India Gaming market: Nunook, an awesome, Indian social gaming network
The Indian gaming market seems to be on a roll lately - FX labs launched their PC game Agni, Trine Studios launched Streets of Mumbai, IndyaRocks launched their casual gaming section.
Nunook would be the latest buzz in the Indian gaming market. They are a cool, new social network for casual Indian gamers. You can play games without signing up on the site, but the point system on Nunook is tightly integrated into the other aspects of the site.
Each time you play a game, you earn points. This in turn, increases your ‘achievement level’ on the site. The higher the level, the more access you get to exclusive content on the site. Points not only get you access to exclusive content, they also enable you to change avatars, and buy collectibles - aka virtual goods. In other words, they earn you bragging rights. Simply put, points are the currency on Nunook.
IndyaRocks launches casual games, video chat
Ever since its launch, IndyaRocks has continued to amaze me. They innovate and innovate quite frequently. Since their beta launch, they have introduced MoviePlex, SMS-Mobile features, wide screen video etc.
And tomorrow they will be launching their casual gaming section. As per Kalyan, the founder, the initial launch will have 800 casual games. Users will be able to rate, review and share games, with the ability for users to upload their own games. This will enable independent game developers to reach out to IR’s large community. They also plan to launch downloadable and multi-player games in partnership with major game development companies. They have also launched a new video chat feature.
Casual gaming is a flaming hot market - both in the US as well as in India. Zapak is betting big on gaming and recently, FXLabs acquired casual gaming aggregator Knibble for $3 million. So, I wont be surprised if the IndyaRocks gaming section becomes popular in no time.
I asked Kalyan on how they plan to compete with Zapak, which has a huge marketing budget. As per him, they do not intend to compete with Zapak. The gaming section was developed as a request from the member community.
I also asked him about their traffic details and how they are marketing IndyaRocks. In response, Kalyan mentioned that they are getting close to 1.5 - 2 million page views daily and are growing virally. They dont advertise and are pleased with the response generated from blog reviews and press releases.
Bogus: Zapak buys Sony Online Entertainment
ContentSutra pointed to a story in ET about Zapak acquiring Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) for $300 million. Just like Nikhil, I had my own doubts about the deal — $300 million is too small a price for a company making $150 million in revenues.
Its now reported that the rumor is bogus and is SOE has denied any such deal.
The ET story has since been taken down. Way to go ET !!
XBox Live officially arrives in India
While XBox Live is yet to go ‘live’ in India, Microsoft held a press meet to announce the official launch of XBox Live in India. The service is planned to become active some time later this year. While the pricing and other details are being ironed out, technical aspects of the service are also in the works. The service is not compatible with all broadband providers - for instance, Sify broadband has some likely issues with XBox Live. Discussions are on with all ISP’s for the service.
via GameGuruÂ
India Gaming companies want industry status
I was reading a recent story in Business Standard on how Indiagames, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and other industry players are planning to approach the central government to get an industry status for the gaming market in India.
As I’m scrolling down, I notice the following:
Since gaming does not fall under the preview of any one single ministry, the committee will approach the IT, Telecom and sports ministry with the proposal.
Gaming company to approach the sports ministry of India ? Ok..by now, the story has my undivided attention. So, as I continue reading, I notice the below:
Some of the demands includes tax benefits for the gamers, college admission preferences among others.
And then comes the jewel in the crown:
CII and Indiagames wants that gaming should be considered as a sport and players involved should be treated as sportsmen.
Gamers should be treated as sportsmen ? Are you friggin’Â kidding me ?
What’s next ? Proposal to nominate a gamer for the Arjuna award ?
Trine Game Studios - adding the Indian flavor
Trine Game Studios is a small (about 80 team members) Mumbai based game design studio. Besides providing services related to game development, they are working on some really, really cool games for the Indian market. Their flagship game is titled ‘Legends of Great India’ and is a real time strategy game. The twist - they characters in the game are based on Indian mythical characters and Gods like Hanuman, Ganesha, Ram, Arjun etc. The goal of the game is to save the future of India from all evil, including Ravan. This, in my opinion, is localization at its best. By incorporating characters and stories that we’ve all grown to love and cherish.
But dont take my word for it. Take a look below at some of the screenshots of the game.
The game is currently in production and as per Trine co-founder Sangam Gupta, they will take their time to release a high quality game.
Trine also has some other upcoming games for the Indian market - ‘Streets of Mumbai’ (car racing based on Mumbai city streets), ‘Wings over Kargil’ (a third person airplane combat shooter game based on the 1971 Indo-Pak war).
I think games with such Indian flavor will definitely appeal to the Indian gaming audience. Hopefully, we get to play these awesome looking games sometime soon.
The studio is founded by Somil Gupta and Sangam Gupta and they have had stints at EA etc. The company is currently bootstrapped.
Indian portals plan 3D Avatars
3D gaming and virtual worlds are the craze world over. At one time Second Life ruled over the 3D virtual world landscape. Now, several others like Habbo Hotel, Zwinky, Gaia Online, CyWorld have emerged, making the virtual world and 3D avatar ripe with buzz and activity. Just yesterday, Susan Wu, a Principal with Charles River Ventures, announced the launch of the Virtual Goods Summit.
And now it seems that Indian portals are hit by the 3D avatar and virtual world bug. In a story on FE, Rediff and Zapak admit that they are toying with the idea and hope to announce something in the next couple of months. Zapak.com plans to come out with a range of avatars in about two months after extensive testing in internet cafes and with about 50 games. “Avatars are the stickiest of applications and we estimate avatars will help us grow by 30-35%,†says Rohit Sharma, COO Zapak.com.
PC Gaming is the way to go in India
FXLabs CEO Tony Garcia thinks that PC gaming is the way to go in India. Gaming consoles and games are cost prohibitive in the Indian market. He feels that gaming in India is largely untapped and holds a lot of potential. Although he agrees that there no good estimate of the market and size of the Indian gaming scene. (IAMAI pegs Indian gaming at Rs 21 crore, but I have my own doubts).
FXLabs is currently working on Dhoom 2 for Yash Raj Films. Isnt it a bit late for a Dhoom 2 video game ?
more here.
7Seas tech launches online gaming portal
7Seas Technologies Ltd. is launching an online gaming portal with 100+ games based on Indian themes and localized for the Indian audience. The portal onlineRealgames.com will be formally launched tomorrow with free registration. Users can play games in 7 Indian languages along with English. For revenue generation, they will rely on licensing revenues from other portals and also in-game advertising. Partnership with Microsoft, mobile operators and other telecom companies is in the works.
Here’s an interesting piece in the story:
“Most of the games revolve around popular Indian countryside scenes such as cock fighting, animal husbandry and hunting.”
Cock fighting !!!! Whoa — now thats localizing games for the Indian audience 
.
via Hindu
Rediff launches closed beta for Rediff Games
Rediff launched a closed beta of their Rediff Games site. They seem to offer multiplayer puzzle, arcade and strategy games. They have integrated their messenger into the site - so you can chat with your friends while you play.
Go ahead and sign up for their beta here.
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