Fourth-generation Hyundai Santa Fe (TM)

Hyundai's midsize crossover, the Santa Fe, is now on its fourth-generation and for this generation, it promises to be a better-looking and more functional Santa Fe than ever before and looks like they're feeling a little tense over this full model change.

2019 Hyundai Santa Fe

2019 Hyundai Santa Fe

So, fourth-generation Santa Fe, huh? By the glance of its new shape, you can really tell judging from its Kona-styled nose, side view inspired from the Infiniti QX80, and the rear view copied from the Lexus NX. It's all about the things that are right balanced with the things that are wrong and in the subject of being a car with exquisite tastes, it's somewhat above average overall, but it's more than enough to swoon the crowd more than those not-for-Japan PPVs sold beyond the ASEAN market. Impressive though, but has the interior changed?

2019 Hyundai Santa Fe interior

2019 Hyundai Santa Fe interior

On the inside, it's starting to feel like every other Hyundai of today since the iONIQ but the new Santa Fe offers some nifty features like the instrumental panel styled like the upcoming Honda CR-V, sat-nav with song recognition courtesy of SoundHound, HUD, and smart power liftgate that automatically opens when you lift your foot up. In partial terms of comfort, get this; in the previous Santa Fe, getting through the third row seat is as squishy as becoming a Jill sandwich and when the second row seats are heavily occupied with child seats, Jill sandwich. There you go. In this new model, it's now bigger than the previous model and it has the same creature comforts of that certain seven-seater SUV your big sister used to drove. Yes, there's a third-row seat present and as long as it's not occupied with those heinous child seats, the second-row seats makes up a nice sweet spot but if they're here, off to the third row seats you go but surprisingly, you'll have slightly less chance of becoming, well you get the point, and there's room in the back for your grocery shopping or stuff from the thrift store.

2019 Hyundai Santa Fe

Of course, the dynamics are slightly improved compared to the last one but the engine choices remain the same as the previous model, meaning you're still greeted with either a 2.0L CRDi-VGT, a 2.2L CRDi-VGT, or a 2.0L T-GDi engine with 235PS of power and 36kg-m of torque, all mated to an 8-speed automatic gearbox and R-MDPS for questionable but effortless steering. For 4WD models, the Santa Fe comes with HTRAC AWD System that works rather well in either tarmac, gravel, and snow, but awkwardly, power transfers to the front wheels under normal conditions and when Sport mode's engaged, you have a lot of explanation to do. Speaking of safety, the Santa Fe comes with Hyundai's SmartSense suite of safety features as well as Hyundai's first Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist.

If you're interested in the Santa Fe TM, you'd better book one now because the new model starts at 28,150,000 Korean Won and while this is a slight price bump compared to the previous model, looks like everyone's taking interest on the new Santa Fe right now, especially those pesky smugglers. To evaluate, while the Santa Fe's design is a yes and a no from the crowd, the interior space is now roomier enough to avoid the Jill sandwich scenario but with the second-row seats occupied by child seats, kiss your sweet spots goodbye. While the choice of engines sound reasonable for a family crossover, it's the HTRAC that will make you noticed because even if it makes you go anywhere, there's no point of getting away from your driving style that decides the fate of the new Santa Fe. The more you know.

Photo: Hyundai Motor Company

METAL GEAR SURVIVE

Let's begin with the Metal Gear series because, for over three decades, this stealth action game franchise became the hallmark of Konami history as well as the man behind it, Sir Hideo Kojima himself. When Mr. Kojima left Konami for good to start his own development team from scratch, fans are wondering what will the future of the Metal Gear franchise be without him, and turns out, despite Mr. Kojima's departure, the franchise still survives, and as demonstrated by its latest installment.

Metal Gear Survive

This is what they come up with. It's called METAL GEAR SURVIVE and true to its name, the franchise does survive despite Mr. Kojima's departure from Konami, but for the wrong reason because as it implies, MG SURVIVE is a combination of stealth and survival game that takes a lot of wits to survive in a horrifying new world you set foot.

Using the game mechanics from THE PHANTOM PAIN, MG Survive works in both ways, you can either go on a solo campaign to delve deeper into the story of the game or play cooperatively with mates online. Whichever game style you go for, the game gets tougher and tougher but the rewards will get better for your next exploration. 

In solo play, you are assuming the role of a soldier caught up in the fall of Mother Base as seen at the end of Ground Zeroes. Under the hands of a top-secret organization, you've been sent out to a distorted world full of creatures known as Wanderers to find the cure for this infection. 

Before setting off, you can personalize what soldier will you be and when setting off, you need to be familiar with the survival elements you come across. Because this is a survival game, you need to collect items to craft items and weapons. Later on, you will encounter survivors that will be proven to benefit you in your home base. At your home base, you can craft items, check your staff, produce necessities such as food, water, and medicine (of course), fortify with defenses, can customize whatever you want to make your home base unique as long as it is battle-ready in case of a swarm of Wanderers lurking your way.  Oh yeah, as you explore the treacherous environment, you may run into the mist world and because you're equipped with the oxygen tank, surviving the mist world is harsh indeed because battling enemies will deplete your oxygen level so best to be careful while you're out there.

Playing co-op with other players is a great way to experience MG Survive at its best and in this kind of co-op, players need to defend the Wormhole Digger from a wave of creatures. Defend it long enough, the mission is a success and you can keep the rewards such as materials needed for crafting items and equipment as well as other stuff. Goof this off, the mission is a failure. It's important to cooperate with other players and come prepared with the strongest equipment available to make sure missions can go smoothly as planned and if you are enjoying it, it can be very rewarding and addictive.

How to sum this game up? Well, the franchise did survive but in the wrong direction because it's different from the Metal Gear games we're familiar with, and blending stealth action with survival gameplay sounds like a new challenge for seasoned Metal Gear fanatics but since this is a Metal Gear game, it's worth a shot trying it. It can be very unpleasant at first but the more you play MG Survive, the more you're getting the hang of this new kind of Metal Gear gameplay and that is the bottom line. Of course, the Metal Gear saga has been with us for three decades and while the franchise managed to survive without Mr. Kojima, it feels kind of tragic knowing that the franchise shriveled itself to the wrong way around and as demonstrated with MG Survive, it leaves players in a sea of disappointing faces knowing that a Metal Gear game is not a Metal Gear game without Mr. Kojima but since what's done is done, there's no turning back to it so enjoy playing this new Metal Gear game while you can.

PyeongChang 2018: February 20, 2018

As the PyeongChang Winter Olympics is nearing to its climax this week, focus on that day's games are Biathlon, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Nordic Combined, and Short Track Speed Skating.

For Tuesday's winners, the French team became the winners of the 2x6km Women + 2x7.5km Men Mixed Relay, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won the Ice Dance Free for Canada, Cassie Sharpe scored another gold for Canada after winning the Ladies' Ski Halfpipe, and a 1-2-3 finish at the Individual Gundersen LH/10km Cross-Country for Germany with Johannes Rydzek won gold followed by silver placer Fabian Riessle, and bronze placer Eric Frenzel.

URL: https://www.olympic.org/pyeongchang-2018/results/en/general/daily-schedule-date=2018-02-20.htm

The action continues...

Honda Legend KC2 - 2018 minor change

The Honda Legend KC2 was meant to be Honda's answer to the likes of the Nissan Fuga and the Lexus GS and while the NSX-derived Sport Hybrid SH-AWD system sounds revolutionary at first, no one's really caught on because as I suspect, no one's interested in Honda's flagship saloon despite the NSX connection to it. To up the ante, a minor change was implemented, and looks like there's going to be a lot of explanation to do with Honda's flagship hybrid luxury saloon.

2018 Honda Legend

If you are aware of this, the 2018MY Honda Legend is now a Japanese equivalent of the recently facelifted Acura RLX and as hinted by the odd-looking hexagonal grille, the Jewel Eye headlamps that are not good for people with trypophobia, the redesigned front bumper, new wheels, and new rear design, you can really tell that Honda did spoil the good looks of the Legend in the same way Ford did with their Mustang. Yes, the pre-facelifted design looks nice but the facelifted design looks horrible to many.

2018 Honda Legend interior

2018 Honda Legend interior

The interior is still the same as the pre-facelifted Legend but refined with some added materials to keep it fresh. You are still greeted with the annoying dual-screen dashboard, some buttons in place of a gear lever, the Krell 14-speaker Audio System, head-up display system, and so on but still, you will have that "out on a limo" feeling when you experience its level of luxury.

2018 Honda Legend

Like its American equivalent, the 2018MY Legend's SH-AWD has been recalibrated for better dynamics but still, it has the same 3.5L i-VTEC V6 direct-injected engine mated with three electric motors that produce 314PS of power and 371Nm of torque while mated with a 7-speed DCT and torque vectoring. Fuel economy is still at 16.4 km/l by soon-to-be-outdated JC08 mode standards.

For safety, the Legend comes with Honda Sensing uite of safety tech such as a Collision Mitigation Braking System with automatic emergency braking, Lane Departure Warning, Forward Collision Warning, Lane Keeping Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control with Low-Speed Follow and Road Departure Mitigation.

The 2018 Honda Legend starts at 7,074,000 Japanese Yen and while the price sounds expensive for a Honda saloon, you can still afford one compared to the Lexus GS450h but why bother? There were only a few people interested in buying a Honda Legend and despite its new look, the status quo remains the same for now.

Available Colors: Majestic Black Pearl, Premium Crystal Red Metallic, Platinum White Pearl, Super Platinum Metallic, Gilded Pewter Metallic, Premium Deep Rosso Pearl, Modern Steel Metallic, and Obsidian Blue Pearl.

Photo: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Let's Do The News! (February 20, 2018)

- Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, in a heated conversation with Rappler reporter Pia Ranada, clarified that she is allowed to take part in scheduled Palace briefings until such time that Rappler’s appeal against the decision of the Securities and Exchange Commission is resolved.

- Former Peruvian leader Alberto Fujimori, who was pardoned for corruption and human rights abuse and freed form jail by the current president, could face another trial, a court said on Monday. President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski granted Fujimori a pardon in late December, less than halfway through a 25-year sentence, in a decision that was criticized by human rights groups and many Peruvians.

- Maldives leader Abdulla Yameen sought parliamentary approval to extend a state of emergency by 30 days, saying a threat to national security had not diminished and a constitutional crisis had not been resolved.

- The gunman behind the attack on a Florida high school, Nikolas Cruz, returned to court for a hearing on Monday in a case that has galvanized advocates of stricter gun control, including many of the rampage survivors.

- US President Donald Trump lauded efforts to improve federal background checks for gun purchases, days after a shooting at a Florida school killed 17 people, according to White House officials.

- Watch what happens when a Honda Civic Type R takes on its video game equivalent in Road Atlanta.



- Two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso will be taking on the rest of the 2018 WEC season for Toyota.

- For some weird news, actors Ken'ichi Matsuyama and Shota Sometani star in the live-action Saint Young Men film as Jesus and Buddha.

- A film that stars Allen Dizon on it got an X rating by the MTRCB for depiction of incest.

- Grey's Anatomy actress Jeanine Mason becomes part of the one-hour Roswell reboot.

TTFN!!!

PyeongChang 2018: February 19, 2018

The PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics is reaching ita final week and that day's focus are Bobsleigh, Ski Jumping, and Speed Skating.

Canada and Germany scored gold medals at the 2-man bobsleigh event while Norway scored another gold from winning the men's team ski jumping, and also, Havard Lorentzen for Norway wins the Men's 500m Speed Skating.

URL: https://www.olympic.org/pyeongchang-2018/results/en/general/daily-schedule-date=2018-02-19.htm

The action continues...

Let's Do The News! (February 19, 2018)

- An Egyptian national was arrested for using a fake Tunisian passport and for his alleged connection with the Islamic State. The suspect was identified as Fehim Lassoued, alias John Rasheed Lassoued, who was apprehended with his girlfriend Anabel Moncera Salipada, a resident from Upi, Maguindanao.

A certain partylist member proposed a new nationwide curfew for minors. According to Bagong Henerasyon Partylist Rep. Bernadette Herrera, her curfew proposal will be enforced from 10:00 PM up to 5:00 AM of the next day, covering any individual below 18 years old.

- Six members of the PNP-SAF were hurt in a clash with the New People's Army in Antipolo City on Sunday morning. Members of the 33rd Special Action Company were ambushed by the rebel fighters in a cemetery in Sitio San Jose at about 6:30 a.m.

- The gunman behind the death of 17 people at a high school in Florida was investigated by police and state officials as far back as 2016 after slashing his arm in a social media video, and saying he wanted to buy a gun, but authorities determined he was receiving sufficient support, newspapers said on Saturday.

- Parents of children who died from college hazing are gathering in South Carolina on how to prevent such deaths. Reports told that the gathering of parents of 16 children who died will be held on the 23rd and 24th in Greenville.

- With the Busou Shinki franchise revived Konami has announced a new game and a new manga for the revived franchise.

- Doctor Who femme fatale Michelle Gomez will play a villain role in the upcoming Netflix reboot of Sabrina: The Teenage Witch.

- Check out the list of winners of the 34th Star Awards for Movies 2018.

TTFN!!!