MANILA, Philippines – What would be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a cockroach? A disgusting creature that ought to be killed immediately. Not to University of the Philippines Los Baños Museum of Natural History (UPLB-MNH) insect taxonomist and entomologist Cristian Lucañas, who led the team that discovered the now-viral Nocticola pheromosa species – named after the Pokémon Pheromosa – found in Singapore.  “I actually am thrilled and I hope that this could help change people’s perspectives on cockroaches,” he told Rappler when asked for his initial reaction to the po ..read more

MANILA, Philippines – Those of us who grew up with the PlayStation during its era of pirated games in the late ‘90s and early aughts are probably better equipped now to be able to financially support a gaming hobby.  But even then, when I think about it, it’s really quite an investment to get into PlayStation’s VR platform, represented today by the next generation PS VR2, the follow up to 2016’s original PS VR. First you need to find a PS5 (easier to find one now, we heard!) and fork over P30,995. Then a PS VR2 will set you back another P34,790. That means you need around P66,000 to get i ..read more

MANILA, Philippines – It’s not every day you see someone discovering a new wild Pokémon in real life. A new cockroach species, named Nocticola pheromosa, was discovered at the Bukit Timah nature reserve in Singapore, as described on an article in the Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology on February 27. It was named after a Pokémon known as Pheromosa whose “design and color may have been inspired by the American cockroach that has molted,” the journal article said. The discovery was made by a team led by Cristian C. Lucañas, an entomologist at the University of the Philippines Los Baños Museum of ..read more

MANILA, Philippines – Kyedae Shymko, a famous content creator who streams Valorant for 100 Thieves, announced on Friday, March 3, that she was diagnosed with cancer. The streamer said in a tweet that she is dealing with acute myeloid leukemia, which is a type of cancer where the bone marrow produces a lot of abnormal blood cells. Hi everyone, I’ve recently been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (cancer). I’ll be starting up treatment very soon. With that being said I’m not too sure how my body will react to the treatment so I do apologize in advance if my stream schedule isn’t consistent ..read more

MANILA, Philippines – It’s good news for trainers in the Paldea region as The Pokémon Company released some updates about the game world during their “Pokémon Presents” event to celebrate Pokémon Day on Monday, February 27.  Downloadable content (DLC) is coming for the Nintendo Switch game Pokémon Scarlet and Violet through a series called “The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero.” The DLC will be released in two parts – “The Teal Mask” and “The Indigo Disk” – which are set for release in Fall and Winter 2023, respectively, on the Nintendo eShop.  “The Teal Mask” will focus on the trainers ..read more

LONDON, United Kingdom – Britain placed another hurdle in the way of Microsoft’s $69-billion mega purchase of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard, saying it could harm gamers by weakening the rivalry between Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Wednesday the biggest-ever deal in gaming, announced a year ago, could result in higher prices, fewer choices, and less innovation for millions of players, as well as stifling competition in cloud gaming. It said Activision’s flagship Call of Duty franchise was important in driving ..read more

Video game adaptations have long had to fight the misguided notion that they can be more than just campy, lowbrow entertainment, with the majority being either so-bad-it’s-good romps or commercial failures, panned by fans and critics alike. So much so there’s a belief that Hollywood has some sort of video game movie curse preventing it from ever putting out a successful adaptation. It wasn’t until these recent years when the conversation changed, and many realized that the characters and stories from video games can actually work on another medium. While HBO’s The Last of Us greatly helped in ..read more

MANILA, Philippines – HBO’s The Last of Us, an adaptation of Naughty Dog’s celebrated video game, premiered on Monday, January 16, Philippine time, and, true to expectations, it made viewers emotional.  The much-anticipated series has received universal praise from critics, with a 99% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, as of writing. Rappler’s Carljoe Javier in his review lauds how the series “is committed not necessarily to the specifics of its source material, but rather to its thematic aspirations.” He added that based on the first episode alone, it has the potential ..read more

BRUSSELS, Belgium – Microsoft is likely to receive an EU antitrust warning about its $69 billion bid for Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard, people familiar with the matter said, that could pose another challenge to completing the deal. The European Commission is readying a charge sheet known as a statement of objections setting out its concerns about the deal which will be sent to Microsoft in the coming weeks, the people said. The EU antitrust watchdog, which has set an April 11 deadline for its decision on the deal, declined to comment. Microsoft said: “We’re continuing to work wit ..read more

JAKARTA, Indonesia – There will be at least one Filipino in the grand finals of the Mobile Legends M4 World Championship. All four teams in the upper bracket semifinals are guided by Filipino coaches, led by Kristoffer “Bon Chan” Ricaplaza of defending world champion Blacklist International and Harold “Tictac” Reyes of Echo. The two other Filipino coaches are Denver “Yeb” Miranda and Michael “Arcadia” Bocado of Indonesian squads Onic Esports and RRQ Hoshi, respectively. “I think it just shows that Filipinos are flexible and are able to adapt to different cultures and different strategies,” sai ..read more