My game console

Sometimes confusion emerges due to the choices we have. This is what is happening with us when we want to buy a new game console and we don’t know which one to buy, you either have to pick the Dream machine ‘Sony PS3’ with the heavy price tag or the compact and affordable ‘Nintendo Wii’. In between the two extremes we have the smart, affordable yet powerful ‘Microsoft Xbox 360’.

Lets us look at each of them individually now.

Sony PS3:

Launched on: November 11th, 2006 in Japan and November 17th, 2006 in USA, April 27th in INDIA.

Features:

Few of the Games for PS3: Spider-Man 3, Unreal Tournament 2007, Final Fantasy Next, Formula One PS3, Devil May Cry 4.

Drawbacks: Price, No infra red port,

Price: $499 for 20GB and $599 for 60GB.
It was launced with Rs 40k price tag in India but now fortunately few of the retailers are giving it for a special price - Rs 34k.

My view: Hard to resist even with the heavy price tag.Worth waiting till the price comes down. It’s my Dream Machine and can not wait to crab it.


Nintendo’s Wii:

Launched on: November 19 2006.

Features:

Drawbacks: Controller eats away batteries; lacks the advanced HD graphics and surround sound; can't play CDs or DVDs.

Games: Call of duty 3, Red steel, Need for Speed Carbon, Prince of Persia Rival Swords, Scarface, The Godfather: Blackhand Edition.

Price: $250.00 and 24,000 in Indian grey market( That’s high compared to it’s actual price, so wait for Nintendo to launch officially in India).

My view: It’s for everyone and we have to sweat a lot while playing(the best part). Cute, affordable and fun to play with the interactive joysticks.


Microsoft’s Xbox 360:

Launched on: US: November 22, 2005.Europe: December 2, 2005. Japan: December 10, 2005

Features:

Drawbacks: A noisy exhaust fan, a gigantic oversized power supply, no built-in wireless networking, and no DVI or HDMI output, support for next-gen HD-DVD movies requires a bulky external accessory, Online gaming requires a paid subscription to Xbox Live.

Price: Xbox 360 core system Rs 27,990

My view: Even with its design flaws it surely stands out with its high end graphics and good gaming experience for an affordable price. Coolest thing is that you can give it a try at your local Music world centers or the malls nearby.

Game trailers

Transformers game



Available on : PS2,PS3,PSP,PC,Xbox360 and Wii.

Gamespot said:
Pluses
-Highly detailed Transformer models.
-Environments break apart and blow up real good.
-Solid voice acting.

Minuses
-Robot-on-robot combat becomes repetitive and dull after a short while.
-Camera causes problems.
-Both campaigns combined still make for a short game
-Side missions aren't worth doing.

Happy potter game



Available on : PS2,PS3,PSP,PC,Xbox360 and Wii.

Spiderman3 GAME



For the game fanatics and spiderman fans, this game is must to play and is available in the market.
GAME ON!

DREAM MACHINE ENTERS INDIA!

Sony India on Thursday launched its high definition gaming console PlayStation3 (PS3) at a price of Rs 39,990.

The company aims to sell 10,000 units of PlayStation3 and 50,000 units of PlayStation2 during this financial year.

Sony has initially shipped 1,200 units of the console for sale in India.

The company plans to sell half of its new consoles through its own outlets ‘Sony World’, while the balance would be sold through retail chains and music stores.

The company has also slashed the prices of the earlier versions of its gaming consoles. It would now sell PS2 for Rs 7,990 while the portable PSP would be sold for Rs 9,990.

The company is also developing India-specific gaming content which will hit the market later this year.

Sony has sold three million units of PS3 across North America, Japan and Europe since its launch five months ago. Buoyed by the increased buying power of the Indian customer, Sony India MD Masaru Tamagawa said the company is targeting a two-fold jump in the consolidated revenues to $2 billion by 2010.

Source: Indiatimes.com
Pictures: Sony,IGN.com

Gaming Uncovered

Everybody calls me a kid whenever or wherever I talk about video-games. May be its true or may be not. I got my first videogame when I was in third grade, it was definitely a toy then, just a toy.

“It started with few pixels and now it’s bigger than the cinema” as it’s said by discovery I, Videogame”.

Gaming has matured into a $45 billion industry with high end games and state of art consoles. With big players in the business like Sony ( Playstation), Nintendo and Microsoft (Xbox), action on the gaming front is just hotting up. The gaming consoles being developed now are packed with high performance hardware and are equipped with greater processing power than ever. In fact, Play station3 has the processing power equal to that of Cray Supercomputer.

"The gaming business is not a kid’s play any more, as the average age of a gaming enthusiast hovering around 38 years” states Times of India.
It takes about four years to come up with a new product in the gaming market and the development cycle for a new game by itself takes about 18-24 months. It cost US $20 million for a US publisher to produce a game, and it comes with a high risk of success or failure. Budgeting will have to be done in advance and the world might change in the meantime, and the gaming companies are trying to shorten the development cycles.

But the question is, how big the “Gaming Industry” in India is?

The higher cost of production and the longer duration taken to complete the product has led to a phase where the producers abroad are looking at outsourcing to countries like India. This has opened up huge job opportunities for all the game enthusiasts.

“There are hardly any Indian companies in this space and opportunities are immense” says Prakash Ahuja, CEO of Hyderabad-based Gameshastra, India’s biggest gaming services outsourcing company. The content market is worth $ 14 billion, and this is where the Indian companies are taking a bite.

The International gaming companies have realized that India can provide expertise in developing gaming options, as it did in IT and BPO sector. The people are ready and are at ease to work with the cutting edge technology.

“Mauj” is one of the mobile gaming companies in India. It has changed and developed during years with changing times and needs of the users. News was out that Sameera Reddy is playing the lead role in a mobile game, which is yet to release this year.

I’m 21 now and I still play games. But now videogame is more than a toy to me. My interest towards gaming increased and I recognize how much work goes in making and marketing a game. I realized that the Gaming Industry grew with me.

As Discovery puts, “In my world the game is never over”.