MMORPGs

Update 1.9.1 introduces an accurate reproduction of 1945′s Berlin, vehicle customization and much more

As summer approaches, World of Tanks is excited to announce that Update 1.9.1 will be launching on June 11 at 11:30 BST. The new update will add a realistic Berlin map, which boasts four main battle areas, finely detailed environments and instantly recognizable historic buildings, to the Random Battles pool.

The update will also give tankers the chance to enjoy several new visual customization options, from progressive decals that become flashier as the player completes special objectives on specific tanks, to adjustable styles coming as sets of individual elements to be applied separately. Additionally, a ton of cool decals which were previously only for vehicles of certain nations and tiers are now available to all.

Additionally, Update 1.9.1’s release coincides with the launch of Season 2 of Battle Pass, which will see players blast through event Stages by earning Progression Points in Random Battles – and will start at 14:00 BST on June 11. Two top-tier tanks, the U.S. M48A5 and the Czechoslovak TVP T 50/51, will be the stars of the show and will earn players more points. Awarded for completing Stage 45, this season’s main prizes are an exclusive 3D style for one of the Tier X vehicles, chosen by the player, and either of the commanders who’ve been battling it out all season.

Rewards will also include days of Premium Account, Credits, blueprint fragments, and two new types of Bounty Equipment.

“Battle Pass Season 1 finishes its three-month run tomorrow, and the community really appreciated the experience and rewards,” says Max Chuvalov, Publishing Director, World of Tanks. “We began gathering feedback as soon as the first season commenced so we’re able to seamlessly phase into the Season 2. We’re sure when it kicks off again in two days’ time, players will really like what they can get their hands on!”

Click here for more information on the update.

For more information on World of Tanks, visit the games official website.

The Italian navy tech tree and dozens of other military vehicles join the battle

Gaijin Entertainment announces the release of the “Starfighters” Content Update (Watch Video) for the military online action game War Thunder. The Italian Navy tech tree with 20+ torpedo boats, destroyers and cruisers is only the tip of the iceberg here, as the game is also getting dozens of other war machines, including the legendary F-104 Starfighter and the Mirage IIIC fighter jets. The cross-platform multiplayer feature has also been drastically improved by adding cross-console matchmaking. Finally all PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players will be able to play together with friends in all War Thunder modes no matter which platform each one of them is using.

The F-104 development started during the Korean war, the jet saw action in Vietnam as part of the US Air Force and was bought by the militaries of thirteen other countries. Two American and several international versions of this fighter are available in War Thunder right now. For example, the F-104A, the first production version of the Starfighter, is equipped with a six-barrel M61 Vulcan rotary cannon and can use two Sidewinder missiles. Later versions have a better engine and more weapon loadout options. These highly improved machines remained part of the Italian Air Force until 2004.

The French Mirage IIIC is another signature fighter jet of the same era and also the first European aircraft that managed to exceed speeds of Mach 2 in level flight. Furthermore, the Mirage IIIC in interceptor loadout has an extra SEPR 844 rocket engine generating additional thrust. The aircraft can carry a vast array of weapons, most notably a variety of AAM’s, as well as unguided rockets and bombs. Apart from French service, the Mirage IIIC also saw extensive use with the Israeli Air Force during the Six Day War as well as the Yom Kippur War of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Some of the Israeli Mirages were later on sold to Argentina, which in turn used its Mirages in the Falklands War of the 1980’s.

The update also features the first ground vehicle in War Thunder with a sophisticated radar detecting ground targets, which is 9P157 Khrizantema – the Soviet tank destroyer on a BMP-3 chassis. Having both radar and thermal sights allows Khrizantema to easily spot enemies and launch two anti-tank missiles at two different targets at the same time. Other interesting new vehicles are the modern Japanese Type 93 light SAM system mounted on an SUV-style chassis and a Bangladeshi Type 69-IIG main battle tank – basically a Chinese Type 69 modification with extra reactive armor and longer gun barrel.

With the new vehicles brought by the “Starfighters” Update, the total number of military vehicles in War Thunder now exceeds 1,700. The full list of changes in the Update is available on the official website.

More than 20 Italian torpedo boats, destroyers and cruisers will join the online battles

Gaijin Entertainment announces that the Italian Navy arrives to the military online action game War Thunder very soon. The game will get more than 20 signature Italian warships that served Italy in the 20th century. The testing of the Regia Marina tech tree will begin in a few weeks, with the release of the next major Content Update.

War Thunder players will get a chance to try a diverse range of warships, starting from small torpedo boats and gunships right up to the Trento heavy cruiser. Though the WW2 era Italian navy had some highly autonomous and seaworthy huge ships capable of projecting force in deep ocean waters, a significant part of the forces were meant to fight quite close to their bases. It’s no surprise that in the end, all the Italian naval victories happened in the Mediterranean sea and were either convoy attack or convoy defence missions. For example, MS class torpedo boats sank the British HMS Manchester cruiser and five other ships during Operation Pedestal near Malta. On another occasion, the Turbine-class Espero destroyer achieved fame when it’s crew sacrificed themselves to ensure that the other convoy ships delivered military supplies to Tobruk.

With the Content Update release, players will get access to the closed beta testing of the Italian Navy (or Regia Marina as it was named during the war) and unlock content by completing daily tasks within the game. Purchasing one of the two available pre order packs will give access to the entire Italian navy research in the tech tree right after the Update is available. One of the packs contains the P 420 Sparviero hydrofoil attack with a 76mm autocannon built at the beginning of 1970’s. The other pack is all about the 1942 version of Geniere destroyer with five 120 mm cannon and two triple torpedo launchers.

The Content Update will also feature ground, sea and air military vehicles for other countries that will be announced later. Follow the news at the official War Thunder website to get the latest information on this.

HONK! Watch out: Act II is coming through and brings with it new missions, customization elements, and the return of tank horns

Last month, World of Tanks detailed plans for its upcoming 10th anniversary, and on the road to the big celebration in August, there will be many activities taking place as parts of “Acts”. On May 18, Act II will bring with it the return of a never-before-released feature which was part of one Common Test almost 9 years ago: the tank horn. While players are honking on the battlefield, they’ll also be able to enjoy a fresh set of anniversary missions, brand-new customization elements and much more!

Each of the thematic Acts revolve around a certain part of World of Tanks’ deep history, and Act II’s Time Warp will reintroduce the tank horn, seen briefly in 2011. For veterans, it will be a welcome return of an amusing feature from the game’s archives, and for those who are completely new to the concept, it’ll be something interesting to get to grips with.

“It was a strange request from the World of Tanks team. We normally work on staple battlefield sounds: shells, engines, metal hitting metal. It’s almost 9 years since we last worked with horns,” states Slava Skadorva, Audio Design Team Lead. “They wanted us to create special ones for the anniversary activities; it may be something a little different from our usual work, but we know the players are going to love it!”

Tankers can use the horns to let their teammates know they’re coming through. However, everyone—including enemies—within a 200m radius may be able to hear this unique form of battle cry. Depending on a player’s vehicle mass, they will hear one of three different horns which were created from scratch (as real-life tank horns, while historical, are hard to find) by Wargaming’s audio team. Tank horns will be available for one week only from May 18 until May 25.

“Players have been really enjoying the anniversary activities of Act I in a way we couldn’t even imagine. Many of them have regaled others with stories and memories from the old days of World of Tanks,” states Max Chuvalov, Publishing Director, World of Tanks. “Act I brought back General Chat, which tankers absolutely loved, and we hope that they’ll welcome the return of the tank horn with open arms. What’s coming next? You’ll see.”

Get more information about all the 10th anniversary celebrations HERE.

For more information on World of Tanks, visit the games official website.

War Thunder developers reenacted the real Berlin Victory Parade to honor those who fought against evil 75 years ago

75 years ago, the world celebrated the end of World War II in Europe and one of the most important events of that days was the Berlin Victory Parade. In honor of the Victory anniversary, Gaijin Entertainment has created a virtual reenactment of the Berlin Victory Parade of 1945 inside War Thunder – an online game featuring hundreds of historically accurate military vehicles from that era and beyond. The video will be available on War Thunder’s YouTube channel today at 22:01 (UTC), precisely 75 years after the World War II in Europe ended.

The historical Berlin Victory Parade saw thousands of soldiers and officers from USSR, United States, United Kingdom and France marching together in the presence of Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov, General George S. Patton, General Brian Robertson and General Marie-Pierre Kœnig. It was one of the few moments in history when almost all of humanity stood united.

“75 years ago the whole world came together to celebrate defeating the ultimate evil. It’s important to remember this moment because nowadays the world needs to come together again to defeat a new common enemy that is attacking us all,” said Anton Yudintsev, founder of Gaijin Entertainment.

War Thunder’s version of the parade was made as close to the original as possible, with all military vehicles looking exactly as they were at that moment. The only major change is the air component of the parade that was absent at the real parade 75 years ago and was added to the virtual one in order to honor the pilots of Mustangs, Spitfires and Yak-9s who served in World War II.

Wargaming set to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe with first-ever online live-streamed navy parade of Allied Forces

Wargaming will join a host of nations this May in commemorating the end of World War II in Europe – with a virtual navy parade. This unique live event organized by World of Warships’ development team in close partnership with the community will take place on May 6, 2020 at twitch.tv/directory/game/World%20of%20Warships.

Instead of battling each other on the open sea, community members and volunteers will now have a different, more peaceful role of navigating the victorious ships in a graceful choreography.

The World of Warships parade will be live-streamed on Twitch to a worldwide audience and will feature some of the most iconic Allied warships with commentary from The New York Times bestselling author and naval historian, James D. Hornfischer. Alongside Hornfischer, popular influencers The Mighty Jingles, Drachinifel and Wargaming’s very own Chieftain will present more details about selected ships while providing historical context and highlighting the ships’ accomplishments during World War II.

The unique parade came to fruition after many nations truncated or cancelled their official World War II commemorations – which traditionally take place in early May – due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Being widely recognized for its efforts to popularize history through immersive gaming experience, Wargaming took on the role of commemorating the 75th anniversary of Victory Day virtually, by preparing a special treat for all those home-bound history buffs.

During the parade, random prize drops for any World of Warship player watching will also occur, gifting VE permanent camouflages and ships.

Visit the official World of Warships website now for more game info and to sign up for World of Warships for free!

​​​​​​​Road to Berlin will see fierce battles against AI on ad-hoc maps with plenty of rewards to reap

To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the armistice that marked the end of the Second World War in Europe, World of Tanks is introducing a brand-new PvE mode: Road to Berlin — running from May 4th to 18th.

Tankers will have the option to join one of 5 different Units (Soviet, American and British). Each unit consists of three middle-tier vehicles of the same type and has a set of Combat Boosts, such as Airstrike, Artillery Strike, Special Shells, etc., to fight with enemies more efficiently. Once a player has made their choice, they will team up with four other commanders to take on AI-controlled adversaries.

Each battle has 5 sequential objectives, or Battle Missions, where players will need to harness a variety of battle tactics, from capturing to defending special zones to toppling the opponents and finally defeating enemy commanders.

Battles will take place on four maps that have been crafted specifically for Road to Berlin, including the brand-new Berlin map. Three of them will be available from the start; however, the Berlin map will only become available from late into the evening of May 8th, the time when the ceasefire became official 75 years ago.

“The end of the Second World War in Europe is a key part of global history,” states Max Chuvalov, Publishing Director, World of Tanks. “By creating this mode, we intended to remind people all around the world of this anniversary.”

As players progress in the mode, there are a variety of rewards to unlock, including Decals, Bounty Equipment and a special Medal. Those who can prove themselves in the mode, will be rewarded with the grand prize: the IS-2 with spaced armor.

Watch the Road to Berlin: Our New PVE Mode! teaser video HERE.

Watch the Road to Berlin: Event Details video HERE.

For more information on World of Tanks, visit the games official website.

A time-limited event called “Pentagon vs. Euro Forces vs. Minoboron” will be available this weekend

Gaijin Entertainment announces that the military online action game War Thunder will get a special event planned specifically for the peaceful combined training of US, European and Russian helicopter and ground vehicles crews. Modern Abrams and T-80U tanks, BMP-3 and Bradley APC’s, Mi-28 and Apache helicopters, as well as European vehicles like Leopards and Leclercs from the French, Italian, Swedish, German and UK armies will clash at the virtual battlefields this weekend. The designated training grounds will be Alaska, Finland, Middle East, Mozdoc and the Sea Terminal maps.

Anton Yudintsev, the founder of Gaijin Entertainment, said: “We read an article at the US Army website describing how the quarantined tank crews choose to use War Thunder as their preferred remote training tool. We decided to support this initiative and help all crews of modern tanks and helicopters to keep in good combat shape and boost the morale of soldiers, while safely staying at home to avoid the new coronavirus infection”.

The participants of the special event “Pentagon vs. Euro Forces vs. Minoboron” will choose one of three available sides, and all the relevant tanks, APC’s, helicopters and self-propelled anti-aircraft systems will be provided automatically without any need to unlock them in the game. While we hope that this initiative will be useful for the military personnel, any experienced War Thunder player will have access to this event – the only requirement is to have at least one rank V combat vehicle of the relevant countries.

The full description of the event is available at the official War Thunder website.

Wargaming set to commemorate 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe with first-ever online live-streamed navy parade

Wargaming will join a host of nations this May in commemorating the end of World War II in Europe – with a virtual navy parade. This unique live event organized by the World of Warships’ development team in close partnership with the community will take place on May 6. Instead of battling each other at the open sea, community members and volunteers will now have a different, more peaceful role, navigating the victorious ships in a specific choreography.

The World of Warships’ parade will be live-streamed on Twitch to a worldwide audience and will feature some of the most iconic Allied warships with commentary from navy experts and New York Times bestselling author and naval historian James D. Hornfischer. Alongside Hornfischer, popular influencers The Mighty Jingles, Drachinifel and Wargaming’s very own Chieftain will present more details about selected ships while providing a historical context and highlighting the ships’ accomplishments during World War II.

The unique parade came to fruition after many nations truncated or canceled their World War II commemorations traditionally taking place in early May due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Being widely recognized for its efforts to popularize history through immersive gaming experience, Wargaming took on a role of commemorating the 75th anniversary of Victory Day virtually, by preparing a special treat for all those home-bound history buffs.

During the parade, random prize drops for any World of Warship player watching will also occur, gifting VE permanent camouflages and ships.

Visit the official World of Warships website now for more game info and to sign up for World of Warships for free!

To mark this milestone, World of Tanks invites its community of 160 million registered players to join the party!

After a decade of entertaining commanders across the world, Wargaming is pleased to announce that World of Tanks is starting the official celebration of its 10th anniversary. Running across four months, the anniversary celebrations will give players a plethora of surprises to get involved in – including several exciting thematic activities, throwbacks and missions, culminating in a big event in August.

Watch the 10th Anniversary: Surprises, Rewards, Nostalgia Trailer HERE.

Since its inception 10 years ago, World of Tanks has released thousands of features, unleashed hundreds of events, launched 11 nations and 600 vehicles, and garnered over 160 million registered players globally in the process. Thanks to the ardent support of its close-knit community, the game has been recognized in other ways too, with 4 Golden Joystick award wins and a Guinness World Record for the most players simultaneously logged on to an MMO server.

Speaking of the anniversary and the party to come, Max Chuvalov, Publishing Director of World of Tanks said:

‘For the team and I, the past 10 years have allowed us to make more than a successful game – it has seen the formation of one big, global family. On behalf of the World of Tanks team, I want to say a heartfelt thank you to our players over the years. You’ve stuck with us through different stages of the game’s development and helped us to create one of the most impactful MMOs in the gaming history. As a reward, we have prepared a lot of exciting activities and additions, things that will surprise and please you – all in celebration of 10 amazing years. And remember, together, we can continue to create amazing experiences. So, let the party begin!’

World of Tanks will be hosting exciting activities made up of five thematic Acts starting from April 22. These Acts correspond specifically to certain milestones within the game’s history; milestones that left their mark on commanders.

The first Act will start from April 22 at 06:30 BST through May 18 at 06:00 BST.

Players will also have the chance to vie for prizes and earn Anniversary Coins that can be exchanged for valuable items and exclusive customizations in the special in-game Anniversary Store. Prizes for completing five acts will include items such as the mind-blowing 3D style for the Т30, the legendary American Tier IX tank destroyer.

The first Act will also herald the return of General Chat. World of Tanks will bring back it for one week between April 22 at 06:30 BST through April 29 at 06:00 BST, and for Random Battles only, allowing players to rediscover the ability to sow mischief in game – by communicating with enemies as well as allies during the battle.

From Time Warps to T30 3D style, special missions, thematic Acts – this will be a birthday to remember! For more information on these events, visit the official World of Tanks Website.