Philippine Based Synergy88 Digital Joins External Development Summit

Ms. Jackeline Chua, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Synergy88 Digital

This year has been successful for Synergy88 Digital, one of the biggest Filipino owned multi business process and graphic arts service providers in the country. Their thrust is on animation, game and art development that's got their entire operations based in the country. The extraordinary accomplishments has already brought the nod of government agencies and so with their recent representation of the Philippines in Vancouver, Canada, they showcased what current talent they have over at Synergy88 Digital as they joined the External Development Summit (XDS). This is the premier international games industry event that focuses on external development of art, animation, audio, software engineering, quality assurance and more. This was the same event where Synergy88 Digital met a subsidiary of Microsoft called The Coalition and Microsoft Studios (back in 2014) who was at that time working with a game called Gears of War 4, part of the Gears of War series heavily favored on Windows 10 PC's the newer XBOX Consoles. Thanks to the Department of Trade and Industry - Board of Investments and their other offices, they're already scheduled to come back next year. 

The company and it's divisions went through rigorous tests, standardization procedures so all it's processes would come accorded with their counterparts, later on achieving the coveted certification from Microsoft. Synergy88 Digital is officially a Microsoft Certified Development Studio, the only one in the Philippines. Soon thereafter, they accomplished training, passed exams and requirements and are still continuously learning from Microsoft directly. Gears of War 4 by the way has been nominated with several awards and have been lauded by critics for the exceptional artwork for characters, realistic weaponry, environments and stunning visual effects. 

Aside from the work they put in on these incredible games, they also have other projects under NDA's and revered as top secret as they haven't gone out of the market yet. They've attributed their success mostly on the things they've learned along the way including the representations they did during XDS as they clearly didn't just showcase their ware, they were able to learn a lot from the new technologies introduced in the summit. They get to see the latest trends, learn from actual companies, interact with the world's best game developers, programmers, publishers and vendors. They shared the next generation AR and VR technologies have already reached their offices, so we'll be seeing quite a throng of great titles in the next couple of years. They also hold the title of being the first Microsoft 3D Game Art Vendor in the country. Here's a short interview we did at their studios in Quezon City.

We had the feeling of optimism from Ms. Jackie Chua and the people from her office because as they've communicated they have just barely scratched the tip of the iceberg on this 100 Billion Dollar industry. The talented triple A skilled people of Synergy88 Digital are also into digital, film and special effects. Those nice things you see on local prime time shows in ABSCBN, a couple of indie and mainstream movie projects (of which are also award winning ones) come from here too. Their other divisions like ASI Studios, Kalaro Games, Synergy88 Productions, South Eastern Data Center and Renderbee would continue to churn out more products in the coming years, and they are actively looking for talents to join their roster. They have a program to discover talents which they have started recently, I'm raring to telly you about that on the next article so stay tuned! For more information about their company, please visit their official website www.synergy88studios.com.

On a personal note: I actually worked in a similar industry and by my standards, I am impressed about their products and skill sets. Their goals however do not end there.

Video Game Nostalgia!

When I was in high school I often hang out in arcade shops where most great computer games were only played in huge machines. The best were the fighting games where I started a little bit rough but with lots of practice and coins invested, I got a little better. Then after that, I learned to fight other friends. Then some other great competitors from other places tried to fight with me too. I got even better as days, weeks, months and years passed. I eventually joined local competitions and got more people crossed off the contestant's list because I was the better player. Pretty soon, I had the confidence and energy to join bigger ones and won too. In that mall, I was legendary; and got more people from other places try me out too. They failed miserably. That game of swords and Samurais later on just got outdated, but I don't think I'll lose in that game with anyone I know. I miss those times but still got a thing for those kinds of games. I enjoy watching reruns of it on videos these days. 

Today the games are even tougher, more complicated that what it used to. Although it was extra tough to press 6 - 8 buttons on a single player game to execute one move, the ones I watched in video game reviews seem to be very difficult even in 4 positioned buttons. Consoles these days can even do bigger things. Graphics are astounding, game play is phenomenal! Even now, some can accommodate 8 players at a time. Some things that were impossible before are all happening now to the enjoyment of the whole game world!

I saw some web episodes of The Gauntlet over at Blip and they made the whole video gaming experience much like reality TV! It was awesome how they got these guys together. Getting them off one by one or on a group was tough though. But overall, it was pretty cool! You should watch some too! That's where I'm going to these next few weeks and I'll watch all of the episodes for sure!

God of War III – Play Station III

I'm currently playing the disaffected Spartan turned Greek God KRATOS on the PlayStation 3. I touched the console and the Video Game a few days ago at Mall of Asia and I was pleasantly surprised because this particular sequel was what I was looking for after playing the first part on my Play Station Portable. It had me looking for the same journey - medieval platform - Role Playing type of game in the same but I wasn't able to since the titles were limited here in Asia I guess.


There were apparently more releases that are only available in Japan, USA and Europe but those were not available in the South East Asian region as far as I know. This for me is more achievable than sticking to the hope of playing Xbox 360 Games in the Philippines. Getting online content is just going to be hard. I've checked out some of the downloadable content on other sites but I was unable to find that sequel. Little did I know that it would actually be not available on the Play Station Portable anymore and just stick with the Play Station 3!

It's quite disappointing if they would not release it anymore for that console because it’s quite expensive for me to purchase the bigger one as the prices are still high in this part of the world. Maybe soon they will get some emulators to play these types unless they are digitally encrypted and not allowed by the manufacturer and game makers. If it’s just the size I think some people can take care of that. I was impressed by the graphics too since I was looking at it from a large screened television at the mall. While I was playing it a lot of people were also watching me at my back because they probably never heard of it too. Good thing I tagged along with my friend to that place, now I'm planning to either wait for that to come out in my Play Station Portable or buy the Play Station 3 soon together with the PS3 Accessories. I wish I had money for that after 6 months. I'll surely save for that just because of this particular game. Just look at the fantastic graphics!