The number of online FIFA players in India is unbelievable and the gaming companies are looking forward to tap this ever-increasing popularity. Online gaming companies plan to make the most of the FIFA World Cup which will be held in South Africa in June this year.

EA (Electronic Sports) sports, the gaming company is the proud creator and owner of the immensely popular FIFA World Cup games franchise. It is expected that around 120 million gamers will play soccer online during the FIFA World Cup in June. The online gaming industry accounts to around $1.3 billion of the total advertising revenues, subscriptions and other sales of virtual items. Games2Win – Mumbai based online gaming company – is expected to launch several new games to coincide with the FIFA World Cup.

Alok Kejriwal, CEO of Games2Win, feels that the craze for Soccer is rising in the country. Games2Win is currently in the process of launching the soccer application especially designed for iPhone. Hyderabad based, 7Seas Technologies is the next gaming company to follow suit with the launch of two new games, Soccer Ball and Soccer tournament.

Reliance Entertainment’s Zapak is also expected to launch new games during the World Cup. Zapak’s Power soccer is already a popular 3D browser based online soccer game in India. Soccer has also taken the mobile gaming industry by storm. According to Nazara Technologies, a leader in the mobile entertainment industry, Soccer accounts for around 2 percent of the total share of the $2 billion mobile gaming market.

Experts suggest that the increasing popularity of soccer due to the EPL has translated to the virtual platform as well. Whether the real version of the game manages to surpass the popularity of Cricket is a question that will be answered only in the near future.

This has been made possible due to a strategic distribution alliance between the Indian Film Company and YouTube. The partnership will see Striker as the first Indian film to premier on YouTube on the same date as its release. Striker will be premiered internationally on YouTube, while it will release in Indian theatres on the same date, i.e. 5^th of February.

Online audiences can access the premier on the Studio 18 Channel on YouTube, www.youtube.com/studio18. Indian Film Company hopes to provide a new platform to such parallel movies. Movies like Striker usually do not get an international theatrical release due to its unconventional star cast.

The availability of a legalized online platform can curb online and CD piracy. Audiences will instead be provided with quality and in demand option for viewing newly released movies. The movie will however not be made available for the site traffic originating from India. This move has been taken in order to maximize the revenues via the theatrical release in India.

Striker will be available for rent in the US. However, viewers from other countries can view the movie for free. Revenue will be earned via an advertising-share model in this approach.

Whether this online strategy pays off will be known only after the release of the film.

Twitter has a new member. It’s none other than the Badshah of Bollywood, King Khan. Shahrukh Khan is the latest celebrity to join the Twitter bandwagon. Gauging by the number of his followers – 53,687- Shahrukh is certainly a hit on Twitter. However, his profile is yet to be verified.

Shahrukh registered on the popular micro-blogging website on the 2nd of January. Shahrukh, who is of a reticent nature was at first reluctant to join the website, but finally gave in to the idea after his friend Karan Johar coaxed him to share his life with his fans. Shahrukh expressed his delight on receiving such a warm welcome on joining the social networking website via a post on his profile page.

Shahrukh, who was last seen on the 70mm screen in the year 2009, will be in the limelight once again post the release of his upcoming film, My Name is Khan. Karan Johar, director of My Name is Khan, feels that it is satisfying to communicate with the world with social networking websites. He feels glad that the King Khan finally relented and hopes that he establishes a rapport with the fans in time for the release of their film.

Currently the Bollywood superstar is enjoying a quiet time with his family. Shahrukh posted in his latest post that he is watching Tim Burton’s animated flick, ‘Nine’ with his kids. Whether the Twitter tactic helps Fox Studio’s My Name is Khan is still a question, which will be answered only after the release of the film.