By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

THE ASSOCIATION of Southeast Asian Nation Foundation (AF) is set to launch in July a PC game that aims to provide a fun learning activity to the youth and give them useful information on the 10 member countries of the ASEAN.

AF executive director Filemon Uriarte Jr. presented the ASEAN Quest game during a memorandum of agreement signing between the AF and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in Makati City. Uriarte showed a box version of the game as well as the opening cut scene.

Uriarte described ASEAN Quest as primarily a single-player role-playing game where players have to navigate through several, albeit short, levels. There are portions of real-time strategy, trivia, a spy game and even a “build” game. Much of the game focuses on the cultural nuances of the 10 member countries of the ASEAN.

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By Joey Alarilla
INQUIRER.net

JUST upgraded to the new version of RealArcade. Yup, I also love casual games

I like the new version, actually, because it’s a lot easier to navigate. Of course, it’s obvious they also did it in order to better present ads on their site, but as long as the design is uncluttered, I don’t mind.

In fact, I saw a video ad there from Chili’s. All you need to do is watch the short clip to get a free copy of Burger Rush. So, yup, why not? This really will be the trend — online video ads and free ad-supported games. And as long as the games are good and the ads aren’t annoying, I think many of us wouldn’t mind.

By the way, while you’re there, you can also sign up for a free 30-day trial of RealArcade’s GamePass service, in case you’re interested.

How about you, what do you think of the new RealArcade? And what do you think of more free ad-supported games?

Heck, maybe in the future free ad-supported versions of even AAA console, PC and massively multiplayer online games like Halo, Grand Theft Auto and World of Warcraft franchises would become the norm.

By Relly Carpio
INQUIRER.net

TEAM Ninja of Manila won over a field of over 60 local teams, of five members each, to win the Philippine Qualifiers for the Asian DOTA Championships (ADC). The final match between Team Ninja and Team Corporation of Davao was held at Mineski Cyber Cafe along Taft Avenue.

The exciting match was a best-of-three competition. One round was won by each team, with the deciding third battle being won by Team Ninja. Team Corporation manager Ria Jose was present at Mineski though her team was assembled at, and was competing from, Davao.

Team Ninja’s win will now allow them to compete in the ADC Finals Qualifiers for the chance to gain one of two slots available in the final field of ten countries that would compete in the ADC Finals.

Incidentally, the venue of the qualifiers was the home of Team Mineski; one of eight teams with an assured slot in the finals. Should Team Ninja win one of the two available slots in the Asian Eliminations, the Philippines will have two teams in the finals. Team Mineski placed fourth in last year’s ADC.

Team Ninja is composed of Jeffrey “Fox” Fortunato, Tony “Ynot?” Mazinni, Vinni Carlo “ViNi” Caños, Regie “Rejz” Ragel, Joseph “DSR” Marco, Laurence Anthony “LA” Chua, Mark Vincent “Enteng” Co, and Jave Yu.

Team Corporation consists of Jay Arabia, Jester Ching, Duke Dalumpines, Chian Coronel, Subang Padilla, Paul Limlao and Maj Geneblazo. They are sponsored by DotAStrategy.com.

Defense of the Ancients is a mod of Warcraft III: Frozen Throne, the fantasy real-time strategy game from Blizzard. It involves team battles between five heroes to control a three-lane map.

By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net

SHANGHAI, China–Intel and Epic Games have announced a contest for aspiring gaming developers to create modifications or “mods” for the PC version of Unreal Tournament 3.

Developers can create mods in various categories including environments, characters, weapons, vehicles and game play.

The “Make Something Unreal” contest carries a $1 million prize, including an Unreal Engine 3 license as grand prize.

Other prizes include Intel software development products and Velocity Micro PCs, using Intel’s Dual Socket Extreme Desktop platform running on Core 2 Extreme quad-core processors.

Judging will begin this June and grand prizes will be awarded next year. Contest mechanics can be found at www.makesomethingunreal.com

By INQUIRER.net

FILIPINO player Kevin Patrick Chung will fly to Singapore to compete in EA Play, which will be held on March 15 to 16 at Marina Square’s Central Atrium as part of the company’s plan to further foster interactive community exchanges in the Asia Pacific.

Chung topped the Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars tournament held at the Villman Cyberzone at SM Megamall.

“I think successful naman, it being the first competition we’ve held, and the limited amount of time for the set-up,” said Jo Oliver, operations manager of event sponsor DataBlitz.

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