The Provincial Government of Manitoba announces that the provincial minimum wage increase is in effect today from $15.30 to $15.80 as of October 1, 2024.

PlayStation 5 Pro will be priced at $959.99 CAD and pre-order is live today, September 26. PS5 Pro will be released on November 7, 2024. Note that the PS5 Pro will not possess a disc drive and will be digital on this release. A separate PlayStation 5 disc drive is available and will need to be purchased to play your physical discs. I bought mine at $699.99 on May 2022 (which was $783.99 with tax). I didn't even want the bundle version but this is when the PS5 supply was still short, so I went ahead and bought it from Best Buy while it was in stock.

Although $959.99 for a console without a disc drive? How much ACTUAL fps gain are we talking about? It is possible to build a 4k gaming PC under $1000, but would they compare with a PS5 Pro? Point is: we're going back to the olden days when consoles were expensive. PS4 Pro was released with $499 CAD retail. Sony, throw in the disc and MAYBE PS5 Pro would be worth it.

New World will delete expired usernames upon New World: Aeternum's release date on October 15. This means that any username that has not been active prior or after October 15 will be deleted and will be made available for new players to use. New World will NOT delete player characters, but only the usernames.

Any character with an old inactive username that's logging back into the game will have to rename their character first before being able to play. To avoid this, log into the game now, and keep logging in within 6 months to retain activity. But if your gaming has been reduced to just logging into the game, it's probably better to stop playing the game altogether.

On the flip-side: if you want a name change, don't log in for 6 months then come back afterward.

New World: Aeternum will release on current-gen consoles XBox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 this October 15.

Shinji Mikami comments that there is no space for a Dino Crisis remake because of Monster Hunter according to an interview by Eurogamer. Shinji Mikami is known for the creation of Resident Evil and Dino Crisis when he worked as a director and producer for Capcom. However, fans are confused from his statement suggesting that Dino Crisis and Monster Hunter are mutually exclusive.

Monster Hunter is not a survival horror game. At best, players capture monsters that resemble like dinosaurs. Dino Crisis is a survival horror game, where players investigate and try to survive in a setting that has been infested by dinosaurs.

Interestingly, both Dino Crisis and Resident Evil had familiar similarities such as the fixed cameras, pre-rendered scenes, and obviously as survival horror games. Dino Crisis felt like Resident Evil with dinos. Yet each title earned millions of respective sales, granted that Resident Evil had more sales. If having similarities was an issue, Dino Crisis shouldn't have existed back then.

If we're hearing this right: the statement doesn't make sense. A Dino Crisis remake could not exist because Gran Turismo exists. It would make more sense if he said there's no space for a Dino Crisis remake because of the Resident Evil remakes. But that would drive a point for a Dino Crisis remake as the recent RE2, RE3, and RE4 remakes raked millions of sales. Clearly there's a market for survival horror remakes from the Playstation 1 era.

There are a few things to note though. Shinji Mikami does not work for Capcom anymore. If we're talking about remaking Dino Crisis, it would be Dino Crisis 1 and 2. Not so much for any spin-offs. Dino Crisis is interesting enough that fans keep trying to rebuild their fan versions of the game. Perhaps Shinji Mikami making such a Dino Crisis remark started a conversation on the Internet which a potential impact for a remake. While I've been waiting for a Dino Crisis remake for a VERY long time.

Elder Scrolls: Castles is now available on select countries (including Canada) and will release globally on September 10. Castles is another Elder Scrolls mobile game with a twist of Fallout Shelter. Your main goal is to build your dynasty and your castle while keeping stability in your kingdom. Your kingdom runs on food and oil, while gold economy runs on fulfilling orders and quests.

Your subjects age per real-time day and thus you have to ensure naming heirs to your throne to maintain your population. Adulthood starts at 16 years where they can begin working on the kitchen, the oil press, the mill, and etcetera. The young ones simply walks and plays around your castle.

Unlike Fallout Shelter, your Castle scales upwards. You build rooms and stairs, place decors, and install facilities in those empty rooms to the point where no two castles can be the same. You can equip items and outfits to your subjects to improve their efficiency or when they go on quests. Your subjects going through quests prompts auto-battle encounters where you can cast skills and use potions.

It's not Elder Scrolls 6 and I was hoping that there was the ES6 announcement along with it. Similar to how Fallout Shelter was introduced after Fallout 4. Shelter foreshadowed providing shelter to those who want to be dwellers; in Fallout 4, your settlements provided shelter to settlers. Could this be a hint of castle building in ES 6? I would go for vanilla quaint hamlet living to castle building.

Elder Scrolls: Castles is a fun game. Graphic-wise it's different, but it's a solid single-player game for a mobile game. In-app purchases are present though optional. Castles is available on the Google Playstore and the App Store.

Terminator Zero is the new Terminator anime series on Netflix about Malcolm Lee developing the Kokoro AI in Japan supposedly to compete with Skynet, and a future soldier sent back in time to protect Malcolm and his three children from a mysterious assassin. All to prevent "Judgment Day", the bleak future war between man and machine. Terminator Zero will premiere August 29 on Netflix slated to run for eight episodes. How this story fits with alongside the lore (and Sarah Chronicles' Catherine Weaver's John/Turk's AI), we will know soon.

Canada updates its travel advisory for Venezuela due to the spontaneous demonstrations in the country after the presidential election results. According to the travel advisory: Canadians must avoid all travel to Venezuela due to the significant level of violent crime, the unstable political and economic situations and the decline in basic living conditions, including shortages of medication, gasoline and water.

The Embassy of Canada to Venezuela in Caracas has temporarily suspended its operations. Further response include sanctions and humanitarian efforts. Ongoing demonstrations and protests wracked the South American country after both candidates have been declared victorious post Presidential election. Flights involving Venezuela, Panama and the Dominican Republic have also been affected. Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia claims that he beat Nicolas Maduro. Nicolas Maduro would be sitting on his third term as President if elected.

Unlike the Y2K scare (that hasn't come to fruition), it isn't a bug but a glitched update that caused the crash.

CrowrdStrike rolled out a bad software update which prompted Windows computers to crash and restart in an endless loop. As a result, the glitched update has caused a global outage disrupting banks, flights, markets, and other services running Windows machines. CrowdStrike has made a statement addressing the issue identifying the error as not a cyber security incident but related to the Falcon Sensor and posted their workaround.

I'm glad I got paid today when my bank has also posted a service disruption.

Breaking news as of July 13, 2024 at 9:00 PM Central Time, Former US President Donald Trump shot during the Trump Rally in Pennsylvania. Three to four distinctive shots could be heard from a video of Forbes Breaking News. Sky News posted on their YouTube an aerial video of a body and a rifle lying on a roof - the remains of what appears to have been the shooter.

The former US President felt something on his right ear and ducked on stage, when the Secret Service rushed to him and ordered him to stay low. Onlookers behind the stage were terrified. Trump could be seen with a wounded right ear and with spots of blood over his face after being escorted away. One could only imagine where the shooter was specifically aiming after Trump's bloodied ear.

Pieces Interactive announced on their website that they will be closing their studio. They've added their logo with the years 2007-2024 and a tag Thanks for Playing With Us. Pieces Interactive was acquired by Embracer recently and the closure may have been caused by the softer-than-expected performance of the Alone in the Dark reboot.

The Alone in the Dark series is arguably the "progenitor" of contemporary third-person survival horror. The original Alone in the Dark in 1992 was a survival horror MS-DOS videogame that featured pre-rendered polygons and a fixed camera third-person view. These influenced Shinji Mikami on how to design Resident Evil, especially the fixed camera. The Alone in the Dark reboot / remake was released this March 20, 2024 for the current-gen Playstation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. The game received mixed reviews which is a rating that's shared among contemporary Alone in the Dark games.

Life By You was a promising life-sim game that was supposed to have an Early Access this 2024. The EA build has been delayed twice. A disappointing news however has been announced by Lilja Mattias, Deputy CEO of Paradox Interactive, that Life By You has been cancelled. According to the announcement, (unspecified) key areas of the game have been found lacking, and the overall result was deemed unsatisfactory.

The biggest selling point of Life By You was its open-world concurrent gameplay, similar to The Sims 3. Rod Humble explained that neighborhoods would transform as your game progresses.

The official statement indicated that incremental improvements during their builds. Which makes all of this a little confusing. There is clearly a demand in the Life-sim category of gaming. And none of the upcoming competitors such as Paralives, Vivaland, or Sims 5 are even releasing soon. In the end, cancelling Life By You is primarily the biggest disappointment among players especially those who have preordered the game.

Pocket Pair reveals the trailer to its Palworld summer update on YouTube. The Sakurajima Island update will bring more Pals, add more weapons, and grant more building pieces. And expect tons more feature such as, XBox dedicated servers, and the PvP Arena. Sakurajima Island inspired by the Japanese medieval era, will be released on June 27!

(Image and source by Government of Canada)

June 6, 2024 marks as the 80th Anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy. There's no public holiday in Canada (except for Quebec) in June. And this date should be remembered as on June 6, 1944, Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy (France) to open the way to Germany from the West. Victory in the Normandy campaign would come at a terrible cost. The Canadians suffered the most casualties of any division in the British Army Group.

It's true that We Remember on Remembrance Day (November 11), however that date pertains to WW1. D-Day was a monumental date in WW2 that should always be remembered and observed in Canada.

ASUS makes a public statement regarding Enhanced Warranty to their ROG Ally. According to ASUS, all ROG Ally (RC71L model) sold in North America will be covered by a two-year warranty. The statement made appears to be a response to the YouTube videos created by Gamers Nexus regarding their ASUS warranty issue for the ROG Ally.

The ASUS statement reads:
Dear ROG Ally Community
We want to express our sincere gratitude for your continued support and patience as we develop and improve the ROG Ally Handheld (RC71L). Since this is a new platform for us, we've learned a lot from your feedback and have made significant improvements.
To demonstrate our commitment to providing the best possible handheld experience, we would like to announce that all ROG Ally (RC71L) in North America will now be covered under the 2-year Warranty (WEP) program.

We understand that the ROG Ally is a new platform, and we appreciate your patience as we continue to take every opportunity to make it better. Your feedback is invaluable to us, and we're dedicated to supporting and developing the best possible handheld experience.

Check out the latest details on our service site on ASUS.com/us, we will continue to reveal more support updates regularly over the coming weeks and months on this page.

Thank you for being part of the journey.

Gamers Nexus is a YouTube channel that reviews the latest gadgets for gaming and PC components. GN created a video where they've sent their ROG Ally back for service under warranty due to a defective micro-SD slot and a drifting left joystick. They filled up an RMA form and indicated a broken left joystick. Part of the ASUS RMA repair form mentions that servicing may involve wiping the data off the device, so GN physically removed their SSD. ASUS then responded to GN with a $200 charge for a different defect (and not the left stick); ASUS followed up that the charge is due to a CID or Customer Induced Damage. ASUS customer service also added that should GN decide not to pay for the service, their ROG Ally will be returned disassembled.

ASUS sent a screenshot of a dent on the case which it believes as the CID. While GN cites the US Magnusson Moss Act that their device should be serviced under warranty. GN received the fixed ROG Ally back although only after making, what GN claims, a strong pushback to the ASUS customer service. ASUS sent a response letter on the GN second video. In the end, GN posted these videos as a three-part, with with part 3 seemingly serving as the tail end of the issue with tips on consumer protection. However, with this new ASUS statement, it is likely that GN may respond as well. GN's three ROG Ally warranty videos racked up approximately 3.4 million views as of today.