Over 5 million Indian sports fans played on fantasy sports platforms in the last quarter

Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), India’s fantasy fports self-regulatory industry body, revealed that the Indian Fantasy Sports platforms witnessed participation from over 5 million Indian sports fans between April and June 2020. In the same period, Fantasy Sports (FS) companies introduced new sports like baseball, handball and rugby, and hosted 1,000+ matches from around the world.

Due to the pandemic, major live sporting events were either postponed or cancelled to ensure the safety and well-being of the players, fans and the associated staff. While the Fantasy Sports industry was impacted due to these cancellations, they were able to bring some sporting action to Indian sports fans through the introduction of new sports and tournaments from places which were free of COVID-19.

Some of the tournaments include global mainstream sporting events such as Bundesliga, La Liga and EPL, while others were from places like Austria, Caribbean Islands, Australia and Russia. Few FIFS members also helped some of these tournaments to run by becoming a sponsor, thereby contributing directly to the growth of the overall sports ecosystem.

 Fantasy Sports is back and will be in full strength very soon with mainstream tournaments across football, cricket and basketball resuming. Starting July, a host of International and Domestic cricket tournaments, UEFA Champions League football, NBA basketball and many more will join the already-live tournaments like Bundesliga, LaLiga, EPL, FA Cup and Coppa Italia.

 With sports resuming globally, most likely without an in-stadia audience, digital fan engagement platforms like Fantasy Sports will become crucial in driving deeper fan engagement.

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Ms Marvel aka Kamala Khan forays into gaming space; community praises the welcome

Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel, who was created by Marvel in 2014, will make her debut in the video gaming space later this year, game’s publisher Square Enix announced. 

The Muslim-American teenager of Pakistani heritage, who has shape-shifting abilities, is the latest character to adopt the Ms Marvel moniker. She will join the Avengers – Iron Man, Hulk and Captain America for a new video game. 

The gaming community has welcomed this news with a few calling it “The representation in gaming I’ve waited for my whole life.”

Ms Marvel will be one the main playable characters and feature alongside Black Widow, among others. Co-created by Marvel editor and director Sana Amanat in 2014, Kamala Khan has created history becoming Marvel’s first Muslim character to lead her own comic book series and now a game. Khan, a 16-year-old Pakistani-American growing up in Jersey City. She has shape-shifting abilities and just so happens to be a fan-girl of the Avengers.

A Muslim-American herself, Amanat wanted to create a character young girls of similar background could identify with and look up to. “I think it’s absolutely insane that Kamala is in one of the biggest Marvel games that we’ve done. The fact that she’s the entry point character in this game makes so much sense. People from all backgrounds can relate to her,”  she said during the promotion of the game.

According to No Brakes Games head of studio Sitara Shefta, Ms Marvel is far more representative of what young Muslims are actually like, and says the Kamala Khan character reminds her of her own niece. The significance of her inclusion in the game is a huge step for better representation in gaming.

“It’s very important, why shouldn’t Pakistanis and Muslims have characters and stories that inspire them? They are usually depicted as terrorists or the villains we fight against in the games. Now we have an empowering Pakistani Muslim character, and a role model for kids from this community to be inspired by, ” she commented.

The video game will feature an original storyline inspired by the comics, but won’t align with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ms Marvel is yet to be portrayed in a live-action movie and reports suggest that Marvel Studios is set to centre a Disney+ web series around the character, slated for 2022.

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Animated series, ‘Where it Falls’ bags Disney+ prize at Annecy

Creative director Guillaume Dousse presented his series in development, Where it Falls at the pitch panel of the Annecy International Film Festival in the series and TV-specials category of the MIFA market. Dousse is also one of the co-founders at Sun Creature. The series won the Disney+ Prize for a New Series at Annecy.

Where it Falls is set in a world where gravity suddenly shifts 90°, a reunited family goes on a perilous journey in search of their missing mother. As they learn and grow together, they reconnect in a disoriented world. It’s a coming-of-age-story that portrays well-known family dynamics – good and bad. The story relates to modern issues like global warming and is more than ever relevant today to the real issues of our world.

“It is really humbling to be rewarded by Disney+ for Where it Falls. I’ve had this project in the back of my mind for many years and only recently did I get to actively work on it. The Annecy Festival is the first venue to present this project and to win the Disney+ prize is both encouraging and a highly appreciated push towards turning this passion project into a reality,” mentioned Dousse.

The studio won the Disney+ prize back in 2016 for Flee, its first feature film, which has now been selected to this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

The supernatural adventure which is still in development has potential to expand to several seasons, each of them treating different stories in the world, with their own story arcs. Targeted to a group of eight to 12 year olds and families, the team wishes to propose a high-quality narrative and a visually compelling universe for kids and family with this project.

According to Dousse, kids are capable of understanding and comprehending a vast panel of emotions and seeing the nuances in things. “With this series we would like to fuel this independence and childhood imagination and perhaps inspire the future generation to take charge and lead the way,” he added.

This is a rare format for animation series, aiming at a very high quality visual expression and storytelling. The concept itself is unique and it will be a show made for the family, with different levels of interpretation.

“The ambition is high and we hope to convince platforms, traditional broadcasters and investors to join us on this project to create something that will be loved and remembered by future generations,” he concluded.

The official synopsis of Where it Falls:

One day, people suddenly started to fall, families were left separated and cities disconnected. The world as we know it is far gone. In this disoriented new reality, a generation in search of its identity is born. The sisters Sarah and Judith lost their parents following the Big Shift and now live with their female chimpanzee Coco, their husky puppy Milo and other orphans in the abandoned districts of Paris. After reuniting with their long-lost father, the family goes on a perilous journey in search of their missing mother. Events unfold as the family travels around the globe. On their quest they encounter obstacles to overcome together, visit incredible sites and confront old wounds and family secrets. 

The viewers will follow a turn of events through the eyes of the children, guiding all through this new world.

 

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“‘The Adventures of Bella and Vienna’ [animated series] will be a nice memory for them when they’ll be older” : Teejay Sidhu

Animation is grabbing more eyeballs and all for good! After animated shows inspired by Bollywood franchises and real people getting animated (Johnny Lever, Mukhesh Khanna-Shaktimaan and Virat Kohli), actor couple Karanveer Bohra (KV) and Teejay Sidhu’s twin daughters – Bella and Vienna are now getting animated!

As per the actor’s and the kids’ official Instagram account announcement, we’ll soon get to see a new animated show, The Adventures of Bella and Vienna soon! Bohra said that the animated series will be produced by himself in partnership with an animation studio, which is kept under wraps for now. 

The twins, who share their lives through their Instagram handle ‘twinbabydiaries’ (handled by their mother Sidhu) are quite popular on social media with 470K followers on Instagram alone.

AnimationXpress spoke to Sidhu who shared details about the show’s current status, broadcast platforms and more. Read on:

1. Why did you think of coming up with an animated series based on your daughters?

Since the babies were six months, they have been on social media – on all platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even YouTube. They are very big on Instagram and YouTube in particular. The Twinbaby Diaries was actually meant as a keepsake for them so that when they’re older, there’s a digital diary for them to look back. 

The page became more popular than what we had expected, so KV and myself thought that it would be nice to turn it into a cartoon animated series. Because when you tell stories through a cartoon, it gets more appealing and entertaining. Another reason was that we get a lot of feedback and comments from parents about how their children love seeing Bella and Vienna’s videos, so, we thought that let’s take our social media platforms to the next level, and make something that themselves as well as other kids will enjoy.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

BELLA / VIENNA – It was #FathersDay on Sunday, but we celebrate our Dad everyday! 🙂 Still, on #Sunday we made him a special #painting. Since we are two little monkeys who love jumping on the bed, (and on our Dad), we made a picture of two little #monkeys! 🙈🙈 Do you know how we made them? By painting our feet! We each put a #footprint on the paper and then did the painting. Thank you for loving our artwork and putting it on the wall, #Daddy! You’re the best and most fun #Dad and we love you so much! ❤️❤️ * * And thank you, dearest Simran @thepaleoobakes for sending the most amazing cake!! Healthy banana cake with walnuts and dark chocolate – wow!! (We ate it all that day!!) 🙈

A post shared by BELLA AND VIENNA 🇨🇦 🇮🇳 (@twinbabydiaries) on Jun 23, 2020 at 9:59am PDT

2. What’s the current status of the project? Will it be in 2D or 3D?

We announced the project in late June and it’s still under development. We are still figuring out topics and working on stories. It’s actually about putting together ideas, collating everything that we have in our minds. The animation will be in 2D for now, because we want to keep it simple; we thought to start with simple, little overhead and less budget. We will decide if we want to expand it further in the future.

3. Is this your IP or the animation studio you guys have partnered with, pitched the idea to you?

This is completely our IP and idea. Being in lockdown we used to keep on thinking about more innovative ideas and creativity about what else we can do around them. Sitting at home, and putting up their stories and adventures, we thought that this was the perfect time to launch the animated series because there is a lot of time now to think over it and create it.

We thought that this would be a great opportunity to bring their stories out to the world and we shared the idea with the animation studio we have partnered with, and they loved it and are happy to be a part of it. So the IP is lying with us, wholly.

Karanveer Bohra and Teejay Sidhu with their daughters Bella and Vienna

4. When do you wish to launch the series tentatively?

We are looking to launch The Adventures of Bella and Vienna in a month’s time from now. Since lockdown has been extended till 31 July, it will take us a little time to figure out the stories, work on the illustrations and even the animators will need some time to execute the idea into moving cartoons. So in a month probably the show will see the light of the day.

5. Which platforms are you considering to showcase this series – OTT players or linear television?

If a linear television channel wants to take it up, we will be very happy and would love to check that opportunity. But for now, we will put it on a OTT platform, because it has a wider as well as a global audience. People who’d be coming to our Instagram or YouTube page, will be directed to the content on Bella and Vienna and this way it’ll be available to the whole world, and we want to reach out to a larger audience.

6. Can you tell us if a script is in making and if you have chosen a director for it?

We don’t have any director for the show because KV is here and he has done that work before so he’ll take care of the direction. But we do have another writer and illustrator on board with us. Myself and KV are working on the script right now. Most of the babies’ social media stories and posts are written by me, so, there will be a lot of stories that will be my own. But it’s always nice to have more people to brainstorm ideas with and also writing all the stories will be a big load for me as well.

7. How have Bella and Vienna reacted to the news of their own cartoon show?

The babies know that they are going to be cartoons now, and they are very very excited for it. They are big cartoon fans themselves and watch a gamut of cartoons like Motu Patlu, Ben & Holly, PAW Patrol, Barbie, Fairies and Elves and several others. So, when we told them that they’re going to be cartoons now, they were elated. I think this will be a nice memory for them when they’ll become older, like a pleasant thing to look back on. Bella and Vienna have already done collaborations, received a lot of sponsorships and worked with Disney, Mattel, Nickelodeon, POGO and more. We wanted to keep growing the social media platform and make it a brand and thus The Adventures of Bella and Vienna was born. 

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The New Yorker – Can Drugs Take The Place of Religion?

Google’s Stadia controller now works wireless on Android

According to  the most recent update of Google Stadia app on Android, you can now browse your games in landscape orientation, a long-requested addition.Google is issuing a Stadia update to its Android app today that will enable wireless support. It will also be a good opportunity for Stadia subscribers to test how well the Stadia controller roams between a Chromecast, the web, and Android devices

Google originally launched its Stadia service back in November as a subscription to stream games to TVs, Android phones, and the web. Wireless controller support was strangely missing at launch for Android devices, which meant you had to awkwardly connect the Stadia controller using USB.

Up until recently, to play Stadia games on Android you needed to connect a separate controller, with many players using a mount or “claw” to hold their phone and controller together. Since these accessories typically hold your phone in the landscape orientation, it seemed almost silly to think that the Stadia app for Android was limited to portrait until you got into a game.

Starting with version 2.23 of the Stadia app, which also enables the ability to connect the Stadia controller to your phone wirelessly, the entire Stadia app now works in landscape mode.With landscape orientation offering more horizontal screen real estate, the Stadia app is able to show more of your games and captures at once than portrait allowed. For example, on the Pixel 3, instead of only seeing one or two of my Stadia games at a time in portrait, I can see as many as four in landscape. Otherwise, everything in the app looks and feels identical, with the change simply saving folks from holding their phone awkwardly when switching games.

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iQIYI original ‘Deer Squad’ set to air on Nickelodeon

iQIYI announced that its original CG-animated series Deer Squad season one will premiere 15 July on the platform. The colorful kids’ show will also air on Nickelodeon in Asia from August 2020, with plans to air internationally as well.

“We are thrilled that this much-awaited project Deer Squad is completed, and we can’t wait to bring it to our fans on Nickelodeon’s platforms. Its endearing characters and humorous storylines will appeal to audiences in any part of the world,” said ViacomCBS Networks Asia senior vice president and general manager Pierre Cheung.

Deer Squad is an animated adventure rescue series about four loveable, enthusiastic and heroic young deer friends – Kai, Lola, Rammy and Bobbi, who protect the animals of Central Forest and the humans who inhabit Platinum City, a futuristic metropolis surrounding their woodland home. When there’s trouble, the Deer summon their Planet Powers and transform into a team that is capable of solving problems using their Planet Powers of Water (Kai), Wood (Lola), Earth (Bobbi) and Sun (Rammy).

Nickelodeon will air Deer Squad in Asia this August, with plans to air in Japan, South Korea and other countries in the region and internationally by later this year. Produced by iQIYI under the creative guidance and supervision of Nickelodeon, Deer Squad was developed with global audiences in mind.

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With special quests and gifts ‘Lord Of The Rings Online’ celebrates Aragorn and Arwen’s wedding

The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) continues to receive new update some 13 years later. The latest one invites players to attend the wedding of Middle-earth heroes Aragorn and Arwen. Just like in the book, Aragorn and Arwen will celebrate their marriage in Minas Tirith, and you can attend this joyous event and earn special bonuses for doing so.

The company released details today for their upcoming release of Update 27, which will bring about a number of additions. LOTRO players of all character levels can experience the Midsummer Festival event in Minas Tirith, which will be active on any server you end up joining beginning today. Also, the devs have set up many additions throughout the month of July, where you can earn rewards and cosmetics by participating in festival activities.

There are a variety of Midsummer-themed quests, and you can visit Thorin’s Hall, Duillond, Bree-town, and the Party Tree to find them. Going forward, the Midsummer Event will be an annual event.Earn titles, an emote, a kite, and more by completing Deeds associated with the Midsummer Festival!

Additionally, wedding-themed gifts are now available as daily and weekly Hobbit gifts that you can claim, while players will get extra allotments of silver and other bonuses like cosmetic items.

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Production begins at Toonz for pre-school series ‘Zoonicorn’

As production moves into high gear in anticipation of the 2021 global launch of 52 original seven minute episodes, Zoonicorn, the animated preschool brand featuring a Zooniverse of enchanting characters, has added a team of multi award-winners to its creative lineup. Zoonicorn is teaming with Toonz Media Group for the development, co-production and distribution of the new 3D CGI content. Toonz’s distribution arm Imira will distribute the series globally through its worldwide network.

A magical mix of zebra and unicorn, the Zoonicorns inhabit the dreams of young animals, taking them on amazing adventures to help learn important social-emotional skills. When the dream is over, the young animal wakes up feeling self-confident and with decision-making skills necessary to overcome whatever challenges they are facing.

The writing team of the show consists of Mark Zaslove, who serves as show runner and lead writer/editor for the series. Zaslove’s many credits include Winnie the Pooh, for Disney, for which he was honored with two Emmy Awards. Other credits include Lazytown for Sprout, Bob The Builder for PBS Kids, Strawberry Shortcake for DIC, Shopkins for Netflix and Duck Tales and Tale Spin for Disney; Stephen Senders, whose work includes Inspector Gadget for Nickelodeon, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs for Cartoon Network and Max & Ruby for Nick Jr.; Annie Girard (Donald Duck’s Three Caballeros for Disney+ and Club Penguin for Disney); the team of Dennis Haley and Marcy Brown, whose credits include Kong, King of the Apes for Netflix, Lego Friends for LEGO, Dinosaur Train for Jim Henson Co. and Clifford’s Puppy Days for Scholastic/ PBS.

Emmy Award winning music composer Rich Dickerson also joins the Zoonicorn production team. Rich scored and wrote the songs for the Warner Bros. show and films Scooby Doo and as well as the theme song for the television series What’s New Scooby Doo? He bagged the Emmy for penning the theme for the ESPN show Off Mikes. In addition to his film and TV work, Rich has also produced and written for recording artists including EG Daily with his top 10 Billboard Dance hit Beautiful. Dickerson served as music supervisor for movies such as Miramax In Too Deep, Miramax Paid In Full and Warner Bros. Queen of the Damned. In addition, he was VP of music for the animated internet web network Icebox where he worked with many composers and produced the music for the shows and wrote theme songs.

The growing line of Zoonicorn products have continued to expand since the launch of the brand in 2015. In 2018, Zoonicorn and Jay@Play introduced a new interactive Zoonicorn plush as part  of Jay@Play’s Wish Me brand. Other products include a picture book, three interactive story apps and four games available for download and on the Zoonicorn website and available on both iTunes and Google Play. Zoonicorn debuted a new limited edition apparel line in fall, 2019.

The eleven Zoonicorn music videos have been a hit on You Tube with additional sing along videos offered exclusively on Kidoodle.TV, Happy Kids TV, Toon Goggles Jr and Kabillion. Brand development and licensing for the property is headed by J’net Smith of All Art Licensing.

The Zoonicorns cleverly guide each dreamer through a whirlwind of fun-loving adventures, tackling obstacles, balancing emotions and discovering important life lessons along the way. At the heart of every solution is the one important truth—the power to solve any problem is inside of them.

The Zoonicorns are kids themselves, each with special talents and skills. Purple Promi is the wise caretaker of the group, handing out sage advice and offering a ready ear to anyone who needs it. Green Ene is the analytical Zoonicorn, a technology whiz, who believes every problem has a solution that can be solved, usually through one of his gadgets. Blue Valeo believes the answer to any problem is physical. Full of gusto and confidence, he lets nothing stand in his way. Pink Aliel is a big ball of energy wrapped in curiosity, a bubbly force of nature, ready to burst with excitement for anything.

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Nickelodeon & Seth Rogen’s Point Grey Pictures to reboot ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’

Nickelodeon alongwith Point Grey Pictures’ Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and James Weaver is creating an all-new CG-animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theatrical motion picture, a first for Nickelodeon Animation Studio. Jeff Rowe (Gravity Falls, Connected, Disenchantment) will direct the animated theatrical with Brendan O’Brien (Neighbors: Sorority Rising, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates) writing the screenplay. Paramount will be handling global distribution on the film.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a classic, global property created in 1984 by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It first debuted as a successful comic-book series and then became a hit animated TV show, a live-action television series and later spawned numerous blockbuster theatrical releases.

“Adding Seth, Evan and James’ genius to the humor and action that’s already an integral part of TMNT is going to make this a next-level reinvention of the property,” said ViacomCBS president, kids & family Brian Robbins. “I’m looking forward to see what they do, and I know that Ramsey Naito and her team are excited to take the Nick Animation Studio into another great direction with their first-ever CG-animated theatrical.”

Nickelodeon brought the franchise to life again in 2012 with the CG-animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and then reimagined the heroes in a half-shell with the 2D-animated series Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 2019. As previously announced, as part of a separate deal, Nickelodeon and Netflix are partnering to produce an original animated 2D film based on the current Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series.

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