The gallant efforts of our Philippine teams was quite fruitful, but the championship went to our neighbors from Malaysia and Indonesia.
Alter Ego (for Valorant) and Myth Avenue Gaming (for DOTA 2) just won the Predator Shield for 2025. They have bested teams from 14 regions, all falling to really good strategy and teamwork on both games. They won 65,000 US Dollars in prize money. ZOL Esports of Acer Philippines won 1st Runner up and a 20,000 dollar pot. Team Ivory on the other hand placed 2nd Runner Up which gets them 7,500 USD, still a great finish. MVP prizes went to CUD of Alter Ego and Bob King of Myth Avenue Gaming. They have a separate prize for that too around 10K USD. In the two days, they also held several celebrity performances, CosWalk competitions, different activities to celebrate the occasion. Follow their official website to know more about the winners.
At the event, they also announced the next hosts which will be Acer India. So see you in Delhi perhaps?
The folks from Acer just recently unveiled some really serious Predator Helios AI Laptops that even have new generation Intel Core ultra Processors and its own NVIDI GeForce RTX 50 series GPU's for the most meticulous gamers out there. This and connecting it to the monster XB323QX gaming monitor would be the best Christmas gift (late or not). We're talking about an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor 275HX here and the aforementioned RTX50 series GPU's, something that Valorant or high graphics gaming pros would appreciate at any given day. This would also make the actual device have a slimmer form without offering up performance you need to do tasks for those games that need more than the usual resources.
Not to mention the OLED displays with 240Hz refresh rates that can take your abilities to look around a map or enemies without delay, something you've been wishing for a while now. Did I say it was also under 19.9 mm thin? Meanwhile, the XB323QX on the other hand can get you 5K display at 31.5 inches, and also utilizes NVIDIA G-Sync Pulsar tech and get you ample 144 Hz refresh rate when you need it that way. It will all be unveiled at CES 2025 which they are participating in for the nth time. There's certainly more where that came from plus Acer's ability to make it really nature friendly, and sustainable. There's a lot more information about that on their main website, so go give them a visit today at acer.com ! There is certainly no better time to get a gaming rig rather than now.
We witnessed the competition here in Manila a few months ago and now, they get to travel to Malaysia for the actual Acer APAC Predator League for 2025.
Since the finals is being hosted in Malaysia, the event will be done at MITEC which usually is a venue for trade expos. This time though there will be 28 teams from different regions in the world. Teams will be battling it out in MMORPG game DOTA 2 and top FPS game Valorant. The winner will be holding up the coveted Predator Shield and a whopping cash prize of 400,000 US Dollars (which will surely change lives no?).
The event will also be a place for different activities because it will be attended by gaming greats, online stars, even cosplay. This is part of their efforts to promote eSports not just in the country but the whole region. The athletes will be donning Acer's Predator gaming rigs, to hopefully showcase how great it is when it comes to response, power and beating your opponents. From Predator Orion X desktop units, to Predator Galea 365 Gaming Headsets, people will surely enjoy every blood rushing game on the Predator XB253Q screens. Folks will also be seeing the "It Lies Within" as performed by different world class artists (perhaps SB19, G22, Dara, Minzy and Sarah Geronimo included!). Hopefully, our boys from ZOL ESports and IVORY would win and make this an even better time for the Philippines! Laban Pilipinas!
From a gamer spectator such as me, I always knew the Philippines would fare well in the recent regional competition, Acer's Predator League 2024. At the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City Philippines, fans flocked to this venue to watch DOTA 2 and Valorant country representatives (in Asia Pacific) as they battle it out to see who's best in this region.
There were over 26 world class teams who were raring to do their best in the 2 day event. The prelims was fun albeit being a bit uneasy for some teams because they had only one match to qualify for the next round. It certainly wasn't easy to adjust that fast but those who did took advantage of the format and won their respective rounds. It was also fun to also talk to the eSports athletes before they went into the actual match, here's some of them on video!
The international eSports teams also talked about their experience doing the tournament here in Manila. They did expect matches would be hard since some of them are Tier 1 franchise teams, and a lot of them wanted to experience what it feels like being in a match with them. Although some of them lost their matches, they learned a lot in the process and promise to be back with an even greater team soon.
Aside from that, executives from different regions went on to tell us how it's been actually very beneficial to run these events in their respective countries. To say the least, business has been good and they are planning to do the regional Predator League in Malaysia next year. They also want to do it bigger and better in the coming years as they find big value in knowing how name recall plays in the gaming industry and that's exactly why they're number 1 in the market!
PABLO was super good!
The Asia Pacific Predator League was also the best in entertainment. World class Filipino performers showed up and got us partying at the start, between games and in the finale. On day 1 alone, I got my dose of Valorant fare as Ylona Garcia who sang "Entertain Me" when NEON was launched as a character, oh how I love her! Aside from that, Urbanddub, Al James and Donny Pangilinan joined in the fun plus a full Valorant game with SB19 and other Acer influencers made the evening extra epic! Asia's Popstar Royalty Sarah Geronimo also ended the day with her performance, people were at awe!
Day 2 had Josh Cullen, bands Sandwich and Spongecola, Pablo (who did a new single on stage) and KZ Tandingan give us the absolute best in Philippine talents, it was like a full blown concert with the games on the finale day.
And in the end, it was a sweet day for the Philippines as Team Secret won the Valorant championship and Blacklist International Rivalry won the DOTA2 championship. Both teams from the Philippines won 65,000 dollars and their own Predator Shield. Initially, BOOM Esports was actually favored to challenge Team Secret, but Japan's FAV Gaming surprised them all. They got 20,000 dollars together with Execration (for DOTA2), and BOOM Esports + Team Flash got 3rd Place with a 7,500 pot each. Team Aster and IHC Esports got the same for DOTA2. Intel MVP awards went to Jeremy “Jremy” Cabrera (for Valorant) and Marc Polo “Raven”Fausto (for DOTA2), getting a prize of 10,000 dollars too.
If you're up to it, some of the performances are already up on my TikTok account so just search @kumagcow there, and some of the country interviews were done live on my FB page (just search kumagcow) as it's all there!
Looks like it's going to be a tough competition for Filipino E-Sport athletes as the Asia Pacific Predator League 2024 Philippine Qualifiers start this month. These are for the exciting RIOT titles particularly games DOTA 2 and Valorant which is still adored in the Manila and elsewhere in the world. This is part Predator's efforts to discover more talent and help existing gamers have an avenue to showcase their skills versus the best of the best for these games in the Asia Pacific region.
Yes, this is a good stepping stone for budding E-Gamers to gain experience in the industry as slots will be given to winners of the Philippine Qualifiers then join the regional finals.
Ms. Sue Ong Lim the GM of Acer Philippines says "I'd like to welcome everyone and our valued partners. Predator has been steadfast in championing eSports in the region. In the next few weeks, we will have a few teams announced as finalists, and we will have the winner soon."
Paulo Sy of TNC says "Asia Pacific Predator League is being hosted by Predator in the region where gamers get to showcase their talent against the best in the region. The country finals will happen at the SM North Edsa Annex Atrium and we have 4 teams Neon, Made in Philippines for DOTA2 and for Valorant we have Naos eSports, Oasis, Zol and Valhalla. During the event the ambassadors and endorsers of Predator will be there to see you. The finals will happen at the Mall of Asia Arena where the Philippine representative will battle it out with other reps from other countries in the region. The finals will be on January 10-14, plus an on ground event and lives stream for those watching at home. It will be 16 teams all in all, separated into 4 groups, then the winners via round robin will battle it out in the championship. The winner will get 65000 USD and special awards will be up for grabs. There will be other events during those dates, and we can't wait to see them early next year!"
PESO Executive Director Marlon Marcelo says "We want to elevate eSports and we have teams doing that now in different events. Happy to say we have won several tournaments, we have been very busy fielding athletes for different games. There is an opportunity to join and compete in the international competitions for 2024. We are doing that in the national level too through Palarong Pambansa. We will do good in DOTA2 and Valorant, which is why we also support the Predator League because they consistently help us, give opportunity for amateurs and professionals to win in a higher competition. The ecosystem in the country is being supported by them, and MOA Arena will be a great venue next year to witness that. We are the number 1 eSports county, see you soon!"
For those who want to start their gaming journey, Predator has the new Helios line which you can check at their experience stores so you can try it out before getting one. The biggest fans of these games are in the Philippines, and the community surely will show up on the day. Be there and Stand Proud!
We've been covering the Predator League for years now and for a while, they've been gone because of the pandemic. This year, they're really raring to go and even extending the whole thing into lands unchartered and putting out a whopping Php 1 Million prize plus the coveted Predator Shield in games of Dota 2 and Valorant. Who will win this remains to be seen.
Young and undiscovered talents have been benefiting from this, imagine 15,000 teams battling it out to represent the country in the Asia Pacific Predator League. From the Qualifiers, to the Group stage and the Finals, this is going to be one tough year. In the country alone, they will have one in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, plus another one in the NCR. That spot certainly will be something that they'd wish to have especially with the prizes at state for them. These important matches will be livestreamed too so you all will be able to cheer for your favorite teams. Once the champion of DOTA 2 and Valorant gets crowned, they get the prize and the shield, including the runner ups, and will be able to represent the Philippines in the big league. That's an honor any team would love right?
The Grand Finals will be early 2024 so stay tuned for more announcements soon. Follow PredatorGamingPhilippines on Facebook or their website predator-league.com because it will all be there!
Just got off the ACER Global Press conference this evening.
A few things were discussed, one of them is the power of AI and how it could power things that are done today. From security, power, safety, medical use and new innovations like eKinekt and sustainability. They plan to use 100 percent sustainable materials in their supply chain in making and packaging their products.
Acer's Robin Wu introduced "ebii", an AI driven bike that is both safe and smart. With it's minimalistic design, flat free tires, and smart device that can provide real time data, and also help to make your ride efficient. It's got a fast charging battery, and can be monitored when you park your bike. It also has a rear collision alert, handlebar bag, an all day bike with less carbon footprint.
Maki Nakamura on the other hand started on their Vero lineup. The Acerpure Pro Vero is packaged in eco friendly materials, and can improve air quality with decreased power consumption over time. Aside from that, they also have Acer Vero Laptops like the Aspire Vero 15 which has 40 percent PCR on chasis, reducing CO2 emissions using 30 percent used plastic on its body. With the 13th Gen Intel Core processor, Intel Evo certified, 12 hours battery life, and a 15.6 inch display. It's also equipped with a 1440p webcam, so you won't look digitized on those Zoom meetings. It's also got Eco Mode to save on batteries, sufficient and fast ports, plus available in different colorways, it looked good from where we saw it.Packaging was made from 90 percent recycled material, 53 percent less water used on it, and still tough by undergoing rigorous tests. They also have the ACER Vero projector PL3510ATV, has a DLP chip, 50% energy saving capability and is brighter than most videos. You can also use an android TV dongle so you can use Google Play apps, the usual smart projectors need not be expensive with it. They also said this can work 24/7, must be magic!
On their ACER Predator gaming products, they want to push the envelope. The Predator Helios 3D 15 SpatialLabs Edition has a 13th Gen Intel Core i9, runs on Win11, and Game Pass from XBox. Those games can be played right away. It will be part of the Predator lineup out of the box, plus the titles they have which can take advantage of the resolution their machines can do. You can also use profiles for your 3D settings, so you can immerse yourself in that game like never before. They still have the classics don't worry, and have new titles published fast every time. Even game devs of Octopath Traveler 2 was there to swear by it.
There's also the Helios Neo 16, with a well designed aluminum cover, GeForce RTX40 graphics card, NVIDIA knows this is their largest jump so far in technology. Those rendering, graphic design would be more detailed with what they have, so imagine what they can do in gaming while keeping it cool and quite still. It's custom cooling solutions keep your laptop in best temperature even in high performance games. Not only that, it can turn heads.
There's also Triton 17X that carries a GeForce RTX 4090 and the latest gen i9 intel processor, it's powered by the most advanced core enabling the ultimate experience in laptop gaming. It's been used in a pro gaming tourney already and plans to push boundaries in the next few years. It's also got a CNC milled body, grills on the side, triple fan and a vapor chamber, heat won't be much of a problem. It's portable, well designed and can perform well. There's lslo a Nitro XZ452CU V which is a ultra-wide monitor, so those multiple windows can just loiter around and still look fancy in it. It deserves its own spot on your office or living room, it's that good. There's also the Predator Orion X that has a LOT of power, we're talking about 24 cores, gaming, multi tasking, streaming, DDR5 RAM and swappable drives, imaging the things you can do with games and work. No compromise on performance, has it's own cooling system and a well designed tower that fit everything on top of your table. That's power, performance and design. I want it personally.
They promise that the best is still yet to come. I can't wait for that!
Looks like Tier One Entertainment is bringing the big guns out as we have witnessed the Blacklist International x Rivalry (Canadian based gaming site) DOTA 2 teams sign up a pact with Predator Gaming this afternoon.
The team is comprised of Marc Polo Luis Faust aka Raven, Karl Baldovino, Carlo Palad aka Kuku, Timothy Randrup aka TIMS Captain, Nico Barcelona aka eyyou and Arjay Domdom aka Papadom as their Manager/Performance coach.
This certainly is good news for those supporting Blacklist International and local eSports teams as the brand will be part of the slew of sponsors expected to help this team get to the top of DOTA 2 greatness especially in the pro circuit where these guys are expected to conquer. Blacklist International already has been making waves in different games especially MOBA themed ones so this would solidify the Philippines supremacy in these titles not just in the region but in the whole world.
Tryke Gutierrez and Alodia Gosengfiao talked about how this was only a dream in the earlier stages and when they met with Rivalry a few years back, they knew it was gonna be something big as they formed a dream team of sorts for DOTA 2 that would be able to battle the best in the world.
Ms Sue Ong Lim of Acer Philippines says "Blacklist Rivalry, Alodia, Tryke, I'm very happy to be partnering with you with the previous Predator League champions. The leading gaming brand in the country will be all behind you. Best of luck to you because we all believe in you, to make sure to equip you well with the hardware that can make you win in the upcoming tournament."
Here's wishing our Philippine based team all do good in international tournaments!
Looks like the folks over at Predator are becoming extra generous this month as they celebrate the APAC Predator League 2020/21 Grand Finals from April 6-11. I'm sure they're going to stream it live at Predator's social channels but that doesn't mean they're forgetting about you watching at home.
Several giveaways will be happening during the streams and all you gotta do is follow a few things for a chance to win a brand new Predator Helios 300, limited edition Predator jackets, Predator loot bags, a gaming chair and loads of other stuff daily. Thing is, you have to also watch out for the Predator code for the day which will be given as clues in different parts of the program.
Now these prizes are no joke and if you love these games, you get to also see different pro players challenge themselves and other pro teams who will be using Predator in this year's championship. Get inspired and take a hobby, who knows, you might be the next one to play in this tourney! Oh before I forget, you can like their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/PredatorGamingPhilippines/ so you can see the games live til April 11th. Make sure you are following the instructions to a T so you can qualify for the giveaways! How I wish I had those gaming machines. Hello Predator! LOL
It's a bit sad that I wouldn't be able to watch the championship in person, but this is an awesome alternative. Our friends from Acer just announced that the Asia Pacific (APAC) Predator League 2020/21 will happen on April 6-11, 2021 but to be seen fully online. The 2020 league postponement was heartbreaking but we all know we had to be safe from the pandemic, but they promise to make it up to you in this final battle which will be seen online on their social channels.
President of Acer Pan Asia Pacific Regional Operations Andrew Hou says "Because of the pandemic, we have made the decision to move the competition to Spring of 2021. This was done for the safety of all our players, fans and organizers.”
Difference is, they will have the teams who qualified for the Grand Finals have their respective slots while those who haven't yet will be done by invitation initiated by Acer. They will also be battling it out via bubbles in specific locations. All of these for the chance to win the highly prized APAC Predator League shield plus a price pool of US$ 400,000 ain't that bad right?
1. APAC Predator League 2020/21 Grand Final Dota 2 Asia 2. APAC Predator League 2020/21 Grand Final Dota 2 APAC 3. APAC Predator League 2020/21 Grand Final PUBG Asia 4. APAC Predator League 2020/21 Grand Final PUBG APAC
For those who are looking forward to the APAC Predator League 2020/21, it will all be shown on Acer Predator’s Facebook page and on Twitch, so just follow them there this early okay? Schedules will also be there. They also have IG and Twitter so don't be sad now, tickets will also be refunded for those who had them for the grand finals, get in touch with them on how to do it.
When you feel that businesses are on a slump, you sit and wonder why others are thriving. Acer Philippines just opened up their flagship store at the SM Megamall Cyberzone in Mandaluyong City. This place is sprawling with everything tech and I've heard the growth in the consumer laptop industry has bee huge for Acer, I'm not surprised - as people have been looking for things that they can use for home office and online school, and Acer presents a pretty affordable line of laptop computers too.
The Acer Philippines Flagship store also houses a section dedicated to Predator, their gaming laptop computer brand which is used by countless serious gamers here and abroad. They're also displaying the latest models so people can get an idea how it works and perform with heavy graphics. I bet they have the Predator 15 there which I was eyeing a couple months back.
They will also showcase the latest models of laptop computers from Acer Philippines, as you can see, design wise, they've done a pretty remarkable job. This also means that you will get the chance to have your laptop computers serviced because this also caters to that. If you're up to huge discounts on consumer laptop computers from Acer Philippines or the gaming laptops from Predator, you can got to this store from January 15 to 24 as they will be having huge discounts on several models just because they opened up shop in this side of the world.
Now don't let me stop you, just go and experience it yourselves at the SM Megamall Cyberzone. It's a good thing.
The most popular game in the country deserves the most powerful hardware too. Gaming tycoon brand Predator just recently held their Predator League 2019 DOTA II Tournament at the fastest cafe in Manila, Highgrounds in Scout Rallos in Quezon City. The goal is to hold the FINALS GAME and find out the best of the best players in the country.
The semi finals has been held in different areas and now Predator will get teams Alpha Gaming from Visayas, Neon ESports from Metro Manila, TaskUS Titans from Central Luzon and NCGC ESports team from Mindanao to fight in order to get DOTA Supremacy in the hopes to win the huge prize of Php 120,000.
Game settings will be a tournament 5 vs 5 single eliminations in a best of 3 match. They will also be doing Captain’s Mode and connected in the Singapore server location, same gameplay rules as with the tournament version, spectator mode is enabled, sides will be picked by a coin toss. The goal is to destroy the other team’s main building. Easy as that.
Neon ESports
TaskUs Titans
This is Predator’s way of reinforcing the brand presence in the gaming industry. The Predator League is a yearly event held by Acer and is the go to brand for laptops, desktops, monitor, projector that is made to level up the gamer experience with their state of the art products sold across the region, and around the world.
It looks like Team Neon ESports is winning the Finals as they have 30-9 lead as we speak. I think they will also be representing the Philippines in the regional finals in Thailand early next year. Good job on making sure to cripple their economy first before heading on and getting them all defeated. It was a nice game! Congratulations!
Looks like ACER is stepping up to the plate and is making events for their products, putting their foot where their mouth is. They jusy concluded the Philippine leg offhe Asia Pacific Predator League 2018 at the Highgrounds Cafe in Scout Rallos Street in Quezon City. It's right beside Tomas Morato avenue which is a couple minutes away from my home. Even though this is my turf, teams from around the country will converge at this huge cafe powered by the latest in PREDATOR desktop rigs to vie for the Philippine championship so they could represent the country in Indonesia.
If you don't know, this league is the region's biggest gaming tournament dor DOTA 2 League and is happening in 7 participating Asia Pacific countries. The elimination rounds (qualifiers) already happened in 4 regions in the Philippines. For Mindanao, it happened in TNC (TheNet.Com is their official venue partner, they are also the organizers) Bukidnon, for Visayas it's in TNC Bacolod, then for North Luzon at TNC La Union and for NCR it's at TNC Marikina. If they become the champions of the Asia Pacific Predator League 2018, they will get the chance to get US$ 150,000.
As for the winning the Philippine leg, they will get to win Php 50,000. Second Prize gets Php 25,000, Third gets Php 15,000 and Php 10,000 for the fourth. The Philippine leg champion will then fly to battle other country champs from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Hong Kong and host Indonesia.
Mr. Andrew Hou, President of Predator Gaming Pan Asia Pacific Region says "We see a lot of potential and tremendous growth in the region for the coming years and we're sure we'll be discovering outstanding gaming talent in the Philippines as we continue to unleash more products as we all discover the world of Predator gaming." They will continue to support teams such as Philippine Dota Pride and TNC Pro Team Dota 2. If you want to know more about this and future events, visit their official website http://predator-league.com because they've got everything there if you want to join the competition. In the end it was Quid Pro Quo who won the Finals, congratulations and good luck for representing the Philippines in the Championship match between countries. Show them what you've got!
We are at the High Grounds Coffee shop in Quezon City and we're witnessing something cool from our friends from Predator.
"We were approached by ONE Championship and hopefully we would be the destined kings in our respective fields. Predator is supporting ONE Championship and one undercard match. There's 9,000 dollars worth of Predator laptop (Predator 21X) to take home if they win on that particular fight. They need to win it because they'll be lucky. We're also going to unveil one relevant surprise as well on fight night. Follow Predator Philippines on Facebook as we also give out tons of stuff very soon." -Mr. Gozun of Predator.
Rich Franklin VP of ONE Championship adds "The people here are so amazing, I've been here so many times but I've been testing the games out and if you're a gamer, you have to be above and beyond your skills, we are all competitive and it takes serious amount of training for competitions. Training days are much not like Rocky, we wake up on our own time, warm up, cool off, no physically difficult sessions because rest is important too. Get up in the morning to up the heart rate, don't fight the fight before the fight. You just run through it, you prepare ahead, just like in egames. We have a lot of Filipino fighters on Friday at MOA Arena. It will be also broadcasted live on ABSCBN. When you see the fight on Friday there will be many rules, and we'll show that in a bit."
And they did! It was painful!
"We go to comic con in San Diego and as you even try to be incognito but you always see fighters geeking out. My family hails from Quezon and if we eat, we eat with our bare hands. My grandpa taught us to take care of each other, my Dad taught us to be resilient and that's what makes us stronger. MMA Fighters are much like gamers and playing on computers are way different, it's visual, but it's tough just like the fights we train for. The preparation is real, you also get beaten, I've always wanted my family to be super proud and I didn't get that overnight. You're seeing this partnership with ONE Championship start with Predator and you're lucky. They are just starting." -Brandon "The Truth" Vera
So people make sure you like the Predator Philippines Facebook page today to get updated about the fight this coming Friday. You can also check out information about the dream gaming laptop Predator 21X on these channels too!
