The Indo-Pak rivalry is set to move onto the
cyber-world with the World Cyber Games in Mumbai. |
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Welcome to India and Pakistan’s latest war zone —
the web. Technically speaking, there is a certain amount
of bloodshed and fierce battles involved, but the stark
difference is that it’s all in the cyber world and the
participating teams play a healthy game session. Havok,
the Pakistani gamers’ team, will be sweating it out
against their Indian counterparts on September 9. |
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The five-member Pakistani team will play Counter
Strike against the Indian team that wins the WCG 2007
Counter Strike finals being held at the World Trade
Centre in Mumbai. For the first time ever, the national
Counter Strike champions of India and Pakistan will
clash in an e-sports event organised by Indiagames. |
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While it is not hard to find young games freaks
hunched over computer screens with their sweaty hands
manipulating joysticks to strike as the action explodes
in Half Life: Counter Strike 1.6, Warcraft III or Need
for Speed, it is definitely a first for most Indian
gamers to challenge their neighbours in the cyber world.
For the uninitiated, these are a few popular gaming
titles that will be played between the participants. |
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Started as a game tournament and cultural festival,
the World Cyber Games has grown to include about two
million gamers from over 70 countries. The idea of
friendly gaming sessions between India and Pakistan
stems from here. |
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Pakistan has been participating in the World Cyber
Games (WCG) since 2003. Having participated in over 50
Counter Strike tournaments arranged by Neomatrix Gaming
Network in Lahore, the team is raring to take on WCG
2007. Ahmed Mamoor Amimi, the team’s manager who is also
the founder of Playdium.Net, an entertainment services
company that is a strategic partner to WCG, is a proud
man. |
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He quips, “I would like to see Pakistan and India
compete on this e-sports arena and I am sure it will
create more space for love and harmony between both
countries. I would also like to invite the Indian team
next year for our WCG 2008 National Final event in
Pakistan.” |
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Amimi’s Havok team and the Indian Counter Strike
team — a game that is one of the most popular online
tactical First Person Shooter games with over 2,00,000
players clocking over 6.17 billion minutes of playing
time per month — have battled earlier. In Paris, Havok
won the pool matches against India. The game was played
in good spirits and harmony, adds Amimi. |
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Agrees Alok Kejriwal, founder of Games2Win, “Cyber
games is a great way to connect with people of any age.”
He does make a point when he says that cyber games
should expand to include the “non-serious” or “casual”
gamers too. His qualm is that the WCG, despite its
reputation among hard-core game fans, is still only
known among a limited group of people. |
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“If we approach casual gamers, then we could end up
connecting millions of gamers instead of just a mere
hundred professional gamers.” His website, Games2Win, is
in the process of launching a gaming platform that would
allow gamers from India and Pakistan to indulge in
e-sports that would include “puzzles and even the
tic-tac-toe varieties.” |
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Vishal Gondal, CEO, Indiagames, is upbeat about the
upcoming India-Pak e-matches. “We are very excited about
covering this championship. These e-battles are
incredibly competitive and we find that the combination
of all of this great action will be a great way to grow
gaming communities in both countries.” |
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Gondal hopes that the e-games will become as popular
as the Olympics, the football World Cup or the Formula
One car race. Indiagames, the Indian franchise owner of
the global WCG competition, will conduct the India
national qualifiers for the WCG 2007 in seven cities
starting 11, August. There is Rs 15 lakh in prize money
to be won and nine India finalists will be flown on an
all expense paid trip to Seattle to represent the
country in the global finals. |
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Move over, cricket. Competitive video gaming or
e-sports is poised to become the next spectator sport
between India-Pakistan.
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