Welcome to the inaugural edition of Jetsetter, Digital Trends’ weekly look at the international gaming scene. The United States is the biggest game market in the world by a wide margin. Given how many games are made to suit the American palette—Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Battlefield, and Madden NFL just to name a few—it’s sometimes hard to remember that there are 6.7 billion people beyond our borders making and playing games. Jetsetter is here to give you the tiniest glimpse into the immensity that is gaming in the other 195 countries covering the planet Earth.
Jetsetter is also intended as an open dialogue. If you’re reading this in New Guinea and you know about some slick mobile game that the rest of the world should hear about, let us know in the comments section below. Anything you want to tell us, any feedback at all, will only make the column better so hit us up or hit me up on Twitter at @ajohnagnello.
Square-Enix debuts in India with talent hunt.
Final Fantasy and Deus Ex: Human Revolution publisher Square-Enix opened a new branch in India on Apr. 25 and it marked the occasion by starting a contest for Indian game developers. “We’ve found that in several countries around the world, such as Japan, America, and China, the most popular games have been those that have been developed within that country, and we expect the same to be the case for India,” said Square-Enix honorary chairman Yasuhiro Fukushima, “Our primary aim is to work with talented Indian developers, nurture that talent, and bring their games to a global audience, and this contest is the first step towards achieving this.” Contenders can develop for browsers, iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. The only restriction beyond platform is that the game must be in English, a peculiar requirement given the contest’s goal of finding unique Indian voices. The winners will be announced in November.
Lenovo’s Kinect-style console Eedoo CT510 arrives in China.
China banned video game consoles back in 2000 on the grounds that games corrupted young minds. This was before MMOs like World of Warcraft became a national obsession of course, but consoles are still banned to this day. Lenovo-backed Eedoo doesn’t make gaming consoles though. It makes “exercise consoles” like the Eedoo CT510, a $600 box with a Kinect-like motion-sensing camera. Released this week after a year of delays, the box comes pre-loaded with a selection of games such as “Kongfu,” dancing, and gym exercises. There are also apps for movies and karaoke. Thing is, even the people that make the CT510 hate it. As noted by Engadget, an Eedoo director responded to a Sina Weibo survey on whether or not people planned to buy the console by saying, “No way!” Harsh.
Germany’s NG:Dev.Team’s Dreamcast/Neo-Geo game Gunlord out in June
NG:Dev.Team are insane. The German studio specializes in two-dimensional arcade style games, but rather than make them for machines people will likely play them on, they only make games for the Sega Dreamcast and Neo-Geo home and arcade systems. That’s right. They only make games for consoles that have been dead for over a decade. Their latest, a Contra-style sidescroller called Gunlord, will be available for Dreamcast on Jun. 14 and Neo-Geo on Jun. 30 according to their homepage. So… time to dust off that Neo-Geo AES console that’s sitting in no one’s attic?
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