Kali Makes Her Video-Game Debut

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MUMBAI (December 14, 2005): With multiple limbs and each hand

wielding a different weapon, the fearsome Indian warrior-goddess Kali

is a natural video-game character. And next year, Kali will be coming

to game consoles, PCs, and mobile phones around the globe.

Indiagames, a Mumbai (India)-based company, is currently working the

Goddess into the first original, Indian-themed game for international

audiences.

 

Kali is appearing in the forthcoming Emperor Ashoka (pronounced "Ah-

shoke," with the "a" silent), which recreates battles from the life

of a legendary Indian king who lived in the third century B.C. The

game allows players to engage in bloody historic battles based in

ancient temples and other antique environments. Some mythical

creatures are also thrown in -- in addition to Kali, there are

gargoyle-like interpretations of the voluptuous female statues that

adorn sacred buildings in India, who come alive and fight.

 

"We wanted to have an edge," says Indiagames CEO Vishal Gondal. "It's

a storyline that hasn't been seen before."

 

Anyone who has spent time in India will find the content of Emperor

Ashoka familiar. Ashoka ruled over a period of 40 years, from 273-232

BC, uniting a vast area of South Asia that corresponds to today's

India. A fierce warrior, his most brutal battle was fought at

Kalinga, where his armies are said to have killed more than 100,000

people. [...]

 

Indiagames flew designers from Short Fuze to India, where they toured

classical temples such as those at Khajuraho -- iconic sacred

buildings dating back to the 11th century AD and known for their

spectacular architecture and erotic sculptures. They also visited

Indian museums and libraries to study statues from a variety of time

periods and historical texts related to Emperor Ashoka's life.

 

Short Fuze drew the prototypes that Oberoi and the staff of about 50

in-house designers at Indiagames then turned into 3-D computer-

generated characters.

 

When asked if he thinks international audiences will buy Emperor

Ashoka, Gondal responds, "It's difficult to say which game will be a

hit or flop." He adds, "We're not looking for Emperor Ashoka to be

Halo or Quake 3." But Gondal cites the popular Prince of Persia

series as evidence that international audiences are open to PC and

console games with "non-Western" themes and characters. [...]

 

SOURCE: Business Week, News & Features. "India's New Export: Video

Games: Historical battle title Emperor Ashoka is mobile-phone-game

maker Indiagames' first crack at the global market" By Reena Jana

 

URL (For Full Story):

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/dec2005/id20051213_158208

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