31st SEA Games 2022: The Full Esports Schedule & Results

The SEA Games are back with their 31st instalment, which means another year of fellow Southeast Asian nations going head-to-head in our favourite video games.
We’re going to be separating each section according to their respective games. So here’s a rundown of the schedule starting tomorrow GMT+8 time.
31st SEA Games 2022 Esports Schedule
Venue: Vietnam National Convention Center, Hanoi, Vietnam
Dates: 13 May – 22 May

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
TEAMS

Vietnam – Host
Laos
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand

RESULTS

Place
Team

1st
Vietnam

2nd
Philippines

3rd
Singapore

4th
Malaysia

5th-6th

Thailand

Laos

SCHEDULE

GROUP STAGE – DAY 1

Date: 20 May 2022
Time: 10:00 – 16:30 (GMT+8)

SEMIFINALS – DAY 2

Date: 21 May 2022
Time: 09:00 – 19:30 (GMT+8)

GRAND FINALS – DAY 3

Date: 22 May 2022
Time: 09:00 – 19:30 (GMT+8)

MATCHES
Day 1
Thailand vs. Singapore (Group A): 0–1
Philippines vs. Thailand (Group A): 1–0
Singapore vs. Philippines (Group A): 1–0
Singapore vs. Thailand (Group A): 1–0
Thailand vs. Philippines (Group A): 0–1
Philippines vs. Singapore (Group A): 1–0
Philippines vs. Singapore (Group A – Tiebreaker): 1–0
Vietnam vs. Malaysia (Group B): 1–0
Malaysia vs. Laos (Group B): 1–0
Vietnam vs. Laos (Group B): 1–0
Malaysia vs. Vietnam (Group B): 0–1
Laos vs. Malaysia (Group B): 0–1
Laos vs. Vietnam (Group B): 0–1
Day 2
Philippines vs. Malaysia (Semifinals): 3–1
Vietnam vs. Singapore (Semifinals): 3–0
Day 3
Malaysia vs. Singapore (3rd Place): 0–3
Philippines vs. Vietnam (Grand Finals): 0–3
GROUP STANDINGS

Group A

1
Philippines
3-1

2
Singapore
3-1

3
Thailand
0-4

Group B

1
Vietnam
4-0

2
Malaysia
2-2

3
Laos
0-4

WILD RIFT  – MEN’S

TEAMS

Vietnam – Host
Laos (Disqualified)
Malaysia
Myanmar
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand

RESULTS

Place
Team

1st
Vietnam

2nd
Thailand

3rd
Singapore

4th
Malaysia

5th-6th

Myanmar

Philippines

DQ
Laos

SCHEDULE

GROUP STAGE – DAY 1

Date: 13 May 2022
Time: 15:00 – 21:00 (GMT+8)

GROUP STAGE – DAY 2

Date: 14 May 2022
Time: 15:00 – 21:00 (GMT+8)

BRACKET STAGE

Date: 15 May 2022
Time: 17:00 – 19:30 (GMT+8)

MATCHES
GROUP STAGE – DAY 1
Vietnam vs. Myanmar (Group A): 1–0
Laos vs. Singapore (Group A): FF–W
Singapore vs. Vietnam (Group A): 0–1
Laos vs. Myanmar (Group A): FF–W
Vietnam vs. Laos (Group A): W–FF
Singapore vs. Myanmar (Group A): 1–0
Thailand vs. Philippines (Group B): 1–0
Thailand vs. Malaysia (Group B): 1–0
Malaysia vs. Philippines (Group B): 1–0
GROUP STAGE – DAY 2
Philippines vs. Thailand (Group B): 0–1
Malaysia vs. Thailand (Group B): 0–1
Philippines vs. Malaysia (Group B): 0–1
Singapore vs. Laos (Group A): W–FF
Myanmar vs. Vietnam (Group A): 0–1
Myanmar vs. Laos (Group A): W–FF
Vietnam vs. Singapore (Group A): 1–0
Laos vs. Vietnam (Group A): FF–W
Myanmar vs. Singapore (Group A): 0–1
BRACKET STAGE
Thailand vs. Singapore (Semifinals): 3–1
Vietnam vs. Malaysia (Semifinals): 3–0
Singapore vs. Malaysia (3rd Place): 3–0
Thailand vs. Vietnam (Grand Finals): 0–3
GROUP STANDINGS

Group A

1
Vietnam
6–0

2
Singapore
4–2

3
Myanmar
2–4

DQ.
Laos
0–6

Group B

1
Thailand
4–0

2
Malaysia
2–2

3
Philippines
0–4

WILD RIFT  – WOMEN’S
TEAMS

Vietnam – Host
Laos
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand

RESULTS

Place
Team

1st
Philippines

2nd
Singapore

3rd
Thailand

4th
Vietnam

5th
Laos

SCHEDULE

GROUP STAGE

Date: 17 May 2022
Time: 13:00 – 20:30 (GMT+8)

BRACKET STAGE

Date: 18 May 2022
Time: 11:00 – 22:00 (GMT+8)

MATCHES
GROUP STAGE
Vietnam vs. Laos: 1–0
Philippines vs. Thailand: 1–0
Laos vs. Thailand: 0–1
Philippines vs. Singapore: 1–0
Laos vs. Singapore: 0–1
Vietnam vs. Thailand: 1–0
Laos vs. Philippines: 0–1
Singapore vs. Vietnam: 0–1
Vietnam vs. Philippines: 0–1
Singapore vs. Thailand: 1–0
BRACKET STAGE
Philippines vs. Thailand (Semifinals): 3–1
Vietnam vs. Singapore (Semifinals): 0–3
Thailand vs. Vietnam (3rd Place): 3–1
Philippines vs. Singapore (Grand Finals): 3–0
GROUP STANDINGS

Group Stage

1
Philippines
4-0

2
Vietnam
3-1

3
Singapore
2-2

4
Thailand
1-3

5
Laos
0-4

MOBILE LEGENDS: BANG BANG

TEAMS

Vietnam – Host
Indonesia
Laos
Malaysia
Myanmar
Philippines
Singapore

RESULTS

Place
Team

1st
Philippines

2nd
Indonesia

3rd
Singapore

4th
Malaysia

5th-7th

Vietnam

Myanmar

Laos

SCHEDULE

GROUP STAGE

Date: 18 May 2022
Time: 09:00 – 22:00 (GMT+8)

SEMI-FINALS

Date: 19 May 2022
Time: 14:30 – 20:00 (GMT+8)

GRAND FINALS

Date: 20 May 2022
Time: 09:00 – 12:00 (GMT+8)

Matches
GROUP STAGE
Philippines vs. Malaysia (Group A): 2–0
Laos vs. Myanmar (Group A): 0–2
Philippines vs. Laos (Group A): 2–0
Malaysia vs. Myanmar (Group A): 2–0
Myanmar vs. Philippines (Group A): 0–2
Malaysia vs. Laos (Group A): 2–0
Indonesia vs. Vietnam (Group B): 2–0
Indonesia vs. Singapore (Group B): 2–0
Vietnam vs. Singapore (Group B): 1–1
Vietnam vs. Singapore (Group B – Tiebreaker): 0–1
Bracket Stage
Philippines vs. Singapore (Semifinals): 2–1
Indonesia vs. Malaysia (Semifinals): 2–0

Singapore vs. Malaysia (3rd Place): 2–1
Philippines vs. Indonesia (Grand Finals): 3–1
GROUP STANDINGS

Group A

1
Philippines
6-0

2
Malaysia
4-2

3
Myanmar
2-4

4
Laos
0-6

Group B

1
Indonesia
4-0

2
Singapore
2-3

3
Vietnam
1-4

PUBG: MOBILE – SOLO

REPRESENTATIVES

Vietnam – Host

Ferrari
Franky
Lambor

MitLaren
Porsche
ViCoi

Brunei

Bear
Colt
Galaxy

Global
Kizo
RybenlyBoy

Cambodia

Jisu
STALKER
Zero

Indonesia

Alan
GenFos
JaydeN

Luxxy
Potato
RedFace

Laos

BACKHAEM
Eroza
Green

HONDA
NOAR7
Porza

Malaysia

DamRUDE
Franky
Jumper

Snipes
uHigh
XRush

Myanmar

1sec
Finn
KING

Marnet
OZON3
Sando

Philippines

H2R
Monboy
Newbie

Range
Rankid
Rymon

Thailand

Beer11
godTunny
MR5

nOOzy
SchwepXz
Stoned

RESULTS

Final Standings

Player

Total

Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
Game 4
Game 5
Game 6
Game 7
Game 8
Game 9
Game 10

P
K
P
K
P
K
P
K
P
K
P
K
P
K
P
K
P
K
P
K

1
ViCoi
104
29
2
17
1
8
1
36
1
37
0
1
2
14
1
8
3
3
4
4
0

2
Alan
102
35
0
15
1
5
1
35
1
6
0
50
0
12
0
1
4
24
2
1
6

3
Stoned
100
1
7
26
1
44
0
17
1
5
1
20
2
5
2
50
0
10
1
5
2

4
godTunny
96
18
1
3
3
6
2
29
2
1
3
24
0
15
0
5
5
36
0
49
0

5
Rymon
92
30
1
14
1
11
1
33
0
4
4
45
0
3
4
24
0
6
1
6
2

6
Jumper
87
44
0
12
1
48
0
1
4
16
2
34
1
1
5
44
0
11
1
22
0

7
H2R
80
8
1
6
0
4
4
38
0
45
0
42
0
2
3
18
1
34
0
13
0

8
HONDA
80
25
1
7
1
2
4
10
5
21
0
3
5
35
0
42
1
49
0
29
1

9
SchwepXz
79
43
1
36
1
24
2
4
3
9
3
8
5
21
2
16
0
21
1
20
0

10
uHigh
78
17
0
32
2
43
0
49
0
20
1
9
5
7
2
41
0
2
4
8
1

11
Range
77
31
0
10
1
10
2
41
0
14
1
12
2
4
0
46
0
23
0
7
1

12
Potato
75
36
0
37
0
22
1
19
0
38
0
2
2
30
0
3
4
1
2
42
0

13
Franky
72
45
0
1
4
21
2
30
1
28
2
10
1
47
0
28
1
25
1
3
1

14
Porza
71
14
0
43
0
1
2
16
3
10
2
23
1
41
1
22
0
19
0
45
1

15
Lambor
67
47
1
42
0
51
0
3
2
7
1
29
1
6
5
9
0
32
0
27
1

16
Global
66
5
2
46
0
26
0
39
0
19
1
27
2
8
0
10
0
20
1
12
1

17
Ozone
65
10
1
31
0
17
0
48
0
39
0
7
0
13
2
31
1
9
1
11
0

18
Colt
63
2
1
9
0
29
0
13
0
31
0
38
0
18
1
15
0
30
0
17
1

19
Beer11
62
32
0
4
2
25
0
50
0
24
1
13
2
51
0
13
2
5
3
41
0

20
XRush
61
7
2
28
1
27
1
21
2
36
1
5
2
10
2
43
0
29
1
31
1

21
Jayden
60
12
2
44
0
13
0
23
0
17
1
19
0
46
0
2
5
50
0
40
1

22
MitLaren
60
9
6
2
4
39
0
47
0
49
0
21
0
32
0
38
0
35
1
10
3

23
Zero
60
48
0
5
2
16
0
27
2
42
1
46
0
37
2
20
3
13
2
16
2

24
Rankid
60
23
2
24
2
19
0
42
3
25
0
43
0
11
5
21
1
12
2
23
2

25
1sec
59
3
2
38
0
38
1
15
0
43
0
14
2
40
0
6
1
44
0
19
1

26
Franky
59
40
0
8
3
20
1
43
0
3
2
44
0
23
1
40
0
31
0
9
1

27
Eroza
59
33
1
11
2
3
3
18
1
15
3
16
0
36
0
37
0
47
0
44
0

28
NOAR7
58
20
0
22
1
18
2
6
2
50
0
4
1
38
0
33
0
48
0
15
1

29
Marnet
56
16
0
25
0
34
0
34
0
2
3
35
0
50
0
7
1
18
3
24
0

30
Finn
52
21
0
27
0
12
2
31
0
12
2
6
2
28
1
35
1
46
1
34
0

31
Sando
51
24
1
51
0
15
2
14
0
13
1
37
0
9
1
19
0
45
0
28
0

32
DamRUDE
51
34
1
48
0
14
1
11
1
33
0
18
1
17
0
36
0
8
1
30
0

33
RedFace
51
38
0
13
4
9
1
28
2
11
2
39
1
22
0
47
1
51
0
33
3

34
GenFos
50
11
2
35
1
31
2
9
0
29
0
31
0
34
0
17
2
28
2
21
2

35
Ferrari
50
19
3
50
0
32
2
24
1
8
3
48
0
20
1
27
0
17
2
32
0

36
Kizo
47
13
0
40
0
23
2
40
0
44
1
41
0
26
0
12
1
3
0
35
0

37
STALKER
46
42
0
45
0
47
0
5
0
34
2
15
0
48
0
4
2
33
1
43
0

38
King
46
28
2
41
0
45
0
37
0
23
1
17
1
25
0
51
0
15
0
2
2

39
Bearuang
44
4
1
34
0
28
0
45
0
30
0
11
1
42
0
14
2
41
0
48
0

40
Rybenly
39
15
1
30
0
30
1
11
1
32
0
26
0
45
0
45
0
14
1
38
0

41
Galaxy
39
6
1
39
0
42
0
20
1
27
0
25
1
44
0
30
1
38
0
18
2

42
Jisu
36
27
0
20
0
49
0
51
0
18
0
51
0
39
0
26
0
7
0
14
1

43
MR5
35
50
0
19
0
7
3
46
0
26
1
47
0
16
1
48
0
42
0
37
0

44
Monboy
34
51
0
47
0
40
0
2
4
35
0
32
0
19
1
29
0
43
0
51
0

45
Snipes
31
49
0
29
0
35
1
8
0
48
0
30
0
29
0
23
1
27
1
46
2

46
BACKHAEM
29
26
1
21
1
50
0
32
0
22
0
33
2
31
2
39
0
26
1
26
2

47
Newbie
28
39
0
16
1
41
0
26
0
51
0
40
0
27
1
11
2
39
0
50
0

48
nOOzy
27
46
0
33
0
37
0
22
0
46
0
22
1
24
0
49
0
16
1
25
0

49
Porsche
22
37
0
49
0
46
0
7
0
40
0
36
0
33
0
32
2
37
0
36
0

50
Green
20
41
0
18
0
33
0
25
0
47
0
28
0
49
0
34
0
22
0
47
1

51
Luxxy
20
22
2
23
0
36
0
44
0
41
0
49
0
43
1
25
0
40
0
39
1

SCHEDULE

DAY 1

Date: 16 May 2022
Time: 15:00 – 19:00 (GMT+8)

DAY 2

Date: 17 May 2022
Time: 15:00 – 19:00 (GMT+8)

PUBG: MOBILE – TEAMS
TEAMS

Vietnam 1 (VIE 1) – Host
Vietnam 2 (VIE 2) – Host
Brunei 1 (BRU 1)
Brunei 2 (BRU 2)
Cambodia (CAM)
Indonesia 1 (INA 1)
Indonesia 2 (INA 2)
Laos 1 (LAO 1)
Laos 2 (LAO 2)
Malaysia 1 (MAS 1)
Malaysia 2 (MAS 2)
Myanmar 1 (MYA 1)
Myanmar 2 (MYA 2)
Philippines 1 (PHI 1)
Philippines 2 (PHI 2)
Thailand 1 (THA 1)
Thailand 2 (THA 2)

RESULTS
Qualifiers

Qualifier

Team

Total

Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5

P
K
P
K
P
K
P
K
P
K

1
INA 2
65
1
12
8
5
4
3
13
0
2
9

2
VIE 1
58
10
2
5
3
3
8
2
16
14
0

3
MAS 1
55
2
12
15
0
1
8
6
2
13
2

4
CAM
50
15
2
17
1
12
4
4
4
1
15

5
THA 2
49
9
0
9
7
6
0
1
21
17
0

6
MYA 1
47
3
8
10
4
15
1
3
6
9
6

7
BRU 2
45
4
6
1
7
14
3
8
4
10
0

8
MAS 2
39
14
1
4
14
13
1
17
0
3
5

9
BRU 1
37
6
6
7
3
2
6
11
0
16
3

10
MYA 2
33
11
5
14
0
8
4
10
7
5
8

11
VIE 2
32
5
3
3
1
7
6
15
0
6
0

12
THA 1
26
12
0
2
8
16
1
12
0
11
2

13
PHI 1
20
13
3
11
0
11
2
15
0
4
5

14
INA 1
17
17
1
6
4
5
1
14
0
8
0

15
PHI 2
17
16
0
16
0
9
2
5
2
12
5

16
LAO 1
12
8
1
12
4
17
0
7
0
7
1

17
LAO 2
10
7
1
13
0
10
4
9
1
15
0

Finals

Finals

Place
Team
Total

1st
INA 2
163

2nd
VIE 1
156

3rd
MAS 1
148

4th
MYA 1
147

5th
PHI 2
135

6th
INA 1
133

7th
MAS 2
120

8th
THA 2
119

9th
PHI 1
113

10th
THA 1
112

11th
VIE 2
96

12th
MYA 2
89

13th
BRU 1
77

14th
LAO 1
67

15th
CAM
61

16th
BRU 2
52

SCHEDULE

DAY 1

Date: 20 May 2022
Time: 15:00 – 19:00 (GMT+8)

DAY 2

Date: 21 May 2022
Time: 15:00 – 19:00 (GMT+8)

DAY 3

Date: 22 May 2022
Time: 15:00 – 19:00 (GMT+8)

Garena Free Fire

TEAMS

Vietnam 1 (VIE 1) – Host
Vietnam 2 (VIE 2) – Host
Indonesia 1 (INA 1)
Indonesia 2 (INA 2)
Malaysia 1 (MAS 1)
Malaysia 2 (MAS 2)
Philippines 1 (PHI 1)
Philippines 2 (PHI 2)
Thailand 1 (THA 1)
Thailand 2 (THA 2)

RESULTS

Place
Team
Points
Kills

1st
INA 1
236
123

2nd
INA 2
198
108

3rd
THA 2
184
78

4th
THA 1
182
93

5th
VIE 2
138
65

6th
VIE 1
119
45

7th
MAS 2
107
42

8th
MAS 1
104
31

9th
PHI 2
99
35

10th
PHI 1
79
28

SCHEDULE

DAY 1

Date: 13 May 2022
Time: 17:00 – 19:30 (GMT+8)

DAY 2

Date: 15 May 2022
Time: 17:00 – 19:30 (GMT+8)

FIFA ONLINE 4
TEAMS

Vietnam – Host
Indonesia
Malaysia
Singapore
Philippines
Thailand

RESULTS

Place
Team

1st
Thailand

2nd
Vietnam

3rd
Malaysia

4th
Singapore

5th-6th

Philippines

Indonesia

SCHEDULE

GROUP STAGE

Date: 14 May 2022
Time: 13:30 – 19:30 (GMT+8)

BRACKET STAGE

Date: 15 May 2022
Time: 13:30 – 19:30 (GMT+8)

MATCHES
GROUP STAGE
Vietnam vs. Malaysia (Group A): 2–1
Malaysia vs. Philippines (Group A): 3–0
Philippines vs. Vietnam (Group A): 0–3
Thailand vs. Singapore (Group B): 3–0
Singapore vs. Indonesia (Group B): 2–1
Malaysia vs. Philippines (Group B): 0–3
BRACKET STAGE
Vietnam vs. Thailand (Upper Bracket Final): 2–3
Malaysia vs. Singapore (Lower Bracket Round 1): 3–2
Vietnam vs. Malaysia (Lower Bracket Final): 3–0
Thailand vs. Vietnam (Grand Finals): 3–2
GROUP STANDINGS

Group A

1
Vietnam
5–0–1

2
Malaysia
4–0–2

3
Philippines
0–0–6

Group B

1
Thailand
6–0–0

2
Singapore
2–0–4

3
Indonesia
1–0–5

crossfire
TEAMS

Vietnam – Host
Indonesia
Laos
Philippines

RESULTS

Place
Team

1st
Vietnam

2nd
Philippines

3rd
Indonesia

4th
Laos

SCHEDULE

BRACKET STAGE – DAY 1

Date: 21 May 2022
Time: 10:00 – 17:30 (GMT+8)

GRAND FINALS – DAY 2

Date: 22 May 2022
Time: 09:00 – 20:00 (GMT+8)

Matches
BRACKET STAGE
Vietnam vs. Laos (Upper Bracket Round 1): 2–0
Indonesia vs. Philippines (Upper Bracket Round 1): 0–2
Vietnam vs. Philippines (Upper Bracket Finals): 2–0
Laos vs. Indonesia (Lower Bracket Round 1): 0–2
Philippines vs. Indonesia (Lower Bracket Finals): 3–0
Grand Finals
Vietnam vs. Philippines: 3–0

ARENA OF VALOR
TEAMS

Vietnam – Host
Laos
Malaysia
Philippines
Thailand

RESULTS

Place
Team

1st
Thailand

2nd
Vietnam

3rd
Malaysia

4th
Laos

5th
Philippines

SCHEDULE

GROUP STAGE

Date: 20 May 2022
Time: 09:00 – 20:30 (GMT+8)

BRACKET STAGE

Date: 21 May 2022
Time: 10:00 – 17:00 (GMT+8)

GRAND FINALS

Date: 22 May 2022
Time: 14:30 – 21:00 (GMT+8)

MATCHES
Group Stage
Philippines vs. Vietnam: 0–2
Malaysia vs. Thailand: 0–2
Laos vs. Philippines: 2–0
Malaysia vs. Vietnam: 0–2
Laos vs. Thailand: 0–2
Philippines vs. Malaysia: 0–2
Thailand vs. Vietnam: 1–1
Malaysia vs. Laos: 1–1
Thailand vs. Philippines: 2–0
Laos vs. Vietnam: 0–2
Malaysia vs. Laos (Tiebreaker): 1–0
Thailand vs. Vietnam (Tiebreaker): 1–0
Bracket Stage
Vietnam vs. Malaysia (Match 1): 3–0
Thailand vs. Vietnam (Match 2): 3–0
Malaysia vs. Vietnam (3rd Place): 0–3
GRAND FINALS
Thailand vs. Vietnam (Grand Finals): 4–1
GROUP STANDINGS

Group Stage

1
Thailand
3-1-2
7-1

2
Vietnam
3-1-2
7-1

3
Malaysia
1-1-2
3-5

4
Laos
1-1-2
3-5

5
Philippines
0-0-4
0-8


Company Of Heroes 3 Feels Like Total War World War 2 & That’s Great

Platforms: PC (PS5 and Xbox Series X sometime later in 2023)
Genre: Real-Time Strategy (RTS), Turn-Based Strategy, Strategy, War, Military
It’s been a decade since 2013’s Company Of Heroes 2, but the major RTS franchises have been making sort of a comeback in recent years, such as the recent Age Of Empires 4 and the increasing popularity of Creative Assembly’s Total War titles. Now it’s Relic Entertainment’s turn to make a mark in the current era of gaming and their latest entry, Company Of Heroes 3, is definitely an excellent sequel that is worth the long wait.
New Frontiers

While I can boast of having experienced thousands of hours in Total War titles, I can’t say the same for the Company Of Heroes franchise. However, after spending many hours with Company Of Heroes 3, I can see that the developers at Relic Entertainment have borrowed a lot of elements from Total War, and my suspicions were confirmed when I spotted that Creative Assembly is one of the studios that contributed to Company Of Heroes 3 when the game’s credits rolled. It’s nice to see a collaborative effort between these developers, which isn’t surprising considering that they’re both under publishers, SEGA, but I digress, let’s dig into the game.
There are two campaigns in Company Of Heroes 3, both of which are set in the Mediterranean theatre of World War 2. That setting is rarely explored in games, especially when compared to the Western, Eastern and Pacific fronts, so as a history buff, I was elated. One of the campaigns is the brand new Dynamic Italian Campaign, an expansive single-player experience featuring a brand new mechanic called the Dynamic Campaign Map. The Dynamic Campaign Map allows the player to command the entire war effort in Italy by managing a variety of ground, sea, and air forces with turn-based gameplay on a big map.
This is where those aforementioned Total War design influences come into play. It plays a lot like the Total War franchise’s grand campaign, where you micromanage settlements/towns/cities and armies on a massive map. Maintaining supply lines, manoeuvring your forces, upgrading your army, and establishing intelligence networks are some of the strategic choices players must take. However, this is Relic Entertainment’s take on similar mechanics, so it’s still very much Company Of Heroes all the way and not a Total War clone.

The narrative in the Italian Campaign’s Dynamic Campaign Map is delivered through dilemma-like interactions with three key sub-commanders, including General Buckram of the US forces, General Norton from the UK and Valenti of the Italian Partisan rebels. Ultimately the same major missions will be available to the player, but the narrative you craft will differ based on the decisions you make by choosing whose advice to take. This ensures that the story campaign feels less linear and more dynamic, hence the name of the new mode. Plus, following the advice of these sub-commanders will yield loyalty points, and accumulating enough loyalty points will result in permanent perks and benefits for the campaign. What’s fun, however, is that following the advice of one sub-commander might result in increasing loyalty points for that particular individual, but it might annoy another sub-commander, which will then decrease my loyalty points with that individual. Simply put, appeasing General Norton could make General Buckram angry, so you get points with one and lose points with the other. As such, it’s all a balancing act that you have to maintain your relationships with these three individuals for the entirety of the campaign.
Of course, the franchise’s classic RTS gameplay is still a key part of the experience. From the Campaign Map, the player can engage in a bunch of RTS missions, from major set-piece battles to dynamically triggered pop-up missions, defend missions, and skirmishes. You will control both the American and British armies, as well as other forces. If you’ve ever played Total War Shogun 2, you’d know that you can bombard settlements or the battlefield (during battle) with your naval forces and ships. You can do the same in Company Of Heroes 3. Not only are World War 2 ships much more devastating than 19th-century ships, but World War 2 also has aircraft. Yes, you can use planes to recon the map or bomb enemy settlements/forces.
If you want a more linear and focused classic Company Of Heroes campaign, there’s the North African Operation, in which players will command the infamous Deutsches Afrikakorps (yes, the Nazis), and receive instruction from the Desert Fox, Feldmarschall Erwin Rommel in the RTS missions themselves, as the DAK makes its push across North Africa in 1942. This is the traditional story campaign for old-school Company Of Heroes fans. In this campaign, you’ll just watch cutscenes and play through missions, so you don’t have to engage in the micromanagement of a massive map or any turn-based mechanics.
The Art Of War

The meat of the game is certainly more in the Dynamic Italian Campaign rather than the North African Operation. The linear North African Campaign is only around five hours long with a total of only eight missions. Meanwhile, the Dynamic Italian Campaign can be as long as a Total War campaign. What that means is that you can take your time and take as many turns as you want, which makes for a potentially long game time. It took me more than 20 hours in the Dynamic Italian Campaign to reach the end in my first playthrough, since the main objective of the whole campaign is to capture Rome and you begin the campaign near the southernmost part of Italy.
One of the best new mechanics in Company Of Heroes 3 is the Full Tactical Pause, which allows players to pause and stop the action simply by pressing the spacebar, as well as issue multiple orders simultaneously and queue them. This new mechanic is a welcome addition and it can be a big help for newcomers to get used to the fast-paced RTS gameplay in Company Of Heroes 3. Positioning of attacks is also important (a common theme in RTS games), where attacking tanks or vehicles at the rear or sides will result in increased penetration and damage. Plus, the Full Tactical Pause is clearly another element the Relic Entertainment devs took from Creative Assembly since it’s practically in almost every Total War game ever released.
I did face a few issues, especially when I was playing on the Dynamic Italian Campaign map. I encountered one game-breaking bug caused by one mission that automatically triggered as part of General Norton’s loyalty line. When I first completed the mission, the next turn suddenly took me back to the beginning of the campaign at turn one. I then reloaded an earlier save and restarted the mission. However, I then encountered a new issue as I couldn’t even complete the mission because the NPC allies refused to move towards the objective. The only way around this problem was to turn down the mission when it was presented to me, which caused my loyalty points with General Norton to decrease. Thankfully, there were no other lasting effects, though the narrative implications left a bad taste in my mouth and made me frustrated.

In addition, I also want to point out that I was pleasantly surprised by how stable the game is compared to the previous preview builds, and that’s even before a day-one patch. Considering how many previous previews and betas there were, as well as the delay, the developers must have fully utilized the additional time to polish the game. Creative Assembly has also been doing the same for their Total War titles in recent years, so it’s great to see that Relic Entertainment has also followed in their footsteps and taken the best lessons. SEGA’s PC RTS titles are really becoming a tour de force. It’s also probably why the devs look confident enough to previously announce that they will be porting the game to consoles (PS5 and Xbox Series X/S) in the same year (later in 2023) that the PC version is releasing.
It’s easy enough to understand and play with a quick tutorial that’s not a chore to play at all, which is much appreciated. This makes it less of a hassle for newer players, especially since in the past, RTS games have been notorious for having a steep learning curve. Kudos to Relic Entertainment for bucking the trend. Last but not least, Company Of Heroes 3 is a visual and audible treat. The graphics and sound effects really make the game feel more epic and satisfying, and that’s certainly what you’d want in a war game.
Band Of Brothers

With all the new features and improvements, Company Of Heroes 3 looks like it’ll be a great jumping point for beginners and also an amazing title for veterans of the franchise to sink their teeth into. Relic Entertainment’s latest title is a must-play for fans of the RTS genre and to my fellow Total War players, this might be the closest thing to a Total War World War 2 game we’re ever going to get for now. Thank heavens it’s actually an amazing one.
PROS

Dynamic Italian Campaign provides a phenomenal Total War-like experience.
More Total War-inspired improvements like Full Tactical Pause and a great tutorial make the game more accessible to new players.
North African Campaign is still there for fans looking for a traditional Company Of Heroes experience.
Dynamic Italian Campaign offers countless hours with its non-linear experience.
RTS battles are frantic, epic and satisfying.
Surprisingly polished and stable.

CONS

Still a few issues and bugs.

FINAL SCORE: 90/100
Company Of Heroes 3 was reviewed on PC based on a review copy provided by Sega. It is slated to launch for PC on 24 February 2023, with console versions on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S sometime later in 2023.


EA Black Friday Sale Offers Discounts On Mass Effect Legendary Edition & More

The EA Black Friday sales have begun on the Origin store, which will run from now to 30 November 2021. There will be special discounts for selected games. However, games on the PlayStation Store will only be on sale until 29 November 2021.
Check out some of the great deals below, all of which is available on the Origin Black Friday sale page here. For those unfamiliar, games on the Origin store is now also available for purchase in Malaysian RM currency:

FIFA 22 (RM119.40 after a 40 percent discount)
The Sims 4 (RM19.87 after a 88 percent discount)
Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order (RM58.83 after a 63 percent discount)
Mass Effect Legendary Edition (RM144.42 after a 42 percent discount)
Apex Legends Champions Edition (RM111.30 after a 30 percent discount)
Lost In Random (RM72.66 after a 33 percent discount)
Titanfall 2Â (RM27.65 after a 65 percent discount)
Dead Space (RM19.75 after a 75 percent discount)
Dragon Age Inquisition (RM19.75 after a 75 percent discount)
Knockout City (RM39.50 after a 50 percent discount)

If you’re looking for a unique indie single-player adventure with dark Tim Burton vibes, check out Lost In Random (review). Other companies like Sega and PlayStation are also holding their own Black Friday sales.


This Romance Visual Novel About Taxes Will Be Out Later This Month

If you’re into visual novels and tax returns, MSCHF Product Studio is releasing a new game called Tax Heaven 3000. It’s a free-to-play dating sim that will help prepare your 2022 federal income tax return. Yes, you read that right.
This isn’t MSCHF’s first rodeo. They’ve previously released a game called Chair Simulator and have also dabbled in sneakers, fonts, apps, colognes, bags, and other random products. But back to Tax Heaven 3000. You play as Iris, who has always dreamed of meeting someone special and filing their tax return. The game promises to be a fun mix of love and deductions.

But don’t let the fun and games fool you. The game’s description points out that tax filing in the US is a notoriously difficult and sometimes predatory process. Tax Haven 3000 aims to help players navigate this complex system while also highlighting some of its flaws.
The game will be available on Steam starting 31 March and is suitable for single filers without dependents. Oh, and just a heads up: if you die in the game, you die in real life. Okay, we’re kidding about that last part. But seriously, Tax Heaven 3000 is an interesting and unique concept that’s worth checking out if you’re looking for a new game to play.


KKP Best Of 2020: Game #20

For our full 2020 list, head here.Â
#20: Star Wars Squadron

2020 was the year that Star Wars was saved for most of us. If on the TV front we have The Mandalorian series, Star Wars: Squadrons was the answer for those who yearn for a starfighter game befitting of the legendary franchise.
Staying very close to its past flight sim game DNA, Squadrons was, and still is, fun as heck thanks to the multiplayer segment that just lengthens replayability. The X-Wing VS TIE Fighter duels around Star Destroyers gameplay is amplified here, and even add VR and flight stick support.
Most importantly, it had zero lootbox elements whatsoever that’s usually associated with a major EA title under a big brand. It even adds in TIE Defenders and B-Wing post-launch content. That’s free.
Honestly, I’m just surprised EA greenlit the game AND the no pay-to-win ideas here. If that does not stick to the landing for you, I don’t know what will.


Chinese Player Becomes First Woman To Win Hearthstone Grandmasters

History in made!
The Hearthstone Grandmasters just started earlier this year with the first season beginning in May and ending in July. The second season started in August and concluded in October. The global finals happenend recently at BlizzCon 2019 and we have our first ever Hearthstone Grandmasters Global Champion.
Photo courtesy of Blizzard.
Xiaomeng “VKLiooon” Li is your Hearthstone Grandmasters champion and simultaneously the first woman to win a major Hearthstone tournament.
Xiaomeng, a team member of Valiant Knighthood, qualified into the global stage after winning the first season of China Grandmasters. She brings home the grand prize of US$200,000 after defeating American player Brian “bloodyface” Eason who was the champion of the season 2 Americas Grandmasters. At second place, the Lazarus Esports player takes home US$100,000.
Coming in at third and fourth place are Chinese player Gao “Leaoh” Yang who plays for Royal Never Give Up and German player Kevin “Casie” Eberlein who plays for Complexity Gaming. They both get US$50,000.
Xiaomeng’s victory represents one of the most important moments not just in BlizzCon but also in esports history. Her success will further close the gap between male and female players while also inspiring other women around the world that esports is always open to anyone willing to work hard, regardless of their gender.
The Hearthstone Grandmasters Global Finals was merely one of the many amazing events happening at BlizzCon 2019. We also had the Overwatch World Cup 2019 and also tons of other announcements.


Swamp Thing Premieres On Warner TV Malaysia Next Month

The Swamp Thing TV series originally debuted in May 2019, before concluding its 10-episode first season and getting prematurely cancelled by the DC Universe streaming service.
After the CW network acquired the broadcasting rights to Swamp Thing, the horror drama TV series based on the iconic DC Comics character of the same name will soon premiere on Warner TV (Astro Channel 712 HD / UnifiTV Channel 451) on Wednesday, 7 October at 9.50pm.
A new episode airs every Wednesday at the same time.

Swamp Thing follows Dr Abby Arcane (Crystal Reed) as she investigates what seems to be a deadly swamp-born virus in a small town in Louisiana but when a mysterious creature emerges from the murky marsh, she finds herself facing the nightmares of a supernatural world where no one is safe.
Something unnatural is happening in the swamps outside Marais, Louisiana. When a mysterious illness strikes the town, CDC investigator and former Marais native, Abby Arcane is sent to investigate. At the hospital, she encounters biologist Alec Holland (Andy Bean) who believes the bizarre illness might be connected to his scientific work in the swamp for powerful businessman Avery Sunderland (Will Patton).

The TV series also stars Jennifer Beals as Sheriff Lucilia Cable, Jeryl Prescott as Madame Xanadu, Kevin Durand as brilliant bio-geneticist Jason Woodrue, and Ian Ziering as Dan Cassidy/Blue Devil.
It’s a shame that Swamp Thing was cancelled after just one season. It’s unique horror and mystic elements distinguish it from other comic book adaptations out there. We’ll probably never see another show like it in the near future, so let’s all savour what we already have.
Maybe Swamp Thing will find new life on CW and Warner TV? Fingers crossed.

https://www.facebook.com/WarnerTVAsia/videos/354503895595596


Disney, Fox Sued for US$1 Billion by Genting Over Malaysian Theme Park

Remember the planned world’s first 20th Century Fox theme park in Malaysia? Yeah, it’s not happening, folks. Disney and Fox are facing a US$1 billion lawsuit by Genting for backing away from the contract.
The 20th Century Fox World Malaysian theme park was initially announced way back in 2013, and it was set to feature popular Fox properties like Ice Age and Planet of the Apes. Now thanks in part to Disney’s acquisition of Fox, the Fox theme park looks to be the first casualty.
According to Variety, Genting claims that Fox has allegedly been deliberately delaying the project for quite a while now, by withholding approvals for certain decisions and not cooperating with the theme park’s development.
Genting also stated that Disney wants to terminate the Fox theme park because they didn’t want to be associated with a gambling company like GENM, which didn’t fit with the megacorporation’s family-friendly brand strategy.
At the time of writing, Fox has yet to comment on the issue. The official case name for the lawsuit is Genting Malaysia Bhd v Fox Entertainment Group LLC et al, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 18-09866.
Now that we won’t be getting a Fox theme park after all, whatever happened to the planned Ubisoft Malaysian theme park? In 2015, the game developer/publisher announced a “10,000-square-meter indoor complex featuring rides, shows, and other attractions, all built around Ubisoft’s games and characters” in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
However, three years later and we still haven’t heard anything new about the project, despite the fact that it was slated to open in 2020. It seems that Malaysia will soon turn into a wasteland of abandoned theme parks, perfectly suited for filming post-apocalyptic movies.


Fort Solis Starring RDR2’s Roger Clark Launches For PS5 & PC This Summer

During the Future Games Show Spring Showcase 2023, Fallen Leaf, Black Drakkar Games and Dear Villagers have announced that Fort Solis will launch for the PS5 and PC sometime in summer 2023.
Fort Solis is a single-player third-person thriller set on one long night on Mars, where engineer Jack Leary (voiced by Red Dead Redemption 2 star Roger Clark) responds to a routine alarm where events unravel and escalate out of control in a way he could never have imagined. The game also stars Julia Brown (World On Fire) and Troy Baker (The Last Of Us) among its cast.
It was originally announced during Summer Game Fest 2022.
Check out the trailer below:


The Mageseeker Continues The Onslaught Of League Of Legends Spinoff Quality Entries

Platform(s): PC (Version reviewed), Xbox Series, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch
Genre: Top-down action RPG with chains and magic
Riot Games’ spin-off publishing house Riot Forge is positioned to create more winners by the year if the new action RPG The Mageseeker is of any indication.
Developed by Digital Sun (who made Moonlighter), the game pits you as formerly-incarcerated mage Sylas as he attempts to form a mage rebellion against his oppressors of the Demacia Kingdom. With your literal shackles as weapons, you pound and fight your way through the Demacia army and other monstrosities in the League of Legends universe.
Chain Gang

Just from the screenshots and the feature image alone, Mageseeker revels in its 2D pixel art and animation. It’s detailed, it’s lovely to look at in motion, and you’ll get a ton of eye candy from the colourful spells and action that’s happening on-screen. The Gareth Coker-composed soundtrack is also dramatic when taken in context with the rebellion storyline that’s going on. And if you’re a League of Legends follower/player, you get a lot of bonuses in terms of lore and character interactions in the course of Sylas’ story.
Thankfully, the game does match the presentation. Basically, you control Sylas like a top-down action hero: he has melee attacks, has mana for his spells, and can dash effortlessly ala Zagreus from Hades. However, his petricite chains allow him to steal magic from enemies and use them once for free. For example, stealing from a red battlemage means you get access to a free one-time use fireball spell, which you should use on enemies attuned to the Ice element. Conversely, you can steal from an Ice magic user and use their spells on a Fire user. There are six elements with strengths and weaknesses, along with a ton of spells for you to steal. Best of all, you can craft previously-stolen spells and use them as your own, though these spells require your own mana to use. As you only have a few mana points to spend, you are required to constantly steal and use magic on your foes, especially when your physical chain attacks aren’t effective.

Recruiting rebels to your cause not only means a more populated home base on your end, but also upgrades and extra skills that Sylas can use. Recruiting a Nature mage and getting more followers for her means buffed-up Nature spells, a buffed-up special move Sylas can use with no mana required, and an upgraded Potions facility. The latter means I get more health potion charges and some permanent health/defense buffs. Everything here ties in really well with the game’s main plot of standing up against “the man”, and it’ll keep you engrossed with Sylas’ story for 10 hours straight.
You can finish it in a shorter time, but taking on optional missions means more powers and some more backstory. However, these stages take a hit quality-wise; they’re repeats of past stages and feature repeat boss fights from the story. These feel more like extra work than actual unique adventures, but at least they aren’t without their rewards. You may also want to mind some bugs; I had to restart certain boss fights because I ended up getting stuck and the appropriate cutscene states aren’t triggering. Hopefully, that’s all fixed in the launch version.
Shackled Up & Raring To Go
Mageseeker is an enjoyable action RPG experience if you’re into 2D pixel art, fun-if-simple action mechanics where you take magic & sling it back, and everything in-between. The League of Legends lore expanding of Demacia and its cast are also a treat, but I’m honestly in it for the simple gameplay loop and the challenges it poses along the way.
Pros

Great combat and action RPG controls.
Loads of magic spells to steal/experiment with.
Fun story that fleshes out an aspect of League of Legends lore.

Cons

Optional stages are repetitive.
Some bugs require boss fight restarts.

Final Score: 80/100


Bayonetta 3 Voice Acting Controversy Reveals Hellena Taylor Allegedly Wanted Six Figure Salary [Update]

The Bayonetta 3 voice actor controversy plot has thickened, it seems.
Original Bayonetta VO Hellena Taylor said on Twitter that she was offered a grand total of US$4,000 for her role in Bayonetta 3 via PlatinumGames, which is very low given the prestige of the character. She also implored people to boycott the game and give their money to charity instead. Also, PlatinumGames vice president Hideki Kamiya’s Twitter has been restricted following the fiasco and denied these allegations from Taylor, who also happened to break a non-disclosure agreement regarding Bayonetta 3’s VO work.
However, sources told Bloomberg that the actress was offered at least US$15,000 total: PlatinumGames sought to hire her for at least five sessions for US$3,000 to US$4,000 each for four hours. The total fee would have amounted beyond the final US$4,000 she claimed in her video.
Taylor said she rejected the offer and “asked for a six-figure sum as well as residuals”. PlatinumGames made the business decision to go for prolific voice actor Jennifer Hale to take over the role.
Her response to this new information? She said that Bloomberg’s sources are an “absolute lie” and that PlatinumGames is trying to save face. PlatinumGames has yet to make a response to Taylor’s claims. It should be noted that PlatinumGames used the voice actor’s union minimum rates for Bayonetta 3.
However you see this panning out, one thing is for certain: residuals for high-profile roles should at least be a thing. If a game made millions, some fraction of that should at least go to the people who gave life and character to the main roles in the game, as they end up creating the role that’s iconic.

About Bayonetta 3: pic.twitter.com/e4VrclEQIm
— Jennifer Hale (@jhaletweets) October 17, 2022

Update [24 October 2022]: Hellena Taylor has confirmed on Twitter that the alleged salary demand was real via Twitter.


Samsung’s Z Flip4 Is A Slight Improvement, But Still A Fine High-Tech Phone

After over two weeks worth of reviewing and using the latest flip phone from Samsung as a daily driver, we have come to this revelation: the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 is the Mazda MX-5 of smartphones.
Preposterous claim, you say? Well, allow us to explain why. For a start, both the Z Flip4 and MX-5 share similar traits;

Both turns heads even for non-tech or car enthusiasts,
Both emphasize on fun while barely meeting the requirements of being practical,
Many may consider both to be on the pricey side; and
You don’t see a need for one – until you get hold of one.

We heaped praise on the Z Flip3 in our review last year. Its ingenuity and solid construction very much trumped its shortcomings of having lacklustre batteries and a mediocre camera. The Z Flip3 was not only a success for the Samsung brand, but it was also for the folding smart devices as a whole. Phones don’t have to look awfully similar. Phone makers can be bold again. Bring out the weird designs, we say!
Turn ‘smartphones’ into ‘smartfun’. ‘Smartfun’. Admit it; it’s genius. Samsung, call us.

4front
Anyway, back to the Galaxy Z Flip 4. Like last year, Samsung offered little in terms of packaging and unboxing experience. The Korean tech giants again went down the minimalist route of only providing a Type-C USB charging cable and sim ejector tool alongside the phone. Then again, despite the Z Flip4’s improvement in battery capacity and charging speed, there is no need for a specialized charging adapter hence this decision can be forgiven.

				Z Flip 4 (L), Z Flip 3 (R)

This year’s model comes in four ‘standard’ colours – the boring Graphite, a more flamboyant ‘Pink Gold’, Bora Purple a.k.a Purple Purple (‘Bora’ is ‘purple’ in Korean) and ‘Blue’ which in our eyes, is more grey than blue.
Samsung also upped their customization game for the Z Flip 4, allowing users to create bespoke units. This is done by combining various colours of the phone’s exterior parts. With a premium of RM500 over the base-coloured units, this option is available only through online purchases as each custom build is made-to-order.
In terms of storage, you get to choose from the ‘basic’ 128GB (RM4099) variety to the maximum 512GB (RM4899). Since the Z Flip 4 does not come with expandable storage, we do recommend going for the highest storage option you could afford. The ‘Bespoke’ option only comes with 256GB/8GB combination and retails at RM4599.
All Z Flip4 models come with 8GB RAM and runs on the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor. This means a snappier and power efficient device.

4armed Knowledge
As an overall package, the Z Flip4 is an improvement on its predecessor. Although by looks alone, even those who own a Z Flip 3 would have a hard time discerning the older model from the new. Upon closer inspection, I noticed subtle tweaks in design and dimensions. The Flip 4, despite being sleeker and thinner, weighs about 4 grams heavier.
The main screen is pretty much identical save for those who pixel-peep. For casual users, your experience with the older and new models would be hard to distinguish.  Like last year’s model, Samsung also claimed that phone’s hinge has been improved and tested to withstand over 200,000 folds. Assuming you pull off about 50 folding and unfolding actions per day, it’ll still take you over 4000 days to hit that mark. That’s well over ten years. So durability-wise, since we do not have the specific tools to test it so we’ll just have to take Samsung’s word for it.
Those with small hands would instantly appreciate the aspect ratio of the main screen. Its slender nature makes one-handed navigation much easier compared to other models. One of the best features on the Z Flip3 also made a return with the fingerprint sensor being embedded into the power button. You can easily unlock your Z Flip 4 as your thumb naturally sits next to this sensor which is very responsive.
When viewed in a landscape mode, the long-ish screen allows a more cinematic experience and the dual speakers firing from the top and bottom of the phone deliver a respectable stereo experience. Gaming on the Z Flip4 is quite enjoyable as well due to how the phone just fits in your hands.
The crease in the middle is still noticeable. But it isn’t as visible nor as intrusive. We don’t see it going away in future iterations due to one simple reason. Physics. Folding stuff causes creasing. It’s just how the universe work. But what many perceive as a weakness, Samsung turned into a trait which propels them ahead of their competitors. In this year’s model, more apps have been made compatible with the folding form.
For example, launching YouTube in this form separates the navigational controls to the ‘bottom’ screen while the ‘top’ solely focuses on the media you are consuming. In some apps, the ‘bottom’ screen also doubles up as a trackpad.

4midable
The Z Flip 4 receives the same IPX8 rating similar to last year’s model. This means that the device is water-resistant, but not directly water-proof. It should survive accidental spills, usage when caught in the rain or being submerged in fresh water for up to 1.5 meters for a duration of up to 30 minutes. Push these limits at your own risk, though. The ‘X’ means it isn’t as robust against dust most probably due to its mechanical hinge so we’d be careful when we take it to the beach, for example.
You also don’t need to worry about its toughness as the Z Flip 4 comes with sturdy Corning Gorilla Glass Victus Plus framed by an ‘armour aluminium’ chassis. This combination leads to not only a more secure feel when handling the device, but also an oh-so-satisfying clap whenever you close it.  When closed, like last year, the screen does not sit flush with one another. Some may complain but we believe this was a conscious effort from Samsung to avoid stray particles getting wedged in between screens, causing irreparable damage.
We totally understand the reservations about picking up folding devices due to their perceived lack of durability. This is indeed contentious since perception is subjective. We highly encourage you to decide on it yourself at any Samsung store. Test units at these stores would have gone through thousands of folding and unfolding motions so they should give you a good indication of how sturdy the device is.
Cov4 Screen
One of our few gripes about this year’s model would be the size of the cover screen which remained the same. The main difference this year is that you are now able to run more apps on it. We aren’t sure whether this improvement is specific to the Z Flip4 or a software update which will allow the Z Flip3 to do the same.
Some may see the cover screen as trivial, but in our books, it’s a smart way to regulate users’ smart device behaviour. You can now pick up and respond to calls albeit via loudspeaker while the phone is clasped. You can also respond to messages without having to open the phone although replies are still limited to canned responses. Want to check the time? Tap on the screen to show it.
But by far, its best use would be as a preview screen for photography (more like self-photography) enthusiasts out there.  Like the Z Flip3, you can make the Z Flip4 steadily ‘sit’ at almost any angle, negating the need for a tripod. From this position, you not only are able to fully utilize the main cameras, you also have a stable base for your photo snaps or video recordings. Hereon, photo snaps or video recordings are just a hand gesture away.
When it comes to camera performance, the Z Flip 4 provides incremental improvements from last year’s model. In short, it is already much more than what a casual user would ever need. The photos and videos were taken on the Z Flip 4 turn out brilliant nine times out of ten, with the odd one out being user-influenced.
Take it from us – unless you’re looking to win a National Geographic photo contest, you’re looking up the wrong device. Perhaps the S22 Ultra might be more up your alley.

In the Z Flip4, Samsung also addressed another point of contention which stopped the Z Flip3 from being a truly viable option to their other flagship line, last year’s S- range. Battery capacity. By bumping up the battery in the Z Flip4 by roughly 12%, this year’s device is more than capable of lasting through the day. Although we could use with more, 3700mAh should be sufficient for most users out there.
4gone Conclusion
With most of last year’s issues addressed, does it make the Z Flip4 a more viable choice as your next daily driver? It very much depends on your priorities and what you seek in your next smart device. Style or practicality? While the Z Flip4 is no slouch when it comes to being practical, its strength lies in its uniqueness and wow factor.
Like the Mazda MX-5 mentioned at the start, it ticks all the style points while simultaneously hitting the right notes of being barely practical. Sure, you could use a ‘larger engine’ or ‘faster processor’ which puts the S22+ in your sights. But why blend in when you can stand out? As the wise sages of Smash Mouth once preached, “Only shooting stars break the mould”
Pros

Sleeker silhouette compared to last year’s model.
Sturdier construction.
Improved battery and camera performance.
Like the MX-5, is a head-turner – a conversation starter.

Cons

Cover screen can be larger.
No expandable storage. Again.

Final Score: 90/100
Review unit provided by Samsung Malaysia.

Vital Statistics
Body: Unfolded: 165.2 x 71.9 x 6.9 mm Folded: 84.9 x 71.9 x 15.9-17.1 mm (187g)
Build: Plastic front, glass back (Gorilla Glass Victus+), aluminum frame – IPX8 water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins)
Chipset: Qualcomm SM8475 Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (4 nm)
CPU: Octa-core (1×3.19 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3×2.75 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4×1.80 GHz Cortex-A510)
GPU: Adreno 730
Display: Foldable Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1200 nits (peak)
Cover Display: Super AMOLED, 1.9 inches, 260 x 512 pixels (Gorilla Glass Victus+)
Memory: 128GB/256GB/512GB + 8RAM for all options. Non-expandable
Main Camera: 12 MP, f/1.8, 24mm (wide), 1/1.76″, 1.8µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS; 12 MP, f/2.2, 123? (ultrawide), 1.12µm
Video: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@60/240fps, 720p@960fps, HDR10+
Sound: Stereo speakers. No jacks given
Battery: Li-Po 3700 mAh – 25W, 50% in 30 min, fast wireless charging 15W, reverse wireless charging 4.5W
Price: MYR 4099(128GB/ 8GB); MYR 4399(256GB/8GB); MYR 4899 (512GB/8GB) via Samsung Malaysia.
Bespoke option also available at Samsung Malaysia.


ECHO Defied All Odds & Are The M4 World Champions

ECHO was declared the winner of the M4 World Championship after dominating the Grand Finals with a final score of 4-0 against Blacklist International.

Check out our M4 Schedule for the full results!

This extraordinary victory allowed them to claim the title of Back-to-Back Champions and for Jungler, KarlTzy to become the only player to win the world title twice with different teams. He previously led the Bren Esports team to victory at the M2 World Championship.
Additionally, ECHO’s Gold Laner Bennyqt was named Finals MVP for his outstanding performance and contribution to the team. This victory also highlighted that the M Series champion has consistently come from the lower bracket phase, as ECHO was able to defeat Blacklist International in the Grand Finals after losing to them in the previous round.
As the winners, ECHO received a prize pool of US$300,000 and Blacklist International, as runners-up, received US$120,000.

Blacklist International vs. ECHO
Game 1

In the opening match of the M4 World Championship Grand Final, both teams were cautious in selecting their hero lineup. Blacklist International chose Barats for Wise as their priority pick, while the other four players were Harith for Oheb, Pharsa for Hadji, Benedetta for Edward, and Mathilda for OhMyV33NUS. ECHO, on the other hand, countered with Lapu Lapu for Sanford, Yve for Sanji, Akai for KarlTzy, Lolita for Yawi and Lunox for Bennyqt. The match began fiercely as both teams were careful not to make any mistakes and to anticipate each other’s moves.
Wise managed to secure the first Turtle but was quickly taken down by ECHO Philippines. From that moment on, ECHO played more aggressively and always kept an eye on Wise. Sanford succeeded in overthrowing the Jungler from Blacklist International and KarlTzy easily captured the turtle objective. ECHO then began to use a fast game tempo, and Blacklist International players started to fall one by one as they were losing in terms of gold.
ECHO continued to attack relentlessly, limiting Blacklist International’s space for movement and making it difficult for Wise to jungle. With the help of the second Lord, ECHO successfully kidnapped opposing players and destroyed Blacklist International’s main base. KarlTzy and his team closed the first match with a win.
Game 2

In the second match, it was ECHO’s KarlTzy’s turn to show off his prowess on Barats. This pick was partnered with Pharsa for Sanji, Gloo for Sanford, Brody for Bennyqt, and Franco for Yawi. Blacklist International selected Fredrinn for Wise, Valentina for Hadji, Lolita for OhMyV33NUS, Joy for Edward, and Beatrix as the mainstay hero from Oheb.
ECHO immediately began playing aggressively at the start of the match and managed to control all objectives. They captured two Turtles, and even before the third turtle, they focused on taking down Wise so as not to disrupt their plans for the next few seconds. By the 10th minute, ECHO had killed four opposing players, with only Edward remaining. Bennyqt was in the spotlight because of his excellent positioning.
The climax occurred during the struggle for the second Lord, where Wise was able to secure it when he collided with KarlTzy in retribution. At the same time, the Blacklist International players were caught up in the teamfight and didn’t realize that Bennyqt was backdooring from the middle. As a result, ECHO secured victory at the 14th minute.
Game 3

The third match saw ECHO draft Fredrinn for KarlTzy, Lapu Lapu for Sanford, Kaja for Yawi, Gusion for Sanji, and Brody for Bennyqt. Meanwhile, Blacklist decided to pick Karrie for Oheb, Pharsa for Hadji, Lolita for OhMyV33NUS, Baxia for Wise, and Yu Zhong for Edwards.
Interestingly, it was the first time the hero Gusion appeared in the M4 World Championship. Despite not being a meta hero, playing Sanji with this hero proved to be brilliant. Sanji almost got a Triple Kill in the 4th minute, allowing ECHO to easily capture the second turtle. Despite falling behind, Blacklist International managed to balance the match with ECHO.
To avoid being careless, the deadly duo of Yawi and Bennyqt succeeded in overthrowing Oheb and the other three players, leaving only OhMyV33NUS. ECHO decided to capture the first Lord objective. The same thing happened when KarlTzy was able to win over his second Lord with the help of retribution. Poor positioning caused Blacklist International players to fall one by one, leaving only Oheb.
Without waiting for the Lord to arrive, ECHO immediately launched an attack on Blacklist International’s main base from the bottom lane. As a result, they secured their third victory, bringing the series to match point in favour of ECHO.
Game 4

The fourth match was a crucial one for Blacklist, as it was their last chance to open opportunities and keep the match alive. In this match, they were not able to use their flagship hero Estes and instead secured Yve for Hadji, Barats for Wise, Diggie for OhMyV33NUS, Beatrix for Oheb, and Benedetta for Edward. ECHO, on the other hand, chose the hero lineup of Gloo for Sanford, Fredrinn for KarlTzy, Hilda for Yawi, Lunox for Bennyqt, and Xavier for Sanji.
At the start of the match, Sanford immediately disrupted Blacklist’s defence and took down Wise and Hadji. This was a significant loss for Blacklist International as Wise and Hadji play important roles in the team. After this, Blacklist played more cautiously and Diggie, who was expected to be a threat to ECHO, failed to do so. ECHO often baited Blacklist International before securing objectives in the Land of Dawn, allowing them to easily capture the Lord and Turtle. Even when the second Lord appeared, ECHO was able to secure it quickly. Blacklist International’s EXP Laner Edward was unable to do much and only attempted to destroy ECHO’s turrets one by one.
By the 14th minute, the gold difference between the two teams had reached 7,000, giving ECHO Philippines an advantage in the match. When the third Lord appeared, Blacklist International, who were trying to hold their ground, made a mistake that led to their defeat, leaving only Oheb alive.
Unable to withstand ECHO’s strong attack, Blacklist International had to give up their last chance and ECHO  managed to break Blacklist’s back-to-back champion streak and closed the M4 World Championship with a landslide victory of 4-0.


New Superman Animated Movie Boasts An All-Star Cast

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has revealed new details about Superman: Man of Tomorrow, which will be next animated DC Universe Movie scheduled for release after Justice League Dark: Apokolips War premieres next week.
The new Superman: Man of Tomorrow animated movie will see Clark Kent working as an intern for the Daily Planet and learning on the job how to save the city of Metropolis, which means that this will be a young and inexperienced version of Superman.
Darren Criss (best known for his role as Blaine Anderson in the Glee TV series) will be voicing Clark Kent AKA Superman himself, while Zachary Quinto (best known for portraying Spock in the Star Trek reboot movies) will be voicing his nemesis, Lex Luthor.
The rest of the cast boasts even more star power too:

 Alexandra Daddario as Lois Lane
Brett Dalton as Lobo
Ryan Hurst as Parasite
Ike Amadi as Martian Manhunter

Directed by Chris Palmer, the creative team for Superman: Man of Tomorrow also features screenwriter Tim Sheridan, and supervising producer Butch Lukic. It is slated to release sometime this summer on Digital and Blu-ray.
In the meantime, check out the exclusive image below, courtesy of EW:


Watch: Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp – Official Trailer

Marvel just recently released first trailer for the upcoming Ant-Man and The Wasp movie which is set to hit screens this 6th of July.
[wpvideo iiqxMm7i]
It’s looking good guys!
Also, wanna keep up to date with all comic book movies released this year? Then check out this feature by our resident comic book expert which lists down all comic book movies releasing this year.Â Â Â


Here’s How Twitch Will Solve Its PogChamp Conundrum

Just recently, Twitch has removed the PogChamp emote following the recent tweets and statements from the face of the emote Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez. However, the streaming platform company said it wishes to find a way for “the sentiment and use of Pog to live on” by collaborating with the streaming community.
And by the community, it means renowned folks like Sean “Day9” Plott who have been around the esports and streaming scene for a long while. Twitch seems to like Day9’s idea of a dynamic emote that randomly selects a different streamer’s “funny” face every time it is used. And thus, Twitch made it official.

You know what? In the spirit of figuring out 2021 together, let’s just roll with it for now!
Get ready for a new PogChamp every 24 hours, starting today. https://t.co/R16EyASsFx
— Twitch (@Twitch) January 8, 2021

The major difference? Twitch wishes to use a new face to take on the PogChamp role every 24 hours. The first face in the rotation is Kenny “unRooolie” McWild, who submitted himself as a candidate on 6th January. In using this upcoming rotation, Twitch may avoid a situation where they have to remove a super-popular emote that has its context changed thanks to controversial actions of the emote’s face. In this case, it’s to say silly things in support of people who unlawfully stormed a government complex.
Still, we’ll miss that PogChamp face though. Let’s post it here again for posterity; you’ve had a lovely 10 years!


Two TI9 Semi-Finalists Will Attend The ONE Dota 2 Singapore World Pro Invitational

ONE Esports and PGL will be organizing the inaugural ONE Dota 2 Singapore World Pro Invitational from 20 to 22 December 2019 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, followed by the ONE Dota 2 Jakarta World Pro Invitational from 17 to 19 April 2020 at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE BSD).
Twelve teams will be participating in the ONE Esports Dota 2 Singapore World Pro Invitational for a total prize pool of a whopping US$500,000. The group stages and playoffs will be held from 17 to 19 December 2019, prior to the main event.

â—ï¸BREAKING NEWSâ—ï¸@teamsecret and PSG.LGD have confirmed their attendance to the ONE Dota 2 Singapore World Pro Invitational! ðŸ¤©
Which other teams would you like to see in our tournament!?
Read More ðŸ‘‰ https://t.co/I6hQ6dINYZ#oneesportsgg #dota2 #pgl #singapore @PSGeSports pic.twitter.com/CTI95VWUxA
â€” ONE Esports ðŸ”œ Martial Arts Fan Fest ðŸ‡¯ðŸ‡µ (@oneesportsgg) September 6, 2019
Two teams are so far confirmed to take part in the upcoming invitational in Singapore, which includes PSG.LGD and Team Secret who managed to recently grab the third and fourth place at The International 9 last month, respectively.
The remaining ten teams will likely be revealed as we get closer to when the invitational takes place later this year. With two of the best Dota 2 teams already cinching their spot, this will be an esports competition to look out for.


This Country Wants Atomic Heart Banned On Steam & Other Platforms

Atomic Heart is a fun first-person shooter romp made by Russian developers Mundfish despite its flaws. Of course, this being a Russian-flavoured game, some countries aren’t really fans of it.
Case in point: Ukraine. Due to Russia’s war against the country, the Ukraine government said it will write an official letter to Microsoft, Sony, and Valve to remove Atomic Heart from digital stores in Ukraine itself. They added that platform holders should consider “limiting distribution” in other countries.
The Ukraine Ministry of Digital Affairs said it will send the letter owing to the “toxicity of the game” and its possibility of transferring collected user data to third parties in Russia. Here’s what Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation Alex Bornyakov has to say in a public statement:
“Regarding the situation with the release of the game Atomic Heart, which has Russian roots and romanticises communist ideology and the Soviet Union, The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine will send an official letter to Sony, Microsoft, and Valve requesting a ban on selling digital versions of this game in Ukraine.
We also urge limiting the distribution of this game in other countries due to its toxicity, potential data collection of users, and the potential use of money raised from game purchases to conduct a war against Ukraine.
According to media reports, the game’s development was funded by Russian enterprises. Therefore, we call for all users worldwide to avoid this game. We also want to emphasise that the game developers have not publicly condemned the Putin regime and the bloody war that Russia has unleashed against Ukraine.”
Mundfish is alleged to have the Russian government gain financially from the release of Atomic Heart, as the company’s investors include GEM Capital which has ties to the Russian-owned companies Gazprom and VTB Bank. Furthermore, Mundfish is partnered with VK (formerly Mail.RU), which is also majority owned by the state of Russia through Gazprombank. Also, Mundfish’s CEO Robert Bagratuni was a former Mail.RU creative director. You can basically see why people are boycotting Atomic Heart in support of Ukraine.


Get Yourself A Huge Godzilla: King Of The Monsters Statue For Less Than US$1k

Did you love Godzilla: King Of The Monsters? A lot of people did since you’ll have to be a real purist or stickler to hate a movie that highlights giant monster battles! Now you can own a pretty huge-as-heck Godzilla statue based on his Legendary/Monsterverse design.
This beast measures 18.5 inches high and 38 inches long; it’s also slated for a November release in Japan. This PVC statue from the jumbo-sized X-Plus Gigantic Series will cost you US$611.
That isn’t too bad considering most statues of this calibre will cost you close to a thousand in US$. There’s no word on an international release date, so you may want to start pre-ordering this bad boy from your friendly neighbourhood parallel importer and factor in additional shipping costs. I’m pretty sure it’ll be costly.
Pretty pictures at the bottom; I’m sure it’ll help with your purchasing decision.


The Elder Scrolls VI Is More Than 5 Years Away, Says Xbox Head

The Elder Scrolls VI was announced all the way back in 2018 but there has been little to no news about the game. During today’s trial between Xbox/Activision and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Xbox Head Phil Spencer says that the game is still more than five years away. At this point, he’s not even sure what platforms the game will be coming out on yet.
Five years from now translates to 2028, which could potentially be the earliest possible release window for the game. If that’s true, we might be seeing the game on a next-gen console.

Asked about Elder Scrolls VI platforms: "It’s so far out it’s hard to understand what the platforms will even be…" … "We’re talking about a game that’s five-plus years away"
Spencer fuzzy on whether he previously made a public statement saying it'd be Xbox-only
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) June 23, 2023

In other related news to come out of the Xbox FTC trial, it was revealed that the upcoming Bethesda MachineGames Indiana Jones game will be an Xbox exclusive and that Starfield was originally planned for the PS5 before Microsoft purchased Bethesda. Microsoft also expects that the next-gen consoles will arrive in 2028.
If The Elder Scrolls VI really is more than five years away, it’s no wonder that Bethesda hasn’t revealed anything new about the game. It’s simply too early in development, and they would want to focus on Starfield first, which launches later this year in September 2023.


Legends Of Runeterra Call Of The Mountain Expansion Is Out Now

Riot Games has released the Call Of The Mountain expansion for the Legends Of Runeterra mobile card game. This new update introduces the new region of Targon and 89 collectible cards, including 7 champions, as well as a variety of new features & content across the game.
Legends Of Runeterra Call of the Mountain is now available on PC, Android, and iOS. The new Targon region is headlined by seven new champions from the League of Legends universe including Leona, Diana, Taric, and Aurelion Sol, as well as six new gameplay mechanics that offer all-new strategies and twists on old ones.
Call of the Mountain marks the start of Legend Of Runeterraâ€™s new bi-monthly card release cadence, kicking off a three-expansion set exploring Targon. The next two expansions will follow later this year in October and December 2020, each featuring 40 collectible cards and 3 champions respectively.

New Region: Targon
On this towering mountain, cosmic beings lend their might to mortals. Astral dragons soar beyond the sky. Tribes of the faithful devote themselves to the sun and moon.
Playing Targon endows you with the ability to raise your units to new heights. You win by reaching the apex of your power and confronting enemies with awesome force. Align yourself with the celestial, and the stars themselves will ordain your victory.
New Cards, Champions, And Keywords
89 new cards51 for Targon, 38 across existing regions7 new Champions4 for Targon – Leona, Diana, Aurelion Sol, TaricNocturne (Shadow Isles), Trundle (Freljord), Lulu (Ionia) 6 new keywordsFury: When I kill a unit, grant me +1|+1.Spellshield: Negates the next enemy spell or skill that would affect me.Daybreak: Bonus if this is the FIRST card you play in a round (bonus dependent on card text).Nightfall: Bonus if this is NOT the first card you play in a round (bonus dependent on card text)Behold: Bonus if you have a type of card in play or hand (bonus dependent on card text).Invoke: Pick a Celestial card from among 3 to create in hand.Celestials are a special pool of created cards representing the constellationsabove.
New Lab: Discover Targon
Choose one of 6 preconstructed decks packed with new cards and strategies from TargonNew & updated Region RoadsTargon joins the regions of Runeterra with its own Region Road, and the Roads for Shadow Isles, Ionia, and Freljord have been extended so you can pursue all the new Champions and cards in Call of the MountainNew and returning players (or those who just like to take their time) can earn extra XP for early levels on non-Targon Region RoadsNew cosmetic itemsCosmo (guardian)Celestial Summit (Targon-themed board)4 emotes featuring Diana, Taric, Nocturne, and Lulu2 card backs – Sunrise & MoonfallNew Challenges & updated questsRanked reward icons and a new Ranked season
You can check out our full review of Legends Of Runeterra here. In the meantime, check out the trailer below:


Summer Game Fest 2021 Kickoff: All The Games

Geoff Keighleyâ€™s Summer Game Fest 2021 has kicked off with a two-hourÂ live stream earlier today.
The presentation featured more than 30 games, including new game announcements but primarily focused on updates from announced titles.
Check them out below:
Elden Ring

It’s the follow-up to From Software’s incredibly difficult action RPG series starting from Demon’s Souls/Dark Souls. This one features an open-world setting, a giant bright tree, and horseback riding.
Elden Ring is slated to release for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC on 21 January 2021. Head here for our thoughts on the game so far.

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands

A new standalone Borderlands spinoff from Gearbox Software. It’s coming in early 2022, and will feature co-op campaign play, repeatable end-game content, and customizable main characters with multiclass options. You’ll also get to meet characters like the lute-wielding Bardbarian and the Fairy Punchfather, whatever those are.
Voice casting-wise, it will star Ashly Burch as Tiny Tina, Andy Samberg as a Captain Valentine, Wanda Sykes as a robot named Frette, Will Arnett as the Dragon Lord (pictured below), and Butt Stallion.

Here’s a quote from Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford:
“Wonderlands is a culmination of over a decade of on-and-off development at Gearbox Software towards a role-playing shooter set in a fantasy universe. For me, bringing actual Borderlands guns to fight dragons, skeletons, goblins, and more in an original fantasy world imagined by the galaxy’s deadliest 13-year-old, Tiny Tina, as a new, full-featured triple-A videogame is a dream come true.”

Metal Slug Tactics

A new Metal Slug turn-based tactical game from Dotemu, Leikir Studio, and SNK, coming to PC via Steam.

Death Stranding Director’s Cut

Hideo Kojima announced Death Stranding Director’s Cut for the PS5.

Jurassic World Evolution 2

Jurassic World Evolution 2 is coming to the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC sometime in 2021. It’s the sequel to the original Jurassic World Evolution, which is basically Zoo Tycoon but with dinosaurs.

Lost Ark

Publisher Amazon Games and developer Smilegate will release free-to-play RPG Lost Ark for PC via Steam in fall 2021.

Salt And Sacrifice

Ska Studios has announced Salt And Sacrifice for PS5, PS4, and PC. It’s the sequel to Salt And Sanctuary, and features the same 2D Dark Souls-like action RPG you love from these types of indie titles. It will launch in Q1 2022 for PS4 and PS5.

Solar Ash

Publisher Annapurna Interactive and developer Heart Machine Solar Ash have released a new narrated gameplay video of third-person action platformer Solar Ash.
It is slated for PS5, PS4, and PC via the Epic Games Store in 2021.

Valorant New Agent

Spotted @summergamefest ? pic.twitter.com/JBYWJvaEk4
— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) June 10, 2021

Escape From Tarkov

Two Point Campus

Publisher Sega and developer Two Point Studios have announced Two Point Campus for PS5, Xbox Series, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC (Steam). It will launch in 2022.

Stranger Things Smite

Stranger Things is coming to Smite on 13 July 2021.

The Anacrusis

The Anacrusis is a four-player, cooperative first-person shooter set aboard a massive starship stranded at the edge of explored space. Team up with your friends in an infinitely replayable fight against alien hordes to unlock perks, weapons, and new ways to play that you can share with your team.

Rocket League Fast 9

Starting 17 June 2021, you won’t have teammates, you’ll have a crew. Gather your squad and leave the busters at home with the Fast & Furious 3-Car Bundle, featuring the Fast & Furious Nissan Skyline, Fast & Furious Dodge Charger, and the all-new Fast & Furious Pontiac Fiero! The bundle comes with Wheels and 17 Decals, including the new Reel Life Decals that are taken straight from the Fast & Furious saga.

Vampire The Masquerade Bloodhunt

Vampire The Masquerade Bloodhunt is a battle royale game coming to PC (Steam) in 2021.
The Dark Pictures Anthology House Of Ashes

The Dark Pictures Anthology House Of Ashes will launch for PS5, Xbox Series, PS4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam on 22 October 2021.

Tales Of Arise

Tales Of Arise is slated to release for PS5, Xbox Series, PS4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam on 10 September 2021 worldwide. The latest trailer introduces two new characters: Captain Kisara the Dahnan armour-wearing protector and Dohalim il Qaras the red-headed eccentric spear-wielder.

Sky

Thatgamecompany confirmed today that Sky Children Of The Light will be coming to Nintendo Switch on 29 June 2021. It will also be holding a collaboration with Le Petit Prince starting in July 2021.
Planet Of Lana

Publisher Thunderful and developer Wishfully have announced the cinematic puzzle adventure game Planet Of Lana for Xbox Series, Xbox One, and PC. It will launch in late 2022.

Overwatch 2

Check out the new skins above:
Monster Hunter Stories 2

Monster Hunter Stories 2 Wings Of Ruin is coming to the Nintendo Switch on 9 July 2021.

Endless Dungeon

Endless Dungeon is coming to the Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Fall Guys NieR Automata

NieR Automata skins are coming to Fall GuysÂ on 18 June 2021.

? BECOME AS BEANS ?
2B vaults into @FallGuysGame on June 18th! pic.twitter.com/IuT5ySXda0
— Mediatonic ? ? Fall Guys: Free for All!! (@Mediatonic) June 10, 2021

Back 4 Blood

The Back 4 Blood open beta will kick off on 5 August 2021, before its full release on 12 October 2021 for PC, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5 and PS4. However, you’ll need to pre-order the game to be able to access the beta testing phase.
Tribes Of Midgard

Tribes Of Midgard will launch for PS5, PS4, and PC via Steam on 27 July 2021.

Evil Dead The Game

Evil Dead The Game will be released for PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

Among Us

Among Us will add a new hide and seek mode, new roles, new colours and cosmetics, achievements and map 5 in development.

Call Of Duty Black Ops Cold War Warzone Season 4

A sneak peek at Season 4.

You can check out the full live stream below:


Star Trek Lower Decks Animated Series Is Beaming Down In August

CBS All Access has announced that its new half-hour animated comedy series Star Trek: Lower Decks will premiere on 6 August 2020. Following the premiere, new episodes of the seriesâ€™ 10-episode first season will be available to stream weekly.
Developed by Emmy Award-winner Mike McMahan (best known for Rick and Morty and Solar Opposites), Star Trek: Lower Decks focuses on the support crew serving on one of Starfleetâ€™s least important ships, the U.S.S. Cerritos, in 2380.
Ensigns Mariner, Boimler, Rutherford and Tendi have to keep up with their duties and their social lives, often while the ship is being rocked by a multitude of sci-fi anomalies. The Starfleet crew residing in the â€œlower decksâ€ of the U.S.S. Cerritos, includes:

Ensign Beckett Mariner, voiced by Tawny Newsome.
Ensign Brad Boimler, voiced by Jack Quaid.
Ensign Tendi, voiced by NoÃ«l Wells.
Ensign Rutherford, voiced by Eugene Cordero.
Captain Carol Freeman, voiced by Dawnn Lewis.
Commander Jack Ransom, voiced by Jerry Oâ€™Connell.
Lieutenant Shaxs, voiced by Fred Tatasciore.
Doctor Tâ€™Ana, voiced by Gillian Vigman.

Titmouse (Big Mouth), the Emmy Award-winning independent animation production company, serves as the animation studio for the series. Star Trek: Lower Decks is the first animated series to join the expanding Star Trek franchise on CBS All Access, which includes Star Trek: Picard; Star Trek: Discovery, and the upcoming recently-announced Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, as well as the in-development Section 31 series with Michelle Yeoh and a CG-animated Star Trek series aimed at younger audiences for Nickelodeon.


Apex Legends Cross-Progression Development Disrupted By Hacks

Respawn Entertainment’s Apex Legends has recently been getting attacked by hackers, who recently even blocked players from accessing the battle royale. Unfortunately, this has had a negative impact on the work and development of Apex Legends’ highly-anticipated cross-progression feature.
Earlier this week, Apex Legends game director Chad Grenier replied to a question about the game’s cross-progression on Twitter.
He said:
“In development, although recent hacks on Apex and TF have slowed down the progress of it”. He added that the studio needed to “context switch to solving live game issues”.

In development, although recent hacks on Apex and TF have slowed down the progress of it as we context switch to solving live game issues.
— Chad Grenier (@ChadGrenier) July 10, 2021

Don’t get this confused with cross-platform play, which was already implemented in Apex Legends last year. However, players have been unable to transfer progress between accounts on different platforms and it’s going to take a while longer yet before cross-progression gets added to the game.
Apex Legends has suffered from
Apex Legends launched on SteamÂ in November 2020 and on theÂ Nintendo Switch earlier this year. With more platforms, there are more ways than ever before for hackers to hack into the game. Titanfall 2 was also recently targeted by hackers, who brought down the servers as recent as last night. is once again being targeted by hackers. Earlier this year, Respawn confirmed that they would crack down on hackers and cheaters.


Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection Kicks Shell End Of August

Konami and developer Digital Eclipse have announced the release date of its Ninja Turtles classic games collection, not wanting to be left out of the collection jamboree that Capcom started.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection will be out for PC (Steam), Xbox Series, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch this 30th August. The collection includes both the Japanese and US versions of the following games:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (Arcade)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (NES)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project (NES)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (NES)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (Super Nintendo)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (Super Nintendo)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist (Sega Genesis)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (Sega Genesis)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of The Foot Clan (Game Boy)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back From The Sewers (Game Boy)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue (Game Boy)

All 13 games will feature the ability for players to replay and save states, meaning you can eventually beat some of them, especially that goddamn water level with the seaweed in the NES TMNT game. You also gain access to a ton of artwork and sketches made for the games, meaning tons of classic behind-the-scene material for your perusing pleasure.
Check out the trailer below (via IGN):

Want to find out the best 90s TMNT game ever made? Check out our listicle!


Kakuchopurei’s Best of 2019: Devotion

As time goes by, it becomes more difficult to make an impressive horror game. It’s one of those genres that heavily relies on a select number of tropes and cliches but Devotion manages to make a modern horror game that will stick in the minds of those who play it.

Developed by Taiwanese studio Red Candle Games, Devotion tells the tragic story of a family falling apart due to illness, financial struggles, and also some unnatural causes. Characters and plotlines unravel as you explore environments and interact with objects of significance.
Through and through, the game is a walking simulator. It entirely depends on its atmosphere and few but efficient jump scares to maintain interest. Thankfully, it’s one of those games you’d want to write a 1000-word essay on how good the atmosphere is done.

Your character’s slow walking speed and the combination of eerily beautiful environments and unnerving music work very well in maintaining a consistent sense of dread. Make no mistake, Devotion is scary as heck and it rarely depends on jump scares to frighten you.
As much as we’d want for more people to play Devotion, that’s pretty much impossible now. The Chinese government has permanently removed the game from all online stores and only those who downloaded it while it was still being sold are able to keep the game. There are always other dubious ways to experience this; it’s just a shame that we won’t be able to reward the developers for this new take on atmospheric gaming horror.


Malaysian Second Batch PS5 Pre-Orders To Begin Tomorrow

Sony Malaysia has announced that they are opening the second batch of official pre-orders for the PlayStation 5 starting from tomorrow on 8 January 2021.
Those interested will have to visit either Sony Store KLCC or Sony Store The Curve, both of which will be open from 10am to 10pm daily.
The PS5 Digital Edition will be available at RM1,869 while the PS5 Standard Edition will be available for RM2,299.
However, it’s worth pointing out that while pre-orders for the second batch will begin tomorrow, we still don’t know when the new PS5 stock will arrive or even how many of them are available.
Due to that reason, anyone interested in grabbing their own PS5 will have to be quick starting tomorrow.

https://www.facebook.com/SonyMalaysia/posts/10164971144585601

Other PlayStation-authorized stores, like Alfa Game Store at IOI Mall Puchong, will also be opening pre-orders for PS5 starting tomorrow. For the full list of PlayStation-authorized stores, head on over here.

https://www.facebook.com/AlfaGameCentre/posts/2722130328036502


Wild Hearts Is A Familiar-Yet-Fun Monster-Hunting Ride

Platform(s): PC (version reviewed), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X | S
Genre: Open-World Hunting Game
If you’re a fan of Capcom’s Monster Hunter, you’ll definitely see some similarities with Wild Hearts. They both involve exploring big, open areas either on your own or with friends to take down giant monsters and use their parts to make better gear.
The folks at Omega Force, who made the Toukiden games, know a thing or two about this type of game. But they’re not just copying the formula. Wild Hearts has its own thing going on thanks to the Karakuri system, which sets it apart from other monster-hunting games out there.
Wild Hearts takes place in Azuma, a fantastical world that draws inspiration from feudal Japan. The game’s setting is a secluded corner of this world where the people of Azuma are locked in a struggle against a formidable enemy.

The Kemono, giant creatures imbued with elemental power, have forced the humans back to their last bastion, the fortified settlement of Minato. As a Kemono hunter with a mysterious past, you gain the ability to use Karakuri, a lost technology, to aid the people of Minato in their fight against the Kemono.
Your goal is to help drive the Kemono back into a state of quiescence and restore peace to the land of Azuma.

Imagine Fortnite but with Monsters

In the world of Wild Hearts, Karakuri is an ancient technology that hunters use to create all sorts of impressive gadgets out of nothing. In the game, Karakuri is a really cool crafting system that has lots of different uses, both in and out of battles. You get started with what is called Basic Karakuri, which let you make a wooden crate that launches you into the air when you hop on top of it. You can stack up to three crates at a time to get even more height.
This comes in handy when you’re exploring or fighting monsters (known as Kemono) in Wild Hearts. You can leap off the crates and slam down onto your enemies, or use the extra altitude to dodge attacks that cause lava or poison clouds. Most Karakuri serve a double purpose, like a springboard that helps you dodge and close in on Kemono, or a glider that helps you cross long gaps and get above monsters for a sneaky aerial assault.
As you get more familiar with Karakuri in Wild Hearts, you’ll find that it’s pretty easy to whip up these gadgets and use them in fights. Building stuff like a crate, a springboard, or a torch becomes almost like second nature, and it’s just as important as knowing how to wield your weapon. As you progress, you’ll get access to Fusion Karakuri, which are made by combining different Basic Karakuri to make even bigger and cooler machines.
For example, stacking nine crates in three rows creates a solid wall that can block incoming attacks or stop a rampaging Kemono dead in its tracks, launching the creature into the air and leaving it vulnerable on the ground. You can also summon massive hammers, powerful bombs, and blinding firework cannons that can knock flying foes out of the sky.
It’s so satisfying to create a device out of nowhere and use it to gain an upper hand against a massive monster, but Wild Hearts manages to keep the tension that’s typical of this type of game. Building each gadget requires a special resource called Celestial Thread, so you can’t just make as many as you want.
You can collect more thread by chopping down trees and rocks, or by targeting a Kemono’s weak spots to extract it from its body. This means that you have to be strategic with how and when you use Karakuri, but it’s also an incentive to play with other people since you can pool your resources together.
You could construct a barrier to shield a teammate who’s stunned, all jump from the same platform to deliver a coordinated aerial assault or help out a friend who’s run out of Celestial Thread to finish building a gadget.

Better With Friends

In Wild Hearts, there are many ways to team up and hunt monsters with others. It’s easy to do, whether you want to play with your friends or join up with some strangers. You can look for sessions that are taking on specific hunts, offer help to someone else in need, ask for help yourself, or create your own party.
The best part is that the game has cross-play, so you can group up with people on different platforms. If you’re playing with others, you can revive each other when you fall in battle. While you still only have three lives to share between the group, having teammates around to help you back up makes the game feel less punishing than other monster-hunting games.
If you’re planning to go it alone in Wild Hearts, be warned: there are some seriously challenging moments that may leave you feeling overwhelmed. The biggest hurdle is the Deathstalker, a formidable Kemono that can wipe out even the most seasoned players.
I myself had to spend several hours crafting new gear and weapons, and learning how to exploit the monster’s elemental weaknesses before I could finally bring it down. And even then, it took several attempts to succeed. While playing with others is definitely easier and more enjoyable, there’s no doubt that some players prefer to go solo. However, I’d caution against it, as the sudden spike in difficulty could prove too much for some.
That said, the game’s cooperative features make it a standout in the genre, and the communal spirit is sure to appeal to players looking for a more social experience.
In Wild Hearts, the Karakuri can be easily broken by the fierce Kemono, whether it’s Basic or Fusion. However, Dragon Karakuri, which can be unlocked on each of the game’s four islands, persist throughout the game unless you manually dismantle them. They draw from Dragon Pits instead of Celestial Thread and allow you to create bigger and better tools like zip lines, wind vortexes, and even giant wheels you can drive around in.
Incorporating these helpful traversal tools into your gameplay not only makes it easier, but it can also enhance the experience for others playing the game. Players can leave these tools in each other’s worlds, creating a positive impact long after they have left. The Karakuri mechanic in Wild Hearts is already enjoyable, but the social aspect of some of the constructions takes it to the next level.

Pick Your Poison—I Mean Weapon

When you’re not using Karakuri to create helpful tools, you’re wielding one of eight unique weapon types to take down your prey. These weapons range from a swift katana to a heavy maul and a powerful hand cannon, and each one has its own quirks, including distinct gauges that let you deal massive damage once a specific condition has been met.
For instance, by attacking and stringing together combos with the katana, a gauge gradually fills up, which, when full, enables Unbound mode, turning the blade into a whip-like weapon that inflicts extra damage for a brief time.
Additionally, the Karakuri Staff can transform into five different forms: a staff, polearm, shuriken, dual blades, and a massive blade; whereas the Bladed Wagasa is an umbrella that focuses on counter-attacks and aerial manoeuvres.
The majority of Wild Hearts’ weapons are fairly easy to grasp, but there are a few exceptions. Luckily, their simplicity is compensated by the various ways in which they interact with the different Karakuri. For example, the slow but heavy-hitting Nodachi isn’t as much of a hindrance when you can use springs to quickly navigate around a Kemono. Meanwhile, crates and gliders provide ample opportunities to unleash the katana’s powerful jumping attacks.
The Karakuri feels like an extension of each weapon, providing additional offence, defence, and mobility. Plus, crafting the initial version of each weapon type is affordable, and there’s a training area that explains how to perform each move, making it simple to experiment and choose the right weapon for your play style. However, the upgrade tree for weapons can be quite limiting, forcing you to repeatedly fight low-level monsters before you can create stronger tools.
No matter which weapon you select, Wild Hearts’ combat is intense and exciting. Each swing feels weighty and significant, and you have to choose your moments to attack carefully so you’re not left vulnerable. The satisfaction of severing monster parts from their bodies is always a treat, and the game’s orchestral score is both awe-inspiring and terrifying, evoking the atmosphere of classic Japanese cinema with its use of traditional instruments. However, the lock-on system can be problematic, as it frequently obstructs your view of the action, making it more of a hindrance than a help.

The Beasts

Taking down the Kemono is at the heart of Wild Hearts, and the creatures are a sight to behold. They’re gargantuan versions of ordinary animals, like rats, boars, and even crows, each one has undergone a dramatic mutation. What’s more, these beasts are infused with nature, which enables them to attack you with noxious fungal spores and writhing roots that burst forth from the earth. Fighting each Kemono is a distinct experience that requires unique strategies, and mastering the best approach is a satisfying experience that showcases the full range of your abilities.
In terms of the monster designs, they’re generally visually pleasing, although the rest of the game isn’t always up to par. Wild Hearts takes place in a fantasy version of feudal Japan called Azuma, with each area possessing its own distinct characteristics, ranging from Harugasumi Way’s lush hills to the rocky beaches of Natsukodachi Isle, and the dilapidated Fuyufusagi Fort, now covered in perpetual snow. While there are certainly some breathtaking landscapes, the low-quality textures and occasional blurriness detract from the overall beauty. However, it’s important to note that Wild Hearts also faces performance issues, despite its appearance.
Even with a PC setup that meets the recommended system requirements, I experienced some stuttering and frame rate problems while playing Wild Hearts. These issues were particularly noticeable during non-combat moments, but I did encounter some freezes during fights as well.
Unfortunately, reducing the graphics quality didn’t help, as I encountered the same issues at both the highest and lowest presets. Although there have been some minor improvements with recent updates, there is still work to be done to resolve these technical problems. However, Omega Force has promised additional fixes, so hopefully, the performance issues will be resolved in the near future.
Despite the game being familiar to other big game-hunting action titles, particularly Capcom’s pioneer series, Wild Hearts’ fast-paced building mechanics adds a breath of fresh air that makes it stand out. Technical shortcomings aside, EA and Koei Tecmo’s offering entertains with its polished gameplay loop and much-needed quality-of-life improvements.

Final Score: 80/100


Tom Hanks Tested Positive For Covid-19 Coronavirus

Even Hollywood isn’t safe from the Covid-19.
Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson has tested positive for the coronavirus while in Australia. The couple were there to shoot a movie about Elvis Presley. In a statement on Twitter, Hanks said that he and Wilson had taken the test after experiencing symptoms.

“We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches. Rita had some chills that came and went. Slight fevers too,” the actor wrote. “To play things right, as is needed in the world right now, we were tested for the Coronavirus, and were found to be positive.”

pic.twitter.com/pgybgIYJdG
— Tom Hanks (@tomhanks) March 12, 2020

Now that they’ve been tested positive, the two will be “tested, observed, and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires”.
In an Instagram video, Hank’s son Chet reassured fans of his parents’ safety, saying, “I just got off the phone with him. They both are fine, they’re not even that sick. They’re not worried about it, they’re not tripping, but they’re going through the necessary health precautions.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9ndANjpBeM/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
He added, “I appreciate everyone’s concern and the well-wishes, but I think it’s all gonna be alright.”
With Hanks having a reputation for being a nice guy (he even played the role of another nice guy, the late Fred Rogers, in the movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood), the situation is a sobering reminder that the Covid-19 coronavirus doesn’t discriminate.
While we wish for the speedy recovery of him, his wife, and everyone who has been infected, we should also emulate the Hanks’ cautious actions and take their reminder to take care of ourselves to heart.


Here Are The Apex Legends Voidwalker Patch Notes

Voidwalker, Apex Legends latest character-focused event has just started and it brings with it a host of exciting new features such as a limited time game mode, changes to the King Canyon’s map, and of course, new skins. For more info on the event, read here.
The update also comes along with a new patch that fixes a number of bug plus introducing a few quality of life improvements. Check out the full patch notes and info on some of the features available in the Voidwalker Themed Event:

Double XP for Top 5 and Wins Weekend

From 10AM PT on 6 September to 10AM PT on 9 September, players will earn double XP for Top 5 finishes and wins. This bonus will affect both Account Level and Battle Pass progression.

Limited-Time Mode – Armed and Dangerous

Shotguns and Snipers only

Enabled Guns: Mozambique, Peacekeeper, EVA-8, Longbow, G7, Triple Take

Attachments not used by Snipers or Shotguns are disabled
Gold variants of weapons spawn in High Tier loot zones and in airdrops
Kraber and Mastiff loot values are tuned so they spawn in late-game airdrops and very rarely as ground loot (1-2 per game each)
Reduced Armor

Disabled Loot: Armor (Blue/Purple/Gold), Helmets (Blue/Purple/Gold)
Spawn rate for Common Armor and Helmets is reduced.

Ground Loot Drop Chances are reduced by 45% (Supply Bins are not affected by this)
Bullet Counts and Stacks are modified

Light Rounds: 16 per drop, 32 per inventory slot
Energy Rounds: 16 per drop, 32 per inventory slot
Heavy Rounds: 7 per drop, 14 per inventory slot
Shotgun Rounds: 7 per drop, 28 per inventory slot

Overall, loot density is reduced, but ammo/weapon spawn rates are increased and stack sizes are increased to offset the loot scarcity and allow players to have enough ammo to not discourage combat.
Increased spawn rates for syringes to compensate for lower loot density.
Reduced spawn rates for shield batteries to match rarity of armor.

Bug Fixes

Fixed a bug where sometimes a playerâ€™s reward would not display properly after completing a challenge that awards crafting metals.
Fixed a bug where sometimes players would see a different rare skin equipped to the Legend they are spectating when hanging from a ledge.
Fixed some issues related to script errors.
[Xbox] Fixed issue where sometimes players would have issues connecting to a match at the same time as their party forcing them to join Legend Select late with Legends already locked.
[PS4] code fixes to address crashes related to out of memory issues.
Fixed a bug where sometimes players would still be in an out of bounds state when they are not actually out of bounds.

Quality of Life

New Promo Window – A new feature weâ€™ve added to the Lobby that will display offers and info and allows for direct navigation to the website or store.
Added Auto Sprint feature to all platforms that can be turned on or off. This is disabled by default and can be changed in the Settings menu.
Players can now adjust Aim Down Sight look sensitivity per optic zoom level.
Visual improvements to Legends in the Lobby and Character Select screen

Increased overall brightness.
Softer/lighter shadows.
Improved reflections on hard surfaces.
Improved detail and contrast to textures.

Added UI to the Spectator View that lets players easily tell if they are spectating a squadmate or enemy.
Added setting to disable weapon auto switching when ammo runs out.

Weapons

Increased projectile width for the TripleTake

SMG weapons are no longer compatible with the 3x HCOG and 2x-4x variable ACOG scopes.

Note from design: Our goal with this change is to better define weapon archetypes and improve the looting experience so that players arenâ€™t accidentally picking up a long range site for a close range weapon that they have to manually remove.

Legends
Wattson

Wattson will now have low profile attributes [takes %5 more damage to base health]
Reduced the maximum number of Interceptor Pylons that can be active to 1.

Bloodhound
Fixed an issue that allowed players to cancel the start up animation for their ultimate when activated while using a zipline.
For more information, read EA’s official blogpost here.