Not since the fall of Jonathan Majors have we seen an astronomical collapse of an undeniable to an undesirable. Now, Helldivers 2 has snatched that unfortunate crown. Over the past weekend, the year’s best game has faced its biggest controversy yet after Sony started forcing users to link their PlayStation accounts to play the game.

Despite being available on Steam, Helldivers 2 is a Sony game through and through. After all, it’s not available on Xbox. However, as with Sony’s other games on PC, the company allowed the coop shooter to run without a PlayStation Network account.

All of a sudden, Sony released a statement this weekend, stating that users must now link their PlayStation accounts to play the game, regardless of platform.

While the accounts are free, users expressed their concern over data safety. Additionally, PlayStation Network is not available in all countries. Affected users would have been locked out of their accounts even if they already paid for the game.

Just as quickly, a vast majority of players expressed their displeasure by review-bombing the title on Steam. Helldivers 2 now has Mixed reviews. Recent reviews are also Mostly Negative. It got so bad that Arrowhead Game Studios encouraged the negative reviews to show their power to Sony. (The studio maintains that, despite knowing of the planned change beforehand, they tried to fight the decision before it dropped.)

After the disastrous weekend, Sony relented on its new policy and allowed the game to continue without the need for a PlayStation Network account. The company supposedly backtracked because of the overwhelming response. It remains to be seen whether the game can regain the lost goodwill.

SEE ALSO: Helldivers 2 review: SIP ON SOME LIBER-TEA!

Formula 1’s success these days owes a lot to Netflix’s Drive to Survive. In concise ten-episode chunks per season, the documentary series takes viewers through an entire season of the sport. Next year, Netflix is getting a second Formula 1 series, focusing on F1 Academy, to add to its motorsports slate.

The F1 Academy is a much smaller series attached to Formula 1. Before a few F1 races sprinkled through the season, 15 female drivers take to the circuit. Though the series only started in late 2022, its main goal is to grant developmental opportunities for female drivers in motorsports.

The newly minted series gained a lot of traction because of McLaren’s Bianca Bustamante, the first Filipino driver to win an F1 Academy race. She also has two other podium finishes in the series to her name.

Now, almost a year since winning her race, Bustamante will get her Netflix debut through a new docuseries simply titled F1 Academy. As the name indicates, the upcoming series will focus on the female-only series, much like how Drive to Survive focuses on the main series.

In production now, the series is set to premiere sometime in 2025. It will be produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine.

SEE ALSO: F1’s Daniel Ricciardo spotted with an unreleased Beats Pill

After a month (or two) of waiting for the local launch of Apple’s newest MacBook Air, Power Mac Center has finally unveiled and brought the MacBook Air M3 to the Philippine shores this May 3, 2024 at their Premium Partner Store in Greenbelt 3.

This goes live hand-in-hand with select Power Mac Center branches as well as The Loop stores nationwide.

Lean and Mean

Just like its predecessor, the new generation of Silicon-powered MacBook Air is either available in 13 or 15-inch Liquid Retina displays.

Both sizes are lean at just around 0.45-inches in thickness — or thinness, rather. The laptops are lightweight too weighing at just 1.24 kilograms and 1.51 kilograms respectively.

But being light in heft doesn’t mean it’s light in features. In fact, the MacBook Air M3 is power-packed to consider it as “the world’s best consumer laptop for AI“.

There are several configurations like choosing between 8GB or 16GB of unified memory and 256GB or 512GB of internal storage.

But the highlight of the show is none other than its new M3 chipset. This has an 8-core CPU that’s powerful than ever and promises 13x faster than its last Intel-based countepart. Aside from that, GPU can be configured between 8 or 10 cores.

Moreover, the new MacBook Air M3 boasts a Wi-Fi 6E connectivity support as well as a promising all-day battery life of up to 18 hours! Also, there’s an extra support for another external display — that’s when you use it closed.

Mac and Me

Hosted by Aiyana Perlas

To further hype up the launch of the much-awaited MacBook Air powered by M3, Power Mac Center has invited some renowned Mac users and using it to further hone their craftsmanship.

First is none other than Hey! Hey! Hey! Janina Vela here — a sought after content creator in the Philippines who’s also a “proud Power Mac Consumer since Forever” ✨

This was then followed by Merphi Panaguiton, the Creative Director and Co-Founder of ATOMM Studios — one of the country’s leading self-shoot studios.

Last but definitely not the least is Sid Maderazo, a prominent film director especially in terms of brand filmmaking.

Pricing and Availability

The M3 MacBook Air, just like its predecessor, is still available in four color choices: Midnight, Starlight, Space Gray, and Silver.

Both display sizes are available in three different configurations:

**Base configurations are only limited to an 8-core GPU

If straight payment isn’t your cup of tea, Power Mac Center offers flexible payment options via select banks and credit issuers. There’s even a 24-month installment if you’re really that decided to own one without much savings in mind.

Click here to know more about Power Mac Center’s installment pricing plans for the new MacBook Air M3.

Exclusive Perks Await

From May 3rd until the 5th, prospective MacBook Air M3 buyers can enjoy up to 40% discount on select premium accessories plus a free Microsoft 365 Personal Electronic Software Delivery.

If you’re planning to join this weekend’s launch at Greenbelt 3, you will also get a free backpack and laptop stand courtesy of Tuscano.

And that’s not all! Between May 6th to 12th, buyers of the M3 MacBook Air regardless of the size and the Power Mac Center or The Loop branch you purchase it automatically gets an entry to win the raffle. Those include:

• 1 winner of Power Mac Center Gift Certificates worth PhP 30,000
• 1 winner of LaCie Rugged Mini USB 3.0 1TB worth PhP 6,800
• 4 winners of Seagate One Touch Slim USB 3.0 1TB worth PhP 4,190
• 10 winners of SanDisk iXpand Flip OTG Flash Drive Lightning + Type A 128GB worth PhP 4,999