Month: October 2020

Milestone celebrated with free new firing drill, editor compositions in Workshop, and more

Seven years after the official release of version 1.00 and dozens of updates later, Bohemia Interactive is proud to announce the 2.00 release of Arma 3 (watch trailer). The latest update to the PC-exclusive military sandbox sim game adds a free new firing drill, as well as a new color edition of an existing firearm, a camo variant for selected gear, extra Steam achievements, and the option for players to share compositions made in Arma 3’s scenario editor via the Steam Workshop.

The new firing drill (Course of Fire: Gray) invites players to set a record time on a challenging course hosted by a familiar operative from Arma 3′s story campaigns. A gold medal is awarded to those who can complete the drill in under two minutes (2:00). Players running the course might encounter various surprises related to previous versions of Arma 3 if they know where to look and what to do.

Players can now share custom compositions from the game directly to the Steam Workshop. They can do so by accessing Arma 3’s extensive library of weapons, vehicles, equipment, characters, structures, and props available and arranging their in-game assets in the editor. When they’re done, all they need to do is save their selected assets as a custom composition and click on the appropriate icon to publish it to the Steam Workshop. Compositions can include anything from full-blown military camps to specific roadblocks or checkpoints, a Halloween pumpkin festival, a simple table and chairs, or anything in between. By sharing their unique compositions via the Steam Workshop, Arma 3 content creators can help each other build expansive, detailed, and atmospheric scenarios quickly and easily. Further documentation can be found on Bohemia Interactive’s Community Wiki.

But wait, there’s more! The 2.00 update also includes a new arid variant of existing CTRG special forces gear (stealth uniform and combat helmet – available for owners of the Arma 3 Apex expansion) and a black variant for the P07 pistol – both of which are used in the new firing drill. Players can also unlock three new ’2.00′ themed Steam achievements. And finally, all players receive a lifetime’s virtual supply of “Arma” Eau de Combat, which is now available as an in-game glass perfume bottle prop.

The complete changelog for update 2.00 can be found on the Arma 3 website. Those who have yet to pick up the game, or simply wish to complete their DLC collection, can get the Arma 3 base game and all of its downloadable content (DLC) at up to 75% off on Steam. People who purchase the Arma 3 Ultimate Edition, Apex Edition, Contact Edition, or DLC Essentials will receive an additional bundle discount on top. This special offer is available from Wednesday October 14 until Monday October 19 (starting and ending at 10:00 PDT/19:00 CEST).

The Alpha version of Arma 3 was first released in March 2013. It was one of the first titles to enter Steam Early Access and became the first to graduate from the Early Access program when version 1.00 was released on September 12, 2013. Since then, the Arma 3 base game has sold over 6 million copies, received over 80 free updates, and has been reinforced by 10 DLC packs and 2 expansions selling over 11.5 million times combined. Aside from its wide variety of official content, Arma 3 has also become a popular platform for user-generated content with over 75,000 items shared by players on the Steam Workshop, adding tons of free community-made scenarios, assets, sounds, gameplay features, and total conversions to the game.

Arma 3 remains popular to this day, with a 90% positive user rating on Steam (based on 120,000+ reviews), 100,000+ registered community groups (units), and an average playtime per user of 150+ hours. Hundreds of thousands of people still play the game every month. Bohemia Interactive currently plans on publishing several new Arma 3 projects made by third-party developers as part of its Creator DLC initiative. The first Creator DLC, Global Mobilization – Cold War Germany, was released in April 2019, and has sold more than 100,000 copies to date.

For more information about Arma 3, please visit www.arma3.com.

Arma 3 First-Person Shooters | Donster | |

rising-storm2-vietnam-logoTripwire Interactive Invites Players to Download and Play Acclaimed Multiplayer FPS for Free on the Epic Games Store

Publisher and developer Tripwire Interactive is pleased to announce the award-winning and critically acclaimed first-person shooter, Rising Storm 2: Vietnam, is available now on the Epic Games Store as a free download. This follows the July release of Tripwire Interactive’s Killing Floor 2 as a free title on the Epic Games Store where the co-op, horror, first-person shooter has clocked over 11 million new downloads since that time. Now Tripwire Interactive has teamed up with Epic Games again to share another of their celebrated titles, Rising Storm 2: Vietnam.

To receive a free copy of Rising Storm 2: Vietnam on the Epic Games Store, anyone with an Epic Games account can login online at EpicGames.com or via the Epic Games Launcher, click to the store section, and select Rising Storm 2: Vietnam under free titles. Once logged in and at the Rising Storm 2: Vietnam page, click “Get,” and Rising Storm 2: Vietnam will be added to the player’s Library, free of charge. Rising Storm 2: Vietnam will be free for a week, so anyone intent on jumping into the massive 64-player battles with authentic weapons, aircraft, and maps should visit the Epic Games Store before October 15.

Tripwire Interactive and Epic Games are excited to expand Rising Storm 2: Vietnam’s community, so Rising Storm 2: Vietnam is cross-play ready, allowing current users to connect with specific friends across versions by enabling ‘Steam to EGS’ invites once they have joined an active server. From there, players can sign-in to an Epic Games account and their friends list will be populated with the ability to invite players from the Epic Games Store version of Rising Storm 2: Vietnam to join them on a server. If players do not have an Epic Games Store account, there will be no impact on the Steam friends list.

For more information about Rising Storm 2: Vietnam, please visit the games official website.

icbmThe Steam Game Festival is here and with it comes an exciting development. The ICBM free playable demo is out now and you can download it here. But you will want to hurry, it will only be available until the 13th of October.

ICBM is the ultimate game to play with all of your friends and the demo is no exception. Go nuclear with up to 8 players in a game where the only winning move is not allowing yourself to be turned into a glow crater. Forget rooks and pawns, missiles of every imaginable size and payload will be the pieces by which entire continents will be moved and removed. Practice against the A.I. and perfect those strategies as ICBM is going to be the game that entertains match after match.

Note that the game is still in development so you may encounter some of these known issues.

If you have any feedback or you find an issue not listed here, be sure to let us know on the Steam discussion forums. Also, be sure to join the Discord server and become part of a community of 600 ICBM fans who can’t wait to finally nuke each other for free.

Find out more about ICBM on the games official product page.

ICBM Strategy and Wargaming | Donster | |

amd-zen-3Today, AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) introduced the highly anticipated AMD Ryzen 5000 Series desktop processor lineup powered by the new “Zen 3” architecture. Offering up to 16 cores, 32 threads and 72 MB of cache in the top-of-the-line AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, AMD Ryzen 5000 series processors dominate in heavily threaded workloads1 and power efficiency2, while the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X processor offers up to a 26% generational uplift in gaming performance3. With extensive improvements throughout the core including a unified 8-core complex with direct access to 32MB L3 cache, the new AMD “Zen 3” core architecture delivers a 19% generational increase in instructions per cycle (IPC)4, the largest since the introduction of “Zen” processors in 2017.

Our commitment with each generation of our Ryzen processors has been to build the best PC processors in the world. The new AMD Ryzen 5000 Series Desktop Processors extend our leadership from IPC4, power efficiency2 to single-core5, multi-core performance1 and gaming6,” said Saeid Moshkelani, senior vice president and general manager, client business unit, AMD. “Today, we are extremely proud to deliver what our community and customers have come to expect from Ryzen processors – dominant multi-core1 and single-core performance5 and true gaming leadership6 – all within a broad ecosystem of motherboards and chipsets that are drop-in ready for AMD Ryzen 5000 Series Desktop Processors.

Read Full Press Release

Hardware Processors | Donster | |

insurgency-sandstormIndie smash-hit hardcore FPS Insurgency: Sandstorm celebrates another massive update with Operation: Breakaway. The 1.8 patch introduces a new Co-op mode, a new map, new weapons, new cosmetics, and much more in this coup d’etat themed update where security forces have gone rogue and joined the insurgents. Get all the info in the brand new overview trailer, and download the update to start playing now! New players are invited too, with a 50% discount on Steam running from now until October 12.

New mode, new map, new weapons – same great action

Outpost focuses on defense in a brand new co-op mode designed for fast, fun, and frenetic gameplay. You start with limited equipment and gain more as you work through waves of increasingly difficult enemies. Losing an objective forces you to retreat back to a new objective area to hold…

There is also an abundance of new weapons and attachments in this update. Security receives the low recoil AUG A3 assault rifle while Insurgents get the high fire rate FAMAS F1. Weapon customization has been greatly expanded with six new weapon upgrades including new underbarrel shotguns and foregrips available for all classes.

Last but not least, the new map, Tell features a style of tight urban CQB that’s different from our other maps. It squeezes everyone together for more fast paced close quarters action where the new underbarrel shotguns come into play, but still allows for multiple navigation and flanking routes for more tactical and methodical players.

Cosmetics, DLC, and much more

Also included in this patch is a stack of new cosmetics matching the rogue security theme. Enjoy free outfits on each side with rogue cop uniforms for Insurgents and internal affairs officers for Security. To celebrate the update and its new map and mode, a Breakaway-themed bundle is out now, including four paid DLC packs also available separately. Grab new character and weapon skins and get ready to experience the all new free game mode, map, and weapon content while supporting the continued development of the game.

Visit the official Insurgency: Sandstorm website for more game information.

nvidia-geforce-logoSource: TechPowerUp!

NVIDIA today released the latest version of its GeForce software. Version 456.71 WHQL comes game-ready for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War PC Beta, which includes not just optimization for the game, but also support for NVIDIA Reflex, a technology that works to reduce whole system latency. In addition, the drivers correct a handful of issues, including hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling resulting in lower performance for Divinity: Original Sin 2 Definitive Edition, a bug with G-SYNC enabled games triggering a black-screen in fullscreen mode, on certain Adaptive Sync displays; and Fortnite crashing on certain notebooks with RTX reflections and shadows enabled.

You can download the GeForce 456.71 WHQL Game Ready drivers via GeForce.com.

Hardware Video Cards | Donster | |
Hardware | Donster | |

World of Warships sees the arrival of the new powerful U.S. battleships sub-branch in the game’s early access today with Update 0.9.9, including the Tier VIII Kansas and the Tier IX Minnesota. They form part of a new U.S. Battleships event available now. The update also includes new Directives, an upgraded Naval Base Port, and a new season of Clan Battles, among other things.

A new World of Warships trailer can be viewed here.

The new U.S. battleships feature powerful main armaments, good anti-torpedo protection, and great maneuverability. However, while their rudder is very responsive, the ships are rather slow for their type. Numerous main battery guns with a solid salvo weight and decent firing range can be found, but they come at the expense of longer gun reload times. Rounding out the battleships are their decent AA defenses which can be reinforced with the Defensive AA Fire consumable.

Players can obtain the VIII Kansas by completing Directives, and the IX Minnesota by opening random bundles in the Armory in exchange for Doubloons. By completing Directives players can get American Tokens, a new temporary resource that can be exchanged for bundles and other rewards in the Armory, including Gold Eagle permanent camouflages for U.S. Battleships.

The new update also starts a new Clan Battles Season in 7 vs 7 format for Tier X ships. Furthermore, Division Commanders will now have additional options to invite mercenaries – players outside their Clan to join their Divisions for Clan Battles.

With the release of Update 0.9.9, players will also be able to play on all World of Warships servers within one game client, without the need to install separate game instances for each region. The game server will be determined by the currently selected account in the Wargaming Game Center.

Update 0.9.9 also brings new visual and general improvements to World of Warships, follow this link for more details.

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

MMORPGs World of Warships | Donster | |

corsair-k100-rgb-keyboardBy Sebastian Peak @ PC Perspective

CORSAIR has released a number of new products in recent weeks, and today the company is launching their latest keyboard: the K100 RGB. This new model represents “the pinnacle of CORSAIR keyboards”, according to the company, “offering the cutting-edge performance, style, durability, and customization that gamers need to stand above the rest”.

Read the Review Here

Gaming Keyboards Hardware | Donster | |

amd-radeon-software-adrenalin-2020Source: TechPowerUp!

AMD late Tuesday released the latest version of Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition. Version 20.9.2 beta introduces optimization for “Star Wars: Squadrons,” adds three new Vulkan API extensions, and introduces a number of fixes. To begin with, 20.9.2 adds support for VK_KHR_buffer_device_address, VK_EXT_robustness2, and VK_EXT_shader_image_atomic_int64, adding to the API feature-set supported by AMD GPUs. Certain games exhibiting intermittent stuttering with RX 5000 series GPUs has been fixed. Radeon FreeSync failing to enable after driver updates without system reboot has been fixed. “X-Plane 11″ experiencing crashes when played with its Vulkan renderer has been fixed. “DOOM VFR” artefacting with RX 5000 series GPUs has been fixed. Performance metrics overlay failing to enabled after the system waking up from sleep, has been fixed.

“Call of Duty: WWII” black textures bug in the zombies mode has been fixed. Blocky display corruption in “Detroit: Become Human” has been fixed. Green video corruption when using the Windows 10 Movies & TV app to edit videos has been fixed. A bug with the VRAM performance metrics incorrectly displaying has been fixed. Windows desktop flickering with HDR enabled, has been fixed. “World of Warcraft” experiencing display corruption with AA enabled, with the DirectX 12 renderer, has been fixed.

The Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition 20.9.2 drivers are available online at the AMD driver download page.

Hardware Video Cards | Donster | |