Month: July 2014

Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Trailer Focuses on Sound Design

Activision has released a new Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare trailer focused on the game’s sound design. According to the official blurb, the video goes behind the scenes with Sledgehammer Games audio director Don Veca, who details “an audio intelligence system that makes virtually every impact and explosion sound unique”. The latest behind the scenes video follows the recent release of Advanced Warfare facial animation and futuristic tech trailers.

Sledgehammer’s first solo entry in the shooter series is said to be set in a plausible future, specifically the year 2054, and stars Kevin Spacey as main antagonist Jonathan Irons. The Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare release date is November 4 on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4 and PC.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare First-Person Shooters | Donster | July 9, 2014 |

Battlefield 4 Dragon’s Teeth Coming July 15th to All Battlefield 4 Premium Members

Source: Battlefield Blog

Get ready to take the battle to Asian Pacific’s dense, urban landscape with Battlefield 4 Dragon’s Teeth, the fourth expansion pack to Battlefield 4. Coming July 15th to Battlefield 4 Premium members, Dragon’s Teeth drops players into four all-new maps that introduce unique environments and gameplay ranging from the bustling alleyways of Pearl Market to the floating restaurant in the middle of a lake in Sunken Dragon.

Dragon’s Teeth sees five new weapons making their Battlefield debut in addition to a new unlockable gadget, the Ballistic shield. Dragon’s Teeth also introduces a new game mode, Chain Link, a twist on the fan-favorite Conquest mode that sees squads battle to link capture points in order to achieve victory. Fans will also get ten new assignments with unique unlocks and a new Battle pickup in the R.A.W.R., a remote controlled ground vehicle armed to the teeth.

All this plus four new maps including:

Lumphini Garden: Cruise with fast-moving PWC’s on the canals in the pristine park to get the upper hand.
Pearl Market: Wage wars within the bustling alleyways and upon the rooftops of the marketplace.
Propaganda: Fight among massive despotic monuments in the grey concrete battleground.
Sunken Dragon: Battle between modern high rises as you wreak havoc in a floating restaurant or drain the lake opening up for a frontal vehicle assault.

Get a head start playing Battlefield 4 Dragon’s Teeth early by becoming a Battlefield 4 Premium member. Battlefield 4 Dragon’s Teeth will be available to all non-Premium members starting on July 29th.

Battlefield 4 First-Person Shooters | Donster | July 9, 2014 |

Dovetail Games’ Licensing Deal with Microsoft Takes Flight

Publisher gains exclusive rights to create flight simulators using Microsoft’s flight technology

The award-winning creators of the best-selling Train Simulator franchise have today announced a global licensing deal with Microsoft, granting them the rights to develop and publish all-new flight products based on Microsoft’s genre-defining flight technology. The company is currently investigating new concepts in this area and is expecting to bring a release to market in 2015.

In addition to this licensing agreement, Dovetail Games is pleased to announce that it has also acquired the rights to distribute the multi-award winning Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Gold Edition via Valve’s popular digital retail channel, Steam, entitled Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition.

First released in 2006, Microsoft Flight Simulator X is widely acknowledged as one of the most popular simulation products on the market. Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition will include the Deluxe Edition and the Acceleration Expansion Pack in one bundle. Dovetail Games will bring Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition to the Steam online gaming platform for the first time in late 2014.

PRESS RELEASE

Flight Simulation | Donster | July 9, 2014 |

Command: Modern Air/Naval Operations Update v1.04

Enhanced simulation mechanics, new features and expanded database.

Acclaimed by both modern warfare specialists and wargaming enthusiasts, Command: Modern Air/Naval Operations has swept the awards since its release last September, including the Usenet’s Wargame of The Year 2013 and the gold medal for Grogheads Game of the Year 2013 readers’ award. Developers Warfare Sims have not rested on their laurels though as they have been working on several updates since the release of the game. These patches, including the newest 1.04 released today, have included a whole host of new features, improvements on the simulation engine and user interface, bug fixes and a veritable avalanche of database updates and additions.

Here is the list of some of the major improvements implemented in this new version:

Configurable strike auto-planner. Your planes plot intelligent paths for their missions (complete with multiple off-axis ingress and egress lines, split-to-attack and form-up waypoints, suitable altitudes for each leg etc.). As always you can tweak the strike plan to perfection.
An extensive array of UI enhancements such as wireframe-only map view, selection-only range symbols, new hotkeys, menu list for quick-jump slots, additional information on the database viewer, configurable ghosted-unit visibility, configurable plotted course visibility, one-click jump to unit mission, single-icon enemy groups and more.
AI and mission editor additions such as configurable sprint-and-drift, optional prosecution areas for patrols (goodbye fainted drawn-out patrol assets and edge-of-envelope SAM shots, hello true SAM-ambushes!), new doctrine options and more.
Improved simulation mechanics such as multiple cloud conditions, refined offboard-sonar modelling, ABM/ASAT guidance refinements, realism improvements for anti-missile engagements, longer-range AI torpedo shots and more.
Significant performance & stability improvements.
A mile-long list of database additions including future Virginia SSGN versions, Tomahawk MMT, M982 Excalibur guided 155mm artillery, KC-46 tanker, MC-130 with the BLU-82 “Daisy Cutter” & GBU-43 MOAB mega-bombs, Chinese “High New” C4-ISR series, the entire Ukraine naval OOB, Oscar-III SSGN, JLENS, tons of Vietnam-era units, hypothetical systems like the F-19A, A/F-117X, Boeing 747 ALCM carrier and generic CATOBAR mini-carrier, and much more.

Grab the patch here.

Click here for the full changelog.

Get more information on Command: Modern Air/Naval Operations from its official product page.

Command: Modern Air/Naval Operations Strategy and Wargaming | Donster | July 9, 2014 |

Paradox Interactive Reveals Fantastical Lineup for Gamescom 2014

Paradox Interactive today announced the catalog of games that would be on display – and playable by attendees – at the Gamescom trade show in Cologne, Germany on August 13-17, 2014. Featuring recently announced titles and impending releases such as Runemaster and Obsidian Entertainment’s Pillars of Eternity, Paradox will be demonstrating and sharing their biggest games with Gamescom visitors, as well as announcing a few never-before-seen titles at the show.

Titles to be shown at Gamescom include:

Pillars of Eternity – available to play on the show floor
Runemaster – available to play on the show floor
Magicka 2
Hearts of Iron IV
Secret projects we can’t talk about just yet

Paradox will be publicly showcasing Hearts of Iron IV, the highly anticipated World War II strategy war-game, for the first time ever in a live demonstration during Fan Gathering 2014, an annual event where Paradox Development Studio fans and devs alike can come and plot world domination together. Fan Gathering 2014 will take place in Cologne on August 14, 2014.

Fan Gathering 2014 will also play host to a guest panel of Paradox personnel, including CEO Fred Wester and PDS Studio veteran Johan Andersson, which will be moderated by popular YouTuber Quill18. Hear banter on developing strategy games, ask Fred embarrassing questions about his love of karaoke, or just stare intently into Johan’s deep blue eyes. For more information on how you can attend Fan Gathering 2014, please visit https://www.paradoxplaza.com/fancon-2014.

To learn more about Paradox Interactive, visit http://www.paradoxplaza.com/.

Games | Donster | July 9, 2014 |

In Win S-Frame Chassis Review

Author: Darksaber @ techPowerUp!

The In Win S-Frame is what you get when a case designer has fun and faces nearly no limitations. Constructed of a single 4 mm thick aluminum sheet that was hand-folded 15 times, the chassis weighs in at nearly 18 kg and 800 US dollars. With all these attributes, the question of whether the S-Frame can pull off looking like a star when equipped with hardware has to be put to the test.

Read The Review Here

Cases Hardware | Donster | July 9, 2014 |

Antec Roundup July 2014 – Featuring Nineteen Hundred Case and Kuhler 950/1250

By Stuart Davidson @ Hardware Heaven

Antec are well known for creating high performance cases and PSUs, with many of their models receiving awards from us in the past. In recent times they have also created some high performance liquid coolers and even branched out into audio products. Today we have a roundup of a little of everything from them… Bluetooth audio devices, a couple of coolers, two different PSUs and their high end Nineteen Hundred case.