SCEE providing Vicious Engine to developers in India

by Andrew Yoon { Nov 11th 2008 at 9:45AM }

In an effort to spur development on the PSP and PS2 platforms, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has announced a partnership with Vicious Engine to game developers in India. There is a burgeoning games development scene in India, and Sony is trying to make it as easy as possible for developers to work on their platforms.

"We looked for an all-inclusive game engine that provided flexibility and a rapid development cycle," said Jim Ryan, COO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. "The Vicious Engine is both intuitive and easy-to-use, an excellent choice for our program in India."

"Working with up-and-coming developers has always been part of our long-term strategy," said Eric Peterson, president and CEO of Vicious Cycle Software. "This is an historic program, and we are looking forward to all the amazing titles Indian developers will create using our engine."

The Vicious Engine has been used in a number of games, including Dead Head Fred and Puzzle Quest on the PSP.

Tags: psp, scee, vicious-engine

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

cafecito @ Nov 11th 2008 10:40AM

Looking at Dead Head Fred's graphics, no doubt it's a powerful engine. I wish I could put my hands on that!

David Black @ Nov 11th 2008 12:45PM

Ditto cafecito, also given the multitude of mini-games in DHF it would seem like there is a lot of flexibility in the engine as well...

kappa @ Nov 11th 2008 11:18AM

It will be interesting to see what devs from other countries besides the usual ones (US, Japan, Europe etc.) can do and if different cultural viewpoints will be reflected in the games they develop.

aj @ Nov 11th 2008 6:54PM

More cultural viewpoints can only be a good thing. A lot of the world's ills could be overcome by showing people new ways to look at the world around them. And if some guys in India can take a familiar thing - an RPG, an FPS - and just present it in a way that westerners haven't seen, or don't expect, then that's a good thing.

Fane @ Nov 12th 2008 6:02PM

Judging by Bollywood, expect lots of colorful musical numbers.

Joe @ Nov 11th 2008 12:04PM

@ Kappa

India can make some good games. Some times they can even come out later in Japan. They can be weird but some can be good. There was this one RPG that was different but never came out any were else it was like Vagrent Story. From the old SquareSoft game days andI wanted to play it but never got a chance.

So I hope this also means more games will come out of India to the rest of the world.

I would love to see what could be made on the PSP and seeing as I have not picked up a game in some time last was Yggdra Union and I don't even count that one really because I played it on the GBA. So my last game was Crisis Core.

So to me this is good news for India and if it helps the rest of the world great newsfor us too.

Jeremy @ Nov 11th 2008 4:16PM

I haven't played Dead Head Fred, but Puzzlequest didn't seem particularly optimized for the PSP.

This is something, but it seems a sign of desperation on Sony's part. They don't want to make PSP games, 3rd parties don't want to make PSP, so they're trying to get people in India to make them?

I guess it brings new blood into the gaming industry, but it seems like Sony is being as cheap as they possibly can...