Loading ...
Archive for the ‘Wii’ Category
It’s here!
After having talked about it countless times in the past few months, the Alone In The Dark Contest has finally shown up. Blame the delay on our lazy admins for not having it up and running much earlier. Guess we will have to go with the age-old saying that it is never too late for anything.
Participants of our Game of the Year 2007 contests would immediately feel at ease with this one. This time around, to get more and more people to jump on-board, the contest has been made much more accessible. Mind you, it is just a teaser for the things to come in the following months, so you better stay sharp.
Last Monday, right after coming from playing Dead Space at EA India’s office, Reggie and I planned to check out the Nintendo Showroom floor at the MGF Mega City Mall here in Gurgaon - both locations are practically within walking distance. However, what started out as a curious stroll turned into a delightful display of Nintendo memorabilia, but quickly ended up becoming a vulgar awakening of awkwardness and deceit.
Nintendo’s recent interest in coming to India is certainly an odd creature. Their competitors Microsoft and Sony already have themselves grounded much before anyone even uttered to think what it would be like if the big N decided to join the fray. And even then, when you consider the console market in India isn’t all that big to begin with, plus the reports of global Wii shortages this coming holiday season, and least we forget the rampant piracy scene that our country is known for – Nintendo’s decision to come to India, to reiterate, seems awfully strange. Almost strange enough to have us think, “Why even bother?”
Despite whatever concoctions may arise (whether it’s yours or mine), there’s one thing Nintendo’s official distributor Samurai-India is sure of: Nintendo is happy to be in India. Granted, we may have missed out on a few generations of monumental games hither and thither (barring the Virtual Boy, natch), but what’s important is now. Besides, hello? Virtual Console? Samurai’s head-honcho Mahesh Toshniwal also reflects upon this by bringing up the pricing choice made for the Wii and DS:
In view of [the] very high taxes in India -34% import duty/ 2% CST/ 12.5 % VAT - the price is justified. In fact, it is very difficult to maintain this price as it was calculated and fixed at a dollar-rupee exchange of RS 42.00. Today the exchange stands at 45.5.
Be sure to check out Sam’s full interview with Mahesh on the availability of first-party software and accessories.
For all those who have been lamenting about the non-availability of Nintendo Wii in India, well, here is some good news. After a couple of false starts and rumors, we can confirm that the Wii is about to be officially launched in India! Making the news even more sweeter is the fact that even the DS will be launched in tandem with the Wii!!
Samurai-India, in partnership with HCL, will be officially launching the Wii and DS on 30th September 2008. In fact, they have already unofficially started supplying the consoles to all the major electronic chains and it’s only a matter of time before we start seeing them on the store shelves. The Nintendo Wii will be priced at INR 19,990 while the Nintendo DS will be available for INR 7,990.
Samurai-India’s website is still under construction but the presence of Nintendo in the URL is more then enough to tell us that we are on the right trail. Keep watching this space as more and more information trickles in.
Editors Note: Our friends over at GamingIndians have some more interesting insight on the impending release of the two consoles. Do have a look.
Update: Samurai-India’s website is now live.
In many ways, the first Alone in the Dark game pretty much set the standard for the modern-day survival horror franchise, even if Resident Evil usually ends up taking the credit for it. Sixteen years after the original ended up scaring the bejesus out of us when we were in our teens, Eden Games, who have been consistently wowing us with racing classics like V-Rally, Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed and Test Drive Unlimited, has been passed the torch (pun very much intended) and the resulting experience in the new Alone In The Dark happens to be one wild ride through a bed of roses. And, unfortunately, a briar patch to boot.
Alone In The Dark unfolds in the city of New York as the main man, Edward Carnby, wakes up suffering from an amnesia haze in an apartment building overlooking Central Park, around which the entire game and its mysteries are based. Saved from an untimely demise by a series of otherworldly fissures or “living scars” that tear the city apart, Ed finds himself on the run from the transformed creatures to try and figure out why he’s suddenly having such a lousy day. Along the way, Ed teams up with Sarah Flores, an art dealer who seems to have traded in the usual dress code for leather jackets and Goth thigh-high boots, as they struggle to survive until sunrise in Gehenna, formerly known as NYC.
While the story, penned by Sleepers author Lorenzo Carcaterra, isn’t as tightly wound as, say, Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams, it serves as a highly engaging transport for the game’s mechanic and all the conspiracy theories surrounding Central Park – enough to make players at least want to do a decent amount of digging online. What’s confusing, however, is whether this game is actually some sort of a sequel to the original, having transported Carnby straight from 1938 to 2008 after his adventures in the Derceto mansion – a fact borne out by the Central Park EMT’s comments and the not-so-lucid endings to the game. Thankfully, the method of telling the story takes a huge deal of stress and implausibility out of actually doing it, by resorting to a DVD-style system that allows players to skip to any of the eight episodes (split across multiple scenes) that make up the storyline, in addition to rewinding or fast forwarding the game to replay a section in another way or skip one that’s causing a receding hairline.
Yes, we know. We’ve all heard things both good and bad about the new Alone in the Dark game, but the only way you’re really going to find out about it is if you play it for yourself. Which is exactly what three of our lucky winners will get to do, thanks to the Alone in the Dark contest that we’re running with Milestone Interactive.
Watch this space for our multiplatform reviews and comparisons of Alone in the Dark coming soon, along with one of our devilishly devious trademark Flash puzzles and you could win a copy of the game for the PC, Xbox 360 or the Wii. Be afraid, be very afraid. Of our puzzle, that is.
With Sony and Microsoft engaged in sales deathmatches across India, Nintendo fans, upset at having to forage at gray market outlets for their Wiis and its games, may have some good news coming their way soon.
Eager to test the Indian gaming market for Wii titles, Milestone Interactive - one of the biggest distributors in the country, in addition to being Sony Entertainment India’s right arm - will be bringing in Alone in the Dark for the Wii, alongside the PC and the Xbox 360 versions later this week. While we seriously question the logic in field testing the Wii games market with a title like Alone in the Dark, which we feel seems to be the equivalent of testing shark-infested waters with a rubber ducky, we welcome the fact that someone is at least trying to break the iron grip the gray market has over Nintendo hardware and software in the country.
While a lot of gamers would see this as some sort of divine sign that the Wii would soon be available officially in the country, Milestone has categorically denied rumors that they will be the ones to finally tie the bell around the giant Ninny cat. According to Milestone execs, the launch of Alone in the Dark (Wii) is purely to see how well the Indian gaming market responds to Wii games being available through official channels instead of having to hunt for overpriced imports in the gray markets.
Even though HCL was originally rumored to import the Nintendo Wii for sale in India, insiders have pooh-poohed that by saying HCL was already a Microsoft partner and would not be involved with the Wii import at any time in the near future. Which, conveniently, neither confirms nor denies anything, leaving Nintendo fans to flock to modded Wiis and Play-Asia for their fix. With Nintendo never having an official presence in India, even though the GBA and the DS are hugely popular in the country (the GameCube being non-existent here), it remains to be seen whether the Japanese giant will finally see sense and follow their competitors into a burgeoning country full of rising incomes and fat, assertive kids.