Gaming
Paladins’ Season 5 Now Live with New Champion, Augments to Main Mode, and New Bundles
Paladins starts the year with a bang with today’s Season 5 Update – the biggest one in recent years. Hi-Rez is aiming for 2022 to be the best year yet for their free-to-play fantasy shooter, especially focusing on making the new player experience more welcoming.
To kick off the new competitive Season, the Season 5 Update is teeming with all sorts of new content. It features the new Champion VII – pronounced ‘Seven’ – the 2022 Season Pass, the Abyss Hunter Academy Event Pass, changes to core gameplay mechanics, free progression rewards, and more! Major improvements to Siege, Paladins’ most popular mode, will be deployed later during this Update with a special patch.
Extensive details are available on these Patch Notes and here is the Season 5 lore video.
New Champion: VII
Paladins’ 53rd character, VII, is out today as the first Champion in 2022.
For true justice to prevail, the Realm needs more than pious Judges. They need VII, the Executioner and Hand of the Outer Tribunal. Unburdened by the trappings of mercy, he ensures that judgements cast are judgements kept.
All about ambushing his opponents, VII can grapple onto walls and use the terrain to his advantage to get the drop on enemies. His weapon mode can be changed on the fly, swapping between automatic fire, burst fire, and unloading the entire clip.
Always nifty, VII is able to dodge-roll out of danger, leaving behind an explosive trap. And as he pronounces the Decree 77 during his ultimate, he makes targeted enemies run away in sheer terror – a rare skill for a Flank Champion.
VII can be unlocked just by playing Paladins. Upon release, he boasts six skins of alternative colors, including two unlocked for free through progression, and two included in the new 2022 Season Pass.
Siege: Beyond
Throughout 2022, Paladins players will get to play three augmentations to Siege, the most popular and most competitive mode. Sure to freshen things up, these iterations – called Schisms – will begin later during this Season 5 Update, with the launch of Siege: Beyond.
This first Schism will feature a brand-new item shop made of one universal track, plus three focused tracks – Support, Tank, and Damage. At any given stage, players choose between three available items instead of the entire selection, making the shop easier for new players to learn. At the same time, with a total of twelve stages of items to choose from and new types of items, it allows for greater strategic depth and deeper customization of Champions according to different play styles.
This first Siege: Beyond Schism will last for about four months. During each Schism, designers will be scrutinizing player sentiment in order to accordingly expand on the changes or revert them. And Siege players who want to stick to their guns need not worry, as Siege: Core will remain available in parallel.
Ranked & Commendation Rewards
Paladins’ Season 4 rewards have just been sent to eligible players. Those who reached Gold in Ranked play have received a Loading Frame based on their highest rank, while another exclusive Loading Frame was granted to everyone who managed to be commended 500 times by their teammates during the past Season.
And now that Season 5 has started, players will receive the Epic Will.0 Willo skin as soon as they win 75 Ranked games.
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Africa
South Africa’s Top Gamers Crowned at 2025 MTN SHIFT Gaming Grand Finals at Canal Walk
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Massive wins, standout talent and a showdown wrapped up five months of fierce competition across the country.
After months of qualifiers and regional heats at eight Hyprop malls across South Africa, the MTN SHIFT Gaming Experience reached its electrifying conclusion at Canal Walk Shopping Centre. With hundreds of spectators and players packing the gaming arena, the national finals brought the heat and crowned South Africa’s best in EAFC 25
, Beat Saber, Call of Duty and more.
In the EAFC National Final, Hamza Moosa (17) from Sandton, proved why he’s one of the country’s most exciting young talents. A professional esports player for Goliath Gaming, Moosa outplayed the competition to take top honours. A familiar name on the international stage, he recently represented South Africa at the Esports World Cup qualifier in Saudi Arabia. Hamza left the MTN SHIFT Gaming national finals with prize money of R25000.
Beat Saber fans saw a fast-paced, high-score battle won by Michael Prange (17) from Pretoria and Garsfontein High School. Ranked #2 nationally, Prange is also a two-time Beat Saber World Cup competitor and has helped shape South Africa’s competitive VR rhythm community through coaching, mentorship, and global participation. As the 2025 MTN SHIFT Gaming Beat Saber national champion, Michael won a Gaming PC valued at R50000.
In the schools division, Ridhaa April, 15, from Cape Town’s Southern Suburbs, took the EAFC title. A prodigious talent who’s been competing since the age of 12, Ridhaa plays professionally for Goliath Gaming and already holds multiple top finishes, including 1st place at the 2025 ASL.
In the Rocket League school tournament, Curro took top spot, followed by Edgemead High in second place.
Meanwhile, Call of Duty Mobile closed out the finals with serious intensity as returning champions Nixuh held onto their title. The dominant team of Magicz (Raees Ismail), Adnaan (Adnaan Bhamjee), Raz (Rahil Bux) and Enigma (Jameen Essa) walked away with a R30 000 cash prize.
“The atmosphere at this year’s finals was absolutely electric,” said Vanessa Herbst, Marketing Manager at Canal Walk Shopping Centre. “The level of skill on display was unreal, and the crowd brought their energy every day. The bar has been set very high for the 2026 edition.”
The MTN SHIFT Gaming Experience is South Africa’s biggest mall-based gaming tournament, played over five months across Gauteng and the Western Cape. Regional heats were hosted at Rosebank Mall, Clearwater Mall, The Glen, Woodlands, Table Bay Mall, Somerset Mall and Capegate Shopping Centre, with the final week of competition culminating at Canal Walk. The tournament drew thousands of players across all skill levels, offering more than R250 000 in prizes and a platform to compete in front of live audiences.
“The SHIFT Gaming Experience is about bringing high-level competition into public spaces and giving players of all ages the opportunity to compete, connect and grow,” said Christie Stanbridge, Brand and Campaigns Marketing Manager at Hyprop. “From pros representing South Africa on global stages to young players discovering their potential, far more than being entertaining, this year highlighted gaming as a space for learning, discipline and community.”
With the 2025 tournament wrapped, planning is already underway for an even bigger return in 2026.
The post South Africa’s Top Gamers Crowned at 2025 MTN SHIFT Gaming Grand Finals at Canal Walk appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Bonus Bag feature
TaDa Gaming Delivers Highway Thrills in Chicken Dash
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Award-winning TaDa has taken a favourite joke and transformed it into an immersive and humorous crash release. Simple mechanics, personalised risk management controls and a max win of 20,659.1x are enhanced with slick graphics and a fearless chicken.
And with an expanding bonus bag that fell off the back of a lorry, it’s easy to see why this chicken is so determined to get to the other side.
Players begin by setting their preferred gameplay parameters. Three levels of Easy, Normal and Hard will dictate the level length or number of tiles the bird has to cross and the level max multiplier value.
Strong clear colours and polished visuals set the scene for the determined chicken to make it across the motorway. Beginning on the grass verge, players click to send the bird across the lanes one multiplier tile at a time against the oncoming traffic.
Each safe step will see a safety barrier land to protect the chicken but one false move and it’s game over and back to the grass verge.
Keeping players on high alert, the Chicken Dash feature can randomly trigger multiple times in a game. The appearance and squawking of the rooster starts the bonus feature which protects the chicken from traffic throughout and allows it to pass over two or three tiles in one go.
A Bonus Bag feature can also randomly trigger. Players must land the chicken on the tile where the bag dropped to collect the prize. And the higher the risk level, the higher the prize.
A clear UI and straightforward gameplay mean players can focus on getting the chicken across the road in one piece – and hopefully with the bonus prize – while enjoying Chicken Dash’s crisp graphics and sly details in this high volatility and amusing game.
Sean Liu, Director of Product Management at TaDa Gaming, said: “Chicken Dash is a hugely entertaining crash game that will have players laughing out loud. The cartoon graphics add to the experiential play and we promise no chickens were hurt in making of this game.”
The post TaDa Gaming Delivers Highway Thrills in Chicken Dash appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Cash Rain Event
TaDa Gaming Releases Cash Stack
Reading Time: < 1 minute
TaDa Gaming, a leading provider of innovative casino content, is redefining fast-play entertainment with the release of Cash Stack, an adrenaline-pumping crash game that puts timing, control and strategy directly in the player’s hands. With a max multiplier of 100x, Cash Stack delivers rapid gameplay, instant decisions and nonstop engagement.
Built for players who love simplicity and control, Cash Stack starts at a 1.01x multiplier, with the tension rising as players manually tap DROP to increase their payout potential. Every decision carries risk — one mistimed move and the round ends instantly. For those who dare, the game can soar up to 100x before the stack collapses.
The twist comes with the Cash Rain Event, a random in-game boost that can multiply winnings by 0.1x to 10x. Players must hit CASH OUT before the round ends to claim the bonus value, adding a thrilling layer of timing and anticipation. The result is a fast, skill-driven experience that rewards quick reactions and nerve.
Cash Stack embodies TaDa Gaming’s next step in the evolution of crash games — sleek visuals, simple mechanics and an emphasis on player control over automatic outcomes.
Sean Liu, Director of Product Management at TaDa Gaming, said: “Cash Stack takes the essence of crash gameplay and turns it into a true test of timing and instinct. Every round is a balance between greed and precision — do you cash out early or chase the big win? We’ve designed it to be fast, flexible, and highly engaging for players who want to feel in control.”
The post TaDa Gaming Releases Cash Stack appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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