Monthly Archives: May 2020

Former Team Vitality coach and League of Legends European Championship analyst Jakob "YamatoCannon" Mebdi will join SANDBOX Gaming as their head coach, becoming the first Western coach to join a League Champions Korea team in that position, sources familiar with the team's plans told ESPN.

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YamatoCannon will work remotely from his home in Europe until it's safe to relocate to Seoul, South Korea. South Korea saw rapid improvements amid the coronavirus pandemic but has recently experienced new concerns after more than 100 COVID-19 cases were traced back to the entertainment district of Itaewon in Seoul.

YamatoCannon joins SANDBOX after he worked for Riot Games as a desk analyst for the League European Championship in their Berlin studio, and then remotely from home, following the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe. Prior to working as a full-time analyst, YamatoCannon was one of the most popular European coaches, serving as the head coach of Team ROCCAT, Splyce and Team Vitality, and being a frequent guest on the analyst desk. Before coaching, YamatoCannon played League of Legends professionally.

During his time with Vitality, YamatoCannon led the team to the 2018 World Championship in South Korea, where they nearly qualified for the quarterfinals. In that group, they went 3-3, defeating Gen.G twice and Royal Never Give Up once. The team ultimately did not qualify, with Royal Never Give Up and Cloud9 advancing out into the quarterfinals.

No other Western coach -- from North America or Europe -- has served as a head coach of a team in the LCK. Nick "LS" De Cesare, who is currently a commentator for the English-language League Champions Korea broadcast, served as the head coach of the BBQ Olivers from late 2018 through summer 2019, but at that time, BBQ Olivers competed in Challengers Korea, the amateur sister of the LCK.

The 2020 Spring Split spelled disaster for SANDBOX, as the team finished ninth overall -- the lowest in organizational history -- in the LCK. The team competed to retain their spot in the 2020 LCK Summer Promotion tournament and were successful in doing so after defeating Seorabeol Gaming.

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YamatoCannon joins SANDBOX Gaming as first Western LCK head coach - ESPN

With more people spending time at home, video games-based internet traffic has exploded. If youve dug back into the gaming scene with a new gaming console to supplement your at-home entertainment and streaming, dont stop there a few add-ons could make your experience even better. Ive been a gamer since I was a toddler (literally), and have been reviewing gaming peripherals for the majority of my 10-year career writing about consumer technology. To help guide you to an elevated gaming experience, we put together some of the best gaming accessories out right now for different consoles and at various price points.

If youve downloaded so many games that youve run out of space on your consoles hard drive, it may be time to upgrade. Technically, you can buy an entirely new drive and swap it in yourself with a screwdriver, but its even easier to just grab a USB 3.0 drive like this 1TB My Passport model from Western Digital and plug it in. Youll double your space with minimal hassle. If you have a bit more to spend, the 1TB My PassPort Go SSD is faster, which means shorter loading times.

If you want every explosion to rock your skull without annoying your neighbors or whoever is stuck at home with you, a good gaming headset is a must. There are plenty of great options out there, but the wireless HyperX Cloud Flight S strikes a delicate balance between sound quality, features and price plus, its so comfortable youll barely notice its there. Its only compatible with PS4 and PC, though, so if youre an Xbox player, youll need the Xbox version of the last-gen CloudX Flight.

While most gaming headsets including the Cloud Flight S boast 7.1 surround sound, its just a virtual processing mode that adds a feeling of spaciousness to the sound. I rarely find that it sounds better than traditional stereo, so I turn it off, but true surround sound can be amazing for games. If you want to experience it, though, youll need a 5.1 set of speakers, or a soundbar with rear satellites. We've previously put out a shopping guide to soundbars, but if you want something affordable that sounds great, this 5.1 Vizio soundbar will ensure you hear anything coming close to your game character.

While this VIZIO model is out of stock, consider the highly-rated and refurbished VIZIO SB3651-E6B 5.1 Soundbar its a bit shorter, and the subwoofer takes up a bit more space, but its also more affordable. You could also go with the refurbished VIZIO SB3851-C0 38-Inch 5.1 Channel Sound Bar, which is a bit better than the 36-inch model. To learn more about refurbished tech at retailers like Amazon, check out our guide to buying refurbished tech at major retailers.

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The best gaming memories I have arent me sitting alone in a room they involve battling my wife in Mario Kart or shooting for goals in Rocket League with a bunch of friends on a Saturday afternoon. If you still only have one controller, grab an extra and include your family in on the fun you can grab them in all sorts of fun colors if the standard black is too boring or bleak for you.

Wireless controllers are a huge step up over the wired trip hazards of the 80s and 90s. Unfortunately, though, you have to keep them charged which is a lot easier to do with a multi-port charging station like this one for PlayStation, or this one for Xbox.

PC gamers have long contended that a keyboard and mouse is a more precise video game control system than any gamepad, and both arent limited to PCs anymore. Both the Xbox One and PS4 support integration with a keyboard-and-mouse for certain games, and there are plenty of great wireless models to choose from.

I dont know about you, but Im just about out of room in my entertainment cabinet. If you dont have the shelf space to hold your game console, a vertical stand can keep it upright for maximum space efficiency.

Whitson Gordon is a freelance technology writer with bylines in the New York Times, Popular Science Magazine, PC Magazine and more. Previously, he was the editor-in-chief of Lifehacker and How-To Geek.

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Best gaming headsets, controllers, keyboard and accessories 2020 - NBC News

NVIDIAs GeForce NOW game-streaming service enjoys its share in the now-crowded game streaming market on the fact that it was one of the first to appear for end consumers. The service started beta testing for Android last year and opened up for everyone in February. NVIDIA had pledged to announce new games for GeForce NOW every week, and over the past weeks, it has kept to that promise on multiple occasions. Last week, NVIDIA added 19 games to its cloud gaming library, and today, NVIDIA is announcing 18 new games that will now be available on GeForce NOW.

GeForce NOW incorporates technology that utilizes AI and RTX GPUs to enable the next generation of performance and visuals. Its NVIDIAs improved deep learning neural network that boosts frame rates while generating beautiful, sharp images for games. Since the base technology is game streaming, games begin playing instantly when you fire them up. They also include an experience that has been optimized for cloud gaming and includes Game Ready Driver performance improvements, managed directly by NVIDIA.

Here is the complete list of new games that have been added to GeForce NOW this week:

Of these,ATOM RPG Trudograd was released on May 11 on Steam for PC, while Super Mega Baseball 3 was released on May 13 on Steam for PC. As such, they are fresh entries to the roster, so cloud gamers are not behind conventional gamers.

We also spot Goat Simulator on the list, which is a fun game to kill some time mindlessly without any larger objectives.

XDA News Brief NVIDIA GeForce Now adds another 18 new games to its cloud gaming library

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NVIDIA GeForce Now adds another 18 new games to its cloud gaming library - XDA Developers

Nvidias next-generation GPU architecture is finally here. Nearly a year and a half after the GeForce RTX 20-series launched with Nvidias Turing architecture inside, and three years after the launch of the data center-focused Volta GPUs, CEO Jensen Huang unveiled graphics cards powered by the new Ampere architecture during a digital GTC 2020 keynote on Thursday morning. It looks like an absolute monster.

Ampere debuts in the form of the A100, a humongous data center GPU powering Nvidias new DGX-A100 systems. Make no mistake: This 6,912 CUDA core-packing beast targets data scientists, with internal hardware optimized around deep learning tasks. You wont be using it to play Cyberpunk 2077.

But that doesnt mean we humble PC gamers cant glean information from Amperes AI-centric reveal.Here are five key things that Nvidias Ampere architecture mean for the next-gen GeForce lineup.

If youre looking for specific details about GeForce graphics cards, well, keep waiting. Like the Volta and Pascal GPU architectures before it, Amperes grand reveal took shape in the form of a mammoth GPU built to accelerate data center tasks. Unlike Volta, however, Ampere will indeed be coming to consumer graphics cards too.

In a prebriefing with business reporters, Huang said that Ampere will streamline the Nvidia GPU lineup, replacing both the data center-centric Volta GPUs as well as the Turing-based GeForce RTX 20-series. The hardware inside each specific GPU will be tailored to the market its targeting, though. Theres great overlap in the architecture, but not in the configuration, Marketwatch reports Huang as saying when asked about how the consumer and workstation GPUs will compare.

As widely expected, Nvidias Ampere GPUs are built using the 7nm manufacturing process, moving forward from the 12nm process used for Turing and Volta. Its a big deal.

The Ampere GPU at the heart of the A100 is called GA100, a teaser video released by Nvidia shows.

Smaller transistors mean better performance and power efficiency. The Navi-based Radeon RX 5000-series graphics cards beat Nvidia to 7nm, and the transition helped AMDs offerings greatly increase their efficiency. While Radeon cards have run hot and power-hungry for years prior, the 7nm Navi cards drew even with their GeForce counterparts in both performance and efficiencyno small feat. Looking back to Team Greens own past, Nvidias transition from the GeForce GTX 900-series 28nm process to the GTX 10-series 16nm process resulted in huge performance gains.

In other words, history says we should expect wonderful advancements from Ampere-based GeForce GPUs.

The move to smaller transistors also means you can squeeze more cores into the same space. Whereas the Volta flagship, the Tesla V100, deployed 21.1 billion transistors, 5,120 CUDA cores, and 80 streaming multiprocessor clusters into its 815 mm^2 die, the new Ampere-based A100 crams 54 billion transistors, 6,912 CUDA cores, and 108 SMs into its 826 mm^2 die.

Thats a big leap forward, and more GPU means faster graphics cards. For reference, the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti has 4,352 CUDA cores in its 754 mm^2 die. Its successor might be downright bristling with cores.

Volta and Turing introduced tensor cores to Nvidias GPUs. Tensor cores accelerate machine learning tasks, and in GeForce GPUs, they power the awesome Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) 2.0 technology and denoise the grainy artifacts generated by real-time ray tracings light casting.

The A100 GPU utilizes third-gen tensor cores that greatly improve performance on 16-bit FP16 half-precision floating point tasks, add TF32 for AI capabilities for single-precision tasks, and now support FP64 double-precision tasks as well. It remains to be seen how (and potentially even if) the third-gen tensor cores get deployed in Ampere-based consumer GPUs, but with Nvidia pushing DLSS and machine learning so aggressively, it seems like a lock that next-gen GeForce GPUs will have leveled-up AI in some manner, especially if rumors about greatly enhanced ray-tracing performance prove true. More rays means more noise, and more noise means better denoising is required.

Nvidia didnt announce this for its DGX-A100 system, but Supermicro also revealed new systems powered by the Ampere A100 GPU, and that announcement confirms that the next-gen hardware supports the cutting-edge PCIe 4.0 interface. AMDs Ryzen 3000-series processors were the first to embrace the new interface, which delivers a big speed boost over the PCIe 3.0 slots found in computers for several years running.

A DGX-A100 Ampere system, fresh out of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huangs oven.

When it comes to graphics cards, the move may seem somewhat academic. Navi-based AMD Radeon 5700 graphics cards that support PCIe 4.0 arent any faster than they are in PCIe 3.0 systems, as our PCIe 4.0 primer explains, and generally, most graphics cards dont come close to saturating the PCIe 3.0 interface yet.

That mosttrend matters, though. TechPowerUps testing shows that the fearsome $1,200 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti indeed gets a small, but measurable performance boost when running from a PCIe 3.0 x16 slot rather than a PCI 3.0 x8 slot, indicating that its approaching the upper boundaries of PCIe 3.0s capabilities in multi-GPU gaming rigs. Running several GPUs in a mainstream, non-HEDT system splits one PCIe 3.0 x16 connection across the two slots.

If the Ampere-based RTX 2080 Ti successor indeed packs many more CUDA cores and a lot more graphics oomph, it could overwhelm PCIe 3.0 x8 connections. Deploying PCIe 4.0 skirts that roadbump. It also introduces a novel twist for system builders. Intels latest 10th-gen Core CPUs opted to remain on PCIe 3.0 rather than upgrading to PCIe 4.0. While Intel CPUs generally run slightly faster than their AMD Ryzen counterparts in games, if you plan on building a fire-breathing, no-holds-barred system with several high-end Ampere GeForce GPUs inside, opting for Ryzen and its PCIe 4.0 support could be the better move. Interesting!

[ Further reading: The best CPUs for gaming.]

Ampere is here, and soon itll be powering next-gen GeForce graphics cards.

Nvidias limited A100 announcement failed to reveal some specifications of key interest to gamers, most notably Amperes clock speeds and ray tracing performance. Faster clock speeds mean faster gaming performance, generally. More dedicated RT cores could greatly enhance the ray tracing capabilities of next-gen GeForce GPUs, meanwhile, reducing the steep performance penalty currently inflicted when you activate the gorgeous lighting effects in gamesespecially if paired with Nvidias new advanced tensor cores.

The GTC 2020 keynote and Nvidias associated documentation didnt touch on either aspect, alas. Recent leaks and rumors suggest that GeForce Ampere GPUs will clock even higher than the speedy RTX 20-series, however, and deliver up to a 4x performance increase in ray tracing speeds. The source doesnt have an established track record for accurate leaks, however, and you should always take rumors with a big pinch of salt. That said, all the extra space provided by the jump to 7nm gives Nvidia a lot of room to pack in more CUDA cores, more RT cores, or (hopefully) a mixture of both.

Technical types can find Nvidias deep-dive into the Ampere architecture here.

Bottom line: Nvidias next-gen Ampere GPU architecture is finally here, and even in data center form, theres a lot for PC gamers to get excited about. Now the wait for Ampere-based GeForce graphics cards begins. Nvidia hasnt uttered a peep about them, but expect to see the new hardware later this year. With Big Navi Radeon GPUs and impressive next-gen consoles bringing bigger performance and ray tracing to AMD hardware in the coming months, Nvidias sure to want to drop a hammer on its rivals ambitions.

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Nvidia's bleeding-edge Ampere GPU architecture revealed: 5 things PC gamers need to know - PCWorld

Resolution Games, creators of virtual reality games with millions of downloads, is showing off gameplay for its next VR title, Cook-Out: A Sandwich Tale. The game is part of the Stockholm-based companys continuing quest to make accessible, casual, and humorous titles for the masses to drive mainstream consumer acceptance of VR.

Headed by Tommy Palm, the studio has previously created titles such as Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs, Bait, and Acron: Attack of the Squirrels. The latter has been downloaded more than 3 million times.

Were sharing some more detailabout our extremely whimsical cooking and collaborative multiplayer game, Palm said in an interview with GamesBeat. Weve always been very big on trying to make VR content that would fit everybody and bring more people into VR. Cooking is one of these things we have wanted to do for a long time.

Cook-Out: A Sandwich Tale is a cooperative game where up to four players can work as chefs in a kitchen. The game will launch later this year on Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift platforms, with additional platforms to come. The title has been in the works for a couple of years.

Gustav Stenmark is the producer if Cook-Out, and he said in a statement that players will have to deal with the pressure cooker of a fast-moving kitchen, where chefs prepare meals but also have to fight off a number of nasty customers who seem absolutely set on making trouble.

The game has a lot of our traditional humor and a little bit of a cartoony style, Palm said. Its built around needing to communicate with other players. You need to serve customers, but theyre very different types of customers.

Above: Cook-Out: A Sandwich Tale has up to four players in co-op cooking.

Image Credit: Resolution Games

While the game is focused on cooperative play, solo players will be able to enjoy the experience with the help of a simulated partner.The trailer includes three prominent Swedish chefs, including the winner of MasterChef Sweden 2020 Sofia Henriksson, Gabriel Jonsson, and Filip Poon.

Founded in 2015, Resolution Games is privately held and has 60 employees. Palm said the company has a bunch of games in development and will likely ship a couple of titles this year.

While the team has been sheltering in place, the developers have been holding meetings inside the game, so they can talk about any work matters as they play, Palm said. The Cook-Out: A Sandwich Tale team includes Mike Booth, a veteran developer who worked on titles such as Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, and Nox. He was most recently creative director at Facebook on VR.

Palm said he really likes the Oculus Quest platform, which has been selling out, because it gets rid of the wires and some of the hassles of playing VR.The price point is good and it is very comfortable, he said. You dont have to upgrade your drivers all the time like you do on the PC.

With hardware like the Quest in place, Palm believes the onus is on developers to create outstanding games to attract more consumers to VR.

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Resolution Games sets the table for VR game Cook-Out: A Sandwich Tale - VentureBeat

The PGA Tour is returning to video games with former Alabama All-American Justin Thomas as the front man.

Thomas was announced as the cover golfer for 2K Sports PGA Tour 2K21 on Thursday.

Being chosen to be the first-ever cover athlete for the premiere PGA Tour 2K game is a tremendous honor, Thomas said. Im excited to join the 2K family and challenge players everywhere on the digital links. This is a great opportunity to introduce the PGA Tour experience to a larger and younger audience who love video games. Im very happy to be a part of that.

The PGA Tour has been out of gaming since EA Sports Rory McIlroy PGA Tour in 2015. The Golf Club 2019 was a 2K Sports product, but it didnt feature PGA Tour players.

Thomas is one of the 12 PGA Tour pros that players can hit the course as in PGA Tour 2K21. It also features 15 PGA Tour courses.

PGA Tour 2K21 will release Aug. 21 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Steam and Google Stadia.

Thomas said the courses are the best part of the game.

To be able to play some of these amazing courses in a video game, and how realistic they are nowadays and how realistic PGA Tour 2K21 is, you feel like youre there, Thomas told the Washington Post. So then Im out in this tournament, I have the same shot. And as crazy as it (sounds), but its really the world we live in these days, its like: Ive had that shot. Or I see that shot in the video game and hes screwed. Hes got no chance. Its just another way for fans and other people to be able to relate to us and get as close as they can get.

Thomas said some facets of the game can help his preparation for a course.

It can help little things, like the slopes on the greens, Thomas said. Thats all very, very realistic and accurate. Bunkers, maybe, when youre down in there, what you see, when you dont see anything. Its like, all right, stay out of that or that type of thing. But, obviously, the lies, the feel of the wind on one direction of your body, that kind of stuff, you obviously cant replicate it in any video game.

The PGA Tour halted its schedule on March 13 after the first round of the Players Championship because of the coronavirus pandemic. The PGA Tour will resume on June 11 with the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.

Thomas had won two of the eight official PGA Tour events hed entered and ranked second in the FedEx Cup standings this season when the schedule stopped. Thomas won the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges on Oct. 20 and the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Jan. 5.

Thomas will return to play at No. 4 in the World Golf Ranking, behind McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka.

At Alabama, Thomas was the National Player of the Year in 2012 and a member of the Crimson Tides national-championship team in 2013.

Thomas has 12 career PGA Tour victories, including the PGA Championship in 2017, when he was the PGA Tour Player of the Year and captured the FedEx Cup.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @AMarkG1.

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Justin Thomas out front in PGA Tours return to video games - AL.com

PCMag teamed up with IGN to run a survey on VPN usage while PC gaming. From April 14 to 22, we asked 770 readers of IGN and PCMag to tell us how and why they're using VPNs (virtual private networks)that all-important software that helps keep your online activity privatewhile playing games on PC. But some of their answers revealed that a number of gamers (and probably the rest of us) might have a fundamental misunderstanding of the kind of protection a VPN provides.

First, most respondents78.6 percentsaid they were not using a VPN while gaming. Of those who do, 58 percent said the reason is to "protect my privacy," which is all well and good.

Several respondents clarified that they run a VPN while gaming but aren't using it for gaming: Some just leave their VPNs on or forget to turn them off, but others have isolated their games out of the VPN. Thats possible when your VPN supports split-tunneling. According to Max Eddy, PCMag's senior security analyst and VPN guru, split-tunneling "marks which apps send data through the VPN connection and which apps communicate in the clear." And thats totally fine: According to Eddy, most gamers don't really need to use VPNs specifically for gaming.

This has to do with the way most online games are structured. A majority of the respondents, for example, stick with RPG/MMORPG games such as Skyrim or World of Warcraft, which facilitate multiuser play over their own online services. The privacy of the connection is essentially baked in. Using a VPN with a game like that is a hindrance, adding overhead to the connection. Issues with speed, performance, and lag in such cases are why many PC gamers eschew a VPN entirely; our colleagues at IGN will dive into that even more.

Those PC gamers who do keep VPNs on while they play should check our review roundup, The Best VPNs for Gaming. We test latency as well as upload and download speed changes, so you can see which VPNs will impact your PCs performance the least.

Ultimately, are PC gamers safer with a VPN than without? Undoubtedly, if they feel they can handle the performance hit. Of our respondents, 60.9 percent said speed was their top criteria in picking a VPN. Around 51.3 percent said security features, but the price was even more important than security: 58.6 percent cited cost. Most won't pay over 40 bucks a year for a VPN subscription.

But are they safe from trolls? Not from the taunting. Nor can one expect total privacy, depending on how much you share. After all, a VPN's not going to prevent players from social-engineering one another.

The VPN could potentially help fend off a distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attack. Eddy says, "There are all kinds of dirty tricks people use to win." A VPN would help hide your public IP address and mitigate a DDOS. Nearly 12 percent of respondents singled that out as a reason to use a VPN while gaming.

Perhaps the best use of a VPN is hidden in that second chart, aboveit lets gaming go international, allowing access to games in regions you can't otherwise reach and playing with people in different countries. One respondent gave us more detail: "Can't play [Rainbow Six] Siege/Overwatch with people in same household. Constant disconnects otherwise." Another specific reason was given by a player on active duty and stationed in Asia who wanted to connect to servers at home.

Ultimately, its about comfort. The feeling one gets from a VPN security blanketit makes 66.7 percent feel somewhat to very safeis what really matters.

Methodology: 770 US respondents who read PCMag and/or IGN who game primarily on a PC were surveyed from April 14 to April 22, 2020, via Google Forms survey.

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Here's What PC Gamers Have to Say About VPNs - PCMag

The International Olympic Committee expects to bear costs of up to $800 million for its part in the organisation of the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics, now due to be staged next year, IOC President Thomas Bach said on Thursday.

In March, the International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government decided to delay the Games, which were due to start this July, for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic that has killed 300,000 people worldwide.

We anticipate we will have to bear costs of up to $800 million for our part and responsibilities in the organisation of the postponed Games Tokyo 2020, Bach told a conference call at the end of the IOCs executive board meeting.

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He said out of the amount that would be set aside $650 million would go towards the organisation of the Games next year and $150 million to support international federations and National Olympic Committees.

International federations rely on the Olympic Games contribution every four years, and with a ban on sports competitions worldwide all of their major sources of revenue have dried up in recent months.

We are discussing with international federations the consequences of the postponement... and the postponement of the share of the international federations from the commercial success of the Games, Bach said.

We are very well advanced in these discussions and we will continue to assist, he said.

The figure announced by Bach does not include any costs Tokyo Games organisers and the Japanese government have to incur due to the 12-month delay of the worlds biggest multi-sports event.

We are assessing and continue to discuss jointly the respective impact caused by the postponement, he said. What you have seen today, this envelope of $800 million, is the assessment for the IOC side.

This discussion with the (Tokyo Games) organising committee will continue in the way we have agreed.

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The IOC last month was forced to remove a comment from its website that referred to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe when discussing costs for the postponement, following objections from the Games organisers.

Bach noted that the first priority now was to secure the Olympic venues, including the athletes village and the media centres, for another year.

This is not an easy undertaking. Our Japanese friends are working with full force on this, he said.

Bach declined to speculate on a possible new delay to the Games if the coronavirus is still a major concern next year.

More than 90 vaccines are currently being developed globally, with eight in the clinical trial phase. But experts say the process could take years and may not happen at all.

We are now working with full engagement for the success of Tokyo 2020 in 2021 and to have these Games in a safe environment for all participants, Bach said.

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We are one year and two months away from the opening of these postponed Olympic games. We should not fuel any speculation on any future development.

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IOC expects costs of up to $800-million for delayed Tokyo Games - The Globe and Mail

Its not surprising that the man behind Ludo King lived and breathed video games as a teenager.

In 1991, when local administrations decided to shut down gaming parlours, 17-year-old Vikash Jaiswal from Patna had only one desire: to buy a video game machine of his own and play all day long.

Homegrown gaming app Ludo King ranks as Indias #1 gaming app, on both Android and iOS.

Vikash Jaiswal, Founder and CEO of Gametion Technologies (Ludo King)

Ludo King, which adds a modern touch to the royal game of Pachisi, which used to be played between Indian kings and queens in ancient times, has surpassed top gaming titles like Candy Crush Saga, PUBG, Clash of Clans, Subway Surfers, Temple Run, and others in monthly active users in India.

Vikash grew up in a humble home in Patna. He was two years old when he lost his father; the family survived on his fathers pension.

As he grew up, he realised that IT engineers earn well, and decided to take up computer engineering.

Greeting card created by young Vikash

Vikash melds creativity and technical skills. He recalls that he used to make hand-made greeting cards when he was preparing for engineering entrances.

Carving, cutting, designingeverything. I used to give them to a local stationary shop and tell them to sell, he recalls.

It took him a couple of years to get through a desired computer engineering course, and till then he signed up for animation, graphic design, and 3D classes in Patna. He got through a college in Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh in 1999, and studied computer engineering.

Vikash recalls that buying a computer was a big deal at that time, but his mother and brother managed to get one when he asked for it. He says he never wasted their investment.

Other people used to watch movies and listen to songs on the PC in my hostel, but I always used it for studies, he says.

In one such CD, Vikash found free gaming software, which brought back his childhood dream of creating his own game.

Almost overnight, he developed a game, Eggy Boy, which went to receive theGame of the Month' title from various magazines. Even boys in my hostel used to play the game, he says.

Towards the end of his engineering course, Vikash took a day off and went to a nearby cyber cafe (20 kilometres away) that allowed one-hour of internet access for Rs 100. The internet was a luxury, he says.

After Eggy Boy, Vikash knew that he wanted to work in a gaming company. So, at the cyber caf, he sent a mail and his CV to various gaming companies. In 2004, he got an interview call and the job at Mumbai-based IndiaGames, a venture by Vishal Gondal, the man who gave us GOQII.

When the blog money touched his salary amount, he decided to quit his job and pursue entrepreneurship full time. At that time, people's advice was to work for at least one more year in the current job to get the gratuity amount, he laughs.

But that was not to be.

Vikash quit IndiaGames, and started developing games and websites independently.

In 2010, Vikash formally started Gametion with a seed amount of Rs 2 lakh from his savings. He opened a small office in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, with a few computers and six team members.

At that time, my aim was to earn more money. So, the engineers and graphic designers helped me to make better games and sell them better, he says.

The Ludo King chief says his team at that time was only three people-strong, including himself. The programmer in the team had never played Ludo in his life. So, Vikash conceptualized the game from scratch himself.

The basic idea at the time of developing Ludo King was simple rules and quick actions. Ludo has different rules in different places, but I wanted to be easy and quick, Vikash says.

Ludo was launched in early 2016 and has since then been on top of the popularity charts. It is the only Indian game that has been on top since the last couple of years, Vikash says.

He may have conceptualized the game himself, but he attributes its success to his 70-people team, which includes his wife, Soni Jaiswal, who looks after management and other games such as Carrom King.

Ludo King team

After the coronavirus-led lockdown was announced on March 24, Ludo King started growing, in terms of installs and user base.

Ludo King used to see a sudden spike immediately after the telecast of Ramayan on Doordarshan. After 10.30 pm, people would come to play Ludo on our app, and our server started crashing, he says.

Vikash says the Gametion team worked on scaling up its IT system and servers for three to five days at a stretch. The scaling up is evident from the number of servers: from eight before the lockdown to 200 servers now.

Now, we are stable to handle any amount of traffic, Vikash says. It all happened with a team working remotely, day and night.

In terms of business, monetisation has increased five times for Gametion on the back of ad revenues.

Gametion is a bootstrapped startup, and Vikash says the company has been profitable since the beginning. We closed FY19 with a turnover of $6 million and are expecting to close FY20 with three times increase, Vikash says.

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)

How has the coronavirus outbreak disrupted your life? And how are you dealing with it? Write to us or send us a video with subject line 'Coronavirus Disruption' to editorial@yourstory.com

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Meet the man behind Ludo King, which has smashed all mobile gaming records - YourStory

Tencent logo seen displayed on a smartphone.

Omar Marques | SOPA Images.| LightRocket | Getty Images

Tencentshares soared to a more than two-year high on Thursday after reportingfirst-quarter earnings that beat expectations.

However, the Hong Kong-listed shares of the Chinese technology giant gave up some gains to close 0.23% higher, after a volatile session that saw its stock price swing between positive and negative territory

Tencent shares had earlier hit an intra-day high of 447 Hong Kong dollars ($57.67), putting the shares around 4% higher from Wednesday's closing price.That was the highest level since an intra-day high of $458.96 Hong Kong dollars on March 22, 2018.

On Wednesday after the Hong Kong market close, Tencent said revenue for the March quarter totaled 108 billion Chinese yuan($15.2 billion) representing a 26% year-on-year rise.Profitattributable to equity holders of the company hit 28.9 billionyuan. Both figures beat analyst forecasts.

The coronavirus epidemic swept across China earlier this year leading to the country effectively being locked down. People stuck at home turned to smartphone games for entertainment which gave Tencent a boost as the country's largest game maker.Online games revenue grew 31% year-on-year to 37.3 billion yuan in the first quarter, with the bulk of that coming from mobile games.

Meanwhile, Tencent's advertising business, which was a worry going into the earnings report, held up well.

However, the company flagged some potential headwinds going forward.

In a statement, Tencent said it expects "in-game consumption activities to largely normalise as people return to work" adding that it sees "some headwinds for the online advertising industry."

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Tencent shares hit a more than 2-year high after smartphone games led to an earnings beat - CNBC