President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to ban TikTok and transactions with parent company of WeChat on Thursday night. This order may not directly state any direct restrictions posed on gaming industry but the implications are disastrous.
The ban order will be effective in the next 45 days and the restrictions over TikTok could be no surprise but a ban on any sort of transactions with Tencent caught everyone by surprise.
The ban was directly aimed at WeChat and imposed inder the pretext of “data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information”, according to the official orders.
The ban orders vaguely state that “any transaction that is related to WeChat by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with Tencent Holdings Ltd. … Shenzhen, China, or any subsidiary of that entity.” will be prohibited and it is yet unclear if the ban is only limited to WeChat or imposed on the entirety of Tencent, which owns stakes in many game developers around the world.
Tencent has ownership stakes in big US companies like Riot Games which published titles like League of Legends, Valorant and awaited mobile game Wild Rift; Epic Games which owns world famous battle-royale “Fortnite”; Activision Blizzard.
Free Fire recently collaborated with famous Netflix show La Casa De Papel (Money Heist) to bring an exclusive event along with new game mode and several themed cosmetics into the game. The event is set to go live from next month and garena announced the event through a short teaser video.
The crossover will bring a new 4 vs 4 combat game mode alongside new evert named Money Heist. In this event players will get several cosmetic skins and various gifts that can be redeemed from a unique event.
A printing machine will be available in the event section where players will have to print as much money as possible and deposit it in a vault that will available in the next stage of the event.
source: YouTube
Players can boost their printing by forming teams and assisting each other and also by collecting unique tokens that may be available in some sort of in-game reward. The tokens will boost printing process and more the money printed, higher will be the reward.
source: YouTube
Five rewards will be distributed in this event when players reach a certain amount of printing that will start from 5000 to 50000.
A list of other rewards have been leaked and it includes several money heist themed cosmetics and the famous “Red Jumpsuit” outfit from the Netflix show.
A legendary Money Heist Outfit
Money Heist themed gloo wall
Two money heist themed emotes
Backpack, airship and airdrop skins
P90 and AK gun skins, car, pan and surfboard skins
Exclusive pet costumes
source: YouTubePrinting Machine, Backpack and Car skins Source: YouTube
A Ladies Tournament is going to be implemented for the first time in the format of PUBG Mobile Pro League Indonesia region. This is not the first female only tournament but the inclusion in PMPL ID season two may pave a path for future female-only tournaments all over the world.
PUBG Mobile Esports Indonesia announced a Ladies Tournament where upto 128 teams can enroll until 8th August 2020. Click on the registration form to apply.
The qualifiers will be played on 11th and 12th August where 128 teams will be divided into eight groups and top four from each group will qualify for the second day.
Finally the top 32 teams from earlier round will be split into two groups and the top 7 teams from each group will qualify for the PMPL ID Season 2 Ladies Grand Finals.
The final details of map structure and prize pool regarding this tournament is yet to be announced but the overall prize pool of $1,50,000 is already decided for entire PMPL ID Season Two.
PewDiePie is well known for his charity work, having donated to several noble causes in the past, the Swed has stepped forward to donate $100000 to Red Cross Lebanon to help with Tuesday’s devastating blast.
The unfortunate event was caused by a little less than 3000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored unsafely since 2013. The explosion leveled the surrounding area killing around 137 people and injuring about 5000 more. Immense damage is caused to homes and business established in the vicitny of the blast.
In PewDiePie’s latest video called “I Got Cancelled Again..”, Felix addresses the heat he has been receiving from the community in the past few days over his leaked Spotify playlist, after reacting to memes about the same, he concluded the by promising to donate $100000 to the Lebanon Red Cross.
PewDiePie was under fire recently for having a music taste that doesn’t comply with his fans, artists have spoken out asking Pewds not to listen to their music, but that didn’t stop him from caring about the conditions of the people in Lebanon.
This month’s collection will go to Red Cross Lebanon and for September, Felix promises to donate again to Blue Ocean addressing similar issues, as he precisely is correct on the fact that this matter deserves the utmost importance.
Following the Prisma 2 case, Valve has introduced the new Fracture Case with 17 new skins from community artists, along with fixed VPK tampering exploits with improvements made to SDR networking protocol.
The Fracture Case introduces 17 new community skins with an AK-47 and Desert Eagle of covert rarity, and 3 of each and every other rarity. The cosmetics are themed around the new map with a medieval tone to them. Multiple improvements to SDR networking protocol has been introduced with improved SDR routing selection logic besides fixed SDR networking sessions preventing reuse after expiration improved stability of your network connection.
The -untrusted launch option has been revoked and can no longer be used also exploits that tamper the VPK files has been fixed.
New playground Mutiny has gone through several improvements, with optimizations improving performance all over the map including improved lighting and contrast helping in better visibility. Missing textures around the map has been fixed and minor geographical changes to different areas of the map has been introduced. The new main menu background movie for the map has been updated.
Swamp also shares a similar story with the same optimization improvements with significant performance improvements to all parts of the map. Brightness and contrast tuning to help with visibility improved radar and clipping fixes.
In conclusion, this update has certain elements to it that we needed but never asked for, as Source 2 still remains the cruel mistress, that we long for. The optimization fixes to the maps, benefits some, while it is useless for people who play only competitive. The network and exploit fixes helps players of all sorts, who suffered from network issues until today.
The Fracture Collection:
Photo via ValvePhoto via ValvePhoto via ValvePhoto via ValvePhoto via ValvePhoto via ValvePhoto via ValvePhoto via ValvePhoto via ValvePhoto via ValvePhoto via ValvePhoto via ValvePhoto via ValvePhoto via ValvePhoto via Valve
[ FRACTURE CASE ] – Introducing the Fracture Case, featuring designs from over 17 community artists-designed weapon finishes, and the Shattered Web Knives as rare special items.
[ MISC ] – Updated main menu movie for Mutiny. – Fixed several exploits related to VPK tampering. – The -untrusted launch option is no longer supported
[ NETWORKING ] – Multiple improvements to SDR networking protocol: — Improved SDR routing selection logic — Fixed SDR networking sessions to not be reused after expiration — Improved stability
[ MAPS ] Anubis – Fixed some clipping, z fighting, invisible surface bugs – Fixed being able to spot enemies through wall near bridge. (thanks Chaelin!) – Removed palm tree shadow at bridge – Fixed wallbang at B main route – Fixed weapons falling through stairs and other parts of the floor. – Re-added the grenade windows to B. – New skin for double door at middle. – Various minor fixes.
Mutiny Optimization: – Significant improvement in performance in all areas of the map (Thanks Joaokaka1998 for testing!) – Adjusted fade distances to improve performance – Added more hint/skip brushes to separate certain visleaves – Added ivy models to prop combine to increase performance when multiple are rendered at once
Gameplay: – Lowered part of the wall on A Site – Modified rock formation at upper T to A into a brick wall to improve visibility and grenade potential – Added cover at mid to B connector – Removed cover at exit of mid to A connector – Removed cover at Side Path near the back of A Site – Adjusted position of cover at Catwalk – Adjusted position of cover at T to A Lower – Raised height of ceiling clipping around A Site & CT to A, allowing players to get on top of the wall on A Site – Raised height of ceiling clipping around CT entrance to B – Adjusted deathmatch spawn position near A Site
Misc: – Adjusted environment lighting to give a better visual contrast – Fixed flickering of multiple bush props across the map – Removed shadows for some foliage models, such as those seen at The Squid building – Fixed missing textures on various displacements around the map – Fixed various floating models around the map (windows, lamps, etc.) – Improved clipping of wooden pillars at Dock – Tweaked clipping around rock at T to A Upper – Fixed numerous bomb stuck spots (thanks Joaokaka1998!) – Bomb now teleports back to dry land if player drops it while stood on the small boat – Added multiple bomb reset triggers around A Site, B Site and Dock – Fixed incorrectly rotated tarp model at Dock – Removed foliage on A Site wall – Modified treasure map in T spawn ship to have a more accurate name applied to it – Updated overview
Swamp Main changes: – Swamp has now great FPS – Replaced water material – Made it brighter in some areas – Updated radar – Fixed some more clipping
Middle: – Closed the corner near the old saw blades by the backroom – Made recess in wall at T-entrance
B-site: – Made brighter background in corner near T-entrance
T-spawn: – Closed a gap where a weapon could fall in between
If you’d like a closer look at the weapons in the Fracture Case, check out today’s Blog Post: https://t.co/FklRuxjDU9
PUBG Mobile World League Grand Finals finally began after a month long Opening Stages and League Play. 16 Teams are ready to battle it out in 24 games over a duration of four days and bring out the ultimate pinnacle of competition in PUBG Mobile and take away the World Champions bragging rights along with a huge prize of $1,00,000.
Match One – Erangel:
The first match of the grand finals started on the well-known territory of Erangel. Players were taking cautious decisions and no one dared to initiate a very early fight with ample loot. Orange Rock did lose one player to the hands of TSM-Entity when their path of rotation clashed. Orange Rock quickly retaliated and TSM were forced to move away.
T1 and Bigetron RA fought along the rocky coastline and after an initial opening from BTR, things were looking promising from them but T1 established themselves as a formidable fort. The flying grenades and coverfires from T1 caught Bigetron in an off-guard situation and the reigning champions were the first to get eliminated.
Blood was spilled as the map was entering its final stages. BOX Gaming held their compound, called as famous “BOXFort”, and absolutely obliterated anyone who tried to advance onto them. Orange Rock managed to creep nearby but Valdus Esports shut them down, which was eventually wiped out by BOX Gaming in the southern side of the circle.
Team Secret was another force in the northern side where they wiped entire T1, picking up kills from the other teams as well. They were cornered by BOX Gaming when the latter almost occupied the entire play area and with enough information, rained grenades and took down initial two knocks, followed by a last kill to secure the victory.
BOX Gaming won the match with 16 kills and 36 points
Team Secret ranked second with 7 kills and 21 points.
Team IND ranked third with 5 kills and 15 points.
Match Two – Vikendi:
The slow-paced meta of Vikendi was shifted in the grand finals stage as teams clashed very early on. Team IND and T1 faced each other and Yoengjun from T1 absolutely decimated IND as three players made a very bad push onto the compound with scarce information and paid for it. T1 then hunted down the last player and eliminated IND very early.
Many teams clustered near the central spot yet again but the zone heavily shifted to the other direction and everybody had to move out. Orange Rock held TSM-Entity where they finally succumbed to bluezone damage along with gunfire from Orange Rock. OR could not savour the small win as they also followed the footsteps of TSM and were taken down by zone damage.
BOX Gaming continued their domination in the second map as well. They charged onto SynerGE and barely managed to take them down with little pixels of health bars remaining. BOX Gaming was looking formidable in this match as well be because they were picking third-party kills along with wiping teams. A stone in form of UHigh from Team Secret tumbled their cart as he managed to kill two players and put a stop on BOX Gaming’s domination.
UHigH died because of the zone but the damage he did on BOX Gaming was irreversible. U Level UP finally made some moves from the other side of the circle and took down the last player of BOX and won this match.
U Level UP won the match with 9 kills and 29 points.
BOX Gaming ranked second with 13 kills and 27 points.
Megastars ranked third with 7 kills and 17 points.
Match Three – Erangel:
The action was halted to the later stages of the game. Teams played relatively safer than the last match and opted to stick around each other to ensure long durability. Few knock-finishes were bound to happen and some players had to lose their life early on.
TSM-Entity and Yodoo Gank started the first fight of this map. TSM looked confident in this engagement as they were trying wrap around the ridges and pincer Yodoo Gank but the latter team managed to understand their intentions and quickly responded by fortifying their guards as well. TSM finally just slammed on the building but Yodoo Gank was prepared as they killed three players from TSM and the last player died by drowning in water.
The zone shift was gifted to Galaxy Racers Celtz and they fragged out to their full potential. They took out Orange Rock while they tried to cross the road but faced the same fate when they were trapped by many teams surrounding them and they finish in the top four.
A single player from BOX Gaming managed to sneak into the final phases while Bigetron RA and MegaStars were fighting for the win. Bigetron RA took down MegaStars alongside the last player from BOX and secured third win of day one.
Bigetron RA won the match with 12 kills and 32 points.
BOX Gaming ranked second with 7 kills and 21 points.
Galaxy Racers Celtz ranked third with 11 kills and 19 points.
Match Four – Miramar:
Miramar started with a surprising northwestern shift and everybody had to quickly gather whatever they could find and run for a favourable position into the circle. T1 and BOX Gaming faced each other very early into this map. BOX Gaming was the team on a great start but T1 outplayed BOX. They managed to find small openings and isolate the players one by one, stacking up the knocks. One final push after three successful knocks and BOX Gaming was wiped beautifully by T1.
T1 could not manage to maintain their posture and crumbled down to the pressure applied by other teams and they follow the BOX Gaming, getting eliminated right after wiping them out. Team Secret was eliminated by Orange Rock and Bigetron face heavy casualties heading into the middle phase of this map.
RRQ Athena finally regained their momentum and started to stack few kills and decimate teams that challenged them. TSM-Entity was in a good position to rank higher in this match but unfortunately could only get to the top five. Orange Rock had a favourable position along with decent kills but BTR Luxxy spoiled their plans.
Luxxy somehow sneaked around the vision of TSM and climbed a hilltop that gave him clear eyesight on Orange Rock. He quickly turned the tables and got three kills and an indirect help from RRQ ended the match for Orange Rock. RRQ went on to win the match and Bigetron managed to secure top two despite losing players very early.
RRQ Athena won the match with 13 kills and 33 points.
Bigetron RA ranked second with 6 kills and 20 points.
Orange Rock ranked third with 10 kills and 18 points.
Match Five – Sanhok:
TSM-Entity started this fight as they get two initial knocks on RRQ and push onto them with whatever they had. RRQ did not anticipate the push and lost two players in the process. RRQ later dropped down the hill and another player was sniped out from a distance and RRQ Athena take an absurd exit.
Team Secret engaged onto MegaStars and used utilities to eliminate them very early in this map. Teams were aggressively engaging with each other as they had to move into the zone and fight simultaneously.
U Level UP and Celtz engaged in a compound very near to the safe zone and both sides were taking heavy damage. Team Celtz dealt a final blow and wiped out U Level UP but were late to rotate into the circle and were wiped out. TSM-Entity stopped IND from climbing up the mountain and stacked up few easy kills. Bigetron was also decimating teams one by one with their positioning.
Reject Scarlett were gifted the final circle and a higher ridge advantage and other teams had to make a run for it. TSM and Orange Rock were quickly wiped out in the process. Reject Scarlett and Bigetron had to face each other in a 2v2 fight where the players from Reject Scarlett dropped down grenades and wiped out Bigetron while the former was almost killed by the retaliating fire. Reject Scarlett secure the extra placement points but BTR ranked number one because of their kills.
Bigetron RA ranked first with 17 kills and 31 points.
Reject Scarlett ranked second with 4 kills and 24 points.
TSM-Entity ranked third with 10 kills and 20 points.
Match Six – Erangel:
TSM-Entity and Orange Rock kick-started the last map with a lot of action. The players looted up and clashed when the scout from TSM was taken down when he tried to look for a potential cover that was already occupied by Orange Rock. After a little bit of a stalemate, Orange Rock sent their IGL for further scouting and TSM grabbed this opportunity and pushed into the compound and wiped out three players of Orange Rock.
T1 yet again showcase their prowess as they take down Bigetron RA and in a clean fight where stakes were against them. Bigetron actually knocked two players of T1 and pushed in the open fields but a player from T1 built a temporary cover from smokes and managed to stealthily get the job done.
The early damage dealers like Orange Rock and TSM-Entity took a fairly early exit after their first fight. A few noteworthy plays came from the side of U Level UP. They took down RRQ Athena in the most dominating way, running over two players with a vehicle and grabbing their sweet spot into the final circle.
BOX Gaming also had a promising run until they clashed with Megastars where they crumbled down to pieces when Megastars held their position and with a little bit of vehicle cover, managed to eliminate BOX Gaming. U Level UP analysed kill feed perfectly and pounced on Megastars and won the last map of the day.
U Level UP won the match with 16 kills and 36 points.
Megastars rank second with 5 kills and 19 points.
BOX gaming rank third with 8 kills and 18 points.
Overall Standings:
Synopsis:
BOX Gaming, the Vietnamese powerhouse utterly dominate the first day of grand finale. They were super consistent in their gameplay and now rank at the top of the leaderboards with only a single win. They managed to cross the 100 points mark in a single day, almost half of those points being kills. They had only one bad game but excluding that, this is the best possible finish for any team in grand finals stage.
Bigetron RA rank second on the overall leaderboards. They are well-known for their game play and dominating finishes and they leave no stone unturned as they perform stand upto the expectations and manage to climb the ranks despite a bad finish. U Level UP are performing excellent in this stage. They seem to have overcame their shortcomings and now looking forward to dominate in the finals. They get two wins today but other fairly inconsistent matches put them at the third spot.
Megastars, Orange Rock and Team IND are in the race to come at the top three spot with a very small gap in points table. Anybody can easily make a great play in the upcoming days and skyrocket to the top of leaderboards.
The teams at the bottom half of the table have to make some incredible plays in the next three days. All of these teams have faced against each other throughout the month so they should recognise their mistakes by now and try to improve as soon as possible because this is the stage where underperforming won’t lead you anywhere.
It’s been a dream run for the South Asian region since Ubisoft revised its plans for the ASIA-PACIFIC zone on 17th June 2020.
Today the whole Asian Esports community is in on its feet as 4 best teams from the South Division are representing their countries at Six Major’s South Asian Nationals which include players from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. In the Grand Finale, the two sides competing will have to gamble in a bid to be crowned as the “South Asia Champion” The winner will also earn a spot in the South Division Playoffs where they have to face 3 teams from the Oceanic Nationals Bracket.
With the event already underway, the finalists have been determined featuring Team MercenarieZ and Union Gaming Esports who will now compete in a Best of 5 affair to book themselves a slot at the South Division playoffs.
Prior to today’s schedule, here is the list of Top 4 teams from the South Asian Division who locked horns in today’s event.
KIRA E-sports
Team MonkaS
Union Gaming
Team MercenarieZ
Among these 4 teams, 61% of the staff have represented India, the next 30% enabled have Bangladesh to be on the frontline followed by rest 9% percent who made sure to leave no flaws in their plans as only 2 players from Pakistan have made their whole nation feel supercilious after this feat of theirs.
Earlier today, Team MercenarieZ sent Ishan and his men from MonkaS packing to set up a finale fixture with Union gaming lead by Tasabbir “Sparko” Hashem Easraq and co. Union gaming eased their way past KIRA Esports in the Semi Final #2.
The Grand finale between these two teams will be streamed on 6Siege’s Twitch which is scheduled to start at 5PM IST.
Not only is Pokimane the most followed female streamer on Twitch, but she’s also the streamer with the 6th largest following in the platform with a follower count of well over 5 million.
Through a twitter post on August 5th, the Twitch star has announced that she is taking a month-long break from streaming for the sake of her mental health and well-being.
The 24-year-old streamer has mentioned in her post that the quarantine due to the ongoing pandemic has rendered her unable to meet any of her family or fans, which has consequently taken a toll on her mental health. “This has led to me feeling burnt out for quite some time, and because of that, I’ve been planning to take a month off,” Pokimane said in her post. “I recognize that I’m very lucky to be able to work during a pandemic, however, I still need to do what’s best for my mental health.”
Pokimane also stated how she hasn’t taken a month-long break from streaming ever since she graduated from high school six years ago. “I hope you use this message as a reminder to take care of yourselves,” Poki concluded. “Disconnect from social media, go outside, pick up a new hobby, and hang in there.”
This decision of Pokimane comes only days after popular YouTuber LeafyIsHere has bombarded her with some hefty criticism through his “Content Nuke” and “Content Fallout” videos. Leafy, who’s renowned for his videos on criticising other content creators has elaborated multiple points criticising Poki and her audience. The videos have gone viral on the internet with over a million views each.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7RxRDYSAxU
Another popular YouTuber “CallMeCarson” has, however, supported Poki in her decision to take a break. “I really can’t overstate how important it is to let yourself breathe a little,” Carson said in a reply to her tweet. Carson had also decided to take a break earlier this year, and for similar reasons as Poki mentioned.
Having taken a break earlier this year, I really can’t overstate how important it is to let yourself breathe a little. Enjoy the time off dude 👋
Renowned CSGO pro Jarosław “pashaBiceps” Jarząbkowski has joined Team Liquid as a streamer, and Liquid seems to be more than happy to welcome the 32-year-old in the team.
Team Liquid shared the news with their fans on August 5th, claiming that the team is “getting a buff.” They also shared a tribute video through their Twitter, welcoming the CSGO star and legend in the team as a streamer. The video depicts a comedic group chat between the members of team Liquid where Dauren “AdreN” Kystaubayev suddenly announces the arrival of Pasha to the team. The video also shows some clips of the former Virtus.Pro player getting some insane frags across the maps of CSGO, and even some from VALORANT.
Liquid has explained the joining of Pasha to the team in further details through their official blog, where they hailed pashaBiceps as the man with “the generosity and joviality of Santa Claus” and “the strength and swagger of The Terminator.”
Team Liquid claimed that even though they had to encounter Pasha in the opposing team for many years, it was difficult to not cheer for him. “Luckily for us that’s no longer going to be a problem and we know Pasha will fit in perfectly with us here at Team Liquid,” the blog post said.
Pasha himself has also mentioned that he is very happy to be a part of Team Liquid after all the years of existing rivalry.
In the latest VALORANT patch 1.05, Riot has introduced a free-for-all 10-player deathmatch mode for their competitive shooter which the players have been demanding for quite some time. The much-anticipated game mode was still under testing till now, but Riot has finally made the FFA Deathmatch live on American servers, while the rest of the world still has to wait a few more hours to enjoy the new mode.
FFA deathmatch [BETA] will be turning on in…
NOW! [10AM PT] for NA/BR/LATAM +4HRS [2PM PT] for KR/JP/OCE/APAC +7HRS [5pm PT] for EU/TR/CIS/RU
We're seeing high player turnout for the start of Act II, and will prioritize Spike mode server capacity/performance first.
The Deathmatch mode features a free-for-all game of 10 players where the first player to reach 30 kills wins. The time limit for each game is set to 6 minutes, but the game ends whenever a player reaches the 30-kill limit.
At the start of each game, the players are assigned to a random agent among the ones they already own. However, the agents can’t use any of their abilities.
Weapons can be bought at will, and Heavy Armor is automatically given to every player at the time of spawn.
Killing an enemy in this game mode drops health kits which, when picked up, gives full health and armor to the players while also reloading their weapons with full ammo.
The locations of all players are also periodically revealed on the minimap.
This new game mode is set to provide a stress-free environment for players to practice the game while also enabling them to refine their skills and develop their aim before hopping onto a ranked game of VALORANT.