A level playing field

There is always one complaint about our love affair with basketball. Make that two: the game is American, and we’re too short to be a world power in it. So there will always be that knock, that we can’t go much farther in the game, despite past successes.

But now, there is a way for diminutive locals to play the game competitively, and even beat experienced players at their own sport. It’s a new online game called Free Style.

"We knew we had something, because it is basketball," confessed Miniette Navarrete, who runs LevelUp! (www.levelupgames.ph <http://www.levelupgames.ph>) in the Philippines. "Our challenge was to adapt the game from the original version to something more culturally suited to the Philippines."

Free Style is a street basketball game which originated in Korea, so it is naturally in Korean. The job of Level Up! was to translate it into English, and refine some of the moves. Since the very quiet launch on Jan. 2, Level Up! is currently holding its first online tournament, dubbed "Dakdakan 2K6", and has racked up over one million — yes, one million — subscribers, almost entirely by word of mouth.

"We were really excited when Free Style came along, simply because it’s basketball," admits Mike Constantino, business unit director for Free Style. "And what does an ordinary person like me have against a taller, more experienced pro? But in Free Style, we can beat them at their own game."

What makes Free Style unique is that you can greatly personalize the players. Not only can you choose their height and position (and add skills purchased through online "currency"), but you can also outfit them. From head to foot you have a wide selection of styles, and can even dress your avatars in the latest hip-hop fashions, from hairstyle to clothes, even underwear. You can compete as an Asian, Caucasian, or African American, and play in a variety of scenarios: a playground, the street, on the beach (replete with sounds of seagulls flying overhead), and even on a busy highway. You can play one-on-one, two-on-two, or three-on-three.

"The next step in the evolution of the game is for us to culturally adapt it even further," says Navarrete. "We’re collating the local street basketball terms in different dialects, and seing how we can implement them in terms of trash talking."

A sportswriter commented that he had been in an Internet cafe in Iligan City, and everyone was playing Free Style, and trash talking in Cebuano. Level Up! has already initiated talks with at least one local sports broadcaster to provide the background voice for the Pinoy trash talking.

This week, Level Up! had the formal launch of Free Style at the National Sports Grill in Makati, with PBL, UAAP and NCAA players in attendance, along with the And1 Flip Ballaz. It was also the first time that the IT and sports media came together for an event of this nature. The press readily challenged the players, albeit in cyberspace.

"So far, the response has been overwhelming," Constantino admits. "Players can’t seem to get enough of it. It’s basketball."

In the future, with VOIP (voice over Internet) technology, players will even be able to talk with each other and strategize (or zing the other players) even if they aren’t in the same room. The game also compiles your stats, so you can always know how well you’re doing.

Free Style, in effect, levels the playing field.