Labels: general, site-updates
So GameOPS is finally back after several years of absence, so what? If you don't know what GameOPS is, here are some info about the first ever Filipino site dedicated to Video Games. Read on...
ABOUT GAMEOPS
It was the 24th of April 2000 when Rocky Opiña and John Phillips (Jepoy) Bengero tried to create a Walkthrough for the PlayStation game Fear Effect and submit it to GameFAQs. Halfway through the guide, Rocky realized that they should instead create a site like GameFAQs. Rocky quickly said that the site should be named GameOPS (or GameOPSpiña) in honor of him. Jepoy then started to create a logo for the site using only MS Paint and MS Word's Word Art. The first proposed launch date was originally set on July 2000.
The igad Video Game e-zine (igad's Video Games HotSpot)
In the late 1997, Rocky proposed to have a weekly zine of video games together with igad Comics. igad Comics was created by Glen Ramos, John Phillips Bengero, Mark Anthony Bravo, and Robert Ryan Arca during their sophomore days at Saint Claire School in 1996. igad Comics’ primary character was Rocky. The zine didn’t materialized but instead, an e-zine was uploaded by Jepoy on January 1998.
The e-zine contained news and rumors gathered by Jepoy and Rocky from GamePRO and Electronic Gaming Magazines. The igad Video Game e-zine was only a simple website uploaded to Jepoy’s personal homepage at his ISP, Maple Internet Services. The igad Video Game e-zine lasted until March 1999 when the founders graduated from high school.
The GameOPS Era
(The first site layout concept of igad's GameOPS)
The first concept of GameOPS was to compile a database of guides and cheats for different video games with a Filipino appeal. With Rocky, being a self proclaimed RPG King, and Jepoy, having video game experience since childhood, they started reviewing games and making Guides. However, since there are a lot of games to be reviewed and guides to make, the formal launch of the website was postponed.
Jepoy started to reformat the original concept of GameOPS. From a GameFAQs like site, GameOPS evolved to a video game news site. Jepoy and Rocky then decided to merge the video game e-zine of igad Comics to GameOPS, thus igad's GameOPS was born. 
(igad's GameOPS Launch Notice)
With the launch date coming close, the idea of having GameOPS readers sent their game reviews to us was proposed by Rocky. Thus we came up with the site slogan "Speak Your Mind", which refers to the Reader Reviews and "It's Not the System, It's All About the Game", referring to the quality of games.
(igad's GameOPS Launch Notice -2nd)
igad's GameOPS was supposed to be formally launched on July 2000, but due to the founders' busy schedule on their new life as college students, the launch date was moved to October 2000.
The GameOPS Launch
(igad's GameOPS 1st layout)
On October 26, 2000 the first ever issue of igad's GameOPS was uploaded at Geocities and the domain name gameops.net was registered. The volunteers and staff of GameOPS grew from 2 to 17 in a span of 3 months from launch date. More ideas for the site started to flow, and finally a PC Games section was suggested by former GameOPS staff Germaine Ang.
During this time, GameOPS has forged partnerships with popular Filipino sites like DOGZ, Gameophilia and PinoyPC.
On March 2001, GameOPS temporarily ceased operation because of the planned migration from manual HTML to a dynamic PHP-Nuke powered site.
The Re-launch and GameOPS Gurl Gamer
(igad's GameOPS 2nd layout)
April 2001 marked the return of GameOPS on a paid hosted service using PHP-Nuke as the site's content management system.
With the new content management system, GameOPS also launched Gurl Gamer. This was a section of the new GameOPS in which the staff were all girl gamers from DOGZ (Destiny’s Online GameZone). There’s also a guy who wants to pose as a girl that we'll hide in the name of munky :P
The End...
GameOPS finally folded up on the last quarter of 2003 due to the lack of updates, busy schedules and financial difficulties brought by the site's high traffic.
Jepoy and Rocky tried several times to revive GameOPS but due to their busy school and work schedules, GameOPS almost failed to see the light.
The Return of the Comeback
On March 2007, a bold move was undertaken. The original founders decided to convert GameOPS to a Video Game blog. During the early days, blogs were considered as personal journals. Personal blogging eventually died a few years after. But thanks in part to Google Adsense, someone realized the potential of blogs for income, the blogs started to be the "in" thing again. This opportunity inspired us to give life to GameOPS one more time.
On 23rd March 2007, GameOPS finally returned online as a video game blog with Rocky, Jepoy, and Glen at the helm and with two new members, Karlo Datoc and Andrew Delos Santos (Siopao Master).
The site will be formally launched soon.
THE STAFF
Previous staff of GameOPS:
HIRING FOR NEW CONTRIBUTORS
GameOPS is looking for video gamers and bloggers to report and contribute. Talk about video and PC games, the latest mobile phone or gadgets, animes and Asian series, etc. all with complete editorial freedom. If interested, contact us at contribute (AT) gameops (DOT) net with your full name, blog or website, or a sample article you have written.
Here’s the lame part: We won't pay you anything since GameOPS doesn't generate enough money yet. But don't 'ya worry, we're already planning to make deals with local stores and game developers for their ad placement on GameOPS. Once we generate enough income, Rocky might throw in a parteeh!
HINT: We're specifically looking for Mac and PC gamers. :~)
CONTACT THE EDITORS
Do you have game reviews that you would like to share? Please do email them at reader-reviews (AT) gameops (DOT) net.
For general questions, email them at ask-g (AT) gameops (DOT) net.
You may also contact us via the form below:
ADVERTISE ON GAMEOPS
Place your ads for FREE until July 2007! Hurry, limited Ad-space available!! email us at advertise (AT) gameops (DOT) net !!!GameOPS used to accept ads for free, but all good things must come to and end. But don't worry, GameOPS has made the following advertising packages for everyone. From individuals to big companies, please check out our introductory rates.
TEXT-LINK ADS - Top most part, whole site.P500/month - 20 characters
TOP BANNER - Top most part, whole site, random images with other advertisers.P900/month
SQUARE BANNER TOP - sidebar top, whole site.P700/month
SQUARE BANNER TOP - sidebar bottom, whole site.P500/month
PERMALINK BANNER - permalink page.P400/month
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
*coming soon*
Posted by Jepoy on 3/25/2007 05:00:00 PM | | 
![GameOPS [video games, gadgets, etc.]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/jepoy/gameops/gameops10.png) |
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Sunday, March 25, 2007
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