The fated hour has finally arrived!

A large number of game developers all over the world, may they be students, professionals and/or independent, have gathered in their country’s game jam locations to take part in the biggest game development marathon of the year: the 2012 Global Game Jam. Roughly a hundred participants in the De La Salle-College of St. Benilde and more than thirty in the University of the Philippines ITTC have signed-up to take part in this exciting two-day race to create a fully-functional game.

Will they make the cut, or will they crash and burn? Back2Gaming covers the events as they unfold! Read on!

From all around they came; a brilliant procession of bright minds converging to weave dreams in the span of two days. Students, professionals, independents, you name it: these guys are here to create a game in the event known as the Manila Game Jam.

For those who are not familiar with the event, here is the description from the official Global Game Jam site:

The Global Game Jam was the brainchild of IGDA Education SIG director, Susan Gold, in collaboration with active IGDA members Gorm Lai and Ian Schreiber. GGJ was founded in 2008 as an IGDA event to broaden the outreach of the game education and the goals of Curriculum Framework while giving the world an opportunity to create games in the world’s largest Game Jam to date. The GGJ prides itself on collaboration, both in organizing as well as making of games. GGJ was inspired by and modeled itself after the Nordic Game Jam.

 

The 1st Annual Global Game Jam was held January 30-February 1, 2009 to much critical acclaim and success. With over 1600 participants in 23 countries, and a theme of “As long as we have each other, we will never run out of problems,” the GGJ produced 370 games. In 2010, the number of participants increased to over 4300 with 900 finished games on the theme of “Deception”, and in 2011 there were 6500 participants in 44 countries, who created over 1500 games!

 

GGJ is a volunteer-run organization, built upon the very hard work of its leadership, site organizers and of course the participants.

Okay, back to my adventure!

5:00 P.M., De La Salle-College of St. Benilde ampitheatre

College of St. Benilde ampitheatre

I arrived at the College of St. Benilde‘s ampitheatre at around five in the afternoon, thirty minutes late for the opening of the event. Excitement flowed through my veins as I gazed upon the huge number of participants, all geared up for the upcoming task. This is the biggest jam I have ever seen since my participation in the first Game Jam back in 2010, and it looks promising.

I caught the latter part of what seemed to be a Unity 3D presentation, an appealing development tool for those who wish to create rapid prototypes of their game due to its functionality and ease of use.

Sir Norman Lee discusses the house rules for CSB

After the presentation were the CSB house rules, given by sir Norman Lee, head of the Game Design and Development department (CSB-GDD) of Benilde.

What followed was a lengthy keynote presentation by various development icons such as Gordon Bellamy (IGDA chairman), John Romero (former Ion Storm CEO), and Will Wright (creator of The Sims).

Other individuals were presented as well in the video such as Baiyon (a multimedia artist from Japan) and Gonzalo Frasca (founder of Uruguay-based game dev company Powerful Robot Games). Each shared their insight on particular facets of development (collaboration, inspiration and innovation, to name a few).

GDD students from the College of St. Benilde

After the keynote was the moment everyone was waiting for: the announcement of this year’s theme. Due to the time difference between other jam sites, we are not allowed to post the theme of the event for now.

I got to talk to some of the student participants in the event:

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These “focus groups”, as discussed in the event mechanics, will collaborate to create three ideas, commonly known in game dev as a “pitch”. They will be then tasked to present those said pitches to the crowd at around 8:30 in the evening.

Each team is comprised of roughly ten members each, a good mix of experienced and non-experienced developers.

While the participants brewed their ideas, I interviewed Paul Gadi (current chairman of the IGDA Manila chapter) regarding the Manila Game Jam and its nuances:

I then took off to see the next jam site: UP-ITTC.

10:00 P.M., University of the Philippines ITTC

The University of the Philippines Information Technology Training Center

It was already dark when I reached the second jam site all the way in UP. The number of participants in the location were few, but don’t let their numbers fool you: they’re seasoned veterans.

Developers working hard on their game

It was reported that By Implication, the team responsible for Wildfire (the winner of the 2010 Imagine Cup) and Scram, were present in the location, as well as some guys from Anino Games, two of them being past Game Jam winners, namely Jayson Gavarra (the guy I worked with on Crease, Manila Game Jam 2010′s top game) and Marnielle Estrada (developer of Speck, winner of the 2011 Manila Game Jam). The location was quiet, but there was a subtle aura of intensity in the air.

I interviewed the location organizers, ladies from DevCon Philippines. Apparently the team compositions for this particular location are not randomized, and they are also expecting a few more participants to arrive the following day.

This marks the third year of the Manila Game Jam, and things are definitely looking up. I wonder what kind of games will come out of the minds of these brilliant individuals? All we can do is wait until Sunday when the awarding ceremony commences. Until then, stay tuned to Back2Gaming!

~ Shin

Pinoy2DFighters, in cooperation with Team X-Over, Blazblue Philippines, and A2G/Playmore are sending out February with an explosive finish with Labanparooza 2012, a multi-game tournament spanning an entire weekend.

The featured games at Labanparooza are Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition Ver. 2012, King of Fighters XIII, Blazblue Continuum Shift Extend, and Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3. Prizes those await who triumph, so you might as well start training.

For all the event details you’ll need and more, click here to visit the official thread on P2D.

Without any further delays, here are the results of last Saturday’s Charity Ranbat hosted by Blazblue Phlippines. The event was held at iPlay over at Sherwood Place over on Taft Avenue, Pasay.  The event was a success, raising a considerable Php 5,760 for Little Angels Home Inc. (LAHI).

Participants in the ranking battle were divided into two teams, with the winners from each team moving on to the next round to fight for the top spot. Here’s how it went:

First round (individual matches for all members):

Legend:
[o] Win
[x] Lose

Team A
[o] Blood Rowee = RG
[o] Daigo = JN
[x] Riel = TG
[x] Arvi = /\11
[o] Twilight-child = CA
[x] Steef = TS
[x] Warwulf Warwul Warwulf = TS
[o] Lard-bucket = TG
[x] Matt-gaw = Mu
[x] Michi = TS
[x] Cokesakto = JN
[o] Dix = JN
[x] Mc Arthur = RG
[x ]Shishiwawa = RG

Team B
[x] Luigi = Mu
[x] Zen = JN
[o] Andrew Ting = /\11
[o] Strongest = RG
[x] Doctah Erik = BG
[o] Waks = RG
[o] Sougo13 = HZ
[x] Manager-San = HA
[o] ZM punk = HZ
[o] N1c0lo = AK
[o] Vapor = /\11
[x] Chase = RG
[o] Blinkwinkel = NO
[o] Cordelia = VK

2nd Round:

Andrew Ting beat Blood Rowee

ZM Punk beat Daigo

Lard-bucket beat Strongest, Waks, Sougou, Cordelia

Blinkwinkel beat Twilight child, Lard-bucket

Dix beat N1c0lo, Andrew Ting, ZM punk, Vapor, Blinkwinkel

Dix wins final match against Blinkwinkel to win it for Team A.

Of course, it didn’t stop there. Casuals involving other games that weren’t Blazblue were held for players just dropping in and looking to get a few matches in for a good cause. Good work, BBPH! We’ll be looking forward to more events like this in the near future!

Special mention goes to Pangran Garou for sending in the results. Thanks, man!

The Astoria Plaza Tribeca function room played host to Bloggers’ Night 2011: Brands That Click last Monday, December 5th. The event served as a way for the night’s participating tech companies to formally introduce themselves to the local blogging community. Iontech, the brains behind the event, sees blogs and the people behind them as a new driving force in getting brands out into the open via online word-of-mouth.

Nine companies were present at the event, each with their respective products and presentations to show to those in attendance. Those brands were:

BenQ
Archos
Powercolor
Sandisk
Kingston
Asus
Coolermaster
Razer
JBL

Representatives from each company were on hand to deliver brief presentations regarding their current and upcoming product lines. Demo stations were also on hand for those present to try out the products featured that night.

To further spice things up, prizes from the participating companies were raffled off to the bloggers in attendance. Archos tablets, JBL speakers, and Razer peripherals were among the items that were given away.

Speaking of prizes, I managed to win an Asus Seashell Mouse. As for the mouse itself, though it seems like something built for smaller hands, it still feels nice to grip and handles smoothly with the same dependability as a good, regular-sized mouse should.

And that wraps up Bloggers’ Night 2011. We’ll be looking forward to the next one and what it has in store.

University of the Philippines Anime and Manage Enthusiasts (That’s UP AME, for short) held AME Monogatari the latest in its long-running yearly cleebrations of Japanese anime and manga culture this Saturday at the World Trade Center tent in Pasay.

Weirdly enough, no one seemed to be on hand to go and for the heck of it, I took it upon myself to go check out the event myself. The result? An afternoon and early evening well-spent and a batch of cosplay photos, which you’ll see after the jump.

Most of my time on the event floor was spent with a motley crew of people that I normally meet at Banchetto including our good friend Chad of Reimaru Files. I swear I wrote that with a smile on my face and not while gritting my teeth and pounding on the keyboard like a begrudged, angry god.

Convention staples such as group and solo cosplay competitions, artists’ alley and booths of merchandise and random trinkets came in full force. But of course, the main reason why I was there in the first place was to run around the venue like a headless chicken and take gaming-related cosplay photos. Now, the term “gaming-related” is a little broad, since so many anime/manga properties get the licensed game treatment every year, so we’re trimming back a bit on that branch… just a bit, though.

With all that said, here we go:

Jin Kisaragi asks, "Dude, where's my ice car?"

Final Fantasy Type-0's Class Zero also happened to have their class picture taken that evening.

MC Hammer jokes in 3, 2, 1...

Unfortunately, I'm not Vocaloid-savvy enough to say something witty here.

Estan mas que nueve mil!

Dude clearly looks pissed, so I pointed him in the direction of Ninja Theory's offices.

Dragunov didn't say anything, he just pulled a gun on me.

Final Fantasy X-2's Rikku says 'hi'.

Here's Terry Bogard, making sure everyone's okay.

Shoutout to the good folks over at Blazblue Philippines

It took a while to find this dude in the crowd.

Count Dracula and Richter Belmont... BFFs, fer realz.

One assassin! No! Two assassins! AH! AH! (What can I say, I grew up on Sesame Street)

For the rest of the set and other shenanigans, feel free to head on over to the Google+ album that I put up. Got any interesting stories from AME Monogatari to share? Sound off in the comments!

Last Oct. 29 – 31 were the dates that marked the three-day gaming event at Cyberzone, SM North Edsa Annex which we came to know as Pinoy Gaming Festival 2011. The three day event was filled with gaming tournaments for DotA and Starcraft 2. Local Cosplay celebrity, Alodia Gosiengfiao also graced the event on it’s first day while the cosplay competition was held on the last day.

Since we weren’t able to cover all three days. So here are the coverage pictures I took during the last day of the event (after the jump).

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October 22, 2011 marked the day where two teams duke it out to get the right to earn the title of “Philippine Representative” to the World Cyber Games for League of Legends. The Garena office became ground zero for the epic battle between team Bida Gaming (BD) and team Wild. We were given the opportunity to watch and be part of history.

So here’s a big congratulations to team BD for taking the crown! You can see the coverage pics after the jump!

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The WCG will be held this coming Dec. 8-12 at Busan South Korea- home of professional gaming.

My stay at Saturday’s IP e-Games Guild Congress and Road to Domination VI kickoff event was a short one, but for the brevity of it all, it was still pretty sweet.  Though I arrived shortly before lunch and the event officially started, the atrium of SM Annex Cyberzone was already brimming with members of IP e-games’ massive community.

As a kickoff event for the upcoming Domination VI, various tournaments were set up in order to fill slots for the finals at Domination later this year. Among the tournaments scheduled were:

• RAN Online – Matira Matibay
• CABAL Online – 3×3 Carnage National Tournament
• Point Blank
• Audition Dance Battle – Master of 8Keys
• Bandmaster – Guild Congress SOS

Aside from the main gaming draw of the event, The CM’s for each respective e-Games title were also on-site to meet, greet and entertain queries from the community. A merchandise and game item booth was also set up for gamers looking to score more loot aside from the free swag handed out upon entry to the Guild Congress.

And finally, to cap off my stay, the show floor was treated to a five-song set by Join The Club, a band that I actually haven’t seen live in about four years. For that stretch of time, The guild congress stopped being a gaming event and more of a rock show. Anyway, I had to scoot out early because of other commitments, but Boss Mac took my place shortly after. You’ll hear his side of the story in a bit.

[BossMac]

Arriving around 4pm, I immediately got down to business and went on stage to cover the activities there. The place was packed by this time so it was hard to move around the gaming areas. Shortly after my arrival, Paramita performed a 4-song set and rocked the house. Vocalist and drummer Ria really does a good job hyping up the crowd with her epic drumming. Heck she even broke her drum stick. We appreciate Paramita’s constant appearances in hobby conventions, last time I saw them was Toycon 2010 so if you guys are seeing this… rock on!

Wrapping up the event, the hosts gave out prizes including Dasher mouse-mats from Tt eSports and PointBlank PH shirts. This is a short prelude to the awarding ceremony where winners were awarded goodie bags care of their sponsors. Notable prizes were the Tt eSports Challenger keyboard given to a sole winner as well as 6 Tt eSport Shock headsets for the Bandmaster champs and a ton of Tt eSports Azureus mice and Thermaltake shirts. We’ll release a list of winners and their respective prizes as soon as we get the list so for now we leave you with photos from the event.

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Yes. I am an Asuka fan. Problem, Reifriends?

Purple Heart, Rachel Alucard, the Red Cyclone, the seductive and voluptuous Catherine, Reyvateil Saki and that Angry Bird.

They were all there at CosplayMania 2011.

This is the latter three quarters of Day One in images. It’s interesting to see that many cosplayers are going for games and much less anime nowadays. Also, less Naruto, Bleach and Death Note. Much less bought costumes and costumes which people pulled out of their lockers. Also, the characters I want to see are nowhere in sight. No Finnel. No Juri. No Totorin. No good Homura. Not even an Infinite Stratos girl in her IS. Also, no Amaya cosplay. Why?

Just another Rie Kugimiya character from another JC Staff show. Well, at least she's a good-looking Taiga.

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Also, I promised videos from Best of Anime 2011, but due to unavoidable circumstances, we’ve decided to put them up together with the videos from CosplayMania.

Hang in there, folks!

We got the chance to be with the Mineski.Infinity team last monday night at Coal Resto Bar and Grill. Here are some of the pics that we took during the celebration! Here’s a hearty congratulations for the DotA and SC2 teeams of Mineski!

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