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Virtual obsession

Photo: T. Singaravelou

ARE YOU GAME? Gaming has caught the fancy of the young and the adults alike

The garage door opens at his bidding. He leaps on to his rickety scooter, and vrooms out, knocking down someone in the process. Undaunted, he goes on, only to be caught round the corner by a cop. But he doesn’t have the time. Edgar waits at the chemical plant, poised with his weapon, to finish him…

This is what 16-year-old Sathi likes to do on holidays. He spends at least three hours every day (and Rs. 15 an hour!), getting into the skin of Jimmy Hopkins, at his favourite gaming parlour on 45 Feet Road, playing Bully.

Sony Playstation2 (PS2) has caught the fancy of not just adolescents, but college students and office goers as well. Sathish, the managing partner of the parlour, is a gaming addict himself. The four-month-old parlour already boasts of a regular clientele consisting mainly of school and college students, and on a busy day, clocks almost fifty hours, all its five consoles put together. Sundays see a relentless line of customers walking in.

Among the thirty-odd games he offers, WWF Smackdown (with a Tamil soundtrack option!), Ben 10, Burnout 3 and Brian Lara International Cricket 2005 are the most popular ones.

Launched in 2000, PS2 has held sway for over nine years in Puducherry, and is still going strong. “On a one-km stretch, there are three or four PS2 gaming parlours,” says Mayilesh, dealer of Playstation2 peripherals. Not without reason — computer gaming seems to attract clientele — students and working professionals alike — from the middle and upper middle class. Check out the scene every Sunday at Srinivasan’s computer gaming centre on Mission Street. The day is reserved for Counter-Strike and DotA tournaments, and the place looks like a BPO, with serious-looking people wearing headsets staring at computer screens.

Only when you hear them scream obscenities at each other do you realise that one of them just finished off the other. On weekdays, customers pay Rs. 25 to play for an hour, and over 40 players engage in a fierce battle to win the coveted prize — a discount on the rate for playing hours, and sometimes, free hours too.

“Apart from our regulars, those who are busy on weekdays unfailingly make it to the Sunday tournaments,” says Srinivasan. He maintains a detailed ranking system, which is subject to change every week, because of dramatic upsets and victories.

Surprisingly, exclusive computer gaming parlours with high-speed gaming machines are fewer in number.

Also, in such a vibrant gaming scene, seventh generation video gaming such as Sony Playstation3, Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo Wii, the latest in the gaming business, has not found takers here yet, because of the high cost

Until then, PS2, Counter-Strike and DotA shall rule the roost.

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