Harman Baweja stands second in Poker Championship

Harman Baweja stood second in the recently held India Poker Championship (IPC) in Goa. However, the actor took part in the tournament just to enjoy the game at the behest of a friend.

Talking about his love for poker Harman says, "I was in Goa for a friend's birthday and we got to know about the IPC being held around the same time. My friend Sameer suggested I participate in the tournament. Even though initially I was apprehensive I decided to take part just for the fun of it."

While he sat for the game with a casual attitude, he soon got involved in it as the hands progressed. "Yes, I did want to win when I started playing. I think when you play any game the intention is to win it. So it felt great when I was playing contenders and winning rounds. My stack kept growing bigger and in the end I had to play opposite the finalist and finish second."

Is he a serious player? "Not really. I picked up poker recently and am not sure my mom would like to know about it!

I have friends who are experts at the game and even play it online on their Facebook accounts. I don't think I would like to pursue it seriously, as I play it re-creationally."

How a Mobile Gaming Startup is Turning Sports Spectators Into Players

While Thump CEO Chip Overstreet was watching the 2000 Rose Bowl with friends, he had an entirely normal conversation about what would happen next between the Wisconsin Badgers and Stanford Cardinal. At which point he was struck with a great idea. What if there was a game that allowed sports fans to compete with each other to most accurately predict the next play?

At the time, smartphones and tablets were science fiction, Mark Zuckerberg was still in high school, and the term “social game” suggested Trivial Pursuit.

Nine years later, Overstreet picked the idea back up and created Thump, a game that lives on iPhones, Android phones, BlackBerrys, Microsoft’s Slate tablet and Facebook. As sport fans watch a game, they can compete with a group of friends or strangers to be the most accurate predictor of what their teams will do next. The version for pro and college football launched in September. Baseball is planned to launch in March.

Mashable recently talked with Overstreet about how Thump aims to offer a game that is compelling to both players and advertisers.

Source: http://mashable.com/2011/01/28/thump/

Mobile Gaming Poised for Growth in India

According to latest research report “India Mobile Gaming Analysis”, India has become a high growth potential market for the global mobile gaming players. The industry has been witnessing phenomenal growth since 2005 and has outpaced other mobile gaming markets around the world. A vast mobile consumer base and increasing penetration of mobile gamers has transformed once a buzzword into a fully fledged industry. The 71% CAGR market growth during 2010-2014 readily confirms Indian market’s attractiveness and calls for foreign investments.

Most Popular Card Games in India

Playing games online is one of the IN things these days, mainly because of the increasing Internet penetration, lack of time, hectic lifestyle, integration of the social element in gaming which is taking the online gaming business to an extraordinary level. Strategy based games, role playing games, social games, war games, shooting games, racing games, sports based games, flash games are the most common games that you will find people hooked to but it is the traditional card games that are making their way ahead in the recent times.

There would be different opinions about what are the best card games available online for Indian because every person has a preference for which card game do they enjoy the most but the truth is that Indians love to play card games and now this love is slightly shifting. No, they are not playing other games but the difference is that they are playing the same old card games online.

Cyber Cafe users are mostly affluent

Cyber cafe users are experienced Internet users with 64% using the Net for the last two years, according to an IMRB survey titled Internet Usage and Habits of Cyber Café Users. The survey has been conducted across 41 cities. More than 80% of the visitors to cyber cafes are from SEC (socio-economic category) A — 53% and SEC B — 29%, so the cyber cafe clientele is affluent. Education levels are also high, with 60% users being graduates or above.

UTV may exit Indiagames

Founder, other investors in talks to buy back stake even as boom seen in sector

Media and entertainment firm UTV Software Communications is in the process of selling its stake in UTV Indiagames — the online and mobile gaming subsidiary of the group, said two sources involved in the deal.

Sources said Vishal Gondal, founder of Indiagames, along with existing investors Cisco and Adobe, are in talks with both private equity consortia and strategic investors to buy back the stake they’d once sold to the parent firm. The deal is expected to be in the range of $80-100 million (Rs 360 crore-Rs 450 crore).

X-Up Rummy Tournaments

A new super exciting tournament format introduced only on Games24X7.com.

You pay Rs. X in entry fee and we will multiply it twice, thrice or four times so that you can win more and have more fun!

• Double – Up Tournament: We pay on your behalf, so you have double the fun.
• Triple – Up Tournament: We pay on your behalf to make your entry fee three times so you can have three times as much fun!
• Quadruple – Up Tournament: We pay on your behalf to so you can have four times as much fun!
  
  Check out the January 2011 Rummy Tournament Schedule

Unwind by Playing Online Games

Would you believe that today's hardcore workaholic professionals never misses to plough his farm and water his plants? You better believe it because such professionals are playing online games like Farmville, Mafia Wars etc to de-stress themselves.

Such professionals are mushrooming and psychologists also agree that playing online games is a great stress buster, of course if not overdone. Some of the popular games that are popular among the professionals today are Texas Poker, Mafia wars, Mind Jolt, Rummy and FarmVille.

Gaming Technology Helps India Prepare For Terrorist Attacks

The 3D model of Bangalore's Garuda Mall would be right at home in a modern video game, but it's much more than that. It's part of a simulation aimed at helping emergency response teams deal with the all-too-real possibility of a terrorist attack.

Terrorism is a major issue in India. Over the past year alone the country has seen multiple devastating incidents, from the February explosion at a German Bakery in Pune that left 14 dead and more than 60 wounded, to the December bombing in Varanasi that killed a toddler and saw more than 20 injured in the stampede that followed. Fighting terrorism is a key national priority in India.