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This week’s news is centered mostly around damage control with regards to the relationship between Ubisoft and the professional esports players of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege. In a recent interview, the developers stated, “So, if professional players are not happy with our proposed features, then that means we are going in the right direction.” This was interpreted in different ways by some players, and the developers needed to expand on this to clarify that a major part of their work in balancing the game is to push players to be better by challenging everyone, including professional players, out of their comfort zones....

John “TotalBiscuit” Bain will be the first non-pro, non-player inductee into the eSports Hall of Fame. For the uninitiated, the game critic and content creator passed away earlier this year after a four-year battle with cancer, during which he also continued to critique games. In fact, he loved gaming so much that he reportedly talked about Fortnite in his sleep, doing what he loved to the last. The induction will take place during the ESL One Hamburg 2018 event at the end of the month....

UPDATE 18/08/22: Amol Rajan Announced as New Presenter Journalist and broadcaster Amol Rajan has been confirmed as the quiz presenter replacing Jeremy Paxman on University Challenge. Rajan’s episodes will air from autumn 2023, after Paxman’s final series in the big chair goes out on BBC Two. The former editor of The Independent newspaper, Rajan is an experienced presenter on radio and television, with credits including The One Show, BBC Radio 2, and BBC Radio 4’s The Today Programme....

It’s 2021. Finally. If you’re reading this, it means you’ve hopefully gotten through the wreckage of last year unscathed and are ready for a brighter future. And if you’re also a movie lover, this certainly includes a trip (or 20) back to the cinemas. Although a month into the new year, and our hope for a better tomorrow has faded a bit–especially with new COVID variants spreading. Yet there is reason to remain warily optimistic....

From streamers to casual gamers, everyone has been caught up in the gaming craze that is Valheim. This survival adventure through Viking purgatory has captured the hearts of players with its new twists on genre mechanics and its enjoyable theme. With the game breaking concurrent player records, fans may be looking for a new way to spice up their experiences with the title. PvP play in Valheim is an interesting prospect for those looking to add a bit more competition to their survival experience....

Sometimes, even the strongest Vikings need a little help getting to Valhalla. Fortunately, playing with friends in Valheim is a fairly easy task to accomplish in just a few easy steps. With well over three million copies sold and concurrent player counts peaking over 400,000, it shouldn’t be hard to find someone to play with, even if no friends own the game. There are community servers to join in Valheim, though the standard warnings apply when joining servers filled with strangers....

Valorant is Riot’s answer to Counter-Strike, a competitive FPS shooter that sees some of the largest eSport viewerships of any of the big hitters. With influence taken from hero shooters like Overwatch and Apex Legends fused with the tactical twitchy-aim gameplay of Counter-Strike, Valorant can be daunting for new players. There are currently seventeen Agents in Valorant (those are the characters you can play), with the most recent addition, Kay/o — a killer robot who can silence enemy abilities....

Despite the constant warnings from government and healthcares specialists, game stores all over Japan have fought to keep their doors open for customers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, this resulted in some less than ideal situations, such as people forming long lines to get Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Ring Fit Adventure. Of course, these sorts of long lines tend to be crowded, and so do the stores themselves, which ultimately does nothing but promote the spread of COVID-19....

This Vikings review contains spoilers. Vikings Season 6 Episode 18 “Here is the grave of the most famous Viking who ever lived.” There’s an element of truth to the well-known axiom that says it’s always calm before the storm, and as we near the end of the saga, Vikings allows its characters a moment to catch their collective breaths before taking steps that will drastically alter their respective political and personal landscapes....

With technology and pop culture progressing at a rapid pace, traditional methods of popping the question have become outdated, with new ideas like an Overwatch loot box proposal being thought of. This is very much the case for Casandra Vuong and Chary Keijzer, whose shared occupation requires them to be on the cutting edge of innovation. The two run the YouTube channel Cas and Chary VR, where they regularly upload VR-related content including hardware and game reviews....

Warframe, the beloved multiplayer action RPG, is famed for its signature armor mechanic. Instead of Classes, Warframe players can equip various Warframes – ancient suits of armor with unique powersets – to fight enemies. At first glance, a player can stick to the first Warframe they chose and modify it to their liking. However, people also have the opportunity to gain almost any Warframe for free – provided they have the patience to get their crafting materials....

Season three of Warzone is well underway, and it brought with it all the mayhem you’d expect from a zombie-eliminating nuke. Once the dust settled, players were treated to a blast from the past as Verdansk was transported all the way back to 1984. To really set the mood, Warzone has added ’80s inspired War Tracks to bring some music into the battle royale environment. Season three not only gave players the new 1984 Verdansk full of new locations, landmarks, and structures, but also a brand-new Battle Pass....

Final Fantasy 14 is gearing up to end the 5.0 cycle, welcoming Death Unto Dawn, patch 5.5, this April 13. On the heels of its launch, Square Enix shared a new trailer via the game’s livestreamed update specials with director and producer Naoki Yoshida. The MMO’s next patch will conclude the latest storyline that has been building since the ending of Shadowbringers in patch 5.3. The latest expansion was released in the summer of 2019, and Endwalker will follow this fall....

To call the Grand Theft Auto series “successful” is like saying GTA IV is underappreciated: obvious and accurate. Rockstar’s mammoth franchise has sold an obscene number of copies, generated more cash than roughly 10 Scrooge McDuck’s, and invited just as much controversy. The industry’s premier sandbox has become a major fixture in gaming and popular culture–Dave Chappelle once did an entire TV skit based on the series, for goodness sake....

Many of us are familiar with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test, which is why some might be wondering what in the world that has to do with game consoles. It turns out that these personality types can be very telling when it comes to our gaming style and, as every gamer knows, everyone has a console preference. So what will it be? Could there be a chance that certain personality types have a tendency to lean more toward retro games, while others can’t help but engage in next-gen gaming?...

This The Orville review contains spoilers. The Orville Season 2 Episode 1 The second season of the original Star Trek began with the famous episode “Amok Time,” in which Mr. Spock had to return to his home planet to have sex or die. And the second season of The Orville continues its overt to love-letter to old-school Trek with a similar premise in its second season premiere, “Ja’loja.” Bortas must return to his home planet for “the great relief,” because Moclans only urinate once a year....

The Outer Worlds originally released in 2019, but had plans for DLC later down the line. The corporate-takedown sci-fi game received generally positive reviews from fans and critics, though sometimes the combat system leaves something to be desired. The first DLC for The Outer Worlds, titled Peril on Gorgon, released in September 2020 and got average reviews from players. The DLC added a new mystery to the world of Halcyon, with an abandoned Spacer’s Choice facility that players explore and discover the truth about....

Coming out of the closet isn’t easy. Young queer people are made to sacrifice potentially everything just to be themselves. Family could abandon them, friends could push them away, and society as a whole could deem them as something to be thrown aside and ostracized. I’m a tremendously proud pansexual transwoman, but even now I doubt my own identity, scared that I’ll never live up to my own internal expectations and those others have of me....

For twenty years, The Sims has built up a vibrant and thriving community. While Electronic Arts recently took several steps to expand the franchise’s reach by releasing The Sims 4 on Steam, the developer’s next Sims project will expose the series to a mainstream audience. Today, EA announced a collaboration with several gaming brands to create The Sims Spark’d, a reality TV show centering around the latest Sims game. Produced with BuzzFeed Multiplayer and Turner Sports’ gaming and eSports-focused subsidiary, the show will center around twelve contestants in a series of competitions....

Spider-Man is Marvel’s most popular superhero. It was the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movie that helped launch the Hollywood superhero craze we’re witnessing today. The wall-crawler made a serious impact in pop culture, and much of it is thanks to his appearance in films, both in past and present. Due to how popular the character is, he has been a great subject of Sony’s while they tried to launch their own film universes....