Due to the Multimedia Super Corridor initiative in the late 90′s, Malaysia’s ICT industry has grown by leaps and bounds. What started as foreign ICT firms setting up shop in Malaysia led to the growth of homegrown ICT companies which are no short on innovation and ever hungry for man-power. One of the sub-industries is a fledgling video games industry, in which a growing number of full-fledged studios, outsourcing outfits, animation, motion capture and arts studios call home.

EDGE UK profiled several of these companies in their November 09 issue and it highlighted among others Codemasters (GRID, Operation Flashpoint), Igloo Digital Arts (Afro Samurai, Formula One 2009) and Young Jump Animation (mo-cap work for TMNT).

Realizing the demand in man-power for this rising industry, Nine Over Ten 9/10 now features a job search function in partnership with Careerjet, a job search engine designed to make the process of finding a job online easier and it does the heavy lifting by referencing job listings from company websites, recruitment agencies and large specialist recruitment sites, saving the trouble of having to visit the aforementioned sites individually.

So, if you fancy a career in video games, give Nine Over Ten 9/10′s new Job Search page a try, click here. Alternatively you can access it by clicking on the Job Search link at the top of this blog:

Yup, after two years and it’s time for an upgrade. I’ve finally gotten rid of the staid and cramped theme and went premium! Yes, this new theme actually cost me something but anyways, how do you like it?

So what does the new theme spell for Nine Over Ten 9/10? Articles that look easier on the eyes, bigger pictures and videos and just a general feeling of relieve usually associated with getting over constipation. I was joking about the last part.

2009 was pretty much a roller coaster year and given the recession, a so-so one for blog earnings. I noticed that not many visitors were buying video games and their related products off of the Play-Asia ads on my blog.

So while 2008 saw a cool USD 700 dollars in terms of commissions, there was a 60 dollar drop in earnings for 2009. Adsense earnings were steady however, bringing in almost the same amount as 2008, at around USD 220.Nuffnang contributed as well, with slightly over RM 100, which while little (the site doesn’t attract the local crowd), was better than nothing.

One good news about 2009 was there were no shortage of advertisers approaching Nineoverten.com to advertise their wares, this brought in about USD 150.

The money was well spent though, paying off the PS3 (I bought it on installments) and the hosting fees for Nineoverten.com, buying plenty of games (for the DS and PS3), presents for the girlfriend and financing my year end trip to Krabi. Pretty good example of a self-sufficient blog eh?

Thanks to my brother, I now can add the iPhone 2G as the latest addition in my list of handheld consoles. It has in good company, the Nintendo DS and the Game Boy Micro. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t freaked out by his request to update the OS from 2.0.x to 2.2.1.

The jailbreaking/unlocking process went rather well, even though some described it as being suicidal (you might brick the phone!!). In any case, I’m now in the process of getting apps installed and stuff like that. So stay tuned and welcome the iPhone to the fold over here at Nine Over Ten 9/10. And yes, it’s mine!

After 10 months of running WordPress 2.5.1, I’ve finally taken the plunge and upgraded to 2.7.1. I must say I was quite resistant to the idea of upgrading, but I decided to do a swingover (updating a copy of the blog, test, and then replace the current blog folder with the updated copy) for minimal downtime. And it worked! Hehe.

I got interviewed recently and as a result, Nine Over Ten was featured in yesterday’s Tech & U pull-out in the News Straits Times, under the Blogger’s Say section. If you have missed out the print edition, check out the web version of the article here.

2008 has been a bumper year for Nine Over Ten 9/10. Following a move to the new domain (www.nineoverten.com), the site has seen an increase in readership and I’ve managed to achieve the following:

• Doubled the ad earnings of last year, to more than USD 700.
• Partnered up with video game publishers and PR companies (for video game publishers, EA being one of them) to get direct press releases of upcoming video games and events, and not by proxy from some other blog site.
• Featured/linked on GoNintendo, Kotaku and DSFanboy.
• Featured on News Straits Times Tech&U Cover Story: Game Consoles Rule
• Increased the size of my DS video game library, currently the largest in Malaysia (I think)
• Purchased a Sony PS3 instead of an Xbox 360
• Purchased 2 SNES consoles
• Purchased a Sega Dreamcast
• Increased the number of games I’ve completed within a year

A very big thank you to my readers, for without which Nine Over Ten wouldn’t be. Also a big thank you to my media partners, both current and future ones as well. Yup. Future ones. Look out for plenty of exciting stuff for 2009.

Nine Over Ten received a mention in today’s News Straits Times’ Tech & U pull out. This issue’s cover story is about video games consoles, and I gave some input on the current gen consoles currently available in Malaysia. Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/84j7bf

Nine Over Ten’s “About Nine Over Ten” page was long overdue for an update. It was a sight for sore eyes and considering all that the site, and myself have gone through the past 2 years. I owe it to my readers to provide additional info on that page.

I’ve updated a 3rd person profile of myself, a list of consoles that I’ve owned/purchased throughout my life as well as a feeble attempt at cataloging my video games library. LOL. Anyways, you can check it out here.

The rising exchange rate (now USD 1 = RM 3.5-ish) has put the brakes on my video games buying habit. Not that it’s a bad thing, I’ve been averaging 2 games a month and that’s not including the recent retro console purchase. I actually welcome the respite. On the downside, it’s preventing me from participating in Gog.com’s Open Beta.

Anyways, the good news is, income is still steadily coming in from Nine Over Ten, thanks to the ads. Over time, I hope to accumulate enough to start buying games again, possibly within the next few weeks. I’ll also be getting a new advertiser, a first for Nine Over Ten in the form of a flash kart retailer, so stay tuned for the banner (and other, normal updates)…it should be up in a couple of days.