Only two days back LucasArts was in news for laying off hundreds of employees(visit) and today there was another allegation of them halting all internal projects for a while. (The allegation was denied by LucasArts the same day) Their games however seems to be least affected by these developments. To understand what I am trying to say, one needs to look at the latest non-altered screens released by Voodoo Extreme 3D for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. The screens are simply incredible err or rather stunning! It will be a feat if LucasArts can deliver that kind of graphics at stable frame rate.

The game is being made for almost all console barring PC will release in September. The game is part of a multimedia project. It consists of a tie-in novel, action figures, a comic book, a reference book and a role-playing game supplement, as well as a book on the making of the game.

Middle of May Zapak had started a contest called cash league which gave a chance for casual gamers to earn while they played. From the stats made available by Zapak, the tournament looks like a hit. The numbers are crazy as of June 4 around 36,000 people had participated in the contest and they won prizes worth Rs 67 lakhs. How much of this has been redeemed is a different question altogether.
The tournament managed to catch the eye balls with the “Cricket se aap ko kya mila” ad which popped up on TV quite often. When the tournament was announced, Rohit Sharma from Zapak had announced his intention to spend up to $1 million in gifts through the tournament which will last till June 22. Zapak seems to be on a mission to make gaming more popular in the country since they have already organised Zapak tournament, in their gameplexes around India to cater to hardcore gamers. Having generated 75 million page views and thus managing to increase the traffic to Zapak by 175 per cent already, the tournament seems to be a success.

Gamers in India will finally be able to grab a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV without having to import one, as the game will launch here on Friday. (finally phew!)

Rockstar had earlier sited shortage of game copies world over for the delay in launch. Rockstar on its behalf appeared to be quite rude in its reply to a query on reason for the delay.

The game will be released accordingly to the government. It is not our choice to create release dates,” Rockstar had said.

The game launch has been confirmed by sources in Microsoft India who also confirmed that extra downloads for the game will be available only by the end of this year.

So will you be waiting in queue tomorrow?

Image via Wikipedia

Gaming surely is getting bigger in the country; why else would somebody give up figures like Rs 50 lakh to winners in gaming tournament? I am referring to Vixture, a tournament being organised across India starting May 26.

Games like NFS Pro Street, Crysis, Fifa 08, Cricket 07 and Fight Night Round 3 will feature in the competition. Now if you are puzzled by the abscense of Counter Strike and D.O.T.A, don’t be as only EA games are featured in the tournament! From EA’s point of view — a good way to create some publiciy for their games and with amounts like 20 lakh being offered to winners of team events.. people are definitely going to flock in.. at least thats the plan.
The national level finals will be held in Mumbai from June 13-15 at World Trade centre. The event is being organised by zfriction who organised Hong Kong Super Sixes in 2007.
For tournament updates check event blog.

Prize money
Crysis (winners) - Rs 20 lakh
Crysis (runners up) - Rs 10 lakh
Need for Speed Pro Street - Rs 4 lakh
Fight Night Round 3 - Rs 4 lakh
Fifa 08 - Rs 4 lakh
Cricket 07 - Rs 4 lakh

Elimination rounds dates
May 26 — Delhi
May 28 — Kolkotta
May 30 — Hyderabad
Jun 1 — Bangalore
Jun 3 — Pune
Jun 5 — Mumbai