singapore
Features
Asia’s Other Game Convention: Singapore Shines In September
8:30PM N. Evan Van Zelfden | When the Tokyo Game Show starts this week, it will be the talk of the town. Last year, the event drew 194,288 attendees over the course of four days for business and public visitors. More »
AsiaSoft Cracking Down On Home-Run MapleStory Servers
1:40AM Mike Fahey | MapleStory’s Singapore distributor looks to cut down on a rash of home-run pirate servers, as a plucky teen takes the world of big-headed platform battles into his own bedroom. More »
Home Hits Asia In ‘Fall 2008′
1:20PM Luke Plunkett | Sony have announced that Home, the Playstation 3’s long-awaited online fashion show and wandering-around simulator, will be coming to Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan in “Fall 2008″. Doesn’t sound like idle speculation, either, as that’s coming straight from a Sony press release. To help ensure everything’s ready to go ahead of the launch, there’ll be a closed beta held in September for residents of the region. If that’s you, keep an eye on this site, details on how to get in will be going up on August 29. More »
Woman Pays A Thousand Bucks For PSP
3:00PM Brian Ashcraft | A 41-year-old woman in Singapore claims she was duped into paying SGD$ 1000 ($US 722) for a PSP. The woman, who is named as simply “Nicole”, priced the Sony portable in various shops, noting it ranged between the equivalent of $US 217 and $US 434. She visited a shop owned by Yeow Tat Trading Enterprises, telling the friendly and helpful clerk that she was looking for a PSP for her daughter. The clerk supposedly told her that while the games were free of charge, the woman needed to pay for the PSP hardware and software upgrading licence. The bill? SGD$ 3,500. Says Nicole: “I was shocked. I thought he had written an extra zero by mistake… I told him that if the upgraded PSP was going to cost as much as a laptop, I might as well get my daughter a laptop”. Then the clerk reduced the price to SGD$ 3,100 and then down to SGD$ 2,610, saying it wouldn’t have the anti-virus software. More »
Romance of the Three Kingdoms Online Launched
4:30AM Maggie Greene | I admit it, I don’t get how they select English titles for these things and/or why they don’t just use 三國演義 instead of 三國志, but be that as it may: yesterday marked the Japanese launch of KOEI’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms Online. It’s the first product produced by their Singapore branch, and it is (shockingly enough) an MMORPG set in Han Dynasty China. For now, it’s a Japan-only release, to be followed by ‘ localized launches in select territories around the world.’ Full release after the jump. More »
News
10:00AM Logan Booker | Update: The press release for this story has been updated. Apparently the old one was for internal use by Ubisoft. All the facts remain the same.
Turns out Montreal isn’t enough for good old Ubisoft, as the publisher has decided to set up shop in warm reaches of Singapore. No, it’s not a local office, but a fully-fledged games development house.
According to the release, Ubisoft was tempted by Singapore’s “excellent technological infrastructure, thriving local game development industry and quality of its universities and training institutions”. The government was also more than happy to provide the publisher with its support.
The release goes on to say that the building itself is still under construction, but once complete, 300 developers will call Ubisoft Singapore home.
New studios are always great news, but it’s impossible not to think that if Australia had a willing government, high-tech infrastructure and financial incentives, this could have been a post about an Australia studio.
Press release after the jump. More »
Ubisoft Opens Singapore Studio, Australia Looks On Longingly
10:00AM Logan Booker | Update: The press release for this story has been updated. Apparently the old one was for internal use by Ubisoft. All the facts remain the same.
Turns out Montreal isn’t enough for good old Ubisoft, as the publisher has decided to set up shop in warm reaches of Singapore. No, it’s not a local office, but a fully-fledged games development house.
According to the release, Ubisoft was tempted by Singapore’s “excellent technological infrastructure, thriving local game development industry and quality of its universities and training institutions”. The government was also more than happy to provide the publisher with its support.
The release goes on to say that the building itself is still under construction, but once complete, 300 developers will call Ubisoft Singapore home.
New studios are always great news, but it’s impossible not to think that if Australia had a willing government, high-tech infrastructure and financial incentives, this could have been a post about an Australia studio.
Press release after the jump. More » 
Asian Halo 3 Bundle Misses Christmas By Two Months
5:30PM Luke Plunkett | But that’s OK, because that’s not the point! This one’s aimed at cashing in on Chinese new year’s celebrations. The bundle includes a 20GB 360, a copy of Halo 3 and two wireless controllers, which is a nice touch. It’ll set you back 669 Singaporean dollars (USD$440), which looks like a lot but is only $US 20 more than the Christmas Viva Pinata/Forza bundle, a good deal since most buyers would probably prefer the second controller to the second – ie Viva Pinata – game. As for other Asian territories, it’ll cost HK$3,199 in Hong Kong and NT$13,680 in Taiwan. Guey Hay Fat Choy! Microsoft ushers in CNY with festive Xbox bundle [Cnet, via Giz] More »
Mass Effect Ban or Not, Singapore Authority “Get Creative”
9:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Just because Singapore is strict doesn’t mean its dull and conservative. Take Mass Effect, for example. The country’s Media Development Authority banned Mass Effect for alien lesbian sex, but then the MDA retracted its ban. See, they’re open minded! But what kind of governing body is the MDA? Is it a bunch of stiff, dull Singaporeans in business suits. Yes. Yes, it is. However! They are stiff, dull folks who enjoy making rap videos about how creative they are. Click on the above 4 minute clip and listen closely. That sound you hear is our collective jaw hitting the floor. MDA Is So Cool [GameAxis, Thanks Aaron!] More »
Singapore Lifts Mass Effect Lesbian Ban
1:20AM Mike Fahey | It seems like only a couple days ago that Singapore’s Media Development Authority announced a ban on BioWare’s Mass Effect for the Xbox 360 due to hot, steamy, eye color-changing alien lesbian sex scenes. Perhaps between Monday and today they caught a glimpse at one of the clips of the scene online and realised it wasn’t so bad. Perhaps the MDA got a little overexcited. Either way, today they’ve reversed said ban, allowing implied cross-species lovemaking to rain over Singapore like fairy dust, along with an M18 rating. The Board of Film Censors (BFC) said in a statement on Friday evening that it will selectively use games ratings to ‘enable highly anticipated games to be launched in Singapore’ until it puts in place a games classification system in January. More »
