The Launch of Conga Bugs!

This is an exciting day for me! Today marks the launch of Conga Bugs, GameTantra's first international PC Casual Game!

I worked on the title as the Producer for over a year and a half.... what a LONG development cycle it was, but oh how worth it. The production values are solid, the gameplay is tight, and it's a lengthy game, clocking in at over 12 hours for the average play-through.

We have launched www.congabugs.com, which has plenty of media and information about the game. We also have Facebook and Orkut community pages, a Wikipedia page, Press Releases, a trailer up on video sites such as YouTube & a half a dozen others, and more stuff!

A direct link to Conga Bugs on the Big Fish Games portal can be found here.

I'd love to have your support for the incredible effort that the entire Conga Bugs team has put into the game! I really hope that you enjoy the game thoroughly.

Career Presentation at ICAT Bangalore

Two years.... wow, it's been a long time since I last posted. But, I'm back... even if my readership isn't. :-)



Career Presentation at ICAT Bangalore...
I conducted a career seminar at ICAT Bangalore this past Saturday, January 31st. The new ICAT facility is quite large and it seems they are focusing largely on their new undergraduate game development program.

So, the audience of around 150 were a varied bunch, from high school and college students to parents. Only a handful considered themselves to be "gamers," so the presentation was altered on the fly and delivered as such... at least I hopefully managed it. I did notice a few of the parents' eyes rolling into the back of their heads as they were trying their hardest to stay awake, while at the same time, a bunch of young guys were intently focused on the presentation, with clasped hands and wide eyes, digesting every sentence and every image.

After the presentation I met with a few of the students and answered some pretty detailed questions about getting into the industry. Maybe it's time to put together a forum for such information?

Two articles have been posted on the event, one by CGTantra and one by the Deccan Herald, both portray my presentation quite differently. While CGTantra's post maintains my positive message, the Deccan Herald article has put entire paragraphs of falsified quotations and has spun a story of 'supposed' distaste and disgust.

It shocks me to see how the Deccan Herald article claims that I'm calling our Indian games "pathetic" and putting down efforts such as FX Lab's game Ghajini. It's absolutely unbelievable how newspapers can condone and print such utter nonsense. A quote should be a quote, not an overly paraphrased, mutilated, and utterly unrecognizable mess. "very less..." Do American even talk like that?

Well, leaving aside journalists who are obviously trying to make their careers by spinning stories, I always enjoy such events because of the opportunity to meet highly exuberant individuals, keen to getting into the gaming industry. This, in itself, keeps me confident that I've chosen the right career path.

India is a booming market, Baby!

Saturday was movie night. Saw 300 again. And saw... Apocalypto, which equaled a waste of Rs.200. I'm not going to go into how bad this movie was, only that I couldn't stop laughing by the end of it. I highly suggest recommending this movie to any and all people who seriously annoy you. I have a few guys from work I think I'll recommend this one to :-)

Details of the Game Console Gray Market in India...
GameGuru.in has a very nice article up detailing the gray (black) market of the various consoles and games available at your local dealer's shop.

As expected, PS2 systems and games continue to be the best sellers. The System sells for about Rs.6500 and the games between Rs.50 - Rs.75

The original Xbox console is still a very niche market with few dealers, higher priced games, and even fewer consumers. The System sells for about Rs.9500 with games at Rs.100.

An interesting surprise is the uptake of the Xbox 360 console, which the journalist claims to have taken the number 2 position. A modded system will set you back about Rs.21,000 with games costing between Rs.250 - Rs.300. I am surprised that the games selling aren't the expected ones popular in the West, like Gears of War. Instead, 360 owners are particular towards games like Football and other sports-based franchises.

A gray market PS3 will set you back about Rs.24,000, though only the low-end 20GB version seems to be readily available. No modded console is currently on the market at this point so expect to pay retail prices for the software (Rs.3000 - Rs.3500). The PS3 should see an official launch on April 27th, according to TechShout.com, with a price tag of Rs.39,990 for the 60GB model. Anyone gonna bite?

Yuvraj Singh International Cricket 2007 launching exclusively in India on the Xbox 360 March 27th...
Speaking of sports-based Xbox 360 titles, I'm pleasantly surprised to hear about the first Indian-exclusive Xbox 360 title. Yuvraj Singh International Cricket 2007 launches on March 27th! There is so much promotional activity occurring in every store that is selling a legitimate 360 that I'm blown away! Even if this game is basically Brian Lara Cricket slapped with a new cover, it's wonderful that efforts have been made to create India's first-ever Xbox 360 title catered to the Indian gamer! The price of the game isn't too bad, at Rs.1699 for the retail title.

Gameloft to distribute titles on Airtel...
Gameloft has signed a deal for the distribution of their titles on Airtel. Currently 6 titles are available, with more to come.

India is the largest emerging mobile growth market of 2006...
mobilehandsetdesignline.com reports on the ten largest emerging mobile growth markets in the world. And guess what? This year India tops the list, usurping even China! 73.56 million new subscribers signed up last year, a reported 97% increase from the previous year to a consumer base totalling 149.5 million! This growth is attributed primarily to the growing middle class and lower rates.

There is no doubt as to why mobile content providers are trying so many ways of attracting this market to value-added services, including games. However, aside from ring tones, the VAS market has yet to truly boom. Every content provider, including ourselves, is waiting for the moment when India awakens to the entertainment prospects available on the mobile handset. We're all preparing for the inevitable conversion with our game faces on...though sometimes I feel like it's on backwards...

The GDC 2007 Experience

Last time it was two weeks, now it's been well over a month haha. Anyways, I'm not going to provide any news-related commentary today in the traditional sense for this post. Instead, it'll be a bit of verbiage on the experience I had at GDC this year.

GDC 2007 was truly an amazing experience. Held in San Francisco at the Moscone Center, this year was far larger than last year's. The show floor, itself, had been expanded to four times last year's size! The networking was splendid and some of the introductions were mind blowing! Like how about standing next to Gears of War Lead Designer, Cliff Bleszinski or having a discussion with Mark Rein, or The Behemoth's (of Alien Hominid fame) co-founders? The list of who's who goes on and on.

So what was the message at GDC that I took away from all of the sessions, parties, and meetings held? A few actually.

Outsourcing...Not everyone is made equal...
First, the outsourcing sector is growing exponentially. One of the companies I met with informed me that they were interviewing some 68-odd art services companies! However, the big Publishers are now realizing that not every vendor can be considered equal. Naturally, not every vendor out there has the capabilities to deliver next-gen quality art assets, but it's taken the industry a while to realize this. I'm sure botched project after botched project has lead the big P's to wake up and smell the coffee.

Sony's PS3 Animal... showing some humanity...
Second, the Playstation 3 is going to be an interesting platform down the road. With a poorly displayed start, an excess of inventory sitting on store shelves, and sales lagging behind nearly every other current and next-gen console, many media pundits have questioned Sony's prowess and ego, I included.

However, after seeing some of the stuff in the works, like LittleBigPlanet, I'm realizing that the best stuff will really be headed our way in 2008. At that point in time, the PS3 will likely be a good platform to invest in because it'll have some very innovative titles, features, and supplementary offerings.

Their Home platform, similar to the the whole Miis on the Wii, looks pretty interesting, though I'm wondering if people will really enter this ad-ladened world just to set up and decorate their own virtual homes, stroll down to the market square to window shop, play pool, arcade games, and the like, while having virtual chats with other people. I suppose if Second Life can do it, why not Sony?

The Keynote speech was entertaining in certain degrees. First, they had this interactive game of soccer being played. There were these blow-up Soccer Balls, the size of an average grown up, being thrown around from person to person. Then, there were actual Goals set up on both sides of the stage with digital score counters being displayed on the theater-sized screen. As soccer balls were thrown into the goals on either side, the scores would update on-screen. So you had like 5 Huge Blow-Up Soccer balls being thrown around everywhere and people hitting them with their hands, like it was a game of volley-ball, directing the balls in the direction of the Goal closest to them. It was fun to watch.

So, during the keynote speech, I took out my handy dandy DS Lite and entered into PictoChat to see what people were thinking. Most were bashing Sony consistently throughout the presentation. That is... until LittleBigPlanet was shown. At which point, everyone stopped chatting as their jaws dropped to the floor in view of the amazing level of graphic detail, fun, and flexibility the game offered. The experience simply cannot be described in words to be honest. I tried to explain it to my boss and to my parents and did no justice to the glamor of this game.

Aside from the Keynote speech, I got to check out a handful of new PS3 games on the show floor. Nothing mind blowing, but I'm happy to see that their version of the "Live Arcade" is beginning to show life. We'll see how Sony does over the course of this year, but I really wouldn't expect anything grandstanding until the Holiday season.

Mobile games... Everyone is clueless...
Sifting through all of the Mobile games sessions, I realized two things about mobile. First, the mobile games industry is purely... lost! One message was made clear, that "we" have not grown the 5%. What is the 5%? Well, basically, this value represents the percentage of mobile phone users, who actually purchase game content on their phone. Last year, it was also sitting at 5% and this year is obviously no different. Each year we read about the expected growth of the industry, but to be honest, not many are actually making a lot of money in the field. We're all waiting on some killer app, on games which take real advantage of the mobile phone's communication capabilities, but it just hasn't happened yet in a mainstream sort of way. So the message was this, and the solutions were few.

Coming to the second point, one of the solutions mentioned was surrounding community driven content. Many speakers were pushing the idea of user created levels, avatars, blah blah, you name it. User-generated content is cool, no doubt about it. It allows people to express themselves to others, and its one of those sticky things. Once a community is created, it doesn't go away so fast and people love to congregate around others with similar interests. But, to grow such a community would mean a lot of problematic hurdles along the way, including building that fan following for an actual mobile game title. If there are ten guys building content for ten guys, the community isn't going to last very long. But, how do you do this? Marketing promotions? Should the game be an extension of an already existing game like many Korean titles seem to take advantage of? Should the games be stand-alone apps which are entirely unique to the mobile platform? How do you convert a community of GSM-based mobile users who just don't understand what the hell GPRS means? I really could list a zillion more issues.

I'm really concerned that the industry may be blinded by "community." To get a person to game on the mobile phone, is it the community and user-generated content that we should be offering first or games which the user can easily get into and understand? I think the latter hasn't been explored enough to warrant the former, no matter how cool the former sounds. However, I agree with most in our industry, that mobile should not be a second-rate console platform. It should have its own unique identity with games that can ONLY be done aptly on a mobile handset.

There was one session which really lead me to be concerned though. It was a session based on innovation where developers would pitch their ideas to a panel of publishers and the audience was encouraged to participate! One of the pitches was for a Bluetooth-enabled analog controller which communicates with mobile phones to allow users to play mobile games like... console games.... This peripheral received numerous applauds... and that's when I realized that no one had been listening to or had digested what the message of GDC Mobile was. How in the hell does a BT analog controller help us, as an industry, to grow the mobile games market when people keep trying to find ways of dressing up the mobile phone like a Gameboy?

If you guys have any further questions, I'd be more than happy to tell you more about the experience via mail or IM. Just let me know, because there was a LOT of cool stuff that I simply can't cover in a blog.

Indian Mobile Games VAS Growth

Ouch, it's been about 2 weeks since I last updated the site. I don't know how many times I can use the World Cup as an excuse, but getting products out for such a strict deadline requires many hours of hard work; a quarter of which goes to Counterstrike, another quarter to Quake 3, and the remaining half is dedicated to the consumption of triple strength Chai pills.

Our teams have some pretty decent stuff coming out and there are positive vibes about how each product will do in the marketplace. An additional benefit, coming right out of last month's NASSCOM conference, was the newly adopted moniker of "Quality over Quantity" by all Operators. This means (hopefully) less $hit and more $ubstance on their decks, which is what we can deliver wholeheartedly!

I'm scheduled to begin writing features for a brand new site soon. This site is hosted by a close friend and a guy who's very knowledgeable in the space of Indian Gaming. I just hope he doesn't count on me too much, as even he knows how hard it is for me to update my own site on a consistent basis! ;-)

Indian Mobile VAS Growth...
The Economic Times reports on the growth of the Mobile VAS sector, claiming that VAS should grow to an approximate Rs.16,000 - Rs.18,000 crore by 2010! Of this, gaming is positioned to take 10-15%. That's some massive growth!

Supposedly, this year will see a surge of an additional 140 - 150 million Mobile handsets! The article claims that 2/3 of these will represent replacement phones. However, the rest reflects an addition of about 5 million new mobile subscribers a month! That's up from about 2 million a month from the same time last year.

According to Saleem Mobhani, COO of Hungama, a drop in the price of Mobile Games will create a surge in the overall consumption of the medium. I'd say, he's just discovered something called the law of Supply and Demand. :-)

The article reports on the latest Rs.5 download hit by Reliance, called Stockmania. The developers, Astute Technologies, have tied up with the BSE and, seemingly, delivered something which has turned heads. I've been following the development of this game for some time now, yet I still haven't had a chance to play it. If any of you have played it, please drop me an email. I'd love to know more about it.

DVD Empire's Qualms with the Gaming Industry...
DVDEmpire.com has been a fairly well known online shop for American DVD enthusiasts over a number of years. I also purchased a number of Anime Series from them back in 2000, when every Shop site was offering a zillion rebate coupons, like 30%-50% off entire orders!

Anyway, they have recently decided to forgo the sale of video game products. Normally, it wouldn't be such a big deal, however, they posted a pretty sizable and detailed opinion / explanation of the inner workings of the retailing side of gaming industry to back their decision.

Some of the claims are quite eye-opening. I think most knew of the thin margins that retailers make from the sale of a $60 game, but their claims are that this margin is so thin that they rarely break even. DVDEmpire.com made only $5 per game sold. They say that this return didn't take into account the cost of storing the items or the cost to ship / receive them.

According to DVDEmpire.com, they didn't even receive price protection... Supposedly companies their size have to simply deal with devaluing inventory and must soak up the costs themselves when the MSRP drops. That's news to me, as I've never heard of such horrendous situations from video game retailers. They must have been taken for a ride by whoever their distributor was.

The remaining reasons deal with no product returns, the cost of going through distributors, inability to effectively serve their customer base, and the advantage that the established gaming-centered stores have over them.

Next.Gen.biz did a follow up article which gives us another perspective on this piece. According to them, the average wholesale price of a $60 game is around $47, $8 lower than the price DVDEmpire.com was being charged.

Next-gen.biz reports that Price Protection is dependent on the retailer. The larger the retailer, the better the price protection. However, Next-Gen.biz disagrees that the smallest of retailers aren't applicable to some form of price protection unlike DVDEmpire.com's claim.

I found it interesting that many smaller retailers feel that price protection isn't initiated fast enough. Many of these retailers believe that the quicker the price drops, the more competitive they stand when it comes to competing against the used games sector. Used games are a huge market in the U.S., and it's true that many people are more willing to pay for a used game than a brand new one. I would most certainly pay $35 for a used game over $50 for a new game any day.

Click the two links above. You'll find it a fascinating read, guarenteed!

MISC DAY

For those of you who didn't tune into Zee Business on Thursday night at 9:00pm, you missed a comedic appearance by yours truly for a segment focusing on Cricket Mobile Games and the World Cup. See, Zee Business is entirely in Hindi, and I reluctantly discovered that while on-air. And let's just say my Hindi is a bit beyond rough right now.

Colleagues of mine and I had informed the network 5 separate times to ensure that the questions would be asked to me in English. And all that painstaking work proved fruitful when the first question was delivered to me in all of its wonderful Hindi glory, ;-)! I had this really nice blank looking expression on my face, with a bit of drool surfacing onto my lips, until I realized that they were talking to me, at which point, I sucked up the drool and pointed out Live-on-air that I couldn't understand Hindi!

And of course, there was another gentleman who the anchorman was bouncing questions off of. Unfortunately, I could only grasp maybe 20% of what the conversation was about until, all of a sudden, I would hear my name being called and another odd question would come my way... like what's the difference between "Football and Cricket"... *shrugs*

Atleast, I entertained my CEO. He was laughing like hell when I called him up after the segment. I was scared that he may laugh and then proceed to have my head on a platter, fresh for him to devour, before idly whispering into my decapitated head's ears the words, "You're FIRED!" Nice visual huh? *takes a bow*

ELSPA compiles list of TOP 50 UK mobile games of 2006. Guess what title is the winner...again...
The world seems to still have Tetris on the brain as the title, once again, earns the Top Title spot of the year on mobile handsets in the UK. I'll list out the Top 10 here but there isn't anything particularly surprising. Feel free to go here and check out the rest:

1 Tetris (EA Mobile)
2 Sonic: Part One (Glu)
3 Deal Or No Deal (Gameloft)
4 The Sims 2 (EA Mobile)
5 Worms (THQ Wireless)
6 Pac-man (Namco)
7 Monopoly (Glu)
8 Block Breaker Deluxe (Gameloft)
9 Tetris Mania (EA Mobile)
10 Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (Glu)

World of Warcraft on Mobile? Not yet...
An interview was conducted with Vivendi Games Mobile CEO Paul Maglione by PocketGamer.co.uk. They covered a number of topics related to Vivendi's plans, which games are selling well, their philosophy on bringing titles to Mobile, etc. However, the most interesting tidbit, certainly for a close friend of mine, is a newsbyte on the possible release of World of Warcraft for Mobile. Find the Q&A below:

"Last cheeky question. Any chance of World Of Warcraft making it to mobile in some shape or form this year?"

-"It's something we're continuing to discuss and look at internally, but we'll only be able to talk about it when there's something to say. So there's nothing I can talk about right now I'm afraid!"

Sorry guys, hoped for a better answer! However, if it's any consolation, I spotted Warcraft 3 for mobile. The question of its legitimacy is still up in the air though.

101 Free Games...
1up.com has an article up which points to 101 Free Games available on the web for Free. I've only had time to play through a handful at this point. Some of them are quite nice. Try out Rayhound and Gunroar for starters :-)

Oh and just do a Google search for each of the games instead of directly clicking the links, unless you already have a File Front account. I found it faster this way.

Indian Xbox 360 Commercial...
Joystiq.com points to the fact that the Xbox 360 is selling well in India despite the high price though no sell-through data was revealed. The mention includes an embedded YouTube video of one of the latest Xbox 360 commercials starring Akshay Kumar. Some of the reader comments are pretty damn funny, that is, as long as you're not easily insulted.

Mostly Videos :-)

Well we had a really nice three days off to celebrate India's Republic day Pongal (thanks to the anonymous reader who corrected me. I have no idea where my mind's at. I had Monday pegged as the 26th for some odd reason... So my apologize to those who may have been taken aback by my erroneous mistake in labeling of the past weekend's holiday.) . I was entirely glued to my game consoles. I managed to start and finish Superman Returns within about 6 hours. That game is way too short and not well executed at all! Don't know why I'm surprised considering the legacy of Superman videogames of past years. Aside from that, I played some Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 for the Xbox 360, Elebits for the Wii, Half Life 2 and Stubbs the Zombie for the Xbox, Advance Wars for the DS, Every Extend Extra for the PSP, and a bunch of other casual games on PC. It was a weekend of pure gaming bliss!

Work is going on and everything is incredibly busy. We're getting ready for the World Cup. And with the World Cup comes a lot of pressure. Trying to capitalize on this once-in-a-four-year event is just crazy! At times I just wanna pull out every reminisce of hair, pubic that is, that I have. Too visual for yah?

And speaking of games, does anybody know a good Flash developer? I have an interesting side project that is really in need of a gaming Flash guy. Let me know, k?

Real Life Major League Baseball... or is it?
I blinked a zillion times when I saw this video for the first time. I thought I was being shown an actual, real-life, telecast of a Baseball game. In fact, it's the next-gen iteration of MLB 2K7 by 2K Games... My God... I haven't seen anything so realistic before when it comes to... people... The players are so realistic in their appearances that it's almost unnerving! Look at that fantastic animation! So freaking life-like! If it wasn't for those lifeless looking eyes on the players' faces, I don't know if anyone would be able to discern it from the real thing!

Genius 8 Year Old Boy or Guitar Hero Freakazoid...
Thanks to Joystiq.com, I came across this amazing video of a young 8 year old playing Guitar Hero. And it's not just some little boy proving that he can play guitar and lick on a lollipop at the same time. This kid played through Psychobilly Freakout on Expert and got a Five Star Rating! And a few times he just turned around to face the camera and show off his mad skillz. It almost reminds me of those psychotic DDR freaks that I saw in Australia a few years ago. Those guys were playing levels while physically standing on the Pad in the opposite direction of the screen! They had memorized all the steps by heart and didn't even need to reference it! Gah!

IGCommunity.com sees hit CS Tribute Video...
One of the New Year's presents from the great guys over at igcommunity.com was the addition of a wonderfully crafted, fan-made, video playing tribute to the top CS Clan in India, ACID. This video has garnered tremendous amounts of interest and support from the Indian gaming community and should be lauded for the effort put into celebrating one of the greatest clans around. It's a large download, but for any Indian with pride in our gaming culture, it's a must to see.

Get the 564 MB download here.

And speaking of igcommunity.com, one of the main men behind it, Arya, is holding a kick-ass gaming event this weekend. We'll be having LANed Xbox 360s, PCs, maybe Wiis, and who knows what else! It should turn out to be a great event! Thanks for setting it all up for us, Arya!

PS3s available! And no one wants them...

Back in India. I had a great trip and it proved to be infinitely fruitful. Sometimes you get what you're really searching for when you're searching for it. Unfortunately, it usually comes the opposite way for me in terms of women... but that's another story for another day :-)

Resistance: Fall of the PS3...
I dedicated some time to playing Resistance: Fall of Man at a friend's house over the break. Played the game for three days straight and beat it. And no, I wasn't playing it because the game blew me away or because it was super addictive. I simply knew that this would be the only time that I would have to evaluate the PS3's, supposed, killer app.

Frankly, the game delivers nothing but a standard FPS experience. There isn't anything particularly exceptional about it. It pretty much starts off as Call of Duty and ends as Halo 2. The game has some decent level designs which kept the game relatively fresh throughout. I enjoyed the variety of the weapons and found each one was actually useful depending on the situation I was in. The secondary weapons were quite varied and cool to use as well. However, a number of the levels just seemed lifted from other titles and I couldn't help but feel a sense of Deja Vu through and through.

Oh and the graphics... Heh, they don't appear anywhere near the realm of Next Gen. Halo 2, Fable, and Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox look as good if not more so. There were so many muddy textures and underdetailed models, especially for a game claiming to be PS3's game of fame. And I never knew that rigamortis sets in at the instance of death. Perhaps, the modelers should have
worked a bit harder on proper death animations, as they're currently akin to knocking over cardboard cutouts. Goes something like this:

Resistance: Fall of Man - Death Animation Sequence
Step 1: Initialize Stand Up Enemy Model with Mouth Gaped Open
Step 2: Blow hole in Model's Head
Step 3: Turn Model Sideways
Step 4: Fin

PS3 Consoles available in abundance?
Interestingly enough, after the New Years, a friend and I decided to do some shopping. Well, actually, I was doing the shopping for all of those evil, greedy, co-workers that wanted stuff in India ;-) .

To my surprise, I saw this huge stash of PS3 units just sitting there at the front of the store. At first I was just standing there shocked, bobbing my head from side-to-side, like an intrigued parrot, not quite comprehending what lay before me, questioning reality and my very existence at one point. You have to understand the situation, I mean you would have been in the very same bewildered state as well. Think about it, actual PS3 units, not just one of them mind you, but 10... all sitting out in the open and not a single soul within 20 feet of the stack, and ALL AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE. So, I eventually shrugged it off... well that is after I wiped the drool off of my shirt, stopped pinching myself purple, and stopped cautiously poking at the boxes with my extended index finger to ensure that this wasn't sometrippy dream where a huge fire breathing dragon would pop out and ... well you get the idea.

And if that wasn't weird enough, I saw the exact same situation in three other stores within the next 3 days! Walmart, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. What do we make of all this? Is it simply that people don't have the money after the Holidays? Is it that people really don't care? Is it that the system is way too overpriced? A combination? After all of the hype and logistical difficulties Sony has faced and having releasing only a handful of units into the U.S. market during the holidays, you'd think that readily available systems would be selling like hotcakes. And mind you, Sony hasn't exactly released a ton of consoles either.

------Update------
Did some searching on the net and discovered that I'm not the only one making this claim. Check out Joystiq's blog for additional info on this really unexpected situation.

SFG Research releases detailed forecast of console hardware install base through 2010...
Next-Gen.biz has a decent article up which shows the relative marketshare growth forecasted or each console over the next 3 years. It's interesting how the Xbox 360 is predicted to stay ahead of the PS3 through 2010 in the North American market. The PS3 and Xbox 360 are supposedly going to be fighting a very close battle on the worldwide scene as well. Of course, the PS3 is presumed to win, but by no means is Sony the unchallenged contender to the throne anymore.

My Wii go bye bye...

Well I'm visiting some friends in the Boston area right now. Leeching off of my friend's wifi ;-) For now it's just doing some shopping and playing a ton of games. He's a major gamer, covering not just video games, but a number of cool board games (Settlers of Catan, Talisman, Chrononauts, etc.), card games (Magic: The Gathering, ), and D&D of course. I keep asking him why he has yet to jump ship into the games industry instead of what he's currently doing, studying birds... (No offense is intended to bird lovers or professional animal bahavior specialists out there) I think he'll see the light soon enough.

Wii go Bye Bye...
Being so excited about a new system means nothing when that new systems decides to crap out after only a couple days of play. The optical disc drive is decidedly unfit and has since gone on hiatus as a measure of rebellion... Essentially, my Wii is making noises like *gur* *gur* *spit* *spat* *chug* *fart*. Wii games are now unplayable, however it atleast doubles as an overpriced Gamecube...

Oh and speaking of Gamecube functionalities... My Wii has decided that it didn't like my 3rd Party Gamecube Memory Card and has chosen to delete 5 years worth of game save data on it. Yeah, I'm really pleased with my Wii right now.

As a result of these issues I have no choice but to attempt an exchange. And an exchange means I'm going to lose all of my Wii Game save data as well... and no I can't back it up onto an SD card because that requires a firmware update and my Wii refuses to connect through my wireless router... And speaking of exchanges, which Best Buy would be insane enough to actually have a Wii instock during the Holiday season?

Puzzle Pirates...
Actually, the friend I'm visiting right now has been addicted to Puzzle Pirates for a long time. I really didn't get how a Pirate MMO game could be based off of Puzzles so I decided to have a closer inspection of its world.

Merry Christmas :-)

Merry Christmas! It's been a while I know. I tend to have those moments where I disappear for a few weeks (or months) without blogging. To be honest, I've been way too busy lately with work. However, I'm now on break! And when I say break, I mean a REAL break. I'm in the States now, at my parents' home. It's been a year and 3 months since I was last here... It's good, very good.

I'm entirely indulged in the Wii! Finally, after so many agonizing months of waiting and having missed out on the opportunity to play it at E3, I have one in my very own living room! I found Wii Sports to be a GREAT game in terms of accessibility. Anyone with an ounce of mental acumen can pick up Wii Sports and blast away after only a few seconds. Even my Mom and Dad were able to pick it up and win their first Wii Tennis doubles match together.

The real fun was playing it with one of my best friends. We played into the wee hours of the night, trampling our competition, and working our way to the top to declare ourselves champions. That is, before all of the in-fighting broke out and we had to find out who the TRUE champion, between us, really was. Of course, the outcome was a no brainer ;-)

Indiagames bought over by UTV...
Old News, I know. UTV has acquired a 51% stake, totaling Rs. 128 crores, in Indiagames to make them the dominant player amongst all current Indiagames investors. This deal, added to the recent acquisition of Ignition Entertainment, makes UTV the largest gaming and animation company in India. Naturally, UTV aims to leverage both investments to make headways into console and mobile gaming.

It is interesting that a, traditionally, animation-oriented company is ambitiously targeting the gaming industry with full force. Most industry players realize that gaming WILL explode in growth over the coming years. The real question has always lied with, WHEN? UTV, Reliance, and others are focusing intently on securing their positions for the inevitable battles to come as India's gaming industry grows from its current nascent form to that of a true behemoth, the size of which no one can properly guestimate. And yes, this is why I've chosen to work in India!

In related news, UTV is supposedly in talks with Dhruva Interactive for a potential acquisition. Though, I think the reporter needs to proofread and double check her source information. The article misrepresents Dhruva as a Hyderabad company. Considering the Times of India attempted to contact Dhruva's CFO, wouldn't someone have noticed that they were dialing a Bangalore number? Oops.

Xbox 360 reaches 35 Games by end of 2006 in India...
GameGuru.in reports that a press event took place at the Hilton Hotel in Mumbai to announce the launch of new Xbox 360 titles available in India. The event saw the presence of Akshay Kumar, who backed the system and declared Gears of War to be his game of choice.

Other titles mentioned for release include Viva Pinata, Dead or Alive 2, Lost Planet, Superman Returns, and Call of Duty 3. At Rs.2510 a pop, the prices aren't half bad really.

BSNL Offers 2MBPS in 2007 for all Home Users...
Another oldie, but goodie. BSNL has announced that they will be offering 2 Mbps broadband connections to all of their users beginning next year. And on top of that, all current 256 Kbps users will receive the upgrade for free!

Good for me, as I JUST switched from the $hitty Sify Broadband service to BSNL two weeks back. You know, the news hit me so hard that I barely avoided soiling my pants! Really! Ok, not really... But, damn impressive news nonetheless, huh? And no, I'm not referring to the soiling-my-pants bit...

Anyways, resources close to the situation have informed me that the tentative launch date is, as soon as, January 14th! Here's crossing my fingers to this pending, and much needed, upgrade for all broadband leechers country-wide!

Lots of news

My beautiful keyboard on my desktop is shot to hell :-( I've shifted most of my work to my laptop. I need to find the time to go out and buy a new one. Yeah... I'm snowed under with work... Really, I am! Ok well... the truth is that I'm still addicted to Gears of War... addiction... sweet sweet addiction...

PS3 hits the Grey Market in India...
I've been meaning to mention this for the past couple of weeks. I read in the Economic Times that the PS3 has hit the market here in India. Though, not official, the low end system will only set you back 50k. Not bad huh? huh? huh? right? Ok, yeah that's a completely outrageous price, agreed wholeheartedly!

The report mentions that there are 200 games available for the PS3 in Japan and the U.S. and only a handful are available in India as of right now Uhhh.. I think somebody hasn't been doing their homework... The PS3 only has a handful of games available worldwide as it is. And even if the reporter was inferring the backwards compatibility with the PS2, he's way off with regards to his numbers. Thousands of games are available for the PS2 and thousands more for the PS1 which the PS3 is also backwards compatible with. Aside from this misinformation, the report claims that the PS3 is selling poorly here. Naturally! The price is mad crazy and the system isn't modded yet.

The most interesting piece of info is that Sony plans to launch the system here, officially, come March of next year. If I'm not mistaken though, that is also when Europe is receiving their allotment of PS3s. Will Sony be able to manage launching the system in so many territories and not dilute their attention considering that they'll probably still be playing catch up in the U.S. and Japanese markets? I smell some trickery and deceit from our conceited friends over at Sony.

Ah, just found a copy of the article posted online at Indiatimes.com.

Nokia reports on the mobile gaming habits of Indian gamers...
Gamasutra ran an article last week about Nokia's recent survey of the mobile gaming landscape across multiple countries, including India. After a bit of searching I have come across the official article posted on Contentsutra.com. The article delves into specific details and breaks down the results from China, Germany, India, Spain, U.S., and Thailand.

Contentsutra.com has pretty much broken down the numbers so I won't bother reiterating anything but the interesting tidbits.
- It seems that 300 of the 1800 surveyed were Indian gamers.
- I found it interesting that 31% actually used the Internet for their mobile gaming downloads. I wonder if GameJump.com is a large part of that figure.
- 23% play multiplayer games daily... Is this via BT?
- 89% are interested in sending demos of games to friends and 92% are likely to trial games sent by friends

M$ and ICICI financing the Xbox 360 to consumers...
Contentsutra.com reports that the big M$ and ICICI have teamed up to offer an EMI option at Rs.899 a month. So, you can get that 360 with roughly 30 monthly installments. Not too shabby honestly, though it's the first time that I've heard of a console being sold via monthly installments. M$ is really serious about establishing themselves here in India before the Sony Typhoon arrives. I'm impressed!

Dhruva Interactive to get $5 million in VC investment...
It's been a while since I've seen Dhruva Interactive in the news. It seems they are in the market for funding. $5 million, in fact, as reported by EconomicTimes.com. Dhruva has grown to 110 strong, up from last year's 60 or so. A majority of their revenues are still derived from their services business. Where are those Dhruva branded games?

Dhruva Interactive's Cricinfo Genie on Reliance...
Dhruva's Cricinfo Genie application, which allows users to watch Live cricket matches in an animated format, is now available on the Reliance network according to Indiantelevision.com. The price to watch? Rs.25 per India-playing match days and Rs.10 for non-Indian match days. I wonder how the application is doing overall since it's initial launch back in January of this year.

For a while the landscape seemed to be barren of any competition. But, now I've been reading up on Yahoo's CricGraphix, a contender to Dhruva's Genie. Let's see how the market fairs for both competitors as 2007 rolls around.

Jump Games and the advergaming landscape...
I've been hearing a lot of talk about advergaming lately here in India. A number of mobile companies already do it, like Mobile2Win and their tie-ups with Coca Cola, Lays, Warner Brothers, Nokia, etc. An article on moneycontrol.com indicates that Advergaming may be the next big money maker here in India, citing Jump Games (formerly Paradox Studios) and their Everest Challenge game, based on the Thums Up license, as a prime example. The article states that the game is doing close to 350,000 downloads a week! Of course, who knows if people are paying to download the game or if these downloads are entirely session-based on the Reliance network.

Either way, advergaming is a big word in the gaming industry. It's a way for developers and various consumer-centric clients to develop content that appeals and relates well to people, while the developer hedges the cost of full-scale development and opens up new avenues for revenue generation. Of course, quality is always a question, but that is entirely up to the client's checkbook I suppose.

Salil Bhargava, CEO of Jump Games and GroupM's Business Director, Vinod Thadani agree that gaming is an engrossing way of engaging their consumer base. Particularly, targeting the youth of India is a challenge, but they agree that the rewards far outweigh the risks. Bhargava believes arcade-style games are the way to reach that consumer because of their appealing graphics and simple gameplay, requiring only a minimal set of buttons to play. I wholeheartedly agree.

India's Xbox 360

Man the past 10 days have been so nuts. I've been sitting in meeting after meeting after meeting. Honestly, the meetings are progressing well and at a decent pace. No dilly-dallying, so I have nothing to really complain about. However, my sleep has been suffering tremendously. And I don't mean that I'm sleeping any less than usual. I'm actually sleeping far more but I wake up entirely restless. It's been 2 weeks now since I have been in this state. I'm waiting for it to GO THE F*** AWAY! And I think the end to these meetings will surely help.

As for some interesting gaming related news... One week back on a Sunday, my Mother called me up at about 3:00pm. That would mean that it was 4:30am for her, so I was a bit confused. She asked me, "Where do you think I am?" I couldn't come up with a proper response so she let me in on her little secret. "I'm at Target waiting in line for the Wii!" I was dumbfounded! My Mom was out there in the frigid cold of New York, in late November, camping out to get a Wii for Mii! Sorry couldn't help that one ;-) How freaking COOL is that!? Of course, Mom's a gamer too so she went home and played the hell out of it :-) She told me that the system is quite nice but that she wasn't very impressed with the graphical nature of Wii Sports. I guess I'll find out soon enough whether I concur with her statements in December when I head home.

The other really cool thing is regarding Gears of War. My boss bought a copy. Unfortunately for my company colleagues, but fortunate to me, the company's Xbox 360 is having issues. So, the copy was passed on to me! And man... Gears of War simply RULES! I can't get enough of chain sawing all of my would-be opponents on LIVE ;-)

XBOX LIVE is India a-ok...
Speaking of Xbox LIVE... Each player's personal profile allows him or her to select the country from which the player lives. Up until this past weekend, India was not a viable Country to select. Now... that has ALL changed :-) I need to see if I can do a search to find other Indian users across LIVE. If any other LIVE user from India is reading this, email me. We'll hook up there. In fact, get a copy of Gears of War and we'll rock the house down!

Cartoon Network running an Xbox 360 competition...
In more Xbox 360 related news, Cartoon Network has noticed a trend in the youth of India where gaming is becoming a cultural norm. This indication is backed by their decision to promote a children's gaming event called, "Game On." This tournament is an on-air contest which will cover the cities Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ludhiana, and Ahmedabad during the end of November (now I suppose). The tournament will crown video gaming champions each week, with such prizes as watches, Pokemon toys, and an Xbox 360!

Can I enter?

Xbox 360 user base reaches 17000 in India...
A source close to me has mentioned that the Xbox 360 is off to a decent enough start, having reached 17000 homes across India. It may not appear like a very large number, but it seems that M$ is quite happy with the figure. There appears to be enough consumer bandwidth to continue pushing the Xbox vehicle.

I've noticed that the big M$ is also looking for content providers from India to help populate the Xbox Live marketplace. Any guys out there interested in doing quality games for Live in India may want to contact M$ Games Studios immediately.

The PS3 is... on e-Bay

What a crazy week it's been. Have barely gotten proper rest but so much is happening that I can't even recollect this past week properly. The good news is that Gears of War is out and my wonderful boss managed to snag a copy! And well... he lent it to me late last night ;-) Unfortunately, I haven't played it yet since I was so exhausted... Today, I'm going to try to GAME-ON as much as possible, however, work responsibilities beckon :-(

I wish I was in the States tonight... Wii launches at midnight! However, it seems my wonderful Mother will be available to pick up a system and a copy of Zelda for me! Thanks Mom! Come Christmas Day, when I head back to the States, I hope to be greeted by a beautiful Wii sitting under the proverbial Christmas Tree.

And I'm hoping the inclusion of Wii Sports and the, newly-fashioned, Wii remote will reduce the barrier-to-entry faced by my Father whenever he tried to play a videogame on a standard 1 D-Pad, 2 analog stick, and 10 button godzilla-like controller. *crossing fingers*

China invades Japan on PS3 Launch Day...
This article has been making the rounds, but I just had to mention it here. As most know by now the PS3 has launched in Japan and now the States. Reports came in from the Japanese launch that things were not all well. Ken Kutaragi interviewed a gentleman who was first to purchase a PS3 at Bic Camera in Tokyo. The story goes that the gentleman refused to answer any questions asked, and perhaps it was because he couldn't. It seems that the entire line's forerunners, who nabbed a brand-spanking new PS3, were poor Chinese folk. In-fact most walked away without purchasing a single piece of software. Reports even claim that the system to software ratio was under 1:1.

Now why would poor Chinese folk be purchasing a PS3? Well Sherlock, think of the law of Supply and Demand. Extreme lack of Supply and Extreme case of Demand... Ok so maybe the poor Chinese folks don't exactly fit well into this scheme, but the scurvy rich Japanese businessmen who hired them do. Want to see how crazy things can get? Check out this Japanese guy who is auctioning off 100 PS3s himself.

However, perhaps this entire endeavor was all for not considering this report which claims that online Japanese auctions are fetching only $10 - $20 more than the MSRP. Odd, but interesting.

PS3 U.S. Launch muddled in migraines...
Gamasutra.com has done a good round up of all reports coming in from the U.S. PS3 launch. Just a few hold ups, lots of cut-ins, and steep e-Bay.com auctions. Honestly, nothing that the PS2 Launch didn't see in the U.S. :-) Check out their summary if you're interested.

Sony losing hundreds on each system...
Gamespot.com is reporting that Sony's 20-gig model is setting Sony back $805.85, $306.85 more than the MSRP! The 60-gig model is setting them back $840.35, $241.35 more than the MSRP! The article says that this doesn't even include the cost of the A/V cables, the power cord, the six-axis controller, or the bundled Blu-Ray Movie. Crazy fools!

Xbox Live Arcade - The Experience!

My mother has gone back to the States. We had a great time together even though I was so busy with work. She's settled me in for sure :-) I'm just loving my entertainment center!

Indiagames surpasses 1 million BREW downloads...
Indiagames is in the news again. They have recently surpassed the 1 million download barrier for their BREW-based mobile content. It's not entirely apparent whether this milestone is really as miraculous as the article is making it appear. Either way, any Indian developer being referenced in global news reports is a good thing :-)

Xbox 360: LIVE Arcade...
I've finally gotten onto Xbox Live! After suffering innumerable woes with my broadband provider and my wireless router for 6 months, I'm on LIVE!

True, Live Arcade will not be launching in India until sometime in Spring of next year. However, since I have a U.S. console, I have access to all content available in the States. I'm far more addicted now to Live Arcade than to any of the console games which are currently available to me on the 360. I don't know whether that's a positive or a negative comment, however, I am entirely enthralled with the online experience through the Xbox 360.

Simply having access to free game downloads, whether they be the bite-sized 40 MB snacks or the gargantuan 1 GB course meals, is entertaining as hell. I'm actually surprised that there are only about 35 or so Live Arcade games available at this point. What a great opportunity this is for content providers!

The sheer difference between a web-based game download and an Xbox Live Arcade download is enormous. Aside from the obvious Console vs PC comparisons, I'm considering the purchasing behavior of a typical PC Gamer and Console Gamer. I have yet to meet PC Gamers who go the "proper" route of purchasing legitimate content. PC Gamers and most other web surfers are used to the concept of "FREE" content, whether it be legitimate or pirated. It's difficult to convince them otherwise because the World-Wide Web was introduced to people as a source for free information. However, Console gamers, aside from a smaller, but growing, subsection of console hackers, are accustomed to paying for console games. The necessity to pay for content is built into the ecosystem from the start.

Console game demos have been in the stoneage until recently, unlike their PC Game bretheren. Live introduces a first to most console gamers, Free Console game demos, game videos, themes, and the like. It's something which has only existed through bundles in official game magazines off of the newstand until now. and the magazines themselves costed $10 or more.

Being able to download free content at the click of a button is simple enough. The kicker, however, is the way in-which Live Arcade has catered to the impulse buyer. Every demo is packed with persuassive ads to purchase the full game. These messages come on the game selection HUD, on the Main Menu, between levels, and upon exiting the application. And each message is accompanied by the ability to buy the game on the spot. Simply hit the Blue X button and off you go to Live Marketplace to purchase your content. Within about 5 clicks you have yourself full access to said content. How simple is that?

There isn't a single PC game demo download that can get you to purchase it with much ease. At such a low barrier to entry for the consumer and such a hassle-free interface, Xbox Live is a winner! Oh and the fact that you've already had to provide M$ with money to get Microsoft Points (the currency used to purchase content) before any of your official purchases are made means the big M is sitting on a wad of cash that hasn't even been consumed.

The only real issue I have is that playing multiplayer games from India... well... sucks a$$. I purchased Street Fighter: Hyper Fighting last night hoping to kick some major butt and work my way up the rankings. I did win, infact, both games I played. However, it wasn't any fun. Why? LAG! Each game I played was just painful. *shudder* It was like the old-school days where we used to use the "slow mo" button on our controllers when we hit a hard part of a game, only my experience wasn't through choice.

Aside from these factors, the entire ranking system, making friends, gaining Achievements, voice chat, and having a Gamer Score is just cool. For now I'll enjoy playing Feeding Frenzy and Outpost Koloki X on my couch alone. As soon as I can up my bandwidth a bit and get some fellow Indian gamers on Live in the upcoming months, I'll be all set. Though, I doubt any of us will be playing games together in real-time anytime soon.

Ok M$, where's my commission?

GameJump.com Shows Its Numbers

This past Sunday I headed out to Nandi Hills. I never expected to see such beauty laid before my eyes. This gorgeous hot-spot, located just 50 km or so outside Bangalore, is a sight to behold. The pure magnificence of the natural surroundings; multiple dome shaped mountains sitting idly next to expansive plains and valleys, coconut trees galore, tons of white grape fields, clean air, and the cool weather were amazing ingredients to the sumptuous dish that was my experience. We arrived so late in the afternoon that I was only able to enjoy about an hour of viewing pleasure. I'll have to make a proper trip out there for a weekend-long duration.

GameJump.com shows the numbers...
For those unaware, GameJump.com is a portal for freely downloadable mobile games. Greystripe, owners of GameJump.com, works with developers to repackage their games with advertising messages and provides them to people for free. Simple.

Greystripe's GameJump.com has been in the press quite a bit lately and I was just waiting for some raw data before jumping into a discussion. So here we go. Data collection was done on a sampling of 50,000 GameJump.com users. There are some cool results here.

The following is the age breakdown of gamers using GameJump.com:
1.) 15%: Ages 13 - 17
2.) 31%: ages 25 - 34
3.) 36%: ages 18 - 24

The Gender breakdown:
1.) Males represent 59% of GameJump.com users
2.) Females represent 41% of GameJump.com users

The top countries downloading games from the site:
1.) United States
2.) The United Kingdom
3.) India
4.) South Africa
5.) Indonesia.

Who would have guessed that India would place number 3 on the list!? India has been struggling in growing this sector of the market. A large part of the difficulty is due to the sheer effort required for an end-user to get access to content. Anyone on GSM knows that setting up GPRS is a pain and most don't even know what the hell GPRS is. But, even if one can get beyond that hurdle, the WAP Portals are rarely friendly, typically cluttered with too many flashy bannersindecipherablerable links making it appear like a miniature XXX Top 100 Portal website.

If GameJump.com is so successful in delivering content to end-users with a web-based interface, perhaps many of us have misjudged the demand for mobile games and the penetration potential that mobile games could have amongst the populace in India. But, could web-based downloads work in a free format like GameJump.com's? I am very skeptical of FREE content in any channel as a long-term driver for industry growth. To me it just seems like another arousing way of getting venture capital.

Is E3 Back?

Today is my 1 year anniversary since beginning work at my company. I was gifted this enormous Television... and dude... Burgertime for the old Intellivision in 1080i on a 40" is to die for! And Yes I did play it :-)

NPD Group declares that the Puzzle Genre still Dominates on Mobile...
The NPD Group just released their findings on the most popular genres for Mobile Games. Unsurprisingly, Puzzle remains king. And gee, which puzzle game is at the top? Again, a no brainer. Our wonderful and everlasting Tetris is still unchallenged for the throne.

NPD provided the following breakdown for the top 5 genres:
1. Puzzle Games, 35%
2. Sports Games, 13%
3. Action Games, 12%
4. Card and Casino Games, 12%
5. Arcade Games, 7%

NPD suggests that a free trial marketing strategy works very well. Particularly the younger segment of (13-17) are sensitive to free trials. And likely this segment is highly influential on the purchases made even if it's their parents' phone.

A further breakdown of the age demographic reveals the following:
"Age 18 to 24 cite the game title as the most important criteria
Age 25 to 34 stated that a positive review affected their decision
Adults 35 and older cited price as their top rationale for downloading specific titles."

The report mentions that, in general, 75000 consumers are surveyed each month but does not specify the breakdown of the age groups.

E3 is back...
Well not exactly. However, next-gen.biz reports that the unveiling of a spiritual successor to E3 is underway and an official release should happen within this week. The event, entitled "Gamepro Expo," is supposed to be as large, if not larger than, E3. It's to be held at the same Los Angeles Convention Center during October 2007. And next-gen reports that they may use the next-door Staples Center for gaming tournaments!

I'm almost wetting myself in anticipation of the truth behind this report. However, like most of the media out there, I questions the logic behind the move considering that the larger publishers were the ones who initially pulled out of the entire BIG EXPO show known as E3. Why would they want to invest into a show which is claiming to be along the same lines?

Would-Be Indian Game Developers - Here is Your Opportunity!

Busy weekend. My Mother has come down for a visit so I spent a lot of time with her getting furniture and appliances. She doesn't feel I've done a good enough job settling in ;-) Doesn't like her son continuously living like a nomad hehe.

So it's three days until my one year anniversary with the company. The year has flown by at a mind blowing speed! In comparison, my year in Korea felt like I had lived through two life spans. I'm afraid that I may wake up one of these mornings and observe the top of my head half bald, false teeth replacing other false teeth, and wrinkles so flabby that one could misplace his personal belongings in them.

Mera Wala Game Contest by Indiatimes...
Level-Up and Indiatimes have begun a contest for all amateur/would-be game developers out there. The contest simply requests the submission of game content that is original and programmed in Java or Flash format. The prizes being offering are the following:

* 1st Place Winner -> One NVIDIA 7600 GS + One Level Up Game CD + Game Time worth Rs 300
* 2nd - 9th Places -> One NVIDIA 7300 GS + One Level Up Game CD + Game Time worth Rs 300 each
* 10 Early Bird Entries -> One Level Up Games Mug each The contest isn't very details.

I think the coolest part is that the Top 9 entries will be PUBLISHED by Indiatimes! This is a wonderful opportunity for any of you guys itching to get your feet in the door of the gaming industry. What better way to showcase your talents than by proving that you can create cool and original content through this contest?

November 25th is the deadline. Here's hoping for thousands of entries. Good luck to those who enter. May the fittest survive and win their dreams of gaming superstardom ! ;-)

RIP Lik-Sang.com

I got back this morning from my Diwali trip. Had a great time. Got to spend time with family and fire off a ton of crackers. The weekend was full of activity without a moment's rest. It is really the best way to enjoy such a short break and make it feel like you got your time's worth.

I enjoyed introducing gaming to my youngest sister. She was completely innocent to it until I showed her some really fun games on the mobile phone and PC. Soon thereafter, the little one was incessantly asking for my mobile phone. "GamerVeda Dada... Mobile Phone please. Show me new game." Cute cute! A future gal gamer for certain ;-)

Today is a light one for gaming news since I've been out of the loop for a number of days. I'm enjoying a number of articles on gamasutra right now, including one on teaching game designers probability and another on the history of Lionhead. Check em' out if you have the time.

Farewell Lik-Sang.com...
To me it is a sad moment to find out that my all time favorite importer of all things gaming has gone out of business. The site was truly the one stop shop for all things gaming import related. They ensured their customers' satisfaction and always delivered good products and timely service in my experience.

To be honest, the method Sony used to run the company out of business really ticks me off. Litigation suit after litigation suit. The outcome of a War of Attrition between a Giant Behemoth and a Small Fry is a no brainer. Stomping on the little guy is just one of those little pet peeves I have, probably because of how much I used to get bullied around when I was a little tot. Actually.... I don't think much has changed on that front. Ok, enough of the depressing reality check for yours truly ;-)

Lik-Sang.com will always be representative of one of the coolest gaming retail sites on the net.

Promotional Tour Turns Into WGT National Finals Madness!

I JUST got back from my trip to Mumbai. The trip was decent. I was able to see my cousin, check out the National Finals for WGT, check out the domestic release of the Xbox 360, and aid in (read: run) the promotional event to increase consumer awareness of the various mobile services that we and our partner are offering. Honestly, it's simply amazing how wherever I go, regardless of reason, I come across some really cool gaming related news hehe.

WGT National Finals...
I flew into Mumbai yesterday morning and went directly to InOrbit Mall in Malad. It's a happening Mall with plenty of shops and some unique characters. I first went to the Information Service counter and asked about where exactly the promotion was being set up. I was informed that no such promotion was occurring this week.... ok.... So, I just walked around a bit and lo-behold! I found something I never would have expected!

This mall was holding the National Finals to the WGT tournament! WHAT FREAKING LUCK! The focus of the tournament appeared to be solely on Counterstrike and Warcraft 3, though I could be wrong.

WGT's primary sponsor is Asus. The entire periphery of the tournament was covered with various ASUS Motherboard-embedded desktop and laptop configurations for sale. In fact, the 30 or so computers being used for the tournament were all for sale. A promotor told me that about 20 had already been auctioned off on a previous day, with the going price being around Rs. 42k. I am not exactly certain of the system configurations, however the industrial design of the setups were definitely sweet, though the LCD monitors were just a wee-bit on the small side.

The finalists congregating at InOrbit were wearing white and red WGT shirts with their team names printed on the back. And were there ever many of them! Most were pretty cool chaps, but I found the same level of immaturity amongst this crowd as I found durng the Bangalore WCG tourney. Honestly, not surprising. I walked around googly-eyed just taking picture after picture as fast as possible because... I did have responsibilities to attend to.

I finally discovered the whereabouts of our supposedly non-existent stall. It was situated on the 2nd floor next to the Food Court. And it had an awesome view of the WGT Tourney! I just couldn't have lucked out anymore than I did this weekend!

Xbox 360 promotion at HyperCity...
My first glimpse of the domestic Xbox 360 release in India happened today at HyperCity. It was cool! There were two GIGANTIC Posters, about 2-3 Stories Tall, a piece, hanging down the side of the HyperCity Store. These Posters were the kind that you'd usually see hanging as Billboards during an E3 event!

So after spending a good 5 minutes outside the Store taking pictures, while sweating up a storm, and getting the evil eye from security, I went in to see how they were promoting the next-gen evolution. As soon as I headed up to the 1st floor I saw a set of 4 Xbox 360 Kiosks lying smack dab front and center! They were a beauty to gaze at. Clean... crisp... curvy... Kiosks... yes, yes, I admit it, I'm having a joygasm here. Give me a moment to enjoy it, ok? Anyways, PGR3 was the game of choice on these Kiosks :-).



I looked to my left and I saw a beautiful 10-foot vertical stack of Xbox 360 Units with an unbeatable offer! Only Rs. 27750 and you can own your very own Premium Xbox 360 unit! Oh wait.. that's the MSRP.






HyperCity is striving to bring the system out at a more mass-market friendly price point so the system is being offered with a generous discount. Get the system for a low, low, rock bottom price of Rs. 27749!!!! A massive Rs. 1 discount off of the MSRP! If you don't believe me, have a look at the pic. Guys, at this unbeatable price, you better take out that mortgage immediately and head to HyperCity before this stock runs dry!

Ok.. HyperCity, where's my commission?

The Non-Violent Hindu Shooter!

I'm flying out to Mumbai this weekend to help out with a promotional tour we are having with our partners. We'll be hitting malls and getting guys to try out our mobile games and even provide free promotional builds to passerbys! If you're in Bangalore check out Garuda Mall, if you're in Mumbai try Cross Roads, New Delhi I'm actually not sure at this point. But this weekend and next weekend we'll be there. Email me and some of us can hook up.

The Non-Violent Hindu-based FPS...
Yeah now this sounds weird doesn't it? But, it seems to be true. Allen Varney discusses some very interesting concepts he and a team of newbie grads tried out in the latest edition of The Escapist magazine. It seems that they wanted to go for an FPS without violence... based on Hindu mythology.

The game was to use a Karma meter of sorts where the Player's actions would be judged. Violence was actually allowed, however discouraged, because it harmed the Player's Karma over the long run and impeded short term goals. Another interesting element was the use of reincarnation. If the Player died he would be brought back years later in a reincarnated form. However, the form was entirely dependent on the Player's Karma in the previous life. So it seems you could even come back as a ...Pig? The amount of influence a Player had on the society surrounding him was to be directly influenced by the reincarnate lifeform the Player was brought back as. Cool huh?

Indian mythology is so incredibly rich and vast. It's an undiscovered gold mine of rich content and untapped potential for games of all genres. It still begs to question why game developers have yet to pick up on it. Perhaps with a larger influence of Indian game developers we may begin to see Indian mythology spring up. With a proper developer behind the helm and a decent budget, we could finally see some real FRESH content.

50 Books for everyone in the Games Industry...
Next-Gen.biz has a cool feature up with 50 Books that they feel every developer should have. It covers a wide gamut of genres, from Programming material, to Design, to Production, to Biographies, to Postmortems, to AI, to D&D 3.5 Edition, to The Hunt For Red October. A good list of books worth checking out. I've read about a fifth of the list myself and I definitely agree that they deserve their positions up there.