UTV goes global with some thrilling, sci-fi gaming action

REAGAN GAVIN RASQUINHA Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; April 19, 2010)

In this age of new media, content convergence and the like, it’s only natural that the marriage between gaming and a leading media brand seems to be a match made in heaven.

Accordingly, for the last two years, UTV has been steadily nurturing a global gaming powerhouse — with over 400 world class visualisers, gamers, technology experts working at their own studios in London, Florida, Austin, Tokyo, Shanghai and Mumbai — working on games for consoles, cellphones and the Internet.

“Our focus is the 15-34 age group worldwide. We create, build and franchise content and IPs in all media — movies, broadcasting, TV, mobile and now, games — for a worldwide audience. That’s our focus at UTV,” says Ronnie Screwvala, CEO, UTV Software Communications Ltd. Three new top-flight games are in the offing. The first game scheduled for launch is Wardevil, an action-and-adventurepacked third-person shooter game. Based in a richly-rendered alternative universe with many possible stories and characters showcasing a universe ravaged by war, the protagonist is a one-man army known as the Wardevil. The game comes alive with fantastic weapons, action, breath-taking visuals and film-quality CGI visuals in-game.

The second, El Sheddai, being created in Japan, is also a single player thirdperson shooter game set in the Biblical More >