The world is such a better place when you’ve got what everyone has. But what makes it even better is when you’ve waited for something for the better part of a decade! Since November 2002, we’ve waited. But now it’s here and Live will now see a new breed of gamers - Maharaja styleee!

Announced to launch officially on 05/11/07, we all waited for that day when Monday would be everyone’s most favourite-est day. But yesterday (04/11/07, well?!), I walked into my regular game/music store to pick up my copy of Orangebox so I could check what all the buzz around Portal was, and what actually greeted me was the nice, ‘hard-to-rip-off’ orangey soft pack screaming for my attention! Xbox Live was here and a day before the official launch date! Now I don’t know how much trouble this will get me into, but what the hell, I’ve said it now!

So yeah - Gold subscriptions here now in 1, 3 and 12 month subscription options and Live points are here too. I picked up a pack of 1600 points for ± 1000 INR (± $26). Picked up good old Castlevania - SOTN and Geometry Wars, although strangely, Doom was not available for purchase! Strange, indeed.

Up next, I’ll check out all the “Edutainment” products we were promised. Hell, maybe they WILL have an ‘Arbiter teaches typing’ game after all!!

In what concludes our coverage from the Microsoft Xbox LIVE India press event last week, we have a quick two-minute chat with Country Manager Mohit Anand. Just right after Robbie Bach and Alan Bowman decide to hightail it out of the conference hall, those sneaky critters! We discussed with Mohit on whether there’s an expected LIVE subscription target, what GFW Live will mean for India, and the whole deal with Ubisoft. Although that last question doesn’t particularly hold much relevance, especially in light of Tech2’s recent report on Assassin’s Creed, it was something we felt that needed to be addressed. In which case, Mohit doesn’t know the reason himself! So much for that inquiry.

But seriously, do I nod too much in these videos?

Did you know Alan Bowman first started playing on an Atari? Neither did we, until we spoke to him, that is. Sitting down with us for a casual chat at the New Delhi presser for the Xbox LIVE India launch, Xbox Asia Pacific’s Director, Alan Bowman, a self proclaimed “casual gamer” (aren’t we all? Oh wait, we forgot about those 2 billion CS 1.6 jerks here) talks about his gaming habits and more importantly, working with local developers to generate “educational content” for Math, Science and the other subjects which will use the Xbox 360’s videogame prowess to help kids learn better. We think this is a great idea (even though Vijay for some reason seems to be very interested in “The Arbiter teaches typing”) and one that’s in line with the Games for Change initiative’s aim of deconstructing the myth that games can only be used as “practice” for deranged schoolkids with guns. Are you watching, huh, Jack Thompson?

Damn kids these days. Getting to learn with an Xbox 360 whereas we had to do it the old fashioned way. At least I had fun sneaking comics inside my textbooks.