December 2008 Archives

By Marjorie Gorospe INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippines -- “Dayo” literally means foreigner or stranger in Filipino. Dayo is also the title of a first full-length animated film entry in the 2008 Metro Manila Film Festival. It is Filipino-made. Dayo is story about a boy named Bubuy who goes on a quest to save his grandparents kidnapped by enchanted beings and held captive in mystical land called Elementalia. Robert Quilao, the director of Dayo, said the characters in the story were inspired by Filipino legend and culture. Filipino mythological creatures like the Manananggal (a half-bodied vampire-like creature), Tikbalang (half-man, half horse creature), Kapre (giant hairy creature who smokes a giant tobacco pipe) are characters that have been added in the animated film. But to add twist to the film, the infamous Manananggal becomes a Manananggol (Savior) and helps Bubuy save his grandparents. “People that I know from other countries say we have a rich culture so why not make use of it,” Quilao said. Dayo hopes to become a vehicle for introducing Filipino culture to the world, as the creators plan to showcase this animated film in other counties. “We have inquiries from South American countries,” Quilao added. Dayo has already opened opportunities for local animators. For years, foreign production houses come up with concepts and outsource work to local talents. “Now, we have our own concept and our own pool of talents which really deserves support from fellow Filipinos,” sad executive producer Jessie Lasaten. The animated film has tapped local artists to do voices for the main characters. Nova Villa (Lola Nita), Pokwang (yaya manananggal of Anna), Michael V.(Narsi), Laurice Guillen (diwata/bruha), Peque Gallaga (Nano), Johnny Delgado (Carpio), Gabe Mercado (Jo), Noel Trinidad, and the lead role Bubuy was voiced by Nash Aguas and Anna voiced by Katrina “Hopia” Legaspi were among the local artists who have became part of the film. Producing Dayo has cost about $1.3 million, which according to Lasaten, is still cheap compared to Hollywood animated productions. Produced by Cutting Edge Productions, Lasaten said financial constraints did not deter them from doing this full-length animated film. The film was finished in two years, and as Lasaten puts it, it was “a gamble” at that time. Dayo is now part of the official entries in the 34th Metro Manila Film Fest. “[This] is a good start,” Quilao said, referring to the animated movie. Dayo has recently received an “A” grading from the Cinema Evaluation Board because of the positive values it promotes and its “stunning” production.

By Agence France-Presse TOKYO--Nintendo Co. said Thursday it will start offering videos through its blockbuster Wii game console, the latest new feature for the Japanese entertainment giant. Nintendo said it would develop original programming which Wii users could access via the Internet and watch on their television. It is considering videos for both free and fees. The game giant teamed up with Japan's leading advertising firm Dentsu Inc. to develop the service, which will begin in Japan next year, with an eye on future expansion into foreign markets. Japanese rival Sony Corp. has already started using its popular PlayStation series for online movie sales and advertising by placing corporate messages inside games, which often have highly niche audiences. One prominent advertiser was US president-elect Barack Obama, who placed campaign commercials inside a video game produced by Electronic Arts for Microsoft's XBox 360 console. Nintendo and Dentsu said they were soliciting businesses to take part in the project to develop original Wii videos. "Nintendo and Dentsu shall use the environment surrounding the Wii so that living rooms with Wii-ready TVs would become more of a fun area for communication among families and friends," the firms said in a joint statement. Nintendo has shipped 34.55 million Wii consoles around the world, 80 percent of which are sitting near televisions in living rooms, the company said, adding that 40 percent of Wii consoles are linked to the Internet. The Wii, launched ahead of the holiday season in 2006, is known for its innovative motion-sensitive controller which has appealed to people buying a video-game machine for the first time. Nintendo already enables Wii players to use the game consoles to surf the Internet, shop online, organize digital photos and to communicate with Wii-using friends. Nintendo in November launched in Japan the DSi, which comes with a built-in camera that lets allows the user to alter people's facial expressions.

INTERACTIVE entertainment company, Asian Media has unveiled a new a subsidiary that would serve as the company's online gaming brand. IAM Interactive Inc. intends to focus on the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia, which are the original markets for Asian Media's online gaming business. Asian Media also intends to expand to other businesses, which according to IAM Interactive President and CEO Fadzly Yusof, will be announced later. Yusof said the company aims to build the IAM Interactive brand through investments in promotions and advertising as well as community building for its players. "If there are any more investments for infrastructure, it will be upgrades of our game servers to provide the best experience to our players," Yusof said. He added that they are expecting increased capacity of gamers from the three countries they serve once they have launched their new games. Yusof is also confident that by targeting the three countries, they could extend their revenue stream. "We could be bigger than the big online gaming companies." Part of their operational overhaul is shifting from pay-to-play online gaming services to free-to-play, which they would start with the casual Japanese mecha-styled first person shooter game Exteel. He said the free-to-play model would be applied in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. "We've not fully maximized these markets so there's a lot of potential business from them," he added. Two other games are set to launch in the second to third quarter of 2009. Both would also be free-to-play. Incidentally, Yusof said Lineage II, developed by NCsoft, would remain a pay-to-play game. However, there are some plans to turn it into free-to-play in Russia where it is published. "If it works there, we could bring it here," he said. Asian Media signed a US$5.5 million distribution deal with NCsoft in 2007, which gave Asian Media the right to distribute the game in the three countries. Yusof said the free-to-play model is more appealing to gamers. He added that the current US recession would not likely have dire effects on the online gaming industry simply because players would use online gaming as a cheaper form of entertainment.

By Agence France-Presse PARIS -- Following in the footsteps of the Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at President George W. Bush, anyone can take a virtual swipe at the US leader on the Internet thanks to a new game. The aim of "Sock and Awe," launched by Britain's Alex Tew, is to knock Bush out with a shoe, a feat already attained by 1.4 million players, according to the website Tuesday. Aptly named after the US "Shock and Awe" military campaign to knock out Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, the game gives players 30 seconds to aim at a figure of Bush ducking behind a rostrum. It was in protest against the Bush administration's Iraqi policy that journalist Durgham Zaidi threw both his shoes at the outgoing president Sunday during his swansong visit to the battleground. The action won Zaidi widespread plaudits in the Arab world where Bush's policies have drawn broad hostility. Tew, 24, drew world attention with his "milliondollarhomepage.com," a website he conceived when 21 to help raise money for his university education by selling off pixels at a dollar a piece. Zaidi, who was taken into custody after the Baghdad incident, has a broken arm and ribs after being struck by security agents, his brother told AFP.

Erika Tapalla INQUIRER.net A FAVORITE subject among photographers, Alodia Gosiengfiao has lived her teenage years in the limelight of an obscure world called “cosplay.” The term "cosplay" is a portmanteau of words, "costume" and "roleplay," originally from a Japanese subculture centered on dressing as characters from anime, sci-fi movies and video games. Today, cosplay is not as strange as it used to be and as one of the initial icons of this pricey hobby, Gosiengfiao reveals that there is more to her than her seemingly extravagant method of looking like a character; it is a higher form of tribute. "It changed my life in terms of fashion and the way I act. How you see characters, sometimes you tend to copy them, so it changed my personality a bit." Gosiengfiao says. Emulating characters from the physical to their traits and demeanor takes more than just acting skills. A person needs to internalize heavily, in order to accurately execute a character without a single flaw that could ruin a spectators' suspense of disbelief. "It's not just about looking like the character, it's also being the character temporarily," says Gosiengfiao. With six years of cosplay experience in her belt, one may think Gosiengfiao is used to the huge lenses, the light and the flashes -- but in reality, she was surprisingly "normal". She's meek and shy, the silent type of girl that exudes mystery and a hint of pensiveness beneath her childish porcelain smile. "I'm not the type of girl who goes out a lot," she says with that smile, "On a Friday night, I'm online." She claims she's much more talkative via the Internet, perhaps a no-brainer after just a few minutes of a quite reserved initial interview. But within minutes, Gosiengfiao loosens up, urging me to ask her about a certain group of haters who've established an "Alodia Haters Club." Like any other person, she expresses a tinge of disappointment and sadness that reflect in her eyes. But unlike any other person at her age, she seems resilient towards them, only worried about how the recent attacks have included her mother. "My mom is actually being accused of many things, and people take it the wrong way that she's fully supportive of what I do," says Gosiengfiao, "So that upsets me more than the other rumors being said, cause I know that isn't true." Quiet or loud, bare or all made up, Gosiengfiao claims she is her own person. No doubt she is because only a few people are blessed with the opportunity to pursue even their wildest passions. (Photographs taken by INQUIRER.net web developer Jonathan de Belen)

THIS recent win proves again that Filipinos are at par with international players of video games. Filipino players Carlo Racela and Daniel Chua both placed high among the players in the International Tekken 6 Championships held at the TriNoMa Mall in Quezon City last Saturday. Racela beat Australia's Andrew Kim in a race-to-five match for the championship round. Incidentally, Kim had beaten Racela during the round-robin matches that pitted five of the other players. The equally matched Kim and Racela gained four wins and one lose each before facing off. During the championship round, Racela stuck to the use of one Tekken character, while Kim changed characters twice after sensing that Racela had changed his fighting tactics. Racela's favorite character for the tournament was Bob, a new but obese player in Tekken 6. In an interview, Racela said he has been playing the Tekken series for five years. But he practiced for the tournament and admitted being nervous the first time he faced Kim. Racela won US$500 (approximately P25,000), an Asus Eee PC, and a Tekken 6 game save card that will show him as the champion of the competition. He was also given a surprise prize of a round-trip ticket for two to Japan. Chua placed fourth and won US$200 plus a Sony PlayStation Portable. During the competition, Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion was introduced. It has two new characters, Alisa Boskonovitch and Lars Alexandersson and a total of 41 characters. Timezone President Raffy Prats said they would be updating their existing Tekken 6 machines to the new Bloodline Rebellion game sometime in January. Prats said that Timezone has over 60 Tekken 6 arcade machines in the Philippines. It is also one of its most popular arcade machines so far. Arcade shop Timezone organized this year’s competition.

GAMING publisher Level Up! is launching a new set of online shows as part of their LIVE! The Show online feature. The Merry LU! Christmas! will air on December 15 to 19. It will highlight Level Up! game masters, prominent members of its gaming community, returning guests from the previously held Level Up!: The Live 2008 Experience. Level Up! Multimedia Head Joey Alarilla said that the company is also scheduled to hold some online promotions during the Level Up! Christmas! online show, including an early bird promo where the first to post a morning greeting would win 1,000 Level Up! credits. The next five would also win another 500 Level Up! credits. "We'll also be announcing new content for the games we publish. This is our way of thanking our community of gamers who have continuously supported us," Alarilla said.

By Agence France-Presse SAN FRANCISCO -- US videogame sales were a bright spot on November's bleak economic landscape, climbing to nearly three billion dollars, according to market research firm NPD Thursday. Videogame sales so far in 2008 topped 16 billion dollars at the end of November and are on pace to crest 22 billion dollars for all of 2008, according to the industry tracking group. Sales in November were 10 percent higher than the same month last year, before a financial storm slammed the economy. "The video games industry continues to set a blistering sales pace," NPD analyst Anita Frazier said, citing research that showed videogames were "the category consumers are least likely to cut back on this holiday." Videogame sales are up 31 percent for the year, driven by demand for titles such as "Gears of War 2" and "Call of Duty: World at War," according to NPD. Videogames crafted for Nintendo's coveted Wii consoles made up half the top 10 best selling titles. Wii sales in November were more than double those of Microsoft Xbox 360 consoles and more than five times those of Sony's PlayStation 3 systems. Still, each of the rival videogame console makers "had something to brag about" in the robust sales figures, Frazier said. Videogame sales are being bolstered by an industry trend of expanding the audience beyond "hardcore gamers" by designing offerings for families, girls, seniors, and others aside from young-male fans of shooter titles. "Economic factors are also at play given that a video game is a relatively inexpensive form of entertainment for the hours of value it provides," said Frazier. A freshly released "Fallout 3" videogame from Bethesda Softworks lets people immerse themselves in the roles of heroes or outlaws in a vivid post-apocalyptic Washington for scores of hours. At a price of 60 dollars for a copy of the videogame, the cost breaks down to less than a dollar an hour for entertainment as compared with five or so dollars an hour to go to a film. "It's clear there can be more multiple victors this generation (of consoles)," Frazier said. "While price is certainly a strong factor, particularly as the current economic situation continues to prevail, the most important factor that will drive success in 2009 will be the line-up of compelling games that will keep consumers involved in the industry."

"There's only one good reason to get in [video game development] and that's because you can't imagine yourself doing anything else." This was what game development guru Chris Natsuume told hackenslash the first time he was asked what would be the primary reason for anyone to get into game development. Natsuume, co-founder of casual game development firm Boomzap (www.boomzap.com), was in the Philippines to speak to game developers about the game development industry. During his talk, Natsuume touched on some misconceptions about game development. "A lot of people have this image that they're going to be famous because they get to play their games everyday." But sooner or later, as Natsuume stressed, game developers would get too tired playing what they created. Natsuume admitted that he got over playing FarCry, one of the games that he was part of developing while working with Crytek. "I've played it a billion times and it sort of got boring," he said. He also warned that the gaming business, no matter how illustrious and fun it sounds, might not be something that others expect it to be. "It may not even like you as much as you like it," he said. He stressed a college education is necessary to ensure that a game programmer, designer, and producer would still have jobs outside the gaming industry if things do not turn out as planned. Nevertheless, Natsuume said there are good reasons for joining the game development industry and it's not always about the pay. He said it's about the need to continuously build something. He said many of the better game developers and programmers have a passion for building and innovating without having to think of financial gains. He cited a game developer from Myanmar who had nothing to start with but was able to build simple yet compelling games. "He wasn't getting paid to build games but he was doing it simply because he wanted to do it. People like that have to be hired," he said. Still, Natsuume said that no one should be too caught up with labels, especially when it comes to nationalities. He said that any developer is branded according to the level of work they have done on a specific game and not from where they come from. "It's all becoming a global industry so you can't be identified for being from the Philippines or any other country. People from anywhere who are really dedicated to what they're doing can do it," he said. In Crytek, which is a German company, Natsuume said it had developers from 17 different countries. They all worked to achieve one goal and that is to finish a game. None of them compared each other for being one nationality or another. "I brought that ideal also with Boomzap because I've hired people from different countries because I think they're capable people. I even pay them the same level of salaries," he said. Natsuume said game development is just like any other industry, where successful people are often driven by passion. Nationalities don’t matter.

THE Philippine video game development industry is expected to be worth $3 million by the end of the year and $7 million by 2010, an industry study conducted for a local game development organization showed. In 2007, the study said the local game development was worth about $1 million, according to Cesar Tolentino, game development research consultant who presented the study during the Business Process Outsourcing Summit in Crowne Plaza Hotel. Six outsourcing industries, including game development industry, showcased their services for the offshore market during the event. Tolentino pointed out that the local game development industry employs about 500 people who now work in at least 10 Philippine-based companies. "There has been growing number of inquiries from potential clients abroad and investors locally. It is already an indication that the Philippine game development business has a lot to gain," Tolentino said. The study involved 28 companies engaged in game development. Some of these companies are members of the Game Development Association of the Philippines (GDAP), which sanctioned and funded the study. Tolentino said each employee working in the video game development business produces about $30,000 worth of projects per year. He compared this to software development employees who are producing $24,000 worth of projects per year. "Because it's a small industry, there's a lot going for it. But we're also concerned about general perception about game development so GDAP is already doing some promotion and educational activities," Tolentino said. GDAP is working with several government agencies and academic institutions to promote the industry. They have a project with the Bureau of Investments to make game development as one of the investment priorities of government, where incentives such as tax breaks are offered. The local organization is also working with the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) on trade missions abroad and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to create a representative trading points for project and investment queries for Philippine game developers. GDAP is also working with schools to help develop subjects and curriculums on game development. "Much of the work that has to be done is educating people. For budding developers, we tell them there's an industry where they can work. For the government, we want them to know that this industry can contribute to the economy," Tolentino said. The local game development industry has recently been making headway in the development of original games.