Genshin Impact Ver. 3.4 Guide & Walkthroughs

This guide is still in development…
Genshin Impact’s 3.4 update is out right now, and features a new Desert Area in Sumeru and a new 5-star character to simp over.
Here’s a guide on how to make the most out of the new Dendro sword-wielder Alhaitham, provided you gachaed him already.
Alhaitham Guide

Alhaitham is a 5-Star Dendro Sword user. He excels at dealing high single and multi-target damage, can drive Dendro-related reactions on the field. Also, his Infusion cannot be overridden and isn’t tied to his Burst. However, his moves have strict timings and rotations, making him a bit harder to master compared to other characters. Plus, he only benefits more from getting buffs to his offensive stats like ATK and DMG.
Best Weapon & Artifacts For Alhaitham
Weapon: Light of Foliar Incision, Primordial Jade Cutter, Toukabou Shigure
Artifacts: Gilded Dreams x4
Artifact Stats Main Focus: Elemental Mastery, Dendro DMG Bonus, CRIT Rate/CRIT DMG
Alhaitham excels at being a main DPS with Dendro activations & reactions. Thus, the weapons and Gilded Dreams artifact set will help
Alhaitham Story Quest

Desert Of Hadramaveth Guide
The Desert of Hadramaveth is a new area in the Sumeru region. To head there, teleport to the fast travel point north of the Dune of Carouses, and then head to the distant Statue of the Seven. Tagging it will reveal the entire desert area.

Here are some highlights:

If you have completed the Golden Slumber arc quest in Sumeru, you’ll trigger the Dirge of Bilqis side story quest when you try the cross the gap at Tanit Camps.
The Setekh Wenut boss can be farmed for Ascension Materials.
Heading to Mt. Damavand means bigger sandstorms, meaning terrible visibility the closer you are to the center.
The City of the Deceased (West underground) and Fane of Panjvahe (North) are new Domains that need to be unlocked.

How To Beat Setekh Wenut

The Setekh Wenut is an Anemo-element giant sandworm who fights by diving at you and firing anemo projectiles in your face. It also can tail-swipe you and go for a major Anemo-powered bullet hell attack. Here are how you counter-attack its moves.

Burrowing Wenut: It burrows in the sand before emerging from the ground like an attack. Just avoid the telegraphed point of impact, and watch out for the second move that fires projectiles; just get the dodge button ready.
Beam Sweep: It fires a wide laser anemo beam in a sweeping arc. It takes a second before it fires, so you have some time to dodge out of the way.
Windbite Bullets: In this attack, the Wenut spawns a number of large orbs. If you leave them out in the open long enough, they explode into a ton of Winbite Bullets that are hard to evade. To avoid this, just destroy two of them by using charged bow shots that react to Anemo (Electro, Pyro, Hydro, Cryo) or charged catalyst shots.
Destroying the orbs will stun the Wenut temporarily, allowing you to deal a lot of damage to it.

Defeating the Setekh Wenut will drop Vayuda Turquoise (Anemo gems) and Pseudo-Stamens, along with other artifacts and loot. The Pseudo-Stamens are ascension materials meant for Alhaitham and possibly future Sumeru characters in 3.5 onward.


Cyberpunk 2077 – How To Make Tons of Eddies In Minutes

Cyberpunk 2077 offers a ton of ways for V the mercenary (male, female, or otherwise) to earn cash in Night City. You can do this by completing main story missions, side missions, those NCPD gigs from Regina Jones, and random quests here and there.
And just like those open world games, there’s a particular quest that lets you exploit the system to the point where you can earn tons of cash in minutes. Here’s how you can earn $1 million in minutes doing the same thing for minutes.
Space Oddity Exploit
#1. Do The Space Oddity Side Quest

This short mission is located at Santa Domingo on the bottom right of Night City (via TagbackTV). To complete it, just talk to the bums, open the laptop they left behind (need 9 in Tech trait), hack the computer, and access the “launch.exe” file in the laptop.
This triggers a drop point you have to reach on the map. Go there, kill the enemies in the area, and get your spoils in a purple capsule: a rare painting you can sell off.

#2. Sell Off The Painting, Then Buy It Back Again For Cheap
Go to any dropbox in Night City, then immediately save in a different slot. This is in case the game bugs out on you, which is 50% going to happen since this is a CD Projekt title.
Use the dropbox, sell off the painting for $4,000, quit the dropbox menu, walk backwards and then forward again to the dropbox, and then buy off the painting for $5.

This essentially means you’ll get a profit of $3995. You don’t need us to tell you that you can keep doing this over and over until the cows come home. If the dropbox runs out of money, quit the menu and then use the skip time feature to skip 24 hours. The dropbox will automatically replenish itself with more cash. Alternatively, you can just drive around to the next dropbox, rinse and repeat. However, we have to remind you buy back the painting and keep it in your inventory before you leave. Do not lose the painting, in other words.Â
In about half an hour or less, assuming your game doesn’t glitch out or crash, you should have a million or so to spend in Night City. Now go spend your “hard-earned” cash buying exotic cyber cars and paying off Joytoys!
There’s a good chance CD Projekt will patch this exploit out, so best you do this now before it’s gone!
Epic Char Incendiary Grenade Exploit
This eddie-farming technique requires you to have 12 points in your Tech trait and unlock the Mechanic and Grease Monkey perk, which allows you to net more items from disassembling something and craft Epic items respectively.
#1. Head to this location to get the Epic Char Incendiary Grenade crafting spec
Head down to Santa Domingo and go to this spot on the map:

#2. Craft grenades, then disassemble them
The Epic grenade requires 1 uncommon and 1 common crafting component. These are easy to get: either by disassembling your redundant weapons and gear, or just finding them all across Night City. After crafting them, disassemble them.
#3. Sell the remains for profit
When you disassemble your Epic Char Grenades, you’ll get Epic crafting components. Sell these off for profit. Rinse and repeat.
I Walk The Line Main Quest Glitch
#1. Start and progress through “I Walk The Line”
This money-making tactic requires you to be at a particular point in the game’s main story; specifically when you meet the Voodoo Boys. This is around the 10 to 15-hour mark.
There’s a mission called “I Walk The Line” where you need to jack into a van (by infiltrating an abandoned mall however you choose), and then fight a jacked-up Animal gang member called Sasquatch.

#2. Save and reload right after collecting the bounty from Sasquatch
After you defeat her, there will be a prompt that lets you answer “I think she’s had enough”. Accept it, and then kill her to get a bounty of $30,000. After that, create a new save file.
Load that save file, and you’ll see Sasquatch somehow alive and kicking but glitched out. She will either be standing and staring into space, or lying on the ground but still alive. Attack her again with a melee and kill her to get the bounty again. Save, load, and repeat.
The Updated Space Oddity Glitch
Recently we posted a quick, surefire method to make tons of eddies in Cyberpunk 2077. If you missed that, check it out here as it actually serves as the first part for this newly discovered, even filthier method of getting rich thanks to Tagback TV.
If you are up to speed, great. Now we move on to the next move.
Firstly, let’s be clear. The downside of the earlier exploit is that you are required to exit the Drop Point multiple times to repurchase the painting at 5 Eddies, and the fact that the machine has limited funds. While you can circumvent this issue by either moving to the next and nearest Drop Point, or just time skipping 24 hours ahead, this is indeed tedious and not very efficient. You could have spent that time buying your vehicles of choice or hunting down cyberpsychos in Night City.
Follow these steps to not only multiply your income potential thousand-fold (yes, we aren’t joking) each time you visit a Drop Point – but also the ability to replicate ANY item in your inventory infinitely. This is perfect for you crafting monkeys who have issues in building up enough crafting materials stashes in the past. This move is a bit more intricate, but the outcome is goddamn worth it.
#1. Do the Space Oddity dance
Similar to the first exploit, with the painting in your inventory, head over to any Drop Point in the map. Obtaining this painting is key for this exploit to work. So if you are yet to complete it, we suggest you get it sorted first.
#2. Start picking an item you want to replicate
Alongside the painting, pick any item you intend to replicate. In this case, let’s go with the Legendary and Epic crafting materials since they are the hardest to come by. For safety and economic reasons, sell only ONE unit of each. We also highly recommend saving your game at this point. We will not be held responsible for any corrupted game files or saves following this stunt.

#3. Proceed with the transaction like you normally do with the painting.
Same deal with the Space Oddity glitch.
#4. Exit the Drop Point
You should see the transaction reflected in your account. Cha-ching!
#5. Duplicate!
Now the crucial part. Head back to the Drop Point close enough to see the prompt to use it appear. Depending on the platform you are on, press the button/ key required to activate it, along with the one to open the menu where you load or save games simultaneously.

PC : Esc + sell key
PlayStation: Options + sell key
Xbox: View button (this is the one with the two squares overlapping) + sell key (Y)

If you hit these two buttons or keys at the right time, a transparent menu should appear. An easy way to identify this is by looking at the background. Instead of a solid black, it should be a transparent background with the Drop Point machine showing in the background.

If your first few tries do not yield this result, keep on trying. It takes a little coordination and timing but once you get this transparent background on-screen, you’re good to go for the next step.
#6. Buy them back
Now the fun starts. You can basically rebuy back these items you just sold in infinite numbers. Or at least, as your account allows you to. Remember when we said that the painting plays a crucial role? This is because, apart from the painting which costs 5 Eddies to buy back, the rest retain their price. So buying back the crafting materials would still cost you its street value.
However, purchasing these crafting materials replenishes the Drop Point’s cash reserve. So if you are able to balance selling and reselling of the paintings in bulk while also having access to a limitless amount of crafting materials, a little finagling takes you far in the Eddies department. So resell your unlimited paintings and repurchase the crafting materials to your heart’s content. Just keep a close eye on the rough estimate cost of each transaction so as not to put yourself suddenly in the red.
#7. Profit
Once you are done, exit the Drop Point. Your bank balance should dance around for a bit albeit fatter. The items obtained through this method should also immediately be reflected in your inventory. We do recommend you head back to the Drop Point the usual way.
You should see a crazy amount of balance cash reserve so do sell as many paintings as you can to maximize profit.


[Rumour] Hogwarts Legacy Delayed To 2023

We haven’t heard much about the upcoming Harry Potter/Wizarding World RPG Hogwarts Legacy, which was originally announced in 2020 but was revealed to have been delayed back in January 2021. Now, one year later, rumours are saying that the game is in more trouble than ever, and it might even get delayed to 2023.
According to a report by VGC, Sacred Symbol‘s podcast host and games journalist Colin Moriarty said:
â€œIâ€™m hearing behind the scenes that game is not coming out this year, and that itâ€™s in some sort of trouble.â€
However, Moriarty didn’t elaborate further, so let’s take this with a grain of salt. Still, it’s very likely that the game will be delayed even further, considering the lack of news and the chaos surrounding the merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery in 2021.
2022 is set to be a big year for the Wizarding World after a few years of nothing much to show for it. This year will see the release of Fantastic Beasts The Secrets Of Dumbledore in April, so we’ll likely get some news before or after the release of said film in order to capitalize on the hype.


New Elden Ring Speedrun Is 12+ Minutes & Skips All But One Boss

The latest speedrun for From Software’s hit RPG Elden Ring is 12 minutes and 32 seconds long. Yes, these speedruns are getting faster and faster with each passing week.
The record-breaker as of now is YouTube content creator Mitchriz and it uses the new “zip” and “meta zip” technique. This glitch lets players zoom around the game and make short runs possible. To pull off the trick, Mitchriz set his character up in a blocking animation. When the correct sound cue plays, he presses W to catapult his character across the map. This glitch lets him skip all of Limgrave and jump to Liurna of the Lake. He picks up the Icerind Axe for the weapon’s skill, then go through the waygate to the late game area.
The rest of the run requires carefully-planned zips and positioning to get to the final areas of the game. This speedrun is so far, it beats Dark Souls’ 21 minutes speedrun, Dark Souls’ 14 minutes speedrun, and Dark Souls 3’s 31 minutes speeddrun efforts.
Check out the magic below:


Cowboy Bebop Interview: Vicious & Julia Actors On Learning The Katana & Their Relationship

The live-action adaptation of the revered sci-fi space bounty hunter show Cowboy Bebop is finally here on Netflix. The show stars a trio of mercenaries trying to get by -Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, and Faye Valentine- as trouble catches up with them.
Courtesy of Netflix Malaysia, we were lucky enough to interview Alex Hassell (Vicious) and Elena Satine (Julia) about the anime, the relationship between their characters, and more. This interview has been edited for clarity.
We were also lucky enough to participate in a roundtable interview with John Cho (who plays Spike Spiegel), Daniella Pineda (who plays Faye Valentine), and Mustafa Shakir (who plays Jet Black), asking them some fun & thought-provoking questions about what itâ€™s like playing characters from an anime masterpiece. Check out that interview here.
In addition, we participated in a roundtable interview with Cowboy BebopÂ showrunner Andre Nemec, and ask him about what it was like to translate the anime into live-action. Check out that interview here.
COWBOY BEPOP (L to R) ALEX HASSELL as VICIOUS and JOHN CHO as SPIKE SPIEGEL of COWBOY BEPOP Cr. GEOFFREY SHORT/NETFLIX Â© 2021
Before you read this interview, be warned that spoilers for the ending of Cowboy Bebop Season 1 lie ahead, so read at your own risk:

Did you watch the anime in preparation for your role? What did you think of it?
Elena Satine: Yes, I was a big fan of the anime for many years, probably at least over a decade, enough to have seen it multiple times. It’s something I tend to revisit every year or so and I like to show it to people. I take weird ownership over the anime and I’ll be like, “I’ve got to show you something.” (laughs)
Alex Hassell: Now you’ve really earned it.
Elena Satine: Now it’s earned but yeah, I was a huge fan.
Alex Hassell: I hadn’t seen it until I auditioned for the show and then took a deep dive into the anime and the film and now I’m a huge fan of it. Yeah, such an amazing piece of work. A seminal piece of work that obviously had this incredible global phenomenon built out of it that we’re very lucky to be a part of and riding the coattails of.
What were the biggest challenges you faced during filming?
Alex Hassell: For me, it was learning to fight. Learning to fight with the katana. That was not something I knew how to do. I fight with swords, fought with swords in other jobs before but not a samurai sword and not with that level of precision. It’s such an important part of the character (Vicious) and obviously, he has such ownership and expertise. I wanted to get as close to that as possible and do as much of the fight scenes as I could myself. That just took a lot of time and effort and you know, starting off holding it, I didn’t know what to do with my other arm and that kind of stuff. Just kind of sticking at it and I’m proud of those fight scenes and really pleased that I got to learn that skill.
Elena Satine: With Julia, it was really just humanising her and making her a real person when the jumping-off point is sort of, you know, I remember the breakdown said that she’s like the ethereal dream girl. It’s really hard to have any kind of compassion for a character that’s described in like such a, you know, she’s beautiful and everybody wants her. And it’s like, well, what is underneath, what makes her so intriguing to this character who was willing to risk everything for her. I think it was just finding those nuances and what makes her really special.

Your characters, Vicious and Julia, rarely appeared in the anime. How did you develop and make these characters your own?
Elena Satine: In a way, that was actually helpful. At least for me, there was sort of a sketch of who Julia is but there was so much room to build her out. I would assume that takes a little bit of the pressure off when for instance, she only says like one line in the anime, so it’s not like she had a specific way of speaking or anything that the fans were going to look to really, really closely and go, “Oh, that’s not the way that Julia would do it”, you know. There’s a lot of room to craft who she is, I think, in a way, because she was this idea rather than a person in the anime, it really helped create the person.
Alex Hassell: Yeah, I’d say that’s really similar with Vicious in that he’s kind of an archetype in the anime. He’s kind of a spectre of death. In terms of expanding that character and fleshing out, a lot of that work, obviously, was really done by the writers creating this whole different layer of what he does outside of being this terrible person and his home life and stuff like that, the domestic scenes and their marriage. In terms of the job of trying to explore and kind of excavate the writing that we were given was about trying to find a counterpoint to that violence. I think what we struck upon was the idea that the Vicious of the anime is the Vicious our version would like to appear to other people but underneath, he has a lot of vulnerability and pain and damage. I think it makes him, our version, maybe slightly more out of control and more brutal and thuggish. Like a very savage bull in a china shop.
How would you define the relationship between your characters?
Alex Hassell: Pretty complex and pretty dark and well, abusive. Vicious, he’s an abuser, he’s a domestic abuser and a very violent manipulative horrible person that you wouldn’t want to be married to.
Elena Satine: I would describe it as very unhealthy because obviously, it is an abusive situation but there’s also a very intense co-dependency there, I feel like, where he (Vicious) can be someone who’s kind to her (Julia), but at the same time, he seeks her counsel. There’s a lot of layers to this relationship and I think underneath all of that, when handling a storyline about an abusive relationship, we really have to look at the whole picture and a lot of the time, women don’t leave abusive relationships because they make excuses for their partner. They blame it on themselves or they think, “Oh, you know, that was just a one-time thing.”, or “He’s not going to that again.”. I think because we get to see their connection in the flashback episode at one point being very, very real, you really begin to understand why she stays in this. Yes, there’s the fear for her life if she leaves, but I think it’s deeper than that.
Alex Hassell: It’s very telling, isn’t it, in that Vicious stays in the relationship when he knows that Julia and Spike have had this relationship. It’s very telling of the real deep need and insecurity and low self-esteem. I guess they both feel at that point, that there’s no one else who would want them or they wouldn’t be able to get anyone to be happier with.

The ending of the live-action series is very different from the anime. Can you tell us what’s next for your characters?
Elena Satine: We would love to tell you but we have no idea.
Alex Hassell: If you can find out for us, we’d be really, really happy. Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, we can speculate and we do, but we don’t know.
Elena Satine: I hope it’s a dark turn for Julia. I’d love to see Julia be the villain. That would be really fun. That’s just me being selfish, I think it’s really fun to play a villain. Right, Alex?
Alex Hassell: Yeah (laughs). It is quite fun to be the villain. I guess I hope that Vicious gets out of that basement. Otherwise, if we do get more seasons, it would be quite a lonely experience.
Do you have any favourite moments or episodes from the first season?
Elena Satine: My favourite episode is episode 9, the flashback episode. I love it.
Alex Hassell: My favourite episode to be part of is probably episode 9 but I have really, really liked episode 8. I think it’s really, really brilliant starting in Cherious Medical and then having the Le Fou character. Also, I really love the way that the elders’ temple fight had been shot and yeah, that’s a favourite for me. I just think that Earth Land is such an amazing, amazing set, and those whole sequences.

What was it like to work with the rest of the cast like John Cho and the others?
Alex Hassell: We hardly got to work with them, did we? (laughs) We both got to work with John in different ways, both intimate in different ways. John’s amazing, he’s such a brilliant actor and such a lovely guy. I think we both liked to work with the others.
Elena Satine: I loved working with John. He’s so effortless in his approach. It’s really, like, awe-inspiring to be in a scene with him and he does so little yet it’s so beautiful, his performance is so beautiful and effortless. As for Faye and Jet, I didn’t have any scenes at all with Mustafa or Danielle, so it would be really nice if there is a Season 2 for our paths to cross. I would really love to work with them. I think they’re both such terrific actors and they’re so perfect for these parts. It would be really nice to see what that dynamic would be like if we were to share a scene together.
Alex Hassell: You know, I wonder if there could be some sort of road trip that Ein and Vicious get to go on together and just like drive off into the sunset.
Elena Satine: Well, if you get out of the basement, we’ll talk about it.
Alex Hassell: Maybe Ein gnaws his arms off and he could get out that way. (laughs) He wouldn’t be able to drive the car. I’m going to some weird area here.


The Super Mario Bros. Movie: All The References & Easter Eggs In The 2023 Film

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is out now in the US and most parts of the world, but it’s only coming out in Malaysia on 20th April. It’s worth the wait especially if you’re a big Nintendo gaming fan; here’s our review.
As such, you can expect a heckaton of Nintendo-filled homages, references, easter eggs, and callbacks in the film. Here’s a list of them so far; we’ll add more if we missed anything. We’ll be going into spoiler territory here as some of these references pop up in the second half of the movie, so here’s your warning.

Super Mario Bros 90s cartoon show rap (1989 cartoon series)

 @kakuchopurei
The Nintendo and Illumination mad lads did it! They resurrected the Super Mario Rap from the 80s for the upcoming movie. #superbowl #supermariobros #mario #nintendo #rap #80s #comparison
 ? original sound – Kakuchopurei – Kakuchopurei

This song from the 1989 cartoon -which stars Captain Lou Albano and Danny Wells as Mario & Luigi- appeared in a commercial advertising the Super Mario Bros plumbing service. The film version added a bit more talking points from Mario (Chris Pratt) using a more exaggerated Italian accent.
The Mario Brothers also wear yellow capes similar to the powerup in Super Mario World.

Also, the woman in the commercial is voiced by Jeannie Elias, who voiced Princess Toadstool/Peach in the 1989 cartoon.

Spike (Wrecking Crew)

Spike appears as Mario and Luigi’s ex-employer. At the start of the movie, he chastises them for being losers and for leaving him to start a separate plumbing business.

Punch-Out Pizza (Punch-Out)

The pizza place Mario and Luigi hang out in is a tribute to the classic NES/SNES/arcade/Wii title Punch-Out. The walls feature portraits of Mr Sandman, Glass Joe, and a number of other boxers from the game.
The pizza place also has a JumpMan arcade machine, which is a nod to Mario’s original moniker Jumpman.

GameCube Jingle (GameCube)

Luigi’s ringtone for his mobile phone is the GameCube startup jingle.

Duck (Duck Hunt)

In the same Punch-Out pizzeria, you can spot the duck from Duck Hunt framed as a picture in the restaurant backdrop.
There’s even a restaurant called Chausee a Canard that can be spotted in the background during a scene where Mario & Luigi head out to the city to stop a citywide leak.

Charles Martinet (Super Mario 64 & more)

The OG video game voice of Mario since Super Mario 64 onward plays the role of Mario’s dad in Brooklyn. He berates his son over his choice of going solo.

Kid Icarus Game (Kid Icarus)

Mario is seen playing the Kid Icarus NES title in his room while he’s down in the dumps early on in the film.

Nintendo’s Baseball, Kung Fu

Mario’s room has posters of NES’ Baseball and Kung Fu.

Pauline (Donkey Kong, Super Mario Odyssey)

Just like in Super Mario Odyssey, Pauline is the mayor of Brooklyn in the Super Mario Bros. Movie. She is seen on a TV news broadcast asking the citizens of Brooklyn to calm down as a huge sewer leak is troubling the city at the start of the film.

Ludwig Von Koopa (Super Mario Bros 3)

Well, it’s not the Koopaling from SMB3. Rather, it’s the name of the piano that Bowser uses to sing about Princess Peach and how he’s in love with her (see video above). Yes, you will believe those giant hands of his can play the piano really well.

Seth Rogen Laugh (Most Seth Rogen Films)

Yes, Seth Rogen does his infamous “huh, huh, huh” laugh in a couple of instances in the Super Mario Bros. Movie when playing Donkey Kong: once during the fight in the Jungle Kingdom with Mario, and the other on Rainbow Road when he tries to love-tap Mario’s kart.

Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, Chunky Kong, DK Rap Song (Donkey Kong Country series, Donkey Kong 64)

At the start of the Jungle Kingdom arena fight between Mario and Donkey Kong, the DK Rap song plays as entrance music for the latter. Cranky Kong asks the entire arena to pipe down; at this bit, you see a quick cut of Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, and Chunky Kong sitting front row of the arena. So yeah, they’re canon to this Illumination Nintendo movie universe.

Baby Mario & Baby Luigi (Yoshi’s Island, Mario Kart Series, Mario Superstar Series)

You get to see the Baby versions of Mario and Luigi in a flashback when Luigi is stuck in Bowser’s prison, reminiscing about Mario being there for him when he gets bullied.

Baby Peach (Mario Kart Series, Mario Superstar RPG series)

Anya Taylor-Joy’s Princess Peach even gets her own quick flashback. Apparently she found herself in the Mushroom Kingdom when she was a baby and was adopted by the Toads.

Blue Shell (Mario Kart Series)

Yes, the iconic first-place kart killer with the explosion is in this film. During the show’s Rainbow Road combat sequence, a blue-shelled Koopa with a big vehicle gives chase to Mario, but ends up getting destroyed. He emerged unscathed and goes harakiri, transforming into the infamous Blue Shell and chases our heroes down.

King Bob-Omb & King Boo (Mario Titles)

Both Mario big-sized enemies appeared as guests for Princess Peach and Bowser’s wedding.

Balloon Fighter (Balloon Fight)

When Mario takes the same warp pipe back to Brooklyn after leading a giant Bullet Bill into it, he falls on the road. When the camera cuts to the view of the city, there’s a 24-hour car wash billboard sign with Balloon Fighter from Balloon Fight as the mascot.

Disk-Kun Computer Shop (Diskun)

The Famicom Disk System mascot gets a quick mention; it’s the name of the computer shop in Brooklyn seen during the final boss fight between Mario and Bowser in the city.

Yoshi In Post-Credits Scene

The first half of the movie isn’t the only place where you see wild Yoshis running around. The film’s post-credits scene shows us a familiar white egg with green spots in the sewers of Brooklyn post-Bowser battle. The egg hatches, and then it cuts to black, accompanies by the trademark Yoshi soundclip.


Plants vs. Zombies: Battle For Neighborville Gives Off Fortnite Vibes

We may never get the answer to the question of who actually played both Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare titles, but EA is still giving us all a new Plants vs. Zombies shooter title whether we like or not. The trailer for Plants vs. Zombies: Battle For Neighborville has been leaked online ahead of its official announcement.
The Plants vs. Zombies: Battle For Neighborville trailer is an unfinished one, as it several scenes feature only sketches and the file codenames can clearly be seen in the video itself. The third-person title looks even more cutesy and cartoony than its Garden Warfare predecessors, with some roster additions like ninja plant and disco zombies.
The art style looks pretty much reminiscent of Epic Games’ Fortnite, which we’re quite sure is intentional on EA’s part. With Fortnite still one of the world’s most popular games (especially amongst the younger generation of gamers), perhaps it’s a good thing that they’re trying to emulate the battle royale game.

However, seeing as this is a leaked trailer, we still don’t know what platforms the upcoming game will be released on. If Garden Warfare was any indication, it’ll likely be on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC again (perhaps even the Nintendo Switch).
If you’re not fond of the third-person shooter action or Fortnite vibes of Plants vs. Zombies: Battle For Neighborville, rest assured that a bonafide Plants vs. Zombies 3 is still on its way.
Check out the leaked Plants vs. Zombies: Battle For Neighborville trailer below before this one is eventually taken down too.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heCD_xdXykc&w=560&h=315]


Overwatch’s Havana Map Now Live; New OWL All-Star Starters & Game Modes Announced

Anyone who tells you that Blizzard’s multiplayer shooter Overwatch is dead may need to have their heads re-examined. Here are the highlights for this week:
New Havana Map Now On Public Servers
Did anyone ask for a new Overwatch Escort map? Sure you did, and you’ll get to check it out now since Havana’s finally out of PTR as of right now.
Check out how the map looks; this is the second new map of 2019 following Paris. Players who checked out the Storm Rising co-op mission should be familiar with some bits from the Havana map. It’s not available in Competitive yet though.

Official description: Havana is a new Escort map set in the region where one of the infamous members of Talonâ€™s council, Maximilien, operated. For a time, this shadowy organization plagued the local populace with their corruption and crime. Eventually, an Overwatch Strike team was deployed to extract Maximilien with the purpose of gaining intel on a mysterious Talon counterpart, Doomfist.
But wait! There’s more….
Overwatch League All-Star Legendary Skins Also Out Now

Main Mercy and Lucio? You’re in luck as these awesome skins for these support characters can be redeemed for 200 Overwatch League Tokens. You can get these tokens by buying them with real money or by watching Overwatch League matches on Twitch via your account.
If you watch the upcoming All-Stars stream, you’ll get double the tokens. Speaking of which…
Here Are Your Overwatch 2019 All-Star Game Starters & Modes
Because we cannot get enough Asian-powered high-level Overwatch action, the 2019 All-Star Game is created to fill in that niche. Here are the fan-voted players, divvied into two teams.

Atlantic Starters

Seong-Hyun “Jjonak” Bang â€” New York Excelsior, support
Yeon-Jun “Ark” Hong â€” Washington Justice, support
Jae-Hyeok “Carpe” Lee â€” Philadelphia Fusion, DPS
Do-Hyeon “Pine” Kim â€” New York Excelsior, DPS
Gael “Poko” Gouzerch â€” Philadelphia Fusion, tank
Cameron “Fusions” Bosworth â€” Boston Uprising, tank

Pacific Starters

Je-Hong “Ryujehong” Ryu â€” Seoul Dynasty, support
Xianyao “Yveltal” Li â€” Chengdu Hunters, support
Hu “JinMu” Yi â€” Chengdu Hunters, DPS
Byung-Sun “Fleta” Kim â€” Seoul Dynasty, DPS
Qiulin “Guxue” Xu â€” Hangzhou Spark, tank
Menghan “Ameng” Ding â€” Chengdu Hunters, tank

These chosen players will be fighting in the following game modes, also voted by fans

Healers Never DieÂ â€” 6v6. Supports only. One hero limit. Control (Nepal)
Sibling RivalryÂ â€” 6v6. Three Genjis and three Hanzos per team. Assault (Hanamura)
Thanks, but No TanksÂ â€“ 6v6. No tanks. One hero limit. Hybrid (Blizzard World)
Terrible, Terrible DamageÂ â€” 6v6. Damage only. One hero limit. Hybrid (Hollywood)
Keeping the PeaceÂ â€“ 6v6. McCree only. Escort (Tiebreaker – Route 66)

Sounds awesome. How can I watch this?
These fights will all be streamed online via Twitch. The All-Stars festivities will start on 15 May. On 16 May, the Atlantic and Pacific will fight each other in the main event to see which division is the best.
15 May (GMT+8)
9:00am – Talent Takedown
10:15am – Widowmaker 1v1
11:30am – All-Star Arcade
1:30pm – Widowmaker 1v1 (Finals)
16 May (GMT+8)
9:00am – Official All-Star Game
Watch live video from OverwatchLeague on www.twitch.tv


The Best Deals From The Steam Autumn Sale 2021

Itâ€™s another year and itâ€™s time for another Steam Autumn Sale just in time for the long summer ahead. The Steam Autumn Sale 2021 will run from now to 2 December 2021 at 2am GMT+8 2021.
Here are our picks for the best deals and discounts so far:
Deathloop (RM125.50)

Deathloop has been one of the most widely-praised games in 2021 due to its unique gameplay loop mechanics. Arkane Studios has made great games in the past (Dishonored, Dishonored 2, Prey) but this one is perhaps their most innovative and fun one yet.
Check out our review of Deathloop here.
Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy (RM161.85)

Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics released one of the biggest genuine surprises of 2021 with Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy. It’s a narrative-heavy single-player adventure with Mass Effect-like mechanics and snappy real-time action combat featuring a version of the team that’s more likeable than the MCU version. If anything, this Star-Lord is definitely better than Chris Pratt’s version.
Check out our review of the game here.
Yakuza Like A Dragon (RM137.40)

Yakuza Like A Dragon is the latest entry in the long-running franchise. It twists the game’s usual beat-em-up combat with brand new JRPG-style turn-based gameplay and a new protagonist in the form of Ichiban Kasuga.
Check out our review forÂ Yakuza Like A DragonÂ here.
Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition (RM40)

With Horizon Forbidden Dawn coming next year, now is the best time to play this former PlayStation exclusive.
Even if youâ€™ve played the original game on the PS4, the PC version comes with several enhancements including ultra-wide support, graphical enhancements (improved reflections, dynamic foliage), graphical customization, unlocked framerate, control options and benchmarking tool.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition (RM144.42)

Mass Effect Legendary Edition is the definitive version of one of the best game trilogies ever made. If you’re a fan of science fiction and have never played these BioWare titles, now is the best time to check them out, especially with a new Mass Effect finally on the way
Total War Warhammer IIÂ (RM54.06)

If you have a decent PC or gaming laptop, you should definitely check out any of theÂ Total WarÂ games by Creative Assembly for their epic real-time battles. The fantasy-basedÂ Total War Warhammer IIÂ is a great game where you can control armies of elves and dwarves, with a couple of dragons and giants for good measure. Then, just watch the chaos unfold.
Sure, you can wait forÂ Total War Warhammer III, but thatâ€™s still many months away with a February 2022 release date (and at full price, it will be a whopping RM189 at launch).
XCOM 2 Collection (RM34.90)

XCOM 2Â is another must-have game on PC, especially for those who love all things science fiction and anything from the tactical turn-based strategy genre. ThinkÂ Final Fantasy TacticsÂ with Soulsborne levels of difficulty.
TheÂ XCOM 2 Collection costs a whopping RM385 at full price, so this is a steal since it contains even the game-changing War Of The Chosen expansion pack. Our advice: start the game with the expansion pack installed. Check outÂ our review of the game here to find out why.
Halo The Master Chief CollectionÂ (RM32.50)

This is virtually the most complete collection and the best way to experience the Halo franchise to date. What more do you want? Halo Infinite is coming on 8 December 2021, but thereâ€™s still time to catch up to the saga of Master Chief and the universe of Halo.
Tales Of Arise (RM141.75)

Tales Of Arise is another great JRPG that came out in 2021. It’s the first next-gen entry in the franchise, and while it doesn’t do anything new, it’s still a fun time to be had. Check out our review of the game here.
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster (RM137.40)

We still have no idea when or if Shin Megami Tensei V is coming to PC, But this remastered version of the 2003/2004 game is still a great game in its own right.
Cyberpunk 2077 (RM109.50)

It’s already been close to a year; Cyberpunk 2077 should be at least kinda fixed by now. Do check this RPG out if you’re into dystopian futures and rich sci-fi storylines featuring Keanu Reeves.
Grim Dawn (RM11.75)

Need an action RPG fix but don’t want to support Activision Blizzard? Try out this Diablo clone featuring a ton of classes, loads of fun combat and spellcasting, and loads of loot.


A New Face Joins Eli Roth’s Borderlands Movie

Janina Gavankar of The Way Back and The Morning Show fame has joined Eli Roth’s feature Borderlands film at Lionsgate, Deadline reports.
The actress, known for her major video game role in Star Wars Battlefront 2 in the game’s single-player campaign will play the role of Commander Knoxx who is a “new, key character being introduced to the Borderlands family” and is not related to General Alphonso Knoxx. I think. So to recap, she will be joining the following stars:

Cate Blanchett (Lilith the Siren)
Kevin Hart (Roland the Soldier)
Jamie Lee Curtis (Patricia Tannis)
Ariana Greenblatt (Tiny Tina)
Florian Munteanu (Krieg)
Edgar Ramirez (Atlas)
Haley Bennett
Olivier Richters (Krom)
Jack Black (Claptrap)

Money casting, that. The movie’s plot focuses on Lilith going back to Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful S.O.B., Atlas. She forms a team consisting of Roland, Tiny Tina, Krieg, and Claptrap(?) to find the girl while battling aliens, monsters, psychopaths, and more residing in lovely Pandora. The show’s script will be by Emmy-winning screenwriter Craig Mazin, with Eli Roth in the director’s chair.
For more Borderlands, do check out our recent loot guide for Borderlands 3’s DLC6.


Cyberpunk 2077’s Next-Gen Ports May Not Be Out This Year

Cyberpunk 2077, the sci-fi RPG that has disappointed many people but was also played and cherished by equally as many, may not have its next-gen ports out in time this year.
According to CD Projekt in recent shareholders results call (via VGC), the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the game are not guaranteed to launch in 2021, despite being the target timeframe for the aforementioned ports. SVP of business development Michal Nowakowski said that CD Projekt wants to learn from the disastrous launch of the game last year and not over-promise and under-deliver once again. He also brought up The Witcher 3 as a frame of reference.
“The target is to release the next-gen version of Cyberpunk 2077 late this year. At the same time, keeping in mind the lessons we have learned during the past year and taking into account that this project still remains in development, we canâ€™t say with full certainty that the production schedule will not change.
With The Witcher 3, the situation is slightly different in the way that this is being tackled by the external team mainly, which is Saber Interactive, the company that we have worked with before on Switch and also with updates in the past.
As with Cyberpunk 2077, our goal is to release that game still in late 2021. However, similarly, the development process is ongoing, and we cannot be absolutely dead certain that the release schedule will not change.
But for the time being, we definitely are aiming with both titles for late 2021 and I donâ€™t want to be more specific at this moment in time.”
Cyberpunk 2077 has sold at least 13 million copies on all its platforms at this point in time. As for CD Projekt’s reputation? That’s still being amended following it being ripped to shreds upon the game’s release and its last-gen console version bugs and woes.Â


FINAL FANTASY VII Remake “Dress-Up” Chapter Figurines Revealed, Cloud Included

Ah, yes, the infamous Chapter 9 of Final Fantasy VII Remake. Now exquisitely available in figurines with our best boi Cloud in line.
A tweet revealed by Square Enix Store shows a fearless yet elegant (and cute) Cloud donning the dress that you see in the game. Also in line are the alluring Aerith and tantalizing Tifa in their respective get-ups from Chapter 9 of the remake.
Details on the figurines are jaw-droppingly impressive; the frills and laces, the paint job, the creases and folds — would make any figure-craftsman turn their heads on these goodies even if they’re not a fan of the franchise.
????????????VII ???????????????????PLAY ARTS???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????#FF7Rhttps://t.co/4yO0jKzAu2 pic.twitter.com/IOt6wSyJsN— ??????????? e-STORE (@SQEX_eSTORE) July 21, 2022
THE FF7R DRESS FIGURINES FOR CLOUD, TIFA, AND AERITH, LET'S GOOOOOOO ??? pic.twitter.com/AUSH4dSgcg— ??????Audrey? (@aitaikimochi) July 21, 2022

Seems like Square Enix’s merchandise department knows what’s good for the collector fans of the game and franchise. As expected of Square Enix pouring their love onto one of their most successful, most loved, and most long-standing franchises of the ages. The official tweet and Square Enix Store are in Japanese so try your best with a translation assistant or have a Japanese-speaking friend to find out more about the products.What do you think of this line of Final Fantasy 7 Remake exclusive merchandise? Will you be picking it up, or just focus on best girl Cloud Strife? If so, which of the characters will you get or will you swoop them all for your shrine of figurines? Do let us know in the comments or head on over to our socials.


Are The Last Moments Of Rambo: Last Blood Worth The Entire Runtime?

The fifth Rambo movie is about an embittered old man who slaughters a lot of Mexicans in righteous fury after a resolved plot point one hour in its entire runtime involving a kidnapped foster daughter we’ve never heard about until this very movie. Also, it teaches the one life lesson every budding cartel builder should heed: if your brother says to kill the old-ass ‘nam veteran with an acid bath, you should listen to him.
And it also proves that the Home Alone formula works against gun-totting drug cartels, assuming they’re silly enough to explore a tunnel system operated and built by the same ‘nam veteran.

Rocky Tale
The big question is whether that hour of plot-building and setup is worth sitting through just to get to the one big action scene? It’s reusing the same story structure in Rambo IV/John Rambo but with different arcs: now it’s our hero enjoying halcyon days before his turn to dishing out violent justice to cartels who deal with illegal prostitution.
Said happy and sorta peaceful days involves Rambo and his sorta daughter Gabrielle (Yvette Monreal) wanting to see her dad in Mexico and ask why she’s abandoned. She gets mixed up in the prostitution trade run by bigwig Mexican cartel leaders Victor and Hugo Martinez (Oscar Jaenada and Sergio Peris-Mencheta). And it’s up to John Rambo to sort this out and also deal some bloodletting.
There are also some bits where John Rambo deals with his PTSD via painkillers and his helplessness in not being able to save folks. And also a subplot featuring a journalist played by Paz Vega who saves him and shares his grief of loss. Of course, that’s all thrown out the window in the last 30 minutes.

Was it worth it? Well, the violence and action bits are well put-together and paced just great. Impalements,Â  arrows through flesh, hack-and-slashing, and shotgun after-effects: all of this is framed like as if John Rambo is channeling Jason Vorhees when going after the cartel.
Even with all the drama padding beforehand, director Adrian Grunberg did an OK job setting it all up before we get to the carnage. Gorehounds will not be disappointed.
Expendable
To put it simply: you’re getting what you expect from a film that celebrates the machismo antics of old Sylvester Stallone. If you want a subversion of the formula or some revelatory material or a well-written narrative, you’ve come to the wrong place.
You’re here to see Rambo pull off his vengeance using tricks from Kevin McCallister’s handbook but with magnesium-filled shotgun shells and sharpshooting bow-and-arrow skills. It did an adequate job at that, though many wished it went an extra mile like part 4 did with its narrative.
FINAL SCORE: 60/100


Wonder Woman 1984 Doesn’t Treat Its DC Villains With Enough Respect (Spoilers)

Wonder Woman 1984 is not that good a movie. If not for the performances of the main cast and the over-the-top action scenes, it’s just another superhero film getting added to the pile of other DCEU movies.
The sequel to 2017’s Wonder Woman (and prequel to 2016’s Batman V Superman Dawn Of Justice) has a broken and messy plot. Let me tell you why.
Of course, I’ll be discussing full-on spoilers from the movie, so here’s a warning for anyone who hasn’t seen Wonder Woman 1984. You can still check out my spoiler-free review of the movie here.

In Wonder Woman 1984, Diana (Gal Gadot) is living in secret in Washington D.C. in the 80s. She’s working at the Smithsonian as an anthropologist while somehow being Wonder Woman on the side without anyone knowing.
She strikes up a friendship with Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig). They both come into contact with a mysterious stone, which is being tracked by businessman con-man Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal).
Maxwell Lord’s Undefined And Vague Powers

First of all, the stone is called the Dreamstone, and it’s apparently based on an obscure magical artifact from the comics. In the DC Universe of the comics, the Dreamstone was created by the entity Dream Of The Endless, and it’s used by villains like Doctor Destiny to reshape realities.
However, the Dreamstone in Wonder Woman 1984 has the ability to grant wishes, but only to one person at a time. It’s simply a MacGuffin used to grant wishes, but it’s a confusing one that muddles up the plot.
In the movie, Maxwell Lord uses his one wish to absorb and become a living Dreamstone. While he gets the power to grant wishes in the process, he can only grant those of other people.
However, he somehow uses that loophole in that he manipulates people in either granting his wishes or apparently gets to take anything of their possession in return for granting their wishes.
Maxwell Lord’s powers as a living Dreamstone is undefined and vague, which makes for an unsatisfying villain. The writers of Wonder Woman 1984 sort of knew this, so they had to shoehorn Barbara Minerva AKA Cheetah into the movie to ensure that Diana has a worthwhile adversary.
It’s disappointing because Maxwell Lord in the comics is a much more cunning and calculative villain. He’s like a much more charming and good-looking Lex Luthor, but with the added advantage of being able to telepathically influence people’s mind or persuade them into doing something.
In the comics, he was considered to be so dangerous that Wonder Woman was essentially forced to kill him by snapping his neck in the 52 story arc because he was controlling Superman at the time.

In Wonder Woman 1984, Maxwell Lord seemingly gets away at the very end by renouncing his wishes and returning to his son. All Wonder Woman had to do to defeat him was appeal to his love for his son.
Sure, that’s more in line with the movie’s themes, but we could have gotten a better version of Maxwell Lord. One whose powers didn’t have to depend on a wishing stone, and whose motivations could be made clearer.
In Wonder Woman 1984, it was never made clear what his real endgame is. Apparently, Pedro Pascal’s Maxwell Lord just wanted more power and couldn’t stop granting more wishes to increase his power, which ends up screwing the world over.
How Could They Disrespect Cheetah Like This?

Barbara Minerva gets her powers in the comics from being cursed by the African god Urzkartaga. Her powers are a curse, and she blames Wonder Woman for it, which is why she remains the hero’s main nemesis over the years.
In Wonder Woman 1984, Barbara Minerva wants to protect Maxwell Lord from Diana because she wants to stay strong and beautiful. She then transformed into the Cheetah just because she wished to be an “apex predator.”

There were several problems with Cheetah in Wonder Woman 1984. We see Barbara in her human form for 90 percent of the movie’s runtime, and she only turns into the Cheetah for the climactic confrontation with Diana.
The CGI looks horrible and the scene was probably shot in the dark to make the character look a bit better. It’s noticeable because the rest of the movie’s action scenes were shot in bright daylight, so there’s no reason why this fight had to be in the dark unless it was to hide the visual blemishes.
Not only does Cheetah look like a Cats movie reject, she only appears for less than ten minutes in a very underwhelming fight scene between her and Diana. It’s extremely disappointing, considering how much the trailers and marketing hyped her up.
Wonder Woman 1984 Ultimately Serves Diana

One could say that the villains don’t much matter in Wonder Woman 1984 because it served as crucial character development for Diana, adding more depth to the character.
Itâ€™s a necessary stepping stone for the characterâ€™s growth. Why did Wonder Woman continue protecting humanity for so long after Steve Trevor’s (Chris Pine) death?
In Wonder Woman 1984, she makes the painful decision to finally let go of Steve and fight for a civilization that needs her more than anything. This pretty much makes her the first bonafide hero in the DCEU, so I still think it’s unnecessary for Wonder Woman of all heroes to hide her crimefighting like she’s a vigilante.


Kandria Walkthrough: How To Survive The Wastelands

Kandria is out right now for PC, and it’s a really ambitious search action game with some good platforming gameplay. The combat’s a bit easy, but that’s the only major issue we’ve found in this budding gem.
Having said that, the game’s platforming can be tough. Here’s a guide on how to sort those out.
Here are the video walkthroughs we’ve compiled, showing you how to get through the entire game and get all the way to the end. Spoilers, of course, so tread carefully.


Honkai Star Rail Flavour Text & Writing Is Out Of This World

A while ago in my glowing Honkai Star Rail review, I dismissed the game’s main plot and narrative choices as being tedious. In that same review, I did mention that the game’s plot is elevated by the stellar voice acting. Readers will also have to take into account that I can only spend so much time before getting a review of the game out, especially in its first phase with many more soon to come.
I still think the main plot is pretty much what you’ve seen before in other older JRPGs set in space or in any alternate fantasy world. After spending way more time with the game and actually having some free time to check out the non-essential stuff, however, I was in for a surprise.
I did not expect the game’s numerous flavour text, side interactions, and random clicking of trash cans and displays to have so much more character. This short feature is about all that and why it’s just a treat to spend more time with Honkai Star Rail.
Garbage In, Treasure Out
The eccentricity of Honkai Star Rail’s writing from my point of view started from my random interaction with a trash can at Jarilo-VI in Boulder Town and the Administrative District. Just when I thought I was getting a simple quip, along comes a slew of flavour text that just goes over-the-top with its quirkiness. I experienced this while reviewing the game, but due to time constraints, I just wrote this off as a one-time thing.

Little did I know that it went beyond just the trash can. Mannequin displays, cars, alien pigeons (crane?), and a Chinese vase. Nothing is spared from the writing team at Honkai Star Rail who were clearly inspired by the combined writings of a Tim Schafer joint, Sega’s Yakuza series, and 2019’s epic RPG Disco Elysium.

The biggest surprise of Honkai Star Rail has been the really high quality English localization writing: It's often hilarious, clever, sharp – sometimes operating between Disco Elysium's structured absurdity & Yakuza's slapstick goofiness
(Screenshots from 4 unrelated quests) pic.twitter.com/0XR9cPB9De
— Elliot ? (@nameoftheyear) May 9, 2023

Post-review, I did play through the game again on a separate account and took my time with it. Boy, did I have more fun than before since there’s a lot more clever nonsense & goblin-level of trolling text to find, especially for a game of this calibre and F2P reputation.
There is a short sidequest involving the Trailblazer filling up a suggestion form for the Goethe Hotel. The way it’s delivered feels a bit tongue-in-cheek and dramatic at the same time, with the narrative double-checking if the hotel really deserves such ratings. There’s even a sidequest (via Elliot) where you had to infiltrate a foxgirl chatroom service to help out a space research employee. You’d swear you were stuck in the same predicament as Kiryu Kazuma if this game were set in modern-day Tokyo instead of in space.

When you think free-to-play gacha games, the last thing I expect is “stellar writing” and “flavour text up the ante”. Titles like Brave Exvius and Seven Knights aren’t exactly high on the “stories with effort & proofreading” list. Thank you for proving this jaded soul wrong, HoYoverse, and I hope this trend continues in future expansions and DLC for the game. There’s hope yet for mobile games to have stories that are on par with your Obsidian RPG epics and Bioware games pre-Dragon Age 2.
Honkai Star Rail is out now for PC and mobile devices. Check out our review of the game here, along with some guides.


Miles Morales Goes Invisible & Kicks Ass In New Gameplay Clip

Courtesy of games publicationÂ Game Informer, we have a closer look at the combat and stealth elements in the upcoming Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales.
In the clip, we see Miles going invisible and stealthily taking out a bunch of goons, before having to resort to some good old fisticuffs and his Venom Punch ability. It’s amazing how much more dynamic playing as Miles seems to be like, owing to his additional powers.
The best part of it all is how smooth the combat looks, thanks to the game’s 60FPS made possible while running on the PS5. In comparison, PS4’s Marvel’s Spider-Man only reached 30FPS at best.
Marvelâ€™s Spider-Man: Miles MoralesÂ is slated to release for the PS4 and PS5 on 12 November 2020. It is now open for pre-orders on the PS4 (check out all the details here).
In the meantime, check out the aforementioned clip below:


New Hot Toys Hellboy Looks Heavenly

While the recent Hellboy reboot may have been divisive, to say the least, I personally loved it for being a more faithful comic book adaptation of the source material compared to the older Guillermo Del Toro movies.
Hot Toys has officially unveiled a 1/6th scale collectible figure of Hellboy from director Neil Marshall’s new take on Big Red. The new Hellboy figure looks very much like actor David Harbour, along with his movie-accurate long hair and facial expressions.
It comes with three variations of Hellboy‘s Right Hand of Doom and six variations of his normal left hand. As for his costume, it’s great seeing the BPRD (Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense) logo on his shirt, along with an impressively-detailed utility belt and gun holster.
In the weapons department, this Hellboy ain’t no slouch. He has his sword Excalibur (just like the one in the movie), two pistols, and a hellishly-awesome Excalibur on fire.
Fans of the comics will know that Hellboy‘s true name, Anung Un Rama, means “And Upon His Brow Is Set A Crown Of Flame”. In light of that, it’s incredible that this Hellboy figure actually comes with a Crown of Flame accessory. How cool is that?
Check out the 1/6th scale collectible figure of Hellboy below.

In the meantime, check out our Hellboy review here, or that one time Hellboy visited Malaysia here.


The Really Fun & Quaint SteamWorld Quest Will Get A New Game+ Mode

The deckbuilding RPG SteamWorld Quest is really an endearing and fun game. We adored the heck out of it and would recommend you get it for PC or Switch.
Perhaps the title’s latest update will pique your interest: the free patch will add a new game plus, a new difficulty setting, a lot of artwork, and the game’s complete soundtrack. That’s a lot.

The new difficulty mode is called “Legend Remix” and will feature tougher enemies and some “gameplay twists of its own” like modifiers mid-match. The New Game+ mode will reset your characters but will retain most of your cards and items.
Other than that, the update fixes bugs, increases merchant item stocks, and balances numerous cards. We do feel that this “update 2.0” warrants people to buy the game for RM35.20/SG17.60 if they haven’t already.
The SteamWorld games are also pretty nifty too; perhaps you’d like to get the bundle for RM172.69 to kill some time before the September/October releases?


The Goose From Untitled Goose Game Honks Its Way Into Resident Evil 2

As days go by, modders find more ways to make Mr. X look more ridiculous in Resident Evil 2. From the same modder who brought us Thomas the Tank Engine as Mr. X, he now brings us the goose from Untitled Goose Game.
Resident Evil modder ZombieAli has just tweeted out a gif of the mod which shows the goose lifting up the crashed helicopter, a moment that marks Mr. X’s terrifying debut. As you’d expect, it’s a lot less terrifying now.

Untitled Goose Chase? #Modding #RE2 #MrX #UntitleGooseGame @panic pic.twitter.com/IZUGLTxDS6
— ???? ?LIST?R ???? (@xZombieAlix) October 19, 2019

It looks like the mod isn’t out yet as ZombieAli states he’s still working on it. However, it’s awesome to see that he will be adding the goose’s honking noise in the final version. Now this, is the true power of a successful indie game.


Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Deleted Scene Confirms Final Fate Of The High Evolutionary

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 was the most recent entry in the long-running Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). In the movie, the fate of the antagonist, the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), was left ambiguous. However, now we know what happened to the villain after a new deleted scene was unveiled.
In the deleted scene, we can see that the High Evolutionary is alive and well but imprisoned on Knowhere. This is something that’s rare in the MCU as a whole, as villains are usually dead or permanently dispatched by the end of the movie.
In the same deleted scene, we also see Kraglin (Sean Gunn) recruiting Adam Warlock to join the new Guardians Of The Galaxy team that we saw in the post-credits of the movie.
In the meantime, head on over here for my review of the movie.
Check out the deleted scene below:

If you rather check out something lighter, here are scenes of Cosmo the Spacedog in GotG Vol. 3.


The Top Five Most Underrated Stephen King Adaptations

Stephen King is one of the most famous writers in the world, best known for horror and the supernatural. His massive library of works has spooked and terrified generations of readers, many of which have received adaptations in the form of movies and TV shows since 1976’s Carrie.
While several of these adaptations are great and iconic (The Shining, Shawshank Redemption, etc.), some are just downright awful or meh. With so many movies and TV shows adapted from the works of Stephen King, some great ones do slip through the cracks of obscurity and are sometimes overlooked.
5. Apt Pupil (1998)

1998’s Apt Pupil is more of a thriller than it is a horror movie, as it doesn’t exactly feature ghosts or supernatural elements. What it does have loads of is how cruel and evil people can be when they’re manipulated or indoctrinated. The movie stars Sir Ian McKellen as Nazi war criminal Kurt Dussander who builds a relationship with high school student Todd Bowden (played by Brad Renfro).
Bowden gets more and more obsessed with Nazism and the Holocaust as McKellen’s Dussander continues sharing his personal stories of World War 2 atrocities he had witnessed and participated in. While the movie omitted the book’s violent shooting spree climax, it still explores disturbing and uncomfortable subject matter.
I would probably equate it closely with the recent Joker movie in terms of how it twists the human psyche and how the characters justify their acts of evil. This movie is not simply meant for light viewing or just a harmless horror movie you can boot up for a night of thrills.
4. 1408 (2007)

As a kid, I read many stories of haunted hotel rooms, which is part of the reason why I was so scared of being left alone in one at night. Stephen King’s 1408 is essentially that, as a writer named Mike Eslin rents a famously haunted hotel room for the purpose of research as material for his next book while at the same time being sceptical of the paranormal.
The 2007 movie stars John Cusack as the protagonist, with Samuel L. Jackson playing a smaller but significant role as the hotel’s manager. The movie as a whole is basically just an excuse to cram in all the haunted hotel room cliches in one story, though that doesn’t make it all any less frightening.
The psychological state of Cusack’s character worsens throughout the movie, with every bizarre happening gradually getting worse. There are supposedly four different endings for the movie version of 1408, but I’ve only ever seen the theatrical version so I can’t say how different they are to each other.
3. Creepshow (1982)
A 35-year-old Stephen King (at that time), if you can believe it.
Many horror fans tend to forget that the genre isn’t limited or exclusive to being overly-serious. Horror can still be campy and cheesy, but also great. There was a time when horror comics and anthologies were all the rage, which thankfully is returning with the likes of Netflix’s Black Mirror and even the AMC Shudder’s new Creepshow TV series, which only recently debuted last month.
The original 1982 Creepshow was directed by George A. Romero (AKA the legend who created the concept of zombies in popular culture) and written by Stephen King. It consisted of five different short stories in an anthology format, one of which King infamously starred in himself.
The movie was pretty much a tribute to the horror comics of the 1950s, and thus retain the same campy violence and cheesy vibes. Though it’s not for every horror fan, Creepshow is a must-watch for King fans and proves that horror can be just as fun as any other genre.
2. 11.22.63 (2016)
Why so serious, Harry Osborn?
This is the only TV series (or specifically, miniseries) on this list, as well being the most recent to be released. It’s also likely one of the most overlooked Stephen King adaptations ever made, due to it being exclusive to the Hulu streaming service, which should be considered a crime seeing as how excellent it is.
11.22.63 is rare amongst King adaptations in that it is not horror, but science fiction. Its premise is an intriguing one, as it tells the story a teacher named Jake Epping who goes back in time to 1960 in order to prevent the assassination of then U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
I was pleasantly surprised by James Franco’s subdued and layered performance as the protagonist since I’ve always seen him as the dude from stoner comedies. Who knew the guy who played Harry Osborn from the Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies could have dramatic range? I definitely didn’t, before watching 11.22.63.
The predicament of a modern man in 1960s U.S. is rife with potential, as themes of racism, political conspiracies and even romance are explored throughout 11.22.63. What would you do (or wouldn’t you do) to change the future? Consisting of only eight episodes, this is a miniseries I would recommend to any fan of King’s.
1. The Mist (2007)

Director Frank Darabont is best known for having directed 1994’s award-winning The Shawshank Redemption and 1999’s The Green Mile, both of which were notable for being adapted from Stephen King’s non-horror novels. Darabont his unofficial Stephen King trilogy with 2007’s The Mist, which largely went ignored amongst critics and audiences alike.
The premise of The Mist is simple but terrifying all the same. A mysterious mist descends on a small town, bringing it with mysterious monsters and eldritch horrors. The surviving remnants of the town take refuge in a small supermarket, where most of the movie takes place.
While being at siege from creatures like giant insects and spiked tentacles, the sense of palpable paranoia gradually increases as the movie progresses, making for an intense watch. Perhaps the single best thing that makes the movie great is its deliciously bleak and dark ending.
King himself praises the ending of 2007’s The Mist, which is completely different than the one in the book. I won’t spoil the movie’s twist ending here, but let me leave you with what King had to say about it in a recent 2017 interview with CinemaBlend:

“When Frank said that he wanted to do the ending that he was going to do, I was totally down with that.
I thought that was terrific.
And it was so anti-Hollywood — anti-everything, really!
It was nihilistic. I liked that. So I said you go ahead and do it.”


Star Wars Outlaws Gameplay Trailer Showcases Shooting, Speeder Riding & Aerial Space Combat

During Ubisoft Forward 2023, Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment revealed new gameplay footage from their Star Wars game, Star Wars Outlaws, which was originally announced in 2021.
The game actually looks fun, and the trailer shows us a glimpse of the game’s shooting mechanics, speeder riding and most interestingly of all, actual space combat.
Star Wars Outlaws is described as the first-ever open-world Star Wars game, set between the events of Star Wars Episode V The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI Return of the Jedi. Players will assume the role of Kay Vess, an emerging scoundrel seeking freedom and the means to start a new life, along with her companion Nix.
It’s slated to release for the PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC sometime in 2024.
Check out the gameplay trailer below:


The Shin Megami Tensei III Remaster Is Coming To PC & Switch This May

Sega and Atlus have announced that Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster will release for the PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam on 25 May 25 2021. The remaster was initially revealed last year during a Nintendo Direct Mini.
A Digital Deluxe Edition will also be available, which includes the following:

Full game download.
Exclusive access to the game four days early, on 21 May 2021.
Maniax Pack.

Adds Dante from theÂ Devil May Cry series.

Chronicle Pack.

Adds Raidou from theÂ Devil SummonerÂ series
Note: The Chronicle Pack is available in the base game for PlayStation 4 and Switch versions. It is free downloadable content for the Steam version only.

â€œMercifulâ€ difficulty.

Adds an easier difficulty mode.

Mercy and Expectation Map Pack.

â€œLittle Masterâ€™s Mercyâ€.
â€œMasterâ€™s Expectationâ€.

Shin Megami Tensei Background Music Pack.

â€œBGM Pack 1: Shin Megami Tenseiâ€ (two songs).
â€œBGM Pack 2:Â Shin Megami Tensei IIâ€ (two songs).
â€œBGM Pack 3:Â Shin Megami Tensei IVâ€ (two songs).
â€œBGM Pack 4:Â Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypseâ€ (two songs).

The synopsis for the game reads:
What begins as a normal day in Tokyo turns out to be everything but, when the Conceptionâ€”an ethereal apocalypseâ€”is invoked. The remains of the world are swallowed by chaos, as a demonic revolution descends into a broken city. Caught between a battle of gods and demons, the choices you make can bring life, rebirth, or death, and determine who triumphs.
Key Features
This genre-defining, infamously punishing RPG is back and now includes:

Remastered 3D models and backgrounds.
Additional difficulty settings for players of all skill levels.
Suspend save â€“ save your progress whenever you need it!
Voiced audio â€“ choose between Japanese and English voice-overs.
An alternate branch featuring Raidou Kuzunoha.

In the meantime, check out the trailer featuring a message from director Kazuyuki Yamai below:


Netflix’s Castlevania Season 4 Will Be Its Last, Dropping This May

Netflix has announced that the Castlevania anime series will end with a 10-episode Season 4, which will premiere on 13 May 2021.
According to Deadline, despite ending the main Castlevania anime, Netflix is eyeing a new spinoff series set in the same Castlevania universe with a brand new cast of characters.
Castlevania originally launched in July 2017 as the streaming giant’s first original anime series. It was created by legendary comic book writer Warren Ellis, who also served as a writer and executive producer. However, Ellis faced sexual harassment allegations and have since had no further involvement in the series after finishing the script for Season 4.
Castlevania is a dark medieval fantasy that follows Trevor (Richard Armitage), the last surviving member of the disgraced Belmont clan, who is trying to save Eastern Europe from extinction at the hand of Vlad Dracula Tepes (Graham McTavish). But Trevor no longer is alone, and now he and his misfit comrades race to find a way to save humanity from extinction at the hands of the grief-maddened Dracula and his sinister vampire war council.
The voice cast also includes James Callis, Emily Swallow, Matt Frewer, Tony Amendola and Alejandra Reynoso; amongst others. The series’ visual style is heavily influenced by Ayami Kojimaâ€™s artwork in Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night.
In the meantime, check out the teaser trailer below, or head on over here for our ranking of all the Castlevania games.

This is where it all started. The final season of Castlevania arrives May 13. pic.twitter.com/sLqWjJxjoA
— Netflix Geeked @ SDCC #NetflixSDCC (@NetflixGeeked) April 16, 2021


Skullgirls 2nd Encore Is Coming To Xbox Series & Xbox One In 2022

Autumn Games and Hidden Variable just released new gameplay footage of its latest character Black Dahlia. Also, the game will be out for Xbox Series and Xbox One later in 2022.
For those waiting for the new character, Black Dahlia will launch in alpha form for PC this June, followed by Early Access in Q3 2022 and full release for PC and PS4 versions of the game in Q4 2022. As you can tell from the gameplay trailer below, Black Dahlia uses her massive gun-arm to launch slow-moving explosive rounds that detonate on contact. She’s classified as a mid-ranged character who has a unique Onslaught jump to attack opponents at a perfect angle for her cannon.

Skullgirls 2nd Encore is out now for PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam.


Backers Will Get To Play Wasteland 3 This March

CRPG fans really love the Wasteland series, to the point where they crowdfunded Wasteland 3 to huge success. And now they get to reap their early rewards.
Backers who supported the crowdfunding project will get to play the Wasteland 3 beta on 17th March at 9am PDT, according to the game’s official Fig page. This applies to the folks who backed the game for US$25 and above.

Those who participated in the alpha test last August will not need to redeem a new key. Everyone else will get a Steam code soon.
The beta will contain the first few hours of Wasteland 3, which includes character creation and a handful of early areas. You can stream and publish whatever you want, so go nuts if you’re participating.
The actual full game will be out 19th May, so you won’t have to wait too long to play the real deal.


Football Manager Will Add Women’s Football In The Future

Developer Sports Interactive and publisher SEGA have announced that work has started on a multi-year project to bring womenâ€™s football into their iconic Football Manager series.Â
The result of this landmark work will not be a standalone womenâ€™s football management simulation. Instead, womenâ€™s football will be fully incorporated into FMâ€™s living, breathing world, with managers able to take control of either menâ€™s or womenâ€™s clubs and move between them seamlessly.Â
However, the studio has not set a definitive date for when the project will be completed; but the intention is to incorporate the womenâ€™s game as soon as realistically possible. Sports Interactiveâ€™s development team is committed to ensuring that womenâ€™s football is represented as authentically as possible and with the level of realism and attention to detail that the series is renowned for and will not announce a launch date until these standards have been met.

Miles Jacobson, Studio Director at Sports Interactive, said:
â€œWe have NO interest whatsoever in making a standalone womenâ€™s football version of FM.
What we are doing is adding womenâ€™s football to FM… one sport, one game.
We know that adding womenâ€™s football to FM is going to cost in the millions and that the short-term return it delivers will be minimal.
But thatâ€™s not the point.
Thereâ€™s no hiding that thereâ€™s currently a glass ceiling for womenâ€™s football and we want to do what we can to help smash through it.
We believe in equality for all and we want to be part of the solution.
We want to be a part of the process that puts womenâ€™s football on an equal footing with the menâ€™s game.
WeÂ  know that weâ€™re not alone in this â€“ the historic TV deal that Sky and the BBC recently agreed with WSL inÂ  England is proof of that â€“ but we intend to do everything we can to get womenâ€™s football to where it deserves to be.â€Â
The move to incorporate womenâ€™s football into FM has received support from leading figures inside the football industry, including Chelsea FC Women manager, Emma Hayes, who said:
â€œWomen’s football is capturing the imagination of fans across the globe and we’re making huge strides in terms of attendance figures and broadcast deals.
For the women’s game to get to the next level, though, it needs to be recognised as an integral part of the world of football, not something separate and different.
We want future generations to grow up in a world where football isn’t divided into ‘women’s’ andÂ  ‘men’s’… it’s just football.
The ambitious plan that the Sports Interactive team have for Football Manager willÂ  play a huge part in getting us there.”
Football Manager 2021 is now available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Nintendo Switch, Android and iOS.


Malaysian Team RamPaGe Gaming Retains ESL CoD Asian Championship

Team RamPaGe Gaming emerges as champions after a hard-fought Grand Finals match in the ESL Call of Duty Asian Championship. The champion team features two Malaysian players, namely Hakiem ‘RanGer’ Tajudin and Daniel ‘Rainyz’ Ali.

Give it up to your back-to-back #CODAsiaChampionship CHAMPIONS – @TeamRamPaGePro!
WHAT.A.FINALS pic.twitter.com/87mXOxRJd2
â€” ESL Asia (@ESL_Asia) March 23, 2019
They faced Love Potion, another Southeast Asian team, in the Grand Finals. Love Potion ended up as the 1st runner up of the Black Ops 4 championship. The team also features two Malaysian players, who are Khaleef ‘Imperium’ Irfan and Irfan ‘Derp’ Danial.
RamPaGe Gaming faced Love Potion over a Best Of 5 (BO5) match. The teams fought valiantly, and after a 2-2 score, RamPaGe Gaming came out the better team, securing the victory as well as retaining their championship title.
The teams had many epic plays. Have a look for yourself below:

250-204, @lovepotionsea takes game 1 against @teamrampagepro in the 1st BO5 of the Grand Finals.
What an INTENSE match! #CODAsiaChampionship
ðŸ‘‰https://t.co/4CFnnV8seD pic.twitter.com/yVbhlXYgYN
â€” ESL Asia (@ESL_Asia) March 23, 2019

WHAT THE FLICK –@imrainyz with the INSANE reaction!
ðŸ—£ï¸@MilesTheRoss & @Inmaniac
ðŸ“ºhttps://t.co/4CFnnV8seD#CODAsiaChampionship pic.twitter.com/bERjMWoiiH
â€” ESL Asia (@ESL_Asia) March 23, 2019

.@FPSRanGer IS ON FIRE! ðŸ”¥ðŸ”¥ðŸ”¥#CODAsiaChampionship
ðŸ‘‰https://t.co/4CFnnV8seD pic.twitter.com/u6T16TcUSJ
â€” ESL Asia (@ESL_Asia) March 23, 2019
All in all, it was a sweet victory for RamPaGe Gaming. I look forward to more championships with RamPaGe Gaming playing in it.


Blizzard’s Confirms Former Hearthstone & Heroes Of The Storm Directors Have Left Company

With the BlizzCon festivities coming this weekend, the last thing Blizzard wants is more bad news. Well, apart from that whole Hong Kong kerfuffle.
Turns out there’s more fuel thrown into that proverbial fire. In a Kotaku report on Blizzard in 2019, the article brought up an interesting tidbit: the departure of a trio of Blizzard veterans that went unnoticed or unconfirmed until now. StarCraft 2 lead designer/Heroes of the Storm game director Dustin Browder, former Hearthstone director Eric Dodds, and former Hearthstone production director Jason Chayes are no longer with the company.

It was also recently confirmed that the departure happened after the cancellation of a StarCraft-based shooter codenamedÂ  Ares that was worked on since 2016.
Here’s an official statement from Blizzard:

“Yes, Eric, Dustin, and Jason made the decision to move on from Blizzard a few months ago. They have been and always will be considered members of the Blizzard family, and weâ€™ve loved working with them over the years. We wish them the best for the future.
That said, we want to make sure itâ€™s clear that development of Blizzard games has always been a collaborative effort between many talented, longstanding teammates here continuing that good work.”

The fact that these high profile developers and producers left without any sort of notice -and required prodding from a news publication- speaks volumes as to how the new Blizzard leadership is treating its precious staff these days. Le sigh…


Valorant Episode 3 Act 2 Adds Fracture Map & New Battlepass

Riot Games has announced that weâ€™re excited to share that Valorant Episode 3 Act 2 will launch on 8 September 2021, featuring an all-new Battlepass and a new map called Fracture. This is the first Battlepass to feature a Phantom, Vandal and Operator skin, while Fracture will be the first map to have interactive narrative objects.
Check out the new Valorant Fracture map below:

Fracture is the seventh Valorant map. In its simplest form, the map is marked by its H-shape layout with a visual split down the middle that reveals contrasting sides. Long ziplines also connect routes underneath. Like previous maps, keep an eye out for heavy tie-ins to ValorantÂ lore, including first-time interactive narrative objects.
Key Features

H-shaped layout, Defender Spawn sits in the middle of the map.
Ziplines run under the map to connect front and back.
First map with interactive objects.
First exposure to Mirror Earth Kingdom; map expands on the mirrorverse and both Kingdoms.

When describing the map, Valorant level designer Joe Lanford said:
For gameplay, (weirdly?) I took at least some of my inspiration from the Battle of Helmâ€™s Deep. As the orcs are breaking down the gates, Aragorn and ThÃ©oden (and the remaining squadzinho) ride out to meet them.
â€œNow for wrath, now for ruin and the red dawn!â€ Gandalf and the Riders of Rohan storm down the mountain from the other side.
When youâ€™re on defense and both A and B players push out to flip the tables and pinch attackers instead, it always reminds me of this moment.
Meanwhile, the Valorant Episode 3 Act 2 Battlepass includes:
Price

1,000 VP

Key Items
Free

Artisan Ghost Weapon Skin w/ Variants
Timeâ€™s Up Gun Buddy
Artisan Gun Buddy
Nice Try! Spray
Versus // Phoenix + Phoenix Card

Paid

Artisan Foil (melee) w/ Variants
Artisan Phantom
Nitro Operator
Nitro Vandal
Varnish Sheriff
Follow Me Gun Buddy
Does Not Compute Spray
Unstoppable // Reyna Card


Call Of Duty Black Ops Cold War Beta Drops This Week

Last month, Publisher Activision and developer Treyarch announced the first details for theÂ Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War Beta. Today, they released a new trailer in anticipation of the Beta later this week.
The beta schedule is as follows (via Activision):
First WeekendÂ (PlayStation Exclusive)8 to 9 October 20202 â€“ PS4 Early Access.10 to 12 October 2020 â€“ PS4 Open Beta.Second WeekendÂ (Cross-Play Beta)15 to 16 October 2020 â€“ Xbox and PC Early Access, PS4 Open Beta.17 to 19 October 2020 â€“ Open Beta On All Platforms.
Early Access And Open Beta Times

There are two weekends of Call Of Duty Black Ops Cold War beta content with each lasting a total of around five days, scheduled to begin each Thursday at 1pm ET (or 1m GMT+8 for Southeasian countries).
Weekend 1: PS4 Exclusive Beta
The first Beta Weekend is exclusively for PS4 owners, running from 8 to 12 October 2020.
Weekend 1: Early Access â€“ Thursday, October 8, and Friday, October 9 are available for early access on PS4 to players who have pre-ordered Call Of Duty Black Ops Cold War on PS4 or PS5.Weekend 1: Open â€“ Saturday, October 10, to Monday, October 12 is free to all PS4 owners. If youâ€™ve got a PS4 and an internet connection, you should be ready to engage, though PlayStation Plus may be a requirement in some territories.
Weekend 2: PS4, Xbox One, and PC Beta (Cross-Play)
The second beta weekend is for PS4, Xbox One, and PC owners, starting from 15 to 19 October 2020.
If youâ€™re a PS4 owner, regardless of whether or not you pre-ordered the game, you can resume and continue to play the open beta free for the entire Weekend 2 period.
Weekend 2: Early AccessÂ â€“ The first two days of the weekend â€“ Thursday, October 15, and Friday, October 16 â€“ are available for early access to anyone who has pre-ordered or pre-purchased the game on Xbox One/ Xbox Series X, or on PC via Blizzard Battle.net respectively. If youâ€™re an Xbox One or PC owner and want to play Weekend 2 of the beta for the longest possible time, be sure to pre-order. This period will be open for PS4 players.Weekend 2: OpenÂ â€“ The rest of the open beta period, running from Saturday, October 17, to Monday, October 19, is accessible to all players on PS4, Xbox One, or PC. If youâ€™ve got an Xbox One, Xbox Live Gold is required to play. If you have a PC, a Battle.net account is required to play.
In the meantime, check out the brief trailer below, which showcases the three classic Call Of Duty modes (Team Deathmatch, Domination, and Kill Confirmed), as well as the game’s brand new modes; VIP Escort and Combined Arms.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=8o-kI11cAx4


Here’s When the Rest of the World Will Be Getting Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will be available to mobile devices worldwide tomorrow according to the official Twitter account of Nintendo America.

Have you heard the news? Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will be coming to mobile devices worldwide on 11/22! #PocketCamp pic.twitter.com/jShJwDgnls
â€” Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) November 20, 2017
First scheduled for release last November, the game was available to selected countries back then including Australia. However with this new announcement, we are pretty sure it will hit the rest of countries in the list as shown on their official site–

Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Thailand
United Kingdom
United States

And yes. Malaysia is missing from that list. Again. A weird development to leave Malaysia out of the initial release loop considering that a recent report listed Malaysia as the leading country in SEA when it comes to customer spend on video games – ahead of Thailand and Singapore who are in the initial release list. According to a report by Newzoo, Malaysian gamers generated US$589.4 million in 2017. A silver lining would be that Nintendo assured that the list isn’t final and more countries will be added to it in the near future. Not too long, we hope. We will keep you posted on any developments at this front.


HBO Max Renews Raised By Wolves For Season 2

Raised By Wolves has been renewed for a second season at HBO Max. This comes only two weeks after the drama series debuted on the streaming service on 3 September 2020.
Aaron Guzikowski serves as showrunner and executive producer, while Ridley Scott also executive produces via Scott Free Productions.
HBO Max original content head Sarah Aubrey said (via Variety):
â€œWhen I think of Raised By Wolves, I think of artistry; artistry in crafting a compelling storyline, artistry in the out-of-this-world production design, special effects and cinematography, artistry in our actorâ€™s portrayals of these memorable characters, and artistry attached to the legendary work of Ridley Scott, Aaron Guzikowski and our phenomenal crew. This chart-topping series beautifully weaves together Ridleyâ€™s hallmarks of sci-fi and horror while offering fans one of the most original storylines theyâ€™ve seen in some time. I canâ€™t wait to see whatâ€™s in store for season two.â€
Raised By Wolves centres on two androids tasked with raising human children on a mysterious virgin planet. As the burgeoning colony of humans threatens to be torn apart by religious differences, the androids learn that controlling the beliefs of humans is a treacherous and difficult task.
It stars Amanda Collin, Abubakar Salim, Winta McGrath, Niamh Algar, Jordan Loughran, Matias Varela, Felix Jamieson, Ethan Hazzard, Aasiya Shah, Ivy Wong, and Travis Fimmel.
Check out my review of the first three episodes of the first season here. New episodes premiere every Thursday on HBO GO.


Scarlet Nexus Demo Launches For Xbox Series First, Then PS5 & PS4

Can’t wait for sci-fi anime action RPG nonsense? Bandai Namco’s have you covered.
The company will be releasing a demo for its RPG Scarlet Nexus for Xbox Series X|S first on 21st May. PlayStation owners will get theirs on 28th May for both PS5 and PS4.
The demo will feature the game’s patented SAS system, which allows you to borrow your party member’s abilities to use as your own. Save data from the demo will unlock new content for the full version of the game, which includes new plug-ins to buff your main character Yuito Sumeragi/Kasane Randall. Yep, this action RPG is going for the dual protagonist storytelling route.
Check out new gameplay from the RPG below (via Game Informer), featuring Yuito going to work against the mutants with his anime protagonist sword. The game will be out for Xbox Series, PS5, Xbox One, and PS4, and PC on 25th June.


Lucasfilm Release Star Wars: Rebels Season 1-3 Recap to Get You Up to Speed

Ahead of its Season 4 premiere, Lucasfilm has released a recap trailer for Star Wars: Rebels from Seasons 1-3 chronicling Ezra Bridger’s growth from a petty thief on Lothal to Jedi Padawan under Kanan Jarrus’ guidance. Not forgetting the rest of crew of The Ghost leading to the big battle on Lothal, the recap also show the likes of lovable characters from The Clone Wars, Captain Rex and Ahsoka Tano. The final season of the Star Wars: Rebels series, perhaps we willÂ  evenget to see where Rebels connect to Rogue One come end of the season.
Check it out.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOSt_GdaS0s&w=560&h=315]
Season 4 of Star Wars: Rebels premieres October 16th 2017.


Darwin’s Paradox Will Be ZeDrimeTim Studio’s First Project On PC & Consoles

Bringing recognized video game professionals such as Romuald Capron, former studio director of Arkane Lyon (Deathloop, Dishonored), Cédric Lagarrigue, founder and former CEO of Focus Home Interactive publishing, together with two talents, Mika Tanguy and Gilles Aujard, from the world of visual effects in cinema and animation, ZeDrimeTim aims to bridge animated feature films and video games proficiencies.
Darwin’s Paradox is a platformer and adventure game for PC & console. It draws its influences from the standards of the genre led by Playdead studios (Inside, Limbo) or Tarsier Studios (Little Nightmares), and by bringing a new proposal filled with humour, and influenced by the Golden Age of the 1950s science fiction and today’s 3D animation feature films. Developed in the new Unreal Engine 5, it will be released on PC and consoles in 2024.

Mika Tanguy, general manager of ZeDrimeTim, who has supervised visual effects of many films and collaborated with the greatest directors, comments:
“Feature films and animation are increasingly using video game tools such as Unreal Engine. ZeDrimeTim studio’s goal is unique and original: it brings movie and animation artists, together with video game talents around authentic productions.”
Romuald Capron, ex-studio director of Arkane Lyon is part of this adventure as associate and executive producer:
“After an already quite full career in video games, I wanted to get involved in a project on a human scale. I was immediately attracted by the art direction and gameplay mechanics of Darwin’s Paradox and I’m really excited to help the team at ZeDrimeTim, to turn that vision into a game with a strong identity.”
Cédric Lagarrigue, founder of the publisher Focus Home Interactive, which he managed for twenty years:
“I have had the good fortune in my career to discover and support studios and their games which, despite their limited budgets, became great hits. Darwin’s Paradox has the ingredients that falls into this category. The excellent playable prototype and the positioning of the studio convinced me to invest in the project and accompany the team in this exciting adventure.”
Fundraising was carried out to allow the young studio to benefit from the financial base needed for the pre-production and production phases, for the launch of Darwin’s Paradox. This fundraising brought together the four partners, business angels from the Entertainment, Videogame and Finance industries as well as Bpifrance, the French Sovereign Fund.


Dreamscaper Prologue Has A Pretty World, But Its Combat Needs More Oomph

Late last month, a friend of mine pointed out that I always placed an emphasis on the weapon feedback of a shooter. While our conversation didn’t stray from the topic of shooters, I have a similar mindset towards action games or action-heavy games of any kind.
If you’re going to feature combat heavily in your game, you better make the act of hitting an enemy satisfying. Hitting an enemy in Dreamscaper is anything but. Well, it is if you’re using your fists, which provide delicious smacking sounds. Your starting weapon is random in this roguelite RPG though, so I often found myself using blades that sounded slightly less impressive than the sound of scissors snipping.
However, the visual effects fare better. With a heavy sword, my heavy attacks send enemies flying backwards. When they fall, I can see small waves of impact.

You can find new weapons and abilities throughout the procedurally-generated level, which is split into connected tiles. All this comes together to provide you with the usual normal attack and heavy attack with dodging combination, with blocking and the occasional ranged attack or ability use thrown in. Successive attacks from normal enemies can take out a chunk of your health if you’re not careful, but while the resulting combat loop is functional, I didn’t find it terribly compelling.
I found myself thinking of Raji: An Ancient Epic‘s demo; that game’s weapon feedback was even more underwhelming, but the interesting environment-based attacks, as well as a healthy dose of platforming, made up for it to an extent. DreamscaperÂ has some optional puzzles, but the combat is the meat of the game. As such, it’s harder to ignore the lack of punchy combat audio outside of actually using punches.
Dream A Little Dream…
Fighting the first boss feels better, at least. It’s a giant fish, and its array of attack patterns that range from lasers, summoning tornadoes, and gobbling you up (which takes a big chunk of your health in the process) manage to distract from the combat feedback. On the flipside, whacking it emphasizes that same feedback; even when I’m unleashing damaging special abilities, which do sound notably better than the blades at least, my main source of catharsis is the sight of the health bar being depleted than the act of attacking itself.

While I tended to forget about my special abilities when facing normal enemies, battling the boss practically demands that you use them (and/or a stronger weapon). The first time I fought it, I was stunned by how small the window of attack is when you temporarily knock it out by triggering bombs; I could only get two hits in at most before it retreated into the water. Using my damage-dealing scream ability, and a time-stopping power I found on a later run, made a massive difference in how much damage I could deal in that time.
I should confess that while I came close to beating the fish boss on a couple of occasions, I never actually succeeded (and thus missed out on the second city-themed level in the demo; dying in that second level would mean starting from the first one again). At times it felt as if it was because the game required a bit of trial-and-error -Â  how do I avoid being gobbled up, for instance? – but much of it stemmed from my carelessness and my faulty controller, which stopped me from successfully employing my abilities when I needed them the most. I was tempted to test the game with keyboard and mouse, but a quick glance at the controls reveals that the controller boasts a much more intuitive control scheme, although the former is not impossible to use.
I gave the boss a few tries, especially after seeing a couple of YouTubers beat it (though one of them had a noticeably powerful weapon, while the other was close to death) and feeling the need to prove myself, but the lacklustre combat feedback eventually made it difficult to continue.
Lucid Dream

It’s a shame, because the world is quite lovely. The tutorial takes place in an old-ish, pixelated game-within-a-game, but the actual game features a humble but pretty mix of real-world elements and the fantastical.
The premise is that all this takes place within a girl’s lucid dream. Why she dreams of giant, laser-shooting fish, line-matching puzzles, and strange humanoids specifically is not really explained. When I fail a run, I get a brief paragraph that implies that the girl is facing inner demons, but the demo doesn’t have much in the way of story details apart from that.
When you’re not dreaming, you can visit locations like cafes, bookstores, and bars. Unlocking new weapon types in the dream world is tied to befriending the strangers in those places. I was expecting conversations that would provide more insight into the main character, Cassidy, but there isn’t even any dialogue when you speak to these strangers, only tiny summaries of what the conversation was about.
A Colourful Dream

I really like how Dreamscaper looks; not just the scenery, but the visual effect when it transitions between tiles or between the real world and the dream world. The music, particularly when there’s no combat going on, sounds soothing and thoughtful.
Unfortunately, the weak combat feedback and seemingly barely-there story prevent me from feeling any enthusiasm for it. Perhaps the full release will have the story experience and dialogue I’m looking for (the trailer seems to suggest so), but I have doubts that the combat feedback will improve significantly, if at all. Given that combat is the main meat of the game, and given that I have to go through it all over again when I die, that’s a deal-breaker for me.
Dreamscaper is set for a Summer release on Steam, while the Switch version is due to launch in early 2020. You can download the demo here.