Intellectual property: Pakistani ripoff of Australian game tops among Blackberry users
A game developed by the Pakistani studio Pepper.pk has become wildly popular among Blackberry users, rising to the top of the rankings in the market for Blackberry apps – a somewhat unsurprising development since a very similar game, developed by Australia-based studio Halfbrick, has done quite well amongst iPhone users.
Pepper.pk’s game is called Ninja Fruit Bash, a name that is similar to that of Halfbrick’s Fruit Ninja. Both games look very similar and are played very similarly too.
In both games, players are required to slice fruit thrown at the screen and avoid the bombs thrown at them, using the touchpad or the touchscreen, depending on which application platform they are using. Halfbrick’s iPhone game is said to have a better user experience owing to the larger touchscreen, compared to the smaller touchpad on the Blackberry.
The gameplay is simple and smooth for both, though users of the Blackberry Torch, a touchscreen phone by the Canada-based Research in Motion (RIM), report a better experience than other Blackberry users.
Developers at Pepper.pk claim to have come up with the idea during a brain storming session. The studio’s media manager Muhammad Salman Hashim claims that the game was developed within one month and launched on the Blackberry platform.
“And of course there was no other game like this on the Blackberry Platform,” said Hashim.
The company charges $2.99 for its game on the Blackberry store and said that it was able to recuperate the entire investment in developing the game within two weeks.
Halfbrick’s game sells for $0.99 on the Apple store, although it also has a free version.
Responding to allegations that the game was quite similar to Fruit Ninja by Halfbrick studios on the iPhone, the company spokesperson stated that: “there haven’t been any allegations yet! Our game rules are different, our scoring is different and at the top of all we have a story line. So it’s not at all a rip off.”
Blackberry OS is one of the least popular operating platforms among smartphone users around the world, dwarfed by Apple’s iOS that runs on the iPhone and Google’s Android system that runs on phones developed by a variety of manufacturers.
The Blackberry app store is not available to Blackberry users in Pakistan, since RIM currently does not serve the region.
Correction: An earlier version of the story incorrectly stated the name of the app as 'Fruit Ninja Bash'. The correction has been done.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 6th, 2011.
COMMENTS (8)
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@Nooro: Jealous much? Can you please enlighten us as to how you can see everyone's IPs? Because only Tribune staff would be in a position to do that. And if you're Tribune staff, then you wouldn't be posting as Nooro, now, would you?
Why are all the comments from the same IP =P
I don't know how to react to this piece. I am appalled and put off at the same time. It reminds me of what Gen. Musharraf has said many times in the past... that there is no reason for other people to speak negatively about Pakistan because Pakistanis are always more than willing to invent negative things to talk about.
They say that there will be pits in hell for every nation. For all other nations the pit will be covered with a heavy seal. But the pit for Pakistanis will be left open. Why? Because the first one who escapes will cover the pit up so no one else can come out. This piece is a great illustration of just such a situation.
Why are we like this as a nation? Why do we enjoy cutting ours fellow Pakistanis down and speaking ill even those people in our society who are actually doing something good? If something like this were to happen in India or a different country, you would probably find their media presenting it in a very positive light as a great achievement. But here we are throwing stones and casting aspersions against ourselves. It just makes me sad to see this kind of self destructive streak running amuck in our people.
The author doesn't seem to know anything about mobile games and appstores. Such games are called Clones and there are at least 2 dozen out there. Insinuating that it was a rip off under an intellectual property post just shows ill intent. This is ladies and gentlemen journalism at its 'best' for you!
The author is incorrect in stating that the name of the Pepper.pk game is Fruit Ninja Bash. It is actually Ninja Fruit Bash.