Saltmarch Media, the same group who had organised Indian Developer Summit is organising Indian Game Developer Summit in Bangalore, on Feb 27 (this weekend). The one day event will see discussions on topics ranging from game development, marketing, team-management among others.

You can check out the schedule here, the talks I’m looking forward to the most are:

• Technology And Market Trends In The PC Game Industry by Keita Iida, part of NVIDIA’s Content & Technology organization since 2001
• Bootstrapping for Mobile Game Development in India by Krishna Chaitanya Pediredla, founder and managing partner of Drona Labs, which focuses on developing games and applications for the Apple Iphone.
• Quality Asset Creation & Sound As A Storyteller by Varun Nair, who has been a part of sound industry for the past four and half years and has dabbled in most areas of sound during this period.
• Stretching Torque to Duplicate a Commercial AAA Game Engine in Ghajini by Imran Khan, VP Technology at FXLabs.
• Preparing for the Great Indian Social Gaming Rush by Sumit Gupta, CEO and Founder of BitRhymes, a social gaming company.
• Open Source for Your Game Development by Kinshuk Sunil, an indie game developer from New Delhi and Yadu Rajiv, an indie game developer from Trivandrum.
• The Creative Core Team by Jithin Rao, a producer at Ubisoft Pune, the game publisher Ubisoft’s first Indian studio.

Now the list is cool if not for the last two which clash, hmm I guess I’ll have to figure out a way to attend both. In case you’re interested, you can register here and do ping me if you’re around. You’ll find all my contact info here.

We haven’t heard of any gaming tourney since BYOC, now esports India has listed two, and both are in Hyderabad.

The first is RGCL Tournament

Team games

CS, DOTA

(First Prize – 25K, Second – 10K for both)
Individual games

COD4 Modern Warfar

FIFA 10

(First Prize – 10K, Second – 5K for both)

Venue

Jubille Hills Hyderabad, Rd. no. 36, HYDERABAD, SVM@36 , RUSH- FEEL IT( GAMING ZONE)

Time

Saturday, 16 January 2010 10:00

The other event is the finals of IMBA Gamer, you’ll find some CS and DOTA gods here

Venue : Rush Gaming cafe, Hyderabad
Time: Jan 30th at 10.00am  onwards

That’s all for now folks

The last time I went for a ‘PlayStation Experience’ event, it was in Bangalore and I got to play Mirror’s edge and got my hands-on PSP 3000. The event was organised really well overall, now looks like they will be organising one next week, in Mumbai. Oops that means I might not be able to attend this one.

So gamers in Mumbai don’t miss this one and yes do email us the pics and tell us what you thought about the event.

Here’s the full press release:

What    : Playstation Experience

Where : Phoenix Mills, Lower Parel, Mumbai

When  : Saturday – Sunday, 9^th & 10^th January, 2010

Time   : 13:00 Hrs – 21:00 Hrs

Entry    : Free

This years Playstation Experience will allow all enthusiastic gamers to enjoy the latest titles and hit releases of the year on all PlayStation platforms, including the recently launched PS3 SLIM.

But that’s not all! Compete and participate in various Contests and get a chance to win a Brand New PSP absolutely FREE!!!

So what are you waiting for?? Mark your calendars for this weekend! Come; experience the thrill… a complete adrenaline rush… the ‘PlayStation’ way!

“Dude.. Balu… where have you been? Why haven’t you been posting anything?” The couple of guys who read this blog but refuse to comment, asked me that in the past few days. The main reason I have been away from the blog, has been due to BYOC, which by the way, was a lot of fun. (I was tired after 24hours of standing around, talking, gaming etc etc)

Speaking of BYOC, Bangalore killed the concept of ‘Bring Your Own Computer’ altogether, even I’m to blame. Hardly anyone brought their own

computers along, from that I hope you understand that most people who registered, came for the tourneys.

While I was there at the event on and off, taking breaks to make a few pub owners richer, I noticed that most of the crowd hung around the CS and DoTa tourney leaving anyone who wasn’t part of these groups to ogle to Alienware laptops or play Quake 3 on the few other systems around. (at least that’s what I did) As it got dark, the crowd swindled and only about 80 of the 250 plus registered participants were around. Most of them were again DoTa CS clans who were taking part in the imbagamer tourney which was also being organized there. Nice arrangement overall.. The crowd was noisy and they kept at it despite an old security guard doing his own round of yelling (ehmm… at the gamers).

Being a participant driven event, it wasn’t required for organisers to hang around and see to it that everything’s organised in a civilized manner. It just happened. Though it was very well organized, there were a few complaints though. Around 8 teams registered for the CoD4 tournament, but by he time it started (10pm) only one team was left. Another team volunteered to participate later on, this confusion could have been avoided. The console space, set up by Consoul.in saw hardly any particpants and they decided to pack up pretty early. Can’t really blame them.

When I spoke to Ashish Gupta, Director of Xteme Gaming who organized the event, he said that every city’s been different. “Delhi’s big on LAN gaming, Mumbai had a good share of both, while in Bangalore it’s all for the tournaments. We’ll need a different strategy for each city. The turnout was good enough considering it’s being organised for the first time. Plus, we were really busy with other events as well and did not get enough time to promote this event,” he said.

Publicity aside, there a few things which could have made the event better.

1> The console section was in a corner, most gamers would have missed it as there was indication anywhere that such a section exists.

2> An separate space for LAN gaming and only for LAN gaming. The space allocated for LAN gaming was taken over by clans who were eager to practise.

3> DVD drives in systems. Not all of us carry around games in a pen drive

4> More goodies =D There were plently already to offer to winners and to a few lucky guys. But more’s always welcome.

5> Get some console manufacturers on board. Are you listening Microsoft, Sony?

6> There were lot of outstation participants, get more Bangaloreans to participate

Here’s a full list of winners as posted by Eports India

FIFA

1 – Akshay Sundhareswaran [Chennai]
2 – Sabeel [Bangalore]
3 – R.Kartik [Chennai]

Need for Speed Most Wanted
1 – Deb kumar
2 – Mohan S
3 – Aashik

CS tourney
1 – ETOS
2 – DsP
3 – Step

IMBAGAMER  DOTA tourney
1 – A clan that comprised of Vishak (Max), Kashif (spoon), Devilrules21, Str_I_ke, Varun_Nightwolf, RajtheImmortal (players from Chennai and Bangalore) came first at the BYOC.
2 – Spindix’s clan from Bangalore’s Zapak came second.
3 – D_Destructor’s clan from Hyderabad

Few pics from the event, courtesy of the organisers

We had earlier written about Bring Your Own Computer (BYOC) LAN Party and gaming tournament which will be organised across the country. The event will be held on the same dates as announced earlier, so start packing your PCs or do some last min modding to add extra oomph to your rig. In the tournament section however, you will be able to use the systems provided by the organisers alone.

And all you console gamers, please don’t stay away, there will be a lot of console action as well at the BenQ Console Zone.

Meanwhile, Consoul might be arranging a few Xbox360 consoles which gamers can rent out at Bangalore. The organisers of BYOC will rent out PCs and monitors to gamers who find it inconvenient to carry their rigs along, but it’s not sure if it’s restricted to Delhi or if it’ll be available in all locations.

This is the first time the event’s being organised outside Delhi and we wish the organisers best of luck, as we need such events to really encourage gaming culture in India.

The venues and the dates for the event are as follows

Delhi : 7-8 Nov.

Venue: Global School, NBCC Plaza, Pushp Vihar, Saket.

Mumbai : 14-15 Nov.

Venue: Ajivasan Hall, Juhu Tara Road, Near SNDT College.

Bengaluru : 21 Nov.

Scared Heart School, Behing Good Shepard Auditorium, Museum Road.

Hyderabad : 28 Nov.

The games for the tournament

Counter Strike, DoTa, Call of Duty 4, NFS Most Wanted, Fifa09

See you there folks

PS: The organisers say there’s Rs10lakh worth of goodies for taking.. okay stop drooling

We’ve been cribbing about lack of details with regard to WCG India stage, now we have some info. The finals are in Chennai this time around and not in Mumbai.

I think I’ll shut my trap and let you read the press release:

Indiagames brings to you the mother of all gaming tournaments, the – WCG 2009 – India Nation Final

Watch the clash of the Titans from across India at the national finale

Talented players will compete in the Counterstrike, FIFA and Trackmania games, followed by the Samsung Mobile Challenge where participants will battle it out in the games of Asphalt 4 and Wise Star II

Join Ajit Kashyap, Head, WCG India announce the winner of the National finals and speak about the on-going preparations for the World Finals to be held at Chengdu, China

Venue: BLUR, Satyam Cinema, 25, Mamatha complex, 5th Floor,

Whites road, Royapettah, Chennai 600 014, India

Date: 26^th – 27^th November ‘09

Time: 1 – 3 pm

After becoming a big brand in Delhi with 8 successful events, Xtreme Gaming has decided to organise, Bring Your Own Computer (BYOC) in other Indian cities — Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad — as well.

For the event, the participants will have to to get their PCs and games along, and what follows is a 48 hours crazy gaming LAN-party, where you can frag, snipe and even exchange a few pleasantries. Those who find it difficult to carry their rigs around can rent one at the event, the rates will be announced later. BYOC is a blessing in disguise considering the cancellation of Vixture and shoddy organising of WCG in India.

Ashish Gupta, Director of Xtreme Gaming said that the console gamers are also welcome to come and join the LAN party, however no consoles will be available on rental basis. The tourney started off in 2007 in Delhi when 67 participants turned up. Since then they have organised one every quarter and in the last edition saw around 750 participants. They’re expecting at least 500 people to turn up in Bangalore and I hope they do.

Meanwhile, do carry your own games and carry the popular ones if you want to have some fun over LAN. That said, don’t restrict yourself to Counter Strike

So here are some basic details of the tournament

Delhi

Where: Global School of Management Science,

NBCC Plaza, Pushp Vihar, Sector – 5, Saket, New Delhi.

When: November 7 – 8, 2009

Mumbai

Where: Ajivasan Hall, Juhu Tara Road, Santacruz(W), Mumbai.

When: November 14 – 15, 2009

Bangalore

Where: — YET TO BE ANNOUNCED –

When: November 21, 2009

BYOC™ will be an action-packed weekend event featuring tournaments & some great events with awesome prizes.

Hyderabad

Where: — YET TO BE ANNOUNCED –

When: November 28, 2009

BYOC™ will be an action-packed weekend event featuring tournaments & some great events with awesome prizes.

Now if you’re all geared up you can hit the register page

We certainly enjoyed playing Ashes Cricket 2009 by Codemasters a lot, and now we have been informed that e-xpress interactive, the distributors of the game in India, has tied-up with NRG Gaming Lounge in Mumbai to organise a Ashes Cricket 2009 tournament in the city. The tournament will feature PC and Wii versions of the game. From what I have heard, the Wii version is fun to play and much simpler than the PC version.

Below is the schedule for the event which will be held this Saturday (Sept 12)

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm     Registration

1:00 pm – 1:30 pm       Introducing players to the game, explaining the rules

1:30 pm – 6:30 pm       Ashes gameplay event (tourney time) between all the players

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm       Exhibition match on Wii and interaction with media

7:00pm – 7:15 pm        Prize distribution

Venue: NRG gaming lounge, 74 Krishna kunj, RA Kidwai Road, Near SNDT College, Matunga, Mumbai-19

Timing: 12pm onwards.

Prize sponsor: Leadtek

Also Read: Ashes Cricket 2009 PC Review: Howzat

Trident Hotel in Mumbai, the target of 26/11 terror attacks was buzzing with gaming enthusiasts today.

Folks from EA showcased their latest & greatest upcoming works here with EA India Showcase 2009. With a  quick look to their anticipated games & sequels to their already established ones.

With an array of consoles set up with each game it gave me a chance to try my hand on some. I could stand by those remotes all day long but time constraints didn’t allowed me so. To top it all, Christopher Ng, General Manager for Electronic Arts Asia Pacific Pvt Ltd, was there to showcase EA’s offerings.

I don’t mean to make you guys jealous, but I got my hand on some highly anticipated releases of this year like FIFA 10,Need For Speed Shift and Brutal Legend. Other games which were announced & showcased were- Army of Two- The 40th Day, Battlefield Bad Company 2,  Dante’s Inferno, Dead Space Extraction, Dragon Age Origins, GI Joe- The Rise of Cobra, Grand Slam Tennis, Madden NFL, Mass Effect 2, MySims Agents,  Need For Speed NITRO, Spore Hero- Arena & The Saboteur. Trailers of Command & Conquer 4,NBA Live 10 were also showcased.

Games like Fifa 10, Brutal Legend & NFS Nitro will be, for now, launched over selected platforms only like Xbox360, Playstations’ & the Wii’s.

With games like Brutal Legend and others EA is trying to cater a more select audience & looking at the continuing sequels there’s a lot more which they can offer. Looks like a festive season ahead for gamers here.

COMING SOON: Stay with us for more updates & previews of the games showcased at EA India Showcase 2009.

Stop freaking out.. I haven’t started blogging on movies or anything. I am referring to BAFTA awards for gaming this year.

Super Mario Galaxy won this year’s best game award, while Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare won the people’s choice award. Guess I stand with the people!

Other winners of the awards

ACTION/ADVENTURE
Fable II

ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT
LittleBigPlanet

CASUAL
Boom Blox

GAMEPLAY
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

HANDHELD
Professor Layton and the Curious Village

MULTIPLAYER
Left 4 Dead

ORIGINAL SCORE
Dead Space

SPORTS
Race Driver: GRID

STORY AND CHARACTER
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

STRATEGY
Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT
Spore

USE OF AUDIO
Dead Space

THE BAFTA FELLOWSHIP
Nolan Bushnel

ONES TO WATCH AWARD
Boro-Toro

Meanwhile GTA IV was one of the contenders and they won anything! I am not a GTA fan but they did deserve an award. No idea why the judges game them a miss.

For more details on the BAFTAs check BBCs live updates during the event. No they did not use twitter for it (how disappointing!)

Meanwhile I think there should be similar awards given away in India as well, considering the number of games developed here (Filmfare sorry gamefare awards). However, most of them are for the mobile and flash platform, with an odd ball like Ghajini thrown in the middle.