Every day as I make my way to Connaught Place (or Rajiv Chowk) in the Metro, I inevitably see dozens of people crouched over their handsets, not texting or checking mail (very few do), but merrily playing away. And no, they are not playing some state-of-the-art game with cuttingedge graphics and amazing special effects, but often doing nothing more than using the keys or touchscreen to aim a lump of paper at a wastepaper basket or putting a squawking bird in a slingshot and shooting it at a bunch of pigs hiding behind formidable fortifications.
For some time now, gaming has been associated with high-end consoles, monster PCs and cuttingedge technology. Whatever games were, they were not supposed to be simple affairs, but really niche stuff requiring requisite hardware (read 'consoles' ) and a certain amount of dedication, not to mention a deep pocket (most console games come with a four-figure price tag).