New Site for Filipino Wii Users
By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net
FROM PinoyPSX to PinoyXbox, now comes a new forum site that is hoping to tap into Filipino lovers of the new Nintendo Wii, simply called PinoyWii (http://www.pinoywii.com/).
Incidentally, the forum owner, Christian De Vera, is residing in the US. He started the forum, which is actually a blog, in the hopes of getting Filipino Wii owners to connect to Wii channels, the Wii’s main interface and serves as an Internet browser if connected online.
In an e-mailed interview, De Vera said the site was launched on December 6, 2006 and said it already has a few members, mostly Filipinos but are located in the US. “The Wii isn't widely available in the Philippines but many of the comments are from the Philippines.” De Vera also said that PinoyWii.com is part of a network of Pinoy sites under KissNewMedia.com (www.kissnewmedia.com) and will be cross promoted.
However, the KissNewMedia site is almost completely empty of other sections and so far does not even have a link to PinoyWii.com. On the other hand, De Vera said he is working on a gallery to collect console numbers and Filipino-made “Miis” or virtual avatars for online gaming. So far, there are a few Miis of Filipino Wii owners and even a Mii of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo can be viewed from the site. He said he hopes to finish the site’s architecture and get contributors. With these, he hopes to better entice Filipino Wii users to log in.
De Vera said that the Internet has brought a lot of awareness about the global online video game community to Filipinos. Consequently, he hopes that video games would also be considered spectator sports in the Philippines, though it could take a while. “I would also like to see a 100-percent original game developed in the Philippines hit it big time,” De Vera also said.
Most surprising, though, is that De Vera claims he is not a hard core gamer and said he plays less than five hours a day. The Wii is the only game console that he currently owns though his reason for owning it is largely due to the Wii’s motion sensitive “Wii-mote” controller.
“My last console was a PS1. I got turned off by the complexity and stress some games can give you. I have an outside life and use games to relive stress. They shouldn't add to it…. The Wii has made video games fun again for me,” De Vera said.
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