FX Labs - how about those guys, huh? After the “unique” attempt made to remodel Riverdale life and the subsequent announcement on Dhoom 2.5 (many months ago announced, with little to no info on it, and still counting), the wizards of WTFery have supposedly turned their attention to creating a third-person action game featuring sassy mama sita, Malaika Arora Khan, called Agni: Queen of Darkness. The real bamboozledness of the whole issue? Not the fact that several random sources erratically post about how great the gameplay is (even going on to the extent to say Oblivion and Prince of Persia can’t compare to it) by mentioning absolutely nothing about said gameplay. Not the fact that the vaunted Mumbai Mirror decides to criticize the game for using a woman to sell it, even though they know just as much about this game as the developers know about the effects of gravity on the above-average female anatomy (read: zilch). Heck, not even the fact that the game is being marketed with a music video that features the most delusional mesh of 3D modeling, live-action dancing and India tunes this side of…well, this side of nothing in the name of sanity.

Just the fact that this game was The Lost that Irrational Games teamed with FXLabs to create, and went by the name of an early vision of Bioshock before less hallucinogen-induced minds prevailed and Irrational took the game into their own hands, makes you twitch and feel nothing is sacred. Everything about the game provokes the same, as mentioned with the propaganda (it’s too biased to be anything else) likening this title to the second coming of Ram and the impossibly demeaning pivotal motion of the heroine Tara’s hips. Seriously, what can we honestly say about a game where nothing honest exists? One of us from TAP could probably pick up this game (and I mean that in the loosest sense) and review it, but I for one like my eyes. And ears. And God. And I’m an Atheist.

Official word on an Agni review: Never-ever-ever and counting, by the infinitely far looks of it. Maybe we should pitch this one over to Yahtzee.

To all the nay-sayers who think there ain’t no way the gaming situation here can ever improve on our home turf, well, you may be right! But one thing’s for sure, it can only continue growing and that’s largely thanks to the efforts of companies like Microsoft and Sony. According to Rajesh Jain (Executive Director of KPMG), “The main drivers for the growth of the gaming industry in India would be seeding initiatives by the players, marketing, and pricing of the games – which is an important aspect in India.” Currently India’s gaming industry is worth about $30 million right now, and that’s even including the grey market.

Jain further adds, “At the end of the day, the prices at which the games are brought is important” but also mentions that it’s not the “cost of the box” which matters, but the “cost of recurring games.” We already know Microsoft has been doing a heck of a lot of work to drive their message (with booze, no less); and thanks to the 54% decrease of the import duty imposed on game titles, you can expect to find products quite comparable or even a bit cheaper than what you would you normally find in other countries (although currently, this mostly applies to those published by Microsoft Games Studio). Even for games that haven’t even been released yet, Microsoft will sell them for approximately Rs. 1,895. Same goes for recently released PC games: you’ll find S.T.A.L.K.E.R and BioShock for less than Rs. 700. Quite the admission price!

Source: MetroNow (Click below to read what other companies had to say)

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