Let’s Catch Up With Some Indie Games Of 2018

Disclaimer: This feature is powered by Dell Alienware. We used the Alienware 15 laptop for all of our PC features & reviews. It’s a tad overkill for this feature when you think about it.
In a frantic rush to finish up my current gaming library of 2018 before the year ends, I have been dabbling and playing a ton of indie games. Let’s do a quick roundup and see if they’re worth the current price tag. Call it a “late to the party” post, because it clearly is that.
But hey, if you’re done with all that triple-A gaming nonsense and see if a couple of guys and programmers can make magic this year, read on. You’ll definitely find something to love here and it won’t murder your wallet.
Celeste

What’s It About? It’s about a little girl who wants to climb a mountain and has stuff to deal with along the way. Whether it’s physical or mental in nature, that’s up to you to discover in the game’s story and the dialogue with the sparse-but-meaningful cast.
And this isn’t some endurance simulator, oh no: you climb the mountain and its many obstacles via 2D hardcore platforming. Celeste has a dash/air dash that goes in different directions and has access to new dashing/platforming abilities along the way. There are a ton of curveballs thrown your way, be it a room filled with laundry and clutter that you have to slowly clean up with the power of platforming or fighting against strong winds while timing your jumps.
And this is coming from the guy who created Towerfall: Matt Thorsen. Clearly his pixel art style makes this game as vibrant as it should be.
Is It Worth It? Yes, it is. Not only is the game’s narrative meaningful, but the game’s challenge level is tough but fair, much like your Mega Mans and Super Meat Boys. The pitfalls and jumping puzzles are fun and consistent, and the difficulty ramps up in a fair way that smacks your knuckle with a metaphoric ruler time and again.
The Messenger

What’s It About? You play a ninja who has to deliver a scroll to the top of a mountain. Easy enough, but the game is laid out in 2D platforming ninja action glory. Your messenger can slash, jump, wingsuit glide, grapple hook onto horizontal ledges, and use a “cloudstep” technique that lets you double-jump as long as you slash something mid-jump.
This game will test your platforming and simple jumping puzzle skills while also sending a barrage of enemies your way.
Is It Worth It? Kinda. The game has a humorous tone amidst its 8-bit-slash-16-bit throwback, and Ninja Gaiden enthusiasts back in the NES days will enjoy this. Apart from that and that one big aesthetic twist midway after the 2nd hour of the game, the game’s level design doesn’t feel substantial enough to stand out in this “best indie” list.
Dandara

What’s It About? A Metroid-vania action adventure game with a twist: you can only move around the stage and area by jumping from surface to surface. No walking, no running, and no crawling: you have to vault onto safe spots repeatedly to advance while also fighting enemies with your smart tools.
The movement system here means that the game’s levels and the world literally revolve around you: ceiling and walls are floors while former hazards can turn into combat advantages. With so many Metroid-vania games out there, Dandara stands out with its unique movement mechanic and rather off-kilter aesthetics and tale. The latter probably requires substances from your end to fully comprehend and enjoy.
Is It Worth It? Yes. You could say that if you get used to its “platforming” mechanic, you’ll go off the wall for this 2D action game. Ignore the abstract story, and you’ll do fine here. It’s worth it at RM32 (better when there’s a sale going on).
Donut County

What’s It About? You are a hole in the ground that eats up trash and listen to stories of people who hang around your general area. Sounds mundane, but your appetite for anything cannot be contained; you must eat and shove trash and junk down your gullet to forward the plot.
Just like in Katamari Damacy, your objective is to get as big as possible. There’s no deadbeat space dad & time limit here: just you, the townsfolks, and the county you’re in, accompanied with a quirky aesthetic and audio jingles to amp up the surrealness of the game.
Is It Worth It? Yes, if you don’t mind incredible short experiences. It’s selling at about RM30 or so on Steam; check it out if you want a quick yet insatiable time-waster that’ll leave an impression.
Sinner: Sacrifice For Redemption

What’s It About? This boss battler RPG is part Dark Souls, part boss rush ala Furi. Only without the crazy aesthetics and a goth vibe. The kicker here is that you get weaker as you progress later in the game.
You can choose which aspects you can dampen before progressing further. On the upside, you can earn weapons that help complement your weaknesses.
Is It Worth It? Maybe. Sinner has a few great ideas in its Souls-esque gameplay, but its narrative and aesthetic needs more fleshing out.
The one big sin here? It feels like half a game instead of a full package, but fret not: the game is getting some fixes and will be re-released later in February 2019.
Return of the Obra Dinn

What’s It About? You are an insurance adjuster from the East India Company in 1807 who is tasked with finding out what happened to the ship called the Obra Dinn after it has surfaced back in England. How do you do this? With a Memento Mortem device that recalls how a person died once you come across their remains on the ship.
To say more would be robbing you of the fun of discovering what happened on the ship. Drama, intrigue, and crazy s***: that’s all I’m going to say. It’s one large logic puzzle and adventure from Lucas Pope, the same guy who did Papers, Please –another stellar indie game. And it’s presented in monochrome ala old-ass Macintosh games. This might not gel well with some, but I friggin’ love it.
Is It Worth It? Yes, only because it’s a well put-together adventure game using an old graphics style mixed with 3D. As you put the pieces together, you find out what happened inside the ship and use processes of elimination & deductive reasoning to figure out whether all the crew members died or not.
All in all, it’s fun stuff if you’re into adventure games of yore with a little shipwright lingo inside.
Black Bird

What’s It About? Remember that old Sega arcade game where you controlled a ship and scroll either left or right shooting stuff up? This is the 2018 version done by the guy who did Chulips.Â Yep, that game where you impress and then kiss random strangers on the streets.
There’s a story in here about a little girl who died in a city and turns into a floating bird’s head that shoots bubbles from its mouth. And it goes on a rampage, killing folks in a city. And then you fight a Santa Claus-esque doll and a giant wheel that’s piloted by a rat. You also get a heckuva opera soundtrack filled with nonsensical ramblings and a ragtime muted aesthetic in pixelated form.
The 2D shooting here feels good too; like I said, think Fantasy ZoneÂ but with a cool chain scoring system. The more things you take down, the higher your score and multiplier. Power-ups are simple (speed, lives, and bombs), and your bird’s hitbox is really, really tiny so you’ll get some bullet hell moments. But the kicker is that once you completed the game, you get more difficulty levels that offer new avenues for a higher score.
Is It Worth It? Yes, but only if you like to see a rather peculiar take on Defender and Fantasy Zone. This game may not be for everyone, but if you’re a fan of the previously-mentioned Chulips and don’t mind a score-based challenge, you can’t go wrong.Â It’s going for RM39 on Steam.


This Is How The Night King Would’ve Looked Like

Despite what you or I may think of Game Of Thrones Season 8 (it sucked), it’s all finally over. However, it’s human nature to ponder about what could’ve been, or how it could’ve all been a lot better. Let’s forget about all that for now, and discuss the Night King.
Just like the Eye of Sauron in The Lord Of The Rings or Darth Vader in Star Wars, Game Of Thrones’ Night King is now ingrained in pop culture as a face and symbol of pure evil. His reputation may have been a bit tarnished by how pathetic he lost in the final season of the series, but he remains a popular antagonist figure even now.
Did you know that he could’ve looked a lot more menacing and memorable, instead of looking like an ice blue version of Star Wars’ Darth Maul?
Vanity Fair recently unearthed original concept art for the Night King, who looks very different than the Night King we all know. The original design features a much taller crown with what looks like long hair and a full beard, a decidedly royal and epic look that befits the apocalyptic myth of the Night King.

According to the book ‘The Art of Game of Thrones’ by Game of Thrones’ Emmy-winning Production Designer Deborah Riley, her team wasn’t provided with a reference, or even an actor to base the design on, so they had to create a “stand-in” character.
Prosthetic designer Barrie Gower then went on to create what we came to know as the Night King, as he was only given a note to make the design look “Regal” with “Familiar White Walker traits”.


Will Jupiter’s Legacy Reinvigorate The Superhero Genre For Today’s Streaming Generation?

If you aren’t fatigued by the deluge of comic book movies and TV shows in 2021, Jupiter’s Legacy will break your figurative back in that regard.
This TV series Netflix adaptation of a Mark Millar and Frank Quitely comic book series in 2013 is about a group of old superheroes who want to pass the superheroics torch to their children. However, they’re not in sync with The Code, which is to use their powers not to kill and not to govern; instead to help shape America’s future for the better. But with the bad guys not following the rules and with the children’s friends getting killed left and right, is there room in this century to uphold seemingly outdated values? And is it OK for even one of the heroes to make an exception to the “no kill” rule for some less-than-savoury bad guys?
Planet Buster
It took me a while to get to the swing of things with Jupiter’s Legacy, because the first few episodes did not grab my attention. The main problem is some of the characters: it’s hard to sympathize with some of the younger cast here. We have the old-school father Sheldon (Josh Duhamel), the world’s version of Superman, along with his equally charismatic and headstrong wife Grace (Leslie Bibb). Both of them have two kids: the tryhard superhero Paragon/Brandon Sampson (Andrew Horton) who needs a haircut and the drug-addicted black sheep daughter Chloe (Elena Kampouris).
I call them Mopey and Bratty because that’s what they’re summed up as throughout the entire season. These archetypes are handled better in other shows and have more fleshed-out personalities, so forgive me if they seem two-dimensional for me to give a s***.

Thankfully they don’t dominate the entire show; both Sheldon and Grace have some decent story arcs involving The Code, especially when dealing with the younger superheroes who are in line with the show’s version of the Justice League called The Union. Sheldon’s brother Walt, a super-strong telepath (Ben Daniels) has a calculating personality that complements the wholesomeness of the aforementioned two parents.
My favourite character is Hutch (Ian Quinlan), a non-superpowered villain who has a cool teleportation device and has ties with one of the Union’s ex-heroes. He’s charismatic, steals the presence of the scenes he’s in, and is incredibly ballsy and competent even in the face of powers out of his league. His story arc is the most entertaining by far and he has a clear reason among the cast as to why he’s doing petty crimes in the show.
There’s also a flashback plot about how Sheldon, his mom, his brother, and a few others back in the 1930s got their powers. These are arguably the best parts of the show, though it needed to be its own episode or two instead of having the entire premise chopped up and inter-spliced into the current storyline. As far as plot devices go to add context to the whole Code and how Sheldon got to be this way, it works.
Superhero Landing In The Wrong Time?

To be fair, Jupiter’s Legacy is a victim of bad timing. With so many TV series based on superhero properties and comic book franchises out this year, and all of them offering something different, this Netflix show just feels like it’s cruising along and hitting all the checks on the list.
Honestly, why watch all of Jupiter’s Legacy when there are other superhero TV shows that do a way better job with the parent-kid dynamic & daddy issues plot threads like Superman & Lois and Invincible? Or even edgier superhero shows like The Boys?
At the very least, the show’s flashback bits and superhero origin story set during the Great Depression is a nice change of pace. Some of its roster at least will grab you because of how their story arcs unfold in this first season. Long story short: you could do worse.
Final Score: 50/100


Scream 2022 Slashes A Sequel Wes Craven Would Be Proud Of

Slashers. This subgenre of the horror genre has always been ridiculed for being dumb and cheesy gorefests, but the late legend Wes Craven changed all that with 1996’s Scream; a self-aware smart slasher with meta commentary on the genre. It revitalized the horror slasher genre and made Ghostface an iconic killer. After making four Scream movies, Wes Craven passed away in 2015, so 2022’s Scream is the first entry in the franchise to be made without him and franchise co-creator/writer, Kevin Williamson.
Fortunately, directing duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have proven that not only can they make a good Scream movie, but one that’s arguably the best Scream sequel since 1997’s Scream 2. It also warms my heart as a horror fan to say that were he still alive today, Wes Craven would probably be proud of this movie.
What’s Your Favourite Scary Movie?
Ghostface in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s “Scream.”
The original Scream poked fun at horror slasher tropes. The second; sequels. The third, the end of trilogies and the dark side of Hollywood. The fourth, remakes and more slasher tropes. What about this new Scream, then? What makes it different? Well, the meta commentary in 2022’s Scream touches on everything from requels (reboot sequels or legacy sequels like Star Wars The Force Awakens or Ghostbusters Afterlife), so-called “elevated horror” (those modern and sophisticated horror movies like Hereditary and The Babadook), the toxicity of online fandom and more.
One could argue that 2022’s Scream could be too meta to the point of making it cringeworthy, but I’d argue otherwise. Wes Craven has always injected a bit of comedy and playfulness in his movies; even when he was making the A Nightmare On Elm Street films. Also, what’s more meta than featuring a cameo from a real-life popular horror-focused YouTuber channel? This one’s not really a spoiler unless you know them, but yeah, Dead Meat’s in this movie (if you’re a horror fan, do yourselves a favour and subscribe to them on YouTube).
The filmmakers have definitely nailed what made the previous Scream movies so good and let’s not forget, what made them great was not only that they were smart and meta, but they could also bring great thrills and scares. The Scream franchise has never relied on cheap jump scares, and the visceral violence of the movie often brings a sense of dread and tension that was the bread and butter of the late Wes Craven. The kills in 2022’s Scream is effective at creating a tense and dark atmosphere, making viewers fear for the character’s life. While the kills could have been more creative or innovative (most of them are the usual stabbings), the way they’re framed and the horror setpieces come with a deliciously terrifying atmosphere.
Slasher Rules
Jenna Ortega (â€œTaraâ€) stars in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s “Scream.”
The best part of watching a Scream movie, of course, is its third act and the reveal of the killer/killers. 2022’s Scream does not disappoint in that regard, providing a bloody climax that is comparable to that of the original Scream movie. Nothing will ever be as shocking as that original Scream‘s third act, but this one comes dangerously close. 2022’s Scream has the best third act of all the sequels.
If there’s a flaw that drags this movie down, it’s that 2022’s Scream could use a little more screentime from the veteran actors/actresses of the franchise. Neve Campbell (Sidney Prescott), Courteney Cox (Gale Weathers), and David Arquette (Dwight ‘Dewey’ Riley) all reprise their roles from the previous movies, but the only one who gets his due is David Arquette’s Dewey. He gets a lot more screentime and focus than the other two, but don’t expect to see much of Sidney or Gale in this movie.
As for the brand new cast of young actors/actresses, they all do a pretty good job. No rotten apples in this one, that’s for sure. Highlights include Melissa Barrera’s Sam Carpenter, Jack Quaid’s Richie Kirsch, and Jenny Ortega’s Tara Carpenter. Many of these characters have fun ways that they’re related to other characters from previous Scream movies, but I won’t spoil that for you. Despite making fun of requels, part of the fun in 2022’s Scream is catching the references to its own franchise entries.
For The Fans
L-r, Dylan Minnette (â€œWesâ€), Jack Quaid (â€œRichieâ€), Melissa Barrera (â€œSamâ€) and David Arquette (â€œDewey Rileyâ€) star in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s “Scream.”
It’s not easy to make a horror film sequel (or requel) that’s as good as 2022’s Scream. While fans will ultimately be the ones to fully appreciate this movie, its self-aware meta commentary can still be enjoyed by any casual moviegoer. However, it’s recommended that you at least watch the original Scream before watching 2022’s Scream.
Final Score: 80/100
We attended an early screener of Scream courtesy of UIP Malaysia. Scream is now showing in Malaysian cinemas.
[videopress mnKYi7oW]


Is Blizzard Teasing A Diablo III Port For Nintendo Switch?

Ah, Diablo III. From its early flawed inception to its major fix via the Reaper of Souls expansion, this action RPG has been giving us the loot-hoarding jollies thanks to its Nephilim dungeon additions, Season play, and increased Torment levels.
One does wonder if D3 will be ported onto other consoles, especially on Nintendo’s new Switch console. Here’s a recent Tweet from Blizzard to further tease fans, right after their megaton PTR release of Overwatch’s Brigitte.

Sweet dreams. pic.twitter.com/tZvCnjjzWb
— Blizzard Entertainment (@Blizzard_Ent) February 28, 2018

In case you couldn’t tell, Blizzard flicked the lights switch three times. Maybe they’re selling that Diablo III ornament, but it’s most likely a tease of a Nintendo Switch port of their hack-and-slash game. This also came in a few days after this rumour about a Switch port came in (via Neoseeker).
Which begs the question: what else can Blizzard add for the Switch version apart from local co-op? I mean, a portable Diablo III does sound cool in retrospect, but everyone and their mothers have already played Diablo III on a PC. In fact, many people came back to Diablo III just to get back into PC gaming because these two go well like peanut butter and smores on toast/crackers.
Maybe some Nintendo branded costumes and gear could make this version more unique? I’d kill for a Demon Hunter dressed up like Princess Peach, or a Witch Doctor with a Dry Bones as a pet or as a zombie dog. Or a Crusader in Samus’ bounty hunter ensemble.


Black Panther Wakanda Forever Is A Tale Of Grief & Legacy

At the heart of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever lies a story about grief. What comes after loss? Grief, anger, regret, but most of all, love. This movie is a tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman; not only to the legacy he left behind but also to his iconic character. It mourns his passing but also celebrates his life.
This movie is ultimately about what it means to rise beyond grief and overcome it in order to move forward. Just like 2019’s Spider-Man Far From Home asked who the MCU’s Spider-Man is without Iron Man and resulting in this universe’s version of Spidey growing into his own, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever asks the same of the Black Panther and Wakanda in the absence of T’Challa.
A Tribute To His Legacy

At the beginning of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, we find Wakanda in grief, just as the real world was when news broke of the late’s Chadwick Boseman’s passing. The movie is sombre, but that means that the emotional moments hit all that much harder. I won’t lie, the opening moments of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is heartbreaking. However, this is still a movie that’s roughly 2 hours and 41 minutes long, and as a result, the movie’s pacing does suffer a bit especially in the middle. Some scenes feel draggy because the movie is burdened with introducing many new elements to the MCU, including Talokan (the MCU’s version of Atlantis), Namor (Tenoch Huerta) and his origins, as well as Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) AKA Ironheart (who is set to receive her own Disney+ spinoff series in the future).
All this setup is great for the future of the MCU, and some scenes feature exciting easter eggs and references for fans. I won’t spoil anything from the plot; it’s best to go into Black Panther: Wakanda Forever without any prior knowledge, and that’s partly because the movie’s narrative is a bit predictable, though there are still a few surprises here and there. For instance, Talokan is almost nothing like the Atlantis from Marvel Comics, so even comic book fans will find something new to chew on there.

Director Ryan Coogler has definitely improved on his action scenes and fighting choreography from 2018’s Black Panther. The battle scenes and setpieces here have more impact, not only from the increased emotional context but also in overall quality. One of my favourite scenes in the movie doesn’t even feature the Black Panther; it’s an intense and grounded hand-to-hand combat sequence between a spear-wielding Okoye and several Talokanil soldiers.
With the absence of the late Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa, it’s up to the rest of the remaining cast, and new ones, to step up, and I’m happy to say that they did. The supporting characters here deliver great performances, including comedic moments from Winston Duke’s M’Baku and the various Dora Milaje such as Danai Gurira’s Okoye. The MVPs of the movie are Letitia Wright’s Shuri and Angela Bassett’s Queen Ramonda, both of whom deliver powerful dramatic performances, which is appropriate considering T’Challa was their brother and son, respectively. They form the emotional crux of the movie.

As for Tenoch Huerta’s Namor, he’s an intense and menacing character with a commanding presence. He has the potential to be another great character in the MCU canon and best of all, he feels and looks just as smugly powerful as his comic book counterpart, which is great. On the other hand, Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams might be a bit more divisive because she’s just another young character with a feisty or spunky personality. We need to see more of her (hopefully in the upcoming Disney+ series) before we can definitively say if she’ll be a good addition to the MCU. Right now I’m still not convinced she has what it takes to replace Iron Man.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s soundtrack and musical score are also one of the movie’s highlights, which often can’t be said about the usually more generic-sounding OSTs in other MCU movies. Ludwig Göransson returns as the composer, and this time he brilliantly mixes African-inspired music with that more unique-sounding instruments and chants to reflect Namor and Talokan heritage and culture in addition to that of Wakanda. One highlight is how he makes the Talokan people sound eerily like mythical sirens.
An Elegy For A King

Black Panther Wakanda Forever is the last movie in the MCU’s Phase Four, capping a series of films and TV series which began with 2021’s Black Widow and WandaVision. It’s arguably one of the better movies in the uneven Phase Four, similar in quality to that of Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings and a lot less like the lacklustre Eternals. It’s still worth watching, especially if you’re an MCU fan.
PSA: Don’t forget to wait for the mid-credits scene. There’s only one for Black Panther Wakanda Forever.

FINAL SCORE: 80/100
We attended a press screening of Black Panther Wakanda Forever courtesy of The Walt Disney Company Malaysia. Black Panther Wakanda Forever will premiere on 10 November 2022 in Malaysian cinemas.


Valorant Celebrates One-Year Anniversary With Live Stream, Tournament, & More

The 2nd of June marks the one-year anniversary of the launch of Valorant, arguably Riot Gamesâ€™ highly popular competitive 5v5 character-based tactical shooter. To celebrate this significant milestone, Riot Games Southeast Asia (SEA) is planning a series of exciting activities and exclusive content over the next few months for fans to enjoy.
To thank SEA players and fans in the region, Riot Games will host a number of exciting activities and influencer collaborations focused on giving back to the Southeast Asian community.Â Here’s what General Manager for Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, Riot Games Justin Hulog has to say:
â€œWhen we launched VALORANT last year, our goal was to bring our unique Riot brand to the FPS genre.
One year on, we are thrilled to see that the game is so well-received by our players around the world. In particular, we want to thank our amazing Southeast Asia player community for their amazing support and engagement over the past year.
We hope they will join us in our collectionÂ of online activities as we celebrate this milestone.
Weâ€™re incredibly excited about the future of VALORANT and look forward to bringing more innovative in-game and brand experiences to our Southeast Asian community.”
So what’s planned for Valorant’s first birthday? Here are the highlights:

SEA Birthday Rush Livestream: To celebrate Valorant’s one-year birthday in the region, Riot Games SEA has created an artisanal pandan-flavoured Spike cake, which will be featured in the Valorant Birthday Rush livestream on Wednesday, June 2nd at 8pm GMT+8. To see how this one-of-a-kind birthday cake was created, watch the behind the scenes video here:

English
Thai
Bahasa Indonesia

Players are invited to tune into the livestream and scan-to-win in an unforgettable and rewarding event. Valorant merch, exclusive swag and in-game rewards will be made available to participants throughout the livestream. Tune in to the livestream at these channels:

English: https://www.facebook.com/PlayVALORANT
Thai: https://www.facebook.com/ValorantTH
Bahasa Indonesia: https://www.facebook.com/ValorantID

Community Showcase – Bricx Martillo Dumas: Riot Games SEA has worked with Bricx, a visual artist based in Quezon City, Philippines to celebrate the Filipino Valorant community. Bricx, an avid Valorant player, has created a one-year anniversary illustration that can be viewed on the VALORANTValorant Facebook page. This illustration has been used to create an event exclusive mouse pad that players can stand a chance to win during the SEA Birthday Rush event.
Bricx also sat down with Riot to share his thoughts on the importance of family and community, as well as the role that Valorant has played in bringing people together. Watch Bricxâ€™ video here:

 English
Thai
Bahasa IndonesiaÂ

Featuring Local Creatorsâ€™ Favorite Agents: Riot Games SEA is working on a series of videos with popular local creators around the region to showcase their favorite agents. Creators from Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand will be posting videos about their favourite agents over the next few months. Keep an eye on the VALORANT Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand Facebook pages to catch the latest videos.Â
Twitch Rivals Community Tournament: Riot Games SEA will be partnering with Twitch and Taiwan Mobile to run a community tournament on June 11th with participation from Taiwanese partners and creators. Participants will be battling for a prize pool of US$15,000. Special prizes and in-game items will also be made available to players and fans through the event. Stay tuned on the VALORANT Taiwan Facebook page and Twitch Rivals page for more information about this tournament.Â

Looking Ahead: Player Engagement and Esports Events
There’s more to come when it comes to Valorant later this year and the next. Riot Games has announced that the SEA region can expect more esports-driven initiatives, moving forward.
The inaugural Valorant Champions Tour (VCT), a season-long tournament that runs competitions in various regions across the world, including Southeast Asia, is now well underway and will lead to the finals Champions event at the end of the year. Riot Games SEA is pleased that the region has its very own representative, Thai team X10, who has been competing at the VCT Masters 2 event in Iceland which will wrap up this week.Â
Riot Games SEA will also continue partnering with various tournament organisers across the region to rollout esports and collegiate tournaments where avid players and professional athletes can showcase their skills and strategy on local, regional and global stages, against some of the most prolific esports teams in the world. Simply put, Valorant fans in SEA are in for an esports/competitive treat for the next few months and years.


Sony PlayStation Teases PlayStation Experience SEA for 2018

Sony Interactive Entertainment Asia earlier today dropped a huge hint on Facebook about their upcoming plans for 2018; by again hosting the PlayStation Experience event in the SEA region just as they did the first time last year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Nothing else was revealed beyond this major announcement: no location, estimated time, and content announcement. Our educated guess? The event will take place around mid-August, around the same time as GamesCom.
Based on last year’s inaugural event, here’s our wishlist for a better and more enjoyable 2018’s PSX SEA event.
1. Don’t Do It In Malaysia
As much as we’d love to see the event organized in our backyard (we are based out of Kuala Lumpur, you know), we feel that PSX SEA should be an event which is shared across the region and isn’t solely focused on one static locale. Malaysians had their fill. Spread the love.
2. Extend It For An Entire Weekend
Last year’s event was limited to just one day which led to a massive pileup of attendees, as well as snaking lines which alerted the local authorities. Trust us, Sony; twice the time, double the crowd. Make the next one last two days over the course of a weekend.
This also means half the chance of seeing your fans walking back disappointed having missed out on Monster Hunter World’s stage presentation. (true story!)
3. Consider Charging An Entrance Fee
Now hear us out. We understand that such events are expensive to run. While our friends in Sony would love to keep the entrance free-of-charge for attendees, we are pretty sure that those in line would not mind paying a little extra if they get to see bigger exclusives and special gaming royalties, as well as engaging events throughout.
4. Create A Special Area for Merchandising
This would allow extra room for a bigger variety of stuff for sale, without taking up valuable show floor space. The show floor should be filled with folks trying out games or queuing for it, not for those who just want a t-shirt.
5. Expand The Show Floor
Perhaps SIE would consider doubling, tripling or even if they somehow decided to host the 2018 PSXSEA event in Jakarta, quadrupling the floor size to better accommodate the crowd. We love your games, but being packed by sardines ain’t the best way to spend our weekend.
That’s all we have for now but if you have anything to add to the suggestions, as usual, the comments section is right down below.


Happy Diwali 2022: Celebrating Indian Characters in Games

The Festival of Lights has arrived and we want to wish a happy Diwali/Deepavali to all our Indian readers. To commemorate the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance, let’s celebrate the various Indian characters and representations of Indian culture in video games.
Lakshmi Bai and Devi Nayar – The Order 1886
Although The Order 1886 may have been derided by critics and gamers alike, we personally adored the setting and concept crafted by developer Ready at Dawn. The game featured two female Indian supporting characters, one of which is based on a real historical figure.

The first isÂ Lakshmi Bai, the founder of the Rebellion against the United India Company in The Order 1886. According to history, Laskhmibai or the Rani of Jhansi was one of the leading figures in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and is now a symbol of Indian independence.

The second is Devi Nayar, a member of the Rebellion and daughter of Lakshmi Bai in The Order 1886. She was created solely for the game, and she has no real-life counterpart. Both women in the game are portrayed as strong and capable of holding their own against The Order 1886 protagonist Sir Galahad.
Chloe Frazer – Uncharted Franchise

Lara Croft who? Chloe Frazer is an Indian Australian treasure hunter. She was originally introduced in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and later appeared in Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. She finally became the star of her own game with 2017’s Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.
The architectural remnants of the Hoysala Empire.
In fact, it was in Uncharted: The Lost Legacy where her Indian heritage was highlighted, becoming integral to the game’s plot. In her quest to find the Tusk of Ganesh, she had to search and discover Belur, the lost capital city of the ancient Hoysala Empire. Historically, the Hoysala Empire existedÂ between the 10th and the 14th centuries, and it was known for the sheer beauty and intricacy of its architecture.
Jayadeep Mir – Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
Jayadeep Mir
Jayadeep Mir, also known by his alias Sir Henry Green or moniker ‘Ghost,’ was an Indian member of the British Brotherhood of Assassins in 2015’s Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. He was notable for becoming a mentor to the game’s twin protagonists Jacob and Evie Frye. Fans of the game will know that he later married Evie and went to live in India. As personalities go, he is stoic and responsible, shaping the Frye twins to be a bit less rambunctious and chaotic than usual.
Ajay Ghale – Far Cry 4
Ajay Ghale
The almost silent protagonist of Ubisoft’s Far Cry 4 is Ajay Ghale,Â a young Kyrati-American who returns to his native country of Kyrat with the intention of spreading his mother’s ashes there. However, he returns to his homeland only to find it engulfed in civil wars.
Although Kyrat is a fictional country, it is still clearly modelled from the real-life Kirati people who live in Nepal and India. However, the developer createdÂ a fictional mythology and religion to go with Kyrat, but it is still inspired by many aspects of Indian culture.
Symmetra – Overwatch
Symmetra
Symmetra counts herself as one of the twelve original playable characters in the Overwatch roster. Her background and lore grew as time progressed, and was later expanded further in a comic book titled ‘A Better World.’
Born asÂ Satya Vaswani, she was trained by the Vishkar Corporation to use their technology, allowing her to build physical constructs made of hard-light. Like a Green Lantern, if you will.
Dhalsim – Street Fighter

Dhalsim is arguably one of the most well-known Indian characters in all of gaming. He first appeared in 1991’s Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, and has been a mainstay of the fighting game franchise ever since. He is a yogi with a family, who goes against his beliefs by entering the World Warrior tournament to raise money for his village.
We remember being enamoured with Dhalsim due to his unique fighting style of being able to stretch his body parts to impossible lengths. That, and the ability to breathe fire makes him one of the most memorable Street Fighter characters. And also being the most annoying rushdown-esque character to deal with in Street Fighter V.
Darun Mister – Street Fighter EX, Fighting EX Layer

Indian Zangief, basically. Bodyguard to Arabian Cammy Pullum Purna. Has pretty neat grapples that unfortunately did not make the top 20.
Great Tiger – Punch-Out!!

This one is infamous for being somewhat of an Indian stereotype, what with his exhibiting mystical tendencies, the ability to use magic carpets and teleporting as well. Nevertheless, he’s a memorable Indian character (thanks to those aforementioned stereotypes), and was initially introduced all the way back in 1985’s Super Punch-Out!!
Wonder-Black – The Wonderful 101

The 11-year old Krishna Ramanujan is a tech expert who happens to masquerade as a Black sentai warrior alongside the Wonderful 101. His Unite Bomb power lets him use giant time bombs that slows down whatever is within its explosion radius. Too bad the game’s drawing system can’t differentiate between this powerup and the Unite Hand or Unite Hammer.
Rampart – Apex Legends

Ramya Parekh (or Rampart) made a name for herself in the underground gauntlet circuit, ending up being a popular mod shop owner on Gaea. She’s a recent addition to the Apex Legends roster; a defensive legend who can create protective barriers and throw out an emplaced minigun named Sheila as her Ultimate.
While her country of origin isn’t stated anywhere, she is clearly Indian based on her mannerisms and her VO done by Anjali Bhimani.
Amara – Borderlands 3

As if her name wasn’t a dead giveaway (it means “eternal” in Indian), everything about this cocksure and entertainingly arrogant Borderlands 3 Vault Hunter screams South Asian culture. When she activates her Siren “Phasearms”, they perform Mudras which is a renowned Hindu symbolic gesture. She is fond of the colour of gold, a symbol of the Hindu Goddess Lakshmi. In one side-mission, she responds with the phrase “nay bhae” which means “no brother” in the Bengali language. Oh, and she has multiple siblings.
She also punches things to death really good and makes it look light-tastic, as evident with this build below. For more awesome Amara builds, head here to the best Vault Hunter builds of 2020.

Farah – Prince of Persia: Sands of Time series

This young Indian princess has sass and can go toe-to-toe with the series’ main character The Prince. And she’s also a helluva shot with the bow & arrow.
Harbor – Valorant

The latest Hindi hero from Riot Games’ competitive shooter is the confident and suave Varun Batra, and he controls water really well. He makes walls, tidal waves, and shields to either manipulate opponents out of flanking, or protect his teammates with on-the-fly hydro-themed defenses. His trailer comes with a sick hip-hop beat with Indian flare too, just to remind you that Riot Games might tap the South Asia market en masse. His tailored look? It’s pretty much a wombo combo of famous South Asian bearded male stars like Ranveer Singh, Shah Rukh Khan, Ram Charan, and N.T. Rama Rao Jr.

Honourable Mentions

Age of Empires III Asian Dynasties Expansion – Allowed players to develop and build their own Indian empire.
Sid Meier’s Civilization Franchise – Build your own Indian civilization from scratch.
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles India – Takes place in 1841 India at the height of the war between the East India Company and the Sikh Empire, the game stars protagonist Arbaaz Mir.

So there you have it. These are just several of the Indian characters we know of in gaming culture & history. any characters. Do comment below and tell us about your favourite Indian characters in video games.


The SEA Games Esports Roster Full List Not Yet Finalised; Here’s Why

Just today, the Deputy Chef-de-Mission of the Malaysian contingent for the SEA Games 2019 paid a visit to the esports team who will be representing the country for the six esports medal events to be contested from 1 December to 6 December 2019 in Manila.
Throughout the visit the DCDM Nurul Huda Abdullah, a former competitive swimmer who has won many medals for Malaysia, was escorted by the Team Manager Firdaus “Master Ramen” Hashim, Head Coach Ahmad Syazwan Anuar, and Esports Malaysia Acting Secretary Mr. Nazri.
From left to right: DCDM Nurul Huda Abdullah, Head Coach Ahmad Syazwan Anuar, and Team Manager Firdaus “Master Ramen” Hashim.
Present at the visit were players who will be competing in DOTA 2, Arena of Valor, Hearthstone, and Tekken 7. The Starcraft II and Mobile Legends teams weren’t present because they were training in other locations. Master Ramen explained to the DCDM the gameplay of each game and shed light on how their training is being conducted. They’re running on a six training sessions per day schedule with each session being two hours long.
After the visit was concluded, many of us requested for a full name list of the Malaysian esports SEA Games roster but it turns out that it’s not yet finalised. Mr. Nazri, the ESM Acting Secretary said that they will officially announce the roster only after it has been approved by the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM).
The outlier here is that funding for one of the Tekken 7 players has not been approved, despite the player himself having already signed the contract to be on the national team and received an official letter to seal the deal. This is what’s happening to Abdul “Fate Q” Rahim. Weirdly enough, the other Tekken 7 player Zarif “Zaba” Aiman has been granted approval.
Tekken 7 player Abdul Rahim AKA Fate Q.
If all goes according to plan, Malaysia will be sending a total of 24 esports athletes to the SEA Games; 21 main players and 3 substitutes. If Fate Q doesn’t make it into the final cut, then we’re looking at only 23 players altogether.

We’re definitely hoping he gets approved because every other country is sending two players for Tekken 7. Having only one Malaysian player will put us at a significant disadvantage.

During the visit, Master Ramen also specified the team’s target for medals at the SEA Games. They’re aiming for two gold, one silver and three bronze medals. Team Malaysia is hoping to bring home the gold medals for the Blizzard double pack: DOTA 2 and Hearthstone.
The national Arena of Valor team training hard.
Let’s hope that the OCM gives the necessary approvals ASAP so that our esports athletes can continue training without feeling worried about their status of participation. ESM will be officially announcing the full roster once all approvals have been given.
Stay tuned on Kakuchopurei for more updates on the SEA Games 2019 Esports event.


Wolcen: Lords Of Mayhem’s Launch Is A Hot Mess

For all of Blizzard’s current faults with its PR mismanagement as of late, you cannot deny the fact that their past hits are polished as all-heck. Even with Diablo 3’s rocky start online, the game itself was laid out well and eventually received a ton of improvements a year later, and it’s still going strong.
Even if their game is considered done, all Blizzard games go through rigorous 2-year testing and “breaking” so that it comes out ripe and dandy. It’s been years since I’ve visited Blizzard’s campus-slash-offices in Irving, California, but if the working environment is still like it was, its games will still be out close to perfect, current remastered title excluded.
Because if their action RPG crown jewel were to not go through such extensive testing & reworking, we might end up with Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem.
Some Good News Before The Fire…

Full disclaimer: I’m actually having a ball of a time with the new action RPG for the PC. Now out of Early Access after so many years, developers Wolcen Studios are filling in that action RPG void for people who need something else other than Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls and Path of Exile. With its online/offline mode, its graphics and meaty hack-and-slash combat, and its super-customizable skill tree, Wolcen sound promising.
I’m only in it for 10 hours using two different builds (D3 Barbarian and Gun Mage), and it’s definitely capturing that atmosphere and old-school action beats from Blizzard’s past game.

Alas, reality hits the devs like a semi-truck as its launch week is disastrous, to say the least. Of the 19,827 reviews the game received on Steam, 9,782 of them are negative.

Let’s break down why Wolcen is such a hot topic in all the wrong ways right now:
Online Going Offline
First off, you can’t transfer offline characters to online servers and vice versa. While this is done for possible balancing issues, it can be annoying for people who played online. During Wolcen’s launch weekend, the servers went offline for a then-undetermined amount of time. So unless you like starting over your progress, you can’t do much and just wait it out.
Even when the servers were restored on 16th February, players still had connectivity issues which made group play incredibly unreliable.
You Can Brick Your Endgame

This recent Reddit thread states that there’s a game-breaking bug in the RPG’s city-building endgame. Once you beat the story, players embark on a long journey to rebuild a city, acquiring gold and resources to upgrade new facilities that unlock tougher game modes and upgrade your characters even further.
Sound great on paper, but there’s a problem: if you upgrade items using The Forge or access the Dark Market, you can trigger a bug that stops Wolcen from properly launching the next time you play.
There’s An Infinite Gold Glitch
Since the game’s launch, players have discovered ways to earn infinite gold and infinite stacks of items. And apparently they’re easily repeatable.

This basically breaks Wolcen’s multiplayer economy since players can trade these dupes away.
While its developers will use the banhammer against exploiters and cheaters, they seem to have a lot on their plate with the bugs and glitches.
You Can Make Absurd Skill Tree Builds
We have a Wolcen guide on how to make the best builds to start killing it at the game. But who knew that one of the more basic ones, the D3 Barbarian, can be the most damaging?
Part of the fun of an action RPG is to make the best skill tree build possible to suit your playstyle. However, a lot of players are not having fun because of how unbalanced everything feels. It’s the kind of OP where you can use a melee weapon-only skill midway in your Level 60 mage build, and that actually deals more damage!
Some Of These Skills Don’t Even Work As Intended
Speaking of passive skills in an action RPG, there are reportedly 24 or more abilities and passive skills that either do not work or dish out different effects as intended. Here’s part of it:

Primordial Insights (Cabalist) – not working.

Academic Fieldwork (Exorcist) – not working.

Captured Velocity (Timeweaver) – not working.

Blessed Silver (Exorcist) – not working.

Sparking Dart (Alastor) – not working.

High Evasion (Arms master) – not working.

Mass evasion (Arms master) – not working.

Faith Leech (Warlock) – sets force shield to zero when leeching on full force shield.

Elevated Gain (Siegbreaker) – doesn’t work if the helm and chest would end up giving the same bonus.

Bane of Tyranny (Siegebreaker) – seems to be giving way more damage than it should, also doesn’t work if you block without a shield.

Toxic Emanations (Plaguebringer) – the aura disables itself when entering events, and will stay off until you restart the game/rotate wheel of fate back and forth.

Apocalypse Form – removes all force shield when transforming back to human form.

And Also These Other Grievances

Here are choice quotes regarding Wolcen’s many bugs and bricking potential:
“Played into act 2 and had to restart, where it sent me back to the beginning of the game at level 25. Lost all my waypoints and quests. Wait until they fix this up and lots of people say it’s stable.” – top Steam review
“Something is very wrong with the stats in this game and I have now lost all patience trying to tinker with stuff that doesn’t work properly.” – Wolcen Reddit thread
“The game is in SHAMBLES. Even if you completely ignore server stability issues (which we shouldn’t), the game is so riddled with game-breaking bugs, it makes Fallout 76 look like Breath of the Wild.” – Wolcen Reddit thread
Add the fact that Wolcen cannot be patched more than once a week due to a need to “coordinate” with their networking partners to prevent further issues, and you can clearly see that this is anything but good news.
I’m one of the lucky ones who hasn’t come across any of these game-breakers just yet, fingers crossed. Though in my last Facebook Live gaming playthrough, I had some problems shooting down bats due to a cursor-registering issue.
I can definitely sympathize with everyone here as one action RPG fan to another; losing your 40+ hours of progress on a launch game is no laughing matter. So buyers beware: maybe wait for a couple more weeks until the proverbial fire is put out.


Star Wars Skeleton Crew Series Premieres In 2023, Unveils Director Lineup

During Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London, Lucasfilm revealed the directors’ lineup for the upcoming Star Wars Skeleton Crew series. It will premiere on Disney+ Hotstar sometime in 2023.
The directors include:

Jon Watts
David Lowery
The Daniels (Everything Everywhere All At Once)
Jake Schreier
Bryce Dallas Howard (The Mandalorian, The Book Of Boba Fett)
Lee Isaac Chung

The series is currently in post-production now.

Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Kyriana Kratter, and Robert Timothy Smith join Jude Law as the cast of #SkeletonCrew. Original series coming to @DisneyPlus in 2023. pic.twitter.com/X5lGI1sqa6
— Star Wars (@starwars) April 7, 2023


What Is Epic’s Next Free Game? We’ve Got The Answer

The Epic Games Store has been on a roll with its data-mining charitable endeavour via its free games. First, it was Grand Theft Auto V (which crashed the Epic Games servers), followed by Civilization 6. So what’s next?
According to a recent leak, we may be getting Borderlands: The Handsome Collection. This first-person shooter RPG bundle contains Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, as well as the DLC for both games.

The next game after that? It’s Ark: Survival Evolved, an action-adventure survival game featuring dinosaurs.

We’ll have to wait until 28th May to confirm if this line-up is correct. In the meantime, go download Civilization 6 right now. We heard Gandhi’s a douche in that game.


Next Gears Of War Will Run On Unreal Engine 5, But…

Current Gears of War franchise developers The Coalition has mentioned some recent updatesÂ on the game’s next instalment.
The next Gears of War game will be using Unreal Engine 5. Other than that, the developers will not be announcing any new projects or titles “for some time”, including a Gears 6.
“As we look to future games, weâ€™re excited to start shifting our resources to next-gen development using Unreal Engine 5.
Gears of War has always been at the front of Unreal Engine developmentâ€“as a breakout 720p title for Xbox 360 through last yearâ€™s 120FPS multiplayer update for Xbox Series X|Sâ€“and weâ€™re excited to continue that tradition by developing on UE5 for multiple new projects in the coming years.”
This can be considered breakthrough news as there are few games that will be using Unreal Engine 5. Other titles that will be using Epic Games’ latest game engine include Fortnite (via future update) and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II.
For the record, Gears 5 and Gears Tactics uses Unreal Engine 4.


Marvel’s Avengers Gets A Patch That Fixes Its Many, MANY Little Problems

I’m sure a good number of you are leveling up your Thors and Captain Americas in Marvel’s Avengers. However, there are a ton of glitches and bugs you have to put up with; a bit sad considering the game’s triple-A status.
No worries, because developer Crystal Dynamics have been working hard to iron out all these kinks via the newly-released Patch 1.3.0 update. It’s now live for the PC version and will go live soon for consoles. The patch makes exotic items more powerful, tweaks difficulty and enemy behaviour, and fixes a number of quality-of-life changes like a progress indicator when reviving downed players and a way to disable motion blur. Hopefully, you’ll get to see less of this when you’re playing the next time.

We do wonder why it’s for the PC first, since it’s clear that the PS4 version of the game is the superior version as it’s getting the extra Spider-Man character exclusively. Anyway, full patch notes below.
V1.3.0 Patch Notes
REASSEMBLE CAMPAIGN & AVENGERS INITIATIVE
Various Reassemble Campaign & Avengers Initiative fixes, including:

Fixed an issue where A-Day would not progress if the player started the campaign from the War Table after selecting Avengers Initiative first.
Fixed infinite loads when reloading the game during â€œThe Light that Failedâ€ and â€œTo Stand Aloneâ€.
Resolved bad save states for an infrequent bug where players are unable to progress with the campaign due to an infinite loading screen.
Fixed an issue where a strongbox in â€œHouse Callâ€ was sometimes not usable.
Fixed an occasional bug with the bridge in the mission â€œHouse Callâ€ that prevented progress. This should also fix bad save states.
Fixed an issue where Pause and Character menus were blocked during â€œTestingâ€¦ 1, 2, 3â€.
Fixed an issue where you would be teleported out of world when attacking the boss between fight phases in â€œTo Stand Aloneâ€.
Fixed an issue where steps 1 and 2 of the â€œA Global Offensiveâ€ mission chain were not tracking properly.
Fixed an issue where combat would not progress when defeating both Assault Adaptoids at the same time in â€œBy Force of Mindâ€.
Fixed a hole in geometry in â€œDogs of Warâ€.
Fixed an where players could fall out of bounds in â€œAlong came a Spiderâ€
Fixed an issue where players could get stuck inside geometry in â€œRocketâ€™s Red Glareâ€ after enabling the teleport to space.
Fixed an issue where sometimes an enemy could be stuck behind a closed door during â€œTask at Handâ€.
Fixed an issue in â€œBad Bloodâ€ where the Final cinematic would sometimes not play audio.
Fixed an issue preventing “Interrogation Anxiety” from being completed. This should also fix bad save states.

MULTIPLAYER & MATCHMAKING
Various fixes to multiplayer & matchmaking systems, including:

Reduction of cooldown after leaving a strike team before the user could matchmake again (from 30 second down to 4 seconds).
Matchmaking now stays enabled during mission launch countdown to give more time for players to join.
Fixed a bug where the “Searching for Heroes” UI would not always match the actual matchmaking status.
Fixed a bug where multiple host migrations would prevent the player from matching successfully again.
Fixed â€œQuick Match – Launch with any Heroâ€ failing when two Quick Match players joined another match simultaneously.
Fixed losing Quick Match status when a player failed to join another match.
Fixed a bug where leaving an existing Strike Team would prevent the next Quick Match attempt from working properly.

ART & ANIMATION
Various art, animation, and character fixes/polish, including:

A variety of minor graphical issue fixes including clipping and popping.
Fixed several areas where players could see out of world.
Fixed many minor graphical errors and transitions.
Fixed several ragdoll issues.
Fixed a visual issue where enemy shields would pop in.
Fixed Captain America character model bug in â€œFront Lineâ€ outfit.
Fixed an issue where Thor would appear in the â€œWar Cryâ€ outfit in the Main Menu before unlocking it.
Fixed an issue where Tony appeared in the incorrect Iron Man armor during the â€œAlone Against AIMâ€ cinematic.
Fixed Faction NPCs having no facial animation and freezing upon interact.
Fixed Sprint Heavy Attack sticking to ground during certain combat scenarios.
Fixed an issue with Black Widowâ€™s grapple that launched her off trajectory.
Fixed an issue where Iron Man would play the incorrect animation when doing laser Heavy Attack.
Fixed an issue with Monotronic Exo Takedowns in multiplayer where the animations would get out of sync.

USER INTERFACE
Various UI fixes & polish, including:

Fixed an issue that would cause damage numbers to appear on destroyed objects.
Fixed an issue with Faction prisoner rescue, in which cell destruction markers would sometimes show the wrong icon upon Reload Checkpoint.
Various Skill Menu videos updates for Hulk, Thor, and Iron Man.
Various localization and text fixes.
Approaching hackable terminals with a Hero that lacks that ability now displays a tutorial explaining why it cannot be accessed.
War Table icon now has different appearance when there is a new Mission available.
Reward icons for some Missions have been corrected to display the actual rewards.
â€œCancelâ€ label added to the push-pull piston UI when interact option is set to â€œtapâ€.
“Inhuman Sanctuary” mission chain thumbnail now better reflects being a Pym-centric activity.
â€œInhuman Sanctuary” mission chain notification no longer appears in campaign if it has already been shown in the Avengers Initiative.
Talisman Artifacts now display correct thumbnail images.
Faction Rank reward tutorial on helicarrier no longer displays before the Faction Vendor is available.
Vault sequence tutorials now allow players to access the Character Menu while active.
Based on player feedback, players can now see progress when being revived.
Based on player feedback, we have implemented a 0-10 Motion Blur slider. When set at 0, Motion Blur is completely disabled.
Fixed issues of objectives not displaying after player death.
Fixed an issue where UI elements would show up during the introduction of Dropzones.

COMBAT
Various combat fixes/tuning, including:

Fixed an issue where â€œControl Pointâ€ events would continue to spawn new enemies after completing the control requirement.
Fixed an issue in â€œDefendâ€ events where the battle would sometimes stall until Heroes got closer to defenders by increasing participation radius.
Improved an issue where sometimes the â€œSecure the Areaâ€ portion of some Sabotage encounters would not register completion due to enemies becoming inaccessible or hidden during battle.
Fixed an issue where at higher difficulties, enemies would hack rescue cells silently, causing mysteriously inconsistent activation times.
Fixed an issue in a small number of encounters where some stronger enemy types would spawn too many at once.
Fixed an issue which could prevent lock-on from working when the Warbot is downed.
Fixed some navigation issues that would allow flying enemies to go out of world.
Fixed an issue that would cause Dreadbots to become unable to move.
Fixed an issue that would allow the final stage of the Warbot to be skipped.
Fixed multiple issues where some attacks were not able to damage the Warbot when it is downed.
Fixed an issue causing some enemies to spawn without proper portal FX.
Fixed an issue where rarely a hero could still be controlled after being defeated by Adaptoids.
Fixed an issue that would cause Kamala to unintentionally throw grabbed enemies at her feet.
Fixed an issue which would cause Kamalaâ€™s arm to stay stuck in front of her when doing in-air attacks.
Fixed an issue where Widow’s Bite could get shot out of the air by enemies.
Fixed an issue where Widow could not move on stairs while aiming the High-Caliber pistol.
Fixed an issue where player would get stuck when triggering Hulkbuster near other interactable items.
Fixed an issue where certain Hulkbuster moves cause double vision on another player’s machine.
Fixed an issue where Hulk could become stuck interacting with the world while holding an enemy.
Fixed an issue when in high framerates, Hulkâ€™s Sprint Heavy Attack would fall short.
Fixed various issues with Captain America’s â€œMirror Shieldâ€ skill.
Fixed an issue where Captain Americaâ€™s shield could become stuck in Iron Manâ€™s Energy Barrier.
Fixed an issue where Iron Man could become stuck when evading while flying low to the ground.
Fixed an issue where Ironmanâ€™s Unibeam Heroic ability could be used infinitely during his combat on the Golden Gate Bridge.
Various Iron Man lock-on improvements.
Iron Manâ€™s â€œHyper Coilsâ€ skill now grants the intended 10 second duration increase.
Iron Manâ€™s Laser Specialization reduces the intrinsic cost of aimed ranged attacks.
Invulnerability frames when entering Hulkbuster have been extended.
Improved enemy spawn positions in 2 encounter locations.
Minor tweak to turret activation in â€œThe Inhuman Conditionâ€ AIM bunker.
Reduced difficulty for Embiggened Kamala to revive downed allies.
Reduced difficulty of â€œSecure the Assetâ€ in the â€œAlone Against AIMâ€ missions.
Reduced aggressiveness of turrets and enemy ranged attacks.
Adaptoid laser attack is easier to avoid.
Assault Adaptoid tuning, including:

Less aggressive in multiples.
Less aggressive when the fire shield is active.
Triggers a smaller hit reaction when Heroes are hit by the laser.
The laser attack is easier to avoid in combat situations.
Fireball visuals were updated to make them easier to see in combat.

GEAR, CHALLENGES, & REWARDS
Various Gear, Challenges, & Reward fixes/tuning including:

Fixed an issue where the Fabrication Machine would occasionally not reward an outfit (or units if a duplicate pattern).
Fixed an issue where resources in a playerâ€™s inventory â€“ including Units â€“ would disappear if they reached a total of 32,000. We have capped all Units and Resources at 65,000 for storage and ensured they will not disappear moving forward. If you lost a large number of Units due to this bug, please contact Square Customer Service.
Resolved bad save states and returned missing campaign outfits to users from a bug that was reverting them to a locked state.
Increased Gear power cap for Threat Sectors, Drop Zones, and Hives to 130 to align with their max mission power.
Exotics gear now have higher attribute points. Power Level 130+ Exotic gear now always has better attributes than other rarities.
Gear that was erroneously being awarded at Power 1 and Uncommon rarity has been fixed in all activities.
Activity-specific Gear earned in Elite Heroic Hives is now awarded at correct power and rarity.
Gear with hero-specific perks can now be awarded at Epic, Legendary, and Exotic rarities with the correct number of perks; previously Legendary gear items of this type had too many hero-specific perks and Epics were not awarded at all.
Faction XP is awarded to the entire strike team when rescuing Inhumans in War Zones.
Hulkâ€™s “Fractured” outfit now appears in the Appearance Menu when awarded through a Rare Pattern; will display item correctly in inventory of players who have already collected this outfit.
A Rare Pattern is now correctly awarded at the start of the â€˜More Assembly Requiredâ€™ mission.
Various Hero Challenges that were incorrectly tracking progress or not advancing under certain conditions have been fixed.
Based on your feedback, we are moving to a single global content refresh and challenge reset time and day. Starting with this V1.3.0 patch, challenges will reset every Thursday at 10:00 AM PT. As a token of our appreciation we will provide 22 challenge points per hero with the refresh to account for the shortened challenge period. These points will be available to claim until Thursday the 25th at 10:00 AM PT.

PLATFORM-SPECIFIC FIXES
Additional PlayStation Fixes:

Fixed bug where players would not join an existing lobby if ‘Quick Match – Launch with any Hero’ was selected while set to the same Hero as a player in the lobby
Optimized matchmaking filters to reduce matchmaking search times
Changed matchmaking algorithms to reduce server load and further improve matchmaking search times
Generally improved matchmaking invite functionality and bug fixes.

Additional Xbox Fixes:

Fixed bug where a lobby would become unjoinable if a host migration occurred during an active mission.
Fixed a bug where invites would not work if a player had the â€œShow as offlineâ€ privacy setting enabled.
Update from V1.2.5: We have confirmed that â€œNew Girl Makes Goodâ€ will retroactively grant on Xbox if you had earned it prior to Patch V1.2.5. â€œTentative Peaceâ€ will not retroactively grant. Both have been properly registering progress since V1.2.5.

Additional PC Fixes:

Various stability fixes based on collected crash reports.
Additional error messages for failure cases based on collected crash reports.
Various CPU performance improvements.
Reduce number of CPU cores used for Direct3D shader pipeline compilation.
Overall reduction to memory usage.
Added Backup Save menu in Settings -> Gameplay.
Fixed Kamala and Thor HARM tutorials when Defense Mode was set to Toggle.
A number of mouse/keyboard UI improvements.

Additional Stadia Fixes:

Added Backup Save menu in Settings -> Gameplay.
Added ability to erase all save-data in Settings -> Gameplay.
Improved performance for 30fps High-Resolution display mode.
Fixed Kamala and Thor HARM tutorials when Defense Mode was set to Toggle.
A number of mouse/keyboard UI improvements.

Known Issues & Workarounds
THE MISSION â€œINTERROGATION ANXIETYâ€ CANNOT BE COMPLETED

Presentation:Â Rarely this presents as an inability to continue in the mission Interrogation Anxiety due to not being able to interact with specific characters.
Status [9/18]:Â We identified and addressed one major scenario that should fix this bug and resolve bad save states, and we are still investigating other potential causes.

VARIOUS PS4 TROPHY BUGS

Presentation:Â Reported issues with an array of trophies, including:

Former Glory: Complete the â€œIconic Avengers” mission chain
Old Fashioned Beat Down: Complete HARM Challenges I to V
The Best Defense: Defeat any 20 different enemy types
Tentative Peace: Complete 15 Villain Sectors
Gold Star Success: Complete 100 assignments
Holding it Down: Complete 30 War Zones at Challenge III or higher rating

Status [9/18]:Â Fixed several known issues around PS4 Trophy bugs. We are actively investigating the remaining.

UNABLE TO ACCEPT DAILY FACTION MISSIONS/VILLAIN SECTORS

Presentation:Â Â Missions show up as already completed and do not refresh, which does not allow users to accept new ones in order to play them, causing them to miss out on rewards.
Status [9/18]:Â We are actively investigating

VARIOUS SKILL POINT BUGS

Presentation:Â This presents one of several ways, including:

Hulk having an extra skill point at 50
Kamala missing a skill point at 50
Thor missing a skill point at 50
Black Widow missing a skill point at 50

Status [9/18]:Â We are actively investigating.


Marvel’s Spider-Man Guide: How To Do Whatever A Spider Can

This feature is still under development.Â
Marvel’s Spider-Man game for the PS4 is out now and it’s a lovely superhero open-world cornucopia of awesomeness. In fact, Insomniac took a page from Rocksteady Games for their Batman games but do it in their own style and identity so that it is a completely different game.
With that said, this game can be a challenge especially if you put it in Spectacular difficulty. Here are some tips and tricks to keep you alive long enough to defend New York City.
Disclaimer: there are NO MAJOR STORY SPOILERS here. This is all gameplay-related.Â
Face buttons are listed as such: Square, Triangle, Circle, X. If you’re pressing any other face button, chances are someone tricked you into buying Spider-Man: Web of Shadows.

Tip #1: Stay in the air.
With the exception of the anti-air enemies like the Demon whip folks, you’re basically a powerhouse as long as you’re 70% airborne.
Tip #2: If you can’t, keep practising.
Spider-Man probably messed up his first few attempts at swinging and obeying the laws of physics and gravity the first time around: ask Tobey Mcguire Peter Parker from the first film. The tutorial will tell you what to do and gives you some breathing room to get you going, but there will be missions where you need to watch out for buildings, rocket fire, and all sorts of debris falling into your face.
You’ll need to make swinging second nature in this game. Learn to automatically press L2 and R2 at any time to do an instant perch land/point launch. Time your jumps right after you land on a perch. Quickly aim upwards and fire your web to stick to the ceiling quick. Practice getting some more airtime during combat by pressing L1+R1 on environmental objects. Keep practising these and your other Spider-moves so you can swing like you’re winning.
Tip #3: Spider-Man is NOT Batman.
Spider-Man is an acrobat through and through. He needs air time and his speed because he can die pretty fast via bullets and magic pretty quick unlike the Caped Crusader.
Tip #4: Learn to crowd control during combat.
You WILL be swarmed by enemies in the game, be it by the Kingpin’s goons or the Demons in suits and masks. Try out AoE combos likeWeb Bomb (your special web shot) and Rock Out (suit power from Spider-Punk; thanks Insomniac’s Bryan Intihar) to control the crowd pace. Ditto for Charged Jump (Webslinger skill) and Epicenter.
This is pretty useful for ground control so that you can focus on anti-air/aerial threats like the Silver Sable goons.
Tip #5: Upgrade your gadgets.
Once you unlock a web gadget, you can actually inspect it for more upgrades ranging from more web cartridges to more ability heft. Do this for your favourite web; we went for the Web Shooter, Electric Web, and Impact Web.
Tip #6: Switch between them when you can.
Time stops when you switch between web cartridges and gadgets. Also, time slows down when you’re aiming. Use this to your game-breaking advantage.
Tip #7: Take all the time you need doing side missions.
You may need to play a few more Main Story bits to unlock the ability to earn Research Points, but after that, you can just level up your Spider-Man, get all the suits you want, and just faff about beating up bad guys, chase pigeons for a homeless guy, and do the occasional Pipe Dream-esque puzzle or two. Heck if you do the Black Cat and Taskmaster missions, you may end up with some lovely easter egg and surprises!
Tip #8: Mix up your Skill Tree a bit.
We’ll explain more under the “Skill Tree” subhead, but this game favours the player who sticks to one skill tree type and then spend a few points on the other two. At least early on in the game; you’ll max out all of this stuff later.
Skill Tree -Tips & Full List

Just like every other action game, there are skill trees in Marvel’s Spider-Man. But since it’s ours, let’s pick the best skill tree for you to focus on in the early bits of the game: Webslinger.
Why? Because Marvel’s Spider-Man is built for you to be swinging and being in the air for extended amounts of time. Plus if you focus on aerial attacks and air combos, not much can truly impede you except for the flyers and anti-air whipping Demon folks.
Here are our picks:

Quick Zip, Move X,Move Y (Webslinger)– Any moves that let you chase enemies by air or keep you in the air for as long as possible is a must-buy in a Spider-Man game.
Air Marshal, Air Launch (Webslinger) – Take these skills so that they complement the above moves when you’re in a combat or wave-clearing stage.
Perfect Dodge, Dodge Window(Defender) – Put in some Skill Points into the other two Skill Trees so that you can at least defend yourself and open up some counter options. Doing a perfect dodge (and also expanding the counter window more) means that you can leave your assailant handicapped while you go for other dangerous targets.
Pistol Yank, Rifle Yank (Innovator) – Put some more Skill Points to yank guns and weapons from bad guys, because they can kill Spider-Men quick and easy from afar.
Payback (Defender) – Guns are dangerous, as we’ve stressed time and again. Any counter moves you can pull off to deal with gun threats immediately are welcome.

Innovator
Web Throw (1 SP)
Hold Triangle to grab and throw webbed and electrified enemies. They can be tossed into other enemies or walls.
Hazard Zone (1 SP)
Web Throw knocks enemies down during the wind up, clearing the immediate area.
Extended Perch Takedown
Increases Perch Takedown range.
Pistol and Baton Yank (1 SP)
Hold triangle to yank small arms like pistols and batons right out of enemy hands.
Spin Cycle (1 SP)
When throwing an enemy, rapidly press triangle during the throw to continue spinning enemies.
Scare Tactics (1 SP)
Stealth Takedowns generate much more Focus.
Rifle, Shield, and Launcher Yank (2 SP)
Hold triangle to yank heavy arms away from enemies
Wrecking Ball (1 SP)
Brute enemies can be grabbed and thrown when webbed, affecting enemies over a wide area.
Surprise Attack (2 SP)
Upgrades Web Strike Takedown move so that nearby enemies are knocked back.
Yank and Throw (2 SP)
Hold triangle to hurl yanked weapons back at enemies with concussive force.
Collateral Damage (2 SP)
Thrown objects damage all nearby enemies.
Rocket Return (2 SP)
Press L1+R1 to throw rockets back at enemies.
Defender
Perfect Dodge (1 SP)
Press Circle just as your Spider sense turns blue to counter enemies with a Web shot to the face.
Perfect Hit (1 SP)
Press Square just as an attack lands to generate bonus Focus.
Dodge Window (1 SP)
Increases timing window for Perfect Dodge and Web Shot Counter, making it easier to accomplish.
Throw (1 SP)
Press Square, then hold Triangle to grab and throw an enemy in any direction.
Combo Booster (1 SP)
Improves focus gained at higher combo counts.
Last Stand (2 SP)
Slows time just before you take a fatal hit, giving you one last chance to dodge. Can only be used once per combat encounter. Only buy this if you truly, TRULY suck at action games.
Ground Strike (2 SP)
After leaping off an enemy or from air combat press Square + X to smash the ground with explosive force.
Vengeance (1 SP)
When below half health, attacks generate Focus faster.
Payback (3 SP)
Press Triangle after Perfect Dodging rifle and pistol enemies for an instant takedown.
Epicenter (2 SP)
Ground Strike has a larger blast that can knock enemies down when used from higher elevations.
Chain Finisher (3 SP)
Immediately perform a second Finisher on basic enemies.
Web-Slinger
Swing Kick (1 SP)
Hold Square while in the air to Swing Kick enemies and send them flying.
Quick Zip (1 SP)
Web Zip a second time without losing altitude
Air Marshal (1 SP)
Air attacks deal additional damage and generate more Focus.
Air Tricks (1 SP)
Hold Triangle and Circle and press L in a direction to perform aerial tricks to earn extra Focus and XP
Point Launch Boost (1 SP)
Press X on contact with point to massively boost Point Launch distance.
Air Yank (2 SP)
Hold Triangle while in the air to yank enemies upwards and enable air combat moves.
Quick Recovery (1 SP)
Press X during a roll after landing to launch back into the air.
Bunker Buster (2 SP)
Swing Kick will now knock over shield enemies.
Charge Jump (2 SP)
Hold R2 + X while running or standing to build up charge, then release X for a huge leap.
Blast Off (3 SP)
Air Launch attacks knock back nearby enemies. Has a short recharge time between uses.
All The Marvel Universe Locations In Spider-Man’s New York City
https://www.facebook.com/kakuchopurei/videos/307317416719341/
How To Get That Stan Lee Cameo
Easy: just finish the story mission “Don’t Touch The Art”.


Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak Title Update 5 Launches This Week

Get ready for more Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak goodness coming your way.
The Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak expansion Title Update 5 will launch on 20th April; that’s later tomorrow. Here’s what you’re getting:
New Monsters
Amatsu: Elder dragons that can manipulate the weather and are able to conjure up unrelenting gales. Amatsu glide through the air on currents they create using their wing membrane, making it look as if they’re dancing in the sky. The storms they summon are extremely destructive and can lay entire cities to waste, thus they are known as the “Looming Calamity.” When enraged, their storms become even more violent, enveloping the area with unrelenting lightning strikes.
Risen Shagaru Magala: Risen Shagaru Magala are elder dragons that have found a way to overcome their affliction. By suppressing the Qurio virus, they have gained great strength and new abilities. They release larger quantities of the Frenzy virus, resulting in viral explosions with increased radius. Anything that gets in their way will fall prey to their powerful wingarms. When their anger reaches its peak, they’ll enter into their Risen state and their body will begin to glow.
Anomaly Research Quests
New monsters, including Risen Shagaru Magala! Anomaly Investigations now go up to Lv. 300!
Special Investigations
A new quest type for experienced hunters! Special Investigations should only be attempted by those who have true confidence in their strength. When a max level quest (300) is completed, the player who posted it is rewarded a Special Investigation (only once). These quests are extremely dangerous and difficult. Completing them will not yield any new quests or luxurious rewards, but you can earn a special Badge of Heroes if you complete a lot of these quests with different target monsters.
Paid DLC
A variety of content, including special stickers designed by Minoto! Here’s the list:

Monster Hunter Rise Downloadable Content Pack 10
“Special Stickers 14” Sticker Set
“Bahari Locks” Hairstyle
“Asymmetric Cut” Hairstyle
“Mechanical” Face Paint
“Risen” Face Paint
“Wild Head” Hunter Layered Armor Piece
“Wild Body” Hunter Layered Armor Piece
“Wild Arms” Hunter Layered Armor Piece
“Wild Waist” Hunter Layered Armor Piece
“Wild Legs” Hunter Layered Armor Piece
Hunter Voice: Oboro
Hunter Voice: Jae
“Stage and Title Music: Chill Version” Background Music
“Rondine” Hunter Layered Armor Set

Event Quests
More Event Quests are also on the way, offering various rewards including poses, the Bloodmalice Layered Armor, the Buff Body Layered Armor, and even Lagombi Ears. The new “Monster & Elgado Music: Chill Version” paid background music pack offers an assortment of laid back songs for hunters to relax and study the blade to. There are also other new paid DLC options for face paint, layered armor, hairstyles, and more! The voices of Sir Jae and Oboro the Merchant will be made available to hunters, alongside the hairstyle of the one and only genius scientist, Bahari.
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is out now for Nintendo Switch and PC. The expansion will be out for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, and PC via Microsoft Store on 28 April.


Hades Blood Price Update Adds New Enemies, Bosses, & Boons

Supergiant Games’ isometric roguelike action RPG Hades has a major update up and running.
It’s called the Blood Price update, and it adds a whole lotta new things like a new boss, new foes and minibosses, hidden forms of your current arsenal like your bow and shield, and also new boons to help you with your escape from Tartarus. Ferryman/merchant Charon himself also has new stock in his shops and Wells.
The game’s code base is also improved, meaning it won’t stutter as much. And there’s a ton more new voice lines to add more story to the game.

There’s a helluva lot, so even if you’ve completed Hades in its past Early Access state, you’ll find a lot that’s new here in your next playthrough. The best part? The game will be out of Early Access later this year via a v1.0 Launch update. Here’s what they’ll be prioritizing:

The game’s true ending.
Polishing and content completion.
Multiplatform development.
Localization.

If you need more convincing about Hades being one of our top titles of 2020, read our review. We praised it for its gameplay and narrative; there really isn’t much to criticize here save for keyboard and mouse controls.
Full details of the update are below. Or if you want to have it read by the game’s narrator, check the video below.

â€¢Â New Boss Fight: see if you can find this dangerous new encounter, and reap the rewards
â€¢Â New Legendary Aspects: discover the hidden forms of theÂ Bow,Â Shield, andÂ Rail
â€¢Â New Foes and Mini-bosses: face theÂ Wretched Sneak,Â Dracon,Â Doomstone, and more
â€¢Â New Boons & Upgrades: gain dozens of new powers, includingÂ Duo BoonsÂ for each Olympian pairing
â€¢Â New Goods in Stock: look for many new items fromÂ CharonÂ and theÂ House Contractor
â€¢Â New Art & Visual Effects: bask in the atmosphere, with newly added character models and animations
â€¢Â Expanded Story: experience new narrative events for nearly every single character in the game
â€¢Â Updated Code Base: our newly optimized game engine offers smoother performance for many players


New Dark Pictures Little Hope Trailer Teases Witches & Black Magic

Developer Supermassive Games have released a new trailer for The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope and revealed a little bit more about what to expect,
Supermassive Games CEO and The Dark Pictures Anthology executive producer Pete Samuels said:

â€œWeâ€™re really excited to talk more about Little Hope!
As the second chapter in The Dark Pictures Anthology, Little Hope is an all new and disturbing story for players to experience.
Whether they are playing alone or with friends we canâ€™t wait for players to get their hands on the Little Hope this summer.â€

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope features four college students and their professor, who find themselves trapped by a mysterious fog in the isolated eponym town.
The trailer teases a Salem Witch Trials-like historic past for the town, with black magic and evil forces at work. Players can take the role of each of the five protagonists of this brand-new cast, one of them being represented by Black Mirror: BandersnatchÂ andÂ The Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn TreaderÂ actorÂ Will Poulter.
Like the first game, Man of Medan, Little Hope is designed to be replayable with multiple storylines, paths and endings. The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man Of Medan originally came out in August 2019, which we found to be a flawed interactive adventure horror title (check out our review here).
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope willÂ officially launch for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC, sometime inÂ summer 2020.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pci-oZEaEWg&w=560&h=315]


South Korea Is Using Esports To Spread Hallyu

When did K-pop become so popular?
Well, we all just got hit by the Hallyu (directly translated as the Korean Wave), which is the increase in the worldwide popularity of South Korean culture and its dissemination into the global pop culture. While it started with Korean music, the Korean government is planning to make esports as the next big Hallyu content.
Organised by Koreaâ€™s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Culture, the 2020 CAST (Connect, Accompany to Make Synergy and Transformation) project will run from September 2020 to February 2021. Its objectives are to create synergy between contents of Hallyu and other industries by encouraging domestic business to utilize Hallyu contents and by supporting small and medium-sized enterprises so that the companies can successfully challenge overseas markets through Hallyu.
Last year, the Korean government has built three new esports stadiums and created a standard contract for esports players (via The Korea Herald). Various industries such as functional clothing, waist braces and functional glasses can also collaborate with esports contents. All of this will help propel esports in the eyes of the world, while also exporting Korean culture globally.
(Image Credits: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment)


Google Stadia Is Now Free, But There’s A Catch

Google Stadia may be dead in the water, but that’s not stopping Google from taking advantage of the fact that people are stuck at home and launching its Stadia game streaming service for free.
That’s right, Google Stadia is now free for anyone with a Gmail account, and you can even opt for an additional two months worth of Stadia Pro trial. After the two months end, Google Stadia Pro will still cost US$9.99 per month, offering better resolution at 4K. Only the basic Stadia will remain free.
This comes just two months after Google promised a free version was imminent, and it will mean anyone can get access to nine titles for free, including GRID, Destiny 2: The Collection, and Thumper. However, keep in mind that you still have to actually buy other games to play them on Stadia.
Don’t celebrate the rise of cloud gaming just yet, because there’s a catch. Only a laughable total of 14 countries will be able to access the free Google Stadia as of now. There’s no telling when or even if the service is coming to Malaysia or the rest of Southeast Asia.
However, to accommodate the ten new people subscribing to Google Stadia, the company is temporarily changing the default screen resolution of Stadia Pro from 4K to 1080p in order to reduce the bandwidth Internet load.
If youâ€™re lucky enough to be living in any of the countries listed below, you can now sign up for free over at the official website here.

United States
Canada
United Kingdom
Ireland
France
Germany
Italy
Spain
Netherlands
Belgium
Denmark
Sweden
Norway
Finland


Invincible Creator Robert Kirkman Is Getting Sued By The Comics’ Artist

Invincible creator Robert Kirkman is being sued by William Crabtree, who also co-created Invincible as he was the colorist for the first 50 issues. According to Crabtree, he was tricked into abandoning his copyright in Invincible and missed out on profits from the popular animated adaptation of the comic book series, which is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
According to the complaint written by Crabtree’s attorney Devin McRae (via The Hollywood Reporter), Crabtree says that he and Kirkman had an oral agreement that granted him 20 percent of single sale proceeds of Invincible and 10 percent of any revenue generated from â€œother film or television commercial exploitation of the Work together with any derivative projects based on the Work and any allied or ancillary rights in the Work.â€ However, he claims that Kirkman later made him sign a document that made him relinquish his rights.
The lawsuit reads:
â€œKirkman falsely told Crabtree that Crabtreeâ€™s rights and financial interest in the Work would remain unchanged if he signed the Certificate of Authorship and that the document would simply allow Kirkman to market the licensure of the Work more easily, resulting in greater profits for both of them.”
It remains to be seen if this is the reason why the animated series has yet to announce a release date for Season 2, and the lack of news surrounding the second season. In the meantime, check out my review of the series here.


Memories of Mars Is Fine, But Doesn’t Inspire Me To Return To Its Planet

I don’t usually play survival games.I’ve played and enjoyed shooters with survival elements, like Metro: Last Light and Stalker: Call of Pripyat. But if it’s a full-on survival game with resource-gathering, crafting, constantly-draining meters, and (shudders) other people, I tend to stay clear. It’s why I’m not writing this as a scored review.Â
Despite my aversion to survival games, the nine hours I’ve spent with Limbic Entertainment’s Memories of Mars haven’t been horrid. I’ve actually had a rather pleasant time with the game. Pleasant isn’t enough in this case though, which I’ll explain later.Martian StoryIn Memories of Mars, you’re a clone – male or female, depending on your choice – who’s woken up to find that things have, naturally, gone wrong. After an in-doors-set tutorial with a slight horror vibe, you spawn on the surface of the red planet.On the surface, the humans are dead and there are antagonistic, insectoid robots walking around in their outposts. Your goal is to find out what the heck happened and escape the planet by following the game’s instructions.The premise is fine, but I’m not really interested in the story itself, which talks about stuff like corporations and cloning through logs that you compile. It doesn’t help that the last log I found is written in Mandarin, which I can’t read.The game has its share of environmental storytelling. You’ll see dead bodies, crashed rovers, other wreckages, and still-active screens that display news headlines. When it comes to the main revelations, however, Memories of Mars relies on plain text logs, which just aren’t as stimulating.I like that the story is there to give me direction, at least. While it was fun wandering the map randomly in my first session, I decided that it’d be easier and more interesting in the long run to progress through the game’s skill trees while following the game’s objectives.The overall objective is to get off Mars, but there are many smaller goals, like “explore this outpost” or “build a base”, that guide you to the eventual end game. These also take you through the building and crafting elements of the game bit by bit. You could discover things at your own pace, but I’ve found that I had to recraft certain items occasionally upon returning to the story, because the game doesn’t always recognize that you’ve already accomplished something before it instructed you to.Gotta SurviveCrafting and gathering are simple. You can pick up stuff by pressing F, but most resources are mined with an excavator tool, which you can later replace with the superior blowtorch (which I don’t have the resources for yet). Resources range include aluminium and copper, and there are also plants you can harvest, though they haven’t come into play for me yet.The main resource is iron ore, which you’ll obtain primarily from stones you pick up and larger rocks you need to mine. Mining these rocks with the excavator is surprisingly compelling.The way the rocks grow with a faint blue tinge, and the way your excavator leaves audible, crisp-looking cracks on them, make it tempting to mine every minable rock I see.Â Using your portable 3D printer, which lets you craft basic stuff, you can turn those iron ores into iron bars. These are your main resource for construction, which you carry out by selecting the object you want, placing the hologram, and building it with a welder.Basic things like walls and platforms only need iron bars, but you’ll soon find yourself needing aluminium and more for the more advanced add-ons and base components, like a 3D printer for more advanced crafting and an Administration Terminal.Administration Terminals are meant to protect your bases from being dismantled by other players. The more currency (called Flops) you dump into it, the longer it remains immune. Interacting with a base, like by engaging with the terminal, resets the timer, so taking a long break from the game might endanger what you’ve built.The terminals don’t make your bases completely invulnerable though. One of the trailers on the Steam page shows how you can use explosives to mess with other players’ hard work. However, things are rather peaceful on the server I joined.Part of that is because PvP seems to have taken a backseat to PvE in Memory of Mars‘ finalized release, based on some discussion threads I’ve seen. I’m not even sure if you can still blow up other players’ buildings. According to the developer, the official servers are PvE with occasional PvP events and one permanent PvP zone geared towards high-level players. Private servers allow you to go full PvE, rather than the other way round.I like not having to worry about player attacks all the time, but I do wish the PvE side had a bit more tension. Initially, robots pose a real threat. At one point, I died to one and had to trek from my initial spawn area all the way to the point of my demise to reclaim my inventory.Â You can later build cloning chambers that, when activated (you can only have one active at a time), serve as spawn points. My complaint about the lack of tension doesn’t stem from that though, but from how enemies’ damage output seems to drop off drastically once you’ve put on a chest plate.In contrast, mine shot up after crafting a low-level assault rifle, although I haven’t tested them against the robotic worms that inhabit parts of the map.Â Helping with your survivability is the robots’ seeming inability to pick up sound. While I’ve had to fend off multiple robots at the same time, your gunfire alone won’t draw the attention of every bot in the vicinity.That doesn’t mean that the slightly stiff combat become entirely effortless, especially against the smaller, agile robots that scurry onto walls and ceilings. But where I once fled from certain robots, especially the ones that come up to you, arms that end with razor-sharp blades outstretched as if they want to hug you to death, I feel less compelled to flee during a fight now. That might change once I meet higher-level enemies, but my combat encounters have been safe affairs for the last few hours.Â Instead, I find myself more concerned about my oxygen and nutrition levels. I haven’t actually died because my bars dropped to zero yet, but I frequently mark the oxygen stations that are scattered across the map and make sure to craft dry rations for nutrition. I was quite sure that I’d die from hunger eventually, but I’ve somehow always had enough dry rations to keep me going while never experiencing an oversupply of them.You can level up your character using skill points so that they consume oxygen and nutrition at a slower pace. But like all of the game’s percentage-based upgrades, which are bought with Flops, these come in 5% increments, which isn’t very compelling.I don’t feel tempted to rush for the higher-level or even mid-tier item unlocks either, since I’m unlikely to have the resources needed to craft them. It’s for that reason that I chose to follow the story than chart my own path, as it’s easier to be introduced to new resources this way than to rely on guesswork.Â Life on MarsI’m not sure how many players have done the opposite and decided to ignore the story in favour of doing their own thing, but I’ve definitely seen player constructs with more ambition and creativity than mine. While my bases are small, basic, and merely functional, I’ve come across imposing fortresses and impressive ramps that connect to otherwise inaccessible cliffs.In my last session, I logged into the game to find that a bunch of buildings, including a base-like structure, had suddenly popped up all over a previously empty stretch of land, like a small town had been built overnight. Memories of Mars is no Minecraft, but seeing other players’ creations is still a joy, and building my own is – even with my lack of ambition – satisfying. If you want to build together with other players, you can join an Alliance.Â Surprisingly, Mars itself isn’t a boring place either. Even when I first spawned in a desert, I felt inspired to dash across the plains instead of griping about sand like Anakin. There are outposts and other structures dotted around that both add visual variety and serve the story, and there are of course the player structures.The day-night cycle helps too. At dusk, Mars truly becomes a red planet. Night is mostly defined by darkness, but they make the mysterious lights in the sky more attractive and mysterious, and there was also the time when the horizon before me was suddenly illuminated by a meteor strike.Â The only thing that sours exploration slightly is the occasional tendency to get stuck, but the game has a dedicated unstuck button for such occasions. If that still fails, leaving and logging back in has done the trick for me so far.Â My main problem with Memories of Mars is that while I enjoy my stay on the red planet, I don’t really feel the urge to log back in after I leave. It’s a game that’s mainly okay, and it doesn’t have much of a special charm.If I didn’t have to write about it, I’d easily boot up Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary or a visual novel and never look back at Memories of Mars.The player base is small too; on 32 player servers, I’ve yet to see more than 15 online at a time. Many servers are empty or near-empty.It hasn’t affected my experience since the game works fine as a solitary adventure, but that begs the question of why it’s multiplayer-only (unless you create a private server) in the first place. The only answer I can think of is that without player structures popping up around the place, the sights on Mars would wear thin quickly.Â Again, I enjoyed my time with Memories of Mars, and it’s not a bad game. It’s just that once I get back to my usual gaming diet, my Memories of Mars will likely become just a passing dream.


New Terminator Dark Fate Trailer Heralds A New Judgment Day

Paramount Pictures has released a new trailer for its upcoming Terminator: Dark Fate movie, which will act as a direct sequel to 1997’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It will ignore the events of Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines, Terminator: Salvation, and Terminator: Genisys.
From the looks of the trailer, it seems like the actions of Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor in the second movie (destroying Cyberdyne) may have prevented the initial Judgment Day from happening, but has somehow caused a new incoming “dark fate”.
That is the warning issued by Mackenzie Davis’ Grace, who is a cybernetically-enhanced human from the future, and not a Terminator like we previously thought. She says to Sarah Connor:

â€œYou may have changed the future, but you didnâ€™t change our fate.â€

According to James Cameron, Terminator Dark Fate is meant to be the beginning of a new saga and not a definitive ending for the franchise. That could either be a good thing (if the movie turns out to be great) or a bad thing (if the opposite happens).

Terminator Dark Fate also stars Arnold Schwarzenegger who reprises his role as an old T-800 Terminator, while Natalia Reyes will be playing the role of the person everyone is trying to protect from the killer robot AKA the new antagonist Terminator portrayed by Gabriel Luna (of Agents of SHIELDâ€˜s Ghost Rider fame).
Terminator Dark Fate will be released in cinemas on 1 November 2019. In the meantime, check out the trailer below.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxy8udgWRmo&w=560&h=315]