Sonic The Hedgehog Is Getting His Own LEGO Set On New Year’s

2022 looks like it’s going to be a big year for Sonic The Hedgehog and Sega. Not only will the blue blur be getting a new live-action movie, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, and a brand new current-gen game, Sonic Frontiers, he will also finally be getting his very own LEGO set.
The LEGO Group and Sega announced Tuesday that the LEGO Ideas Sonic The Hedgehog Green Hill Zone Set will launch on 1 January 2022 for US$69.99.
The LEGO Ideas Sonic The Hedgehog Green Hill Zone Set will recreate the look and feel of the original Sonic The Hedgehogâ€™s opening level, complete with grassy green hills, checkered terrain, and a loop. The 1,125-piece set includes five mini-figures (Sonic The Hedgehog, Dr. Eggman, Moto Bug, Crabmeat, and Phantom Ruby) and an interactive Technic lever to launch Sonic (or his enemies) into the air. Power-ups, including golden rings, Super Speed, and shield boxes, are also included, as well as the Chaos Emeralds.
Sonicâ€™s new LEGO set was created as part of the LEGO Ideas program, in which fans and amateur builders can submit their own design ideas for new LEGO sets. The LEGO Ideas Sonic The Hedgehog Green Hill Zone Set was submitted by Viv Grannell, whose Ideas submission was confirmed to go into production in February 2021.
However, this won’t be the first time that Sonic will receive the LEGO treatment. He also had a LEGO set back in 2016 as part of LEGO Dimensions.
The LEGO Ideas Sonic The Hedgehog Green Hill Zone Set will be available both in person at LEGO stores and at LEGOâ€™s official website for US$69.99 starting from 1 January 2022.

InÂ Sonic The Hedgehog 2,Â after settling in Green Hills, Sonic is eager to prove he has what it takes to be a true hero. His test comes when Dr. Robotnik returns, this time with a new partner, Knuckles, in search of an emerald that has the power to destroy civilizations. Sonic teams up with his own sidekick, Tails, and together they embark on a globe-trotting journey to find the emerald before it falls into the wrong hands.
Sonic The Hedgehog 2Â stars James Marsden, Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Adam Pally, and Jim Carrey returning, alongside new additions Shemar Moore, with Idris Elba as the voice of Knuckles, and Colleen Oâ€™Shaughnessey as the voice of Tails.
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 premieres in cinemas on 28 April 2022. In the meantime, check out the trailer below:


Apex Legends Starts Off 2020 With 7 Time Limited Game Modes

Within a short timespan, battle royale games became the craze of the entire world. Despite having major titles like Fortnite and PUBG dominating the market, Apex Legends came late to the party and still managed to stand out. It’s why a lot of people consider it one of their favourite 2019 releases.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXftfAdaq-Q&w=560&h=315]
Respawn’s first person shooter battle royale is starting the new year with a bang. From 14 January to 28 January 2020, players can take part in the Grand SoirÃ©e Arcade Event. There will be a special game mode cycled every two days in the event.
Here’s the timeline of the event and the respective game modes you’ll be able to play:

Gold Rush Duos – 14, 15 January

Gold weapons only with you and a friend.

LIVE. DIE. LIVE – 16, 17 January

Automatically respawn on living squadmates when the ring closes.

Third-Person Mode – 18, 19 January

A classic out-of-body experience.

Always Be Closing – 20, 21 January

Keep on the move, avoiding big damage from a ring that won’t slow down.

Armed and Dangerous on World’s Edge – 22, 23 January

Shotguns and sniper rifles only, with limited armour.

Kings Canyon After Dark – 24, 25 January

Play on Kings Canyon at night.

DUMMIEs Big Day – 26, 27, 28 January

“The game ain’t gonna test itself.”

If all that isn’t exciting enough, the event’s “Roaring Twenties” theme also brings along a bunch of purchasable and unlockable cosmetics. The new gun skins are cool but what you should really be aiming for are the new formal duds sported by Pathfinder, Bangalore, and others.
Here are some of the new cosmetics coming in this update:

As shown in the event timeline image I posted above, you can rack up points to unlock new cosmetics and badges. There will even a Bonus Scoring Weekend from 17 January to 20 January where you can get an extra 500 points by completing challenges.
There will be a total of six legendary skins which you can either craft or buy from the in-game store. Some of the skins and other featured items can be bought at a US$5 price point. Do take note that the skins will be rotating throughout the event so check often!
For more information on the event, you can read Respawn’s official blogpost here.


Wolfenstein: Youngblood Succeeds At Making Killing Nazis Feel Like A Chore

Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch
Genre: Nazi-shooting simulator set in ’80s alternate Paris feat. two hillbilly twins
In this Wolfenstein sequel, you play as one of the twin daughters of B.J. Blazkowicz, the man who killed Adolf Hitler. You get a super-suit that allows you to become invisible, jump around like you’ve got pogo sticks for legs, and run into enemies with the sturdiness of a brick wall. Your job is simple: Find your missing dad and kill every single Nazi that gets in your way. And you can do it all with a buddy!
With a premise that awesome, I approached Wolfenstein: Youngblood with an optimistic outlook of “What can go wrong?”
Almost everything, apparently.

It’s Time To Hunt Nazis, Again
Let’s start with what Youngblood does right because there’s not much. The shooting is pretty decent. Most guns feel pretty good and it’s quite satisfying every time you put a bullet in a Nazi soldier. My personal favourite is the Kugelgewehr which is the game’s automatic shotgun. I can feel a little elevated every time I fire that baby.
There’s also a bunch of other quirky and cooler weapons like a laser rifle and a lightning gun but they’re handicapped by the fact that you never really feel the need to use them except for opening doors and boxes. I’ll explain this in a bit.

When it comes to visuals, the game can go from looking a bit bland to being outright gorgeous. Particle effects from laser weapons and the overall lighting are done really well. The way your weapons look and the designs of the Nazi troops and mechs are all just plain awesome. There’s not much to complain here; they did a great job.

The soundwork is just okay. None of the music really stuck with me. in fact, all I remember is some of the catchy German songs that you’d find being played in the Nazi’s bedrooms. Except for the two main characters, I found that the voice acting was pretty good for the other four or five other major characters. The other NPCs only existed to give you side missions and they’re forgettable at best.

You don’t have to worry about the game’s atmosphere. The city of Neu-Paris is wonderfully decorated with bright red Nazi banners and flags and you’ll always be hearing a Nazi commander dishing out orders or just having a chat in stylistically oppressive German tones. It’s Nazi-occupied Europe and the game never fails to remind you that.
But Now With A Friend!
Youngblood’s game-changer is supposed to be its co-op feature. The idea that you and a pal will liberate Neu-Paris from the clutches of Nazi scum is something that probably everyone would love. Truth be told, the game can actually be fun with a friend; shooting Nazis in tandem, covering each other’s back while buffing each other with the pep bonus.
But what happens when your friend is unavailable or you’re simply one of those people who’d rather play with an A.I.? Well, that’s at least 80% of the game’s enjoyment gone. The A.I. doesn’t do a horrible job of keeping out of your way and simultaneously holding her own against enemies. The A.I. will go invisible when you’re sneaking and will teleport to you whenever you need to interact with something that requires both characters. Nothing special but it does what it needs to do.

Unfortunately, there’s no way you can issue orders for coordinated stealth kills or any other things you’d usually expect from a game with a permanent A.I. partner. There are boss battles where it’d really be helpful if one sister could aggro the boss so that I could shoot its weak spot but the A.I. usually just follows you around so it can’t be done. It’s not the best; hope you have a dependable friend who can join you in some co-op Nazi-shooting.

Furthermore, there’s no pausing the game even if you’re only playing with the A.I. I don’t know why it’s designed that way and it gets really frustrating at times. If you’re one of those gamers who might need to attend children or any other urgent matter at random times, bear this in mind.

Trying to play the game with randoms is also an extremely frustrating endeavour. First of all, the options are bare-bones. You either host a public session that anyone can join or you click on “quickmatch” and the game randomly pairs you with a host. There’s no filtering of missions or level. Matchmaking is pretty much non-existent.

I played around 6 co-op sessions with strangers and I never got matched with anyone who was at the same point in the story as I was. Before I jumped into a random co-op game, I only managed to complete one story mission.
Every other match I joined was either with someone who just had just beat the introductory mission or was almost done with the story missions. There was only once that I got paired with someone who was around the same level I was. More on the levelling system later.
Everyone else was either really underleveled or way overleveled. It’s really stupid and I gave up on playing co-op after I was done with two story missions. Why can’t the game do some sort of behind-the-scenes scaling so that everyone can have a fun time together on equal terms?
An Unwelcome Addition
One of the greatest pleasures of playing a Wolfenstein game is that you really get to let loose. You move fast and shoot the heck out of Nazis. There’s no time for careful rational thinking. Run, shoot, decapitate, decimate, repeat. It’s simple and it’s absolutely fun. The double jump skill and the “open-ended” levels help make this part fun.

But then, Wolfenstein: Youngblood shows off an early red flag: a levelling system. An extremely pointless levelling system at that.

Every kill and completion of objectives gets you experience points. Collect enough EXP and you level up. When you level up, you gain a skill point and +2% damage increase for all weapons and skills. Here’s the catch: almost every enemy in every level/map levels up at the same pace you do.

So all that damage increase doesn’t mean a thing. I ended the game at level 39 and I honestly never felt I was any more powerful than I was at level 5. All the enemies seem to be able to soak up just as many bullets as they could at the beginning of the game. The only difference is that I have more maximum health and armour which were also kinda pointless thanks to the fact that every enemy levels up and does more damage to me anyway.
Silver coins are the in-game currency and they’re dropped by enemies, scattered throughout the levels, and rewarded after completing missions. You can use the coins to buy weapon upgrades which can actually affect your playstyle. Some upgrades will not only improve stats but also add functional parts such as a silencer or a flashlight.

Another strange addition to the game is an armour system for the enemies. This wasn’t there in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. Here’s how it works:
Every enemy that is armoured will have either one of two armour types. One is soft armour and the other is hard armour. The distinction is important because all your guns have a designated armour penetration stat. A gun that penetrates hard armour will do minimal damage to soft armour and vice versa.

This wouldn’t be a problem if you could switch between two different guns quickly. By the time the weapon switching animation is over, the Nazi supersolider in front of you has already settled down and is raising a Nazi family of his own.

Adding on top of that, the ammo for certain guns can be quite limited so I found myself never really using some of my favourite weapons that often because I wanted to make sure I had enough ammo for the correct armour types.
Remember those cool weapons like the laser gun and lightning rifle I mentioned earlier? Yeah, those have armour penetration stats too. So no matter how devastating a laser gun is, if it’s made for soft armour then it won’t be doing a thing to enemies wearing hard armour. There are doors and boxes that can only be opened by shooting with specific weapons so I ended up only using them for that.

Nazi Level-Gates
There are times in the game where you could be severely underleveled for specific missions and if you try to rush them anyway, you would go up against an enemy like a giant mech or elite soldier who’s 5 levels above you. You’d be lucky if your bullets can even tickle these guys.
It wouldn’t be much of a problem if the level-gating was only applied to the not-very-fun side missions, but it’s also used to block story progression. After completing the game’s introductory mission which also serves as a tutorial, you have to infiltrate three Nazi towers. The game will put a skull symbol to indicate that you’re under-levelled for a mission; all three story missions for the three towers have a skull.

From the get-go, you’re told to grind before you can proceed with the story and I can see why the game is designed this way. There are less than 7 story missions in the entire game. I managed to beat the game under 10 hours and even then I spent quite a few hours joining random co-op sessions to try out the multiplayer.
I wouldn’t call it a grind if the side missions were fun. There’s nothing creative or even enjoyable about them. They’re mostly repetitions of “go here and retrieve an object or rescue person”. Even when I was playing the side missions with a friend or a stranger, I was mostly filled with the desire to just get it over with so that I could go back to doing the story missions. It’s just unnecessary padding for otherwise a game that could have shined with its co-op mechanics.
Speaking of the story, you won’t find any praiseworthy dialogue or plot here which is actually fine because as far as I’m concerned, there’s no need for such things in a Wolfenstein game. As long as they make the Nazi easy to hate and avoid making everyone else annoying, that’s a win in my book. Some people will find the low-IQ and hillbilly banter between the twin sisters a bit annoying but I didn’t mind it too much.

Ich Bin Bored And Disappointed
Wolfenstein: Youngblood is one of those games that has a lot of cool ideas and concepts, but barely sticks the landing.

If the co-op matchmaking was better and the mission structure wasn’t so lazily-designed, this could’ve been a really enjoyable co-op shooter that’s worth the 8 to 10 hours. Instead, it starts off strong but fizzles and gets repetitive the longer you play it.

And the less said about the unnecessary microtransactions and XP/silver coin boosters you pay with real money, the better.
Overall, I wouldn’t recommend getting this title unless you can get it for a discount. It’s currently sold for RM118.50 on Steam, though to be fair, RM90 would be just right for what you’re getting in Bethesda’s latest.
Pros

Nice visuals at times.
Great shooting gameplay that’s better with a friend.
Decent interconnecting level design.

Cons

Unnecessary levelling system.
Badly-executed online co-op matchmaking and partner AI.
Lazy mission structure.

FINAL SCORE: 50/100


160+ Video Game Musicians Band Up For A Sweet Paper Mario Online Concert!

If you want to spend absolutely zero dollars on an awesome online concert this weekend, look no further than this Paper Mario music tribute.
A huge number of video game musicians from insaneintherain to Lena Raine have teamed up for a cover-filled online concert featuring the music of Paper Mario: The Origami King. With an intro reminiscent of the game’s papercraft tone to guest appearances from the legendary Dave Wise & Austin Wintory, this is one concert you should check out whether you love the Paper Mario series or not.


Ghost Of Tsushima Movie In The Works With John Wick Director

Sony Pictures and PlayStation Productions have announced that they are developing a live-action movie adaptation of Sucker Punch’s Ghost Of TsushimaÂ withÂ John Wick director Chad Stahelski helming the project.
According to Deadline, Stahelski, Alex Young, and Jason Spitz are producing the movie via their company 87Eleven Entertainment. Meanwhile, Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan will produce the movie on behalf of PlayStation Productions.
The other good news is that Ghost Of Tsushima developer Sucker Punch Productions will serve as executive producers and will be involved with the movie. While further details about the film were not revealed, the same report does reveal that Ghost Of Tsushima has already surpassed 6.5 million copies sold worldwide since its original launch in July 2020.
In a statement on PlayStation Blog, Sucker Punch game director Nate Fox said:
We are happy to partner with Sony Pictures to make this happen. And Jin is in very good hands with the filmâ€™s director. Chad Stahelski created something special with John Wick.
His vision for what could be, backed up by years of experience, combined to create some of the finest action scenes ever created. If anyone could bring to life the razor-sharp tension of Jinâ€™s katana combat, itâ€™s Chad Stahelski.
Also, Iâ€™m happy to say weâ€™ve sold more than 6.5 million copies of Ghost of Tsushima now, and that roughly half of those people have made it all the way through the game.
Can you believe that? Thatâ€™s around 3.25 million times the digital Mongols have been kicked out of digital Tsushima.
As a newly-appointed ambassador for the real Island of Tsushima, Iâ€™d like to formally say- visit when itâ€™s safe to, if you get a chance. The island is beautiful, the people are warm, and the history is all around you.
If youâ€™re very, very lucky youâ€™ll spot a Tsushima Cat. Then later, when the Ghost of Tsushima movie comes out, you can tell your friends about how youâ€™ve been to the beach where the Mongols landed.
I know I speak for everyone at Sucker Punch by sending out a massive THANK YOU to Ghost fans. Your support for the game is what makes opportunities like a movie come true.
Itâ€™s been a sincere pleasure checking out your photo-mode images posted online and fighting alongside you in Legends. Weâ€™re so happy to be on this ride with you.
That makes it one of the most successful PlayStation exclusives of all time. You can check out our review of the game here.


The New HP OMEN 15 Laptop Is A Powerful Steal At That Price

HP Malaysia has officially launched AMDâ€™s debut on HPâ€™s range of OMEN PCs, the HP OMEN 15 Laptop and the HP OMEN 25L Desktop PC. The HP OMEN 15 and HP OMEN 25L Desktop PC is equipped with AMD RYZEN processors and NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics.
HP OMEN 15 Laptop

With up to an AMD Ryzen 5000 Series Processors and up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060/3070, this is one powerful package at just RM3,899. It also comes with a 144hz FHD display, as well as crafted with Audio by Bang & Olufsen and equipped with Omen Tempest Cooling.
Last but not least, it comes with the OMEN Gaming Hub, where you can customize and optimize everything from performance controls to the 4 Zone keyboard.

HP OMEN Gaming Desktop PC

Powered with up to AMD RYZEN 7 processor and the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series graphics, i’s super powerful. It also comes with side tempered glass panels, a full-metal frame, and complete RGB control with OMEN Gaming Hub, as well as massive storage options, customizable filters, to ATX PSU.
In addition, you can also grab the OMEN accessories like the OMEN Vector Essential MouseÂ featuring the OMEN Radar 1 sensor and supporting up to 7,200 dpi, or the OMEN Blast Headset with 7.1 surround sound.
Pricing and Availability

OMEN 15 Laptop: Available now, starting from RM3,899 with 2 years Accidental Protection Damage coverage.
HP OMEN 25L Desktop PC: Available now, starting from RM6,899 with 3 years on-site warranty.
OMEN Vector Essential Mouse: Available now, starting from RM159.
OMEN Blast Headset: Available now, starting from RM319.

All of these are available to purchase now atÂ https://store.hp.com/my-en/default/Â or selected online store partners includingÂ LazadaÂ andÂ Shopee.


Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster Delayed To February 2022

Square Enix has announced that the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series version of Final Fantasy VI has been delayed, and will now launch for PC via Steam, iOS, and Android in February 2022.
The reason for the delay is to polish the game even further, which will require more time. Users who pre-purchase the game will receive the following items:

Special Soundtracks

â€œLockeâ€™s Theme (Timelapse Remix)â€ (newly added)
â€œThe Decisive Battle (Timelapse Remix)â€
â€œTerraâ€™s Theme (Timelapse Remix)â€
â€œSearching for Friends (Timelapse Remix)â€
â€œAria di Mezzo Carattere (Instrumental)â€ (newly added)
â€œTimelapse Remixâ€ is a special soundtrack data that starts off with the original soundtrack version, but lets you also enjoy the reworked alternative soundtrack version as the soundtrack gradually transitions to the reworked alternative soundtrack version.

Special Wallpapers

Final Fantasy VI â€“ Two types of wallpapers.
Final Fantasy I to VI â€“ Two types of Pixel Remaster series wallpapers (newly added).
Each wallpaper is available in five different sizes: 3840Ã—2160, 2560Ã—1600, 1920Ã—1080, 1280Ã—1024, and 1024Ã—768.

For the other Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters, you can buy Final FantasyÂ on the App Store for iOSÂ hereÂ and on Google Play for AndroidÂ here,Â Final Fantasy IIÂ on the App Store for iOSÂ hereÂ and Google Play for AndroidÂ here,Â Final Fantasy IIIÂ on the App Store for iOSÂ hereÂ and Google Play for AndroidÂ here,Â Final Fantasy IVÂ on the App Store for iOSÂ hereÂ and Google Play for AndroidÂ here, andÂ Final Fantasy VÂ on the App Store for iOSÂ hereÂ and Google Play for AndroidÂ here. For the PC version, head on over to the full Steam bundle page.
In the meantime, check out the trailer below:


E3 2019: You Can Complete Cyberpunk 2077 Without Killing Anyone

Mostly all of the promotional material and trailers for Cyberpunk 2077 have shown at least some degree of violence, with limb dismemberments, stabbings, and lots of shooting. A person who knows nothing about the game may think that it’s a glorified killing simulator of some kind, judging from those alone.
Even CD Projekt Red themselves have previously claimed that players can’t complete Cyberpunk 2077 without killing anyone. To any veteran CRPG or immersive sim fan who prefers to do pacifist runs in their playthroughs, that sounds extremely disappointing.
However, we have goods news for those gamers. It seems like the company has reversed its stance on the matter. According to a CD Projekt Red representative at E3 2019 (via Game Informer), players can indeed complete the entire game and reach the end credits without killing a single thing.
That’s right, a non-lethal run or pacifist run will be possible in Cyberpunk 2077. I’m sure that will turn any CRPG fan around. The challenge of attempting a pacifist run come with its own satisfaction that an all-killing spree won’t achieve.
In the meantime, head on over here for more details on Cyberpunk 2077 Collector’s Edition. Cyberpunk 2077 is slated to launch for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC on 16 April 2077.


Singapore Wins Bronze Medal For Mobile Legends 31st SEA Games 2022

With the 31st SEA Games going on, Team Singapore triumphed over Team Malaysia to secure Bronze in Mobile Legends Bang Bang (MLBB) yesterday.
IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN ESPORTS AT THE 31ST SEA GAMES THEN BE SURE TO CHECK OUT OUR ARTICLE ABOUT IT!
The 3rd place match closed out yesterday’s schedule and it was three game series in a best of three, winning 2–1 over Malaysia.
The team that stomped their way through the semifinals, with a few clutch battles between the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam is comprised of:

Stefan “Soul” Chong
Basil “Seilah” Lim
Remas “Remaniscent” Ker
Akihiro “JPL” Furusawa
Adam “Adammir” Chong
Daryl “Youngin” Ng (Coach)

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang has been an absolute hit at the 31st SEA Games this year. Peaking at 1.7 million viewers so far, I’m looking forward to seeing the turnout for the Grand Finals between the titans in Team Philippines and Team Indonesia that’s happening right as I write this.
You can check out the Grand Finals happening right now on the official SEA Games YouTube channel or MLBB Esports’ YouTube or Facebook page also.


Check Out These New Apex Legends Funko Pops

As someone who doesn’t really collect any figurines or toy models of any sort, I’m not very familiar with the hobby. However, it’s very difficult to escape the exposure of Funko Pops. These adorable big-headed figurines of beloved fictional and non-fictional characters are sold pretty much everywhere.
Not wanting to miss out on the battle royale craze, Funko has unveiled the lineup of Apex Legends Funko Pops that was previously announced at San Diego Comic Con 2019.
Check em’ out:

As you can see, the only Legends not included (yet) in the image are speed-freak Octane and Wattson who just debuted in Season 2.
Neither Funko nor Respawn has spilled any details such as release dates and pricing but it’s easy to assume that they’ll probably come out before 2020 and will (hopefully) be priced similar to most Funko Pops which aren’t as expensive as other more elaborate figurines.


Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford Steps Down As Video Game Division’s President

Gearbox Software now has a new president: former Chief Technology Officer Steve Jones.
Following a leadership shuffle, Gearbox Entertainment co-founder Randy Pitchford is stepping down as president, but will still serve as CEO and President of the Gearbox parent company. He will now work as the president of the newly-formed Gearbox Studios, which is focused on film and TV products. Long story short, the video game part of Gearbox will be run by Steve Jones, while the parent company and TV/film studio will be run by Randy Pitchford.
Basically, Pitchford will have more time meeting people like Kevin Hart who is starring in his Borderlands film, directed by Eli Roth.

Congratulations to Steve Jones, who I have recently promoted to become President of Software at The Gearbox Entertainment Company. Attached is a diagram of the high level organization chart along with excerpts from my internal staff letter announcing the promotion. pic.twitter.com/4FeX94SIW2
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) October 6, 2021

Gearbox’s video game division is hard at work on the upcoming Borderlands spin-off, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands.


Tom And Jerry Gets Kawaii Japanese Makeover

Tom And Jerry is a classic and popular American cartoon, but they’re getting a cute kawaii Japanese makeover soon. There’s going to be a brand new Japanese Tom And Jerry anime made by Cartoon Network Japan.
The synopsis reads (via PR Times):
“Tom and Jerry”, which will be broadcast for the first time in the world, is a Japanese original with the speedy and humorous movements that are the real pleasure of “Tom and Jerry”, where they keep chasing each other and fighting with each other. The character design expresses a pop and cute worldview.
Tomu, a fussy cat who can’t be hated, Jelly, a cute but clever mouse, and Taffy, a small and cute mouse, all transform into adorable characters, such as their favourite food. Transformation is also a new series that is attracting a lot of attention.
The new Tom and Jerry anime will be a series of animated shorts on Cartoon Network Japan, debuting as part of a special block of various Tom and Jerry cartoons on 11 November 2022 to commemorate Cheese Day in Japan.


Naughty Dog Explains Absence Of Multiplayer In The Last Of Us Part 2

A lot of details were unveiled last night when everyone finally revealed their hands-on experience of The Last Of Us Part 2 during a recent exclusive media event. One of the biggest news we reported about the upcoming game is that it won’t include multiplayer, like the Factions mode in 2013’s The Last Of Us.
On Twitter, The Last Of Us Part 2 developer Naughty Dog explained the absence of multiplayer in the highly-anticipated game, clarifying that they did indeed work on a multiplayer mode but that it grew into more than just an additional mode for a single-player game.
A multiplayer mode will eventually be released as a separate game from The Last Of Us Part 2, though “when or where” have yet to be determined. That could mean it will possibly even be launching on the PS5 sometime in the future.

An update regarding multiplayer: pic.twitter.com/CUd98LgJGC
â€” Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) September 27, 2019
Previous PS4 exclusive single-player games like God Of War, Horizon Zero Dawn and Marvel’s Spider-Man didn’t have multiplayer modes but went on to experience incredible sales and critical acclaim. Some games just don’t need multiplayer in any form, and they’re a much better product for it.
The Last Of Us Part 2 is slated to release on 21 February 2019. For more details and information on the different editions of the game, head on over here.
In the meantime, check out the latest trailer below.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhMma6QzR3E&w=560&h=315]


Callisto Protocol Cancelled In Japan For Excessive Gore

The upcoming survival horror game Callisto Protocol will not be out in one country: Japan.
According to a recent post on the game’s Twitter page, the space horror game with the gore and violence from ex-Dead Space developers will be cancelled in Japan following a thumbs-down from the country’s Computer Entertainment Rating Organisation (CERO). The official statement is that developer Striking Distance Studios will cancel the Japanese release of the game instead of making the changes necessary to appease the ratings board.

pic.twitter.com/fXtsIY4Fz3
— The Callisto Protocol (@CallistoGameJP) October 26, 2022

Fans from Japan who pre-ordered the game will get a refund. The reason for this hasn’t been clear, but we’re guessing the game’s excessive violence and dismemberment is the main reason. However, Japanese players can still buy the game through grey market means.
The Callisto Protocol will be out on 2nd December for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation platforms and consoles.


Total War Warhammer 3 Shows Off The Dark Forces Of Khorne

Sega and Creative Assembly have revealed Total War Warhammer 3‘s largest kingdom in the Realm of Chaos; Khorne, the god of battle, the Blood God, the Skulltaker.Â Â
Skarbrand The Exiled One â€“ Khorne Legendary Lord:

Skarbrand was once the greatest of all Khorneâ€™s daemons. Undone by his pride, he was banished from the service of the Blood God and cast from the Realm of Chaos. Forever tormented by his downfall, he wanders the mortal and immortal realms, a restless fury that cannot be stopped.Â Â

As the most powerful melee combatant to ever grace the battlefields of Total War:Â  WARHAMMER, Skarbrand has a host of unique abilities which improve his battle prowess. His twin axes, Slaughter & Carnage increase his damage output with every kill made, whilst Bellow of Endless Fury allows him to unleash a devastating fire-breath attack. Beyond these, he also has the passive ability to inflict rampage upon his weak-minded foes, rendering them incapable of retreating from the slaughter he presides over.Â

Khorne Playstyle:Â

An embodiment of their patron god, the daemons of Khorne are muscled, brutal and embrace spilling blood at every opportunity. Detesting the use of magic, they are a high-tempo army that relishes closing the distance upon the enemy with devastating impact before unleashing their vicious hand-to-hand combat skills. The longer these skull-craving warriors remain in the thick of combat, the more proficient they become at fighting as battle bonuses unlock.Â
Total War Warhammer 2 DLC:Â

Beyond the blood-drenched race-reveals for Khorne, the final Lord Pack for Total War:Â  WARHAMMER II is coming. The Silence & The Fury will feature the long-awaited return of theÂ  Beastmen led by Taurox The Brass Bull who will be dueling it out with the Oxyotl The Unseen from the Lizardmen. More information will be released at a later date, but make sure to check out the official Steam page for some early details.Â Â
Total War Warhammer 3 Pre-Order
Total War Warhammer 2 The Silence & The Fury Pre-Order


Kakuchopurei Best 30 Games Of 2022: #29

For the rest of the list, head here. For #30, head here.
#29. Scorn (Xbox Series X | S, PC)

Scorn is one of the most unique and refreshing experiences in 2022. It’s more of a first-person horror game with lots of puzzle solving, similar to the likes of games such as Alien Isolation or Silent Hill in a way. The game doesn’t tell you anything, so it’s up to you to explore and navigate through the game’s nightmarish world. Just don’t expect this to be the body horror equivalent of Doom because it’s not. If you love H.R. Giger’s aesthetics and things that are extremely alien, Scorn is something you should try playing.
Another aspect that makes Scorn a unique experience is how the narrative is told with no dialogue. There isn’t a single line of dialogue from beginning to end, and that includes readable prompts or anything that you’d usually see in other games. This might frustrate or annoy players who are used to getting everything in a straightforward or direct manner, but for those who don’t mind a more esoteric or abstract form of storytelling, Scorn is for you.
It’s available on the Xbox Game Pass as well, so there’s no reason not to try out this game if you have a subscription. Horror fans will regret not checking out Scorn, so don’t complain when the industry is lacking in good horror games if you won’t give Scorn a chance.


The Best Free Games To Pick Up & Play This Weekend

The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is still going on, and weâ€™re still stuck at home, but at least there are a lot of games out there for your entertainment, some of which are actually currently free to either play or even keep.
Check them out below to see whether any of them tickles your fancy.
Free To Play
Alien Swarm: Reactive Swarm

Grab some friends, and team up to weld doors and blast some bugs (and hopefully, not each other). While 2010’s Alien Swarm only had one campaign, Reactive Drop offers several of them, and has Mutation-like Challenges for added replayability. It’s a fun L4D2-meets-Aliens top-down shooter with several class-types, and it’s completely free.
Warframe

Warframe‘s farming won’t be for everyone, but the minute-to-minute gameplay is well-worth experiencing. You don’t hide behind cover in this third-person shooter; you glide and slide with style across the procedurally-generated levels while slaughtering enemies with guns, melee, and special powers.
There’s some repetition, but also a lot of content to experience and grind for. The developers are also happy to update this seven-year-old game with free content that introduces open-world zones and spaceship combat.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

CS:GO unexpectedly became free in 2018, so there are now fewer reasons not to jump into Valve’s 2012 update of the classic Terrorists versus Counter-Terrorists multiplayer shooter. There are fans who prefer the days of 1.6 and Source, while other players might be more tempted by Riot’s newer, upcoming Valorant, but this remains one of Steam’s most-played games.
Temporarily Free To Try
Project Winter

A multiplayer survival game themed around betrayal. Players have to cooperate while gathering resources and repairing structures, but the catch is that some among their ranks are traitors. Currently free to try on Steam for the next two days, at the time of writing.
Post Scriptum

World War 2 shooters seemed to be experiencing a bit of a resurgence over the last few years, and Post Scriptum is one such game that came out fairly recently (in 2018). Unlike Battalion 1944 and Days of War, Post Scriptum‘s multiplayer battles involve up to 80 players and lean towards tactics and immersion. It’s free to try for the next two days at the time of writing.
XCOM 2

With today’s release of spinoff XCOM Chimera Squad, it looks like the folks at Firaxis Games are giving us all an additional gift. XCOM 2 can be considered the Dark Souls of turn-based tactical strategy games. It even technically spawned its own subgenre of games, with games like Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Phoenix Point, and more. Despite being almost frustratingly-unforgiving, it also provides some of the most intense and satisfying gameplay ever.
It’s free to play from now until 30 April 2020. If you like it, the game is also 75 percent off for now.
Call Of Duty Modern Warfare

No, we’re not talking about the always free-to-play battle royale Call Of Duty Warzone, but the multiplayer portion of last year’s Call Of Duty Modern Warfare. It begins today and will run until 27 April 2020.
Players will have access to a selection of standard multiplayer maps, including five maps with both 6v6 and 10v10 options: Aniyah Incursion, Hideout, Hovec Sawmill, Talsik Backlot, and Shoot House.
It’s worth pointing out that PS4 players can play Call Of Duty Modern Warfare online without an active PS Plus account. However, it’s unclear if Xbox One players must have an Xbox Live Gold account to play during the free trial weekend.
To downloadÂ Call of Duty: Warzone (and thus the game client you need forÂ Modern Warfareâ€™s free weekend), players will need to launch the Battle.net app on PC, or visit the respective store on Xbox One or PS4. On PC, just search for Warzone, or select the game on theÂ Battle.net sidebar, and start the download.

Prep the squad. #ModernWarfare Multiplayer Free Access Weekend is coming to #Warzone. pic.twitter.com/7j3s5ODVkL
â€” Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) April 23, 2020
Temporarily Free To Keep
For The King

Part of the Epic Games Store’s weekly free offering, For The King is a combination of strategy, turn-based combat, and roguelike elements, with single-player and co-op play available. Free to keep from now till 30 April 2020 at 11pm.


LEGO Celebrates 100 Years Of Disney With Deals On LEGO Disney Sets

As Disney marks its 100th anniversary this year, The LEGO Group invites families to share the wonder of storytelling, imagination, and creative play that LEGO Disney has inspired over the last 24 years.
From now to 30 July 2023, The LEGO Group will be running a series of exciting promotions and gifts with purchases for LEGO Disney sets in celebration of Disney 100 Years of Wonder. Using the ultimate creative medium of the LEGO brick, the two long-standing partners will honour fan-favourite Disney moments and capture the magic of exciting new Disney stories through its Share the Wonder video series and Making Wonder the Series, and bring friends and families together to dream, build and create with magical new LEGO Disney products and play experiences unveiled throughout 2023.
Casper Rafn Voigt, Head of Product for LEGO Disney at The LEGO Group, said:
“Since we launched our first LEGO DUPLO Winnie the Pooh range in 1999, LEGO Disney has inspired joyful play for Disney and LEGO fans of all ages. From voyages across high seas and valiant quests, to the mesmerising magic of Disney Princess castles, LEGO Disney has enchanted families around the world by bringing fantasy to life and inspiring new adventures using the LEGO brick. We’re honoured to be collaborating with Disney to celebrate this momentous occasion as we continue to create magic and unforgettable storytelling experiences together.”

The LEGO Group kicked off its celebration of Disney’s 100th anniversary in March 2023 by recreating some of the most beloved Disney movie moments in iconic LEGO brick form as part of its #SharetheWonder video series. The three-part series featured scenes from timeless Disney and Pixar movies and encouraged fans to share their own favourite LEGO-built Disney moments on social media using #SharetheWonder.
Later in April 2023, The LEGO Group and Disney also teamed up with talents to create wondrous videos under the Making Wonder The Series that put a fun LEGO twist on popular Disney themes in honour of the storytellers, fans and families who together spark the wonder and magic of Disney. Both the Share the Wonder and Making Wonder the Series videos can be found on LEGO.com, LEGO social channels and Disney’s YouTube.

As Disney 100 is a celebration of timeless storytelling and unforgettable characters that have entertained and inspired people of all ages for a century, The LEGO Group also revealed its first collection of Disney 100 products earlier this year to help fans of all ages experience the magic of LEGO Disney storytelling.
From now to 16 July 2023, shoppers can stand a chance to receive attractive gift-with-purchases with minimum spending on any LEGO Disney-themed playsets at selected LEGO Certified Stores, LEGOLAND, Toys“R”Us Stores or LEGO Official Store on Lazada and Shopee, while stocks last.
You can also take the LEGO D100 Minifigure Quiz to discover exactly which LEGO Disney character traits you share.
For more details and information, head on over to www.LEGO.com.


New Rockstar Website Images Might Tease Their Next Game

Rockstar Games’ last major title was 2018’s Red Dead Redemption 2. Surely a massive AAA developer like them must have another game currently in development, perhaps even just in time to be announced for the next-gen console reveal later this year.
The company recently updated their official website with mysterious new art and images (via Resetera), sparking further speculation for their future games.
The first image simply depicts the iconic Rockstar Games logo against a colourful backdrop accompanied by several sentences. Those sentences are definitely interesting, to say the least, as they read:

“Killing dreams.
Murdering hope.
Fighting the righteous.
Bullying the weak.
Why don’t you tell me what went wrong?”

The image also features several numbers, which may indicate something as well.

Meanwhile, the second image shows a female android of some sort hugging the famous Rockstar Games logo next to a bucket with a bottle of champagne, as well as what seems to be rose petals strewn about.

Looking closely and zooming in to the champagne bottle reveals the number 1998, which was also the year when Rockstar Games was originally founded. It remains unclear if any of these images mean something, or simply just what they appear to be; new background art for the company’s official website.
Still, it’s fun to speculate. The first image, in particular, sounds really Bully-themed for some reason, and not just because the word ‘bullying’ is featured on it. All of this is certainly fueling the GTA VI and Bully 2 rumour train once again, especially as the games industry gears for next-gen.


Make Your Nights Epic With Samsung Galaxy’s Nightography In Kuala Lumpur This Month

To inspire the Gen Zs to break the rules of low light photography and videography, Samsung’s newest flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S22 Series launches its newest campaign – urging everyone to #MakeNightsEpic #withGalaxy in your city with the Nightography from now until 30 June  2022.
There’s something magical about city at night – the excitement, spontaneity, and beauty of it make us love our city even more, and make us want to capture every priceless moment. But light can be hard to come by when you’re snapping away in places like dimly-lit pubs and restaurants or shadow-soaked streets.

When capturing in low light, the results are always fuzzy and blurry. We often run across issues with light reflecting back into the camera lens, resulting in terrible lens flares and little light patches surrounding the light sources, such as street lights, being caught in photos.
Thankfully, Samsung has built a new low-light camera experience with bigger pixel sensor, Adaptive Pixel technology, Super Clear lens, Super Night Solution, and Auto Framerate for you to capture some of your favourite moments on a big night out. You’ll be able to produce gorgeous, clear low-light photographs and videos with no flares easily.
With Nightography, it completes the story by opening the night and all its possibilities to young city lovers. You can capture and share your epic nights in your city, all through vivid details and smoothness of the astonishing advancement in the Galaxy S22 Series camera technology.
To celebrate the launch, Samsung wants you to show them your love, how much fun you have and where you go at night. Show them who you are, how you feel and all your impromptu nighttime escapades, all together #withGalaxy. All you have to do is master all your portraits on the Galaxy S22 Series – after dark in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.
To find out more about the Samsung Galaxy S22 Night City Challenge Campaign, please visit: @samsungmalaysia (IG) and @samsungwithGalaxy (IG).
To learn more, or purchase the latest Galaxy devices, please click the respective links below:

Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G: https://www.samsung.com/my/smartphones/galaxy-s22-ultra/buy/
Galaxy S22+ | S22 5G: https://www.samsung.com/my/smartphones/galaxy-s22/buy/

*This Is A Post By Samsung*


BiliBili Announces Professional Creator Program For Video Creators In Southeast Asia

Animation video platform Bilibili launched a month-long Bilibili Professional Creator Program on 26 August 2022. Through the program, top Bilibili creators will be incentivized in a bid to enhance their willingness and overall motivation to use the Bilibili platform more. Creators from Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia are eligible to participate. Being a top-tier creator at Bilibili offers access to the platform’s resources and an opportunity to show off their work.
Previously, the program successfully launched its inaugural session in Indonesia in mid-June 2022, attracting more than 2,000 participants with a total of 10,000 video submissions. The program focused on self-produced anime, anime commentary, anime plot explanation, anime derivative work and anime music videos.
Awards to the winner included ample monetary rewards, physical gifts, and publicity opportunities. These opportunities included traffic being driven to their Bilibili accounts, media interviews, features on the Bilibili App as Creators of This Month, and social media promotions. The top three winners from the first phase were chosen as initiators of the upcoming session in the “Bilibili Professional Creator Program”, which will allow them to gain traffic and more traction.
“Besides being able to get attractive prizes, you can also develop your creative capabilities through participating in the program,” shares MrAgYT, the winner of the inaugural Bilibili Professional Creator Program.
Wilbustres.official, who was the runner-up, mentioned that the program is very interesting and worthwhile that’s why he joined right away. He also shared that he was happy and excited as this is the first time he attended this kind of event and luckily won a reward and a certificate. He also encourages content creators out there to join the program because the rewards are very appealing and super worth it!
KilmiParody also expressed his surprise at winning third place, “To be honest, I didn’t expect to win. Because there are a lot of great creators who joined the event. Just give it a try. You never know!”
As a platform that is committed to growing together with creators, Bilibili sees it as a responsibility to enable talented creators to stand out and ignite their passion for content. A series of sessions on various themes under the “Bilibili Professional Creator Program” will be released on a regular basis to encourage all Anime, Comics and Games (ACG) content creators to join on this journey.
For novice creators, Bilibili has launched a project to help them jumpstart their game. The BCN Project (Bilibili Creator Network) allows them to gain incentives for creating video content. This is open to all Bilibili users, where participating creators just need to regularly produce high-quality video content and find their voice and identity.
To know more about the Bilibili Professional Creator Program, you can visit https://www.bilibili.tv/marketing/activity-qNCJXUZDkU.html. For more information about Bilibili, you can visit bilibili.tv or download the Bilibili app from Google Play and App Store.


Sonic Co-Creator Yuji Naka Sentenced To More Than Two Years Of Prison

Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka has been sentenced to prison for insider trading. He pleaded guilty in March 2023 and has now been sentenced to serve two and a half years in jail.
According to Japanese site Abema Times, the final judgement is expected to fall on 7 July 2023.
Yuji Naka was originally first arrested back in November 2022 due to alleged insider trading at Square Enix.
Balan Wonderworld received almost universally negative reviews and reception from both critics and gamers alike when it came out for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC in early 2021. We also gave Balan Wonderworld a pretty bad review (check it out here).


Diablo 4 Devs Said Crunch Feels Necessary To Make Game

A Washington Report states that the development of Diablo 4 was troubling, to say the least.
While the report confirmed that the game would be out on 6 June (as previously leaked), the road leading up to it was filled with periods of crunch. Said report includes testimonies from 15 current and former Blizzard employees, obviously speaking under anonymity. They all said that the game won’t come out on the June release date unless the team work “significant overtime”.
Also, the game’s been affected by gross mismanagement throughout the past five years, which could explain the game’s director being switched around. And also the fact that the game had seen numerous delays internally; the game was supposedly planned for a 2021 release, and even a December 2022 and April 2023 release date.
“We’re at the point where they’re not willing to delay the game anymore. So we all just have to go along and figure out how much we’re willing to hurt ourselves to make sure the game gets released in a good enough state.
You’re like, ‘Man, I feel like I’m working for the bad guys’. I feel like any work I do is tainted by this name.”
Other claims in the piece include an allegation that creative director Sebastian Stephien (ex-Witcher 3 creative director) rewrote the game’s script in 2019 and added disturbing sub-plots about sexual assault. One version of the game’s script was referred internally as “the rape version” where it repeatedly referred to the rape of one of the game’s female love interest.
Employees reportedly had to beg Blizzard leadership to change this version of the story, stating that the tale was “floated more than three years ago under different leadership as character backstory, not game content”, and “at that time was deemed inappropriate and went a different direction”.
“Rape has no place in the Diablo universe. It’s not a thing that we should be tackling because it takes a certain amount of nuance and a deft hand.”
The game’s release date and pre-order would be confirmed later in a few hours during The Game Awards 2022.


Spider-Man Miles Morales To Feature A Different Wall-Crawler With New Moves

For those hoping to see Miles Morales as more than a copy-pasta Spider-Man clone in the upcoming PS5 Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales standalone game, you’re in luck.
A recent trailer recap fromdeveloper Insomniac confirms that Miles Morales will have his powers from the comics, according to creative director Brian Horton and senior animator for hero character James Ham. This means he can:

Use bioelectricity to stun enemies and do shock-elemental attacks.
Turn invisible. Like some spiders.Â
Still do the things a Spider-Man can, just with more “flailing”.

The new game will also feature a new high-tech criminal army, a New York City that’s experiencing winter, and a lot of graphical improvements that can only be done on the PS5 like near-instant loading, ray-tracing, 3D audio, and DualSense controller gimmicks.
The devs are also hinting at a possible sequel as the team is continuing to imagine big things for the Marvel’s Spider-Man universe. Insomniac did declare that Peter Parker’s story is not done yet.
I say: bring it on. We loved Marvel’s Spider-Man; it was one of our favourite games of 2018.Â Full trailer recap below.


Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD Steam Will Still Be Playable After September Despite Current Delisting Issues

After the open-world action adventure title Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD was on sale for 75% on Steam, Ubisoft had the game removed. The game right now has this on its Steam listing: “this title will not be accessible following September 1st, 2022”.
Understandably, people are upset that Ubisoft is robbing people of their money with this alleged bait and switch. Ubisoft has stated publicly that owners of Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD will still retain its single-player mode, though its online components will not get support from 1st September onward. Here’s a statement from the company (via Polygon):
“As stated in our support article, only DLCs and online features will be affected by the upcoming decommissioning. Current owners of those games will still be able to access, play or redownload them.
Our teams are working with our partners to update this information across all storefronts and are also assessing all available options for players who will be impacted when these games’ online services are decommissioned on September 1st, 2022. It has always been our intention to do everything in our power to allow those legacy titles to remain available in the best possible conditions for players, and this is what we are working towards.”
Ubisoft is currently shutting down online services for many of its games. This is normal since most of their catalogue have been around for more than 10 years with their online components still running and companies need to cut costs for these and pull the plug eventually. These games include Driver San Francisco, Ghost Recon Future Soldier, Rayman Legends, Anno 2070, and the original versions of Far Cry 3 and Assassin’s Creed 2.


Bandai Namco’s Singapore Branch May Be Working On Metroid Prime 4

(image credit: HATCHPIXEL)
We know that Retro Studios, the guys behind the past Metroid Prime titles for GameCube and Wii, are not involved in the upcoming Metroid Prime 4 for the Nintendo Switch. What we don’t know, at least until now, is that the new lead devs behind the upcoming sequel are residing just south of us.
According to multiple anonymous sources from forum site Reset Era (ie the new NeoGAF), a YouTuber named Doctre81 revealed that a 20-year game industry veteran employee currently in Bandai Namco Singapore is working on an “Unannounced Game (First Person Shooter/Adventure Exclusive to Nintendo Switch)”, as well as Ridge Racer 8 as a Switch exclusive and Ace Combat 7 (via Press-Start).
Further tidbits from Press Start and Eurogamer have also confirmed that (i) the above LinkedIn screencap is accurate, and (ii) Bandai Namco Studios Singapore have former LucasArts Singapore staff who previously worked on the cancelled Star Wars 1313 and other projects. The Singapore studio’s accomplishments include running the Animal Kayser arcade games and that sweet Star Wars Battle Pod game back at GameStart Asia.

There was a lot of speculation since the Nintendo E3 Direct broadcast in 2017 on who the actual lead developers were. We’re not even sure if the game will even be out this year.
Nintendo’s no stranger to letting other trusted game developers handle and make games for their IPs. Notable examples include PokkÃ©n Tournament, The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Warriors, Star Fox Adventures, and that other Metroid game from Team Ninja that was underwhelming at best. Also, the baby.Â


This Borderlands 3 Roller-Coaster Is Hidden In Plain Sight

Gearbox’s latest loot-and-shoot game is full of secrets and Easter eggs. This one in particular has been around since launch, and it took many of us a while to discover it. Let’s just say that there’s a lot of loot, boss farming, and rare spawn killings that distracted us to no end.
What’s the secret? Apparently, there’s a roller-coaster ride in one of the game’s levels. The best part of this attraction is if you shoot all the red targets during the ride, you score a red loot chest locked behind a door.
All you have to do is:

Get to the Splinterlands on the planet Pandora.
Spawn at the Chop Shop.
Catch-A-Ride and drive up to the middle C.A.R Station, then take a right. There should be a Typhon Log at the location. The map’s below.

Take the path, kill all baddies in the way, then go up the roller-coaster.

Easy stuff, really. It’s still pretty rad that Gearbox just puts in random stuff like this with no story context and let players discover it for their own fulfilment.


Bungie Is Nerfing Stasis Shatterdive & Revamping Its Next Season Rewards; Here’s How

A new year means a ton of new changes for loot-and-shoot games. First up: Destiny 2.
In Bungie’s first major update post for 2021, the company’s Destiny 2 studio talks about new Crucible and Gambit rewards, as well as nerfing the Hunter’s Shatterdive ability. Every guardian type in the game gets a Stasis ability, and the Hunter’s is the most OP one according to most players.
Check out the patch notes for the game’s upcoming Update 3.0.2, which is sure to change up PvP for the better.:
Reduce the potency of Shatter Dive + Whisper of Fissures against Guardians, going live with Update 3.0.2.

Shatterdive now has damage falloff vs. unfrozen targets
Max range damage reduced from 50 to 5
Damage reduction during ability reduced from 50% to 25%

Whisper of FissuresÂ

Reduced max-min damage vs. non-super players from 42-22 to 30-4
Reduced max-min damage vs. super players from 42-22 to 16-2
Reduced detonation radius vs. players from 10m to 9m

Investigate the efficacy of the Stasis Titan Behemoth Super. We want to let the above change settle to see where the Behemoth stands in our PvP hierarchy, but this is next on our radar.Â
Bungie also mentioned returning rewards for season 13.
Reissued Dreaming City Reverie Dawn and Moon Dreambane armor.Â

These will also drop with high stats when earned in Shattered Throne or Pit of Heresy.
The final chest in Pit of Heresy will no longer drop a fully Masterworked Dreambane armor piece.
Instead, the Dreambane armor piece that drops will have 7 armor energy and is guaranteed to drop with at least a +16 in two different stats and higher stats overall.
Dreambane class items will not drop from this chest.

Reissued 4 weapons for Dreaming City with new Perk Pools.Â

Waking Vigil, Sleepless, Vouchsafe, and Retold Tale.
Dreaming City weapons that drop in the Shattered Throne dungeon can roll with perks that are unavailable from drops from other reward sources.

Reissued 4 weapons for the Moon with new Perk Pools.Â

Premonition (Pit of Heresy only), Heretic, Blasphemer, and Apostate.
Weapons that drop in the Pit of Heresy dungeon can roll with perks that are unavailable from drops from other reward sources.

Expanding Lost Sector Legend and Master rotation to 4 Moon Sectors.Â

K1 Logistics, K1 Communication, K1 Crew Quarters, and K1 Revelation.

Season 13 will change up Gambit and Crucible reward structures: now there will be two new unique weapons added to each of the three playlist rituals, which makes it six in total. Rank rewards will be manually picked up from vendor lists. This “gives much better visibility into what youâ€™ll be earning as you progress, and helps you make better choices about where to spend your time”.
Here are the rewards for individual ritual ranks:

Rank 4:Â 3x Upgrade Modules
Rank 7:Â 3x Enhancement Cores
Rank 10:Â Seasonal Ritual Shader (changes to 3x Enhancement Cores after resetting your rank)
Rank 13:Â 2x Enhancement Prisms
Rank 16:Â Seasonal Ritual Emblem (changes to 2x Enhancement Prisms after resetting your rank)
Reset Reward:Â Ascendant Shard (changes to Exotic Engram after resetting your rank)

Bungie has yet to announce the starting date of Season 13, but we’re guessing it’s on the first week of February.


Kirby And The Forgotten Land Launches This March

Publisher Nintendo and developer HAL Laboratory have announced that Kirby And The Forgotten Land will launch for the Nintendo Switch on 25 March 2022.
Kirby has a flair for inhaling air, so heâ€™ll have his work cut out for him when he arrives in an unknown land and discovers that Waddle Dees are being kidnapped in droves by the Beast Pack. To rescue the Waddle Dees, Kirby heads out on a journey with the curious Elfilin, whom he meets in the new world.
In this sweeping adventure, youâ€™ll make use of a range of Kirbyâ€™s abilities to combat foes and navigate vibrant 3D environments. Progress through a world in which nature and a past civilization have fused in a series of areas packed with platforming challenges. When you set out to free the Waddle Dees from being held captive at the goal point at the end of each stage, youâ€™ll want to explore every nook and cranny to rescue as many Waddle Dees along the way too.
The game also features co-op with a second player joining the journey as Bandana Waddle Dee. He can launch a variety of attacks using his spear.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land also introduces Waddle Dee Town, which will be the central hub of your adventure. The town will develop more and more based on the number of Waddle Dees you rescue as you progress. You will notice different shops opening and be able to enjoy some of the townsfolkâ€™s favourite games. Kirby can even help out in the Waddle Dee Cafe.
Check out the trailer below:


Ex-Aeon Must Die! Developers Released Public Statement About Upcoming Game

Mishura Games, the former developers of the then-cancelled-but-now-on-Steam-again indie game Aeon Must Die!, just released a public statement about the legality of the title, which is coming out this week.
Mishura Games, which has no affiliation with publisher Focus Entertainment and developer Limestone Games, stated that while both companies own some of the IP to the game, they do not have all of the IP rights and authorizations in place. The indie developer are encouraging Limestone Games to release the animation contract that its chief 3D animator Aleksei Nehorohskin (who is also ex-CEO of Limestone Games) which states that he was paid for the animations of Aeon Must Die! For those not in the know, Aleksei was ousted from his own company by his Limestone Games business partners.
Mishura Games also asked that Focus and Limestone make public the signed contract and paid check and invoice of Arsen Shakhbabyan, who was the creator of the Aeon Must Die! trailer that he wasn’t paid for up to this day. The indie game company also ask that Focus publish the results of its alleged three independent investigations into Limestone Games’ unsavoury work conditions during the development of Aeon Must Die!
You can read the full public statement here. Mishura Games is developing an upcoming roguelike brawler called Immortal: And The Death That Follows which will be out in 2025. An Early Access build will be up in 2023.


New Monster Hunter Rise Monsters Revealed, From Badasses To WTF

Capcom just unveiled more Monster Hunter love for Nintendo Switch users and gamers recently, with brand-new Monster Hunter Rise gameplay.
Here’s a breakdown of what was showcased on this 20-minute Capcom and Nintendo special.

New monsters! Or at least some old friends from past games with new skins and new moves. We have, in order of appearance, Goss Harag, Barioth, the creepy-as-hell Khezu, Great Baggi, Lagombi, Tigrex, Mizutsune, and main monster on the game’s cover Magnamalo. My favourites include the ice-bearing ogre-like Goss Harag, the water-dragon slinking beast Mizutsune, and the Joker-faced Khezu with its elongated neck.

In addition to jumping and climbing using the bug wire tool, you can also use it to temporarily control and hijack monsters (Wyvern Riding). You can use their moves and skills, enslaving them for a short bit to clear out the mob before getting off and resuming battle.
You can use this control technique to hijack a Rathalos.
More information on your home base, which takes cues from traditional Japanese homesteads and shrines, which is in contrast to the Western feel of past Monster Hunter bases.
A palico (cat slave in the MH series) who dresses like a ninja and uses a giant fan to send Meowcenearies off to monster-hunting missions.
Daily and weekly missions dished out online post-launch, just like with Monster Hunter World.
Players can check out the Monster Hunter Rise demo later this week from 8th January to 1st February on the Nintendo Switch store. The demo features a Beginner Quest, an Intermediate Quest, a Basic Training Quest featuring a new Wyvern Riding feature, and all 14 weapons for use.

Check out the sweet trailers and Monster Hunter Switch action below.


Destiny 2 Beyond Light: All The Exotics & Legendary Weapons & Armor So Far

This article will be updated periodically as Destiny 2 Beyond Light is recently out.Â
Destiny 2 Beyond Light is now live for all you looter shooter fans out there. It marks the first time Bungie has released a new expansion for its long-running online shooter without publisher Activision looking over their shoulder. It’s a bold new world for Bungie, essentially.
Most importantly, there’s a lot of new Exotic and Legendary weapons and armour to find while you’re taking on public events, strikes, and lost sectors in the icy yet beautiful vistas of Europa and beyond. Here’s what we found so far.
No Time To Explain

Type: Exotic Kinetic Pulse Rifle
Stats: High range, fast reload speed, high recoil, little bounce intensity. Bottom traits make this one a lovely pulse rifle with good continuous damage. Stasis-dependant too.
Exotic Perks:Â

Rewind Again: Precision shots and shots against combatants slowed or frozen by Stasis will return to the magazine.
Full Auto Trigger System: Holding down the trigger will fire this weapon at full auto.
Legendary Trait

Time-Slip: At 10 stacks of Rewind Again, a small portal will open, shooting bullets from an alternate timeline version of this weapon. Precision hits extend its duration.

How To Get It: Finish the Beyond Light campaign.
Cloudstrike

Type: Exotic Energy Sniper Rifle
Stats: Above average impact, range, stability, handling, and reload speed. A rapid-fire sniper. Great DPS option thanks to its perks.
Perks:Â

Mortal Polarity: Precision final blows generate a lightning bolt at the target’s location.
Stormbringer: Rapid precision hits create a lightning storm at the point of impact.

How To Get It: Finish high difficulty Empire Hunts.
The Lament

Type: Exotic Power Sword
Stats: High impact and defense.
Perks:

(Exotic) Banshee’s Wail: Hold to rev the blade. Increases damage, shield bypass, and adds Shield-Piercing to all attacks. Gains stacks when dealing damage with revved attacks. Additional stacks increase the damage and damage resistance of heavy attacks.
Revved Consumption: Damaging a combatant heals the wielder.

How To Get It: Finish the Deep Stone Crypt Raid, then visit Banshee-44 at the Tower to start the Lament Exotic quest.
Salvation’s Grip

Type: Exotic Power Grenade Launcher
Stats: Average weapon stats, but has high aim assistance and recoil. Stasis-powered grenade launcher, basically.
Perks:Â

(Exotic) Cryocannon: Hold to charge, release to fire. This weapon’s projectiles creates Stasis crystals and freeze nearby targets.
Flash Freeze: Charging this weapon increases the freeze radius and amount of Stasis crystals created.
(Legendary) Jagged Edge: Increased damage at the cost of sword ammo.

How To Get It: Finish the Salvation’s Grip quest.
Duality
Type: Exotic Energy Shotgun
Stats: High stats save for reload speed, which is counterbalanced with the below perk.
Perks

(Exotic) Compression Chamber: Fires a pellet spread in hip-fire or a single high-damage slug while aiming.
On Black Wings: Pellet final blows grant a stacking precision damage and reload speed buff. Precision hits with slugs extend the duration.

How To Get It: Season of the Hunt season pass.
Eyes of Tomorrow

Type: Exotic Power Rocket Launcher
Stats: High stability and blast radius. High aim assistance and recoil. Tauted as “Gjallarhorn 2.0”.
Perks

(Exotic) Eyes on All: This weapon is capable of tracking and firing at multiple targets simultaneously.
Adaptive Ordnance: Killing four or more combatants in a single volley increases the damage of the next volley.

How To Get It: Beyond Light Raid Drop.
Icefall Mantle

Type: Titan Exotic Gauntlets
Stats: High recovery & discipline.
Perks

(Exotic) Glacial Guard: Replaces your Barricade ability with a personal armor reinforcement that absorbs a small amount of damage. While reinforced, you are slowed and Barricade does not recharge.

How To Get It: Solo Legend / Master Beyond Light Lost Sector
Precious Scars

Type: Titan Exotic Helmet
Stats: High recovery and discipline.
Perks

(Exotic) Kintsugi: After reviving or being revived, you gain an aura that provides overshields to you and nearby allies.

How To Get It: Solo Legend / Master Beyond Light Lost Sector
Mask of Bakris
Type: Hunter Exotic Helmet
Stats: High recovery & discipline.
Perks

(Exotic) Light Shift: Replaces your Stasis subclass Dodge ability with a longer range, faster-moving Shift that partially cloaks you during use. After Shifting, your Arc weapons deal increased damage for a short time.

How To Get It: Solo Legend / Master Beyond Light Lost Sector
Athrys’s Embrace
Type: Hunter Exotic Gauntlets
Stats: High recovery & discipline.
Perks

(Exotic)Skittering Stinger: Weighted Knife gains a second bounce. Rapid precision hits with your weapons grant Weighted Knife a significant damage bonus and the ability to stagger unshielded combatants for a short time.

How To Get It: Solo Legend / Master Beyond Light Lost Sector
Dawn Chorus
Type: Warlock Exotic Helm
Stats: High recovery & discipline.
Perks

(Exotic) Rites of Ember: Your Daybreak projectiles causes targets to burn on contact and deal more damage to them. All of your burn effects last longer, and you gain a small amount of melee energy each time one of your burns damage a target.

How To Get It: Solo Legend / Master Beyond Light Lost Sector
Necrotic Grip
Type:Â Warlock Exotic Gauntlets
Stats: ???
Perks

(Exotic) Grasp of the Devourer: Damaging combatants with melee attacks corrupts them with increasing damage over time. Defeating a corrupted combatant spreads the corrupting effect to nearby targets and restores melee energy.

How To Get It: Solo Legend / Master Beyond Light Lost Sector
Hailing Confusion
Type: Legendary Kinetic Pulse Rifle
Stats: High stability, average stats, low impact. Good aim assistance.
Perks

Adaptive Frame: A well-rounded grip, reliable and sturdy.
Demolitionist: Kills with this weapon generate grenade energy. Activating your grenade ability reloads this weapon from reserves.

How To Get It: World Drop
Biting Winds
Type: Legendary Kinetic Combat Bow
Stats: High impact and accuracy. High aim assist and recoil.
Perks

Precision Frame: Compound Bow. Longer draw time optimized for damage.
Explosive Head: Arrows explode after a short delay.

How To Get It: World Drop
The Steady Hand
Type: Legendary Kinetic Hand Cannon
Stats: Very high impact, decent range. High recoil and decent aim assistance.
Perks

Aggressive Frame: High damage, high recoil. Optimized for long-distance shooting.
Mulligan: missing a shot has a chance to return ammo directly to the magazine.

How To Get It: World Drop


Mortal Kombat 11 Will Be Free To Play This Weekend

Warner Bros and NetherRealm have announced that Mortal Kombat 11 will be free to play on the PS4 and Xbox One this weekend, from 11 to 14 October 2019 (via our good friends at Aksiz). It will arrive with the following features:

 MK11 Free Trial
Story Mode (2 Chapters)
1v1 & Online 1v1 with Base Roster
The Krypt
Fatality Training
Towers of Time
Play as Terminator, Nightwolf, & Shang Tsung

Havenâ€™t jumped into Kombat yet? Free Trial Weekend cominâ€™ in hot 10/11-14!
ðŸ“‚ MK11 Free Trial
á´¸ ðŸ“‚ Story Mode (2 Chapters)
á´¸ ðŸ“‚ 1v1 & Online 1v1 with Base Roster
á´¸ ðŸ“‚ The Krypt
á´¸ ðŸ“‚ Fatality Training
á´¸ ðŸ“‚ Towers of Time
á´¸ ðŸ“‚ Play as Terminator, Nightwolf, & Shang Tsung pic.twitter.com/2evYeQnO6M
â€” Mortal Kombat 11 (@MortalKombat) October 9, 2019
If you like the game after playing the free trial weekend, you can grab it for 40 percent off at theÂ PlayStationÂ andÂ XboxÂ Stores this weekend. As a bonus incentive, any and all progress you make in the free trial weekend will be rolled over into the full game if you decide to purchase it.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2NEPO5mWSo&w=560&h=315]


13-Year Old Vietnamese Heads To Champions eFootball Grand Finals

Hailing from Vietnam, 13-year old Le Ha Anh Tuan is one who stands tall over his competitors. At a very tender age, he is one of the emerging esports stars in Southeast Asia and carries the hopes and aspirations of Thailandâ€™s Buriram United at the first season of Champions eFootball, competing against some of the best eFootball players in the region.
Underneath his youthful exterior, â€œThe Vietnamese Prodigyâ€ is a calm, collected and lethally efficient eFootball player. Having started to play the game since he was six years old, Le Ha Anh Tuan can be considered a veteran of the game. Mesmerizing fans and viewers since the start of the Champions eFootball, he has demonstrated total dominance against his opponents, scoring an astounding 39 goals in only 4 matches in the competition.

With a perfect winning record in the Group Stages and having overcome his toughest challenge against Chonburi FCâ€™s Akanichi in the Semifinals, he is undeniably a favourite heading into the Grand Finals of Champions eFootballâ€™s ELITE Category.
Commenting on his journey in the Champions eFootball so far, Le Ha Anh Tuan said â€œThis has been a great experience for me to compete against some of the best and most experienced eFootball players in Southeast Asia. I look forward to performing at my best for Buriram United and I invite the supporters and fans to come and support me in the Grand Finals.â€
ELITE Category – Grand Finals

The Grand Finals of the ELITE category is expected to be Le Ha Anh Tuan greatest challenge as he faces off against Indonesian wonderkid Indra Sugandi representing Persib Bandung. At 27 years old, Indra is no stranger to eFootball and has multiple accolades to his name. Similar to Le Ha Anh Tuan, the Persib Bandung esports player is also on an unbeaten streak in his 4 matches in Champions eFootball.
This clash between Persib Bandung and Buriram United is expected to display the highest level of eFootball action the competition has seen yet. Besides the ELITE Grand Final, the final matchday will also feature a fight for 3rd place between Nor Haikal of Johor Darul Taâ€™zim FC against Vorravich Anantarak of Chonburi FC as both competitors were knocked out in the Semi-Finals against the finalists.
STAR Category – Grand Finals

Matchday 5 of the STAR Category will also feature the long-awaited Grand Finals between Beckham Putra of Persib Bandung against Prach Sopheakmanuth of Nagaworld FC. Both players have displayed tremendous feats in the matches leading up to the Grand Finals with consistent victories over their opponents. As fans of Persib Bandung and Nagaworld FC start to rally their support on social media, the players of both clubs are expected to put their best foot forward in the Grand Final Best-of-5 match
Not far behind, a silent battle brews for 3rd place in the STAR category between rivals Buriram United and Chonburi FC; Thailandâ€™s biggest football clubs. After dropping out in the Semifinals, Chitipat Tanklang of Buriram United faces Worachit Kanitsribumphen of Chonburi FC in a long-awaited rivalry match. After four matchdays of high-octane, top-tier eFootball action, fans can expect to see the best from both clubs, giving their best for the glory of their clubs.
As Champions eFootball arrives at the Grand Finals, fans will be treated with these four action-packed matches between rival football clubs performing at the highest level.
The Grand Finals of Champions eFootball will be live-streamed on the official CeF Facebook and Youtube channel on 7th October at 6:00 pm GMT +8.
For more updates and information on Champions eFootball (CeF), visit their website at www.championsefootball.com or on the CeF Facebook or Youtube page.


Star Wars Jedi Survivor Delayed A Month Later To April 2023

EA and Respawn Entertainment have announced that they have delayed Star Wars Jedi Survivor from its previously-planned 17 March 2023 release date. It will now launch for the PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC on 28 April 2023.
The reason for the delay is for the developer to polish the game further.
Check out the full message for the delay below (via Twitter):
For the last three years, the Jedi team here at Respawn has poured its collective heart and soul into Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and we are proud to say the next chapter in the tale of Cal Kestis is content complete. We are now focused entirely on the final stage: bug fixes to enhance performance, stability, polish, and most importantly, the player experience.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a direct response to the feedback from our community, delivering expansive destinations to explore, evolved combat and traversal, and of course, the continuation of Cal and BD’s story. Making this game has truly made us a better team, and we have pushed ourselves at every level to make this the Star Wars sequel our fans expect from Respawn and Lucasfilm Games.
In order for the team to hit the Respawn quality bar, provide the team the time they need, and achieve the level of polish our fans deserve, we have added six crucial weeks to our release schedule—Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will now launch globally on April 28.
Thanks to EA and Respawn for giving us the time to deliver the best experience for our players, and to all of you for your understanding.
May the Force be with you,
Stig, and the Star Wars Jedi Team
Picking up five years after the events of Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order, Star Wars Jedi Survivor is a third-person, narrative-driven action-adventure game from Respawn Entertainment, developed in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games. No longer a Padawan, Cal has come into his own and grown into a powerful Jedi Knight. Carrying the memories and expectations of the Jedi Order with him, his crusade against the Empire has only become more perilous. The Dark Times is closing in – with enemies new and familiar surrounding him, Cal will need to decide how far he’s willing to go to save those closest to him.
Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order is available now for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC. Check out our full review of Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order here to find out why we named it one of the best games of 2019.


These Are 2020’s Top 6 Mobile Games That Are Earning Billions & Millions

A recent Sensor Tower report has listed the top mobile games of 2020 from January to December. And no, there’s isn’t a mobile RPG gacha in the top three.
Instead, the top 6 games that earned its respective publishers a ton of money (in USD billions) are:

PUBG Mobile, earning PUBG Corporation US$2.6 billion.
Arena of Valor/Honor of Kings, earning Tencent US$2.5 billion.
PokÃ©mon GO, which earned Pokemon Company and Niantic US$1.2 billion.
Coin Master (US$1.1 billion)
Roblox (US$1.1 billion)
Monster Strike (US$958 million)

According to Sensor Tower analyst Craig Chapple (via Venture Beat), global downloads and revenues for these games are trending high in 2020.

“Downloads have climbed down, though [they] still remain higher each month than in January. Player spending peaked in July at more than $7 billion, while in November the mobile games market still accumulated $6.6 billion â€” well above 2019 levels. So things are holding pretty steady globally.”

Most of these numbers are still from Japanese and China gaming markets; both of them favour mobile games due to each region’s way of consuming games (short and quick). Guess stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19 pandemics are really making mobile game companies profit moreso than usual.


New 2D Co-op Game 33 Immortals Slated For 2024

Just announced during the Xbox Games Showcase, Thunder Lotus Games, the mastermind behind Spiritfarer, has given us a sneak peek of their upcoming project, 33 Immortals, slated for release in 2024.
This new co-op game puts the spotlight on epic raids, where a whopping 33 players join forces for some thrilling top-down action. The debut trailer left us in awe as this mighty squad bravely confronted hordes of enemies and colossal bosses, creating a jaw-dropping spectacle.
Now, don’t be mistaken, 33 Immortals is quite the departure from the poignant and introspective Spiritfarer, which I lovingly described as a “captivating blend of heart-pounding action and a tender town management experience” in my review back in 2020. Instead, this latest venture from Thunder Lotus takes us back to their roots with a similar vibe to their previous hit, Jotun.


Yasunori Mitsuda Teases New Project

Legendary video game music composer Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Xenoblade Chronicles 2) has officially teased a new project that’s coming soon.
According to his Twitter post, he said the project will officially be announced in February 2022. He also thanked his many fans for wishing him a happy birthday on the same Twitter thread.
This will be the first of multiple projects he is working on in the near future. Whether it’s a video game or music-related, it’s up in the air. You can be sure that it’s either one.

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
— ???? YasunoriMitsuda (@YasunoriMitsuda) January 21, 2022

For more on Yasunori Mitsuda’s greatest hits, do check out our SoundScape video feature on him.


Twitch Now Makes It Easier and Faster For Streamers To Get Paid

Twitch announced that they will reduce the minimum payout threshold from $100 down to $50 for all Partners and Affiliates. The phased rollout will be introduced country by country starting 15th July including Argentina, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, Taiwan, and many countries in the months to come.
? You earned it: make $50, get paid.?? Payout threshold cut in half from $100 to $50!? Rollout begins July 15th in Argentina, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and Taiwan.? More countries to follow, stay tuned!Check the blog for more info: https://t.co/NFQDMFZfjX— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) July 12, 2022
? You earned it: make $50, get paid.?? Payout threshold cut in half from $100 to $50!? Rollout begins July 15th in Argentina, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and Taiwan.? More countries to follow, stay tuned!Check the blog for more info: https://t.co/NFQDMFZfjX— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) July 12, 2022
This is great news for small streamers and part-time streamers with irregular schedules. Streamers and creators are more likely to get paid faster and receive their earnings every month. Even with just a few streams up in a month, streamers will get paid in the next payout date as long as they have accumulated a total of $50 or more each payout.
Creators from countries with smaller currencies too will benefit from this update as the previous minimum payout threshold of $100 was a steep slope to climb each round due to the subscription price cut implemented a while back. We can expect Twitch to add more countries to the list in an announcement this November. Changes can already be seen for some streamers from the aforementioned countries.
This is correct! As someone in Spain, I'm already seeing the updated theshold, and it's a great thing, as I really need money now, and I wouldn't have got a payout otherwise. pic.twitter.com/SkjyVuSsg3— Mydia Stardream (@MydiaStardream) July 12, 2022

However, Twitch notes that the wire transfer payout method will still require a minimum threshold of $100 but streamers will have the option to change their payout method.
? Wire transfers still require a $100 minimum.Want to update your payout method from wire transfers? You can do so in your creator dashboard. ? https://t.co/mqm8X0aXbb? Creators in each launch country will be notified ahead of their inclusion.? https://t.co/ob9Gw2x9AE— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) July 12, 2022

To read more about this update, head over to their help page here.

If you are a streamer yourself or a fellow patron on the internet, do you think the change is a better initiative for streamers to earn? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Check out our Twitter and Facebook to join the discussion.


Doom Patrol Is The Best Superhero Show Of 2019; Here’s Why

Letâ€™s face it, comic books are weird. Itâ€™s part of why I like them so much. I love when comic creators fully embrace the freedom of visual medium, throwing in all sorts of crazy stuff and making it stick with just a semblance of a story. Weâ€™ve seen it in certain comic adaptations like Legion, but otherwise, no one really seems to embrace the weird as much as their comic counterparts.
Enter Doom Patrol.
The weirdest, strangest, utterly fantastic superhero show thatâ€™s on right now. This team of superheroes is somewhat similar to the Guardians of the Galaxy, in that theyâ€™re a group of misfits who donâ€™t really belong together in the first place. All of them feel isolated from society due to their past traumas and issues. None of them wants to save the world. At the start of the show, theyâ€™d barely lift a finger to save each other.
Given how weird the show can be and how many people mightâ€™ve already written it off, I wanted to explain what itâ€™s all about, and why I love it so much. Spoiler alert – Itâ€™s because itâ€™s a really good TV show.
What is it even about?
This show is more of a spin-off of DCâ€™s Titans, with characters first appearing in one of its episodes. Titans is not required viewing by any means, however. Viewers need only jump into this showâ€™s pilot episode, and theyâ€™ll be all caught up already.
The series revolves around Niles â€˜The Chiefâ€™ Caulder and his merry band of misfits, all living together in Doom Manor. The Chief goes missing shortly after the series begins, and the rest of the first season focuses on the Doom Patrol in their search for their surrogate father.
Thatâ€™s pretty much the driving force behind the Doom Patrol for the entire season. Theyâ€™re looking for the Chief, the man who took them in and cared for them during a time when anyone else would turn them away and be entirely justified for doing so. Theyâ€™re not good people. All of them have done something that is, at the very least, morally questionable, and they couldnâ€™t be more aware of it.

Society has told them repeatedly that they donâ€™t belong. All they have is each other and Doom Manor.

If theyâ€™re superheroes, what are their powers?

Most superheroesâ€™ powers are straightforward. Superman has his strength, Thor has his lightning and the Flash has his speed. The Doom Patrol, on the other hand donâ€™t really amount to much. Their powers are somewhat vaguely defined, and certainly not very useful in battle. Robotman is a robot. Crazy Jane has multiple personalities, each with a wildly different power.

Rita Farr morphs into what is essentially Goosebumpsâ€™ Monster Blood. Negative Man is infected by an alien lifeform made of electricity, and dies every time it leaves his body. Cyborg is, well, Cyborg.

The main villain, on the other hand, can shape reality itself at will. Mr Nobody comes from the Chiefâ€™s mysterious past, his powers ill-defined, but with virtually endless destructive power. What hope could this crew have against that? None, none at all.
Fortunately for them, Mr Nobody doesnâ€™t wish to kill them yet. He prefers to toy with them for his own amusement, even going so far as to break the fourth wall and narrate episodes as if heâ€™s the one writing each of their adventures. Heâ€™s seemingly doing all this out of his hatred for the Chief, but what did the Chief ever do to him?
Okayâ€¦ but is it like, good though?

The production value of this show actually really surprised me at first. I wasnâ€™t used to seeing colours and beautiful cinematography in a Titans spin-off, of all things. Titans bored me with its music and dark, dull cinematography. The action was great, but the shots were nothing to scream about.

As you can probably tell, I never liked the show much, but it really seems like Doom Patrol had a better team working for them throughout. Everything from the costume design to the music, to the acting is pitch-perfect almost all the time.

Aside from the great production value however, what draws me to the show every week is the character work. Every episode feels like a character study disguised as your standard high-stakes superhero fare. You have episodes that deal with stopping the apocalypse every now and again, but the focus always seems to be on just a couple of characters, taking a microscope to them and seeing what makes them tick.
Each of them is struggling with something, and as the show goes on, you invest a lot more into their personal journeys than anything else. An excellent example of this is Negative Man, who steals every scene heâ€™s in. Heâ€™s a tortured soul, convinced his life isnâ€™t one worth living. He kept a secret from his family and friends way back in his past, and after a terrible accident, he never found the time to make things right. Now heâ€™s horribly disfigured beyond repair and infected by an alien lifeform he doesnâ€™t get along with.
All of these characters have twisted pasts and watching their backstories unfold throughout the season is utterly mesmerising. This is only bolstered by the enormously talented cast, with Brendan Fraser, Timothy Dalton and Matt Bomer just being a few of the big names on the show.
They give their all in every episode, particularly April Bowlby who is absolutely flawless as Rita Starr. Every episode feels like a competition between the cast over who can chew scenery the fastest, and that makes for amazing TV.
When you say weirdâ€¦
The highest selling point beyond all of this is how willing this show is to get weird with it. Like I said, comics are weird, and Doom Patrol offers the weirdest comics in existence.

You have Danny the Street, an actual living sentient stretch of roadway who serves as a haven for misfits and the dispossessed. You have Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, a misshapen man who can transform into any animal, vegetable, or mineral at will.

These are my favourite examples of how weird the Doom Patrol comics can get, and the show just tosses them in! It constantly embraces just how strange the comics are without a second thought, and becomes uniquely amazing for it. Thereâ€™s no other superhero show like it (Besides Legends of Tomorrow, maybe).
Weâ€™re only 11 episodes in and itâ€™s already been one of the best debut seasons of a TV show I can remember. I personally canâ€™t wait to see what strange, weird thing it does next.


The Epic Games Store Is Having An Epic Holiday Sale

The holiday season is upon us! That means a lot of video game sales across lots of platforms including Steam. The Epic Games Store (EGS) is hosting their own Holiday Sale 2019 and it’s got a lot of great games.
The EGS has always been known for its almost-unfair levels of generosity when it comes to discounts and free games. That same spirit is definitely present in this Holiday Sale. They’re giving away free games and discount coupons too.
Aside from the awesome discounts, the EGS is also giving away 12 free games. That’s one game for each day during the sale period which runs from 19 December 2019 to 1 January 2020. The first free game is Subset Games’ Into the Breach.
What truly makes the EGS Holiday Sale 2019 stand out is its coupon system. Every user automatically gets one US$10 coupon that can be used on games priced at US$14.99 or above. That’s not all. After every purchase using the coupon, you get another US$10 coupon. Yeah, it’s pretty crazy. The coupons expire on 1 May 2020.
Here’s what the folks over at Kakuchopurei recommend getting in the EGS Holiday Sale 2019. We’ll be updating this page as the days go by.
Disclaimer: The RM prices of each game is based on Google Finance direct transfer rates before applying the US$10 coupon. For games that have more than one editions, we’ve listed the cheapest version.
Borderlands 3 (US$29.24 / RM121.10)

The OG looter shooter. Everything you love about the Borderlands series is cranked up to 11. More guns, more badasses, and of course, more mayhem.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (US$24.06 / RM99.64)

At that price, Fallen Order is already a steal. Over at the Steam Winter Sale, the game costs RM206.67 ever after discounts. Using the US$10 coupon, you can get this game for just US$14.06 or approximately RM58.23.
That’s dirt cheap for a recently released AAA title!
Red Dead Redemption 2 (US$42.39 / RM175.56)

There’s no doubt that Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the best games to come out this year. However, you have to keep in mind that the PC version is far from stable so only get it if you know your hardware can handle it.
Control (US$19.42 / RM80.43)

One of the underappreciated gems of 2019. If you’re in the mood for solving mysteries that rival some of X-Files most intriguing cases, while carrying a gun that morphs into other guns and use Force powers to throw forklifts, get this game.
The Outer Worlds (US$33.74 / RM139.73)

The true successor to Fallout New Vegas. Obsidian are masters at making RPGs and they’ve proven that once more with The Outer Worlds. Speak, slash, bludgeon, shoot, vaporize, and do whatever it takes to get things done in an ultra-capitalistic galaxy.
Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (US$12.49 / RM51.73)

If the tone of Borderlands 3 is too cartoony or crazy for you, then The Division 2 is probably the better choice. It’s got the same core looter shooter formula but applied to a more realistic and grounded version of a post-apocalyptic future.
What The Golf? (US$6.49 / RM26.88)

This is a golf game that isn’t exactly a golf game. Why? Because it does so much more than just letting you play golf. And yet all you do is play golf. Just buy it, trust us.
Metro Exodus (US$17.49 / RM71.88)

For a lot of folks who love post-apocalyptic games, the two most recent Fallout games have been utter disappointments. Fortunately, Metro Exodus perfectly fills that void. No other game in 2019 allows you to experience the atmosphere of a nuclear-ravaged locale like this game.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (US$20.39 / RM83.79)

Following the footsteps of Assassin’s Creed Origins, Odyssey completely embraces the action-RPG gameplay established prior. There’s still some grinding to be done but the overall adventure is one well worth experiencing.
ANNO 1800 (US$27.49 / RM112.97)

ANNO 1800 is one of those addictive city-builders that you’ll play to the point of exhaustion. Then, you’ll do it all over again. Perhaps with a friend too because there’s even a co-op mode where you can manage your empire together with up to three friends.


Call of Duty: Vanguard Announced; Full Reveal Later This Week

Few things are constant in life, just like a Call of Duty game announced and released every year. Activision just announced its latest game/update/shooty bang bang called Call of Duty: Vanguard.
The game’s worldwide reveal will be on 20th August 1:30am GMT+8. Most likely it’ll be about its release date, platform, and how/when you’ll be brandishing a gun in first-person doing the military shooter dance.
Check out the teaser below. There’s a ton of World War 2 tidbits here and there for you history buffs to get excited at.


Korean Occult Mystery Thriller Revenant Premieres On Disney+ Hotstar Next Month

After much anticipation, famed Korean storyteller Kim Eunhee is set to return to the screen with Revenant, a breathtaking series about demons, death and the dangers of the occult slated to debut on 23 June 2023 on Disney+ Hotstar.
A Korean occult mystery thriller, Revenant tells the story of Gu Sanyeong, a woman born into poverty whose life goes from bad to worse when her father dies under mysterious circumstances. Unable to explain why tragedy seems to follow her at every turn, Sanyeong begins to discover the truth behind her cursed existence after meeting Yeom Haesang, a man who can see the demons that hold sway over our lives. Together, the pair will work to uncover a demonic doorway and break the curse that has destroyed both of their families.
Written by Kim Eunhee, the mastermind behind hit Korean series Kingdom, Signal, and Sign, Revenant is directed by Lee Jeonglim (VIP, The Last Empress) and Kim Jaehong (Blossom Sisters, Blooded Palace); and stars Kim Taeri (The Handmaiden, Mr. Sunshine) as Gu Sanyeong, a woman whose father died under mysterious circumstances; and Oh Jungse (It’s Okay to Not Be Okay, When the Camellia Blooms) as Yeom Haesang, a man with the ability to see demons.
Fans of unmissable Korean storytelling can sign-up to Disney+ Hotstar today to enjoy immediate access to hit dramas including Big Bet starring legendary actor Choi Minsik as a serial entrepreneur who repeatedly crosses the line to help bolster his burgeoning casino business; Big Mouth, about a lawyer who is arrested as part of the murder case he is investigating; and an entire library of endless entertainment featuring local APAC originals and global tentpole movies and series.


Final Fantasy XVI Launches In June 2023 [Update: Pre-Order Info Included]

During The Game Awards 2022, Square Enix announced that Final Fantasy XVI will launch for the PS5 on 22 June 2023. Check out the trailer below:

You can also pre-order the game right now either through the PlayStation Store or at your local retailers for games. Here are the different versions you can order, with the Collector’s Edition being the grandest one of the lot.

Standard Editions: RM299
Digital Deluxe Version: RM379
Deluxe Edition: RM429
Collector’s Edition: RM1,599

The Collector’s Edition features the following, in case you’re wondering why it’s over RM1,000:

Collector’s Box – A beautiful metallic-sheen box featuring impressive artwork by legendary FINAL FANTASY series illustrator, Yoshitaka Amano.
FINAL FANTASY XVI” Game – Base game package, including reversible cover art.
Premium Statue – Phoenix vs Ifrit – A premium statue depicting a battle between two eikons – Phoenix and Ifrit.
Metal Eikon Pin Collection – A premium metal pin collection featuring eight eikons Special Clive Rosfield SteelBook® Case – A SteelBook case featuring artwork of Clive Rosfield, the protagonist.
Cloth World Map of Valisthea – A cloth map of Valisthea where the story unfolds.
Blood Sword (Weapon) DLC – The fabled scarlet steel of Firion, hero of Final Fantasy II.