The Mumbai, India resident started playing at his home on September 4 at 10:00 a.m. and wrapped up on September 6 at 2:00 a.m., taking only four breaks. His marathon play session was observed by observers and has earned its place in the Guinness Book, surpassing the previous record of playing GTAIV for 28 hours and 1 minute.

"There are so many other games which I have played for long hours," says Patnaik. But I had never tried playing this particular game seriously. However, I knew that I can do it after I saw my brother playing it ... I enjoyed the game very much. It's fun playing long hours. It wasn't that exhaustive for me, as one might feel."

To train for the event, he exercised, ran and did yoga, and while playing, he guzzled coffee and munched on dates. Next up, Patnaik plans to play for 48 hours straight.

"I enjoyed the game very much," he says. "It's fun playing long hours. It wasn't that exhaustive for me, as one might feel".

Mumbai youth makes world record in video gaming [ZEENEWS via GamePolitics]

I don't remember Bowser wielding a laser gun, or Tag-Team Luigi harnessing the power of the moon.

Mario recreation on India's Got Talent [Boing Boing]

Remarkably, the writer of last week's piece on "the highest arcade in the world," (7,000 feet above sea level) is having some luck finding the young man who whooped his ass at Street Fighter Alpha 3 on the PSOne back in 1999. Lee Bradley says that, after his piece ran on Bitmob, someone wrote to say he would ship a Dreamcast and some games over to the parlor in Darjeeling, India.

Apparently the reader failed to notice this travelogue was about an experience 10 years ago. Undeterred, Bradley set off to locate the kid and/or the parlor. After a call to the hotel he'd stayed in, and an appeal on the comments section of a Darjeeling newspaper's site, Bradley's gotten so far as to narrow the parlor's site down to one of three locations. He's asked a local man to visit them and take some pictures of each so he can verify which is correct.

He's waiting to hear back. More on this as it develops.

Also by the way, "highest arcade in the world" has a nice ring to it, but at 7,000 feet, I'm sure there are some game rooms at ski areas, past or present, that could top that. But I bet they don't serve the kind of tea you can get at this place.

The Search for Arcade Boy [Bitmob]

Lee Bradley, writing for the still-got-that-new-site-smell Bitmob, tells of his travels to both the city and the "arcade", which is really nothing more than "a collection of old televisions wired up to PlayStations". The software collection is extensive, consisting of an entire wall of pirated PS1 games, while we can only wish the arcade's pricing structure was seen over here a little more often, as "For just a few rupees the young boy that ran the arcade would grab the game of your choice, pop it into a PlayStation and keep you topped up with cups of Darjeeling's finest".

Sweet.

The full piece is well worth a read, for lovers of travel, fine tea and Street Fighter Alpha 3 alike.

The Highest Arcade in the World [Bitmob]

A few weeks ago Indian film distributor Eros International released a 3D video game inspired by their hit thriller Ghajini and earlier this week a mobile game based on the classic Indian novella about unrequited love was unveiled.

"Every person would be able to relate himself or herself with this game and would be able to play the game by donning the persona of Dev," said Mahi Gill, one of the actors in the film.

I'm sort of surprised we haven't seen more Bollywood-inspired video games. Afterall, the Indian film industry is the largest in the world, in terms of volume.

According to the Reuters story the market for Indian video games is expected to grow to about $1.3 billion this year, up from $300 million in 2006 and employs about 30,000 animators alone.

Second Bollywood hero goes virtual in new mobile game

A PC version of the movie has been launched this month. It's the first 3D Indian game and will be getting a worldwide marketing push.

Says Sashi Reddy, boss of the game's developer, FX labs: "There are no Indian games so we wanted to bring Indian games to the audiences here and we built India's first 3D game... So this is based on one of the big Bollywood hits and the top hero in India."

Ghanjini, the movie, follows a businessman played by Aamir Khan who suffers short-term memory less and actually a Hindi remake of a 2005 Tamil film of the same name that was inspired by Christopher Nolan's Memento.

Bollywood hit inspires India videogame [Reuters] [Pic]

The actor was dining at the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai when militants opened fire. Rudder was hit by three bullets and rushed to hospital where he successfully underwent surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.

In a CBC News report, Rudder recounted the tragedy: "I found myself in a Bruce Willis Die Hard moment, where my arm — had a lovely white shirt on — and it just exploded into red. And, while I was taking that in, I got a bullet in my leg. So I quickly got myself on the floor to get a bullet in the butt as I was going down — and then another bullet, still another bullet grazed my head. So I just laid there in utter shock."

The actor played dead. That is, until the gunmen threw grenades, which filled the room with fire and smoke. Instead of laying there and suffocating to death, Rudder knew he had to make a run for it. "If I would've sat there and said, 'Oh, I don't feel well, I don’t think I’ll get up from the floor and watch the smoke come in and suffocate me,' I think I would've been kind of an idiot." How did he find his way out? "To tell you the truth, I followed the bloodstains," Rudder said.

Read the full story below.

Montreal actor uses film knowledge to escape Mumbai bloodbath [CBC Thanks, Junky!]

While Bose calls PS2 and PSP sales "healthy," the exec notes that the PS3 still has yet to take off. "While most people buy genuine PS2s and PSPs," says Bose, "they tend to buy PS3s from the grey market due to the heavy price." What's more, Bose says the recently-launched-in-India DS hasn't much affected the PSP sales. The country still does not have the online infrastructure for the PSN as it would take some users days to download games.

Click through the link below for more from Bose on topics like outsourcing and the future of PlayStation India.

Interview: Athindriya Bose [The Regal Gamer via PS3 Fanboy]

According to Xbox India boss Ashim Mathur, Microsoft is expecting fifty percent higher sales on the sequel compared to the first Gears of War. Mathur told game site Game Guru that there apparently will not be a Gears 2 bundle in the region. When asked about a possible PC version, Mathur gave a firm "No comment."

Gears of War 2 India Launch Party in Mumbai [Game Guru]

Casual Connect: Sony On Developing for an Open PS2 Platform [GameDaily via Edge]

Microsoft constantly endeavors to bring the best games to Indian consumers in sync with their international release. However, in light of cultural sensitivities in India, we have made the business decision to not bring Fallout 3 into the country.

I bet you anything if the game kicked off with a snazzy musical number starring Shahrukh Khan and Preity Zinta this wouldn't have happened - and I would have bought five copies and invited my mother over to watch.

Fallout 3 controversy: India release cancelled [Gamingindiians.com via GI.biz]

The competence and the state of readiness of the Indian developers makes it imperative that India soon will emerge as a key development hub for many international games companies.

Sony has already signed 13 developers, including Indian devs, up to produce local and international content for the PlayStation platform.

SCEE: 'India will emerge as key development hub for international companies' [develop]

The future of the Indian game development market will depend on the quality of the game developers who are starting at a zero base.

The Indian subsidiary also has a PS2 game software manufacturing facility that it makes available to other publishers looking to release games on the Indian subcontinent at local price points, and Sony even earns royalities on these games as well.

Sony will make India its gaming development hub [DNA via MAXCONSOLE] [Pic]

Demo: Tales of Vesperia [Xbox Live's Major Nelson]

Xbox 360 Credit Card [Redington, via Siliconera]

Irrational's 'The Lost' Turns Up... In Bollywood?! [GameSetWatch]

There are rumors and speculations floating around for that as well, but all I will say is that right now I am not going to be making any formal announcements as to where I am headed. But whatever I do will be in the cusp of entertainment, convergence, youth, gaming. It's all there.

I am not going to suddenly start selling rockets.

Since when have we let these Bollywood actors and socialites dictate what the citizens of India can or cannot do? Maybe it's time Mrs Tagore sorted out her own house, paid more attention to the kind of games her grandkids played especially when the games have big letters saying MA printed on them instead of urging the government to baby sit the nation's children at the expense of the tax payers hard earned money.

Why should others pay for her blatant ignorance and negligence?

Will the parliamentary proposal be successful? We'll find out soon - this doesn't seem like a huge surprise (everyone loves an easy target), but the family drama is enough to make my head spin.

Video Games Censorship Comes to India [GameGuru] and Government To Regulate Video Games in India [Desicritics] [both via GamePolitics]

The Indian gaming market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 78 per cent by 2010, and barely one per cent of the country's gaming potential has been tapped...However, we are still at a very nascent stage, even though there is a lot of potential for the industry.