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So much for a Day 1 release! Ages after everyone has finished playing Gears of War and Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties, we’re finally getting to see the retail copies roll out into shelves here. In an official press release sent out today, Microsoft India announced that copies of Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals Expansion, Flight Simulator X Expansion Pack, Viva Piñata (PC), Age of Empires III Gold (including AoE3 and The WarChiefs expansion), Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties and Gears of War for Windows will now be (finally!) available starting tomorrow.
Pity a lot of the people in India gave up waiting and bought their copies elsewhere.
The official pricelist:
Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals Expansion Pack - INR 1149
Flight Simulator X Acceleration Expansion Pack - INR 1649
Viva Piñata - INR 1649
Age of Empires III Gold - INR 1649
Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties - INR 1149
Gears of War (PC) - INR 1649
Enjoy. That is, if you haven’t already!
Hasn’t poor Kratos suffered enough? Got himself manipulated by Ares, lost his wife and daughter, not to mention his mighty God status in Olympus and all his powers!? And now he has to put up with people like this guy, who we’re sure will get ripped limb from limb in the goriest fashion possible if Kratos were around.
And poor Avinash Bali of Tech2 Gaming now has to add another horrible entry in his ever-growing list of nightmares. Attending the PlayStation Experience in Mumbai, he had to witness what could very well be the worst possible Kratos cosplay gone horribly wrong. I’m not going to rant on about how this is wrong on so many levels, but instead, I’m planning to sue Avinash for all the years of therapy I’m gonna have to undergo because of his picture. And Sony India, for ruining every bit of appeal God of War held for me by hiring this guy! Honestly, I can’t play another God of War game anymore! I tried looking away from the picture, but it’s got the same effect on me as roadkill and it is only sheer cowardice that prevents me from gouging my own eyes out right now.
Photo via [GamingIndians]
Whoever said Microsoft was the only one serious about hosting game events to promote their flagship console baby, should check out Sameer’s excellent hand-on report on Sony’s Playstation Experience in Mumbai - which include dozens of pictures and even some shaky-cam style video clips. My one and only favorite! Man, now I wanna see one of these in Delhi too. But they better not make me have to sit in those retardedly small go-karts, or have me sit on the floor to play a bunch of friggin’ shooters. And would’ve it killed the event organizers to throw in extra controller for the games that had support for it? Make it so, Sony, make it so!
Update: Wow, it looks like one of our own attended the event as well! Even though Roshan couldn’t make it because of a bad mushroom-induced fever, his sister Mary D’Silva was nice enough to do his job and enjoy herself at the event with Need For Speed: ProStreet, MotorStorm, Ratchet & Clank: Deadlocked and good ol’ Resistance. Pity she couldn’t get her hands on Uncharted or R&C Future: Tools of Destruction, thanks to some spoilsports that stuck to the gaming stations like leeches. And no, before you ask, she didn’t embarrass herself by playing SingStar! And she took PICS, YAY! Thanks, Mary!
Hit the jump for the pictures.
Mumbai got lucky this time around as well, considering we are seeing so many events going on here, with Sony and Microsoft both vying for our attention. As we had mentioned earlier, the Mumbai Microsoft / EA Game On event was on at The Squeeze and me and my GamingIndians friends were there to take in all they could throw at us.
Sadly though, the whole event was a relatively low-key affair, with maybe just 20 to 25 people in attendence - more television channels and online / print publications than a gathering of gaming fans. Good thing the place was small, making it look crowded enough! Guess Microsoft India E&D Country Manager saw this coming and chose not to attend, even though other Microsoft execs including Sanjoy John and Xbox India’s Product Manager Vivek Kulkarni hobnobbed with the attendees.
Looks like the guys in Mumbai are luckier than the bastards at Delhi! Not only are they getting another Game On! event for their very own, but they can also be the first to get their hands on Mass Effect!
Announcing the details for the event at the official Xbox forums, Microsoft India has said that Mass Effect and PGR 4 will be available for purchase at the event, scheduled to be held on the 22nd at Squeeze, Khar, Mumbai. What’s worse (for those that live outside Mumbai, that is) is that all those that pick up Mass Effect will also get a Halo 3 Limited Edition poster autographed by Joseph Tung, producer at Bungie. Apparently, there’s only 500 of these in print so it’s a really sweet deal for those that would be buying Mass Effect anyway, like yours truly. Pity I live in Bangalore, the forgotten realm of Indian gaming!
Let’s see if we can have our Mumbai friends pick this one up for us and hopefully, part with said Limited Edition poster so that I can have it up right next to my gigantic Homer Simpson one!
via [360indians]
After some delay, SKOAR! #XVI — Oct-Nov 2007 has finally hit stands in most metropolitan areas. For the uninitiated, SKOAR! is an Indian Gaming Magazine published every two to three months by Jasubhai Digital Media, which also happens to publish its tech-centric cousin Digit. SKOAR! got its first wind in 2003, right after Computer Gaming World (now known as the Games For Windows Official Magazine) was no longer being officially distributed for reasons I’m not aware of (Come back to us, Jeff Green!). It’s considered the de facto gaming magazine here in India, largely because it’s the only gaming magazine widely available.
Recently in the past year, SKOAR! has been placing full versions of oldie-but-still-very-goldie PC titles on their DVDs, with the help of keygens and No-CD/DVD patches. With more and more readers becoming rapidly aware of the issue, there was much probing from the community regarding this controversy, demanding an explanation from the staff members themselves. However, it has come to the point that despite certain staff members (mainly the Managing Editor himself, Badri “Badjag” Narayan) being full-aware of their own actions, they just don’t seem to give a fig. SKOAR continues piling on whatever their torrents can fetch them, and Issue XVI is no different. Which makes us very sad pandas, quite frankly.
For detailed proof with images, hit the jump and start wailing.
Maybe it’s just my total lack of enthusiasm for social gatherings when it means I have to travel long distances, or how stupidly single I am right now (Oh!) – but I’m not a fan of discos, clubbing, or late night drinking at the local pub. That’s more or less because of the company you bring along or the people you’ll involuntarily run into sometimes, which in itself depends a lot on how much liquor everyone’s been downing until it comes out like an exquisite river of dead puke. That’s why I’m glad Microsoft India was able to handle their recent Game On Event in New Delhi so darned well. Taking place in The Pyramid, a lot of the attention was focused on what people like me come 40 miles for - some cold, hard time with BioWare’s dandiest offering on consoles since Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. And luckily, the free liquor surely soothed some of that pain for the disagreeable on-lookers present, minus the aforementioned puking sessions. Bonus!