As a gamer, I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with the word ‘option’; I love it when one of the options is too good to be true; I hate it when all the options are good. This month and the in the coming one, all we gamers will be showered with options, thanks to E-Xpress. I’ve been getting mail after mail from them over the past week and a half on games that’ll be and has released in India. What’re the games you ask? Here goes nothing…

WWE SmackDown vs RAW 2010
Ya ya we all like WWE or used to like it at some point of time. If you’re one of those who still do, then I would like to inform you that it’s available in retail now.
Wallet Damage:  PS3- Rs2499 PSP – Rs1599  Xbox 360 – Rs2499  Wii – Rs2199  Nintendo DS – Rs1499

GTA China Town Wars and Episodes from Liberty City
Okay no explanation, we know you know all about them (If you don’t check our earlier posts)
Wallet Damage: PSP -  Rs1499  Xbox 360 – Rs1999
Meanwhile, those who haven’t played GTA IV yet, the prices of console version (both Xbox360 and PS3) has been dropped to Rs1,499.

Assassin’s Creed II
The original one looked good, but might have bee a little boring to play, the second one however looks a little more interesting.
The game will soon be available in stores
Wallet Damage: Xbox360 & PS3: Rs2599  DS & PSP: Rs1599

Borderlands
An interesting Diablo-inspired FPS title
Available for Xbox360, PC, PS3

Avatar the game
Yes, now that’s one game I’m looking forward to and I don’t think I’ll be disappointed.
The game will be releasing sometime this December and is available for PS3, Xbox360, PC, Wii and PSP.

So there, we’re spoilt for choice now let me go back to my first line.. the love-hate relationship. I hate to miss out on any of these games. Where will I put my money. Which game will I buy? Tough choice indeed!

After Fifa, NFL, NBA, Cricket, now Indian games are ready to mark their presence on the gaming arena with Desi Adda: Games of India. Sony  has developed this console game that includes indigenous sports like Pachisi, Goat & the tiger, Kite Fight, Kabaddi, Gilli Danda and the beat matching dance game. The game is developed by Hyderabad based GameShastra, for PS2.

First Looks

“First impression is the last impression”. This saying has always mattered and will matter in the future too. Desi Adda has lived up to this saying. After checking out the Hanuman earlier which disappointed us, Desi Adda by the looks of it impresses us here. Hope it lives up to the impression it has created here.

The game surprisingly has a s ’story line’. You play the part of Avinash, son of an NRI businessman, who comes to visit his ancestral village (Dil Bole Hadippa in a rural way ). The guy has spent his time abroad, and this being his his first visit to an Indian village, it fascinates him. The story unfolds as he roams around the village and plays the different village games. We hope they won’t have cheesy hindi dialogues like in the Hanuman game which was released earlier.

Priced at Rs499 for PS2 and Rs999 for the PSP (yes there’s a PSP version!), the game is playable in 3 Indian languages : Hindi, Punjabi and in Tamil and this game is the first game completely developed by Indian Development Studio for the PSP.

Developed on a low budget, what we think here is that the game should get a fair trial & has to be seen as a advancement in the Indian gaming industry (trying to be a nationalist here ).

We are curious to see how they implemented games like kabaddi,gilli danda on a console and how the game mechanics are going to be. Watch out this space for more updates.

PS: Again, we’re hoping,  praying, pleading that it’s not like Hanuman. If it is, we’re not even bothering to play it fully like we did last time!

When did you last hear that a Car is launched through a video game….Yes that is happening and No it’s not happening with NFS. Volkswagen is thinking out of the box & using the power of games to promote it. They have decided to launch the new 2010 GTI Volkswagen through the iPhone platform.

Volkswagen has a game created by Firemint known as Real Racing GTI which is available as free download. With this are giving hands-on (literally) experience. Now one can experience every aspect of the new car through the app available for their iPhones and at the same time challenging players with the reward being winning a real 2010 GTI.

Unluckily this contest is for US only it still impresses us

Good news for all fans of Colin McRae series of rally videogame. According to Codemasters newsletter a demo for the game will be made available “soon”.

DiRT 2 is the first videogame in the series since the death of Colin McRae, but the game will still feature him.

Apart from the regular rally based tracks and events, this version will have a few stadium based race-events. So get hold of your urge to skid around and say hello to tarmac. The stadium based events will feature in the multiplayer mode as well.

The game is releasing one September 11 and if interested, you can pre-order the game here. (You can save as much as £10.00 with the pre-order)

Do check out the official game site as well. The game is available for all platforms

Image via Wikipedia

The guys or should I say guy at computerndvideogames.com got a “eyes-on” of the yet to be released PC version of Grand Theft Auto – IV and going by their experience I am pretty pleased.

Grand Theft Auto has had a special relationship with PC games, a contraversial one though. It was on PC that GTA made its debut and found fame. It was the PC gamers who bothered to make innumerable modds for the game. (Lets forget the nude coffee thingy for now.. shall we) and looks like Rockstar hasn’t forgoptten that past.

GTA IV for PC will be different though the story will remain the same. The game packs in a “replay system”, improved (marginally) graphics and a  solid framerate @ 60fps. Cool heh

The PC version will also have the ability to record gameplay and compile videos like in Halo 3. I am pleased, now all I have to do is, hold tight, upgrade my computer and wait till November 18 when the game will launch.

Indie gaming fests are the breeding ground for developers who are trying to break into top development firms. The Independent Games Festival Awards has managed to throw up talented people and games like Portal during its ten year history.

The submissions for the 11th Independent Games Festival Awards are open and the last date for submission of games is November 11. I haven’t heard of any major Indian, indie-game developer as yet, but I am sure there are lot of guys who are trying to make a mark in this field. So if you are one them this is your chance. If you have a game which you would like to submit jump here.

Image via Wikipedia

[digg=http://digg.com/gaming_news/Get_ready_for_WCG_India_2008]

UPDATE:

WCG India 2008 dates announced - finally!

Gamers… you had your warmup at Vixture, now its time to take the heat to an international level. WCG India site was updated recently after a long gap and they have announced that WCG India will begin on Aug 23 and go on till Sept 16.

The grand final of this year’s tournament will be held in Cologne in Germany. It needs to be noted that this is the last year Microsoft will be sponsoring the tournament as per the contract. It needs to be seen if  they will extend the contract. Sony I am sure won’t mind tying up with such a huge tournament.

The games which will be featured in this year’s tournament

Warcraft III : Frozen Throne | Starcraft | Counter Strike 1.6 | FIFA 08 (new) |

NFS Pro Street (new) | Command & Conquor 3 | AOE II – Asian Dynasties (new) |

Carom 3D | RedStone

Xbox 360

Project Gotham Racing 4 (new)  | Halo 3 (new) | Guitar Hero 3(new) | Virtua Fighter 5

However only CS, Fifa, Warcraft, ProStreet and PGR 4 will be contested in India. Why? I am not sure! While in Asian championship DOTA, PGR4, ProStreet, FIFA and Virtua Fighter will be featured.

For oher details check WCG India or WCG international sites

Tournament rules |  WCG wallpapers

Event schedule

Image via Wikipedia

Spore creature creator has been released and is now available in India. Those interested can purchase the game directly from EA store. Spore Creature Creator enables you to create and evolve creatures which can be used in the game Spore when it releases later this year.
The game is the brain child of Will Wright who was behind the Sims series of games.
Developed by mais and published by EA, it also allows you to upload the creatures you created to Sporepedia — an online encyclopedia of creatures created within the game.
Spore Creature Creator costs Rs 200 and has around 228 drag-and-drop, flexible parts (Trial edition contains 25% of the Creature Creator parts)

Image via Wikipedia

Gaming surely is getting bigger in the country; why else would somebody give up figures like Rs 50 lakh to winners in gaming tournament? I am referring to Vixture, a tournament being organised across India starting May 26.

Games like NFS Pro Street, Crysis, Fifa 08, Cricket 07 and Fight Night Round 3 will feature in the competition. Now if you are puzzled by the abscense of Counter Strike and D.O.T.A, don’t be as only EA games are featured in the tournament! From EA’s point of view — a good way to create some publiciy for their games and with amounts like 20 lakh being offered to winners of team events.. people are definitely going to flock in.. at least thats the plan.
The national level finals will be held in Mumbai from June 13-15 at World Trade centre. The event is being organised by zfriction who organised Hong Kong Super Sixes in 2007.
For tournament updates check event blog.

Prize money
Crysis (winners) – Rs 20 lakh
Crysis (runners up) – Rs 10 lakh
Need for Speed Pro Street – Rs 4 lakh
Fight Night Round 3 – Rs 4 lakh
Fifa 08 – Rs 4 lakh
Cricket 07 – Rs 4 lakh

Elimination rounds dates
May 26 — Delhi
May 28 — Kolkotta
May 30 — Hyderabad
Jun 1 — Bangalore
Jun 3 — Pune
Jun 5 — Mumbai