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Born In This World
Born on the 30th of September to an Indian Tamil family. My parents named me 'Akshay' on my first baby naming ceremony according to Indian tradition when I was 11 years old followed by a Yagna (refers to any ritual done in front of a sacred fire often with mantras, when I turned 1. I was born in Mumbai (Bombay) and then shifted to Chennai where I grew up. As a kid, I was always frightened by loud sounds such as thunder and fireworks. -
Snakes N Ladder
An ancient Indian board game originally known as 'Moksha Patam' originated in the 2nd century. The game usually last for 35 mins to 1 hour and the first person who reaches 100 wins the game. During my early teens, I recall playing this with my mom and sister who was small then, but the worst part is I often got trapped by the big snake on number 98 which brings the player down to either 3 or 4 in the board.
Unknown, 2nd Century CE, Snakes N Ladder, board game, Unknown. -
Scrabble
Scrabble/crossword is a letter-building board game where players score by forming one word on top of the other in a 15X15 grid square format. It was invented in 1938 by Alfred Mosher Butts an American-based architect. I played this a lot during my late teenage with all my family members and learnt a new word every day but had loads of fun competing with my sister.
Butts, AM 1938, Scrabble, board game, James Brunot. -
Pictionary
One of the most fun board games that I played during my late teens which possibly triggered my interest to pursue art and animation eventually to Visual Effects. It was used to express our emotions differently. The game is simply to draw an object, character, action, difficult or all-play when the player picks it during his or her turn and the opponents should guess. It was invented by Robert Angel and graphics by Gary Everson.
Angel, R 1985, Pictionary, board game, Angle Games Inc. -
Batman Arkham City GOTY Edition
Arkham City is a third-perspective action-adventure game developed by Rocksteady Studios. This was the first I played on a Mac laptop. The game became known for its hand-to-hand combat and navigation abilities throughout the open-world scenario. I was in awe of the game mechanisms where the player could cycle gadgets and specialised weapons and the boss fights were tough but engaging.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment 2011, Batman: Arkham City, video game, Mac, Rocksteady Studios. -
Metro Redux (Remastered)
Metro 2033 and Last Light is a post-apocalyptic survival horror game that is set in fictional Moscow post-war. It was developed by 4A Games and created by Dmitry Glukhovsky. One of my all-time favourites that I only played at night due to the dark nature of the game and the best immersive experience. I was constantly challenged with limited health gauge and navigation which made it very challenging to fight creatures.
THQ 2014, Metro: Redux, video game, Mac, 4A Games. -
Need for Speed Payback
A racing game developed by Ghost Games and published by Electronic Arts is set in the fictional world of ' Fortune Valley'. It's the first in the series to include single-player mode and a 24-hour time cycle. I loved this series just for the sake of crashing cars, illegal street racing and evading a police pursuit, things you cannot do in real life and the desire to earn sports cars in the reel world.
Electronic Arts 2017, NFS: Payback, video game, PC, Ghost Games. -
Carrom Board
I got wild and competitive playing this against some of the best opponents in my family including my dad and uncle who were the best. The only past-time tabletop game during the COVID-19- pandemic as I was stuck at a friend's house back in India.
Popular in the Indian-subcontinent region. In the game, the players flick the discs using the white striker to score by putting them in the corner followed by the queen to finish the game.
Unknown, 20th Century, Carrom, table-top game, Unknown. -
Alan Wake
A psychological action thriller game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Microsoft Studios that is an open-world survival. A six-episode story that haunts me to date and probably the most times I died and respawned in a game 🤣. The tone is even darker than Metro franchise that is mostly set in creepy environments where the player fights possessed enemies, vehicles and dodges objects and tools.
Microsoft Games Studios 2010, Alan Wake, video game, PC, Remedy Entertainment. -
Spiderman Miles Morales
An open-world action-adventure developed by Insomniac and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The quickest game I have completed playing like an addict 🤣. I ran the PC version on ultra graphics which was phenomenal. The unique venom punch attacks compared to the Spiderman 2018 game were the main deal but improvised maps, side missions, skill points and other techs were also fascinating.
Sony Interactive Entertainment 2020, Spiderman: Miles Morales, video game, PC, Insomniac Games.