Thursday, August 21, 2008 Ng: Exciting events By Wilson Ng Wired Desktop
LAST week, we held several events under the Mandaue Business Month 2008 celebration. Many of these events were very exciting. Particularly fulfilling was the “My Business Idol,” where various schools in Cebu competed against each other to come up with the best business plan.
Renowned entrepreneurs were quite impressed by the students’ presentations and innovativeness, even if most of the teams had only about two or three weeks of preparation.
I was also quite impressed by the various presentations during the One Cebu exhibit, especially those by the towns. Also impressive were the different presentations during Pasigarbo sa Sugbo. In business, dance or technology, the same thing applies—give people an opportunity to innovate and they will surprise you with their talent and creativity.
Our next event for the Mandaue Business Month is based on this premise.
This Saturday, the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry—in cooperation with some players in the IT sector—will hold the 24-hour Geek Jam/LAN Party. The event, which will start from from 8 a.m. on Aug. 23 and end at 8 a.m. on Aug. 24, will be held at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC). Computer gamers and enthusiasts are expected to participate in the event.
So far, the initial response has been good, and it does look like we will have at least a few hundred, if not well over a thousand enthusiasts who will converge together at the CICC to show off their computers, gaming prowess in networked games, PSP games aand software programs.
For computer gamers, this is the chance to show their gaming prowess and teamwork in games like DOTA, Call of Duty and CounterStrike Force. Huge prizes will be at stake. Those who are interested can check www.istorya.net and www.ccebu.net/mandaue for more details.
GAMING. There are numerous opportunities in gaming. There are now, not only programmers and artists who are focused on game designs, but also professional gamers who earn money. There are proxy gamers for hire and game testers, as well.
Gaming is becoming a big industry, especially since a blockbuster game can earn more money than a blockbuster movie.
BEIJING OLYMPICS. There has been a lot of excitement over China’s hosting of the Summer Olympics. It does look like at this juncture, China will most likely ace the United States to garner the most Olympic medals. It is not only on this aspect that China is starting to surpass the United States. It is reported that at this moment, China now has also the world’s biggest Internet population—at 253 million—while the US has only 223.1 million. And it seems China’s figures are growing; after all, China’s Internet penetration rate is still only 19.1 percent while the US has 71 percent.
