World of Tanks Update 1.0 Alters the Battlefield Altogether Pt.1

The latest World of Tanks update for PC will not only ensure the massively popular free-to-play game remain at the edge of PC gaming technology in years to come – a brilliant news for those who always keep their machines up-to-date – it also ensures that even those with potato-level rigs aren’t left behind in terms of a brand new experience (yay me!).
Leaving no stones unturned, latest update not only bring unprecedented, bonkers-level realism to a game that’s already well known for its realistic depiction of war machines duking it out o massive arenas, it dropped in 29 reworked maps, a brand new soundtrack and the introduction of a new map, Glacier. Even paid games don’t give their paying customers this much extra goodies.
â€œUpdate 1.0 improves the baseline technology for the game, introducing the in-house developed Wargaming Core graphics engine,â€ said Milos Jerabek, Development Director for World of Tanks PC. â€œThanks to it, weâ€™re now capable of elevating the entire game and can ensure World of Tanks is a fun and immersive experience for years to come.â€

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In an interview with IGN, Regional Publishing Director for Wargaming APAC,Â Alexander de Giorgio commented on the eight-year gap between the game’s first release and its 1.0 update â€œWe see World of Tanks as a living thing,â€
â€œIt’s been going now as a service to players for eight years, and that means a constant stream of updates, of new content, of new game modes, and sometimes things that didn’t work, which we had to roll back. This is a constant experience of running a game like this, and so in that kind of mindset, eight years is like nothing. It just kind of comes along, it just happened.â€ he added.
We can only hope that other developers and publishers to take a leaf out of his book when it comes to servicing their loyal player base.
The update is now live for everyone on the PC so we’d highly recommend you to try it out. As a bonus, to celebrate the launch of Update 1.0, World of Tanks has announced the Grand Extravaganza – a two-week long marathon full of battling and rewards. Starting March 29 until April 13, players will get chances to earn multiple in-game bonuses, as well as prizes from Intel. Not sure it’s your cup of tea? Hey it’s free anyway.
You can download the game here.

Stay tuned for Part 2 where we discuss further with de Giorgio about what separates his game from other multiplayer games, their aspirations for the future and what is in store for players in the Asian region.


Sifu Gets A Full Roadmap For 2022 Featuring Modifiers, Costumes, And Arena Mode

If you thought you were done with Sloclap’s awesome beat-em-up Sifu, you’re dead wrong.
The developer has announced a roadmap full of free updates planned for the kung fu game starting with Spring 2022, specifically on 3 May when the physical version releases. Here’s the breakdown:
Spring 2022

Difficulty Options (Student, Disciple, Master)
Advanced Training
Outfit Selection including Young Man Suit

Summer 2022

Advanced Scoring
Gameplay Modifiers(No Pendant, One Health Point, No Guard, Stronger Enemies, Golden Staff, All Skills unlocked, Bullet Time)
New Outfits

Fall 2022

Replay Editor
New Modifiers
New Outfits

Winter 2022

New Game Mode: Arenas (boss gauntlet type stuff)
New Modifiers
New Outfits

I for one am looking forward to the new gameplay modifiers, costumes, and new game modes. To celebrate, here’s me splicing Sifu with God Hand music.


The Top Non-Sequel Picks For Spring 2020

The Winter anime season is nearly over, and it brought us a breath of fresh air with a decent number of good anime. But if you were impressed then, Spring will surely exceed your expectations as it looks to be a stacked season!
For fans of these ongoing series, there will be a plethora of great sequels returning, including Kaguya-sama Season 2, Sword Art Online Alicization â€“ War of the Underworld Part 2 and Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2 to name a few.
But sequels aside, itâ€™s going to be tough for any new show to take off with Springâ€™s roster of new anime. Thatâ€™s why weâ€™ll make your job a little easier with our top anime picks of the season (in no particular order)!
BNA

An original anime by Studio Trigger, BNA is set in the 21st century but with a twistâ€“the existence of humanoid animals has been revealed to the world after living in the darkness for centuries. One day, a high school student named Michiru suddenly turns into a tanuki person. After going to live in Anima City, where she meets a wolf named Ogami Shiro, she goes on to investigate how she became an animal and gets mixed up in even stranger events in the process. (Source: Tokyo Otaku Mode)
After some success with Beastars, we will have another furry anime series, and this time, an original anime by the famous Studio Trigger. Being an original anime, we hope that it will be a good show with a good ending.
Unlike some of their previous works, this show seems to be promising as their character designs, especially in the form of animals, are pretty neat. Definitely a show to watch out for!
Gleipnir

Kagaya Shuuichi is an ordinary high school kid in a boring little town. But when a beautiful classmate is caught in a warehouse fire, he discovers a mysterious power: he can transform into a furry dog with an oversize revolver and a zipper down his back. He saves the girlâ€™s life, sharing his secret with her. But sheâ€™s searching for the sister who killed her family, and she doesnâ€™t care how degrading it gets: she will use Shuuichi to accomplish her mission. (Source: Kodansha Comics)
This manga has actually been quite a hit for a while and we have high hopes for the anime adaptation to do it justice. Kagaya has to fight off the negative perception of being a furry while fighting to defend the girl. The story has some interesting plot twists and PINE JAM studio seems to be doing a good job in animating the show. Weâ€™re definitely looking forward to this one.
Appare-Ranman!

Towards the end of the 19th century, the genius but socially awkward engineer, Sorano Appare, and the wise yet cowardly samurai, Isshiki Kosame, find themselves drifting in the sea between Japan and America. With no money, the duo decide to enter the Trans-America Wild Race to win the prize money, so they can get home. The two encounter rivals, bandits, and challenges in the wilderness, racing through America, from the starting line in Los Angeles to the finish line in New York, in the steam-powered car they built. (Source: MAL News)
Itâ€™s another interesting original story by P.A. Works. With previous works which ended in a let-down, we hope this anime can shine through and break the streak. A wild American race is an unusual anime setting, but this show seems to possess many elements of a great show. Will this show be another miss for P.A. Works? Or will it be an exhilarating race with subterfuge and charm? Letâ€™s find out when it airs in April!
There you have it! Our top non-sequel picks for the Spring 2020 season. What are you personally looking forward to? Do let us know in the comments below. Weâ€™ll check out your favourites as well!
*This article is originally on The Magic Rain. Head here for the full feature.


Marvel’s Version Of Hearthstone Is Now Open For Pre-Registration

Marvel Duel, Marvelâ€™s new strategy card game,Â officially launched its pre-registration today for Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Pre-registration is now available here. Head on over to the Google Play Store here and Apple App Store here to pre-register.
Developed by NetEase Games, Marvel Duel features over 150 characters from the vast Marvel universe now gather, including Thor, Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, and Star-Lord, each with their own unique skills.
In addition,Â Marvel DuelÂ features a free deck-building system filled with unique charactersÂ from 80 years of comics. Players can even apply different Iron Man suits to deal with different situations, use a chain of trap cards to lure enemies to their doom, or even cast powerful abilities.
It also features exciting 3D multiplayer combat and stunning in-game visuals, as well as a series of easy and fun tutorials to help players learn underlying mechanics from deck building to card introduction.


The Most Ambitious Crossover Event Is Coming in 2019 and It’s Not Avengers Endgame

The CW network’s Arrowverse (currently consisting of Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl) has just concluded its latest annual crossover event, Elseworlds. After three episodes of multiversal and reality-altering craziness, it ended today by teasing and confirming the title for next year’s crossover:
Crisis on Infinite Earths.
It can’t get any bigger than this. folks. Literally.
You read that right, true believers. The original and first ever comic book crossover in history will finally be making its live-action debut. Who would have thought that we would ever reach this point? I certainly didn’t, especially when I referred to Avengers Infinity War earlier this year as the “Crisis on Infinite Earths of comic book adaptations.” Now we’re getting an actual adaptation and that’s why Avengers Endgame is no longer the most ambitious crossover event in 2019.
Realistically, I wouldn’t expect the Arrowverse’s version of Crisis on Infinite Earths to be completely faithful to the source material. I can’t expect a TV production to offer the multiversal chaos and epic scope of the comic book, especially on its extremely smaller budget compared to the hundreds of millions afforded by movie productions.

Even if we receive a toned down version of Crisis on Infinite Earths (which, of course, it will be, no doubt about that), the fact that people are ready for a live-action adaptation of this magnitude is astounding. I remember reading the comic book years ago when I was a teenager, and it blew my mind. I can’t imagine how industry-changing it was when it was initially published back in 1985.
Let’s check out that Crisis on Infinite Earths Arrowverse crossover trailer, shall we?

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd2NtFTgAAU&w=560&h=315]
The short teaser begins with Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) and Barry Allen (The Flash) grabbing some beer to unwind in the aftermath of Elseworlds. After just a sip or two, Oliver suddenly receives an unexpected phone call from Kate Kane AKA Batwoman.

Batwoman called Oliver to warn him about the fact that Elseworlds antagonist Dr. John Deegan AKA Doctor Destiny has befriended none other than the Roger Hayden AKA the Psycho-Pirate. Now, non-comic book fans wouldn’t know this but Psycho-Pirate was one of the most important players during Crisis on Infinite Earths.

In the comics, he was forced to work for the Anti-Monitor, the big bad of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Psycho-Pirate had to use his emotion-manipulating abilities to control a captive Barry Allen and provoke the other heroes into attacking each other.

In the Crisis on Infinite Earths Arrowverse crossover trailer, the Psycho-Pirate’s “Worlds will live, Worlds will die” speech is a homage to the iconic words spoken by the same character at the end of the original comic book crossover, albeit in different circumstances.
Take a look at the comic book panel below and compare it to the trailer.


The Batman Will Be The Dark Knight’s Longest Movie Yet

Do you think the Christopher Nolan Batman films were long? Matt Reeves’ upcoming The Batman official runtime will be almost three hours long, at two hours and 55 minutes long (including eight minutes of credits).
That’s what insiders at Warner Bros. revealed to The Hollywood Reporter, which would make The Batman the longest Batman movie of all time. Not only that, it will also be one of the longest comic book movies to be released theatrically (at the cinemas), though Avengers Endgame has it beat at three hours and one minute.
We’ll have to wait and see if the movie is worth sitting almost three hours long. Make sure you go to the bathroom before watching it though. The BatmanÂ will premiere on 4 March 2022.
The synopsis forÂ The BatmanÂ reads:
Two years of stalking the streets as the Batman (Robert Pattinson), striking fear into the hearts of criminals, has led Bruce Wayne deep into the shadows of Gotham City. With only a few trusted allies â€” Alfred Pennyworth (Andy Serkis), Lt. James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) â€” amongst the cityâ€™s corrupt network of officials and high-profile figures, the lone vigilante has established himself as the sole embodiment of vengeance amongst his fellow citizens.
When a killer targets Gothamâ€™s elite with a series of sadistic machinations, a trail of cryptic clues sends the Worldâ€™s Greatest Detective on an investigation into the underworld, where he encounters such characters as Selina Kyle/aka Catwoman (ZoÃ« Kravitz), Oswald Cobblepot/aka the Penguin (Colin Farrell), Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), and Edward Nashton/aka the Riddler (Paul Dano). As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetratorâ€™s plans becomes clear, Batman must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit, and bring justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued Gotham City.
Check out the most recent The Batman trailer below (and check out my breakdown of it by heading over here):


Obi-Wan Kenobi Finale Episode 6 Breakdown & Easter Eggs

The sixth and final episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia. l’ll be discussing heavy spoilers so if you haven’t seen it or want to avoid spoilers, now’s your chance to stop reading.
The limited six-episode series follows the titular Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi in exile, set 10 years after the events of Star Wars Episode III Revenge Of The Sith. It is executive-produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Michelle Rejwan, Deborah Chow, McGregor and series writer Joby Harold. Deborah Chow is the showrunner and she directed all six episodes.
Courtesy of Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia, we were given the opportunity to interview none other than the former Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and current Dark Lord Of The Sith Darth Vader; Hayden Christensen himself.
Check out my breakdown of Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 1 and 2, Episode 3, Episode 4 and Episode 5 here.
You can check out my previous breakdowns of The Book Of Boba Fett Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6 and Episode 7 here.
Check out my breakdown of Moon Knight Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5 and Episode 6 here.
You can check out my previous breakdowns of Hawkeye Episodes 1 and 2 here, Episode 3 here, Episode 4 here and Episode 5. and Episode 6 here.
In addition, you can check out my previous breakdowns of Marvel’s What If? Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8 and Episode 9 here.
If you haven’t, you can check out my previous breakdowns and easter egg articles for WandaVision Episode 1 and 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8 and Episode 9.
For The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, you can check out my previous breakdowns for Episode 1, Episode 2 and Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5 and Episode 6.
For previous breakdowns of Loki episodes, check out Episode 1 here, Episode 2 here, Episode 3 here, Episode 4 here, Episode 5 here and Episode 6 here.

Luke Skywalker

Grant Feely’s Luke Skywalker finally speaks for the first time.
Obi-Wan Gives Tala’s Holster To Leia

For some reason, Obi-Wan gives Tala’s holster to Leia. Indira Varma’s Tala sacrificed herself to allow Obi-Wan and Leia to escape in Episode 5.

Obi-Wan Vs Darth Vader Rematch

This marks the third duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi after their first duel in Star Wars Episode III Revenge Of The Sith and their second duel in Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 3.
This time around, Obi-Wan overpowers Darth Vader after finding hope and strength in the two Skywalker children, pelting the Sith Lord with a barrage of rocks.
Darth Vader Scar origins

Darth Vader’s helmet even gets slashed and damaged by Obi-Wan.
Something similar happened in Star Wars Rebels Season 2 Episode 21/21 ‘Twilight Of The Apprentice’ when Ahsoka Tano fought Darth Vader.

When Darth Vader opens his mask at the end of Star Wars Episode VI Return Of The Jedi, we can see a scar on his head. Now we know that he got that from Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan Leaves Darth Vader Behind But Doesn’t Kill Him

Obi-Wan apologizes to Darth Vader.
He then leaves Darth Vader after the Sith Lord proclaimed that Anakin Skywalker is dead, saying:
“Then, my friend is truly dead.
Goodbye, Darth,”

Reva Almost Kills Luke Skywalker But Doesn’t

Reva doesn’t kill Luke Skywalker because she can’t bring herself to do it. However, Reva isn’t mentioned after that. Maybe we’ll meet her in 2023’s Star Wars Jedi Survivor? Who knows?
It’s Sir Ian McDiarmid As Emperor Palpatine

Sir Ian McDiarmid reprises his role as Emperor Palpatine AKA Darth Sidious.

Leia cOMICS lOOK

Her costume is reminscent of the one from the recent canon Marvel comics.

Obi-Wan Finally Wears The Same Clothes Seen In A New Hope

Obi-Wan Kenobi is finally wearing what we’ll see him wearing (by the late Sir Alec Guinness) in Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope.

The goggles are from his costume in the comics.

Hello There

We’ve been waiting for six episodes but he finally said his iconic “Hello there.” line and how apt is it that he says it when meeting Luke Skywalker for the first time.
He first says the line in Star Wars Episode III Revenge Of The Sith when meeting General Grievous.

Obi-Wan Meets Force Ghost Qui-Gon Jinn

For the entire season, Obi-Wan has been calling out for his deceased master, Qui-Gon Jinn, and he finally appears as a Force Ghost. However, Liam Neeson’s name doesn’t appear in the credits, so they might have relied on digital audio wizardry, FX and CGI to recreate the the character.
That’s all, folks. Six episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi and so far, this is the only confirmed season. Until next time, excelsior!


Star Wars Visions Anime Anthology Drops On Disney+ Hotstar This September

Originally announced last year, the Star Wars Visions anime anthology series will finally premiere on Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia on 22 September 2021.
Seven Japanese anime studios bring their unique talent and perspective to Star Wars Visions, which will be a collection of animated Original Short Films.
The anime studios revealed were Kamikaze Douga, Geno Studio (Twin Engine), Studio Colorido (Twin Engine), Trigger, Kinema Citrus, Science Saru, and Production IG.

Each studio will use its signature animation and storytelling styles to realize its own visions of the galaxy far, far away.
Lucasfilmâ€™s Jacqui Lopez (Executive Producer), James Waugh (Executive Producer), Josh Rimes (Executive Producer), and Qubic Picturesâ€™ Justin Leach (Co-Executive Producer) and Kanako Shirasaki (Producer) were on hand at the event to reveal each studio and give fans a special look at the environment and concept art as they debuted the title and first details of each short.
Check them out below:

Kamikaze Douga – The Duel
Geno Studio (Twin Engine) – Lop and OchÅ
Studio Colorido (Twin Engine) – Tatooine Rhapsody
Trigger – The Twins
Trigger – The Elder
Kinema Citrus – The Village Bride
Science Saru – Akakiri
Science Saru – T0-B1
Production IG – The Ninth Jedi

The Duel is by Kamikaze Douga, best known for Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure anime. This will be mostly in black and white, as well as feature Samurai-esque Jedi and Sith, an astromech droid with a straw hat, and more that embraces Japanese culture. The short features new characters designed by Takashi Okazaki, who previously worked on Afro Samurai and Summer Wars.
Golden Kamuy‘s Geno Studio is behind Lop and OchÅ, which will focus on the collision between natural beauty and encroaching industrialization. It will also feature a space bunny-person named Lop.
Tattoine Rhapsody is by Studio Colorido, which will feature a more Chibi art style and a rock opera tone. It will focus on a band with a dream to make it big. who will encounter classic characters such as Boba Fett and Jabba The Hutt.
Two shorts will be created by Studio Trigger. The shorts are called The Elder and The Twins. They will be directed by Gurren Lagann‘s Hiroyuki Imaishi.
Kinema Citrus is behind The Village’s Bride, which is about a Jedi who observes a local tradition in a far-off village through the eyes of a bride on the eve of her wedding day, and an unexpected choice she must make to save her people.
The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl‘s Science Saru is producing a short called Akakiri, which tells the story of a Jedi who meets a princess. The short is directed by animator Eunyoung Choi and is inspired by the works of Akira Kurosawa. They are also working on the short TB-01, which is about a droid who dreams of becoming a Jedi.
Last but not least, Production IG is behind The Ninth Jedi. it actually began as two separate shorts. One was to be set in a time when Jedi have fallen into legend and need to come back as darkness threatens the galaxy, with the daughter of a lightsaber-smith seeking out the Jedi and delivering their weapons. The other story was to be told from the point of view of eight warriors coming together, learning if they are indeed Force-sensitive and can trust each other.
Ultimately, the decision was made to combine the stories in order to achieve something on a grander scale. The short will be directed by Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex‘s Kenji Kamiyama.
As a first formal venture into anime, each Star Wars Visions short bears a unique Japanese sensibility, which in many ways aligns with the tone and spirit of Star Wars storytelling. From the beginning, stories told in the Star Wars galaxy have counted Japanese mythology and the films of Akira Kurosawa among their many influences, and these new visions will further explore that cultural heritage through the unique animation style and perspective of each anime studio.
According to an interview on the official website, Lucasfilm made the decision to let creators tell the stories they wanted to tell; whether they featured established or original characters, without a need to tie into the larger chronology.
Star Wars Visions executive producer James Waugh said:
â€œWe really wanted to give these creators a wide creative berth to explore all the imaginative potential of the Star Wars galaxy through the unique lens of anime.
We realized we wanted these to be as authentic as possible to the studios and creators who are making them, made through their unique process, in a medium theyâ€™re such experts at.
So the idea was, this is their vision riffing off all the elements of the Star Wars galaxy that inspired them; hopefully to make a really incredible anthology series, unlike anything weâ€™ve seen before in the Star Wars galaxy.â€
In the meantime, check out the trailer below:


New Street Fighter 6 Showcases Cammy & Manon Going At It

Capcom just released new gameplay footage of Street Fighter 6, featuring a match between Street Fighter 2 veteran Cammy and newcomer Manon.
Cammy is a rushdown character with fast-hitting moves while Manon is a ballet judo grappler hybrid fighter who can power up her command grabs via Medal levels the more she lands them. You can see how this will play out, given that both women are in their fittest and finest form. Cammy is always going in with her Hooligan Combination, Spiral Arrow, and fast moves, while Manon is fine throwing out pokes and neutrals while landing her ballet command grabs, which she can combo from some of her neutrals and anti-airs.
We also get to see Cammy’s level 3 Super Art where she finishes off her stinging bee attacks with a Shining Wizard to the front. Manon’s Level 3 Super is also in full display, where she makes Cammy dance and pose with her before landing the final judo slam.
Full match and highlight reel edited by us below. Street Fighter 6 will be out for PC, Xbox Series, Xbox One, PS5, and PS4 this 2nd June.


What Makes You Proud to Be Malaysian? – Esports Edition

Malaysia: a melting pot of culture and popular for its vast array of mouthwatering cuisine. The signature sunny days and rainy season beckon visitors from all continents, and our landmarks from the KL Tower to our naturally awesome beaches are always a tourist’s delight.
Our bright country has been involved in esports for quite a lot recently. Suffice to say, it’s looking very sunny for the gaming industry here with countless events and steadily-growing gaming studios.
As we approach our 62nd Hari Merdeka, we ask around the esports community the question of ‘why are you proud of being Malaysian?’
Here are all the heartwarming responses we have received from a few of these talented folks
Mohd Haqqani â€˜2ez4jepvâ€™ Jaffar
We kick off with Mohd Haqqani â€˜2ez4jepvâ€™ Jaffar, also known as Jep, who is the captain for Mobile Legends Bang Bang (MLBB) GeekFam team.

“I’m proud to be Malaysian thanks to the growing esports scene which give us players an opportunity to raise up the national flag.”

Jep also shared his journey before he became a pro player.

“Before all this even began, Malaysia wasn’t a country known for esports. The only thing that stood out was conventional sports, such as football. Although, even then I have seen and realised the potential of esports after seeing how big and impactful Dota 2 was.”

The team captain then saw a huge opportunity with MLBB.

“When I was working, my friend introduced me to Mobile Legends Bang Bang, and it piqued my interest as a former Dota 2 player. I knew that this was a golden opportunity for me as I saw the potential that the game has. So, I had to take advantage of that and so I played and improved myself.
After a while of playing, the organizers announced the tournaments and I told myself to set a goal; to make the country proud.”

“It’s the perfect opportunity,” said Jep, whose team is also the champions of the MPL MY/SG Season 3.

“For MPL MY/SG Season 3, we have hit the mark and won. We made the country proud, and I’m happy about that.”

We asked Jep if he thought that our esports scene could hit the international stage, and here’s his response.

“For our esports players to be a strong contender out there, we need support from the governing bodies. It’s not a solo push, it was never so. Since esports is a growing entity, we need support from these bodies more than ever.”

When talked about how esports is seen and how it affects the people, he said that ‘it’s a viable profession and a lot of people do not see that.’

“Esports is a good profession. The general public doesn’t see the revenue this industry brings, with sponsors, and prize money and all that.”

Jep also highlighted his concern on how esports might affect our youth.

“With the advent of smartphones, it’s easy for the youth to pick up and play, but little do they realise that it takes huge commitment to balance life and play, especially studies.
Another thing that I am concerned about is our streamers, which includes myself. Streamers set an example for the viewers, and realise it or not, these viewers aren’t always from the same age group. Sometimes I receive older viewers, and mostly I receive younger audiences.
Therefore it’s important for us to set a good example for the next generation. Keep all toxicity at bay and have a mature mindset.”

Ramona ‘GFi#’ Azween
Ramona Azween, also known by her in-game name ‘GFi#’, is a professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) player who has won multiple championships over the past few years such as the ZOWIE DIVINA Womenâ€™s Asia CS:GO Championship, Rise of Legion SEA (Thailand), WESG Malaysia (Female) Qualifier and the ANSARA SouthEastAsia (FEAR) Malaysia Qualifier 2018 to name a few.
She is the former captain of Orange Sphynx and now she currently plays for TYLOO.fe. She’s also an aspiring singer and song-writer. She has her own channel on YouTube.

We got the battle angel onboard for our Merdeka special, and here’s what she has to say.

“Being a Malaysian is something I personally am proud of. We are not just talking about how uniquely Malaysia foods across the globe, how our fellow Malaysians join hands to progress without sacrificing its roots and culture and how amazing my friends regardless of races and religions.
But, what makes me most proud and happy to call myself a Malaysian, is that we are able to live in harmony and move the country together.
Sure, Malaysia is not perfect as a country. But hey, all those bad episodes makes us stronger and united together.”

Ramona also shared some insight into how the industry grew over the past years and how she was given the opportunity to wave the national flag internationally.

“I started playing games over the past 16 years and still in an active organisation. Throughout my journey as a female Malaysian player, I have witnessed our gaming community grows larger and more diverse.
I made friends with fellow Malaysians and I am also very fortunate to wave our Jalur Gemilang high and mighty from Jakarta, Berlin, Shanghai, Valencia and to many more.
With each and every moment I carry our national flag, I feel truly blessed and wish it will be a small part of contribution to our mother Malaysia.”

She also attributes her success to our beloved country, Malaysia.

“I will not be chasing my passion for gaming and be an esports athlete without Malaysia. This country has provided me with opportunity, a platform to work, an ideal place for my family which all enable me to chase my dream in esports.
For that, I am forever grateful to call myself a Malaysian.”

Tiffani ‘Babyoling’ Lim
Streamer Tiffani Lim is also proud to be Malaysian. Also known by her screen name, Babyoling, she is passionate about the popular MOBA title Dota 2 and is a huge fan of LGD.

Here’s what she has to say:

“I brought the Malaysian flag to TI9 and while waving it in the square there were a surprising number of fellow countrymen who came up to me and cheered for our country together.
We feel immensely proud knowing that every year at TI there’s at least a few Malaysians fighting for the top prize pool in esports history, which goes to show the high level of esports talents that our country has consistently been producing.”

She goes on to highlight how adaptable us Malaysians are.

Â “It’s only because of our unique versatility and adaptability that we see Malaysian players in European (MidOne in Team Secret, vtfaded- in Chaos) and Chinese (xNova in LGD, Ahfu in RNG) teams alike, and all sorts of mixed-nationality teams you can find in the pro circuit.
For the same reason, we’ve had many successful Malaysian streamers who’ve managed to capture the Indonesian, Filipino and Burmese demographic as well – and penetrating homogeneous communities isn’t easy to say the least.“

‘IamChuan’ Ban Chuan

Top-tier Street Fighter V player IamChuan is incredibly handy with his deft use of Guile. He is renowned for placing pretty high in EVO 2019 during the event’s major Street Fighter V tournament. He is also usually in the top 8 in major Southeast Asian SFV tournaments under the Capcom Pro Tour banner.

What he loves about being Malaysian is the country’s multilingual capabilities.

“I’m proud to be Malaysian because of our rich heritage. If other countries are rich in wealth, resources, and technology, then Malaysia is rich in gourmet, culinary delights, and language.
Malaysians are proud to be multilingual and masters of more than two dialects and languages. Talking about this makes me crave for another plate of char kuay teow!”

No arguments there; our food is indeed as top-tier as his Guile playstyle.
Aisya ‘Argent’ Sabrina

The entry fragger and support for Orange Sphynx CSGO team. She goes by her in-game name of Argent, and she is very proficient with the rifles. She’s also champions of the ZOWIE DIVINA Womenâ€™s Asia CS:GO ChampionshipÂ 2019. She looks up to Magisk from Astralis.

She’s happy to be Malaysian, and she’s very proud of that fact. Here’s what she would like to say about it:

“Besides winning games, there is no better feeling than being the one to raise the Malaysian flag in another country. It’s even better that I get to raise it with my teammates.”

There you have it, folks. The responses above are enough to warm our Malaysian hearts. I’m truly happy for all of our esports stars and streamers for making the country proud. My respects are with you.
As proud Malaysians, Kakuchopurei would also like to wish our Malaysian readers Selamat Hari Merdeka Ke-62.


Cyberpunk 2077 Is The Most Pre-Ordered PC Game Of All Time

It’s official, Cyberpunk 2077 has surpassed a whopping 8 million pre-orders worldwide before it even launched on 10 December 2020.
CD Projekt Red announced the news via a tweet earlier today.

??? pic.twitter.com/HX1SoJH8dE— CD PROJEKT IR (@CDPROJEKTRED_IR) December 10, 2020

What’s even more interesting is that out of the eight million pre-orders for Cyberpunk 2077:
PC: 4.72 millionConsole (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S): 3.28 million
What this means is that Cyberpunk 2077 is now the most pre-ordered PC game of all time, beating the 3.7 million record only recently set by World Of Warcraft Shadowlands earlier this week.

pic.twitter.com/PB1Bqqaw1i— CD PROJEKT IR (@CDPROJEKTRED_IR) December 10, 2020

CD Projekt Red also confirmed that they’re actively working on fixes and updates to the game.

https://www.facebook.com/CyberpunkGame/posts/3524572177623589

In the meantime, check out our in-depth guide on Cyberpunk 2077 here.


Netflix October 2022: Our Picks & Highlights

I’m sure you won’t want to waste time sifting through Netflix’s extensive catalogue of shows and movies just to decide on what to watch. The streaming giant updates its site every day, week, and month with new content, so I’m here to save your precious time.
Here are my personal recommendations and highlights for Netflix Malaysia’s October 2022 lineup and how to fill up your free time with worthwhile content at home:
Mechamato The Animated Series (1 October 2022)

The star of the series is a boy named Amato who becomes the master of a destroyer robot called Mechabot with the ability to mechanize objects. Together they track down other robots that escaped from a prison ship that crash-landed on Earth.
The show is created by Monsta, which is based in Cyberjaya in Malaysia. Mechamato is actually a prequel to their previous animated series, BoBoiboy.
Check out my interview with Mechamato showrunner Monsta Chief Content Officer and Mechamato showrunner Anas Abdul Aziz by heading over here.

The Midnight Club (7 October 2022)
The Midnight Club. (L to R) Iman Benson as Ilonka, Igby Rigney as Kevin, Annarah Cymone as Sandra, Ruth Codd as Anya, Adia as Cheri Ian, Chris Sumpter as Spencer, Aya Furukawa as Natsuki, Sauriyan Sapkota as Amesh in episode 104 of The Midnight Club. Cr. Eike Schroter/Netflix © 2022
At a hospice for terminally ill young adults, eight patients come together every night at midnight to tell each other stories – and make a pact that the next of them to die will give the group a sign from the beyond. The Midnight Club is based on the 1994 novel of the same name as well as other works by Christopher Pike.
This looks like another great horror series from Mike Flanagan. who was also responsible for Midnight Mass, The Haunting Of Hill House and The Haunting Of Bly Manor.

Freaky (9 October 2022)

Seventeen-year-old Millie Kessler (Kathryn Newton, Blockers, HBO’s Big Little Lies) is just trying to survive the bloodthirsty halls of Blissfield High and the cruelty of the popular crowd. But when she becomes the newest target of The Butcher (Vince Vaughn), her town’s infamous serial killer, her senior year becomes the least of her worries.
This movie is like Freaky Friday meets slashers, and it’s a real treat for fans of the horror genre.

The Curse Of Bridge Hollow (14 October 2022)
The Curse of Bridge Hollow. (L to R) Marlon Wayans as Howard, Priah Ferguson as Sydney in The Curse of Bridge Hollow. Cr. Frank Masi/Netflix © 2022.
A father (Marlon Wayans) and his teenage daughter (Priah Ferguson) are forced to team up and save their town after an ancient and mischievous spirit causes Halloween decorations to come to life and wreak havoc.
Also starring Kelly Rowland, Rob Riggle, John Michael Higgins and Lauren Lapkus.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen Marlon Wayans in anything, and I’ve missed him since his Scary Movie days.

The School For Good And Evil (19 October 2022)
THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL. Michelle Yeoh as Professor Anemone in The School For Good And Evil. Cr. Helen Sloan / Netflix © 2022
Do you ever wonder where every great fairytale begins? Welcome to the School for Good and Evil…
Based on the epic international best-selling series by Soman Chainani, THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL is directed by Paul Feig and stars Sophia Anne Caruso, Sofia Wylie, Kerry Washington, and Charlize Theron.
Also starring Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Flatters, Kit Young, Peter Serafinowicz, Rob Delaney, Mark Heap, Patti LuPone, and Rachel Bloom.

Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet Of Curiosities (25 October 2022)
Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet Of Curiosities. Hannah Galway in episode ÒThe MurmuringÓ of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet Of Curiosities. Cr. David Lee/Netflix © 2022
Guillermo Del Toro – The master of horror – gives a First Look at some of the twisted nightmares and violent delights from his new anthology series.
Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities is a collection of sinister stories, told by some of today’s most revered horror creators – including the directors of The Babadook, Splice, Mandy, and many more.

Wendell & Wild (28 October 2022)
WENDELL & WILD – (L-R) Kat (voiced by Lyric Ross) and Sister Helley (voiced by Angela Bassett). Cr: Netflix © 2022
From the delightfully wicked minds of Henry Selick (director of The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline) and Jordan Peele (Nope, Us, Get Out) comes the story of Kat (Lyric Ross), a troubled teen haunted by her past, who must confront her personal demons, Wendell & Wild (played by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele) to start a new life in her old hometown. Wendell & Wild also stars Angela Bassett, James Hong, and Ving Rhames.

Those are just several selected highlights from next month’s offerings of new TV series and movies on Netflix. Now you can plan your Netflix binge-fest for October 2022.


The World’s Biggest FPS Is Going To Be A Movie

In case you are wondering; no, it’s not Call of Duty.
One of Southeast Asia, Korea, and China’s biggest online PC first-person shooter, CrossFire, is getting a movie. According to a Variety report, Sony Pictures has landed the rights to make a film out of the Smilegate-published game.
Producer Neal Moritz (Fast & Furious series) and writer Chuck Hogan (13 Hours) will be leading the movie project. Tencent Pictures will be co-financing and co-producing the film.
For those who aren’t well-versed in Asia online gaming, CrossFire is a big deal despite being obviously inspired by Counter-Strike. While it has the standard team deathmatch-slash-objective based gameplay, the game also introduced wave mode and zombie mode which became staples in first-person and third-person shooters since 2007.
Since then, the game has more than 650 million registered users and has reached 8 million peak concurrent players.


Rainbow Six: Extraction Seems Like A Decent Co-Op Shooter In Spite Of Its Premise

Platform(s): PC (version played), Xbox One, Xbox Series, PS4, PS5
Genre: Co-op PvE first-person shooter with military guns and aliens(?) under the Tom Clancy brand(??)
Sometimes I wonder what they’re smoking at the Tom Clancy estate; surely the license holders would not greenlight a story where a bunch of realistic military operatives are pitted against what seems to be space aliens. Yet here we are: a Tom Clancy-branded co-op first-person modern military shooter joint where you gun down an unknown enemy codenamed Archaeans/Parasites (interchangeable in this review-in-progress), that caused a state-wide pandemic, emerging out of the ground like those freaks in Gears of War while having its narrative grounded like its brand.
The question remains though – is Rainbow Six: Extraction fun? Kinda.
License To Ill

First, an overview: you control one of the few Operatives in a group called the Rainbow Exogenous Analysis and Containment Team (REACT), whose sole purpose is to collect information about the outbreak and these new threats called Parasites, as well as deal with them when they start attacking. You do this by going into the field in first-person shooter style and, well, shooting whatever is attacking you and also completing a bunch of science-related tasks for experience and upgrades.
You don’t need to go at it alone though; you and two other Operatives go in with guns and special equipment dealing with various objectives -usually threefold per mission- set in one location that is divided into three segments. When you’re done with one objective, you can either cash out your XP by heading to an extraction point and requesting an exit, or find the airlock and soldier on. If you die, you go into stasis and the Operative you selected is MIA. You will need to select another Operative to go rescue him/her in another mission. They’re usually stuck in a Parasite tree, so you need to pull them out while shooting down pulsating Arch Cells that are travelling through its tendrils-slash-branch-like things.
Usually, these objectives involve you stealth-killing marked Archaeans, defending destruction charges while being attacked by mobs, place trackers on red bulging nests while they’re in slumber, and luring a powerful Archaean to the extraction point where a trap lies in wait. There’s many more other objectives and they switch up regardless of the map you’re on, but they do switch it up in each mission you partake and there’s enough to keep the selection fresh.
As you can tell from the screenshots, Ubisoft is clearly going all out with their alien theme in this military shooter focused on co-op. It’s not just window-dressing: the alien nature of this means you are pretty vulnerable to the Parasite army and can get overwhelmed even on the lowest difficulty setting. See, your Operative loses health pretty fast with each Parasite attack, and they cannot regenerate health back. There are collectable health packs in the map you’re on, but they’re few and far between.
There’s also the addition of Sprawl, a tough biofilm that grows on the ground and ceiling as long as the Parasites are active. The biofilm not only slows you and other Operators to a crawl, but also beefs up Parasite Archaeans. They hit hard enough as it is, and you don’t regenerate back health, so a place with a lot os Sprawl is not a spot you want to be in for long.

The neat thing about all this is that Rainbow Six: Extraction feels like an arcade-like shooter title with a few modern warfare shooter controls and moves thrown in like crawling to emit less noise when moving around, peeking at corners, and going prone when needed. Your Operators also have unique powers; one of them called Sledge can break down certain walls and barricades with his special unique attack, while another Operative named Hibana has a grenade launcher that can be used to either do area-of-effect damage or, surprise, break down walls. Keeping true to the last Rainbow Six game, you can also enforce breached spots with barricades so you can prevent aggressive Parasites from flanking you and your group.
Like I said, the PvE aspect here is fun especially with more people in the fray and it’s short enough for bursts of fun if you feel like going in, doing objectives, and getting out whenever. I get a kick out of playing the game in Cautious and Severe difficulties, dealing with high-tier Parasites and even fighting the boss-like Proteans each with their own challenging patterns and attack mechanics. The random mutations (ie: challenge modifiers) help spice things up, ranging from armoured buffs for nests to cloaking buffs and thick fog effects to obscure Operator visibility. It’s still weird seeing a sci-fi co-op arcade shooter brandishing the Tom Clancy name, but I can’t fault the short bursts of enjoyment I’m getting here.
Down With The Sickness

What isn’t fun however is the fact that it can take a while to grind for experience points to get a good number of Operatives to be at an acceptable level to tackle the rest of the maps and missions. You need to be at a certain milestone number to open up later and prettier areas like San Francisco and Alaska, and to do that means playing a heckaton of single-player and multiplayer missions. Rainbow Six: Extraction feels like the kind of game you need to play in short spurts because going at it long-term will bore the heck out of you.
I cannot in good faith slap on a score until I’ve played a few more online matches during its launch week (20th January) with other people. Games like these live and die by their netcode and how optimal their connections are during co-op matches. I can say however that even with the aforementioned repetitiveness and grinding, there’s a modicum of fun in this military shooter-slash-sci-fi jaunt. For now, chalk this shooter up under the “just fine” category. It’s not quite a Left 4 Dead clone, but more of a Rainbow Six game with a sci-fi spin to it. If you fancy multiplayer PvE shooters with like-minded shooter pals, you could do worst than Rainbow Six: Extraction.
I kinda (or foolishly) expected a more grandiose idea from Ubisoft, but then again, I ask too much from a publisher who is fine with churning out more shooters and assassin games using their open-world engine and playing it safe as a result. If they decide to go all-out with ideas like a proper Beyond Good & Evil sequel or Rayman entry, its gaggle of CEOs would die from the idea aneurysm alone.
Final Score: TBA


PUBG New State Pre-Registrations Surpass 40 Million

KRAFTON, Inc., the creators of PUBG Battlegrounds, has announced that PUBG New StateÂ has officially secured more than 40 million pre-registrations on Google Play and Appleâ€™s App Store following its second successful Alpha Test in 28 countries last month.
 They also recently opened pre-orders in India, which contributed to the surge in pre-registrations, as well as announced that they will formally reveal PUBG New Stateâ€™s official launch date in October.Â
PUBG New StateÂ Executive Producer Minkyu Park said:
â€œWeâ€™ve been able to achieve this level of success because of fan enthusiasm globally and their belief in PUBG Studios work.
Weâ€™re now focused on taking the valuable feedback we received during PUBG: NEW STATEâ€™s Second Alpha Test and polishing the game before its official launch later this year.
We are devoting all our resources to ensuring PUBG: NEW STATE meets the expectations of our fans, both in terms of entertainment and stability.â€Â
Developed by PUBG Studios, pioneers of the battle royale genre and creators of PUBG Battlegrounds, PUBG New StateÂ will launch as a free-to-play experience on Android and iOS in 2021. PUBG: NEW STATE recreates PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDâ€™s original Battle Royale experience, making it the most realistic battle royale game on mobile.
For game info, you can visit http://newstate.pubg.com or follow on social media at -Â

 For Malaysia and Singapore: https://pubg.info/391hCp9
 For Thailand: https://pubg.info/3E8xPr7
 For Indonesia: https://pubg.info/3tBW4sB

[videopress a9LS1Y2E]


The Rainbow Six Invitational 2021 Qualifiers Are Now Open For Registration

Ubisoft hasÂ announced that teams can now register for the four regional Open Qualifiers that will be held online in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America and compete for a chance to qualify for the Tom Clancyâ€™s Rainbow SixÂ Invitational 2021.
The fifth edition of the Six Invitational will be held in Europe in February 2021 and will gather 20 teams across the four main regions of the Rainbow Six Esports circuit, competing offline in a LAN environment following strict sanitary measures.
For health and safety reasons (due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic), there will be no audience on site.
Sixteen teams have already secured their spot in the competition by earning points through regional leagues and Six Majors during the Rainbow Six Esports Season 2020.
These teams include the following:
BDS Esport (Europe)TSM (North America)Cloud9 (Asia-Pacific)Ninjas In Pyjamas (Latin America)DarkZero Esports (North America)Team Liquid (Latin America)Giants Gaming (Asia-Pacific)Spacestation Gaming (North America)Team oNe eSports (Latin America)Virtus.pro (Europe)Wildcard Gaming (Asia-Pacific)Team Empire (Europe)FaZe Clan (Latin America)Oxygen Esports (North America)G2 Esports (Europe)MIBR (Latin America)
Four additional slots â€“ one per region â€“ are now up for the taking in the Open Qualifiers. Each regional Qualifier follows its own dedicated format.
All details on the Qualifiers for the Six Invitational, including registration links, are available here at this link.
The Six Invitational 2021 prize pool cap is set at US$3,000,000.
Adding to the starting amount of US$500,000, 30 percent of all revenue from the Road to S.I. 2021 Battle Pass will directly contribute to the prize pool ofÂ the competition, and any amount above the 3-million-dollar cap will be redistributed to support the Rainbow SixÂ Esports scene inÂ Year 6.
In addition, the 2021 Rainbow Six Invitational also marks the kick-offÂ ofÂ a new year in Rainbow SixÂ Siege, where the Rainbow Six Siege community will get a glimpse at everything the development team has inÂ storeÂ inÂ Year 6,Â includingÂ a few surprises.Â
The event will feature panels on the game and the esports scene,Â as well as renowned content creators from the community.Â More information on the format, dates and sanitary protocols of the Rainbow Six Invitational 2021 will be shared soon.


The Elder Scrolls Online Embarks To The High Isle This June

Announced at The Elder Scrolls Online 2022 Global Reveal stream, Bethesda has announced that this yearâ€™s adventure will showcase â€œThe Legacy of the Bretons.â€ Featuring a never-before-seen world in The Elder Scrolls series, The Elder Scrolls Online High Isle Chapter will launch on 6 June 2022 for PC and MAC, while the Chapter will make its Xbox and PlayStation console debut on 21 June 2022.
In High Isle, ESOâ€™s more than 20 million players will experience an island paradise steeped in medieval culture and architecture, complete with magnificent castles and exciting tournament grounds. The story of this yearâ€™s Chapter focuses on political intrigue, and High Isle is the perfect getaway destination for alliance delegates to take on peace talks that would put an end to the Three Banners War. While the summit is hosted by the noble Society of the Steadfast, players should beware of The Ascendant Order and their chaotic motives.

A previously unexplored region, the Systres Archipelago takes inspiration from the beautiful, windswept shores of the Mediterranean. Here lies the stunning world of High Isle, home of the Bretons, descendants of both humans and elves. The social elite live in the feudalistic society of Gonfalon Bay, the centre point of all political dealings on High Isle. Above all, ruthlessness is a virtue here, so players will have to watch their backs.
Last year, ESO brought Companions to players, and in 2022, ZeniMax Online Studios is doubling down on the system. Players will have access to two all-new companions, Ember, a Khajiit who grew up on the streets and has a knack for magic, and Isobel, a Breton and aspiring knight who feels called to do right by players.

Also new in 2022 is a brand-new card game called Tales of Tribute, playable within the world of ESO. Invented in High Isle, this is a unique, resource-building game complete with PvP and PvE. Players can even increase their rank through Talesâ€™ own leveling system. Plus, there are cool rewards to be unlocked like furnishings, transmute stones, and even advancing a storyline by competing against specific NPCs around the world.
As part of our base game patch and coinciding with the launch of High Isle, players can look forward to Spanish text translations arriving on 6 June 2022 for PC and MAC, and 21 June 2022 for Xbox and PlayStation consoles. While voiceovers will remain in English all legacy, current, and future in-game texts and subtitles will be translated into Spanish.

Players can pre-purchase the new Chapter through the ESO Store, retailer or platform store of their choice. In the meantime, check out the trailer below:


Disney Pixar’s Elemental Trailer Teases Meet-Cute Between Two Living Elements

Pixar Animation Studios has revealed the first trailer for its upcoming 27th animated feature film, Elemental, which will release on 16 June 2023.
Directed by Peter Sohn (The Good Dinosaur, Partly Cloudy short) and produced by Denise Ream (The Good Dinosaur, Cars 2), the is set in Element City, where fire, water, land and air residents live together. The story introduces a fire elemental named Ember, who is a tough, quick-witted and fiery young woman, whose friendship with a fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow water elemental named Wade challenges her beliefs about the world they live in. It features the voices of Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie as Ember and Wade, respectively.

Check out the adorable Elemental trailer below, teasing the meet-cute between Ember and Wade.


Fallout 76 Guide: How To Survive The Wasteland Once Again

Bethesda’s grand adventure is out now for the public. And we’re pretty sure a number of you are pretty lost about the game. What is it? Can you still play it single-player like the past Fallout games? How does the VATS system work here? Will this game still have content post-release?
Never fear; we’re here to help. We have some major tips on making your Reclamation Day a pleasant and fun one. We can’t promise you a bug-free day though; that’s up to Bethesda to sort out.
Basic Tips & Tricks

This Is An Online Game…
As an online multiplayer game,Â Fallout 76Â has no pause function. You can still be attacked while youâ€™re hunting for an item in a menu, for instance. SoÂ you should always have a melee weapon favorited;Â a firearm with a lot of ammo helps too.
When youâ€™re surprised by enemies, one or two taps left on the D-pad will give you the emergency weapon you need (and tapping right will use a Stimpak). Any other weapons should be assigned to the weapons wheel, not favourited.
Furthermore, when bringing up the Pip-Boy, toggle it to the overlay (the View button/touchpad on console controllers) so that you can continue to see the world around you while navigating the menus.
Keep Your Melee Weapon Ready
Ammunition is a lot more scarce inÂ Fallout 76Â than in past games. Mongrels and Feral Ghouls move quickly and are best dealt with using a machete, knife, or hatchet.
Killing Docile Radstags or Brahmins for food and hide is also best done with a melee weapon as opposed to a firearm. Why waste bullets on livestock when a club does a better and more efficient job?
Light It Up
The button you use to bring up your Pip-Boy is also the one that turns on/off your light.Â Youâ€™ll need your light a lot inÂ Fallout 76.Â Hold this button down to turn it on. X/Square both readies (tap) and puts away (hold) your weapon (or fists).
RB/R1 is a bash attack with the weapon in your hand (the butt or stock of a gun if youâ€™re out of ammo). The best bash attack to have is a gun with a bayonet affixed. Bayonets are either found or crafted.
Scavenge Everything
Until you reach level 5, you should be picking clean every building, dwelling or site you encounter. ThenÂ break down the junkÂ at any workbench (X or square when you step to it) and store all the junk in a stash box.
Keep in mind these pointers:

Raw materials take up less space than junk items.
When you die, you lose all your junk and have to backtrack to get it before someone else does.

While you may trade with other human players, and there are robot vendors (in places like the Morgantown Airport, or the railroad station in Sutton), caps are harder to come by than in past Fallouts â€” and anyway, you will likely need your currency more for fast travel or relocating your CAMP site.
You should expect to craft and modify, or find and repair, what you need rather than buy it. Seriously consider increasing your strength (to increase carry weight) or taking Luck Perk Cards that improve the condition or the number of items you find.
Keep Well-Fed & Hydrated
Food and water will be a greater concernÂ than in past Fallout games. This will also increase your exposure to radiation. Consider taking Perks that either increase the nourishment/hydration you receive from drinking and eating, or Perks that reduce the rads you absorb from eating impure food.
Being careless about food or water will mean emergency side trips to find and/or cook some, or eating raw or irradiated things out of desperation. It can get in the way of what you really want to be doing, so plan ahead.
Clean Your Healing Items
Both RadAway and Stimpaks may now be diluted, using purified water, at a chemistry station. While this halves the healing gained from a full dose, it also lets you take half doses when youâ€™re trying to heal lesser amounts of damage, and save a full Stimpak or RadAway bag for when you are gravely hurt or seriously suffering from radiation poisoning.
For this reason, purified water is so valuable it should rarely be used as a thirst quencher. Drink impure water instead, taking the minimal radiation hit (or mitigating it with Rad-X) and flushing that out with a diluted RadAway dose once it accumulates to about a quarter of your health bar.
You can take radiation just from gathering dirty water (from a stream, a pump or a tap). When you are stocking up on water supplies,Â pop a Rad-XÂ and then also use this time to fully hydrate yourself (and eat any irradiated food).
Down With The Sickness
Diseases play a greater role, and with enough radiation you can acquire mutations â€” some of which are helpful, and nearly all of which carry drawbacks. Mutations can be cured (along with radiation) by taking RadAway, but note that RadAway also significantly lowers your disease resistance for a good chunk of time.
The Starched Genes Perk, which we havenâ€™t seen through level 10 yet, will allow you to keep beneficial mutations after a RadAway flush.
Sleeping on bare groundÂ (a mattress or sleeping bag) also significantly increases your chance of contracting a disease. This is why the first base-building plan you find is for a standing bed (itâ€™s on a bench at the Overseerâ€™s Campsite).
There are standing beds inside the church in Flatwoods, which serves as a Respondersâ€™ hospital. Sleeping on the ground after taking RadAway is a sure way to contract a disease.
Sort Out Your Weapon Copies
Scrap duplicate weaponsÂ rather than keeping them for resale or trade. When you scrap a weapon, you will unlock a mod recipe for that weapon. This includes knives; scrapping a combat knife (found at the Overseerâ€™s Campsite) gives you the serrated edge mod to upgrade the machete.
Ready Your Ranged Weapons
Itâ€™s also a good idea to have only one weapon per type of ammunition â€” for instance, a bolt-action pipe pistol, unmodded, is redundant alongside a short hunting rifle (both use .308 ammo). Scrap the one thatâ€™s in worse condition.
At crafting benches, you can click the left thumbstick to see the available recipes (that is, all the items for which you have ingredients or components). ButÂ pay attention to the condition of your weapons, as repairing them will usually require the same components (adhesive particularly).
Further, some weapons will be in worse shape but have a higher potential condition (represented by the condition bar next to it in the Pip-Boy menu). One item may be in better condition than a duplicate item but have a lesser optimal condition.

Events Horizon
Avoid the â€œEventsâ€Â (marked on your map by a yellow hexagon) when you are early in your adventure (through level 5, at least, if not longer). They will automatically be added to your list of quests if you enter the area where one is going on, so just ignore it or unfollow it inside your Pip-Boy or map. Events are chorelike experiences that waste ammunition and donâ€™t provide enough of a reward in weapons, gear or other items, especially if fought solo.
Avoid claiming Workshops early on, for the same reason as you should avoid Events. Once claimed, Workshops will have to be defended against waves of enemies that also eat up ammo and degrade the condition of your weapons for little return.
What To Do After The Starting Area
After completing the missions Flatwoods has to offer, and loading up on useful gear and items, the most obvious next step is to turn back north forÂ Morgantown AirportÂ to continue the main quest line there.
TheÂ Morgantown Train YardÂ on the way has aÂ Power Armor ChassisÂ (and at least a couple of pieces of armor) inside one of the abandoned box cars, along with one Fusion Core to run it.
TheÂ Gorge JunkyardÂ is on the way to Morgantown Airport. While it contains useful weapons and resources to scavenge, itâ€™s also aÂ Workshop, which inÂ Fallout 76Â costs caps to claim and then must be defended against waves of pestlike enemies. The upside is that a claimed (and defended) Workshop will produce resources for the owner as long as they hold it. A Workshop is not essential to your adventuring at very early levels, but an easy one to take and defend (if you have enough ammo) is here at The Gorge Junkyard.
Youâ€™ve probably also gotten notices to keep searching for your Overseerâ€™s holotapes, which will take you to her childhood home in Sutton (and that contains a standing bed, among other useful items and resources). The Sutton train station has a robot vendor, Stash Box and Chemistry Station. From there, the next tapes are inÂ Morgantown High SchoolÂ and thenÂ Vault-Tec University, both of which offer plenty of scavenging and combat encounters to level up.
What You Need To Know About The CAMP
The CAMP is a base that you build from scratch after selecting a location. Your CAMP is movable, but it costs caps to do so. The advantage in making a CAMP is to have all of your basic needs met in one place (rest, food, storage, gun and armor repair, and modification), even though you will find the same resources in scattered locations around Appalachia. Fast travel to your CAMP is always free. Moving a CAMP will cost caps relative to the distance you are moving it.
If youâ€™re about level 6 or lower, pick a CAMP site if you come across an aesthetically pleasing area in your early adventures. Otherwise, wait until after you have finished the missions (including the CAMP tutorial) at Morgantown Airport.
Donâ€™t worry about picking a geographically advantageous location yet, as the map is vast and you will be spending a lot of time in one place before moving on to another. After youâ€™ve explored all of the regions inÂ Fallout 76Â and gotten an idea for what resources are where, then it might be a good time to start thinking about a permanent CAMP with elaborate structures and amenities.
How Leveling Up Works In Fallout 76

SPECIAL and Perks have been part of past Fallouts. In Fallout 76, they work a little different. Let’s break it down.
-Each time you gain a level, you get to assign one point to one SPECIAL attributeÂ (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, Luck).
-Then, at periodic times, you will unlock Perks, represented in this game as Perk Cards, and apply them to that attribute.
-Perk Cards correspond to one SPECIAL attribute. For example, “Lead Belly” (take less radiation from drinking dirty water) is tied to Endurance.
-The number of cards a player may equip depends on how high that attribute is. For example, aÂ player with 4 Endurance would be able to equip a maximum of four Endurance Perk Cards in their loadout.
–One important thing to note: this loadout may be changed at any time,Â not just when a player levels up.Â Keep this in mind as you enter specific situations. You can always equip a lockpick card, pick a safe, and then switch it out for something more generally helpful after youâ€™re done.
Which SPECIAL Should I Level Up First?
Early on, this is a very easy question: Every player starts with a 1 in each SPECIAL attribute, so just pick whatever seems right; youâ€™ll be adding another point to your SPECIAL soon enough.
In past Fallouts, many players spent a lot of time allocating a pool of points into an optimal starting build before even beginning the game. InÂ Fallout 76, you will have to work to build up a character that suits your playing style while enjoying greater flexibility to change that style.
SPECIALs will generally improve several things within the game â€” hit points, action points, weapon accuracy, melee damage, critical hit chance â€” as they always have. As such, there is some usefulness in boosting up an attribute even if there is no card to lay on it.
Let’s lay out the different stats in SPECIAL:

StrengthÂ will increase the damage a player causes with melee attacks â€” which are very useful early on as ammunition is scarce and must be crafted. Strength also increases the amount a player may carry, which is useful for those who will be more into crafting and building.
PerceptionÂ increases weapon accuracy within VATS, the combat targeting system used inÂ Fallout 76. It also increases awareness of enemies and others nearby. Perception and Agility often work together for a stealth build.
EnduranceÂ will increase hit points, will allow players to sprint longer (clicking left thumbstick while moving) and increases disease resistance. InÂ Fallout 76,Â disease plays a much greater role in day-to-day survival.
CharismaÂ has a new use inÂ Fallout 76Â because of multiplayer interactions and the lack of human NPCs with dialogue options. Beginning at 3 Charisma, a player can share the benefits of a Perk Card with every member of their group. Charisma also affects the awards one gets from group events. Those who intend to play a lot of multiplayer withÂ Fallout 76Â should consider ranking up Charisma.
IntelligenceÂ will affect the condition and durability of items you craft, and likewise may be a good general improvement for those with a crafting bend to their activities. It also affects how much material is produced from scrapping junk, and hacking computer terminals.
AgilityÂ affects the playerâ€™s Action Points (both how many attacks can be made within VATS and how long they may sprint) and the ability to sneak undetected (by crouching, with a click of the left thumbstick).
LuckÂ mainly affects the condition and durability of looted items; better luck â€” better things found. Better Luck also means a faster recharge to the Critical Hit rate within VATS combat.

For every level gained, players may increase a SPECIAL attribute by one to a maximum of 15. Players stop increasing SPECIAL at level 50.

How To Get More Perk Cards
Every time a player levels up, they choose one Perk Card. Note that this only unlocks it for use in the SPECIAL loadout. It doesnâ€™t immediately apply it to that loadout.
It is important to know what your SPECIAL numbers are before you choose one of these Perks. So be sure you have the slots to equip it.
After a few levels, youâ€™ll get a pack of Perk Cards. This pack contains four Perk Cards chosen at random (and even a stick of gum that marginally reduces hunger). All of these cards go into the playerâ€™s collection; not all will be immediately available. Random draws may sometimes give players a card requiring them to be a higher level than they are.
Card packs are then awarded at levels 6, 8, 10 and every fifth level thereafter. They are obtained only by levelling up. Thankfully theyâ€™re not for sale (for virtual or any other currency) and are not an item found in-world.
How To Choose & Rank Up Perk Cards
In the early goings, you should pick Perk Cards you know you can play to get the most value out of a limited collection.
However, acquiring duplicates of a single card (by choice or randomly out of a pack) allow you to rank it up if you wish. This results in one new card carrying better effects. But this choice needs to be made carefully.
For example, Player A had a rank 1 First Aid Perk Card equipped. A duplicate First Aid Perk Card was found in the fourth-level card pack draw. Player A chose to combine the two into a higher-ranked card.
However, Player A only has 1 in Intelligence, which is the slot for this Perk. The higher ranked card needs at least 2 Intelligence. This means that choosing to upgrade here puts it back in the playerâ€™s collection until their Intelligence is at least 2 or higher.
Veteran Fallout fans should note that some base skills in past games, like lockpicking, hacking, and targeting limbs in VATS, are accessible only with a Perk Card. However, as oneâ€™s card loadout may be changed at any time (from within the Pip-Boy), players may build according to their play preferences and then swap in a skill as the situation calls for it.
Joining a multiplayer group is also a good time to switch up Perk Cards, especially if you have a high Charisma which allows some perks to be shared. Protip: you will continue to acquire Perk Cards after level 50 even if you can no longer increase their SPECIAL.
The Best Perks Of Fallout 76
Here they are. Keep these if you want to survive.

First Aid – Being able to get more out of Stimpaks is essential.
Gunsmith – If you’re looking to craft better weapons, you’ll need the Gunsmith Perk.
Born Survivor – This Perk will automatically use a Stimpak when dropping below a certain health value. It can really help you out in a pinch.
Mysterious Stranger – The classic returns. Have a guy help you out at random intervals.
Scrounger – You’ll have a chance to find more ammo when searching ammo containers.
Pharmacist – Rads can be a real issue in Fallout 76. This Perk allows you to remove more with each RadAway.

All The SPECIAL Perk Cards Available In Fallout 76

Yep, all of them on one handy feature. We’ll be updating this in case we missed a card or two.
Strength Cards

BandolierÂ – Ballistic weapon ammo weighs less.
Batteries IncludedÂ – Energy weapon ammo weighs less.
Bear ArmsÂ – Heavy guns weigh less.
Bullet ShieldÂ – Gain damage resistance while firing a heavy gun.
Expert Heavy GunnerÂ – Non-explosive heavy guns now do more damage.
Expert SluggerÂ – Two-handed melee weapons now do more damage.
GladiatorÂ – One-handed melee weapons now do more damage.
Iron FistÂ – Punching attacks do more damage with a chance to stagger your opponent.
Pack RatÂ – The weight of all junk items is reduced.
ShotgunnerÂ – Your shotguns now do more damage.
SluggerÂ – Your two-handed melee weapons now do more damage.
Sturdy FrameÂ – Armor weighs less.
Thru-HikerÂ – Food and drink weigh less.
Travelling PharmacyÂ – Chems now weigh less.

Perception Cards

Butcher’s BountyÂ – Chance to find an extra meat when you Search an animal corpse
Concentrated FireÂ – V.A.T.S attacks on the same body part gain accuracy and damage
Crack ShotÂ – All pistols now have more range and accuracy when sighted.
Expert PicklockÂ – Gain +1 Lockpicking skill and the lockpicking ‘sweet spot’ is X% larger
Green ThumbÂ – Chance to reap twice as much when harvesting flora
Master PicklockÂ – Gain +1 lockpicking skill, and the lockpicking ‘sweet spot’ is X% larger
Night PersonÂ – Gain +1 INT and +1 PER between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
PannapictagraphistÂ – You hear directional audio when in range of a Magazine
Percepti-bobbleÂ – You hear directional audio when in range of a Bobblehead
PicklockÂ – Gain +1 lockpicking skill and the lockpicking ‘sweet spot’ is 10 % larger
RefractorÂ – Gain +5 energy resistance
Skeet ShooterÂ – Shotguns have improved accuracy and spread
SniperÂ – Improved control and can hold your breath longer when aiming with scopes.

Endurance Cards

AquagirlÂ – No longer take Rad damage from swimming and can breathe underwater.
DromedaryÂ – All drinks quench thirst by an additional 15%.
Good DoggyÂ – Eating dog food is now three times as beneficial.
Hydro FixÂ – Chems generate less thirst.
Iron StomachÂ – Your chance to catch a disease from food is reduced.
Lead BellyÂ – Take less radiation from eating or drinking.
Natural ResistanceÂ – You are less likely to catch a disease from the environment.
Professional DrinkerÂ – No Chance of getting addicted to alcohol.
RevenantÂ – Gain +25% damage bonus for 2 minutes when a player revives you.
Slow MetabolizerÂ – All food satisfies hunger by an additional 15%.
Thirst QuencherÂ – Drinking any liquid has a reduced chance to cause disease.
VaccinatedÂ – Chance of catching a disease from creatures is reduced.

Charisma Perks

Animal FriendÂ – Aim your gun at any Animal below your level for a chance to pacify it.
BloodsuckerÂ – Stimpaks now satisfy thirst, no longer irradiate, and heal 50% more.
BodyguardsÂ – Gain Damage and Energy Resist (max 18) for each teammate excluding you.
E.M.TÂ – Players you revive come back with health regen for a short time.
Happy CamperÂ – Hunger and thirst grow 40% more slowly when in camp or in a team workshop.
Happy-Go-LuckyÂ – Your luck is increased by 2 while under the influence of alcohol.
Hard BargainÂ – Buying and selling prices at vendors are better.
InspirationalÂ – When you are on a team, gain 5% more XP.
Lone WandererÂ – When adventuring alone, take 10% less damage and gain 10% AP regen.
Party Boy/Party GirlÂ – The effects of alcohol are doubled.
PhilanthropistÂ – Restore some of your teammates hunger and thirst when you eat or drink.
Quack SurgeonÂ – Revive other players with liquor!
Spiritual HealerÂ – You regenerate health after reviving another player.
Squad ManeuversÂ – Run 10% faster when part of a team.
Strange in NumbersÂ – Positive mutation effects are +25% stronger if teammates are mutated too.
Team MedicÂ – Your Stimpaks now also heal nearby teammates for half the normal strength.
VampireÂ – Bloodpacks now satisfy thirst, no longer irradiate, and heal more.

Intelligence Cards

ContractorÂ – Crafting workshop items now costs 25% fewer materials.
Exotic Weapons MasterÂ – Unknown.
Expert HackerÂ – Gain +1 hacking skill, and terminal lock-out time is reduced.
First AidÂ – Stimpaks restore 10% more lost Health.
Grease MonkeyÂ – Workshop items are 30% cheaper to repair.
HackerÂ – Gain +1 hacking skill.
Licensed PlumberÂ – Your Pipe weapons break more slowly and are cheaper to repair.
Makeshift WarriorÂ – Your melee weapons are 30% less likely to break and cheaper to repair
Master HackerÂ – Gain +1 hacking skill and terminal lock-out time is reduced.
PharmacistÂ – RadAway removes more radiation.
ScienceÂ – You can now craft energy guns (plans required).

Agility Cards

Action Boy/Action GirlÂ – Action Points generate faster.
AdrenalineÂ – Gain +6% damage for 30s per kill. Duration refreshes with kills. The % increases with each new card rank.
Born SurvivorÂ – Falling below a certain level of health will automatically use a Stimpak.
Dead Man SprintingÂ – Sprint faster at increased AP cost when your health dips below a certain point.
DodgyÂ – Spend 30 Action Points to avoid 10% of each enemy attack.
GuerillaÂ – Your automatic pistols now do more damage.
Goat LegsÂ – Take less damage from falling.
Gun FuÂ – VATS swaps target on kill with +10% damage to your next target. That percentage increases with each new card rank.
Gun RunnerÂ – Running Speed increases.
MarathonerÂ – Sprinting consumes fewer Action Points.
Moving TargetÂ – Gain increased damage and Energy Resistance while sprinting.

Luck Cards

Can Do!Â – Chance to find an extra canned food when you search a food container.
Good With SaltÂ – Food in your inventory will spoil more slowly.
Junk ShieldÂ – Carry junk to gain damage resistance. (no power armour)
Luck of the DrawÂ â€“ Your weapon has a 10% chance to regain condition when hitting an enemy
Mystery MeatÂ â€“ Stimpacks may generate edible meat tissue. Higher rads improve the chance
Mysterious StrangerÂ â€“ The Mysterious Stranger appears more often when using VATS.
Packing LightÂ – Your pistols weigh less.
Pharma FarmaÂ – Chance to find extra first aid Chems when you search a Chem Container.
ScroungerÂ – Chance to find extra first aid Chems when you search an ammo Container.
Starched GenesÂ â€“ You will never mutate from rads and Radaway will never cure mutations.
SerendipityÂ – While below a certain level of health, gain a small chance to avoid damage.

How To Find The Friendly Mothman (via Kotaku)

The Mothman can be randomly found throughout the game world, but the chance of an encounter is low. Instead, thereâ€™s a surefire way to summon him. If you head east of Vault 76 to Landview Lighthouse at night, thereâ€™s a chance youâ€™ll get to participate in a special event called “The Path to Enlightenment”. You, and possibly some random friendlies, need to kill 50 fireflies and use their bioluminescent fluid to activate the lighthouse.
Itâ€™s a pretty quick process that you can even pull off solo. If you do, you will summon the “Wise Mothman”. The friendly Mothman can grant you the “Wisdom of the Mothman” buff if you interact with him/her/it. It gives you a 5% experience gain for an hour; pretty useful for the start of the game.


Control DLC Expeditions Mode Has Arrived In A Free Update

505 Games and Remedy Entertainment have announced that the first DLC for Control, Expeditions Mode, is now available for all players on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It was initially revealed during The Game Awards with a brand new trailer which showcased what awaits players who’ve already completed the campaign.
Control Expeditions Mode expands Jesseâ€™s story, taking her to new and unexplored areas of the Threshold, each with its own unique challenges for her to overcome. Players who successfully complete Expeditions will be rewarded with rare mods and powerful crafting materials unique to the mode, as well as a new outfit for Jesse.
Beginning today, players who have completed the main story mission â€œMy Brotherâ€™s Keeperâ€ in Control can use the mysterious Jukebox locked away in a room in Central Executive to access Expeditions. By obtaining Jukebox Tokens, players will be able to hear the song that has the power to transport Jesse into a different dimension.
However, it’s not yet clear what players will need to do in order to obtain these Jukebox Tokens. Things are getting trippier and more bizarre by the second for new FBC director Jesse Faden, let’s hope she survives the experience.
Meanwhile, Control‘s first Expansion DLC The Foundation is slated to release on 26 March 2020. In the meantime, check out the trailer below, or head on over here to read my review on why Control is my personal GOTY for 2019.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0FF-Fgr1Hc&w=560&h=315]


Final Fantasy XV Expansions Cancelled; Director Hajime Tabata Left Company

Holy crap, so much for expanding the Final Fantasy XV universe. In a sudden announcement today, Square Enix announced the cancellation of three of the four planned FFXV episode expansion packs (via GameSpot).
The cancelled expansions include the ones featuring Aranea, Lunafreya, and Noctis. The one featuring FFXV’s antagonist Ardyn will still be released and is due March 2019. This cancellation may have a lot to do with the US$33 million loss incurred by the Square Enix Luminous studio in a previous earnings report. Despite this, the team will now focus on making a new AAA game.
That’s not all: Hajime Tabata resigned from Square Enix as of 31st October. He will be starting his own company. Here are his parting words from the Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest house:

“I honestly believe the reason we were able to get this far is because of all you loyal fans. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.Â I have a project that I truly wish to solidify as my next challenge after FFXV. For that reason, I have decided to leave my current position and start my own business in order to achieve my goal.”
“From this day on, I will cheer on and support Square Enix and Luminous Productions together with all you fans. I would like to thank everyone who continues to support FFXV and those who have also supported myself personally.”

It’s a huge shame, because former Square Enix lead game designer Wan Hazmer championed Luminous and Tabata-san, specifically on how the director is going to do awesome things in the new studio during the week of Level Up.Â
Does This Spell The End Of Final Fantasy As We Know It?
Hardly. In fact, the following tie-ins are happening:
-The Final Fantasy XV Comrade multiplayer game will be released as a standalone game. The game will feature 10 new bosses, who may be reskins of past FFXV bosses, more costumes, and new weapons. It’s slated for a 13th December release for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
-A Final Fantasy XV cross-promotion event with FFXIV Online will happen; it’ll be an event called Adventurer From Another World starting 12 December for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
-A Final Fantasy XV Episode Prologue anime is announced; a teaser will be out 15 December, with a second teaser due 10 January.
-Another announced as a short-form anime calledÂ Final Fantasy XV Episode PrologueÂ is on the way. A teaser will be released on December 15, with a second one coming on January 10.
Should we be worried that Square Enix is milking FFXV for all of its worth after its director left? Maybe, but after seeing PC ports of FFXII and mobile ports of FFVI and FFV looking like dipstick Korean games, should we even be surprised at these turn of events?
I’m just sad that Hajime Tabata, the man who saved Final Fantasy somewhat, has left due to all this escalating madness and probably other internal behind-closed-doors struggles. Thank you for Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy Type-0, and the not-messed-up parts of Final Fantasy XV, Tabata-san!


Morale In Major US Game News Site At All-Time Low Due To Removal Of Palestine Aid Article

Disclaimer: the founder of Kakuchopurei, Kenn Leandre, used to work as an editor for IGN Asia Pacific.
IGN, one of the world’s biggest video game news websites, was under fire as of late. The site’s parent company J2 Global allegedly removed an article on the site called “How to Help Palestinian Civilians”, which was a way for the site’s readers to provide humanitarian aid.
The removal was done without editorial input and authorization. This was seen as a corporation overstepping its editorial boundaries and curtailing a publication’s independence. After all, a news website is only as good as its word, editorial independence, and credibility, because if a parent company were to keep doing this sort of thing, IGN might as well be a site that just releases nothing but press releases and fluff, right?
Two days after the incident, a dozen IGN staffers signed a public statement (via Medium) to express their disapproval of this curb-stomping of its editorial independence. Having parent companies dictate their editorial news outright and just removing content as they see fit is basically a really big “dick move”. IGN Chief Content Officer and site co-founder Peer Schneider assured IGN staff that corporate was listening and were open to discussion. He told the editors that they would be included in these conversations to change things.
That didn’t happen, unfortunately. A Fanbyte news piece stated that Schneider backtracked his promise internally, placing all the blame for the article’s removal and the fallout on himself. Doing this and making this an editorial matter absolves J2 Global and Ziff Davis of the corporate interference they were accused of. In other words, the corporate overlords may not be held accountable; pretty convenient when you think about it.
To quote Peer Schneider in a Vice article:
“While our post impacts everyone at our company, this is a clear editorial process and department issue and to imply otherwise is incorrect and distracts from our goal. We own the power and ability to resolve this.”
As expected, morale in IGN is “at an all-time low”, with unnamed sources saying that it was Schneider “falling on the sword” and the whole narrative changing abruptly. A recent all-hands meeting stated that the issue is now a purely IGN editorial problem that the team has to clean up itself. Ziff Davis president Steve Horowitz was also said to have pitted employees against each other by stating that those who signed the public statement were tricked into doing so. To quote a source from the aforementioned pieces:
“Ziff Davis and J2 leadership has tried to absolve themselves from having any part of it, despite stepping into the situation. Weâ€™re reiterating this is about our editorial independence, as it always has been, and the continued lack of transparency around what happened with a sensitive story.
Worse, the story keeps changing and I donâ€™t know what to believe.”
Given that E3 2021 digital edition is happening in a few weeks, it’s going to be a helluva time for IGN editorial.


Hailee Steinfeld Spotted On Set As Hawkeye Protege Kate Bishop

It looks like it’s confirmed, true believers. Filming for Marvel Studios’ Hawkeye Disney Plus series is currently underway and eagle-eyed fans have spotted none other than Hailee Steinfeld playing Kate Bishop, Clint Barton’s protege.
The leaked footage sees Clint Barton AKA Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) heading down some stairs in a subway station with a dog in tow.
Those who have read Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye run will recognize the dog as Lucky the Pizza Dog, their trusty companion.

HOLY SHIT HAILEE FUCKIN STEINFELD AS KATE BISHOP #Hawkeyehttps://t.co/9xzhyUbeFS pic.twitter.com/N8tmQU6yFh— Chloé | COAST (@haileemoonlight) December 2, 2020

You can check out clearer images below to see them in all their glory:

Hawkeye is set to premiere sometime in fall 2021 on Disney Plus. To get ready for the upcoming series, you should probably read Matt Fraction and David Aja’s whole 2012 to 2015 run, which you can check out here.
Look, even Jeremy Renner tweeted about it.

? Ms Bishop … we need you !  #marvel pic.twitter.com/rZJv7RsP7k— Jeremy Renner (@JeremyRenner) December 2, 2020


Rick & Morty Creator Justin Roiland Is Facing Domestic Abuse Charges

Rick & Morty creator Justin Roiland has been charged with felony domestic violence in Orange County, California over an incident that allegedly happened in 2020. According to NBC News, he appeared in court on Thursday for a pre-trial hearing, despite having already pleaded not guilty back in 2020. In a statement, one of Roiland’s attorneys wrote that his client is innocent and he expects the case will be dismissed.
The criminal complaint in the case charges Roiland with one felony count of domestic battery with corporal injury and one felony count of false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud and/or deceit. The incident allegedly occurred on 19 January 2020, against an anonymous Jane Doe who was dating Roiland at the time.
According to Orange County Superior Court records, Roiland pleaded not guilty to both charges back in October 2020. Roiland was arrested and released on a US$50,000 bond in August 2020 and arraigned in October 2020. A protective order filed in October 2020 states that Roiland is not to harass, threaten or surveil the person that was allegedly abused. Roiland cannot go within 100 feet of the person, according to the order, which also ordered Roiland to turn in any firearms he owned or possessed. The order lasts until October 2023.
The next trial hearing is set to take place on 27 April 2023.
Rick & Morty Season 6 recently concluded after premiering in September 2022, and a new seventh season is already in development.  Roiland also co-created and voiced the main character in Hulu’s Solar Opposites, which premiered in 2020 and was renewed for a fifth season in October 2022. Most recently, he was also involved in Hulu’s Koala Man series, which debuted in January 2023. Roiland also released game High On Life in 2022 via his studio Squanch Games.


The Huawei MateBook D15 Balances Productivity, Style & Cost

As far as work laptops are concerned, 2022’s version of the Huawei MateBook D15 checks all the right boxes one would seek from an everyday workhorse. It is sleek, comes with a bright screen, very portable, and most importantly, easy on the wallet.
In a world where even the price of a plate of chicken rice is skyrocketing, the fact that one is able to acquire a reliable laptop without having to break the bank is a godsend.
But before we go any further into the review, let’s address the elephant in the room, shall we? Yes, at a glance, the D15 does heavily resemble a Macbook, but who’s complaining? Once you factor in the price difference and what the MateBook has to offer, all that prejudice is instantly compensated by the sheer practicality of Huawei’s offering.
Large Offerings, Small Frame
The sleek metal body adds to the overall premium look although be warned – all you need is a stray coin to wipe that pristine look off the exterior. While it isn’t much of a fingerprint magnet, it does tend to capture smudges quite easily, especially when transferring it between your carrier bag.
It has to be said that like the MacBooks which inspired the MateBook line, the D15 is sleek and light to carry. Weighing just shy above1.5kg, you won’t have any issues lugging it around town. The screen opens up to an almost flat configuration, stopping just at the 178-degree angle. Definitely not a trait that’ll sway or deter would-be buyers but I thought it is worth pointing out.

Personally, I am not so keen on the premium finish as I prefer the more utilitarian approach. Ruggedness tops style any day of the week. Another downside of simply resembling an Apple product is that it increases the MateBook’s probability of getting nicked off your table at the neighbourhood coffee shop by tenfold.
A familiar type
The most important aspect of being an everyday workhorse is a good keyboard setup. And thankfully, the D15 did not disappoint.
Porting over from my daily driver which is the Lenovo T480 Thinkpad which has a great keyboard I must say, I did not encounter too many issues acclimatizing with the D15. Funnily enough, more than your typical Windows user, it’s those porting from a Macbook Air or Pro who would instantly feel at home due to the ‘inspired’ keyboard layout. From the typing sensation to the distance between the keys; everything is almost indistinguishable from when typing on a Mac.
All is good. Almost. Like on most Mac keyboards, my main issue is the half-sized up and down keys on the bottom right. This is your chance to differentiate yourself, Huawei. Do something about it. Credit where it is due; the trackpad is excellent so is the ON/OFF and fingerprint reader button which sits at the top right corner of the keyboard layout. Nothing much to complain about here.

What is worth complaining about is the lack of ports as the D15 only comes with three USB ports, one HDMI and one 3.5mm headphone jack. I suppose being in the ultrabook categories, something’s got to give. And just like the MacBook Air, the lack of ports may be a deal-breaker to many.
The D15 sports a reasonably bright, 15.6-inch screen – adequate for outdoors typing save for the most intense lighting conditions. I do wish that the bezels could be slightly thinner though. The glaring black frame does make the ultrabook look as if it came from the mid-2000s.
This is definitely not a machine you want to be playing Valorant or any latest game in that matter. However, it will tolerate hardware-friendly titles such as Football Manager with the graphics turned down to the bare minimum.
The battery offers almost a whopping 8 hours of standby time at a full charge. Eight. Hours. Let that sink in.

Although, something peculiar happened. The estimated standby time plummeted quite rapidly as the battery percentage trickles down, even by several per cent. Surely 1% of battery life is not equivalent to over two and a half hours of standby time, right?

Based on my daily use, however, the machine runs anywhere between three to five hours on average before I start reaching out for the charging cable although your mileage may vary.
Speaking of charging cables, the D15 is powered directly via a USB-C port, which is handy, especially for Android phone users. A huge power adapter is included in the box but what we don’t like, is the length of cable which comes along with it. Clearly, it is several feet too short.
The D15 brings premium without the corresponding price tag and in our books, in this current financial climate we are going through, is a huge plus. Starting at RM1899 for its i3/8GB/256GB model and going all the way to RM3399 for the top-end variant (i5/16GB/512GB), no joke, the D15 is a steal.
If you are in search of a reliable workhorse and share the similar design philosophy and style of a MacBook but are strictly bound to the Windows ecosystem, look no further: the MateBook D15 should be a serious contender in your shortlist.
Final Score: 80/100
A review unit of the MateBook D15 was sent to us for review. Test unit specifications; i5/8GB/512GB with the RRP of RM3099.