By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — It may sound like the fabled land of the Rohirrim in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Rohan Online, however, is not related to it but it does have the same elements of medieval fantasy.

Rohan Online is the latest massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that game publisher Level Up! Online is introducing in the Philippines.

The game is similar to most hack-and-slash online games and features six character classes, the Humans, Elves, Half Elves, Dhans, Dekans, Dark Elf.

There are also male and female models for each class. Each of the classes have unique roles and attributes, some are close quarter combatants, some are long range fighters, while others are more balanced types.

These character classes also own unique weapons and items. Some can wield two-handed weapons like the Human Knight. The Elf Archer for example can use bows more efficiently than the rest of the characters, while the Dhan Assasins can use stealth weapons to kill enemies quietly.

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By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

SINGAPORE – Gaming giant Electronic Arts (EA) made major announcements of new titles for Asia during the Games Convention Asia (GCA) 2008 in Singapore.

EA Asia announced the availability of Warhammer Online, FIFA Online and NBA Street Online. The first two will be launched within the three-day period of GCA. NBA Street Online was already launched in several markets, including the Philippines.

EA Asia President Jon Niermann said nearly half of the world online gaming market is from Asia, making it a viable market for EA.

“Digital content on online and mobile is where we’re going to spend majority of our time because that’s where people are playing in Asia,” Niermann said.
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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

IN an effort to expand services to its players beyond games, online game publisher Level-Up! activated last weekend Game Heroes, a Flash-based website that highlights the best and most unique players of its games.

In an interview, Level Up! Marketing Manager Carlo Ople said the website aims to create model players from among the ranks of gamers in the five games that the company publishes in the Philippines.

Ople said Game Heroes is seen as a website where their gamers “become legends.” These players have eventually made a name for themselves as consistent winners of tournaments or contributors to online forums.

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Watch reporter Izah Morales’ interview with Level Up! Philippines chief executive officer Jane Walker who introduces new online game Crazy Kart.

Level Up! has partnered with Shanda Interactive China to bring this latest online game in the country.

In the same interview, Level Up! Marketing Head Ramon Macutay also describes the different features of the game in this video interview.

WAS at the World Trade Center this afternoon with hackenslash/INQUIRER.net reporter Alex Villafania and our new multimedia reporter Erika Tapalla to cover Level Up! Live.

One of the treats for attendees was the chance to play around with the early beta version of Ragnarok Online 2, the much-anticipated sequel to the title that launched the online gaming craze in the Philippines.

We asked Level Up! Inc. Ragnarok product manager Carlo Ople to give a demo of RO2 while Erika interviewed him and took video footage, and Carlo was more than happy to oblige.

So here’s a taste of RO2.

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