The Gamer Guide - Issue 4

The Preamble So, you have stumbled across The Gamer Guide and you are wondering, “Why do I need a guide to gaming?” Well, we will not guide you on how to game, but we will keep you informed as to what the gaming industry has to offer to get you the best gaming experience! Now, the second thing you are probably wondering is, “How did The Gamer Guide start?” Well, it can be a slightly long story. However, the shortened version is that the journey of three Twitch streamers brought them together, and with their passion for gaming, their experiences of streaming, and their love for everything within the world of entertainment… The Gamer Guide was born.

But what exactly is The Gamer Guide? The Gamer Guide is a digital magazine that focuses on everything gaming and streaming. This includes the latest/upcoming releases, reviews on gaming accessories, streaming tips, and even interviews with streamers and industry professionals from across the globe. Our readership is predominantly other gamers and steamers, just like us! We understand that the love and passion for gaming extends far beyond just playing a game, and that is what we are all about!

So, who are the people behind this magazine?

Josh Hyland - Managing Director Josh, also known as DifferentialUK (or Diff for short!) has been a gamer since he could walk and has been streaming since September 2020. He started PC gaming as a kid, and moved his way through the various consoles, but has returned to the PC master race and is very much a PC gamer (although he still has his Xbox to hand!) His go to games include Sea of Thieves, Destiny 2, Gears of War, but as a variety streamer/gamer he has a wide genre range.

Aside from the gaming and streaming world, Josh is also a beatboxer & Singer performing in venues across the country, and also runs an automotive Twitch series called Hard Drive Auto Show.

Emily Welfare - Creative Director Emily, also known as CreativeTrashGaming, started streaming in the latter half of 2020 with the goal of bringing a bit of joy and laughter to the world, as well as the aim of raising money for various charities.

Her favourite types of games are those with a compelling story, or those that just make her inner Fantasy Nerd go ballistic. She also likes spooky stuff, not just in the gaming realm but in general, and has a podcast with her two sisters where they discuss all things horror. Emily loves to dabble in the art world often, creating digital art pieces and learning new crafts. A graphics designer in her full time job, Emily is an integral part of the team whom designs the entire layout of our magazines from top to bottom!

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Cal Howie - Operations Director Cal, also known as EyeStayProd has been streaming since September 2020 and loves everything about it whether it be the community, the rage moments or even just having fun and brightening people’s days!

Predominantly he is an Xbox Gamer and recently added the Series X to his arsenal, but he also has a PS4 for certain games as well as having the Nintendo Switch to hand!

His game of choice is Apex Legends but is no stranger to RPGs and other games, such as every Pokémon game in the franchise, the Fable Series, Call of Duty amongst loads more.

Brandon Sawyer - Content Director Brandon, also known as Sawyers Gaming Central or Sawyer for short has been streaming since April 2020 and absolutely loves everything about it from the communities to the gameplays and reactions even a couple of rages thrown in there on a couple of occasions, but mostly he just loves to have fun and make people laugh which he can be quite hilarious at times!

Predominantly he is an Xbox Gamer where he mostly plays his Xbox Series X but also has a gaming pc, a Nintendo switch, and even a Playstation. Sawyer is mainly a variety streamer with his main love is Gears of war and RPGs due to sawyers background he has come on board with The Gamer Guide as the Content Director, so I’m sure you’ll all learn to love this familiar face so don’t hesitate to pop by and say hi!

Zak Crownshaw - Head of Tech Zak, who first began as an avid console gamer dating back to days of the SNES before the big change in 2013 when he built his first Gaming PC, following the launch of the Early Access program on Steam, playing games such as DayZ, H1Z1 and more recently Scum.

Little did he know that the building of this very PC would later develop to what is his favourite pastime, whether that be entry level or enthusiast building; custom bespoke modifying or simply trying and testing the latest hardware and equipment.

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contents upcoming releases

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women in games

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Govee

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Venom

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battlerigs

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Nectar

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gamescom recap

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playstation showcase

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nintendo direct

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sable - game review

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nba 2k22 - game review

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kena: bridge of spirits - game review

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sweeettails

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justfoxii

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katiepeircee

Property of Guerrilla Games

Credit: Nintendo

upcoming RELEASES Find out about the upcoming titles that are due to be released in October - November 2021

October Alan Wake Remastered Platform: PS5, PS4, Abox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC Developer: Remedy Entertainment Release date: 5th October 2021

Far Cry 6

Platform: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, PC, Stadia Developer: Ubisoft Toronto Release date: 7th October 2021

Credit: Turtle Rock Studios

Back 4 Blood Platform: PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Seies X/S, PC Developer: Turtle Rock Studios Release date: 12th October 2021

The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes Platform: PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbos Series X/S, PC Developer: Supermassive Games Release date: 21st October 2021

Credit: Supermassive Games

Marvel’s Guardians of The Galaxy

Platform: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC, Switch Developer: Eidos Montreal - Square Enix Release date: 26th October 2021

Solar Ash

Platform: PS5, PS4, PC Developer: Heart Machine Release date: 26th October 2021

Credit: Square Enix

November Call of Duty: Vanguard Platform: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC Developer: Activision Release date: 5th November 2021

Forza Horizon 5

Credit: Activision

Platform: Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC Developer: Playground Games Release date: 9th November 2021

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond Platform: Switch Developer: Nintendo Release date: 19th November 2021 Credit: Playground Games

Pokemon Shining Pearl Platform: Switch Developer: Nintendo Release date: 19th November 2021

Battlefield 2042 Platform: PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC Developer: DICE Release date: 19th November 2021 Credit: Ubisoft

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Credit: Nintendo

Credit: Ubisoft

Women in games (an opinion piece from a woman who plays games] In this issue of The Gamer Guide, we decided that we wanted to, alongside our company features and reviews, celebrate women in games by featuring female streamers and asking for their opinions on the world of gaming. Why, you ask?

Given the current climate in the industry with Activision Blizzard, among other equally terrible issues that desperately need to be addressed, it has been a subject that has played on mine and quite a few others minds lately. Whilst I do not work in the gaming industry, I am a streamer, and have been gaming for as long as I can remember. I can confidently say that I have experienced my fair share of abuse just for being female, and it honestly baffles me how such awful things are still happening to women in games despite all of the movements and small progress that has been made. I do find myself thinking though, is it bad that I am also not entirely surprised?

Whilst my experiences are somewhat mild in comparison to others, it aggravates me that when speaking about said experiences, other women will chime in and say “I have had the exact same thing happen to me,” or something similar. Now, this is not to say that every toxic remark I have ever received is gender-motivated, because it is not. Unfortunately, toxicity exists in every community, and everyone has had the odd person sending an awful message after a match or screaming at them over game chat. No, I am talking about the experiences that I KNOW were gender-motivated.

Having spoken to many different women who play games and are in the industry, it is honestly shocking how quickly we can agree on having the same experiences. A prime example is game chat.

Many women, including myself, want to actively take part in a competitive game and particpate in call-outs, but feel too afraid to speak due to being actively bullied the moment the team discover we are, indeed, female. Having had this very thing happen to me, it honestly breaks my heart to know that other women have felt too afraid to fully enjoy the competitive experience because of a handful of individuals.

This, of course, extends to women who work in the industry, and also women who stream. The ongoing investigations at Activision Blizzard, as well as other investigations and allegations that have come forward in other companies are, quite frankly, heinous. Not only is this reports of abuse, but also reports of opportunities being stripped away due to the persons gender. These companies claim to have made changes to make things better, but is that entirely true? Will women be treated with the same respect at their jobs, and be put up for the same opportunities as their male counterparts?

My question is, why is it that we have come to expect abuse when we play games? Why is it that when we hear another awful story about a woman being treated poorly at her dream job in the industry, we feel awful but also don’t feel overly surprised? This isn’t a feeling we should be familiar with, or come to expect. Women should feel safe to play and work in games.

Respect is universal, not just towards certain individuals.

To read more about how other women feel about certain issues in the gaming world, head over to our exclusive interviews with some great streamers!

Written by: Emily Welfare

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Govee is a brand who is famous for their incredible highquality LED lighting systems. Whether it’s to amp up your gaming set up, create more immersion when watching movies, or just simply providing some ambient lighting for your room, Govee has an amazing collection of lighting systems for you to try! We were lucky to get an interview with Beatrice Wang at Govee, who has shed some light on the company and their plans for the future.

Hey Beatrice! Thanks for speaking with us! Firstly, could you provide me with some insight into your history in terms of career, how you came to be in, not only the gaming industry, but also the lighting industry. What made you decide that these industries are right for you?

Previously, I had been working at DJI as a content manager for 5 years. When I first learned about drones and aerial photography, I was fascinated about it and dedicated to bringing this new technology to everyone and inspire them to create more. While the consumer UAV technology develops to its mature stage, the smart LED lighting industry starts to take a leap. One day, a friend sent me a gift, which was an LED strip light. That was my first time seeing such a light that can be controlled via an app, which allows me to change any color I want. At that moment, this little gadget literally brightened my day.

Smart LED lights change people’s everyday life by echoing their home atmosphere. I think it means a lot as these fascinating lighting effects enhance their entertainment experiences, making parties and family get togethers more exciting and memorable, turning their mundane life to a delightful one, especially during this special period when most of us have to spend most of our time at home.

What is your take on the gaming industry & accessory industry now especially as we are coming out of a Global pandemic? Is it an exciting space to be working in? Is there a lot of competition to deal with?

The pandemic brought huge opportunities to the smart home industry as people spend more time at home, not just working but also playing games along with other entertaining activities. Once some users upgrade their gaming setups with smart LED lights, others will have the desire to do the same. Also, with the increased broadcasting of live streams, we start to see more and more streamers using smart LED lights to create the right vibe for their streaming rooms.

The competition becomes intense in the LED market.

However, what sets Govee apart from other competitors is our technology and product accessibility. Unlike most competitors in the market gaining market shares with

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extremely low prices, we are proud of ourselves for balancing product quality and price by investing a lot in R&D just to provide users the best quality and the coolest technology without charging an arm and a leg.

Briefly introduce me to Govee. (e.g. a brief overview of the company, your main focus, products, locations etc).

Established in November 2017, Govee has become a leader in the smart lighting and smart home industry, creating cutting-edge LED lights and appcontrolled devices that transform the traditional ways of living. Featuring RGBIC technology for vivid lighting effects and smart controls, Govee lights lift both everyday life and the entertainment experience to the next level. With its 6.6 million users worldwide, Govee has won its reputation by delivering premium smart LED lights and the best in community and service.

What, for you, differentiates Govee from other similar companies operating within the same industries as yourselves?

Technology always comes the first. For example, while our competitors still make monochromatic RGB LED lights, we took a step further to create a patented RGBIC (RGB Independent Control) technology which allows users to enjoy multiple rainbow-like colors at a time.

We also put a lot of efforts to build our Govee Home App, this app not only serves as tool to control lights, but there is a huge community where users around the world can share their creations and feedback to inspire each other and give us a lot of ideas regarding product optimization.

As a company that has a focus on technology, how do you ensure growth moving forward? How important is innovation, and do you feel that you would rate your social media presence as one of your priorities?

We will continue to upgrade our R&D team, increase the number of patents, and challenge ourselves to innovate and launch more new products where there were once none.

Social media is the most important platform to let people know us more, to interact with them, and inspire them to create more with our products.

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Are there any past projects or achievements that you’re particularly proud of which you’d like to highlight in the article?

Yes. Govee Immersion TV Backlight are one of our proudest accomplishments. Two of our Immersion TV Backlight videos went viral on TikTok to achieve a combined 13 million views, making it our best seller of the year.

Looking ahead, what does the rest of the year bring, what are the plans and projects for 2022?

We will continue to surprise gamers with more exciting lights in different designs and more fascinating lighting effects. Gaming lights will be a priority in our roadmap next year.

social media and streaming platforms such as Twitch and Youtube Live. We are also working with Razer, a gaming accessory brand, to create something thrill gamers next year.

On a personal note, are you a gamer, and if so what is your gaming platform choice, what is your go to game, and what really excites you about the gaming world?

Due to my busy work schedule, I don’t have the opportunity to play a lot of games. When I do, I enjoy gaming with my friends. During the early months of the pandemic, that was the best way for us to spend time together.

Multi-player titles such as Super Smash Bros Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch and Borderlands 3 on Steam are some of my favorites. Nowadays, it’s not just playing games that’s the most exciting, but it’s the communities you build along the way, especially with the growing popularity of esports.

I have no doubt that the gaming industry will continue to evolve. Gamers and businesses have a lot to look forward to in the future.

Thank you so much for your time, Beatrice!

We can’t wait to see what amazing ideas and products Govee create in the future!

With your growing community and social presence, do you run a sponsorship or brand ambassador program? If so, could you name a few, and how important are they to the growth and success of the business?

We have Govee ambassadors in our app. They bring users together as a whole and help us make the community a harmonious place where everyone feels comfortable sharing their opinions. They contribute quite a lot to enhance user brand loyalty.

We are now partnering with CLG, a North America esports team, to create cobranded RGBIC LED lighting products for gamers, and collaborate on marketing campaigns across

If you are interested in any Govee products, you can check them out at: www.govee.com www.amazon.co.uk/govee You can also follow Govee: Instagram: @goveeofficial Twitter: @GoveeOfficial

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Whenever you decide to get into gaming, beit on Xbox, PS, PC, Nintendo, or whatever platform calls to you, there will always be added extras. It can be as simple as a mouse mat, all the way up to new controllers. Accessories are vital to our gaming experience.

Venom has solidified itself as the affordable gaming accessory brand for the UK. Since 1999, Venom has been designing and manufacturing gaming accessories that enhance the gaming experience. We spoke with Dee Lever - Marketing Manager to find out more.

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Hey Dee! Thanks for speaking with us!

Firstly, could you provide me with some insight into your history in terms of career, how you came to be in, not only the gaming industry, but also the gaming accessories industry. What made you decide that these industries are right for you?

I made the decision early on in my career that I would only work for brands that I have a real passion for, and a product or service that I truly believe in. In my previous role I worked for a well-known streaming service; my main responsibility was organising ads to display on the Xbox and PlayStation platforms. This really interested me as, as a gamer myself, I was communicating with people I could relate to.

I started my role at Venom as their Marketing Manager early this year and as cheesy as it sounds, I really was drawn in by the team’s dedication to the brand and it’s customers.

The team here is fairly small, and we are like one big family. When developing new products, everyone groups together to brainstorm, aligned with the one vision to empower gamers and enhance the gaming experience. We take all our customers’ feedback on board and use this to constantly innovate and improve.

Awesome! It’s great to hear that it’s not just another job but actually something you’re passionate about! What is your take on the gaming industry & accessory industry now especially as we are coming out of a UK lockdown? Is it an exciting space to be working in? Is there a lot of competition to deal with?

It’s a super exciting space to be working in! The business saw a huge demand in products throughout lockdown, due to more people staying at home and gaming. Now we are out of lockdown there is less time for gaming, but there’s still a huge demand all the same. Gaming is becoming more mainstream – and I only see the marketing growing from here. There’s a healthy

amount of competition, but nothing we are worried about. We are the market leader in gaming charging solutions and have held this top for the past 10 years. That’s not to say this could change in the future though, so we strive to stay one step ahead!

For those who may not have heard of you, briefly introduce me to Venom.

We are a UK based gaming accessories designer and manufacturer, with our HQ based out in the Hertfordshire countryside.

We develop products which are compatible with Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch. Our most well-known product and core focus are our controller charging docking stations.

What, for you, differentiates Venom from other similar companies operating within the same industries as yourselves?

I would say the quality of our products.

There aren’t a huge number of competitors within the charging market but a few knock off brands on Amazon and Ebay.

Microsoft actually sells our docking stations directly via their website, alongside their own branded version.

Wow! Having Microsoft promote your product certainly makes you stand out! As a company that has a focus on technology, how do you ensure growth moving forward?

How important is innovation, and do you feel that you would rate your social media presence as one of your priorities?

Innovation is extremely important to us.

We are constantly monitoring the market for new console releases, and how as a company we can create accessories to make the experience even better for gamers. Our social media accounts help us connect to our customers, and our following is growing every day.

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It’s great to hear that you are listening to the customers, and what they want to see from Venom! Are there any past projects or achievements that you’re particularly proud of which you’d like to highlight in the article?

The best achievement - holding the top spot for the best-selling docking station!

And what an achievement to shout about!

Looking ahead, what does the rest of the year bring, what are the plans and projects for 2022?

We are launching a brand-new website which for the first time ever, will allow customers to purchase directly through us.

We have some exciting products currently in the early stages of development which we can’t reveal just yet - so keep your eyes peeled!

We would love to find out more when you can reveal them! With your growing community and social presence, do you run a sponsorship or brand ambassador programme? If so, could you name a few, and how important are they to the growth and success of the business?

It’s funny you ask because we have just launched a brand sponsor programme, and we have recruited some fantastic streamers. These include: Blue and Queenie, CyborgAngel, MrGM, Sizzarz, EternalStephHD, Jinjar247 and TheBrophersGrimm. I believe this will be great for the business, and will help to spread awareness about Venom.

On a personal note, are you a gamer, and if so what is your gaming platform choice, what is your go to game, and what really excites you about the gaming world?

I am indeed! My platform of choice completely depends on my mood. I have an Oculus Quest, a Nintendo switch and an Xbox series X. 13

I play Xbox almost every day, Fortnite or COD with my friends. One of my best friends lives all the way in Kenya, so it’s a great way to stay connected, and have fun!

That sounds awesome, we have certainly found that gaming has connected so many people from around the world! Thanks for speaking with us Dee! To find out more about Venom and their fantastic products, head to: www.venomuk.com

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When it comes to custom PC builds, where do you start? Where do you look? Who do you use to help?

Battle Rigs has partnered with some of the Giant manufacturers including Aorus to not only bring you valuable content, tips and tricks, but also they build some mega custom PCs. We just HAD to talk to Paul.

Hey Paul! Thanks for speaking with us! Firstly, could you provide me with some insight into your history in terms of career, how you came to be in, not only the gaming industry, but also the PC Building industry.

What made you decide that these industries are right for you?

Hey thanks for having me! I started Battlerigs in 2018 as a new year’s resolution. I had worked in retail sales for so many years, it was definitely time for me to start something new. I have been a gamer all my life since the times of the commodore 64, Atari etc. Moving onto consoles like the master system and megadrive through to playstation and then finally buying my first proper gaming PC in 2017. This PC started everything off really. A dual Titan X build in SLI with a hardcore i7.

I quickly took the PC apart and learned how to rebuild it! The rest as they say is history.

We remember the Commodore 64! It’s great to see you move through the platforms! As we return to a somewhat normality after a global pandemic, how has the last year been for Battle Rigs? What is your take on the gaming industry & the PC industry following a global pandemic? Is it an exciting space to be working in? Is there a lot of competition to deal with?

The Pandemic was at first uncharted territory and quite daunting. I’ve grown up through some tough diseases but nothing like this. However, I saw this as an amazing opportunity. Millions of people across the world are stuck at home with only their smartphones or computers/consoles and the internet for company. I took full advantage of this and really pushed my content on Instagram. There were challenges of course. Getting stock to me from the brands became very difficult but I managed to get through it and thankfully my Instagram channel thrived and continues to grow today. I also leased a studio space during this time and quit my day job! Some might call me crazy but for me, I knew I was on a huge journey and wasn’t going to let anything or anyone stand in my way. I’m truly glad I followed my gut feeling.

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Wow! Congratulations! It’s always a scary jump but we are excited to see you stick with it! Briefly introduce us to Battle Rigs.

So Battlerigs is my Instagram channel and also my pseudonym within the PC building community.

On instagram I have over 185,000 followers and am one of the fastest growing channels offering 5 or 6 builds per month from cases brands around the world and also high end components from my huge list of sponsors also.

There really is something for everyone on the channel. Content ranges from high-end custom watercooled PCs to earbuds, keyboards, mice and even PS5. Gamers and PC builders can enjoy my 100% original content whilst also knowing they can ask questions and get genuine, unscripted, answers from me personally.

Awesome, we love seeing your content and it’s great to see that you’re down to earth with your followers. What, for you, differentiates Battle Rigs from other similar companies operating within the same industries as yourselves?

I think it’s the sheer amount of original content I produce along with my creative director, but also the community we have built also. I am always trying to innovate within the community also.

Recently I have created a new signature style within my watercooled PCs – twisting hardline tubes by hand and creating some of the most unique PCs on the planet.

We did see some of the crazy twisting tubes and they look amazing! With technology developing at a super fast pace, and the scarcity of products currently, how important is innovation, and how do you overcome these obstacles?

It absolutely amazes me what components look and perform like today compared to just 3 years ago. The pace at which everything is evolving is incredible and very exciting. As a content creator I love it! It means I always have something new I can photograph or film. As the tech continues to develop I think it’s also important for me to keep developing my skills and to also keep on top of all the new products.

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We feel the same way! It’s so exciting to see new developments happening every month. In this issue of The Gamer Guide, we have a focus on equality & diversity in the Gaming and Streaming industry, with a special highlight of Women in the industry. How does Battle Rigs have a positive impact and effect when it comes to Women & the empowerment of Women in the industry?

For me equality is absolutely key. In an industry that is mainly male dominated it is refreshing to see more and more “gamer girls” really being noticed! Obviously I focus more on the building side of things for my social media but when I am not “working” I love to game most nights and also watch some amazing streamers on twitch or facebook. It’s great to see that women really are catching up with the guys and in a lot of instances the girls showing them who’s boss!

Absolutely, it’s great to see a drive in women in the industry! What steps do you think need to be taken, so that as an industry we continue to improve equality and diversity?

It’s an important question that really does need highlighting. One thing that does frustrate me, is there are a select number of female streamers that utilise the gaming platforms as a means to flaunt themselves in a provocative manner for financial gains.

I think this sadly casts a dark shadow over female streamers and almost automatically stereotypes them. This then has a knock-on effect with new female streamers who perhaps believe this is the fastest way to gain followers and subs. I think platforms like Twitch, Youtube and Facebook need to really address this going forwards.

Are there any past projects or achievements that you’re particularly proud of which you’d like to highlight in the article?

I have been a public speaker at the techshow live whilst also having my own trade stand. I also work with Jason Bradbury, former host of the Gadget Show. My PC’s are on display in Smartech in Selfridges London and soon my signature PCs will be purchasable through Smartech and also CCL Online.

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Awesome! Looking ahead, what does 2021 & 2022 bring, what are the plans and projects for the coming years?

More amazing content, new brands and of course working with Smartech and CCL Online to showcase my signature watercooled PCs. Im very excited to see where Battlerigs can go and also Youtube is next on my radar!

YouTube can be very fruitful, so excited to see you grow! Do you run a sponsorship or brand ambassador programme? If so, could you name a few, and how important are they to the growth and success of the business?

I don’t run a programme as such but I do sponsor a few streamers on twitch. Generally I send them new gaming peripherals and incentivise their streams with bits and subs. In terms of growth, I don’t think it offers much for my channels however I think it’s super important to give something back to the community and it also gives me a buzz when I’m in chat and people are shouting my name.

That’s great to see you supporting the communities! On a personal note, what is your go to game, and what really excites you about the gaming world?

I have a wide range of games I like to play. GTA5, FIFA, COD and almost all racing games. I adore Destiny 2 and will always try new games when they come out too. I’m particularly excited about Diablo 2, Forza H5 and the new Battlefield and Call of Duty games. The gaming world is so diverse. I love that. There really is something for everyone.

It’s great to see that you are playing a wide variety of games! Thanks Paul, it’s been a pleasure!

Head over to Battle Rigs’ social platforms to find out more: www.battlerigs.co.uk Instagram: @battlerigs

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How does an energy drinks company pave their way into what is a market inundated with competition? With fierce competition, it’s mega important to stand out from the crowd, and this can be down to flavour, branding, marketing, or something else.

We caught up with Nectar Energy who are carving their own path in the market with their own vision!

Hey Dan! Thanks for speaking with us!

Firstly, could you provide me with some insight into your history in terms of career, how you came to be in, not only the gaming industry, but also the Energy Drinks industry. What made you decide that these industries are right for you?

My career has always been different from that of my passion, which has always been around high energy activities and gaming.

I’ve always been an avid fan of different energy products and around 2016/2017 decided I wanted to improve what I was pumping into my body. I always saw energy drinks as a release of energy rather than a ‘focus’ drink that most brands are trying to cement themselves as.

The energy drink industry is very interesting right now. When we started formulating our products, some of the chief competition wasn’t even around, so a lot has changed over the last 2-3 years alone. We set ourselves on a mission to create a healthy and beneficial drink, utilising less guff that some drinks include. We found ourselves being put off from some of the ingredients in drinks and what they could do over a sustained period of time.

We created Nectar to fuel our days, be that a sustained boost over a working day or a physically enduring activity. Nectar came about from a thought and desire, we discovered it, so can you.

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It’s great to hear that it’s a personal passion that you have turned into a company! What is your take on the gaming industry & energy drinks industry now especially as we are coming out of a UK lockdown? Is it an exciting space to be working in? Is there a lot of competition to deal with?

Lockdown has been an interesting time.

There’s been waves of huge enthusiasm across ecommerce as a whole. Like many, we were super excited to have access to time away and we gave our small team the time off to get abroad. We’ve been really impressed with the buy in from all our customers and positive feedback for each flavour and shaker launched to date.

We do find it difficult to gain as much momentum given the number of brands that are constantly launching and for all we count ourselves as one, we do trace our roots and initial formulation efforts back several years!

That’s awesome to hear that you gave your team a break! We have certainly seen an influx of new companies hitting the market!

Briefly introduce us to Nectar Energy.

Nectar Energy is an energy drink that believes in the power of nature. We use only natural ingredients for our colours, flavours and caffeine. All our core vitamins and minerals are refined from natural sources also!

We’ve not changed anything to buy into a fad….this is a core value. We did this for a few reasons, one of which is the benefit natural caffeine offers with a slower and more controlled release of energy for a given period of time.

As a business, we offset all our emissions from warehousing to perceived shipping of goods to our distribution chain and customers. We’ve only launched with metal based shakers for a similar reason, they’re also more practical providing a longer window for benefit.

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That sounds amazing. It’s great to see natural products being used, and a key focus on emissions! What, for you, differentiates Nectar Energy from other similar companies operating within the same industries as yourselves?

Sticking to your values and beliefs says a huge amount about the company. It’s awesome to see regular posts from Nectar too! Are there any past projects or achievements that you’re particularly proud of which you’d like to highlight in the article?

We’re trying to carve our own path, so we’re not going to be releasing flavours constantly but work on things that can last and won’t be super limited in frequency & time.

As an individual I have a varied history of past projects with both failures and successes. Instead of relishing the success of one particular thing, I would like to outline something I learned over some failures. Stay true to your core values and believe in your project. Success shouldn’t be deemed by the revenue generated but by the impact it had throughout the time you did it.

In order to remain competitive, you’ll see some offers from time to time, but through a fair pricing of each item and some unique elements of our formulation, we feel that we’ve made enough impact to justify trying and falling in love with our brand, flavours and merch.

It’s certainly a tricky market right now, but it’s great to see you have a plan to stand out. As a new company, how do you ensure growth moving forward? How important is innovation, and do you feel that you would rate your social media presence as one of your priorities?

We’ve seen calving a space in the market to be more difficult than we had anticipated when we had started developing the product.

We made a decision very early on to ensure we included as many like minded people into our fold as possible, this includes streamers of many sizes, athletes and outdoor enthusiasts.

We’ve noticed a few brands pivot within their first couple of years to ensure survival / the catchment of new audiences. Given this is a passion project from the start, it’s not something we’re planning to do, as we believe it could be disingenuous. We’ve worked to have a regular social media presence, from posts to regular updates on messaging clients. Ultimately, those who love our brand will aid in it’s success and we can only ensure they’re best placed to do so. We’ll continue to push high quality ingredients, materials and values at all avenues in the future.

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Making an impact certainly seems important!

Looking ahead, what does the rest of the year bring, what are the plans and projects for 2022?

We’ve got some new flavours in development.

The current market makes launching new things extremely difficult with significant costs for each of our current and new products increasing weekly. This has impacted all aspects of our planned 2021 lineup. We have a couple of new things that will hopefully launch before the end of year from our merch line, but it looks more likely that flavours planned for 2021 will be pushed into 2022.

That sounds super exciting, and we cannot wait to see the finished products! With your growing community and social presence, do you run a sponsorship or brand ambassador programme? If so, could you name a few, and how important are they to the growth and success of the business?

We run an affiliate and partner programme. Our affiliation scheme allows smaller influencers / brand partners to get onboard and work towards a partnership programme. Our partner programme is the upper tier currently and has access to flavour, merch and insight before the market finds out.

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We’ve got a handful of partners and some smaller streamers who have recently joined the affiliation scheme. Being a partner gives you access to things before launch, whereas as an affiliate you would be given access to these things in-store on the day, ensuring you can secure an item before it sells out.

Both schemes should provide meaningful benefits to each of those accepted and we’re continually reviewing how each works and how they can be further improved upon.

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I’m in love with the way games capture your attention, from fast paced shooters to strategic plays like League. I’m in awe of the size, scale and narration that goes into modern games and can’t wait to see what comes next. When I’m not playing, you’ll catch me watching major esport competitions with Worlds being next on my agenda!

We loved the Mega Drive! A wide variety of games certainly! Finally, is there anything else that you feel you would like to mention that we may not have covered?

We love the fact that you are supporting small streamers and content creators! It sounds that both tiers really do help support your affiliates and partners. On a personal note, are you a gamer, and if so what is your gaming platform choice, what is your go to game, and what really excites you about the gaming world?

I’d like to thank you all at The Gamer Guide for a chance to showcase our brand! If you’re reading this article, be sure to check out DiscoverNectar.com

I’ve been an avid gamer since I was 3 having been lucky enough to have a sega megadrive in my room. Now my tastes are somewhat more mature, I’m a multi-platform gamer who usually hits up Warzone with some friends on a gaming PC but you’ll often find me on a variety of genres each week.

www.discovernectar.com

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How to enter: 1) Head over to our Twitter (@TheGamerGuide_) and Instagram (@the.gamer.guide) and give us a follow!

2) Like our giveaway post and retweet it!

3) Lastly, head over to Nectar Energy’s Twitter (@discovernectar) and Instagram (@discovernectar) and give them a follow too!

Competition deadline is November 1st 2021 at 12p.m. GMT. 26

Written by: Brandon Sawyer

Gamescom Opening Night Live gave us plenty of first looks, updates, new trailers, and more on the biggest games coming this year and beyond. Here’s a quick recap of everything that happened at the show. We’ve omitted a lot of the non-Xbox stuff, but that still leaves quite a lot to get through...

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Saints Row Gamescom Opening Night Live kicked off with a big reveal — a new Saints Row! The series is going back to its roots with the reboot and is coming to Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One on February 25th, 2022. It’s also available to preorder now in three different editions.

Marvel Midnight Suns Next up, tactical RPG Marvel Midnight Suns was announced and confirmed to be set in “the darker side of the Marvel Universe.” It was given a March 2022 release window.

Call of Duty: Vanguard Activision debuted a whopping 10 minutes of Call of Duty: Vanguard campaign gameplay from the Stalingrad level. We see Lieutenant Polina Petrova of the Red Army’s 138th Rifle Division slowly fight her way through the city at night.

Halo Infinite 343 Industries confirmed that Halo Infinite will launch on December 8th and dropped a new cinematic trailer for Season One of Infinite’s multiplayer.

Halo Infinite limited edition Xbox Series X console and Elite controller Microsoft announced a new Halo-themed limited edition Xbox Series X console and a limited edition Halo Elite Series 2 controller to commemorate 20 years of the Halo franchise.

Cult of the Lamb Just to completely change things up, we next got a half-adorable, half-terrifying reveal trailer for Cult of the Lamb, a game in which you play as a possessed lamb and build its cult of worshippers.

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Teenage Revenge

Mutant

Ninja

Turtles:

Shredder’s

Sadly, we’ve still not had word of an Xbox release, but the new gameplay trailer just made us want one even more. The retro-style scrolling fighter looks amazing and is coming in 2022, but it’s currently only confirmed for PC and Switch.

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania Sega confirmed the next guest character coming to Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania, and it’s none other than Morgana from Persona 5. It’s not quite Persona 5 Royal on Xbox, but we’ll take it... for now.

Splitgate Splitgate’s first season, Season 0, officially went live during Gamescom Opening Night live and introduced a new map, game mode, and a 100-tier battle pass filled with new cosmetics.

Riders Republic Ubisoft announced that the Riders Republic beta had been extended and opened to all players, with careers and multiplayer modes to try out.

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga A new trailer for LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga confirmed a spring 2022 release window and showed off a little gameplay, mixed together with cutscenes.

The Outlast Trials Another that doesn’t yet have an Xbox release confirmed but given that the other games have come to console, we’d be surprised if multiplayer spin-off The Outlast Trials didn’t at some point. It looks... suitably grim.

DokeV The K-pop Pokémon-alike that you never knew you needed in your life. This colourful, energetic trailer was great fun, even if we had no idea what was going on for most of it. This oddity is on its way to Xbox Series X|S, and we’re looking forward to giving it a try.

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Jurassic World Evolution 2 By way of a new trailer, Frontier Developments announced that Jurassic World Evolution 2 will launch on November 9th. Preorders are also now live for two editions of the game.

Far Cry 6 Ubisoft prepared players for the upcoming launch of the next Far Cry game with the Far Cry 6 story trailer, featuring main antagonist, Anton Castilla.

Park Beyond Bandai Namco announced a new theme park management sim called Park Beyond that’s coming to Xbox Series X|S in 2022. Could it potentially rival Planet Coaster?

Age of Empires IV We got our first proper look at the gameplay in Age of Empires IV in a trailer that focussed on the Rise of Moscow campaign, the warrior monks, and more.

CrossfireX Smilegate Entertainment gave us a fresh look at CrossfireX’s multiplayer, showcasing some of the maps in the first-person shooter. Sadly, no release date or window was given, so we could still be waiting a while for this one!

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Written by: Brandon Sawyer Although we had no new announcements during Microsoft’s Xbox Gamescom showcase, we did have a host of Xbox Game Pass news, updates, expansion announcements, new trailers, and more. Check it all out in our round-up below!

Dying Light 2: Stay Human Microsoft opened the show with a new look at Dying Light 2: Stay Human. The new trailer showcased some of the game’s slick free running and brutal combat.

Although the game has now been delayed until February 4th 2022.

Microsoft Flight Simulator The Xbox showcase brought a wealth of Microsoft Flight Simulator news, including that the game’s first major expansion will add the Reno Air Races.

On top of this, we also learned about the game’s next World Update, which will make improvements to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, with 100 new points of interest, and several new airports.

Humble Games on Xbox Game Pass It’s good news for Xbox Game Pass subscribers and indie game lovers! Microsoft revealed that ten Humble Games are coming to the service on day one.

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Into the Pit Into the Pit is a new first-person retro roguelite that will take you to Hell and back to slay some demons. The game is launching for Xbox One and PC on October 19th and joins Xbox Game Pass on day one.

Age of Empires IV The Age of Empires team gave us a look at the new “Hands on History” feature coming to Age of Empires IV. You’ll be able to unlock 28 videos that were filmed with experts from around the world, giving you a deeper look at how people lived and fought in the past.

Xbox Cloud Gaming announced for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One Microsoft announced that Xbox Cloud Gaming is coming to Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One consoles this holiday, which means Xbox One owners will be able to play Series X|S games such as Microsoft Flight Simulator on their previous-gen consoles.

Wasteland 3: Cult of the Holy Detonation DLC Coming to Wasteland 3 on October 5th is the Cult of Holy Detonation expansion. The DLC takes you into the Cheyenne Mountain military complex to deal with some mutant cults that worship a nuclear explosion held in stasis.

Sea of Thieves Sea of Thieves is getting a Borderlands crossover event where you can unlock some sweet Borderlands-themed cosmetics. The Making Mayhem event is live now and runs until September 7th, so make sure you jump into the game and unlock the Mayhem Ship Set. State of Decay 2 Microsoft then announced that while we wait for State of Decay 3, State of Decay 2 will next week receive an update that takes us back to the original’s Trumbull Valley. The map has been remastered and will be packed with new characters to meet and undead things to re-kill.

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Crusader Kings III In a somewhat surprising announcement, Paradox revealed that in-depth strategy favourite Crusader Kings III is coming to console. The UI and controls have been reworked to allow users to play with a pad without missing out on any of the depth or complexity of the original PC release.

Psychonauts 2 Double Fine’s celebrated sequel Psychonauts 2 premiered an awesome launch trailer ahead of its 25th August 2021 release.

The Gunk The Gunk — the next release from the creators of the Steam world series — got a new gameplay trailer. We also had confirmation that the interesting game will also be joining the Xbox Game Pass library when it launches in December.

Forza Horizon LE controller The latest (and perhaps loudest) Xbox controller is here, with the new Forza Horizon 5-inspired pad going up for preorder on the 24th of August 2021. The translucent yellow controller will ship alongside the game in November.

Forza Horizon 5 Microsoft closed out the show with eight minutes of stunning new Forza Horizon 5 gameplay. The Initial Drive trailer shows off the opening of the game, with a selection of supercharged vehicles screaming across Mexico’s varied landscapes on their way to the Horizon Festival. Unsurprisingly, it looks Very Good Indeed.

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gamescom

Award Winners The Gamescom Awards’ winners have been announced, with Bandai Namco winning six of the awards — with Elden Ring picking up four — including Best Line-up. Xbox and Ubisoft came in behind with three awards each for games such as Halo Infinite and Far Cry 6.

The full list of Gamescom Award winners, spread over 19 categories. Bandai Namco stole the show with Elden Ring, which picked up four awards, while Park Beyond nabbed one, and the company itself was given the Best Line-up award. Overall, the Japanese firm won the Best Action Adventure Game, Best PlayStation Game, Best RPG, Best Line-up, and Best of Gamescom awards.

Xbox followed with three awards, thanks to Halo Infinite and Age of Empires IV, and Ubisoft also picked up three awards for Far Cry 6, Riders Republic, and Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope. You can see the full list of winners below: Best Announcement: Saints Row (Koch Media) Best Trailer: Saints Row (Koch Media) Best of Gamescom: Elden Ring (Bandai Namco) Best Line-up: Bandai Namco Best Action Adventure Game: Elden Ring (Bandai Namco) Best Action Game: Far Cry 6 (Ubisoft) Best Family Game: Super Dungeon Maker (Rokaplay) Best Indie Game: Lost in Random (Zoink Games/Thunderful, Electronic Arts) Best RPG: Elden Ring (Bandai Namco) Best Simulation: Park Beyond (Bandai Namco) Best Sports Game: Riders Republic (Ubisoft) Best Strategy Game: Age of Empires 4 (Microsoft) Best Multiplayer Game: Halo Infinite (Microsoft) Best Ongoing Game: Apex Legends (Electronic Arts) Most Original Game: Dice Legacy (Ravenscourt) Best Xbox Game: Halo Infinite (Microsoft) Best Switch Game: Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (Ubisoft) Best PlayStation Game: Elden Ring (Bandai Namco) Best PC Game: Syberia: The World Before (Microids)

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Written by: Brandon Sawyer

This year brought the return of E3, but PlayStation continued its pattern of absence from the game’s expo. The PlayStation Showcase now seems to replace the yearly E3 conference, with 2021’s promising roughly 40 minutes of trailers and gameplay footage. Sony tempered expectations of a new PlayStation VR reveal ahead of the event, but there are plenty of games players have been expecting to appear at the Showcase.

It was almost exactly a year ago the PlayStation 5 was officially revealed and given a launch date at the last PlayStation Showcase, and now Sony has been teasing a look into the future of the gaming brand. Deathloop is right around the corner, as well as Death Stranding Director’s Cut closer to the end of the month. Horizon Forbidden West has recently received its release date for February, but many have been expecting the re-emergence of other big-time exclusives like the God of War sequel and Gran Turismo 7.

The ongoing chip shortage has kept the PS5 out of the hands of many looking to enter the next generation, but that hasn’t stopped Sony from promoting its new hardware. The Showcase has been billed as a look into the future of the PS5, even though many upcoming exclusives are still launching cross-generationally, even over a year after the PS5 launch.

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Every Reveal At 2021’S PlayStation Showcase The following is a list of every reveal at the September 9, 2021, PlayStation Showcase, in order of appearance. Bold entries denote a brand new game announcement, and any linked text will lead to more information as it becomes available.

• Knights of the Old Republic Remake (Aspyr, Lucasfilm) • Project EVE (Shift Up) • Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands (Gearbox Software) - March 25, 2022 • Forspoken (Square Enix, Luminous Productions) - Spring 2022 • Rainbow Six Extraction (Ubisoft) - January 2022 • Alan Wake Remastered (Remedy Entertainment) - October 5, 2021 • Grand Theft Auto 5 & GTA Online (Rockstar) - March 2022 • Ghostwire: Tokyo (Tango Gameworks) - 2022 • Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Eidos Montréal) - October 26, 2021 • Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt (Sharkmob AB) - 2022 • Deathloop (Arkane Studios) - September 14, 2021 (Out Now) • Kid A Mnesia Exhibition (Radiohead, Epic Games) - November 2021 • Tchia (Awaceb) • Uncharted Legacy of Thieves (Naughty Dog) - Early 2022 • Marvel’s Wolverine (Insomniac Games) • Gran Turismo 7 (Polyphony Digital) - March 2022 • Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games) - 2023 • God of War Ragnarök (Santa Monica Studio) The PlayStation Showcase started off incredibly strong with the reveal of a Knights of the Old Republic remake. The original never landed on PlayStation platforms, but the remake is confirmed to be coming to the PS5. Gran Tursimo 7 and God of War made their expected reappearances, and the latter’s subtitle was confirmed to be Ragnarök.

PlayStation will continue to bring exclusives to PC with remastered versions of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, both of which will also get PS5 versions.

Marvel was also all over the PlayStation Showcase, with Guardians of the Galaxy making an appearance, but the reveals of Wolverine and Spider-Man 2 came as welcomes surprises.

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Written by: Brandon Sawyer

The Nintendo Direct event was remarkably bizarre. It was filled with things that people have been trying to predict so much that no big surprise felt like it. We’ve waited so long for a lot of this so let’s just get right into it. Here’s all the big announcements from the Nintendo Direct hosted on September 23, 2021.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak Strap in as a massive new add-on gets attached to the already impressive Monster Hunter Rise. I can’t wait to fly around the new areas on my Rush Jet when this hits consoles next summer.

Mario Party Superstars More footage was shown on the most “recent” addition to the Mario Party line. It’s a remark of Mario Party for the Nintendo 64 but completely rebuilt from the ground up complete with online multiplayer modes and quick modes where you can play games without fussing with the game board.

Voice of the Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars I was startled that Nintendo showed this so early in the show. Yet ANOTHER deck-building roguelike is coming to the Switch.

Get ready for another adventure as three heroes learn to save a kingdom while another developer learns that making your game based around cards costs less to animate.

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Disco Elysium: The Final Cut If you haven’t played Disco Elysium already, first off, welcome to Earth…but secondly, this is a perfect chance. A version that includes all the trimming, Disco Elysium is a perfect game to take on the go as it plays like the most complex Choose-Your-Own-Adventure game.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity – Expansion Pass Part 2 Nintendo hasn’t cropped a video of this one yet but it looks pretty cool. So far they haven’t shown much other than the ability to play as two super techie characters. One with ridiculous cyborg cutting arms that look like they’re built from the remains of Guardians and another that seems to be on some sort of ball-shaped robot thing. I love bizarre characters in games like these.

Chocobo GP Nintendo revealed a kart racer. In this racer you can pick from various characters from a beloved franchise. You race around tracks power sliding to get boosts and picking up weapons to help you advance.

That’s right, it’s Mar…*cough* It’s Chocobo GP! Adorable versions of Final Fantasy mainstays race each other and, honestly, as a filthy casual I’m super hyped.

Announcement of the FINAL Smash Brothers Reveal This one was weird. They didn’t hint at who the final character will be but they said the reveal was going to be October 5th. This one was weird because they called it “The Final Mr. Sakurai Presents for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate”.

So while the good money is on them announcing the final character and then all taking a muchneeded break, that clever wording could also mean that it’s the final thing Mr. Sakurai is announcing before stepping down and letting someone else torture themselves on this giant monster no one ever seems happy with in the first place.

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Kirby and the Forgotten Land An open-world 3D Kirby game that looks like it plays like a mix between Mario Odyssey and oldschool Kirby mechanics. The environments look a little sparse but it’s still got time. I can’t wait to see how this develops.

Upcoming Animal Crossing: New Horizons Update Sure, new content in the game is about a year late and I want to be mad but they’re bringing The Roost, easily the most requested thing missing from Animal Crossing. The 24/7 coffee shop run by the beloved Brewster is going to be out soon with more information coming in an Animal Crossing themed Direct in October.

Super Mario Golf’s Next Wave of DLC Nintendo briefly mentioned the next wave of free DLC for Super Mario Golf including not only two new courses but two new characters in the form of both Koopa Troopa and, in a move that made me lose my mind as a Nintendo head, Ninji. The little chonky ninja boy that first showed up in the American version of Super Mario Brothers 2.

New Nintendo Switch Online Subscription Plan that includes N64 and Sega channels.

Nintendo basically said, “You kids asked for this, you’re going to sit down and eat it” with this announcement. Nintendo announced that there will be a new subscription tier to their online service and if you pay it, you’ll get access to two new gaming channels like the NES and SNES that currently exist.

There’s a Nintendo 64 channel and a Sega Genesis channel. You’ve got to pay more for them but honestly, N64 is so hard to emulate I say go for it.

Also, if you want to get REALLY fancy, they’re also going to be selling remake of N64 and Genesis controllers at 40 bucks a pop. So if you’re one of those dingbats that keep saying Mario Kart for the N64 was the best one, now you can take it and go away.

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Shadowrun Trilogy Briefly shown, Nintendo showed off a trilogy of the classic Shadowrun RPGs being released for the Switch. The first three games are all in one collection. Not many details were given on quality of life changes but they look REALLY pretty.

Castlevania Advance Collection The Game Boy Advance was a treasure trove of great but forgotten platformers including three Castlevania games that many people missed either because the Game Boy Advance was before their time or they just didn’t like playing on a small screen. Konami gives you a chance to fill those gaps.

Actraiser Renaissance If every hipster in your life passed out at the same time today, this is probably why.

Actraiser, the game people like to go on about whether they’ve actually played it for more than 10 minutes or not, has gotten a full-on remaster with brand new graphics and quality of life features. It comes out, let me check my notes, now. It’s out now. Tell that to the hipster on the ground and they’ll wake up as if awoken by true love’s kiss.

Deltarune Chapters 1 + 2 The second chapter for Deltarune, the game from the people who brought you Undertale, is out right the heck now. If you bought Chapter 1, you get the second for free. Or you can just buy it now and get both chapters for one low price. It’s pretty great.

If you liked Undertale you know what kind of story to expect here.

Mario Movie Casting Announcement Miyamoto himself showed up to announce that while there still isn’t footage of the new Super Mario movie, he CAN announce the casting. And while I’m not a fan of Chris Pratt and Anya Joy as Mario and Peach, I am absolutely here for Charlie Day as Luigi. For real, I pray the human characters are live-action because Charlie Day as Luigi seems perfect. Plus Keegan-Micheal Key as Toad?! I don’t get it but I love it.

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Splatoon 3 A ton of new footage was shown off about Splatoon 3. New maps, weapons, and even the reveal of new special weapons that seem to almost like superpowers.

Footage showed an Inkling in a robot sphere mech similar to Wrecking Ball’s from Overwatch.

Another clip showed a character that looked like a ninja extending a tentacle arm to latch on to a distant wall, pulling themselves through the air at their target and colliding with the wall in a large splat of paint. They also showed off a story mode that promised to talk about what happened to make all the mammals (except cats) disappear in the first place.

Bayonetta 3 This one had a lot going on. At first, I saw the 101 building and thought it was something to do with “The World Ends with You”. Then I saw the creatures and the cop dog and I thought it was a new Astral Chain. But what I wasn’t expecting was Bayonetta to come out of nowhere. Finally, it looks like Bayonetta 3 is actually happening.

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Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack Lastly, which was also announced in the latest Nintendo Direct, Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, a new Nintendo Switch Online membership which will launch in late October.

With this new membership, you’ll be able to continue enjoying all the current benefits offered by a Nintendo Switch Online membership, such as online play in a variety of Nintendo Switch titles and access to a growing library of classic NES and Super NES games, as well as some new benefits.

Let’s take a look at some of the new benefits that will be included with Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack!

Play a selection of classic Nintendo 64 games on your Nintendo Switch!

Coming soon: Nintendo 64 wireless controllers and SEGA Mega Drive Control Pads

With a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership, you’ll be able to play classic Nintendo 64 games like Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on your Nintendo Switch.

Certain titles, such as Mario Kart 64, will also support local and online multiplayer for up to four players.

To enjoy these classic games in style, all Nintendo Switch Online members will be able to purchase these Nintendo 64 and SEGA Mega Drive controllers from the My Nintendo Store. Both can be used wirelessly with your Nintendo Switch console.

The nine Nintendo 64 titles shown below will be available when the new membership launches in late October.

More Nintendo 64 games will be added going forward, including The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, F-Zero X, BanjoKazooie, Mario Golf, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Paper Mario, and Pokémon Snap.

Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack will launch in late October. More details about this new membership, including pricing and an exact release date will be announced soon.

Play a selection of classic SEGA Mega Drive games on your Nintendo Switch!

You’ll be able to continue using your existing Nintendo Switch Online membership, even after the new membership launches.

However, those wanting to change their existing membership to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership will be able to do so. Please check back soon for more details.

In addition to Nintendo 64 games, members will be able to enjoy a growing library of SEGA Mega Drive games, too! The 14 games shown below will be available when the new membership launches, with more titles coming later on.

So that wraps it up for the Nintendo Direct.

As great as it is to see more and more from Nintendo we all were unfortunately let down on any updates from Breath Of The Wild 2 which we hope to hear more about soon.

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Reviewed by: Brandon Sawyer

In Sable, you play as a member of the desertdwelling Ibexii tribe; a young girl, fittingly named Sable, whose coming-of-age journey involves completing a ritual known as ‘The Gliding’. It all starts with the retrieval of a Gliding Stone, which, once energised at a temple shrine, enables her to float while enveloped inside an ethereal red bubble, called a ‘Hover Orb’. Best of all, Sable gets treated to a spiffy new hoverbike (once she’s gone and collected all of the missing components required to put it together), and then, the sandy world of Midden is yours to explore, in a meditative adventure that rewards your curiosity.

Once you’ve departed the Ibex Camp you call home, following a few encouraging words from elderly mentor Jadi, Sable offers little in the way of hand-holding, by and large leaving you to your own devices to uncover your path to adulthood, as a so-called ‘Glider’. Midden is a peaceful open world, so you’ll never engage in combat; your only concern is with completing tasks for the gentle folk living out their lives in cosy settlements like Eccria or in encampments like Marrow Bone Station. Completing quests will eventually earn badges that denote differing expertise and managing to collect three of the same badge entitles you to a mask, claimed 43

from the mysterious ‘Mask Caster’, who patiently sits in a tent at Burnt Oak Station, awaiting your arrival.

Sable’s masks signify a person’s role and place in the world, and only by seeing The Gliding through to its end can you choose a mask and commit to a life as, say, a Machinist, a Guard, a Climber, an Entertainer, Beetle Camp owner, or whatever purpose you wish to pursue. All you know from the matriarchal Jadi is that “The Gliding is a journey that you must begin alone,” and the voyage that lies ahead for Sable involves many a fetch quest, as you venture beyond Ewer, the place you’ve called home for your entire life thus far. Midden is a stylised, celshaded realm filled with myriad wonders, many of which loom enticingly on the horizon, waiting for Sable and her hoverbike, which silently glides along, emitting a ribbon of crimson from its exhaust. After enduring a slow, spluttering sand cutter bike during the game’s opening, mounting Sable’s agile, floating winged cylinder feels liberating – and should you be parted from your ride, you can call out to it. Sometimes, it might even actually come to you when beckoned, assuming it’s not stuck on a rock or something.

You can customise Sable’s bike by purchasing

or finding new parts and paint jobs, completely transforming how it looks (one resembling a beetle, for instance) and performs, while Sable herself can be dressed up in clothing befitting a variety of job titles, which can be mixed or matched with the masks you’ve earned. Hoarding currency, called ‘cuts’, you can also acquire maps from cartographers, stationed high above the arid plains on their balloons. Climbing to get to them is a mere drop in the ocean relative to the climbing you’ll be doing elsewhere in Sable – like Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you can scale almost any surface like Spider-Man, providing you have the requisite stamina – as denoted by a draining diamond-shaped gauge - to make it to the summit. Indeed, Sable even moves like Miles Morales in Spider-Man: Into the SpiderVerse, frames deliberately missing from her purposeful walk and sprint, which initially looks quite jarring.

Sable will draw you in with its scattered secrets, some buried in the sand, others piercing the sky, tempting you to ride into the distance to discover what’s there – her unusual animation takes a little getting used to, but soon melts into insignificance. Puzzle ships take you off the beaten path, promising hidden collectibles or little mysteries to unravel, the former taking cn the guise of strange ‘Chum Eggs’ that can be delivered to the Queen Chum’s hive and exchanged for stamina upgrades. Buried ‘Hicaric Temples’ can be raised from the sand, revealing a chamber containing strange ringed artefacts, the nature of which forms another of Sable’s many enigmas you’ll want to get to the bottom of.

Exploration in Sable proves hugely rewarding, while the game’s bold art style is akin to a living comic book, the world’s colours and shadows dynamically shifting with the time of day. In the light of the sun, burnished hues grow increasingly vivid, whereas the fall of night sees colour gradually seep away, rendering the desert expanses a single shade of lavender or purple. From the burnt oranges and earthy reds of the Badlands to the chalky white flats of The Wash, Sable looks beautiful, although an occasionally choppy frame rate or visual glitch can immediately pull you out of the almost dreamlike stupor you might have found yourself slipping into.

It’s easy to overlook such relatively minor technical shortcomings, given the enjoyably hypnotic exploration on offer, balancing questing, puzzles, and a voyage of hoverbikefuelled discovery to great effect.

There’s an air of the magical about Sable, every new region, looming silhouette on the horizon, and unearthed secret grounding you in a world brimming with ancient lore, all yours to navigate at your own pace, clambering hither and thither across towering bridges, spires of striated rock, and crumbling, forgotten structures – Sable’s Midden is a place in which you’ll happily while away the hours from the seat of your hoverbike, more than satiating any dormant, existential wanderlust you might have.

(Sable at the time of writing this review is currently available as part of Xbox Game Pass)

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Overall TGG Rating A thoroughly enjoyable and relaxing voyage of soul-searching self-discovery, Sable is also a rewarding jaunt across an otherworldly desert that involves climbing, hover biking and gliding which is rather very good.

7.5/10 Audio 8/10

Wonderful music from Michelle Zauner of indie rock outfit Japanese Breakfast, Sable’s ambient soundscape fits Shedworks’ gently-paced adventure perfectly. There’s no spoken dialogue, but it’s the sort of game that doesn’t really need it.

Visuals 8/10 Elegantly simple but incredibly effective, Sable’s flat, cel-shaded visuals are colourful, dynamic, and very pretty. It’s just a shame about the handful of visual glitches and sometimes choppy frame rate.

Playability 7/10 While your hoverbike is prone to swaying and rolling about the place when at full speed, riding across the desert is enjoyable. Climbing, jumping, and hovering as you explore Midden’s various landmarks also proves quite compelling.

Delivery 7/10 You could earn three badges, claim a mask, and finish Sable’s Gliding in the space of a few hours, but ideally you’ll want to stick around to explore further quests and earn more masks. What’s here is good, but it’s slightly lacking in technical polish.

[Version tested: Xbox Series X]

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Reviewed by: Brandon Sawyer

We managed to get our hands on the latest NBA 2K Series game NBA 2K22, with this game we really went into depth with it, so instead of diving headfirst into the multiplayer pvp we thought hey why not start with the career mode, from previous experience we found out that this time around the MyCareer mode is the most expansive and all-encompassing to date, the Xbox Series X|S version introduces a large urban environment, known as ‘The City’, to explore.

With each annual instalment of NBA 2K, developer Visual Concepts takes a stab at delivering a comprehensive MyCareer, and this year the remit is no different – the crux of the game is built around the career mode experience, and the latest foray into pursuing a path to the NBA as your created MyPlayer is the most involving career mode the developer has conjured in some time. It’s not necessarily the best, however, a drive to add more of everything resulting in an experience that’s far less focused, frequently frustrating, and unsurprisingly centred upon extracting cash from you in exchange for the ever-present Virtual Currency (VC). Another year, and the same old fundamental problems persist.

In MyCareer, you’re cast in the role of ‘MP’, a YouTube sensation with grand ambitions to play in the NBA. His unconventional route to the big leagues is not without its obstacles, of course, but, with your manager and closest friend Ricky helping MP to get drafted, a career in the NBA is all but assured. You just have several hoops to jump through first; choosing between playing college ball or paying your dues in the G-League, 47

for the NBA Draft. Completing quests will earn you MVP Points and VC, as well as helping raise your stock ahead of the draft, and there is a plethora of quests to be found across The City, which you can traverse by skateboard, bike, inline skates, or go-kart.

No amount of questing, spread across NBA 2K22’s sprawling city, can compensate for a boring, predictable story, and it seems that neither 2K nor Visual Concepts has any intention of ever doing away with VC, which, once again, ruins almost every facet of the game’s MyCareer and MyTeam modes. The basketball fundamentals remain exemplary, which hasn’t really been in question since NBA 2K20, but the way in which its core MyCareer and trading cardbased MyTeam modes are presented remains a sticking point. Servers are still janky, running around The City comes with a side order of frame rate choppiness, and moving between interior and exterior areas is occasionally punctuated by a long loading screen – it’s not the smoothest experience.

On the hardwood itself, however, NBA 2K22 is firing on all cylinders, as it reliably does each year. Defensive play has been given some due attention, making for a slower and more physical game that, in turn, feels more rewarding.

Spamming the steal button (as I am prone to do) results in punishing reach-in calls, while positioning is vital in preventing the opposition driving into the paint or sinking baskets from the arc. The game’s stamina system has also undergone an overhaul, putting the kibosh on keeping the right trigger held down to sprint,

or using the shot stick to constantly execute dribbling manoeuvres - both result in heavy stamina loss, opening the door to the opposition, who can slow down and control the game.

Conversely, playing on offence demands slow, tactical build-up, testing weak spots by passing the ball proving more rewarding. Penetrating an opponent’s defence is still challenging, but a smart pick-and-roll can reveal an opening. NBA 2K22’s shooting mechanics are largely the same as previous recent iterations, the shot-stick complemented by the shot meter, which, as ever, we’d recommend turning off so you can get a feel for shooting, rather than watching a gauge the entire time. Alley oops, meanwhile, now come with a new QTE, which isn’t particularly welcome, despite its intended use being to rule out speculative alley oop attempts. Not only do you now have to spot a teammate making a run for the hoop, but an alley oop brings with it yet more visual clutter and an annoying timed button press. It doesn’t quite work.

Dribble moves have been altered, too. Slower than before, they feel a lot less like a cheap way of scoring easy buckets, which is a good thing.

Indeed, the majority of tweaks and changes Visual Concepts has brought to the table for NBA 2K22 are for the better, but there’s still more than ample room for improvement. Graphically, this year’s game also seems iterative, improving little upon NBA 2K21’s next-gen debut, players still cursed with somewhat ‘haunted’ eyes.

Overall, the presentation remains utterly

exemplary, however, the series is still among the most authentic in terms of its detailed TV broadcast style and commentary.

As far as teams go, every NBA squad and WNBA team is accounted for, but no new classic teams have been added. A couple of quiet additions have been made to existing classic rosters, like Tremaine Fowlkes joining the notorious 200304 Detroit Pistons, albeit still without Tayshaun Prince among the line-ups. Suffice it to say that Prince doesn’t show up for the 2012-13 Memphis Grizzles either. It’s always great to have a range of classic teams in NBA 2K, but when they’re missing major players like Prince, it simply feels incomplete. We live in hope that NBA 2K23 will see more classic teams making the cut; better still, with no key players absent from the roster.

Another strong showing on the court, then, NBA 2K22 is nonetheless hampered by the same old issues with its MyCareer and MyTeam modes, which continue to rely on horribly obtrusive microtransactions. Few games push in-game currency quite so egregiously, and, worst of all, we don’t see it changing anytime soon. Whether to recommend NBA 2K22 is difficult - NBA 2K21 provided a predictably brilliant game of basketball, and this year’s title is largely iterative.

There are few sweeping changes, and despite MyCareer being expanded considerably, your enjoyment wrought from it will likely hinge upon how deep your pockets are. And that’s not cool.

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Overall TGG Rating As solid as it’s ever been on the court, NBA 2K22 is still an astonishingly good sports game but its continued reliance on microtransactions in MyCareer and MyTeam leave a sour taste

7/10 Audio 8/10 Hip-hop tunes that fit the bill, and commentary that still ranks as the best in the business. Great stuff.

Visuals 8/10 Excellent, as always, but really only the most subtle of iterations over last year’s game. Sweaty player models look realistic, but again, there’s something about their eyes.

Playability 7/10 Some meaningful tweaks to dribbling and the stamina system make for a more considered, tactical game of basketball.

Delivery 6/10 A fully-featured and comprehensive package, MyCareer’s massive ‘The City’ is ripe with quests and other opportunities. Sadly, the presence of Virtual Currency to improve your player mars the experience.

[Version tested: Xbox Series X]

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Reviewed by: Brandon Sawyer

Just like her debut appearance at Sony’s E3 showcase in 2020 – which feels like a decade ago now – Kena drops out of nowhere in the opening shot of Kena: Bridge of Spirits. No explanation, no fanfare, she shows up rather unexpectedly. Regardless, her appearance here was certainly just as impactful as it was back then. See, that’s the thing with Kena: Bridge of Spirits - the spawn of a former animation studio that’s decided to try its hand at games - that initial impact is awe-inspiring, with its dazzling visuals and absolutely stunning musical score, but once the sheen wears off, cracks begin to appear.

As Kena, a young spirit guide, you’re thrown into a sprawling journey through a once thriving village, as she looks to gain access to the mysterious Mountain Shrine. The only way to do that is to assist the displaced villagers, all of whom are spirits seeking passage into the Spirit World. You’re effectively a spiritual therapist, as you look to solve the woes of those that linger after death’s throes.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is, in essence, a throwback to the old-school adventure genre.

The inspirations from other games are incredibly clear, but rather than being a shameless ripoff, Kena comes across as a love letter to the stalwart video game adventurers. Whether that’s the simplistic – but surprisingly finessed – combat of, say, a Zelda game; the puzzling of, say, a Zelda game; or the platforming of, say, a 51

Zelda game... I jest, but Kena truly reminds me of a PS2/N64-era experience, from a gameplay mechanics perspective, at least. What makes Kena work, though, is the impeccable balancing of its parts. Things rarely get boring in Bridge of Spirits, as the combat and puzzles are constantly freshened up with fresh mechanics throughout, ensuring that you feel like you’re constantly growing as an adventurer. Where Kena: Bridge of Spirits does feel a little outdated, however, is in its setup - everything seems a little too formulaic.

The game is effectively broken into three acts, with three relics to obtain during those three acts. The truth is, there are far too many fetch quests and definitely not enough variety in your objectives.

If anything, Kena feels like it’s going through a bit of an identity crisis, with it being a fairly gentle platform-puzzler for large sections, and a boss rush for others – clearly inspiration coming from Dark Souls and the like there. In fact, at times Kena can feel like a Dark Souls game, thanks to some excruciating difficulty spikes. Some of those boss battles can be truly unforgiving, especially towards the end, so much so that you have to learn attack patterns, get into parrying rhythms, and whatnot, if you’re to have a chance of succeeding – much like Dark Souls. Heck, we only played through at normal difficulty, too, so we dread to think what the harder difficulties must be like.

While mechanically simple, Kena boasts a great balance of abilities with some slight character progression, albeit not much. There are some great ideas at work, like the fact that Kena can build her army of Rots – small spirit creatures from around the world – to assist her in battle and during puzzles and such. The fact that you spend most of your time collecting diamond currency to buy cosmetics for your Rots speaks to the importance of them mechanically. But honestly, the fact that so many of the collectibles are for cosmetics for your legion of otherworldly sprites gives very little incentive to search out the other secrets in the world and doesn’t really reward exploration. I honestly don’t care what little hat my Rots wear, regardless of how cute they are, mainly as there are so many of them, but I do care about more context to the world – of which there is some of that, in the form of unlocking parts of the village – or becoming more powerful.

Simply existing in Kena’s beautiful world succeeds in being a complete joy, regardless of these flaws. The environments are stunning absolutely drop-dead gorgeous - and it’s a world you’ll want to spend time in. From the stunning cut-scenes and fantastic voice acting, to the incredible score, Kena: Bridge of Spirits’ world is just an utter joy to be a part of. Surprisingly, there’s also a great variety to the world and its soundtrack, from underground caverns, huge sprawling forests, and forbidden temples (and some others, but we don’t want to spoil things), especially considering you’re literally in and around a small village for the entirety of the game.

again, only for the game to have locked me out completely. To get past said bug I had to load an earlier save… from three hours previous, something that in my eyes is completely unforgivable for a game. Even one from an indie developer.

And that’s the thing: as much as I loved my time with Kena: Bridge of Spirits, to suffer so many really infuriating setbacks put a massive downer on things. To be completely honest, when I hit that game-breaking bug at the end of act two, I contemplated not even finishing the game and just moving on – ironic when Kena is a game about moving on and not focusing on the past.

It was genuinely that soul destroying, especially as I knew I’d beaten some tricky bosses since I last hard-saved the game. Other than that, though, Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a lovely jaunt into a beautifully handcrafted world, with a frankly brilliant original score. It’s perhaps more style over substance, and won’t leave a lasting impression on you, but if you can battle through the difficulty spikes, you’ll no doubt have a great time. If the bugs don’t well and truly shaft you that is, like they did me.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits, for all its beauty – and boy is it a beautiful game – does suffer from some really significant issues. The platforming can be a little temperamental and there are some really awkward checkpoints at times, but it’s the bugs that are the real killer here. And not just graphical, inconsequential bugs - we’re talking about game resetting glitches and worse: game-breaking bugs. Early on, we got stuck in the first-person mask view and had to reload a save to reset it, then had to reload the game entirely when our interaction button disappeared completely. But the kicker for me, was when I died to a boss at the end of act two, only to try and fight them

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Overall TGG Rating Kena: Bridge of Spirits is an absolutely stunning game on the eyes and ears but is perhaps a little too much style over substance. While there is nothing inherently wrong with the mechanics, they can at times feel fairly shallow, but thankfully things don’t really get too repetitive or boring. Kena’s main issue is its bugs, especially those of the game-breaking variety. Still, despite that I did really enjoy my time playing Kena and am very much looking forward to hearing more about a sequel which we do hope is forthcoming.

7.5/10 Audio 10/10 Just fantastic. From start to finish. It’s definitely one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard in quite some time – and the voice acting was pretty stellar too. So chock full of emotion!

Visuals 9/10 If you’re playing on PS5, like we did, the game looks utterly fantastic, and it’s hard not to get lost in developer Ember Lab’s transcendent world or get swept up by its wondrous visual style. The game actually looks great on the PS4 and PS4 Pro too, so Ember Lab must be commended for that.

Playability 7/10 Incredibly simple, with not a lot of depth; but credit where it’s due, even with those limitations, Kena hardly ever gets boring. The platforming is a little underwhelming and finicky, though.

Delivery 7/10 The game is definitely far too formulaic, and unfortunately littered with some pretty major, potentially game-breaking bugs.

[Version tested: PS5]

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“I run my community as a judgement free zone. We accept everyone no matter who they are...”

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Sweeettails Known for her hilarious, goofy antics, SweeetTails has a greatly successful career on Twitch by making people laugh and being herself. She has joined us in this issue of The Gamer Guide to tell us about the beginnings of her career, her love for games and some advice for anyone who is considering taking on streaming...

First of all, we would like to thank you for chatting with us today. How have you been?

Thank you so much for having me. I’ve been very, very busy, but overall very happy and super excited. The grind never stops.

I have a lot of awesome things coming up in the future and just working my *** off to get to where I wanna be.

Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Have you always been a gamer?

I’m just an overall fun loving weirdo and a goofball, but in a good way haha. I love making people laugh through my horrible dad jokes, ridiculous faces and aggressive wheezes. I’m very loud and I’m not afraid to be myself. I believe in lifting people up and always being a posting role model to my community and viewers. Overall I’m just here to have fun while doing what I love which is gaming.

Yeah, I’ve actually been a gamer my whole life. My dad was a super huge nerd when I was growing up and we had a PC in our house at a very young age. I grew up playing Rollercoaster Tycoon, Sims, Zoo Tycoon, Myst and plenty of other PC games, and I instantly fell in love. I remember when I was younger, I used to sit in my dad’s study and watch him play Mechwarrior with those old school joysticks until all hours of the night.

I used to always love doing that, which is why I feel like I have such a passion for

gaming. I think it’s pretty ironic that it’s actually what I do for a living now and it’s turned into this so.. Thank you dad.

And what got you started in the world of streaming?

To be honest with you, I had no idea what Twitch was three years ago. I went through a really bad breakup, moved back home to live with my parents and started diving into Call of Duty.

It’s one of my favorite games to play. At the time I was on Xbox and I was posting my clips on my Instagram stories. I had a friend reach out to me and say “you should stream on Twitch” and I said “I have no idea what Twitch is!” I was intrigued so I’d started to research and really learn what the platform was.

I was working a full-time job as a gym manager at the time. Started saving money, eventually bought the equipment I needed and it kind of just took off from there.

What made you choose Twitch as a streaming platform?

At the time there really wasn’t any other platform to even experiment with, so I guess in a way you can say Twitch chose me. Hah just kidding! Twitch was really the go-to when it came to specifically streaming video games.

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What is the most important thing to you personally when it comes to your streams?

That would absolutely have to be my double chin. My double chin is so important to me in my community. I’m just kidding. The most important thing is being your authentic self, which is why I feel people like to watch me.

Being yourself and not caring what anyone else thinks about you, not caring that people are judging you.

That’s something I preach to my community all the time - when you stop caring what people think about you, when you forget about the haters and the trolling, you learn to love yourself in a way that you never have before. I think it’s so important as a streamer to be able to do that – to be your authentic self and not feel the pressure of judgement for doing so.

Community is everything on this platform. And if I can be a positive role model and help to inspire people to do good in the world, then that’s exactly what I’m going to do through my humor; making people smile, making people laugh and spreading that message about being yourself, no matter how goofy, weird, loud you are, etc.

As a female streamer & gamer, do you find that you face more negativity in the industry?

I would say yes and no. To be honest with you, I don’t even look at myself as a female streamer anymore because I feel like I’ve differentiated myself to the point where I should just be considered a gamer. The more you feed into the female streamer stigma and identify specifically as a female streamer, the more you enable and enhance the divide that’s currently in the games industry. We should all be referred to as gamers/streamers, regardless of our gender.

What are your thoughts on equality, diversity & what steps do you feel need to be taken to create a fair, safer & inclusive environment?

The things that are going on in the industry are quite disturbing, but to be honest with you, I’m not surprised. I’m happy that there is light being shed on these specific situations and 57

the appropriate actions are being taken to hold these people accountable for the horrible things that they’ve done relating to sexism, equality and diversity. I also can’t sit here and tell you what steps need to be taken to create a fair, safe and inclusive environment other than people need to just change the way that they think and stop being ****** human beings.

We’re all people at the end of the day, we’re all nerds at the end of the day, we all love video games. I run my community as a judgement free zone. We accept everyone no matter who they are (unless of course they’re just a ***** person). As a streamer, I feel that it’s my responsibility and course of action to continue spreading that mindset, in hopes that one day it’ll contribute to a safer, more inclusive and fairer environment.

What advice would you give to women (anyone) who wants to get into streaming?

It really depends on what their goal is for getting into streaming. If they just want to stream for fun, then just do what makes you happy. Play what you want, stream when you want, just do you. If the goal is to do this as a full-time job, that’s a completely different story. I’d say the most important things to keep in mind are: 1) It takes A LOT of time and effort to grow. So be prepared. 2) You have to have thick skin. This industry can be a not so nice place sometimes and that’s just the reality of it. Being able to rise above it all and brush it off is super important.

What is something that no one who watches your channel/content knows about you?

I can play the piano and draw (I won a prize once in high school for a 20x30 that I drew with charcoal). I also have a shoe fetish haha.

I love buying shoes, even though most of the time I don’t wear them - I just like to have them.

I fall asleep every night watching New Girl. The only time I can make myself burp is when I’m chugging water. As much as I dislike spiders, I do have a weird fascination with insects.

Lastly, I have an African Cichlid fish named Zazu who I have regular conversations with on a daily basis.

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You definitely don’t take yourself too seriously on stream, which is super awesome, super funny, and makes for amazing content. Did this come naturally to you or has this evolved over time?

That’s a really good question. When I first started streaming, I was very hesitant to be myself because I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It’s very nerve-wracking to have people watch you and judge you right off the bat. But the more I started to get comfortable and like I said before, stopped caring about what people thought about me, the more I actually started becoming myself.

What you see on stream is what you get.

I’m the exact same way in real life. So I wouldn’t say I’ve “evolved” necessarily, I would say streaming has given me an outlet and a place to be 100% me. Which is loud, goofy, sometimes aggressive. You can’t take life or yourself too seriously. I really want people to know that this is genuinely who I am. If I ever meet members from my community in person, it’s going to be exactly what they expect from my streams... complete awkwardness, really horrible jokes and a lot of screaming.

What does 2021/2 have in store for you? Do you have any plans for the coming years? And where do you want to be this time next year?

I have a lot of big things in the works right now that I’m not allowed to talk about. I’ve been streaming for three years now and the more I stream, the more I learn, almost every single day.

I honestly don’t know where I’m going to be or what’s going to happen, but I do know the growth has been insanely amazing and I’m so blessed and humbled to be where I am.

Where do I want to be at this time next year?

I definitely would like to be associated with an org at some point. One of my long-term goals is to one day be able to join 100 Thieves.

I’m just extremely excited to see where this journey takes me and all of my followers who are along for the ride. TO THE MOON!

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What is the best moment you have had streaming?

There have truly been so many amazing moments throughout my career but one of the best and most important moments was when I had over 100 people in my Discord’s voice channel sing Happy Birthday to me all at the same time. Because in that moment it really made me realize how much I love what I do and that the content I create is genuinely for my viewers and this amazing community we have.

What is your go-to game, the one game you could not live without, or the game you turn to when you just need to have fun?

100% Call of Duty Team Deathmatch. I love the strategic nature of it, the energy, competitiveness. I grew up on COD and it will always be my go-to. I also enjoy the occasional game of Scrabble on my phone once in a while.

Finally, what is something you would like our readers to know?

I would like your readers to know that pineapple DOES belong on pizza, toilet paper goes under NOT over and that there is nothing wrong with being loud. Let your freak flag fly, baby!

Oh! And don’t ever let anyone beat you in rock, paper, scissors. That’s important.

Don’t forget to support SweeetTails by following her socials and checking out her Twitch channel! A huge thank you to SweeetTails for taking part in this interview!

Twitch: @sweeettails Instagram: @sweeettails Twitter: @SweeetTails YouTube: @SweeetTails TikTok: @SweeetTails

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“I have opened up about my depression, anxiety and a lot of other things that I deal with because I don’t want anybody to ever feel alone..”

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justfoxii JustFoxii, also known as Kylee, is an excellent streamer who currently plays a lot of Fortnite. Kylee is most known for cosplaying whilst streaming, with amazing costumes and makeup. Join us for an exclusive interview to find out more about her!

Hey Justfoxii! First of all, we would like to thank you for chatting with us today. How have you been?

during hard times it makes me feel so good!

I have been good, thanks for asking!

My entire community is truly amazing and they have helped me through some hard times in my life as well! i am forever thankful for them.

Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Have you always been a gamer? And what got you started in the world of streaming?

As a female streamer & gamer, do you find that you face more negativity in the industry?

Well my real name is Kylee! I am 24 years old and live in ohio! I have played video games since I was very young, my brother is a huge reason I am into gaming! He always taught me how to play from a very young age and he is actually the reason I even started streaming and how I knew about twitch! He knew my love for video games and he thought I’d be a perfect fit for streaming! So I started in 2015.

What made you choose Twitch as a streaming platform?

I didn’t look into many other streaming platforms before I started streaming because I loved the way Twitch was and many of the streamers I watched streamed on twitch as well! So i just knew Twitch was the perfect option.

What is the most important thing to you personally when it comes to your streams?

Personally, the most important thing to me has always been my chat! Talking to them makes my day and when they tell me that I make them smile or have helped them be a bit happier

Yes. I definitely think so! Over the years that I have streamed I have heard just about everything that you could possibly imagine. it does hurt to be belittled or be told you can’t be good just because you are a woman, etc! but proving all of them wrong is an amazing feeling! haha Given the current situation within the industry, including the recent happenings with Twitch, Activision, Blizzard etc. What are your thoughts on equality, diversity & what steps do you feel need to be taken to create a fair, safer & inclusive environment?

With the recent events happening I think it shows that we have a long way to go.

People need to be more accepting and not so judgmental about others.

It makes me sad that we live in a world where people still feel so judged and not accepted.

I think we need to be more strict on people who work in spaces with others and hold them accountable for their actions and how they make others feel.

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What advice would you give to women (or anyone) who wants to get into streaming?

My advice is to go for it! It IS a lot of work but if you want it bad enough you can do it! You just have to trust the process because streaming can be so up and down at times.. don’t let a day of lower than normal viewers get you down! Keep grinding!

So, let us talk a little bit more about you! What is something that no one who watches your channel/content knows about you?

Well to be honest my stream knows a lot about me! I am a very open person when it comes to me personally! I have opened up about my depression, anxiety and a lot of other things that I deal with because I don’t want anybody to ever feel alone.. even your favorite content creators have their own struggles! Nobody is perfect.

Although there is one thing they don’t know..

When I was younger I wanted to be a makeup guru! I would record videos all the time of me doing my makeup but I never uploaded them because I was too shy! I have always wanted to be some type of influencer since I was very young!

With nearly 600,000 followers, you have a massive fanbase, explain the grind to partner to us, how did you find it, what was the hardest thing to overcome, and looking back is there anything you would do differently?

The grind to partner! oh my it seems like it was so long ago! I actually declined partners around four times! I didn’t let it get to me though and I continued to grind as hard as I could! and truly being declined made me want to grind 10x more. When I finally got a partner it was the best feeling in the world! Something that was hard to deal with was viewers going down and trying to not focus on that. I used to do that a lot and I feel like a lot of others do as well, but when I stopped worrying about it so much I felt so much better! The only thing I would have done differently (then and now) is to grind more.. but it’s never too late to start grinding again..

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What does 2021/2 have in store for you? Do you have any plans for the coming years? And where do you want to be this time next year?

The only things I have planned are to do a lot more cosplays and to grind a lot! I do want to “revive” my YouTube channel as I haven’t posted on it in a while as well! I’d love to be at a million followers by this time next year, I think I can do it!

What is the best moment you have had streaming?

WAYYY too many to count! I have had so many amazing moments on my stream.. from birthday streams, playing with my viewers, and laughing with my friends.. There truly are so many amazing moments I have had.. but now thinking about it, one that really stands out to me was my 21st birthday stream! One of my friends took the time to make a book for me and inside it was personal messages from my mods and some viewers.. I cried reading it and it truly was an amazing moment for me. They all mean so much to me!!!

What is your go-to game, the one game you could not live without, or the game you turn to when you just need to have fun?

My go-to game is definitely fortnite .. ever since I started playing it I have been addicted to it!

A lot of people are shocked that I still enjoy it after all this time but truly I think it’s so fun!

Finally, what is something you would like our readers to know?

Well I think you have heard enough about me so i would like you to know.. That you are loved! You are special! And you aren’t alone!

Give yourself credit for all you do!

That’s awesome! Thanks so much for chatting with us!

Thank you for reaching out and having me be a part of this! it was really fun! <3

Don’t forget to support JustFoxii by following her on Twitch and her social platforms!

Twitch: @justfoxii Twitter: @KyleeCarterrr Instagram: @kyleecarterrr 64

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Katie peircee A lover of cats and pirates, Sea of Thieves partner KatiePeircee joins us for an exclusive interview!

Having started only in 2020, Katie has gained quite a following, and we have sat down with her to find out more about her streaming career!

Hey Katiepeircee ! First of all, we would like to thank you for chatting with us today. How have you been?

Away from your streaming life what do you do in your spare time? Do you have any other hobbies?

I have been good! I’ve been keeping very busy working on some upcoming things for the channel, launching my YouTube and working on content for that and also family obligations like preparing for my mom’s wedding!

YES! I am such an all around nerd and have multiple nerd hobbies. All throughout my childhood and into my highschool and college years I religiously did musical theater, sang and learned both guitar and piano at a young age. When I’m not streaming I’m usually sitting down at my baby grand belting out a broadway show tune or learning some pop punk song on my classical acoustic guitar.

So, tell us, how long have you been streaming and what made you want to start streaming?

I started streaming in August of 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic, and to be honest, it was something I stumbled upon completely randomly. It was also the height of all the “Fall Guys” hype, so I was playing that HEAVILY on my boyfriends PS4 when I stumbled upon the “broadcast” button.

I pressed it out of curiosity and it led me to Twitch to create an account. I did so, and went back to my game and within a few minutes was live on Twitch for my first ever stream!

And it’s been an amazing journey ever since.

I think subconsciously I knew that I needed to connect with people during this time because it’s helped me SO much with getting through the pandemic and I can’t imagine what it would have been like if our community didn’t have each other to lean on throughout this time.

My boyfriend and I are also HEAVILY into pokemon trading cards again and have been collecting them and visiting local tabletop game stores to buy packs! It’s been so nostalgic and fun! We’re also into Pokemon GO so you can catch us walking around all over the place on Community Days!

Let’s talk about your setup! What 5 essentials can you not stream without?

Oof! That’s a tough one! Nobody tells you how much tech is required for a truly great streaming setup when you first get started, and it’s definitely an adventure to figure out what you need to stream the games you enjoy! I personally started on console but transitioned to PC when I started playing Sea of Thieves

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and I think the things that helped me most when it came to having a high-quality stream was: having good lighting (I use a pretty standard ring light), a good webcam (the Logitech Streamcam), and of course having a decent rig! (I started out with a $600 Cyberpower rig that I have since upgraded a ton!).

But when it comes to my community’s favorite, I’d say that’s my RGB gaming chair! I am ALWAYS getting comments on how cool it looks and I have to say, it is pretty comfy!!

And last but not least, all of my crazy hats! I have a channel point redemption where people can dig through my hats and make me put one on and wearing elf and reindeer ears in September has really got me looking forward to Christmas!

What advice can you give to any smaller streamers about making their stream better and growing their channel/content?

My first piece of advice is to start out slow. It is not a race. I started out sitting on my coffee table in my living room and streaming into my boyfriends PS4 cam. You do NOT have to run out tomorrow and buy a gaming/streaming PC, lighting, a good mic, a $400 DSLR camera, a stream deck, multiple monitors, etc. Your channel should grow with you, and people come to see you and your personality or your skill level in the game, they aren’t coming to checkout your cam quality.

That being said it does help a ton as you grow to have a clean looking stream but the basics will be fine when you’re just starting out. The other piece of advice I would give is to always have a conversation going. It seems a little odd and maybe awkward at first but it’s good practice to get into to start having conversation even before anyone comes into your stream. People never want to come into a silent stream and be forced to make conversation, it’s awkward for them too.

Have something they can react to and get engaged with, whether you’re just narrating what’s happening in game, or talking to your teammates or even having your mom come in to provide some talking points! Get creative but always be talking/commenting, you’ll find 67

“I’m very lucky to be part of a community that has a lot of kickass women and is very accepting and supporting of women gamers...”

others will join in naturally and want to stick around! And lastly, when you’re first starting out I think it’s essential if you’re looking to grow on Twitch that you are aiming for game categories that aren’t highly saturated - by that I mean, at any given time you’ll have millions of people playing and streaming CoD right?

So if your first day, when you have 0 viewers, you’re streaming CoD or Apex, etc. It’s going to be a LOT harder for someone to find you on the category page (which is organized by popularity and high viewership). If you are playing a game that has significantly less streamers for that game you have a higher likelihood of viewers discovering your channel!

Hope that helps!

As a female streamer & gamer, do you find that you face more negativity in the industry?

I have been lucky enough to only have a ~few~ instances of sexism occur within my gaming experience as a whole, and that’s thanks to my lovely mods and lovely community with a 0 tolerance policy, but the experiences I HAVE had were pretty off-putting. A lot of times people think they can diminish you by saying you’re not good at the game and of course they would never say it’s because you’re a woman, but it’s definitely the sub-text. It’s also a sad reality that I feel as though I have to turn my in-game communications off regardless of the game I’m playing because if someone hears my voice they’ll make some pretty unsavory remarks, especially if I get a dope kill.

I’m very lucky to be part of a community that has a lot of kick-ass women and is very accepting and supporting of women gamers with Sea of Thieves, but I know there are some other games that are less forgiving and have heard horror stories from some WONDERFUL women about the negativity and toxicity they’ve faced not only in their gaming communities but within the Twitch community as well regarding looks and success, which is an absolute shame. We are more than objects to be commented on, we are people and we are capable and it’s time the world accepts us for more than just our external appearance and gives us credit for our strengths!

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Given the current situation within the industry, including the recent happenings with Twitch, Activision, Blizzard etc. What are your thoughts on equality, diversity & what steps do you feel need to be taken to create a fair, safer & inclusive environment?

My thoughts are that women should absolutely have equality in gaming. We’ve been proving that we are just as capable for decades now.

We WANT to represent the gaming community in a good and fair light and be represented just as equally.

It’s a shame that if a woman is successful the first thing people look to attribute it to (in most cases) is her looks. The fact of the matter is - the most successful streamers are pretty commonly still men. We are making a name for ourselves and I am proud to be a part of the women of Twitch and show people that it’s possible to be successful on the platform.

I always try to call out and shout out anyone I know who is a “lady-streamer” as I call them and highly encourage my community to go support them. As far as diversity goes, I think the same argument applies, we should be valuing people for who they are and what they bring to the table and giving everyone the same chances at visibility based on that alone.

It’s a shame that there’s been hate raids and things of that nature circulating the Twitch community causing people of different races to completely stop streaming at all.

That’s not fair and it’s a HUGE fundamental issue on the site and it’s not something I’ll ever stand for or tolerate in mine or any other community I’m a part of. I think the things that have been taking place, like the day off from streaming to raise awareness and all other forms of protest are a good start to send a message but ultimately it has to be a fundamental change in the human mindset that’s reflected on the platform.

We have to raise our voices when we see people being treated unfairly or unjustly and voice our disapproval. Silence is probably the worst thing we can do.

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You recently became a Sea of Thieves partner, so a massive congratulations is in order, however you have only been playing since January 2021 - what was it about Sea of Thieves that got you hooked on the game?

Ooooh!! I love this question. My friend Anthony had told me about this game a long time before I had started playing it and I had spent some time watching him and a few others play the game and it piqued my curiosity! I downloaded it that night and I think day one after I had set out on the maiden voyage, I got killed by some folks at the outpost right away! So I went and asked my friends that I knew played the game to play with me sometime so I wouldn’t get killed and within a few hours I was learning how to navigate and steer the boat and even fight skelly’s! I think initially what got me hooked was the ability I had to play with all of my friends and go on these fantastic adventures together and as I got more immersed what kept me hooked was the versatility of it. There is SO much to accomplish in the game, from commendation hunting, to adventuring, to

in my chat pretty regularly who tell me about the old days when ship cosmetics weren’t a thing and all there was to eat was bananas!

Even in the 9 months I’ve been playing there have been seasons added, 5 new tall tales, new world events, new enemies added, new weapons added, new cosmetics added, new game mechanics added etc. so the future is literally limitless!

My hope is that they will continue to partner with Disney and bring us new worlds to explore and new lore to learn about! The world of Sea of Thieves only keeps expanding so I’m hoping they will bring new worlds into it like they did with POTC. I think we can all agree that the most exciting part of the game is setting sail for a tall tale you know nothing about and discovering a world you’ve enver been to with your crew. Cosmetics are VERY exciting, but I’m definitely in it for all the adventure that still awaits!

Every multiplayer game can incur toxic players, some games more than most, as someone who has spent a lot of hours in the game, how often are you finding Sea of Thieves to have toxicity? tall tale-ing to even trying your hand at the Arena! I realized pretty early on that this game wouldn’t have me bored for a minute. I am also a perfectionist in my own way and realized that there were so many things to perfect, from being good at manning the helm, to shooting cannons during a naval battle, to jumping off and boarding another ship, to hiding on someone’s boat, even just down to being great at using the non-scaling weapons. There’s a ton to learn and even after 9 months, I am still learning something new every single day!

With the recent collaboration of Sea of Thieves and Disney on the “A Pirates Life” there was an influx of new players, where do you envisage Sea of Thieves to do next? What do you think will be released to keep people sailing?

Oh man I get so excited to think of all of the AMAZING possibilities to come for the game. The best thing about this game is that throughout its lifespan it has only gotten better from what I‘ve heard. I have Day-1 players

I tend to keep my communications off in game while I’m streaming in order to protect my community, because like you said, with ANY game, there WILL be toxic players. Luckily, I know the people at Rare DO NOT for a second stand for that or tolerate it and they have an amazing team that works on that constantly.

They do a lot in game too to prevent that, like taking the communication feature out of Arena entirely. They do a lot to protect their players. Personally, when I have had my communications on, I’ve found if ANYTHING it is more friendly than not. I’ve created more successful alliances with other crews than not, and have seen SO many beautiful moments of pirates helping each other out or taking new players under their wing to show them different facets of the game and I couldn’t be prouder to be part of a community like that.

The theme of the game is pirating though and that involves stealing loot and sinking ships, so those that have played the game for a while 70

know that that’s all part of the fun. It’s actually crazy to think you can sink a crew and take all of their loot and they’ll still respond with “gg” but that’s usually the case. People are pretty weathered in this game and understand the loot isn’t yours until it’s sold! I always tell newer players also to not feel bad about getting sunk because EVERYONE gets sunk at some point.

Use it as a lesson of what you can work on for next time. Nobody likes a salty pirate!

What we love about Sea of Thieves, is there is no one set way of playing the game! You can go searching for gold, attack Skeleton Captains, take part in Forts, try your hand at PvP, start a “Tall Tale”, and so much more!

Out of everything that the game offers you, what is your favourite “go-to” activity in Sea of Thieves?

I find that my favorite part of the game fluctuates pretty rapidly depending on who I’m around and who I am sailing with. If my crew is having fun fishing, then I am pretty happy do be doing that in that moment, If my crew is having fun doing a Tall Tale then I am fully immersed and excited to do that with them.

Personally though, I think my favorite go-to activity at the moment has to be the Sea Dog’s Arena! It’s been a long-standing goal of mine as someone who didn’t grow up playing FPS to get better at my hand-eye coordination and my reaction times when it comes to utilizing in-game weapons.

A huge part of the game is figuring out what combination of weapons works best for you and Arena allows me the absolute chaotic action needed to figure those things out.

I often sail with an open crew as well which allows me the great experience of being able to compensate for whatever my partner needs to do. For example, if I get someone who’s great at cannons, then I get to work on my helming that game, or if I get someone that’s great at boarding, I get to work on helm/bilge that game, etc. I feel in this way, it sets you up to be competent at most things rather than sailing with the same crew and getting really good at one facet of the game, and I think the best pirates are the ones that can survive in whatever position they’re put in!

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Aside from Sea of Thieves, what are your Top 5 Games of all time?

Oof! I’m a BIG RPG gal, but I’ll go with the games I’ve sunk the most time into: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Can’t wait for VI) Divinity: Original Sin II Animal Crossing: New Horizons Pokemon Stadium for N64 (best mini-games, no cap) Mario Party (Any and all Mario Bros. games, though) If you had to choose one game only to play forever, that wasn’t Sea of Thieves, what would you choose?

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 100%. Nothing beats being a magic kitty (I mean Khajiit Mage) and fighting dragons. It’s the coolest thing ever and I could do it all day everyday!

In just over a year of streaming, you have over 5,000 followers on Twitch, as well as being partnered, what do you feel was the secret behind the success?

I’m not sure if there is a “secret” persay or like a “trick” I honestly think that it was a lot of long nights and hard work and sacrifices!

I think there’s a misconception about content creation in general, that you can make this one crazy piece of content and it will take off and you’ll be successful, and for some that can be the case, but I think for the majority of people in the space, growth comes down to hard work and consistency.

I got to a point when I was streaming while holding down a full time job that I had to decide what I wanted to really dedicate myself to. I decided in June to quit my job to do this full time which allowed me to dedicate more time to my stream and content creation as a whole.

It has also afforded me the ability to be more consistent as well which again I think is pretty key when it comes to streaming. I understand I’m pretty lucky that I had the means to quit my job to do this, not everybody has that ability, but I do think it’s helped a lot in my journey.

When I WAS working full time, consistency and communication were key, and I implore 72

anyone that’s streaming part time that’s looking to be successful to maintain or adopt those qualities. I remember right off the bat I made a discord (I didn’t even know how to work it at that point) and I would create schedules in Canva templates that would show when I’d be live monday through friday and I would post them in my discord, on my instagram, twitter, anywhere and everywhere I could! Social media is definitely key as well for self-promotion.

There are hundreds of streamer groups on discord and facebook that you are allowed to self-promote in, utilize those! The other reason discord was great was because if I knew I had a conflict or couldn’t make a scheduled stream I would be able to let everyone know in the discord. Being transparent and having clear communication with your community is key!

How important is social media content? When you are not streaming, are you finding that you are marketing through other channels?

I would say at least 50% of streaming growth comes from networking and social media marketing, probably more if I’m being realistic.

It’s actually funny because before I did this fulltime I was in digital marketing so I may have had an upper hand in the branding/marketing game. But in all honesty, Twitch is an amazing place to network and meet new people.

Supporting other streamers and showing you care can go a very long way. Just showing up for people in general is a great thing to do even if you don’t “get” anything out of it. Unfortunately though, the algorithm on Twitch is not super forgiving when you are first starting out.

You really have to grow yourself on other platforms as well in order to grow, ESPECIALLY if you’re playing a highly-saturated game.

I mainly live on Twitter though and love to interact and engage with fellow streamers and viewers alike there. There are so many avenues and platforms for you to get your name out there and I would suggest trying them all until you find the platform you like best! I’ve seen people really grow on other platforms like Twitter, or YouTube or TikTok and bring their community over to Twitch and vice versa. My advice to you is just to be present on those platforms so you have the best chance of people finding your stream!

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What is the best moment you have had streaming? Or if you have a few, what are your Top 3?

I would say I’ve had a couple great moments on stream! My top two would have to be: 1) When I became Twitch Partner - I had submitted my partnership application for the second time on August 3rd and hadn’t heard back for almost a month. I was checking my e-mail every day and was almost giving up. So I had loaded up my stream on Monday August 30th and was going about my day when I get a massive spam of messages with the twitch heart hands emotes that said something along the lines of “Check your e-mail!

Today is the day that you find out something great!” and this was a time when I had heard there was a lot of hate raiding going on so I was thinking, “oh no.. I’m going to have to ban all of these people and clear chat..” I was mid meltdown when one of my mods said “KP they’re not trolling you, check your e-mail!” and sitting in my inbox was my acceptance to the partner program!! I nearly freaked out and coudn’t stop screaming. My chair, since it’s a typical leather gaming chair was COVERED in sweat, and thus, the sweat chair emote came to be!”

2) Being on Sea of Thieves TV for the first time - I remember Azuki who is an AMAZING streamer in the SoT community reached out to me about availability and I had been wanting to sail with her for months, she was and always will be one of my ABSOLUTE idols on the platform and so I was really nervous and we set up a time and she told me we’d be doing this event but she couldn’t tell me anything about it!

I was so stinking nervous and couldn’t even prepare let alone fathom I was going to be on SEA OF THIEVES’ TWITCH CHANNEL. I didn’t know anything about it until a bit before and I remember freaking out before the stream.

We had the absolute best time and although we didn’t win I’ll always remember feeling so proud to sail with someone I admired so much and representing the game I have devoted my streaming career to!

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What is your best moment on stream?

My best moment on stream by far was during my birthday stream. I had no idea at the time but one of my mods had gotten my community to fill out a birthday card for me. I was going along doing the stream and all of my mods were telling me to look at my e-mail (I’m just realizing now that every time my mods have told me to look at my e-mail on stream, I’ve cried.

I’m catching on to you mods!!). I took a look and there was something there that just said happy birthday, so I opened the card and there were PAGES of signatures and notes from my community about the impact I’ve had on them and birthday wishes and I was BAWLING my eyes out within like 3 seconds of seeing it.

I was so honored to think that people wanted to take the time to thank me and wish me a happy birthday and tell me that I’ve inspired them. I never felt that deep overwhelming sense of communal love and acceptance in my life. My mods then hopped in a voice chat and started singing happy birthday to me after. It was and always will be an incredible memory I have from streaming.

So, let’s talk a little bit more about you! What is something that no one who watches your channel/content knows about you?

Oh this is a tough one because I am constantly rambling and talking about every facet of my life on stream! I also have a Mental Health podcast called Messy Mental where we talk about mental illness which is a huge passion of mine as someone that suffers from Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). I’m a pretty open book, I talk about my fears, my likes, dislikes, tell “embarrassing” stories, etc. it’s important to me to do that because I think it should be normalized. We shouldn’t hide any facet of our true selves for any reason and we shouldn’t feel shame for being unapologetically who we are. But hmm.. Some of the more random irrational fears I have are spiders, and vomiting!

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Finally, what are you currently working on that you’d like our readers to know about/ check out?

I would be SO excited if readers would take a moment to check out my YouTube channel!

It’s something I am JUST starting out and would love any feedback or support for. I’m still learning the ropes, so don’t be too harsh now, but it would mean the absolute world to me to have their support! It’s KatiePeircee on YouTube!

Be sure to give Katie your support by checking out her Twitch channel and following her on her social platforms!

Twitch: @katiepeircee Twitter: @Katie_Peircee Instagram: @katiepeircee YouTube: @KatiePeircee

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