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 Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

DESPITE the Philippines not winning a single award in the World Cyber Games Grand Final in the last seven years, Samsung Electronics Philippines and Intel Philippines said they will continue supporting the local activities of the WCG, hoping that eventually, gaming tournaments in the country will become a respected spectator sport and produce professional gamers.

Intel Philippines country manager Ricky Banaag said the gaming community is heading toward that direction with gaming shops purchasing more powerful PCs that could run resource-intensive games. He added that many local tournaments are being conducted, indicating a growing community of semi-professional gamers.

“Our latest processors are aimed toward the gaming industry and we see that the demand is high. Hopefully more gamers will see themselves competing in a tournament level,” Banaag said.

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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 Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net

UPDATE: Editor’s note: Added video taken by INQUIRER.net technology reporter Erwin Oliva.

A FILIPINO startup has announced its entry in the free, advertising-based mobile game market in the country, as it offered at least 800 Java-based downloadable games for free to local subscribers, its chief executive officer told hackenslash Monday.

Ubersoft Inc. CEO Vince Yamat said the company was betting on the increasing demand for free mobile phone games that are currently offered at premium prices of about P30 to P50 per game by local service providers.

“This is something disruptive,” said Yamat, as he pointed out that mobile phone games contribute a significant amount to the total revenues of mobile phone networks.

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By Relly Carpio
INQUIRER.net

THE RAGNAROK World Championship (RWC) will be held for the first time outside South Korean developer Gravity Inc.’s motherland, and it will be here
in the Philippines at Level Up! Live 2008 to be held at the World Trade Center on October 18 and 19.

“We are flying in 10 teams from different countries. It’s going to be the first international online game tournament to be hosted by the Philippines,” said Jake San Diego, Level Up! marketing director.

This announcement was what San Diego was referring to in an earlier article when he asked Ragnarok players to “stay tuned” for a development that would “raise the bar in online gaming in the country.”

The RWC will run alongside the grand finals of the other games of Level Up! namely, Rising Force Online, Perfect World, Flyff and Freestyle.

Level Up! will hold the Ragnarok Philippine Championship, which usually takes place at LU! Live, two weeks ahead of the event to determine the representative members.