By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

AFTER several nostalgic attempts to bring back old actors as the characters that made them superstars (think Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone), here comes Harrison Ford out to reclaim his title as the eponymous Indiana Jones with a new movie, still armed with his trademark bullwhip, revolver and indomitable fedora.

His latest adventure, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” is largely George Lucas and Steven Spielberg’s remake of the same good old fashioned 80s-era action-adventure to satisfy the cravings of a nostalgic thirtysomething crowd and see if the same moviemaking formula of the early 80s would work with a new audience.

This review may contain some spoilers, so stop reading if you don’t want the movie spoiled for you.

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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

AVATRIAN LLC, a US company focused on creating virtual items, said Filipino firms must tap online virtual worlds, particularly Second Life, in creating brand awareness in newer markets, especially those not familiar with their products.

Incidentally, Avatrian, which has its production office in Cebu City, is hoping that Filipinos would lose the perception that Second Life is an online game. In fact, Avatrian creative director Rodion Herrera still likens it to social networking sites that are utilized by some companies to promote their products and services.

Herrera said virtual worlds, or metaverses, offer a wide variety of utilities that individuals, groups or even companies can utilize for specific or general purposes.

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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

ACKNOWLEDGING the reality that many of the players of their games are also part of social networking sites, online game publisher Level Up! is opting to shift their attention toward using these social networking sites rather than relying on their own.

In fact, the company is shedding the use of its own social networking site called CLIQ, launched in 2007, and is rolling out their own “embassies” in various social networking sites, including Facebook.com, Friendster.com, Multiply.com and even some gamers’ blogs.

Level Up! new media director Jose Carlo Medina explained the company’s experience in building up their own social networking facility in the hopes of attracting more people, especially non-gamers who may eventually start playing their games or using some of their services.

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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

TO HELP draw more players to the World Cyber Games Philippines tournaments, the local Microsoft Xbox online forum PinoyXbox.com has started a raffle for players of the two Xbox 360 games included in the WCG preliminaries.

The PinoyXbox raffle rules state that players who join the tournaments for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Virtua Fighter 5, which are the official Xbox 360 games for the WCG, will get the chance to win several Xbox 360 titles. These include Virtua Fighter 5, Project Gotham Racing 4, Universe at War, Grand Theft Auto 4, and a Guitar Hero III bundle, among others.

The titles are provided by video game sales shop Ysidro’s GameCore and online rental company GameHopper.com. The titles cost between P1,500 pesos to P2,500.

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UPDATE: Editor’s note: Corrected error in second paragraph.

By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net

LEVEL UP! Philippines CEO Jane Walker clarified Friday that the local game publisher is in a “neck and neck” battle with publicly listed IPVG Corp., a close rival, in the local gaming business.

Walker stressed that PLDT’s figures do not reflect its overseas, mobile game business, and advergaming, which when added up to the existing online game business, is “at par” with exceeds that of IPVG Corp.

“For the total Philippine operations, Level Up! Philippines is at par,” Walker said in an interview, stressing that Level Up!’s overseas and mobile game business are huge. Level Up! International, which is a privately held company, operates in Brazil and India.

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