By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

SINGAPORE — Game developer Peter Molyneux, known as one of the pioneers in the “god game” genre of video games urged developers here to continue pushing the envelope of game development.

Having been credited for making god games like the seminal Populous, Molyneux shared his past experiences, his thoughts about today’s development trends, and his company’s new project that he claimed will be a big surprise for gamers.

Molyneux has been in the business of creating “god games,” which lets players act as a divine or omniscient entity controlling the creation of an entire world that can affect units in a make-believe, virtual world.

Speaking during the Games Convention Asia 2008 here, the soft spoken Molyneux said he has seen a lot of changes in the way games are developed — not just on the programming but also on the business aspect of developing games. [Read the rest of this entry »]

By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — Singapore-based video game distributor New Era Digital Interactive Media Inc. is refreshing its business in the Philippines in measured steps, as it prepares to introduce two online games in the coming weeks.

The company is also preparing to launch two “huge titles” that will target gamers in Internet cafes, the company said.

Allan Carbonell, newly appointed New Era Digital Interactive Media country manager, told hackenslash that the company will introduce the virtual social networking game Habbo, owned by Finnish firm Sulake Corporation, soon.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Relly Carpio
INQUIRER.net

IP E-GAMES has announced its acquisition of the exclusive rights to publish and distribute Cabal Online, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) from Korea-based game developer EST Soft, here in the Philippines. Cabal Online will be officially introduced publicly in the coming Domination II event that will be held at SMX convention hall on April 6. Representatives from EST Soft will be present at the event to support the launch of their product.

“The success of Cabal Online in other regions convinced us to bring it here as part of our commitment to bring the best games for the Filipino gamer,” said Heidi Mendita, IP e-Games group product manager.

Cabal Online is a unique third-person MMORPG that combines futuristic, fantasy and medieval themes into an action-packed, sophisticated role-playing adventure. The game has been successfully launched in Asia, Europe, and North America (including the US and Canada), gathering 20,000,000 registrations across the globe. In Vietnam, Cabal Online recorded a maximum of 75,000 concurrent users at any given time according to a press release from IP e-Games.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

IT was quite a crowd last Saturday at the Mall of Asia Music Hall, where gamers were on hand for the commercial launch of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Lineage II.

Check out this video taken by INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter Erika Tapalla, as Asian Media Development Group COO Ronald Allan Aquino talks about the Lineage II commercial launch. hackenslash/INQUIRER.net reporter Alex Villafania conducted the interview.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Philippine-based Asian Media, the regional publisher of Lineage II, held simultaneous events at the Mall of Asia, Baguio, Cebu, Davao and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

By Alex Villafania, hackenslash reporter
INQUIRER.net

LEVEL UP! Inc. CEO Jane Walker has confirmed the departure of Level Up! Chief Operating Officer Sheila Paul, one of the earliest employees of the Philippine online game publisher.

Walker said Paul stayed on with the company until the end of May and moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in the middle of June.

“She wanted to move forward to a new industry other than gaming. It was fun working with her,” Walker said, adding that Paul was a business partner.

[Read the rest of this entry »]