MANILA, Philippines?By now you have all seen the video of Kobe Bryant jumping over an Aston Martin, and the follow-up video of the ?Mamba? jumping over a pool of snakes with the ?Jackass? gang, immortalized on youtube.

?Putting a video like that out on the internet seemed to have reached more people and created more buzz than if there was a commercial for it.? ?Kobe Bryant

Earlier this year, at the Nike headquarters in Beaverton Oregon, Bryant and Mark Parker, CEO of Nike Inc. introduced international media to the latest addition to its basketball kicks family, a sneaker that is billed to be the lightest and strongest basketball shoe ever, with cutting edge technology such as lunarlite foam and flywire. Nike Hyperdunk is born.

?I want a shoe that is very light. I want a shoe that I don?t lose seconds when I change directions, and I want a shoe that is soft. Other than that you can do what you want, but they better not be ugly.? Bryant tells us after he was asked what he looked for in a basketball shoe.

Bryant and team USA, as well as other international basketball players are using the hyperdunks during the Olympics.

After we sat through the presentation and chatted with Bryant and Nike designers, a few of us, including writers from Slam and Dime magazine trotted to the Bo Jackson building to be the first people in the world, outside of Nike, to play ball with the Hyperdunks, even before they hit the stores in the US, with no less than Bryant watching us hoop it up.

After the game, just as I was thinking about how much lighter they were than I expected, I bumped into Bryant in the hallway

?How do you like em?? he asked. Before I could even respond, he continued, ?They feel good, right? They work magic here, tell your boys in the Philippines about em.?

When the Hyperdunks were released in the Philippines, a handful of pro-ballers started using them, then the UAAP season began and you may have noticed teams like DLSU, ADMU, FEU, and UE all with color coordinated Hyperdunks. The public took notice and now more and more playground ballers started to be curious about the hype and got a pair.

Back in the States, when the ?McFly? or 2015 limited edition Hyperdunks, with a color way and look reminiscent of what Marty McFly wore in the future in the 80?s classic movie ?Back to the Future part 2? were released, people lined up outside stores for as long as two days to get a pair.

Expect more surprises from Nike. The hype about hyperdunks is no hype. If it?s good enough for the 2008 NBA MVP, it should be good enough for the rest of us mortals.