Category Archives: General

Event, General

Anime Festival Asia Singapore 2022 is back in physical form.

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With much anticipation, AFA 2022 is finally back in physical form at Suntec Convention after 3 years of hiatus (last held in 2019). While we still enjoy the online AFA Station TV show nothing beats jostling in a crowd full of enthusiastic Anime, Comics and Games (ACG) fans looking for merchandise to add to your collection. Here are some details on the upcoming event happening from 25th Nov to 27 Nov 2022.

Competition

J-Dance competition

There will be a brand-new J-Dance Asia competition, with the Finals taking place on November 26 at the festival grounds’ Akiba Stage.

In front of the audience, groups of 2 to 10 people will have the chance to showcase their choreography set to a Japanese music track. 

Reputable dancers from Singapore and Japan will serve as judges and perform in a unique dance display. 

The J-Dance Asia contestants have a chance to earn cash prizes worth up to S$1,000.

On 11 November 2022, registration will open at https://bit.ly/AFASG22JDance. 

Cosplay Competition

At AFASG22, the Cosplay Singles showcase competition will return.

Cosplayers can use this opportunity to display their outfits on a local stage and compete for prizes.

Exhibitors

Some key highlights of exhibitors include Anime Metaverse,Bandai, Bushiroad, Conan, Genshin Impact, Good Smile Company, Hakken!, Kotobukiya, Nissin, Valiant Force and more. There will be exclusive merchandise available for purchase.

Over at Creator Hub, you will get to see and buy work by some of the talented artists including:

  • Self-taught illustrator Rachta Lin, whose travels and experiences influences her creations; 
  • Sarah Thursday, who creates illustrations inspired by dark alternative subcultures with a deeply personal twist; and 
  • Digital artist Raiko, who paints characters from games and anime usually in a semi-realistic style.

Meet and Greet

While you can’t meet you anime waifu or husbando in real life, you can definitely meet a cosplayer counterpart! Sessions will be available with celebrity cosplayers Hakken, Charess and Ely.

AFA-verse – Gamified AFA

Visitors will for the first time get a game-like experience as soon as they enter the festival grounds. 

In order to open virtual easter eggs and gain AFA Hero XP and AFA Coins, visitors will receive a specially made NFC-capable band. 

Additionally, they can create their own Seika AFA-tar, get exclusive skins from AFA-Pitstops, or use AFA-Coins to buy limited-edition accessories.

You may get more information at 2022.animefestival.asia/afaverse

Ticketing

Fans will be able to purchase all ticket tiers, from General Admission 1-Day Exhibition to 1 Day VIP tickets online from today. Tickets start from S$21 / Day for Exhibition.

More details are available at www.animefestival.asia/singapore2022.

Stay tuned to the official site or connect on social media for the latest updates on the festival.

Anime Festival Asia Singapore 2022
Dates: 25 – 27 November 2022
Location: Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre (Levels 3 & 4)

Exhibition Timing: 10 am ~ 8pm

General, Retro Gaming

Whoop Arena – A Unique Indoor Drone Arena

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A new indoor drone racing arena is here in Singapore! This pop-up store is now located at Sin Ming Lane Midview City. For the uninitiated, this form of drone racing is known as FPV (First-Person View) and Tiny Whoop is the small form of a quadcopter that has an inbuilt camera.

Image courtesy of Whoop Arena

So how do you fly this thing? Unlike traditional drone flying, the pilot takes the view of the drone via the onboard camera. See those colorful hoops at Whoop Arena? It is for you to fly your drone through it. Whoop arena also have different mode beyond just pure flying for added entertainment. For example you can shoot the drone with Nerf gun!

Image courtesy of Whoop Arena

Whoop arena also provide STEM & coding workshop and FPV flying experience for beginner. Be sure to check them out as the pop-up store will end towards the end of April 2021.

Details

Whoop Arena

Address: 18 Sin Ming Lane, #06-03, Singapore 573960

Shopee store: https://shopee.sg/product/87089220/9421315635?smtt=0.0.9

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/whoop.arena.sg/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whoop.arena.sg/

General

A New Kind Of Gaming Den To Visit

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In case you are wondering, we are not talking about a Gaming Den where shuffling of Mahjong tiles and punter shouting ‘Blackjack!” can be heard constantly. We are talking about one where you can take your gaming experience to a whole new level beyond your keyboard, mouse or controller.

NXND Computer (NXND) has started this Gaming Lounge which is figuratively a game centre that provides an immersive gaming experience through motion platforms or Virtual Reality which is largely centred on “combat” flying and racing simulation games.

Inspiration for Gaming Lounge

NXND has jokingly shared that the inspiration came from COVID19. One of the cofounder of NXND, Guan Tdee discovered a gaming community in Singapore consisting of individuals who are interested in virtual flying simulation. While its fun and engaging to meet in the virtual skies, there is lack of actual social interactions between such groups in Singapore.

I thought if I need to gather like-minded gamers together to share fun and knowledge and chill out, there must be a lounge or café that is enticing enough to make them “get out of their seat”.

-Guan Tdee (NXND Computer)

It was later expanded to include other game genre beyond just flight simulation.

What’s available at the Gaming Lounge?

There are various programmes to choose from. You are try out their immersive motion simulation with a choice of driving or flying on their motion platform.

Then there is a choice of a static panoramic screen, or VR. Team gaming (i.e. DOTA,CS,ArmA 3 and more) of up to 4 players are also available. More details are available on their site.

Booking and Opening Hours

Booking:
Booking is needed to get a slot for the Gaming Lounge on their website at https://www.nxndcomputers.sg/book-online. Alternatively, you can whatsapp them at +65 9825-7608.

Opening Hours:
Mon – Fri: 9am – 6pm and on appointment
Sat: 9am – 2pm and on appointment
Sun: On appointment

Address:
2022 Bukit Batok Industrial Park A Street 23 #01-138 Mezzanine, Singapore