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By Alexander Villafania INQUIRER.NET MAKATI, Philippines –Refreshed after months of hiatus Philippine online game publisher E-Games is going on a launch spree with the introduction of two games in a single week. The first game is a major massively multiplayer online game (MMORPG) entitled Runes of Magic, which combines elements from several genres, including World of Warcraft, Warcraft III: Defense of the Ancients, and The SIMS. It was launched last September 9, coinciding the date (090909) with a thematic apocalyptic approach. Runes of Magic is developed by Taiwan-based Runewaker. E-Games Vice Products Vice President Heidi Anne Mendita-Garayblas said they are currently opening for alpha testing alpha testing and will have the open beta test in October, with the game to go commercial before the end of the year. The second game would be launched on September 11 and would be entitled Operation 7, the company’s first shooter game. OP7 is currently on open beta testing. During the press conference of Runes of Magic E-Games President Gil Edeza said the new MMORPG would be targeted at new and existing players from their current MMORP line up as well as from competing titles. He notes the game would have the gameplay elements for serious gamers while also being easy for first-time MMORPG players. During a previous press conference Enrique Gonzalez, president of IPVG (parent firm of e-Games), they are looking to strengthen their content divisions, particularly on online games. E-Games contributed P121 million in revenues to IPVG during the first half of 2009, second only to IPVG’s communications division, which contributed P557 million. Overall, IPVG pegged P762 million in consolidated net revenues for this period. Gonzalez also noted that while their communications business remains to be their biggest revenue contributor, online games would be the fastest growing segment of their business.

By Alexander Villafania INQUIRER.NET MANILA, Philippines -- Mobile games distributor MegaMobile is planning to introduce more Java-based mobile games, both licensed and locally developed, as it expands its product portfolio. MegaMobile President Manny Fernando said that apart from their existing titles, the company will also introduce homegrown games. He did not describe what these games are but said that plans are being finalized with their partners. "Expect that we will be seriously capitalizing on this growth segment," Fernando said in an e-mail reply to queries from INQUIRER.net. Fernando said mobile gaming is one of the biggest mobile business segments, next to mobile music. He said all of the mobile service providers have gaming portals that have extensive library of titles. MegaMobile was acquired by IPVG Corp in February this year, under a stock purchase agreement. Currently, the company is providing six mobile games, all of which are related to the massively-multiplayer online games being offered by IPVG's gaming division, e-Games. Three of the mobile games are sub-adventures from RAN Online. These are Swordsman, Karuso's Escape, and Ran Girls Jealousy. The three other games are sub-adventures of Granado Espada Online, which are Girl Fight, Little Red Riding Elementalist and Musketeer's Wrath.

By Alexander Villafania INQUIRER.NET MAKATI CITY, Philippines -- Game distribution firm IP E-Games announced that it will become the local distributor of online game NosTale. The company will also become the payment gateway for Philippine players, utilizing its top-up cards. Korean company Entwell Co., Ltd. developed NosTale, which stands for The Tale of the Nomads of Silver Spirit. Despite its cartoonish, kid-friendly design, NosTale is considered a massively-multiplayer online game instead of a casual game. In an interview, Sonny Carlos, IP E-Games Product Manager for NosTale, said the game's server will be hosted in Korea while E-Games will provide a payment service for players in the country. Carlos said the game will target a younger generation of players. "We wanted to introduce something different in our MMORPG line up, so we decided on NosTale," Carlos said. NosTale features many of the same features found in MMORPGs including quests, party systems, item shops and chat. The online game is a story-driven adventure divided into four Acts. Players start out as an ordinary Adventurer. Later, they can be a Swordsman, Archer and Sorcerer they reach a certain level. Once a class has been reached, players can then select a "specialist card" to give their character new and unique skills. Another unique feature is the Mini Land, which is the player's own "home" where items can be stored. The Mini Lands can also be adorned with other objects, such as a house, lamp posts, trees and others. E-Games has activated a local website for NosTale players. NosTale international publisher Servex Co. Ltd. has also appointed E-Games as its global server distributor in the Philippines.

By Alexander Villafania INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine team took the top prize at the recently held RAN Online Global Tournament, beating Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Korea and Taiwan. RAN Online is one of the online games published in the Philippines by IP e-Games. The Philippine team is composed of Vincent Van Amado, Carlo Angelo Magcalas, Martin Joseph Buday and Kevin Medina. They won US$5,000 (P237,400) in cash prize. The RAN Global Tournament 2008 was held at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. It was the first time the Philippines hosted the said event but it was the second RAN Global Tournament IP e-Games Vice President for Marketing Ed Pasion said that the team to beat for this year was defending champion Thailand. Surprisingly, Thailand did not make it to the final three. Pasion noted that the Philippine team lost its first two matches before recovering to get into the finals. He credits the team's consistent practice sessions since Domination in April, e-Games' annual gaming event. Pasion said they will start the next round of preliminaries in January, leading to the next RAN Online Global Tournament in 2009. As with their selection system this year, Pasion said the team set up will be chosen through regional eliminations and the top four players will represent the Philippines for the next global tournament. The Malaysian team won second place and took home US$3,000 (P142,000), while the Hong Kong team won third place and US$2,000 (P95,000).

By INQUIRER.net MAKATI CITY, Philippines – Online game publisher IP E-Game Ventures Inc (e-Games), mobile application developer Megamobile and 3D animation studio BeeHive digital launched new mobile Java games for the Philippine market. IP E-Game Ventures is an online gaming subsidiary of publicly listed IPVG Corp., while Megamobile is a mobile application developer affiliated with IPVG Corp. In a statement, E-Games said it is releasing three mobile games for its 3D massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) RAN Online and another three mobile games for Granado Espada, another MMORPG from famed legendary game producer Hakkyu Kim. E-Games said these new mobile games were created exclusively for the Philippine market. Manny Fernando, Megamobile president, said in a statement that e-Games will be one of the first online gaming publishers to bring their gaming titles on a mobile phone. Fernando said the popularity of e-Games titles are “perfect for the players who can't get enough of RAN Online and Granado Espada.” Compared to the online game versions, the mobile games were designed to be more of a “casual and fun single player game,” e-Games said. The mobile games can run on Java-enabled phones. They can be downloaded via WAP or SMS. To date, games that are going to be available are Karuso’s Escape, RAN Girls’ Jealousy, Swordsman, Little Red Riding Elementalist, Musketeer's Wrath and GE Girls' Fight. “These exclusively developed mobile games will keep our current players entertained and wanting for more. But more importantly it’ll reach to new players who have yet to experience the incredible virtual worlds of RAN Online and Granado Espada. Our mobile games will provide them a glimpse on how utterly fun our titles are,” Ed Pasion, e-Games vice president for marketing, said in a statement.