CRICKET IS A GAME!

Many World Cup based games are available online for cricket lovers. PT logs on..

GAME FOR MORE?
Cricket enthusiasts can now play their favourite sport online

SCORE a century. Be the man of the match. Win the World Cup. Virtually, of course. There are a wide range of games online and on your mobile handsets that have been specially designed to allow you to experience the real thrill of the gentleman’s game. The games are so real that you can actually sense the nervousness that players experience while being on the cricket field. Vaibhav Odhekar, business head Zapak Games, shares the company's game plan. “Now that the World Cup fever is on the rise, we have designed games that sports enthusiasts can cheer for. The official World Cup 2011 video game – Cricket Power, launched by our company gives the ultimate experience of playing and building your own World Cup game. With games following the World Cup schedules, and accompanied by authentic features like Powerplay, the world of virtual reality is simulating the real thing. On an average, our monthly users go up to 4.5 million. With the World Cup going on we can expect it to rise up to 6 million during the business end of the tournament,”says he.  

Another game in circulation is Ultimate cricket, which is a full-blown cricket game. Ask Farah Sayyed, creative director of Games2win.com, and she’ll tell you why cricket based games are more popular now. She says, “The World Cup takes place every four years on a huge scale. It has a tremendous fan following. The fervour is unbelievable! To let cricket lovers relive the same energy and competition as is there on the real field, we designed Ultimate Cricket. Right from the toss to the nail biting final over, the game will not fail to engage cricket lovers. On an average, a single cricket game gets around 12,000 plays per day.” Cricket is the biggest craze these days, and gaming companies are making the most of it. Vishal Gondal, CEO of Indiagames Ltd, says, “We have launched a variety of mobile and online games. The number of downloads — over a million online on wireless devices and 4 million on the online games — shows how passionate we are about the game.”

 There are also games that can keep you busy while you keep yourself updated through online score cards. Sreelesh, business manager, Sify Sports shares a few details. “We thought why not keep the user busy while s/he is watching the scorecard on TV. so we launched various applications where users can chat with other visitors who’re on the ‘Fun Zone’ and enjoy games like World Cup predictor, cricket quiz and cricket-based Jigsaw Puzzle. We get 10,000 page views per day,” says he. 

For people who are always on the go, mobile games are a great option. Salil Bhargava, CEO, Jump Games talks about his cricket-based mobile game. He tells us, “The official game for World Cup 2011 for mobiles has an option of three different game modes - quick play, World Cup 2011 and challenges. There is also a special action cam view to give real life experience of enhanced batting, bowling and fielding controls.” But that’s not all. If you think your predictions are as right as Paul the octopus, then here is a game for you. Nitin Mathur, senior director- marketing, Yahoo! India explains, “Predictopus by Yahoo! Labs is an attempt to allow users to channel their inner Paul and show cricketing expertise by making all the right predictions about the World Cup. It is an interesting and engaging game that allows you to even win great prizes.” 

So now you can put yourself in Sachin’s ‘shoes’ or experience the real action of playing in a stadium. All you have to do is log on and take strike.