Gaming

With a viewership that stands over 400 million people globally and continues to increase year over year, it simply cannot be denied any longer; Esports is big. The substantial growth that the sport has seen has also turned the heads of many within sports movement. And now on 16 December 2019, those two bodies are combining together to bring the sport forward with the worldwide launch of the Global Esports Federation. The Global Esports Federation (GEF) will be the first-ever global governing body for the esports ecosystem. This will consist of athletes, sports organisations, commercial partners and other constituents. GEF’s…

Admittedly, music-based games are not my forte and not something that I would actively look for to play. But in Songbird Symphony, I have gained a newfound appreciation for the medium.  For the uninitiated, Songbird Symphony is a sprite-based platformer/rhythm game that follows the story of the ever-enthusiastic fledgling Birb. At the insistence of the forest’s wise owl, Birb sets off on a journey to learn new songs in his quest to find out who his real family is. Birb’s story of self-identity is a simple one, but that doesn’t mean it lacks substance. The five or so hours I’ve…

The dust has settled in what has been a successful outing for National Youth Council (NYC)’s YOUTHX Weekend Festival that occurred during 3 and 4 August 2019. A 60,000 strong crowd turned up to support what was the culmination of a month-long celebration of youth aspirations and talents, attending highlights like the Super 24 Dance Competition, performances for SHINE and also newcomer Campus Game Fest. Campus Game Fest itself isn’t a new event, as the annual gaming event is a significant feature every year in Singapore ever since its first show in 2013.  However, the event organiser Singapore CyberSports &…

The insertion of esports as a medal event at the upcoming Southeast Asian Games has brought the genre to an all-new height of relevance in the region.  In a first for COMEX 2019, a brand new esports-centric event – Esports Festival Asia (EFA) – will make its debut in the IT show to grow the local esports scene. The brand new event was made possible through COMEX organiser Sphere Exhibits, the events arm of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), who is investing S$1 million in Esports Festival Asia. Mr Chua Wee Phong, Chairman of Sphere Exhibits, highlighted the growing significance of…

Blizzard Entertainment recently released information on a new feature that is set to overhaul the current matchmaking system in place for Overwatch –  Role Queue. Previously, matchmaking let players have the liberty of choosing any character within its 40-second timeframe.  This led to problems with team composition and player satisfaction as sometimes it produced wildly unbalanced teams, with players refusing to compromise on their chosen pick or players having to concede and select a character that they were unfamiliar or uncomfortable with just for the sake of the team. These problems also extend to the competitive scene, with team composition…

Netflix has become an all-encompassing entity within the world in recent times; its presence permeating in millions of homes throughout the world. Production on regular original content has also been made possible all through the high volume of people using their services. Not content with ruling over the television world, Netflix wants to broaden their horizons and is seemingly also moving into the video game landscape. Like their venture into television, they have started small. One of the first projects was a mobile game based on the property of one of their most acclaimed series original series, Stranger Things. The…

E3 2019 has officially ended, and like previous years, a ton of exciting reveals and new information were at the forefront of the event. Let’s take a look at the highlights from this year’s event. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – The Beginning to the Road to Redemption? The handling of the Star Wars IP by Electronic Arts (EA) has not gone exceptionally well. There has been much bad press coming out of their Battlefront games and the cancellation of two prominent anticipated Star Wars games from Visceral Games and EA Motive. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is perhaps the…