Skyward Fire

Take a minute off your busy schedules and ask yourselves this “What is the future of Gaming Industry?” Although being an extremely clichéd topic, it is one question that comes a begging. People constantly rant about “Old is Gold” and “retro gaming rules” and what not. Although I support the idea of respecting older games, I stand here to honestly admit that I am a realist. If one wants to catch up even a fraction of the action, one has to constantly update his PC or get a console. People who don’t agree with me are invited to jump out of the window, from a great height. Just saying “I am satisfied with the past” will not cut it anymore. The gaming era and the industry itself have changed. Wake up. And welcome to the place we call “reality”.

A look at Microsoft E3 Conference will give you a better idea why exactly I am writing this down here. People are too satisfied with what was made 6-7 years ago. I am being specific about the gaming condition in India which is seriously a big let down. Why is CS: Source the most popular game here when games like GRAW and Fallout Tactics are superior in every way? Or is it bad marketing? No. The answer to this ridiculous behavior in all Game Cafes is the simple fact that everyone thinks buying anything above an nVidia GeForce 6200GS would make them bankrupt. This is far from the reality I must say.

A decent 8600 GT can be purchased in less than Rs 5000 and the 8800 GT for Rs 9000. They still won’t put any cards simply because there is no demand. And why there is no demand? Because 70% of the gamers in India have no idea that games like Fallout Tactics or MGS 4 or Killzone 2 even exists. For them, NFS Underground, Cricket 2007, CS: Source and Warcraft 3 is the crème ‘la crème of the gaming realm. Being a hardcore fan and player of Warcraft 3, I must say, it is a great game but, it is not a reason for never trying out Command and Conquer 3 or Supreme Commander or Dawn of War!

I did say I am a realist and will stick to it forever. Therefore I accept that most of the time, Internet gaming for Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter and Gears of War PC are difficult. But it isn’t difficult on LAN! Who on earth stopped Game Cafes from installing these games instead of the 7 year old crap that we are served? I say MGS 4 multiplayer kicks Godzilla ass. Who thinks otherwise? Not because people agree with me. It is because no one has a damn opinion in the fist place. I can go and rant about how I scored 50 Takedowns in Burnout Paradise and people just nod saying “uh huh”. I never got an “Oh really? Wait till I have something to say about that!”

Although the newer games are given very high attention in USA and Europe, in India, the competition is just absent! It may exist on an individual level in a sporadic pattern, but it is not yet a trend which is very sad. The fact that people just shut their eyes and ears whenever something new turns up saying “I am happy with the retro!” is truly annoying. An average Indian would buy a stock PC for Rs 25,000. I agree it doesn’t come with a high end card but such a commodity can be purchased without any trouble and the falling prices only add to the ease of purchase. Too costly you say? No, that’s not the case.

You could get a console. Yes, Consoles provide tremendous gaming potential, if purchased at the right time. I said this just so that some fool doesn’t go buy a PS2 tomorrow and say “What the hell there are no new games on it!” Only a dumb and desperate gamer would go for a PS2 at this time. Although sadly, this is the time when most PS2 consoles are being sold in India because of the convenient price of Rs 6990/- and even as low as 5000 bucks in the grey market. Why exactly do people frown at the PS3 just because it is priced at 20 to 25 K is beyond me. People, this is your wake up call. THIS is the time to get a next-gen console. When a console is launched, it is ridiculously over-priced. The Xbox 360 was priced at Rs 30,000 and PS3 at Rs 40,000 at the time of their launch. Even the games were too expensive. Only after a year, do the prices become reasonable. The X360 is available for about 15,550 bucks and the PS3 for around 25000 bucks. What are you waiting for? This is the best time and price combo you will get. Anything below this would be too late and the console would be obsolete. By “below” I mean next year. There are some great games scheduled for launch on both Platforms. So go and treat yourselves to a shiny console soon.

After saying all this, HOW on earth will I forgive myself for not mentioning the Nintendo Wii? I didn’t mention it because,

1) Getting an original Wii is difficult. You must order it from EBay etc and pay the shipping charges which are quiet high.

2) Poor collection of games in India. Why on earth will someone buy Cricket 2007 and NBA 2008 on Wii? Ever heard of a Low End PC with 256 MB of Ram and a CRT screen? That will run these games. No need to buy a Wii for that. As far as great games on Nintendo are concerned, they are not available here easily. You need to get to EBay again.

3) The English version of the Wii costs double the Japanese version. Why on earth is this rule implied, I have no clue. Even in the grey market! Why would I buy a Wii for 22,550 Rupees when I can get a PS3 for that amount? Clearly the both PS3 and X360 have superior GPUs and faster processors. Unless there is a solid price gap, the future of Nintendo’s new console is pretty slim and mediocre in India.

Allow me to conclude. Unless there is an astonishingly fast change of gaming attitude, the current lineup of games will be poorly accepted or not accepted at all in India. Cybercafés need to start upgrading their game Engines in order to enable gamers to play games like Command and Conquer 3 and Unreal Tournament III. People, graphic cards are not costly. So get a hold of one. Consoles must be bought at the right time to enjoy their great potential. Nintendo hates India and we want Wii (If that was unintentionally funny, please forgive me).

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In a country like India where there are numerous people, and humongous traffic, you cannot really expect everyone to stick to the rules. The Indian traffic mentality and machinery is totally different from the rest of the world because of the condition of the roads, the local climatic factor, the drivers’ mentality and the number of vehicles hitting the street every day, it is an impossible task for the unevenly numbered cops to manage and enforce various street laws that are supposed to keep the various traffic facades in check. So then, there arises a need for a unified national citizenship initiative, by the people for the people, a tool that actually might just be a revolutionary step towards ensuring a peaceful and time-saving journey for you, your friends, your family, and everyone else.

TrafficViolators.Com is one such non-profit independent endeavour by Abhishek Kant that seems really serious about what it says it’s out there for. With a neat but feature-rich interface and  a simple objective, it is an open platform for you to act like that really responsible citizen you ought to be. Although just in it’s initial phase, the site currently covers the major cities of the nation, but new cities are constantly being added. It’s here because the only way we can get rid of all road hazards and ensuring road safety is self-regulation, and self-conciousness. No one can really enforce anything upon you, you are your best judge. TrafficViolators is the perfect media that allows you to judge yourself, gives you an oppurtunity to inform and warn fellow drivers of maniac traffic violators, and at the same time, it gives you a chance to apologize to the community on a whole. What the site does is really very simple. You report a violation, and it goes up on the site’s Shame Board almost instantly. The information you ought to mention while filing a violation report include the vehicle’s registration number & the city where the violation took place. Yes, that’s really it. You might also include other details like the vehicle make, the violation type, and the really fun-to-use VirtualEarth integration for mentioning the Geolocation of the violation. Once the details are filled up, all you got to do is hit ‘Report’. Simple, ainnit?

Wish to report a violation while you’re on the move without an internet connection? That’s not a problem at all, TrafficViolators has everything figured out for you. All you need is a Twitter account, with the SMS feature enabled. You have to submit the violation report in the form of a 140 letter-count-bound tweet, and voila! Job’s done. More information on how to submit a violation report via Twitter can be found here. And if that doesn’t helps, there are some very comprehensive video tutorials which you can watch here. Now, you know everything about posting a report. So go ahead and give it a go. There are some very interesting features that the site offers, and I probably should have mentioned it sooner. The site is Windows Live ID enabled! Yes, you’re probably thinking that makes it all really easy to register yourselves with the website, enabling a huge number of users to sign up at ease. You can also share the photos and videos of a violation you took or shot while you were on the street. You know you’ll be making a stern point about what are really willing to say. The RSS available for all the reported violators and violations makes it really easy for you to follow if you’ve ever been reported or not. The site offers an API, making it possible to make feature-rich widgets and applications one could use to report traffic violations, and you’re very much encouraged to do so. Then again if you’re an avid Facebook user, the site has it’s very own application on Facebook here.

One thing I love about this site is the ease at which you get the job done. I can never get tired of stating that fact. You aren’t being asked of much. Come be a part of the change. Until then, drive safe, and stay safe. I’ll see you at TrafficViolators.Com