I Said it While I was in India...

While in India working with game developers I spoke to several about the vast possibilities of using Hindu history as a resource for developing game titles for both at home and abroad. I used the interested in Greek and Roman mythology as a point of reference. Especially for American consumers who for the most part look abroad for historical narratives, or the ones we do have revolve around war, that there would be significant interest in these kinds of titles.

An MMO in 2010, that sounds... vague and far off. Interesting, surely, but vague and far off.

Joystiq - SOE announces Ramayan 3392 A.D. MMO

Sony Online Entertainment has announced a collaboration with Virgin Comics intended to transform the Ramayan 3392. A.D. comic book series into an MMO, "initially" bound for the PC. Based on the Indian Ramayana story and set in a post-apocalyptic humans vs. demons world (obviously), the Deepak Chopra-developed comic franchise would seem to lend itself well to the genre without resorting to Western swords and sorcery shenanigans.

The multi-year, worldwide licence agreement sees SOE developing and publishing the game with creative consultation provided by Virgin Comics. The company's chief creative officer, Gotham Chopra, noted the prominence of "duty, honor, sacrifice, and fraternity" in the story, as well as "uniquely Indian ideas like karma (how action and consequence are linked) and the malleability of time itself." Delving deeper, he concluded that working on the game with SOE is "just awesome."

With no release date announced, we likely have quite a wait ahead of us before learning about online duty, honor, sacrifice, fraternity and awesomeness.

GamesIndustry.BIZ - MMO to bridge culture divide

New project from SOE will tap local talent to "think like the consumers there."
...
Sony Entertainment's head of business development, David Christensen, has pointed to some naiveté when it comes to the Western understanding of other cultures.

He was speaking following the unveiling of the publisher's new MMO, which takes inspiration from a holy Hindu poem, and aims to promote awareness of the religion to Western audiences.

"Unfortunately I think most people - not just those in the gaming industry - are a bit naïve when it comes to any culture but their own, which is precisely why SOE believes it is of the utmost importance to partner with local talent in every foreign market we enter," David Christensen told Eurogamer. "To be successful in a territory you have to think like the consumers there."

Virgin Comics will be joining SOE on the project, and will be using its Ramayan 3392 AD publication as the basis for the game. This retells the ancient story of the Ramayana in a futuristic science-fiction setting.

The game is being built predominantly for the Indian market, but Christensen believes it will find success around the world and might help teach us a thing or two in the process.

"The game is being developed in India for Indian gamers, but we expect it to be a success worldwide; to anyone that enjoys a rich and colourful storyline," continued Christensen.

"The comic Ramayan 3392 is meant to be entertaining, but at the same there are lessons in honour, duty and karma to be learned from it. I'm hopeful we can capture some of those lessons in our game."
...
The MMO based on Ramayan 3392 AD is yet to enter development, and Christensen expects 2010 is a likely release date - although he insists it will be given as much time as it needs to ensure maximum quality.

PopCap Signs with Indiagames

It's a little odd. Sounds like a music deal. It's also the opposite direction most think about the world for the moment. Indiagames really has their fingers in a whole lotta pies (hence their recent purchase by a media conglomerate in India. This should be an interesting partnership.

GameDaily.Biz - PopCap Signs with IndiaGames

Indiagames announced today that it has concluded a partnership with PopCap Games. Under terms of this agreement, Indiagames will launch PopCap's catalog of casual games on their "Games on Demand" Service. This new partnership was announced at the CGA Casual Connect Seattle 2007 conference.

"With broadband connectivity growing exponentially in India, casual games are very important to the growth of online gaming as there are millions of Indian gamers who are experiencing gaming for the first time through our GoD service and they want to see a simple and fun experience," said Vishal Gondal, CEO of Indiagames, on this tie-up. "We believe PopCap's games like Zuma, Bejeweled and Bookworm will be a welcome addition to our GoD service and will be an instant hit with our users."

"We are very optimistic about the prospects of casual games in India and we're excited to work with Indiagames to bring our award-winning games to Indian consumers," said James Gwertzman, PopCap's Vice President for Asia/Pacific. "The online games market in India is just getting off the ground, and we're excited to be there at the beginning."

India, Consoles, and a Global Culture of Gamers

The trouble with being a PhD student is that sometimes you see too many connections with stuff that is going on. But then again, perhaps that is what we're supposed to do. Take a whole lot of stuff and bring it together.

I'll start off with India. While I agree that India is ripe for the picking for console developers, I don't really think that the market is going to be very big for a while yet. There are several reasons. One of course is that the contender that actually has the best shot at growing the Indian console market (Nintendo) is at least thus far ignoring the market.

The 360 meets the need of hardcore gamers. The PS3 is astronomically expensive except for the uber wealthy, and no one in India is developing any games for that platform. The 360 on the other hand has XNA Express, which Indian developers are extremely excited about. If you need some indicator of this, I recommend the India IGDA forums.

What does a PS3 offer Indian gamers at this point? I'm just not certain.

The other aspect of this is that mobile gaming is huge in India, and yet again Nintendo has completely ignored India with the DS or even GBA.

So while "demand might be picking up," I read these reports and kind of squint my eyes and think skeptical thoughts. Not because I think they're wrong, but I think they're actually being used to encourage growth. They're putting the cart before the buggy if you will.

In the mean time, you have Indiagames who has largely ported games to the numerous mobile devices, and was recently bought up by a large multinational suddenly interested in games for other parts of the world? That's probably because they have more than handhelds there. The multinational is looking for more money, and they're NOT seeing it in India for the moment.

I think of course they're also trying to get their own developers exposed to making games, because for the most part they've been doing more porting of games than creating original IP. They know they must cut their teeth on some titles first.

Lastly, it is interesting that the Loco Roco developer talks about a Global Culture of Gamers, a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with. However, for the moment that Global Culture is more Japanese/American than it is global.

I would love to see more Global content. I've actually encouraged many an Indian developer to do just that. Bring Indian content to the US, it is possible, it just has to be done the right way.

I also think its important to think not must multi-culturally or uni-culturally. That we can be both multicultural and super-cultural.

CKO

Gamasutra - India's Gaming Market to Reach $125m By 2010

A new report from analyst group iSuppli has said that India's gaming market is showing a "steeper curve" than recent years, forecasting that by 2010 the industry could reach $125 million, up from $13 million in 2006.

Despite the "steep price tag," the company aims to sell 10,000 units by the end of the year, and has thus far sold 1,200, previous to the forthcoming launch of a country-wide promotional campaign.

However, says the group, the PlayStation 3 will face a tough fight from the Xbox 360, which launched earlier in the year, and Microsoft has already "extensively marketed the video game console in the country"

That includes a specially localized title with Yuvraj Singh International Cricket 2007 (pictured), showing what the group calls "its commitment to customizing its titles for Indian tastes."

The group notes that the Xbox 360 is available for the equivalent of $600, a "major price differential compared to its competitor," and notes that "gaming consoles attract high duties, which lead to higher prices. Duties comprise approximately 35 percent of the product price in India, limiting video-game-consoles’ legal sales and promoting the gray market."

Despite the challenges, iSuppli says "the gaming console market is an indicator that demand is picking up for several electronics product segments that now are small in size. It also shows the interest by global electronics companies in tapping into the opportunities available in India."

Said iSuppli associate analyst Ashish Thakre, “The console gaming segment is not very sizeable in India. However, future growth expectations and consumerism are prompting companies to establish themselves in India."

GamesIndustry.biz - India Set for Console Boom

GameDaily - Indiagames Launches International Division

Indiagames today announced the launch of its international mobile publishing and development division. Called IG Fun LLC, this arm of the company will focus on the European and American markets. Indiagames looks to be among the top 5 mobile publishers in its operational territories.

"At IG Fun we operate under the simple idea that the Customer is King and aim to provide fun and exciting games," said Sean Malatesta, VP - Business Development, Indiagames and new CEO of IG Fun LLC. "Our main goals are to provide high quality games, the widest handset coverage and to support our titles with clutter breaking marketing and merchandising."

GayGamer.Net - Loco Roco Developer Speaks

In the interview, he calls for a "Global culture of gamers". A culture that supports games from across the ocean, instead of the nations divided where gamers are not willing to try a game from foreign lands.

I Take Many Pictures of Animals...

I take a lot of pictures of animals it seems. I'm not sure precisely why I do this. I think in part because it has something to do with it being more socially acceptable, or personally acceptable for me to whip out my camera and take a photo of a random puppy, dog, frog, cat, cow, or other animal than to pull out the camera and start taking photos of people. Somehow one seems miraculously less awkward than the other.

I'm also happy to make the assertion that these animals are simply indexes of what I see a lot of here. However, for the most part I feel less like a creepy tourist or random sweaty white guy taking photos of these animals than if I were to take photos of other things. Some random academic part of me also believes that Donna Haraway needs to come here and check out these companion species for a bit. For those of you that haven't read any of her recent work on dogs and companion species, that wont make a lot sense, and that is alright. Just think of dogs and other animals as offering a kind of special insight into both the canine and human conditions.

So, this little pup was hanging out at the Fireflies secular ashram where FoU (Friends of Udhay) was held this year. He and his buddy were pretty freaked out by anyone they didn't recognize. Then I callously went and snapped his photo. Dogs have been particularly interesting for me here. Mostly because when I first arrived in Bangalore I saw a lot of them. I see quite a few of them, but as I've written about before, the ecology of cows and dogs was particularly interesting there. I've referred to them fondly as "road dogs" because you'll often see them walking along with people along the side of the road, or fast asleep almost in the road. Which brings me to my next two photos.

This guy has wisely chosen a non-road spot, though his compatriot cares significantly less about the logic of this idea.

Most of these dogs are stray it seems, though I don't think that means that they don't have friends or relationships with humans. Most of them have bumps, scrapes, missing chunks, gimps, post-litter tits, and numerous other aspects that make it clear that this is how things go. While on a trek across town last night I saw a puppy blindly crossing the street, if he made it safely, he's lucky. I'm sure you learn pretty quickly if you're not doing things the right way, the primary question is if you'll live to learn from the experience. I didn't look back to see if he made it. It was rush hour, and I was too scared that I already knew the answer to the question.

It can get really warm (especially in Chennai) during the day. I can't decide what keeps these dogs sunning themselves rather than opting for the shade. I suppose that's what the sweaty American dogs would be doing. They're surely used to the weather. They're also used to the spicy food too. I noticed a dog getting a munch of some leftovers, and I couldn't help but laugh thinking that surely I would be sweating, and an American dog would be rubbing its face in the dirt trying to figure out what the heck was going on with the inside of it's face.

While in Bangalore you could hear the dogs at night. One person even talked about how since the city pretty much shuts down at 11:30PM, the dogs own the city after that point. All restaurants and stores are closed, and for the most part the auto-rickshaws stop running. I suspect that the buses continue to run for those people working late at the call centers, but by and large things are very quiet once 11:30PM rolls around. It's at this point that the dogs come out to play, presumably expending all of that stored up photo-electric energy gathered during the day. Whether they're doing battle with the cars out late, or arguing with one another, they are much more vocal than during the day.

This little guy wandered into the parking lot of RedOctane the other morning. He was just so cute and tiny that I couldn't not take a photo of him. He walked into the courtyard looking like he'd thought he had found what he was looking for, but alas, I was not that. He then turned around and walked back through the grates of the gate.

The guard found it interesting that I'd take the time to whip out my trusty cell phone camera to take a shot of this little guy, but I guess it's just a habit of mine.

One of the workers at RedOctane was saying that recently they've begun a neutering program in this state, and perhaps it is country wide of neutering the male dogs. Veterinary volunteers go around giving the boy dogs a little snip-snip here and there. My first thought was that it must suck being a female dog in heat in a city of boys with no balls. This new policy apparently replaces a previous one where rounded up and disposed of.

And now for my recent favorite. When I was out wandering, I found this "road cow" hanging out with the bicycles and motorcycles. Apparently she had an itch which she couldn't quite reach, and was using this motorcycles handlebars to reach the spot. I stood and watched for a couple of minutes while she scratched and scratched.

The juxtaposition of all of these animals (I saw a chicken the other day, but did not have a camera, it was quite sad) with the rest of society is interesting. It has just prompted me to think about certain things, and I couldn't bring myself to not post these photos, even though I feel a bit silly in retrospect seeing just how many animal shots I have taken while being here.

Posting Pictures

It has come to my attention, that I'm boring. ;) Just kidding. I know I haven't posted nearly enough pictures of my trip, but I'm going to remedy that RIGHT NOW.


This was the place I stayed while in Bangalore. It was a cute little service apartment about 4 blocks from Dhruva Interactive, the company that I was working with there. The kid who worked/lived there was nice, putting up with me coming home late. That was probably the most interesting aspect of the service apartment was that the help actually lived and worked there. He was around at all hours if you needed something. Service apartments came about actually because hotel prices in Bangalore are astronomical, even by US standards. In many cases people will stay at a hotel during the week and fly somewhere else on the weekends to avoid paying the weekend rates at hotels. I was happy to have this spot though.

One evening I ordered Dominoes Pizza (I know, I'm a sissy American), but I was craving cheese. Anyway, I ended up sharing a couple of slices with the kid. He was really nice and always willing to help out. His English was ok, but he got the important things, "shaver" (razor), "coffee", "laundry", "beer". It worked out well.


This is the main office of Dhruva in Bangalore. They actually own the building next door, as well as another building a block over. It's a cute place. It's got a spot on the roof of the building where they serve lunches. Parking is limited, but most folks ride mopeds or motorcycles into work anyway. Only a couple of people drive in cars regularly. You can see the corner of an auto-rickshaw in this picture. I think they were dropping off lunch actually.


I managed to make it out to the country on one day, offering myself up to the mosquito gods. It actually was just fine. I think I'd managed to consume enough spicy food by that point, that I wasn't totally attractive to mosquitoes, certainly not as much as a McDonald's fed white-boy. This was at a secular ashram outside of town called Fireflies. I was was there to meet with some members of the SILK list, a mailing list started by a guy named Udhay, and also referenced by Chris Kelty's work on Geeks and social imaginaries. I met all sorts of interesting people at this event. It was actually really neat, while we were there, about dusk there were thousands of dragonflies buzzing around, I can only assume they were munching on mosquitoes, but I'd never seen so many in one concentrated area. It was quite beautiful.


So, from ashram to the Bangalore pubs. This is one thing that Bangalore is known for, it's pub scene. There are numerous urban professionals that frequent these pubs. Many play hard rock or heavy metal. This particular one "Le Rock" played Led Zeplin, Metallica, and numerous other "metal" bands, however they did so from DVD rather than from CD or MP3, so one wall contained a large TV showing the video that went with the music. Quite interesting. This is Vinay from Dhruva. No, he's not drinking it all by himself. Keyshav and myself were quite capable as well.

Oddly enough, if Bangalore has a pub scene, Hyderabad has a lounge scene. I'll try to get some pictures.


So, auto-rickshaws, my primary means of transportation in Bangalore. Now that I'm in Hyderabad, I'm fed up with rick's. The ones in Bangalore, as long as you knew the town name, and cross streets, you were fine. You would likely arrive with only minor detours along the way. Hyderabad has been another story completely. Between them not wanting to run the meters and negotiating rates up front and then changing the amount they want on arrival, pretending to not have change, attempting to drive you all over town, driving like speed demons, and my recent favorite was the knocking over of a pedestrian, I've been mostly walking here in Hyderabad. Though the infrastructure here in Hyderabad is far superior to Bangalore's, it is counteracted (at least for me) by an inability to explain to rickshaw drivers where I want to go. Naming a town and streets does little good, and even when I do manage to convince them where to go, I have to actually direct them most of the way, often being dropped off prior to where I had been expecting to be dropped off. Not so fun.


Here is the hotel I'm staying at in Hyderabad. It's quite nice. Tequa has even gotten the royal treatment here. No, I didn't place her there, the cleaning people did. She says it's not time to go yet. She likes the people working here.

(50.0)

Microsoft Hits a Home Run in India

So, none of the mainstream US game press has managed to notice this, but it's pretty impressive. Since I've arrived in India, the only video game company I have seen actively marketing towards Indian consumers has been Microsoft for the Xbox 360. Unfortunately, if you want to buy a 360 here in India, it's going to run you nearly 20,000 INR. That's about $450.00 for the basic edition, which will cost you $300.00 in the US. This is about right for most electronics here, take the price in the US and multiply by 1.5. So, that's obviously out of the realm of possibility for many average Indian consumers. Well, this new deal allows someone to go home with the systme for under 1000 INR (That's a little over $20.00). Suddenly the system isn't so out of whack with the economic abilities of folks here. Now, true, they still have to pay the remaining amount on credit, but I'm sure it's going to make a huge difference for 360 sales here. I suppose that isn't much different than putting it on a Best Buy Card here in the States, but it's a major departure for consumers here.

The interesting thing about consoles here in India. People know about and some even have PS2's. More seem to have 360's. This is still a VERY SMALL portion of the population. Most people know nothing about the Wii and Nintendo DS. Perhaps Nintendo ought to take notice to a market that has very little previous exposure to many video-games. A place where their family oriented, "more acceissible" systems might be seen as precisely the kind of thing that would work here.

ICICI Allows Payment of Xbox 360 in EMIs

ICICI Bank Credit Card will provide an EMI option available to ICICI Bank Credit Card holders only, for the purchase of Microsoft Xbox 360 products at designated Microsoft dealers. Credit card holders will have to initially pay Rs. 899 and an EMI, to buy the console.

GDC Stuff

I realized, that I had not yet said anything to many that I'll be at GDC (which is the Game Developer's Conference). After my extreme disappointment from last year at not being able to go, this year is actually going to be a perfect opportunity for me to either fall flat on my face, or meet, speak and work with a new variety of developers, for I've actually got two talks! (EEK!)

One is in the Business and Management track, and the other in the IGDA (International Game Developer's Association). I'm actually plotting to get together with developers from India at GDC already. With the shut-down of E3, I'll be curious if GDC attracts a different kind of crowd than it has previously.

GDC is run by CMP and is very professional oriented, so I've tried to make these talks very relevant for the people who I've already learned so much from. I think these kinds of academic and industry collaborations are crucial, and in particular, I think it reasserts the value of different kinds of social science in a world that is increasingly unsure of its relevance. By and large this is reflected in the game industry's attention to psychology, but to few other social scientists. You can see this same kind of focus in the game studies programs that have been developed in the United States as well. If you're not making a game, what do you matter? This has not been the case in the Scandinavian countries, but that is because they are cool like that.

Game Developers Conference 2007 - Casey O'Donnell Speaker's Page

Mapping Your Corporate Geomorphology
Speaker: Casey O'Donnell (PhD. Candidate, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
Date/Time: TBD
Track: Business and Management
Format: 60-minute Poster Session
Experience Level: All

Session Description
This session takes concepts from geology and geography and mobilizes them for managers to analyze their companies. This metaphor provides managers with a set of tools for understanding how teams are composed, how to effectively manage those teams, and how to encourage fruitful collaboration. Different mappings are used to illustrate the ways managers can examine how a company is arranged: physical, discipline, technology, organizational hierarchy, or project. The goal is for managers to be able to answer the question, "Why does our company look the way it does?" as well as "How can we effectively change our typography?"

Quality of Life in a Global Game Industry
Speaker: Casey O'Donnell (PhD. Candidate, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
Date/Time: TBD
Track: IGDA
Format: 60-minute Lecture
Experience Level: All

Session Description
The rise of game development shops across the globe, and the increased use of offshore and inshore outsourcing could have developers feeling like they are losing leverage in making arguments for good quality of life practices. But, do globalization and the ability to outsource work really abdicate the need for quality of life both at home or abroad? This lecture examines the ways in which the hidden costs of poor quality of life, such as, staff churn, rework, schedule slippage, and lost sales negatively impact bottom lines. It looks at the benefits of good quality of life and correlates with some of the sales numbers of different studios. Mechanisms for approaching management are discussed, what are they interested in hearing? Is making the argument to management purely a numbers issue, or is management interested in other metrics? Each of these areas is also examined in the context of globalized game production, and provides developers with new levers for making quality of life arguments in this context. Developers will find this session useful to petition for an enhanced QoL environment.

(30.0)

Leaving Bangalore Soon

I figured it was high time that I post some photos of my place here in Bangalore, now that I'm going to be leaving here pretty soon. Below is a picture of my bed at Aranha Homes here. I was going to be staying at "The Haven" but instead wound up at "Park Avenue." It has been a very nice place to stay, and compared with the cost of hotels in the area, it is very reasonable. All told it runs for about 1500 INR (~$35.00) per night. It's comfy, and the help is very nice.


You can see that using Skype as my main communication back to home has meant that my laptop winds up next to me on the bed. It's just more comfortable than sitting at the desk talking to people. The bed is pretty stiff (which took some getting used to, but isn't bad), so you could probably jump on the bed (if the frame doesn't break) and the laptop wouldn't fall (until it did, because you broke the frame). Tequa (the dog) game along for the ride. I think you can see some Dhruva business cards, my headset, toothbrush, and iPod hanging out.

If you look on the back wall there are all the switches for things. Pretty much every outlet has an on/off switch, which is pretty impressive. The little night-light actually doubles as mosquito protection. I have no idea how bad it is for me, but these little lights are all over, so if I was going to grow a 3rd eye, I hope it would have happened by now. I have noticed that it kills more than just mosquitoes, it's managed to take out a couple of ants and little bugs that have wandered into my room.

The water heater. This my favorite. No, not because it has horses, but because it's got an on/off switch! I know that ones in the US do too, but because they're so big, if you shut them off it will take a while for the water to get hot again, plus you typically have to go into a closet/basement/garage/etc there the thing is. Not this baby. I've got my own personal on/off switch, and it takes about five minutes for it to rev up. It also means that no one can steal all of my hot water. My guess is about 5 gallons, though it would be liters here...


Related to water, I figured out water flows in Bangalore, which is quite different from the states. Rather than the system being fully pressurized (which it is in the states, and I assume requires all those huge pipes that when they break gush water onto the streets) here they are much lower pressure. Water flows into a storage tank at the base level of the house (it's actually lower in the ground, so it uses gravity to help pull the water in). Then that water is pumped into another storage container on the top of the house. Gravity then does the trick of giving you the tap pressure. Pretty cool.

I discovered this, because apparently the storage container on the roof ran out, so I watch the young man that works at the house trying to figure out what had happened. It was fun watching him troubleshoot it, because it allowed me a chance to observe how the whole system worked.

Back to work with me, I've got three interviews this afternoon! Phew!

(30.0)

Road Cows and Road Dogs - An Ecology of its Own

So, the other morning I woke up to find "Bessy" sitting just outside he door of the place I'm staying. Now, the thing is, it's not all that interesting, it's just the first time I've seen one of these cows just chilling out. I've seen a fair number of cows munching on random garbage and food leftovers.

There are also a lot of random "road dogs" as I call them (and Bessy was a "road cow") because well, they pretty much wander around the roads. I'm curious who they belong to. I mean, I can accept stray dogs mentally, but not really stray cows. I have not seen any stray cats, though I thought I heard a cat in heat behind the building a night or two ago.

The interesting thing about these road animals are their ecology. The garbage collection infrastructure here is not so hot, so you wind up with a lot of garbage just being dumped along the side of the road, or over walls of discarded buildings, or fences that were put there for some reason or another. Garbage gets tossed into/onto these different areas, and it collects. But that's not to say it just sits there. First the road cows seem to get first pick (assuming they're around). What the cows don't eat, the dogs get a crack at. Just the other day I saw a road rat, which I suspect is what gets to eat once the dogs are through.

A day or two ago, on my way towards the office, I encountered the Bangalorian equi sewer rat. However, there largely isn't rain water drainage system, but there are rather large troughs dug out (and often even reinforced with stone, and some are then even covered with stones as well (water can then run through the cracks down below). Well, this rat (who wasn't far from a food vendors regular spot...smart rat) had set up home invalent of a one of these drainage ditches. He was attempting to snag some food as I approached, but got nervous and scurried into his hole. He then poked his head out to watch me pass.

Tomorrow I'm going out on a little trip for a gathering of the SILK mailing list members. It should be a fun trip, and I'll get to see parts of the area surrounding Bangalore that I would not have been able to otherwise. The camera is going to join me. I'm trying to get a little less shy about using it. Sitting around with a notebook/laptop is one thing, the camera is a whole other ball of wax.

(17.5)

Remaining Bits and Pieces Settling Down

I don't have much broader commentary today. More experiential. I've been busy making sure all of the logistical bits and pieces are falling in to place. The two HR managers at RedOctane and Dhruva, have been extremely helpful in making all of this fairly simple for me. All of my internal airfare and lodging is finalized, so I don't have to worry about that any more. I've also managed to find a fair number of folks to chat with in Hyderabad, so that risk has paid off. Even though members of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) clamored that I must visit Hyderabad, I found very few developers actually willing to sit down and talk with me.

I'm going to be running a slew of interviews in the coming days, which will keep me very busy. I likely wont do much with these until after I get back to the states. Perhaps listen through them again afterwards, but no transcribing. I did realize yesterday just how much Rajesh here at Dhruva knows about the internal layout of the companies around him (I suppose that's part of his job as a CEO). It was pretty impressive. I'm hoping that he can draw a map of that world. We were planning on a meeting this afternoon, but something seemed to come up.

The nice thing is that it sounds like I've got a good cross-section of these companies, and even if I haven't been able to get sit-in time with all of them, I'll at least have an opportunity to chat with a few folks from many of them. I also got a good feel about some of the studios that I was hoping to visit, but didn't pan out, and while I'm sad that I couldn't check out India Games, I've also now got a better idea about what they're up to.

I'm going to move from the console group here to the mobile group to get a feel for what's going on over there.

Today is very nice out. Its the hottest its been since I arrived, though even now at a little after 4:30pm (IST) it has cooled down significantly. The sun is shining (we've had a fair amount of rain and cloudy skies) and I have every intention to take a slew of photos. I know I've been negligent in posting those.

Last night I ate at Friday's. Yes, I know... How very American of me. It was actually quite fun, because I ended up sitting next to a guy full of commentary about video games in India. Plus I just really wanted some mozzarella sticks. I've made it a rule that I cannot go to a place more than once while I'm here, and have stuck to that pretty well. Other than that I've made it out to many different kinds of places and had numerous different kinds of foods. I keep being encouraged to try places that aren't "Indian," but Indian versions of other foods. For example the "American" salad I had at Fridays was quite spicy, and very good. The mozz sticks were another story, you just can't adjust those too much. People keep recommending "East Asian" and "Italian" places, so I'm doing well with my goal. I'm also one go off a recommendation before I just start wandering.

Tomorrow night I'm going to have a couple of beers with guys from here after work, so that should be fun.

(15.0)

Demonstrating the Game Industry as Index

I read this article, having just had a discussion with some folks here about the difficulty in finding the kind of talented help needed by game companies. While this article is (a) all over the place and (b) unclear on specificities , it is quite good at painting a picture of what's going on with work here. I've of course snipped it up a bit, and I'm sure something is lost in that trans(formation/lation). But, it illustrates why I think the game industry makes such a great lens/metric/index into work in a global economy at this current moment.

What is the difference between creating educated "employable" professionals ("employees") and highly skilled corporate assets (I'll use the term "associates" here, a term I'm borrowing from my wife)? I think the answer goes hand in hand with, "We're just not finding enough of the right kinds of people," that I hear from game developers here all the time.

Many people getting hired here to work in games, "employees," are costing companies a significant amount of time, money, and energy to turn them into "associates." What happens when your future working force is actually not coming out into the field with the kinds of skills that you need them to? You have to educate them yourself. I'm also extremely curious why more intern-ing or co-oping is not being done here. It's rare enough in the states the people actually do these sorts of things (though their schools may encourage it, and students ought to be pursuing it more) and it appears even rarer here.

Simultaneously, "associates" are actually assets. They mean more to a company, so it is in their interest to invest in them. I've seen this at my US field sites. Companies seem to be realizing the value of their people and their skills (by and large, there are of course notable exceptions), but I think that broader political, economic, or educational analysis is not understanding that human labor is different than it was a few years ago. You can't really take a software engineer (or artists, or designer ...) straight out of college and toss him in (well, you can, if you really want to) and expect to get much out of them. There are countless other systems, sub-systems, code bases, tools, software packages, etc. that must be learned before they're worth anything significant.

That's part of this article. The other aspect is also important to keep in mind, too. I'm not focusing on "jobs for the underprivileged, the undereducated and the underskilled," but it too makes total sense, and could use some analysis in The States as well.

Engaging India: Demographic dividend or disaster?

With the average Indian now just 23 years old, and with over half the population under 25, many see potential for a big demographic dividend and India likes to projects an image of a vast, English-speaking population of bright and ambitious engineers and scientists.

The reality, for the time being, is actually very different. As things stand, India’s demographics are going to be a source of profound social upheaval in coming years.

I was talking the other day to Dr Ifzal Ali, the chief economist of the Asian Development Bank. His analysis of the situation was bleak. India, he warned, with its working age population set to increase by 71m to reach 762m in the next five years, was heading towards an employment crisis that could lead to social breakdown and a rapid collapse in growth rates.
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The first, in his view, is that there is a “huge global oversupply of labour” resulting from the growing integration of India, China and Russia with the world economy. The second is that this global oversupply has come at a time when companies around the world are pursuing competitiveness with “ideological zeal” and creating fewer new jobs per unit of extra output.

Now the idea has traditionally been that in a global economy it will be the lowest cost country that will win a race to the bottom. As Swaminaphan Aiyar, the economist, has put it, globalisation has for the first time in history made poverty an advantage. As companies are forced to scan the world for ways to cut costs, the lower the wages in any one country, the more competitive it will be, all other things being equal.

The problem is that in India all these other things are not equal. To ride the globalisation bandwagon, a country has to create a good investment climate, in terms of regulation, law and order, physical infrastructure and availability of skilled human capital. India is a very long way from doing any of these things.
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The point I’m trying to make is that unless India makes a dramatic investment in its human capital, its demographic advantages will turn into a demographic disaster in the form of a massive unemployable labour force.
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Although India produces millions of graduates annually, the raw numbers, as company after company finds in its recruitment drives, are a misleading metric for employable skills.

While 3m students graduate from Indian universities each year, only about 25 per cent of engineering graduates and 10-15 per cent of general college graduates are considered suitable for employment in the offshore IT industry, according to a recent study by Nasscom.
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He added: “Our education system is not producing enough people with the skill-sets our economy needs. This could seriously stymie India’s economic growth.”

cent oThe lobby group has warned that the Indian IT sector faces a shortfall of 500,000 professionals by 2010 that threatens the country’s dominance of global offshore IT services. Shortages are kicking in even though, according to Nasscom, only 10 perf an estimated “addressable” market of $300bn for global offshoring is being tapped today.

With the industry as a whole struggling with annual employee turnover rates approaching 40 per cent, wage inflation is rising. Reports out this week in the Business Standard indicate that a shortage of skilled labour has resulted in salary increases of 22 per cent during the first half of fiscal year 2007 for the corporate sector as a whole, That figure is the highest it’s been in over three years, with the biggest jump coming from service industries, including banks, airlines, IT and telecom companies; where salary bills have risen by 30-50 per cent in just a year.
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But none of these, however, has jobs for the underprivileged, the undereducated and the underskilled. A million mutinies are bubbling up across the country, with the most alarming being the ultra-leftist Naxalite movement, and they are deterring much-needed investment.

India will need to create jobs in large-scale, labour-intensive manufacturing to stop these protest movements from turning into something more serious. Only when there are massive Chinese-style factories making Barbies, Kickers and Gap shirts for a global market will there be jobs for those potentially otherwise tempted by extremism.

(7.5)

I Need an Address

So apparently it is difficult to get a cell phone if you do not have a permanent address where you're trying to get one. So I've discovered. Well, here's to trying. Haven't had any luck yet. I'm trying to get some kind of document from Dhruva that will help me get it, but folks have been busy. I partially just want one so I can tell what time it is without my computer. And also because the automated wake-up call system at the place I'm staying I suspect does not understand IST being GMT + 5:30. That extra thirty minutes seems to throw things off. Yes, I know I could just adjust my wake-up call setting by 30 minutes.

I've got a nice spot at Dhruva. They keep the lights on more than the VV folks, not that it's good or bad, just different. There's a whole lot of modeling and texturing going on. I'm currently hanging out with a rather large art team doing production work for a Xbox 360 game. Next week I'm going to spend some time with the teams doing mobile development, they've got artists, engineers, and a handful of designers working together on those projects.

Going to spend some time walking around a bit tonight. I ate at the place I'm staying last night, so I figure it's time to get out and look around. 100 Feet Road is a main drag, and it's busy. I'm going to try and get into downtown Bangalore this weekend and check out the pub scene which Mr. Kelty has written about. I'm going to try and get together with some of the Silk list boys for that. I hear from several developers here (one who is working on a billiards game) that apparently Hyderabad has some nice pool halls.

I saw my first road cow last night. It wasn't on the main drag, but I hear they wander out there once in a while. These road cows were just on a side street. Road dogs on the other hand are far more prevalent. One this morning was asleep on a pile of sand (being used to work into concrete for building projects) that was 1/2 in the road. Didn't budge as cars drove inches from it. I've also heard a goat, but I haven't seen it, yet. The 100 Foot Road is quite a sight, watching motorcycles, mopeds, motorized rickshaws, cars, trucks, and people all going along. I'm fascinated by the horn language that is employed. Chirps, double-chirps, blasts, it all means something, but I'm not sure what yet. I did try to get into the drivers side of a car, left side to ride white boy!

Dhruva serves lunch each day on the roof of this main building. It's been fun sitting and chatting with folks and munching away on some tasty food.

Today the power has been very iffy, I've seen the lights flicker and the generators kick on several times already today. The generators for some of these buildings are quite impressive. A significant part of several of them are taken up by their mass.

(5.0)

Microsoft Owns the Indian Game Scene

More gamers in India know the Xbox and Xbox 360 platforms than any other. That being said, the mobile market here seems to still be the largest, and that isn't to say that PC gaming or PS2s are nowhere to be seen. Instead what I mean is that as far as "next gen" or any "gen" for that matter, the awareness is quite fixed on the Xbox, Xbox 360, and mobile. And really, in a market where "casual" and "mobile" games thrive, you have to wonder where Nintendo is in all of this. Even though the DS costs a bit more than a moderately nice cell phone, I suspect that many folks would be interested in such a gadget, except that there hasn't been any marketing of existing games, or research into games that might thrive here.

I was struck by a conversation with an artist here just today, where he was asking me where I thought things would be going in 4-5 years (a lot of folks wonder about this ya?). He saw an inherent weakness or limitation in the constant pursuit of polygons and photorealism. He asked, "What will games do once people get tired of everything just looking good?" While I certainly have no magic answer to this, I was amazed that the DS and Wii were not readily known to him as possible futures where pushing millions of poly's wasn't your goal, where certain kinds of user interaction was a main focus. We talked about "user created content" but also what I like to think of as group or party play, social play. What is particularly interesting is that this particular artist has only been working for a year now, prior to that the game industry wasn't something that he paid attention to, yet within that year, working on assets for next gen consoles, he's recognized a fundamental change that most gamers are hungering for.

The Chicken-Fried-Turkey Has Landed

Well, I've arrived. Slightly harried by CDG's (That would be Charles de Gaulle International Airport) TSA equivalents. What a thankless job, really. Making people throw away makeup, toothpaste, eye-liner, bottled water, half-full soda bottles, or my empty Nalgene bottle and full and fully sealed bottles of liquor purchased in JFK's duty-free store including receipts for your would be new informants. I now feel much safer. Thank you CDG.

That however was not nearly as entertaining as having one of my abused pieces of luggage being tagged for inspection at Bangalore's custom counter.

"What's this?"
"My keyboard."
"What's this?"
"My mouse."
"What's this?"
"The adapter for the power for my laptop."
"What's this?"
"The adapter for the power for my iPod. I think I have a screwdriver over there. Oh, and a Leatherman." (Trying to helpfully locate whatever it is must have looked dangerous)
"What's this?"
"More cables, that ones for my camera, that's my iPod mic, that cable is for..."
"Get out of here."

But, all of that said, I'm here, I'm settled, and I'm happily sitting at some free horizontal space at Dhruva here in Bangalore. Everyone here has been very cool. I was led around the three different office locations earlier today and introduced to just about everyone. Now I face being completely unable to remember ANYONE's name. But at least most everyone knows who I am, and that I'm not too scary. I wore a nice shirt this morning, just in case. You never know really. Thankfully I wore my "The Scream" shirt by Edvard Munch underneath. This put most of the artists far more at ease. Nothing like a tucked in collared shirt to make a game developer nervous.

I ate lunch with the two art leads on the PC and console side today, as well as the engineering lead on the mobile side. It was fun. It started off with a discussion of my work, but quickly segued into a discussion on games that were CPU tied rather than on time. You know, those old games that when run on new hardware do extremely bizarre things because CPU cycles are no longer at a premium. You remember, that "turbo" button on your 486? Thus far the tummy is 98% at ease. Bottle water plus not going overboard on the hot stuff. I attribute the 2% to jet-lag.

Skype is now officially my favorite company. Without them I'm sure that communication with home would be much more difficult. It works and works well. I can't call the US for free (I guess the deal is just calling the US from within the US, though that wasn't clear on the website), but I can receive as many calls as I like on my Skyp-In number without costing me any more than the activation. And really, at $0.025 per minute, I don't mind making calls out.

I'm going to get a cell phone this evening. That will be fun. Apparently there is some ammusing bureaucracy associated with getting a SIM card for it. It, much like the TSA and it's international brother/sister operations, probably has to do with terror(ism).

(2.5)