It has been over three months since Niantic released its popular location-based augmented reality game Pokemon Go. Still, it is yet to come to several Asian countries, including India, China, and South Korea, which happen to be among the world’s biggest gaming markets. Now, there are high chances of gamers in these countries losing interest due to the delay.
Niantic has said that it would release Pokemon Go in about 200 countries, and it has released in over 100 nations so far. As many as 31 countries, including Egypt, Morocco, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Mauritius, got the popular game earlier this month.
Pokemon Go has been released in several Asian countries, but not without running into issues. Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam have restricted gamers from playing it at select places. It has run into the problem in South Korea, as the country restricts the use of uncensored map data from overseas while the game requires real-time geospatial technologies and Google’s map data to play.
Pokemon Go is a free augmented reality (AR) mobile phone game that lets players catch virtual characters in a real-life environment.
The game has also run into problems in India even before its release, with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in the Gujarat High court seeking a ban claiming that its release in the country could create mayhem. It stated that Go eggs were spotted in places of worship, thus amounting to hurting religious sentiments of certain communities.
There is no hurdle insight in China as far as the release of Pokemon Go is concerned, with Hong Kong already receiving it a couple of months ago. But it is not known why Niantic is holding back the release of the game in China.
The game could be released in more countries in the next few weeks, and it is inevitable with its popularly taking a nosedive in the West. Still, it appears like curiosity among gamers will vanish by the time it is launched.
The reason for this choice emerged in a chat Gadgets 360 had with Vamsi Krishna, Head – Consumer Marketing, South Asia, Nvidia. He let slip some interesting snippets on gamers in the country and what the graphics card giant is up to, aside from pushing out new hardware.
“It also meets a great platform where gamers can get the best gameplay experience,” he adds. “That’s the reason we chose Overwatch. What we also chose was to enable the premium cafes for Nvidia with Overwatch, so they also encourage people who are coming to the cafes with this new game.”
For the GeForce Cup, Nvidia resorted to third-party suppliers for Overwatch PC codes, Krishna says. With Blizzard not bringing in the game officially or offering any support, it makes us wonder if the company is too early to the e-sports bubble – while lucrative internationally, it has yet to hit similar heights in the country.
“The way the Indian e-sports scenario is, most of the global publishers don’t think there’s a sufficient size for e-sports in India, but we have a sufficient size,” claims Krishna. “It’s a matter of fact, and it’s time before they realize we have a sufficient crowd, and they come one by one officially to India.”
Unlike other recent e-sports events that have taken place online, cyber cafes will play a crucial role in the GeForce Cup. But are they still relevant? According to Nvidia, very much so, likening their effect on adopting video gaming in the nation similar to China or South Korea.
“It’s actually not cyber cafes; it’s gaming cafes,” he says. “They are very relevant in India. If gaming has to grow in India, gaming cafes play a significant role in this particular growth. What we believe is India and China when we compare, these are the two countries that are very similar in terms of society.”
“China is way ahead of India in the perspective of the gaming category,” he adds. “China has around 145,000 gaming centers and close to 60 million gamers.” India is nowhere close, but Krishna’s hoping that Nvidia can change this by working with cybercafes and getting them to convert to gaming cafes when Internet connectivity is getting cheaper and more accessible anyway.
“We believe there are 12 to 15 million PC and console gamers in India, and we only have 300 to 350 decent gaming centers in India for this crowd,” says Krishna. “There is a significant opportunity for gaming vendors in India, and that’s the reason why Nvidia is putting a lot of effort in terms of helping these cafe owners to understand best business practices and to allow more gamers to get encouraged to get into gaming cafes.” Nvidia’s cafe program – which guides and rates cafes according to their gaming readiness – helps in this.
“We’re looking at close to 150 cafes in the last five months, and out of 150 cafes, we’re close to 29 certified cafes,” he says. “All these 29 cafes have made significant changes or investments to their cafes to meet the certification standards. If you go to a platinum-rated cafe, you will find a minimum of GTX 960 and above, and that’s a platform where gamers can get a good gaming experience.”
“While we certify cafes, we also help them with initiatives like the GeForce Cup that takes place in platinum-rated cafes to start with, and with season one, we’re doing with eight of these,” he explains. “There will be a significant footfall in these cafes. There will be a new set of gamers to play new genres creating incremental revenue sources for these cafes.”
For Nvidia, the upside to this is getting to sell more cards without reaching the consumer market. A cybercafe is likely to buy more GeForce GTXes in a single order than most consumers would in their entire lifetime, several times over. “This is a long-term strategy for Nvidia. It’s never a quick strategy for us,” Krishna says. “Nvidia is one of the key gaming brands in India whose actually seriously investing in gaming cafe category.”
“Our audience is an active mix of everything [lapsed, active, and soon to be gamers]. Of 25 million who have an active interest in video games, around 10 to 15 million of them have platforms physically present with them,” he adds. “When we look at the number of people showing active interest in video games and related interests, we close to 25 to 30 million people who are active on Facebook. That’s a big number. We’re only talking about connecting two to three million people, but the opportunity is a lot more than what we’re reaching right now.”
The term “platform,” we’re told, refers to both PCs and consoles. Of which, PCs are “significantly dominant,” according to Krishna. Drilling down further, he tells us that only one to one and a half million people have “decent” platforms to play at resolutions of 1080p and above. But this isn’t a reflection of the interest in the category, he insists.
“While the balance nine-plus million people do have a PC but no good platforms. They consume a lot of data. If we announce any game titles or talk about any games that release in the market, they go active on social and consume the content,” Krishna explains. “They check out what’s happening around the world; they follow and post. The balance shows an active interest, and that’s untapped potential that will eventually get into the fold.” One method used to tap into this segment, Krishna tells us, is its live stream of marquee events such as the GeForce 1070 and 1080 launch in Bengaluru.
“On that day, we reached close to two million gamers. Close to 200,000 video views on that day alone,” he says. “If you look at the demographics of gamers, 50 percent are in the demographic of 18 to 24 and are predominantly male, and these guys are one of the most socially active audiences in the world today.”
And it isn’t just the top 20 cities either. In addition to the GeForce Cup, the company is bringing its GamerConnect event – where consumers can check out the latest games on Nvidia hardware to tier-II cities such as Mangalore and Jaipur.
“It’s a growing gamer community, and most gamers in tier-II haven’t got exposed to the brand directly. Tier-II cities are also very well connected today. The kind of response we get in tier-II cities is a lot more encouraging these days,” he says, adding that the spending power is on par with bigger cities. GamerConnect appears to be a way for the company to let customers – existing or otherwise – of its presence.
While Krishna’s focus is squarely on evangelizing gaming, we had to ask of the company’s plans for the GeForce GTX 1050 – the alleged budget GPU successor to last year’s GTX 950.
“I can’t comment on that. There is no announcement of any other products from the Pascal architecture perspective,” he says. “The only products we are formally announced in India are 1080, 1070, and 1060 in two formats – 6GB and 3GB. Having said that, Nvidia constantly apprises the market scenarios and product gaps – as and when there is a right time or opportunity, we will talk about those accordingly.”
GURGAON: After nine weeks of frenzied competition, the finale is at hand. On Sunday, Gurgaon and gaming come together in what promises to be a battle between smart wits and smarter minds.
Gathering in the city for the final leg will be 100 of India’s best gamers, with teams flying in from Chennai, Bangalore, and Mumbai. And on Sunday, 40 elite gamers will be slugging it out for a funky accolade (having their name on a bottle of a popular fizzy drink) and a prize pool totaling Rs 10 lakhs.
In the ‘Dew Arena,’ contenders squared off on personal computers, consoles, and mobile phones. Of these, the ‘mobile’ game allowed gaming enthusiasts the opportunity to play in the ‘arena’ from any place (and at any time).
Akshat Rathee, MD of NODWIN Gaming (gaming partner of ‘Dew Arena’), says it’s no longer considered “weird” to be a gamer. This is, he says, gaming’s time. “We’ve been adamant in saying that gaming is here. It’s just something that’s been under the radar – we didn’t realize it has grown into a subculture of entertainment and youth,” Rather told TOI.
“You’ll not find anyone in India under the age of 25 who’s not played a game, whether it be ‘Candy Crush’ or ‘Temple Run,’ or ‘FIFA’ on the console – these are words that have become part of the lexicon now,” claims Rather.
Gaming, he adds, is far from being a nerdy pursuit, and plenty of multi-tasking and stamina is required. “These are people whose fingers move faster than you can see – they’re not the fat boy in the basement with big glasses!
“These are guys whose left fingers are on the keyboard doing one thing, whose right hand is on a mouse doing something else, and whose eyes are not blinking for at least three-and-a-half minutes in a row to make sure he doesn’t miss a second of anything.”
Also, on the finale day, there’s a chance for visitors to take part in a ‘cosplay’ (that’s costume play for the uninitiated), where people dress up as characters from comics, video games, or those Japanese staples, manga, and anime. It’s time for this subculture to take the limelight.
Taiwan-based computer hardware company ASUS and Republic of Gamers (ROG) launched two new gaming laptops equipped with the latest Nvidia Pascal GeForce GTX10 series graphic card in India. The laptops ASUS ROG GL502VS and G752VS are priced at Rs 1,81,990 and Rs 2,47,990, respectively.
ROG GL502 comes with a sixth-generation Intel i7 processor clocked at 2.70 GHz. It comes with a VR Ready NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 GPU. GL502 comes with 32GB of DDR4 RAM. The laptop features a 15-inch display that allows for 178-degree viewing angles. The laptop uses a Hyper Cool Duo-Copper cooling system to keep the CPU, and GPU cool independently. It also comes with USB Type-C ports for up to 10Gbps data transfer speeds. The laptop weighs 2.3Kgs.
ROG G752VS comes with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 GPU, Windows 10 Pro, 6th generation Intel Skylake unlocked Core i7 processor, and up to 64GB overclocked DDR4 RAM. The laptop features a 17-inch Full-HD display. The laptop also comes with a 512GB SSD along with a 1TB HDD.
The laptops are available at leading stores along with Asus exclusive outlets.
The Indian Games Expo (IGX 2016) made its way to India last Saturday, but more importantly, so did PlayStation VR. With all this hype surrounding VR and hearing tales of it being the best thing to happen since sliced bread, we just had to check out. Luckily for us, Sony brought the PSVR to India and demoed it at IGX.
Let’s start with the headset itself. Looking at the spec sheet, it’s easy to dismiss the PSVR as the budget alternative to the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive, and it is exactly that, but it has surprising potential.
Unlike the Rift and the Vive, which are festooned with sensors and require fancy tracking cameras to function, the PSVR uses simple LEDs and the PS Camera to track orientation. If you’re familiar with TrackIR, the PSVR uses a similar system.
The tracking wasn’t as fluid as I’ve experienced on the Vive or the Rift, but it was more than enough for the kind of games on offer. Tracking aside, my second concern with the PSVR was the screen resolution. The Rift and the Vive both use 2K screens, and even then, images aren’t very sharp. If you’ve ever tried Google Cardboard with a Full HD screen, you’ll have noticed severe pixelation. The PSVR uses a Full HD screen.
Interestingly, I saw no pixelation whatsoever, which was a pleasant surprise. Sony did say that the PSVR uses three subpixels per rendered pixel vs. the two subpixels per pixel on the Rift and the Vive. In effect, this means that Sony’s PSVR is actually rendering a denser image than the Rift and the Vive, making for a perceivably better VR experience.
Sadly, the PS4 itself doesn’t seem to be able to do that amazing headset justice.
Oculus and HTC recommend a pretty beefy system for handling VR. In comparison, the PS4’s graphics capabilities are very tame. In VR, that performance difference is very apparent.
We tried many games on the PSVR: Drive Club, Batman VR, and Resident Evil 7. In all those games, the one factor that stood out was the low resolution of the game. Jaggies and low-res textures were everywhere. It was so bad, in fact, that it felt like we were watching something like a 360p video on a 1080p screen.
Barring resolution, the experience was pleasant enough. We did have controller and tracking issues in Batman and Resident Evil, but those issues were more down to set up issues than PSVR issues. We couldn’t try the Move controllers in-game because they weren’t properly set up at the demo time.
I only spent a total of 20 minutes at most with the PSVR, but those 20 minutes convinced me of two things. The first is that Sony’s done a better job with games and with the headset than either Oculus or HTC. The second is that the PS4 is the wrong console for VR. I hope the PS4 Pro manages to render higher resolution VR gaming because it would be a shame to waste PSVR on just the PS4.
“Gooooaaaal by Messi,” screamed the commentator as we entered India’s gaming extravaganza ‘IGX Gaming Expo.’, which was recently held at the World Trade Centre in Mumbai. With a boom in technology, a whole new generation of gamers is emerging. At IGX, serious gamers participated in competitive tournaments for the newest video games, such as FIFA 17 (released in September), WWE 2K17 (released on October 11), and PES (Pro Evolution Soccer) 2017 (rival to FIFA).
Other new games like Mortal Kombat XL, Injustice II, Watch Dogs 2, Star Wars, Mafia III, Tomb Raider, W2K17, etc., were introduced. Games were available for a hands-on gaming experience. “I just play a few games, and I am not a gamer, but I really loved the Mortal Kombat XL game,” said one of the guests at the expo.
But what really drew the crowd was the Play Station section, which launched the Play Station Virtual Reality. The serpentine queue to try the VR headset spoke volumes about how gaming enthusiasts are growing in numbers in India.
Roosh, an Indian start-up founded in 2013, has made mobile game development its passion by launching games for Android and IOS. Ogre Head Studio brought an Indian flavor to gaming through ‘Asura,’ a game inspired by Indian mythology. The presence of tech giants like Alienware and Asus, computer hardware distributors like Acro engineering made for a wholesome technological experience.
Superman, Wonder woman, Flash, Ironman, Pikachu, or Goku, you name any cult character, their T-shirts, mugs, and other souvenirs were available for sale, much to the delight of gamers.
In posterity, June 2016 will be remembered for one of the major global event risks materializing – a British referendum to exit the European Union (EU). This result was unexpected by most quarters of the market, and there was an immediate negative reaction seemingly driven by sentiments. Since then, developments have been more in line with broader market consensus as policymakers have expressed their willingness to extend full support to the economy. In fact, the Bank of England has already loosened its monetary policy and will probably do more in the coming days to avoid any unnecessary collateral damage. The UK government could also go in for a more pragmatic fiscal policy given that the growth of the economy will likely take a hit.
Markets have remained broadly stable and have reacted on expected lines with adequate capital making its way towards safe-haven assets. The initial reaction in the markets was of shock and resulted in steep declines in the equity markets and strengthening of the USD. However, since then, levels of risk aversion have reduced, and equity markets worldwide have done well, along with a rise in the price of most sovereign bonds. The biggest negative effect has been felt on the currency markets as the GBP has fallen by around 11% versus the USD. While not completely unanticipated, this does show the investors’ concern over the future of the UK markets.
Still, the true ramifications of BREXIT will take months, if not years, to become apparent. While several possibilities can play out in the coming months, it is important to take a step back and gauge the impact on the Indian economy through its linkages with the UK and the broader EU economy.
A LOOK AT TRADE
The UK and the EU are both important trading partners for India, and both are committed to enhancing their trade flows shortly. According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce, UK-India bilateral trade was valued at USD 14.02 billion in FY16. The EU-India trade (including the UK) was valued at USD 88.56 billion in FY16. Further, exports to the UK and the EU were worth USD 8.83 billion and USD 44.62 billion, while imports were worth USD 5.19 billion and USD 43.94 billion.
Trade between UK-India and EU-India is an area of focus as all parties are striving to increase trade. In fact, trade deals and negotiations were being discussed even before the referendum took place.
The UK used to be India’s third-biggest trading partner 15 years ago; today, it is its 12th1. Also, the UK is one of seven countries with which India has a trade surplus. Negotiations with the EU are currently being held regarding Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)2, which will likely boost bilateral trade between nations.
India’s imports from the UK are largely dominated by precious metals and stones, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances, iron and steel, and electrical equipment. At the same time, exports to the UK are led by apparel and clothing accessories, boilers, machinery, and mechanical appliances, precious metals, and vehicles.
In March of this year, we had reported that due increase in automation in the IT sector, the top 5 IT firms recruited 24% fewer employees in 2015. What we didn’t anticipate was the ripple effect of the automation phenomenon in an important sector – education.
As per the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), enrollment and intake for mechanical engineering have gradually overtaken demand for computer science engineering in India, which has been going on for the last 4 years. This means that technical education in India is witnessing a massive transformation from IT to the non-IT field, which can have some serious effects on the job market in India.
As the demand for IT courses in engineering is gradually decreasing, job offers from mechanical disciplines are steadily increasing.
Mechanical Vs. Computer Science Engineering
As per AICTE data, 5,34,199 students enrolled for mechanical engineering in 2013-14, compared to 3,23,697 enrollments for computer science in the same year.
This is the highest gap witnessed by AICTE vis-a-vis mechanical and computer science courses in engineering. In fact, between 2012-13 to 2015-16, the intake of mechanical engineering students has gone up by 2 lakh all over the nation.
In April, we reported that factory jobs are back in demand due to the increased focus on Make in India, which encourages more manufacturing inside India rather than importing.
This can be a small reason, which came into effect last year.
However, the main reason seems simple demand and supply rule: There are more IT professionals in India than the demand, shifting the base of technical education in India.
For example, he said that if 100 people are required to create software, only three must maintain it, thereby squashing demand for IT experts.
Besides, automation is also seen as a major influence in shifting the demand for IT experts. Automation, robotics, and technology can potentially kill 5.1 million jobs worldwide by 2020, and World Bank has just confirmed this fact. The jobs that are being automated at a fast pace now belong to the IT sector; although mechanical jobs can also get affected, the rate is slower.
Thane: A 33-year-old man, who allegedly mentored the young kingpin of the over Rs 500-crore Mira Road call center scam, was arrested on Sunday.
Police questioned Jagdish Kanani, a partner in a BPO business in Hari Om Plaza at Mira Road, about the functioning of the telephone scamming cartel. A top police officer confirmed the arrest and said it was a breakthrough in the case as Kanani is the “creator” of phone frauds and mentor of 23-year-old Sagar Thakkar, alias Shaggy.
“We have information that Kanani is the one who cracked the code of making easy money by misusing technology and playing on the fears of people. He had worked on US processes as a call center employee and was familiar with the operations that involve calling up US citizens and exerting pressure on them to repay their credit card dues,” a police source told TOI. He added that Kanani had made investments in call centers and played a vital role in setting up fake ones across the country with different names.
Police claimed Kanani had coached Thakkar on how to con US citizens from India and misuse magicJack devices—they plug into a USB port on the user’s computer and have a standard RJ-11phone jack any standard phone can be plugged. “Kanani and Thakkar would pose as tech support callers from legitimate IT software firms and ‘alert’ a victim of a computer virus. They would ‘fix’ the computer and also charge for a maintenance contract,” said the source.
Meanwhile, the crackdown on Mira Road call centers has broken Thakkar’s back as he was planning to set up five eight offices in Mumbai and Ahmedabad as part of his ‘business expansion plan.’ “The cartel had interviewed over 400 job aspirants in Mumbai and Ahmedabad and selected over 100 for the setups Thakkar was to launch in Ahmedabad,” a police officer said. “Thakkar was interested in newly constructed commercial buildings as till the other blocks would be rented or sold, the call center operations would be smooth, and no one would know what was going on.”
Police chief Param Bir Singh said, “Such call centers have brought shame to the country…fly-by-night call centers are mushrooming everywhere, and there is no governing body to keep a watch on them.”
Investigators believe Thakkar’s sister Reema played a vital role in the scam—she not only aided him and handled the finances through hawala channels. “We are yet to find trace his sister after which her role in the case would be ascertained,” said a police officer. Police are also making inquiries of the involvement of hawala operatives from Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Police said last year, Thakkar had invited his friend Tapash Gupta to help set up call centers along with Mansuri. Thakkar would also often travel to South Asian countries for pleasure trips.
An analysis of the data available with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the government body responsible for technical education in the country, shows that the number of enrolments in Computer Science as a subject has been on a constant decline since the year 2012. The data also shows that enrolment for Mechanical is going upward. In the last four years, enrolment in Mechanical has been the highest in the academic year 2013-14 at 534199. The same year number of students enrolled in Computer science was 323697, and the number has shown a decline in the consecutive years.
Several student intakes in these two disciplines have also shown a variation with the increase in several enrolments. The number of mechanical courses in various colleges across the country increased by two lakh from 2012-13 to 2015-16.
Officials in the government attribute it to the global trends of reducing demand for computer science engineering graduates.
“The IT industry was booming sometime back, and more and more students were pursuing computer science, but now the industry is saturated. There is more supply than demand for IT professionals in the industry, which is the reason that students are moving towards other fields of engineering,” said a senior HRD Ministry official associated with technical education.
“Also, one does not need to study computer science engineering to pursue IT. Everyone is studying computers. If 100 people develop software, only three people must maintain it, which reduces the demand for workforce. On the contrary, Mechanical is a field where one needs subject expertise to be able to work in the field,” he added.
In terms of placement also, Mechanical has shown an increase in numbers over the last four years. In 2015-16, 139162 students were placed compared to around 95000 in 2012-13.
The least popular choices among students are Chemical and Textile engineering, even as engineering as a subject continues to be the top choice for students among professional courses like Management and Pharmacy.
