects of the original game. Kratos' Athena's Blades and Medusa's Gaze with the trademark "purchase power-up" at the end of each level are included in the game. Two monster types, the basic zombie and the minotaur. are used as mobs. The game has five levels and has a sixth End Boss level. The God of War series, composed of two titles, were exclusively available for Sony's Playstation 2 (PS2) series. Its ingenious use of the PS2 graphics engine endeared it to users of the console who were still waiting for a game that pushed the PS2 to its limits. God of War was touted to be one of these. The extremely entertaining storyline of the Kratos "The Last Spartan" in the series was also a factor in the game's popularity with PS2 aficionados. The game is produced by Sony Online Entertainment and developed by Javaground using the Javaground Solution.

By Relly Carpio INQUIRER.net THE VERY first independent game design marathon competition in the Philippines began Friday at i-Hooked Cafe at C.M. Recto in Manila. The Pinoy Indie Games Competition is a 48-hour marathon design competition where the participants must complete a game within the allotted time frame. Fifteen teams, composed mostly of students, are vying for prizes which include Intel Core 2 Quad PCs, 80GB iPod Classics and P5, 000 worth of gift certificates for each member of the teams. Each team is composed of up to three members. "The competition is to see how these young Filipinos can push themselves in creating video games. Eventually they will be the ones who will work in the country's budding game industry," said Gabby Dizon, president of the Game Developers Association of the Philippines, which organized the event together with Intel Philippines. Jerome Matti, marketing manager of Intel Philippines; Gabby Dizon, president of GDAP; Iggy Villanueva, business development officer of Yehey!, and Rommel Celespara of American Technologies Inc./Wacom were present at the event's launch. The contestants included students from Asia Pacific College, De La Salle University, Ateneo De Manila University, and STI, as well as some freelance game designers. The contest runs until Sunday, February 3, when the contestants must submit their finished games which should include Intel elements under the theme "May The Fours Be With You." The event is sponsored by Intel, hackenslash/INQUIRER.net, Yehey!, ATI, Wacom, i-Hooked Cafe, Challenge Systems and GGDAP.

By Joey Alarilla INQUIRER.net I'M here at the i-Hooked Internet cafe in Recto for the Pinoy Indie Games Competition organized by the Game Developers Association of the Philippines and Intel Philippines. hackenslash/INQUIRER.net is an online event partner of this marathon game development competition that will be held from February 1 to 3. I'm with INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter Erika Tapalla; Alex Villafania, who is the new community evangelist of hackenslash/INQUIRER.net; and our new hackenslash gaming reporter Relly Carpio -- it's his first day of work today, heh :) To whet your appetite, here are some pics from the event. Photos taken by Relly Carpio. I'll post the video interviews soon. Here's (left to right) me, GDAP and FlipSide Games president Gabby Dizon, and Erika. Here's me and Erika with Jerome Matti, marketing manager of Intel Philippines. And here are lots of photos of the people here at i-Hooked.

STEVE ROGERS may be dead, but Captain America lives. But who's the new Captain America? Whoever he is, the new Captain America makes his debut in Captain America #34. Actually, it's not a big surprise -- he's someone you already know if you're a Captain America fan :) Here's an excerpt from the Marvel Comics announcement.

The Eisner award-winning creative team of writer Ed Brubaker and artist Steve Epting, joined by special variant cover artist (and industry legend) Alex Ross, present the beginning of a new era that has everyone from The Colbert Report to NPR buzzing!

Here are images of the two covers provided by our friends from Marvel. Here's the Epting cover. And here's the one by Ross. CAPTAIN AMERICA #34 Written by ED BRUBAKER Pencils & 50/50 Cover by STEVE EPTING 50/50 Cover by ALEX ROSS Rated T+ …$2.99