You can now dress Narendra Modi up in your favourite style of sherwani, make Rahul Gandhi leap past various barricades to get a majority in the Lok Sabha or get Arvind Kejriwal to beat the other two up. If you own a smartphone, that is.
Over the past few months, old and new app developers have been releasing games centred on politicians.
This is not just an Indian trend.
In Brazil in 2011, a politician, Simão Jatene commissioned developers to make an easy-to-play mobile puzzle game called Pacto pele Pará, or Pact for Pará.
The app, which integrated his political views in it, was a viral hit in the northern Brazilian state, and Jatene was elected as governor.
Popular mobile games in the US in the run-up to the 2012 election tried to get users to type in their opinions about key issues and to navigate their way through state-wise poll campaign strategies.
Indian games don't bother to be as serious.
In the early 2000s, you could pit Sonia Gandhi against Atal Behari Vajpayee on gaming websites built for desktop consumption. Many of these websites faded into anonymity or have since updated their focus to mobile development.
The stage now belongs to mobile app developers.
India has 300 to 400 mobile developers. As of October 2013, India had an estimated 110 million smartphone users, 85 million of whom live in urban areas.
The penetration of mobile games is low, with only two of every 100 mobile subscribers in India being gamers.
As more mobile users turn to gaming, developers' revenue from mobile games globally is set to triple from 2013 to 2015, according to a report by Garner.
Of the games found on Google’s Play Store, Modi is the most popular standalone figure. Rahul Gandhi is a close second, while Arvind Kejriwal is catching up quickly. However, not one of them has crossed 5,000 downloads.
Four mobile games available on Android:
1. Modi vs Rahul
In this game that resembles Angry Birds, choose which potential PM-in-waiting you like best and fling him slingshot-style against rows of images of the other candidate's head.
2. Narendra Modi Game - Modi fied
This is for people interested in Modi’s sartorial choices, but not for those who would like to parody him. You can select four or five styles of turbans, eyewear, kurtas, shawls and shoes. Zatun's developers say it has had 5,000 downloads within ten days of being launched.
3. Rahul Gandhi Run
Make Rahul Gandhi collect enough Congress hand symbols as he jumps over and ducks barricades. You win if he reaches the magic number of 272 hands. You lose if he touches a lotus. The developer, October Breeze, has a similar app called Modi Mario Run, in which Modi collects lotuses and avoids hands.
4. Arvind Kejriwal-Narendra Modi (Love Me, Love Me Not)
This is not a game about Kejriwal or Modi. It’s about pitting every Indian celebrity you know against each other, from Sonia Gandhi to Sachin Tendulkar. The game is basic. Garland figures you like and throw banana peels at those you don't, as fast you can. As Prashant Agarwal from Macho Apps says, “Hit as many times as you wish.”
Over the past few months, old and new app developers have been releasing games centred on politicians.
This is not just an Indian trend.
In Brazil in 2011, a politician, Simão Jatene commissioned developers to make an easy-to-play mobile puzzle game called Pacto pele Pará, or Pact for Pará.
The app, which integrated his political views in it, was a viral hit in the northern Brazilian state, and Jatene was elected as governor.
Popular mobile games in the US in the run-up to the 2012 election tried to get users to type in their opinions about key issues and to navigate their way through state-wise poll campaign strategies.
Indian games don't bother to be as serious.
In the early 2000s, you could pit Sonia Gandhi against Atal Behari Vajpayee on gaming websites built for desktop consumption. Many of these websites faded into anonymity or have since updated their focus to mobile development.
The stage now belongs to mobile app developers.
India has 300 to 400 mobile developers. As of October 2013, India had an estimated 110 million smartphone users, 85 million of whom live in urban areas.
The penetration of mobile games is low, with only two of every 100 mobile subscribers in India being gamers.
As more mobile users turn to gaming, developers' revenue from mobile games globally is set to triple from 2013 to 2015, according to a report by Garner.
Of the games found on Google’s Play Store, Modi is the most popular standalone figure. Rahul Gandhi is a close second, while Arvind Kejriwal is catching up quickly. However, not one of them has crossed 5,000 downloads.
Four mobile games available on Android:
1. Modi vs Rahul
In this game that resembles Angry Birds, choose which potential PM-in-waiting you like best and fling him slingshot-style against rows of images of the other candidate's head.
2. Narendra Modi Game - Modi fied
This is for people interested in Modi’s sartorial choices, but not for those who would like to parody him. You can select four or five styles of turbans, eyewear, kurtas, shawls and shoes. Zatun's developers say it has had 5,000 downloads within ten days of being launched.
3. Rahul Gandhi Run
Make Rahul Gandhi collect enough Congress hand symbols as he jumps over and ducks barricades. You win if he reaches the magic number of 272 hands. You lose if he touches a lotus. The developer, October Breeze, has a similar app called Modi Mario Run, in which Modi collects lotuses and avoids hands.
4. Arvind Kejriwal-Narendra Modi (Love Me, Love Me Not)
This is not a game about Kejriwal or Modi. It’s about pitting every Indian celebrity you know against each other, from Sonia Gandhi to Sachin Tendulkar. The game is basic. Garland figures you like and throw banana peels at those you don't, as fast you can. As Prashant Agarwal from Macho Apps says, “Hit as many times as you wish.”
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