DTH gaming

Since the Digitization of cable TV in India, there have been myriad developments in this field to provide quality content to the consumers. Also the TRAI is making it compulsory for people to have STBs installed. This has resulted in large scale penetration of this technology to millions of household. People now get superior picture and sound quality, a large number of channels, movies on demand, HD channels. But one more underrated feature that this technology provides is video-games.

For me the most important point about this technology is this underrated feature. Digitization of Cable TVs have brought video-games to the people. It penetrated games in the living rooms. Kids and their families now have video games on their finger tips. This is equally fascinating as it is with the video-games penetration via Smart Phone in India. Now if you think logically, almost all homes in India now have access to video-games. This over-the-air game content offered by DTH Providers is mostly free. And even if they charge consumers it is very nominal. For example, the Active-Games pack on TataSky is Rs.5/day. Absolutely affordable. This, i think, is extremely critical if we want to see gaming-culture in India. Easy and Free access to video-gaming to masses will increase awareness amongst them. This will make people believe that video gaming is a good fun activity and worth spending money on.

So, recently I played Krish3 video game on my TataSky STB. Now though the positive points I stated above is valid but there are negative points as well. These games as of now lacks in quality. The games itself are very slow with poor graphics and repetitive/minimal gameplay. This is of-course result of the fact that the STB hardware are not suitable or infact not manufactured to run high powered games. The only difference with the Smart Phone gaming is being that games on Mobiles are much more robust, graphically wonderful and also has 3D gaming. Games on STBs are 2D only. So though kids may like them but they will eventually get bored of it. These games are not at all meant for Harcore gamers. Only casual kid gamers may enjoy it to some extent.

Having said that, if we look into the advancement in this technology then, even the STBs will be powered with softwares like Android. Android powered STBs are already in the market. Imagine the OUYA like game console integrated with the usual STB functioning. Now this will be something interesting to look for. Consumers in India will witness this very soon.  

I'm dreaming: To make Shiva Trilogy game

Yesterday I was at a book launch and book signing event of Amish Tripathi's last masterpiece in Shiva Trilogy: "The Oath of the Vayuputras". And during the Q&A session with him one of the fellow fans asked him a "bomb" question: "Hi Amish. Now that it is a known fact that Karan Johar would be making a film out of Shiva Trilogy, as a fan, I ‘am much worried about the production design. Aren't you?". The first response to the question was given by the crowd with a roar of laughter. This laughter showed the sheer acceptance of the satire of imagining Karan Johar making the Shiva Trilogy movie. Amish on the other hand gave a positive answer assuring that everything will be good. I would rather say he was diplomatic in answering that question. 

After this particular question and answer, my day dream engine started. What if the question was like this: "Hi Amish. Now that it is a known fact that Jaran Kohar would be making a Video Game out of Shiva Trilogy, I ‘am much worried about the production design as a fan. Aren't you?". Whatever the crowd would have responded and whatever Amish would have answered to this question, here's how, i dream, Jaran Kohar should make the game:

Shiva is a charismatic character and as Amish put it, he is a cool god. So the game has to be a Third Person game so that the person could actually see this character in live action. The novel is full of action and realization of character who rose to become a God. So the game has to be an Action Adventure like "Prince of Persia".  Keeping the story in mind the game-play should be such that, the player playing as Shiva himself must feel the power of being a leader, a warrior, a lover and a dancer as well. The player, along the journey, must also learn what is evil and what does it takes to defeat the evil and how to prevail the goodness among masses. Hence the game-play should have a decision making engine for many sequences in the story, the player would have to understand the evil characters in order to defeat them in combat. Moreover, Shiva being an angry god, the player must feel the rage in the combat. And speaking of combat, the combat system should be mix of bare hand combat, war like action sequences by controlling the troops with cinematic action and choice making, a one on one combat for special sequences, and massive action with plethora of weapons of Indian origin.

These are my minuscule ideas out of numerous ones, that I think Jaran Kohar must keep in mind while making a AAA title out of Shiva Trilogy.

   

Im thinking: Why video games are so fun?

Fun is a simple notion easily misunderstood by majority of us. We know that fun is a feeling of being happy. This is true. But we think that there is fun only in some limited activities. We are skeptical about why some activities are so fun for some people.The answer is, we are only limited by our experience, thinking that fun is bounded.

Gaming is exactly that kind of fun most often misunderstood by people. Even worse, they don't even try to understand.Games are the most advanced products that challenge the latest technology. If developing games challenges the technology then playing games challenges the player in every possible way. Let me put that in double quotes:

“Games have immense power to convince you that, no matter what, you can win. Games guarantees you a success. When a player plays a game he knows that he can solve all the virtual challenges thrown at him.This is the single most important achievement games provide to the player. The probability of you wining the challenge is almost 100%. But games demands struggle. Games demand focus. Games demand concentration and Games demand practice.”

And this is why I think games are fun. They are virtual pleasures, agreed, but worth a shot if it can make you happy and put a smile on you face.

I'm playing: Call of Duty MoD3

So today I have completed this most entertaining and thrilling installment of Call of Duty and my impression was "Hey,was I into a action movie or what?". Yes having played this game in Campaign mode for almost 9 hrs made me feel as if I was in a movie playing the role of a Action Hero. The cinematic sequences in the missions, the spectacular visuals, the engrossing story and the way it is portrayed in the game is something that can happen only in CoD. Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer have definitely raised the bar by polishing the gameplay experience. And I must say I'm thrilled.

 This is because I really play very selective First Person Shooters and those fps's should meet the following criteria:

• The game must have an extremely good gameplay from the very start of the game.Believe me there is nothing big turn off than a boring start with a pesky mission. MoD3 holds you to the game play from the very first level when you have to barge into the Stock Exchange Building to blow off the tower. Now this kind of gameplay ignites the urge to play further.
• The graphics must have to be engrossing. Like when you are busy shooting the bad guys it is not just that you are shooting and the guys are dying around you. It is the environment around the player that builds up the engrossing nature because of the visual content. In MoD3 you will find that the elements around you even the tiniest one like the effects of the frag grenade, the responsiveness and AI of the bots, the movements of things around you, the details of the environment, fire,wind,explosions, climatic conditions everything is so lively and feels so real. And more so ever the visual details of the equipments you carry and the expressions of the AI counterparts just make you feel Wow!!!
• Third and not the least the Story. Yes, nothing can build to a great gameplay and graphics than the well scripted and well crafted story line. A story to the level, mission and to overall game is the sole element which emotionally connects you to the game. This emotional touch makes your heart feel  each aspect of the game. Because the story includes the Characters in it, the pretext of the game, the base on which the whole game starts and ends with. Mod3 takes from the where it is left in Mod2. And completes with the killing of the Makarov. The blending of all characters namely Yuri,Price,Frost etc. into the story is truly emotional.

So all in all when I wanted to rate this game on IGN.com I divided my rating into these three parameters and it turns out that this game is a definite 9 pointer on a 10 point scale. I'm satisfied with this installment though i found the campaign mode very small compared to other fps games in the market but the multiplayer feature filled that gap for me. Cheers!

I'm playing: Portal 2

"Intelligent, Innovative and Massively Entertaining " - Game Informer


Recently this game Portal 2 have made me crazy. I mean, the day I have started this title I'm not able to think about any other game. I'm completely mesmerized by this awesome FPS rather FPP (First Person Puzzle) game. Yes this is one kind of game where you don't have any variety of weapons or guns or armors or accessories nothing. All that you will be having is a PORTAL making device, which shoots nothing but one Blue and one Orange colored Portal. Portals which can take to from one place to other in a blink of an eye.

Sounds boring you say? now let add some detailed review of this game and then make your decision.

RPGs all the way

Ever since i have started playing the Final Fantasy series of RPG im an exceptional fan of RPG games. There's a valid reason for that. RPG's like Final Fantasy has an intimidating story line, mind blowing graphics and moreover interesting,innovative and enthusiastic gameplay.

I dont know why but i like to explore different types of gameplays that these rpgs put forward before gamers through differrent games. Thanks to the innovative minds of the developers. Some them i want to name are: of course Turn Based Final Fantasy versions, Real Time Command Combat of Final Fantasy 12/13, Hexagon(HEX) Based Combat system of Wild Arms 5, Interactive Command Based Combat with Combos of Shadow Hearts series and many mores.

In this blog entry i will specifically write about RPG GAMEPLAY. The gameplay which i like, the gameplay which really made a difference, the gameplays which a will add different gaming experience with newer imagination and technology.

Each gameplay if u have played, gave a unique gaming experience. But the basic concept is same and eternal and it is: In RPGs you have CHARACTERS which are weak at the very beginning of the game, you have to be them and progress with the story, progress in such a way that your character/s will get stronger, you get stronger by defeating enemies and gaining experience,power-ups,weapons,magic etc .

The game play of each RPG game revolves around these basic things or i will say setups. Rest all things viz... the Characters,The Story, The Graphics, The Weapons, The Magic will be the focus where the art and other assests will be created. Thus keeping in mind the basic setups for an RPG gameplay these different gameplays are developed.

With each game i played i had developed a instinct which tells me that there are lot more things that can be done with the RPGs Gameplay. Imagination and Innovation flows thru my mind when i start thinking about these. Lots of Ideas come into my mind. RPG gameplay is worth experimenting but has a lot of risks. Like many gamers(almost all) liked the turn based combat of FF10 but i dont think they enjoyed the real time battle system of FF12. Also the HEX battle system was not taken by many gamers. But still unless there are different experiments done on the gameplay we wont come across different varieties. So I personally want more and more innovative RPGs to be realeased every year for gamers like me. :)