Gaming in China. Reviews, Walkthroughs, News

Apple enthusiasts are abuzz with anticipation as rumours swirl about the imminent release of a new iPad Air model, possibly even two. Since its last update in March 2022, the tech world has been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the 6th generation iPad Air. Although the most recent Apple event in October 2023 did not unveil any new iPads, speculation points towards an early 2024 launch. Here are four exciting developments to expect from the upcoming iPad Air lineup (via 9to5Mac).

During a Games Developer Conference lecture reflecting on 30 years of Warcraft, Senior Vice President and Warcraft Franchise General Manager John Hight shared World of Warcraft subscriber trends from Legion through Dragonflight, noting the successes, failures, and changes made to course correct dwindling numbers following Shadowlands. As reported by Korean webzine Inven, Hight's talk began with history of the franchise, how it captured players with a revolutionary RTS and evolved into both an MMO and several other game types. While the talk itself is interesting enough, the focal point of the discussion reflects specifically on the successes and failures of World of Warcraft, how it built decades worth of fans, why some fans had turned away, and what changes were made to bring them back, with slides depicting subscriber trends from Legion through Dragonflight.

After winning the hearts of millions of anime fans, the legendary K-Webtoon Solo Leveling is now set to resurrect as an action role-playing game. Are you excited to level up and become the world’s strongest hunter?

Publisher ANIPLEX.EXE and developer iMel have announced Tanetsumi no Uta, a new visual novel written by Kazumi of STUDIO HOMMAGE. It will launch for PC in 2024 with English, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese language support.

Xbox Game Pass subscribers can now mark June 18 on their calendars, as that's the day that day one horror game Still Wakes the Deep will join the popular subscription service. New Xbox Game Pass announcements typically happen through the official Xbox blog posts, but there are times when information about upcoming Game Pass titles come from other sources as well.

iQOO, the sub-brand of vivo, is gearing up to unveil its latest flagship device - the iQOO Neo10 Pro. While official details are still under wraps, a recent leak has provided insight into the exciting features expected to debut with this upcoming smartphone.

Recent leaks shed light on the upcoming launch of the Samsung Galaxy M55. These leaks, circulating online, reveal crucial details regarding the handset's design, colour variants, and standout features. Furthermore, a new leak suggests that the Samsung Galaxy M15 5G, recently introduced in select global markets, might soon make its debut in India as well. The leaks, originating from a reliable tipster, also provide insights into the specifications of the Samsung Galaxy M55, indicating significant enhancements over its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy M54.

Apple Inc. has discussed using Baidu Inc.'s generative artificial intelligence in iPhones and other devices within China, the Wall Street Journal reported, a potentially big win for the domestic search leader.

Earlier this week, Microsoft Corp. named artificial intelligence pioneer Mustafa Suleyman chief of its consumer AI business and hired most of the staff from his Inflection AI startup. A day before, Bloomberg reported that Alphabet Inc.'s Google was in talks to license its Gemini AI engine to Apple Inc.

We’ve known Final Fantasy XVI would be getting a pair of story expansions for some time now, with the first one, Echoes of the Fallen being more of a bite-sized experience. Thankfully, the second, The Rising Tide, will be much meatier, and today at a panel at PAX West, Square Enix pulled the curtain back on what to expect. The DLC will introduce a new area, the coastal land of Mysidia, an additional ally for your team named Shula, and the powerful water Eikon, Leviathan. You can check out a trailer for Final Fantasy XVI - The Rising Tide, below.

Netflix's new sci-fi show 3 Body Problem has had its fair share of positive reviews, but now it's got the seal of approval from The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson. 

Onmyoji ignited controversy this week by accusing MOBA Honor of Kings of copying character designs. So far in the Onmyoji and Honor of Kings Clash, the accusations centre on two characters: Onmyoji’s Susanoo and SP Susabi, versus Honor of Kings’ Da Siming and Oshimikami. Onmyoji claims that these designs bear too close a resemblance to be coincidental.

Last night, IGN posted a news piece about how Undawn, a free-to-play survival game starring Will Smith as some kind of apocalypse pal called Trey, has been a massive flop. Released in June 2023 for mobile and PC, Undawn had an allegedly huge budget, according to Reuters sources, but which only brought in under $300K last month, as estimated by research firm Appamgic. And on hearing this news everyone went: "Sorry, what are you talking about?"

The upcoming Assassin’s Creed mobile game Assassin’s Creed Jade could now be set to be released in 2025 according to a new report.

Last month, developers Jyamma announced Enotria: The Last Song, an Italian-inspired Soulslike where masks give you powers. It was originally due out on June 21st, but then FromSoftware announced that Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree would also launch on the same day. Not ideal. So, Jyamma delayed Enotria's release, and in an announcement at last night's Future Games Show, we now know it's launching in August. It has, however, dropped itself into another conundrum: Black Myth: Wukong, another hotly anticipated Soulslike, arrives a day earlier.

Assassin’s Creed Jade’s release has reportedly been delayed from this year to 2025.

Fans of Dear Esther, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, make sure to mark June 18 on your calendar. On that day, you'll be able to buy a copy of Still Wakes the Deep for the PC (via Steam and Epic Games Store), the Xbox Series X|S and the PS5, though you can also play it with Game Pass for Xbox and PC. It's the latest first-person narrative horror game from The Chinese Room, the developer behind the aforementioned titles in the same genre.

AMD is preparing two new Ryzen 8000 APUs for the AM5 platform which include the Ryzen 7 8700F & the Ryzen 5 8400F.

Developer The Chinese Room has announced that its upcoming narrative horror title, Still Wakes the Deep, is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on June 18. The release date for the horror game was announced with a new trailer, which you can check out below.

AMD's Ryzen 9 7900X CPU which is a high-end AM5 part with 12 powerful Zen 4 cores is now available for as low as $335 in China.

Pathless Woods, a cozy open-world survival game inspired by ancient China culture and Byron’s poetry, will launch in Early Access for PC via Steam on April 3, publisher Spiral Up Games and developer AniYa Games Studio announced. A demo is currently available, and will be updated on March 23 to remove the online multiplayer feature that currently exists.

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture developer The Chinese Room has announced its next title Still Wakes the Deep will launch for PS5 on 18th June 2024. You can watch a new trailer above, which debuted during the Future Games Show earlier today. Set aboard an oil rig caught up in a storm, you must face «the unknowable horror that’s come aboard».

Still Wakes the Deep, the promising-looking narrative horror game set on an oil rig, will launch for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on 18th June.

Still Wakes the Deep finally exclusively reveals a release date at the Future Games Show in an all-new trailer. The new footage also details more of the gameplay and environments of this mysterious and atmospheric horror game, set on a disaster-stricken 1970s oil rig called the Beira D.  

Still Wakes the Deep will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam and Microsoft Store on June 18, publisher Secret Mode and developer The Chinese Room announced. It will also be available via Xbox Game Pass.

PlayStation China Hero Project side-scrolling action game AWAKEN: Astral Blade will launch for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC via Steam in Q3 2024, publisher ESDigital Games and developer Dark Pigeon Games announced.

If you're wondering how to watch the Future Games Show tonight then we've got you covered. Here are all the details on when and where you can watch the Spring Showcase, as well as key details about who's presenting it, what games are confirmed to appear, and more.

The European Union has targeted Apple over the past few years for monopolistic and anti-competitive practices, forcing the company to allow alternate app stores and other features in the EU. Now, the United States government is suing Apple on similar grounds.

Developer Tencent has reportedly delayed its mobile game Assassin's Creed Jade to 2025, following a big strategic shift at the company. The Assassin's Creed game has been in development for four years.

has reportedly been delayed into 2025. The China-based mobile spin-off was announced as part of the Ubisoft Forward showcase in 2022 but has apparently been in development for at least four years. After its closed beta tests in 2023, many thought it was on track for a 2024 launch.

Assassin's Creed Jade, the upcoming major open-world mobile game set in Ancient China, will now likely arrive in 2025.

Following a shakeup at Tencent, the world’s largest video game company, the upcoming mobile entry to the Assassin’s Creed series, Assassin’s Creed Jade, has reportedly been delayed. The title has been in development for over four years and the beta was launched in 2022.

The Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road Worldwide Beta Test Demo will launch for Switch on March 28 at 4:00 a.m. PT / 7:00 a.m. ET / 20:00 JST, LEVEL-5 announced. It will support English, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Portuguese (Brazil) language options.

AMD has officially confirmed RDNA 3+ Radeon GPU architecture for 2024 which will be powering the next-gen Strix Point APUs.

The creators of Netflix’s 3 Body Problem know there’s a lot riding on their adaptation. There’s the fact that the books it’s adapted from are a beloved sci-fi series popular around the world. It’s science fiction that gets not only heady but wondrous, often thought to be unadaptable. There’s also the fact that two-thirds of the showrunning team is coming to this from Game of Thrones, another big-budget TV epic, and one that left something of a bad taste in people’s mouths.

CyberStep visual novel game brand Rabbitfoot has announced Night to Meet You! Obake no Mare to Iyashi no Hitoiki for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, PC, iOS, and Android. It will launch first for Switch and PC this summer in Japan.

Psychological thriller Loretta will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch on April 11 for $14.99, publisher DANGEN Entertainment and developer Yakov Butuzoff announced. It will support English, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese language options.

Memories Off is a long-running series of romantic novels which first debuted on the PlayStation in 1999. Despite spawning multiple sequels, and being localised into languages like Korean and Traditional Chinese, it’s never actually launched in Western territories – well, until now. PQube is on the case, with SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky targeting a 2024 launch on the PS4.

Since the breakout success of Genshin Impact a few years ago, Sony has slowly been encouraging developers to bring their hit gacha games to PS5, which has resulted in the amusing moniker GachaStation 5. But with Zenless Zone Zero and Wuthering Waves right around the corner, the platform holder may have discovered another gem, likely to explode in Asian territories.

Tarisland has opened up its Chinese beta, and the team is sharing a few screenshots and details while we all wait for future global testing.

Apple established its business relationship with Chinese suppliers around 30 years ago, and while the company has formed alternatives in other regions, it will be a difficult task to sever ties with a region that has remained a reliable partner for all these years. In the latest interview with Tim Cook, the company’s Chief Executive highlighted how critical China’s supply chain is to Apple, likely hinting that both will be working with each other for the foreseeable future despite the U.S. government making trade relations difficult.

Azur Lane developer Manjuu Network Technology has announced Azur Promilia, a “creature companionship fantasy world RPG” coming to PlayStation 5, PC, iOS, and Android. Pre-registration is available now via the official website. A release date was not announced.

Apple iPhone 17 may feature a display that is much better than the one on iPhone 15 currently. Notably, Samsung first introduced the anti-reflective coating to the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra partnering with Corning. As the display of Samsung's flagship smartphone has gained a lot of popularity, Apple is reportedly heading in a similar direction. A recent report revealed that Apple may introduce a new anti-reflective and scratch-resistant display to the iPhone 17, which will debut in the year 2025. The new display is expected to be more scratch-resistant than iPhone 15's Ceramic Shield. Know what Apple has planned for the next year's iPhone model.

There’s been drama brewing in the HoYoverse fandom for some time, but it may have reached boiling point following the announcement of Honkai: Star Rail’s latest update, Into the Yawning Chasm. As the game celebrates its first anniversary, the gacha game developer announced rewards of up to 1,600 Stellar Jade and up to 20 Star Rail Special Passes. For the uninitiated, this represents 30 free pulls on a character or weapon banner.

Digital pet RPG adventure game Yolk Heroes: A Long Tamago will launch for PC via Steam and itch.io, iOS, and Android on April 30, publisher Astrolabe Games and developer 14 Hours Productions announced. It will support English, Japanese, and Chinese language options.

Pre-registration for Solo Leveling: Arise has finally begun! The action RPG is set to drop around May 2024, although we don’t have an exact date yet. The devs also released a promotional video announcing the arrival of the game on the mobile stores.

Intel will not void the warranty of a delidded CPU, as long as it is of a specific model and was obtained from particular suppliers, according to an industry insider. Delidding is the process of removing a CPU's integrated heat spreader and replacing its stock thermal paste with the goal of improving temperatures.

Gamers worldwide have been awaiting titles like , for nearly a decade. Capcom's new action-adventure RPG, has received rave reviews, bolstering the already impressive hype surrounding the game. But the success of the title arrives with a huge cost — literally.

Last year’s controversy surrounding the Dungeons & Dragons Open Gaming License not only damaged Wizards of the Coast’s relationship with its biggest fans, but also helped to turbocharge the sales of competing game systems. Chief among them was Paizo’s Pathfinder, which sold through nearly a years’ worth of stock in just a matter of weeks. Now the Washington state-based publisher is throwing some serious funding behind its marquee fantasy role-playing franchise. It’s next effort, Pathfinder Lost Omens: Tian Xia World Guide, boasts a team of more than 40 authors. Polygon sat down with senior designer James Case to learn more.

A new Xbox devkit was rated in South Korea yesterday by the National Radio Research Agency. It's unclear what this console is, but there are a couple of possibilities, such as the leaked all-digital Xbox Series X and separate handheld.

AMD has published the first demo of its Radeon RX 7900 XTX "RDNA 3" GPU handling Work Graphs, providing much faster and more efficient rendering.

SNK’s is back after a long absence, with set to release next year. In addition to revealing the game and announcing its release window, SNK also previewed some of the new and returning characters.

A new Xbox development kit has reportedly been certified in South Korea.

We have finally got the scoop regarding Persona 5’s official release date! Yep, it’s dropping on April 12th in China. Persona 5: The Phantom X is gearing up to land on mobile phones, PCs and consoles. It’s been developed by Black Wings Game Studio and published by Perfect World Games with creative inputs from the original Persona makers, Atlus.

A new Xbox console has been certified in South Korea. Identified by model number 2089, the newly leaked device has been labeled as an Xbox dev kit.

A new research paper has discovered the usefulness of DRAM cache for GPUs which can help enable higher performance at low power.

It’s finally here! I usually avoid cliché terminologies like ‘much-awaited,’ but in this case, I’m compelled to use it. Wondering which game I am talking about? Well, the much-awaited sequel to AFK Arena, AFK Journey, is set to drop on March 27, 2024. This free-to-play fantasy RPG will be available on both mobile and PC devices.

AI roundup: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol highlights the risk of AI to democracy at a global summit. Yeol talked about how fake news and disinformation are being spread with the use of AI and how it could create a big threat. In other news, Qualcomm announced its new Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chipset with the ability to support on-device generative AI. Know more about such AI news today, March 18, 2024.

China recently saw the launch of the KX-7000 CPU family from Zhaoxin which is aimed at desktop PCs for the domestic market segment. These chips have now seen their first benchmarks appear in the Geekbench database.

Upcoming OTT releases this week: Get ready for another exciting week in the realm of streaming entertainment! With a plethora of options flooding your favourite OTT platforms, there's something to suit every taste. Whether you're into heart-pounding action, gripping drama, heartwarming romance, or mind-bending mystery, the latest releases are here to keep you hooked. Let's dive into the highlights of what's coming your way this week.

Zenless Zone Zero, the next game from Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail developer miHoYo, is holding another beta test.

The rising tide of AI scams targets vulnerable populations; US hosts first military AI conference with global allies; Israeli startup harnesses AI for antibody discovery; AR Rahman advocates AI as tool for music enhancement, not job displacement- this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look.

miHoYo has announced the third closed beta test for urban fantasy action RPG Zenless Zone Zero, also known as the “Amplifying Test.” It will run across PC, iOS, and Android. Sign-ups are available now at the game’s official website. Start and end dates for the test will be announced at a later time.

The version 2.1 update for Honkai: Star Rail, dubbed “Into the Yawning Chasm,” will launch on March 27, developer miHoYo announced.

With Netflix’s 3 Body Problem imminent, you might naturally be intrigued by The Three-Body Problem, the science fiction novel by Cixin Liu.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney called Valve «assholes» in an old email thread that's been dug up as part of a lawsuit against the Steam owner.

The Pokémon Company's chatty former legal boss has thanked the media for publicising projects the company may then be compelled to shut down.

KONAMI has remained silent about the release date of the Silent Hill 2 remake. However, several clues point to an inbound announcement.

Activision has said it’s committed to supporting Call of Duty Mobile with new content on a seasonal basis as Warzone Mobile’s release nears.

Genshin Impact and Discovery Channel have announced the Teyvat Nature Discovery Tour, a joint initiative seeking to raise awareness about a number of fragile natural habitats. The collaboration comprises a Genshin Impact online event, an offline benefit sale, and a mini-documentary voiced by Game of Thrones star Kit Harington and several other celebrities.

Back in 2020, Chinese developer Game Science posted a 13-minute pre-alpha gameplay video of Black Myth: Wukong. Racking up millions of views within a single day, the project has been on people’s minds ever since, and in 2021, the studio dropped an updated trailer along with the news that the game had been moved to Unreal Engine 5.

The Switch version of Touhou Project rhythm game Touhou Danmaku Kagura: Phantasia Lost will launch on September 5, Unknown X announced. It will feature a new mode with touchscreen support.

Intel has managed to secure itself from another "wave" of US regulations, as the firm won't face trouble selling its CPUs like AMD to Chinese-sanctioned firms like Huawei.

Tencent has reportedly taken over two ByteDance games teams, and has consolidated them into a new company.

Bruce Lee is one of the many celebrities players can create in . To create the legendary martial artist and actor, players must combine a few different complex elements from their libraries. However, unlike many other celebrities, the Chinese martial arts master is actually fairly easy to craft.

Blizzard and NetEase are allegedly planning on announcing the restoration of their partnership within the next few weeks. If the rumors are true, Blizzard may be able to restore access to its games in China via NetEase this year, possibly as early as April.

Intel shared a few more updates on its AI strategy and accelerators including next-gen Gaudi 3 and Falcon Shores which reveal how the company is bringing AI to the enterprise and all aspects of the data center segment with its products and software stack.

In a rare display of bipartisanship, the House of Representatives has overwhelmingly voted in favor of a bill that seeks to ban TikTok in the United States or force its sale to a non-Chinese entity. The newly advanced legislation poses another in a long list of hurdles for TikTok's stateside ambitions.

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The United States House of Representatives has passed the “TikTok bill” that would effectively ban the short-form video-sharing app if owner ByteDance doesn’t divest. Representatives voted on Wednesday on the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, pushing it forward with a majority vote of 352 to 65. The bill is expected to move onto the Senate for another vote if Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) brings it to the floor. President Biden said he’d sign the bill should it reach his desk.