Zapak Digital Entertainment will soon launch Gaming Olympiad where you get live updates from London 2012 Olympics and also get a chance to participate in a virtual ‘Olympic’ styled event. Each winner of the four events will win a motorcycle.

Zapak Gaming Olympiad is the first initiative from a gaming platform, merging live information and updates on the Olympic Games, with specially created game titles that allow casual gamers to experience the thrill and zeal of participating in a global  sport competition as big as the Olympics.

“We are launching Zapak Gaming Olympiad with an aim to bring the Olympic Games on the digital platforms. We wish to give our users a virtual experience of the Olympic Games on their PCs and mobile phones. Not all Olympic enthusiasts have the luxury of time and place to see the match. We are the first ones to bring this experience in India,” said Mr. Deepak Abbot, Head Product, Reliance Entertainment Digital.

 The Gaming Olympiad begins on the same day as the London 2012 Olympics i.e. 27^th July 2012. Over a two week period online casual gamers will compete in the following online sport based games –

Field Hockey: Field Hockey is all about building your own team with 5 players a side, make goals for them, aim and strike! It is one of the most exciting games!

Hurdles Run: Run as fast as you can, skip over all the hurdles and win! Run to the finish line before your opponents; make sure you don’t trip on any of the hurdles in the middle

King of the Ring: Box and Jab your opponent to become the king of the ring. Use the upper cut to get an edge over your opponent. Be the king of the virtual boxing ring

Table Tennis Pro: All the actual Table Tennis rules and points apply. Table Tennis just got virtual

 This gaming zone will be available on the web (www.olympics.zapak.com) as well as will have WAP site for mobiles (o.zapak.com).

For all the F1 fanatics, we are giving away three copies of the upcoming Formula One 2011. We will be giving One PS3, One X360 and One PC version of the game.

So, how do you get them? Just answer the following:

Which is the one feature that you are looking forward in F1 2011 and why (please select only one):

1. Improved AI

2. Improved Handling

3. Inclusion of KERS and DRS

4. Inclusion of Safety Car

Let us know your thoughts and your preferred platform in the comments below!

The contest runs from September 26th till October 9th, 2011!

Big thanks to the lovely folks at Zapak for setting this contest up!

Check out under four minutes of F1 2011 gameplay footage. The setting is Canada Grand Prix. The game releases this month on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Sony Ericsson has announced ‘Be The Master of Games’, India’s biggest mobile gaming tournament across 11 cities. Flagging off on June 24, the initiative will bring alive the immersive experience of the recently launched Xperia PLAY, the world’s first PlayStation-certified smartphone powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon mobile processor with integrated AdrenoTM graphics processor, bringing console quality gaming experience to end users.

Elaborating on this announcement, Prasun Kumar, Marketing Head, Sony Ericsson India, said, “Taking experiential marketing to the next level, Sony Ericsson has collaborated with Zapak to create experiences around the Xperia PLAY. Consumers will be able to enjoy the rich and vibrant ecosystem through this nationwide competition. Powered by Qualcomm’s high-performance and power efficient Snapdragon mobile processor, Sony Ericsson’s Xperia PLAY brings the best-in-class gaming experience on the phone.”

Dr. Sandeep Sibal, vice president of Business Development for Qualcomm India and South Asia, said, “Qualcomm’s highly integrated Snapdragon processor with embedded Adreno 205 GPU works to power the high-performance, console quality game experience on the Xperia PLAY with extended hours of game-play between charges.”

We had a chance to sit down with Vaibhav Odhekar who is the business head of Zapak Games and talk what avid cricket fans can expect from the game.

GB: Considering the fact that there are other options available in the form of International Cricket 2010 on the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, what does Cricket Power bring new to the table?

Vaibhav: Firstly Cricket Power is a PC game which is aimed at the masses. Cricket Power being the official ICC World Cup 2011 game has all 14 teams from the actual World Cup 2011. The game has original player’s name for all 14 teams and follows the World Cup pattern where the user needs to win games in the elimination round to unlock the quarter finals, semi finals and finals.

GB: What kinds of game play modes are present in the game?=

Vaibhav: There are various options of game play such as “World Cup” and “Exhibition match”. The users can practice their skills on “net practice” and improve their overall performance. There are different levels of playing available as well ranging from Easy to Difficult.

GB: Commentary is one of major parts of any sports game. Which super stars have provided their commentary voice in the game?
Vaibhav: This game doesn’t have a voice support.

GB: Since the game is already out, how much success have you seen with the game? Any sales figures will be greatly appreciated.

Vaibhav: It’s just 5 days since the game has been launched. It’s too early to quote numbers. But we do believe that it will be the biggest launch number for any PC based game.

GB: Do you think gamers will continue to buy the game even after the ICC World Cup 2011 ends?

Vaibhav: India is a cricket crazy nation. People don’t stop playing good games related to the sport if the tournament ends. We believe that people who enjoy the sport will continue to buy it even post the World Cup. Also the season is very much cricket centric because post World cup you have IPL, so we are quite bullish.

GB: Being a PC game, have you ever thought that piracy can be an issue and what measures have you taken to prevent it?

Vaibhav: We have priced the game very strategically at Rs. 299 only. With the Official game at that price being available in the market we highly doubt any piracy on this game. Also on the protection, we have worked with Sony and deployed quite a good protection on the game.

GB: Is there anything else you want to tell our readers about Cricket Power?

Vaibhav: Go ahead and enjoy the game and Cricket overall!!!

Zapak Digital Entertainment will oversee the Codemasters investment.

Rod Cousens, CEO of Codemasters stated: “The opportunities arising from this partnership are truly exciting. This is great news for our development and publishing teams.”

“Reliance and Zapak have immense resources and will help us realize the full potential of our game coding and online excellence across so many platforms, and especially in the world’s fastest growing markets. The future of Codemasters has never looked brighter. It’s a whole new game!”

Rohit Sharma, CEO: “We are excited to partner with Codemasters and believe it’s very strong technology, development and distribution presence will complement our global gaming portfolio.”

Balderton Capital invested in Codemasters in 2005. Tim Bunton, Balderton Partner said: “We are delighted to welcome Reliance as our partner in Codemasters and gratified by the confidence in Codemasters that Reliance’s initiative represents.”