Over 10,000 gamers competed on a national platform for prizes worth Rs. 10 lacs

The online gaming industry in India is booming and online gamers are always on the lookout for bigger and bolder opportunities to tryout their gaming skills and prove their prowess. Little wonder then that the GameBox National Championship (GNC)—India’s biggest online gaming championship—organised every year by Reliance World is awaited with bated breath by online gamers across the country.

GNC offers gamers an action-oriented all-India platform to compete head-to-head with the best players in the arena and win fabulous prizes. This year, the booty was Rs. 10 lacs worth of prizes to be won at various levels of the championship.

Registration for the tournament began in early January at all the 242 Reliance World stores across India and over 10,000 gamers registered and participated in the GameBox National Championship 2008. Four single player games—Age of Mythology, Half-Life 2-Deathmatch, NFS Underground and Warcraft III–Frozen Throne—and 1 multiplayer game, Counter-Strike 1.6, were chosen for the tournament.

The competition was held in four different levels—store, circle, zonal and national—with each level serving as elimination round. Two mock tourneys were also held during the period of the championship. All through the tournament the gamers took on challenges just as easily as they slipped into gameplay and as the competition neared its final league, the enthusiasm was almost feverish.

All the zonal winners from various parts of the country—Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal—were flown in to Mumbai to participate in the national finals that were held at the City Centre Mall in Vashi, Navi Mumbai in late February 2008.

The event drew a huge conglomeration of online gaming enthusiasts and shoppers at the mall couldn’t help but gape wide-eyed as gamers and their supporters broke into war cries and victory howls. MTV veejay Rannvijay dropped in at the venue and added to the excitement. The gamers fought tooth, nail and mouse making the grand finale of the GameBox National Championship 2008 an event to commit to memory.

Winners

Counter-Strike 1.6
Team: ATE, Mumbai
Ben Varghesi, Mikhail Mehra, Ronald, Ritesh Shah, Amar Ratnam
Cash Prize: Rs. 1,40,000

Half Life2: Deathmatch
Alex George,Chennai
Cash Prize: Rs. 28,000

Warcraft III: Frozen Throne
Sagar Vaishnav, Mumbai
Cash Prize: Rs. 28,000

Need for Speed: Underground
Sat S. Mayekar, Mumbai
Cash Prize: Rs. 28,000

Age of Mythology
Ashish M. Shinde, Mumbai
Cash Prize: Rs. 28,000

Click here to view more photographs of the event.