After making its debut at Domination IV, IP e-Games finally launches Dragonica, its latest casual MMORPG. Developed by Korean Game Developer Barunson Interactive , Dragonica is a free-to-play manga-style action RPG with an 8-way, full 3d side-scrolling system.
Heidi Mendita-Garayblas, IP e-Games Vice President for MMORPG Group, said Dragonica’s widespread appeal is rooted in its uniqueness. “Dragonica, though side-scrolling, is the first to use 3D graphics to enable more freedom of movement. With its tongue-in-cheek sense of humor with pop-culture references, it’s easy to have fun while playing this game.”
Dragonica is already being played by hundreds of thousands of players from Korea, China, Taiwan, Russia, U.S.A, Europe and Southeast Asia. It has been nominated as “The most anticipated game” by Gamespot Korea after the GStar 2007 convention, and has gathered rave reviews from all over the world for its innovations in online gaming.
The game aims to bring together new and hardcore gamers alike with its fun and intuitive gameplay, exciting combo attack system and more.
Roland Ong, CEO of IAHGames said that they are pleased to be able to bring this blockbuster title to Philippine gamers as well as MMO fans. “The game has been very successful in the other territories that we have launched it in and we are committed to bring to Philippines the same world class gaming experience as gamers all across the region are experiencing.”
Dragonica started its closed beta testing last July and acceptance from the local gaming community has been phenomenal.
The commercial version now includes twenty (20) playable character classes and an increased Level Cap of 45. It also features more exciting instanced dungeons and epic boss monsters battles with the addition of the Lavalon Map. Fast-paced and action-oriented PvE (Player Vs. Environment) and PvP battles are now made easier with a new PvP (Player Vs. Player) system that can hold up to 12 participants. The item shop has now opened and e-Games promises to release new items and unveil new maps and features in the coming weeks.
To celebrate its commercial release, IP e-Games held a grand launch party at the SM Annex, North Edsa last weekend. Fifty five (55) top-of-the-line gaming PCs were made available for freeplay and online tournaments. Team Admiral composed of June Marcelo, Maotse Tungol, John Ray Manano, Daren Ligon were the Slayers’ Showdown Champions while Rico Verzonilla became the Trial of Heroes Champ. Braklein won the Combo Catastrophe Challenge with an astonishing record combo of 3150.
The event also featured a Cosplay contest, performances by several local bands and a raffle draw that gave away a brand new gaming PC.
***
A DECADE OF COSPLAY
To call them an attraction would be a dire understatement, as it seems no pop culture event today would be complete without them.
They draw the most attention just by standing around or walking around the venue without even saying a single word.
They are the Cosplayers. The literal personification of the characters we all watch and read about, and on October 2 and 3, their biggest gathering will happen at the SMX Convention Center.
Cosplay.ph, the largest cosplay organization in the country, celebrates its 10th year with Cosplay Mania X: A Decade of Philippine Cosplay. In addition to holding the first-ever nationwide Cosplay Competition, international cosplayers and exhibitors will also be present to commemorate this historic event.
Starting early July 2010, Cosplay.ph traveled all over the country to conduct regional qualifiers for the first ever Cosplay Tournament of Champions. Competitions were held in Cagayan de Oro, Baguio, Pampanga, Cebu, Davao and Manila to select the best cosplayers that will vie for the title of National Cosplay Champion.
Aside from the tournament, Cosplay.ph will also be releasing the first cosplay theme song, a photo book entitled the Cosplay Snapshots Project and the Cos|Phone, the first mobile phone designed specifically for Cosplayers. According to the organizers, both the CosPhone and photo book will be available only at the event and in very limited quantity.
Cosplay Mania has been famous for providing unique and exciting cosplay-themed contests and activities such as; Project Cosplay, a runway cosplay competition; a Costume Building Contest which is an intense five-hour on-the-spot costume-making contest; Lights, Camera! Cosplay! A cosplay video contest; cosplay workshops, snapshots and the Filcosplay Banner Contest. This year they are introducing the Team Cosplay Checkmate, where a giant chessboard will be the battlefield for teams of cosplayers.
For more information, checkout www.cosplay.ph or www.cosplaymania.com
***
GOOGLE UNVEILS NEW SEARCH INNOVATIONS
The fastest search engine service has become even easier. Google recently unveiled several innovations to Google.com.ph to help users find what they need more quickly and efficiently.
Google Instant is a new search interface enhancement that makes it faster and easier to search by showing users relevant search results instantly, as they type. Google now uses predictive text to anticipate what a user will search for, saving between 2 and 5 seconds per query because users do not have to finish typing or click on the “Search” button.
The company likewise introduced a new search index called Caffeine that provides 50 percent fresher results for web searches compared to its previous index and the largest collection of web content Google has ever offered. Caffeine will be Google’s foundation in building a faster and a more comprehensive search engine that grows alongside the exponential growth in online content.
Real-time search brings users information that is happening now—in this moment. To do this Google looks at more than a billion documents every single day and process hundreds of millions of daily changes.
Finally, Google has redesigned image search. The new interface design is all about speed. Scrolling instead of hunting for pagination controls, bigger thumbnails, immediate view of the large size image on click, more images on the screen at once, and keyboard shortcuts. These changes remove pain points in our old user interface and make searching for images faster.
“Search is at the heart of what we do at Google, and it’s clear that search has become a very important part of the way Pinoys use the web to find information,” said Jay Trinidad, search product marketing manager for Google Asia-Pacific.
Next week, I’ll be giving you some tips to help you become a searchpert in Google.
***
DATABLITZ PICK OF THE WEEK
HALO: REACH (XBOX 360) Limited Edition
In Halo: Reach, players experience the fateful moments that forged the Halo legend. It’s the story of Noble Team, a squad of heroic Spartan soldiers, and their final stand on planet Reach, humanity’s last line of defense between the terrifying Covenant and Earth. This darker story is echoed by grittier visuals amid a backdrop of massive, awe-inspiring environments. Characters, enemies and environments are rendered in amazing detail by an all-new engine designed to deliver epic-scale encounters against the cunning and ruthless Covenant.
Once the campaign is over, the battle continues online with an unparalleled multiplayer experience that expands on the award-winning suite of features that helped define the Xbox LIVE experience.
The Limited Edition includes the game disc housed in recovered ONI black box, an exclusive Elite armor set for use in multiplayer modes, and an artifact bag containing Dr. Halsey’s personal journal and other classified documents and effects that unravel long held secrets from the “Halo” universe.
***
For all your PC gaming needs drop by Datablitz’ branches at SM, Robinsons, and Ayala Malls. You could also call (632) 7345058; (632) 7338477; (632) 7348 or check out their website at www.datablitz.com.ph. Send your questions and comments on anything gaming to [email protected] or [email protected]. Check out www.eduysblog.blogspot.com for the latest gaming, pop, tech, and music news, and follow me on twitter.com/ed_uy.