World Cup #03 - And we're away!

Well, it's begun.

Chris Gayle has left the building. The excitement is mounting. If you're reading this, ask yourself why you aren't somewhere else.

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Empty seats? What's going on? This is a world cup opener!Featuring the home team, no less!

I'm beginning to wonder if there's any point to holding the world cup anywhere but in India (maybe Pakistan and Sri Lanka as well). It's all very well about promoting the game, boosting the economy, and all the other stuff they always bleat about, but a world cup opener with empty seats is NOT a good advertisement.

Here's hoping we don't see too much of this.

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The pre-match show was a pleasant surprise. Henry Olonga, Dean Jones and Simon Hughes were crisp, interesting and kept it tight. Even Mandira Bedi managed not to grate on the senses. If only they'd get rid of Charu Sharma.

World Cup #02 - Drink up and sing along

I've written a little world cup song - set to music by the two and only Jubbs and Self of 'The Place'. Download, learn and sing along during the cup.

You can get the song and the lyrics here.

World Cup #01 - Resolve.Blade.Play.

Okay. A World Cup is upon us. No use pretending that I don't care, or that I'm too busy. Time to get into it. And resolve to blog regularly. So I shall – sit by my computer while watching the games, and post-as-I-think.

 

 

Before every tournament of this stature, a collection of former greats will contrive to make fools of themselves in a national newspaper or magazine by making inane, stupid, and sometimes plain wrong statements. The year's best so far? Sandeep Patil in last week's SPORTSTAR : “ Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies, England and India are the teams with a good chance to win.” Really? Wow. Well, at least he didn't add that Zimbabwe, Kenya, Holland, Bermuda, Scotland, Bangladesh, Ireland and Canada are the teams that will be eliminated.

 

 

Spending a lot of time watching the cup, and debating on it endlessly with friends during the day? Might as well profit from your expertise. www.cricketology.com offers an interesting prediction game where you can wager points on match results, scores et al., and redeem your winnings for exciting prizes. It's something no self-respecting armchair (or staircase / corridor / cubicle) pundit should be able to resist. Check it out here.

That Four Letter Word : Y-A-W-N

I wanted to like Sudhish Kamath's new film. I really did. I wanted it to be hip, intelligent, and interesting.

Sadly, it isn't any of those things.

I'll begin with the good stuff. The fact that Kamath has completed the film on a VERY tight budget, and it ended up looking as decent as it does is to be commended. By leveraging his popularity as a journalist to draw attention to TFLW, he's done independent Chennai filmmakers a service by opening up possibilities for their films as well. It takes determination, courage and a great deal of patience to be a pioneer, and, in a sense, this film makes Kamath one.

That's why it's unfortunate that the film itself fails so badly.

That Four Letter Word begins with what is essentially a decent enough ( if hardly imaginative ) premise, and quickly descends into tedium. The story meanders along. The acting is sometimes passable, sometimes atrocious. The screenplay fails to grip. And the less said about the dialogue (in particular, the try-so-hard humour) , the better.

Very ordinary characters sleepwalk through very ordinary situations spouting bad lines and looking rather disinterested most of the time. Only Cary Edwards shows any signs of enthusiasm - and actually manages to be likeable the few times that the contrived dialogues allow him to be.

The music and visuals actually strive manfully to liven up proceedings, but in the absence of any other good stuff - story, dialogues, acting - to support them , they simply cannot salvage enough to make TFLW even moderately fun.

The upshot is this - there's nothing in this film that makes you even remotely want to continue watching it. Other than the vain hope that it can only get better (it doesn't).

In failing to make a film that is worthy of taking the opportunities he has created with his smart marketing, Sudhish Kamath lets himself down. This could have been the film to provide a much needed fillip to independent Chennai filmmakers, but instead it ends up as forgettable and simply boring cinema.

At a recent press screening at Sathyam Cinemas, Sudhish rather charmingly said to the audience : "You can tell us it sucks."

Sorry, mate, but here goes : "Sudhish, it sucks."

Seven Questions for Sumit Mehra

The 'Seven Questions For' series is intended to bring readers closer to some of the more interesting people in the Indian gaming industry, and pick their brains on issue serious and frivolous. And who better to start off the show with than Sumit Mehra, the ever popular, smiling face behind the award-winning UNO. One of the most experienced and knowledgeable veterans in Indian gaming, you can learn more about Sumit at his blog. Oh, well. Here goes -

1. You've been a game developer in India even before the industry really took off. In your opinion, what have been the key moments or turning points that the Indian gaming industry can look to as milestones today?

In no particular order:

• India Games getting the Spider-man deal.
• Dhruva features in Tom Friedman's new book, "The World is Flat"
• IGDA forum realizing and accepting 4 separate Indian chapters
• Jamdat and Gameloft opening studios in India
• Reliance getting games to mainstream with Zapak.
• Microsoft’s official Xbxo360 India release
• Nasscom starting an Animation and Gaming Conference.

2. There seems to be a lot of focus on the domestic casual gaming (mobile
and online) market? What kind of original Indian content do you see doing
well here?

In short term I can foresee lot of Television and Bollywood content being
super popular; I don’t see this changing for mobile games but online games
would be a tougher nut to crack - without game play it would be very hard
to sell games online.

Bollywood and regional movie industries (Tollywood) will always motivate
game developers to build movie-based content. I won’t be surprised to see some
Indian comic content and some epic stories tuning up into interesting
online games.

3. Online downloadable vs. mobile?

Looking at the current state of Indian Game Industry I would say mobile
games but in the current global state – both have their own space and are
doing equally well.

Though I see mobile game developers having tougher times ahead; they would
need to build high quality game content and more complex game mechanics
for high end phones and at the same time they would need to make these
games run on the low end phones. No surprises if they would actually end
up making two different versions for the same game.

But I am putting my money on CAS, DHT and/or IPTV for providing play
entertainment.

4. How do you get an Indian housewife to play games?

Easily accessible multiplayer social games might be the key. We would need
to re-think the idea of what video games are. Jump, shoot and dodge is
not happening at all.

The problem is when we talk about India we talk about a mammoth
population, my gut feeling says no matter how much I hate the family
drama serials on Star, Sony and Zee, they are successful for a reason.
Maybe this is what Indian housewives want; I won’t be surprised if we can
have game with similar content - but I am sure that the game needs a very
simple mechanic, nothing more than pressing a button and making a choice.

I really like the Women in Games Development Special Interest group. I
strongly believe that we need some women game designers to actually design
games for women.

5. One unforgettable gaming moment ?

8 vs. 8 players capture the flag; Unreal Tournament; Face level. The game
lasted almost 5 hours. With 4 snipers on each side and 4 assault warrior
running all over to capture the flags. I have never ever had more fun
playing any game in my life. (the other 15 players were game developers
and my colleagues and many learned the meaning of game play that day)

6. Worst game design idea ever?

In my opinion game design ideas are never bad; it is the hopeless
implementation that makes them useless.

Worst implementations according to me

Mobile: Day after tomorrow
PC (Rom based): Knight Rider
Console: Shrek

7. Your dream game that hasn't been made yet (what you'd like to play)?

The name of the game is “Chef Rastogi and the food stealing aliens”,
someday I plan to make this, not sure when :)

Understanding the XBOX 360 in India.

by Anand Ramachandran



There’s been quite a bit of interest regarding the sales of Microsoft’s XBOX 360 in India – much interesting talk of sales figures, price points and strategies. But to put these things in perspective, I believe there’s a need to understand some ground realities about India as a potential market for next-gen consoles.

Read the full article at Desicritics.org

Desi Brangelinas

Amit Varma's worst fears are coming true.

With the advent of Abhiwarya, the mouth waters at other possibilities (for existing as well as fictitious couples). Here are a few :

Surya and Jyothika - Soothika (non-Tamil speakers, please excuse)

Asin and Vikram - Ashram

Vijay and Trisha - Visha

Anil and Tina Ambani - Antenna

Dhoni and Katrina Kaif - Dhoka

Cyrus Broacha and Celina Jaitley - Cycley

I.M.Vijayan and U.R.Ananthamurthy -V.R.Gay

Sushmita Sen and Cybill Sheppard - Sensible

Okay, I'm all out. Any more suggestions?

Late Additions :

Scarlet Johansson and Batman - Scatman

J-LO and TR - LOTR

Madhu Sapre and Dimple Kapadia - Sapadriya? (Another for the Tam-only crowd)

V.R.V.Singh and Ronnie Screwvala - V.R.Screwing

Unintentional humour chronicles - part 1.

We're recruiting people for our new animation and game design studio, and my colleague Tariq and I were looking in disbelief at a resume :

"One of my greatest strengths is looking through the brief and seeing the complete picture."

Sometimes, I think we should stop creating content and just syndicate and publish excerpts from resumes that we get. We'd be rich.

More fine examples :

A signboard that says, in splendid grandeur " For all occasions, use COCK." I have also seen variants for the same brand, such as "Celebrate happy festivals with COCK.", and "Buy the best COCK." Eh? Oh - fireworks. COCK brand fireworks.

A lovely (but since removed) hand painted sign outside a barber shop that says, simply 'STEP CUTTING. BOOB CUTTING.'

One of my personal favourites is a retail poster for a fashion brand called MUFTI. It features a male model striking a fashionably intense pose, with the inexplicable but brilliant slogan : "ANTI AIDS MESSAGE # 1 - APNA HAATH JAGANNATH!"

I'll try and put up some pictures as and when i find them.

But now, to the point. This is actually a call for contributions. Any of you with camera phones, be sure to click the next such example you come across and send it to me. I'll publish those I find entertaining, along with a link black to your blog, or site, if you have one.

The Wii is important

I now write articles on gaming at desicritics.org.

Here's one on why I think Nintendo should have a greater presence in emerging markets like India. An excerpt :

This is why I believe that Nintendo's products are best suited for getting a whole new segment of people into gaming. Markets like India are chock-full of people who've never played games before. Products like Gears of War aren't going to convert too many of them into gamers. Fancy explosions and realistic physics will get their attention, but won't hold their attention long enough to convert them.

Read the full article here.

Two handhelds in one day

by Anand Ramachandran



What a day!



I bought a PSP. My friend S.U.Saravanakumar (yeah, the bosey guy) bought a DS. An opportunity for day long handheld gaming, and of course, for the diligent reviewer to conduct a comparison.







First, the DS. Along with the Wii, I think the DS firmly establishes Nintendo as the custodians of all that is sublime about gaming. They continue to innovate, they continue to fly in the face of convention, they continue to astound. More power to them.



The touch screen, stylus thing is cool to a fault. Already, games are beginning to make use of the input system in interesting ways ( Trauma Center, WarioWare Touched, Nintendogs). I played Mario Kart : Double Dash, which was most enjoyable, though not madly innovative. It's a great design - so I guess Nintendo knows how not to mess with a winning formula. Fair enough.



I also think the DS wins out in the looks department. Sara's black unit looks so sexy, he's already fending off advances from crazed women, so he can focus on Advance Wars : Dual Strike. Wildlife photographers are weird like that.



And the PSP?



One word . . th . . th . . the SCREEN! Ohmigawddd. It's enough to make the most cynical of gamers do a double take. It's the most brilliant, breathtaking thing I've seen in gaming. Never mind all that next-gen nonsense - the future is already here, and it's in the palm of my hand.





Ridge Racer and Burnout Legends are reasons why I haven't updated the blog in ages. Hi-Octane, blissful gaming experiences both. FIFA 06 looks good, but it's only FIFA. The gameplay remains retarded in comparison to PES. I can't wait. Damn, that screen!



The unit feels nice and solid - takes a little adjustment but soon the grip feels entirely natural. I know I said that the DS is sexier, but this is no slouch in the appeal department. Oh - and did I mention the screen?



And the sheer power of the PSP opens up immense possibilities - I can't wait to see what developers are going to do with this thing. Hell, I'll even be happy with PS2 ports. Shadow of the Colossus, anyone?



Which one should you get? Tough, if you aren't a fanboy. (If you are, you already know)



If you're more of a straightforward, racer-shooter-sports type gamer, it's the PSP. Also if graphics are your thing.



If you're looking for a more innovative, quirky product - then get the DS. It's also a lot cheaper.



Tough, but. I don't see how anyone who truly loves games can be without purchasing both consoles, and quitting their day jobs.