Authors

Azeem Banatwalla is a writer and stand-up comedian. He spends bewildering amounts of time and money adding things with fans and blue lights to his gaming rig, refusing to play any game below the maximum visual spec. He’s a PC gaming snob, but he does occasionally miss playing old-school Sonic on his Sega Mega Drive 2.

Better known as "gramps", Abhijit is the quintessential wise man of the group. Having played everything from text-based adventures on MS-DOS to the latest Call of Duty automatically makes him the most badass hardcore gamer in the IVG team. He's the Yoda to our Luke; the Gandalf to our Frodo; the Liam Neeson to our lame clueless hero; the grizzled veteran the entire staff looks up to. Between his tight work schedules and busy family life, gramps loves listening to music, reading and, of course, gaming. He's a man of impeccable taste (Quest for Glory, anyone?), although his undying love for a certain RPG developer sometimes borders on obsession.

It’s no secret that Nitin Sagar digs fighting games with a passion. So much so, that he’s often spotted walking around the more scenic locales of New Delhi looking for unsuspecting foes to practice his newly mastered Shoryuken. At all other times, he can be found in his not-so-secret den, where he uses the skills he has acquired in his time at IIT to finalise plans for World domination and play video games. Apart from IVG, which is his favourite haunt, Nitin has been associated with different gaming publications in both online and print media. His superpowers also include being able to reach into the deepest recesses of the Internet and pull out the best deal on any game or gadget he has set his eyes on.

Resident cookie monster and closet furry, Rishi has pitched his tents in a variety of fields, from RPGs to comic books. His favourite time sinks include swapping graphics cards, chugging suspicious mixtures of chocolate mix and energy drinks, and dissing ex-bosses. A true connoisseur of cheap video games, Rishi regularly trawls the deep recesses of IVG's Trading Post to secure the best deals on used games with promises of party favors and stuff, occasionally even cash. A bruised and battered, short service veteran of the Indian video gaming distribution industry, Rishi brings insider news, game shopping tips, biting wit and an uncanny fondness for 'troll'isms to IVG's colorful community.

Little is known of the one who calls himself Kartik. All we know is he is extremely particular about the graphical differences of Niko Bellic's left nostril on either format. Yes, he's a pixel voyeur of the highest order, which would help if this was Digital Foundry. Since this isn't, our resident stickler puts his powers of observation to use, scrutinising everything from the Gears 3 Beta to the latest Call of Duty map pack. When he's not doing that, you can find him on the forums in his various states of whimsiness offering the all too well known and almost meme-worthy "kk chill np hug" as well as sound advice on why Niko Bellic's left nostril is in dire need of some god rays.

Of all the members in our editorial team, Murali is the only one to have whole-heartedly embraced the onslaught of motion-controlled gaming, even if that fondness often reaches unhealthy levels. Murali is one of the most versatile writers on the team. Pry him away from Kinect dance and fitness games long enough, and you'll find that he can tackle racing and sports games just as easily as open-world adventures and first-person shooters (although some Call of Duty fans may disagree with that last bit). His very first write-up for IVG was a review of 2008’s Alone in the Dark. To our surprise, not only did that not completely kill his desire to continue reviewing games, but he has gone on to also write for mainstream publications like Tech2.com and Chip magazine.

Avinash Bali is one of India’s most experienced video game journalists. He enjoys catapulting birds across touchscreens just as much as shooting people in the face on the battlefield. He’s 6-feet-4-inches tall and purpose built for a phenomenally high kill-death ratio. His skills with keyboard and mouse are outdone only by his ability to quote video game prices in Hindi. After several years as the gaming editor at Tech2.com and IGN India, Avinash now brings his games media expertise and incisive coverage to IVG’s immensely talented editorial team.

Amit is IVG’s big game reviewer, and you’ll find his byline on reviews for everything from God of War 3 and Assassin’s Creed 2 to Killzone 3 and Portal 2. He was also the author of This Week on IVG, a weekly feature on what goes on within the IVG community, which he abruptly stopped writing for reasons unknown. Like others on our team, Amit too has gone on to write for mainstream publications, and is currently working on his own book as well as his first game. We hear that he’s already scoping out studios to sell the movie rights to both the book and the game.

We still can't figure out how he manages to watch every movie released, bill 50 hours per week at his day job incarnation as a project manager, keep the significant other happy, play nearly every game that comes out, and still manage to churn out weekly reviews. He's our very own IMDB. In fact, it's faster to ask him questions about movies than to go through IMDB. Tyler likes RPGs. Correction; he likes all games, except a certain popular shooter franchise, which so far has failed to call on his sense of duty. He is single-handedly responsible for introducing us to the wonders of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, and he’s an ardent admirer of The Witcher series. However, to really get his attention, just mention Silent Hill. Now, if only he would get over his obsession with a certain masked Quarian.