Kuala Lumpur (20 December 2013) – Exabytes Network Sdn Bhd (‘Exabytes’), Malaysia’s largest web hosting provider, today announced that the company has successfully held CGM Game Jam 2013 – an international ‘game prototype’ development competition, in Malaysia with the support of Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC).
Eight teams consisting of 34 local game developers and university college students participated in the 36-hours game development marathon, which took place on the 14-15 December 2013 at the Exabytes’ premise located in SetiaWalk, Puchong.
GCM Game Jam 2013 is a popular game development competition which was first introduced in Japan in 2005. This year, CGM Game Jam 2013 takes place in Japan, Thailand and also Malaysia, exemplifying the rapidly expansion of the PC gaming industry clusters in this region.
Exabytes’s CEO, Chan Kee Siak shared that ‘gamification’ is moving beyond pure entertainment purposes to a serious business nature. “Games have been a cultural mainstay throughout the computing history. Parallel to the increasingly significant commercial trend in games developments, CGM Game Jam also inspire Malaysia’s PC gaming sector to explore the opportunities in the gamification market.”
Badlisham Ghazali, CEO of MDeC said that ‘gamification’ is about applying game-design principles into non-game situations. “In fact, this gamification method is gaining tractions within the local business circle as a way to creatively more effectively engage their employees, customers and stakeholders.”
Ghazali further explained, “The potential power of such games-based applications and ventures is indeed magnified by the convergence shifts corresponded with the arrival of Generation Y and the overcrowding of the digital space – that makes it harder for companies to stand out from the market competition and forces them to apply gaming creativity for more effective interactions.”
Gaming Innovation in Malaysia
Chan said, “Exabytes is very proud to host CGM Game Jam 2013 and recognize the winning team’s outstanding achievements as well as participants who have participated in the competition. Many of which have presented truly groundbreaking ideas that showcased the potential and strength of the local game development community.”
A panel of ICT industry veterans served as judges for the competition including representatives from MDeC, Exabytes and Dr. Ganesan Velayathan, a successful game application developer who is best known for achieving over 2 million of worldwide download click-ons for his “Sushi Friends” Android OS-based game application.
Chan said, “The panel of judges was highly impressed by the quality and creativity of the participating jammers. The talents exceeded our expectations and certainly show great potential of our local game development. Through CGM Game Jam 2013 in Malaysia, in particular, many students were exposed to new approaches on how to translate their creativity into real interactive gaming applications. This competition certainly serves as a wonderful platform to advocate more sophisticated programming skills for multimedia and gaming content development.”
The First Prize’s winner of CGM Game Jam 2013 is the team, Digital Ark, a year-old local startup company by Shah-Arif, Muhammad Aliff and Shah-Qays. Digital Ark’s team lead, Shah-Arif shared, “We are so happy to have won CGM Game Jam 2013 in Malaysia, and Exabytes did an amazing job organizing the rare sort of event which brings together so many great game developers, mentors and all levels of gaming enthusiasts like us. It was a privilege to speak with the professionals who shared how to capitalize our ideas for future commercial purposes.”
Each member of the winning team will receive a return ticket to Japan including accommodation to visit a few games development companies in Japan to explore the myriad possibilities of Computer Science, multimedia content development and other areas of interest and research under the leadership of International CGM Game Jam’s organizer.
In addition, the winning team is also given with 5000 cash credits of mobile network advertisement for promotion of their future game application, sponsored by tapsmart.
Ghazali ended, “Via its Creative Multimedia Cluster hub, MDeC will continue the momentum and keep encouraging companies to move beyond entertainment and into digital publishing, training, simulation and gamification to support industries that are using the mechanics of gaming to boost innovation and drive value.”
