MyTechBox [Manila Standard Interactive: December 20, 2004]
E.G.G. is Hatched
Finally, Netopia’s Extreme Gaming Grounds, or simply E.G.G., opened at the newly built Promenade Mall within the Greenhills Shopping Center. In fact, I was the first tech journalist who broke the story in this column last August about this one of a kind gaming place, and the first-of- its-kind digital entertainment center not only in the Philippines but in whole of Southeast Asia as well.
This new gaming facility features 60 fully loaded PC terminals with Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processors all running at a clock speed of 3.20GHz. Each PC on every terminal will have a high-resolution LCD monitor and theater quality audio headsets.
“We want this to be a totally different experience for the Filipino gaming community,” says Raymund Ricafort, president of Digital Paradise Inc., the company that owns Netopia and E.G.G.
“As we developed the mass-based market for Internet café retail, we already realized the growing need for niche marketing, essentially hi-end gaming,” adds Raymund.
And hi-end indeed. The gaming center itself is a combination of extreme gaming computers, ultra-modern facilities, as well as world-class interior design.
For non-PC gamers, networked video game consoles are also available at the lower floor, where the registration counter and the refreshment bar is also located. Currently, there are at least four Microsoft Xbox video game consoles that can be networked together and each viewed on a 41-inch plasma monitors. Staff at E.G.G. says Sony PlayStation 2 consoles will also be offered anytime soon at the game site.
On the second floor, 60 new terminals of Intel Extreme Edition PC’s are placed on a circular arena-type multi-level platform. Plus, on the center are two large overhead Plasma screens, a set-up that now makes on-line gaming a true spectators sport.
The use of Extreme Edition processors from Intel is apt enough to provide the power that modern video games need right now. Meaning, online games like Halo 2 and the upcoming Worlds of Warcraft, which could only be rendered flawlessly on hi-end computers, will be perfect in this kind gaming center. The E.G.G. center in Greenhills cost about P14-million to build, and according to Netopia, there will be a total of six E.G.G. centers to be constructed across the country in the next two years. Cebu will be the lucky city where the next E.G.G. will be laid sometime early next year.
Also at the launch of E.G.G. are Ricky Banaag, country manager of Intel Phils; Lai Yit Loong, Singapore country manager and director for South East Asia of Intel Technology Asia Pte Ltd; Steven Huan, CIO for Netopia Internet Café and Digital Paradise; and Ray Espinosa, SVP of ePLDT, Netopia’s broadband provider.
Low-priced PC’s
Hewlett-Packard or now better known as HP, has launched a people’s pc of sorts in China at a price of 3,999 Yuan (about P27,000 or US$483). And I thought, at that price, our own People’s PC was expensive.
The world’s number 2 PC maker is said to match that of a similar PC model rolled off by China’s biggest PC maker, Lenovo, which only recently bought IBM’s personal computer division.
The HP model is part of the company’s Pavillon series and will feature a processor from AMD and a FreeDos operating system. Take note that, not even a Linux OS could guarantee a low priced computer; just short in saying that, Linux, is not actually free as many was made to believe. Yes, today, you have to pay even for an open-source OS like that from Linux, especially for favorite flavors coming from Red hat and Suse. Still, Linux is much cheaper than having Windows XP. That I personally guarantee.
The US$483 PC in China is actually cheap despite the local currency conversion. Bare bone PC’s (read: equipped with just the basics for it to run) are usually priced at around US$600 or P34,000. Still, in peso terms, the price is quite expensive for a basic PC. Actually, at that price, you can already get a mid-end to near hi-end white box PC locally. It just goes to show that buying or building your own PC in the Philippines is not that expensive. So, why on earth was I complaining about our own People’s PC initiative? With a price of P17,500 (US$310), which includes everything that makes a multimedia PC run smoothly including a 14-inch CRT monitor and a Linux operating system, the price is a steal.
In reality, the P17,500 price could still be pulled lower. My Manila Standard colleague Chin Wong already wrote about it in his Digital Life column and proved that the price set by the local People PC initiative is a bit deceiving.
The People’s PC should have the spec the same as the one chosen by HP for its China marketing strategy. Use an AMD CPU, instead of a Celeron from Intel, and a motherboard with a chipset not manufactured by Intel as well; go for VIA or SIS instead, and that P17,500 will definitely go down to the P15,000 level, or even lower. A truly inviting price for which CICT Chairman, Sec. Virgilio Pena initially aspired.
In fact, I also heard from Microsoft that this is way to go for a true People’s PC. My source also said that the software giant is cooking something big come 2005 that would definitely benefit a large portion of the Philippine population and finally bring a PC to their home.
Could this be a PC loaded with a Tagalog or Cebuano Windows XP version perhaps? Who knows? It could also be that Microsoft might finally even throw in its popular operating system for free this time. We just have to watch out for that, whatever it is.
MyGadget of the Week: Creative Zen
It’s today’s ultimate portable media center where you can listen to music, view photos, and even watch videos.Highs: Multi-format media player; USB 2.0 connectivity; long paying hours; hi-resolution LCD display; large 20Gb internal drive; Windows OS. Lows: Like any other hi-end portable media player, it has a prohibitive price.
MyVerdict: The next generation Zen is a trendsetting device that would redefine the meaning of digital portable multimedia.
Finally, Netopia’s Extreme Gaming Grounds, or simply E.G.G., opened at the newly built Promenade Mall within the Greenhills Shopping Center. In fact, I was the first tech journalist who broke the story in this column last August about this one of a kind gaming place, and the first-of- its-kind digital entertainment center not only in the Philippines but in whole of Southeast Asia as well.
This new gaming facility features 60 fully loaded PC terminals with Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processors all running at a clock speed of 3.20GHz. Each PC on every terminal will have a high-resolution LCD monitor and theater quality audio headsets.
“We want this to be a totally different experience for the Filipino gaming community,” says Raymund Ricafort, president of Digital Paradise Inc., the company that owns Netopia and E.G.G.
“As we developed the mass-based market for Internet café retail, we already realized the growing need for niche marketing, essentially hi-end gaming,” adds Raymund.
And hi-end indeed. The gaming center itself is a combination of extreme gaming computers, ultra-modern facilities, as well as world-class interior design.
For non-PC gamers, networked video game consoles are also available at the lower floor, where the registration counter and the refreshment bar is also located. Currently, there are at least four Microsoft Xbox video game consoles that can be networked together and each viewed on a 41-inch plasma monitors. Staff at E.G.G. says Sony PlayStation 2 consoles will also be offered anytime soon at the game site.
On the second floor, 60 new terminals of Intel Extreme Edition PC’s are placed on a circular arena-type multi-level platform. Plus, on the center are two large overhead Plasma screens, a set-up that now makes on-line gaming a true spectators sport.
The use of Extreme Edition processors from Intel is apt enough to provide the power that modern video games need right now. Meaning, online games like Halo 2 and the upcoming Worlds of Warcraft, which could only be rendered flawlessly on hi-end computers, will be perfect in this kind gaming center. The E.G.G. center in Greenhills cost about P14-million to build, and according to Netopia, there will be a total of six E.G.G. centers to be constructed across the country in the next two years. Cebu will be the lucky city where the next E.G.G. will be laid sometime early next year.
Also at the launch of E.G.G. are Ricky Banaag, country manager of Intel Phils; Lai Yit Loong, Singapore country manager and director for South East Asia of Intel Technology Asia Pte Ltd; Steven Huan, CIO for Netopia Internet Café and Digital Paradise; and Ray Espinosa, SVP of ePLDT, Netopia’s broadband provider.
Low-priced PC’s
Hewlett-Packard or now better known as HP, has launched a people’s pc of sorts in China at a price of 3,999 Yuan (about P27,000 or US$483). And I thought, at that price, our own People’s PC was expensive.
The world’s number 2 PC maker is said to match that of a similar PC model rolled off by China’s biggest PC maker, Lenovo, which only recently bought IBM’s personal computer division.
The HP model is part of the company’s Pavillon series and will feature a processor from AMD and a FreeDos operating system. Take note that, not even a Linux OS could guarantee a low priced computer; just short in saying that, Linux, is not actually free as many was made to believe. Yes, today, you have to pay even for an open-source OS like that from Linux, especially for favorite flavors coming from Red hat and Suse. Still, Linux is much cheaper than having Windows XP. That I personally guarantee.
The US$483 PC in China is actually cheap despite the local currency conversion. Bare bone PC’s (read: equipped with just the basics for it to run) are usually priced at around US$600 or P34,000. Still, in peso terms, the price is quite expensive for a basic PC. Actually, at that price, you can already get a mid-end to near hi-end white box PC locally. It just goes to show that buying or building your own PC in the Philippines is not that expensive. So, why on earth was I complaining about our own People’s PC initiative? With a price of P17,500 (US$310), which includes everything that makes a multimedia PC run smoothly including a 14-inch CRT monitor and a Linux operating system, the price is a steal.
In reality, the P17,500 price could still be pulled lower. My Manila Standard colleague Chin Wong already wrote about it in his Digital Life column and proved that the price set by the local People PC initiative is a bit deceiving.
The People’s PC should have the spec the same as the one chosen by HP for its China marketing strategy. Use an AMD CPU, instead of a Celeron from Intel, and a motherboard with a chipset not manufactured by Intel as well; go for VIA or SIS instead, and that P17,500 will definitely go down to the P15,000 level, or even lower. A truly inviting price for which CICT Chairman, Sec. Virgilio Pena initially aspired.
In fact, I also heard from Microsoft that this is way to go for a true People’s PC. My source also said that the software giant is cooking something big come 2005 that would definitely benefit a large portion of the Philippine population and finally bring a PC to their home.
Could this be a PC loaded with a Tagalog or Cebuano Windows XP version perhaps? Who knows? It could also be that Microsoft might finally even throw in its popular operating system for free this time. We just have to watch out for that, whatever it is.
MyGadget of the Week: Creative Zen
It’s today’s ultimate portable media center where you can listen to music, view photos, and even watch videos.Highs: Multi-format media player; USB 2.0 connectivity; long paying hours; hi-resolution LCD display; large 20Gb internal drive; Windows OS. Lows: Like any other hi-end portable media player, it has a prohibitive price.
MyVerdict: The next generation Zen is a trendsetting device that would redefine the meaning of digital portable multimedia.
posted by jing garcia at 10:29 AM
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