Video gaming (Computer/console/mobile) is a form of entertainment that has steadily been growing in the last decade and with it, a constantly expanding movement of gamers all over in the world. Gaming now has reached the status of a sport to many enthusiasts ranging from school children to professionals. The introduction of multiplayer gaming has enabled groups of gamers to play and interact with each other which have given birth to many gaming leagues and tournaments.
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In Sri Lanka too, a new generation of gamers have emerged and is constantly growing with various tournaments and gaming leagues now taking place in Sri Lanka as well. The Gamer Magazine is the first magazine in the country that has dedicated themselves to this ever growing culture. Going into print every once in two months, The Gamer features info about the latest games in the market, game reviews as well as more insight into the Sri Lankan gaming community, which according Editor Kushan Dodanwala is one of their primary objectives.
“The Gamer Magazine was started out by myself and three of my friends that I’ve known since I was in school,” said Kushan. “We met up in June this year and we had no plans, just an idea to start a magazine. In the next few months we managed to draw a plan and figure out how it would be done and we managed to release the first issue of the magazine in September.”
The gamer magazine also works closely other entities dedicated to gaming in Sri Lanka. They have a close relationship with www.gamer.lk, which is the biggest forum for Sri Lankan gamers as well as GTS Studios, the most prominent game development team in Sri Lanka. The Gamer Magazine is also the official partner for the Sri Lanka Cyber Games which will conclude today. Talking about how the Magazine comes together, Kushan explained that the articles are contributed by many of their friends who excel in gaming. He went on to explain that since most of the latest games don’t reach their hands for a while, they take information about these games from the internet, but they do their research in whatever way they can by reading international reviews etc.
“When our own writers do reviews of games, they play the games and its about their experiences and opinions of the game in the perspective of a Sri Lankan,” said Kushan. He said that this was because even in an international review, it would be the writers’ perspective of the game and the opinions could differ with different countries.
Kushan also explained that their decision to start a Sri Lankan magazine dedicated to gaming was because, even though a thriving gaming community exists in the country, they receive very little exposure and media coverage.
“There are a lot very skilled gamers in the country. For example, a very few people know that in 2008, a Sri lankan ranked 13th in world in the FIFA World cup game. If a Sri Lankan ranked 13th in any other sport it would be all over the place,” said Kushan, adding that their main objectives were to expose the talent of Sri Lankan gamers and give them a voice. “We hope that the Gamer Magazine will help spark a new era for gaming in Sri Lanka where it will be recognised as a sport,” he said. |
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