Sunday, April 18, 2010

Desi games on PlayStation bridge the digital divide

Gully Cricket, Teen Patti, Kancha or Meter Down, are no longer neighbourhood pastimes. From being yesteryear's outdoor games, they have turned into 'desktop' delights, redefining online gaming. Instead of sweating it out in the scorching sun, Gen Next is hitting the mouse and moving the cursor playing a game of marbles or cards. Others such as gilli danda, kabbadi and kite-flying are Playstation hotties.

Mumbai college student Rahul Mitra, 20, has been visiting a gaming website daily for over a year to play gully cricket, set in an Indian bylane with buses and local transport plying past. The user needs to smash sixes and fours with bonus points for hitting special hoardings in the game.
"We'd often play cricket in a gully but with space shortage, I now log on to play its online version and get the same feel," says Mitra. In The Great Indian Parking War, the user must park the car in a coloured slot the same as his car shade and ensure that random change of slots on various streets does not render him a challan. The game is localized with elements like 'lal batti car' (VIP car) earned after a certain level, which ensures the user is not challaned.

Then there's Meter Down, a single-player racing game where a user drives an auto-rickshaw on typical Indian roads ferrying passengers without crashing. Similarly, Kancha (marbles) is a multiplayer game where a player must knock off the opponent's kanchas in as few chances as possible.

Delhi's Apurva Mahajan, 27, pursuing MBA from Simon Graduate School of Business, University of Rochester in the US has a group of 30 to 40 friends who're into card games like Poker (on Facebook) and Teen Patti (on orkut). On visits to hometown Delhi, Mahajan plays Teen Patti with them online.

"I've grown up on card games, and now that they're available on the Net, it's convenient as I don't have to look for company. I just log in and play at my convenience," says Mahajan who finds it a great stress buster.

Gaming News, April 2010

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