Month: December 2017

Source: Blue’s News

The Year 3 Pass for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege is now available on Steam, offering the chance to pre-purchase a series of eight new operators that will be released over the course of 2018 for the tactical shooter. Here are the details:

Extend and enhance your Rainbow Six experience with the Year 3 Pass, and get early access to 8 upcoming operators in Year 3 from Russia, France, Italy, UK, USA and Morocco!

Purchase the Year 3 Pass before March 5th 2018 and get the Signature Damascus Steel Skin.

Additionally, if you’re an owner of the Year 2 Pass, you will receive a bonus of 600 R6 Credits, on top of the 600 that come with the Year 3 Pass.

With the Y3 Pass get access to a 1-year* VIP premium membership which includes:

YEAR 3 OPERATORS AND BONUS DLC

• 8 new Year 3 operators
• 8 exclusive headgear and uniforms
• R6 Meteorite Charm
• 600 R6 Credits

VIP PERKS

• 7-day early access to each season’s new Operators.
• 10% discount in the in-game shop**
• 5% Renown boost
• +0,3% Alpha Pack Boost

*VIP Membership ends January 31, 2019
**10% discount only applies to purchases made with Renown or R6 Credits.

If you missed the Year 2 Pass, don’t worry! You can still get the 8 Y2 operators in the Year 2 Operators bundle, available in the in-game shop for 2400 R6 Credits.

The Freedom Chronicles’ first episode, “The Adventures of Gunslinger Joe,” is now available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. If you played Episode Zero of The Freedom Chronicles, you’ve already gotten a taste of the action Gunslinger Joe brings to the table. The Adventures of Gunslinger Joe features former professional football player Joseph Stallion as he barrels through legions of Nazis using his Ram Shackle ability. Follow him from the devastated ruins of Chicago to the vastness of space in the first in a series of three DLC packs, each starring a unique hero. Gunslinger Joe’s tale is available as part of the Freedom Chronicles Season Pass, which you can pick up for $24.99 (US) / £17.99 (UK) / $34.95 (AUS) / €24.99 (EUR). Watch the Wolfenstein II: The Adventures of Gunslinger Joe release trailer HERE.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, you can download the free trial right now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC and play through the entire first level of the game. All your save data will carry over when you upgrade to the full game.

For more game information, please visit the official Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus  website.

1C Game Studios, in partnership with Team Fusion Simulations, is proud to announce the release of a completely updated and improved BLITZ edition of the realistic air combat simulator IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover.

Already known for its incredibly detailed cockpits, massively popular Multiplayer, and complex flight, engine, weapons and damage systems, Cliffs of Dover has now been updated to state-of-the-art DX11 graphics and has had over 20 new flyable aircraft types and variants added to it.

In addition to the 25 original Spitfire, Hurricane, Bf-109 and Bf-110 types, players now have the opportunity to fly new aircraft, such as the rare Bf-109E-4N with its high octane, high-rpm engine and 30mm cannon. Players can also experience the C-6 ground attack version of the Bf-110 and the powerful twin-engine Bristol Beaufighter in both day and night-fighter versions.

Glorious new autumn and winter maps allow players to continue the campaign later into 1940 and the era of the ‘Blitz’.

Completely revised special effects and damage visuals provide spectacular detail, allowing players to savor the effects of their powerful weapons before sending their opponent’s aircraft crashing and burning to the ground.

Speaking of which, new ground textures and scenery, as well as newly implemented cloud systems, provide for a stunning environment to fly over and through, using the revised and improved flight model that provides the accuracy and fidelity flight sim fans expect. On top of all that, new high-fidelity sounds bring the experience of virtual flight to life.

This title is a must-have for experienced flight sim enthusiasts as well as newcomers to the genre, and will provide endless hours of entertainment in the company of an established, numerous and dedicated online community.

Watch the IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover Blitz Edition – Trailer HERE.

IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover Blitz Edition is available for purchase on Steam beginning today for USD 24.99. Customers can take 25% off the price with the time limited launch discount. All existing owners of Cliffs of Dover Classic will receive BLITZ free of charge.

By Igor Wallossek @ Tom’s Hardware

Sapphire took its time getting a home-grown Radeon RX Vega card to market, and that’s not a bad thing. While some competitors sneakily seeded production validation test boards (the ones that precede mass production), Sapphire kept to itself and made sure the Radeon RX Vega 64 Nitro+ was running well. When you think back to the issues those leaked cards demonstrated, Sapphire did well to keep its efforts quiet until the right time.

Read The Review Here

Check out these latest hardware announcements for today from around the web. Also included are some hardware news bits, and on some days, a few rumors tossed in for good measure. Click on the links below to read the official press release, visit the products web page, or to an independent news source.

• EVGA Wants to Buy your EVGA GeForce4 MX 440 ACS or GeForce4 Ti 4600 ACS2 graphics card for 1,000 EVGA Bucks!
• Interactive Roto VR Chair to Start Rolling Out in February 2018
• Thermaltake’S New View 22 Tempered Glass Edition Mid-Tower Chassis Announced
• Antec Adds the P110 Silent Case to Their Renowned Performance One Series
• Thermaltake Releases TT Sync Controller TT Premium Edition for Thermaltake Plus RGB Family
• D-Link Offers New DIR-878 and DIR-882 Gigabit Wi-Fi Routers
• MSI Intros Radeon RX Vega 64 Air Boost Graphics Card
• Corsair Launches ‘World’s Fastest’ DDR4 SODIMM 32GB Memory Kit
• MSI Launches Optix MAG series Gaming Monitors
• X2 Intros Eclipse Advanced 992 CPU Cooler with Ryzen Threadripper Support
• DeepCool Releases QuadStellar Four-lobed Chassis: ‘Smart’ Case, Unique Shape
• Raijintek Launches Juno X CPU Cooler Series
• Corsair Releases Three Affordable VS-Series PSUs
• Jonsbo Announces UMX5 Flagship Mid-Tower Case
• ZOTAC Announces ZOTAC GAMING Initiative and the Ultra-Slim MEK1 Gaming PC
• Tt eSPORTS NEMESIS Switch Optical RGB Gaming Mouse Available Worldwide
• Creative Launches a BlasterX AE-5 PURE Edition
• Corsair Releases a White Version of their 460X RGB Chassis

With the scars of warfare still littered all over its landscape, there are few exercises more worthwhile for a developer working on a game anchored around the defining battles of World War II than a trip to Normandy.

Throughout the development of Battalion 1944, the team behind it – the talented folk at Derby-based studio Bulkhead Interactive, who previously developed The Turing Test – have visited the north of France for inspiration. Indeed, their latest venture across the English Channel forms the basis of a brand new behind-the-scenes video that details both the development process, and exactly what the studio hopes to achieve come launch.

“Throughout development it’s been so important for us to study every element of World War II,” details Howard Philpott – Creative Producer at Bulkhead Interactive. “The main thing for us is to really understand the brutality and the visceral nature of the Second World War. We’ve been working so damn hard just to make sure we can capture the intensity of these weapons, and making that translate to a mouse and keyboard. It’s been a challenge, but I feel like we’ve really nailed it.”

The video sees the team take a look back at the personal impact working on Battalion 1944 has had on their lives, with Joe Brammer – Executive Producer and Director at Bulkhead Interactive – opening up about the positive influence the game has had on him during some difficult times in his personal life since development began.

“With Battalion 1944, I’ve found a place where I can focus on something I really love doing,” says Brammer. “Sitting down, reading the forum, and seeing the Battalion 1944 community coming together has been quite something. With the game now close to coming out, there are only good things on the horizon.”

This, however, is just the beginning. As revealed by Brammer in the video, Tuesday 9th January will see Bulkhead publish the game’s worldwide reveal trailer, building up to Battalion 1944’s release not long afterwards.

Bulkhead Interactive and Square Enix Collective can also reveal that Battalion 1944 will retail for £11.99/€14.99/$14.99. Keen-eyed observers will notice that’s actually less than the bottom tier during the game’s Kickstarter campaign. As a result, those who backed Battalion 1944 when it was just a spark in Brammer’s synapses, will be rewarded with unique-to-backers only skins and multiple cosmetic and vanity-focused loot crates.

“The market has changed so much since we first started work on Battalion 1944, and as players we felt like we wanted to see a fairer approach to pricing in-development video games,” adds Brammer. “In an effort to have a better relationship with our community, Battalion 1944’s run in Early Access will see it priced as a game that’s still in development, and one that requires a growing community to help design and refine it. We also really want to reward the existing community who have been behind us since the beginning, so with this approach we want to give something back to the game’s first loyal supporters.”

Bulkhead’s next big reveal is set for January 9th for the worldwide reveal of Battalion 1944’s latest gameplay trailer.

More game info available at the Battalion 1944  website.

Source: Blue’s News

A YouTuber named AlmightyDaq is attracting attention with a new video called Battlefield 2018 Leaked Insider information. According to this, the next installment in the military shooter series will be Battlefield: Bad Company 3. Believing this seems like a stretch at first, since this is only the third video posted to that channel in over a year. But this carries some extra credibility since one of the previous videos there is called Battlefield 2016 Leaked Insider information, which turned out to be a detailed and accurate prediction of DICE’s plans for Battlefield 1. VG247 offers this summary of details from the video:

Now, he claims he has insider information about DICE’s next Battlefield, which he’s confident is going to be Battlefield: Bad Company 3. According to his source, the game is going to take place in the mid and post-Vietnam War era, up to the Cold War.

There’s going to be a campaign, with missions taking place throughout these conflicts, though he adds it’s not going to be historically accurate. The choice of era could mean that the lovable squad from the first two games may not return, though he didn’t have anything to say about them.

Multiplayer will bring back the focus on tighter maps, compared to Battlefield 1 and 4’s all-out war themes with larger maps. Conquest, Rush, Operations, and even smaller modes like TDM ,and Domination are all returning.

The choice of the era will naturally affect the weapon roster, which, according to his source, will also feature Battlefield 4 levels of customisation. Vehicles include tanks, LAVs, helicopters.

There’s going to be at least one new mode, which he says is similar to Squad Obliteration from Battlefield 4, supporting ten players in 5v5. Maps will be comparable in size to Bad Company 2 maps like Harvest Day, Oasis, and Grand Bazaar from Battlefield 3. In short, small-to-medium maps offering condensed action.

The four main classes in Assault, Engineer, Support, and Recon are all returning. AlmightyDaq does say that Bad Company 2 may bring back the Battlepack system, but there’s no plan to add microtransactions, though he says the backlash Star Wars: Battlefront 2 received factored into this.

Source: TechPowerUp!

AMD today released a major upgrade to its advanced software suite for Radeon graphics, Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition, designed to give gamers deeply immersive gameplay while engaging with their friends and the gaming community.

Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition introduces the all-new Radeon Overlay, a seamless user interface designed to enable gamers to monitor their GPU performance without ever leaving the game, tailor their gameplay to their unique preferences and connect with their friends, all in one place. AMD is also launching the AMD Link mobile app, being made available to millions of iOS and Android users. A powerful complement to Radeon desktop software, AMD Link serves as a “second screen” for monitoring GPU performance and PC system info, enabling gamers to easily share their greatest gaming moments, and keeping them informed about AMD’s latest updates. A wide range of features including Radeon Chill, Radeon WattMan, Enhanced Sync and Radeon ReLive – all part of Radeon Software Core Technologies – have also been updated to deliver expanded performance tuning and gaming optimizations.

The new Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 17.12.1 drivers are available online at the AMD driver download page.

Source: TechPowerUp!

AMD today unveiled its big annual driver releases for its consumer-graphics Radeon line, and the professional-graphics Radeon Pro and FirePro lines. The BAR (big annual release) for the latter is titled AMD Radeon Pro Adrenalin Edition 17.12.1 WHQL, and introduces a slew of new features that add value to the company’s FirePro and Radeon Pro graphics cards. Since its 2016 BAR (Radeon Pro Crimson ReLive), the company’s regular driver updates for enterprises achieved a predictable cadence of the 2nd Wednesday of the 2nd month of each quarter, capped off with a big annual release in December, besides prioritized 24×7 support. This, AMD claims, has been well received by its customers.

Read on…

Beginning 1st December With All Activision Proceeds Supporting the Call of Duty Endowment, a Non-Profit Fighting Veteran Unemployment and Underemployment

Activision Blizzard has announced the newest iteration in its award-winning in-game program to support the Call of Duty Endowment’s efforts to help unemployed veterans find high-quality careers in the United States and United Kingdom. The Call of Duty: WWII – Call of Duty Endowment (C.O.D.E.) Bravery Pack (PS4/XboxOne/PC), developed by Sledgehammer Games, includes a special Call of Duty Endowment in-game helmet, calling card and emblem.

The pack is available in the in-game store and the Sony and Microsoft online stores. For the first time, a personalization pack benefiting the Call of Duty Endowment will also be available at all GameStop stores across the U.S. as well as online through BestBuy.com and Amazon.com. One hundred percent of the proceeds received by Activision through the Bravery Pack will directly fund the Endowment’s mission to help veterans secure quality careers when they leave military service. More than 4,800 veterans have been placed in high quality jobs through Call of Duty® personalization packs to-date, which is a brigade-sized group of vets.

“Through Activision’s previous calling card and personalization pack programs, we have raised more than $2.8 million towards helping veterans beat unemployment and underemployment as they transition back into civilian life,” said Dan Goldenberg, executive director of the Call of Duty Endowment. “We want to thank the studio team at Sledgehammer Games for their dedication in creating the Bravery Pack, and their continued devotion to the Endowment’s mission of supporting those who served in uniform. We’d also like to thank our partners Activision, Sony, Microsoft, GameStop, Amazon, and Best Buy for their invaluable support of our ongoing mission.”

The Call of Duty Endowment is a non-profit foundation created in 2009 by Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick. With a mission to identify and fund the most effective and efficient employment-focused veteran-serving organizations, the Endowment was initially established in the U.S. with a goal to place 25,000 veterans in jobs by the end of 2018. That goal was met two years early, and has subsequently and ambitiously been revised to placing 50,000 veterans into high-quality jobs by 2019. To date, the Endowment has funded the job placement of more than 40,000 veterans. The program has also recently announced the expansion of its efforts to help veterans in the United Kingdom.