August 2009 Archives

By Alexander Villafania MANILA, Philippines – After months of regional tournaments, eight teams from different parts of the country will be facing off to get a chance to represent the Philippines in the upcoming Ragnarok World Championships (RWC). The teams that will face off on August 21 for the Ragnarok Philippines Championships (RPC) 2009 are Coerce, Finest, Devour, Reunited, Bitzbox, El Cuerpo and Influenza. The national competitions included online server battles, regional tournaments and voting for a wildcard team from other Ragnarok players. The winner in the RPC 2009 will compete in the RWC on November 1 to be held in Japan. The Philippines first joined the RWC in 2007 though the local competitions, conducted by Ragnarok Online publisher Level Up!, has been running for five years. Team Bozanian Beastfighters placed fourth in last year’s RWC, which was dominated by a team from Thailand.

By Alexander Villafania INQUIRER.NET Modifying the inner components of gaming consoles to play bootlegged video games led to the arrest of a student from Cal State Fullerton. The NBC Los Angeles NBC Log Angeles reported that Matthew Lloyd Crippen was arrested at his home by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for modifying Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation, and Nintendo Wii. He was indicted on two counts of violating the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, according to the report from ICE. ICE also said that piracy has grown in the US in recent years. Losses to the US economy as estimated to be around US$250 billion a year. Modifying or “modding” of game consoles is a huge business in the Philippines. The purpose is to have the console play pirated games, some of which cost less than P100 (approximately US$2). The Philippines has no law similar law to the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act to prosecute those who modify equipment. However, law enforcers in the Philippines use copyright laws against distribution and selling of illegal software, as well as movies and music.