Mobile gaming with Indian themes is on

Bangalore -- Computer and mobile gaming world in India is getting high tech.The new `flavour' of mobile gaming is Indian! The Mumbai-based game developer Paradox Studios is working with Symbian and Nokia to bring out games with an Indian theme to them.

Symbian is the maker of the mobile operating system (OS) that Nokia handsets run on, just as computers run on Linux or Windows OS.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Simon Garth,Vice-President, Marketing, Symbian Software Ltd, said, "We expect that games, video and other services will hit the local markets with an Indian flavour."

Elucidating on what `flavour' Indians preferred, Mr Salil Bhargava, Chief Marketing Officer, Paradox Studios Ltd, said, "We find that card-based games like Teen Pathhiyaan are favoured." Mr Ninad Chhaya, Executive Producer, Paradox Studios Ltd, also spoke of the need to develop games that Indian users could relate to. Currently, four games with `Indianised' themes are under production and Paradox plans to release one game every four months from now.

Talking about future trends in mobile gaming, Mr Bhargava said, "As mobiles get more powerful and high-tech, we will see that 3D games will arrive in India in a year or so. The mobile gaming market is just beginning in India and is worth around $10-15 million now."

Set-top box gaming, according to Mr Bhargava, "is a new trend which is catching up quickly abroad, but might be delayed in coming to India." Games on set-top boxes are targeted at casual gamers who enjoy interactive TV shows.

This Reliance Infocomm-backed company is also dabbling in brand promotion using gaming. A game based on the Everest Challenge, for Coca Cola's brand Thums Up, was offered to Reliance subscribers since March for free. "We noted that 350 people played it in a week," said Mr Bhargava, about the response. Another promo game based on stills from the movie Jurm by K.P.S Films apparently saw 150,000 downloads on the first day of its launch.

"Games will soon be seen as an advertising medium. Film-based gaming will also be common. In India, Bollywood and cricket sell," he added. Paradox is also launching a Web and mobile-based cricket game and is in advanced talks with cricketers.