Indian-developed Hanuman irks Hindu devotees

We applauded Hanuman, SCEE's first Indian-developed PS2 game, for opening up the games industry in the region. However, it looks like India is quickly following America's footsteps in protesting a video game.

Vamsi Krishna, spokesperson for Sanatan Sanstha, contacted us regarding Hanuman, a game which was described as "very disrespectful, disgraceful and an insult to all those devotees of Lord Hanuman and followers of Hindu dharma." Krishna then added that Hanuman is a "senseless video game with an aim to commercialize this role model for all devotees" and that SCEE's investment in the burgeoning Indiana development community "shows insensitiveness [sic] towards the feelings of others and ignorance towards a certain faith by Sony Corporation."

Any mainstream retelling of a religion is bound to some form of controversy. Looks like SCEE's attempt at expanding the Indian games market, while well-intended, didn't go as smoothly as expected. We hope that this minor PR blow doesn't curtail their efforts in making India one of the next premiere game markets.