Dubai: The budding digital media production industry in the Middle East is taking another important first step toward creating its very own internet, film and gaming content.
What's being billed as the one of the first multi-platform action-adventure video games to be created exclusively within the Middle East is under full production and nearing completion, says a Saudi Arabian games developer exhibiting at Dubai Game Expo 2011.
The expo opened on Wednesday and runs through Saturday; the latter two days are open to showcase 144 gaming companies to the public at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The new homegrown video game, Unearthed: Trail of Ibn Battuta, is the brainchild of Semaphore, the gaming and multimedia division of Semanoor International, an established Saudi e-learning firm for the last 20 years.
In an exclusive interview with Gulf News from Riyad, Ahmad Jadallah, director of development Semanoor International, said the game will give young gamers the opportunity to follow ancient Arab explorer Ibn Battuta's journey in a modern-day setting.
"This will allow you to retrace Ibn Battuta's steps in a modern game," Jadallah said from his firm's headquarters, noting that the game will also "have an Indiana Jones vibe."
History records through Battuta's book, Rihla (The Journey), the 14th Century Berba Morrocan explorer's travels as far east as China and as far west as Europe, 121,000 kilometres of travels that spanned 30 years.
