The One About The Granado Espada-Razer Contest

I was absolutely thrilled when I was assigned recently to work together with Razer in developing a contest for the Granado Espada community. After all, I'm a huge fan of the Razer mouse series. My boss, KKJ, had given me my very first Razer Diamondback mouse as a present. Initially, I found it too sensitive, but eventually after I got used to it... man! I just can't look or use any other mouse in the same way again. Eventually, I had to change all my PCs' mice to Razer types and even carry a spare Razer mouse along with my laptop wherever I go or travel.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints of the survey closure, we could only use a Lucky Draw type of mechanics. If Razer had been sponsoring us Razer Mouse products instead, I would have liked to have a "V2.9 Pet Naming Contest" which allowed the community to propose a new name for Grabbermon. And maybe the caption would be something like "Name your pet and win a Razer pet... mouse."

In any case, do take part in the survey over here (Survey Access Code: rgameriah ) and stand a chance to win their just-as-awesome Razer Piranha™ Gaming Communicator Headsets!

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28 August 2008 - 7 September 2008: Granado Espada - Razer Lucky Draw

Great news, pioneers!

In celebration of Soldiers Week, Granado Espada has partnered Razer to bring you even more prizes!

Simply login and complete the Razer survey by 7 September 2008, Sunday, over here using the following Survey Access Code: rgameriah and stand to win the following Razer and Granado Espada prizes:

• 3 Razer Piranha™ Gaming Communicator Headsets
• 5 winners of 50 Adelina Booty Searches each (http://ge.iahgames.com/abs/)
• 5 winners of “Item of the Month” each
• 1 Limited Edition Granado Espada Diary (Only 20 available in the region!)
• 1 Granado Limited Signature Edition Box (Only 9,999 worldwide!)

IMPORTANT: Winners will be contacted via mobile / phone number. Kindly updated your profile in your IAHGames Passport Account.

Discuss this here.

How do I update my profile?

1. Go to http://passport.iahgames.com and login to your account

2. After logging in, click on Personal Information under Account

3. Fill in your profile and click on Update when you’re done

About Razer Piranha™

The Razer Piranha™ is engineered from the ground up to blend performance, long hours of comfort and functionality, to deliver realistic in-game audio that will satisfy the needs of the most demanding gamer – You.

Now go forth and conquer.

True-to-life audio quality with superior clarity and bass.
An audio experience with crystal clear highs and visceral bass that will satisfy the needs of the most demanding gamer.

Adjustable, noise-filtering microphone.
Communicate clearly with your teammates through the noise-canceling microphone, even in crowded gaming environments.

Comfortable, ergonomic and adjustable head phones suitable for prolonged use.
The fully adjustable on-ear headphones and microphone ensure perfect fit and comfort for hours of use.

The One About Grabbermon

V2.9 is just around the corner and I've started working on the rollout plan as well as the content release schedule.

Although it's been scheduled for end of September, but a more likely launch date might be in October. I'll continue to update you guys as we move along. I'm really starting to feel as though my blog mojo has finally returned - I'm starting to enjoy blogging again. Well anyway, we just received the latest digital assets for V2.9 from HBS (Hanbitsoft) and what I am REALLY looking forward to in V2.9 is... the pet function!

I'm not sure what our localization team is going to name the new pet. The very raw translation at this point is "Grabber". (I'm hoping they call him "Grabbermon" though...) True to his "Grabber" nature, he loots items for you. From what I understand, you are required to feed him with pet food every few hours, if not it would lead to his demise. So no hope for AFK-ing with Grabber overnight! Nevertheless, it's hard to tell what the system would be like at this point in time, since V2.9 hasn't been implemented on the test server yet. The above is hearsay that might have been lost in translation.

Here's a sneak peek of lil' Grabbermon:

Awww... Isn't he the cutest thing ever?

The One About Diego's Art Nouveau

I were looking through the Week 2 loading screen submissions for Diego's Art Nouveau and though there was quite a significant improvement in the quality of the submissions, but still... I felt that some cutting edge creativity was still lacking.

Here's some ideas that could set YOUR submission apart!

1) Magic Eye 3D Loading Screens!
I used to be obsessed with those Magic Eye 3D pictures thingy whereby there is a sentence or picture inside a mosaic looking picture. Something like that:

Use your magic eye and check out the bird!

Source: http://www-ai.ijs.si/sirds/bird.jpg

It would be super duper awesome to have such loading screens in GE whereby the subject matter was GE-related and the user would only have like 5-10 seconds to figure out what was on the loading screen before he reached the next map. Not sure how to do up something like that though. There's prolly some freeware out there that enables you to do so.

2) Mini Games!

I think the key thing here is to entertain the community during those painful 5-10 seconds of waiting time. So why not mini games to amuse them in the meantime? Loading screens could be like 'Spot the difference' types whereby 2 screenshots are side by side, looking almost same same but different. The user would then have to spot like 5 differences in the pictures.

Other than 'Spot the difference', there could be trivia questions or GE-context riddles with the answers at the corner or something along those lines.

Yup, yup. So try to think out of the box and push your creativity and sense of imagination to the next level. Let the simple things around you inspire you, you'll never know where it will take you!

Oh wait, one more thing before I meet up with my colleagues for a badminton game, the Paid Game Services project has been delayed yet again due to unforseen circumstances. *sigh*

Everything had been working beautifully on the test server. But when imported to the live server, it was then discovered that the stored procedures given to us by HBS on the test server were a different structure/format from the one on the live server! *sigh* So... now we are awaiting the new stored procedures from HBS again. :_(

The One About Weizhen's Article

It's definitely a sign.

Just after my proposal to L'oreal for sponsorship for the September Gamer Girl Feature had been approved, I received a call from Weizhen, who writes for the local Singapore newspaper 'The Straits Times'. Very coincidentally, she was writing an article about female gamers and was interested to know more. So I shared with her some of the upcoming events that we are hosting for our gamer girls and some of the possible reasons why gaming is really getting popular amongst the female population.

One of the reasons I cited was due to the 'Tupperware Party' effect. Ok... I know it sounds silly and all, but it was a term I coined on the spur of the moment at that point in time cos it really seemed like the best analogy.

Gamer Girl Gatherings are the new Tupperware parties! I recall reading somewhere that Tupperware became popular because women brought their women friends along to these lavish and outlandishly themed parties. I can see the same phenomenon happening in this day and age where our gamer girls bring their gal pals along to our real life gaming events and game launch parties, like the one we held at Zouk last year.

I look forward to a day where gaming comes hand-in-hand with other female-dominant activities like retail therapy a.k.a shopping, beauty treatments, clubbing etc. Like a casual games terminal at a pedicure station: 'Game while you pedicure!'

There is an incredible amount of potential and opportunities that ties gaming to the female consumer goods industry as the female population gravitates more and more towards gaming and I sincerely hope that when that time comes, I would have been one of the pioneers to have proudly championed this cause and helped contribute in growing this industry.

Many thanks, Weizhen, for being one of our champions! :)

Full Article here.

Extract:

Project coordinator Eva Yuan, 27, set up a guild of 40 other regional gamers within action game Granado Espada. They play regularly online.

'It helps when games have interactive chat functions, beautiful graphics and are playable even for people who are not dexterous. I don't just want to chop monsters,' she said.

Gaming companies have responded to this by organising activities solely for female gamers. IAH Games, for example, is lining up 'gamer girl gatherings' for December.

Its community manager Danielle Hrin Kuek said these are the 'new Tupperware parties'.

The One About Granado Espada Gamer Girls in Playworks Sept 2008 Magazine


Phew! I just finished writing my GE column for Playworks magazine's September 2008 issue, which spotlights Granado Espada Gamer Girls. I had previously emailed some of the Gamer Girls which I had seen in Facebook and Friendster to interview them. Most hadn't replied me yet, so I could only use 6 of the replies I had received so far. I'm also having difficulty adding some of the girls in Facebook/Friendster group as friend in order to interview them, so do add me up if you are part of the Granado Espada Gamer Girl group.

Here are some random snippets of the magazine article:

"Any interesting incidents happened to you in GE?”

Emmylia: I get a handful of people saying 'YOU'RE A FAKE GAL!' Or,'Meh? You don't sound like one, I don't believe you're a gal.' - Got those a lot while I was recruiting for the all girls' faction I'm in.

"What is a typical day like for you in GE?"

Abby: Chatting with fellow gamers, trading and leveling up my characters. I love training my ‘Lisa Lynway’ character since she is a belly dancer, just like me!

Abby & Lisa Lynway - The Belly Dancing Duo

"What is a typical day for you like in real life?"

Alisha: Work takes up most of my time on weekdays. Evenings are 99% utilised for GE! Ok… in between there's still some blogging, chatting on msn etc.

"Have you ever dated someone you met in-game? Do you believe that romance can be found in-game? "

Eva: Yup… we were amazed that we could finish each other’s sentences. Although he eventually got back together with his ex (in real life) but well… possibilities exist. :)

If you were a beauty product, what would you be and why?

Carine: Mascara~ because the eyes are the windows to a person's heart and soul and I want to help everyone have beautiful eyes~

* * *

And these are definitely my two favourite snippets:

And what item in GE would your dream guy be and why?

Sheila: I'm going to go with Great Sword. The stances for it usually have a slow attack speed but when it comes to fights that matter, this weapon can be very powerful with a little bit of skill and patience. But if skills are carelessly spammed, the weapon ends up rendering the character useless. In that same sense, I like guys who have a lot of restraint and make sure everything they do is well thought out. Basically, flirting isn't appreciated if it's not serious!

Eva: Elite Penetrator of course, for obvious reasons… HAHAHA!!!

Eva quests for her Elite Penetrator

... You just gotta love Eva's forthcoming ways. ;)

The One About The New Launcher Screen

One of my colleagues from Creative did a mock-up of a potential new launcher screen.

I think it's awesome! But what do YOU think? Yeay or Nay?

Edited 20 August 2008: Due to some scary bugs found during testing, schedule has been changed to 21 August 2008, Thursday, 1200hrs (GMT+8) -25 September 2008, Thursday, 1200hrs (GMT+8)

The One About Beijing Olympics 2008

I happened to be reading Blacksword's Granado Esapda Blog and came across his entry on the Beijing Olympics 2008 costumes in China GE.

Well, the good news is... we spoke to IMC about it and asked if we could also use those costumes and they have agreed to let us use it as a 1 month promotion for the Limited Edition Box. Details are still in the midst of being finalized and if all goes well, the promotion will last from 21 August 2008, Thursday, 1200hrs (GMT+8) -25 September 2008, Thursday, 1200hrs (GMT+8), whereby when you do a 'Claim Item' using the Emilia The Sage RNPC Code found in the Limited Edition Box, it would then provide "Emilia The Sage" RNPC Card and 5 x Beijing 2008 Sportswear Costumes (for both genders). But like I said, details are still being finalized and is very much dependent on whether the patch for these costumes is buggy or not. Thus, please wait for the announcement on the website first before any attempts.

(Remember to thank Blacksword for his blog entry and Mewmender for his forum thread that gave rise to this inspiration as well!)

Here are some sample pictures of the Beijing Olympics 2008 costumes from Blacksword's Blog

Male Fighter

Male Musketeer

Female Elementalist

Female Wizard

Female Scout

Another promotion we are planning to hold is for the 750Gpoint GVC card between 15 August 2008, 1200hrs (GMT+8)-18 September 2008, Thursday, 1200hrs (GMT+8) .

Once the promotion is activated, all 750 Gpoint GVC codes are to provide:

a) Standard 750 GPoints value
b) Additional 250 GPoints
c) Additional 1 Enhancement Booster

Once again, I reiterate, wait till the website announcement is up before claiming!

Meanwhile, some updates on the Paid Game Services of Change Character Name, Family Name and gender... the website graphical user interface is complete and we'll be doing the tricky part of integration with the various systems over the next few days. Currently, we're still on schedule to launch next week on 21 August 2008, Thursday.

Here's a sneak peek at the website interface:

Main Menu

Change Gender Menu

Last and best of all (well at least to me, since its my current pet project), is that last night, I got a reply from L'oreal who has agreed to the proposal for the sponsorship for the upcoming September Gamer Girl feature! Woot! I can't wait to get my hands on those L'oreal products... MUAHAHHAAHHHAA!!!

The One About V2.6 Content Rollout Schedule

So... what's next in the lineup for GE game content? Here's a tentative schedule for the month ahead. Once again, schedule may be subject to changes, depending on whether there are roadblocks during IMC's patch development.

14 August 2008:
Release of RNPC, Bai Hu

21 August 2008: "Battlesmith Week"
Release of Veteran Stances:

Mighty Cruz	[Combat Stance] Polearm
Low-Guard	[Combat Stance] Sabre
Raid Assault	[Combat Stance] Two handed dagger
Idge the Battlesmith'	Idge the Battlesmith RNPC Card

28 August 2008: "Soldier's Week"

Reboldoeux Soldier Costume	Reboldoeux Soldier Exclusive Costume
Coimbra Trooper Costume	Coimbra Trooper's Exclusive Costume
Auch Infantry Costume	Auch Infantry's Exclusive Costume
RNPC Stat Upgrade Quest 1 - Reboldoeux Solider	Quest for Reboldoeux Soldier's stat upgrade

4 September 2008: "Iron Chef - Fish & Chips Week"
(I do have my reservations about whether IMC will approve this one though. *crosses fingers*)

Panfilo the Battlecook	Panfilo the Battlecook RNPC Card
Enchantment Chip Package (Lvl 84)	5 Enchantment Tranquilizer + 5 Lvl 84 Enchantment Chips
Enchantment Chip Package (Lvl 92)	5 Enchantment Tranquilizer + 5 Lvl 92 Enchantment Chips
Enchantment Chip Package (Lvl 100)	5 Enchantment Tranquilizer + 5 Lvl 100 Enchantment Chips

11 September 2008: Children's Week

RNPC Stat Upgrade Quest 2 - Ramiro & Tiburon	Quest for Ramiro and Tiburon's stat upgrade.
The Janzur Collection	Random Box that contains Gryphon’s Wing (Sylph) Wings + other items
Claude’s Crate	Random Box that contains Cherry Sprig (Cherry Blossom Branch), Silver Skullic Bracer and other items

Other than that, V2.9 is scheduled to launch at the end of September. We are currently still on schedule in terms of localization work and I'll be going down to the sound studio on Thursday with Runner to record Calyce's voice. The voice actress for Calyce is a jazz singer, so I am reallyyyyyyy excited about this one. I'll try to take some photos and get some voice clips as a sneak preview for V2.9! We are still auditioning and looking for a voice talent for the other V2.9 RNPC Claire, the sweet lil' girl who uses a canon. (From what I understand, Claire is the step-daughter of Claude Baudez)

Oh yes, another update in regard to game content rollout. We are currently in the process of implementing the 3 paid game services - Family Name Change, Character Name Change and Gender Change. Previously, there were some really painful technical bottlenecks which have finally managed to unkink themselves over time. But FINALLY, we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel and from my latest meeting update earlier with the rest of the team, we are scheduled to launch on 21 August 2008, Thursday. There may be one more show-stopping bottleneck to this project, but regardless, this project ranks high up on our list of priorities, so it should work out one way or the other.

Phew... ok I think this blog entry may be a bit of information overload that requires some digestion. In the meantime, I'm back to work on the Girl Gamer September website feature. If you are a Granado Espada Gamer Girl, or know someone who is, do get them to join the Facebook or Friendster group (see my previous blog entry post). I'll be scouting around for GE gamer girls to feature on the Granado Espada website and in my column for Playworks Magazine (gaming magazine) based on my Facebook/Friendster stalking. So do regularly check your Facebook/Friendster to add me as a friend or reply my messages ya?

The One About Granado Espada Gamer Girls

So I've gotten to know quite a couple of girls within the Granado Espada community and upon learning from Philippines [CM]Veya that she was planning to set up a Granado Espada Gamer Girl site in the near future, I thought that this might be the right time to bring the female community to the next level - of bringing them into the spotlight, holding various events and promotions specially for them, as well as to perhaps, cater to their needs as a female gamer.

I'm currently working on a proposal to pitch to beauty product companies for a weekly feature in September of the various gamer girls in our community from all walks of life and countries. Hopefully the pitch works out so that our charming featured ladies can each walk away with a little something for their beauty regime.

In any case, I've started up a Granado Espada Gamer Girls group on Facebook here and a Friendster version over here. If you're a Granado Espada Gamer Girl, do join up and share a bit about yourself in the group. I think it'll be pretty darn awesome to share various tips & experiences about our lives - whether it is about our virtual lives in GE or our real life ones.

I'm sorry dudes, but ONLY dolls (read: chicks, females, girls, women) are allowed into this group. I'll be kicking out all other male population on a periodic basis. Nothing personal, it's just... gender. Both guys and dolls can join up the Official Granado Espada Group on Facebook over here.

In the meantime, if you have any ideas on what kinds of contests, events, promotions you hope to see for the Granado Espada Gamer Girl Group, do drop me an email or post it on the Facebook/Friendster message boards. I'll be happy to hear your ideas!

Credits: Above picture created by [CM] Veya

The One About More Fashionista Boxes!

Fairy Wings. Katana Sword. Horn of Baphomet. Nadachi Sword.

More random boxes scheduled to come out tomorrow! Knight's Cache, Fashionista's Chest, Najib's Weapon Box and Artist's Trove have random drops of the above items, amidst other consumable items. The Katana and Nadachi swords have an awesome winrAR of 30! I guess this pretty much puts it in the same family of Elite 92 weapons. These weapons are veteran exclusive though.

Here's a sneak preview:

Nadachi Sword

Katana Sword - Pretty amazing the snow hasn't melted yet...

Fairy Wing

The perfect combination: La Ventisca + Corona La Ventisca (Hat) + Fairy Wings

Fairy Wing - Back View

Horn of Baphomet - Back Costume
Fashion To Die For: Samurai Costume + Samurai Hat + Horn of Baphomet + Katana Sword

Fairy wings on a guy can look a bit strange though, but I'm pretty sure Andre would approve since it's... white after all.

Before I end off, another piece of potential good news. I received an email from a GE gamer requesting an extension of the Vicente costume event since there were some gamers who were affected by barracks slot bug for a while. Which I thought was very good feedback. We've requested IMC to extend the event by 2 weeks, till 14 August 2008, Thursday. If we get the green light, we'll be announcing it to the community shortly.

The One About EA SPORTS FIFA Online 2 Press Conference

I just returned from a trip to Perth on Sunday, and was just in time for our EA SPORTS FIFA Online 2 Press Conference which was held yesterday, on Monday. The game will be available in English and Thai for the Singapore and Thailand markets respectively. Our Singapore press conference was simultaneously held with our partners, True Digital Entertainment (TDE) in Thailand.

In addition to Singapore and Thailand, EA and us (IAHGames) will also be launching EA SPORTS FIFA Online 2 in other Asian countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines at a later date. EA SPORTS FIFA Online 2 is slated to be available in the Vietnamese language as well in the near future.

Partners and friends of the media gathered together at Boulevard for the press conference:


Mr Roland Ong (CEO of IAHGames) kicked off the press conference with a welcome speech, followed by Mr Thiravid Thanapadungkiat (Assistant Director of TDE) and Mr Chris Thompson (Vice President and General Manager, Electronic Arts Asia Pacific Pte Ltd):

Chris Thompson (center), VP & GM of EA Asia Pacific, oversees a pennant exchange between Roland Ong (right) CEO of IAHGames and Thiravid Thanapadungkiat (left) Assistant Director of True Digital Entertainment. The exchange symbolized the beginning of IAHGames and TDE’s partnership operating EA SPORTS™ FIFA Online 2 in Singapore and Thailand

IAHGames Product Management Team then gave a presentation of the features of the game and screened the unreleased trailer:

The main highlight of the day came in a match between Singapore National Goalkeeper Lionel Lewis and WCG champion gamer Mohamed Phirkan! As the two of them prepared themselves for the showdown match, there were excited murmurings within the crowd, with all kinds of speculations as to who would win. Would real life soccer skills make a virtual difference on the pitch?

Singapore National Goalkeeper Lionel Lewis jokes with WCG champion gamer Mohamed Phirkan before their exhibition match at the EA SPORTS™ FIFA Online 2 press conference in Singapore.

... And it was such an exciting match! The thing I absolutely love about virtual soccer matches is how action packed and fast paced it all is. Never a dull moment of bringing the ball from one end of the pitch to the other end and vice versa. The audience was enthralled. You could feel the tension and excitement in the air with cheers and laughter, especially during epic moments like red cards and when someone scored an own goal!

In the end, real world expertise overthrew virtual champion in a score of 2-1.

Real world expertise meets a virtual champion as Singapore National Goalkeeper Lionel Lewis faces off against WCG champion gamer Mohamed Phirkanin an exhibition match at the EA SPORTS™ FIFA Online 2 press conference in Singapore. Lewis won the match 2-1.

VIPs Roland Ong (right) CEO of IAHGames, Chris Thompson (center) VP & GM of EA Asia Pacific and Thiravid Thanapadungkiat (left) Assistant Director of True Digital Entertainment applaud a shift in the action as EA SPORTS™ FIFA Online 2 is displayed for the crowd.

A Q&A session followed and refreshments came after. Guests and friends of the media also had an opportunity to try out the game at the various test stations available:


All guests were given a token of appreciation, a goodie bag consisting of an IAHGames sports pouch, sports towel, sports water bottle and an EA notebook for their attendance:


Over at Thailand press conference, things were in full swing as well. You can check out the article over here, if you can read Thai that is... If you can't, then just simply let the peektures do the talkin':

More photos found here.
Official press release found here.

Sign up for EA SPORTS FIFA Online 2 Closed Beta Testing here.

The One About Singapore Cosfest 2008

Singapore's Cosfest 2008 was held recently over the first weekend of July. As always, a huge event with thousands of cosplayers all over the island coming together. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the event due to Top Speed's maiden CBT launch that same weekend. Nevertheless, I'll still try to piece together a poem of what happened that weekend based on pictures, courtesy of Singapore Community Manager, [CM]Rohnaga.

IAHGames had a booth onsite...

With a mysterious counterman as dark as night...

Game trailers played on into the night...

The registration queue numbers were just aight...

But then, it grew when people saw the light...

In the midst of Espada's fight...

And even with Naruto's sorry plight...

The time was now for fighter's good fight...

And Scouts were indeed a welcome sight...

With a charming elementalist on their right...

And on the left, a templar knight ...

Their final photo shoot was indeed dynamite!

Phew! That was close. The only rhyming words I had left on my list were 'eat vegemite' and 'go fly a kite'. I certainly don't see a career switch to 'Full Time Poet' in the near future. Or ever...