thirdworldgamer

Also posted this on Pinoyxbox.com forums... Just played this game yesterday and finished the first and second level....that second level was really, really, REALLY long. I wish the boss fight didn't repeat itself too much but the trip to the boss had some really nicely designed areas. I have to say, though...the cutscenes and voice acting in this game are SUPERB . There may be some choppiness here-and-there in the animation but the voice acting more than makes up for it. The combat works sometimes and at other times I wish that I could see more feedback from the game as to whether or not I'm hitting something. It just needs more flashiness. For some reason it's more fun to use a gun/cannon in the game than to use your melee weapons (or maybe it's because of the character class I'm using, which is the defender) I love the world of the game, and the characters (while they could have had better faces) are very, very interesting. Gamers who want their games to have oodl...

I just read more details regarding the International Tekken 6 tournament that's going to be held here in the Philippines. Click HERE to read the full article on Hackenslash. "RP to host international Tekken 6 competition 08/28/08 Posted under Arcade, Competitions By Alexander Villafania INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines will be hosting the International Tekken 6 Grand Finals on November 3, organizer Timezone Philippines told hackenslash. Ana Cardenas Benitez , marketing officer of Timezone Philippines, said the Tekken 6 local competitions have also been moved to later dates. The registration period will start from September 1 to 15 at several Metro Manila Timezone branches. The pre-finals will be held on September 27, she said. The participating Timezone branches are Glorietta 4, Greenbelt 3, Alabang Town Center, Bonifacio High Street, SM Megamall, Market Market, TriNoma, Robinsons Metro East, Gateway, Robinsons Ermita, Greenhills, Robinsons Galleria, Mall of ...

It seems the deluge of games for the Xbox 360 is about to begin. I'm barely done with Soulcalibur IV (I'm still enjoying the online mode immensely) and I'm in chapter 4 of Ninja Gaiden 2 , and here comes three more big Xbox 360 titles: Too Human - I'm getting this despite what the reviews out there are saying. I have a feeling the reaction in the reviews is more because of Denis Dyack's little stunt on Neogaf rather than weighing in on the game's actual merits. I've posted earlier about not 'understanding' the game after three tries, only to figure it out on my third attempt...apparently there's fun to be had in the game, and I think that's the whole point. Tales of Vesperia - be prepared to read a lot of posts from my wife about this game. Hmm...if that's the case, I'm not going to have that much time playing on the 360 since she'll be using it... O_O ... Uh oh.... Infinite Undiscovery - Another RPG!? This month is going to l...

The World Cyber Games 2008 Grand Finals in Cologne, Germany is due in a few months time. I noticed an update to the official Philippine site for WCG. They'll be airing a TV show entitled 'WCG TV' on Studio 23 starting on September 13. The show will be aired every Saturday at 9:00AM. I'm looking forward to seeing the show since it will have highlights from the various WCG events in the Philippines and in other countries; from the preliminary tournaments to the WCG: Asian Championship in Singapore. I also have a feeling the show will have coverage of the Grand Finals in Cologne, Germany, where the best gamers from around the world will compete in various games on both PC and Xbox 360 platforms. Stay tuned to http://ph.worldcybergames.com/ for more updates as the date for the Grand Finals draws near.... Good Luck and Best Wishes to the Philippine Team for the WCG 2008 Grand Finals!

I saw this poster outside of Timezone arcades and I also saw it on the official site for Timezone. It's interesting because apparently the 1st International Tournament for Tekken 6 will have their finals here in the Philippines. Here's a link to the news and an image of the poster I see in most Timezone arcades: http://www.timezone.com.ph/promos.asp#p194 "Tekken 6 Competition Author: Nedz Manangan Promo Date: 7/1/2008 - 11/3/2008 MECHANICS: Be Timezone Philippines' representative to the First International Tekken 6 Tournament! Registration is on September 1-15, 2008 at participating Timezone Centers. Pre-Finals is on September 27 and Grand Finals is on October 28 at Glorietta 4 Cinema Lobby. International Finals will be held right here in the Philippines! It is scheduled on November 3 at the Glorietta Activity Center. For more updates on this competition, visit this website regularly. PARTICIPATING OUTLETS: Glorietta 4, Greenbelt 3, Alabang Town Center, Bonifacio High...

...is quite fun to play against. Set it to 'VERY HARD' difficulty and you've got a virtual sparring partner to play against if no local players are online to play against. The difficulty levels in VERSUS MODE for the AI are Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard, and Edge Master. "Very Hard" difficulty puts up a good fight, though since it is a CPU opponent it won't pull any surprises or weird tricks that human players usually do. I haven't gotten around to playing against 'Edge Master' difficulty but that's a personal decision because I don't want to get too stressed out playing the game. Practicing in VERSUS MODE against the AI is a great way to test out your own tricks and figure out some new ways to play. Of course, the best test of your own skills in Soulcalibur IV is to play against a human opponent, but when you can't find one (whether online or off), VERSUS MODE against AI is a nice alternative. To play against AI, choose 'VERSUS MOD...

Last year, Pinoyxbox was part of the GX-CON 2007 , a Philippine console gaming convention. For this year, GX-Con has been renamed to ANICON 2008 , and Pinoyxbox will once again be a part of this event. Visit the Pinoyxbox at ANICON 2008 thread in Pinoyxbox.com to know more about the convention! ANICON 2008 will be held on October 5, 2008 at the SM Mega Mall Megatrade Hall 3. One of the things planned for ANICON 2008 is a SOULCALIBUR IV Tournament! Details are still being worked regarding this tournament (including the schedule, and if there will be any prizes or other things) but we're pretty sure it will be one of the tournament games to be hosted by the Pinoyxbox community. Would you like to start practicing already for this tournament? Hop on to Pinoyxbox's SOULCALIBUR IV thread and find practice mates that are on the same ISP as you. In my experience, playing against other players on the same ISP for SCIV on XBOX LIVE has practically no lag! So it's great for p...

I recently passed by one branch of Globe Telecom and saw a sign that said that the IPhone 3G was launching in the Philippines in 2 days. Wow, I forgot all about this one. I heard that Apple was releasing the IPhone locally a few months ago; I was surprised that it was a matter of days before the IPhone becomes officially supported in the Philippines. You would think that, in the Philippines where there is supposedly a small market for high-tech luxury items , and people supposedly don't have that much disposable income , that a product launch for something like the IPhone 3G is a crazy, impossible endeavor. Consider the price alone of the IPhone in the Philippines; a whopping PHP 37,599 (US$822.60) for the 8GB version, and PHP 43,799 (US$958.25) for the 16GB version. The truth is, not many in the mainstream Philippine market today can afford the IPhone. But Globe and Apple sure have some guts for doing it. They know there IS a market that they can tap into that buys these thing...

After a lot of multiplayer online matches in Soul Calibur IV, I just made some observations: - Siegfried is incredibly strong. Not undefeatable but he's quite tough to fight. Some of his strings can be walked around (simply press diagonal up or diagonal down to walk sideways-forward) but you have a really brief moment before he can hit you again. You have to be very, very quick. - Characters with long weapons seem to be quite vulnerable the moment a character with a short weapon gets in close. A good player will keep the proper distance if another player is trying to gain position. At first I thought this was a game balance issue; then I realized it's pretty balanced if the player with the smaller weapon knows what he's doing. -It's interesting how the game prevents ring out in some cases; at first it seems weird and unnatural but after a few matches I realized it gives the other player 'another chance' if he gets tossed near the edge. It seems ring out is only ...

I only recently discovered the awesomeness that is Soul Calibur IV's Multiplayer Mode on Xbox Live....sorry I couldn't be more creative with my description, but that's exactly how I feel about SC4 online. It's incredibly, insanely fun, especially with friends who are living in the same vicinity or on the same ISP as you. I got to play some matches where my connection was just superb (5 blue bars on your connection rating means you've got a good connection going). If you're in the Philippines and want to experience how much fun Soul Calibur IV is with online play, check out Pinoyxbox's Soul Calibur IV thread and link up with players that are on the same ISP as you. Being on the same ISP guarantees you'll have an incredibly fun time. For some reason, in the Philippines, different ISPs (even if they're all based in the Philippines) don't exactly connect well together. Let's say you're on PLDT and another player is on Globe. If you try to con...

Here are the latest July 2008 NPD sales figures in the United States: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=331369 Many thanks to NPD for their support. Industry up 28%, SW up 41% to $591.1M HW DS 608k Wii 555k Playstation 3 225k PSP 222k Xbox 360 205k Playstation 2 155k Top 10 SW 360 NCAA FOOTBALL 09 ELECTRONIC ARTS JULY 2008 397.6K WII FIT W/ BALANCE BOARD NINTENDO OF AMERICA MAY 2008 369.6K NDS GUITAR HERO: ON TOUR ACTIVISION JUNE 2008 309.7K WII PLAY W/ REMOTE NINTENDO OF AMERICA FEB 2007 284K PS3 NCAA FOOTBALL 09 ELECTRONIC ARTS JULY 2008 242.5K 360 SOUL CALIBUR IV NAMCO BANDAI GAMES OF AMERICA JULY 2008 218.9K WII MARIO KART W/ WHEEL NINTENDO OF AMERICA APRIL 2008 174.5K WII ROCK BAND SPECIAL ED BUNDLE MTV GAMES/ELECTRONIC ARTS JUNE 2008 165.8K PS3 SOUL CALIBUR IV NAMCO BANDAI GAMES OF AMERICA JULY 2008 155.8K 360 SID MEIER'S CIVILIZATION REVOLUTION TAKE 2 INT. CORP. JULY 2008 147.6K

Just picked up Soul Calibur IV and went through a lot of the story mode. I like the game and highly recommend it....the game has this 'polish' that makes it feel like a complete game, and it's a great game to enjoy with friends, too: - The graphics are the best out of a Japanese developer thus far. The character models are really intricate and detailed, and I love how sharp everything is. - The weapon effects and overall feel of the combat is fantastic. I have a feeling that some of the characters are overpowered, but I'm not sure if this is more of my inexperience with the game's mechanics that makes some characters feel too strong. - The endings of some of the characters---some are pretty good, while others are just....weird. I wish they spent more time with each characters' intro instead of just having scrolling text in there. SCIV really feels like an enjoyable fighting game that's very accessible for new players and fighting game veterans alike. I highl...

We took a lot of photos during the week of the WCG 2008 Asian Championships (ACG). Most of the photos can be found through this link here. Here are just a few of them: The Philippine Team for the WCG 2008 Asian Championship :) The Suntec Convention Center The Stage Area for the ACG The Flag Ceremony To see the entire series of photos from the ACG, click here for Pinoyxbox's official thread for the World Cyber Games 2008.

Good news for gamers in Malaysia: the Playstation 3 is going to get officially supported according to this news: http://multiplay.lowyat.net/2008/08/12/malaysia-to-have-local-sony-ps3/ "According to several of our trusty industry sources, Sony Malaysia is poised to launch the PS3 sometime in September/October. Details are still very sketchy right now, but we were made to understand that this is for REAL. Apparently, Sony is now hard at work putting everything together in place and they are doing all the necessary paperwork and groundwork to make the launch a reality. They have approached several local game distributors and our sources told us that they’ve even met with a senior executive from the Singapore office of an international game publisher recently. No word on pricing, warranty details, bundle options, etc though. Rest assured that we’ll keep you updated once we get any more solid info from our end."

Initially, I was not planning on going to the Asian Cyber Games but I’m glad that I threw caution to the wind, spent the remainder of our gaming fund and flew to Singapore to see the Asian Cyber Games 2008. Amidst the strange weather and all the walking I had to do crossing the City Link Mall going to the Suntec Convention Center, I can definitively say that I enjoyed myself. Me and my husband met so many great people in the ACG. As cheesy as it sounds, our experience in the ACG can be summed up by the WCG’s theme song “Beyond the Game”. While every single player desire to win, in the end the desire to meet like-minded gamers is greater. Anyway here’s my short coverage for the Asian Cyber Games. For the sake of organization, I will talk about the 360 game titles: Virtua Fighter 5 and Guitar Hero 3 for now... Virtua Fighter 5: For me, this was the most interesting competition in the whole of ACG...not because my husband was participating in it but because you can see that all the repres...

The PHILIPPINES wins a SILVER MEDAL at the WCG 2008 Asian Championship for Guitar Hero III! Congratulations to LUIS BENESA , a well-known member of the prestigious Pinoyxbox community, for making it happen! His gamertag in Pinoyxbox is "finalcut712", while his username in Pinoyxbox is "ScaR". This was the first time in history that the Philippines has won a silver medal in the WCG Asian Championships, the previous honor belonging to last year's Defense of the Ancients (DOTA) team, which scored a bronze medal. Here are the results for Guitar Hero III: Gold Medal : New Zealand Silver Medal : Philippines Bronze Medal : Singapore Go Philippines! Mabuhay Tayong Lahat! :D For more results from the WCG 2008 Asian Championship, click here.

Back in 2005 during the launch of the XBOX 360 in Japan, this was what graced the front pages of several gaming sites with people laughing that the lack of support the Japanese had for the American console. But lo and behold...the 'unthinkable' has happened! That line in the picture above is the line for Tales of Vesperia in Japan. And its a sight that I would love to see happen more often. It's also a sght that indicates Microsoft Japan's long term strategy in capturing the Japanese audience seems to be pointing toward the right direction. More JRPGs and multiplatform games made by top Japanese publishers. It is my opinion that this strategy will also prove to be more effective in the other Asian territories specially with the Japanese anime phenomenon. The 'Tales' Series has always been a popular franchse in Japan, while it doesn't have equal following as Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, with each installment the Tales franchise gains more and more fans. 200...

I'm flying over to Singapore for the World Cyber Games: Asian Championship (which starts this Saturday). I hope it will be a good experience for me...I'm participating in the tournament for Virtua Fighter 5. It will be quite a tournament, with some of the best in the world actually competing head-to-head; No, I'm not exactly one of the best in the world...I've got no past championships or medals to my name. I'm just an avid VF player who got a good opportunity. Of course I will do my very best! I've been practicing for quite a long time now....for about 6-8 months I've dedicated my gaming to VF5 just to prepare for this tournament. I hope it pays off, and I put on a good showing. I'm not expecting to win big but I do want to play decently enough to represent the Philippines well at the games. Of course I'll aim to win but I don't want to put any guarantees or promises. I want to enjoy this experience and not be too pressured. In fact I think it w...

Kotaku got a good scoop on this one: http://kotaku.com/5033117/final-fantasy-xiii-xbox-360-asia-version-announced "During E3, Microsoft announced that Final Fantasy XIII was coming to the Xbox 360 — but only for North America and Europe. However, the Xbox 360 was not announced for Japan. Add another country to the list! At a recent Microsoft game exhibition in Taipei, Microsoft Taiwan's Entertainment and Devices Division head Grace Chou announced that Final Fantasy XIII for the Xbox 360 would go on sale in Taiwan, but haven't yet decided which localized version will be launched for the Asian territories. We imagine that means it should be possible for Japanese Xbox 360 owners to import the Asia version and play it on their consoles — that is, unless the Asia FFXIII is region coded so that's impossible. This version could have the original Japanese language track with Chinese/Korean/English subtitles or it might be the English language version with Chinese/Korean subtit...

Well, I've been writing chronicles on my experiences in 'Professional Gaming' (i.e. playing video games in view of an upcoming, high profile, international gaming tournament). I can't post them yet because, well, it will be more fun to post those chronicles after the competition is over. The chronicles are really long. I wrote them for myself, actually; I want to log the experiences that I had in participating in something like this. I'll post these chronicles next week (most likely on Tuesday).

This is Part II of a continuing series that chronicles the whole 'Pro Gaming' experience that I went through this year. I guess I just want to have a memento of this week; I've never been part of any big competition like this; I think it counts for a lot for me to write this down as this week passes. I've been writing these chronicles during the time near the actual dates for the Asian Championship. By the time of this writing, I haven't posted Part I yet on my blog, because I practically give away my training regimen in that post, and I think it wouldn't be smart to give away that information before the actual competition. Whether or not my practice sessions worked would probably be known by the time that I actually post this...Did I win? Did I lose? It will be fun to look back at these writings once the competitions are all over. I will say that this chronicle has little in the way of actual information on my training...it's more of an interesting anecdote...

I bought Virtua Fighter 5 in December of last year for the Xbox 360. Little did I know that buying that game would embark me on this crazy little journey in the world of 'professional gaming'. DISCLAIMER: First off, some expectation setting for readers. NO , I do not see myself as 'the best player' in Virtua Fighter 5; not in the Philippines, nor in the entire world. Let me put it in writing to be very clear. I AM NOT THE GREATEST VIRTUA FIGHTER 5 PLAYER IN THE PHILIPPINES. When I use the term 'Pro Gamer', I use it to mean "being completely dedicated to playing just one game for a longer-than-normal period of time, for the purpose of playing in an internationally-sanctioned competitive event (in this case, the World Cyber Games)". I'm clarifying this because of a little incident recently wherein my involvement in this tournament is being seen as questionable. My thoughts on that matter have already been posted elsewhere, and I'm not going to...