Animax, in association with Sify Gamedrome, has announced the first annual "Animax Grand Gaming Challenge 2007" to be conducted across 66 cities in the country.

This gaming competition will see gamers compete with each other in several online gaming categories, including Sports, Racing, Strategy, and first person shooter. Games like Counter Strike, FIFA, NFS UG2, Defense of the Ancients, and Gunz Online will feature in the competition.

Registration is open Jan 10, 2007 onwards. Participants can register at any of the Sify Gamedromes or Sify iWays spread out across the 66 cities. All they need do is enter "password of the day", which would be flashed on air on Animax, and can also be accessed online or through short messaging service on 2525.

The preliminary rounds are scheduled to end on Feb 2, following which, four zonal semi-finals will be conducted in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Bangalore, starting Feb 8, 2007. The mega event will round-off with a final showdown at the Atria Mall in Mumbai on Feb 28, 2007.

There are trophies and other exciting prizes to be won, including calendars, hiking bags, sippers, posters, and DVDs from Animax, as also a job as 'game jockey' helping the development process.

Speaking about the upcoming event, Sunder Aaron, Country Head of Animax, said, "Through the Animax Grand Gaming Challenge, Animax proudly supports a very important and growing activity for the wired generation: gaming. While the core mission of Animax is to entertain youth, we also want to reflect and support the developing interests and passions of India's Wired Generation. Working with Sify on the AGGC will truly boost the competition as they are the nationwide leader in online gaming."

Adding to it, Pijush Kanti Das, President of Access Media, Sify, said, "We are delighted to partner with the Animax Grand Gaming Challenge '07, the largest online gaming tournament across 220 Sify Gamedromes in 66 cities. Our successful association with Animax in the past has encouraged us to back this tournament with aggressive promotional activities across the country. This year, apart from the multiplayer games, we have added single player games to the portfolio of the tournament to increase the number of gamers."