Category: Movie

After months of waiting, NBA 2K22 is here and it has left its predecessors in the dust. This year’s iteration has established itself as the greatest basketball simulation game thanks to its superior realistic gameplay and renewed focus on rewarding smarter playstyles.

The gameplay in NBA 2K takes it to the next level by keeping things simple and improving on the foundations of previous games. As with every iteration in the franchise, small tweaks and reworks to dribbling and shooting make the gameplay experience much more satisfying. Dribble moves and combinations feel more precise and snappier giving you more control of the players. The new shot meter is also a welcome change from last year’s version. As you go for a shot, the meter will be directly affected by your player’s shooting abilities, energy level and defensive coverage. The new meter also takes the form of a longer arc that makes it much clearer when to release your shot.

In previous years, defending against certain players felt like an impossible task as they could just blow past you and finish at the rim with ease. Now, Visual Concepts have overhauled defense to reward skilled defenders both on the perimeter and in the paint. This also forces the offense to run more complex plays instead of relying on getting easy buckets. On the other hand, this has made the defensive AI slightly too pushy, as I was often faced with annoying full-court press defense during games.

A career in basketball, among other things.

In MyCareer, you’ll get to create your own player and gradually evolve him to become a Hall-of-Famer if you’re good enough. In typical 2K fashion, you’ll experience your character’s journey, starting off in college as he makes his way to the NBA. While not unfamiliar at this point, the story still has some interesting twists and forces you to take tough decisions which could affect your career going forwards.

Naturally, the path to success is difficult and you’ll have to grind to unlock Badges and earn VC to upgrade your player’s abilities. This aspect of the game remains the most engaging yet most time consuming, especially if you want to max out your character’s stats. While this isn’t a major issue playing MyCareer alone, you’ll quickly feel outclassed in the Rec Room by those who purchased microtransactions. Unfortunately, it seems the only way to speed up your progress is by purchasing VC with real money, which has become a trend in previous NBA 2K games. Apart from basketball, you can do just about anything like shopping, skateboarding, making hip-hop music which are fun distractions at times. Nonetheless, I would have preferred the mode to focus more on basketball above all else.

Card collecting at its finest.

Thankfully, some of MyCareer’s issues are alleviated in the MyTeam mode which lets you build your own team of past and present NBA superstars. The mode is fully-packed with content and ways to drastically improve your squad for free in a reasonable amount of time. The auction house is also a great way to get specific players you want without having to spend VC. In addition, NBA 2K22 has introduced a Card Grading system and Shoe Builder to this mode. While these ideas make sense, they don’t have much of an impact on the game and I opted to ignore them.

The Draft is also a new feature that lets you assemble a roster of players and get rewarded based on the number of games you win (similar to FIFA Ultimate Team’s Draft mode). This is by far one of the most fun aspects of the game but does require an entrance fee which is paid in real money after your first few draft runs. Hopefully, we’ll get to try out this mode using in-game currency in the near future. Lastly, MyNBA has received some additions in terms of coaching staff badges and attributes. While these are nice to have, this franchise mode doesn’t feel much more interesting than it did a few years ago.

All this being said, NBA 2K22 provides the most realistic and fluid basketball sim experience to date. The gameplay remains rock-solid and the variety of game modes available means there is always things to do. Although, microtransactions are still an issue, NBA 2K22 does justify the upgrade from last year’s iteration thanks to some much needed changes to the core gameplay, especially on defense. While, the last few entries in the franchise have been hit or miss, NBA 2K22 does deserve recognition for breaking the cycle and exceeding expectations with this release.

GameRev was provided with a digital download code for the purpose of this review.

RiMS Racing replicates the experience of racing on a motorcycle. Together with the game’s tough bike riding mechanics and bike customization, RiMS Racing aims at providing a very realistic and fluid gameplay for players to indulge in. Whether you are an inexperienced player or a hardcore biker, there are settings that can assist the laid back gamers who want to play for fun. Turning off the settings that assist the driver creates a more challenging and unique way of playing for those who are more experienced with how bikes function. These settings can be tweaked to fit the player’s needs and playstyle.

First and foremost it is very important to shed light on the bike customization RiMS Racing has to offer. The game did a magnificent job when it comes to this aspect. Motorbike enthusiasts can spend up to hours upgrading and unlocking new bikes through by playing the main story line. There are only 8 bikes, but the room for customization allows the player to create and tune their bikes in several ways that allow the bike to function and drive differently.

The career mode is where most players will earn the necessary credit used to upgrade and buy bikes. The career missions range on a wide scale of different missions and challenge to avoid repetitiveness within the the game. This endorses the player to collect and spoil himself or herself with upgrade goodies.

RiMS Racing does not excel when it comes to gameplay; however, credit should be given for the effort and hard work that was put into the game. It is not all that bad, but if more effort was put into refining some render issues and enhancing the game’s graphics such as the generic weather effects and monotonic visuals would be a plus. Reworking such details will enable the game to compete with other motorbike games in the market which surpass RiMS Racing in that aspect.

Overall, RiMS Racing is a spectacular bike racing game despite some minor problems. The game does a fantastic job to fill in time and enjoy some casual bike riding gaming sessions; however, bike enthusiasts might view the problems as limitations to fully experience a hands on bike racing simulation game. RiMS Racing peaks with its customization system which allows one to customize their bikes at a very micro level. For example, if we were to customize the brakes, one can change the calibers, disks, pads, fluids, cables, and much more.

It would be nice to see additional content and updates that keep refining the mechanics, enhance the already amazing bike customization system, and add additional bikes and game modes.

GameRev was provided with a digital download code for the purpose of this review.

The price of natural gas in the European market has set yet another record, exceeding $730 per thousand cubic meters, trading data shows. The commodity now costs five times its 2020 price.

The price of October gas futures at the launch of the Monday trading session was $713.10 per thousand cubic meters, jumping to $728.20 by 7:30 GMT and quickly reaching $730.10 a little after that, the Dutch TTF index shows. The previous gas price record on the European market was set last Friday, when it reached $710 per thousand cubic meters by the end of the trading day.

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In household terms, this means the fossil fuel’s price now edges toward $60 per megawatt-hour, having increased fivefold since last year. Gas prices have surged largely because the European market is severely short-supplied at the moment, with storage levels well below their five-year average. This is coupled with increased demand amid the post-pandemic recovery and a recent drop in deliveries from its key supply sources, including Russia, partly as a result of lower flows through Ukraine.

Experts say the worst is yet to come, as demand for natural gas at this time of year is still low. According to a Bloomberg analysis, Europe is headed for a very difficult winter, with prices likely to hit unprecedented highs in the near future.

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However, the situation may change when Russia starts its gas deliveries to the European market via the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, designed to carry some 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the Siberian gas fields in Russia across the Baltic Sea to Europe. The pipeline’s construction was completed last week, with the exact timeframe for the start of gas deliveries now depending only on the certification process, which has already begun.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday that the timing was now being decided by regulators in Germany, where the pipeline’s underwater link terminates.

”We expect that millions of European consumers in the near future will be able to receive Russian gas along the shortest, most economical and environmentally friendly route,” she said.

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The Laos government has approved a pilot program on the experimental use of cryptocurrency mining and trading in the country for six companies, the Laotian Times newspaper reported on Monday.

According to a statement issued by the country’s prime ministers’ office, four construction companies, an IT company and the state-owned JDB bank were granted permission to mine and trade cryptocurrency. The six firms are allowed to conduct transactions using bitcoin and litecoin.

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Also, the Laos government has instructed a number of regulators, including the central bank, to develop standards for the use of cryptocurrency in the country.

Prime Minister Phankham Vipkhavanh is scheduled to hold a working meeting with the government later this week to discuss the potential of using cryptocurrency in the republic.

The move towards embracing cryptocurrencies is in stark contrast with earlier statements from Laos officials. In August, the central bank issued a notice warning citizens against using cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin, stressing that they are not connected to actual currency reserves and are not regulated by the country’s legislation, which makes them highly volatile and dangerous.

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According to the notice, Laotians are prohibited by law from purchasing or selling cryptocurrencies, and those who don’t comply were urged to consider the risks associated with digital assets before making any investment or purchasing such products.

Laos follows in the footsteps of El Salvador and Cuba, which recently allowed the use of cryptocurrencies at the state level.

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The Russian ruble has become one of the 20 most frequently used global currencies, SWIFT interbank transfer system data shows.

The ruble holds the 20th spot with a share of 0.18% in international settlements. It’s not the first time that the ruble has made the top 20. The Russian national currency appeared in the rating in December 2016, also in 20th place, with a share of 0.26%.

The most popular global currency is predictably the US dollar with a 39.38% share, followed closely by the euro with 38.43%. In third place and far behind the first two is the British pound sterling with 5.99%.

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The top five also included the Japanese yen (2.74%) and the Chinese yuan (2.19%).

Russia has been actively promoting its national currency as a means of international settlement with its trading partners, moving away from transactions in the US dollar.

The ruble’s share in Russia’s bilateral trade with China has seen a rise from 1% in 2013 to 5.7% in 2020. Also, according to Russia’s newly released 10-year financial market development strategy, Moscow is aiming to step up efforts to boost the share of its national currency in settlements with international partners.

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As many countries worldwide have recently been ditching the US dollar, its decreasing percentage in the total volume of international payments has been making room for other currencies. Therefore, “taking into account the relatively small current share of the ruble in international settlements, even a slight change in the indicators of more prominent currencies can significantly affect the place of the ruble in the rating,” Dmitry Babin, investment expert from BCS World of Investments, told RIA Novosti.

“Nevertheless, it is unlikely that in the foreseeable future the dollar and the euro will significantly reduce their participation in global transactions since the economies of the US and EU remain large and diversified enough to maintain the global status of their currencies,” he stated.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT’s business section