By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines will be hosting the International Tekken 6 Grand Finals on November 3, organizer Timezone Philippines told hackenslash.

Ana Cardenas Benitez , marketing officer of Timezone Philippines, said the Tekken 6 local competitions have also been moved to later dates.

The registration period will start from September 1 to 15 at several Metro Manila Timezone branches. The pre-finals will be held on September 27, she said.

The participating Timezone branches are Glorietta 4, Greenbelt 3, Alabang Town Center, Bonifacio High Street, SM Megamall, Market Market, TriNoma, Robinsons Metro East, Gateway, Robinsons Ermita, Greenhills, Robinsons Galleria, Mall of Asia, Waltermart, Metropoint and Cash ‘n Carry.

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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.

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By Relly Carpio
INQUIRER.net

TIMEZONE has unveiled its newest driving game at the recently concluded Celebrity Open held at the Trinoma Activity Center — Sega’s Ford Racing: Full Blown.

Here is a video interview I conducted with Timezone Philippines president and general manager Raffy Prats. The video also gives a sneak peek at Ford Racing: Full Blown.

The game features various cars from Ford Motors Co. These are categorized into Classic, Modern, Racing/Touring, Concept, and Off-Road. Examples of some of the cars included are the 1965 Mustang Mach 1, the Focus 2003, the GT 500, the Shelby Mustang Concept, and the Ford trucks.

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By Relly Carpio
INQUIRER.net

A WANGAN Midnight Maximum Tune 3 limited edition poster, signed by the arcade racing game’s creators, has been put on auction by Timezone Philippines for the benefit of Children’s Hour.

The bidding will run until 6 p.m. Philippine Time (10 a.m. GMT) of April 15. For bids and inquiries, contact bid master Weng Mingoy at wengm@timezone.com.ph or call Aileen or Nedz at +63 2 9147142. The winning bid and bidder will be announced on April 17. International bids are welcome.

Only 100, 000 copies of the poster were made and this is the only one in the Philippines. It was brought by the three Bandai Namco executives that visited the Philippines to judge the recently concluded Timezone Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 competition. The poster of the Devil Z racing the Blackbird was signed by all the creators of Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune, the tuner car driving simulation arcade game created by Bandai Namco.

Raffy Prats (in photo), president and general manager of Timezone Philippines, announced the opening of the auction during the event. Kazuhiro Maeda Game Design Section, Creative Department; Yoshikazu Takenaka, major programmer; and Casey Utsunomiya, assistant manager, International Sales Section, International Sales were the executives who brought the poster. They are also members of the team behind the arcade game.

The auction started with an initial bid of P2,000 ($50), and as of this writing is now at P10,000 ($250).

Children’s Hour is a grant-giving organization that funds programs committed to protecting the welfare of disadvantaged Filipino children. They raise funds by inviting individuals, employees, and companies to donate at least one hour of their earnings once a year.

By Relly Carpio
INQUIRER.net

UPDATE: Editor’s note: Added video.

THE FINALS for Timezone’s Maximum Tune 3 competition was held Monday in front of their Glorietta 4 branch. The finalists from their branches all over the metro trooped and went head to head in randomly selected maps.

The winners are Anton Veloso, 20, of Team C.R.O.W., as overall champion; Mark Edward Blanza, 20, also of Team C.R.O.W., first runner-up; Carlito Abellana, 27, Team Akuma, second runner-up; and Loy Joseph Quitain, 17, as fourth runner-up.

Here’s a photo I took. In the front row are (l-r) Quintain, Veloso, Blanza and Abellana. In the back row are (l-r) Timezone Philippines president and general manager Raffy Prats; Viva Hot Babe Jennifer Lee; Kazuhiro Maeda of Bandai Namco Japan Game Design Section, Creative Department; Timezone Philippines business development and marketing manager Lelet Volfango; Takenaka Yoshikazu, major programmer for Bandai Namco Japan; Timezone Philippines operations manager Ronald John Lucas; and Casey Utsunomiya of Bandai Namco Japan, assistant manager, International Sales Section, International Sales.

The three special guests from Bandai Namco Japan, who are members of the development and design team behind Maximum Tune 3, watched as the kids pushed their creation to the limits.

Here’s a video interview I conducted.

Utsunomiya graciously translated for his colleagues throughout the event and the interviews. They were very happy with what they saw during the eliminations and finals. He specifically mentioned that Takenaka was very pleased with the participants as they played the game because he was the one who designed the courses, their shape and the control programming of the cars and their artificial intelligence.

Executives of Timezone Philippines and the special guests, including the Bandai Namco judges and Viva Hot Babe Jennifer Lee, played an exhibition round in between the eliminations and final rounds.