Why Patapon is a Filipino Game
Have you ever played Patapon? The quirky game is easily one of the best ever made for the PlayStation Portable, and it’s well worth the price of a UMD.
On top of that, Patapon also indulges any Filipino’s sense of patriotism. Many of the game’s words are English, but some are Filipino. To wit:
- “Patapon” is Tagalog for “throw.”
- The default name of the player character, “Kami”, means “we” in the non-inclusive sense.
- Some of the monster names, like “Motiti”, feature Tagalog words. Filipinos know what we’re talking about.
- “Chaka”, one of the drum beats the player uses to control the Patapon army, is part of Filipino gay lingo.
- “Pata”, another drum beat, means “thigh.”
Found any Patapon word that’s from your language? Leave a comment below.
Pay to Play or Free to Play
Local game publishers need to earn somehow from locally published games. The amount of money that goes into development, management, support and marketing these games is really no joke. We currently have two game models: One is Free to Play, where you actually can play the game for free but premium items are bought in an item mall, and Two is via Pay to Play where you actually pay for gametime similar to World of Warcraft’s (and others) subscription based model. Of course you have Guild Wars where you pay for the boxed game but don’t pay anything for gametime and doesn’t have an item mall. While GW’s approach is unique, it’s not the only alternative payment method its publisher NCSoft has devised. Read more…
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