Tech Tok: BGMI back in the game?

After leaving a void in desi gamers’ lives for almost ten months, Battlegrounds Mobile India, also known as BGMI, is on the track to finally making its way back to the app stores

Hyderabad: BGMI is an online multiplayer battle game that gained popularity after PUBG was banned. It is very similar to the latter and was made exclusively for gamers in India.

The game made by a South-Korean company Krafton was banned in July 2022 in India as there were some security concerns. On Friday, reports of the Government of India lifting the ban surfaced online, bringing joy to gamers in the country.

---

According to reports, the game is unbanned only for a period of three months where the game will be strictly monitored. Krafton expressed gratitude towards the Indian government and announced that the game will be available to download soon.

While many rushed to app stores hoping to download the game, they were met with nothing but disappointment as the company is testing its revised feature only with a select group of beta players. It further announced that the game was not supposed to be shown available at Play Store yet and that it was a mere glitch.

Although this most-loved game is not available to download yet, gamers can take comfort in the fact that it will be available someday soon.

India second in government takedown demands: App Store Report

The government of India had demanded Apple’s App Store to remove fourteen apps as per their 2022 App Store Transparency Report, standing second in the list of countries to do so, after China.

Of the fourteen apps that were asked to be removed, one was requested by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team and the other thirteen apps were by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, as they violated the Information Technology Act, 2000. India also stood fourth with 709 appeals to remove apps and 36 appeals to restore apps made by the developers.

Google Pay to support RuPay credit card payments

UPI-based online payment app, Google Pay will now allow users to add RuPay credit cards to make payments. Google has partnered with the National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI) to launch this feature.

As of now, Google Pay supports RuPay credit cards issued by Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, HDFC Bank, Indian Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Punjab National Bank, and union Bank of India. It has also announced that it will be adding more banks soon.

AI will replace search engines and shopping sites: Bill Gates

Speaking at AI Forward 2023 hosted by Goldman Sachs and SV Angel, billionaire Bill Gates said that the top artificial intelligence agent in the future will potentially replace search engines and shopping sites.

“You’ll never go to a search site again. You’ll never go to Amazon,” he reportedly said.

He also said that he expected Microsoft to be playing a front runner in the AI race, but also added that he thinks that there was a 50% chance that the top player to emerge will be a startup.

– Epsita Gunti with agency inputs