Take ur pick of cricket, Jassi on Mobile

Take your pick of cricket, Jassi on Mobile

Televisionpoint.com Team
Do you yearn to be part of the Indian cricket team but can't get there owing to skill and fitness problems? Do you feel left out whenever you see Rahul Dravid and his men walk out on to cricket fields across the globe? Just relax. You could do all that sitting in your drawing room... or wherever. Enter mobile games, which place you in the middle of action and reward you with joy unlimited and make you feel on top of the world.

Cricket World Championship is among the latest games mobile users have been hooked on to. "That's a top-selling game in India. You get to select your team, play and win," says Vishal Gondal, CEO of the Indiagames company. He is here to take part in Animation India 2006, which has top guns discussing the scope for animation and gaming market in India.

"Then, there are Harry Potter, Phantom and Jassi as well, They are based on the popular book, the action packed comic character and the famous Indian TV serial respectively. It's a lot of fun." Gondal continues.

But a lot of sweat goes into making a game. "It is almost like doing a movie. You need a script, which is a game document, people to test and carry out art design and an intelligent program," Gondal says.

Globally, "Samuraidamasii, a Japanese developed project by Takahasi, has received a lot of attention," says Chris Bateman, Founder and CEO, International Hobo. And "Twilight Princess," is waiting to take the world by storm. "It's a powerhouse, which is expected to sell 15 million copies," Bateman says.

The game market is on the upswing. "About 800 games are rolled out a year. If you included mobile games, it could be in thousands because there are hundreds of mobile games that are developed in a much shorter time," Bateman says.

Obviously, there is big money involved. "In terms of turnover, it has overtaken the film industry," Mr Bateman says. And Hyderabad is fast becoming the hub for the gaming industry.

"Hyderabad is a powerful location to combine the great technical minds with creative minds and entrepreneurship. It's a hitech town with a high awareness of world culture. The film city here also gives it a special landmark. It is probably smart for everybody involved to decentralize from Mumbai," says Atul Rao, vice-president creative affairs, Toonz Animation India.

Talking about gaming in the international market, Rao says, "the quality has to be very very high, bigger than that in films."

"There's a lot of strategic design, a lot of craft and solid production work done by the programmers. Good inventive ideas backed up by strong technology is what is needed to manufacture games," Mr Bateman says.

"Andhra Pradesh as an option is a key to Disney strategy. Disney is the only channel that offers a 24-hour Telugu feed (Toon Disney) today. Producing animation for older kids (pre-teenagers) and girls, that is going to be dominant in many channel strategies," says Nachiket Pantvaidya, Director production and programming, Walt Disney TV International, India. "We plan to explore options beyond mythology, to programme for other target audiences than boys," he adds.