Kingdom Hearts Melody Of Memory Will Break Your Heart

Platform: PS4, Nintendo SwitchGenre: Rhythm Game, JRPG
Good job, Square Enix. You’ve officially pulled an Atlas move. What’s an Atlas move, you ask? A rhythm game spinoff from a JRPG franchise isn’t anything new. Atlus has done it multiple times, which means that they must at least be selling pretty well.
Square Enix has followed in Atlus’ footsteps and given us a Kingdom Hearts rhythm game no one really asked for; not even the fans. Still, there’s always a chance that Kingdom Hearts Melody Of Memory could somehow justify its existence and turn out to be good, right?
Wrong.
Pulling An Atlus?

Kingdom Hearts fans are used to suffering through mediocre spinoffs just to get the next spoonful of story continuation. We’ve had a decent action card game hybrid with Kingdom Hearts Chain Of Memories, and weirdly enough, even a forgettable puzzle mobile game with Kingdom Hearts Coded. Fortunately, the franchise has yet to delve into the fighting game genre or other like Atlus’ Persona.
Outside of those two games (and the Kingdom Hearts Union Ï‡ mobile game, if you want to count that too), the games in the franchise has always focused on gameplay that features action combat of some kind. With Kingdom Hearts Melody Of Memory, developer indieszero attempts to translate the franchise’s flashy combat into a rhythm game format.
Does it work? The main bulk of content that players will be experiencing in the game are Field Battle Music Stages, in which a trio of characters (Sora, Donald, and Goofy at the beginning) battle enemies while going through a musical track.
Players have to press select buttons to coincide with the rhythm of each song. Just like other rhythm games, each successful button press will depend on your timing, ranging from Good to Excellent to Rainbow Excellent. Missing a button press, or wrong timing, will cause the players’ health to decrease.

In the game’s story mode, players go from world to world (which is a familiar experience for fans of the franchise) and play songs from that particular world. You progress by clearing the levels from each world and unlock more worlds, but there’s more to all that than simply completing levels.
You see, unlocking more worlds also require players to complete Missions; which are special objectives specific to each level. Every level has three Missions attached to it, ranging from objectives like reaching a certain number of chain combos (without missing a beat), beating a certain number of a particular enemy, or beating the level on a specific difficulty. Successfully completing a Mission will earn you a Star (of which there is a variety of).
While it’s correct to assume that these Missions are supposed to be optional, they’re actually not. There will be many points throughout the story mode that you must have a particular amount of certain Stars to be able to progress further. The game doesn’t tell you this, but endgame content is gated to a high amount of Stars.
If you didn’t bother to collect more Stars as you clear levels, you’ll find yourself having to replay levels just to grind out more Stars. Thankfully, I had a hunch that this would happen, so I busted my butt trying to earn as many Stars as I could whenever I can. As a general rule, you should always strive to get at least one or two Stars on every level. That sucks, but that’s how the game works.

In addition, Kingdom Hearts Melody Of Memory tries to be different by shoehorning in JRPG elements into the rhythm gameplay. However, it comes with mixed results. You’ll earn materials, items and EXP from completing each level. There’s even a Moogle that you can go to in order to synthesize new items from your materials.
Since you’ll be earning EXP, you can level up your characters in Kingdom Hearts Melody Of Memory. However, these levels are apparently just for show. Your characters apparently have stats like defence, but I’ve never actually seen how they impact gameplay.
I noticed that my level 50 team of Roxas, Xion and Axel (Lea) doesn’t perform any better than my team of Riku and his dream eaters (who’s at less than level 10). How would that even work? Enemies don’t have health in this game, and there’s nothing for both levels and stats to factor into during gameplay.
Just like other rhythm games, how well you perform depends on your skill and mastery, not the levels and stats of your characters; which is why I’m dumbfounded why the developer decided to insert pointless JRPG elements into the game.That’s not even mentioning the various items that you can set up your characters with before starting a level.

You have your usual healing items (which your characters will automatically use when your health decreases to a certain amount during a level), an item that doubles your EXP (again, what’s the point?, and an item that summons King Mickey to help you in a level (which sounds awesome, but is ultimately useless as well).
I went through 11 hours without using any of the items during a level, and yes, I finished every level on Standard Mode, if you’re wondering. That said, you’ll highly likely need those items to survive the gruelling Proud Mode, but they’re not essential to the core gameplay at all, especially if you just stick to Beginner and Standard.
I’m not a rhythm game enthusiast, but I can say that the gameplay in Kingdom Hearts Melody Of Memory has its problems, to say the least. I was initially worried that something like this would happen, and it did. I’m talking about the fact that the developer had to adapt existing songs from the franchise into the gameplay, and not the other way around.
A lot of the songs feel ill-suited to the rhythm game format. It’s like they don’t belong in a rhythm game. With more than 140 songs, of course, that would naturally happen, but more often than not, the rhythm and button presses don’t seem to meh well or feel natural, while others are the opposite.

As a result, there are some songs that feel like a blast to play through, but there are just as many that feels like a total mess. I’m no rhythm game expert, but in general, successfully pressing buttons to match the rhythm feels great and smooth, especially once you’re on a groove. The gameplay is further spiced up with the use of a gliding mechanic and even tilting sticks.
However, tilting sticks only features during Boss Battles and Memory Dive modes. Boss Battles are intense, but unfortunately, there are only three or four of them in the entire game. Meanwhile, Memory Dives changes the typical Field Battle stage format for one where the prompts move towards the screen while a cutscene from Kingdom Hearts 3 is showing in the background. I say Kingdom Hearts 3 because Memory Dives only ever feature songs from that game, and that game alone.
There are also Vs Battles, where you can battle against other players online or AI opponents. This sort of reminds me of Guitar Hero, as both players rack up points and unleash Tricks (special attacks that disrupt your opponent’s gameplay) against each other.
I also encountered a bug that prevented any of my button presses from registering input during gameplay. It suddenly popped up, and it also disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. I encountered the bug a few hours into the game (only once in my 11-hour playthrough) and it never returned again, but it’s still worth mentioning for the purpose of this review.
The Equivalent Of A Bottle Episode

It’s time to touch on the biggest reason why any Kingdom Hearts fan would even want to buy Kingdom Hearts Memory Of Melody in the first place; the prospect of story continuation from last year’s Kingdom Hearts 3 and its ReMind DLC.
If you’re truly looking to buy this game just for that reason, you’ll be sorely disappointed. Why? Because you’ll be spending 90 percent of your time in this game (that’s nine out of 10 or so hours) simply going to the same worlds and rehashing the same story from all the previous games in the franchise.
You’ll hear Kairi narrating every story beat via cutscenes ripped directly from those games. There’s nothing new to appreciate here at all. There’s no new perspective or angle to the stories. It’s just Kairi recounting them in a by-the-numbers flashback fashion.
In fact, this reminds me of a conventional TV series bottle episode. To save money, showrunners resort to bottle episodes. In animated shows, they usually reuse existing older footage to make a new episode, by framing them as flashbacks or whatnot. That’s exactly the same thing that’s happening in Kingdom Hearts Melody Of Memory.

The only new story content in the game is at the very end, with some boring music tacked on for brief gameplay levels in between long cutscenes. This happens in the very last level and world in the game. Even then, it’s only worth about an hour or so of content.
You want to know if a single hour of new content is enough to justify going through nine or ten hours of rhythm gameplay and recapping stories? I won’t spoil anything but as an avid fan of the Kingdom Hearts franchise (who already wrote thousands of words predicting the future of the franchise last year after Kingdom Hearts 3 launched), here’s my answer:
It’s not worth it.
There, I said it. I would defend any Kingdom Hearts game with my heart and soul, but not this game. It reeks of a quick spinoff cash grab for fans who are hungry for the next morsel of new Kingdom Hearts story content. You broke my heart, Kingdom Hearts.

If the lack of worthwhile story content isn’t enough, let’s look at the game’s selection of music from the franchise. I’m sure every fan has their own favourite song or piece of music, but let me tell you right now; despite featuring over 140 songs, less than half of that is perhaps even a track that you remember from the games.
Simple And Clean, Sanctuary/Passion, and Don’t Think Twice are there, but Dearly Beloved isn’t. Some of the music are just remixed versions from multiple games, and what’s glaring is that out of the 140 songs, less than 10 are from Kingdom Hearts 3. Let It Go from Frozen is there if you’re curious. I just feel like most of the 140 songs are forgettable tracks, and there’ll probably only be a select few that I’ll truly even want to replay just for the fun of it.

Well, at least my favourite piece of music from the entire Kingdom Hearts franchise; the Roxas theme, is in there. It’s also worth keeping in mind that you’ll have to unlock almost all of these songs by clearing them in story mode first or in the case of the brilliant Roxas theme, synthesize them with materials through the Moogle shop.
Unbreak My Heart

If you’re looking for the continuation of dangling plot threads from Kingdom Hearts 3, Kingdom Hearts Melody Of Memory will just disappoint. If so, then who is this game for? This game is for Kingdom Hearts fans who are looking to relive their memories of past games.
If you’re not a fan of rhythm games, there’s nothing else to make this game worth its frankly expensive price, besides nostalgic value. It all just feels underwhelming for a full-priced game (it’s RM229 in Malaysia and US$60 in the US); as if you’re only paying for the music.
It’s harder to say if fans of the rhythm game genre, in general, will enjoy Kingdom Hearts Melody Of Memory, but hey, maybe it’ll be the gateway for them to try out the other major instalments of the franchise. Personally, I find that unlikely, but fandoms can sprout from the unlikeliest of places.
Pros
Fun rhythm game action.Over 140 songs to choose from.
Cons
Pointless shoehorned JRPG elements.Frustrating level-gating in the story mode. The only new story content comes at the very end of the story mode.Simply rehashing and recapping the stories of past games.Occasional gameplay issues and bugs.
Final Score: 40/100
A review copy of Kingdom Hearts Melody Of Memory was provided to us by Bandai Namco SEA, and I played this game on a PS4 Pro.


The Uncharted Movie Just Lost Another Director

That Uncharted movie we keep hearing about has been in development hell for at least a decade. It was first talked about back in 2008 and has since swapped directors four times. The movie’s latest director now joins that list.

Deadline has reported that director Travis Knight will no longer direct Sony’s Uncharted movie. The filming of the third Spider-Man movie has caused scheduling conflicts between Tom Holland and Knight. Apparently, Sony is still moving forward with the movie.
Holland is set to play a younger version of Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg will be filling the role of Victor “Sully” Sullivan. According to Deadline’s sources, both actors will remain on the project.
Curious about the other directors who have left the project? Here’s a list of them, starting from the first to the last:

David O. Russell (American Hustle)
Neil Burger (Limitless)
Seth Gordon (Pixels)
Shawn Levy (Real Steel)
Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane)
Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings)

Earlier this year, it was reported that the movie was set to release in December 2020. This new development suggests that the movie won’t be arriving on time which begs the question of whether people will even care anymore by then.
The last major Uncharted game was The Lost Legacy and that was released in 2017. If the movie comes out sometime in 2021, that makes it four years too late to capitalise on anything. By then, Naughty Dog will be focused on making non-Uncharted PS5 games anyway.


Cyberpunk 2077 & The Witcher 3 Next-Gen Delayed To 2022

CD Projekt RED has officially delayed the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of Cyberpunk 2077 to Q1 2022 and The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Complete Edition to Q2 2022.
According to the report, the developer said:
â€œBased on recommendations supplied by persons supervising development, it has decided to allocate additional time to both projects.”
Cyberpunk 2077 is currently available for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, whileÂ The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt is currently available for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
You can check out a handy recap of all the problems plaguingÂ Cyberpunk 2077Â since launch byÂ heading over hereÂ or check out ourÂ review of the game here.


Sony Buys Evo; Next Tournament Is This August

The world’s largest fighting game tournament, Evolution Championship Series, has been bought. Who owns the brand now? Sony Interactive Entertainment.
According to an announcement from Sony, the tournament organization’s co-founders Tom and Tony Cannon will be staying on-board as key advisors. Sony has also acquired RTS, a new esports organization formed by sports marketing company Endeavor.
Sony’s vice president of global competitive gaming Steven Roberts said the following:
“Fighting games have been a vital part of PlayStationâ€™s legacy and our community since the very beginning, and weâ€™ve been thrilled to partner with Evo over the years. This joint acquisition with RTS marks a new chapter of collaboration with Evoâ€™s co-founders, Tom and Tony Cannon, and their passionate community of fighting game fans.”
So with Sony funding the tournament, will it support non-PlayStation games like Super Smash Bros. Melee, SSBU, and the Xbox-exclusive Killer Instinct? Of course, according to Evo business development lead Mark “Markman23” Julio.
“EVO is still open to all platforms. The teams at PlayStation and RTS are enabling us to continue working with our community to support fighting games.”

Also very important to note. @EVO is still open to all platforms. The teams at PlayStation and RTS are enabling us to continue working with our community to support fighting games. https://t.co/NKMQUSvkfj
— Mark Julio ??????? (@MarkMan23) March 18, 2021

That’s good to know, but we’ll need to wait for the games line-up in the coming months. So far, these multiplatform games are confirmed:

Tekken 7
Street Fighter 5
Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate
Guilty Gear Strive

Speaking of which, Evo 2021 Online is slated for 6th to 8th August and 13th to 15th August. The tournament is free to enter for all for the following eligible countries:
United States, Canada, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Ireland, UK, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Slovakia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Montenegro, Kosovo, Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Western Russia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
Yep, Southeast Asia is eligible to enter this year’s EVO tournament. You can register here.


Spider-Man: No Way Home Is A Triumph, But You Already Knew That

Reviewing the 26th Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, Spider-Man: No Way Home, can be tricky. I’m not saying that it’s tough to navigate through spoilers for the film; just avoid it altogether and give a summation of your feelings, with some technical know-how if you know any.
When I mean by “tricky”, I mean to say: is there even a point to review something that the majority of cinema-viewers will go and watch regardless?
I mean, it IS a new Spider-Man movie, where the title character is arguably the biggest and most revered hero in pop culture next to Batman and Jesus. The movie itself is what the trailers tease, and then some. Spider-Man gets tangled up in multiverse problems thanks to the good intentions of Doctor Strange. The trailers show off villains from other universes like Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina) and Electro (Jamie Foxx), so of course, Peter Parker will have to deal with that while his identity’s been revealed by the last supervillain he fought in a previous Spider-Man movie.

And yes, there’s a lot more the trailers did not tell you. Suffice to say, it’s worth watching for the many, many surprises and payoffs it has in store. There’s a good balance of comedy and drama amidst the superheroics; there’s a lot of action going on in key scenes, and the film’s direction, cast choices, purposefully-crafted callbacks, and pacing gives viewers room to breathe in-between using character development scenes and dialogue.
And just like most of the 25 other MCU films, the production houses spared no expenses in delivering a great-looking Spider-Man superhero good versus evil film, particularly when Doctor Strange’s special skills are involved. The last third of the film is pulling off a feat similar to Avengers: Endgame in spirit, and it’s fitting given that this is Tom Holland’s third headliner bout as Peter Parker. And like those films, you have to stay around during the credits for the mid-credits and post-credits scenes to see what’s in store for 2023 and beyond. If you’re not in tune with the MCU or the general zeitgeist of Spider-Man in films, you may be lost at some of the plot elements and nods in this film.
I looked at what I wrote so far, and it looks like a template for every other MCU film review from us and everyone else online. Odds are, you don’t need my review or anyone else’s to give you an informed decision about a blockbuster film like this. IP holders Disney has more money than most countries out there, so if they want to create a film that follows the set MCU template and appease the legions of merchandise-buyers and pop culture fans, they will do it if it fills up their bottom line. No doubt Spider-Man: No Way Home will do that in the first few weeks worldwide; even if it ended up being a half-hearted soulless mess (which it wasn’t, thankfully), it’ll still make its marketing budget back in the first few days. That’s the power of the wallcrawler and his Marvel branding.
As I’m typing this review, a Sony Pictures representative asked me to share a one-liner about the film for global reporting purposes. I just went with the usual adjectives from the Spider-Man comic titles because it’s a crowd-pleaser move. “Amazing. Spectacular. Sensational”. Simple stuff, really.

And that’s really what gets people’s attention these days: quips, Twitter reviews, hot takes, 10-minute video ramblings on YouTube where manchildren talk about why their opinion matters more than the other manchild YouTuber, complete with the appropriate eye-catching thumbnail. Or if you want the traffic, have an opposite opinion than everyone else and argue why. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as it drums up a civil conversation with like-minded folks.
One wonders whether there is a place for the conventional review with the final score anymore, which is what we do just to show that we’ve done our work and spread the word. Truth be told, our non-review features where we break down a movie and its easter eggs and nods fare way, WAY better throughout the many years running Kakuchopurei. Unless you’re a review outlet that’s been around for 10-years plus like your Red Letter Medias, there really isn’t a point for a traditional review, save for PR media monitoring purposes to earn a spot on an aggregate site.
Put it this way: the recent video I put up on our channel that’s about Granblue Fantasy Versus’ yandere fighter spotlight a few hours ago before watching Spider-Man: No Way Home will get way more viewers than whatever I’ve written here.
Don’t misunderstand: there is always going to be a place for film criticism and thoughtful op-eds on film Y or Z. And the critic’s place is to do their diligence and also curate what is worth your time and what isn’t with clever words and related anecdotes. It’s just that the usual templated “what I like and what I didn’t like about film X” bullet points spiel and the score may be a bit outdated; ironic considering the film I’m talking about here is using mostly a set template. And that we should reserve our criticisms for films that deserve the spotlight and attention, not something that is obviously being backed by so much marketing. Thankfully, I know a good number of peers in Southeast Asia already doing this and going beyond.
I can always sum this film up by saying something like “go watch it if you’re into comic book movies”. Then again, you probably are one of the many who pre-ordered a ticket for the film’s opening later this week, and you probably want to read a review that agrees with your assessment. You’ve already made up your mind and are ready to love whatever you’ll be watching. Even if I gave it, oh say, a…
Final Score: 20/100
… you’re not going to care. Or maybe you care so much that you’ll start questioning my credibility while leaving angry comments on our YouTube page while you’re wearing your Miles Morales heart Spider-Gwen custom t-shirt using some fanart you saw on Twitter. It’s free speech here online, so go ahead.
Besides, it’s way easy to swing the other way for films like these. Like you will be confused if this is your very first Spider-Man film. It’s not as manipulative as Ghostbusters: Afterlife, but it relies more on the viewer’s memory and nostalgia to be effective at making them feel things, especially in the middle part.
I’ll say this: the MCU template has already been set a decade ago, and it’s only going to continue unless it’s not making Disney a lot of money. We do need these popcorn action films, but at the same time, reviews on such films are nothing more than obligations for future coverage from respective distributors, and for the latter to add to their bean counters if you’re an outlet averaging a hundred thousand unique viewers daily.

Moving on, my team and I will need to do some soul-searching on how we can go beyond this format of reviewing. Not just for films, but also video games. We won’t start immediately -we have stuff on queue this week and the next few. However, we will have to figure this out next year. We’re in the business of curating content for people who want to read what we have to say, so we have to start writing in a way that’s easily consumable, relevant, and less long-winded and self-styling with simple opinions and obvious takes.
The times, they are a-changing. It’s up to us whether we can keep up.
Where was I? Oh yes. Overall, Spider-Man: No Way Home is a great, epic, and fun watch, but like all MCU films, you need to do the homework to appreciate everything it throws at you in full. Because that’s the way the MCU cookie crumbles.
Final Score: 80/100. But really, it’s whatever you want it to be.
We attended an early screener of Spider-Man No Way Home courtesy of Sony Pictures Malaysia. Spider-Man No Way Home is slated to premiere on 15 December 2021.


Square Enix TGS 2020 Lineup Features Babylon’s Fall, Kingdom Hearts & More

Square Enix hasÂ announcedÂ its lineup of games and live-stream schedule for the upcoming Tokyo Game Show 2020 (TGS 2020) Online, which will run from 24 to 27 September 2020 later this month.
Babylon’s Fall from Platinum Games is a clear highlight, considering that we last saw a trailer and details regarding the game back in 2019’s December PlayStation State Of Play live stream.
However, the developer recently reassured that they’re still working on the game, albeit affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/PckcAblyGB4
Check out the full lineup below:
â–  Lineup
Babylonâ€™s FallÂ (PS4, PC)Balan WonderworldÂ (PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC)Collection of SaGa: Final Fantasy LegendÂ (Switch)Dragon Quest X OnlineÂ (PS4, Switch, PC, Wii U, 3DS)Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age S â€“ Definitive EditionÂ (PS4, Xbox One, PC)Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai Game ProjectÂ (Arcade, iOS, Android)Dragon Quest Monsters 2: Iru and Lucaâ€™s Marvelous Mysterious KeyÂ (iOS, Android)Dragon Quest Rivals AceÂ (Switch, PC, iOS, Android)Dragon Quest TactÂ (iOS, Android)Dragon Quest WalkÂ (iOS, Android)Final Fantasy XIVÂ (PS4, PC, Mac)Final Fantasy: Brave ExviusÂ (iOS, Android, PC)Final Fantasy Trading Card GameKingdom Hearts: Melody of MemoryÂ (PS4, Xbox One, Switch)Manga UP!Marvelâ€™s AvengersÂ (PS4, Xbox One, PC)Romancing SaGa Re: UniverseÂ (iOS, Android)Square Enix MusicToji no Miko: Kizamishi Issen no TomoshibiÂ (iOS, Android)War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave ExviusÂ (iOS, Android)
â–  Schedule
24 September 2020Â (YouTube,Â Niconico,Â Twitch)
5pm GMT+8 â€“Â Coming Soon9pm GMT+8 â€“Â Coming Soon
25 September 2020Â (YouTube,Â Niconico,Â Twitch)
5.30pm GMT+8 â€“Â Square Enix Music at Tokyo Game Show 2020: Game Sanpo TGS Special: â€œVocabulary Lessons for Gamers to Graduate from Saying â€˜This Song is Dope! Itâ€™s Sick!â€™ /Â Final FantasyÂ x Musical Critic x Pianistâ€Â â€“ â€œGame Sanpoâ€ is a popular YouTube program that dives deep into the world of video games with various specialists. With Ai Takahashi as their guide, music critic Junichi Konuma and pianist Hayato Sumino will talk about the charm of the music of favorite titlesÂ Final Fantasy IXÂ andÂ Final Fantasy X. Can the virtue of music be described in words? Of course it can. Konuma, who has written countless critiques in music magazines, books, and CD leaflets, will share tips on how to express the virtue of music and music performances in words. Featuring Ai Takahashi (singer, model, actress), Junichi Konuma (music critic, poet), and Hayato Sumino (pianist).6.30pm GMT+8 â€“Â SINoALICEÂ Comic Release Comemoration x Manga UP! Special Live StreamÂ â€“Â SINoALICE, the popular game by Yoko Taro, is finally getting a comic. In this live stream, scriptwriter Takuto Aoki and manga artist Himiko will appear as guests and discuss plenty of behind-the-scenes stories and highlights of theÂ SINoALICEÂ comic. Featuring Takuto Aoki (scriptwiter), Himiko (manga artist), and MCs Sameji (sales) and Igarashi (editing).7.15pm GMT+8 â€“Â Kingdom Hearts: Melody of MemoryÂ TGS 2020 Special ShowÂ â€“Â Kingdom Hearts: Melody of MemoryÂ will launch on November 11. The producer and guests will introduce the charm of this game, which is the first rhythm action game entry in theÂ Kingdom HeartsÂ series, as well as share behind-the-scenes stories about its production. There may even be a live piano performanceâ€¦ Expect all sorts of content in this stream. Featuring Susumu Imadachi (MC), Ichirou Hazama (Kingdom Hearts: Melody of MemoryÂ producer), Tetsuya Nomura (Kingdom Hearts: Melody of MemoryÂ director â€“ heavenly voice), Masanobu Suzui (Kingdom Hearts: Melody of MemoryÂ co-director), Shinya Kiyozuka (pianist), Yoko Shimomura (composer), and Kasumi Ashizawa (game talent).8.15pm GMT+8 â€“Â Square Enix Music at Tokyo Game Show 2020: The Game Music World Played by Pianist Shinya KiyozukaÂ â€“ An entertainment program to discuss â€œGame musicâ€ with Shinya Kiyozuka, a popular pianist who attracted the attention of teh TV Asahi programÂ Kanjam Kanzen NenSHOW, and game-loving announcer Kosuke Hiraiwa. Featuring Shinya Kiyozuka (pianist) and Kousuke Hiraiwa (MC, announcer).
26 September 2020Â (YouTube,Â Niconico,Â Twitch)
12.15pm GMT+8 â€“Â Coming Soon1.45pm GMT+8 â€“Â RivalsÂ LIVE! Vol. 2 Square Enix Presents at TGS 2020 Online Special!Â â€“ A program to deliver the latest information on the competitive digital card gameÂ Dragon Quest Rivals Ace. Plus the latest operations information. (This program is pre-recorded.) Featuring MC Ayana Tsubaki (talent), Tatsuhiro Futagi (Dragon Quest RivalsÂ producer), and Yusuke Tomita (Dragon Quest RivalsÂ operations producer).3pm GMT+8 â€“Â ChouÂ Dragon Quest XÂ TV Tokyo Game Show 2020 SpecialÂ â€“ The Tokyo Game Show 2020 ediiton of the popularÂ Dragon Quest X OnlineÂ program â€œChouÂ Dragon Quest X TV.â€ Featuring Kouji Aoyama (Dragon Quest XÂ producer), Takashi Anzai (Dragon Quest XÂ director), Saeki YouthK (singer-songwriter), Masashi Sonomura (7th Term Novice Ambassador), Marina Nishii (7th Term Novice Ambassador), and MCs Motohiro Takewaka (Buffalo Gorou) and Ayana Tsubaki (talent).5.30pm GMT+8 â€“Â SaGaÂ Series TGS 2020 Special Live StreamÂ â€“ The latest information on theÂ SaGaÂ series. A lot to talk about with a focus onÂ Collection of SaGa: Final Fantasy Legend,Â Romancing SaGa Re: Universe, andÂ Imperial SaGa Eclipse. Featuring Akitoshi Kawazu (SaGaÂ series general director), Masanori Ichikawa (SaGaÂ series producer), Kazuma Oushuu (Imperial SaGa EclipseÂ producer), Kenji Ito (composer, Seizan Shimazaki (Akatsuki creative producer and engineer), MC Nobuo (Penguins, comedian) and assistant MC Yui (actress, talent).5.45pm GMT+8 â€“Â Gunslinger StratosÂ TV x Square Enix Official GoodsÂ (Tentative)7pm GMT+8 â€“Â Toji no Miko: Kizamishi Issen no TomoshibiÂ TGS 2020 Special Live StreamÂ â€“ The official live stream for the smartphone gameÂ Toji no Miko: Kizamishi Issen no TomoshibiÂ featuring the latest information, variety corners, and more, including the new details on the original video animation. Featuring Himika Akaneya (Mihono Asakura voice actor), Kaede Hondo (Kanami Etou voice actor), and Takanori Shiina (Toji no Miko: Kizamishi Issen no TomoshibiÂ producer).8pm GMT+8 â€“Â Square Enix Music at Tokyo Game Show 2020:Â Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered EditionÂ Release Commemoration ~Starry Night Music Festival at Billboard Live TokyoÂ â€“ A mini-concert to commemorate the release ofÂ Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition, which is popular for its exotic music. Look back on production of the remaster with composer Kumi Tanioka and theme song vocalist Yae, and enjoy the music ofÂ Crystal ChroniclesÂ in this quality show. Featuring Kumi Tanioka (composer) and Yaeo (vocalist).9pm GMT+8 â€“Â Coming Soon
27 September 2020Â (YouTube,Â Niconico,Â Twitch)
11.45am GMT+8 â€“Â Starting Today, Youâ€™re a Card Gamer!Â Final FantasyÂ Trading Card Game ~Novice House~Â â€“ Starting today, youâ€™re a card gamer! A lecture on theÂ Final Fantasy Trading Card GameÂ from YouTuber Gabukin. With this program, anyone can become a card gamer! Plus look forward to all sorts of new product information.12.30pm GMT+8 â€“Â Final Fantasy: Brave ExviusÂ Official Live Stream: Between Information TGS 2020 SpecialÂ â€“Â Final Fantasy: Brave ExviusÂ members infiltrate this yearâ€™s Tokyo Game Show. The latest information on the game from the studio. Featuring Kei Hirono (Final Fantasy: Brave ExviusÂ producer), Chuuni (Final Fantasy: Brave ExviusÂ official YouTube), and Rie Ishikawa (Final Fantasy: Brave ExviusÂ official YouTube)12.45pm GMT+8 â€“Â War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave ExviusÂ TGS 2020 SpecialÂ â€“ The official broadcast for the now available iOS and Android gameÂ War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. In addition to the latest information on game content, new plans related to the gameâ€™s first year anniversary in November will be announced. Look forward to it! Featuring Kei Hirono (War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave ExviusÂ producer), Yuugo Ogura (War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave ExviusÂ director), and Nakai Kazuhide (War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave ExviusÂ promotion).3pm GMT+8 â€“Â Coming Soon4.15pm GMT+8 â€“Â Dragon Quest: The Adventure of DaiÂ Game Project Fall Special Live StreamÂ â€“ Starting in October, the new anime forÂ Dragon Quest: The Adventure of DaiÂ will begin. For this live stream, we will deliver exclusive news on the competitive card gameÂ Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai â€“ Xross BladeÂ for arcade and the exhilarating â€œgreat dashâ€ RPGÂ Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai â€“ Tamashii no KizunaÂ for smartphone. Featuring Ryuutarou Ichimura (Dragon Quest: The Adventure of DaiÂ game project general producer), Makoto Nakayama (Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai â€“ Xross BladeÂ producer), Takuya Shiomi (Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai â€“ Tamashii no KizunaÂ producer), and special guest(s) to be annoucned soon.6.30pm GMT+8 â€“Â Square Enix Music at Tokyo Game Show 2020: Square Enix Music DJ Mix Show feat. Ram RiderÂ â€“ Square Enix Music is going to the club!? A DJ performance focused on dance music and chiptunes in collaboration with â€œAsobi Systemâ€ a culture production based in Harajuku and developed in various operations in Japan and overseas that promotes Japanese pop culture. Featuring Ram Rider (DJ).7.30pm GMT+8 â€“Â Final Fantasy XIV Online: Yoshi-P SanpoÂ â€“ A program in whichÂ Final Fantasy XIVÂ roducer and director Yoshida infiltrates the public world ofÂ Final Fantasy XIVÂ and plays with the players. This time featuring Alliance Raid â€œYoRHa: Dark Apocalypseâ€ guest creators Yousuke Siato and Yoko Taro. Featuring Naoki Yoshida (Final Fantasy XIVÂ producer and director), Yousuke Saitou (NieRÂ series producer), Yoko Taro (Bukkuro president,Â NieRÂ series director), and Toshio Murouchi (Final Fantasy XIVÂ global community producer).


Jurassic World Dominion Is Number One In Malaysia

Thursday, 9 June 2022, marked the opening of Jurassic World Dominion in Malaysian cinemas and it has climbed up to become No. 1 in the world and Malaysia. The movie is also Malaysia’s No. 1 in Biggest Weekend Opening for 2022, No. 1 in Biggest Weekend Opening for the pandemic era, and No. 1 in Biggest All-Time Weekend Opening for IMAX titles. On top of that, Jurassic World Dominion is also No. 3 in the Biggest All-Time Weekend Opening for Universal Titles, behind Fast & Furious 7 and Fast & Furious 8.
Worldwide, Jurassic World Dominion has managed to amass a total of US$419.96 million.
Jurassic World Dominion is now playing in cinemas nationwide. Come experience on the Big Screen – the epic conclusion to the Jurassic era as two generations unite for the first time. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are joined by Oscar-winner Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Sam Neill in Jurassic World Dominion, a bold, timely, and breath-taking new adventure that spans the globe.
In the meantime, check out my spoiler-free review here, or head on over here for our spoiler discussion of the movie.


God Of War Ragnarok Pre-Order Begins Next Week In Malaysia

Yesterday, Sony Santa Monica has announced that God Of War Ragnarok will launch for the PS4 and PS5 on 9 November 2022. The pre-orders will be available at PlayStation Store (PS Store) and select retail stores from 15th July 2022. The select retail stores list will be shared via PlayStation Blog on 13 July 2022. Other retail channels will start physical pre-orders from 29 July 2022.
The suggested retail price of PS5 Standard Edition for Disc/Digital will be RM299, PS4 Standard Edition for Disc/Digital will be RM249, Collector’s Edition will be RM839, Jötnar Edition will be RM1,099 and Digital Deluxe Edition will be RM339.
All digital pre-orders and initial production of disc will include downloadable contents “Kratos Risen Snow Armor” and “Atreus Risen Snow Tunic (Cosmetic)” at launch. Physical pre-order customers will stand a chance to get one of the three different physical pre-order incentives: “Leviathan Axe 3D Keychain”, “Printed Enamel Mug” or “Thor Hammer Pen/Stand”.
You can check with local retailers for details of the physical pre-order mechanic.

God Of War Ragnarok PS5 Standard Edition (Blu-ray Disc / Digital)

Suggested Retail Price: RM299
Contents:

God of War Ragnarök (PS5)
Downloadable Contents – For Digital pre-order and initial production of disk

“Kratos Risen Snow Armor”
“Atreus Risen Snow Tunic (Cosmetic)

God Of War Ragnarok PS4 Standard Edition (Blu-ray Disc / Digital)

Suggested Retail Price: RM249
Contents:

God of War Ragnarök (PS4)
Downloadable Contents – For Digital pre-order and initial production of disk

“Kratos Risen Snow Armor”
“Atreus Risen Snow Tunic (Cosmetic)

* Customer can upgrade from PS4 Standard Edition to PS5 Standard Edition at RM50.
God Of War Ragnarok Collector’s Edition

Suggested Retail Price: RM839
Contents:

Full Game*2 for PS4™ and PS5™
16” Mjölnir replica
2” in Vanir Twins Carvings
Knowledge Keeper’s Shrine
Steelbook™ Display Case (No Game Disc Included)
Dwarven Dice Set
Downloadable Contents: Kratos Darkdale Armor, Darkdale Axe Grip, Darkdale Blades Handles, Atreus Darkdale Attire (cosmetic), Avatar Set, Dark Horse Digital Mini Artbook, PlayStation™4 Theme, Official God of War Ragnarök Digital Soundtrack
Pre-Order Downloadable Contents: “Kratos Risen Snow Armor” and “Atreus Risen Snow Tunic (Cosmetic) – For Digital pre-order and initial production of disk

God Of War Ragnarok Jötnar Edition

Suggested Retail Price: RM1,099
Contents:

Full Game*2 for PS4™ and PS5™
16” Mjölnir replica
2” Vanir Twins Carvings
7” Vinyl Record Music by Bear Mccreary
Knowledge Keeper’s Shrine
Falcon, Bear & Wolf Pin Set
Steelbook™ Display Case (No Game Disc Included)
Legendary Draupnir Ring
Brok’s Dice Set
Yggdrasil Cloth Map
Downloadable Contents: Kratos Darkdale Armor, Darkdale Axe Grip, Darkdale Blades Handles, Atreus Darkdale Attire (cosmetic), Avatar Set, Dark Horse Digital Mini Artbook, PlayStation™4 Theme, Official God of War Ragnarök Digital Soundtrack
Pre-Order Downloadable Contents: “Kratos Risen Snow Armor” and “Atreus Risen Snow Tunic (Cosmetic) – For Digital pre-order and initial production of disk

God Of War Ragnarok Digital Deluxe Edition

Suggested Retail Price: MYR 339
Contents:

Full Game available for PS4™ and PS5™
Dark Horse Digital Mini Artbook
Kratos Darkdale Armor
Atreus Darkdale Attire (cosmetic)
Darkdale Blades Handles
Darkdale Axe Grip
Avatar Set
PlayStation™4 Theme
Official God of War Ragnarök Digital Soundtrack

Furthermore, there will be a RM50 digital upgrade option for upgrading from PS4 Standard Edition of “God of War Ragnarök” to the “God of War Ragnarök” PS5 Digital Standard Edition at the time of release,
In the trailer, we can see that Kratos and Atreus will have to fight Fenrir, one of the harbingers of Ragnarok in Norse mythology. Just like the Jormungandr, he is supposed to be the son of Loki. The 2018 game already established that Atreus will grow up to be Loki, so Fenrir (like Jormungandr) is actually Kratos’ grandson and Atreus’ son. Weird, I know.
In the meantime, check out the trailer below:


MechWarrior 5 Mercenaries Launches On Xbox & Steam This May

Publisher Sold Out and developer Piranha Games have announced that MechWarrior 5 Mercenaries will release for the Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Steam and GOG on 27 May 2021.
MechWarrior 5 Mercenaries is a futuristic combat shooter, where players take control of massive BattleMechs and wage war across hundreds of different worlds throughout the galaxy.
The game’s first major DLC â€œHeroes Of The Innersphereâ€ will also launch at the same time. MechWarrior 5 Mercenaries originally launched for PC via the Epic Games Store in December 2019.

The synopsis for the game reads:
The year is 3015. Humanity has colonized thousands of systems across a vast region of space splintered by centuries of conflict. The battlefields of the future are dominated by MechWarriors, elite pilots of hulking machines of war known as BattleMechs. It is a lucrative time to be a mercenary.
Key Features

A World of DestructionÂ â€“ Level entire cities and decimate armies of enemy forces while piloting hundreds of unique BattleMech variants.
Seek The TruthÂ â€“ Follow a path of interstellar intrigue in a quest for glory and revenge as the leader of a mercenary company reborn in the flames of near destruction.
The Merc Life â€“ Manage the intricacies of running an expanding mercenary company, from the maintenance and acquisition of BattleMechs to the hiring of fellow MechWarriors.
Fight TogetherÂ â€“ Fight alongside your friends with four-player player-versus-enemy co-op support.

In the meantime, check out the trailer below:


Fall Guys Is Getting Doctor Who Skins This Week

Mediatonic has announced that Fall Guys players will be able to get Doctor Who skins and cosmetics from 1 November 2022 to 5 November 2022.
The three skins are the Dalek (an iconic enemy and alien race in Doctor Who), the Thirteenth Doctor (portrayed by Jodie Whittaker) and the Fourth Doctor (portrayed by Tom Baker), who is the most iconic Doctor in the franchise.
Fall Guys went free-to-play back in June 2022. It is now available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC.
In other related news, Doctor Who will be releasing on Disney+ in 2023, starting with Fourteenth Doctor (David Tenant reprising his role).


Moon Knight Production Designer Reveals That The Set At The End Of Episode 4 Was 100 Percent Physical (EXCLUSIVE)

Moon Knight is the latest Marvel Studios TV series to stream on Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia.
It follows Steven Grant, a mild-mannered gift-shop employee, who becomes plagued with blackouts and memories of another life. Steven discovers he has dissociative identity disorder and shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector. As Steven/Marc’s enemies converge upon them, they must navigate their complex identities while thrust into a deadly mystery among the powerful gods of Egypt.
Courtesy of Disney+ Hotstar Malaysia, we were recently lucky enough to interview Moon Knight cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo (who worked on Episodes Two and Four) and Moon Knight Production Designer Stefania Cella.
You can also check out my other interview with Moon Knight directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead by heading over here. Check out my breakdown of Moon Knight Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3 and Episode 4 here. This interview has been edited for clarity.
What were your inspirations and influences while Working On Moon Knight? Maybe The Comics?
Stefania Cella: The scale of the Egyptian statues and monuments. They made me dream to do everything that we were doing on a big scale. I also educated myself beforehand, I read about the older comics and newer ones. I found them very, very visually amazing. The switch between worlds was so fantastic.
There was this one older comic where they go from the subway into a tomb. The subway was full of sand, and I was like, it’s fantastic. It was amazing.
What was the biggest challenge you faced during filming?
Stefania Cella: The biggest challenge was doing Cairo and Budapest in a backlot. That was a challenge (laughs). During a pandemic, what a challenge.
Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector/Steven Grant in Marvel Studios’ MOON KNIGHT. Photo by Csaba Aknay. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.
How did you go about designing the sets in Episode 4, especially in Ammit’s tomb and during the hospital scenes At The End Of The Episode?
Stefania Cella: Well, I did a lot of research, went to Egypt, and I visited some of the Egyptian tombs. We also had an Egyptologist with us to help us recreate the proper historical elements of the tombs. For ths hospital, I tried to be as iconographic as possible, by thinking of what the symbology of a hospital, the tiles, the colours, and the sparseness. Anybody in any culture can immediately recognise it as a hospital.
How much of the set was physical and how much of it was CGI?
Stefania Cella: Which one?
Alleef Ashaari: During the hospital scenes at the end of Episode 4.
Stefania Cella: The hospital is all on camera.
Alleef Ashaari: It’s all physical?
Stefania Cella: It’s all on camera, except when Taweret comes. Taweret is not on camera, but the set is all on camera.


New Sims 4 Pack Lets You Own Small Cramped Houses, Just Like In Real Life

Two things remain constant in life: death and the expensiveness of new Sims DLC.
This time, things are getting a bit too close to home. EA is releasing another Sims 4 Stuff Pack but all the new stuff in it will actually make you want to build smaller houses. Millennials will definitely appreciate finally being represented accurately.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcB8QyWRk7g&w=560&h=315]
Introducing The Sims 4: Tiny Living Stuff Pack. It will be released on 21 January 2020 for PC and later on 4 February 2020 for PS4 and Xbox One. A price hasn’t been named but it will probably cost the same as other stuff packs which are usually priced at US$12.90 (~RM53).
The pack will encourage players to build houses of a hundred tiles or less. Doing so will confer several benefits including lower bills. New furniture include murphy beds which can be folded up into bookshelves or TV cabinets.
For more information, check out the pack’s official website page.


Diablo 3 Season 26 PTR Starts On 10 March

The next Diablo 3 season will have its public test realm servers up for two weeks, starting in a few days.
The Season 26 PTR will start on 10 March and will feature the Echoing Nightmare, an optional end-game challenge where players fight within the memories of Nephalem who fell in a Greater Rift. It’s essentially a D3 take on Horde Mode, complete with bosses and uber enemies to fight.
Here is the breakdown of Season 26(via Blizzard):

Petrified Screams and the Echoing Nightmare can only be accessed with seasonal characters.
Only one player is required to transmute a Petrified Scream to open an Echoing Nightmare in a multiplayer game.
Similar to a boss encounter, all players in a multiplayer game must accept a prompt to enter.
While within an Echoing Nightmare, the difficulty scales as players progress in the encounter. Players can progress faster by defeating monsters quickly.
Players receive the following rewards upon completing an Echoing Nightmare:Â EXP, Legendary Items, Blood Shards, Gems, and a new Legendary Gem, Whisper of Atonement.
The Whisper of Atonement is a Legendary Gem used exclusively for Augmenting Ancient Legendary items. It drops pre-ranked based upon player’s performance in the Echoing Nightmare.

In addition, Greater Rifts will have a small chance to roll an Orek’s Dream portal that brings you to new dungeons and areas for loot-hunting and mob-killing. In addition, the PTR will also feature new class and balance changes, including armor set buffs/nerfs.
Long story short: Fire Ally-focused Inna Monks are not going to be pleased. Here’s the list:
Barbarian

Legacy of Raekor (4-piece Bonus):Â Furious Charge gains the effect of every rune and deals 1000% increased damage. For every 1% Life you are missing, the damage of your Ancient Spear is increased by 2%.
Legacy of Raekor (6-piece Bonus):Â Hitting enemies with Furious Charge increases the damage of your next Ancient Spear by 5500% and causes it to release multiple spears from its target. This effect stacks and is consumed from each released spear. This can only consume a maximum of 5 stacks at a time.
Arreat’s Law:Â Weapon Throw and Ancient Spear deal 150-200% increased damage.

Weapon Throw generates up to 25 additional Fury based on the distance of the enemy hit.
Ancient Spear refunds up to 25 Fury based on the distance of the enemy hit.

The Three Hundredth Spear:Â Increase the damage of Weapon Throw and Ancient Spear by 150-200%.
Skular’s Salvation:Â Increase the damage of Ancient Spear by 150-200%. If your Ancient Spear – Boulder Toss hits 5 or fewer enemies, the damage is increased by 100%.

Crusader

Thorns of the Invoker:Â The attack speed of Punish and Slash are increased by 100% and deal 67,500% of your Thorns damage.
Norvald’s Fervor:Â Gain 200% increased damage while using Steed Charge and for 5 seconds after it ends.

Monk

Bindings of the Lesser Gods:Â Enemies hit by your Cyclone Strike take 150%-200% more damage from your Mystic Ally for 5 seconds.

How To Participate In Diablo 3 Season 26 PTR
Step 1:Â Restart the Battle.net desktop app.
Step 2:Â Navigate to the Diablo III tab on the left-hand menu.
Step 3:Â On the Diablo III screen, there is a drop-down menu right above the “Play” button (note that this may say “Install” if you do not have Diablo III currently installed). Select “PTR: Diablo III” from this drop-down menu before proceeding.
Step 4:Â Click Install to begin the installation process.


Street Fighter 6 Is Getting Another Open Beta Test This May Just Before Launch

Due to popular demand, Capcom is hosting another Street Fighter 6 beta.
This new open beta session will be hosted from 20th May (3pm GMT+8) to 22nd May (3pm GMT+8). This version is the same as the previous Street Fighter 6 beta: eight playable characters and the following modes: Ranked Match, Casual Match, Battle Hub Match, Open Tournament, Extreme Battle, Game Center, Training Mode.
The eight playable characters are: Ryu, Luke, Chun-Li, Ken, Guile, Jamie, Kimberly, Juri. Playable stages include the Carrier Byron Taylor, Genbu Temple, Metro City Downtown, The Macho Ring, Tian Hong Yuan, and Training Room. You can also customize your avatar here, though you cannot save this one for the full game.

Street Fighter 6 will be out on 2nd June for PC and consoles. Check out our recent character guides here.


We’re Getting A King Of Fighters XV In 2020

A few hours ago, SNK just hosted their IPO conference in Seoul, South Korea. And they have quite a bit to share regarding their financial status and future games (via gatoray_kofÂ & ruliweb).

We are going to get a King of Fighters XV. Unfortunately, it’ll be out in 2020, and for good reason…
That’s because SNK wants to prioritize their next big fighting game, Samurai Shodown. The sequel will be out on the second quarter of 2019 for PS4, PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.Â
Cumulative sales of the KOF series from ’94 to now are over 4 million worldwide.
The NeoGeo Mini did pretty well for itself, achieving a sales amount of one year within 3 months.

That’s all for now; I for one can’t wait for a new and bloodier Samurai Shodown in 2D/3D form.
https://www.facebook.com/kakuchopurei/videos/715437335484148/


Starks Assemble in New Game of Thrones Season 8 Teaser

HBO has finally announced a release date for Game of Thrones Season 8 in a new official teaser earlier today just before the premiere of the first episode of True Detective Season 3. The final season of Game of Thrones will premiere on 14 April 2019.
In the new teaser trailer, we see the much-awaited reunion of the three Stark siblings (Jon Snow, Sansa Stark, and Arya Stark) as they venture into the underground crypts of Winterfell (where the members of House Stark are buried).
All the while, an ominous version of the iconic Game of Thrones theme can be heard playing in the background, until the end of the trailer, where they encounter statues of their own already erected alongside each other in the crypt. Freezing fog then seeps into the crypt, signalling the arrival of the White Walkers (and perhaps the oncoming deaths of the Starks?).
Check out the Game of Thrones Season 8 “Crypts of Winterfell” teaser below. Winter has arrived, and we won’t have to wait long now until the epic conclusion.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA38GCX4Tb0&w=560&h=315]


The Next Alien Survival Horror Game Is For Mobile Because That’s What People Asked For

After much teasing and speculating, we now get to see the latest game in the much-lauded Alien franchise in action. And just like that one announcement at BlizzCon 2018, it certainly took a lot of hardcore fans by surprise.
Alien: Blackout is an upcoming iOS/Android mobile game from FoxNext Games, D3 Go!, and Rival Games. According to the official website, you play as Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Ellen Ripley, who has to “stay alive while trapped aboard a crippled Weyland-Yutani space station carrying a deadly xenomorph”.
“Outsmart the perfect hunter by making perilous choices. Players must rely on the damaged controls of the space station or risk sacrificing crew members to avoid deadly contact, permanently altering the outcome of the game.”
Players will get to use a holographic map, surveillance cameras, and motion trackers as they detect and run away from the xenomorph. So where doesÂ Alien: Isolation fit in all of this? Is Alien: Blackout a reboot or revamp? Did anyone ask for a mobile survival horror game using the Alien name?
At this time of posting, the trailer has received more dislikes than likes. Understandable, given the fact that sci-fi gaming fans were looking forward to a console/PC survival horror experience.

Who knows? It might turn out A-OK. Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think.


Blizzard Boss Says PC Gamers Are Still Their First Priority

“We don’t have any plans at the moment to do PC.”
*Crowd starts booing*
“Do you guys not have phones?!”

The above isn’t some minor segment from a comedy sketch. It’s exactly the exchange we all saw at BlizzCon 2018 when the Diablo team came on stage for the Diablo: Immortal Q&A session. To put it in simple terms, Diablo fans were pissed off.
We’re now less than a month away from BlizzCon 2019 and Blizzard president J. Allen Brack is trying to patch things up. In an interview with Gamespot, Brack explains how the Diablo: Immortal announcement was a PR disaster that failed to send the right message to fans of the series.

“I think the thing that we did a poor job of when we announced Diablo: Immortal was contextualizing what we think the future can be and what we think of mobile in particular.”
– J. Allen Brack, Blizzard president.
Diablo: Immortal screenshot. Image courtesy of Blizzard.
Brack said that they did a “poor job double emphasising” the fact that Blizzard is still a PC developer first and that they’re always on the look out for other platforms that can also give “awesome” gameplay experiences. Looking back at the exchange I put up in the beginning of this article, it sounds more like damage control rather than sincere reassurance.
The biggest problem with mobile games is how they sacrifice quality for the sake of facilitating predatory monetisation schemes. Brack knows this and says that “we can have Blizzard values around monetisation”. You can literally swap ‘Blizzard’ in that sentence with the name of any other game company and it would still sound like the bland corporate speak that it is.

“If you’re a core PC gamer, then there are not an insignificant number of mobile games that don’t have a great reputation. We’ve seen these games, and we’ve played these games. We’ve played games that we feel like are predatory when it comes to monetization, that are not the most fun experience that we could imagine, and not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s hard [for people] to see how Blizzard is still Blizzard on that platform.”
– J. Allen Brack, Blizzard president.
Back during BlizzCon 2018, the team did mention that they were working on multiple Diablo projects. Honestly, you can’t blame the fans for ignoring this after you announced Diablo: Immortal. It only leads to people believing that these other Diablo projects are probably as undesirable. Like a Diablo card game or something.
No matter what Brack says, the damage has been done and fans will not be convinced of Blizzard’s honesty until they actually come out with another full-fledged Diablo title. Hopefully, that’s what’s going to be announced at BlizzCon 2019, happening on 1 & 2 November 2019.


Grime Needs To Stop Being Such A Tryhard 2D Dark Souls

Platform: PC
Genre: Metroidvania action-adventure with a tinge of Dark Souls
Just when you thought games couldn’t get any more creative and weird at the same time, along comes an oddity like Grime.
The game starts with you literally being born into an alien world where everything is a mesh between stones, rocks, neurons, flesh, and everything in between. The world of Grime is very unique with its purposefully gritty palette and dark fantasy aesthetics as your main character finds purpose in slaughtering things in its way, with a pretty vague plot thread to work with.
The melancholy and dreary soundtrack and sound effects also add to the dark charm this title offers. I’m honestly getting a lot of The Neverhood, Psygnosis cover art, and 90s Peter Gabriel claymation music video vibes here. You won’t be experiencing this kind of surrealism in other games for a while, at least for this year.
Rock Solid

But what of the game? Grime is a 2D action-adventure game in the veins of a Metroidvania title; you explore, find the objective to your current quest of answers to your existence, and kill a good amount of bosses or two.
When you fight enemies at first, you have to use the game’s Absorb mechanic; it’s a parry and counter all in one. When they attack you at the right time you press your Absorb move, you kill them and drain their essence which you can use to heal yourself or build up Ardor, which increases the amount of mass gained from defeated foes.
Killing bosses also open up your world-exploring skills. You can gain the ability to pull things and platforms your way, airdash, and so forth. Hunting down regular enemies and killing enough of them will net you new skills you can allocate Hunting Points too (ie: Grime’s skill points). These range from either buffing up your HP and stamina to making your dashes and evade hurt.
Grime’s combat and platforming challenge does tread that fine line between tough and gamepad-breaking frustrating, with fights coming in close and rewarding you for being proactive with exploration. Most of the enemies here will make you pay attention to telegraphs and perfect your evades and absorb techniques while you dish a few swipes of your own; you’ll die countless times but you’ll get the hang of it eventually.
Having said that, the game does get a bit cheap and unforgiving in later areas though; half the time I keep getting red un-parry-able attacks thrown at me from off-screen, and coming at super-fast speeds. The final few bosses can flat-out kill you with one to two hits and with surprise bulls*** mechanics.
The technical bugs here and there do not help; just when I thought I beat a nail-biting combat and platforming segment, it just plops me back to a hazard I’ve been avoiding before the game just flat-out kills me and makes me go through that final arduous segment all over again. Also, the hit detection for some of the attacks are all over the place; it’s as if the developers are purposely emulating the From Software school of making boss attacks hit wider than they look.
Between A Rock & A Very Hard Place
Part of the added aggravation is also the designer’s smart idea to have all your major actions drain the stamina meter a significant amount. Even with the levelling up you do, it still feels like every action you take can limit you. This attrition-based design makes an already difficult and janky game all the more frustrating later down the line. Also, some later parts of the game get so dark and dank that you can’t see traps & enemies until it’s too late.
Still, kudos to the developers for at least giving us a few forgiving platforming segments that let you restart at the last ledge you’re on.
Grime is a very unique-looking game set in a weird-as-hell creationist-themed world that’s sure to be divisive among gamers. It has some fun rock-solid moments, but the game is clearly trying to be Dark Souls with 2D and platforming when it should have just emulated how other 2D hardcore titles like the Ori series handle difficulty and fairness.
Pros

Unique & surreal aesthetics.
Absorb & counter mechanic is pretty awesome.
Challenging combat and platforming that delights hardcore players…

Cons

…except for some major boss fights & segments that feel unfair.
A few glitches here and there.

Final Score: 60/100


Coffee Talk Episode 2 Is Still A Chillaxing & Familiar Good Time

Platform(s): PC (version reviewed), Xbox Series, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch
Genre: Visual novel with 2D pixel art and coffee/tea-making
In the Toge Productions-developed visual novel adventure title Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly, you take the role of a barista who serves coffee and/or tea to your local patrons. The key difference? You’re in an alternate Earth where fantasy creatures like banshees, satyrs, orcs, and elves live alongside humans and beasts alike. The contemporary fuses with the mythical in this unique story where you play an observer and listener who hears about everyone’s tale of ambition, woe, drama, and everyday foibles, and occasionally get a drink right or wrong, depending on what results you want to achieve from the visual novel dialogue and story branching pathway.
However, if you already played the first episode back in early 2020, you’ll be glad to know that the charm and aesthetics have been left untouched since three years ago. New additions like Lucas the social media influencer satyr and Riona the aspiring singer who happens to be a banshee are sure to charm you with their quirks and outlook on life, with you being the person deciding their ending of the 15-day barista run (alongside other returning cast) with whatever drink you serve.
Hot To The Touch

For barista fans of the first game, you now have hibiscus and blue peat tea powder as additional ingredients to make more drinks, as well as a “Give” option. See, the patrons will sometimes pass items to you, or accidentally leave something behind. When it comes to serving drinks and confirming orders, you have the option to put one item in the newly-created tray, though it’ll only be used if it’s given to the right person. It’s just one additional command to access more stories and branching paths, provided you pay attention to where the narrative is heading.
All of Coffee Talk Episode 2’s drink puzzles can be solved by just looking back at the conversation, or just a quick recipe Google search. Some can leave you stumped, which means a lot of save-scumming and trial-and-error mixing between three ingredient slots. The order for each ingredient is very specific to each drink, that you will end up looking at your recipe tablet moreso than usual. Still, Coffee Talk Episode 2 isn’t a game you rush; it’s one you revel in with its vibe, 2D pixel art lovingly-crafted and reiterated, and read thoroughly thanks to its fun chat and social topics regarding fame and prejudice, alongside other discussions I wouldn’t spoil since I’m still giving this title a recommendation.
Plus, from a visual novel gameplay and user experience standpoint, it’s easy to go through and intuitive to control if you wish to fast-forward through plot points that you’ve already gone through once. Or if you want to revisit past days and get the “correct” state be it giving an item to a person of interest or purposely flubbing someone’s order to open up the alternate ending for a person or two.
Order Up

Just don’t expect Coffee Talk: Episode 2 to be vastly different from the first game; it’s more an expansion than a full-fledged sequel in case the title isn’t a dead giveaway. You’re still getting more stories, resolutions, and continuations from the first game. In fact, if you’re jumping straight into this without prior knowledge from part 1, you’ll be lost here. Much like any visual novel with prequels, I suggest you play the first game to get in the groove of the second game.
There aren’t many changes here gameplay-wise, but whatever additions from the teas to the item gifting mechanic are welcome in a game that just requires your attention.

Final Score: 70/100
Review code provided by Toge Productions.


The Samsung Galaxy S21 5G Is No Slouch In Spite of Its Slight Silhouette

Having reviewed the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra a while back, picking up the Samsung S21 5G feels akin to jumping from a finely tuned track car into the seat of a roadworthy version of the same model. Everything from the feel to performance felt familiar, yet much more … civilized.
Where the Ultra boasted industrial-like specs and a body made of aluminium and glass finish throughout, Samsung went down the more mellow yet purposeful route of using glass, aluminium, and plastic on the S21 5G. This decision instantly makes the S21 5G lighter and easier to handle.
Lightweight
Now before you go scoffing ‘BAH PLASTIC! THINK OF THE TURTLES!’, hear us out. If we were to pass a unit for you to hold, you would not have guessed the material used for the back panel right off the bat. The boffins at Samsung somehow managed to create a special kind of plastic that is not only light but also not feel out of place when paired with glass and aluminium. The way it nicely blends in with the goldish side frame of our purple test unit below proving it isn’t about what material is being used; it’s how you use it.
The choice of material also makes this phone grippier than the Ultra, lowering your chances of dropping it. The phone now captures 78% fewer fingerprintsÂ  (a number we just made up, but seems accurate) and although the phone is built tough enough to withstand your average daily use, we still recommend getting a nice case for it.

With a respectable 6.2-inch Gorilla Glass Victus, Dynamic AMOLED 120hz screen, the S21 5G exemplifies the perfect balance of form, function and fashion. This may not be the most powerful model in the S21 lineup (that title goes to the aforementioned S21 Ultra) but in our books, the comfiest to hold.
People with regular to small-sized hands would find this phone which weighs just a little under 170g much less intrusive and easier to store and operate.
But it comes with a caveat which might be an issue to some, yet a fair tradeoff in our books; a smaller battery. While 4000mAh is nothing to scoff at, we do wish that Samsung would have added a slightly bigger battery considering how often you’d end up whipping out this phone during a normal day of activity. It’s such a joy to use.
On the bright side, the phone juices up relatively quickly and you’d be hard-pressed to drain all that power within a day unless if you’re a super-heavy, power user, of course.
Pocket Rocket
Under the hood, the S21 5G is powered by the exact same chip found in its more illustrious, beefcake cousin. Regardless of whether it’s the Exynos 2100 (5 nm) or the QualcommÂ  Snapdragon 888 5G (5 nm) variant, you are not losing out in this department. The same goes in the GPU department where it carries an Adreno 660 chip. We do wish they’d supply it with more RAM but considering this model is catered for the more fashion and funds over function crowd, the maximum 8GB RAM that comes with this variant is totally on-brand.
Keeping in line with modern smartphones of 2021, you get a highly responsive under-screen fingerprint sensor for added security, Samsung Pay services and what may be the least used function: Bixby. Now don’t get me wrong. Bixby is all fine and dandy but it’s hard to remain loyal to it when there’s Google Assistant available.
Nowadays it is impossible for a reviewer to not talk about the cameras when reviewing smartphones and this one is no different. The S21 5G comes with four in total – three rear and one front-facing selfie camera. The three at the back are for wide (12MP), 120Â° ultrawide (also 12MP) and telephoto (64MP) uses. Video-wise, you can shoot videos in 8K, but limited to 24FPS and depending on your setting, able to eke out 4K @ 60FPS. The absence of expandable storage might be an issue for some as the S21 5G internal storage is capped at only 256GB.

I’ll admit: I’m nowhere near good when it comes to photography but if even I am able to capture photos as shown above, just imagine what any half-decent user would be able to.
While these snaps are great indicatives of my (lack of) photo-snapping skill, the camera on the S21 5G more than adequately make up for it. However, just like the cameras tested on more recent Samsung phones, I found the colours to pop out a little bit too much for my liking. Taste is subjective, and what isn’t my cup of tea might be your favourite bubble tea on the planet.
Although the S21 5G does come with a decent-sounding stereo speaker, it lacks the 3.5mm headphone jack which is a bit of a bummer if you plan to double it up as your mobile gaming device. It is definitely one of the more fun phones to play mobile games on due to its relatively lighter build and when on-the-go, a great companion to binge videos with. However, we cannot help but lament the lack of the headphone jack as its absence is the main thing that separates this good phone from being great.
Yes: I said it. Pair the brilliant, bright screen with a decent pair of headsets and you have an awesome cutting-edge smartphone-turned media device.
Summing It All Up
As I mentioned earlier, the S21 5G is a toned down, sleeker, and more wallet-friendly cousin of the S21 Ultra. Do not be fooled by its minimalist and soft curves. This phone is a beast that’ll outperform many of its contemporaries in the market.
If the Ultra was an Aston Martin built for Le Mans, then the S21 5G is the DB11 Volante. Sure it won’t be able to keep up with the performance-based model, but it’ll easily smoke the rest in a normal setting – while looking like a million bucks in the process.
Final Score: 90/100

Vital Statistics
Platform: Android 11 OS, One UI 3.1
Body: 151.7 x 71.2 x 7.9 mm (5.97 x 2.80 x 0.31 in), 169g
Frame: Glass front (Gorilla Glass Victus), plastic back, aluminum frame with IP68 dust/water resistance
Chipset: Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888 5G (5 nm)
CPU: Octa-core (1Ã—2.84 GHz Kryo 680 & 3Ã—2.42 GHz Kryo 680 & 4Ã—1.80 GHz Kryo 680)
GPU: Adreno 660
Display: Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1300 nits; 6.2 inches, 94.1 cm2
Memory (Internal): 128GB 8GB RAM/ 256GB 8GB RAM UFS 3.1
Main Camera: 12 MP, f/1.8, 26mm (wide); 64 MP, f/2.0, 29mm (telephoto); 12 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 120Ëš (ultrawide); Selfie 10 MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide)
Sound: Stereo speakers, no jacks given
Battery: Li-Ion 4000 mAh, non-removable
Price: Starts from RM 3,299 (256GB)


IKEA Gaming Furniture Prices Revealed For Malaysian Market

IKEA has collaborated with Republic of Gamers (ASUS ROG) to bring new gaming furniture and furnishings to Malaysia. They will be available later this week starting from 11 November 2021.
Thanks to our friends from Lowyat, we now know the prices of the products, which you can also check out for yourselves by heading to the official website here:

Fredde 140x74x73 gaming desk:Â RM799
Fredde 185x74x146 gaming desk:Â RM999
Fredde gaming desk + Matchspel gaming chair combo:Â RM1,698
Huvudspelare gaming chair:Â RM299
LÃ¥nespelare 36Ã—44 cm gaming mouse pad:Â RM29
LÃ¥nespelare neck pillow:Â RM29
LÃ¥nespelare mug with lid and straw:Â RM30
LÃ¥nespelare mug holder:Â RM49
LÃ¥nespelare mouse bungee:Â RM49
LÃ¥nespelare mug & mug holder combo:Â RM79
LÃ¥nespelare 90x40cm gaming mouse pad:Â RM79
LÃ¥nespelare headset stand:Â RM79
LÃ¥nespelare accessories stand:Â RM99
LÃ¥nespelare multi-functional cushion/blanket:Â RM99
LÃ¥nespelare ring light with phone holder:Â RM159
Matchspel gaming chair:Â RM699
Uppspel 4-piece pegboard accessories set:Â RM49
Uppspel CPU stand with castors:Â RM79
Uppspel 76Ã—56 cm glass-door cabinet:Â RM299
Uppspel 40Ã—58 cm drawer unit on castors:Â RM499
Uppspel 140Ã—80 cm gaming desk:Â RM2,299
Uppspel 180x80cm gaming desk:Â RM2,499
Uppspel 140Ã—80 cm gaming desk + Matchspel gaming chair combo:Â RM 2,998
Uppspel 180Ã—80 cm gaming desk + Matchspel gaming chair combo:Â RM 3,198
Uppspel 140Ã—80 cm gaming desk & drawer unit on castors + Matchspel gaming chair combo:Â RM3,497
Uppspel 180Ã—80 cm gaming desk & drawer unit on castors + Matchspel gaming chair combo:Â RM3,697
Utespelare gaming desk:Â RM499
Utespelare gaming chair:Â RM499
Utespelare gaming desk & chair combo:Â RM998
Utespelare gaming desk + Matchspel gaming chair combo:Â RM1,198
Utespelare gaming desk + Helmer drawer unit on castors + Matchspel gaming chair combo:Â RM1,337

In the meantime, check out the trailer below:


Overwatch League Week 1 Closes With Korean Teams Displaying Complete Dominance

The final three matches of Stage 1, Week 1 of the Overwatch League inaugural season were displays of Korean dominance as all-Korean squads; London Spitfire, New York Excelsior and Seoul Dynasty steamrolled over their hapless opponents. To make the gulf even more apparent, their foes aren’t chumps either as Philadelphia Fusion, Houston Outlaws and Los Angeles Gladiators are actually good teams!
Spitfire Leaves Fusion Out in the Cold
It was not a perfect birthday for Fusion’s GeorgeÂ “ShaDowBurn”Â Gushcha as his team was outplayed throughout by the solid Spitfire team which started with Birdring & Profit on DPS. Spitfire literally rolled over Fusion on Junkertown and safe for that late hold on the final point thanks to Shadowburn’s heroics, were clearly not on the same level as their Korean opponents. The fact was further compounded by how Spitfire secured the remaining three maps without dropping a set to win the series 4-0. To single-out any player from Spitfire as best performer would be criminal as everyone showed up against Fusion whom many considered may pose the bigger challenge than Mayhem earlier. The result saw Spitfire go 2-0, while Fusion fell to 1-1 in the season.

“The name’s @Birdring.” #OWL2018https://t.co/U6dIipgQGs pic.twitter.com/gZFE5RtJyN
â€” Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) January 13, 2018

NYXL & Pine Keep Outlaws in Check To Go 2-0
Houston Outlaws, wanting to put their first game disappointment behind them burst out of the gates with all guns blazing as they stunned the Excelsior on Junkertown. The ever-reliable Jake ensured that his team were able to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Saebyeolbe, Pine and Libero early on but he soon fizzled out as the NYXL crew methodically took him out of the equation. Pine was back at doing what he does best, dishing kills like it’s going out of style and we struggle to think of any other player who is deadlier on McCree than he is right now. He repeated – if not, best his performance on Ilios as he left a trail of deaths in his wake. Despite Houston’s convincing start and an entertaining Widowmaker response via Houston’s Linkzr, Ilios proved to be the turning point as Pine kept the Outlaws DPS in line.

DÃ©jÃ  vu? @tf2pine is subbed back in and immediately makes his presence known. #OWL2018 https://t.co/U6dIipgQGs pic.twitter.com/OoPE2lyN1K
â€” Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) January 13, 2018

Dynasty Maintain Status Quo With Easy Win Vs GladiatorsÂ
Fresh off their epic duel against Dallas Fuel on Day-1, Dynasty had an easier matchup against the Gladiators who apart from their spirited fight on Junkertown, were unable to match the Koreans in the entirety of the series. Fleta lit up the killfeed with his typical Widowmaker plays on Ilios as he bests out Surefour in multiple occasions while the rest of his teammates cleaned house. The level of confidence was so apparent on the Dynasty side as Ryujehong who famous for his Ana plays even opted for Doomfist as Dynasty experimented with a triple-DPS approach on their final map, Numbani. Experimental approach or not, Dynasty still came out tops, managing a full push while denying Gladiators even a single point to close the series 4-0.

Nobody is safe when @ow_fleta is on the field. #OWL2018 https://t.co/U6dIipgQGs pic.twitter.com/85rMuPy4Pz
â€” Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) January 14, 2018

With that resounding win, Seoul closes the Stage 1’s first week of the Overwatch League. The teams will now regroup ahead of Week 2’s set of matches which kicks off this Thursday, January 18th as San Francisco Shock takes on Philadelphia Fusion at 8AM, Kuala Lumpur/ Singapore time.


Demon Slayer The Hinokami Chronicles First Post-Launch Update Adds Two Playable Demons

The post-launch Update #1 for SEGAâ€™s Demon Slayer Kimetsu No Yaiba The Hinokami Chronicles is now available.
Rui (Lower Five) and Akaza (Upper Three) of the Twelve Kizuki will be added as playable characters in Versus Mode as part of this update, which also includes new Online Missions, Reward Panels, and minor bug improvements. More demons will also be introduced as unique Versus Mode characters in the upcoming Post-launch Updates #2 and #3.

You can check out my review ofÂ Demon Slayer Kimetsu No Yaiba The Hinokami ChroniclesÂ byÂ heading over here. You could also check out gameplay footage of all the awesome Ultimate Arts (ultimate finishers and super moves) in our video below:


Vtuber Amano Pikamee Will Graduate In March

Vtuber Amano Pikamee will be graduating and ending all Vtuber activities this 31st March.
The Vtuber has come to this conclusion after a month-long break following a ton of harassment for streaming Hogwarts Legacy. Her social media will be shut down and all videos of hers will be made private. Any merchandise she features will no longer be sold.
VOMS Project has made an official statement, though it doesn’t go into detail as to why she isn’t performing.

Important Notice pic.twitter.com/oASH3igb6k
— VOMS Project (@VOMS_Project) March 1, 2023

The fact that this was announced after the month-long break prior to the Hogwarts Legacy harassment isn’t a coincidence. It’s sad that hard-working content creators have to endure harassment to the point where they have to quit, all because of one video game.

Sorry for being silent for almost a month.Thank you so much for all your support and the kind words you guys gave me while I was gone.I am a lucky kettle to have people like you https://t.co/nPyjd71qIM
— ??????pikamee (@amanopikamee) March 1, 2023

Amano Pikamee is one of the few bilingual Vtubers who made it big in an indie agency like VOMS. She debuted her Vtuber activities and performances back in March 2020.


Shinji Mikami Is Leaving Tango Gameworks After 12 Years

Shinji Mikami of Resident Evil, Evil Within, and Ghostwire: Tokyo fame is leaving the company he founded 12 years ago: Tango Gameworks.
According to a TrueAchievements report, the news was made via an email from Bethesda senior vice president of development Todd Vaughn. Below are the contents of the email:
“I am writing today to let you know that studio head Shinji Mikami has decided to leave Tango Gameworks in the coming months. Mikami-san has been a creative leader and supportive mentor to young developers at Tango for 12 years through his work on the Evil Within franchise, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and of course, Hi-Fi Rush.
We wish Mikami-san well in the future and are excited by what lies ahead for the talented developers at Tango.”
The email did not state why Shinji Mikami is leaving the company. He has a few months left before he truly departs from the place he started.
Shinji Mikami started his career at Capcom in the 90s, starting with his first few game design works being Goof Troop and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? He got his claim to fame with the first Resident Evil game for PlayStation, as well as Resident Evil 4. He also worked with PlatinumGames on the criminally underrated shooter Vanquish before founding Tango Gameworks in 2010.


This Kotobukiya Wonder Woman Figure Looks Ready To Kick Butt

The AFA Shop has announced the Kotobukiya’s latest series, Cross Frame Girl, which is a collaboration series between Kotobukiyaâ€™s â€œFrame Arms Girlâ€ and other well-known media content.
The first to join the series is one of The Big Three of DC Comics; none other than Wonder Woman herself. The model is based on a new original illustration by the beloved Fumikane Shimada, best known for the character designer in anime like Girls Und Panzer and Strike Witches.
In addition, Cross Frame Girl models are also compatible with currently sold Frame Arms Girl models, so users can interchange head, arm, and leg parts for further customization options.
The Wonder Woman Humikane Shimada Ver. includes three face parts (normal front-facing, normal left-facing, and yelling). a sword, a shield, the Lasso of Truth, various armour parts, shield effect parts, and a simple base.
Those living in Singapore can enjoy free shipping for all Kotobukiya products available on AFASHOP.co. At the price of SG$80, pre-orders for the Wonder Woman Humikane Shimada Ver. is open from now until 28 August 2020.


Ghost of Tsushima’s Regular & Kurosawa Mode Comparison

How should you play Ghost of Tsushima, the latest PS4 gaming blockbuster from Sucker Punch? We check out both Samurai Cinema (JP with subs) and Kurosawa mode using the game’s intro.


Miss P.T? Try Out This Awesome PC Recreation Powered By Unreal

Back in 2014, a horror game demo called P.T made its way onto the PlayStation Store for all to play and experience. It was fun. And the best part? Once you solve the demo’s puzzle, you get to see a full-blown teaser to a new Silent Hill game directed by Metal Gear’s Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro, the latter being famous for a romantic drama about a girl who wants to f*** a fish.
Of course, that could have come full circle if it weren’t for all that Konami-Kojima drama and publisher cock-up in 2015. However, if you missed out on that demo, fret not! Developer RadiusGordello recreated the entire demo within 9 months using the latest Unreal Engine. He’s been working on the demo for 9 months since April 2018. If you want to jump right in, just download it right here.
Everything from the textures to the code was recreated from scratch. Talk about going beyond for all of us wanting to play a free demo of a cancelled horror game; hat’s off to you! It’s exactly like the original demo on PS4, except you can use a mouse & keyboard combo, VR motion controllers, and an Xbox controller because that’s easier to plug in and play than most gamepads.

If you want to download it now, you may want to check out the specs first:
Minimum Tested Specs
CPU: i3-7100U 7th Generation with Intel HD 620
GPU: Integrated
RAM: 8GB DDR4
HQ SSR Turned off and resolution at 35% gets ~30fps with these specs
If you want to get technical, you can check out his developer notes here.


New Dead or Alive 6 Character Using Pencak Silat Revealed

Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja have announced another new original character to debut in the upcoming Dead or Alive 6, and her name is NiCO. What’s interesting is that her chosen fighting technique is Pencak Silat, our very own signature and local Southeast Asian martial art.
Not only does NiCO kick butt with Pencak Silat, but she is also known as the ‘Lightning Technomancer,’ boosting her martial art skills with plasma surges. Her scientific brilliance also allows her to move at lightning speeds, making it seem like she teleports at times.
Her role in Dead or Alive 6 will be that of a genius scientist entrusted with Donovanâ€™s secret M.I.S.T. development project. Although she might not appear to be Southeast Asian, it’s still an honor to see our traditional local martial arts being represented in a fighting game yet again.
This is not the first time that Pencak Silat has been featured in a game, (and hopefully) nor will it be the last. The ancient martial art has been featured in three Mortal Kombat games, including Deception, Unchained, and Armageddon. It is used by the character Baraka in those games.
Additionally, the developer and publisher have also confirmed two more returning characters in Dead or Alive 6. These include the Ba Ji Quan master Kokoro and ‘The Immortal Butterfly’ La Mariposa.
Dead or Alive 6 is slated to release for the PS4, Xbox One and PC on February 15, 2018. Check out the Dead or Alive 6 NiCO reveal trailer below.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJyNrBmhjMw&w=560&h=315]


Warframe’s New Update Introduces Bizarre New Warframes & Infested Open World

The last few days was a trove of good news for Warframe fans who aren’t swayed by other third-person co-op shooters of 2020. The game will be receiving a brand new open-world area with its own story mode called The Heart of Deimos, some new features, and a couple new warframes.
Let’s break it down:
The Heart of Deimos
The Heart of Deimos an expansion that includes a new moon to explore, Deimos, that repurposes some old Warframe missions called Derelict Key missions and adds one big new open-world called Cambion Drift. Like Warframe’s previous open-world areas, you’ll complete bounties, gather resources, and chip away at an overarching story quest.
The gist is the Infested has taken over the moon and are worming its way towards the Heart. You have to stop this through said quests and whatnot. It won’t be easy: you’ll be fighting new enemies that can toss other enemies at you, as well as go through segments requiring a powered suit of undead armour called the Necramechs.
Check out the demo below; it’s definitely more than enough to make you go back to being a Tenno.

You can recycle old warframes & equip their abilities
Developer Digital Extremes solved the problem of players sticking to just a few warframes and keeping the excess in their proverbial wardrobe closet: recycle the old ones and bring those abilities to their current getup.
Heart of Deimos lets players power up their warframes by replacing one of its abilities with a new one. You do this by feeding your old unwanted resources to a fleshmouth thing called the Helminth who will park itself into the alcoves of your ship (via story reasons).
Traditionally, every warframe comes with four main abilities, but this new system will create tons of potential to mix and match abilities from different warframes.Â Using the Helminth, you can swap out one of your main abilities for something new if you feed it enough. The more it eats, the higher it ranks; it’ll even give you its own abilities, like replacing the warframe Mag’s pull with Helminth Strength that gives your next ability double strength and power.
You can also feed it your old warframes and then transfer its abilities to another warframe. Obviously, it won’t be its signature ability, but the rest of its abilities are fair game. To keep things from going out of control, you aren’t allowed to feed it any Prime-variant warframes. Why would you? You took way too much to get a Prime variant anyway.
The new Warframes
As with any Warframe update, the new warframes are where it’s at.

The Xaku armour has custom movement, is going for a “Frankenstein’s Monster-like” motif, and comes with a signature Warfan.

The Alchemist has snakes coming out of its armour, and probably involves poison or some form of debilitation and debuff abilities.

The Wraithe might be a stealth and sniper-like warframe for players to use. Beyond that, little is known about all three of them.
The new expansion will launch on 25th August, with the new warframes to follow after that. You’ll be getting them before 2020 ends.


Riot Games Opens Their Industry-Changing Project Stryker Facility In Dublin, Ireland

Riot Games today celebrated the official opening of the first of three Remote Broadcast Centres (RBCs) making up Project Stryker, Powered by AWS, an innovative approach to global broadcast production that will transform live esports productions on a global scale.
Three years in development, the Dublin RBC of Project Stryker serves as a central broadcasting hub for both regional and global live esports productions across Riot’s trio of esports titles: League of Legends Esports (LoL Esports), VALORANT Esports, and Wild Rift Esports. Broadcast feeds from live esports competitions happening around the world can be sent to the Dublin RBC where content is produced, broadcast, and distributed in multiple languages to millions of esports fans around the world.
“This is truly an exciting day for Riot Games and the future of esports,
Project Stryker has come a long way from a visionary concept three years in the making, to this incredible state-of-the-art creative space that further extends Riot’s footprint in the city and showcases the deep ties to entertainment and innovation found in Dublin. We could not have selected a better location for our European headquarters for Project Stryker.”
– John Needham, President of Esports at Riot Games
A NEW ERA

As the first of three global locations selected to host Project Stryker RBCs, Dublin stood out as the ideal destination for the European HQ for Project Stryker due to the quality of its infrastructure, position in the European market, talent pool, and strategic location as part of the esports global ecosystem.
Following an exhaustive search in the Dublin area, the space of the former Wright Venue in Swords was ultimately selected. Once regarded as one of Dublin’s most iconic entertainment establishments, the storied space will maintain its roots in entertainment with Project StrykerDublin generating over 6,300 production hours annually for broadcast production, engineering, event, sound, and graphic design professionals.
Project Stryker is Riot’s second footprint in Dublin, joining its City Centre office with 165 employees specializing in business operations, development, engineering, localization, and player support. The City Centre office currently stands as Riot’s largest office outside its global headquarters in Los Angeles.
GLOBAL COLLABORATION

With ambitions to bring joy to billions of fans around the world through its esports, Riot has taken bold steps in this direction, expanding its esports portfolio with the VALORANT Champions Tour and Wild Rift Esports joining LoL Esports as Riot’s three globally operated esports competition series in the first-person shooter (FPS), mobile MOBA, and online MOBA categories, respectively.
The exponential growth of live esports competitions and broadcast productions both at the regional and global level across all three esports was the catalyst to create a cost-efficient production solution with global reach that’s built to scale, reflecting Riot’s future investments in esports and technology.
The three RBCs making up Project Stryker are strategically located eight hours apart to create a “follow-the-sun” broadcast model to support live esports productions 24/7/365. During a live esports event, a small contributor kit onsite sends live feeds back to the RBC through Riot Direct, the global private internet service provider powering every Riot game packet for every player around the world. The feeds are then routed to control rooms for unique show productions across multiple languages.
In addition to content production, each RBC will also serve as a centralized storage and shipping location for global competition hardware, prioritizing quality control for products used by esports pros at Riot’s global esports events.
Content storage is another element of Project Stryker with each geographic location also housing a data centre and media content vault where content is archived correctly for future discovery and viewing.
The global collaboration seen across Project Stryker is also reflected in the numerous partners and vendors that were instrumental in bringing the concept to life. A Riot Games global partner since 2020, Cisco’s partnership has been instrumental in helping Riot Esports modernize its infrastructure, utilize advanced technologies to support video workflows and expand its capacity for new titles and ideas.
Additionally, as part of a new global partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced this week, Project Stryker is now “Powered by AWS” as its official Cloud Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cloud Machine Learning (ML), Cloud Deep Learning (DL), and Cloud Services provider.
BUILDING A FOUNDATION FOR THE FUTURE

As Riot Games continues to execute on its vision toward creating a new kind of entertainment company rooted in games, the impact of Project Stryker will reach beyond live esports broadcasts.
Speciality spaces found at Project Stryker RBCs such as multi-purpose insert studios and AR/XR sound stages unlock potential creative production opportunities for Riot’s games and entertainment studios, while the media content vault ensures accessibility of archived esports content for future viewing experiences.
“Everything we do at Riot is driven by the goal of bringing joy to billions of esports fans around the world,
The capabilities of Project Stryker put Riot in prime position to deliver on that goal, and revolutionize the sports viewing experience for some of the most passionate fans in the world. I can’t say enough how proud I am of our team at Riot that worked tirelessly to bring our Dublin RBC to life, and continues to grind around the clock on the next phases of Project Stryker coming online in the next two years.”
– John Needham, President of Esports at Riot Games
Project Stryker Dublin executed its first global event earlier this month with Wild Rift Icons, and is currently supporting VCT Stage 2 Masters now underway in Copenhagen. The next RBC is currently in development in the greater Seattle area with an estimated completion date of early 2023. The third and final Project Stryker RBC will be located in the APAC and is slated for full operations by Q1 2024.


Indie Title Solar Ash Delayed To December

Annapurna Interactive and Heart Machine’s upcoming 3D action platformer Solar Ash will be delayed a few months.
The upcoming indie title that wowed a lot of viewers because of its art style and fast-paced action will be coming out on 2nd December for PC and PlayStation consoles. The game was originally set for 26th October.

We are delaying release of #SolarAsh until December 2, 2021. Full statement here: pic.twitter.com/cfPS5SkbMa
— Heart Machine Official (@HeartMachineHQ) October 13, 2021

The chief reason was Heart Machine wanted to polish up the game some more; it needed the extra time to fix bugs and tweak the game for the best experience possible. The global pandemic also had a hand in delaying the game as well.


Marvel’s Avengers Is Coming To PS5 & Xbox Series X

Square Enix has announced that Marvelâ€™s Avengers will also be available for the PS5 and Xbox Series X as launch titles ins holiday 2020, although the PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia versions are still planned for 4 September 2020.
What’s even better is that players who own the current-gen version of Marvelâ€™s Avengers will be able to upgrade to the next-gen version for free, either from PS4 to PS5 or Xbox One to Xbox Series X, with even save data carrying over.Â  There will also be cross-gen play between PS4 and PS5 players, as well as Xbox One and Xbox Series X players.

According to PlayStation Blog, the PS5 version of the game will feature â€œextremely fast load times, boosted resolution and fidelity, improved texturing and armour destruction, ray tracing, and more”, as well as an “Enhanced Graphics Mode” and “High Frame Rate Mode”.

The High Frame Rate mode for Marvel’s Avengers on the PS5 will targets 60 FPS with dynamic 4K resolution. However, information on Xbox Series X, Stadia, and PC specific features will be announced at a later date.
We will likely learn more about the game during the â€œWar Tableâ€ live stream at 1am GMT+8 on 25 June 2020 on its official YouTube channel.


TGS 2018: Romancing SaGa III and Romancing SaGa ReUniverse Announced

And the remasters/remakes/current-gen ports keep on comin’.
Square Enix recently announced the Romancing SaGa III HD remaster slated for an early 2019 release. The target platforms include the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, PS Vita, iOS, and Android.
That’s a lotta platforms for a niche JRPG series and I for one am glad. The third game in the Romancing SaGa series is arguably the most jam-packed one of the lot featuring 8 main characters with converging story arcs, a catastrophe called the Death Eclipse that tie it all together, a bunch of sidequests with optional characters to recruit, and a rough-if-innovative-for-its-time leveling up and combat system.

Oh, and there’s an announcement for a mobile SaGa game called Romancing SaGa- Re: Universe. The game features sprites from past SaGa games, a nice turn-based combat system, and a ton of SaGa characters you will probably pay real money to gacha for. Fun, if you like getting charged ludicrous amounts for your JRPGs with possibly brain-dead combat.
If you want a taste of what the Romancing SaGa games are like, you can check out Romancing SaGa 2 which is available in HD remastered form right now on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and other portable devices.


DC’s New Wonder Girl Is Already Getting Her Own TV Series

The CW is working on a new TV series starring the new Wonder Girl from DC Comics’ upcoming Future Slate crossover event, Yara Flor. What makes this incredible is that Flor has yet to even debut in her own comic.
According to Deadline, CW’s Wonder Girl will be from Greg Berlantiâ€™s Berlanti Productions and co-showrunner Dailyn Rodriguez.
Most comic book fans know Wonder Girl as either Donna Troy (who’s the original) or Cassandra Sandsmark (the current one). However, DC’s upcoming comic book crossover will introduce a new future version of Wonder Woman named Yara Flor.

Yara Flor is described as a:
“Latina Dreamer who was born of an Amazonian Warrior and a Brazilian River God, learns that she is Wonder Girl. With her newfound power must fight the evil forces that would seek to destroy the world.”
Wonder Girl will join existing DC shows at the CW including Batwoman, Legends Of Tomorrow, The Flash, Black Lightning, Superman And Lois, and Supergirl.