BEN VARGHESE-Indian Gamer

Age: 24 Location: Mumbai Game: Counterstrike ( CS) Online gamer name: R4id (read: raid) Ask any gamer for the one who makes the most money, and you’ll get one answer: Ben Varghese. A full-time gamer, the B Com graduate never played computer games while growing up. He still doesn’t really like the computer. But, gaming is something else.

Ben was 17, and his friends always hung out at a gaming café in Kings Circle. “But I never really played. At most, I was a casual gamer,” he says.

One night at the café, a fight ensued. Someone mocked his gaming skills (or lack thereof), and Counter

strike became Ben’s counter strike. “I wanted to prove a point, it was all about that one game,” he says.

He started practicing every day, often for 10-15 hours. Sometimes for four-five days at a stretch, with no sleep and little food. “I practiced alone. On an average, I’d kill 5,000 bots (characters controlled by the computer) a day. The idea was to become faster.” And he did. Ben started playing with others, and they formed a gaming team: ATE. They managed to find sponsors in 2007, and have remained undefeated in India since then. His five-member Counter strike team makes about R15- 20 lakh every year. It’s R3- 4 lakh per person, and that’s just in cash. Every event comes with freebies and goodies.

They travel abroad for international events, watch televised tournaments online and practice often.

It was hard work, but Ben grew to love the game. “Counterstrike is the best stress reliever,” he says. “It strengthens your reflexes, increases your hand-eye coordination… and it’s the show stealer at every event.”

Courtesy ----- Hindustan Times 

IGC 2012 – An Interview with nxtLvLGaming

With several issues plaguing the smooth running of the India Gaming Carnival on Day 1, G4meNation caught up with nxtLvLGaming who had come all the way from Indonesia to be a part of the event. Just like the other CS teams, nxl had to wait for Day 2 to play their matches. I hope IGC and any other organization hoping to rope in the international teams in an event of any scale listens to what these guys have to say.




While IGC managed to get things streamlined on Day 2, it really could’ve costed them all the credibility they’ve had as individuals and as an organization. The event can still be called successful if IGC sticks to its commitment by allotting the prize money, which I hope they will.

Courtesy ---- http://g4menation.com

India Gaming Carnival-2012-Day 2

IGC managed to get things streamlined on Day 2, it really could’ve cost them all the credibility they’ve had as individuals and as an organization. The event can still be called successful if IGC sticks to its commitment by allotting the prize money, which I hope they will. Here are some pictures from Day.

























Courtesy --- http://imgur.com

Comic-Con Documentary: Bringing Mass Effect to Life

Opening in select theaters beginning this weekend, and also available on Video on Demand, Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope is the definitive documentary on San Diego Comic-Con. Directed by Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) and including among its executive producers Stan Lee and Joss Whedon, the film follows several different Comic-Con attendees, who are all going to the convention for different purposes - from aspiring artists hoping to be discovered to a longtime comic book dealer, looking to sell comics among a convention increasingly taken over by Hollywood.

One of the documentary's most notable participants is Holly Conrad, given the label "The Designer" in film. Holly and her friends go to Comic-Con to enter the annual masquerade competition, but if you think that means something as simple as just dressing up in a costume, think again.


- Image used courtesy of HollyConrad.com
Holly and her friends have built from scratch some incredible outfits based on Mass Effect characters, which are incredibly intricate and detailed. The Commander Shepard costume Holly made for herself is terrific and it's hard not to be stunned by the costume for Grunt, which features working animatronics for the face and seems pretty much movie-ready – and was put together in a garage in San Bernardino, CA.

When I recently spoke to Holly about her work and the experience of being in Comic-Con Episode IV, she recalled her first homemade costume. "I was five years old and I took a green pillow and taped it to my back and I called myself a Koopa Troopa from Mario Bros." She has a degree in medieval studies ("I can read Middle English, if anyone cares," she says with a laugh) and noted, "It helps a lot in costume design knowing about armor. I'm fascinated with armor, so a lot of the designs that I like to come up with on my own are weird, crazy armor things."

Holly recalled that as she grew up, she didn't think primarily about wanting to wear costumes, explaining, "Definitely building [costumes] came first. I never really considered myself a cosplayer. And still, I don't think I'm a traditional cosplayer at all. Because I don't do a bunch of anime costumes. I don't have 50 different sewn outfits that I wear on different days. Since the costumes are so complicated, it takes me a really, really long time to even just visualize what it's going to become."

Her history making costumes for conventions began with, "an utterly abysmal attempt at Steampunk and a D&D character. We all make mistakes!" Still, she said she was hooked after that, going on to make a World of Warcraft Undead Tier Five Warlock for BlizzCon, followed by a "12 foot tall Lady of Pain from [the D&D campaign] Planescape - It was more like a float than a costume."

As for how she came to make the Mass Effect costumes, Holly explained, "I've been a fan of games for ages. I played King's Quest and all the really old ones. Baldur's Gate is still my favorite game of all. I started to play Dragon Age and I wanted to make an ogre for Dragon Age and so I wanted to make [my friend] Tank into an ogre. Because Tank had a big frame and I said, 'I want you to be a big monster for Comic-Con and we're going to be your crew.' But then Mass Effect 2 came out and I told them, 'No, we're not doing Dragon Age. We're doing Mass Effect.' They were kind of disappointed until I said, 'Play the game.' And everyone played the game and everyone agreed it was going to be awesome. I was obsessed with the game completely. I must have played it 15 times."

I've seen Comic-Con Episode IV twice, and each time the audience is blown away by the work on the Grunt costume. Holly told me a lot of it involved she and her friends – some of whom she'd met working at a company who made animatronics for theme parks, while others she met working at a local haunted house attraction – teaching themselves. "Ben [Schwenk], my friend, he'd never done animatronics. He actually taught himself how to do animatronics for the Grunt head. I learned how to figure out foam latex painting and all of that. I sculpted the head and he would come in and say, 'Okay, we need to make this skinfold bigger, because we need the eye to move this way.' It was completely a team effort between all of us. Tank did all the programming. He learned how to program it in the same amount of time."

As for how she came to be in the documentary, Holly (who'd previously had an internship on Titan Maximum, for the Robot Chicken producers) responded to an open casting call after her friends recommended she gave it a shot. The attention she got just from applying to be in the film was huge. As she recalled, "I made a video and hosted it on YouTube and it ended up going viral with the game companies."



She remembered her shock at the flood of emails she suddenly had. "They were all high ups in game companies. They were from Bioware, from all these places. They were really supportive because they knew what kind of effort it took to make this stuff."

Meanwhile, a phone call from Morgan Spurlock let her know she was in the film. She recalls being told that Joss Whedon, upon seeing her video said, "We need to look for people like this," and thinking, "Joss Whedon knows who I am!"

When I asked how she felt about seeing the finished documentary, she exclaimed, "It was just awesome. I loved it! I wasn't worried. With the people involved in the documentary, I knew it wasn't going to be making fun of us. Joss Whedon wouldn't work on a movie where it's making fun of nerds. Those are the people that make him money. I talked to Morgan and he really nice and I just had a good vibe about it through the whole thing."

Since the movie wrapped (it was shot at SDCC 2010), Holly and her friends found themselves actually now creating costumes for the company behind the game that inspired them in the first place. "We ended up making costumes for Bioware for Comic-Con last year. We did another animatronic krogan, we made a Garrus and I think I made a total of three more Shepard suits, which was pretty cool. It was definitely an experience. And then Jessica [Merizan, who is also seen in the documentary] got hired on as their community manager."

There was more – Holly and her friends were then hired to make costumes for the Mass Effect 3 trailer last year and she has a special thanks credit in the game itself, which includes footage of those costumes. "In the beginning when they're talking about how they're losing contact, that whole screen right there is from the live action trailer. That was pretty cool."


I couldn't resist asking Holly about the "controversial" ending to Mass Effect 3, as she noted, "I don't officially work for them. I can say my opinion and it's fine."

"I think everyone has a valid concern about the ending, I really do," she remarked. "I think that it needed more closure. I wanted a Baldur's Gate style ending and that's what I've been saying all along. I wanted an ending that had the same thing. You saw a cut scene. You had the epilogues written up. That was it. And it wasn't that complicated. It's pretty cut and dry. Even Baldur's Gate had different color endings, but you still had closure. You still knew what happened. And I think something like that would have been awesome, just for the fans. I understand the sort of metaphysical, singularity message that was told in the end. I get it. It's cool. But at the same time, I do actually care if my friends are starving on a planet alone, you know?"

She added, "But I think they're going to address it. I'm hoping they do. They tend to listen pretty well to fans, so I'm not too worried about it. I'm not as worried… Everyone's losing their heads over it! And it's really not worth losing your s**t over it."

As for concerns about whether a new ending is betraying the intent of the creators of the game, Holly said she felt, "They can stay true to their vision and still add, 'Hey, here's what happened' to the end, and I think that's probably what going to do, hopefully. They stay true to how they wanted it to end but at the same time… more info! Just a little bit more info. That's all that would make it a little bit better." [As you've probably seen, since this interview was conducted, a Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut Free DLC with an extended ending has been announced.]

Now living in Los Angeles, Holly is currently working freelance, continuing her career as a creature and costume designer. She recently collaborated with James and Se Young (a couple seen in Comic-Con Episode IV) for several live-action shorts with a big video game theme. Though the exact details have to be kept under wraps for now, Holly is excited about the shorts, revealing, "I did production design so I designed all the creatures, I made all the suits. It's going to be awesome." She's also been, "Making my own armor, doing my own stuff on commission, selling stuff online, doing art shows, doing all of that."

As for whether she might be involved in the talked about Mass Effect movie, she said, "I really, really hope so. The Legendary [Entertainment] people have talked to me and they're really nice. If it does happen, I'm pretty sure that they'll try and find some way that I could be involved, which I would love. But again, it's in one of those crazy, nebulous places. Either way I'm going to still be doing my own stuff, designing my own monsters and costumes and pretty much just doing it on my own, because I don't trust places to give me jobs! That's what I learned from being here. It's the worst thing I've had to learn, but also the best."

Holly said she hoped Comic-Con Episode IV could help make those who still haven't experienced Comic-Con understand more about what makes it tick. "To me, the more mainstream being a fan becomes, the cooler it is. If you're a fan of Twilight, at least you're a fan of something, as awful as it is. Those movies will be gone [soon] and then something else dumb will replace it and [those fans] will still be there. There's always something there where you're like, 'Eh, I'm not a fan of that,' but at least they're a fan of something and they're there being passionate about it, so who cares?"

A lot more women attend Comic-Con now than in the past and proclaim their fandom, which Holly said she's happy to see, but added, "I think when we advertise, 'I'm a 'girl gamer', it's just completely opposite of what we should be advertising, which is that we're all gamers and we're all gaming. Nowadays, it's not a weird thing for you to play games as a girl. Giant franchises spend millions of dollars making girl characters, because there's a lot of girls that play games. I mean that's why they do it. It wouldn't be smart if the marketing wasn't smart."

She added, "I've had people say to my face, "Shepard's a dude." I'm like, 'Your Shepard's a dude. My Shepard's a girl.' You can customize the game. It just blows my mind that some people go out of their way to make a big deal about that. It's an RPG. You play D&D, you can be a guy or a girl."

And yes, Holly has costumes in mind for this summer's Comic-Con and beyond. "I do have a Baldur's Gate costume that I want to do… And we're remaking Tank's [Grunt] armor - patching up the krogan so he can wear it again and making the female krogan for Tank's girlfriend, so he can walk around with her. I just made Jessica an Ashley [Williams] costume."

When it comes to her friends and collaborators, Holly said, "They just amaze me, constantly. If I had a dream, it would just be to work with them all the time. What's better than working on a project with people you get along with?"

Courtesy ---- PC.IGN.COM

Teases for The Old Republic Patch 1.3

The 1.2 update currently on Star Wars: The Old Republic's test servers includes several changes and a lot of new content. The PvP system is getting some attention with the addition of a new Warzone and persistent rankings to separate the serious players from the more casual. You'll get new Flashpoint and Operation content, which are dungeons and raids in The Old Republic, and finally be given the ability to customize your user interface.



Another big addition will be the Legacy system. You've been able to level up your character's Legacy since launch, but there wasn't actually any reward for doing so. After 1.2, you'll be able to unlock a number of new features, such as the ability to create new class and race combinations. Basically, the Legacy system encourages you to get a character to level 50 so that alternate characters created afterwards get a number of perks.

ome of these perks take the form of new special abilities. Playing through the Bounty Hunter's story eventually unlocks a flamethrower attack, the Warrior unlocks a Force choke, the Agent unlocks an Orbital Strike and the Inquisitior unlocks a lightning storm. These abilities can then be used by any characters set up in your Legacy family tree, though are only usable during the use of a heroic moment ability. Since these heroic moment abilities require the presence of an NPC companion, they won't work in Warzones or full groups, ensuring balance isn't completely thrown off.

The 1.2 update interface also teases a few features that will show up in 1.3's updated Legacy system, which could make leveling an alternate character even more convenient. In 1.3, you can expect boosts to experience gains for completing PvP Warzones, killing tougher enemies inside Flashpoints and completing space missions. Through the Legacy system you'll also be able to sprint faster and access a level 25 speeder at level 10.

Other 1.3 Legacy perks will include boosted affection gain for your companions though gifting and conversation, an increased chance to score a critical success while crafting, and the option to drop down mailboxes, reset your skill tree, and repair items in the field.

There's still no specific release date for patch 1.2, but it's expected sometime this month.

Courtsey--- PC.IGN.COM

Electronic Arts: 'Worst company in America'? Consumerist says yes

As it does every year, Consumer Reports subsidiary the Consumerist has crowned “The worst company in America.”



This year, based on more than 250,000 votes, it’s Electronic Arts, or EA, of Redwood City, Calif., a “mega-publisher” which the Consumerist said tends to “nickel and dime consumers to death.” The consumer affairs blog cites accusations that EA deliberately holds back game content “with the sole intent of charging a fee for it at a later date.” And the company, according to the Consumerist, also makes a habit of acquiring small start-up video game makers in order to squash competition.

“We’re sure that bank presidents, oil, tobacco and weapons companies are all relieved they weren’t on the list this year,” said EA spokesman John Reseburg. “We’re going to continue making award-winning games and services played by more than 300 million people worldwide.”

Bank of America ranked second, followed by AT&T and Wal-Mart. In total, 32 companies were in the running for the dubious honor, including Facebook, Google, Apple, Netflix, Sony and Spirit Airlines.

Courtsey ---- http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-electronic-arts-worst-company-consumerist-20120404,0,6290021.story

India Gaming Carnival-2012-Day 1

The long awaited and hyped Electronic and Gaming Expo organized by WTF eventz kicked off here at the Ayatti Caparo International Convention Centre in Greater Noida. On my way, several friends called me up and told me how despite the 10:00 AM starting time, they had to wait out in the maddening sun for a good number of hours as the things inside were still being setup. This carried on for a couple of hours and eventually, they entered the main hall. Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the city, the venue was quite nice with a huge front lawn and a nice looking building. Since I was already running late due to some traffic snarls, I simply couldn’t wait to rush past the entrance and set things up. To my surprise, as soon as I entered the main hall thinking it would be a huge relief from the scorching heat outside, the air-conditioning was not working. I looked around and there were people wandering all over the place aimlessly. Some decided to camp on the floor while others took the 1st floor and the stairs leading to the same. On the first floor were some people looking around as if waiting for the golden words that would redeem them. To my right side was the console section where the PS3′s were still being setup – at 2 PM! I saw the busy crew of WTF Eventz scrambling through various tickets and documents. Right behind these guys was the tournament area which had no power! A number of people could be seen carrying around heavy luggage which pointed at the fact that several outstation players from all over India had turned up for the event.

A stroll through the tournament area and I realized what everyone was up against. 15″ LCD Monitors hooked to small-mid tower cabinets laughed at me as if I had just been Rick Rolled. I didn’t move for a few seconds as I was dumbstruck. Counter Strike 1.6 is played on 120 Hz 24-inch monitors worldwide. The first thing I said to myself was “Who brought these sorry pieces of equipment to a tournament with international teams flying in?” Still shocked, I proceeded with a few friends to checkout the rest of the venue. After spending some time exploring the place, we decided to camp on the first floor. Some commotion on the ground floor caught our attention though. The cosplay girls were out and about receiving instructions to take their places. I immediately recognized a face I had seen 2 days in a row at my office a few days back. The girl who was part of the team that had setup a booth to sell the IGC tickets in my office had a costume on! I wondered what happened to actual cosplay enthusiasts and those part-time models who do these gigs for extra cash and fun? I was already quite disappointed by what I had seen but still decided to move along. Seeing how countless people were flocking around the WTF crew to figure out what was going on, another disappointing news hit us. One of the generators that were supposed to solve the power crisis was held by cops. This was definitely not the IGC I had wanted to attend. It was mind boggling to see a venue of such scale with a power crisis at the last minute.

Soon, the WTF guys decided it was time to talk to the people who had been waiting for hours now. Everyone moved outside to the lawn and an announcement was made:

We really apologize for the way things have gone so far. We’re trying our best to solve the problem. However, we regret to inform you that no gaming tournaments will be played today. We’ll be setting up the consoles section to get the console tournaments going.

As expected, the crowd did not like it and surrounded the WTF organizers to bombard them with questions. Another announcement was soon made that Starcraft 2, Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty 4 tournaments would begin soon. To everyone’s dismay, the little power that had been restored went out as well and absolutely no gaming tournaments took place. Moscow 5, the Russian CS 1.6 team looked pretty disappointed, tired and frustrated as a cab was arranged for them to depart from the venue. nxtlvlGaming, the Indonesian CS 1.6 team seemed to be disappointed as well by not just the mismanagement but the rigs, the tables and lack of professionalism as stated in their brief interview. Another announcement was made and the money for the tickets and day passes was refunded.

It was evident now that nothing could be salvaged out of this situation and Day 1 was absolutely gutted due to mismanagement along with tournament and logistical inexperience. When the first day of such a hyped event goes by like this, it leaves little doubts in anyone’s mind that the whole thing had sounded dubious from the onset. Regardless, I hope IGC gets their act together, hosts the tournament with the international teams (now that they’re here) and live upto the expectation of giving away the prize money to the winners. That way, there’s much to learn about how to host a tournament while avoiding the ‘fraud’ label by paying the deserving teams their hard-earned victories. IGC have definitely something to take home from today’s conduct and need to change the way they see an eSports tournament & a Gaming expo under one roof!

Courtesy - - - - @game4nation

http://g4menation.com/