The second day of DreamHack 2024 x Hyderabad Comic Con, India’s largest celebration of gaming and pop culture, delivered thrilling esports action, landmark achievements, and unforgettable moments as fans turned out in large numbers at the Hitex Exhibition Centre.

Hosted by NODWIN Gaming, a leader in new-age youth entertainment, gaming, and esports this year marks the fifth anniversary of India’s biggest gaming festival. DreamHack’s legendary BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) Zone reached an unprecedented milestone, with tickets selling out for the first time ever. Gamers from across the country brought their own setups to compete and compete in titles including eFootball, THE FINALS, World Cricket Championship 3 (WCC 3), Brawlhalla, Counter-Strike 2, Spectre Divide, and many more, making the zone a hub of energy and camaraderie throughout the day.

After intense semi-final matches, Team LFO, Team Cheems, Team Payback, and AMIGOS Esports qualified for the grand finals of the OMEN VALORANT Campus Quest Season 2. Each team demonstrated exceptional strategy and team play, keeping fans on the edge of their seats.

Meanwhile, Wagh Suyog showcased remarkable talent and focus,`outmaneuvering a field of skilled competitors to win the Rapid Chess tournament and take home the INR 3 Lakh prize pool championship. His/her victory was celebrated with roaring applause, highlighting the growing appeal of chess as part of DreamHack’s diverse lineup.

In other esports action, GodLike Esports, Vibrance Esports, XLR8, and Anthem showcased their dominance on Day 2 of the Snapdragon Pro Series (Call of Duty: Mobile), while Aditya ‘The Dark Lord’ Verma emerged victorious in the Street Fighter 6 segment of KO Fight Night.

Much to the attendees’ delight KO Fight Night delivered electrifying matches in Tekken 8 and Super Mario Bros Ultimate. Players also turned out in large numbers to participate in the Retro and Board Games tournaments, adding to the vibrant gaming atmosphere.

Following suit to the electric atmosphere of DreamHack, the second day of Hyderabad Comic Con was a vibrant celebration of creativity, fandom, and entertainment. Fans were enthralled by special sessions from Maruti Suzuki Arena, Crunchyroll, and Yamaha Racing, each offering unique insights and experiences for attendees.

Attendees were also treated to comic book debuts, including The Warrior God and Abba Aari (the sequel to Mard Bann), alongside the cover launch of Weapons of Mass Extinction: Stage 1 – Blood of The Last Asuran.

On the other hand, music enthusiasts danced to an electrifying DJ set by Karan Kanchan, while rising comedy star Ravi Gupta (a.k.a. Shudh Desi Comic) had audiences in splits with his witty, desi humour.

The Meet & Greet Zone today featured 8Bit Creatives’ popular gaming personalities, such as Raj Varma (Snax), Payal Dhare (Payal Gaming), Parv Singh (Regaltos), Salman Ahmad (8bit Mamba), Monika Jeph (Sherlock Live), Nishant Williams (Willy Gamingg), Mithul Nayak (Binks), Dhwani Bhatt (Pinkcess), and Dhruv Sangwan (Dhruv), who connected with fans through their stories, popular slangs and gaming insights.

Just like yesterday, the Hyderabad Comic Con Cosplay Contest stole the show, with hundreds of cosplayers competing for a prize pool exceeding INR 5 Lakhs, including a daily grand cash prize of INR 50,000. The city’s best cosplayers battled it out to represent Hyderabad at the Indian Championship of Cosplay 2025 Qualifiers, aiming for a daily reward of INR 1.25 Lakhs.

Day 3 of DreamHack 2024 x Hyderabad Comic Con is set to be a spectacular finale, packed with more comic book launches, special sessions, and engaging fireside chats. As the event reaches its climax, SPS, OMEN Campus Quest Season 2, PAN FEST, KO Fight Night, Blitz Chess tournament, and the BYOD and retro tournaments will all wrap up with their much-anticipated grand finals.

Two critically acclaimed stand-up comedy stars, Syed Bashaar, and Harsh Gujral, will bring the laughs, while Geek Fruit will take everyone on a nostalgic journey with iconic theme songs.

For further updates and information regarding DreamHack x Hyderabad Comic Con 2024, follow NODWIN Gaming & DreamHack India on social media. Get your tickets now to experience the best of both worlds and experience the excitement of DreamHack India 2024 x Hyderabad Comic Con firsthand!

Popular iGaming content provider BGaming is helping players hunt for ancient treasures in its latest release Catdiana. Boasting two purr-fect bonus games, the gameplay is further enhanced through cat-themed scatters, coveted coins and high-value gem symbols.

The 5×3 reel action unfolds deep within a mystical cat temple where Catdiana goes on the prowl, performing as a wild to guide players to hidden treasures and big wins.

Landing three of the temple’s sacred Ark Scatters on reels one, three and five holds the key to getting your claws into the game’s five Free Spins bonus round. Amping up the level of excitement, the Blazing reels are reels two, three and four merged into one giant symbol to enhance the player’s winning potential.

Players scoring six or more coins in the main game or Free Spins can then pounce on Catdiana’s additional bonus game, where only coins take their place on the grid, offering multiplier values as high as x20 of the bet. To help slot enthusiasts edge ever closer to untold riches, Mini, Major and Mega Jackpots are also featured in the Coin Respin game.

Julia Alekseeva, Co-CPO at BGaming, said: “With such a charming main character taking inspiration from the ever-popular Indiana Jones and Puss in Boots, we’re hoping players will be feline just fine with Catdiana.”

“Our two sumptuous Bonus games lead the way with inspired mechanics, including Blazing Reels and three lavish jackpots, while the ancient temple-themed style and crisp audiovisual effects add an extra dynamic. This is the best time to get your paws on prizes!”

BetBlocker, a charity providing free, anonymous to use, blocking software has partnered with Yellow Scarf, a charity working to deliver support and treatment for Eastern European communities in the Midlands of the UK, to deliver translated versions of the BetBlocker service to support Ukrainian, Polish and Russian communities.

Supported by funding from GambleAware, this project has resulted in the roll out of key native language support for under-supported minority communities. Removing barriers to accessing support services is one of the cornerstones of the minimisation of harm.

Founder and Trustee for BetBlocker, Duncan Garvie, had this to say about the launch of the BetBlocker in these new languages: “A significant priority for BetBlocker is expanding the languages that we can support. As a tech solution to a complex problem, ensuring that users have as smooth and easy a set-up process as possible is paramount to our success in minimising gambling harms. If a user can’t get our app set-up, we’ve failed.

For this reason it’s critical that we facilitate users accessing our app in a language that they’re confident using. Yellow Scarf’s critical work has highlighted the need that exists to provide BetBlocker in languages that the Ukrainian, Polish and Russian communities in the UK can easily access.

The opportunity that GambleAware has provided us to cooperates with an important treatment provider in the UK to expand the service we offer and ensure that our support can be accessed by these under-served communities is one that we were thrilled to take on.”

Tomasz Jarecki, Head of Development at Yellow Scarf, added: “It is a great honour for us to support BetBlocker in making their project more accessible and reaching wider communities – translation into a national language ensures that the more vulnerable people will be able to receive support that would otherwise miss them. More than 25% of Eastern Europeans living in the UK still struggle, despite their best efforts, to fluently speak English in unusual circumstances – and it raises our spirits to find partners such as Betblocker, willing to put in an extra effort to support instead of judge.”