February 9, 2010 by Chapree
Recently, Electronic Sports World Cup organization updated its official website and added two more official games to its initial list that was released back in November last year. Unveiled together are the platforms for each games.
With that, the official division for ESWC this year has increased to 11:
PC
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike Woman
Trackmania Nations
Warcraft III
*NEW* DoTA
*NEW* Quake Live
PlayStation 3
FIFA 2010
Xbox 360
Guitar Hero 5
Need for Speed: SHIFT
Street Fighter IV
Virtua Tennis 2009
Now that the platforms for each games has been determined, this update is definitely going to affect ESWC Malaysia 2010 (if it does happens; no official confirmation so far) official games list. While all games might be played in the end, but what more important question is which game will offer a spot to Paris?
We hope that question will be answered soon.
Electronic Sports World Cup - Official Website | Facebook
Posted in Electronic Sports World Cup, Events, International eSports 
6 Comments »
February 9, 2010 by Chapree
Why only Xbox 360 owners can enjoy this beautiful Ferrari FXX in NFS:SHIFT? EA, you so cruel. 
Each year - when the time comes for yet another new Need for Speed game - one of the most common questions and debate in our forum is always about the absence of Ferrari in the game. Their concerns has finally been answered, Ferrari are back in NFS, through a DLC pack for Need for Speed: SHIFT.
The last time Ferrari appeared in NFS was back in Hot Pursuit 2, around 8 years ago. So, it is a long time coming. Here are the list of cars available in the pack:
1. 1996 Ferrari F50 GT
2. 2005 Ferrari F430 Spider
3. 2005 Ferrari FXX
4. 2005 Ferrari Superamerica
5. 2006 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
6. 2006 Ferrari F430 Challenge (Online/Quick event only)
7. 2006 Ferrari F430 GTC (Online/Quick event only)
8. 2007 Ferrari 430 Scuderia
9. 2008 Ferrari California
10. 2008 Ferrari 16M Scuderia Spider
The Ferrari Racing Series pack not only features lickable machines from the Italian outfit but also, a new Ferrari World Tour series, specifically for all those prancing horses. There is one problem though…this pack is exclusive for Xbox 360 only. Why EA, why???? 
The pack will drop at the Xbox LIVE Marketplace on 18th February and is priced at 800 Microsoft Points. More screenshot to weep, after the jump.
[source and images: Need For Speed Official Website]
Need for Speed: SHIFT - Official Website | Lowyat.NET Forums - [PC] [Xbox 360] [PlayStation]
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Posted in Consoles / Handheld, Microsoft, Upcoming Releases 1 Comment »
February 9, 2010 by Chapree
After months of planning, our friends at Spotgamers has finally announced that the Spotgamers E-Sports League (SPG-ESL) is now ready for prime time. The inaugural season of the league will take place at its official venue - Autosurf Cybercafe, Taman Taynton View, Cheras - in March and April 2010.
The SPG-ESL in essence is a seasonal professional invitational league that features two games: DoTA and FIFA 10. Each season takes 2 months to be completed and as the name specifies, participations are only by invitation basis. That being said, teams and players are invited to submit their details to be reviewed for selection.
So, the prizes. Each players and teams in this league will not go empty handed. All in all, there are RM 3550 and RM 9000 worth of cash prizes for FIFA and DOTA respectively.
Top 3 players in FIFA will receive something extra though either in terms of holiday trip for the champion and FIFA’10/FIFA World Cup 2010 original game for the other two. Meanwhile, for 9th to 18th position in FIFA, they will not received cash prizes though but instead, they’ll be awarded with sponsored prizes.
This is not the usual run-of-the-mill weekly league, so be ready to commit your time if you are interested to participate. SPG-ESL are currently accepting participants profile for reviewing until 11:59 pm of 21st February 2010. Hit these links for more details.
Spotgamers E-Sports League is presented by FTEC Technology, with the support of Sendi Mutiara Multimedia, Gamers Dotcom and Electronic Sports Professionals.
Spotgamers E-Sports League - Official Website | Lowyat.NET Forums
Posted in Events, Local eSports, PC No Comments »
February 8, 2010 by Chapree
Alright, the follow-up information for the recently announced Crossfire Intel Challenge 7 Malaysian Edition (CIC7.MY) has finally been announced. First off, let’s go to the prize pool.
Since that CIC7.MY is run independently with majority of the organizing cost is absorbed by the organizing themselves, 80% of the registration fee will go to the prize pot. Hence, the more number of participants, the higher the prize pot will be:
Team Games (CS1.6, CoD4 - ProMod)
8 Teams - RM 1000 1st Place
16 Teams - RM 2000 1st Place
24 Teams - RM 3000 1st Place
32 Teams - RM 4000 1st Place
Individual Games (Quake Live)
8 Players - RM 200 1st Place
16 Players - RM 400 1st Place
24 Players - RM 600 1st Place
32 Players - RM 800 1st Place
Now, moving on to the registration process. It’s a little bit lengthy to explain here, so do read them in full at our forums HERE. Don’t take it lightly as incomplete registrations will be thrown into the bin. So, make sure complete details of each team member, including SUBS must be filled in.
In terms of registration fee, it is RM 30 per person and RM 150 per team. While the fees might be considered quite high for an event that offers considerably low prize money even though there’s an Intel name there, note again that this event is community-runned. hence the “small” prize money . There is a very comprehensive explaination by the tournament organizer, so do RTFM before saying any nasty thing yah…
Registration will be closed at 11:55 pm on 28th February 2010 and this event is open to everybody regardless of their nationality. As usual, for more information of CIC7.MY, hit all the links below.
Crossfire Intel Challenge 7 Malaysian Edition - Lowyat.NET Forums | Facebook
Posted in Events, International eSports, Local eSports, Online Games, PC No Comments »
February 8, 2010 by Chapree
“Eh, CS lah…no no, I’m a Quakie now…” - nitroN.
Recently, DuskBin announced the formation of their Quake Live division and has roped in former CGS KL Taufan and FMJ Counter-Strike/Sudden Attack player, Kong Chian “nitroN” Lian as the first member of their new division.
Just as soon as his arrival at the team was announced, DuskBin has enlist him to compete at an international tournament, the Intel Extreme Masters Asian Finals which took place last weekend at Taipei Game Show 2010, Taiwan.
This is how he fares during the tournament:
Group B
- vs. proZaC (Sweden): 0 - 2 (- 2: 22, 2 : 19)
- vs. MUSTAINE (Taiwan): 1 - 2 (16 : 6, 2 : 10, 7 : 8 )
- vs. uNleashed (Japan): 0 - 2 (2 : 17, 2 : 22)
As you can see, nitroN lost all his group matches, hence not enable to move to the playoff stage and ended the tournament as the 7th place finisher. However, he not going home empty handed though as he received RM 517 (USD 150) for his efforts.
The Intel Extreme Masters Asian Finals - Quake Live was eventually won by 4K^Jibo of China.
[results and image: Intel Extreme Master Asian Finals Official Website]
DuskBin - Official Website
Quake Live - Official Website | Lowyat.NET Forums
Posted in Events, International eSports, Local eSports, Online Games, PC No Comments »
February 5, 2010 by Chapree
Time to move on, is it?
This year would mark the 9th anniversary of the original Xbox v1 release in North America. However, beginning 15 April 2010, these console will no longer be able to plug into Xbox LIVE as Microsoft has decided to terminate the service for the console, which has been fully discontinued in late 2008.
The discontinuation of the service is also applies to Xbox 1 games that are playable on Xbox 360, which is a little bit bummer. According to Xbox Live’s general manager, Marc Whitten, the team is currently working on enhancing the system more which unfortunately, are not compatible with the ole’ Xbox v1.
Losing the service from the console is actually fine since it was already too obsolete but is there no any other way to exclude those Xbox v1 games on Xbox 360 from the decision? Got to pity those Halo 2 players, man. Well, progress does demand some sacrifices at times…
[source: Major Nelson via Kotaku]
Xbox - Official Website | Lowyat.NET Forums
Posted in Consoles / Handheld, International, Microsoft No Comments »
February 5, 2010 by Chapree
Can’t wait. <3
The wait is now over, Video Games Live is indeed coming to town. The concert’s official website has updated its 2010 tour listing today and listed out these details:
Date: Saturday, 17th April 2010
Venue: Kuala Lumpur Convention Center
Performing Orchestra: National Symphony Orchestra
However, the ticketing information are still pending. We are going to let you know when the time comes. 
On a side note, TPK observed that the VGL in Malaysia somehow coincide with WCG Malaysia 2010 Kuala Lumpur Qualifier which is to be held together with the PC Fair. Looks like KL Convention Center is going to be packed to the brim on that weekend with not only shoppers, but also gamers!
Video Games Live - Official Website | Lowyat.NET Forums - [1] [2] [3]
Posted in Events, Local News 2 Comments »
February 3, 2010 by Chapree
Can this guy make it as a professional gamer in such a short time? Mmm…mmm….
Do you has ever thought whenever you saw CGS on ASTRO and said to yourself, “I can do that too,”? Well then, we would like to suggest you this show then.
Apparently MBCGame has put up a show which capture the ins and outs of Kim Hyung Jun, a member of a Korean boy band called SS501, as he try to prove his worth and skills to become a professional gamer. The show is basically a crash course into the Korean professional competitive Starcraft scene which is no doubt, the best and the toughest professional competitive gaming scene in the world.
So, here what we learned from the first episode:
- Kim Hyung Jun is a bit cocky. (sorry to fangirls everywhere)
- You need a license to be a professional gamer in Korea. Heck, even a semi-pro need a license.
- MBCGame TV studio is awesome.
- Minimum (a.k.a required) practice time for a player in professional outfit is 8 hours. Players usually go for 14 or 15 hours.
- MBCGame Hero training facility is awesome…with a scary manager, Ha Tae Ki.
- Oh, there’s GG timing too.
- The very basic thing in Starcraft is cost and supplies.
- The 9 pool speedling build order goes like this: make 9 drones, make a Spawning Pool, make another drone, then you build gas, then you build an Overlord, then you make a drones, put drones in gas, then take them one by one once you get 88 gas, get speed when you get 100 gas, make lings and attack.
While we might sound a bit harsh, we actually love the show! Not only it was hillarious, the translations by the TL Fansub team was quite excellent too. So, we totally recommand it. Take a look of the show’s first episode HERE.
[source: Team Liqiud via Beyond The Game. Photo by Candy Koo, taken from Triple S Philippines Blog]
MBCGame Hero - Official Website
Starcraft II - Official Website | Lowyat.NET Forums
Posted in International eSports, Random 1 Comment »
February 3, 2010 by Chapree
Ready or not, Alienware’s baby monster - the M11X - is about to drop into town very soon.
Announced recently at CES’09, we has just found out that the Alienware laptops catalogue at Dell Malaysia’s site has been updated to include the new and furious M11X.
Spotting a price tag of RM 3,499 onwards, we reckoned that the specs are superbly attractive. Although there were not much customization options available, whatever available for the 11-incher are already good enough to kick some butt.
We would like spill more details about the laptop specs at Dell Malaysia’s site but then, we have more of the lowdown coming your way soon via our coverage of the recent Dell media event in Singapore. So, do keep a look of it at Lowyat.NET frontpage.
Alienware Gaming Laptops - Dell Malaysia | Lowyat.NET Forums
Posted in Gossip Time!, Hardware, PC, Upcoming Releases No Comments »
February 3, 2010 by Chapree
U.S Air Force - powered by PS3.
Powered by the mighty Cell processor developed together by Sony, Toshiba and IBM; the Sony PlayStation 3 is too powerful for its own good. So, the U.S Air Force is going to built a supercomputer with a couple of PS3…2,000 of them, to be exact.
The reason why the most advanced air force in the world is using PS3s as their supercomputer is due to its cheap cost and the low amount of energy need to power it. Not to forget, the cluster is also running on Linux which most probably doesn’t cost them much.
The combined PS3s - which has been named the 500 TeraFLOPS Heterogeneous Cluster - will be used for a number of applications such as Back Projection Synthetic Aperture Radar Imager formation, high definition video image processing, and Neuromorphic Computing. Nope, we have no idea what all those means except the HD processing.
All in all, this means that the PS3 supercomputer will be used only for research, not for active on-ground duty or anything. That means probability of an accidental nuclear warhead launch is close to zero. Stop digging that nuclear shelter, you.
[source: Star and Stripes, via PerformanceTrap.org and Good Gaming. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Air Force]
Posted in Consoles / Handheld, Development, Hardware, Random, Sony No Comments »
February 3, 2010 by Chapree
Remember this nifty racing game from Nokia? Turns out that the game is currently available at Ovi Store for free!
However, the game - which converts GPS maps into a racing arena - F.O.C price tag will not last forever. So, do download it now (if you Nokia device supports it) before the offer finishes. If you need some convincing, check out the game’s trailer, right after the break.
[source: Nokia via Nokia Music Malaysia]
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Posted in Mobile, New Releases 2 Comments »
January 27, 2010 by Chapree
Terror in the snow.
So, Gears of War series is made by Epic and Lost Planet 2 is from Capcom. As you can see, they are two totally different companies. Not to mention, they are also come from different continent as Epic is from US and Capcom is based in Japan.
So, why Marcus and Dom from Gears series suddenly appeared in the upcoming Lost Planet 2? Apparently, both companies are big fans of each other. According to Gears’ designer, Cliffy B; Capcom contacted Epic for a possible cameo and from there, they just make it happen. As easy as that.
The results was shown through the latest LP2 trailer. To our eyes, it seems that Capcom rendering of the two characters were not as detailed as it was in Gears. But then who cares? Bring on the Lancer’s chainsaw yeeehaaaww! >:)
Lost Planet 2 is scheduled to be released in May 2010. Oh btw, the Gears characters are exclusive for only Xbox 360 version of the game.
[Source and images: Kotaku, thanks to RedbullY2K]
Lost Planet 2 - Official Website (Japanese)
Posted in Consoles / Handheld, Microsoft, Upcoming Releases 1 Comment »
January 27, 2010 by Chapree
It is cooomingg!
If you not familiar with Video Games Live (VGL), it is a series of orchestra concerts that tours around the globe featuring tunes from a lot of game that we all are familiar and loves. Mario, Zelda, Halo, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid and etc; has all been featured in the concert.
The nearest that VGL has ever been to our country was at Singapore, back in June last year. That doesn’t mean they don’t have love for Malaysia though as Kuala Lumpur has been listed on their official website’s tour page since January 2009 but then, the “TBC” status has never changed until recently. Apparently, its now “Coming Soon“. Oh boy.
Will we finally able to check out the concert on our own hometurf? We certainly hope so. We do have one request for VGL people though…can you guys bring along Steve Vai*? Pretty please? With sugar on top?
*He was responsible for the aw-shred-some that is the Halo Theme (MJOLNIR Mix). Here’s a video of his guest performance at VGL.
[Credit to Zerg1008]
Video Games Live - Official Website | Lowyat.NET Forums
Posted in Events, Gossip Time!, International, Local News 9 Comments »
January 26, 2010 by Chapree
The torch is ready to be lit up once again!
After the downscale of WCG Malaysia 2009, many has expressed their concerns on the fate of the country’s longest competitive gaming event. Fear not, the tournament is not going anywhere as the WCG Malaysia 2010 has been confirmed!
The announcement was made by the National ICT Association of Malaysia (PIKOM) whom is now the new national organizer of WCG Malaysia. The revelation, which was made known on their official website last week, also listed quite a number of details:
- Regional Qualifiers will start from April 2010 onwards, at several PC Fair around the country:
- Johor: 2 - 4 April
- Penang: 8 - 10 April
- Kuala Lumpur: 16 - 18 April
- Sabah: 7 - 9 May
- National Finals will take place on 16 to 18 July 2010 at Mid Valley Exhibition Center.
In addition to these WCG-related events, PIKOM will also have a side event called PIKOM-WCG Expo together with the National Finals in July later. We have no idea how’s the expo looks like but judging from the announcement, maybe its something similar to PC Fair.
While there are still a lot of tiny-tiny details that are yet to be revealed by PIKOM, we are pretty excited that WCG Malaysia is going to be held again this year and we also have high hopes for the new organizers to restore the tournament’s glory. Well, all the best to them!
[credit to Auricom and TPK]
PIKOM - Official Website | WCG Malaysia 2010 @ Lowyat.NET Forums
Posted in Events, Local eSports, WCG Malaysia 4 Comments »
January 21, 2010 by Chapree
Let’s contribute to the cause, guys.
The renowned developer of Halo franchise, Bungie has made a urgent call of help to all Halo players all across the globe, in the wake of the recent earthquake in Haiti. The company is looking into raising donations to help the relief efforts at the quake stricken country.
There are three ways that you can contribute to the cause: get the “Be A Hero” special edition t-shirt, purchase stuff from Bungie.net merch shop or just play Halo 3 or Halo 3:ODST online on Xbox Live. While the first two options might be hard for Malaysian gamers to fulfill, playing the game online shouldn’t be any problem for any hardcore players out there. 
This is the reason why you should play: for every thousand players that participated in the effort, Bungie will contribute RM 337 (USD 100) on behalf of both the company Bungie and Halo community to the American Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti. Bungie will continue to contribute through this mean until the amount reaches RM 260,067 (USD 77,000).
You have until 3:59 pm* on Friday, 22nd January 2010 to jump into Xbox Live and contribute to the cause. Do read the full instructions HERE before setting on to the arena to ensure that your contributions will be counted.
*Malaysian Standard Time
[source and images: Bungie.net and XBOXNIZAM via Xbox 360 Singapore]
Bungie - Official Website
Lowyat.NET Forums - Xbox 360 | Halo 3: ODST
Posted in Consoles / Handheld, Events, International, Local News, Microsoft No Comments »
Chapree
