Ramayan 3392 A.D. Coming Soon To A Pc Near You
Ramayan 3392 A.D., a futuristic tale inspired by the Indian epic, is coming out shortly, but not as a movie to a theater near you. Instead, it'll be a MMOG. Virgin Comics, co-owned by Richard Branson and Deepak Chopra, is teaming up with Sony Online Entertainment to produce this Massively Multiplayer Online Game based on a comic book version of that title. "In a world increasingly dominated with games influenced by a Western Tolkien mythos, Ramayan will offer gamers a chance to experience a whole new universe of characters and archetypes derived from one of the oldest cultures on Earth," said CEO Sharad Devrajan in a statement. Titled ‘The Mahavinaash Age,' the first volume in the Ramayan comic book series was written by Shamik Dasgupta and illustrated by Abhishek Singh. The film director Shekhar Kapur, along with Deepak Chopra, conceived and developed the idea. The next volume (‘Tome of Wastelands') will be released in 2008.
A MMOG, as the name suggests, allow hundreds—perhaps even thousands—of fans to play the game simultaneously in a virtual (often fantasy) setting called a persistent world. The outcome is usually shaped by both competition and cooperation among players. In this re-imagining rather than re-telling of the epic, many characters have the same or similar names. Though the hero is still called Rama, the arch villain's name has been shortened to Rav from Ravana. "What remains intact to our story are some universal themes like duty, honor, sacrifice and fraternity, while also mining uniquely Indian ideas like Karma and the malleability of time itself," explained CCO (chief creative officer) Gotham Chopra in a statement.
Enjoyed reading Khabar magazine? Subscribe to Khabar and get a full digital copy of this Indian-American community magazine.
