gmtristan.com
Mon Macutay (GM Tristan), Marketing Manager for Level Up Philippines, on online games, MMORPGs, Gamer Babes, Level Up and Infotech. News, reviews and more!

Throughout the years, we’ve come to admire the female characters in video games. One of my fondest memories of course was rescuing a certain “Princess Peach” from the evil clutches of King Koopa while I took on the role of an Italian plumber with his cousin Luigi.

Soon after, scores of games would feature memorable heroines which would later become definitive icons in this digital age.

After giving it much forethought, I decided to just list down the gmtristan.com “Top 5 most influential female video game characters”

Photos and countdown after the jump!

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As you may all know, RF Online Korea has gone through its latest evolution - Episode 2. This highly anticipated change has proved to be effective in getting more players into this cool sci-fi MMORPG.

The most notable change is that RF Online will now be FREE-TO-PLAY from a subscription model. Items will be sold in the Item Mall.

I think that this change is for the better. I've listed some of the major changes to RF Episode 2 here.

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If you’re one of the top MMO players in the world, beware.

Some greedy bastards might just abduct you for your password.

This happened recently in Sao Paolo, Brazil when an armed gang of four kidnapped one the world’s best gamers. 

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We just released the official video of FlyFF Philippines V8.

To watch it, please CLICK HERE

In the meantime, do check out more MMORPG news at gmtristan.com

Thank you!

According to research around February of this year, this time done by the British, women who play video games (in particular if they carry a Nintendo DS or a PSP) have more sex than those girls who do not play!

According to the study:

Wired blog Game | Life cites a survey conducted by Gametart, UK’s largest online games rental company, whose initial purpose was to measure the impact of the pink PSP and the Nintendo DS on gamers’ sex lives across England. The survey threw up some interesting findings.

>> DETAILS WHEN YOU CLICK HERE

Sadly, we didn’t bring home the gold but Team Armada-Philippines, official RP team to the Ragnarok World Championships 2007 held at the Lotte Activity Center in Seoul, Korea, took the bronze medal after defeating Germany 2-0.

Team Philippines lost to the Korea National team 2-0 in the bid for one of two finals slots. Korea went on to battle Thailand (who defeated Germany) for the finals. Thailand went to upset the host country 3-1 in their best-of-five finals match to become the 2007 RWC Champions!.

This is the best finish yet for our country in the second installment of the international Ragnarok tournament. The RWC 2007 ends today and the Philippine contingent will fly back to Manila tomorrow, July 23, 2007.

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A few  days back, I tackled a sneak peak into FlyFF version 8.

Today, here’s more detailed nformation about the newest content for the FlyFF MMORPG.

Here in the Philippines, GM Atma and I are calling the newest release “Heroes Rising”. I’ll show you photos of the new cool posters we had designed later.

FlyFF V8: Heroes’ Rising will be online on July 25, 2007. That’s next week, FlyFFers!

>> DETAILED V8 SYSTEM CHANGES HERE

Last Monday, a couple (husband and wife) in Reno, Nevada, US were charged with “child neglect” for being engrossed in online games too much that they almost starved to death their 2 babies.

According to MSNBC news, “The children of Michael and Iana Straw, a boy age 22 months and a girl age 11 months, were severely malnourished and near death last month when doctors saw them after social workers took them to a hospital, authorities said. Both children are doing well and gaining weight in foster care, prosecutor Kelli Ann Viloria told the Reno Gazette-Journal.”

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Great news, MMORPG addicts!

The long wait is over.

Perfect World Philippines, one of the most anticipated MMORPG titles of this year, is now on Open Beta effective today, July 18, 2007.

This means that anyone can register now and be part of this great game from Level Up! You do this by going to the MyLevelUp page and add PW to your games (if you already have an account). If you don’t, simpy make one and then link the game to your MyLevelUp.

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It doesn’t matter what game you play. As long as it’s online and you have human counterparts either as opponents or team mates, you will never be spared from the likes of

“what a noob!!!” or “lame play, weakling!”

Some can argue that talking trash is a necessary evil in an online environment while some will insist that there is very little respect in the online world.

Which side are you on?

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You’ve been playing your favorite MMORPG game for over a year now. You’ve done it all… got the best gear, killed the toughest bosses, tried all the quessts and kicked the butts of all the toughest players.

Sometimes, that damn patch or game update is late and there’s really nothing to do. You’re sick and tired of doing the same things over and over again.

Has this happened to you? If you answer “yes” then I’ve cooked up some tips to help you stave off those ‘boredom fits’ and bring back life into your online gaming…

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Sometimes, MMO players (and their avatars) qualify for the minimum requirements in forming a guild within the current game they’re playing. Be it level requirements, money or item requirements, etc - more often than not, most will say “Hey! I can start my own guild now… let me just hop on over to the NPC and then I’ll invite my friends”.

Sadly, this process is just the start of a long and ardous journey. A journey which is not for the faint of heart, which calls for dedication, leadership and a HUGE amount of your time. So, if you are forming your guild to be competitive and have no idea what you’re getting into, this post of mine might help…

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This is NOT a manual on cheating. Rather, this is a study on why cheating is wrong and what individuals and organizations can do to eradicate it. 

Since man invented games and created rules, there were always cheaters. Video games and, to a huge extent, online games and MMORPGs are no exception. In the early 80s and 90s, cheats came in the form of “codes”. I mean, who can forget the Dpad combination for Contra (up-up-down-down-left-left-etc-etc) for 99 lives? Today, with broadband and information readily available on the web, cheating has gone high tech.

Greed is the mother of all motives for cheating. In the online gaming industry, it’s a damn cat and mouse game between developers, 3rd party exploiters and individual cheaters.

Here are some methods on how cheats are done in online games

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Gungho Online Entertainment of Japan, through a poorly translated source has recently announced their plans to put our favorite game, Ragnarok Online into the Nintendo DS.

The only details announced was that there were 3 playable characters:

A “strong and vengeful swordsman, a swift thief, or a caring healer.” They also hinted on the possibility of traveling in 10 lands in Midgard. My guess is that everything is just ideas at the moment.

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I hate to be the bringer of sad news.

But after careful thought and consideration, we, Level Up, are shutting down operations for Philippine Rose Online. It’s been a great two years. I’m quite proud to have been there when it all started. And I’m really sad that we are saying goodbye to the game. But I’m sure it’s not the end of all that friendship, camaraderie and loyalty that the pROSE community have shown us.

Our adventures will continue… albeit in different worlds

Goodbye pROSE. It has been an honor…

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