July 2008 Archives

By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net IN an effort to expand services to its players beyond games, online game publisher Level-Up! activated last weekend Game Heroes, a Flash-based website that highlights the best and most unique players of its games. In an interview, Level Up! Marketing Manager Carlo Ople said the website aims to create model players from among the ranks of gamers in the five games that the company publishes in the Philippines. Ople said Game Heroes is seen as a website where their gamers "become legends." These players have eventually made a name for themselves as consistent winners of tournaments or contributors to online forums. Unlike the other Level Up! websites, Game Heroes will look and feel more professional. All of the featured gamers will have their own personal profiles and photos posted in the site, as well as their achievements in the games they play and even video interviews. Ople said that the local game publisher will continue building the content of the site. Soon, it will add profiles of the international players of some of the games particularly Ragnarok Online World Championships in October. "We've gotten support from our gaming partners. For one we are hosting the upcoming Ragnarok Tournament so we will be posting the profiles of the Ragnarok players who will compete," he said. One of the future plans for the site is to turn it into a social networking portal, though Ople did not mention details as to how this would be done. Game Heroes features the best and the most unique players in the company's roster of online games, including Ragnarok, Perfect World, and Freestyle. Here's my video interview with Level Up! Philippines's marketing manager.

By Alexander Villafania INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippines -- Few in the gaming industry know they're even here. GPlayon, a startup game publishing firm, however, hopes to ride the online gaming wave in the Philippines through a partnership with Amped Games. GPlayon has been operating since last year and has even conducted a very early closed and open beta test of N-Age, long before it partnered with Amped Games sometime this year. Watch my video interview with GPlayon Manager Mi Jin Lee (left) and Managing Director Dong Hyun Kang. Under the partnership, Amped Games will do the marketing and distribution part for N-Age, while GPlayon will host and maintain the game servers. Amped's top-up cards can also be used to buy in-game items in N-Age, which will be free-to-play with item selling. The company is also looking at extending their operations outside the Philippines and is looking for other partners. GPlayon Manager Mi Jin Lee said the company has been taking some time to evaluate the gaming business in the Philippines and to look for partners to strengthen their operations. "The owners aren't familiar with the Filipino culture so it was necessary for them to take small steps first," Lee said. Lee said the company is planning to introduce more games to the Philippines, with Amped Games being expected to be GPlayon's partner. However, Lee said she cannot divulge anything about the other games. GPlayon Managing Director Dong Hyun Kang said the Philippines has a huge potential in the online gaming space, noting that GPlayon may introduce another game. The next game might be more futuristic in style but will be in the massively multiplayer online game segment, he said.

By Alexander Villafania INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippies -- Two members of the Filipino gaming console forum PinoyXbox were named the Philippines’ Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVP). The husband-and-wife moderators of PinoyXbox, Philip and Joanne Ortiz, will join the ranks of 20 other Filipino MVPs, a recognition given to the best Microsoft professionals and advocates. In a letter to the PinoyXbox forum, Microsoft Philippines Technology Specialist Jojo Ayson said the Ortizes were recognized under the Xbox MVP category, which gives recognition to people who made significant contributions in the promotion of the Xbox gaming platform. There are now a total of three gamers from the Philippines who have been awarded with MVP titles, Ayson said. Overall, there are only 42 Xbox MVPs worldwide, excluding the Ortizes, and 16 awardees for the category of “Games for Windows MVPs.” Ayson said MVPs are given certain privileges, including exclusive access to special websites that feature early releases of Microsoft products, and subscription to software support. "In the case of Philip and Joanne, it could be game titles or some products related to the Xbox 360," Ayson said, citing the experience of Rodriguez who gets new Microsoft PC games. The MVP title is refreshed every year, which means all MVPs will have to continuously update their blogs and forum presence. "Remember that this award comes after the fact that the awardees have been advocates of Microsoft products. They have to continue promoting their passion for these products," Ayson said. Philip Ortiz told hackenslash that their MVP status is a rare opportunity that recognizes their efforts in promoting gaming in the country. He added that it could be a step towards the country bring recognized as a potential market for Xbox games. "Perhaps Microsoft would finally bring the Xbox as a product in the Philippines. It may not start with the Xbox 360 but perhaps when the next Xbox comes," Ortiz said. Incidentally, a PC gamer, Adrian Rodirguez (Deadaimgames.spaces.live.com), was awarded as MVP for his PC gaming advocacy.

By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net MAKATI City – Industry organization Game Development Association of the Philippines (GDAP) said the local game developers should know their audience to prosper in this competitive industry. Speaking to local academicians during an industry-academe seminar, GDAP Vice President Eric Marlow said game developers and entrepreneurs should understand the needs of their intended audience to be able to provide them what they want. Despite increasing publicity being given to the local gaming industry, Marlow said a lot of work needs to be done to increase public awareness of the gaming industry and its benefits to potential local developers. "Misconceptions must be addressed. Not everyone understands us and not everyone can distinguish game development from [game] publishers. It's important to know your audience," said Marlow who is also the general manager of game development firm Matahari Studios in Manila. Marlow said getting into the gaming industry entails a lot of risk for both potential entrepreneurs and employees. It may not be financially rewarding business at first but finding good focus and strategy could bring success, he added. "Employers must find motivated people. They should start small and remember that success is measured by how well the product sells. Not all games will be hits," he said. Marlow said the gaming industry needs good culture and environment that values creativity, and that follows global standards. For the academe, the challenge is to produce enough manpower to support the fledgling industry, Marlow said. Schools must be willing to establish educational curricula that support game development, apart from just providing sufficient funding to allow for purchases of hardware and software, he said. "Gaming is infrastructure intensive but it can be satisfying," Marlow added.

Watch reporter Izah Morales' interview with Level Up! Philippines chief executive officer Jane Walker who introduces new online game Crazy Kart. Level Up! has partnered with Shanda Interactive China to bring this latest online game in the country. In the same interview, Level Up! Marketing Head Ramon Macutay also describes the different features of the game in this video interview.

NO one doubted "The Dark Knight" was going to be a blockbuster, particularly since it's the last movie of the late Heath Ledger and buzz has been building around his portrayal of The Joker. But I don't think anyone really expected it to be this huge, as it posted $158.4 million in its opening weekend to break the previous North American box office opening record. Fittingly enough, DC's Batman beat rival Marvel's franchise comic book character Spider-Man (but I'm still a big Spider-Man fan), as the previous record holder was "Spider-Man 3" with $151.1 million. Check out this video report from Access Hollywood. Yup, Hollywood is definitely benefiting from comic book characters with all the comic book movies that have been coming out in the past few years. By the way, if you loved the graphic novel like I did (and who doesn't heh), I'm sure you also can't wait for the "Watchmen" movie. If you haven't seen the "Watchmen" trailer yet, you can check it out here.

By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net Traveller's Tales must be quite happy with what they've been doing for the last few years. Its LEGO Star Wars adventure games have been hits among kiddie and older gamers and these successfully introduced younger people to the historic Star Wars franchise. It's quite a tall order for a developer to create a new game, using the same game engine on a different franchise and make it successful. Not surprisingly, it did. Traveller's Tales (and publisher LucasArts) introduced the same gameplay to Indiana Jones starting with the original trilogy. It brings the same blocky in-game players, the same action gameplay, and the same of the old platforming and puzzle-solving adventures that the LEGO Star Wars fans enjoyed. The LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is a sure-fire hit that even those not familiar with the Harrison Ford-starred films will have as much fun playing as finding out where the Indiana Jones history started. As the title implies, LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures is based on the first three movies: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, and Last Crusade. Nearly all of the most memorable scenes in the movies have been incorporated into the game but to avoid confusion, the developers made Barnett College as Indy’s "base of operations.” This is where he teaches. To start an adventure in one movie the player has to go through portals which are Indy's office, a theater and an artifact room. Upon entering, each of the portals will first direct to a short cut scene describing that part of the movie scene. The base of operations concept in this game is similar to the LEGO Star Wars games where the players have to start in a Mos Eisley cantina, which has doors leading to certain stages in the game. Those who have played LEGO Star Wars might wonder how LEGO Indiana Jones would fare without Force-powered Jedis or gun-totting droids and soldiers. Not to worry, Indy's whip is as good as a lightsaber and his other buddies Marion Ravenwood (who is also present in the more recent Indiana Jones movie), Elsa Schneider, Willie Scott and even Indiana Jones Sr. have skills that are useful in the game. Some characters are also unlockable, such as Thugees, Rene Belloq and Walter Donovan who are adept in problem solving. There are missions in the games that may require the special skills of particular characters in the game, which is why players opt to be familiar with the playable characters in the game. Only two characters can be used in each game and control can be transferred to the other character for specific purposes. Humorously, the developers also added a bit of zest in the game by introducing the phobias of each of the characters. These phobias can be in the form of snakes (for Indy), spiders (for Willie) and rats (Indy Jones Sr.). The characters will freeze and move slowly when these creatures are around them so players have to change control to another character to avoid being affected by the presence of the creature, after which the frozen character will start moving normally. The game is both an adventure and a puzzle-driven game. However, the puzzles are not too difficult even for younger kids. Some puzzles require players to build vehicles, which are pieces of strewn LEGO pieces in a certain area. When the pieces are formed, players can use these to travel to the next stage or to escape enemies. There are also a few mini-games, noteworthy of which is the boulder scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, which will require the player to run away from a LEGO boulder through a tunnel while avoiding bumping into walls and falling into spiked pits as the camera continuously shifts. There are times when puzzles do not need to be experienced or even finished as the game's major puzzles will already allow players to unlock the next scenes. The good thing about this is that players can always go back to these mini-puzzles which also unlock treasure chests, similar to mini-kits in LEGO Star Wars. Prizes found in these treasure chests will go to the artifact room in the Barnett College and can be viewed when Indy goes back to the base of operations. As for the combat system, LEGO Indiana Jones tries as much as it could to be more family-oriented since so much of the guns in the game are still toys. Likewise, because Indiana mostly uses his whip, he can just pick up guns dropped by his enemies and pick them up to shoot others. The guns have limited ammunition though normally they're not necessary as Indy's whip can do quite some damage on its own. On the other hand, humor is also flavorful in this game and make up for the lack of dialogue. The mime-like actions of the LEGO characters already tells a lot about what the game is all about. The game isn't too hard to beat and can be finished pretty quickly (about 8 hours in easy mode and only the major puzzles are played). It's also difficult to actually die in the game because characters respawn in previous areas. It does not take away the fun at all because characters can die several times in some of the more difficult puzzles. It's also highly replayable due to the presence of many mini-puzzles or mini-games, which can only be played by using the correct character. Surprisingly, the PlayStation 2 version of LEGO Indiana Jones holds up in terms of graphics with the XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3 versions. This is largely because the game is based on an old but modified LEGO Star Wars game engine that also came out on the PS2. Hopefully, Traveller's Tales will release a game version of the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull just to complete the series, much as it did with Star Wars.

By Agence France-Presse LOS ANGELES - Videogame makers are riding the social networking wave with a flood of soon-to-be-released titles that let friends play online as teams and even create their own characters. The world's big three console makers -- Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony -- are providing frameworks for players to connect with hardware and software on which online communities of gamers can have fun and flourish. "Gamers aren't just in it for the high scores anymore," Sony Computer Entertainment of North America president Jack Tretton said, as videogame industry giants unveiled new offerings at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). "Gamers are in it for the social experience," Tretton said. Sony launched PlayStation Network website for its console users three years ago and is working on a "PlayStation Home" online world, in which players will frolic in the forms of personalized animated characters called "avatars." Users of Microsoft's Xbox 360 consoles are reportedly signing up for memberships at its online community Xbox Live at a rate of one every five seconds and have spent more than a billion dollars there. The Xbox Live online site will be revamped by year's end to make it more social, complete with avatars and an online venue for them to gather for parties, according to Live team vice president John Schappert. "Our vision is to make every experience a shared experience, whether you want to play game or do anything friends might do," Schappert said at E3. Xbox players will be able to play against each other as avatars in simulated television game shows. Nintendo has fostered an online community of "Mii" player avatars since the Wii console launched in 2006. This week the Japanese video game superstar unveiled Wii Music software that lets people simulate playing any of 50 instruments and join together for jam sessions using the Internet. An "Animal Crossings" game developed for Wii by Nintendo centers on socializing in an online community and lets players speak to each other over headsets plugged into consoles. Independent video game software makers are capitalizing on the "social games" trend and current generation of Internet-connected consoles. Capcom's "Resident Evil 5" due for release on Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles in March of next year will let friends team-up in an "online co-operative" mode to blast monstrous enemies spawned by a bio-terror incident in an African setting. British videogame industry legend Peter Molyneux crafted freshly completed cult favorite "Fable 2" as a world in which players' online friends can visit in an instant. "Orbs you pass on trails are friends, displaying their unique names," Molyneux said while demonstrating the game. "Hit the button and bang they are in your game." "Fable" characters start out as children and grow up uniquely depending on players' choices, capturing aspects of real world personalities of friends. Cliff Blizinski of Epic Games crafted multiplayer cooperative modes into "Gears of War 2" so colleagues have to work together to solve certain challenges in the eagerly-awaited action game due out in November. "Little Big Planet" for PS3 lets players create their own mini-games as well as animated characters, according to creator Ted Price of Insomniac Games. A "Massive Action Game" being developed by Zipper Interactive will allow as many as 256 online players to battle against or with each other at once in a war videogame. "What I love about this online evolution, what makes it all so special, is the people involved," former US basketball star Bill Walton said while helping Electronic Arts introduce new sports titles with enhanced social play features. "Players are actually in the game and making all the decisions," said Walton.

By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippines – Two pairs of brothers who hail from Cebu will be the first Filipinos to enter the international competition of online casual game GetAmped in Singapore on August 1 to 3. The Cebuano brothers beat over 4,000 players during the concluded GetAmped National Tournament. Mervin Medallo, 22, brother Masael Medallo, 18, and Jose Antonio Diosanta, 18, won the GetAmped's team tournament category and took home P75,000. Diosanta's younger brother, Jose Miguel Diosanta, won the individual competition that netted him P25,000. GetAmped Community Development Head Arnel Duran told hackenslash that the brothers have started training for the upcoming GetAmped World Festival in Singapore. "They already have a Japanese GetAmped player training them. This is the first time we're joining so we better come prepared," said Duran who declined to reveal the identity of the group's Japanese trainer. Duran said they will be facing dozens of players from nine countries for the title of the best GetAmped players in the world. Among the countries participating are Japan, China, Thailand, Taiwan and Korea.

Editor's Note: Updated article with links to list of winners By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippines -- After nearly three months, the World Cyber Games (WCG) 2008 Philippine leg competition has come to a close with a dozen gamers chosen out of 104 to represent the Philippines. They will join the WCG 2008 Grand Finals in Germany on November 9, as well as the Asian Cyber Games in Singapore in August. Leading the group will be the five-man Counterstrike team Horsemen of the Apocalypse (HOA), composed of Arvin Agbisit, Paolo Nancho, Jupiter Mars Gaboy, EJ Clores and Gary Guevarras. The group has been the consistent Philippine representative to the WCG Grand Finals for the past four years, organizers of the local competition said. Meanwhile, new players have dominated other games during the WCG finals. Frederick Pe won the championship for the game WarCraft III: Frozen Throne, while John Raymond Tan won the top prize in the real-time strategy game Command and Conquer. Rafael Formoso was declared the winner in the Guitar Hero III (GH3) game, which replaced Dead or Alive 4 as a tournament game for the Microsoft Xbox 360 console. Team Meneski dominated the popular local area network game WarCraft III: Defense of the Ancients to become the country's representative to the Asian Cyber Games in August. Team Mineski is composed of Rhymel Olete, Jose Silva, Jr., Ronald Robins, Kendrick Sy, and Rovic John Perez. The national champions received P30,000 in cash, a Samsung mobile phone, an Intel Quad Core processor-based computer system, premium items from computer distributor Villman, Logitech gaming keyboard and mouse, an Asrock motherboard, Sparkle video card, gift certificates, among other items.

By Agence France-Presse LOS ANGELES --The "Spore" alien population is exploding, boding well for the September launch of the latest brainchild of computer game legend Will Wright. Electronic Arts-owned Maxis Studio released "creature creator" software last month in the hope that aspiring Spore players would bring a population of aliens to life in time for the game's premier. The response astounded even Wright, maker of the world's top-selling computer game "The Sims." "I was really hoping we'd get 100,000 creatures by September and a million by the end of the year," Wright said Monday while demonstrating Spore on the eve of the Electronic Entertainment Expo video game trade show in Los Angeles. "We hit 100K in 22 hours and a million by the end of the first week. The numbers are just blowing us away," Wright said. A week ago, the number of creatures in the Spore database exceeded the number of known species on Earth. "It took them 18 days to reach the number of creatures on Earth and, by some accounts, it took God six days," joked Wright during a presentation onstage at the vintage Orpheum Theater. Spore lets people dictate the genetic development of animated characters in a mock universe. “You are given this God-like power,” Wright told AFP in a recent interview at his Maxis office in Emeryville, California. "You can create ecosystems, biospheres ... We try to make it real science,” he said. Players start as microscopic life forms competing for survival in primordial ooze and work their way onto land, where they evolve into creatures that build civilizations and rocket into space. Creatures can be made to have scales, fins, wings, claws, extra appendages, additional eyes, or body parts in unexpected places. The online game's programming gives characters artificial intelligence and figures out how they should walk, laugh, dance, fight or do other things based on what they look like. Creatures pass on virtual genes to their progeny and build civilizations with cities, governments and economies. In a computer game first, Spore worlds will be inhabited by aliens made by players instead of professional video game programmers.

By Agence France-Presse SAN FRANCISCO--Microsoft said Sunday it is cutting the price of its 20-gigabyte Xbox 360 video game consoles and rolling out a model with three times the memory space to take its place. The US technology giant's announcement comes two days before the official start of a major Electronic Entertainment Expo at which video game console makers will be striving to portray their hardware as superior. Microsoft said it will trim $50 from Xbox 360 models with 20 gigabytes in the United States or Canada, cutting prices to $299. An upgraded Xbox 360 Pro model with 60 gigabytes of memory will hit markets in those same two countries in August with $349 price tags, according to the Redmond, Washington-based firm. The reasoning for the boost in memory capacity is people's interest in storing digital photos, video, music and other data on gaming consoles, which are essentially entertainment computers connected to television sets. "We know consumers need more and more space to store the amazing digital content Xbox 360 offers, and we're giving it to them at no extra charge," said Albert Penello, Xbox director of product management. Sony maintains it has no intention of cutting prices on PlayStation 3 models, which sell in the United States for $400 or $500 depending on memory capacity. Nintendo will be defending Wii's crown as the world's most popular video game console, which is priced at $250 and is snatched from shelves as soon as it arrives in stores. The big three console makers along with video game software makers large and small will be showing off their newest creations at the Expo in Los Angeles during the coming week.

By Agence France-Presse SINGAPORE --Sony has no plans to cut the price of its PlayStation 3 game console, the company's chief financial officer Nobuyuki Oneda said Friday. "This year, our strategy is not to sell more quantity for PS3 but to concentrate on profitability," Oneda told a forum in Singapore. "Our plan is not to reduce the price," he added. His comments followed a report in the Wall Street Journal which said Microsoft plans to cut the price on a popular model of its Xbox 360 game console in an effort to boost sales in the face of stronger competition from rival Sony. The Journal report cited people familiar with the matter who said the price cut would come as early as Sunday. Oneda also said he expects Sony's PS3 operations as well as the broader game segment to be profitable for the current year ending March 2009. With a report from Dow Jones Newswires.

By Alexander Villafania INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippines -- Major game development firm Gameloft is looking to open an office in the Philippines that is focused on developing games for the handheld and mobile platforms. In an interview with hackenslash, Vincent Ricot, who is serving as the Philippines studio manager, said the Philippines office will initially serve as a support location for mostly 3D animation development for Gameloft's programming branches. He said the company aims to hire around 50 animators until the end of the year. "We have a lot of projects to do, especially with the number of console games being ported to the mobile phone and handheld platforms," he said. Ricot said the local office will go beyond animation work and start game development from conception to programming. He said company's direction is to develop games for the current generation of consoles, particularly the Nintendo Wii. "There's a lot of development opportunities for the company now and the office here can benefit from it," Ricot said. Ricot said the Philippines was chosen due to its large pool of 2D artists who could be trained to do 3D animation. The local operations will support Gameloft's programming work in Vietnam, China and India. The French game developer is one of the biggest firms developing for the mobile market segment. It has over 90 games in its portfolio, some of which are ports of popular franchises, such as the Tom Clancy series of Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon, Asphalt racing games, Prince of Persia, as well as game versions of popular TV shows Grey's Anatomy, Heroes and Desperate Housewives.

By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net FINALLY, Filipino Tekken fans have something to look forward to as Timezone has announced the Tekken 6 Competition, the country's first nationwide tournament for the highly-successful Tekken fighting game series. What is more interesting about this competition is that the national champion will compete in the first international Tekken 6 contest to be held in Singapore, to face other players from Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, and India. In an interview, Timezone marketing officer Anna Cardenas said there had been much clamor from the local Tekken player community for a nationwide competition. It was when the Singapore tournament was announced that they had a reason to come up with a local counterpart. "Our players are already very skilled. They've honed themselves for years," Cardenas said. The game is open to players ages 16 to 22, with a registration fee of P150. The company is limiting to 32 the number of players per store. Sixteen Timezone branches in Metro Manila will serve as venues for the competition, which will start with a pre-finals registration on August 16 to 22. This will be followed up by the pre-finals game on August 23. The grand final will be held in Market! Market! in Taguig City on August 29. The second runner-up will take home a trophy, an Apple iPod shuffle, P1,000 worth of Timezone gift checks, and other items. The first runner-up will get a trophy, a digital camera, P2,000 worth of Timezone gift checks, and other Timezone items. The champion will win P3,000 pesos of Timezone gift checks, items, a Tekken 6 T-shirt, and a seat to represent the Philippines in the Singapore Tekken 6 competition on September 13.

By Agence France-Presse COVENTRY--A bomb explodes in a busy shopping street, leaving injured shoppers requiring rapid assistance -- thankfully it is only on a computer screen, but it has a deadly serious purpose. This "virtual" crisis, used in training for emergency services workers, is part of so-called "serious games," an emerging niche in the video game industry. The game Triage Trainer, developed in Coventry, central England, by TruSim, the serious games division of Blitz Games Studios Ltd, is aiming to be as realistic as possible. Here's a video of Triage Trainer posted on YouTube by the SALERO (Semantic AudiovisuaL Entertainment Reusable Objects) project of the European Union. Judging by several scenes, the game developers appear to have succeeded -- in one, a man screams "Help me!" over the wail of emergency sirens amid broken glass and overturned garbage cans. As chaos ensues, the player must quickly fulfill a series of tasks -- check to ensure his respiratory tracts are not blocked, make sure he has a pulse, and various other in-game tests to provide a diagnosis -- before moving swiftly along to treat the other injured victims as efficiently as possible. "It works in real time, so if you don't take care of these casualties quickly enough, they will die," Mary Matthews, director of development at TruSim/Blitz Games, said. "It's pretty scary." Matthews said the game was developed in six months with the help of the Serious Games Institute (SGI) at the University of Coventry, and has been tested by several potential real-world clients. "That's what is called a structured decision training game," said David Wortley, director of SGI, which works to bring together entrepreneurs working on "serious game" projects and potential customers. The British Midlands, where SGI and Blitz Games are based, were long the home to the country's industrial sector, but have since provided a base for Britain's successful video game industry. Britain was home to the developers of one of the most successful video games series ever, Grand Theft Auto, and leads Europe in developing video games, an industry which generates seven billion euros (11 billion dollars) of annual turnover in Europe alone. "Serious games are electronic games that are used for non-entertainment purposes," Wortley said. Another application has been developed for Stanford University's medical school in the United States, allowing entire medical teams, from surgeons to nurses, to test the way they coordinate in virtual situations. SGI, meanwhile, is in the midst of developing an accurate three-dimensional virtual model of London to help in the training of emergency workers and firefighters. They plan to test the British capital's readiness in response to a dirty bomb explosion. "On the plus side, it's very much cheaper and cost-effective to do the training in the virtual world," Wortley said, noting that shutting an entire city center down in real life would cause chaos. He added that it made it easier to carry out the training exercises several times, and to record and analyze varying results. American defense planners first used "serious games" with America's Army in 2002 -- the game was initially intended to encourage young people to sign up to the armed services, and to identify the most talented potential entrants. Since then, however, the US armed forces have begun using the game to help train their soldiers before sending them out into operations. "Soldiers go into a virtual Middle Eastern city, they will learn how the city works, how to operate in different cultures, how to use translators, how to respond to the incidents and dangers in these cities before they have to go," said Dick Davies, an executive producer at Ambient Performance, which specializes in creating virtual worlds. SGI is also working on far less dramatic games -- one team is in the process of creating a virtual model of ancient Rome, to allow for virtual field trips by classrooms. In addition, it helps companies which make use of virtual worlds, such as Second Life, to conduct business, and works on applications for the tourism industry. With a report from INQUIRER.net

HERE'S a video INQUIRER.net community evangelist Alex Villafania took of Level Up! marketing manager Mon Macutay demonstrating the online game publisher's new casual game Crazy Kart, developed by China-based Shanda.

By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net STARTUP game publisher EagleGame has announced the launch of its first game in the Philippines, HighStreet 5, with a premiere party on July 11. In an interview with hackenslash, EagleGame marketing and communications manager Rio Encarnado said the company has switched on the game's official portal where visitors can start downloading the game client installer in preparation for the open beta test on July 22. The site also contains the game's first patch, MetroCity. "We put up the client installer on the site on July 3 and we've had 500 downloads by midnight," Encarnado said. The company will also start distributing the game CDs on July 14 in selected outlets of the Internet café chain Netopia, along with school events and insertion of the game in different magazines. The game is a mix of online gaming and social networking. The main game component is largely dancing with different modes (single player, double, or group). Dozens of dance steps are available for players to use in combination. Players can earn points by finishing dances and these can be used to buy virtual items in the game. The items also enhance the characters' skills. Encarnado said the game's social networking aspect is also expected to draw more users to the game. Unlike other online games, HighStreet 5 allows users to blog, post their photos, and broadcast messages across the game. A major feature in the game is also its webcam chat allowing players to see each other during gameplay. "Filipinos are crazy about social networking so by integrating this feature into a game, players will only need one place to go to if they want to connect with their friends and build a network of people," Encarnado said.

By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net UPDATE: Editor's note: Corrections made. ONLINE game publishing firm Level Up! is looking to use mobile platforms for distribution of their content. The plan is part of the company's content distribution enhancements, which started with a recent facelift of their online portal. In an interview with hackenslash, Level-Up! New Media editor in chief Kevin "Kiven" Codamon said the old site was an early attempt to incorporate a few Web 2.0 features, notably integration of content from the different game portals and forums of Level Up! The new site focuses on submission of non-text-related content from users, especially fan art, fan fiction, web comic strips, strategy guides, and tips-and-tricks. Codamon added that the user-generated content is linked to the company's player content program, which encourages players to create new material based on the Level Up! games they play. Codamon said the enhancements in the site follow what he called the "1/3 rule" where old proven content, new content features, and user-generated content share equal amounts of space. Likewise, Codamon said the site will remain accessible to all users. "We're continuously improving the site. Our mobile services are in the pipeline and might be implemented before the end of the year. That way, it'll be easier for our players to access our content," Codamon said. So far, the new site already has a mobile component, which is largely a download site for mobile wallpapers and logos. Eventually, they will be incorporating a group texting service called GuildTxt for players within the same guild or clan. The improved Level Up! site is also enjoying 200,000 daily page views in the main portal, he said.