By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines – Level Up! Philippines has launched Grand Chase, a side-scrolling, arcade-style, online fighting game that can be played by up to six players on three-versus-three mode, an executive said.

The action, similar to the popular Nintendo fighting game Super Smash Bros, is set to compete with other similar fighting games published by rivals, including Gunbound from Mobius, GetAmped from Amped Games and the locally developed game Bangu-Bang from VITAS.

In an interview, Level-Up! Marketing Manager for Casual Games Carlo Ople said the closed beta test of Grand Chase will start in October.

The open beta test will start in November, immediately followed by its commercial launch in November.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

SINGAPORE – Singapore video game publisher and distributor Cherry Credits said it is launching Black Shot, a team-based, an online first-person shooter game, in the Philippines soon.

Cherry Credits CEO Addison Kang said they already have a partner in the Philippines to publish the game though he did not mention the company’s name.

“We’ll reveal it in mid-October this year when we start the close beta test. We’ll do an open beta by November,” Kang said.

Black Shot is similar to Counterstrike in terms of game play. Most of the controls are even following the same pattern as CS.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

THE Philippines is hosting the upcoming RAN Online Global Tournament scheduled on October 4 at the SMX Convention Center, according to local game publisher IP e-Games who is organizing the event.

IP e-Games Vice President for Marketing Ed Pasion told hackenslash that the Philippines was chosen because of the size of the RAN community in Asia, as well as the support it is getting from RAN players in the Philippines.

IP e-Games said this will be the first time that the Philippines will host the RAN Online Global tournament after Thailand in 2007.

The global competition will have the best RAN players from the Philippines, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand playing in a local area network-based competition.
[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines – Local game publishers appear lukewarm to a recent report about increasing concerns of online bullying in online games.

Local publishers believe that Filipino gamers are more courteous and sociable.

Reacting to the report by the International Data Corp., IP e-Games Vice President for Marketing Ed Pasion said the local publisher does not believe that bullying is an issue among Filipino gamers who are striving to be better as they create alliances to avoid being bullied.

“They eventually meet a lot of new people and cross social boundaries which is important in a society that is increasingly becoming insulated from one another,” Pasion said.

Pasion also cited that gamers also coordinate with each other, thus building a sense of teamwork instead of just fighting each other. “That’s a real skill and games are about solving problems, and it should tell us that kids race home from school where they are often bored to get on games and solve problems.”
[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net 

SINGAPORE – Gaming “bullies” are becoming the biggest headache in thriving online gaming communities in Asia, a recent survey by the research group International Data Corporation (IDC) showed. 

A recent IDC report noted that 64 percent respondents from different Asian countries are complaining about online gaming bullies targeting new or weaker players, while another 70 percent complained about rude players. 

Meanwhile, the report also showed that more than 50 percent of respondents believed that meeting other players is an important aspect in playing online games. A gamer has an average of 26 online gaming friends while gamers below 25 years old usually have 28. 
[Read the rest of this entry »]