Sealed Original iPhone Gets Auctioned For Over US$63000

Phones are getting more and more expensive as the years go by, and among the brands most guilty of this include Apple and its iPhones. There’s a very fair chance that you’ll be right in thinking that the iPhone 15 series coming out at the end of the year will be more expensive than ever. But whatever that price may be, it will still be dwarfed by the price that the first ever iPhone just went for in a recent auction.

The still factory-sealed first-generation iPhone was put up for auction with LCG Auctions earlier in the month, with the auction itself having ended over the weekend. It had a starting price of US$2500 (~RM11080), which is already a ridiculous price to pay for any phone, never mind one that’s 16 years old. But by the end of the auction, it went for US$63356.40 (~RM280796), including a “buyer’s premium”.

There’s also an interesting story to go with this relic from the earlier days of the second millennium. This still sealed first iPhone was owned by one Karen Green, who got the iPhone as a gift, according to a linked Business Insider article. As for why the phone remained sealed, this was because it wasn’t something that Green could use anyway. iPhones of the time were only compatible with the telco AT&T in the US, while Green already had three phone lines with another telco, Verizon.

An old relic of the past like the original iPhone selling for such a huge sum of money is pretty incredible on its own. But what makes it more so is the fact that it’s not the only one in recent times. Just last October, another sealed iPhone was auctioned off to the tune of US$40000 (~RM177280). Indeed, Green intended to hold on to hers for awhile longer to let its value bloat up even further, but decided to sell it to fund a business she’s running.

Gatita Yan Allegedly Gets Invited To DJ at Jackson Wang’s Party, Later Rejects to Keep BF Happy

By now, most Malaysians are familiar with this Insta famous influencer/YouTuber Gatita Yan. Not long ago, she announced that just like Ms. Pui Yi, she will also start a new career path which is being a DJ.

Just yesterday, Gatita announced on her Instagram story that she will be attending Jackson Wang’s after party at a club in Solaris. In her story, she mentioned that she was “invited” to be the DJ for his after party.

“I’ve been practicing for so long. I’ve never practiced this long for a show before, I’m so grateful that I was invited to be a part of Jackson Wang’s after party DJ. I have so much gratitude”, she said.

Hours after she posted the story, she then posted another story saying that she’s getting a lot of hate for the announcement she made.

“Since there are so many people who have been commenting on this issue and making it a big deal, the hate has spread to the point where even my Middle Eastern boyfriend has heard about it”, she added.

She then revealed that her Middle Eastern boyfriend is not in the entertainment/media industry and couldn’t stand the fact that she is receiving this much hate and backlash from netizens.

She then ended her Instagram story saying,

“I don’t want my boyfriend to be upset over this matter and I’ve decided to cancel the DJ show.”

Following that, many netizens were quick to call her out and speculated that this was all a “one-woman show”.

“It’s so sad to see you become someone so desperate and sad. There’s nothing real about you or this matter.”

“She’s so good at putting up a show.”

“I believe a lot of DJs out there are treating as a joke and laughing about it.”

What do you think of this issue? Let us know in the comments below.

MultiVersus Gets An Official Reveal Trailer

Warner Bros’ MultiVersus had a couple of leaks last month, one of which detailed the game’s potential roster. Now, short of a month later, the publisher is ready to reveal the game in its own terms. There’s also some extra details on the way this game is different compared to other titles of the genre.

To start, the roster from the prior leak was mostly accurate, minus Gandalf. In his place is Arya Stark from Game of Thrones. The devs at Player First Games also confirm that the game will be free-to-play.

One thing that MultiVersus tries to set itself apart from other platform fighters is the emphasis on the social elements. One of them being 2v2 games, with characters having moves that are made specifically to benefit team play. One example is moves that pull allies back in when they’re about to fall off the platform.

Then there’s the usual crossplay and cross progression, which is always nice. But MutliVersus takes it a step further, with a Guild system that’s usually reserved for MMOs. This is to mainly drive home the emphasis of the 2v2 game mode. It does seem very MOBA-like, and quite excessive for a platform fighter.

What isn’t excessive though is the voice work for the characters. Most of them are immediately recognisable if you watch the shows or play the games they come from. MultiVersus will also get new characters and skins later, which will likely be where the free-to-play game will be monetised.

For now, MultiVersus still has no release date, beyond a vague 2022 window. But it will be available on both generations of both console brands, and PC. There’s also an upcoming playtest session that you can sign up for if you like what you see enough. Though those also don’t have a date just yet.

Bake ‘N Switch Gets Played On Times Square, New York Billboard

Malaysian-made video game Bake ‘n Switch was put in quite the spotlight earlier this month when it was played on a billboard in Times Square, New York. This was done as part of a public test of a digital billboard and mobile gaming hybrid.

The two day test was held on 8 and 9 September, making use of the Mega Screen, and a custom version of the Bake ‘n Switch game by Streamline Games. Up to six visitors to the site were able to join in the game to support two other players competing against each other. All that needed to be done was scanning a QR code with their phone, and without having to download or install anything.

The test using the modified version of Bake ‘n Switch was dubbed Project Monarch, and served to highlight the potential of what’s called mobile crowd gaming. It was done using the Intel’s Smart Edge and Genvid’s interactive livestreaming tech, as well as a 5G-connected hotspot.

The idea is that, on a larger scale, the number of participants won’t be limited to just eight people. GamesBeat reports that up to 750000 concurrent users can be participants at a time with a larger-scale deployment. Though while it’s an impressive showing of the tech involved, one can imagine the actual chaos gameplay would be if that number of players had more active roles rather than just supporting with tap-mashing their screens.

Pokemon Legends Arceus Gets A 28 January 2022 Release Date

Back in February, Nintendo announced Pokemon Legends Arceus, taking the franchise open world. But back then, the game didn’t have a release date beyond the vague early 2022. Now, the company has announced an exact date as to when the game will be released.

We’ve covered what makes Pokemon Legends Arceus unique among the other games of the franchise. But to quickly recap, beyond taking the franchise open world, it blurs the lines between generations. The game takes place in a feudal version of the fourth generation region, the starters are from generations two, five and seven, and the titular Legendary Pokemon is from generation five.

As mentioned, Nintendo announced the release date of Pokemon Legends Arceus, and that’s on 22 January 2022. Which is pretty great, because it is very early in the vague “early January” window that we got before. Naturally, this is a release for the Nintendo Switch but it’s definitely not the typical Pokemon game release window.

Taking that slot instead will be Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. These remakes of the fourth generation games will take place in the same region of Sinnoh. And they will be released in the traditional mid-November window of this year. Specifically, both will be out on 19 November 2021, also for the Nintendo Switch. And like with the eighth generation Sword and Shield, there will be a double pack containing both games.

AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution Gets Launch Date; Arriving 22 June

Besides the Zen 3-powered APUs and new Radeon RX 6000M series GPUs for laptops, one of the more important announcements of AMD’s Computex 2021 keynote was the progress of its FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) upscaling technology. More to the point, the company also provided a key detail many gamers have been looking forward to: a release date for FSR.

As a quick primer, FSR is to AMD what NVIDIA’s DLSS upscaling feature is to its RTX technology. Unlike DLSS, though, FSR doesn’t require the use of proprietary and specifically designed core for the task.

Again, like DLSS, FSR will have four quality presets for gamers: Ultra Quality, Quality, Balance, and Performance. Naturally, Ultra Quality will retain as many pixels at the cost of frames, while running an FSR supported title at the Performance preset will guarantee higher frame rates, albeit at the cost of details.

To our surprise, AMD says that FSR will not only work on its hardware, but also on NVIDIA’s GeForce products. In the case of the keynote, the company showcased the GeForce GTX 1060 running with FSR, with the video demo showing the card supposedly gaining 41% more framerates with the feature enabled.

AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution will be available on 22 June and the feature will be applicable across the board for all Radeon GPUs. To reiterate, the feature will be available on not just AMD’s Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs, but also its last-generation Radeon RX 5000 Series, Radeon RX 500 series, as well as all Ryzen CPUs fitted with Radeon graphics cores.

Fatal Frame Gets A Pachinko Machine Instead Of Another Game

Fatal Frame last got a game added to the series all the way back in 2014, in the form of Maiden of Black Water. Now, seven years later, the name is back in the news. But not because there’s a new game that’s in the works. Instead, the series is getting the pachinko treatment.

As found by Kotaku East, a trailer for the Fatal Frame pachinko machine has been recently released. It actually looks quite good, which makes it a shame that it’s a pachinko trailer and not one for a video game. At least the trailer is nice enough to warn you of “shocking” scenes (read: jumpscares).

This makes another game series that has fallen into the pachinko life support. Various Konami IPs have had the same fate, from Metal Gear to Castlevania. What makes the Fatal Frame one a little bit surprising is that it’s not a Konami-owned series, but is shared between Koei Tecmo and Nintendo.

Early last year, we saw reports of a new Fatal Frame movie being in the works. Unfortunately, we have not heard of anything new since. And that looks to be the only upcoming thing that fans of the series can look forward to.

Xiaomi Gets Out Of US Blacklist Following Lawsuit

Earlier in the year, Chinese tech giant Xiaomi sued the US government, asking to be taken of the blacklist by the previous administration. It looks like that has finally happened, as an agreement has been reached between the two.

Bloomberg reports that while the main point of contention has been addressed, no details like conditions for removal were disclosed by the filing. Both parties will file a separate joint proposal by 20 May after negotiating specific terms.

Being on the blacklist meant that US investors were banned from investing in the company. Beyond that, investors will also have to divest all their holdings. Xiaomi was first put there due to suspicions of it having links to the Chinese military.

This marks one of the few times a Chinese company escapes the Trump administration’s crosshairs relatively unscathed. Video platform TikTok got out back in September, but at the cost of owner ByteDance having decreasing control over it.

Huawei, the first and hardest hit, has been slapped with another set of restrictions in March. And it’s worth noting that the new restrictions are being put in place by the new Biden administration. So it looks like Xiaomi is not exactly a barometer for relations between the US and Chinese companies.

AirAsia’s Asia Digital Engineering Gets Base Maintenance Approval From Civil Aviation Regulator

AirAsia Group’s wholly-owned subsidiary Asia Digital Engineering (ADE) just received base maintenance approval from the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM).

This means ADE will now not only perform regular line maintenance, but also base maintenance (hangar or C-checks) for AirAsia Group’s airlines. The company will also be able to support third-party airlines for aircraft maintenance repairs and overhaul (MRO).

“AirAsia Group have been sending aircraft to other MRO operators for scheduled base maintenance, which will now be able to be serviced locally in Malaysia delivering significant efficiencies including reduced maintenance costs,” said ADE CEO Mahesh Kumar.

He said that, based on demand, the company is planning to expand its aircraft maintenance facilities and services in KLIA, Johor and other airports in Malaysia, either by utilising existing hangars or building new hangars.

With the approval from CAAM, Mahesh said that ADE was now poised to become not just the biggest MRO in Malaysia, but also one of the biggest in Asean and beyond.

“Our operations are highly driven by big data and state-of-the-art digital technologies. Being a fully integrated digital company, we strive for operational excellence through enhanced visibility, intelligence, and decision making enabled by data,” he said.

ADE provides a range of aircraft services focused on the Airbus A320, A321, and A330 for line maintenance services, component and warehouse services, and engineering support services.

Bitcoin Cash Gets Green Light From Securities Commission As 5th Approved Cryptocurrency

It appears that the Securities Commission (SC) of Malaysia has agreed to give provisional approval for Bitcoin Cash (BCH) in Malaysia. This makes the digital coin the fifth official cryptocurrency that can be traded in the country, alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin.

The revelation of the SC’s decision was made during a live interview session between Chin Wei Min, SC Executive Director for Digital Strategy & Innovation, and Fintech News Malaysia. However, this is something that SC has yet to announce publicly.

Again, the approval is provisional, meaning that there is still a chance that the SC could change its mind on the cryptocurrency. However, if given full approval, the coin will then be available for trading on the three approved crypto exchanges in Malaysia: Luno, SINEGY, and Tokenize.

At the time of writing, the average value of BCH is currently rated around RM3100, while Bitcoin is still sitting above the RM200000 mark, despite having lost 15% of its value earlier this week.

MyMy Gets Conditional Approval From Bank Negara For E-Money License

Local fintech firm MyMy has received conditional approval for a large scheme Electronic Money License from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). The company said that it expects to launch its e-wallet services within the year.

Until all conditional requirements are met by Bank Negara, MyMy remains reserved about disclosing their full product proposition. But while acknowledging the large number of wallets already in the market, MyMy claimed that it isn’t just another e-wallet player.

“Our plans to become the world’s first Shariah-compliant digital bank is still within our sights and will take its form with the right conditions set by our committee and our consortium partners,” said MyMy chairman Tunku Ahmad Burhannudin. 

MyMy said it signed Malaysia’s biggest seed fundraising round from Koperasi Tentera in September 2020. It also inked a partnership with Sukaniaga to form Malaysia’s first digital banking consortium last month.

On its official website, MyMy claims to offer “Malaysia’s first real multi-currency account and card”, which allows users to instantly change their ringgit into 11 different currencies (with more to come, apparently) with no hidden fees and real-time exchange rates.

Those interested can pre-register for access to MyMy’s beta programme by clicking here, but access will only be granted when Bank Negara has sufficed all of the conditional requirements and given final approval.

Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro Gets An Adidas Original Special Pack

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro has already had special edition cases that looks like flip phones. Now, the Korean brand is taking things further, in the form of the Adidas Originals Special Pack.

Unlike the flip phone cases, this special pair of Galaxy Buds Pro also interacts with phones by the company a little differently. To start, it gives a connected Samsung Galaxy phone a special Adidas Originals theme. This changes your lock screen, icons, call screen and message screens to reflect the theme. This will also add a quick-access icon to the Adidas official online store, because why not?

The entirety of the Adidas Original Special Pack also comes with a special case. It’s not flip phones this time, but a snapback cap. There’s also a special coupon to buy the Adidas Stan Smith sneakers that comes as part of the pack.

As you’d expect, the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro Adidas Original Special Pack comes as a heftier price than the flip phone cases. And it’s a KRW279000 (~RM1026) price tag at that. It will be available in South Korea starting 7 April. No word on if this special edition will be available elsewhere just yet though.

Apple Gets US$2 Million Fine In Brazil For Excluding Charger From iPhone 12 Box

Back in October last year, Apple announced the iPhone 12 series of devices, and their lack of a charger. Half a year later, we now see one country, Brazil, issuing a fine to the company for that decision.

Brazilian consumer protection body Procon-SP issued a US$2 million (~RM8.2 million) to Apple over the weekend. The fine didn’t exactly come without warning. About the time Apple announced the iPhone 12, Procon questioned the environmental gains of not including a charger with the phone. A month after that, the regulator concluded that the company did not demonstrate environmental gain from the move.

In addition to not including a charger, Procon is also charging Apple for a number of other issues. These range from misleading advertising to unfair terms. According to 9to5Mac, the former is because Brazilian customers reported that Apple did not repair iPhone 11 Pro devices with water problems. As for the latter, the agency claims that the iPhone maker “exempts itself from all legal and implicit guarantees and against hidden or not apparent defects”.

While the fact that Apple getting fines may seem like a substantial event, it probably isn’t. After all, US$2 million is likely less than a drop of water for one of the largest smartphone makers.

Resident Evil Village Gets Its Own Phishing Scam

Last month, we saw scammers trying to phish for victims via fake Far Cry 6 beta invites. Now, it’s the turn of Resident Evil Village. The approach is pretty similar too, with this one using the guise of “early access invitations”.

Twisted Voxel reports that Capcom Europe has sent out a notice regarding this phishing scam. As before, the email comes from an official-looking email from the company. Capcom warns that it did not actually send out such emails, and that you shouldn’t download any files or reply to them. You should also delete the email to be safe.

The report also mentions that Capcom did indeed have a number of prior private beta tests for Resident Evil Village. These closed beta tests have taken place both before and after the game’s announcement. For those who are aware of these tests, then this phishing attempt will look even more legitimate. The scammers are likely trying to make use of this fact.

At any rate, there’s probably no need to be in such a hurry to experience Resident Evil Village. After all, the game will be released in early May. And if you own a PS5, you can use the Maiden visual showcase to scratch that itch a little while waiting.

Sony A7S III Gets S-Cinetone Colour Preset In Latest Firmware Update

Sony has announced that its A7S III camera now includes the S-Cinetone colour preset for video recordings, thanks to a firmware update that is available today. This comes as a surprise, as the company had recently launched the FX3 a few days prior, which most considered to be the former‘s Cinema Line counterpart in terms of specifications.

For those unfamiliar, the S-Cinetone is a colour preset that is regularly featured on the Cinema Line models, including the FX9 and the aforementioned FX3. It is based on the popular Venice Colour Science profile from the company’s Venice flagship cinema camera, which – in Sony’s words – provides a “cinematic look with a film like [colour] and pleasing rendering of skin tones that has gained such a good reputation in the market”. S-Cinetone, on the other hand, is designed to allow filmmakers to quickly process high quality colour graded footage without the need for expensive post production.

With this recent update, it appears that Sony has no intention of leaving its A7S III in the cold – despite the recent launch of the FX3, which is viewed as an ideal option for compact-sized videography. The inclusion of the S-Cinetone would slightly upgrade the former’s video shooting capability to be as close to its Cinema Line counterpart – but the fact remains that the FX3 still triumphs over it, thanks to the built-in active cooling system which enables for high resolution video recordings up to 13 hours uninterrupted. Regardless, consider it as a bit of “fan service” from Sony for A7S III users.

As mentioned earlier, the camera’s latest firmware is available now and its installation file for both Windows and Mac platforms can be downloaded via Sony’s official website. However, keep note that the Mac version of update, as pointed out by the company, does not support macOS Big Sur at this time.

By the way, the A7S III isn’t the only camera from Sony’s Alpha series to feature the popular preset. The S-Cinetone profile can also be found in the company’s recent high-end shooter, the Alpha 1, which will launch in Malaysia in April.

Nintendo Switch Gets A List Of New Games And Ports

The recent Nintendo Direct was quite the substantial one, being over 50 minutes long. There were a fair number of games being announced, including a few Nintendo Switch exclusives and ports.

Project Triangle Strategy

One of the highlights from the Nintendo Direct is Project Triangle Strategy by Square Enix. It’s a working title, but it’s a tactical RPG reminiscent of games like XCOM and Fire Emblem. Graphics wise, it has gone for the Octopath Traveler kind of retro style.

The game is set to be released exclusively on the Nintendo Switch in 2022. That being said, the company said that a free demo is now available on the eShop.

Splatoon 3

Another title that’s coming to the Nintendo Switch in 2022 is Splatoon 3. Nothing much was revealed about the game, besides the year of release. Though the trailer does reveal a new badlands type of locale, as opposed to the more vibrant Inkopolis in previous games.

The trailer also shows a character customisation menu and a new bow-type weapon. As mentioned, the game will only be out in 2022, so Nintendo will likely have more to reveal in the interim.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD

Nintendo is also remastering The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for the Switch. The remaster pushes the game’s framerates up to 60fps, and you can also make use of Joy-Con motion controls to play it.

This will be available on 16 July 2021, but pre-orders for it are already open. A special pair of Joy-Cons featuring prints from the game will also be made available on the same date. Though no pricing has been announced for either.

Neon White

Moving on to things that are not Nintendo Switch exclusives, we have Neon White. Made by Ben Esposito and published by Annapurna Interactive, it tells the story of an assassin from Hell, sent to deal with a demon invasion in Heaven. And you compete with others like you for a chance to stay in Heaven indefinitely.

The gameplay trailer shows a mix of cards and first-person shooter, the cards turn into limited use weapons that you use to dispatch foes. It’s an interesting twist, which makes it fortunate that the game isn’t locked to the Nintendo Switch. It will also be made available on Steam, and has a release window of Winter 2021.

Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection

Next in the list of non-exclusives is Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection. It consists of Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge. Alongside the games are most of their game modes and DLC constumes.

The collection is slated for a 10 June launch. It will not only be available for the Nintendo Switch, but also PC via Steam, PS4 and Xbox One. You can naturally also play them on the PS5 and Xbox Series X via backwards compatibility.

Samurai Warriors 5

And finally, we have Samurai Warriors 5. Beyond the staple beat ’em up gameplay, this entry looks to be quite different from its predecessors. For one, the art style looks different, and even the character designs, while still recognizable, look very distinct. And rather than rehashing the exact same Warring States plot and getting more historically inaccurate with each installment, this one looks to be a prequel of sorts, taking place at the very beginning of the Warring States period.

While obviously not mentioned during Nintendo Direct, the game will be available on PC via Steam as well as PS4 and Xbox One, in addition to the Switch. The release date is still a vague Summer 2021, but a more concrete date will be announced on 25 Feburary.

Valve Gets Sued For Allegedly Using Steam To Keep Game Prices High

Valve seems to be wearing a big, fat bullseye on its back. The company is once again on the receiving end of a lawsuit – this time alleging that it’s abusing Steam’s dominance in the PC gaming market to keep game prices high.

Valve is already being sued for allegedly stealing a design feature to make its now-discontinued Steam Controller but this lawsuit seems a lot more consequential though. The plaintiffs highlighted the fact that Steam forces all game developers on the platform to sell their games at the same price as they sell on other platforms.

This so-called “Most Favored Nations” (MFN) clause means that developers can’t offer lower game prices on rival platforms in the fear of losing access to Steam which generally the biggest online distributor of PC games.

Because of this MFN clause, the lawsuit (first reported by The Hollywood Reporter) said, “other platforms are unable to compete on price, thereby insulating the Steam platform from competition. The MFN has the effect of keeping prices to consumers high, as price competition by platforms would cause the prices of PC games sold to consumers to decrease.”

The lawsuit added, “The MFN also hinders innovation and suppresses output, as it acts as an artificial barrier to entry by potential rival platforms and as higher prices lead to less sales of PC Games.”

These claims and criticisms against Steam certainly aren’t new. In fact, PC Gamer has  noted that the lawsuit cited a 2019 tweet from Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, who claimed Steam has “veto power over prices.”

It’ll be interesting to see if this lawsuit goes anywhere because it could potentially affect how much we as average consumers pay for our PC games. On a related note, Epic’s monthly active users climbed to 56 million in December 2020 – up from 32 million a year before.

That’s still a far cry from Steam’s 120 million, but maybe the “barrier to entry” bit is a little overstated? Well, guess it depends on who you asked.