Ga[M]er

Tesla vs Lovecraft developer 10tons’ survival game Dysmantle which launched on the Nintendo Switch last year has finally made its way to mobile. It is an open-world action RPG with the simple goal being to ruin it all. Players must leave their shelter and escape a frightening island by gathering, crafting, and killing their way through. Dysmantle initially drew inspiration from 2D platformers like Motherload and Steamworld Dig, which involved gathering parts and building different items using them. But it quickly zoomed leagues ahead as 10tons created the game in such a way that pretty much everything that is in the game world can be destroyed, discounting the items used to build stuff of course. Wreaking havoc and destroying things isn’t the only goal of this game as it also features a vast open-world with lots of role-playing to do. Players will fight enemies, craft and level-up gear, explore the island, farm, fish, and cook, all in a post-apocalyptic world. The game posits a challenge at each stage, especially if someone is where they aren’t supposed to be. Fighting the way through this wretched island definitely does seem like a cumbersome process as well so Dysmantle has taken care of some side jobs as well. Hunting animals, fishing, and farming will ensure that stomachs are full and gear is fully upgraded. Plus, ancient tombs are scattered all over the place waiting to be uncovered so that their magical rewards can be claimed. Be sure to check out the announcement trailer embedded above to get a feel of what Dysmantle is going to be like. It is set to launch on the App Store on May 19th. Pre-orders are already live and the game will cost a total of $9.99 USD. Are you ready to survive in a post-apocalyptic world with ferocious monsters waiting to devour you?https://www.pocketgamer.com/dysmantle/open-world-survival-action-rpg-ios-app-store/

Hoyoverse, the developers behind anime game juggernaut Genshin Impact, has announced a new RPG game Zenless Zone Zero. Described as an ‘urban fantasy action-RPG,’ the game is set in New Eridu, “the last shelter for urban civilisation.” Players take on the mantle of a character known as a ‘proxy’, investigating dangerous supernatural phenomenon called ‘hollows’. These are rifts that grow and create distorted dimensions filled with monsters referred to as ‘the ethereal.’ Zenless Zone Zero’s visual design will feel familiar to those who have played Genshin Impact, but the setting suggests a more futuristic, urban styling. The announcement trailer shows off fights across rain-swept streets and industrial structures in the sprawling metropolis of New Eridu. Characters are shown wielding all manner of ranged and melee weapons including swords, dual pistols, axes, and heavy machine guns, and combat looks fast and flashy. Hoyoverse promises “a fluid, cinematic, action-oriented combat system” with players taking control of multiple characters in similar fashion to that of Genshin Impact. In the press release, Hoyoverse also mentions the potential for what it describes as “unlimited QTE combos” and, rather teasingly, says that “the game has also developed a roguelike gameplay mechanism that awaits exploration.” The announcement trailer features a wide range of characters – it’s unclear how many of these will be playable, but given Genshin Impact’s structure it seems likely that Zenless Zone Zero will follow suit and allow you to collect and utilise many of them over the course of your adventure. The trailer suggests characters are grouped into factions or alignments, and then shows a team of four fighting an ethereal which falls in line with Genshin Impact’s four-character squads. Registration for a Zenless Zone Zero closed beta is available now on the game’s official website. We’ll have all the news and updates on this latest offering, and of course we’ve got you covered on everything happening in Hoyoverse’s current open-world game. Check out our Genshin Impact Spices from the West event guide for the new festivities along with all the details on the Genshin Impact 2.7 release date and more. https://www.pcgamesn.com/zenless-zone-zero/release-date

Sonos announced its most affordable soundbar to date last week. But some of the company’s loyal customers were disappointed by the lack of a less expensive subwoofer to go along with the new Sonos Ray. It felt like the perfect opportunity to announce a product that’s been rumored for months. The only subwoofer that Sonos currently sells is the $749 Sub, which costs more than both the Ray and Beam — so it’s hard to justify as an accessory at those terms. But despite no announcement last week, The Verge can confirm that Sonos is coming closer to releasing a smaller, less costly subwoofer that will be able to wirelessly pair with the Sonos Ray, Beam, and Arc. Rumors about such a device popped up a few months ago after Sonos accidentally spilled some early details in its mobile app. At the time, screenshots revealed the product’s name — the Sub Mini — and The Verge is now able to further corroborate this branding. More importantly, for the first time, after seeing an image of the upcoming product, I’m able to share a preview of the Sub Mini’s general design. In the earlier leak, Sonos described it as a “smaller, cylindrical subwoofer,” and The Verge’s 3D render matches that. The Sub Mini is Sonos model S37, coming directly after S36, which ended up being the $279 Ray. Ask any Sub owner and they’ll likely vouch for what a huge difference the subwoofer makes when watching movies or even listening to music. When Sonos soundbars recognize a linked Sub, they adjust audio output to focus on higher frequencies, leaving the low rumble and floor-rattling bass to the dedicated subwoofer. The main thing that distinguishes the Sub Mini hardware is an elongated, pill-shaped vertical cutout right in the middle of the device. It just so happens that the regular Sub has a rectangular cutout, so Sonos seems to have settled on this both for functionality and as a design trait of sorts. In the case of the Sub, there are acoustic ports on both sides, so it would follow that the Sub Mini will have a similar internal layout — albeit with smaller, less powerful components. Features, specific release timing, and pricing details for the Sub Mini could not yet be learned, and the same goes for the hardware’s actual size and dimensions. But the broad strokes design seen here should mostly resemble whatever Sonos announces in the coming months. The Verge has reached out to the company for comment. During a February call with investors, Sonos CEO Patrick Spence said, “In fiscal 2022, we are focused on launching new products in our existing product categories.” Like the Sonos Ray, the Sub Mini would meet those criteria and fit into the company’s home theater lineup. Sonos’ fiscal year runs through September 2022, so any announcements in a completely new product category (like wireless headphones) will have to wait until the fall. Sonos has carried out five product launches so far in 2022, according to chief financial officer Brittany Bagley. That count apparently includes the second-gen Beam (released last September) in addition to the newer Sonos Roam SL, Sonos Ray soundbar, new colors of the standard Roam, and Sonos Voice Control. Spence has recently expressed frustration internally with Sonos staff over a rise in leaks, according to people familiar with the matter. Aside from revealing the Ray’s design weeks before its official introduction, The Verge also spoiled Sonos’ announcement of its own voice control service, which will roll out to customers in the US on June 1st. “I know it’s hard for all of you but ... we want to make sure that when we actually have it ready, we bring it out to the world, and that’s when we talk about it,” he said on last week’s earnings call when asked how a recent acquisition might factor into future Sonos products. https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/16/23073977/sonos-sub-mini-affordable-subwoofer-design-preview

As a UNESCO World Heritage site, Bagan in Myanmar is home to more than 2, 200 structures, including pagodas and temples constructed from the 10th to the 14th centuries. However, its age, combined with the surface subsidence and earthquakes over the region have posed great threats to the stability of the historic monuments and iconic pagodas at the vast site. Thus, the monitoring of landscape surface subsidence and vulnerability of the monuments is crucial to the protection and sustainable management of the Bagan heritage site. A research team led by Prof. Chen Fulong from the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS) and the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has pinpointed several hotspots and pagodas with displacement anomalies linked to land cover change and previous earthquakes by using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) approaches. The study was published in the International Journal of Digital Earth. InSAR is a technique for mapping ground deformation using radar images of the Earth's surface collected from orbiting satellites. The noninvasive technology is a powerful tool to assess the vulnerability over the valuable heritage structures. The team applied high-resolution TerraSAR-X imagery acquired from 2019–2020 for deformation monitoring based on the small baseline subset and persistent scatterer InSAR approaches. The combination of the two multi-temporal SAR interferometry approaches satisfies the two-scale monitoring requirements from landscapes to monuments, particularly for large-scale world heritage sites. "The non-contact monitoring method has potential when traditional methods using field accessibility and surveillance are constrained," said Prof. Chen. https://techxplore.com/news/2022-05-remote-sustainability-bagan-heritage-site.html

Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA have been hard at work to make sure any new technology released now and in the future will be fully compatible with the upcoming Linux 5.19 kernel. Intel's open-source team has recently added a new update to the kernel for DG2/Arc Alchemist dGPU support and is looking to be in better standards than previously from Team Blue. The update created includes the addition of current IDs and support for compute tasks, allowing the latest kernel to offer enhanced power management handling for the Arc Alchemist family of graphics. New Linux kernel to add more power management control for the Arc Alchemist GPU lines Integrating into the Linux PCIe subsystem seems abnormal. Intel promotes the Arc Alchemist dGPU with a decent L1 exit latency, equalling less than a microsecond, and can handle exit latencies far beyond the threshold given. The initial batch of the iGPU family from Intel can become enabled as "unlimited," allowing the PCIe Active State Power Management, or ASPM, L1 power savings to find use in many configurations. In turn, users would be able to expect fewer than 1us power exits when continuing PCIe processes. PCIe ASPM gains more ability for users to save power during idle states and still produce significant savings for the Intel Arc Alchemist iGPUs. The new Intel Arc Alchemist integrated cards are set to release in the third quarter of this year. Other motherboard and chipset manufacturers have struggled with the various issues found with utilizing PCIe ASPM in their components and devices. Intel seems to have used the power saving option of the utility to give the user the ability to restart immediately from a dormant state on the system compared to lower ASPM L0s modes which cause users to power the system down ultimately when not using the device. The merge window for Linux 5.19 is planned to open towards the end of this month, and Intel seems to arrange to have their product lines fully compatible and ready for when Linux 5.19 is ultimately released. Linux 5.19 is anticipated to become a powerful version compared to previous versions, especially for Intel's recent integrations and also the company's preparations for Mesa 22.0 and beyond. Users will want to ensure that they update to the newest Linux and Mesa release once available so that everyone can take advantage of the open-source opportunities of their graphics cards and other components in Linux and Mesa. https://wccftech.com/intel-arc-alchemist-gpus-improved-power-management-linux/

Amber Heard feared her ex-husband Johnny Depp would accidentally kill her during an alleged assault on their honeymoon, a US court has heard. Testifying in a defamation case Mr Depp has brought against her, Ms Heard, 36, painted a picture of the actor as an abuser plagued by drug addiction, jealousy and self-harm. Mr Depp is suing Ms Heard for $50m (£40m) over an article in which she claimed she was the victim of domestic violence. He has repeatedly denied any abuse. The high profile case in Virginia has resumed for a fifth week after a pause, before which Mr Depp had told his side of the story and Ms Heard had begun some of her testimony. In court on Monday, Ms Heard tearfully told jurors that she believed she'd likely "not survive" if she had remained married to Mr Depp, 58. "I was so scared that it was going to end really badly for me," she said. "I really didn't want to leave him. I loved him so much." Ms Heard has accused Mr Depp of repeated instances of physical abuse. On Monday, she alleged that he attacked her while aboard the Orient Express train in Asia after their February 2015 wedding, claiming that he struck her and held her by the neck while in their sleeper compartment. "He was squeezing my neck against the railway car for what felt like a very long time," she said. She said she recalled thinking he could "kill me". "I remember being scared that he wouldn't mean to do it," she said. In another instance, Ms Heard described a "week of hell" after Mr Depp allegedly became jealous after she was offered a role with James Franco. She claimed he punched her and threw her into furniture. Cross-examination from Mr Depp's attorneys is expected to begin later on Monday. While Ms Heard said that the marriage was "at times, very loving", it deteriorated over time to a point in which tension and violence became "almost normal". They divorced in 2017, after two years. During their increasingly frequent arguments, Ms Heard claimed that Mr Depp would frequently self-harm. "In fights he often would cut his arms or hold his knife to his chest or draw blood, superficially at first," she said. "He also put cigarettes out on himself." In his own testimony earlier in the trial, Mr Depp said that he never struck Ms Heard and told jurors that she had a "need" for conflict and violence. On Monday, jurors heard a number of audio clips of the former couple arguing. In one clip - which went viral ahead of the trial - Ms Heard can be heard saying she hit Mr Depp. "I was hitting you. I was not punching you," she can be heard saying. "You're not punched." According to Ms Heard, she sometimes "reactively" hit Mr Depp and claimed that she was referring to the "disparity" of their strength. The defamation case against Ms Heard stems from a 2018 piece she wrote for the Washington Post in which she characterised herself as a victim of abuse. The piece did not name Mr Depp. His attorneys, however, have said that the article "incalculably" damaged his reputation and career. She has countersued him for $100m. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61467766

Happy Birthday!

Name of the Game : Borderlands 3 Price : 11.24$ https://store.steampowered.com/app/397540/Borderlands_3/ Offer ends up after Xhours: 25 May Requirements: MINIMUM: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 7/10 (latest service pack) Processor: AMD FX-8350 or Intel i5-3570 Memory: 6 GB RAM Graphics: AMD Radeon™ HD 7970 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2 GB DirectX: Version 11 Storage: 75 GB available space Sound Card: DirectX Compatibl RECOMMENDED: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 7/10 (latest service pack) Processor: AMD Ryzen™ 5 2600 (Intel i7-4770) Memory: 16 GB RAM Graphics: AMD Radeon™ RX 590 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB DirectX: Version 12 Storage: 75 GB available space Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Fans of PUBG MOBILE in the US can satisfy their sweet tooth with the PUBG MOBILE x Butterfinger collaboration event, letting players nab special in-game goodies and exclusive gear for a limited time. In the latest crossover event for PUBG MOBILE in the US, players can expect to experience Butterfinger’s iconic blue and yellow hues by purchasing these chocolate-y delights from now until August 31st. All you have to do is buy two Butterfinger bars or one Fun Size Butterfinger bag. This lets you redeem an in-game accessory when you take a photo of the receipt. Then, head on over to the GameWithButterfinger.com website and upload your receipt - make sure it shows the retailer as well as the date and time of the purchase. After registering, you'll receive an offer item depending on how many qualifying purchases you have. In particular, you'll score a Butterfinger Parachute on your first purchase, a Butterfinger Buggy on your second qualifying purchase and a Butterfinger Set on your third. “We are thrilled to bring PUBG MOBILE fans fun new exclusive items,” says Miguel Zorrilla, Senior Director of Marketing, Butterfinger. “Butterfinger is part of the gaming community and we are proud to work with great brands like PUBG MOBILE that offer unique and exciting experiences to gamers.” “Our PUBG MOBILE players are always hungry for new in-game content, so we couldn't be more excited to partner with Butterfinger to offer fans this sweet new experience,” says Anthony Crouts, Senior Director of Marketing for PUBG MOBILE. “This collaboration uniquely incorporates Butterfinger's distinct design and charm into the PUBG MOBILE world - we can’t wait for our players to start engaging with it.” The event features a special Butterfinger Login Challenge as well, so if you're keen on joining, you can download PUBG MOBILE on the iOS App Store and the Google Play Store for Android devices. Are you on the hunt for more similar titles that will put your skills to the test on your mobile device? Why not take a gander at our list of the.https://www.pocketgamer.com/pubg-mobile/us-players-exclusive-butterfinger-themed-goods/

It’s hard to believe it, but Diablo III is now officially 10 years old. As a way to commemorate a decade of demon splattering, Blizzard has announced that the Echoing Nightmare horde mode introduced in at the beginning of this season is going to be a permanent fixture in the RPG game – perhaps as a way to remind us of the ‘echoing nightmare’ of Error 37, which kept players from logging into Diablo III when it first launched. Actually, it’s mainly due to the fact that the Echoing Nightmare has wound up being a hit. “We have received positive feedback around the Echoing Nightmare and are truly glad to see you’ve enjoyed battling the horrors of Nephalem’s past while gaining experience and powerful loot along the way,” Blizzard says in the latest blog post. “Therefore, the Echoing Nightmare will become a permanent feature in Diablo III,” the post reads. “Creating challenging, new, and exciting end-game experiences is always top of mind for us, so we’re excited to be keeping this experience around for good.” The Echoing Nightmare, if you’re unfamiliar with the event, involves collecting a petrified scream, which are dropped by Greater Rift Guardians. These screams can then be transmuted in Kanai’s Cube to summon a portal to the nightmare, where you’ll “face the horrors of the Nephalem’s past.” Difficulty ramps up the more monsters you kill in the Echoing Nightmare, but it’s worth sticking around as long as possible: completing an instance yields experience, legendary items, blood shards, and gems – including a new legendary gem called Whisper of Atonement. Diablo III is also kicking off a mid-season double bounties event today, and that will last through the rest of Season 26, which will most likely end in early July. https://www.pcgamesn.com/diablo-iii/echoing-nightmare

As a UNESCO World Heritage site, Bagan in Myanmar is home to more than 2, 200 structures, including pagodas and temples constructed from the 10th to the 14th centuries. However, its age, combined with the surface subsidence and earthquakes over the region have posed great threats to the stability of the historic monuments and iconic pagodas at the vast site. Thus, the monitoring of landscape surface subsidence and vulnerability of the monuments is crucial to the protection and sustainable management of the Bagan heritage site. A research team led by Prof. Chen Fulong from the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS) and the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has pinpointed several hotspots and pagodas with displacement anomalies linked to land cover change and previous earthquakes by using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) approaches. The study was published in the International Journal of Digital Earth. InSAR is a technique for mapping ground deformation using radar images of the Earth's surface collected from orbiting satellites. The noninvasive technology is a powerful tool to assess the vulnerability over the valuable heritage structures. The team applied high-resolution TerraSAR-X imagery acquired from 2019–2020 for deformation monitoring based on the small baseline subset and persistent scatterer InSAR approaches. The combination of the two multi-temporal SAR interferometry approaches satisfies the two-scale monitoring requirements from landscapes to monuments, particularly for large-scale world heritage sites. "The non-contact monitoring method has potential when traditional methods using field accessibility and surveillance are constrained," said Prof. Chen. https://techxplore.com/news/2022-05-remote-sustainability-bagan-heritage-site.html

AMD will soon be releasing the company's newest super-resolution upscaling technology, FidelityFX Super Resolution or FSR 2.0, an AI-algorithmic-less temporal upscale that will go head-to-head with NVIDIA DLSS with Tensor Core technology. NVIDIA's technology uses AI to enhance the acceleration of the graphics on the user's system. TechPowerUP uploaded their world premiere review of the new AMD upscale technology, and the reviews sound very promising for gamers. First AMD FSR 'FidelityFX Super Resolution' 2.0 impressions are out, and reviewers cannot tell the difference against DLSS 2.0 The first version of the AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution upscaler incorporated spatial techniques compared to the new 2.0 version, which uses temporal upscaling and integrates motion vectors, among other graphical methods. The benefit of spatial upscaling versus temporal techniques was that the original FSR was easier for game developers to incorporate into their titles. With the new FSR 2.0, the upscaling is more complex and requires developers to note the latest changes, but the company promises the output is worth the time spent. AMD made sure that the new FSR 2.0 would be open-source that can also work on their competitor's hardware, as shown in the review from TechPowerUP. The website used NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card, a seemingly odd choice for an AMD more upscale test, but there was sound reasoning behind the pick. The game tested was Deathloop — a title that supports both NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR 2.0 upscalers — and produced similar performance numbers for each technology. AMD FSR 2.0 uses performance-enhancing technology instead of improving image quality so that FSR 2.0 can upscale images rendered at fewer resolution ratios. Readers should note that the image quality commented on applies to the Quality mode setting, which can sometimes make AMD's technology shine over DLSS. Performance mode does show an improvement for DLSS in rich textures and cites that AMD is still lacking in that area. With the output of both technologies being incredibly similar, it will probably boil down to the gamer's choice of what they want to use for their games and system. The most extensive argument regarding temporal upscaling technology is that it tends to cause ghosting of images, which is apparent with the current FSR 2.0 tech. However, it improved NVIDIA's DLSS2 when it was launched. TechPowerUP points out that visual artifacts are more noticeable in DLSS, sometimes taking from the overall gaming experience. Deathloop is the first title to receive the new FSR 2.0 update, but there are another ten games that will see the update in the next few weeks. https://wccftech.com/amd-fsr-2-0-comprable-to-nvidia-dlss-2-0-in-first-review/

The leaders of the United States and China have welcomed Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s presidential win in the Philippines, after the son of the country’s former dictator declared victory and pledged to be a leader “for all Filipinos”. US President Joe Biden congratulated Marcos Jr in a phone call, the White House said in a statement on Thursday, underscoring that he looks forward to working with the president-elect to continue strengthening ties with the Philippines, a longstanding treaty ally of Washington. Biden said he wants to “expand bilateral cooperation” on a wide range of issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, economic growth and respect for human rights. China’s President Xi Jinping also spoke with Marcos Jr on Wednesday, according to Chinese state television, with the Chinese leader stressed that the two countries had been “partners through thick and thin”. “I attach great importance to the development of China-Philippines relations and am willing to establish a good working relationship with President-elect Marcos, adhere to good neighbourliness and friendship,” Xi said. The Philippines sits on the front lines of US-China tensions, while some analysts saying Marcos Jr’s win spells a potential blow to efforts by the US to push back against China, its main strategic rival in the Pacific. With an initial count almost complete, the incoming leader, po[CENSORED]rly known as “Bongbong”, has more than 56 percent of the vote with at least twice the number of votes as his nearest rival, liberal Leni Robredo. The emphatic victory has also raised concern over a further erosion of democracy in the Philippines. ‘Hit the ground running’ The development is an astonishing reversal in the fortunes of the Marcos family, who have gone from the presidential palace to pariahs and back again in the space of a few decades. It comes after relentless online whitewashing of the family’s past, leaving many young Filipinos believing Marcos Sr’s rule from 1965 to 1986 was a golden era of peace and prosperity. In reality, the dictator, who died in exile in 1989, left the Philippines bankrupt and impoverished, and killed, tortured and jailed tens of thousands of opponents during his corrupt rule. Marcos Jr’s running mate Sara Duterte, the daughter of the outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte, also won the vice presidency, which is elected separately, in a landslide. In his first press conference, the incoming leader said on Wednesday that 31 million Filipinos had “voted for unity,” even as he waits for the vote counting to finish. He pledged to “hit the ground running” when he takes office on June 30, saying the economy, prices, jobs and education to be his government’s priorities. He refused to take questions at the end of the press conference, which lasted less than five minutes. In a statement afterwards, he announced his first cabinet pick, saying Duterte would serve as education secretary. There were few hints on the campaign trail of Marcos Jr’s overarching policy platform, including foreign policy, as he had snubbed televised debates and largely avoided media interviews. But he has said he wanted to pursue closer ties with China, describing the outgoing president’s policy of diplomatic engagement with Beijing as “really our only option”. That is despite a territorial dispute between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea, with Beijing refusing to recognise an international ruling that invalidated almost all of Beijing’s historical claims in the strategic waterway. China’s ambassador to the Philippines, Huang Xilian, in a statement on Facebook on Thursday hailed Marcos Jr and his running mate’s “vision for the Philippines and wisdom” and said he was “confident that a Philippines under the next administration will surely demonstrate unprecedented unity to rise above all challenges, to recover from the pandemic and to prosper”. He added that Beijing looks “forward to working with the next Philippine government to upgrade our Relationship of Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation to a new height”. Meanwhile, Marcos Jr’s relationship with the US – the Philippines’ former colonial master – has been complicated by a contempt-of-court order for his refusal to cooperate with the District Court of Hawaii, which in 1995 ordered the Marcos family to pay $2bn of plundered wealth to victims of Marcos Sr’s rule. The incoming leader has not visited the US for 15 years, fearful of the consequences of the rulings. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a statement, hailed the two nations “deeply interwoven history” and said Washington will “collaborate closely with the Philippines to promote respect for human rights and to advance a free and open, connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient Indo-Pacific region”. Other officials, however, have said historical considerations mean there will be some initial challenges in communicating with incoming administration. “Time will tell, but our desire will be to get off to a good start,” Kurt Campbell, the White House coordinator for the Indo-Pacific said on Wednesday. “We are seeking early engagement,” he said. “There are some historical considerations that probably (mean), at least initially, there will be some challenges in that communication.” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/12/us-china-congratulate-marcos-jr-on-philippine-presidential-win

When 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kurt Busch joined 23XI Racing for the 2022 season, he was announced as only the second driver to be part of the elite Jordan Brand family. Jordan Brand, if you're unfamiliar, is the billion-dollar Nike-backed sneaker-and-apparel empire of basketball deity Michael Jordan. Ahead of this weekend's Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway, the company revealed a special livery for Busch's 2022 Toyota Camry race car: Say hello to the elephant-print pattern as found on the famous Air Jordan III, Jordan's signature shoe released originally in 1988 and still coveted by sneakerheads today every time the brand introduces a "retro" release (re-issue) of the model into the marketplace. Despite the elephant pattern being 34 years old, it remains as fresh as ever, even on the mundane Camry. Why Elephant Print? What makes this print so iconic in the first place? By the time it was first introduced, NBA superstar Jordan and Nike's Air Jordan line were well established but still in their early days. The Air Jordan I had looked much like many other hoops shoes, and the Air Jordan II was a somewhat strange model most famous for being the one Jordan broke his foot in during his second season in the league. Sales of the line were strong thanks to Jordan's amazing play, but the shoe designs themselves had yet to really make people stand up and say, "Wow!" But 1988 changed all that when Nike introduced the Air Jordan III, which was helped immediately image-wise when Jordan wore it to win the NBA All-Star Weekend Dunk Contest at his home-court Chicago Stadium. There are few stick-and-ball sports fans who aren't familiar with the photograph of Jordan flying through the air from the free-throw line, white/cement grey Air Jordan IIIs on his feet as he soared to the contest win over Dominique Wilkins. Notable: The Air Jordan III marked the first appearance of the now world-famous Jumpman logo, and it was the first Jordan shoe to feature Nike's visible "Air" cushioning technology. Also, and unconventionally for the era, it was constructed in mid-top form rather than the standard high-top designs of the day. It was also the first Air Jordan design by Tinker Hatfield, who would go on to design Air Jordans all the way through to the 15, as well as the 20, 23, Air Jordan 2010, and XXX. The former Nike architect was a late replacement for Air Jordan I designer Peter Moore and his Air Jordan II collaborator Bruce Kilgore, who had left the company. Moore, who bolted to Adidas, was attempting to get Jordan to ditch Nike and come along, and it may have worked had Hatfield not listened closely to Jordan's input during previous conversations. In those discussions, Jordan mentioned he wanted a shoe with soft leather that didn't take long to break-in on the court (something he disliked about the Air Jordan II), as well as a lower cut and some stylistic flair. That's why the Air Jordan III would be a mid-top, as it provided security but also allowed for additional comfort and flexibility so Jordan could move like a cat around the court and fly through the air unlike any other player. As for the elephant print? It gave Jordan the high-end, designer-apparel look he craved, and it stood out like nothing else seen on the court or store shelves. As Hatfield has recalled on numerous occasions, a surly Jordan--apparently on the verge of leaving Nike--arrived hours late to a meeting to see the shoe for the first time. He was disinterested at first, but as soon as Hatfield pulled off the wraps, the player's entire demeanor changed. The shoe was certainly nothing like anything Nike or anyone else had ever produced; years later, Nike co-founder Phil Knight credited Hatfield and the Air Jordan III for keeping Jordan onboard and saving the company. Since then, the elephant print has become a Jordan Brand staple, which is why you see it featured on its most important products and athletes, such as Busch and his Toyota Camry Cup car. Jordan Brand And Kurt Busch You might think this is a strange pairing, but Busch is an avid basketball fan, and North Carolina native Jordan is a longtime motorsports fan. He's known to favor fast cars and motorcycles, and he owned an AMA Superbike team in 2004. But he always wanted a NASCAR team under his brand, and the dream finally became reality with the 2021 formation of 23XI racing along with NASCAR driver and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin. When Busch lost his ride after his Chip Ganassi Racing team was sold to Trackhouse Racing, the perfect opportunity opened for the basketball legend to hire a NASCAR veteran and champion for his newly formed racing operation. Busch joined with the number 45, a number Jordan infamously wore briefly for the Chicago Bulls when he came out of retirement for the first time, in 1995. Busch also became only the second NASCAR driver to wear the iconic Jumpman on his uniform, a dream for any basketball fan. While the original Air Jordan III only featured the cement-colored elephant print on its toe cap and heel, the Kurt Busch No. 45 Camry wears it predominantly along its sides, greenhouse, and nose. The hood is all cement color with a red Jumpman logo, while the rest of the car is black, the signature color of Busch's Monster Energy sponsorship. However, the black is done in a shape reminiscent of a sneaker, with the roof all black and the lower nose, front wheel arch, and rocker panel in solid black. There are five red circles just below the front turn-signal portion of the headlight decal, meant to replicate where the lower "laces" would be. From just past the driver's door window, the black curves up and just over the rear quarter panel before descending back down toward the rear bumper, just like a primary color on a basketball shoe. The entire tail panel is black with a pair of red Jumpman logos, one under the driver's side taillight decal and the other under the Toyota emblem and "Camry" decals. The only thing that truly breaks up the shoe look is the required racing number on the sides of the car, as the side logos are only on the black portion and there are only four of them: McDonalds, Monster Energy, 7-11, and Jordan Brand. The Camry won't be the only Jordan Brand-designed item seen at the racetrack when Busch drives it at Kansas Motor Speedway: The teams' shoes and uniforms will all be special, as well. It's a unique look that will likely go down in NASCAR livery history, right up there with the Peter Max-inspired design that Dale Earnhardt Sr. drove in 2000. However, it potentially won't be quite as polarizing as the rainbow-themed race car that was the antithesis of the "Man in Black." We just hope that if Busch manages to win, he looks into the camera and delivers the phrase that always makes sneaker aficionados smile: "It's gotta be the shoes!" https://www.motortrend.com/news/2022-toyota-camry-kurt-busch-air-jordan-3-livery-nascar/

North Korea has confirmed its first death from Covid-19, with state media adding that tens of thousands more are experiencing fever symptoms. Six people died after suffering a fever with one testing positive for Omicron, state media reported on Friday. It said 187,000 people with a fever were being "isolated and treated". While experts believe the virus has been present in the country for some time, the authorities only announced the first cases on Thursday. It said there had been an outbreak of the Omicron variant in the capital, Pyongyang, and announced lockdown measures. It did not give precise case numbers. But in an update on Friday, the official KCNA news agency reported that the outbreak extended beyond the capital. "A fever whose cause couldn't be identified spread explosively nationwide from late April," it said. Around 350,000 people had shown signs of that fever, it added, without specifying how many had tested positive for Covid. Analysts suggest the latest figures from state media, including the acknowledgement that the unspecified fever had spread nationwide, may indicate the country is experiencing an outbreak unlike any it has seen so far. Its po[CENSORED]tion of 25 million is vulnerable due to the lack of a vaccination programme and poor healthcare, experts say. Why doesn't North Korea have enough food? How dangerous is the situation in North Korea? North Korea rejected offers from the international community to supply millions of AstraZeneca and Chinese-made jabs last year. Instead, it claimed it had controlled Covid by sealing its borders early in January 2020. The country shares land borders with South Korea and China, which have both battled outbreaks. China is now struggling to contain an Omicron wave with lockdowns in its biggest cities. On Friday, KCNA reported that the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had visited a healthcare centre and "learned about the nationwide spread of Covid-19". It described the situation as an "immediate public health crisis". At a meeting outlining new Covid rules on Thursday, Mr Kim was seen wearing a face mask on television for what was believed to be the first time. He ordered "maximum emergency" virus controls, which appeared to include orders for local lockdowns and gathering restrictions in workplaces. There are fears a major outbreak could make it even more difficult for essential supplies to enter the country, leading to worsening food shortages and a faltering economy. South Korea has said it offered humanitarian aid after Thursday's announcement, but Pyongyang is yet to respond. Despite North Korea's earlier claims that it had "shining success" in keeping out Covid, there have been signs throughout the pandemic of its possible presence in the country including unconfirmed reports of cases and workers wearing hazmat suits. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-61432084

Legendary video game publisher and developer Bandai Namco announced today that the only recently launched mobile gacha RPG Tales of Luminaria is going to be shut down by the end of the Summer. After launching to middling reviews that mostly held complaints about the camera and some gameplay issues, the five-month-old entry into the po[CENSORED]r Tales series will fully close its doors on July 19th. It’s never good news to see a game shut down, but Tales of Luminaria is an extra large bummer with a side of disappointment. This gacha-based JRPG was marketed with some extremely huge names backing it, including a theme song done by two of the most po[CENSORED]r Japanese indie rock bands in the country and some truly stunning trailers. All of this combined with it being an entry into one of the most recognizable JRPG series of all time seemed like a recipe for success. Unfortunately, upon launch, the title was greeted with heavy complaints from fans and critics alike mostly due to the odd camera angles and the functional but poorly thought out combat system. These systems were so fundamental that a simple patch or two couldn’t save Luminaria from a very sad fate; the full closure and ending of support only five months after release. Regardless of how you feel about Tales of Luminaria, the disappointment is palpable. The fanbase wasn’t huge, but the game did have a ton of spirit and a pretty captivating story along with beautiful graphics. But, as is often the fate of gacha titles that don’t meet a wide audience, the end came sooner than expected. At the very least, all of the features currently within Tales of Luminaria will stay as they are, and the last few episodes of the story will be released as well, so no content is being removed or changed due to the closure. If you’re looking to catch up while you still can and enjoy the storyline especially, you can find Tales of Luminaria for free on Google Play and the App Store. Are you a fan of the Tales series and looking for more JRPG action? Check out our Top 25 best JRPGs available for iOS! https://www.pocketgamer.com/tales-of-luminaria/shutting-down/

We’re one month into a new financial year and it’s earnings call week, with major businesses the world over looking back on the whole of FY22. It’s Ubisoft’s turn today, and in a statement released ahead of its call, the publisher says the past twelve months have been “Far Cry’s best year ever for the brand.” Far Cry 6, the latest game in the series, was released in October 2021 and featured Breaking Bad star Giancarlo Esposito as the main antagonist. The FPS game has since received several content updates, with the latest being a Stranger Things crossover. But it’s not just Far Cry. Ubisoft’s largest three brands – Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six – made over €300m (roughly $315m USD, or £257m GBP) in net earnings. Assassin’s Creed doubled in earnings compared to 2020, the most recent year in which the series had no major release. Rainbow Six also saw growth on the back of Rainbow Six Extraction, as well as a very positive response for Rainbow Six Siege’s year 7 roadmap. Interestingly, Ubisoft’s back catalogue of older titles saw an 11% growth from last year and announced for more than half of overall earnings. But the picture isn’t all rosy. Overall net earnings were €2,129m (roughly $2,241m USD, or £1,828m GBP), which is a 5% reduction from the previous year. You can read Ubisoft’s earnings statement here. The publisher also confirmed its release plans for the next financial year, based on “exciting premium and F2P titles across all platforms,” most notably Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and the long-delayed Skull & Bones. https://www.pcgamesn.com/far-cry-6/sales-ubisoft-earnings-2022

Name of the Game : Northgard Price : 2.62$ https://store.steampowered.com/app/466560/Northgard/ Offer ends up after Xhours: 15 May Requirements: MINIMUM: OS: Windows Vista or better Processor: Intel 2.0ghz Core 2 Duo or equivalent Memory: 1 GB RAM Graphics: Nvidia 450 GTS / Radeon HD 5750 or better DirectX: Version 10 Storage: 1 GB available space Additional Notes: Minimum display resolution: 1366x768 RECOMMENDED: OS: Windows 7 or better Processor: Intel i5 3.1 Ghz Quad core Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: Nvidia GTX 660 / Radeon HD 7800 or better DirectX: Version 10 Storage: 1 GB available space Additional Notes: Recommended display resolution: 1440x900