I’ve always been a huge fan of quizzes, having been through hundreds of contests all through school, college and even the workplace. I’ve even spent a small fortune on Microsoft Encarta just so that my brain can be treated like a soft punching bag for hundreds of hours by the MindMaze’s dungeon dwellers. So when I first saw Buzz! almost two years back, it was head-over-heels love at first sight, with other games getting completely ignored until the disc gave up the ghost from overuse. But for all us Indian gamers that can’t wait until around March for the next-gen version of Buzz! Quiz TV for the PS3, SCEE, eager to duplicate the SingStar Bollywood experience, has launched an Indianized version of Buzz! The Mega Quiz, finally bringing the cheesier-than-cheesecake Buzz and his lovely redheaded assistant Rose (you know, the one with the exploding bustline in a Size 6 dress) officially to the country.

Working with the local quizzing legend Derek O’Brien and his talented team, Buzz! The Maha Quiz - now with 40% localized content (yum!) - looks like its set to complement the thousands of general knowledge questions already in the game with an assortment of questions that should be “more relevant to the Indian audience”. I guess that probably means that they’ve swapped out a lot of the Hollywood and Western music content for Bollywood films and songs (uh-oh!) and replaced a lot of the general knowledge trivia geared towards the Americas and Europe in favor of India - which is something that we’re really happy to see.

Launching the game at the swank Vie Lounge in Mumbai last Thursday, Sony Computer Entertainment India’s Country Manager, Atindriya Bose joined big-ticket personalities (what, no David Amor?) including cricketing firestorm Sreesanth, Radhakrishnan from NEO Sports, Rajeev Masand from CNN IBN and Bollywood celebs Neil Mukesh and Sonia Mehra in the first official Buzz! quiz in the country. We’re not really sure who won that round, but in an official press release sent our way, Atindriya Bose quipped:

Buzz enjoys a tremendous fan following across the globe because of three key elements - accessibility, character and sociability. It’s the live-in-your-living-room game show experience that everyone can enjoy, thanks to the Buzz! Buzzers. The cheeky personality of Buzz guides the tone of the game and related communications, setting it apart from bland competitors. Rose with her vixen-like appearance and appeal, also adds glamour to the game. After the success of Singstar Bollywood, it is only natural that we bring in Indian game contents in such a popular franchise as Buzz! ™: The Maha Quiz.

Amen, but wait… “bland competitors”? Was that a dig at the terrible voice acting and the annoying IR-based “Big Button Pad” controllers for Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action that turned out to be infuriating ripoffs of the Buzz! Buzzer? Oh well, we’re just happy that Sony India has released a great party game for the PS2 and has gone to enough trouble to show that they care about actually generating localized content for their games, instead of just importing the generic UK versions we are so used to getting. We’re still to get our most eager hands on the game, but this definitely looks like it could knock Guitar Hero off from its “Most Played Game at Parties” throne. Buzz! The Maha Quiz is priced at INR 1499 and is available now at all game outlets.

Image Gallery

I’ve always felt sad for people with Erectile Dysfunction. Especially if they happen to be married to sexually active women just writhing with unbridled lust. Well, now me and the rest of the Indian gaming community know just how those poor guys feel! After months of poking and prodding, it looks like Rock Band is finally available via Microsoft India’s eBay store for INR 1999 / $50. Good news, right? Nope, not really! We get the game, but we don’t get anything else - no guitar, no drum kit, no microphone!

Sure, all you guys elsewhere could just plug your GH2/GH3 guitars in and thrash away, but we don’t have those either, so we’d be expected to play with just the Xbox 360 controller, which frankly, sucks big time! If I don’t get the drums, I don’t want the game! Thank you very much, but you can have your copy back! We’re going to be contacting Microsoft India about this and try to find out whether the distributors at Redington will be importing the accessories and the Special Edition bundle as well, but with Country Manager Mohit Anand letting it slip at the Delhi Game On event that Guitar Hero 3 could cost upward of INR 6000 or $150, one wonders how much the Rock Band Special Edition would cost. Way more than what we can afford, that’s for sure!

Let’s face it, the Guitar Hero games may be the best, but you look absolutely retarded while playing them with a tiny, plastic controller. Well, that’s a thing of the past. ArtGuitar, a leading designer of custom graphics for guitars, working with Peavey are bringing out the limited edition AG RiffMaster Guitar Controller for the PS2. (Where’s my Xbox 360 version!?)

That’s right, you guessed it right. This is an actual Peavey guitar modded with the PS2 guitar controller, so you actually look pretty darn badass while you nail that cruel solo from Hanger 18 in Expert mode! And the best part, all 17 of these are collectible masterpieces, with some fantastic artwork on them showcasing KISS, Megadeth, Ozzy Ozbourne, Pantera and Lynyrd Skynyrd - all yours for a low, low price of $399. Hey, if it looks this good when I’m playing one of the greatest games ever made, I’d pay $500!

Created from a real Peavey guitar, ArtGuitar has preserved the qualities found in the original makeup of the instrument. The guitar strings have been removed, but the headstock of the AG RiffMaster Guitar Controller, still sports real tuning pegs for an added visual appeal. Crafted from natural basswood, the body displays custom artwork showcasing 17 unique designs featuring five legendary rock bands. The neck created from hard rock maple, features five colored fret buttons located amongst true frets and position markers on a genuine fingerboard while the pickup consists of one humbucking and a scale length of 25.5″. The guitar controller also features premium 2.4GHz wireless technology for high-performance precision gaming.

There you go, off to max out your credit card yet again. Don’t worry, you’ll have even more great ways to spend your money, including official hard shell cases for your precious controller, Peavey logo barstool, guitar polish care kit, guitar stands and much, much more. Gotta love capitalism. And Guitar Hero, that’s a must!

As if it wasn’t torturous enough to watch Japanese karaoke on Takeshi’s Castle, it looks like the make-an-idiot-out-of-yourself “revolution” (blech!) is hitting a little too close to home. Starting today, fans will be able to pick up the desi-styled SingStar Bollywood across Europe and start crooning in horrible voices into their mics, even as they put up a much more unimaginable horror show on their EyeToys.

For those that don’t know Hindi, but have been brainwashed by their Indian friends enough to start screeching in an alien language, Sony has even been kind enough to add phonetic English lyrics to the package. So take a look at the track list, if you dare, and thank the Gods that you have found that perfect gift for the female co-worker who’s been annoying you all through the years by insisting on Antakshari every time more than three people show up anywhere. As for me, I’m off to get ear plugs and NO, I really don’t care-oke. I just prefer singing the Portal song, over and over and over….

(more…)

The softly singing winds painted in the skies bring a woeful tune of honor and ruin amongst a land of ancients; the citizenry dance in tribute to the guardian tree of their village, a goddess whose powers bestow life to all who touch her cherry blossoms; and the journey of one warrior redefines the hold that destiny has in the ever-rewinding game of fate. With the debate on whether games are truly art or not is still not over comes the release of Okami, a title where former Clover Studios (who brought us the Viewtiful Joe series) serves up not only an elegant mix of eclectic artwork and divine graphics that portray the illusion of an ancient Japanese tale playing itself out on a roll of tapestry, but an epic music score and a heaping helping of Japanese mythology and chunks of the Nippon culture. And on top of that, the game is wickedly fun, too.

(more…)

Breaking through an enemy by punching them so hard they traverse the entire globe before crashing back into place, teaming up with upto four party members to unleash a massive beating on an unluckily cornered foe, having a bipolar frog, semi-suicidal underage shinobi and a gun-wielding princess with a monster sealed inside her join your party as you pummel through level 100 minions and bribe powerful Dark Council members with either treasure or a closed fist; heaving exploding penguins at unsuspecting foes to send ‘em sky-high, and blocking an earth-shattering attack from a towering, Satan-like monster with your bare hands…If the above sentences couldn’t describe the sheer madness transpiring in Nippon Ichi’s Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories(sequel to Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, the immensely popular Turn Based Strategy RPG free-for-all), then the upcoming paragraphs may not get the job done either. However, if you had to bet you’re hard-earned EXP points on one thing, it’d be this—Disgaea 2 is the be-all, end-all of such games on the PS2, a frighteningly hilarious and laid-back dippy head-trip into the domain of character skills, classes, stats, levels, weapons and pizza-delivering cell phones.

(more…)

I’ve forgotten how many times I’ve played the recent Tomb Raider games, Legend and Anniversary. After getting completely disillusioned with the franchise, thanks to Angel of Darkness, I was more than satisfied with Crystal Dynamics’ take on Lady Lara Croft’s adventures even though the puzzle elements left a big huge gap in Legend, (not so bad with Anniversary). And for those that were eagerly awaiting Eidos’ announcement at E2 2007 about the next game in the series in vain, there’s hope yet.

Talking to SPOnG.com, Eidos’ Ian Livingstone talked about how the next game in the series was already “Well in development” and said that the third Tomb Raider movie adaptation hasn’t yet been given the green signal yet, while gushing all over Angelina Jolie. Considering the cliffhanger with which Legend ended, and the seemingly obvious ties to the Atlantean storyline in Anniversary, the next game is something I just can’t wait for. On the other hand, if you don’t have any other console except a Wii, enjoy the first look at the Wii edition of Tomb Raider: Anniversary, which, according to senior producer Morgan Gray “adds more tomb raider to Tomb Raider”. Xbox 360 owners can expect to see Tomb Raider: Anniversary as Downloadable Content on Xbox Live sometime next month, whereas PSP, PS2 and PC owners can rush out right now and pick up their copies at stores, if you haven’t already done so.

Eidos’ Ian Livingstone On The Future of Tomb Raider [SPOnG.com]
Tomb Raider: Anniversay (Wii) - Preview Video