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Mostly Everything

Today: I’m in Manila Bulletin’s Special Supplement for the Department of Tourism

Manila Bulletin has a special execution today for the Department of Tourism. The 4 pages talk about tourism highlights including hitting 1.148 tourists visiting the Philippines in Q1 of this year. The DOT also discusses growth industries including scuba diving, eco tourism and the development of marinas and national parks (no more mining please!).

My photos and “how to” blog post was replicated (by permission of course, thanks Chato!) under the half page section on the #ItsMoreFuninthePhilippines meme phenomenon.

Categories
Geek

Trailer: Summoner Wars for iOS

I can’t stress it any more: iOS is the platform of choice if you’re a fan of modern (and classic) board games.

Summoner Wars is a fast-playing, action-packed 2-4 player card game. Players take on the role of Summoners: powerful beings who harness the power of mysterious Summoning Stones to lead their race to conquest on the war-torn planet of Itharia. These Summoners wield terrible magic on the battlefield, freezing their foes in place, draining their enemies of power, and even bringing rains of fire down from the heavens. But most notoriously, they summon their great race’s hordes of warriors to the battlefield, to clash in the never-ending struggle for supremacy. A Summoner is both mage and general, and must combine their wizardly might with clever tactics to defeat the enemy Summoner on the opposite side of the battle. [BoardGameGeek]

Categories
Mostly Everything

Ascension: Storm of Souls Released for iOS

For fans of Ascension, this needs no explanation. But for the uninitiated, Ascension is one of the world’s most popular deck building games created by by Justin Gary and the third expansion second expansion is due out as an in-app purchase, estimated to launch next week.

If you’re looking for a new game for your iPad or iPhone that can be enjoyed competitively or casually, Ascension would be one of my top recommendations for a number of reasons: if you were a fan of Magic the Gathering, do know that pro-tour players led by Justin Gary developed Ascension as a more cost-effective alternative because you don’t shell out money for individual cards. Everything is bought in a sealed deck and you know exactly what cards you’re getting.

Casually, Ascension on the iOS platform is well-made and intuitive. If you’re coming from the left into this genre, the tutorial can get you learned and competitive in minutes. The app has dropped price from USD $4.99 to USD $0.99 so that’s more than enough reason to grab a copy. The first expansion, Ascension: Return of the Fallen can be bought via an in-app purchase as well. Storm of Souls will follow the same in-app format.

Download Links:

Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer USD $0.99

Both Ascension: Return of the Fallen and Storm of Souls are available as in-app purchases. For current Ascension owners, there is an update available on the App Store that allows you to purchase the expansion and adds a number of little features to the core game.

Categories
Mostly Everything

SMART Communications has the Samsung Galaxy S3

Confirmed: Tweets were going around the circles of SMART employees. #SMARTGalaxyS3 is in fact real. But it’s different when you see it on SMART’s official Twitter account.

Lots of clues leading up to the announcement. Jean Ong (@jeanong75) of SMART posted this little beauty 2 days ago on Instagram:

… which was then RT’d by the rest of the team.

Then of course @louieang8 had to post more photos.

Exclusive to SMART? Crazy. Apparently the other “telco” has it too. But based on track record, they’re more of a marketing company these days than a telco. Telcos are supposed to have signal. You know where to go.

Categories
Mostly Everything

Confirmed: Nokia launches Lumia 610 and 900 on 5.18.12

Confirmed! Microsoft and Nokia will be launching the Lumia 610 and 900 in Philippine shores this coming May 18th. Though the teaser poster doesn’t say it, we’ve uncovered the smoke and mirrors with a quick message to Nokia’s Nikka Abes and she did confirm that both the 610 and 900 will be officially launched here, although the former 610 is already out in stores.

Nokia Lumia 900

I featured the Lumia 900 a few days ago with a one-on-one with Nikka at the Nokia office.