Gaming in North Korea. Reviews, Walkthroughs, News

Stellar Blade is only a few weeks away, which means developer Shift Up has started doing its best to convince people why they need to play it. Its excellent demo is definitely helping the team achieve that goal, but director Kim Hyung Tae has been doing the rounds to provide more enticing details about Stellar Blade, and they're not just about Eve's figure.

Cosmo Machia will release shoot ’em up game TriggerHeart EXELICA for PC via Steam on April 26 worldwide, followed by Switch on May 2, the developer announced.

Stellar Blade's developer is already hiring for its next game, a "cross-platform next-gen project."

Cosmo Machia will release shoot ’em up game TriggerHeart EXELICA for PC via Steam in April, according to its newly opened store page.

The 512GB model of the Steam Deck is back in stock via trusted retailer The Game Collection on eBay, and what's more, you can pick it up for just £360 with the code CLEARANCE20. Not only is this a tremendous discount, but it's also the best place to buy the portable PC right now, considering the 512GB model is currently out of stock directly through Steam as well. This new deal is part of a new clearance sale for retailers via eBay, which isn't as sitewide as previous promo codes, but still includes some reasonably notable offers.

Shift Up is gearing up to face the spotlight of the mainstream gaming market with the imminent launch of Stellar Blade, but though the upcoming PlayStation-backed action-adventure game certainly has plenty of eyes on it, the Korean studio is seemingly also already thinking about what comes next.

At the end of, the creators of the Netflix reality show teased season 3, piquing the audience’s interest. The main motto behind Jang Ho-Gi’s creation is to find the perfect physique through some gruelling challenges.

Samsung unveiled both the Exynos 2400 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 variants of its latest Galaxy S24 series earlier this year, and according to the latest report, the Korean giant will stick with a dual-chipset launch in 2025 when it officially announces the Galaxy S25 family. The only difference here is that the upcoming lineup is said to be fueled by both the Exynos 2500 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 variants.

Minds won’t be made up on where Stellar Blade lands in the video game zeitgeist for a few more weeks, at least, but early chatter is teasing the release as an early Game of the Year contender.

Silent Hill 2 has been rated by the ESRB.

Apple did not announce any iPad upgrades last year, and it seems the company will take its time this year as well. The OLED iPad Pro has been delayed once again due to complex production techniques involved in manufacturing the display. The device was originally speculated to launch in November of last year alongside the M3 MacBook Pro models, but Apple decided to wait until this year, potentially due to some technical challenges. Now, prominent analyst Mark Gurman claims that the March to April launch time frame has been ruled out due to issues in the production department.

If you were raised on a diet of Japan Studio oddities and quirky PlayStation published exclusives, then Stellar Blade is the game you’ve been praying for. Developed by Korean studio Shift Up – the infamous outfit behind the wildly popular smartphone shooter NIKKE: Goddess of Victory – this single player PS5 console exclusive feels like it’s stepped straight out of the PS3 era, and we mean that in the most positive possible way.

The Stellar Blade demo is here and the action RPG's developer has one simple bit of advice for those struggling to slash through the playable teaser: turn on your TV's game mode. 

Shift Up’s demo for Stellar Blade, its upcoming hack-and-slash action RPG, is now available for PS5 players after accidentally going live earlier this month. Featuring the opening section, it sees players controlling Eve as she battles the Naytiba. The demo is roughly an hour long and outlines the basics of combat while featuring the first boss fight.

Free-to-play open-world action RPG Wuthering Waves will launch for PC via Epic Games Store on May 22, iOS via App Store, and Android via Google Play, developer Kuro Game announced. Pre-registration is available now via each storefront and the official website.

Guild Wars 3 has quietly been confirmed.

According to reports from a recent NCSoft shareholder meeting, ArenaNet is hard at work developing Guild Wars 3. Though Guild Wars 2 is still receiving new updates and expansions, it seems like ArenaNet is already creating a sequel to the long-running MMORPG.

A Pokemon fan has recently designed a new Water-type version of Sudowoodo. Pokemon fan art is cherished by many people in the game’s community, and giving new types to classic Pokemon is among the most popular forms for creating exciting new designs with clever twists.

Apple’s iPhone SE 4 OLED orders were previously said to be fought over by suppliers Samsung and BOE. Given that this is the company’s low-cost offering slated to launch sometime in 2025, procuring cheaper displays would be Apple’s top priority since this component is largely dependent on how expensive a smartphone gets. On this occasion, a new report claims that BOE has apparently won the skirmish against Samsung on the pricing front and will likely be the exclusive panel supplier for the iPhone SE 4.

I've not played Hellgate: London, but I'm sure I must've passed it on the shelves in Gamestation (I'll never forget you, friend) way back when. Apparently, the original was a dark fantasy action RPG with roguelike elements and MMO subscription models before developer Flagship Studios shut down. Then it was re-released a bunch of times, with London giving way to Tokyo in one expansion. Now, Hellgate's original creator Bill Roper has announced he's working on a brand new Hellgate game under his new studio Lunacy Games.

The hot ticket for fans of cinematic thrills this April is Monkey Man, the first directorial effort from acclaimed actor Dev Patel. The marketing for the film promises exquisitely captured and well-crafted beatdowns in service of an emotionally relatable tale of avenging familial loss. Its other selling point has been the novelty of seeing Patel, an actor who has never been viewed as an “action star” by the public at large despite being an accomplished taekwondo practitioner, stepping into that role on screen for the first time.

Korean developer Shift Up first made a name for itself with mobile games like 2016’s Destiny Child, a turn-based RPG, and 2022’s Goddess of Victory: Nikke, an on-rails third-person shooter. Now, Shift Up is throwing its hat into the ring of AAA game development with Stellar Blade, an action game starring a young woman named Eve who is trying to reclaim Earth from an invading alien species. The developer’s first attempt at crafting a premium console experience is already much stronger than I expected.

Smilegate Barcelona seems to have closed down.

Smilegate Barcelona, the studio established in 2020 to develop an open-world AAA console title, has reportedly been closed.

Korean reality series  aired three new episodes on Netflix on Tuesday, March 26, 2024. The show features 100 physically and mentally fit contestants competing in various gruesome challenges. Moreover, they do everything to make it through each quest and keep moving forward until one of them wins. The winner not only gets a grand cash prize of KRW 300 million but also earns the title of having the most ideal physique.

Publisher Hero Games and developer PAN STUDIO have released the trailer for the Duet Night Abyss technical test that will begin on March 27 at 7:00 a.m. PT / 10:00 a.m. ET. Accepted applicants should have already received test-related information by email.

Samsung is rumored to be laser-focused on continuing a dual-chipset approach with the Galaxy S25 launch next year by introducing both the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 and Exynos 2500 variants in several markets. According to the latest rumor, the company has supposedly commenced testing of its upcoming SoC, and according to the latest development, it is faster than Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in both the CPU and GPU categories. However, that leaves us with more questions than answers, which we will discuss here.

Nintendo has released a brand-new update for its Switch console that users can download right now. Nintendo has released numerous updates for the Switch since launching the console in 2016. These updates have ranged in scope. Sometimes the Switch console updates are pretty basic and only get vague patch notes, but other times they add notable new features for users to check out.

A week after Korea’s Game Rating and Administration Committee gave Star Wars Outlaws a 19+ rating, Australia has also published their rating for the game.

Nintendo Switch update 18.0.0 has been rolled out by Nintendo and here's what this new firmware version does officially and unofficially.

World of Warcraft recently held a retrospective panel at a Games Developer Conference that reflected on the rise, fall, and recovery of the MMO over the last several years. During the lecture, World of Warcraft admitted to the mistakes it made during Shadowlands, and revealed the subscription trends between each expansion.

Samsung has apparently started work on its Galaxy S25 series early, with the latest information surrounding its next year’s top-end model, the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Based on the newest renders that are now being compared with one another, it appears that four prototypes are being tested, with each version sporting a different dimension than the other, which we will dive into immediately.

Shift Up and Sony Interactive Entertainment revealed that a free demo for its upcoming sci-fi action game Stellar Blade will launch this Friday, March 29.

Greetings. This is Hyung Tae Kim, director of Stellar Blade. We are pleased to officially announce the upcoming free playable demo for Stellar Blade, coming March 29 to PlayStation 5.

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?

NVIDIA has reportedly informed its partners that the supply of its existing GeForce RTX 40 "Ada" family will be reduced significantly moving forward as the company preps for RTX 50 "Blackwell" launch in the gaming segment.

Samsung’s struggles in bringing up the yields of its 3nm GAA process were well-known, but there is a positive update that a tipster provided, claiming that the Korean giant’s foundry has managed to increase that number to three times the original figure. This means that the previous 10-20 percent yields of the 3nm process is now hovering between 30-60 percent. While these are improvements, the company continues to trail behind TSMC, and there are rumors claiming that Samsung placed more stock in its second-generation 3nm GAA process.

Star Wars Outlaws has received a rating from South Korea.

The ongoing Korean dating show is all set to make its return with its brand-new episode 16 on TVING this March 2024. The reality show sees a group of ex-couples staying under one roof, where they try to make new romantic connections. The show’s unique concept has made it quite famous among viewers.

The upcoming Star Wars Outlaws from Massive Entertainment has been rated in Korea.

Samsung continues to make strides with microLED technology, but for the moment, the company has limited these displays to its mammoth-sized TVs, and as you can tell, these units cost a small fortune. The Korean giant is rumored to bring the same technology to a Galaxy Watch variant, with a tipster stating that its intended launch target is 2025. Unfortunately, with Apple previously reported to be experiencing its own struggles and withdrawing development altogether, a shadow of doubt may be cast on Samsung’s own plans, irrespective of the fact that the firm has immense experience with developing multiple display forms.

By and large, Korean developers have a reputation for announcing wildly ambitious MMOs that rarely ever actually materialise. Without sounding too sceptical, we can’t help but wonder whether Chrono Odyssey will fall into that bracket. Due to be published by Kakao Games, this new trailer has been attracting plenty of attention for its stunning dark fantasy vibes – even though there’s zero gameplay or even a target release date.

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.

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.

A future console may be on the way, as South Korean regulators recently approved a new dev kit. While it might be too soon for a new console generation, Microsoft could be working on an equivalent to the PS5 Pro.

A year after being removed from Steam, Ironmace's Dark and Darker will be available on the Epic Games Store.

Switching to just the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for its Galaxy S23 family meant that Samsung had to bear a chipset expenditure that was in the billions, so it is unsurprising to learn that the Korean giant invested heavily in launching the Exynos 2400 that powers several Galaxy S24 variants. According to the latest report, Samsung will pursue a higher adoption of its own silicon as it aims to reduce these costs substantially.

Microsoft seems to be getting ready for a new hardware release. As spotted by X (formerly Twitter) account Xbox News for Koreans (via GamesHorizon), a new Xbox development kit has seemingly been certified by South Korea’s National Radio Research Agency. The certification essentially allows the hardware to be used in the country.

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

Dark and Darker is heading to Epic Games Store, having previously been removed from Steam, and following a drawn out legal dispute with Nexon.

The past few Galaxy S series launches have likely made consumers feel that Samsung lacks the motivation to bring any drastic design changes to its flagship family. Fortunately, one tipster notes that after several generations, the company is finally bringing an aesthetic shift to the Galaxy S25, starting with the base model, whose display size is said to be increased compared to the current-generation Galaxy S24.

Samsung is all set to participate at NVIDIA's GTC, where the Korean giant is expected to showcase a new server SSD "subscription" model.

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.

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

Although I enjoy a wide variety of games from different genres, there are still parts of the video game zeitgeist I have little knowledge of. One of those blind spots is Korean MMOs like Nexon’s Vindictus, which attracts lots of players in Asia, but has made less of an impact in the U.S. Thankfully, my lack of familiarity with that space didn’t make the playtest for Vindictus: Defying Fate any less enjoyable.

WitchSpring R will launch for PlayStation 5 and Switch in the second half of 2024, developer KIWI WALKS announced. In Japan, a physical edition will also be available for both platforms. It will support English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese language options.

Four years since the Grandia HD Collection was released for Switch and PC, the game is finally arriving on PlayStation and Xbox consoles. The Grandia HD Collection includes the first two titles in the franchise, Grandia 1 and Grandia 2, with revamped graphics, widescreen, and support for new languages.

Game Arts’ legendary Grandia series is coming to PS4 and Xbox One with the Grandia HD Collection. It’s out on March 26th and includes remasters for the first two games (which will be backwards compatible on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S). Pre-orders for a physical edition go live on March 15th via Limited Run Games. Check out the announcement trailer below.

Classic RPGs Grandia and Grandia 2 are finally making their way onto console by way of the Grandia HD Collection, which is releasing on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One this month.

Stellar Blade developer Shift Up has filed to go public on the Korea Stock Exchange.

Hand-painted hidden object game Sophia the Traveler will launch for Switch and PC via Steam on April 11 for $8.99 / €8.79, publisher Thermite Games and developer Memo Gogo announced. The Switch version is newly announced. It will be available at a 10 percent-off discount price at launch, and Nintendo eShop pre-orders will open on March 21. The game will support English, Italian, German, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language options. An 80-page full-color digital comic book will also be available to purchase.

CounterSide SEA server is set to merge with the global server soon. We kind of saw it coming after Japan did the same thing last year. The CounterSide SEA server was run by ZlongGames till now. This strategic decision kicks off on May 16, 2024. Keep reading to get the full scoop!

After SMIC was reportedly setting up chip production for Huawei to start mass production of 5nm wafers later this year, China’s biggest semiconductor manufacturer is now rumored to be assembling a team dedicated to 3nm chip development. For obvious reasons, the company will seek aid to help achieve this monumental goal and, in the process, obtain complete autonomy from foreign companies and the tight grip that the U.S. has on them.

As the Hearthstone 10th Anniversary event starts on Korean and Taiwanese servers, we are getting the first glimpse of what to expect from the event. Hearthstone 10th Anniversary Guide We're currently compiling information, so the article will likely change as new details are discovered.

Silent Hill 2 has been rated in Korea.

Sony accidentally released a demo yesterday for Nikke: Goddess of Victory developer Shift Up’s hotly anticipated console debut, PS5 exclusive Stellar Blade. While the platform holder has since revoked access to the playable teaser, which was evidently pushed out prematurely, there is enough footage going around to get a taste of protagonist Eve’s outfits.

Silent Hill 2 Remake has been rated in Korea.

The Stellar Blade demo was quietly added and then swiftly deleted from the PS5 PlayStation Store earlier today, with Sony redacting access for users who downloaded it.

will air a brand-new episode on the streaming platform TVING. The highly awaited of the engaging Korean dating show is all set to debut in. The third season of the reality show has gained immense popularity among viewers, thanks to the several emotionally heavy moments.

There was a slight chance that Samsung would have partnered with MediaTek to bring its Dimensity 9000 to its flagship Galaxy S series in the past. Given that the Taiwanese company took the premium Android SoC market by surprise with this release, competitors started taking note of MediaTek and where it could be headed. Unfortunately, the deal between the two firms could not materialize, with a tipster sharing that there was a scarce supply of the chipset, amongst other reasons.

In a bid to protect its popular word puzzle game, Wordle, The New York Times has unleashed a wave of legal actions against numerous clones, triggering concerns about the fate of hundreds of games inspired by the web-based sensation.

Driving into Hollywood, California, during two severe weather warnings over the weekend, I questioned why I was doing so as I started to crest the San Gabriel mountain range. The cloud cover was so low that I couldn’t see too far ahead of me, while winds and rain pelted the roof of the sedan car as I ate up the miles.

Publisher CFK and developer Indicava Entertainment will release Korean full-motion video game Motesolo: No Girlfriend Since Birth for PlayStation 4 on March 28, the companies announced.

Bliss Brain has delayed Princess Maker 2 Regeneration from its previously planned May 30 release date to July 11. It will be available for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC via Steam with English, Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese language support.

Samsung is regarded as a major smartphone chipset customer for Qualcomm, which is likely why the latter recently renewed a multi-year agreement with the Korean giant to use its Snapdragon silicon. However, it can become worrisome if one company depends on just one client to bring in 40 percent of the total revenue for a specific quarter, but according to the data shared for Q4 2023, Qualcomm appears to be too dependent on Samsung in this regard. We have witnessed on previous occasions that things can go from bad to worse if companies cannot diversify.