By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Singapore-based video game distributor New Era Digital Interactive Media Inc. is refreshing its business in the Philippines in measured steps, as it prepares to introduce two online games in the coming weeks.
The company is also preparing to launch two “huge titles” that will target gamers in Internet cafes, the company said.
Allan Carbonell, newly appointed New Era Digital Interactive Media country manager, told hackenslash that the company will introduce the virtual social networking game Habbo, owned by Finnish firm Sulake Corporation, soon.
The game, which plays like the first Philippine online game OZWorld, uses configurable avatars to represent account owners. Players can open their own pages called Habbo Homes and customize these with widgets, stickers and backgrounds. They can also form group pages where members can lounge.
Just like any other social networking sites, Habbo has “virtual hotel rooms” where players can communicate with other avatars.
Habbo is touted as one of the most popular social networking sites. It has over 100,000,000 registered users worldwide with 9.5 million unique visits per month. Most users are between 13 and 18 years of age.
Carbonell said New Era will distribute and promote the game in the Philippines but the game will be hosted in Singapore.
“By September we’re introducing prepaid cards for players of Habbo. These will be in denominations of P50 and P100. These will allow them to buy items and virtual furniture but the game itself will be free-to-play,” he said.
Apart from Habbo, the company will also distribute boxed online game, called “Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures,” which is similar to online game “Guild Wars” already distributed in the country.
Carbonell said that the company is in the process of opening up an office in Ortigas Center, Pasig City.
By September, the company will be announcing two “big titles” that will be available through Internet cafes, though these games will be available by the end of the year.
“New era is coming in measured steps. We don’t expect our initial games to make a huge impact but before the end of the year, we’re introducing these big games,” Carbonell said.
15 Feedbacks on "Singapore-based distributor to launch fresh games in RP"
mmoaggro
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures? are they planning to sell just the boxed game or are they also going to sell prepaid stuff or other modes of payment for the sub of AoC?
JC John SESE-Cuneta
Haha, just as I thought :p Sir Allan!
Hmm, I wonder if my next guess is also correct… about the two “big” games. :p
Mr Disgusted
REALLY!!!! OK LETS SEE, SUMAMA P KAYO S DALWANG NAGUUMPUGANG BATO !!!!
LOLWTF
habbo hotel? we arent in the 1980’s anymore. i didnt know oz world was such a hit that it requires competition. if new era wants to stand up to its name, they should bring more up-to-date games, not bring outdated games here in the philippines. here’s a tip: if you want a social networking game, google the word “vside”.
and wth??? age of conan? LOL AoC already failed in the global market, its all hype with no delivery. what makes new era feel that it will be successful here? guildwars is barely clenching a market here too. the philippines is not a dumping ground of thrash from other countries… oh wait… we are LOL
here’s another tip: try WoW, hey it may be an expensive game to distribute here in the philippines, BUT its already an established mmo, and who knows it might give a higher chance of making a profit rather than the 2 junk games mentioned here.
Digest
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is not similar in any way with Guild Wars imho. First, GW is Buy to Play while AoC is Pay to Pay just like World of Warcraft. You buy the game account, the first 30 days are free then the next you’ll have to pay for it. $15 a month. AoC is a good game but the quality you’re getting this game and paying for $15 a month is not so worth it. Endless buggs, crashed the game after 2hrs of playing and the pvp system is not good. Better buy GW or WoW instead to get your moneys worth.
Digest
BTW I’m hoping for the BIG thing before the year ends. I hope its WoW.^^.
Microtransactions
Sadly, releasing underdeveloped titles in an already saturated market doesn’t exactly lend itself well to success. But who knows…perhaps New Era knows something we dont?
webster
i just hope New ERA will not be run by the same AMDG peeps, no offense to Allan but cafe hates your staff in AMDG
Digest
Theres plenty of WoW players already here in our country but we’re playing on private servers. So 20+ pesos per day load wouldn’t be big deal if its WoW. Which is the most successful mmo to date. Having huge 10 million subscribers, it already has the fan based that it needed to last for generations only from Blizzard. Coz $15 is like what amdg started for their game SEA L2 having 20 pesos per day load. If only did they take WoW instead of L2. About the upcoming games, I can smell already Aion? Lame. At first it was promising but now, not so much. I’d rather wait for GW2.
Zealot
Well, let me just say that lets give New Era a chance. I am actually excited because as i was browsing their Site, it seems that they are the one distributing BLIZZARD and we all know that STARCRAFT 2 is coming out soon..
after more than a decade.. FINALLY!!!! Could this be the the “Surprise”? go for it New Era!!!!!!!!
CantWait
Digest are you expecting for WoW? Well i hope not lol.
BTW at least finally philippines got a not korean mmo or asian mmo lol. Something new thanks. I cant wait.
BabuSeng
Bringing aging Habbo Hotel to Philippine?
New era not so new after all..
There are dozens of new Social networking games out there.. http://www.lively.com, http://www.meetoto.com, http://www.gaiaonline.com, to name a few…
If new era remains so out dated in their choice of games, it iwll be end era for them…
Reds
Sana WoW na lang i launch d2…
Parang may nabasa ako dati na parang i-lu-launch yung WoW pero biglang napalitan ng Lineage II.
Set up na pa nmn guild namen to shift to WoW biglang lineage II na release aun balikan ulet RF
Tagal n naming nag hihintay sa WoW…
Sabi nga sa shop:
“pag lumabas na WoW quit na sa RF” ^_^
Alcarcalimo
There’s no problem that hardcore MMORPG gamers will try to behead each other to just try AoC’s CBT (if there is one here), what I’m hoping for is that the Philippine Internet cafes are ready for its minimum required specs!
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