This is our second roadshow or guild/player’s assembly for our newest game, Bounty Hounds Online. This time, BHO goes to San Fernando, Pampanga!

Last Dec 7, 2011, the BHO team, led by Ryan Sacares and GM Aveline trooped to Pampanga to show the game and have fun with BHO fans. We also gave away a LOT of beta keys. This was also the event where we unveiled the AWESOME, new, BHO shirt!

Check out more of the pics…

Our first event was at Metro Manila.

The BHO team will now head to Davao and Cebu! See you there!

For more details, head on over to our BHO Facebook Page and if you want to get exclusive Beta Keys, join my Facebook contest now!

Thanks!

Whew! It’s over! One day of pure AWESOMENEZZZ! That was Level Up LIVE 2011 last weekend, November 5, 2011. And, after 2 days of catatonic slumber, here (finally) is my blog coverage…

Ready?

So, what were the highlights for LIVE this year?

First off, we changed the rules for Early Birds. Instead of a long (and often chaotic line) on Saturday early morning. We had a single line on the wee hours of Friday. We also used high tech Biometrics Scanner to record and verify identities. Thanks to our staff, our agency and of course, the WTC security force and the PNP, the lines were orderly and everything moved fast. Too bad it rained a bit but a little water didn’t dampen the LU players which, methinks, do this yearly as either a “rite of passage” or tradition. Many thanks (and congrats) to all the Early Bird winners this year! Thanks once more for your unwavering patience and support!

Now, when it was time to start the show, after Gameboss Ben Colayco’s inspiring speech, it was an awesome production number! With mime artists, clowns, stilt walkers, and jugglers. But the star of the show were none other than the sexy R Girls. Our dancers wowed the audience with their Shakira-inspired belly dancing number! Woot! It was jaw-dropping awesome! I dare say that this year was one of the best dance numbers for LIVE. Thanks R Girls!!! You ‘Rok!

More! More! More!

For the tournaments, everything was facilitated without a glitch. Thanks to an early setup and anticipation for any technical problems, we finished the setup early and when it came to running the tournaments, each game’s tournament committee did their jobs like a well-oiled machine. Here are the list of Champions per game;

• KOS Champion – Simple Clan
• Perfect World Champion – Dius
• Allods Online Champion – Rebellion
• RF Online Champion – ClanRogueWolf
• Rohan Champion – Team RAI
• Grand Chase Champion – Nihil XML
• Ragnarok Champion – Harabas

Congrats to all the winning teams! And thanks too for their opponents for great fights! (There’s always next year again, dudes. Keep on aspiring for that goal)

Before the Cosplay, I had the honor of announcing our newest MMO game, Bounty Hounds Online. To help me promote it, we formed the special “BHO Girls”. Woot! Check out the pics…

Thanks, BHO Girls!

For more info about BHO, head on over to the official PH BHO site and the official BHO PH Facebook page.

And then it was time for the much anticipated Cosplay, check out some of the highlight photos here. This year’s batch were all talented cosplay artists! Congrats and thanks to all!

After that, it was time for the main event of the evening, the annual RPC 2011 finals. This was a great match between perennial finalist, Wanted and Team Harabas. Like a Manny Pacquioa fight! In a great series (which changed advantage after every match), Harabas squeeked in a victory to win 3-2 versus Wanted. Congrats to Harabas, our new RPC 2011 Champion!

During the finals match of RO, Miss Philippines-Universe Shamcey Supsup showed up! I heard that Shamcey was with his boyfriend (a FlyFF player) who was claiming an in-game prize at the redemption booth. The grapevine was also abuzz that Shamcey is a gamer herself. We’ll have to confirm that rumor, though.

After the RO finals, I showed the final list of winners for the main LIVE 2011 raffle (which we will also announce on our website and our FB pages) and the other raffle winners.

And that, ladies and gents, is how our event ends. It’s now part of the history books. Even if it was just one day, we still managed to show everyone that you’ll get the same excitement and experience compared to previous 2-day celebrations. (and yes, it’s less stress on the part of us organizers *wink*).

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the following special people who helped us mount and organize LIVE 2011:

To Adonna Tan (my Marketing Services Manager) for leading the charge and to his partner-in-crime, Jhay Jose (LU Events Coordinator) – thanks for all the hard work and the sacrifice. We couldn’t have done it without your dedication. To Niel Caruncho (our Web Team Head and Tech Setup Lead) and his staff, Jac and Sef, to Tournament Director Keith Morales, Assistant Tournament Director Gary Berba, all the games’ head judges (Ruth, Rica, Cath, Gef, Donald, Sheena, Louie, Jomar,) Marketing Managers Ryan and Roy. To all my BMs and ABMS, to the LIVE Execom members (Keith, Gary, Ryan, Janrey, Marx, JP, Nil, Sef, Pao, Lanie, Lex), to all the side-event managers and judges, to Cheena and Hazel for taking care of the cosplay, to all team members of Game Ops and CS led by JP and Dred, to all ICT team peeps led by Pao and Allan, to all the awesome Sales peeps led by Earl, Leo and Shella (special thanks to Dada for doing everything!);  to Kamesh and Caloy for handling our sponsors; to the HR and Finance team especially Ricky, Joyce, Janet and Pang for seeing to it that we have the finances in order, to all my team members in the marketing department, to the Creatives team Daqs, Sef, Otep, George, and Redg for volunteering to do a variety of tasks; to Dang and Joan for taking care of our VIPs; and of course to our head GM (General Manager), Jake, for his guidance and support, to the GameBoss Ben Colayco for his great speech and encouraging words to boost our morale and thanks also to my co-host Pam and to all the peeps at LU International. Special thanks too to former Level Up Multimedia Head, good friend and fellow blogger, Kiven Codamon for showing up and for his support.

A million thanks to all! I apologize if I missed anyone here. You know who you are.

Special thanks also to our agency, OGA led by Rod V and his trusted team members, Joie, Sheryl, Ivy, Joan, Ana and Greg. To Direk Alexa and to Nicky. To Ronald and his R Girls (paki hello mo ako kay Rea ha!) Maraming, maraming salamat po!

Of course, special thanks also to our sponsors; PLDT MyDSL, PC Express, Sykes, Star City, Yes FM, 99.5RT, No Fear, White Knight Hotel, Yeo’s Juice Drink, Lucky Me, Hero Hotdog. Thanks so much for your support!

Last but not least, our deepest gratitude to all our players and members of the community who attended the event. Seeing the crowd and your enthusiasm washed all our pagod away. You’re the reason we did this great event and without all of you, this wouldn’t have an awesome and successful event! Many thanks for continuing to believe in us, our company, and in our games.

See you again next year!

Rok On!

GM T

For more photos

• LIVE Album at my Facebook Page
• LIVE 2011 Cosplay Album

*some photos courtesy of Codamon.com and Teppie Exiled

Last Saturday, at the LIVE event, I had the honor to announce and reveal our newest MMORPG offering – Bounty Hounds Online.

Bounty Hounds Online, originally a PSP game, is a sci-fi game developed by XPec and Bandai.

BHO offers great PVP combat and other awesome features as fully transformable and customizable pets, huge kick-ass weapons, massive boss opponents and a guild-based PVP combat system.

Check out the video trailer that we prepared…

As I said during the announcement/reveal, to help me promote this game, we formed the awesome BHO girls. They manned the BHO booth at LIVE and had their pics taken by new fans. Check out some of their photos below;

We’re preparing for the beta of this game which we launch soon. In the meantime, former LU New Media chief and blogger Kiven Codamon is already giving out beta passes in his blog. Do check it out!

For more details, please monitor the official BHO PH site and then “Like” the Bounty Hounds Philippines Facebook Page.

*Photos of BHO girls c/o Kiven

Of course, don’t forget to share. Just check out my “share buttons” below. It’s that easy! Thanks!

SPONSOR

• This post is sponsored in part by Magnafanta Internet Cafe in San Juan, Metro Manila

It’s different this year. Although the Early Bird still catches the worm, please read up on the new mechanics that follows so that we won’t have a lot of Angry Birds come event time.

Repeat after me…

THERE WILL NO LONGER BE A LINE FOR EARLY BIRDS AT THE EARLY MORNING HOURS OF SATURDAY!

That’s the most important rule. Instead, we have a line for Early Birds that start on the early morning of Friday, November 4, 2011. Here are the details:

1. Early Bird stub distribution will be on November 4, 2011 (Friday) from 5 AM to 10 AM only, and will be on a first come first served basis. Only 1,000 Early Bird coupons will be given. Strictly one stub per person only. You must look for the official Level Up! Live 2011 Early Bird marshal at the gate of the World Trade Center. Early Birds may not enter the WTC premise unless advised by the marshal in charge.
2. Present a valid ID (School or Company ID, Passport, SSS ID or any government-issued ID) to the marshal.
3. Get the official Level Up Live Early Bird number stub. NO VALID ID, NO EARLY BIRD STUB. Do not lose your Early Bird Number stub, because that is your proof that you have a reserved slot on the early bird list. The Early Bird number stub is non-transferable.
4. Have your finger scanned at the biometrics machine.
5. Sign-up at the official Early Bird registration sheet.
6. Come back on November 5, 2011 between 4am to 6am only. You will be required to do the following:
   1. Present and surrender the official Early Bird number stub
   2. Scan your finger on the biometrics machine. Once the machine recognizes your finger print, exchange the Early Bird number stub with the official Early Bird prize claim stub.
7. Go through the usual registration process and claim your Early Bird in-game prize at the redemption area in the WTC Lobby.
8. Latecomers or those who do not show up on the designated time (between 4am – 6am) will forfeit their early bird slot, and will not be eligible to claim the Early Bird in-game prize.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

1. Failure to satisfy any of the organizer’s requirements would mean forfeiture of the early bird slot.
2. The organizer reserves the right to make amendments and adjustments anytime on the early bird mechanics, taking into consideration the safety and security of everybody.

PRIZES

Please help me pass the word and inform all your friends by sharing this post below.

Kita kits sa Sabado!

Ok peeps. Heads up. Just attending LIVE this weekend will give you that chance to win rare and IMBA itemz for your favorite LU game! Details follow….

How to Join?

1. Register on site and get your Level Up! Live 2011 Passport (see image above)
2. Fill up all the details clearly on the stub in your passport to be eligible for the raffle. (if we can’t read your handwriting, we will draw another winner)
3. Drop the Passport stub (STUB ONLY) on the RAFFLE Drop Box near the registration area to join!
4. Wait for the announcement of winners on-stage! (posted on the stage’s screen)

Prizes

• Grand Chase – Selion Gacha Set (3 Winners)
• Ragnarok – Asprika – Godly Item (3 Winners)    Brynhild – Godly Item (2 Winners)
• Allods – June Dreadnaught (5 Winners)
• FlyFF – Dragon Cloak – +10 to all stats (5 Winners)
• RF – 1 piece Type H Elem of Choice (5 Winners) – for Vasteral and Omicron Only
• Perfect World – +12 Dragon Ball (5 Winners)
• CK – RollinXairam Kart (5 Winners)
• KOS – XM8 X3 GM Gun – 120 days (5 Winners)
• Rohan – +12 Artisan Topaz Brooch V (2 Winners)    +12 Craftman Green Mano Bracers V (3 Winners)

Redemption

1. Go to the Redemption Booth located at the lobby near the food stall exit. You must be present at the Level Up Live! event to claim your prize.
2. Show at least one (1) valid ID at the Redemption Booth.
3. Fill-up the logbook on the booth with the details required. (Game, EXACT character name, Server where you play and username, etc)
4. Unclaimed prizes after 9:00pm of November 5, 2011 will be forfeited.
5. Please allow up to 2 weeks after the event for the prize awarding (insertion to your character)

Good luck!

Seeya at LIVE this weekend. November 5 at World Trade Center.

For more details, check out the OFFICIAL LIVE 2011 Website

Don’t forget to share! Thanks!

The PlayWeb/Level Up team has been planning and preparing for LIVE 2011 as soon as LIVE 2010 ended. For almost a year, we’ve been planning, implementing, coordinating and doing a million things. Now, after all the anxiety (and not to mention the hard work from everyone at Level Up), the main event is finally happening this weekend(Nov 5).

So, what’s in store for all you players? Hit the “read more” to find out!

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF LIVE 2011

First, we have the tournament finals for seven (7) of our games. See the best teams/guilds go head on in your favorite game! Support them and pick out your favorite team, you’re in for an entire day of awesome PVP action, strategies and tactics. LIVE 2011 will just be a single day now and the critical element here is for the tournament committees to make their time on the stage quick and exciting. The finals will be for the following games

1. Ragnarok
2. RF Online
3. Perfect World
4. Rohan
5. Allods Online
6. KOS
7. Grand Chase

Second, there are exciting side events which you can join. Head on over here to see what we offer, we have the following

• Fan Art
• Cosplay
• FilmFest
• LU City
• Guild Rally
• Headgear Contest

Call all your guildmates and friends. You can win cash and imba in-game items for joining! Be sure to check out each activity’s mechanics for the details, ayt?

Another thing that you should know is that we have a different way of running the Early Bird this year. Since we’re concerned with everyone’s safety, there won’t be a line on the night before the event (Friday). Instead, we will be conducting and giving out early bird passes on early morning of Friday (Nov 4) once you get the Early Bird pass, you can then go home and just come back early the next day, Saturday, November 5. Check out all the rules and mechanics HERE for the Early Birds.

That’s basically it, just prep your P50 (unused) Level Up prepaid card as entrance and you’re also eligible to join the raffle (and maybe also win door prizes).

Bring an extra shirt, have lots of water (or liquids) and don’t forget to come on early to see the opening number (We’ve got an awesome number prepared for all of you).

Finally, do me a favor and hit the share button below to send this post and share with all your friends. Make sure you tell all your in-game friends, your guildmates to come celebrate with us as we do the BIGGEST ONLINE GAMING EVENT in the Philippines.

You’ll have a blast! We promise!

Seeya next weekend! Mark your calendars – NOVEMBER 5 (Sat), 2011.

Live na!!!!

For more details, head on over to the LIVE 2011 official website.

Thanks!

Last weekend, I was at Seoul, South Korea with the Philippine contingent for the Ragnarok World Championships 2011. The 1-day event gathering was held Saturday, October 15, 2011 at the AX Hall, Gwangjang-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul. In a nutshell, 5 out the 7 players were denied travel VISAs by the South Korean Embassy in Manila.

We already came out with the official statement regarding the fate of the Philippine Team. Truly a sad day for our country since this was the first time that our team was denied travel documents for participating in the RWC. What’s even more sad was the fact that we really felt that this team was one of the best and getting that elusive RWC crown for our country could have been this year. I feel sorry for the series of unfortunate events and I totally feel sorry for Team Naked Nanaman, who were all excited to go to Seoul and prove to everyone how Pinoys play Ragnarok!

I am not one to say that “there was nothing we could do”. Here are the facts, we submitted all the documents and requirements to the embassy since September. PlayWeb/Level Up has no control on when the embassy releases the visas or how fast (or how slow) their process is. In fact, we have done everything humanly possible to explain to the embassy that the boys are part of a seven-man team and the fact that they approved 2 of their team mates means that they understood that a team-vs-team game of 7 needs an entire team to compete.

Our partners, Gravity Inc, developers of Ragnarok, and host of the RWC 2011 also wer calling the embassy to convince them and explain to them our position. We also tried to call some of our contacts to help the boys with their Visas up to the very last minute. Our managers and staff stayed with the boys to the last minute. Sadly, the embassy would not reverse their decision even if they did manage to approve Visas of some pRO tourist players. In short, I don’t know their basis for their decision. It all remains a mystery but I respect it nonetheless.

I am not blaming anyone. I just wanted to explain our side of the story since it pains me and my co-workers to see a lot of misguided people on Facebook and the forums bash us like it’s all our fault. Don’t you just hate it when people conclude things AS IF THEY KNEW all there is to know about the situation? That’s one thing I hate about the Internet. The Internet does NOT make you right. You just have access to information and if you don’t know the entire story, don’t pretend you do.

That’s kinda cool, eh? Let me repeat that “You don’t know everything, you just have Internet access.”

In the spirit of sportsmanship, we managed to talk with the tournament committee for RWC 2011 and they allowed us to field a team (minimum of 5) to at least fight. The 2 members of Team Philippines asked not to be included in this one. Seeing the ordeal that they went through, we respected that and I made the call to just field in 5 Filipinos to play so we could respect the host country and the event. Of course, we knew that we couldn’t win, but we wouldn’t want to “destroy the party” or the fun atmosphere of the event either.

Manila was the first city outside of Seoul to host an RWC event in 2008 and we wanted to show everyone, to all the RWC countries, to our hosts, and to all the foreign players, that we would carry our flag as proud as we could with our chins up high, as true Filipinos.

And yes, we didn’t win.

We got eliminated by Korea. Thailand went on to wear the 2011 crown defeating Brazil (a Level Up team too)

We could have complained, we could have whined,  and being angry was a normal reaction, right?

Wrong.

For me, that’s setting a wrong example, that’s painting a picture of a Filipino which I personally DO NOT want the world to see. What good would whining or bitching about it do? What’s done is done. I respect the decision of their consulate. They already did it. It was final. Sure it was sad, but dousing gasoline on fire will not do the world any good. I’ve been a Community Manager for far too many years to have seen the worst of the worst. And believe me, it’s not a good memory.

A lot of players will not be happy by some of our decisions regarding the unfortunate series of events. We’re not here to please EVERYONE. That’s an impossible task.

The notion of doing what was right so that everyone would respect us a pRO players, as professionals, and as Filipinos will be enough for me and for the company I represent.

It’s not just about a game, it’s national pride.

Next year will be a different story. I promise.

‘Rok On!

PS. I would like to congratulate Team Level Up Brazil for their highest finish (1st runner up) to date. It’s still a Level Up! team that’s there on top. Woot! Congrats, my brothers! I’d also like to thank our partners in Gravity, everyone in our office who did all they could to help the boys with their visas and of course, to Team Naked Nanaman, for their patience and will. Thank you.

It’s time! After the cloud settles, we will know which teams will make it for the grand finals at the World Trade Center (LIVE 2011) for the Ragnarok Philippine Championships 2011.

Last June, we crowned Naked Nanaman as the new Philippine Team, they will get to represent our country in Seoul this year (October) for RWC. I do hope that we win the RWC finally.

Anyways, aside from getting the finalists for LIVE-RPC 2011, the pRO team and the GMs for the other games will have tons of activities, raffles and events for all you players.

It’s an event that you surely DON”T WANT TO MISS!!!

Pass the word around.

September 24, 2011. Saturday. SM City North Edsa Skydome.

Seeya there!

Rok On!

Last weekend, I traveled to Hong Kong to proudly accept the award for Philippine Ragnarok Online as the “Most Popular Online Game” in the Philippines at the first Asian Online Game Awards.

Held at TVB City in Kowloon, Hong Kong, The Asia Online Game Awards saw the biggest names in the Asian online gaming industry come together to promote and recognize the best that online gaming has to offer. 14 awards were given at the AOGA, including Asia Online Game Grand Award, Best Design, Best Technology, Best Graphic and Best Creative, as well as nine regional awards that included the Philippines in its prestigious roster. In the end, Philippine Ragnarok Online came out on top as the Philippines’ Most Popular Online Game, whose award was graciously accepted by yours truly.

The first Asia Online Game Awards (AOGA) Presentation Ceremony is organized by the Hong Kong Game Industry Association, and produced by Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB). AOGA is also co-organized by the Game Publication Committee of the Publishers Association of China, and the Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Industry Support Centre (HKDEISC) of Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC). Sponsored by Create Hong Kong of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSAR Government), the cross-regional event aims to enhance development of the online game industry in Asia.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the kind organizers and their staff for making my stay at Hong Kong a pleasant and enjoyable one; Annie, Cynthia, and Florence to name a few. Thanks so much!

Also, I’d like to say that the show at the TVB studios was awesome! They truly did a grand production number with famous hosts, celebrities and artists. The Angry Birds segment (sponsored by Rovio) was a great hit!

In behalf of Level Up, we’d also like to thank our great partner, Gravity, for always being supportive and working with us to improve the game and make it even better for all the fans and players.

Last but not least, is a big THANK YOU to all loyal Pinoy pRO players. This award is dedicated to you guys. Without your support, pRO wouldn’t reach this level. As a special thanks to Level Up!’s loyal and growing community, Ragnarok Online players will get to enjoy 3X EXP mods across all servers from August 10 to 17.

Thanks all!

>GM T

Last week, I was in Hong Kong on official business. Lucky me, the venue for our meeting was also the site for the annual HK Ani-Com and Games Convention. Took some time off to get inside the exhibit hall and experience this great event. Aside from the Gunpla Builder’s World Cup, the expo was abuzz with activities, stuff to buy, thousands of people and of course, cosplayers….

Ani-Com & Games Convention Hong Kong 2011

Too bad I missed Maria Ozawa giving hugs! Oh well, next time…

Anyways, it was a great experience visiting HK and attending the show.

Peace!