The Epitome column of ITJourno Asia again highlighted my stories and those of my fellow members of the INQ7 editorial team, Leo Magno, Erwin Oliva and Alex Villafania.

And yup, just as we say at hackenslash.net, gaming is serious business.

RP boys and gals push the beat

Some great reports out of the Philippines today.

IT Matters’ Maricel Estavillo had one RP BPO player “close to buying a medical transcription (MT) company in India”, while at INQ7, Joey Alarilla had some gaming goss, following an announcement that Korea’s Webzen Inc. will enter the US market this year. Erwin Oliva then had the National Bureau of Investigations confiscating “about five million pesos worth of computer hardware from at least five computer shops”.

Joey Alarilla did a nice job highlighting why the “gold rush by Philippine companies to bring in foreign-made MMOGs” is endangering the nation’s software industry.

“It’s healthy competition to have so many publishers of MMOGs here. The sad fact, however, is that instead of supporting potential game developers here, the game publishers buy the MMOGs from abroad, and they can only do so much in customizing the game,” Alarilla had an RP gaming association head saying. Various gaming industry members were quoted as saying that the nation’s publishers and players and general gaming proponents must support local developers and entrepreneurs.

Finally, Alexander Villafania had a kinda disturbing piece on how the Senate President believes the country can get around the controversial “national ID system.”

***

Stories of the Day

MRT, LRT told to study possibility of 24-hour operations for call centres
By Jeffrey O. Valisno and Ana Barbara Lorenz, IT Matters
SPI to acquire Indian transcription firm
By Maricel Estvillo, IT Matters
Look beyond MMOGs, RP game publishers urged
By Joey Alarilla, INQ7

Lead of the day

“Micromanagers, multi-taskers, control freaks and obsessive-compulsive gamers unite! This devilishly cute and devilishly addictive game from Nintendo will keep you up till you get every last treasure and raise 10,000 pokos.”
From “He Got Game : Micromanage your way through Pikmin2″ by Leo Magno, INQ7

ITJourno Asia, the subscription-only trade site for Asian tech journalists, has been coming out every Friday with a “5 minutes with…” profile of different journos each week.

This Friday was my turn. Special thanks to Victoria Lea (who writes the Epitome column) and Sara Kim.

Nicole, I hope you’ll get to read this, hehe.

5 Minutes with Joey Alarilla
By Staff writers
25/02/2005 08:00:00 AM

He’s got a thing for Nicole Kidman, he’s ready for a mugging in New York, and he’s a self-confessed optimist. ITJourno has five minutes with the Philippines’ Joey Alarilla, columnist and editor at INQ7.net’s technology section, Infotech.

A stranger asks: What do you do?

I’m a contributing editor and Infotech columnist for online news company INQ7.net. I’ve been working for them for over four years now, since I was part of the team of guinea pigs – oops, I mean, pioneers – who had the exciting task of helping set it up.

I churn out a weekly gaming column, edit our site for the youth and another one for Filipino expats, and write tech news and features and PC and videogame reviews, as well as occasional lifestyle, entertainment and business feature pieces.

I’ve been telecommuting for almost two years now so that I can work while helping take care of my now three-year-old daughter. And pardon the shameless plug, but an essay I wrote about my telecommuting experience won third prize last year in the English category of the Don Carlos Palanca Awards, the most prestigious literary competition in the Philippines.

First break into journalism?

I started out as a staff writer for the first Philippine IT trade publication, Metropolitan Computer Times, and later on also wrote for PCWeek Philippines when they got the license from Ziff-Davis.

Why journalism?

I guess I’ve always had a knack for writing, and I’ve always been interested in technology. I like being a tech journalist because we can make more people aware of the benefits of technology and help them understand how it’s changing the way we work and play.

Dream person to interview?

Does it have to be someone in IT? Because I’d rather live out my fantasy and interview Nicole Kidman.

Most tiresome thing about being a tech reporter?

Waiting for the changes we’ve been writing about for years to become a reality.

I mean, in an ideal world, everyone on this planet would have broadband and every home would have a PC or other device to keep us connected to the Internet.

Still, we’ve come a long way in the past few years, so I’m still an optimist when it comes to technology.

Who holds the balance of power in tech journalism in Asia – the
vendors or the media?

We journalists do, because we only answer to our readers. (OK, some of us may also answer to grumpy editors). At the end of the day, we’ll write a story the way it needs to be told.

Microsoft, Apple and Red Hat all call you up on the same day, offering you the same salary, for just slightly varying degrees of your ideal job. Which one do you take?

Hmm, I think I’d wait for Google to call.

London, New York or Hong Kong… Where would you choose?

New York! Sure, I’ll probably get mugged, but I’ve always seen New York as larger than life and the real capital of America. Hey, how come you didn’t include Singapore?

Favourite restaurant in your city of residence?

That would be a toss-up up between Han Pao, a Chinese restaurant, and Persia House, now known as Mr. Kebab. They’re not the kind of restaurants you’d go to in order to impress someone, but usually you’ll find the best food in somewhat seedy places.

Flowers or chocolate… what’s the way to a girl’s heart?

I’d say chocolate, but then again I love chocolate and would probably end up eating some of it as well.

Best way for PR to contact you?

Their best bet would be to e-mail me. They could also try calling me up or send me SMS. I don’t like snail mail.

Joey Alarilla is based in the Philippines. He can be reached at joeyalarilla@gmail.com, or through his website The Babel Machine at www.alarilla.com

IBM Fellow and lead architect for the Cell processor Jim Kahle and Sony Computer Entertainment spokeswoman Nanako Kato talk to hackenslash about the new chip that will power the PlayStation 3, as well as a host of consumer electronics and computer devices.