PES Mobile 2020 reaches 300 million downloads!

Konami has announced that eFootball PES 2020 for mobile has achieved a milestone of over 300 million downloads! In order to celebrate this milestone, as well as the franchise’s 25th anniversary, an in-game campaign will be running starting today.

The campaign period will be from 18 June to 1 July, with the following log in bonuses available:

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Special Agents – P. DYBALA x1 & P. COUTINHO x1 (18 June – 24 June)
Special Agents – M. ÖZIL x1 & L. MESSI x1 & M. RASHFORD x1 (25 June – 1 July)
Iconic Moments Series Agents – JUVENTUS & FC BAYERN MÜNCHEN (18 June to 24 June)
Iconic Moments Series Agents – ARSENAL & FC BARCELONA & MANCHESTER UNITED (25 June to 1 July)

From 18 June to to 5 July, players will also have a chance to earn the following rewards:

“PES Ambassador” Agent x1 (18 June to 5 July)
Double myClub coins, Skill Tokens & Position Boosters in Matchday events (22 June to 5 July)
Double the number of Special Trainers in Tour Events (22 June to 5 July)
Double the amount of GP in the Open Challenge (22 June to 5 July)

The essence of the critically-acclaimed console game has been distilled to create the most authentic mobile football experience to date, with the title symbolising the fusion between esports and football. The mobile game boasts some of the biggest clubs and licences, with Manchester United and FC Bayern joining FC Barcelona and Juventus as official PES Partner Clubs, with Juventus signing an exclusive deal with KONAMI.
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Through eFootball PES on mobile, users will be able to create their dream squad by acquiring players from a greater roster of players than even before, thanks to licenses such as Italy’s Serie A TIM and Serie BKT. Using Unreal Engine 4, eFootball PES 2020 for mobile builds on last year’s ground-breaking visuals, with improved graphics throughout and animated sequences that trigger when fresh players join your team.

eFootball PES 2020Publisher: KonamiDeveloper: KonamiRelease Date: 2019-09-10PlayStation 4, Steam, Xbox One
The next entry into the PES football series. It will see a new game mode (Matchday), various improvements and better graphics than ever before.

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Tags: eFootball PES 2020 MobileKonamiPES 2020


Alchemy Stars: Ocean Sovereign Summer Memories Schedule announced

It’s time for fun in the sun in Alchemy Stars, with the announcement of the Ocean Sovereign event schedule for the Summer Memories half:

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Summer Memories will be open in 2 parts:

Summer Cruisin’: 09:00 19 August 2021 UTC +0, to 09:00 6 September 2021 UTC +0
Heat Wave: 09:00 24 August 2021 UTC +0, to 09:00 6 September 2021 UTC +0

You will need Action Points instead of Prism to clear event stages, which caps out at 20 points that recover at 1 point per 4 hours.
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The Brain Freeze mini game will run from 09:00 31 August 2021 UTC +0, to 09:00 8 September 2021 UTC +0. Make shaved ice with Vice and get scored with how many orders you fill.

There will be log in bonuses from 09:00 19 August 2021 UTC +0, to 09:00 6 September 2021 UTC +0. You can get the new 4-star Aurorian Pasolo, gift items, Lumamber and an event avatar.

Beryl and Fleur will be on separate recruitment pools, and will be available in mainstay recruitment with the next version update once the event ends. Their banners will run from 09:00 19 August 2021 UTC +0, to 09:00 8 September 2021 UTC +0.

Event furniture will also be obtainable.

Uriah’s outfit will be available for free, while Vice will be from a Paid track of the event book. Kleken, Carleen and Eicy outfits are also paid, requiring Lumocrystals. Outfits will remain on sale from 09:00 19 August 2021 UTC +0, to 09:00 29 September 2021 UTC +0.
Last but not least, game updates:

Solamber can be dismantled

6-star: 20 Stellar Gems
5-star: 5 Stellar Gems
4-star: 25 Star Gems

Additional main story rewards

Complete chapter 3, 5 and 7 where you can choose from a pool of 5-star Aurorians and their upgrade materials

Various gift packs, both free and paid

Other gifts include:

From 09:00 19 August 2021 UTC +0, to 09:00 29 September 2021 UTC +0

3000 Lumamber

From 11:00 20 August 2021 UTC +0, to 09:00 22 August 2021 UTC +0

1500 Lumamber
Celebrates 10 million registrations

From 20 August 2021 UTC +0, to 29 August 2021 UTC +0

Daily gifts from Vice

There’s still the Endgame part to the Alchemy Stars summer, so stay tuned for that too!
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Alchemy StarsPublisher: TencentDeveloper: TOURDOG StudioRelease Date: 2021-06-17Android, iOS
As ancient forces collide, harness the power of the Light to save the world from darkness!
A revolutionary RPG that pushes the genre to new heights of strategy and suspense presented by Tencent Games and Tourdog Studio

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Tags: Alchemy StarsTencent GamesTourdog StudioTOURDOG Works


Hololive Fans Celebrate CEO ” YAGOO ” Birthday on Twitter

Hololive fans have gathered on Twitter to celebrate the CEO of Cover Corp Motoaki ” Yagoo ” Tanigo’s Birthday, with fanart and tributes for the CEO.

Happy Birthday @tanigox  !!!#YAGOO生誕祭2021 #Laplus_Artdesu #絵ーちゃん #miko_Art #プロテインザスバル #graveyART pic.twitter.com/EVOFgO5rgO

— Kanauru (@kanauru) December 10, 2021

On Twitter, YAGOO is trending with over 44,000 tweets dedicated to the man’s birthday, who has become a pillar of the Vtuber community as well.

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Despite being the CEO of Hololive parent company Cover Corporation, Tanigo has quite the reputation in the fandom. His nickname started when second generation Vtuber Oozora Subaro misspoke his name, and from there he’d developed his own character within the Hololive lore, so to speak.
Most famously, an image of him circulated where he mentioned that his dream was to run an idol group similar to AKB48 – something that’s constantly brought up by the community every time someone from Hololive does something uncouth or otherwise un-idol-like.
This was most prominent with the antics of Kiryu Coco, who built her character around a supposed advertorial relationship with her management for her laughably off-beat behavior.
Despite this, he agreed to an interview with the Vtuber just before her graduation (read: retirement) where he had nothing but kind words to say about Hololive.

Fans have doled out the tributes to Tanigo’s birthday, with various fanart of Yagoo with his signature grin. Some fans have even dug out an old photo of him from a gaming magazine, where he’s promoting a Hello Kitty game for the GameBoy Color.

Happy Birthday Super Idol Yagoo!!#YAGOO生誕祭2021 pic.twitter.com/XenIRG6muo
— Choco Virus (@laia_neo) December 9, 2021

Happy Birthday, YAGOO! #YAGOO誕生祭2021 pic.twitter.com/SwkKEQ60mb
— Lily is Asleep (@Kukie_nyan) December 10, 2021

Aside from that, his popularity by the fandom is also partially driven by his habit of modeling with merchandise the company plans to sell- giving the fans even more material to work with establishing the character of this timid but supportive foster dad to a bunch of virtual anime girls.

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Tags: HololiveMotoaki Tanigo


Play Black Desert For Free Permanently Now!

Black Desert, the highly acclaimed PC MMORPG by Pearl Abyss, has finally come to SEA but the game is a premium game and some of us cannot afford that monthly payment. Well, the time has come and there’s an on-going event right now where players can get a permanent FREE pass to play the game, FOREVER! As long as the conditions are fulfilled within this event period, you’ll be able to enjoy the game everyday till death do you part!

The conditions are simple, between October 17th to November 13th, 24:59, players will need to login consecutively for 7 days and reach up to Level 56 in ANY CLASS! It’s that simple! If you’re new to it, just go to their official site, select on the 14-day FREE trial, create a new account, verify your account and download the client! Once you’ve downloaded the client and login to play, you’re all set as long as you fulfill the conditions before the event ends!

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So what are you waiting for? Explore the world in Black Desert and experience a premium PC MMORPG for FREE!

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Tags: Black DesertMMORPGPCPearl Abyss


Might makes right in Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia, a review

Twenty years is quite a while to wait for a sequel to Brigandine: The Legend of Forsena, but it did come eventually, in Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia. Over two decades since the release of the first game comes the sequel developed by Matrix Software, published by Happinet, essentially retaining all the old systems while bringing tactical, turn-based grand strategy to a newer generation. Without further ado, let’s go through this review of Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia.

A legend begins…
In the continent of Runersia, six factions vie to control the land. A spark is all that’s needed – a sudden death of a monarch, the quest for power – and everyone will get embroiled in a war not everyone wants to be part of, but are nonetheless dragged into. It’s a new setting, so even if you haven’t played the first game – I haven’t – the concepts and premise are pretty easy to follow, so you don’t need to worry about that too much.

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The conceit isn’t just to be Runersia’s absolute ruler: you’d also be collecting “pages” of a lost book, covering the titular Legends of Runersia. They’ll unlock accordingly as you progress through the campaign, revealing the future fates of the factions involved, or telling a past that may have been forgotten.
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There are some NPC interactions outside of the story beats, like in Quests – to be explained later – but the nature of Quests are random, and some NPCs can appear to behave at odds with their character which is a little unfortunate. Personally, the story isn’t very “surprising”, but it’s well done.
Looking through the options
Runersia is available with Japanese voices, with text available in Japanese, English, Traditional and Simplified Chinese. Likewise there are subtitles for cutscenes. In game, battle animations can be fast-forwarded, which is pretty handy. There are three difficulty options, simply Easy, Medium and Hard.

Easy has no time limit
Medium is capped at 120 seasons / 5 years
Hard is 60 seasons / 2 1/2 years

One year is 24 seasons

There are also 3 modes, though only two “main” ones:

Main Mode

The campaign where you pick one of 6 factions to unite the land

Alternate Chapter

A challenge mode where you play as a semi-custom nation with nine Rune Knights you recruited in the campaign. Only unlocks once you finish the campaign
Definitely for those more familiar with the systems as you will be scored based on speed and performance. There are also victory conditions

Training Mode

The tutorial

Once you make your pick of one of six factions:

Norzaleo Kingdom
the Republic of Guimoule
the Shinobi Tribe
the Mana Seleesia Theocracy
the United Islands of Mirelva
the Holy Gustava Empire

… it’s time to begin.
Command… and conquer
The artstyle for this game is closer to noveau, than the more anime style of Fire Emblem, where newer strategy game enthusiasts might have come from to try this game. The cutscenes are all done with 2D sprite art, with maps and models rendered in 3D. Unfortunately, only the leader units have unique models, with the rest using default class models.

If you haven’t already gathered, you are your faction’s ruler. You have your macro and micro gameplay: macro in your larger management of taking over locations on the overworld, micro in controlling your units on the map, your monster lineup, and Quests. Trying out Easy mode as I’m new to this title, auto mode is good enough to brute force maps. Naturally, it’s not very recommended on higher difficulties. Opposing factions will be trying to take over your territories, so you need to manage your units and figure out how not to stretch yourself too thin.
Gameplay is divided into two distinct phases, the Preparation/Organization phase, and the Attack phase.
ORGANIZATION
You will need to Move your Knights and their summoned monsters to any of your territories, but keep in mind they can only attack adjacent areas. However, they will not be available to battle until the next attack phase. In the castle, you will be able to summon monsters or add them to the reserve. These monsters have their own cost and can only be added to your Knight’s squad if they have enough mana. Their cost will go up appropriately when they reach certain level thresholds to reclass. Units cannot be demoted.
Stats for summoned monsters can get randomly increased or decreased.
Gear can also be found and equipped during this phase. Send out your Knights to Quests, with varying levels of success to get 1- to 3-star equipment. Your Knights may also encounter recruitable characters along the way besides the story related ones, which is where the slight strangeness in story can occur. Equipment does not appear to drop otherwise, so you do need to run these Quests. An EXP quest is also available, which can also vary in success.

Monsters that die in battle can be brought back with Revive Stones if you have any, but are otherwise permanently lost. Knight units cannot permanently die, but they will be Wounded, unable to participate in the next Attack phase, run Quests or Move.
ATTACK
As you shuffle around units, an enemy territory’s combat power can change. Being overwhelmingly more powerful or weaker will have the numbers flash in green or red respectively so that you don’t make terrible decisions. Each Invasion can only see three Knights deployed in total, alongside their monsters which they typically have 2-3 each.

Move around on the hex tile map, with certain terrain carrying their own effects. Units also have their preferred type of terrain. A Knight will have an aura around them, with monsters fighting in this range being more powerful. Turn order takes from a Knight’s AGI stat, and the squad as a whole will move together.
Besides summoning monsters, you can also capture an enemy’s monster with certain spells. To win, you either can try to eliminate all enemy units, or force them to retreat. If an enemy Knight’s monsters fail to retreat with them, they will be captured.

Units have MP to cast spells with, but they cannot be used after you move. Most regular attacks can trigger counter attacks – deals physical damage – and as you might expect, ranged or magic attacks don’t usually cause counters. Status effects are also in.

As mentioned, you’ll need to spread out your units enough, making sure your fringe territories have enough Combat Power to not be overtaken by your opposition.
Closing thoughts
The basic tactical strategy is down pat and will be very easy to pick up if you’ve already played similar games before. However, if your only exposure to these kinds of tactical games is Fire Emblem, there will be a learning curve as you are not controlling units on a battle per battle basis. There’s far more things to juggle in strategically deciding when to move, what units to summon, and what to protect in the organization phase. Once in battle, you need to move your little chess pieces, all the while noting the elemental weaknesses/strengths.

If you were a fan of the older game, then you’ve likely already picked this up and are somewhat prepared for the challenge that lies ahead of you, with these on-paper easy-sounding concepts being hard to master as they interlock with each other in your quest for victory.
Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia has a story of political intrigue with a touch of magic awaiting you to uncover as you blaze a trail of destruction in your goal to unite the continent.

Pros
Cons

Sequel to an old game is finally here

Not beginner friendly, they try to fix this with a tutorial mode

High replayability because there’s 6 factions to conquer the land with

Nitpicks in certain aspects of presentation and story

Plenty to master in interlocking systems

FINAL SCORE
8 / 10

Brigandine: The Legend of RunersiaPublisher: HappinetDeveloper: Matrix SoftwareRelease Date: 2020-06-25Nintendo Switch
The continent of Runersia is home to six major powers with more than 40 bases, 100 knights, and 50 types of monsters.
Select a ruler, compose your platoons of knights and monsters, and march to claim enemy bases.
The player chooses how they will battle, so devise the best strategy to lead your nation toward continental conquest. How will your legend unfold?

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Tags: Brigandine: The Legend of RunersiaHappinetMatrix Software


Square Enix Releases Official Trailer For Trinity Master!

Square Enix first announced Trinity Master (トリニティ マスター) for mobile just last month on the 20th of January. The opening movie tells the story of the game which involves humans and demons at war. Though the Demon Lord was defeated by human heroes, the world was still overrun by demons. Thus heroes are resurrected to eradicate all demons from the world.

Check out their new opening video below:

The gameplay is of a mobile tower defense using the summoned heroes. The heroes each have a class with different skill sets, strengths and weaknesses. Players can engage in real-time team battles against seven other heroes. There’s also an Anima Summoning which can be triggered during battle to help deal damage and perform combos.

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Pre-registrations are still up on their official site. Currently they have already achieved 10,000 pre-registers which will reward players with 1,000 gems. Pre-register now to help achieve their milestone event and reap more rewards of up to 5,000 gems and MORE!

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Tags: AndroidiOSMobilePre-registrationSquare EnixTrinity Master


Aura Kingdom 2 to launch on 15 April 2020

Taiwanese developer X-Legend Entertainment previously announced Aura Kingdom 2 way back in January 2019 as the sequel to its popular Aura Kingdom. The launch was supposed to take place soon after the announcement, but clearly that never happened. Fast forward more than a year later, the game will finally make its way to Android and iOS platforms.

Developed by the same team that made the prequel, Aura Kingdom 2 will arrive as a mobile version. The story takes place in Ramayan, a world created by the Goddess of Creation. The world is composed of different landscapes with diversified creatures and unique culture.

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The game is to boast improved graphics and a brand new story while retaining original elements from its prequel. In the prequel, players have to choose their own weapons ranging from swords to cannons, depending on their own playstyle. In addition to that, players can request for help from the Eidolons to perform tasks such as fishing and mining. You can obtain them through the collection of Eidolon Spirits as you progress in the story.
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Pre-registrations are currently still open, so be sure to sign up for the usual early bird goodies which you are going to need on your long journey. Also, if you need more information, be sure to drop by the official website.

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Tags: AndroidAura Kingdom 2iOSMMORPGX-Legend Entertainment


Shadowverse World Grand Prix to launch in Southeast Asia and Oceania

If you are a Shadowverse player from Southeast Asia or Oceania, we have a good news for you! Shadowverse World Grand Prix will be accepting SEA and Oceania players for the first time this year, which means you have a chance to compete against global players for the tournament’s first prize of USD 1 million too!

For a chance to join the Grand Prix, you will first need to win the SEAO Contenders Cup. The SEAO Contenders Cup held along with GameStart 2018 in Singapore (13-14 October) will consist of six $1,000 prize pool online tournaments, one $1,000 Wildcard online tournament and one $10,000 World Circuit offline tournament. The winner will be sent off to Japan for the World Grand Prix at the end of 2018.

Shadowverse is a smash-hit strategy card game for Android and iOS with over 16 million downloads and several esports tournaments held. You can find more details about the tournament at their official site.
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Tags: AndroidGameStart 2018iOSMobileSEAO Contenders CupShadowverseShadowverse World Grand Prix


Mobius Final Fantasy Receives Final Fantasy VII Remake Content

On 1st December, players will be able to experience some Final Fantasy VII Remake content in Mobius Final Fantasy. During the special event by Square Enix, players will have the opportunity to play as Cloud Strife, the protagonist in Final Fantasy VII.

Final Fantasy VII Remake is developed using Unreal Engine 4 and it is set to be launched in 2017 for the PlayStation 4. We can expect many good things in 2017.

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Source: 2P

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Tags: AndroidFinal FantasyFinal Fantasy VIIFinal Fantasy VII RemakeiOSMobileMobius Final FantasySquare Enix


Destiny Child First Impressions

Well over two years since it first launched in South Korea, Destiny Child has finally gone global, and we could not wait to get our hands on it. Check out our Destiny Child first impressions below to know our thoughts on it!

But first a little background. Destiny Child first launched in South Korea way back in October 2016, and only recently did it make its way to Japan. The global version then came out not long after all, and this is the version which we will be looking at. While the name Hyung-Tae Kim may not be familiar to most, he is a key figure in the South Korean videogames industry. Well known for his character designs that are intentionally very exaggerated, you may have seen his work in big titles such as Blade & Soul and Magna Carta.

Right off the bat, if you are a seasoned RPG fanatic, you will come to realise that the game is very reminiscent to that of the Shin Megami Tensei or Persona series in terms of style and tone. There is a huge emphasis on the campaign, and this is its influences are evident. RPGs like these are dime and a dozen but rarely do they have this level of polish.
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The game utilises a technology where characters are animated in two dimensions, but because each are made up of more than 200 different parts, the end result is something akin to 3D movement, no unlike that of Live 2D.

There is only so much eye candy can do for you, and we are happy to report that the game itself is fairly fun to play too. The combat system is fairly elementary, and can be automated for the most part. You may need to take control yourself once you reach a boss fight, but for the most part, you can just let the game play itself.
Destiny Child presents itself as a modern dungeon crawler, so you are not seeing your party manifest in battle, and instead they are represented by their portraits. However, unlike the static nature of such games, everything here is fully animated so combat is still a spectacle to behold.

The story is nothing to write home about honestly, and serves just to progress you along the way. As with any other collector RPG, you will be recruiting party members in the form of a Child. Think of a Child as a demon which you recruit from Shin Megami Tensei and Persona and you will have a decent idea.
The process of recruiting involves delving deep into the psyche of an individual in which contains the Child in question. Resolve their problems and you will be able to form pacts with them. Sound familiar? Anyway the core plot involves a certain demon lord who suddenly abdicated his position, and you find yourself thrust into a competition against your own will to ascend the throne.

As you might expect, in order to truly strengthen your team, you are going to have to resort to gacha. Being a single player game for the most part, Destiny Child is more lenient in terms of the party you need to assemble since there is no competitive element. In other words, you will be able to set up a team of characters you like, instead of having to stick to the meta. Of course, you still want to have the strongest possible lineup, but you can still get by with the basic characters.
There is the inclusion of a PVP mode, and this is where having the best characters would matter, but this is completely optional and should not really be a detriment to your overall experience.

To sum it up, Destiny Child does not particularly add anything new to the genre, but it is still worth checking out due to how well it is made.

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Tags: AndroidDestiny ChildFirst ImpressioniOSLine GamesMobileReviewRPGShift Up


Guilty Gear Strive Impressions (Open Beta) – This Game Smells Good

I don’t think you could find a bigger Guilty Gear mark on the Gamerbraves writing team than me, with the Guilty Gear Strive Impressions being one of my dream projects. While I’m not necessarily good at it, the game’s over-the-top designs, rock and roll influences and amazing soundtrack have captured my heart like a Heavenly Potemkin Buster.

As such, you can guess that I’ve been nothing but excited for the upcoming Guilty Gear Strive, due out later in April. As a numbered entry in the game, it’s got some big changes, many of them on display in the demo. How does it fare? Read on and find out.

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Break A Spell
At first glance, Guilty Gear Strive is a gorgeous fighting game. Ever since Xrd Guilty Gear has adopted this 2D style of sprites, but using 3D models. The style was so popular that Arc System Works used it in their licensed titles, such as Granblue Fantasy Versus. That’s very much the case in Strive, which has even more impressive models than its predecessor.
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It’s made even better with the cinematic new supers, often including a lot of facial close ups of the game’s characters. Usually flashy supers tend to be more to a characters’ body, so it’s really interesting that you can see characters like Ramlethal and Ky emote as they do their big supers.
However, what it exceeds in its character models it kind of falls short on in UI. It’s a common complaint in the Guilty Gear community that a game whose identity is so steeped in rock music looks so… banal. Excess is a key element of Guilty Gear’s design ethos, and and the new UI just doesn’t have that. Everything’s kind of minimalist (the black splashes were only added after fan feedback), it just doesn’t feel like a Rock n Roll fighter.
the weird peach-ish health bars are also a UX problem, since some of the stages do blend in with it a little, making it harder to track. These are all minor gripes, but I do wish at least one of these would be addressed before launch.
Compatibility Issues
This one’s purely for those of you who already have a foot in the fighting game scene, so you can skip this if you’re new. But it should be noted that the game has some serious compatibility issues, especially if you’re using a fightstick.
Basically, if you’re using an older fightstick, it technically counts as a PS3 controller, also referred to as a PS4 Legacy. Older fighting games such as Blazblue Chronophantasma will still recognize your stick even on the PS4, since those started out as PS3 games.
However, as a PS4 game proper, your stick will not carry over since you’ll need a PS4 proper, not legacy controller for it to work. This is made even doubly worse on the PS5 version of the demo, which will only allow you to use a Dualsense controller since it’s a PS5 game. (The PS5 supports the latest Dualshock for backwards compatibility. but not if you’re playing a PS5 title).
Considering plugging in my Dualshock got me the same alert on the PS5, I highly recommend playing the PS4 version of the beta until Arc System Works mentions a fix to get older fightsticks supported again.

Heaven Or Hell, Let’s Rock
One thing Guilty Gear fans should be aware of going into this game is that it’s not going to be Xrd Revelator 3. It’s very much a different game mechanically from Xrd, trading a lot of its faster action for a more grounded approach. Guilty Gear Strive certainly leaves impressions that it’s aiming for as much.
That’s not to say the game has gone full Street Fighter- fan pushback managed to bring back a lot of the staples of Anime Fighters such as airdashing. But you will realize that it’s a gear down below Xrd, and much slower than Accent Core Plus R. It feels a lot more fundamentals based, meaning it’s a lot about reacting to your opponent’s big moves and punishing them where appropriate.
The game even emphasizes this with giant text blocks that say COUNTER every time you land a counter hit, really adding to the spectacle. It’s really hard to explain to someone who’s not already into Guilty Gear, but I’ll try-
A lot of the appeal in Guilty Gear is that the fights are often, well, dirty. Ordinarily, on a hard knockdown the game is reset, letting players struggle to get their turn back to attack. In Guilty Gear, characters have all manner of means to make sure that’s not the case, meaning if you were on defense before the knockdown you’re probably going to still be on defense when you get back up.
Strive doesn’t do away with this entirely- oppression is the key feature of characters like Millia Rage, after all. But you can feel that players are given more of a fighting chance. Which is great to rope in new players! But as a Guilty Gear fan you might not be as ecstatic since it feels like the skill ceiling is being lowered.
That being said, it’s not like every change was made to cater to being easier for new players. While many fighting games have some sort of autocombo to make mashing effective, Guilty Gear had the ever-sickly-named Gatling system. In Xrd, any of the game’s 5 attack buttons could be chained into each other, assuming you were moving in one direction on the hierarchy (So don’t expect a Heavy Slash to chain into a jab). Strive has done away with that system, and I’m not entirely sure why.
The result is that Strive feels a lot more homework-based, as you’ll absolutely need to spend some time in the training room to figure out your best combos instead of being able to wing it for the most part a la Xrd. Characters are also doing way more damage per hit compared to previous entries, so there’s not as much room to style on your opponent before the round ends.

Divide My Heart
Again, technically this is a good thing for the game, since it’s more “fair”. But if you were watching Nitro Soccer, a game where say every player was genetically enhanced to have 6 legs, a jetpack and suplexes were legal, you could surely understand fan disappointment if, for the 2021 Nitro Soccer World Cup, they issued a ban saying athletes could only have *4* legs, a jetpack and suplexes would be replaced by a lariat.
You’ll probably notice things being different as a result of the new rules, and you may miss the sight of a 6 legged Ronaldinho suplexing Messi into the ground before scoring a goal. But it’s still way more hype than whatever’s on ESPN right now, and there’s merit to that.
Just because it’s a little different though, doesn’t mean it’s not still Guilty Gear. The game is built around having a good offense, with unique features designed to keep you aggressive. It should be pointed out it doesn’t make being aggressive easier, but rather rewards aggressive play. For example, you build Tension (which you’ll need for super moves and other features) by dashing towards your opponent.
On top of that, you also have the returning RISC meter, which builds if you’re blocking too much. The idea is that every time you block a hit, you build RISC, and when you *do* get hit, your opponent will cash out your RISC for even more damage, leading to some big plays. This means eventually you’ll have to learn to counterattack, because blocking is a guessing game and there’s only so many times you can guess right.
There’s also the new Wall Break feature, which is in my opinion one of the best new features in Strive. It acts as a double-edged sword- if you’re currently being pounded in the corner, the Wall Break triggers a stage change, and you’ll be set back in the middle of the screen.
However, the one cornering you also gets rewarded with a drastically increased meter gain, meaning you now have to deal with an opponent who has meter for big supers or the series iconic Roman Cancels, which lets them extend their combos even further.
Of course, that doesn’t mean there’s no defensive options either. Meter can also be spent on Faultless Defense, which lets you block attacks without taking residual Chip damage. On top of all that your Tension meter won’t carry into the next round, so you have incentive to spend it before the round ends if you don’t want to live with “I should have done this”. The Roman Cancel shows up here too with a new feature, letting you use the Roman Cancel to slow down your opponent if used in tandem with a block.
Suffice to say, while Guilty Gear Strive can give player impressions that it’s going more simple, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Simplified, maybe. But we’re far from Guilty Gear being a one-button game.
Here Comes A New Daredevil (AKA Guilty Gear Strive Impressions- The Characters)
Like other Guilty Gears before it, Strive has a pretty interesting roster of characters. The beta includes all the announced characters except for Anji Mito, who was only announced last month, and one more yet-announced character.
The characters are pretty well balanced in the sense that there’s a character for every playstyle, each with their own tricks. Most of them play largely the same compared to their predecessors, with Potemkin still being the gold standard of Grapplers and Ky Kiske still being an amazing all-rounder. Even series poster boy Sol Badguy plays pretty similarly to his Xrd counterpart, though with a much higher damage output due to the loss of his signature Dragon Install.
Some characters definitely feel better designed than others, though. May loses a lot of her tricks from Xrd, which will be a big blow to fans of the character. Meanwhile other characters like Ramlethal got a total rework, that’s generally great even if she’s not using bold setups anymore. Some of the big winners of the redesigns are Leo Whitefang, who lost virtually nothing and gained an incredibly offensive moveset built around rushing down your opponent and countering them if they dared to hit buttons when it’s Leo’s turn.
There’s also two new faces in the Strive roster, Nagoriyuki and Giovanna. They’re a great example of the highs and lows of this game, and I’ll explain why:

Nagoriyuki is an amazing character design, wherein he’s one of the slowest characters in the game, lacking a proper dash. In exchange, he has wide range and powerful damage. He can also cancel his Special moves into each other, similar to Hakumen from Blazblue. However unlike Hakumen who has to pay for this feature with his meter, Nagoriyuki is instead punished for using it too much via his Blood Rage gimmick. In Blood Rage he deals even more damage even on chip, but drains his own health until you either get him out of Blood Rage with a super or die. It’s a great example of risk and reward, as it requires discipline to use and will absolutely take pro hands to figure out an effective means of balancing out his Blood Rage properly.

On the other hand, Giovanna’s just, well, there. She’s got a cool ghost dog that does nothing, and her playstyle is a close range rushdown. The problem is she shares that class with characters like Chipp, Millia and Sol, all of which have way better toolsets. She supposedly gains damage if she’s at full Tension, but thats a steep price for something both Sol and Millia do for free by stopping you from playing with more oppressive combos. Even if you said that Giovanna’s individual hits did more damage, characters like Potemkin and Nagoriyuki just outclass her.
She’s straightforward, but almost too much so. I wouldn’t even really recommend her to a beginner since characters like Ky and Sol have much more rounded movesets and are just as beginner friendly.
All in all though, Strive’s roster is looking incredibly solid. Nagoriyuki’s complex gimmick isn’t unique- characters like ZATO=1 have a whole second playable character attached to him, and Ramlethal risks losing her projectiles if she uses them haphazardly. It’s very hard to be envious of other characters’ kits since each character feels so unique, and players are sure to find a main even if their gun-bride main from Xrd didn’t make it over.

Training Mode:
In a previous video, Arc System Works explained that the game would have a robust training mode, even promising to teach players matchups to use against specific enemies. Sadly most of that stuff hasn’t been implemented yet, and the only training options you have are a Free Training similar to other fighting games, and a basic tutorial narrated by Sol and Ky.
The basic tutorial is a nice idea, as it essentially plays out as a conversation between Sol and Ky. the two characters will talk back and forth as Ky gives you instructions on what to do, and will even react to you doing things on your own. It’s a nice gimmick, but I honestly found it distracting from the actual tutorial, since a lot of it is sandwiched between character dialogue such as Sol objecting and wanting to go home.
It also doesn’t cover a lot of Guilty Gear’s more advanced mechanics, such as the Roman Cancel. Considering previous games covered it in their tutorial, it’s a bit of a bummer that they didn’t touch on the basics.
They also gave a tutorial for the game’s bizarre online lobby, which is still pretty obtuse. Unlike the arcade machines in many Arc System Works games, Strive uses this weird overworld where you have to walk up to someone and ready your weapon to start a fight. The media demo we got didn’t have anyone playing online, so we can’t say if it was as buggy as the last time.

Wrapping Up The Guilty Gear Strive Impressions (Be Just Or Be Dead)
All in all, it looks like Strive is shaping up to be a great game. Sure, it has some flaws if you compare it too much to Accent Core or Xrd, but it’s not changed so much that it’s not Guilty Gear anymore. It might be a gear shift down, but that’s not to say it’s not still a zany, aggressive anime fighter that looks like it’s on crack compared to other more grounded fighters.
I certainly had a lot of fun, and the game’s diverse roster should make for some fun tech discoveries when even more people get their hands on the beta. Our thanks to Bandai Namco Entertainment, the game’s publisher in the SEA region, for the early access to write this Guilty Gear Strive Impressions.
You can try out the Guilty Gear Strive beta for yourself on February 19th, or wait for the game’s full roster when it releases April 9th.

Demo reviewed on PS5. Demo access provided by Bandai Namco Entertainment, for the purposes of writing this Guilty Gear Strive Impressions

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Tags: ARC SYSTEM WORKSGuilty GearGuilty Gear -Strive-


AppMagic Highlights Social Media Trend-Based Games

Mobile app analytics website Appmagic has posted a list of casual games, all based on popular social media trends.

In the multi-part blog posts, they highlighted the link between popular trends on social media platforms like TikTok, and the popularity of certain casual apps and games on mobile.

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There’s some genuinely interesting insights to gleam from this- many of the most popular games for specific trends are directly named after the trend, framing them as the definitive entry for that topic such as with games like Tie Dye or Sneaker Art.
The other is the metrics by which they’re compared- these games sport massively high downloads, likely as a result of directly serving audiences.
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That is to say, anyone looking for a Sneaker Art related app is going to find their needs met by the Sneaker Art app.
Image Credit: Appmagic
It also refutes any correlation between downloads and player spending- many of the featured games in their blog post had no revenue at all, and the ones that did had relatively low revenue per download (RpD) since their install bases were so high.
This is in contrast to games like NIKKE, with an average RpD of 50 USD and a much lower download base (7.2 mil lifetime vs TieDye’s 147 mil).
The list was curated based on popular trends on TikTok, so it makes sense that the apps derived from them would be more casual centric than say, a gacha game.

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Tags: AppMagic


Play Assassin’s Creed: Origins for free as part of the franchise’s 15th anniversary

Assassin’s Creed: Origins will be playable for free for a limited time as part of the franchise’s 15th anniversary celebrations. In addition, there will be new content coming to Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla as well.

Check out the Assassin’s Creed 15th anniversary celebration live stream below:

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With 60 FPS support recently added to Assassin’s Creed: Origins on PS5 and Xbox Series X | S, players can take advantage of this enhancement by playing the game for free. The free weekend for Assassin’s Creed: Origins will last from 16 – 20 June. In the meantime, players can pre-load the game.
In addition, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla players will be able to access new free content in the game thanks to unprecedented Year 2 support. Amongst the new features that players will be able to experience include the return of festivals, the Mastery Challenge Pack 2, the Armory feature, and new caves to explore this fall to solve the mystery of the Tombs of the Fallen. The new game mode, The Forgotten Saga, will also be available for players to take on this summer. Furthermore, the last episode of Eivor’s story will be revealed at the end of the year as a free chapter update.
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On top of that, the educational companion game to Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, Discovery Tour: Viking Age is now available as a stand-alone experience on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X | S and PC. Ubisoft is also partnering with the Faculty of Education at McGill University to develop curriculum guides for teachers and
students, available online for free, to help them make the most of Discovery Tour opuses as
learning tools for the classroom.
Be sure to stay tuned to all the new stuff coming to the franchise by visiting the series’ anniversary website. Each week, a game will be featured on the website, offering new content, rewards, and interactive experiences. This week, several sets of Assassin’s Creed: Origins tattoos along with a naval pack are now available in Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.

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Tags: Assassin's CreedAssassin's Creed ValhallaAssassin's Creed: OriginsDiscovery Tour: Viking AgeUbisoft


Malaysian Vtuber Liliana Vampaia will Be Making Her Event Debut at Anime Fest! This May

Malaysia’s top Vtuber Liliana Vampaia will be making her event debut at the upcoming local convention ‘Anime Fest!’, being developed in partnership with Comic Fiesta.

This was announced in a post on the Comic Fiesta Facebook Page:

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“With almost 150,000 subscribers and counting, Malaysia’s top vtuber Liliana Vampaia 吸血鬼 リリアナ will have her event debut at Anime Fest!
Meet Lili at the MyHolo TV booth and see what she has in store for her beloved tomato sans!”
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As the previous description suggests, Liliana Vampaia is a Malaysia vtuber who began streaming in June of 2020. She has since amassed almost 150k subscribers on Youtube, making her the biggest Vtuber in the country. She is half-human, half-vampire but is trying not to drink human blood and instead substitutes it with tomato juice. She speaks in both English and Malay.
Lili has played numerous games on her channel including Minecraft, It Takes Two, and Little Nightmares 2. She has also collaborated with other notable Malaysian content creators like Pok Ro, Aki Sakura, and RyanSM.
Anime Fest is an upcoming hobby convention hosted by Comic Fiesta. It will take place at Level CC of Paradigm Mall in Petaling Jaya from the 12th to the 16th of May, just after Hari Raya.

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Tags: Anime FestComic FiestaLiliana VampaiaMalaysia


Epic Seven teases Kizuna Ai collaboration!

Epic Seven has teased a new collaboration, apparently with Kizuna AI! The official post only has a 30 second clip with some voice lines and a silhouette, which is pretty unmistakable at this point.

おっはよー٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و#モーニングアイちゃん☀#KizunaAI pic.twitter.com/LFUlDhTY1I

— Kizuna AI @スリープ中💤 (@aichan_nel) June 3, 2020

Kizuna AI is a Japanese virtual YouTuber – also dubbed as “VTuber” – who has been on the scene since 2016. She has three channels – “A.I.Channel”, “A.I. Games,” and “A.I.Channel China”. The VTuber has gotten quite a lot of attention, in merch and other game collaborations. One of her most recent collaborations is with Cytus, being one of the playable collaboration characters, joining Hatsune Miku as well.

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Presumably Kizuna AI will become a playable character in Epic Seven, with a corresponding event to go with it. We’ll assume there’ll be more details in the coming days, but for now, it’s time to save up resources then. Were you expecting this collab?
 Download

Epic SevenPublisher: Smilegate MegaportDeveloper: Super CreativeRelease Date: 2018-11-08Android, iOS
And thus began the 7th World... Diche, the Goddess of Life, summoned all of her waning power and once again gave shape to the Guardians and the Heir of the Covenant.
"My children, I entrust this world to you."

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Tags: Epic SevenKizuna AiSmilegate Megaport


Vivobook 16X gives you a everyday performance upgrade

Ensure your machine will not hold you back in everyday tasks with the ASUS Vivobook 16X (M1603). There’s much to beef up your performance packed into this one machine:

AMD Ryzen 5 5600H six-core processors
Expansive 16” 16:10 LCD, 86% screen-to-body ratio, 300 nits of brightness, wide 178° viewing angles
LCD wide-view NanoEdge display, FHD+ (1920 x 1200) resolution, TÜV Rheinland low blue-light certification for eye comfort
Physical webcam shield for privacy
Full-size ASUS ErgoSense keyboard, 19.05 mm key pitch, a 0.2 mm key-cap dish, long 1.4mm key travel
Fingerprint sensor in touchpad
Available in Transparent Silver or Quiet Blue
ASUS Antibacterial Guard
180° lay-flat hinge
USB-C® 3.2 Gen 1 port, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a USB 2.0 port, HDMI® output, an audio combo jack
8 GB of DDR4 RAM (with additional DDR4 SO-DIMM slot) and an ultrafast 512 GB PCIe 3.0 SSD
ASUS IceCool cooling system with dual heat pipes – rare for entry-level laptops – and IceBlade fan to accelerate heat transfer; 87-blade fan and impeller made from liquid-crystal polymer, in addition to fluid-dynamics bearing that is quieter than ordinary bearings

45 W total TDP in Performance mode with no throttling

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The Vivobook 16X (M1603) is available at RM2999 in Malaysia, starting today. Learn more about the laptop through the official product page.

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Tags: ASUSASUS VivoBookVivoBookVivobook 16X


Death Stranding Director’s Cut Review – A Reintroduction To A Breath Of Fresh Air

Admittedly, everyone has wished for a chance to make a second impression, and that’s no different to what Death Stranding Director’s Cut is doing. That’s not to say it somehow flubbed its first- the game was a breath of fresh air, acting like an art piece to show that even traversal could be turned into core gameplay if you were smart enough.

How exactly does Death Stranding Director’s Cut reintroduce itself to its audience? Read on and find out.

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The Gameplay Experience
Rather than be a Director’s Cut in the sense that it has previously missing content, Death Stranding Director’s Cut instead feels iterative to its predecessor. What I mean is that it feels an awful lot like Kojima looked back at player reception to Death Stranding and thought of ways to improve first impressions, like if God had granted you a second chance to talk to a girl at the bar for the first time.
You see this the most in the early hours of the game, where the new player experience seems way less daunting. You can now get Support Skeletons as well as a new non-lethal gun, the Maser Gun, much sooner than you would have in the base game- which makes for a much more bearable experience.
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That’s not to say it’s been toned down though- you still have to do the core gameplay loop of walking to new areas to deliver packages. But Directors Cut feels like Kojima and his team have identified what was turning most players away and added tools there to keep players in.

A good example would be the aforementioned Maser Gun. In the earliest parts of the game, you meet the MULEs- crazed deliverymen out to steal your packages. When you first meet them, your only options are run, hide or suddenly learn how to use the Strand, Sam’s close-range weapon. The tutorial isn’t great, I’ll be real with you- and requires you to get in close the MULEs, identify which one is gonna attack you next before parrying and subduing them, repeat ad nauseam.
If you’re scared of conflict, this is a terrible thing to do, especially considering the presentation of Death Stranding. With the Maser Gun, you now have the option to hang back to deal with MULEs. The core lessons are still there- learn to manage which MULE is gonna activate next if you don’t want to take damage. But you won’t have to worry about things like parry timings anymore since you have the security of some distance.
At the same time, the Maser Gun is totally a beginner weapon. Once you unlock the Bola in the story, it’s outclassed almost immediately. The Bola subdues enemies way faster, as is required by the game’s pacing. But the fact the Maser was there to help you manage MULEs better at the start of the game makes it an invaluable tool.
Expanded Tools
It’s not all just beginner gear, either- The team at Kojima Productions have sprinkled new things all along the game’s story, so if you’re a returning player who never beat the game the first time you’ll still have new things to find- like the new catapult for  launching cargo over dangerous areas, or stabilizers to help Sam jump off cliffs and land safely.

There’s also the upgrade to the Buddy Bot- instead of being a management game about sending bots on automated deliveries, you can actually watch it roam the world now, either following behind you or acting as your autonomous steed as you check Tinder or something once you realize it’s been 6 hours since you started playing at not once has anyone called in to see what’s happened to you.
Personally, I really like the approach that the team is treating the Directors Cut with, where it really is just giving you reasons to check out the game again. The new features are all pretty evenly spread out around the game, so it’s not like you’ll be blitzing to a certain chapter just to unlock all the cool stuff, like you might be doing with Ghost of Tsushima.
Of course, that brings with it its own problems. These features are all locked behind various sidequests, with no clear indication which quest gives what. I remember almost missing the Maser Gun entirely, because the quest that gives it says “Maser Gun recommended”. I spent the next few hours trying to find a quest to unlock the Maser Gun to do it, but it turns out just doing the quest gets you the blueprints for the gun itself.
More Things To Do
Of course, there’s also way more things to do in Death Stranding Director’s Cut. One thing I’m really glad the game does is introduce you to the Firing Range- a virtual room for you to test out all your weapons. You can even do weapon drills, or ranked ones which will let you compare your score against your friends.

With the recurring theme of “Death Stranding has terrible tutorials”, the Firing Range solves a lot of that by being a great place to just mess around without losing resources. There’s a lot of stuff you’ll learn from the Firing Range that would have been annoying if the game stopped you to show it with a menu- such as the Bola insta-KO-ing enemies with a headshot and requiring a follow up attack if you hit their bodies.
It’s also great since it lets you test the BT weapons without having to risk a void-out if you fail- again, an invaluable place to learn. The only trade off is that the weapon drills involving BTs are stealth-based, so if you were looking to gauge strategies against the BT mini-boss, you’ll need a way to fight them.
Thankfully you can totally re-fight old bosses now, thanks to the new Nightmares option. Considering how fun some of the fights are, it’s a great way to just skip the faffing around and fight something if you start getting impatient.
Finally, if you like driving, there’s also a new Racetrack. This lets you just focus on the driving in Death Stranding, navigating courses and even competing against other players time.
All of these features are really good because they’re literally breaking up Death Stranding into segments players might enjoy, letting you enjoy just that part until you’re ready to move on. While we all know Kojima for his scarily accurate predictions about the future, it’s easy to forget that he’s also a really good game developer- and every single new feature feels designed so you never feel like there isn’t something fun to do at any moment in time, based on anything you might currently find fun.
New Area: Ruined Factory

Another thing I really liked with Death Stranding Director’s Cut was its new area, the Ruined Factory. After getting over the fact that this was not, in fact, a Nier Automata collab, I hopped in to the new zone. It presents itself as a multi-tiered quest, with each new order unlocking another part of the facility and the area’s story.
The thing I like the most about this is just how drastically it changes up the game. Unlike the MULE camps which are all big open areas, the ruined factory is small and claustrophobic. You’re encouraged to play stealthily, sneaking up on nearby MULEs to knock them out. It’s such a drastic change of pace from anything else in the first area, it almost feels like a loveletter to anyone who really wanted Death Stranding to be a legally distinct Metal Gear Solid.
My only qualm with it is there’s no clear way of how to unlock the next part for the storyline- sometimes you’ll finish one Order, chomping at the bit for the next part, but the game simply doesn’t tell you what you have to do to get the next area in the Factory.
Taking Full Advantage of the PS5
As a PS5 Console exclusive, it’s no surprise how Death Stranding Directors Cut takes advantage of the PS5’s features. Admittedly the game doesn’t look too graphically improved- that’s more a testament to the original than anything else. Under the hood though the PS5 version supports 4k 60fps output, as well as a new widescreeen mode to really push for Kojima’s dream to make movie: The game.
I’m a huge fan of how the game uses the Dual Sense though, with each of Sam’s footsteps being reflected in the controller’s haptic feedback. The guns also feel great, having the mandatory kickback on the adaptive triggers as Sam makes some terribly lethal decisions once you get access to firearms.

Funnily enough, one more weapon in Sam’s arsenal uses the adaptive triggers, but it’s not a gun. Peeing in the game also uses the adaptive triggers, for no reason other than “it’s funny, I guess”. It’s a weird and delightful feature, for a weird and delightful game.
There is one thing that’s not new, but definitely improved on the PS5, which is the lightbar. In the previous release, the PS4’s lightbar changed color to reflect the condition of your BB, as you rocked your controller to soothe it. The only problem is most people probably would have missed this, considering the lightbar on the Dualshock 4 was facing away from the player at all times.
With the Dualsense, the lightbar faces the player instead, letting you actually see the changes in your portable child as you rock it to sleep.
Of course, the biggest upgrade is still the PS5’s SSD, which makes loading virtually nonexistent as you load in new areas.
Closing Thoughts

If you missed out on Death Stranding back on the PS4 and had been meaning to give it a try, absolutely give Director’s Cut a go. The game is very much an attempt to re-introduce itself to new players and win them over- and does so in a way that still respects Kojima’s original vision for the game.
It even has multiple quality of life features, like a reworked fast travel to be more intuitive, as well as 4k 60fps modes to make sure it actually fixes problems its predecessor had.
That being said, if you’re a seasoned veteran of Death Stranding, it might be a bit of a harder sell. Sure, the game’s available as an upgrade, meaning you won’t have to pay full price, but it’s very clear based on the rollout that you’re meant to discover these features through natural progression instead of unlocking them all at once.  So unless you like the game enough to slog through its prologue again, you probably won’t feel the new features like the game clearly wants you to experience.

Game reviewed on PS5, Review copy provided by SIE.

Death Standing Director's CutPublisher: Sony Interactive EntertainmentDeveloper: Kojima ProductionsRelease Date: 2021-09-24PlayStation 5
From legendary game creator Hideo Kojima comes a genre-defying experience, now expanded and remastered in this definitive Director’s Cut.

- Remastered for the PlayStation®5 console – enjoy advanced combat and a new competitive ranking system.*
- Expanded content – use additional weapons and vehicles, take on new enemies and explore new locations with extra missions and minigames.
- New discoveries – experience an extended storyline in an expanded area.
- Social Strand System – stay connected with players around the globe.*

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Tags: Death Stranding Director's CutKojima Productions


More details for Final Fantasy Explorers-Force

Following up with its initial announcement it revealed very little, Square Enix has just released the first images and information for its new game, Final Fantasy Explorers-Force, which will come out in Japan for Android and iOS sometime in 2017.

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First off, some context. You play as a soldier, who is part of the “International Peace Alliance,” also known as FORCE. Many soldiers like yourself were also once called Explorers, who devoted themselves to adventuring the world. The world is thrown into calamity where summons have started appearing everywhere.

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If you are familiar with the Final Fantasy franchise, these classes will be known to you, as they range from the usual knight, white mage and dragoon.

As part of the job system, you will also be able to transform into popular Final Fantasy protagonists through the use of crystals, although it is unknown as to how you will obtain them.

As mentioned, you will be taking on these summons, although chances are that you will also be able to harness their powers for yourself once you defeat them. For more tails head over to the official website.

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Tags: AndroidFinal Fantasy Explorers-ForceiOSSquare Enix


Horizon Forbidden West Release Date revealed

Horizon Forbidden West, one of the most anticipated PlayStation titles of this generation, finally has a release date in sight.

The release date of Horizon Forbidden West is February 18, 2022. Gamers can pre-order the game starting next week on September 2, 2021.

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Here is how the game is described on the PlayStation Store:
Join Aloy as she braves the Forbidden West – a majestic but dangerous frontier that conceals mysterious new threats.
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Explore distant lands, fight bigger and more awe-inspiring machines, and encounter astonishing new tribes as you return to the far-future, post-apocalyptic world of Horizon.
The land is dying. Vicious storms and an unstoppable blight ravage the scattered remnants of humanity, while fearsome new machines prowl their borders. Life on Earth is hurtling towards another extinction, and no one knows why.
It’s up to Aloy to uncover the secrets behind these threats and restore order and balance to the world. Along the way, she must reunite with old friends, forge alliances with warring new factions, and unravel the legacy of the ancient past – all the while trying to stay one step ahead of a seemingly undefeatable new enemy.
Previously, Horizon Forbidden West was delayed, together with God of War.
Visit the game’s page on the PlayStation Store to learn more.

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Tags: gamescom 2021Guerilla GamesHorizon Forbidden WestSony Interactive Entertainment


NVIDIA DGX A100 deployed for AI Research and Training at University of Nottingham Malaysia

The NVIDIA DGX A100 system has been deployed in the University of Nottingham Malaysia (UNM), the first in the country to do so in order to have the high performance computing (HPC) performance needed for artificial intelligence (AI) research, teaching and learning.

The DGX A100 system will be operational at the end of February, with an expected higher throughput and increased efficiency for its research community of undergraduate and post-graduate students, and academics.

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UNM is one of two campuses of the University of Nottingham in the UK, which was founded in 1881. It is heavily involved in research to address global challenges, all of which requiring powerful computing resources. Efforts include AI and advanced data analysis, and more specifically, computer vision, machine learning and neural computation.

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UNM also supports groups researching development of sustainable societies, inclusion in the workplace, nanotechnology, and smart manufacturing, with the Asia Research Institute Malaysia, Centre for Green Technologies, Future Food Malaysia, and Institute for Aerospace Technology among some of its users. These projects rely on modern AI techniques, particularly deep learning, and often adopt simulation-based approaches in a large variety of application areas.
As such, the NVIDIA DGX A100 has made its way to Malaysia to assist, being a universal system for all AI workloads with five petaflops of AI performance for unprecedented compute density, performance and flexibility. Using the system’s NVIDIA Multi-Instance GPU (graphic processing unit) technology, UNM will be able to flexibly allocate computing capabilities across every AI workload, supporting individual researchers to large teams.
“The NVIDIA DGX A100 is particularly attractive because it combines a large number of powerful GPUs that can be reconfigured and combined in multiple ways depending on user requirements.”
“It offers unique levels of flexibility that can cater to our wide spectrum of use cases, from researchers with heavy individual workloads, to large classes of undergraduate students, each with smaller workloads.”
Tomas Maul, associate professor, Faculty of Science and Engineering at UNM

The system will be centralizing UNM’s HPC/GPU solutions and offer more computing flexibility to its academics and students to further accelerate research outputs.
Data science is increasingly a core component of commercial industries with high demand for skilled data scientists. NVIDIA DGX A100 will be used to help further the AI capabilities of the university’s research community through the NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute, which provides hands-on self-learning tools to advance knowledge in areas such as AI, accelerated computing, accelerated data science, graphics and simulation.
“UNM provides a very conducive environment for our research, which spans areas such as scientific computation, fluid mechanics, AI and data analytics and which can inform new ideas in urban planning, the environment and remote sensing. We have had a lot of IT support, too, which is crucial given all the high-performance computers used to conduct our research. This provides a productive environment for us to work in.”
Professor Andy Chan, vice provost, Research and Knowledge Exchange at UNM

“Today’s problems are much more complex and require cross-domain expertise as well as very large datasets. AI is now a very fast-growing part of the workflow of traditional HPC research. With NVIDIA DGX A100, UNM’s research community will have the HPC power to drive their projects more efficiently for faster outcomes that make the world a better place.”
Dennis Ang, senior director of enterprise business for the SEA and ANZ region, Worldwide Field Operations, NVIDIA

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Tags: DGX A100NVIDIAUniversity of Nottingham Malaysia


The Callisto Protocol Shows Off Mutations In New Gameplay

Striking Distance has shown off new gameplay for the upcoming the Callisto Protocol, debuting the new Mutations system for the game.

Describing it as an explicit ramp-up of the dismemberment system from Dead Space, the gameplay showing off mutations in Callisto Protocol makes it look like it’ll be exclusively about making sure you finish your food- enemies dismembered won’t stay that way for long, and can get more powerful.

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We still don’t have too many details about exactly how far the mutations can get- the gameplay teaser only had one such example- though considering the game’s use of dismemberment, it wouldn’t be surprising if mutations were actually tied to what parts you’d actually cut off.
They also showed more of the game’s combat, combining many Dead Space-esque elements like Kinesis, being able to even pick up human-sized enemies.
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There’s also new mechanics too such as Stealth takedowns, meaning players looking to conserve ammo will also be able to dispatch enemies with ease.
Of course, it wouldn’t be flaunting its Dead Space roots if it didn’t also show off the game’s unique death scenes, with the main character getting horribly crunched in half.
Callisto Protocol launches December 2nd, and you can read more about the pre order bonuses for the game here.

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Tags: Gamescom 2022Striking Distance StudiosThe Callisto Protocol


Caravan Stories arrives on Playstation 4 10 September!

Join the over 2 million adventurers in Japan when the anime-inspired, free-to-play MMORPG Caravan Stories arrives to the Playstation 4 in North America on 10 September!

Recruit heroes and tame monsters in the vast world of Iyarr. Haunting ruins, mystical forests and awe-inspiring cities are open for you to explore. This lovely watercolour-tone world faces threats in challenging dungeons and open-world raids, along with ferocious foes only appearing at certain times of the day.

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The Enigma – a monolithic structure appearing above the land – has manifested a portal from which chaos spills. The six races of Iyarr must come together to battle the forces of darkness. Master real-time combat by building a party suited for any occasion in Iyarr. All things must work together for success. Get a monster to compensate for a recruited NPC’s weakness. With almost 300 unique heroes and beasts to find, every player will have a different experience. Party management is key!

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Magical fortresses will be your progression hub. Manage your caravan. Customize how it looks, unlock weapon and armour crafting, and even create resource generators, like for gold. Use cannons and armaments to provide backup in battle. Join up with other players to fight legendary enemies with your caravan and party.
Masahiko Takeuchi, PS4 Director of Aiming Inc said:-
We’ve poured years into perfecting the world of Caravan Stories. Our new release date gave us enough extra time to fine-tune the experience for adventurers to begin writing their stories. We’re eager to see the tales our players write with their friends as they begin their journeys through Iyarr.
Bringing Caravan Stories to PlayStation 4 in North America will mark the beginning of many new stories. We can’t wait to hand the ink quill to our players and witness the tales they will write. The feedback, passion, and experiences of new adventurers will help us make and improve Caravan Stories for years to come. We are honored to welcome you to Iyarr.

Caravan Stories on Playstation 4 in North America supports English text and Japanese audio. You can get more information on the official website. Follow their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, Twitch and Discord.

Caravan StoriesPublisher: Aiming IncRelease Date: 2019-09-11PlayStation 4
Get your caravan together with recruited heroes and tamed beasts. Protect the world of Iyarr in this free-to-play anime-inspired MMORPG!

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Tags: Aiming Inc.Caravan Stories


ROG Malaysia announces local pricing for ROG Gaming Laptop series for CES 2021

At the Republic of Gamers / ROG Malaysia online launch event tonight, the next generation of the ROG Gaming Laptop series as revealed at CES 2021 has been unleashed upon Malaysians! You’ll have the slew of new machines with a wide variety of wattage support even within one model, and form factors and configurations to fit all needs and purposes. You can check out all the shiny stuff from CES here. Let’s not preamble too much, here are the listings and prices that you need:

ROG STRIX G15 / G17

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GamerBraves Newsletter Vol. 103 – The Glory of The Barbie/Oppenheimer Double Feature

Model Name
G513Q-MHN173T
G513Q-RHF104T
G513Q-RHF158T

Product Name
ROG Strix G15

Color
Eclipse Gray

Dimension (W x D x H)

35.4 x 25.9 x 2.26 ~ 2.72 cm

Weight
2.50 Kg

Processor
AMD Ryzen™ 7 5800H Processor 3.0 GHz (16M Cache, up to 4.3 GHz)
AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HX Processor 3.1 GHz (16M Cache, up to 4.5 GHz)

Graphic
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3060
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3070
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3070

Graphic Memory
6GB GDDR6
8GB GDDR6
8GB GDDR6

Max Graphic TGP
130W

Panel Size
15.6-inch IPS-level FHD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 Adaptive-Sync

Refresh Rate
144Hz
300Hz
300Hz

Brightness
250nits
300nits
300nits

NTSC %
45%
72%
72%

SRGB %
62.50%
100.00%
100.00%

Adobe %
47.34%
75.35%
75.35%

Total System Memory

Total 16GB RAM
Slot 1: 8GB DDR4-3200
Slot 2: 8GB DDR4-3200

System Storage Installed
M.2

Slot 1:512GB M.2 NVMe™ PCIe® 3.0 SSD
Slot 2: Empty
Slot 1: 1TB M.2 NVMe™ PCIe® 3.0 SSD
Slot 2: Empty

Wi-Fi/Bluetooth
Intel Wi-Fi 6(Gig+)(802.11ax)+Bluetooth 5.1 (Dual band) 2*2
(*BT version may change with OS upgrades.) -RangeBoost

I/O Ports
1x Type C USB 3.2 Gen 1 with Power Delivery and Display Port
3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack
1x HDMI 2.0b

Mic
Built-in array microphone

Keyboard Type
Backlit Chiclet Keyboard 4-Zone RGB
Backlit Chiclet Keyboard Per-Key RGB

Aura Sync
Yes

Speakers
2x 4W speaker with Smart Amp Technology

Audio Tech
Smart Amp Technology
Dolby Atmos Software
AI mic noise-canceling

Operating System
Windows 10 Home

Battery
90WHrs, 4S1P, 4-cell Li-ion

Power
ø6.0, 240W AC Adapter, Output: 20V DC, 12A, 240W, Input: 100~240C AC 50/60Hz universal

Bundled Bag
ROG backpack for 15″

Bundled Peripherals

N/A
ROG Impact Gaming Mouse

Warranty
2 Years Global Warranty
(1st Year with Perfect Warranty)

SRP
RM5,799.00
RM7,299.00
RM7,499.00

Availability
Mid Feb
Available Now
Mid Feb

Model Name
G713Q-MHX087T
G713Q-RHG075T

Product Name
ROG Strix G17

Color
Eclipse Gray

Dimension (W x D x H)

39.5 x 28.2 x 2.34 ~ 2.75 cm

Weight
3.00 Kg

Processor
AMD Ryzen™ 7 5800H Processor 3.0 GHz (16M Cache, up to 4.3 GHz)

AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HX Processor 3.1 GHz (16M Cache, up to 4.5 GHz)

Graphic
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3060

NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3070

Graphic Memory
6GB GDDR6
8GB GDDR6

Max Graphic TGP
130W

Panel Size
17.3-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 Adaptive-Sync

Refresh Rate
144Hz
300Hz

Brightness
250nits
300nits

NTSC %
45%
72%

SRGB %
62.50%
100.00%

Adobe %
47.34%
75.35%

Total System Memory

Total 16GB RAM
Slot 1: 8GB DDR4-3200
Slot 2: 8GB DDR4-3200

System Storage Installed
M.2

Slot 1: 1TB M.2 NVMe™ PCIe® 3.0 SSD
Slot 2: Empty

Wi-Fi/Bluetooth
Intel Wi-Fi 6(Gig+)(802.11ax)+Bluetooth 5.1 (Dual band) 2*2
(*BT version may change with OS upgrades.) -RangeBoost

I/O Ports
1x Type C USB 3.2 Gen 2 with Power Delivery, Display Port
1x RJ45 LAN port
3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack
1x HDMI 2.0b

Mic
Built-in array microphone

Keyboard Type
Backlit Chiclet Keyboard 4-Zone RGB

Backlit Chiclet Keyboard Per-Key RGB

Aura Sync
Yes

Speakers
2x 4W speaker with Smart Amp Technology

Audio Tech
Smart Amp Technology
Dolby Atmos Software
AI mic noise-canceling

Operating System
Windows 10 Home

Battery
90WHrs, 4S1P, 4-cell Li-ion

Power
ø6.0, 240W AC Adapter, Output: 20V DC, 12A, 240W, Input: 100~240C AC 50/60Hz universal

Bundled Bag
ROG backpack for 17″

Bundled Peripherals

N/A

ROG Impact Gaming Mouse

Warranty
2 Years Global Warranty
(1st Year with Perfect Warranty)

SRP
RM5,999.00
RM7,799.00

Availability
Mid Feb
Available Now

ROG STRIX SCAR 15 / 17

Model Name
G533Q-RHF079T
G533Q-SHF060T

Product Name
ROG Strix SCAR 15

Color
Black

Dimension (W x D x H)

35.4 x 25.9 x 2.26 ~ 2.72 cm

Weight
2.50 Kg

Processor
AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HX Processor 3.1 GHz (16M Cache, up to 4.5 GHz)

Graphic
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3070
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3080

Graphic Memory
8GB GDDR6
16GB GDDR6

Max Graphic TGP
130W

Panel Size
15.6-inch IPS-level FHD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 Adaptive-Sync

Refresh Rate
300Hz

Response Time (G2G)

3ms

Brightness
300nits

NTSC %
72%

SRGB %
100.00%

Adobe %
75.35%

Total System Memory

Total 32GB RAM
Slot 1: 16GB DDR4-3200
Slot 2: 16GB DDR4-3200

System Storage Installed
M.2

Slot 1: 1TB M.2 NVMe™ PCIe® 3.0 SSD
Slot 2: Empty

Wi-Fi/Bluetooth
Intel Wi-Fi 6(Gig+)(802.11ax)+Bluetooth 5.1 (Dual band) 2*2
(*BT version may change with OS upgrades.) -RangeBoost

I/O Ports
1x Type C USB 3.2 Gen 2 with Power Delivery and Display Port
3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack
1x HDMI 2.0b

Mic
Built-in array microphone

Keyboard Type
Optical Mech Keyboard Per-Key RGB

NumberPad Feature

Support NumberPad

Aura Sync
Yes

Speakers
2x 4W speaker with Smart Amp Technology
2x 2W tweeter

Audio Tech
Smart Amp Technology
Dolby Atmos Software
AI mic noise-canceling

Operating System
Windows 10 Home

Battery
90WHrs, 4S1P, 4-cell Li-ion

Power
ø6.0, 240W AC Adapter, Output: 20V DC, 12A, 240W, Input: 100~240C AC 50/60Hz universal

Bundled Peripherals

Keystone
2 Customizable Armor Caps
ROG backpack 15″
P511 ROG CHAKRAM CORE
Keystone
2 Customizable Armor Caps
ROG backpack 15″
ROG Delta headset
P511 ROG CHAKRAM CORE

Warranty
2 Years Global Warranty
(1st Year with Perfect Warranty)

SRP
RM8,599.00
RM12,999.00

Availability
Available Now

Model Name
G733Q-RHG062T
G733Q-SHG131T

Product Name
ROG Strix SCAR 17

Color
Black

Dimension (W x D x H)

39.5 x 28.2 x 2.34 ~ 2.75 cm

Weight
3.00 Kg

Processor
AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HX Processor 3.1 GHz (16M Cache, up to 4.5 GHz)

Graphic
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3070

NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3080

Graphic Memory
8GB GDDR6
16GB GDDR6

Max Graphic TGP
130W

Panel Size
17.3-inch IPS-level FHD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 Adaptive-Sync

Refresh Rate
300Hz

Response Time (G2G)

3ms

Brightness
300nits

NTSC %
72%

SRGB %
100.00%

Adobe %
75.35%

Total System Memory

Total 32GB RAM
Slot 1: 16GB DDR4-3200
Slot 2: 16GB DDR4-3200

System Storage Installed
M.2

Slot 1: 1TB M.2 NVMe™ PCIe® 3.0 SSD
Slot 2: Empty

Wi-Fi/Bluetooth
Intel Wi-Fi 6(Gig+)(802.11ax)+Bluetooth 5.1 (Dual band) 2*2
(*BT version may change with OS upgrades.) -RangeBoost

I/O Ports
1x Type C USB 3.2 Gen 2 with Power Delivery, Display Port
1x RJ45 LAN port
3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A
1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack
1x HDMI 2.0b

Mic
Built-in array microphone

Keyboard Type
Optical Mech Keyboard Per-Key RGB

NumberPad Feature

Physical keypad

Aura Sync
Yes

Speakers
2x 4W speaker with Smart Amp Technology
2x 2W tweeter

Audio Tech
Smart Amp Technology
Dolby Atmos Software
AI mic noise-canceling

Operating System
Windows 10 Home

Battery
90WHrs, 4S1P, 4-cell Li-ion

Power
ø6.0, 240W AC Adapter, Output: 20V DC, 12A, 240W, Input: 100~240C AC 50/60Hz universal

Bundled Peripherals

Keystone
2 Customizable Armor Caps
ROG backpack 17″
P511 ROG CHAKRAM CORE

Keystone
2 Customizable Armor Caps
ROG backpack 17″
ROG Delta headset
P511 ROG CHAKRAM CORE

Warranty
2 Years Global Warranty
(1st Year with Perfect Warranty)

SRP
RM8,799.00
RM13,499.00

Availability
Available Now

ROG ZEPHYRUS G15

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Model Name
GA503Q-MHQ077T
GA503Q-RHQ068T
GA503Q-SHQ042T

Product Name
ROG Zephyrus G15

Color
Eclipse Gray

Dimension (W x D x H)
35.5 x 24.3 x 1.99 ~ 1.99 cm

Weight
1.90 Kg

Processor
AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HS Processor 3.1 GHz (16M Cache, up to 4.5 GHz)

Graphic
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3060
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3070
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3080

Graphic Memory
6GB GDDR6
8GB GDDR6
8GB GDDR6

Max Graphic TGP
95W
100W
100W

Panel Size
15.6-inch IPS-level QHD (2560 x 1440) 16:9 FreeSync

Refresh Rate
165Hz

Response Time (G2G)
3ms

Brightness
300nits

Pantone Validated
Yes

Total System Memory
Total 16GB RAM
Slot 1: 8GB DDR4-3200
On-board: 8GB DDR4-3200
Total 32GB RAM
Slot 1: 16GB DDR4-3200
On-board: 16GB DDR4-3200

System Storage Installed
M.2
Slot 1: 512GB M.2 NVMe™ PCIe® 3.0 SSD
Slot 2: Empty
Slot 1: 1TB M.2 NVMe™ PCIe® 3.0 SSD
Slot 2: Empty

Wi-Fi/Bluetooth
Intel Wi-Fi 6(Gig+)(802.11ax)+Bluetooth 5.1 (Dual band) 2*2
(*BT version may change with OS upgrades.)

I/O Ports
2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A
1x RJ45 LAN port
1x card reader (microSD)
2x Type C USB 3.2 Gen 2 with Power Delivery and Display Port
1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack
1x HDMI 2.0b

Mic
Built-in array microphone

Keyboard Type
Backlit Chiclet Keyboard

Aura Sync
N/A

Speakers
2x 2W tweeter
4x 2W woofer with Smart Amp Technology

Audio Tech
AI mic noise-canceling
Dolby Atmos Software
Smart Amp

Operating System
Windows 10 Home

FingerPrint
YES

Battery
90WHrs, 4S1P, 4-cell Li-ion

Power
ø6.0, 200W AC Adapter, Output: 20V DC, 10A, 200W, Input: 100-240V AC, 50/60Hz universal

Bundled Peripherals
ROG backpack for 15″
TYPE-C 100W AC Charger

Additional Accessories
N/A
ROG Impact Gaming Mouse
P511 ROG CHAKRAM CORE Mouse

SRP
RM6,999.00
RM8,499.00
RM11,499.00

Availability
Mid Feb

ROG ZEPHYRUS DUO 15 SE

Model Name
GX551Q-RHF055T
GX551Q-SHB133RS

Product Name
ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE

Color
Off Black

Dimension (W x D x H)
36.0 x 26.8 x 2.09 ~ 2.09 cm

Weight
2.48 Kg

Processor
AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HX Processor 3.1 GHz
(16M Cache, up to 4.5 GHz)

Graphic
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3070
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3080

Graphic Memory
8GB GDDR6
16GB GDDR6

MAX Graphic TGP
130W

Panel Size
15.6-inch IPS-level FHD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 FreeSync
15.6-inch IPS-level 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) 16:9 FreeSync

Refresh Rate
300Hz
120Hz

Response Time (G2G)
3ms
3ms

Brightness
300nits
400nits

NTSC %
72%
95.54%

SRGB %
100%
132.7%

Adobe %
75.35%
100%

Pantone Validated
Yes
Yes

Total System Memory
Total 32GB RAM
Slot 1: 16GB DDR4-3200
On-board: 16GB DDR4-3200

System Storage Installed
M.2
Slot 1: 1TB M.2 NVMe™ PCIe® 3.0 SSD
Slot 2: Empty
 Performance RAID0 SSD
Slot 1: 1TB M.2 NVMe™ PCIe® 3.0 SSD
Slot 2: 1TB M.2 NVMe™ PCIe® 3.0 SSD

Wi-Fi/Bluetooth
Intel Wi-Fi 6(Gig+)(802.11ax)+Bluetooth 5.1 (Dual band) 2*2
(*BT version may change with OS upgrades.) -RangeBoost

I/O Ports
1x Type C USB 3.2 Gen 2 with Power Delivery and Display Port
3x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A
1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack
1x HDMI 2.0b

Mic
Built-in array microphone

Keyboard Type
Backlit Chiclet Keyboard Per-Key RGB

NumberPad
Support NumberPad

Aura Sync
Yes

Speakers
2x 4W speaker with Smart Amp Technology

Audio Tech
Smart Amp Technology
Dolby Atmos Software

Operating System
Windows 10 Home
Windows 10 Pro

Battery
90WHrs, 4S1P, 4-cell Li-ion

Power
ø6.0, 280W AC Adapter, Output: 20V DC, 14A, 280W, Input: 100~240C AC 50/60Hz universal

Bundled Peripherals
ROG ranger BP2701 backpack
ROG Delta headset
P511 ROG CHAKRAM CORE
TYPE-C 100W AC Charger

Warranty
2 Years Global Warranty
(1st Year with Perfect Warranty)

SRP
RM12,999.00
RM19,999.00

Availability
Mid Feb
Available Now

ROG FLOW X13 + XG MOBILE

Model Name
GV301Q-HK6225T
GV301Q-HK6306T
GV301Q-HK5244TS

Product Name
ROG Flow X13
ROG Flow X13
ROG Flow X13 + ROG XG Mobile (Bundle)

Color
Off Black

Dimension (W x D x H)
29.9 x 22.2 x 1.58 ~ 1.58 cm

Weight
1.30 Kg

Processor
AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HS Processor 3.1 GHz (16M Cache, up to 4.5 GHz)
AMD Ryzen™ 7 5800HS Processor 3.0 GHz (16M Cache, up to 4.3 GHz)
AMD Ryzen™ 9 5980HS Processor 3.1 GHz (16M cache, up to 4.8GHz)

Graphic
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650

Graphic Memory
4GB GDDR6

MAX Graphic TGP
40W

Panel Size
13.4-inch IPS-level WUXGA (1920 x 1200) 16:10 Adaptive-Sync
13.4-inch IPS-level WQUXGA (3840 x 2400) 16:10 Adaptive-Sync

Refresh Rate
120Hz
120Hz
60Hz

Touch Screen
Touch Screen
Touch Screen
Touch Screen

Brightness
300nits

NTSC %
72%
82%

SRGB %
100%
116%

Adobe %
75%
86%

Pantone Validated
Yes

Total System Memory (RAM)
No memory slot
16GB LPDDR4X on board
32GB LPDDR4X on board

System Storage Installed
Slot 1: 1TB M.2 2230 NVMe™ PCIe® 3.0 SSD
Slot 1: 512GB M.2 2230 NVMe™ PCIe® 3.0 SSD
Slot 1: 1TB M.2 2230 NVMe™ PCIe® 3.0 SSD

On board Wireless
Wi-Fi 6(802.11ax)+Bluetooth 5.1 (Dual band) 2*2
(*BT version may change with OS upgrades.)

I/O Ports
1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A
2x Type C USB 3.2 Gen 2 with Power Delivery and Display Port
1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack
1x HDMI 2.0b
1x ROG XG Mobile Interface
1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A
2x Type C USB 3.2 Gen 2 with Power Delivery and Display Port
1x 3.5mm Combo Audio Jack
1x HDMI 2.0b

Webcam
720P HD camera

Mic
Built-in array microphone

Keyboard Type
Backlit Chiclet Keyboard

Aura Sync
N/A

Speakers
2x 1W speaker with Smart Amp Technology

Audio Tech
Smart Amp Technology
DAC
Dolby Atmos Software
AI mic noise-canceling

Operating System
Windows 10 Home

FingerPrint
YES

Battery
62WHrs, 4S1P, 4-cell Li-ion

Power
TYPE-C 100W AC Charger

Bundled Peripherals
GV301 sleeve bag
Stylus Pen

Additional Items
N/A
P511 ROG CHAKRAM CORE
ROG XG Mobile(GC31S with NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3080)

Warranty
2 Years Global Warranty
(1st Year with Perfect Warranty)

SRP
RM6,499.00
RM5,999.00
RM13,499.00

Availability
End Jan
End Feb
End Feb

Model Name
GC31S

Product Name
ROG XG Mobile

Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 3080
MAX TGP 150W

Connection to PC
ROG XG Mobile interface(PCIE Gen3x8) and USB Type-C combo port

Ethernet Connection
Gigabit Lan 10/100/1000 Mbps

I/O ports
4 x USB-Type A 3.2 Gen11
Card reader1
HDMI 2.0a1
DP 1.41
RJ-45 Jack1
DC input jack

Power Supply
280W

Dimensions
208 x 155 x 29.6mm

Weight
1Kg

Accessories
1 x Power cord

Model Support
ROG Flow X13(GV301)

As for the ROG Zephyrus G14 2021, the price and specs will be announced late March.

Check This Out Next

Tags: CES 2021Republic of GamersRoGROG FLOW X13ROG Strix G15ROG Strix G17ROG Strix Scar 15ROG STRIX SCAR 17ROG XG MobileROG ZEPHYRUS DUO 15 SEROG Zephyrus G14ROG Zephyrus G15TUF A15TUF A17TUF Dash F15


Punishing: Gray Raven x NieR: Automata collab goes live

The Punishing: Gray Raven x NieR: Automata collab is here, giving players in China and Japan the opportunity to hack and slash their way as 2B, 9S and A2. The event will last for nearly a month, ending on 4th February 2021.

On Bilibili, news about the collab surfaced last month, with images of A2’s in-game model being shown online. Near the end of the year, a PV for the collab appeared on YouTube. Stretching for almost five minutes, it detailed the new features added to the game during the event. You can watch the video here:

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2B, 9S and A2 emerge as S-Class characters, each with their own exclusive weapons. Skins from Yoko Taro’s previous titles, NieR and Drakengard 3, also make their way to the game. This crossover event also brings a slew of new gameplay features. Players can fight a new boss, assemble a new furniture set and traverse new maps inspired from NieR: Automata.
In addition, a 14-day login bonus is being offered to players. 9S and his costume are amongst the various rewards obtainable from the login bonus.
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Besides the in-game event, Punishing: Gray Raven is also collaborating with Pixiv for an illustration contest. A total of 2 million yen is up for grabs in this competition. Selected works will even be published in the game.
There are two categories for this contest, Original Consciousness category and Fan Art category. The prize money being offered is as follows:

First prize: 300,000 yen (1 winner for each category)
Excellence award: 150,000 yen (3 winners for each category)
Special award: 50,000 yen (5 winners for each category)

To learn more about the contest and how to enter your submissions, you may refer to the contest page.

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Tags: HK Hero EntertainmentNieR AutomataPunishing Gray Raven


Immortals of Aveum Preview: A Magic-Based Shooter With Fast Paced Action and Expansive Worldbuilding

At The Game Awards 2022, audiences around the world were given a teaser from EA of a new first-person shooter with a unique twist: instead of guns and grenades, you’ll be shooting with magic. Now developer Ascendant Studios has given us a first-hand showcase of their new game Immortals of Aveum, including a new trailer to introduce us to a fantastical world of spell-slinging action.

They have further announced that the game will be launching this summer on the 20th of July 2023. You can pre-order the game now.

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The world of Aveum
The game takes place on the planet of Aveum where there a thousand-year “Ever-War” is raging on between the countries of Lucium and Rasharn over the control of magic.
You take the role of Jak (Darren Barnet), a young man that wishes to become a “Magnus” aka a Battle Mage. While it starts off as an “Unforsceen” (meaning he has no magic) after a traumatic event he manifests a huge amount of magical power as a Tri-Arc, a being that is able to use all three types of magic: red, blue, and green.
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He is recruited by General Kirkan (Gina Torres) to join the Immortals, a special force of Lucium who can use the most powerful magic. Other members of the group introduced include Devyn (Antonio Aakeel), the youngest green magic master in Lucium’s history, and Zendara (Lily Cowles), a red magic master from Kalthus who is secretly royalty.
They must join forces against Sandrakk (Steven Brand), the king of Rasharn who wishes to gain all the power of magic. As the story begins, he has driven his forces further in Lucium alongside his lieutenant, known as The Hand (Yvonne Senat Jones).
Exploration
Image Source: EA
The game’s graphics and animation are high quality with a great amount of expression from the motion-captured actors and smooth transitions between cutscenes and gameplay. The world likewise shows a lot of promise with a variety of locations from forests to snowy mountains, to fields of lava. The developer has also mentioned that the game will feature a lot of exploration and puzzle areas to break out all the shooting.
They explained that the magical energy lines you see in the picture above are “leylines”, conduits that transfer magical power throughout the land. At the center of Aveum is the womb, a giant bottomless crater in the center of the land. It grows larger every day
Becoming a Magic Gunslinger
Image Source: EA
The gameplay of Immortals of Aveum is a fast-paced single-player FPS that uses magic instead of guns. The combat is fast and frantic. It has a lot in common with shooters like Doom with the player constantly on their toes moving and stringing together combos to take out enemies. There are three main types of magic in Immortals of Aveum:

Blue: regular blasts, like a handgun
Red: like a shotgun, short-range but powerful
Green: automatic fire like an assault rifle. It can also home in on targets.

Each will be necessary throughout the adventure especially as certain enemies may only be weak to one type of magic. It is also mentioned that he can upgrade and obtain certain “talents” through a skill tree. The developers encourage players to select skills that can customize Jak to their playstyle whether that’d be fast, hard-hitting, or more defensive.
Further Uses of Magic
Image Source: EA
Addiotnally, Jak’s magic is focused through his sigil (the gauntlet-like device on his hand). He can buy or find more sigils throughout the game that will alter the three magic types into different attacks. He can also find equipable rings, bracers, and totems that increase his power.
Another important part of your arsenal is Jak’s Shield. This acts as a form of mobile cover. You can shoot through the shield which gives him extra defense but will also restrict your movement. The shield also shatters if it takes enough damage. He can also use a teleport ability to dodge oncoming attacks.
Finally, Jak also has more powerful attacks called “furies” that can unleash a load of damage on opponents. For example, one Fury is called the “shatter spell” which shoots an explosion of magical spikes. These however will drain your mana bar and you’ll need to find more mana crystals to restore it.
Immortals of Aveum
Image Source: EA
While shooters that make use of supernatural weaponry have been done before, The scale and vision of Immortals of Aveum are certainly noteworthy. The game takes a lot of recognizable traits from action shooters and makes them feel unique in its world of magic.
I suppose we’ll see more of what spells these battle mages can sling when Immortals of Aveum launches on the 20th of July. It will be available for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
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For more information on the behind-the-scenes creation of Immortals of Aveum, check out our interview with the lead developers at Ascendent Studios.

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Tags: Ascendant StudiosEAImmortals of Aveum


SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays review – Gundam for the ages

SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays definitely aims to appeal, an utopia of sorts for Gundam fans, mashing the various popular iterations into one game. Who wouldn’t like seeing all your favourite mechs in one place? For the die-hard fan wanting to immerse yourself in the world of Gundam, this is the title for you. Experience different storylines in the Gundam universe through the various campaigns!

The game can get quite confusing if you’re completely blind to the Gundam series. There’ll be loads and loads of characters, each with their plot lines. If you’re going to be able to process a degree of information overload, then you might still be able to enjoy this title. The situation only gets even more complex when NPCs explain certain anime-only, but still key, events.

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As with any turn-based strategy game, battles involves moving your units on your turn, followed by the enemy. Choose to attack with a unit, the type of attack, and the action will occur. The same thing will happen if you get attacked in return, and you can choose the most effective defense type. Attack and defense strength can be increased with the help of nearby units. You can also combine to perform a combination attack on a clump of enemies.

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Units will always fight within a Group. While they can move individually, they are naturally stronger together. Choose “Move All” to simultaneously move units and attack the same foe. It can certainly make things easier for the beginning phases of battle. A Morale System also exists. A unit that battles well will gain morale and land critical strikes. Conversely, if they keep missing, they become weaker. Apart from the main objective, there are also side objectives you can complete. These side objectives can give you the chance to battle powerful foes with special abilities. You can acquire these abilities for yourself if you defeat such foes.
Last but not least, units and characters can level up. Units refer to the mecha, and you can choose which part to upgrade. Characters refer to pilots, who will automatically increase their stats and acquire new abilities. It seamlessly coexists with the customization system.

You can customize before starting a mission. Here, you can modify units and battle tactics. Add in new units, change them, upgrade or level units, even create your own custom character, and yet more you can do in a robust system. Feel free to experiment! There is a slight caveat though: there are no good or clear tutorials you can refer to. The battles and customizations are arguably quite important in this game, but explanations may be lacking, especially for newbies.
SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays could make a case for being a more niche title. Fans can find a solid strategy game, with plenty of complexity and characters to dive into. If you’re a Gundam and/or strategy game fan, then don’t hesitate to pick this up!

SD Gundam G Generation Cross RaysPublisher: Bandai Namco EntertainmentDeveloper: Bandai Namco EntertainmentRelease Date: 2019-11-28Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Steam
SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays is a tactical role playing game, part of the SD Gundam G Generation series. The game will feature a lot of popular Gundam and pilots from Gundam series such as Mobile Suit Gundam Wing and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. Player will control multiple number of mecha to combat enemy on a turn-based system. This is also the first SD Gundam G Generation series that will launch at PC platform.

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The Review

                    SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays

4
Score

A smorgasbord of Gundam crossovers and deep strategy.

PROS
 A lot of storylines from various Gundam series to enjoy Incredible depth of strategy and customization available

CONS
 Not great for a total newcomer to Gundam Tutorials can be obscure if you want to check

Review Breakdown

Definitely one for the Gundam series fans.

Tags: BANDAI NAMCOGundamSD Gundam G GenerationSD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays