Game Night at Magnet Aug 1

July 29, 2008 · Filed Under Events, Gaming · 2 Comments

Heeya peeps! Are yah allowed to drink? If you’re already legal, then head on over to Magnet for a wild night of Guitar Hero and Rock Band this Friday, August 1.

Who says they need bands?!?

Bands!?! We don’t need no stinkin’ bands! Bring the noise and your game to Magnet Café this Friday, August 1st. We’re breaking out the plastic axes for a full night of rhythm game goodness starting 9pm. Rock out with your friends or make a few at the bar and form a supergroup for Rockband. More of soloist? No problemo. Test your chops in head to head battle with Guitar Heroes II&III. The only rule you have to pay attention to is, like any good rock god worth their salt, you gotta down a couple drinks before you make it to the mic. The more belligerent the better. Magnet Café, Bonifacio High Street (behind Nike). Call 856-3400 to make reservations.

Oh and yeah, I might be there… so I’ll be saying y’all!

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Crazy Kart Jeep and More

July 29, 2008 · Filed Under Crazy Kart, Level Up, MMORPG News, MMOments, Marketing · 15 Comments

Crazy Kart is currently offline undergoing final preparations for the open beta on July 31. As per our announcement, we shall be deleting all CBT accounts. I know… some people may say “but I already have a high level character”. It’s standard practice for game companies to delete the contents of the CBT accounts (Update: We will only delete the avatars and the karts, accounts will remain). I mean, they are, after all, TEST accounts and were just given away to a limited few. Now, by Open Beta, all accounts will now belong to you (via registration at MyLevelUp) and yes, I promise, no more deleting afterwards.

Meanwhile, allow me to share what you’ll see once Crazy Kart goes back online for the CBT on Thursday.

Presenting, the Pinoy Jeep…

More after one more click… Read more

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Crazy Kart Presscon

July 28, 2008 · Filed Under Crazy Kart, Events, Level Up, Marketing · 12 Comments

Last July 23, 2008, we officially launched our newest racing game, Crazy Kart via a press conference held at the National Sports Grill, Greenbelt Makati.

The event was a huge success. It was even graced by the presence of Gaby Dela Merced, the country’s top female racer (iRL) as our special guest. Our friends from the media enjoyed an afternoon of racing with Gaby. In fact, in lieu of a traditional raffle, the press had to race for the main prize - a brand new Apple iPod Touch!

I’d like to thank everyone, especially Gaby, for attending and supporting the launch. Special thanks also to my bosses, CEO Jane Walker, Marketing Director Jake Sandiego and Gameboss Ben Colayco, of course.

And yes, what’s a racing event without race girls… here are our models, Chek, runner up for Mossimo Bikini Summit (left) and Ara who was once featured in FHM (right). Rawwrrr!

More photos after the jump…

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Blogging: Making an Editorial Calendar

July 27, 2008 · Filed Under Blogging, Musings · Comment

If you treat your blog as a potential source of major income, you’ll have to plan ahead. If you intend to attract advertisers or even grow readers of your niche subject or topic, it is best to plan your content ahead of time. That’s where the editorial calendar comes in.

Having an editorial calendar “frames” and grounds you on the “theme” for the current month. Obviously, editorial calendars plot out your feature articles on a monthly basis. This can greatly improve your blog as you focus on something specific and avoid the inevitable “writer’s block” - which may strike out-of-nowhere.

Making your own editorial calendar is easier than you think.

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Review: Share your Thoughts

July 26, 2008 · Filed Under Blogging · Comment

I just recently stumbled into a new blogging service and it’s currently on beta.

It’s called Thoughts and the URL is www.thoughts.com.

Like any blogging portal or SNS service, this site will allow you to do normal things like blog, do posts, upload your photos and videos and more. But what struck me the most is that Thoughts has a simple, straightforward, clean and clutter-free interface and design . I found the clean/white interface to be unobtrusive and looking for what you need or what to do is fast and easy.

More about the site after the break Read more

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Finding the Best in Others

July 26, 2008 · Filed Under Marketing, Musings · 1 Comment

Am currently reading a book, Top Performance by one of my favorite authors, Zig Ziglar.

In it, he gives good advice on how to manage your people. He says that you have to find the good in others. This is one crucial thing managers seldom do. When you make an effort to find the best in others, it inspires them to work harder. True leadership is actually making them want to do their job since they believe in you, as their leader AND they believe that they can do better. If you don’t have a shared vision, it will be difficult to end up on the same “finish line”, so to speak.

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The Origins of Red Tape

July 25, 2008 · Filed Under Blogging, Musings · 3 Comments

Everyone hates red tape. Sometimes, in order to have total control, a group (most likely government insitutions) have thousands of processes and check-and-balance systems in place that if often becomes annoying or illogical. I myself experienced this when I went to retrieve some documents at a local government “munisipyo”.

Almost all organizations have red tape in one form or another. I myself am in favor of “law and order” but logic dictates that there must be some limit one way or the other. Red tape, if it means documenting accountability, is okay with me. But having processes just for THE SAKE of having them borders on lunacy.

Let’s change this frustration to something educational. Let’s take a break from the normal Girls, Games and Gadgets. The historical origins of the phrase “red tape” after the jump…

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Gadgets: More than just a Phone

July 23, 2008 · Filed Under Blogging, Crazy Kart, Events, Gadgets · Comment

Whew! It’s been a hectic couple of days for me. First, me and my new Brand Manager for Crazy Kart, Jeff, together with our ever-dependable guys from marketing services had to cram a lot of work to prepare for our press-launch: which we did today at the National Sports Grill in Greenbelt, Makati

Thank goodness everything went out fine. In fact, Gabby Dela Merced, the country’s top female racer (iRL) even graced the event to show her support for Crazy Kart. Anyways, I wasn’t able to get photos… but our official photographer, Michelle did! More about that (with LOTS of photos) in a separate post, ok?

Meanwhile, most of the tasks to prep for the event were done using my mobile phone. Instructions were just a text or call away. I couldn’t have done half of what could’ve been without my trusty mobile.

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Why Would Players Pay?

July 21, 2008 · Filed Under Marketing, Musings, Online · 22 Comments

Most online games today are based on F2P or Free-to-Play model. Countries in Asia are more used to this type of business model than Westerners. In this part of the world, F2P games have been hugely succesful businesses. Only WoW has been the exception, most notably in China and Korea where it is bigger than some local F2p MMORPGs.

F2P games are based on “microtransactions”. You get the game for free, register for free and then you’re in. But if you want added value for your character, usually in the form of either a “premium service“; where you get more EXP and mods, or in the more common item mall, you’ll have to shell out cash.

This is where you separate the men from the boys. Those who know what they’re doing, both in terms of running (developing) the game and marketing (publishing) it will excel in getting players to pay.

But why would your players pay? Let’s find out.

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Denise Milani

July 20, 2008 · Filed Under Girls · 8 Comments

One of the world’s most sought-after busty, non-nude model; Denise Milani is quickly making a name for herself…

Who is she?

AskMen.Com says that “Denise Milani is quickly becoming one of the world’s most sought-after busty, non-nude models. Since 2004, she has appeared in countless photo shoots for popular online sites such as SPORTSbyBROOKS.com and PinupFiles.com. Her own website, DeniseMilani.com also attracts thousands of new visitors every week thanks to her red-hot pictorials and sassy videos.”

Quote

“First and most importantly, I love making videos, and if you have seen some of them, you have to agree with me.”