When game leader Blizzard puts together a show, it’s a spectacle to behold. The Blizzard Worldwide Invitational 2008, held in Paris last weekend, was one awesome event!
That’s where they announced Diablo 3, my bosses, Ben “Gameboss” Colayco, Level Up international COO and Phil Cahiwat, Level Up international content director were there to witness everything. Wish I was with them. Anyways, it was a grand Blizzard party filled with talks, game demos, tournaments, cosplay and shops.
Oh well… we have our ups and our downs. But the thought that there are still thousands upon thousands of loyal Level Up players (like you) - keeps our blood running…. I kid thee not when I say that we’re all working hard to make your gaming experience even better.
In case you missed some of the stuff here at my blog, I’ve compiled the best posts of June 2008 for your convenience.
The drums of war beat wildly into the night. The dark skies light up as armies raise their weapons and shout their battle cries. In this time of conflict, despair, and trial – legends will be made, immortals will rise, and heroes will be born. Historians will write about their deeds and bards will sing of their glory.Â
From the Asgardian realm of Midgard, the war-torn continent of Pangu, the harsh deserts of Novus, the hard courts of Freestyle, and the vast islands of Roika…Â
I’ve been playing the CBT of Crazy Kart for some time now. The game is fast and fun, that much I can tell you.
I’ve also been receiving a lot of your feedback via email and thank you for all the kind words and also for reporting some of the minor bugs and errors during the CBT. There are now a lot of players inside the games and the rooms are always full. It takes a mastery of the drift, the proper “curving” and strategy on using the “weapons” that makes the game exciting, challenging and fun. There are various degrees of difficulty when it comes to maps too.
The game gurus (or the GPS guys - Game Play Specialists) have helped me do an in-game video of the actual CBT. Thanks guys, I owe you merienda. There are individual and team races but the team races are the most fun.
A couple of days ago, the team from Shanda arrived. They went here to ensure that the CBT for Crazy Kart will all go well and also to go around Metro Manila and shoot photos of interesting landmarks. This will be used for the production of the localized pinoy maps that we’re going to do for the game.
Part of my hectic day was to tour them across scenic places in the city such as Luneta and Intramuros.
I haven’t visited Rizal park for quite some time now and was surprised at how clean and magnificent it now looks. And yes, there were still 2 guards standing in vigil even while the sun was at its peak and glaring at a mind-whopping 35 degrees. Man! Talk about a hard job.
After the break, I’ll show you more photos and a sneak peek at the official CK poster.
For the almost 5 years I’ve been in the gaming industry, I learned a lot of things. How to do things right and, in the course of handling the different aspects of the games and the business, I also learned what NOT to do.
During these times, experience has been my greatest teacher. I’ve had a lot of mentors too. Those who told me how to do the “corporate” stuff like juggling numbers, managing people, deliverables, to them - I all owe my sincerest gratitude. But like what I said before, failures are also something to embrace. Why? Because you learn from them. The taste of success will be sweeter if you get up when you fall down.
Freestyle Philippines gets a new website and a makeover using the Wordpress platform. Yep, that means that the site is a blog now with the cool functionalities and features of ermm… blogs.
Thanks to great efforts of our Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Kevin Codamon, FS BM Hector Sagrado and Community Manager Toti Alido, the site is now up and running after several weeks of tuning and tweaking. Props to all of you for another splendid job!
This is a wonderful project led by our Sales team in cooperation with the local goverment of Cebu city.
They “reclaimed” a long, plain brick wall and gathered the brightest young artists and gamers to put their creativity to work.
The result is an awesome and artistic rendition of game art, all shining with color and adorned with key values. Who says that gaming and social responsibility doesn’t mix? Check out more of the murals here
Recently, our New Media team headed by JC Medina, New Media Director and our Editor-in-Chief, the one and only “Lord of the Blogs”, Kevin Codamon participated in the Philippine SNS conference held at the Hotel Intercon, Makati.
Our New Media team is responsible for all the advergaming that you see inside the game, Coke, Nestle, Jollibee and many more have been our partners. They’ve been hard at work to get more partners and introduce to traditional “brick-and-mortar” companies the value of online communities.
Meanwhile, reporter Alex Villafania of Inquirer interviewed the two head honchos to find out more about their take on SNS and of course, UGC (user generated content) and how it fits into gaming and our communities.
Let’s face it. A lot of MMORPGs out there look the same. Except for a new “theme”, new monsters, or some subtle changes in gameplay, it’s not that all different. Go to a quest, kill a monster, get good item, level up. This evil cycle repeats itself ad nauseum.
Some games spend advertising money to harp about the better graphics and how real the light and shadows are. But do the real gamers care?
Meanwhile, I decided to come up with an informal poll on which features of a game would make one play. The choice is yours…
