Playground Games have finally revealed the system requirements for Xbox’s upcoming flagship racer, Forza Horizon 5, ahead of its November 9 launch. The studio has shared a wide range of compatible hardware, ranging from the 7-year-old GTX 970 up to the recent RTX 3080.
You've asked us, what does it take to run #ForzaHorizon5 on PC?
So today, we're sharing our PC specs as well as details on supported peripherals, graphics options and much more.
It seems that Forza Horizon 5 will run easily on fairly modest configurations, despite featuring several visual improvements over its predecessor such as increased draw distance, improved lighting, and (limited) ray tracing.
Forza Horizon 5 will also support ultrawide resolutions and several racing peripherals such as:
OG Esports on their website blog have posted an update regarding the current health situation of their offlaner Sébastian “Ceb” Debs who might miss the forthcoming The International 10, to be held in Bucharest, Romania. The European side have added Michael “Micke” Vu from Team Liquid as a stand-in until the medical team passes a judgement towards Ceb’s participation at the event.
In the past week, during a routine medical check-up, Ceb was diagnosed with an eye condition which was proved to have been irreversible if not treated and was flown to his hometown France to get treated. According to the organization, the double Ti-winner did undergo a successful surgery and has now entered the recovery process, indeed surrounded by his loved ones.
For the time being, OG Esports have decided to field Micke from Team Liquid to fill in for Sébastian as the latter has not been yet cleared by his medical support to play at The International 10. Micke’s Team Liquid was unable to qualify for the same as they fell to Team Nigma in The International 10: Western Europe Qualifier
Earlier there were rumors which headlined Ceb’s condition on Reddit and Twitter which were confirmed by the player himself through a TwitLonger where he added,
“As you might already know by now, I was indeed hit with very bad news a few days ago. During a very routine medical check up, I was informed by the doctor that I was undergoing a retinal detachment in my left eye, and that I was a few hours away from losing sight irreversibly. Only solution was to get emergency surgery, which I of course went through with. No matter how much we love DotA, some things will always come first. It went well, and that was the most important part. “
The addition of Micke to the team will be OG’s second roster change since they announced the change of roles within the team which saw Mikhail “Misha” Agatov take up the reigns as their head coach while Titouan “Sockshka” Merloz has now transitioned to be the team’s Assistant Coach.
Ceb further stated,
“This bad news felt like the sky collapsing on me, as you can imagine. Ever since I have been fighting every day to try to gain ground on the pain and the fatigue, hoping my recovery process would still allow me to attend TI. Unfortunately, as of now, I still can’t know if I will be back in a playing shape in time.
It is a huge blow for me and the team, of course, but over the years I have learnt to look at the positives of every challenge life throws at me.
The bright side here is that my determination and fire to get ready have never been as intense.
The bright side is that I know my team is stepping up big time, because they have my back.
The bright side is feeling your unconditional and loving support.
TI is coming, and that puts a smile on my face, whether or not I can attend.Love you all, and see you soon hopefully”
PUBG Mobile is known for its hacking problems and their efforts to eradicate it but apparently, the hacking does not end within the game for this title. The official YouTube channel of PUBG Mobile Esports was recently hacked by some unknown hackers and the name of their channel was changed to ‘SpaceX 2021’.
PUBG Mobile is one of the biggest mobile esports title in the world and its viewership is well diversified around the world. Viewers get an easy access to multiple esports events throughout the year on the official YouTube channel of PUBG Mobile. It is dedicated to stream all the big events but apparently, they were hacked.
The name of PUBG Mobile Esports was changed to ‘SpaceX 2021’, referring to Elon Musk’s aerospace manufacturing company SpaceX. The hackers also started a livestream to broadcast a mission launch.
Tencent took a quick action on this breach and the channel has now been restored. The hack took place for only a couple of hours but the community noticed it in a short while.
PUBG Mobile Esports was breached when they were livestreaming PMPL: South Asia Season 3. This stream was abruptly stopped and after a short time, the name of PUBG Mobile Esports was changed to SpaceX 2021. The hackers started a new livestream with the title “SpaceX’s all-civilian Inspiration4 Mission”.
Currently, the officials have reestablished their YouTube channel and all the traces of any mishap have been removed. This incident was small and yet significant breach on one of the biggest YouTube channels in gaming genre.
Anyone within the casino and sports betting industries will tell you that the Covid-19 pandemic changed the way that they work and shifted how the industry grew over the last 18 months.
There have been different changes we have seen – but for example, sports games that simulated real-life leagues increased in popularity as real-life major sports leagues were canceled. The cancellation of large events meant that people were driven to take part in something else instead – and that is where sports games really stepped up to the mark.
It isn’t just a shift in where sports fans have gone that we have seen, we have also seen the way they participate shift too. For example, people are keener to take part in esports betting than ever before.
Unable to bet on their favorite players or teams winning the league, people took to participating in esports events and betting. This led to growth for a number of esports companies, including Esports Entertainment Group, which recently became a Nasdaq-listed company. Globally, the betting industry has seen massive growth over recent months and the esports section of this is no exception.
Partnerships and Sponsorships
A few years ago it would have been some way of an alien concept for a major bookmaker to offer betting video gaming and virtual events. However, we’re most definitely there and there in a big way! Recently we have seen Betway announce that they would be welcoming esports betting onto their books. They have been offering sports betting in the traditional way since 2006 and then become one of the first major betting sites to announce that they would keep up with customer demand to offer esports betting too. They did this with a sponsorship of the OGA Dota Pit Season 3 in October 2020. It is widely thought amongst esports fans that this was seen as a test run by the company, who are likely to expand the events that they get involved in.
North America Involvement
Betting throughout Canada and North America has always been under strict rules, in fact at one stage it was banned completely. As such, sports betting and esports betting hasn’t always been as acceptable as it has been in other parts of the world. That said, this is going to change as the rules and regulations surrounding gambling in Canada are going through a reform. From the 27th of August, sports betting will be enshrined in Canadian law, which will allow for a wider reform – for example, provinces allowed to go through their own process of legalizing online gambling. These changes are likely to make sports betting much more accessible to a wider audience, and it will only be a matter of time before sports brands want a big piece of this pie.
The reform of gambling laws within Canada has certainly got the attention of people involved within the industry throughout North America. As a result, there has been a rush by brands, operators and affiliates to operate in the country as they look to get in on the ground floor in certain niches like legal slot sites in Canada. As this expands to things like sports betting, it is likely that sports betting brands are going to want to get involved.
The Future for Sports Teams Sponsorship
As betting starts to become more acceptable and accessible, brands will likely start to sign deals with gambling operators. Advertising via online casinos and sports betting websites is big business, as they often bring in large amounts of traffic during big events – as such, it could be that sports brands and teams decide to advertise on these. On the flip side, if esports betting becomes more mainstream then you may find that places like Betway and other companies that offer betting on esports events start to sponsor more events and show their support that way. By sponsoring events that are showing the fan base that they are happy to support this industry, however, it also is a fantastic advertising opportunity for them. Not everyone will know that you are able to place bets on these virtual and esports events, so advertising during events and sponsorship of games/leagues just makes sense.
No one can reliably predict exactly what will happen, as we simply do not know what the new reforms will bring and what this might mean for different provinces within Canada. This is especially true as esports are really limited to one area, so if there are different rules for different regions this could make things tricky. However, what we can be sure of is that the esports and sports betting industry within Canada is opening up and that can only be a good thing for everyone involved within that industry.
Longer-Term Future
These changes indicate that esports betting is becoming a much bigger part of normal life. Gone are the days where esports betting companies had limited places they could advertise and promote their services. Now there is a whole esports culture that they’re able to get involved in, enabling them to target a much more direct set of potential customers. It is likely that they’re looking at the data within this to understand how they can help both esports and esports betting to grow – not only within North America but globally. Now that things are starting to calm down after the height of the pandemic, companies like Betway and Esports Entertainment Group will be looking at what trends are changing and how their audience is adapting. We’re starting to see the return of real-life sporting events which is likely to have an effect on the popularity of esporting events someway.
However, with things like the new Oxygen Esports campaign to create a digital AI-driven first-person shooter coach for youths interested in basketball, one thing for sure is that it isn’t going to disappear completely and as technology continues to evolve is likely to creep up in popularity once again.
After two weeks of intense competition between 21 of the best Wild Rift teams in the Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong region, eight teams remain in the League of Legends: Wild Rift SEA Championship 2021, presented by ESL Mobile Challenge. Teams will be competing for a lion share of the USD200,000 prize pool as well as two coveted slots to the Wild Rift Global Tournament in November.
The eight competing teams include representatives from five different regions namely Buriram United Esports and EVOS Esports from Thailand, Team Secret from the Philippines, MBR Esports from Indonesia, One Team and Flash Wolves from Taiwan, and SBTC Esports and Divine Esports from Vietnam.
The Grand Finals will take place on 3rd October 2021, and famed K-pop group, aespa, will make an appearance in the opening ceremony to kick off the first ever Wild Rift SEA Championship Grand Finals.
Aespa is a K-pop group from South Korea, formed by SM Entertainment. They made their grand debut at the end of 2020 and are currently dominating the global music charts with their megahit “Next Level”, which they will be performing in the opening ceremony of the Wild Rift SEA Championship Grand Finals, presented by ESL Mobile Challenge.
“Over the past two years, Riot has quickly ramped up to be more than just a video games company. We have been increasingly active in the music space, with our virtual bands K/DA and Pentakill both releasing new EPs over the past year. Esports fans are no stranger to our music efforts either, with MNL48 opening the Wild Rift SEA Icon Series Summer Super Cup earlier this June. We are now thrilled to announce aespa’s showcase for the Wild Rift SEA Championship Grand Finals and we hope to continue delighting fans across the region with the highest quality of entertainment,” said G. Justin Hulog, General Manager of Riot Games Southeast and Taiwan.
The Wild Rift SEA Championship 2021 is part of the Icon Series, Riot’s official mobile esports circuit in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong for League of Legends: Wild Rift. The league is organised through a close partnership between ESL Asia and Riot Games SEA.
The tournament is presented by ESL Mobile Challenge, part of the ESL Mobile ecosystem, a global esports program aimed to provide opportunities for aspiring gamers to showcase their skills and springboard their esports journey in the booming mobile games market.
Nick Vanzetti, Senior VP of ESL Asia- Pacific Japan had this to say,“ESL has always placed players and fans at the heart of our tournaments and events. We aim to create spectacles that entertain, and the launch of ESL Mobile in Asia combined with Wild Rift’s SEA Championship 2021 are milestone events that require truly memorable experiences for fans throughout the world. So we’re excited to unveil aespa in the opening ceremony and bring their thrilling performance in Korea to our viewers, setting the tone for what will surely be an epic finals!“
WHERE CAN I WATCH?
The Wild Rift SEA Championship 2021 will be broadcasted in English, Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Thai, and Cantonese. Broadcasts will begin at 12:30 PM SGT, with the first match starting from 1:00 PM SGT. The matches will also be live on Twitch, Facebook, and YouTube on Riot SEA’s official channels as well as on the official partners’ broadcast channels:
For the latest information on The Wild Rift SEA Championship 2021 news updates and team performance, visit the official event page at https://esl.gg/WRSEAChamps.
Red Bull Untapped, the global Magic: The Gathering (MTG) tournament from Red Bull and Wizards of the Coast, has returned! In the third installment of this popular series, the event will see a number of Regional and International events, giving the best MTG players from around the world the chance to shine on the world stage.
Red Bull Untapped is an open and free-to-enter competition that lets players challenge each other, summon their creatures, and cast their spells in the immersive world of Magic: The Gathering.
The tournament will feature an online play on Magic: The Gathering Arena, in the Standard and Historic formats, playing a mix of Constructed and Limited formats. This combination of Magic: The Gathering Arena will give fans a variety of awesome MTG battles, some in formats they haven’t been able to play and spectate for the past 18 months.
Red Bull Untapped 2021 follows successful tournaments held in both 2019 and 2020, the latter seeing over 20,000 registrations.
There are six international Red Bull Untapped events throughout 2021, beginning in October and running until the end of November. Open to all, each event will be held online and feature a two-day stand-off between players from all over the world.
The winner of each International Stop will receive an exclusive custom Red Bull Untapped trophy as well as an invitation to the Portugal event, the epic finale in the Red Bull Untapped series. This will be one of two regional stops taking place as part of Red Bull Untapped, with the other in Japan in autumn later this year.
The first Red Bull Untapped International Stop is now open for registration on MTG Melee here.
Online gambling can be great fun. There’s no question about the absolute necessity of verifying every player’s ID. However, everyone who’s ever tried to register on any online casino knows that the verification process can be pretty dismaying.
Still, do we have to do it every time we create an account at a new casino? The answer is definitely “no”. What’s the way forward then?
Definition
Pay n Play is a platform developed by Trustly to congregate online gamblers and give them exclusive Bank IDs. Those IDs are used to make payments to associated casinos. Partner casinos can confirm the player’s details almost instantly, bypassing most of the registration process.
The whole point of this system is to shorten the registration process to no more than three clicks. In the highly competitive world of online casinos, every advantage matters. The ability to skip a bothersome registration process and make transactions seamlessly is a tremendous advantage.
More online casinos realize the benefits of this system, and this number is likely to rise. Search for “Pay n Play casino bonus“, and you’ll be amazed by the countless results you’ll find.
Know Your Customer (KYC)
The law known in the United States as Know Your Customer is part of the Patriotic Act. It’s an anti-money laundering law (AML), which makes banks and financial institutions (casinos included) verify every customer’s ID. Pretty much every country has a similar law.
Pay n Play makes everything quicker while being KYC compliant. It means that once your account, you can log in to any associated casino only with your Bank ID and a few steps.
Straight to the Table
A system that allows players to jump to the fun part is always welcome. Once you’ve chosen your casino, you click on Play Now, make your deposit, and the system does the rest. Trustly’s encrypted system ensures the security of the whole operation.
So far, this system is mainly used in Northern European countries.
Even the government maintains a similar electronic registration of their citizens in Finland, easing their access to such entertainment. Additionally, such a centralised system helps to create a safe and transparent environment for casinos and gamblers. Here are Top 3 benefits of this system.
Swift Transactions
Financial operations are instant with Pay n Play! What’s best, there aren’t any fees attached. Also, forget about all the paperwork related to withdrawals, as this operation is also instant and free.
No Bother
Those times when you’ve had to undergo a KYC procedure for every single casino are gone now. You have already done so for your bank account, so why do it again? You play and let your casino and Pay n Play take care of the rest.
Mobile-Friendly
This platform is tailor-made for the younger generations. All operations are instant, and it’s also mobile-friendly!
Conclusion
While some existing casinos adopt this system partially, new ones are incorporating it entirely from the beginning. Avoid needless bureaucratic hassles and concentrate on what matters the most: the game! With so many benefits, we’re likely to see more Pay n Play casinos around soon.
Yesterday saw Team Kraken take first place in the initial stop of the Global Esports Federation and FACEIT’s new worldwide esports invitational – the Global Esports Tour.
The winning team, led by Jeffrey “TrumpSC” Shih with Jerome “Monsanto” Faucher and Mihai “languagehacker” Dragalin, dominated during the two-day event, beating David “Killinallday” Acosta’s Team Gryphon in the final with a solid performance played on Hearthstone® Classic Mode.
Team Kraken bags the champion’s trophy in the first Global Esports Tour Los Angeles. From left: Mihai “languagehacker” Dragalin, Jerome “Monsanto” Faucher, Jeffrey “TrumpSC” Shih, Dr. Melita N. Moore, GEF Board Member and Chair of Health & Wellness Commission, Paul J. Foster, CEO of GEF, and Christopher ‘MonteCristo’ Mykles.
Team Kraken began the tournament with a shaky start, dropping their first match to Team Gryphon with a 4-1 loss. However, moving down to the lower bracket they began to find their groove, winning their following two matches against Frank “Fr0zen” Zhang’s Team Mammoth 4-3 and Alexandra “Alliestrasza” MacPherson’s Team Phoenix 4-0.
In the Final against Team Gryphon, Team Kraken stormed forward in the first four games, gaining a 3- 1 lead against the tournament favourites. Team Gryphon’s Jeffrey “Tarei” Liu pulled back a victory in Game 5, before Mihai “languagehacker” Dragalin closed the show with a victory against Tarei in Game 6.
The GEF team caught up with Team Kraken after the Grand Final and spoke to the winners. “Thank you GEF. This was a lit tournament. We really love what you are doing for esports. The cities chosen are the hot spots in the world for esports,” said Jeffrey “TrumpSC” Shih, captain of the winning team.
Mihai “languagehacker” Dragalin added, “It’s really cool, honestly. This entire tour that you’ve set up is really incredible. For the first edition to be Hearthstone®, and for us to be a part of it, it’s incredible. We didn’t really expect to win it all, and that’s just speaks for how cool this event is.”
Four teams of North America’s best players were invited to compete in this best of seven, double elimination conquest form, for a US$50,000 prize. Made up of three plyers each, the teams entered with six decks, all from a unique class. Team captains TrumpSC, Fr0zen, Alliestrasza, and Killinallday led their respective squads:
Team KrakenJeffrey “TrumpSC” ShihJerome “Monsanto” FaucherMihai “Languagehacker” Dragalin
Team PhoenixAlexandra “Alliestrasza” MacPhersonJohn “Dekkster” KotrichAndrew “TidesofTime” Biessener
Team MammothFrank “Fr0zen” ZhangDavid “Justsaiyan” ShanGeorge “hyped” Maganzini
Team GryphonDavid ‘Killinallday” AcostaJeffrey “Tarei” LiuMark “Ant” Trevino
Pro gamer and game designer turned broadcaster, Brian Kibler, strategy game expert Nathan ‘Admirable’ Zamora, and Cloud9 player Cong “StrifeCro” Shu, provided their expert commentary and analysis during the event.
The GET is the GEF’s Pro-Team tournament staged in key global cities throughout the year. GET 2021 offers a total prize pool of US$500,000. The tournament showcases skills and talent from different game genres from around the world with Hearthstone®, PUBG MOBILE, and CS:GO the chosen games. FACEIT has joined the GET as the GEF’s Strategic Partner, Esports Services and was also the tournament organiser for this Hearthstone® stop.
In October, the GET heads to Riyadh (October 24-26, 2021) with PUBG MOBILE, and on to Dubai (November 26-27, 2021) with CS:GO.
Images from the Global Esports Tour Los Angeles can be found here: tinyurl.com/GETLosAngeles. #worldconnected
Popular variety streamer Asmongold has returned to Twitch after an extended break from streaming to address issues surrounding his personal life and mental health.
The recent times saw Asmongold take several breaks from streaming, some planned while others, abrupt. This break was much needed for him to address several issues that were bothering him, and by the looks of things, his mind is finally in the right place.
During his hiatus from his main channel, Asmon was streaming on and off on his alternate channel where he announced that he will be back to stream Amazon’s New Word on his main from 28th September, i.e. tomorrow.
“be back to streaming for New World release,” he said.
Will be back to streaming on Tuesday for New World release, Olympus server
My mom is doing *okay* and I've missed you guys.
Thanks for all the positive messages, I read a lot of them out to her and it improved her spirits quite a bit
His personal issues included his mom’s health and thankfully she’s doing “okay”, the streamer confirmed. Asmongold has been one of the most popular streamers on the platform and a constant source of entertainment and content for ages.
It is never bad to have someone like him back on the platform and hopefully his issues are resolved and we see him return in full force, streaming Amazon’s brand new game from tomorrow.
Krafton, the developers and publishers of India’s most famous battle royale mobile game “Battlegrounds Mobile India” spoke on the ongoing issues with the increasing number of cheaters in the game. Starting with the sentence “Fair Gameplay is Our Priority”, the developers revealed the measures they are taking against illegal programs, cheats, and cheaters.
We all know, countless numbers of players are using cheats and illegal programs to take advantage of others. Thus, ruining the complete fun of the players who do competitive or casual gaming. Kraton came out with strong words on this major issue and revealed the steps that will be taken by them to make BGMI a fair gaming environment.
They wrote, “We work daily on logic enforcement and updates to illegal programs, blocking ad channels, and monitoring real-time, and have permanently sanctioned more than 1.52 million accounts to date and are working on modernizing our systems. However, despite these efforts, cheaters still exist in the game. And here are some next steps”,
1. More detailed revalidation of game data for top-ranked users
Detailed scrutiny of the top rankings of the leaderboards. We are cleaning it up.
If you are using cheats, you will be banned.
If you are promoting cheats or cheat assisted rank push, you will be banned.
If you have cheated in the past and are not currently cheating right now, you will be handed to a permanent ban.
2. Prevent advertising of cheaters and cheat programs
If you advertise the sale of illegal programs and cheats through in-game profile images, or distribute illegal program usage videos, promotional videos/images on other websites, we will take strong measures such as permanent suspension of use in the game and closing of channels.
3. Strengthen our security system
We will continue to improve ban logic through closer analysis of users who use illegal programs.
Krafton aims to provide a fair gaming environment and will take all means and measures necessary to address any action that hinders it. They also asked the supporters of the game to regularly report the players, if they are found using unfair means or hacking.
