Babes, Toys, Social Games, Console Gaming and Online Games Blog | Philippines » Personal

Thank you, Tita Cory

Kiven — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:37:37 +0000

Today, August 5, 2009 marks Mrs. Corazon Aquino’s funeral. Fondly called “Tita Cory”, She was instrumental in leading the opposition against deposed Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos after the death of her martyr husband, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino. She became the first woman president of the Philippines and has appeared on the cover of Time Magazine twice. She has served as an inspiration for millions of filipinos still looking for hope and progress after the Edsa revolution more than 20 years ago.

Thank you, Tita Cory. I never met you personally or even claim to have been at the same venue as you. I read about and watched you on TV when i was a little kid/growing up and you seemed larger than life. You seemed to always wear that yellow dress that a sniper would see a mile away, yet you so courageously mingled with the masses and actually did care for them.

Thank you, Tita Cory. Without your sacrifices we wouldn’t be blogging as freely and enjoying things we take for granted today. We probably would be using the web in some government regulated internet cafe where the mere keyword search of sexy babes, online/console gaming and anime would bring down the old Philippine Constabulary down our digital behind.

Thank you, Tita Cory. May you rest in peace.

NeoSteam OBT Impressions

Kiven — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 11:32:20 +0000

Atlus’ first MMORPG Neosteam has recently undergone it’s Open Beta Test phase, opening up the servers for North American (and pinoy online gamers) to test and play this steampunk MMO. I have been playing the open beta build quite a bit and here are some initial impressions:

The Good

Crafting System – familiar yet solid with socketed items, crafting, refining and enhancement features
Steampunk – few online games tackle this genre making this a bit refreshing
Graphic Settings – love the ability to go low res for slower rigs, or max out the details on your main gaming setup.
Visual cues – no more asking around about that quest, it’s marked clearly on your map with
Free to Play – item mall based. IM has the usual exp enhancements etc but hopefully it gets more oomph with more powerful items.

The Bad

Lag – probably due to servers located in the US, lag is a bit of a problem especially in crowded areas
Menu displays – lacking polish, they seem like something from ten years ago with regards to the execution of the UI design
Needs a better tutorial system – i do think Neosteam would be better served with a more in depth tutorial system. Especially with the crafting and refining systems.

The Huh?

Server Identities – Why do i get the same characters regardless of which server I’m on. I wanna create both an Elerd and a Rogel Fighter. Not necessarily on the same server due to PVP restrictions but at least on a different server.

Francis M – Music Tribute

Kiven — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:43:26 +0000

The best of Francis Magalona’s music via youtube:

More Francis Magalona Music Videos after the jump.

Mga kababayan ko

Official Francis Magalona Website

Meron akong Ano

Tayo’y Mga Pinoy

KALEIDOSCOPE WORLD

COLD SUMMER NIGHTS

MGA PRANING

Farewell, Francis Magalona

Kiven — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:27:01 +0000

Francis Magalona aka Francis M, rapper and tv host, passed away at 12 noon today at the Medical City due to “multiple organ failure “secondary to severe sepsis and secondary to pneumonia”, reports Inquirer.net.

Official Francis Magalona Website | Codamon.com Francis M Music Tribute

At the height of his popularity, Francis M achieved massive success with his rap singles and contribution to the local music scene. His early albums were some of my favorites and i regarded Francis M as a role model and the one and only master rapper!

Thanks for the music, Francis M.

via Inquirer,net

Francis’ wife, Pia Arroyo-Magalona, said her husband started exhibiting symptoms in March this year. “It was very gradual, hindi siya biglaang lumabas [it didn't manifest right away].”

Magalona was supposed to perform “Superproxy” with the Eraserheads in the band’s reunion concert, “The Final Set” at the SM Mall of Asia grounds in Pasay City on Saturday.

He had been in collaboration with Eraserheads and Pupil frontman Ely Buendia for an album to be released this year.

Telecommunications giant PLDT also scheduled in April a golf tournament fund-raiser for Magalona.

Magalona is survived by his wife Pia, and children Maxene, Saab, Unna, Nicolo, Francis Jr., Elmo, Arkin, and Clara.

The Death of Print: Gaming Magazines

Kiven — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:33:20 +0000

Some people think print media is dying. The only question is how long it’ll hold out. Here are some of Future Publishing’s latest British circulation numbers that support this trend.

With Ziff Davis out of the picture, Future is now considered to be numero uno in video game magazine publishing. And based on their latest circulation figures, things arent looking too great.

Update: Future lashes out at publishing rival

There are at least 3 gaming magazines in the Philippines right now with Game!, Playground and GameX competing for readership. The reason they survive? my opinion is they manage to survive due to the local online game publishers. I think console game ad revenue is close to zero, with Singapore based publishers the only ones in the region who has put ads in these mags.

* Edge – 31,304 to 28,898
* GamesMaster – 51,389 to 40,940
* OPM – 46,018 to 53,644
* PSW – 21,826 to 24,118
* ONM – 58,754 to 58,795
* OXM – 66,894 to 63,908
* Xbox World 360 – 31,698 to 31,030
* PSM3 – 26,885 to 26,202
* PC Gamer – 38,654 to 32,619
* PC Zone – 22,297 to 19,023

Thanks Kotaku