Jul 06

Punjab teen spends 2 lakh rupees from grandfather’s pension account on PUBG mobile

Posted in: Animation

This teen from Punjab allegedly made a Paytm account using his grandfather’s documents to make purchases in PUBG Mobile.

Fresh off the heels of the incident that saw a Punjab teenager spending Rs 16 lakh from his parents account on PUBG Mobile, another similar incident has surfaced. This new incident saw another Pujnab teen from the small town of Mohali spending 2 lakh rupees  his grandfather’s pension account. This new incident shows that this has become a recurring problem with some teens in India.

The addiction of PUBG Mobile is on the rise as another similar case has emerged just like the last one. Another teenager from Mohali region of Punjab, India made use of his grandfather’s pension account to make in-game item purchases worth 2 Lakh Rs in PUBG Mobile.

According to a report from The Tribune India, the teenager started playing the game in the month of January. “He learnt to make online transactions inside the game with the help of a bank account from one of his school seniors”, says his uncle. He even told that the teenager had bought a brand-new SIM card just to play the game. PUBG Mobile’s in-game currency, also known as UC (Unknown Cash) allows the players to buy several clothes, weapon skins, premium crates and much more inside the game.

He reportedly used his grandfather’s documents to verify the account and make the online payments. Grandfather’s bank account was made by the family for pension deposits. As per the sources, this teenager who hails from Mohali made around 30 transactions in the last two months to spend 55,000 Indian Rupees in the game. He was using a Paytm account made on the name of his grandfather to buy the UC. His family got to know about what was going on when they did a routine check on grandfather’s bank account statement.

The boy revealed that he had spent over 2 Lakh Indian Rupees for in-app purchases in PUBG Mobile. He even acknowledged that he had given the senior a fair amount of money to purchase items in the game. As per the family, the teenager was lured by his senior to indulge in such activities and they have even filed a complaint against the senior who lives in a small region of Mohali district, Zirakpur.

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Jul 06

Mobile will continue to be the driving force for gaming in India: The Esports club co-founder Ishaan Arya

Posted in: Animation

Video gaming has proven to be somewhat invulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic,  on the other hand  where mainstream sports around the world on hold, people are increasingly turning to gaming to fill the empty hours of lockdown and isolation.

The Esports Club co-founder and head of business development, Ishaan Arya

Drawing the picture of the current scene of esports industry The Esports Club co-founder and head of business development, Ishaan Arya shares with AnimationXpress that, “The industry is doing quite well. Demand for products has skyrocketed as gamers want to be equipped for increased hours spent inside. Gamers are spending more hours playing games with concurrent user numbers skyrocketing; gaming content consumption is also at an all-time high on YouTube.”

As physical LAN events have always been a major part of esports, the most direct negative impact of Covid 19 has been the cancellation of these events.  During this period we have witnessed international esports teams entering mobile esports with Indian players to represent them off late including Fnatic and TSM.  This portrays that the large global organisations are seeing huge potential in Indian esports ecosystem.  Earlier this year,  The Esports club has partnered with Ahmedabad’s  Comic Con to create an exclusive gaming experience for the community. More recently, it launched a five-month-long league for Rainbow Six Siege, sponsored by the likes of Western Digital and ZOTAC Gaming. Also, one of the organisers of the first major Valorant tournament across Asian countries.Here is the excerpt from the interview :

How is The Esports Club contributing to the esports ecosystem in India?

Our entire core team has come from the gaming and esports industry. We realized that while everyone was looking at tapping into esports, nobody was actively looking to develop it at the grassroots level to help sustain and grow this boom. Our aim with The Esports Club was to fill this void by creating our tournament platform that would not only serve as an investment option for brands but provide professional, semi professional and amateur gamers a long term esports opportunity with leagues and series of tournaments spread across five to six months. Our second core value is helping spread the wealth. We want esports to provide earning opportunities across all tiers of competition; professional, semi professional and amateur. You will see our tournaments which run as leagues have multiple divisions so that teams are divided based on their skill and compete for their own prize pools, so you will see very little skill mismatch and everyone will have an opportunity to win and earn without having to worry about competing with teams of a significantly higher skill level. Our knockout tournaments also help spread the prize pool beyond the top three or four, in line with our belief that each major event we host should reward as many teams as possible.

How do you see the Indian esports market different from other countries?

India is currently at a very nascent stage. Our gaming market at it’s core is also very different, we have a much younger demographic. Esports isn’t just competitive gaming, it’s when there’s an entire content and entertainment ecosystem built around it. While India is certainly on the right path we still have a long way to go.

Esports is evolving as a viable career option for virtual athletes and gamers. Where do you see it in the coming years? 

Esports as an industry is providing many opportunities beyond just playing. While the players of course form the base there are so many support services around it providing gainful employment ; producers, directors, editors, photographers, on camera hosts, commentators, organizers, admins. Just like any broadcast or entertainment industry, there are tons of support roles required to put on a great esports show so even if you aren’t a player there is most certainly still a potential role in and around the esports industry. As the scale grows with more events, so do the full time employment opportunities.

How the Indian fan base for esports is  different from other countries?

India has a much younger esports and gaming audience than other countries. We fall mostly within the 12-18 age groups and as such a lot of the interest and fanfare is towards mobile gaming since that is the platform that is most accessible to play on for this demographic. While I expect this to spillover to PC, I see mobile continuing to be the driving force for the industry in India.

What will be esports’ post-pandemic scene?

Esports is going to be one of the industries that comes out on top; gaining a lot of traction thanks to increased amount of time spent by everyone playing and watching gaming content online. The lack of physical events is certainly something that will be a bit of a speed bump but it’s not something that will derail the esports growth trajectory.

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Jul 06

‘Karmachakra’ director urges Anime fans in India to vote for their choice of language and streaming platform for the film

Posted in: Animation

Anime fans in India, your wait is going to be over soon!

Studio Durga, India’s first anime studio who had created a stir in the Indian Anime community with their first ever independent Indian anime project, Karmachakra, is now gearing up to launch it soon on an OTT platform. 

Last Saturday, 4 July, the studio recently conducted a poll/survey inviting fans who have supported them till date, to choose from two major OTT players (Hoichoi and Disney+Hotstar) to stream the 80 minute animated feature. In a video, Studio Durga founder and CEO Rajorshi Basu has thanked fans for their support and have urged them to vote in which language and on which streaming platform the fans would like to watch Karmachakra. (Originally, the anime feature is in Bengali)

Speaking on the poll/survey, Basu told AnimationXpress, “Some of the streaming platforms we talked to were keen on taking up Karmachakra, but they need that extra assurance that a completely new project such as this has enough audience, as they are mostly unaware of the huge fan base for anime in India. So this was a survey for our audience to voice their demand on the basis of both language and platform. The total number of votes matter more than anything, and any participation will help us immensely.”

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown that followed, the cinema halls and multiplexes have been shut till further notice. As the country still grapples with the virus and the exponential rise in the number of active cases daily, the possibility of reopening of theaters in the near future is blurring. Hence, many Bollywood filmmakers are taking their films directly for an OTT release. The trend started with Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana starrer Gulabo Sitabo premiering on Amazon Prime Video. 

Lately, Disney+Hotstar announced a new segment Disney+Hotstar multiplex which will premiere seven big Bollywood films on Fridays between July to October this year, starting with late Sushant Singh Rajput-starrer Dil Bechara on 24 July. Other movies include Akshay Kumar-Kiara Advani’s Laxmmi Bomb, Alia Bhatt-Aditya Roy Kapur-starrer Sadak 2, Abhishek Bachchan’s The Big Bull, Vidyut Jammwal’s Khuda Haafiz, Ajay Devgn-Sanjay Dutt’s Bhuj and Kunal Khemu’s Lootcase. 

It’s a possibility that Karmachakra might add to this list, being the first anime film to be premiering on the Disney owned streaming platform (as of now Hotstar has received more votes in comparison to Hoichoi). 

The film is majorly completed and is going through the last in-production phase, and simultaneously post-production is about halfway through. As Basu shared, there are numerous changes and enhancements to the original material, so all things considered, there might be certain delays in production.

The Studio Durga team has worked tirelessly to make it see the light of the day and has even funded Karmachakra out of their pockets. “The project has been self-funded till now, and will continue to be till completion, which is very soon. After it is licensed, I hope to profit or at least break even, so I can continue to run the studio and work on further projects that are planned,” said Basu. 

As the lockdown disrupted normalcy in the workspace, though animation as a medium thrived during this time, it had its own challenges -“The lockdown was a real challenge in terms of management and infrastructure, but thankfully we were prepared and planned operations accordingly beforehand, so there was no considerable slowdown in the production as we worked remotely.”

The synopsis of Karmachakra reads – The story of an orphan girl trying to find her roots, revolving around mysteries about her past and present. A mystery drama set in a fictional present-day India that draws inspiration from psychology, mythology, and cyber-technology.

Directed by Basu himself, the voice cast includes the talents of noted film actors Swastika Mukherjee, Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Mir Afsar Ali, Parno Mittra, Swaroopa Ghosh, Tanusree Shankar, late Santu Mukherjee, Anik Dutta, Alaknanda Roy, Shantilal Mukherjee, Barun Chanda and Shamik Sinha.

Karmachakra is a labour of love, passion and hard work Basu has urged everyone to let their hard work entertain them. “Whichever option you choose to vote for, please do vote and ask everyone you know to cast their vote, because the total votes matter. Being the first project of this kind, this is your chance to make it happen. Karmachakra wouldn’t have been possible without your support, and this is the best way you can help us bring the movie to you. The link can only be opened through the YouTube app or on desktop; and can be found on the Community tab of our channel,” concluded he. 

Karmachakra has also won three awards, including ‘Best Animation Short’ at three awards at the Independent Shorts Awards (ISA), based in Los Angeles in March 2020.

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Jul 06

No.67

Posted in: Animation
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Jul 03

Amazon Prime Video app now available on all Windows 10 devices

Posted in: Animation

Customers in India can now avail Amazon Prime Video on all Windows 10 devices through a dedicated app available on the Microsoft Store.

Through the new Windows app, customers can access and stream Prime Video’s content library online or download for offline viewing on their device. This feature only works through the app on the Windows 10 operating system and also includes desktop PCs, laptops, and tablets. The online streaming experience is the same as the current experience on the website or app.

Amazon Prime Video offers engaging content and value-for-money with a well created and curated content library consisting latest and exclusive movies, TV shows, stand-up comedy, Amazon Originals, ad-free music listening through Amazon Prime Music, and other services, all available only for Rs. 129 a month or Rs. 999 a year.

Prime members can watch seamless and undisrupted content experience anywhere and anytime on the Prime Video app for smart TVs, mobile devices, Fire TV, Fire TV stick, Fire tablets, Apple TV, Airtel, Vodafone, and more. Prime members can also download episodes on their mobile devices and tablets and watch anywhere offline at no additional cost.

Amazon Prime Video also streams a good volume of kids content along with Parental Controls and a dedicated kids page so that kids can enjoy secure, ad-free entertainment from popular shows like Peppa Pig, Powerpuff Girls, and Chhota Bheem, Bahubali: The Lost Legends and more.

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Jul 03

Marvel Comics has acquired the rights to both ‘Alien’ and ‘Predator’

Posted in: Animation

Marvel Comics has acquired the rights to both Alien and Predator. This move will “feature new and classic characters from Earth and beyond to explore never-before-seen corners of both the Alien and Predator universes,” according to Marvel.

Following the debut of Alien in 1979 and Predator in 1987, the films built a cult following and expanded rapidly to include toys, games, novels, and comic books, eventually leading to 2004’s landmark crossover Alien vs. Predator. Marvel’s new stories will draw from all of these properties, building on decades of multimedia storytelling. Get a first look at next year’s deadly new chapter with spine-chilling cover art by David Finch!

Finch said in a release: “Alien and Predator are the two of the most identifiable, iconic characters of all time, and I love them for that,” said Finch. “But mostly, it’s being fortunate enough to be a kid when they were new. I’ve seen every movie they’ve ever been in, and I cannot wait to see them wreaking havoc in the Marvel Universe. I drew my pictures of them with a massive smile on my face.”

Details on upcoming Alien and Predator comic book titles, collections, reprints, and creative teams will be shared at a later date.

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Jul 03

‘Zootopia’ tops box office four years after release

Posted in: Animation

More than four years after its first release, Disney’s Zootopia is back at the top of the box office, having grossed all of $280,000 over the weekend. The feature now boasts a lifetime domestic total of around $341.5 million. According to Deadline, some 1,100 of the exhibition sector’s 5,900 theaters are running, with drive-ins still doing better business than traditional venues.

Marvel’s The Avengers (2012) came second last weekend with $260,000. Universal’s Trolls World Tour, which premiered simultaneously online and in theaters in April, was the only other animated feature in the top ten, coming in seventh with $138,000.

A few months after the initial shutdowns, movie theaters are attempting to reopen and jumpstart business, but there still aren’t any new films scheduled to come out until August (and it’s far from a guarantee that will actually happen). As a result, theaters have resorted to screening classic titles, giving viewers the opportunity to see older movies on the big screen again. Last week, Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park topped the box office 27 years after its premiere, and now more older films are going head-to-head.

Tenet and Mulan, the two tentpole films that were supposed to herald cinemas’ return this month, are now due to launch in August.

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Jul 03

A cryptographically secure random number generator helps to improvise gameplay experience in Poker

Posted in: Animation

The fascination of the Indian audience towards card games that are under the game of skill genre has been increasing steadily over the past few years.  Be it family get togethers, house party or Diwali, card games have been one of the longest traditions of India. As the lockdown started it gave people a better chance to connect with their passions and discover new ones, and this has witnessed,  “tremendous upsurge in the general interest towards the game of skills in general and poker in particular” according to Pocket52 founder and CEO Nitesh Salvi.

Often poker is compared to chess rather than any other card games, the reason behind it is the complexity and the pattern recognition skills required to excel in the game. Poker as a game teaches a lot about the real world, from taking calculated risks to anticipating your opponents’ moves. This is probably the reason why lots of corporate honchos love to unwind with poker. Therefore the complexity of the game requires ample security, thus Pocket 52  interface has a cryptographically secured random number generator. A cryptographically secure random number generator is one where the number that is generated is extremely hard for any third party to predict what it might be. As first, the numbers have to pass statistical randomness tests; and secondly, they hold up well under serious attack, even when part of their initial or running state becomes available to an attacker.

Pocket52 founder and CEO Nitesh Salvi

Salvi says,“We have been growing at a rate of 25 per cent month on month since the beginning of this year. The lockdown did increase the growth rate, but the reason we were able to sustain the growth rate was due to plethora of sustained innovations that we have introduced in the Indian poker industry, from being India’s first and only cryptographically secure RNG+(Random Number Generation+) poker platform, certified internationally to being India’s first and only poker network. We don’t think that we are in the post lockdown phase yet. Even though the government is trying to move towards Unlock 2.0, most of the white-collar workers, who form the bulk of our customers are still working from home and likely to do so in the near future.”

It is true that Poker is a fascinating game  which requires practice.  He believes that people who have once understood the intricacies of Poker will always keep coming back for mental stimulation.  For a Poker platform it is crucial that it maintains the genuinity and player liquiduity for better experience. Player liquidity refers to the numbers of poker players playing at a particular poker site. The old adage that it takes money to make money translates closely to poker room player liquidity. The sites that have lots of players on them tend to attract more players. Players are more reluctant to play on sites where there aren’t as many tables going. They prefer having choices and being able to play multiple tables at a particular level. Therefore, poker rooms need to focus on keeping a high level of player liquidity in order to attract more players.

He added “Gaming as an industry has made several innovations in the past few years. In real money gaming, the most important features, apart from the obvious ones like the ease of use and customer friendliness, are trust, security and liquidity. We have innovated by creating India’s first and only poker network which has solved the issue of player liquidity completely. Our cryptographically secure RNG+ tech helps solve the issue of trust and security. “

He has witnessed that during Covid19 lockdown investors have been bullish on the gaming sector and it is expected to continue for the next few years.

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Jul 03

WCC rolls out a comprehensive ‘career mode’ along with other fresh features

Posted in: Animation

World Cricket Championship, has  revealed its ‘Career Mode’ in its third edition – WCC 3 Beta 2 version in the mobile cricket game. WCC’s “career mode” allow gamers to experience the thrill of professional cricket by guiding their player throughout the cricket season which sprawls across three brackets, 25 series, and 400+ matches with a built-in challenging performance decision system. The system then determines the rise in ranks starting from a local club to the national, league or international level.

WCC 3’s career mode has a 3D motion capture feature in a mobile cricket game along with other exclusive features like dynamic difficulty, choice, perma match flow and decision making system and visuals cut-scenes of the player getting selected, making it to the media and many moments of success and failure in a cricket career.

The game also comes with a competitive multiplayer mode focusing on facing off players and becomes a communal activity in which players can become part of 500 plus realistic animations simulate actual cricket. Updated gameplay mechanics, numerous new camera angles, real-time motion capture of athletes and professional cricketers, advanced artificial intelligence along with the bilingual commentary provide an enhanced, all-round gameplay experience.

Says Nextwave Multimedia founder and CEO P.R.Rajendran, “The new career mode has been the most awaited feature by millions of our fans and we are working to further innovate with more cut scenes to enhance their experience, making it even more immersive. The game inputs are often guided by our fans and with all matches at a halt due to the pandemic, we hope that the game will fill the cricket void.”

The installation is being launched in three phases. The game saw an overwhelming response with 500,000 pre-registrations within two weeks’ time of the opening. The game also saw two million downloads with commentators Aakash Chopra and Matthew Hayden with the Beta 1 launch on 11 May. The WCC franchise boasts over 110 million downloads, with 15 million monthly active users and approx. three million users daily. The franchise has been a long standing successful cricket game and rated among the top 10 games in terms of monthly active users in India for 4 years in a row.

Some of the fresh features include;

  • New Controls – While bowling, users can take full control over the deliveries, with fine-tuned variations in pace, swing, spin and pitch spot. The game adds finesse with special deliveries such as googlies, reverse swing, leg and off cutters and so on. While batting, users can also control run, sprint and dive to the crease when needed. This control helps in balancing the power against shot accuracy. The users also get to choose when to drive, loft or defend. And finally, being in control of the active fielders, deciding the merit of stops, throws and catches. The users also manage their ultimate team and their team members’ stamina, recovery and focus, which all play a part in on-field performance. All these improve as they upgrade their players in various disciplines.
  • Motions Captures – One of the features in mobile cricket that boosts the overall appeal of the game and makes it more realistic. For a quality 3D real-time motion in the game, the movements of a real-time actor or an athlete are captured, rather than animating each part of the 3D character by hand. This brings about a higher level of detail and nuance to the animation when a body is subjected to high momentum, force, and change in the center of gravity.
     
  • Visuals (Cut-scenes) – This feature displays the gradual career progression of a player’s success and failures in his journey through the software of Cut –scenes.
  • Choice –The freedom the game gives to each gamer to choose their players path towards a league player or an international player.
  • Decision impact – A performance decision system that decides whether or not a player will become a Legend in the Leagues or Gods of the International Cup.
  • Dynamic Difficulty – A rapid dynamic difficulty system giving a novice gamer and a professional gamer the befitting challenge according to the player’s skill and expertise
  • The Perma Match Flow – Players face real-game pressure situations and prove their skills in every single match. This feature eliminates the option to replay a match and thus makes the competition very real. Just like in real life, every decision will have consequences and one missed shot will make or break the player’s journey.

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Jul 03

Netflix brings the spooky and hilarious world of ‘DeadEndia’ through an animated series

Posted in: Animation

Netflix and Blink Industries have announced a new 2D animated series, DeadEndia, based on the graphic novels of award-winning creator Hamish Steele.

Produced by the Blink Industries studio in London, DeadEndia is quirky, spooky and hilarious at the same time and is slated to premiere globally on the streaming platform in 2021.

Based on Steele’s horror-comedy graphic novels and a web series, Dead End, the series follows the adventures of Barney, Norma and their magical-talking-dog Pugsley, as they balance their summer jobs at the local theme park haunted house while battling the totally real supernatural forces that dwell within it. 

Together with their guide, a thousand-year-old demon named Courtney. They journey to the underworld multiplane, and face zombie mascots, demonic game show hosts, sleep-sucking witches and the scariest thing of all: their first crushes!

Hamish Steele

Commented Steele on the animated series, “DeadEndia is about terrifying demons, vengeful ghosts and mysterious magic. It is also about coming of age in a world that wasn’t made for you. It’s a drama about finding family, identity and making mistakes. And of course it’s a laugh out loud comedy! I’ve always dreamed of making the show I needed as a lonely, horror-obsessed closeted gay kid and thanks to Netflix and our ridiculously talented, diverse and representative writers room and crew, we have shot way past my dreams and into wildest fantasy territory!”

His graphic novels have been lauded for capturing the pains of growing up, early adulthood of characters with a variety of identities and experiences including Barney, a transgender teen, and neurodiverse Norma. With this Netflix is not only exploring new and innovative animated content but also including diverse characters and voices.

DeadEndia will star Zach Barack as Barney (Spider-Man: Far from Home), Kody Kavitha as Norma (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Emily Osment as Courtney (Almost Family, The Kominsky Method), Alex Brightman as Pugsley (Beetlejuice The Musical), Clinton Leupp a.k.a. Miss Coco Peru as Pauline Phoenix (Will & Grace), Kenny Tran as Logs (Maybe Happy Ending) and Kathreen Khavari as Badyah (Marvel Rising, Insecure, Big Little Lies).

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