Before the quiz, 5 clues had been put up on gyaan.in. And post the Online Treasure Hunt event at Gateway, I loved to be given another challenge. Easily got the first 2 clues. The first was an audio clip from Portal 2. The second clue was apparently some gibberish lines of text, but were actually lyrics to ‘There Goes My Love’ encoded in Base64.

Got stuck with the 3rd clue. I looked up Treasure Island at Project Gutenberg. But couldn’t make sense of W and L. Word and Letter? Nah. Had no idea about the 4th video. I actually identified the various sources of the video! One of them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HosRm46gZJ0&feature=related.

The 5th one was a QR Code which on scanning from my Android turned out to be a telephone number. And just when I was about to hit call, I thought it’d be better if I look it up online. A quick Google search revealed that it was Dominos Bhatinda’s number. The quizmaster must’ve left the last one as a joke, so I thought. The night before the quiz, I sat down to figure out any significance of these questions. Were 3 and 4 important parts of this jigsaw I couldn’t figure out? Frustrated, after fruitlessly trying to figure out a connect went to bed at 2…

And woke up late the next morning. Reached late to school. The car from school had to be refueled, so got late again.  There was this traffic jam at the Mayapuri flyover which didn’t really help.

Pictured: Hugh Jass Traffic on the way to Vasant Kunj

It was already about 8:45 when we reached Vasant Kunj and the following happened:

Ma’am:”Beta, I think we should stop for directions.”
Me: “भैया थोड़ा लेफ्ट ले लो. इधर किसी से पूछ लेते हैं.”  Bad call.

Our driver swiftly changes lanes. Screech. Thud. Splash.

A motorcycle moving to the left of the road crashes right behind our car. The driver moves out, is quickly surrounded. “अबे क्या गाड़ी चला रहा है. “  We quietly left the car, to take an auto nearby and made our way to DPS Vasant Kunj.

We were the 26th school to report. And as it turned out, weren’t that late.

We were soon greeted by the prelim papers, and Vivek and Ankur. 20 questions. +5 bonus questions. The Clue questions! I attempted the bonus questions first, only to be told that they were not criteria for qualification. What!? All the effort I put in, goes to waste? Returning to the main questions, I found I could only get about 10 of them. But believed we would qualify. We submitted the papers and got our refreshments after waiting a while.

The packing was not entirely deceptive, there was a chocolate cupcake. It was delicious and moist.

Reached the audi. The names of the teams which qualified were announced. Sadly, the Mighty Morphin’ Power Quizzers were not among the qualifiers. But I soon realised that this was the first semi-final. And we could still have a shot in the second semi-finals. Which we did.

Got the second place. And soon the quiz commenced. For some reason the difficulty of the second semi-final seemed to be higher than the first. Zero points scored during the first round. The second round was hangman, a buzzer round which have been my undoing at a lot of quizzes. Ekta was quick to buzz at the first question and correctly identified 2-acetoxybenzoic acid (aspirin). Nobody really tried the other questions in the round… but me. I stupidly take another shot at the buzzer and my score drops by 5 points. A blunder that costed me a position in the finals. And this ad will haunt me for the rest of my life. All questions I did know were intercepted by Spring Dales and Mother’s International.

According to the final scores, we were tied at 4th place with DPS Rohini. But we were denied a ‘second chance’ because our score included a negative. Which is a little unfair. A tie-breaker? But even though I couldn’t make it to the finals, I was happy. I had been enjoying the quiz so far.

And then I was informed that I’d be getting a special prize from Mr Ankur Banerjee for having cracked the most number of clues posted online.

YEAH! I ascend the stage once again, like a boss, to accept my reward.

Kaya (coconut jam), One Minute Mandarin, and a few bookmarks...

Whoa! I get a bottle of Kaya, a copy of One Minute Mandarin, and a  few more things. Quite unexpected. At various quizzes, where I’ve failed to get a podium finish, I’ve been lucky to get a souvenir. I still cherish the calculator from Texas Instruments I won at the Jack Kilby quiz. Trophies sit on your mantlepiece, catching on dust, but things like these you never forget.

As I fiddled with my prizes among the audience, the chief guest arrived and the finals started. Mr Banerjee does à la Salman Khan and takes off his T-shirt, showing his ‘Don’t Panic’ shirt below. But the audience get a little more than what they wanted.

The schools onstage put on a good show, with some really intelligent and quick answers. But, “Those who fail to qualify know most of the answers on stage.” is a harsh reality of quizzing. I win a few Bravo and 5-star chocolates, for answering those questions which would have brought me precious points had I qualified. The audience witness a huge upheaval in the score tally in the final round ’6 by 9′. DPS RKP move to the top as Sardar Patel, the previous leaders tumble to the third position. Honestly, if I had chosen the sports question in that round, I could’ve scored 70 points there.

After a speech from the school principal, it felt good to know that my substantia grisea (read: grey matter) wasn’t any less from the finalists. This event was a really wonderful experience. One of the best quizzes I’d seen in a long time. I couldn’t help but notice, a lot of questions were from South-East Asia. I’m not saying that it is a bad thing.

In the end, I might have taken home more goodies home than the winners. Hope to seeing more from Vivek and Ankur at Grey Matter 2012. Oh wait, this is my last year in school. Shit.

P.S.- I know what you’re thinking. “Shikhar’s blog was dead.” “Wait.. he had a blog?” After over 17 months I’m writing at this place on the internet. Surprisingly there has been some activity on my blog, I’ve managed to gather 45,353 views.

Developers: Rockstar Leeds, Rockstar North

Publisher: Rockstar Games

No matter how many choppers you take down, no matter if you take out cars with grenades or kill a thousand civilians, or shoot police officers and curse and hit them right in their face. Nothing is going to happen to you (or at the most you’ll get ‘Busted’ or ‘Wasted’). But do not worry because even if the damage you’ve done will be worth a million dollars, the cops will let you go after you bribe them with a meagre hundred dollars. Welcome to the world of GTA.

Chinatown Wars is the typical GTA game and upholds the true spirit of the GTA series. The story is about-bloodshed, treachery, gunplay, treachery, assassinations, and treachery. The game starts with the “Great American Welcome”. Huang Lee comes to Liberty City, is shot and his family heirloom, the Yu Jian sword is stolen from him. Then begin a series of missions for your uncle Kenny, other Triads and a corrupt cop. The story is not very impressive, but still grips you.

Based on my experience of the previous GTA titles, I have prepared a GTA plot generator, in 10 simple steps.

The GTA Plot Generator

1. Welcome to Liberty/Vice/(enter any GTA city name here) City.
2. Get shot/arrested/thrown away and lose all your possessions.
3. Meet your old uncle/homie/mentor/brother/(enter any known person’s name here).
4. Swear to avenge (some family member’s/friend’s death) and or(win back family member’s/friend’s reputation).
5. Carry out some wetwork for your uncle/homie/mentor.
6. Meet (gang kingpins)/(corrupt cops) and help them by (killing people)/(extorting money)/(getting involved in the drug underworld)/(enter dirty business name here)
7. If betrayed continue to next step. Else repeat step (6).
8. Find out who betrayed you.
9. Kill the traitor.
10. Watch the game credits.

Mini-games in Chinatown Wars(From L to R): Hotwiring a car; Breaking a lock; Assembling a sniper rifle

GTA: Chinatown Wars has very addictive gameplay. The weapon select screen makes, well… weapon selection easier. Weapon detailing is brilliant. Game mechanics are awesome. What really captivates you are THE mini-games, such as hotwiring cars, breaking locks and windshields of cars and assembling sniper-rifles. The player can use gas stations to assemble Molotov cocktails.

Even the new wanted system is pretty good. Now you need to slam cop cars to disable them and reduce your wanted-level. You can’t use a pay’n’spray in front of the cops but only when you are not in their sight.

Ammu-nation has gone online now! You get to order your weapons with your PDA and they’ll be at your doorstep. Also you can replay any mission by selecting it from a menu at the safehouse.

Other than whacking people on streets or completing story missions, there are a lot of ways of making money. A lot of new odd-jobs are available such as tattooing people or carrying out noodle-delivery missions. But the most fascinating

Chinatown Wars delivers some very memorable story missions, such as this one where we take down enemy choppers with molotov cocktails right over the Statue of Happiness.

way to make the quick buck is drug-dealing. Drug dealers are spread all around the city and trading is as easy as getting candy from the confectionery (or maybe even easier). You have to control the stock of drugs, buy them in one neighbourhood and sell them in another. If you are the lazy lucky type there are also scratch cards which can be purchased for winning weapons, money or eatables.

The graphics might not be all that great but there are the small details that help the game stand out. Lighting and particle effects are pretty good. The comic-book style cut-scenes give it an aesthetic appeal.

To sum it up, Chinatown Wars is a wonderful and entertaining game. It is the GTA for a portable console with missions designed for shorter periods of play and exciting gameplay.

Before playing the game, I had doubted if GTA: Chinatown Wars would deliver a good gaming experience; considering that the game lacks a full 3D rotational camera, 3D cut-scenes… but that was before playing the game. Still I think what could have been better was an improved camera with a clearer view. Another feature I missed was the voice-acting in the cut-scenes. Although the comic-book look was pleasant too, I couldn’t stop imagining Huang Lee talking in his Chinese accent.

Detailed Rating (Out of 10)

1. Gameplay: 9.5
2. Graphics: 8.5
3. Plot: 8
4. Presentation: 9

Total Score: 8.8 (Excellent)

P.S.- I was wondering, of late Rockstar is bringing in protagonists from different races, African-American Carl Johnson, the Serbian Nikko Bellic, and now the Chinese with Huang Lee. So when does Rockstar bring in the Indian guy? Let’s hope soon.

The morning of 23^rd November 2009 was finally there. It was not just the date for the TIME Aqua Regia Quiz 2009 but we also had the Superior General Brother Rene DeLorme coming from Rome to our school. The problem was that I was the compere for the event. And all I remember is that halfway through the assembly I was informed that we were getting late  for the quiz and was asked to leave. And everything after that was a blur. I ran to the car and hopped in which then left for Siri Fort Auditorium, the venue for the Aqua Regia Quiz.

We were not late as expected, in fact entry had just begun. And as we seated ourselves in the auditorium, the quizmaster came in. Since teams from the same school were sitting adjacent to each other, we were asked by the quizmaster to rearrange ourselves such that no teams from the same school are next to each other. And NO volunteer would be involved in this rearrangement. Delhi soon made a new national record for this rearranging at 2: 20 minutes. Soon we began with the quiz prelims.

We were getting on very well. Vinamra, my partner for the quiz, knew quite a lot of questions and we managed to answer 18 of them correctly. But I was wondering if it was enough to qualify. During the break I knew that we had the best score atleast in our school.

Our school was the first to return to the auditorium and we took the seats in the first row. And then, the long awaited event started. THE announcement of the qualifying teams. First the three teams were acknowledged who missed qualification by narrow margin. Thankfully, unlike all my previous events, I wasn’t among them. Shreyansh said that he had a ‘strong intuition’ that we’ll qualify. So did I. And as my heartbeat increased the quizmaster said-

“Montfort School, Shikhar Gautam and Vinamra Shende.”

We moved onstage and shook hands with the quizmaster.

“This team was so confident about their qualification that they were sitting right in the first seat, waiting for their name to be called out.”

So we managed to qualify among the top 6 teams. This was a great achievement in itself. The Quizmaster told us about the rules of the quiz. I liked the concept of ‘bidding’ for a question. If you are confident about the answer to a question which has been asked to another team, you can bid if they fail to answer. You get double the points you bid for if answered correctly, else minus the points you have bidden. We answered our direct correctly in the first round. But in the second audio-visual round, I made a great blunder by bidding for a question I was not very sure about. The bid was for 10 points and I answered incorrectly, so -10. We were coming last at 10 points. After that we were demoralised to some extent, and were very cautious about answering even the questions we knew correctly and missed them too.

In the final round, though we were coming last, we could have made it among the top 3 teams which would qualify for the next level if we answered any 3 questions. One of the questions where I deserved to get 10 points was ” If you arranged all the elements in the periodic table alphabetically, which element do you get in the end?”. I was the first one to press the buzzer, and my team number showed up. However, the guy from Air Force Golden Jubilee shouted out “Zirconium”. The answer, though correct, fetched them -10 for improper conduct. The minus marks didn’t make a difference to him because he was already coming first but it was a big blow for us. I didn’t lose hope till the last question, though I couldn’t have qualified under any circumstances. Before the last question, the quizmaster said that a lot of things could happen in the last question. Either the team with score 30 levels them with the two teams at score 40. Or either of the teams tied at  40 could break the tie. But none of that happened because I answered the last question. How strange is fate that I knew the answer to both of the questions asked in the tie-breaker for the two tied teams?

Nevertheless, it was a wonderful experience. I wanted to see the regional finals as well but a lot of students from our school had to leave.I’ve compiled an archive of the questions asked in the prelims. You can download them here.

Aqua Regia Science Quiz 2009 Prelims

All the best to all the teams who have qualified for the finals at Hyderabad.

Japan Quiz 2009 Prelims

Update:  I’ve finally prepared an archive for the finals as well. Get the finals here: Japan Quiz 2009 Finals

Texas Instruments Science and Technology Quiz-Finals

DPS Ghaziabad emerged as the winners for the event. Another interesting competition this time was that of the best team name. We called ourselves ‘The Quizzards of Oz’. There were a few innovative ones acknowledged by the quizmaster like ‘Texas ki Taxi’ and ‘Energy can Never be Destroyed’. But the winning team was the one with the most explosive name, capable of detonating the entire auditorium, ‘The Turbulent Terror-Striking Tri-Nitro-Toluene Team’.

“Now coming to the team that just failed to qualify…. The Quizzards of Oz (that’s what we named our team), Aditya and Shikhar Gautam from Montfort School Delhi. They just missed qualifying by a starred question.”

This announcement gave me a déjà vu feeling. This was the third time that Aditya had failed to qualify by a single question, zero question in this case.  Twice at the TCS IT Wiz and now at the Jack Kilby quiz! We seemed to know a lot of finals questions and would have definitely stood somewhere had we qualified. In the end we had to be satisfied with Texas Instruments keychains and blank certificates for the quiz.

I  have prepared an archive of the quiz. You can download the quiz prelims here.

Jack Kilby Science and Technology Quiz 2009 Prelims

I’m preparing the quiz finals and will be uploading shortly.

 SPECIAL FEATURES

• Provides a framework for the highest quality of life.
• Adaptability and Accessibility- LOVE OS is infinitely adaptable and accessible to all people from different cultures in every geographical location.
• Infinitely configurable and scalable – No individual is too small or too large for working with this OS.
• Documentation included – The kernel (basic code) is written indelibly on the heart, of every person. Instructions and advice is available from other experienced users, friends, family, neighbours, and even enemies.
• Anti-Virus- The LOVE OS doesn’t allow the viruses and worms of Hatred to infect the user.
• Networking- LOVE OS has an infinitely powerful network, distributed all over the world, consisting of all souls who love. Participation in this network, makes possible, an infinite number of connections/relationships peer-to-peer (a network without intermediary network hosts or servers).
• Unlimited Access to God’s blessings, assets and energies.

The fact is that you already have this OS installed, although it might need to be rebooted, refreshed, updated or healed. Many a times users have found their software has been corrupted by ill-treatment, abuse or violence.

However, a fix is available. The cure is freely downloadable at any time. Download the cure and install it to your hard heart-drive.

Note: This download is a spiritual one and comes directly from the programmer of the universe and the earth, God. There are many spiritual links available everywhere which may direct us to His site. But the most important thing in establishing contact with Him is keeping your heart pure.

STANZA I

Shelly personifies the West Wind and thinks it to be the very breath of autumn. He refers to the West Wind as ‘wild’ and further goes on to explain its powerful nature. When the West Wind blows, it seems as if the dead leaves are being (scattered) driven by its unseen presence just as spirits take flight on the approach of a magician. The west wind destroys these yellow, black, pale, hectic red, disease afflicted and withered leaves by carrying/bearing them to their resting places. The west wind also carries along with it the wind borne winged seeds which would then be buried under the soil and would lie like corpses in their graves till the approach of spring. These seeds would lie dormant under the cold earth until the gentle East Wind blows in spring. Shelley personifies the East Wind as it blows its trumpet in order to awaken the sleeping Earth. Nature is aroused and wakes to a new life just as a trumpet is blown to call soldiers to their duty.

Shelley paints a bright and cheerful scene after the drabness and death of winter. The dormant seeds sprout to life under the influence of the East Wind, the hill sides and plains are then covered with a myriad of beautiful colours and fragrances. The wind borne seeds springing into buds remind Shelley of the pastoral image of a Shepherd taking its flocks of sheep to graze. Shelley says that it moving everywhere- it is all pervasive and is not confined to this Mediterranean location. The West Wind plays a dual role- that of a destroyer and a preserver too. Shelley considers it to be a destroyer for driving the last signs of life from trees and simultaneously scattering healthy seeds for future growth in the spring season. Shelley appeals to this wind to lend him a ear.

STANZA II

In this stanza Shelley goes on to describe the activities of the West Wind in the sky and the violence and terror or air storms The West Wind wreaks/causes a turmoil high up in the sky and scatters loose clouds like dead leaves from an imaginary tree of cloud masses. These clouds are the messengers of rain and lightning and are dispersed on the blue surface of the sky like the streaming hair of a frenzied woman who is a follower of Bacchus, the Roman God of wine and fertility. These clouds form a canopy as ‘far as the eye can see’-from the dim brink of the horizon to the highest point in the sky. These clouds are referred to as the locks of the approaching storm. The West wind is like a funeral song being sung at the death of the passing year. The poet further adds that a huge tomb would be erected over the dead body of the year and the darkness of the closing night would be its dome. The collective strength of the clouds would form the arched roof of this tomb. The solid seeming vapours of the clouds will give birth to the terror striking forces of nature like rain, fire and hail. The downpour would appear black due to the darkness of the night. The poet requests such a mighty wind to hear his appeal.

STANZA III

This section (3^rd) describes images of peace and serenity (‘blue Mediterranean’, ‘summer dreams’, ‘sleep’, ‘old palaces and towers’, ‘oozy woods’) which are disturbed by the coming of the west wind, The fury of the West wind disturbs the blue Mediterranean from its sleep.

The Mediterranean had fallen asleep near an island formed by lava in Baiae’s Bay. The streams flowing into the Baiae’s Bay produce a sleep inducing music. The Mediterranean sees in its sleep the quivering reflections of the ruins of old palaces and towers overgrown with non flowering plants like mosses of such overpowering sweetness that the very though of them intoxicates the senses.

Even the Atlantic Ocean does not remain unaffected under the onslaught of the West Wind. The calm Atlantic is thrown into a state of agitation/turmoil when the West Wind blows and the waves rise so high that they seem to be breaking apart to make way for the West Wind. The West Wind strikes terror in the marine vegetation growing at the bottom of the sea. The sea blossoms and the saplese plants hear the sound of the West Wind. Recognising the voice of the West Wind they quiver with fear and tend to lose their leaves. The poet seeks the help of such a mighty wind to come to his aid.

STANZA IV

In this stanza the poet strikes a personal note. He feels that if he had been a dead leaf, a swift cloud or a wave then he could have been helped by the West Wind.

He wants the wind to carry him away like a leaf, drive him away like a cloud and lift him like a sea wave. But all this is not possible for him for he is not as free as the West Wind. He feels that if he had the same poetic vigour which he possessed in his youth he could have accompanied the wind in the sky. In such a state, to surprise her speed was hardly a dream. At that time he would never have felt the necessity of seeking the help of the West Wind. But he seems to have fallen on difficult times. He has got weighed/bogged down by the bitter experiences and hardships of life. He wants to escape from it. To be rescued by the West Wind. He, who was as wild, swift and proud as the West Wind seems to have been enchained by the burdens of life.

STANZA V

In this stanza the poet beseeches the West Wind to blow on him as its lyre just as it treats the forest. He feels as if both the forest and he seem to be passing through the autumn of their lives. His own leaves are also falling like the leaves of the forest. He means that he has lost his creative vigour while the forest has shed its own leaves. If the wind were to blow through him and inspire him to write it would produce some sweet yet sombre music which would be melancholic (as both the forest and the poet being in the autumn of their lives would respond gloomily).

Shelley then appeals to the West Wind to unite with his spirit. He seeks a union with the impulsive West Wind. He pleads with the West Wind to scatter his dead thoughts over the universe as it scatters the withered leaves. He is hopeful that just as these dead leaves have the capability to enrich the soul which then hastens the birth of a new plant, similarly his worn out thoughts would give birth to a new era. Shelley hopes that the chanting of this verse would have a magical effect. The West wind would spread his message among the sleeping mankind in the same way as it scatters ashes and sparks from an unextinguished fireplace. The poet’s words will also work as living sparks to quicken the birth of a new and better place.

The poet ends the poem on an optimistic note for he wants the West Wind to broadcast his message of hope to humanity. He rhetorically asks whether the cyclical inevitability of changes within Nature apply to social and political change. Just as seasons succeed each other in a cyclical pattern and winter is always followed by spring. Similarly, he wants to rekindle hope in the peoples’ hearts that the days of decadence, darkness and hardships would be followed by a new age of joy, revival and rebirth.

THE NIGHT OF THE SCORPION

Introduction:

This is a poignant poem by one of the India’s foremost modern day poets, Nissim Ezekiel. Using imagery relating to the senses of sight, smell, touch and hearing, the poet depicts the selfless love of a mother who is stung by a scorpion. She nearly dies and yet is thankful that the scorpion had spared her children. The poem can also be seen as a comment on a culture where superstitions still play a significant role.

Detailed Summary:

The poet recalls very vividly (clearly) the night when his mother was stung by a scorpion. Ten hours of incessant rain had forced the scorpion to seek refuge in the poet’s house (rain water must have flooded its hiding place in the open) It sought refuge under a bag of rice and stung the poet’s mother when she went into that room. The viciously wicked creature poured its poison into her in a flash of its devilish tail and ventured out into the rain. On hearing of the unfortunate incident, the peasants rushed to the poet’s house with lighted candles and lanterns. They uttered the name of God countless times and prayed to God to immobilise the evil creature. Against the light of the lanterns, the shadows of the crowd cast on the mud walls looked like huge scorpions. The peasants looked for the scorpion everywhere where but it in vain. Being unsuccessful in their attempt to capture the scorpion they clicked their tongues. They were superstitious people and made several observations. They said that with every movement of the scorpion, its poison would also spread/course in the mother’s blood. Hence, it was imperative (essential) that the creature should not move at all and remain still. Some peasants said that her pain that night would burn away all her sins of her previous birth. They wished that her present agony should reduce her suffering in the next birth. They hoped that in this illusionary world where evil outweighs good deeds, her pain would diminish the quantum of evil. Some tried to console the mother with the remark that the scorpions poison would purify/cleanse her body of all desires and her soul of sinful ambition. They sat around the mother on the floor. Their faces were calm and peaceful. They believed that the mother’s agony was for her good.

More and more neighbours arrived with lanterns and candles. The presence of the insects and the rain added to the chaos. There seemed to be no end to the mother’s pain. The rain continued unabated. All this while the poor suffering mother was groaning and writhing in pain as she lay on a mat.

The poet’s father acted differently because he did not believe in prayers, religion and was a man of reason and logic. He was distraught at the sight of his wife’s agony and even cast aside his beliefs to somehow reduce her suffering. In his concern for his wife he tried out herbal medicines, magic and prayers to diminish her pain. The child watched helplessly as his father even poured some paraffin on the bitten toe and set fire to it. The flame burned brightly making the mother’s pain acute. The poet remained a mute spectator as he watched the holy priest perform his rituals and used spells to curb the poison. But all efforts to diminish the mother’s pain proved futile. Her pain subsided after twenty hours. Forgetting all her torment, the self sacrificing mother uttered words of thanks-giving to God in making the scorpion choose her as a victim, not her children. Thus the poem which begins with pain and anxiety ends on a grateful and optimistic tone.

Games made in India:(From L to R) Agni, Ghajini and Hanuman

Is Ghajini any competition to Max Payne? Does the Queen of Darkness, Agni stand a chance again the tomb-raider, Lara Croft? Gamers will still prefer Kratos’ Blades of Chaos to Hanuman’s Mighty mace.

The Indian gaming industry has not attained a stage at which it can give competition to the likes of EA, Rockstar, Insomniac, Sony and Microsoft Game studios. It’ll be a long wait to see India coming any near to them. But what if the game developers abroad target the Indian market? Here are some fan-arts I made for Indian games.

GTA Punjabi City

GTA Punjab box art

Genre: Modern Action-Adventure

What does the Punjabi dream mean today?

For Nikko Singh fresh off the first bus from Amritsar, it is the hope he can continue his past. For his cousin, Raman, it is the vision that together they can find fortune in Punjabi City, gateway to the land of opportunity. As they clear their debts and get dragged away from the criminal underworld by a series of sadhus, priests and holy men, they discover that the reality is very different from the dream in a city that doesn’t worship money and status, and is living nightmare for those who have them and a heaven for those who don’t.

Chak De 09

Chak De! 09 Box art

Genre: Field Hockey Simulation

“Mujhe states ke naam na sunayie dete hain, na dhikaie dete hain. Sirf ek mulk ka naam sunayie deta hai, I-N-D-I-A.”

Join the Indian Hockey Team’s coach Kabir Khan as he leads them to the Hockey World Cup.

Chak De! 09 continues the evolution of the Chak De series with several control enhancements for the new World Cup season.

New tournaments Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament, Champions Challenge have been included with Manager mode.

Akbar-Rise of Civilizations

Akbar-Rise of a Civilization Box Art

Genre: Real-Time Strategy

Akbar-Rise of Civilizations lets you play as the Mughal monarch bent on exploring and conquering the whole of India. Units ranging from the brave Rajputs cavaliers to the mighty Mughal soldiers, techniques from guerrilla tactics to advanced warfare. Featuring lots of interesting, inventive design decisions, plenty of fun-to-use units, and tons of variety, Akbar is a must for any real-time strategy lover.

Disclaimer- All characters appearing in these works are fictitious. Any resemblance to unreal persons in video games, respawned or fragged, is purely intentional. Please don’t sue me for copyright infringement… I’m not rich.