All posts by Jax

SITEX 2015 lives up to the name as a digital playground

November 26, 2015 Jax

Not sure what to do this weekend? Head down to SITEX 2015 at Singapore Expo and try out some of the cool gadgets on showcase. From Samsung Gear VR contest to rock climbing competition, even if you have nothing to buy, you can get to experience some of these latest gadgets first hand.

For the adventurers

Who says geeks are not sporty? Right at the Adventure IT Arena, you will be greeted by an eight meter tall rock wall. Climb your way to the top and win gadgets like Go Pro and drones. Just make sure you come in with the proper attire. Harness and helmets are provided courtesy of Safra Adventure Club. For me, I managed to win a drone with camera by clocking the best time amongst the other competitors! You can be a winner too!

Conquering the 8m high rock wall

There is also a dive pool to showcase the latest waterproof camera casing. Talk about product showmanship! The organiser brought in this pool with fully gear-ed scuba diver just to demonstrate the ability of these casings.

I thought this was a dunking pool!

For the gamers

This year the Gaming Ground is more exciting than last year. Besides ogling at the latest gaming laptop and accessories, you can have a go at a UFO catcher or take the driver seat in a game that feels almost too real to be a game.

Kingston UFO catcher

Driving experience right in your living room!

If you are into e-sports, there will also be competitions held at the corner itself. For the League of Legends SITEX 2015 Open, there are already 80 teams which have signed up for this tournament all within the first day of registration! The semi finals and grand finals will be held on the 26 and 28 Nov respectively. For more details you can check out their website.

E-sports at SITEX

Those who wish to try out the Samsung Gear VR can head down to their booth and take part in the Anshar Wars 2 game competition. Winner will walk away with a Galaxy Note 5 and a Samsung Gear VR! However, you have to be the top scorer of this entire show to win this competition. After 3 minutes in the virtual reality world full of twirling and swirling, I do feel a bit giddy and almost lost my footing. But hey, if I can win the phone and the VR set, everything is worth the while! Queue may be long so be sure to be there early for registration.

Can you beat the high score and win home a Galaxy S5 with Gear VR?

Welcome to Samsung Gear VR

For the shoppers

There are tons of gadgets for you to buy at SITEX. Other than your usual laptops and phones, this year VR-Zone brought in some interesting gadgets that will tempt you to spend your money on.

First of the list that caught our eyes is PowerCube which is a multi-face power extension point. At around $30 plus (depending on the models you take), it is rather affordable compared to those old bulky power bar which could cost around the same price. We really like the design and portability of the PowerCube. Some models even come with USB points that you can use for charging your devices straight off the plug.

PowerCube

The other gadget is a 360 degree speaker that is from a local company call Archt. They are a kickstarter backed company which is now producing these patented speaker which, unlike traditional speakers, provides a full 360 degree audio. You can buy their speaker from SITEX as they will be retailing it there.

ARCHT One – 360 degree speaker

Ah finally the luck draw! One of the top prize for this year lucky draw is a Can-Am Spyder! It is on display at the show, so even if you cannot win it, feel free to take a photo with it.

Win a Can-Am Spyder!

With so much to do, see and buy at SITEX 2015, it will be a pity if you miss the show. So do head down to Singapore Expo starting from today till Sunday.

GameTrader.SG and GadgetTrader.SG is proud to be the official media partner for SITEX 2015.

Game Industry News, General

Welcome to the Matrix. VR gaming is real.

November 15, 2015 Jax

Leave a comment

More than 10 years ago, there was a game called Kid Chamelon on Sega Gensis. The game is set in the future where people no longer play game using controller and screen but they would enter a machine to play game in virtual reality. Fast forward to today, VR gaming may indeed become the mainstream way of playing games in a year or two.

So is VR gaming the future of gaming or a hype? I’ve got a chance to try out the latest Sony PlayStation VR at the GameStart Asia game convention held at Suntec this weekend.

What is VR gaming?

Put it simply, it is as simple as putting 2 small screens near your left and right eyes respectively via a head mounted device. Each screen shows what a left and right eyes would see similar to how 3D glasses work. Voila! You are now transported to a whole new world! With a controller, you can move and interact in the new world and get totally immersed in virtual reality. More details here for those who are interested.

Who is in the VR space?

Virtual reality (VR) has been made popular by a company call Occulus with their Occulus Rift headset funded on Kickstarter. Since then, many other companies are getting into VR.

Google with their famous low-cost Google Cardboard which is essentially a cupboard head mount for your Android phone to be placed over your eyes similar to the Rift.

Microsoft announced its own Hololens in Oct 2015 slated for shipment in 2016. Hololens however is a mix reality headset. Wearing it still enables you to view your actual physical surrounding with its transparent glasses. At the recent E3, Microsoft has demo-ed a Minecraft gameplay using Hololens.

If Microsoft is in the game, you bet Sony is. Sony’s very own VR headset, originally called Project Morpheus, was announced way back in 2014. It is now known as PlayStation VR and of course it will be powered by PlayStation 4. This is the set that I’ve tried at GameStart Asia.

Other notable mentions include HTC Vive and Samsung Gear VR which is essentially an Occulus Rift design to fit over a Samsung Galaxy S6 or Note 4.

The experience at GameStart Asia

PlayStation VR

The PlayStation VR booth is undoubtably one of the most popular booth at GameStart Asia. I was given a chance to try the famous Summer Lesson PlayStation VR demo .

For those who don’t know about Summer Lesson, it is a demo built for the PlayStation VR where you meet this virtual blonde girl who asked you to teach her Japanese. Yes, it maybe weird and creepy for some, but I am absolutely certain that this makes having a virtual girlfriend even more real for some Otaku. You really need to experience this yourself.

After being ushered into the demo area, a crew member helped me put on the headset and earphone. While the screen is supposingly HD at 1920 x 1080 ( 960 x 1080 for each eye), the display is not as clear and sharp as I would hope to be. Also the headset has to be at a ‘correct’ angle for it to be in focus. A few times I was fumbling with the headset with my hand trying to get it to focus probably. To be fair, it could be because I am wearing glasses and that the set could still be a prototype.

Aside from the display, the entire experience is really immersive and surreal! The demo started with a beautiful blonde lady asking you to teach her Japanese. You reply using head gesture, nodding or shaking your head. Additional control via PS Move is detected by the PlayStation Camera setup in front though it is not available on this demo.

The girl was sitting beside me asking me to teach her Japanese. When I tried moving in closer to her, she actually shifted backward saying that I am getting too close! Wow! What a surprise! She is actually aware that I am there. There is also a moment when she bends in front of you and that really makes me feel that she is just beside me. Talk about an immersive experience!

I don’t have the opportunity to try out other demo, one which you are involve in a heist and get to use PS Move to shoot and another where you get to swim with a great white shark. The wait at the queue was simply too long. But overall, it was a memorable experience like your first time watching a 3D movie.

VR gaming is coming

Yes that is right. VR gaming is real and it will likely transform the way we play game today. I believe that console games will first take the lead with PlayStation VR and Hololens leading the way towards VR gaming. However, we have yet to try the headset on for a prolong period of time. Problem with such technology is that people may experience discomfort or giddiness over some time and this may affect how well gamers adopt this technology.

Nonetheless, we are excited about this piece of technology and hope to be able to review a full game on the VR or Hololen soon when it is out hopefully by next year.

PS: Check out Tow Kay New’s vlog on the actual event below:

Game Review

Best Buddy Award for Metal Gear Solid 5 Phantom Pain

October 31, 2015 Jax

Leave a comment

One of the cool feature of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is the buddy system. Unlike previous MGS in the series where you are to fight out on the battlefield alone, MGS5 TPP allows you to bring in one of your buddy to the field. To find out the best buddy for fellow GameTraders, we played over 60 hours of gameplay using a mix of different buddies and equipments to evaluate each buddy’s abilities.

D-Horse

In the beginning, your only buddy is D-Horse, which acts as a transportation tool more than anything else. While D-Horse is definitely useful in the earlier part of the game to travel across the vast land of Afghanistan, it does very little with respect to combat. Yes sure, you can get it to poo and it’s dropping will cause enemy vehicle to skid. However, that will require good timing and placing of the dropping. So far, I did not manage to do it even once. Either the dropping is placed off course or no vehicle is going through after D-Horse empty his bowel.

Once you start to use other buddy and not D-Horse, you may miss it especially when you need to run another 1000m to your next mission or checkpoint.

D-Dog

This little puppy that you have ‘fulton-ed’ earlier on in the game, grows up to be a ferocious dog (or wolf). D-Dog has many abilities that can be unlock with R&D. It can kill, stun, bark and even fulton enemy for you without expending your fulton. Also D-Dog can sniff out enemies, wild lives and plants and mark it conveniently on your map.

Personally, I don’t really find the bark ability useful in the field. Many times, D-Dog stays close to your side. If you command it to bark, it will only attract unnecessary attention to your hiding spot. You can ask D-Dog to wait first at your spot then move on to a new spot before asking it to bark. However, it is too tedious for me to manage a buddy like that.

Also, at any one sortie, D-Dog can only be equip with a single ability from the selection of kill, stun and fulton. So if you want the unlimited fulton ability of D-Dog, it cannot kill or stun enemy.

D-Walker

D-Walker has tons of R&D that you can buy to upgrade this machine. While it is rather costly, with enough investment D-Walker can be quite a killer machine to bring out for mission. We don’t suggest using D-Walker for stealth mission, but it maybe useful for missions where firepower is needed. Do note that in the earlier stage when you first get D-Walker, it is not advisable to bring it out to field just yet. You will need a number of upgrades before it is deem combat ready.

The good things about D-Walker is that no bonding is needed. Also, it can be used as a sentry gun with its intercept mode. In the video above, we see how this player uses D-Walker well using its intercept mode.

Quiet

For some people, you may never get Quiet to be on your team. In main ops 11, after defeating Quiet, you can choose to kill her or to capture her. Killing her will mean that she will not appear any more in the later part of the game.

Quiet has two modes of operation, the scout mode and the attack mode. Both can be access from the iDroid. In scout mode, Quiet will infiltrate an outpost that you specify on the map and marked out enemies for you. Quiet will then move into attack mode once all enemies have been marked. She will not fire unless you give her command to.

Quiet’s bonding takes time to build. Initially, with low bonding, she will not listen to you at all and that can be hard for your mission. But after your bond has max out or reach 50%, she will be a very valuable asset to you. To bond with her, you can visit her frequently on the medical platform other than bringing her out to the field.

For me, I would usually sent quiet out to scout out an outpost of base I am heading too. Her super human speed makes sure that she is always ahead of me. So before even reaching my destination, all the enemies are marked out nicely for me. Once you unlock the tranquilliser sniper rifle, you can essentially command her to take out the whole base of enemy while you fulton them away happily.

Quiet can get injured and will be place in the sick bay if her health has reduced to zero. To prevent that, whenever her sniping spot is compromised (you will know this when the enemy starts shooting at her or radio back to HQ that they spotted a sniper), select a new attack spot for her from your iDroid. If you get the silencer for her rifle eventually, the enemy will have a much tougher time finding her.

SPOILER ALERT:

Quiet will leave you permanently (*soob soob*) starting from main ops 43. The easiest way to prevent this is to equip butterfly emblem before mission 41.

END SPOILER

And the award goes to …

Quiet! I mean Quiet ….shh……

Quiet is the most versatile and easy-to-manage buddy on the field. While D-Dog can mark enemies, so can Quiet. D-Walker is a bit too loud and clumsy for our liking although we love the fulton canon that can fulton even vehicle from a range. D-Horse for us, is more of a transportation tool. Vehicles can be gotten easily on the field and can move as fast if not faster than D-Horse.

Quiet allows us to be super stealthy in our mission. At times, we even reached a outpost with all enemy tranquillised ready for us to fulton away! However, you would need a rather high bond with Quiet and the proper weapon with silencer for her before you can realise her full potential.

So that is our pick for Best Buddy Award MGS5 TPP. Although we think that Quiet is the best buddy for us, other buddies may better suit your gameplay. For us, we like stealth and fultoning people to mother base and Quiet is really helpful in that. Different buddies will require different tactics and way of playing..

Which is your best buddy? Let us know in the comments below.

Game News

[Sponsored] Forza Motorsport 6 is where you can own your dream car without COE

October 15, 2015 Jax

Leave a comment

In case you miss this, Forza Motorsport 6 is already out now for Xbox One. This all new game features over 460 car selections ranging from Alfa Romeo 4C to Lamborghini Gallardo Super Trofeo. With skyrocketing COE, perhaps this is the place where we can live out dream as proud owners of these luxurious cars. There are also 26 tracks spanning across the globe where you can choose to race in. Other than competing against AIs, you can also race with up to 24 players online.

The gameplay mechanics and physics have also improved compared to the previous version, adding further realism to your driving experience. Weather affects how your car will perform on the tracks. Be careful when you drives over that puddle of water during a wet weather race! Haze is not an option for the race though. Perhaps they can put that in for the next game.

For those still contemplating on buying an Xbox One, there is a special Limited Edition Forza Motorsport bundle. With the bundle, you get a 1TB custom Xbox One console and controller, a full-game download, and the Tenth Anniversary Car Pack, which features spectacular cars with a custom livery and tuning package. Do note that this bundle doesn’t come with Kinect so you might want to buy it separately or buy another bundle instead of this. The bundle recommended retail price is $639.

If you are a fan of Forza Motosport, this is definitely a good time to get a Xbox One. Alternatively, you can choose to wait out for the upcoming Halo 5: Guardians which will be out in a few weeks time.

Disclaimer: While this is a sponsored post by Xbox, the above opinions are our own.

Game Industry News, Game News, GameTrader.SG's Comments, General

Console War in Singapore

September 2, 2015 Jax

Leave a comment

Being an avid gamer myself, the topic of console war is always close to my heart. Before I reveal which camp I belong to, let us take a look at the new dashboard I have created using figures from www.gametrader.sg. Approximately 60,000 game posted on the platform from Jun 2010 to Aug 2015 are visualized in this dashboard.

Some key points to note on launch date of some consoles in Singapore:

Feb 2012: PS Vita launched in Singapore
Jan 2013: Wii U launched in Singapore
Dec 2013: PS4 launched in Singapore
Sep 2014: Xbox launched in Singapore after a year it was launched in US and Europe.

Who is leading the console war? Our 3 charts below can provide some indication:

1. Market Share

Based on the number of posts on GameTrader.SG, market shares of PS4 has increased tremendously from 2014 to 2015. It is now at 44% of the combined numbers of posts of PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Xbox One is the tiny portion over at the bar chart for 2015 which account for 2.58%.

A point to note is that PS4 has close to a year head start compared to Xbox One which was release in Sep 2014. Desperate for getting their hand on a next gen-console, gamers may not have the patience to wait a year for Xbox One and have move on with PS4.

2. Price

Price of PS3 and Xbox 360 games have been declining steadily over the years. With the launch of the new PS4 console, we see a greater drop in PS3 game pricing. The average PS3 games also cost about 35% of a PS4 game.

While Xbox 360 game is the lowest among the XBox and Playstation family, Xbox One game remains slight pricer than PS4. Could price be a reason why PS4 popularity is higher? Anyhow, a quick check on Qisahn for the game Watch Dog shows that Xbox One and PS4 price is the same at $39. Perhaps the data could be bias since trading for PS4 game is a lot more than Xbox One.

Nonetheless, it is good to know that game prices are decreasing over the years!

3. No. of Game Titles

The number of game titles definitely plays a part in the popularity of a console. Again, we see the number of titles traded on GameTrader.SG for PS4 is about 4 times more than Xbox One. Without a doubt PS4 titles are stronger than Xbox One. However, most big titles Metal Gear Solid V, Grand Theft Auto 5 and Final Fantasy 15 are usually available on both platforms. At least what we can conclude is that more titles are being traded on GameTrader.SG for PS4 compared to Xbox One.

Other findings

If you have time to play with the dashboard, you will be able to find other interesting insights. For example, pre-owned game cost about 35% less than the brand new counter part and average of preowned PS3 game can be as low as $22. Of course, some games are even cheaper depending on the seller.

Have fun with this dashboard! You can try it here.

PS: You should be able to guess which camp I am now 😛

Original Post by jaxxie.me on 2 Sep 2015.

General

Staying vigilant when buying online

June 2, 2015 Jax

Leave a comment

[This article was first published at www.jaxxie.me]

As promised in my previous post, I will be sharing how scammers make use of online marketplace platform to scam unknowing buyers. Most of the content below are derived from my experience in running GameTrader.SG and GadgetTrader.SG.

Rise of consumer-to-consumer trading platform

A few year back, Yahoo Auction was arguably the king of online trading platform in Singapore. Even Ebay was not a strong competition to Yahoo Auction at that time. Online classified such as 88db and GumTree were always there too but they never gained critical mass or become super popular. Yahoo Auction Singapore was then shut down in 2008 and the popularity of C2C marketplace declined.

Fast forward to today, there are now many platforms for people to buy and sell their stuff. Amongst them are general trading platforms such as Carousell, Qoo10 and the recent Trezo by SPH. There are also more dedicated ones like SgCarMart, GameTrader.SG and GadgetTrader.SG which cater to a specific genre of items.

Of course the most impressive platform is none other than Carousell which raised $6M late last year and have experienced tremendous growth in terms of user base.

Most sellers on these platform are genuine individuals. However, online scams are on the rise and the authorities have even created website to educate the public. You may think that you are an experienced online shopper and you will not fall for such scams. You maybe wrong.

Tell tale signs of a scammer

a) Price of goods is un-un-un-believably cheap

The most easy give-away of a scammer which most people tends to ignore is goods sold at ridiculously cheap price.

For example, you saw this ad online on a PS4 that cost only SGD400. A quick google will reveal that a typical PS4 would cost above $500. Furthermore the set is brand new! Sounds too good to be true? Yes it is too good to be true!

Typically the seller will only contact you via email or private message (if it is present in the trading platform) so as to hide his identity. He will ask you to transfer the money to a bank account and promise to deliver the goods to you.

After some time, you realised that the item did not reach you. So you contacted the seller again and he mentioned that the item is stuck at the custom and he would need you to transfer more money to him. And so you did. Soon after you realised that you have been conned, you tried to contact the seller again but there will be no more replies. A police report is your next best option.

How to avoid

To prevent yourself from getting scammed, always checked the market price of the item of interest before committing to any purchase. If the price is way lower than market price, exercise caution. Ask for a meet-up and before making the payment.

b) Seller uses only email to contact you and not via mobile number

The next tell tale sign of a scammer is his mode of contact. Typically, reputable sellers and shops are more than willing to contact you via mobile number since it is the fastest and simplest mode of contact. As such contact numbers are traceable by the police, scammers would prefer to use anonymised mode of contact such as email or any private messaging system on the platform.

If you asked for the contact number and the seller refused to share, it may be best to walk away from the deal.

c) Making payments via Paypal/Alipay or even bank account

Other methods includes payment via facilities such as Paypal and Alipay. A scammer will typically ask you to make top-up to their accounts as mode of payment. Unless you are very sure that the seller is reputable, refrain from doing that.

Transferring money to bank accounts are generally traceable. There have been a few cases where scammers asked buyers to transfer money to a bank account. Turns out that the bank account belongs to companies that have a prepaid wallet system. Some websites such as 65daigou allow their user to transfer money into their bank account as a form of top up for their digital wallet. The credits within the wallet can then be withdrawn by their user or used for purchases. An email is all it takes to create a user account on such sites. So do not think that bank transfer are fully traceable.

Transferring money to foreign banks may be even more difficult for the police to take action. So think twice before sending money overseas.

How to avoid

The best way to avoid such scam is to do cash-on-delivery. Pay in cash only upon seeing the goods. Meeting up the seller is recommended. If you really need to do bank account transfer, you can do a quick google of the bank account number that was passed to you. A private bank account should not appear on any websites.

d) User rating

This is a bit of a no brainer. Of course you would want to deal with someone with a good user rating on the platform. However, you should also be mindful that not all ratings may be genuine. There is nothing to stop a scammer from creating multiple accounts. Use the ratings as a guideline but not as a foolproof way of filtering out scammers.

Always stay vigilant

I know this article may sounds like a message from the police but I can assure you that I am not working in the police force. Coming from an operator of online marketplace platform, I feel really bad whenever I received emails from the users that they have been scammed on my platform. While we have messages to warn user of potential scammers, some time the system may fail to pick up such individuals. It will still be best for our users to understand how such scammers operate and avoid them.

As we get more accustomed to transacting online, we should always stay alert and be mindful that there will always be scammers out there in the wild. So the next time you buy anything online, check and double check the credential of the seller before you make the purchase.

Disclaimer: The writer operates both the GameTrader.SG and GadgetTrader.SG platform in Singapore.

Game Industry News, Game Review

Mobile and console gaming line is blurred once again at a new level

November 1, 2014 Jax

2 Comments

With better graphics and greater proliferation of mobile and tablet devices, more and more people are finding themselves hooked onto mobile gaming. Furthermore the plethora of free-to-play (not free) game are release almost everyday or week. Today we had our hands on Assassin’s Creed Pirate on an iPad Air.

The mobile experience redefined

Gone are the days where graphic on console is superior to the sprite graphic on mobile. Assassin’s Creed Pirates (ACP) boosts wonderful graphic comparable to that of last-gen PS3 and Xbox 360. Although PC and Console graphics are still superior, the gap is definitely narrowed. The beautiful rendered water and sunset in ACP will for a while make you lost in this new world that you can once only experience on PC and console. Of course, this is not the first game that boost wonderful graphics. Infinity blade series, FIFA and many other games boost similar quality. Console cycle is typically a few years. It will be a matter of time when mobile gaming overtake it in terms of graphical prowess. Oh and did I mention that I did not hear any noisy fan whirling typical of consoles and some PC?

No more on screen soft button

In the past, game ported from console to mobile is often perceived as inferior given that the latter almost always feature those weirdly place on screen soft button. ACP a on the other hand, while not a port over, greatly make use of the touch interface of a move device and incorporate it into the game smoothly. Drag and swipe to steer your ship, tap and hold to fire cannon of your ship. Such actions are no performed by soft button of up, down, left and right. You can even pinch and zoom to get different level of perspective when you are on board your pirate ship.

Free-to-play but not free

ACP a is free-to-play. It is a free download on the iOS AppStore. The entry barrier to playing this game is almost zero with the exception that you need to first get an smartphone or tablet. While game is free to download, there is an option to buy coins with real money to give you an head start in the game. Mobile gamers are very used to ‘free’ games, however economic 101 tells us that the developers would still have to be paid in some way. Thus far, in app purchase seems to be the best way for this developer. Of course such trends has created some rogue developers who build games aiming at maximising revenue. The true spirit of building game to entertain and challenge players may be place in the back seat in some of the free games we see today. In ACP, while in-app purchase exists, we still find the game truly enjoyable.

What’s next for PC, Console and Mobile gaming?

PC and Console games have been consolidated. Today most games are published on multiple platforms cutting across the PC and consoles realm. Of course, there exists some games like Metal Gear Solid and Destiny that are strictly for consoles. However, these day may be short lived. Coupled by the strong competition in mobile gaming, the 50-99 dollars console game that you need to purchase may not be as attractive any more compared to the zero dollar mobile game.

Here at GameTrader.SG, we would love to see console gaming evolved to a new stage. The current generation of consoles of better graphic maybe losing its luster. We need something interesting and revolutionary to get people back to console game.

General

Minion Rush – Don’t rush into installing!

July 18, 2013 Jax

7 Comments

The recent Despicable Me 2 has driven the popularity of the yellow Minions to a new level. People are rushing to buy these cute little critters from MacDonalds and Toy Stores. Needless to say, a game surrounding Minions is a sure hit among those who love them.

Minion Rush is a mobile game that you can download from PlayStore/AppStore for your Android Phone or iPhone and iPad. Things are a bit different in the Androids world. Search for Minion Rush and you see other apps which may tempt you to download.

We did a search on ‘Minion Rush’ yesterday and saw 3 copies of ‘Minion Rush’! The icons and screenshots look identical. Of course, the official version is developed by Gameloft. That copy should be the one you download.

The version from ‘Gameloft’ is the official one to download. Who is /Wong Chi Keung’?

The details page looks similar as well:

If you look at the permissions required, here are the comparisons:

Microphone access? Social Contact? Camera? These permissions are not required in the original game.

The clone obviously requested for suspicious access. Microphone, location and social contact acccess? Is it a spyware?

Then there are the cheats app that allows you to get unlimited bananas (yes! banana!).

Again suspicious permission asked.

Unlike iOS App Store which requires screening from Apple, PlayStore allows developer to almost upload their app instantaneously. Google relies on the community to flag out apps. But sneaky developers will still be able to sneak in modified app into the store. Before downloading anything, do look at the permission carefully before selecting ‘Accept’.

**Update 19 Jul 2013: We run a search again, but this time, the clone copies are removed. I wonder how many have downloaded the fake copies…

Game Industry News, Game News, Singapore Gaming Scene

The Singaporean behind Street Fighter X Mega Man

December 31, 2012 Jax

Leave a comment

If you haven’t heard of this game by now, you should definitely try out this awesome game. It’s a free-to-download, high quality game for all fans of Mega Man and Street Fighter! This game brings the world of Mega Man and Street Fighter together. If you are a fan of any one of the game, this is a geek’s-dream-come-true game. In Street Figther X Mega Man, you play as Mega Man who fights Street Fighter Bosses like Ryu and Chun Li. Like all Mega Man games, you will get the power-up of the bosses once defeated. Mega Man can now throw a Hadouken or a Thousand Burst Kick to get him out of sticky situations.

So before you start thanking Capcom for releasing such wonderful game, you might be surprise to know that the creator of this game is none other than Singaporean Seow Zong Hui who built this game out of his passion. A final year Nayang Technological University Student, Zong Hui developed the game from a precursor Mega Man engine that he developed previously. We manage to get an interview with the man himself who is uber friendly and willing to share his experience with our readers.

GT Editor: Where did you get the idea to develop SF x MM? Both are classic Capcom games but who would have thought of putting them together in a game? This idea is brilliant!

ZH: It is decided on random because I was creating a Mega Man engine for programming practice and coming up with you own bosses is very normal and many fan games have already done it. Since I had some experience drawing small resolution sprites, I tried putting Street Fighter characters in and it seems fine.

GT Editor: For the geeks and aspiring game developer out there, what are the programs you used to develop the game?

ZH: Gamemaker but its is not recommended as it might be difficult to port to other system. I would recommend Unity but it has a steeper learning curve.

GT Editor: Did you come out with all the sprites, music and sound by yourself? If so, that must have taken years of training! Where did you accumulate such experience?

ZH: I did sprites and programming for the game, A-rival Luke was in charge of music and I had a friend Geo to help out with background tiles sprite. I did sprite work for fan games since may be 2006 just for leisure.

GT Editor: Some people were complaining online that Capcom is simply ripping off a fan’s work and published the game under their name. To be fair, what assistance did Capcom provide to you that you can share?

ZH: First of all both franchises are owned by Capcom, I am happy enough they did not sue me and release the game. They provided feedbacks and we have weekly updates. They also provided lots of exposure for the game. They have also setup booth to showcase the game in SF 25 anniversary tournament finals, made trailer with 1.4+million viewers. The game would not have done as well if not for their help.

GT Editor: By now, lots of people around the world would have downloaded and played your game. How do you feel about being a Singaporean who put Singapore in the world map for game development?

ZH: I am happy of course, But I hope that someday I could make something original as successful or better. I still feel a little surreal about the project and I was very lucky

GT Editor: Most of us just play games. What gives you the inspiration to develop your own game?

ZH: I had lots of idea when playing games, I really enjoy putting my thoughts into a game and watching things happen in reality.

GT Editor: What other games have you built? Can we download and play them as well?

ZH: I helped out with street of rage remake, but it was shut down by sega due to copyright issues. Most of my previous personal projects are just for practices and have many copyright issues. SFXMM is probably my first serious project.

GT Editor: Any future projects that you are working on such as SF x MM 2?

ZH: I am focusing on school work for the next semester. No news on a sequel now, but I could not talk about it even if there is news.

GT Editor: Since you will be graduating soon, would you be getting a game developer job in Singapore? Or have you think about working overseas?

ZH: High chances overseas as a game developer. As of now, its difficult to get a job with good incentives and high creative control at the same time especially when I am a fresh grad. I do pretty normal in school and singapore focuses a lot on academic.

GT Editor: Most games that we played today are from developers in Japan, US and Europe. Do you think Singapore can one day be a country that produce games loved by people around the world?.

ZH: Yes, the game developing scene is evolving in Singapore and we have a little recognition here and there already. Example, Imaginary Friend Studio artwork.

GT Editor: What do you think of the prospect of a game developer in Singapore.

ZH: I think there is much more opportunity to go into game development industry as compared to the past.

In terms of growth in the field I find that it might be difficult for us if we were to join a big company in Singapore.

I get the impression that Singapore is just being outsource for less mainstream titles or work that requires minimal creative content. On the other hand I think some of us are really well trained in the skills that are required to work in the game industry and deserves better. Many strong programmers that I know of just go indie instead. Another issue that a game developer may have in Singapore is the way how academic focused Singaporeans are.

I have seen first class students who cannot even code a polytechnic level algorithm and I have also seen people struggling with their academics but able to produce industrial standard projects. I find that companies should be aware of this matter and creativity is one of the most important aspect in this field which cannot be measured. I am not sure if this is the result of the educational system or the way companies hire new workers.

It depends on what the developers here wants. To me, I find that it is hard to have both Creative control and prospect in this field in Singapore.

I must add that I am still very new and might be wrong about these issues.

One would probably have better prospect in US or Japan if he is able to get a job there as of now.

No doubt the gaming industry in Singapore is still at it’s infancy stage. Compared to countries like US and Japan, people hardly know of any home-grown games. We hope that Street Fighter X Mega Man can be remembered not only a high quality fan-game but a game developed fully in Singapore by our local talents. We certainly look forward to seeing more games by Singaporeans! Do drop us an email at blog[at]gametrader[dot]sg if you heard of any worthy news on game development in Singapore!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Download the Street Fighter X Mega Man here!

D-Horse

D-Dog

D-Walker

Quiet

And the award goes to …

Game, Tech and Consoles