Update 0.8.8 brings two new battleships and in-game rewards ahead of birthday stream on September 20 featuring sneak peek into future plans

Wargaming is celebrating World of Warships’ fourth birthday with the arrival of update 0.8.8 today, which brings two new ships next to a variety of rewards for dedicated players of the popular online game to unlock. To keep in the festive mood, the renowned developer and publisher has also announced that a global birthday stream, lifting the veil on future plans, will go live on Friday the 20th of September at 16:00 UTC time.

A teaser video can be viewed here.

World of Warships celebrates its 4th anniversary by giving players the opportunity to earn supercontainers for their first victory aboard Tier X ships in the new update 0.8.8. First wins on lower tier ships will also give players valuable rewards, such as special signals and an exclusive Anniversary camouflage. New combat missions have been added for the occasion, and completing them will reward prospective commanders with three additional supercontainers, as well as a container unlocking a random Tier VI Premium ship.

Update 0.8.8. also features two new Tier X ships: the British Thunderer and the American Ohio battleships. The Thunderer is an alternative take on its close cousin, the Conqueror, and sports 457 mm guns with very high shell damage, have good accuracy and a fast reload time. The new British battleship comes with a less effective Repair party consumable than that of the Conqueror but will be able to use it once more than its sister-ship. The American Ohio battleship features eight 457 mm guns and powerful secondary armament. This, combined with a shorter reload on the Repair Party consumable, as well as its decent armor make the Ohio a well-suited ship for close to medium range skirmishes.

Furthermore, update 0.8.8. features two Ranked Sprints, each allowing players to earn up to 10 000 coal to be exchanged in the Armory for Premium ships. Clans will also get their share with two Clan brawls opposing teams of 3 players on smaller maps for especially intense naval combat. Finally, a host of modifications and improvements are included, with a massive overhaul for the sound system for more realistic and immersive battles, a large increase in the Armory’s stock with the addition of multiple premium ships, and updated maps with new lighting models.

A global birthday stream for World of Warships will go live on Friday the 20th September with a fun retrospective on the past year, as well as a sneak peek on what’s to come for World of Warships. For the anniversary, multiple gifts will be given out during the stream, with a chance for players to earn a premium ship. The global stream can be watched from 16:00 UTC time on World of Warships official YouTube channel.

Further details on the Update 0.8.8. can be found here.

Visit the official World of Warships website now to sign up and play World of Warships for free!

Source: Blue’s News

Insider Program Sign Ups for Microsoft Flight Simulator are now underway, as the testing program for the next installment in the series seems to be coming a little later than called for in the original flight plan. Here’s the Insider Program FAQ and here’s a summary:

Do you share our passion for flight? Are you interested in working directly with us to deliver the next generation of Microsoft Flight Simulator? The Insider Program is for you! Join your fellow aviation enthusiasts to get exclusive behind-the-scenes updates from developers and partners, gain access to preview builds, and advanced content updates before the general public. Best of all, you’ll become part of the Microsoft Flight Simulator team responsible for providing feedback and recommendations critical to helping deliver the very best experience! You, matter.

By Hilbert Hagedoorn @ Guru3D

We review the be quiet! Pure Base 500. It has been a while since we have tested a new be quiet product as they often refresh the existing range. The Pure Base 500 is exciting though, sleek look and available in white, black and gunmetal colors it catches the eye and surely can make up for an impressive yet silent build. You can opt two versions, a window (tempered glass) or closed version for even better acoustics. We received the gun-metal colored chassis design and can we say we like the new color option?

Read The Review Here

By Bob Buskirk @ ThinkComputers

One of the first cases to fully support Corsair’s iCUE software was the Crystal Series 680X. We really enjoyed that case and would recommend it to anyone, but not everyone wants to pay $249.99 for a case. With that in mind Corsair is releasing the iCUE 465X RGB case. As you can guess this mid-tower is made to work with Corsair’s iCUE software and comes with three LL120 RGB PWM fans and the iCUE Lighting Node Core smart RGB lighting controller. So you have RGB lighting and control out of the box. On top of that you have front and side tempered glass panels, room for up to 6 hard drives, and a very clean internal layout. Is this the case you need for your next build? Read on to find out!

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.

• NVIDIA Announces Partnership With Activision in Launching Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Bundles
• Wi-Fi 6 Is Officially Here: Certification Program Begins
• Thermaltake Gaming Introduces the Level 20 RGB Gaming Mouse Pad Series
• Logitech Announces the G604 LIGHTSPEED Wireless Gaming Mouse
• AOC Ships G2 LCD Displays with 1ms IPS panels and 144Hz
• CORSAIR Launches iCUE 465X RGB Smart Case – The Clear Choice for Brilliant RGB Lighting

1C Entertainment and developer Digitalmindsoft are excited to announce that Men of War: Assault Squad 2 – Cold War is out today! Available as a standalone expansion for $24,99 / €21,99 / £19,99, the latest iteration in its long-running Men of War RTS series marks its first foray into this iconic era. The title places itself against the backdrop of the heated conflict between the United States and Soviet Union and brings all the tense, military tactics players have come to expect from the series.

Building upon the framework of Men of War: Assault Squad 2, Cold War introduces a brand new feature to the series: dynamic campaign creation. Mirroring the ever-present feeling of dread that permeated the era, dynamic campaign creation ensures no two campaign experiences play out the same in single player and co-op. From randomized skirmishes to custom army compositions, players will be forced to think on their feet in the heat of battle.

Men of War: Assault Squad 2 – Cold War also marks the return of the series’ genre-defining RTS combat. Players take control of vast armies of U.S. or Soviet soldiers, tanks, helicopters and more as they take this historic struggle to series-first locales. From sleepy winter villages to fortified border zones, Direct Control mode returns, giving players unprecedented control over their forces, allowing them to control single units in a bid to out-maneuver their enemies. Couple this with online multiplayer to match the game’s dynamic single player and co-op campaigns, and Men of War fans have a lot to be excited about!

Men of War: Assault Squad 2 – Cold War launches today on Steam for $24,99 / €21,99 / £19,99.

Key Features:

• Pick your side: The United States of America versus the Soviet Union
• Dynamic campaign creation makes singleplayer and cooperative campaign play extremely replayable with randomized skirmish battles and custom army compositions
• Competitive online multiplayer modes
• Assault Zones game mode: Capture and hold flag points using all military means possible
• Annihilation game mode: Dominate the enemy or capture their base, as valuable resources can be secured on the battlefield
• Command large armies or control single units with the series-defining direct control mode

For more information, follow Digitalmindsoft and 1C Entertainment on Twitter.

As of September 12, it’s been six years since we released Arma 3 version 1.0 on Steam. In celebration of this milestone, we’re sending you this musical birthday card – featuring a new remix of the Arma 3 “This Is War” theme song, plus a special illustration by community artist Greenfist.

You can download the birthday music (mp3/flac) and wallpapers for FREE on www.arma3.com.

But that’s not all! The party carries on this entire weekend with a festive Arma 3 Anniversary Sale (September 12-16) on Steam and the Bohemia Store. Save up to 66% on the base game and its DLC, and be sure to check out the new Apex, Contact, DLC Essentials, and Ultimate Edition bundles for double discounts!

Since its official release, Arma 3 has evolved massively, with 80+ free platform updates that introduced new content, gameplay features, and other improvements. Moreover, we’ve released 2 free and 10 premium downloadable content (DLC) packs, whereas Arma 3’s community content creators have shared more than 65,000 items on the Steam Workshop. As of today, the Arma 3 base game has sold over 5 million times, 89% of its Steam user reviews are positive, and the average playtime per user is approximately 150 hours. The game’s playerbase is still highly active with over 450,000 unique users launching the game during August this year.

None of this would have been possible to achieve without our fantastic users. So, on behalf of everyone at Bohemia Interactive, thank you for six splendid years of Arma 3!

Source: TechPowerUp!

AMD late Thursday released the Radeon Software Adrenalin 19.9.2 beta drivers. These drivers add optimization for “Borderlands 3,” with up to 16 percent improvement in frame-rates compared to the older 19.9.1 drivers, as tested with a Radeon RX 5700. The drivers also introduce support for Radeon Image Sharpening on graphics cards based on the “Polaris” architecture (such as RX 580, RX 480, etc), for DirectX 12 and Vulkan games. Among the issues fixed with 19.9.2 are frame-rates getting locked to 30 with V-sync enabled on some displays with 75 Hz refresh-rate set; system instability when watching videos in a web-browser on some machines with RX 5700 series graphics cards; audio in ReLive desktop capture being corrupted; and problems with Enhanced Sync.

The new Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.9.2 beta drivers are available online at the AMD driver download page.

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.

• GIGABYTE Announces World’s 1st Black Equalizer 2.0 Tactical Monitor AORUS CV27Q
• Phanteks Announces the Evolv Shift Air Chassis
• Compete at the Speed Of Light With the Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition Keyboard
• Western Digital Unveils WD_BLACK Gaming Storage Lineup
• Phanteks Announces the NEON Flexible Digital-LED Strips
• ASRock Launches the Radeon RX 5700 XT Taichi X Series Graphics Cards
• CORSAIR Releases Record-Setting 4866 MHz VENGEANCE LPX DDR4 Memory
• Phanteks Announces the Eclipse P360X Chassis
• BIOSTAR Launches the NEW S120 Series Ultra Slim SSDs
• Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT NITRO+ Pricing Revealed
• GIGABYTE AORUS FI27Q/FI27Q-P Have Passed NVIDIA® G-SYNC® Official Certification
• ASUS ROG Announces Crosshair VIII Impact & Strix X570-I

The Frontline Update is now available for Insurgency: Sandstorm, the smash-hit indie FPS from New World Interactive, bringing a host of new features dedicated to streamlining matchmaking and offering fresh content on a weekly basis. The two defining features of this update are Frontline, an intense tug-of-war style PvP mode, and Hillside, a reimagining of the classic Insurgency map ‘Sinjar’.

In the new PvP mode, Frontline, teams must capture all enemy objectives one by one, before destroying the final weapon cache objective to win, whilst at the same time protecting their own objectives. Each match becomes a large-scale, simultaneous attack-and-defend battle, with fire support, vehicles, and teams battling it out for objectives that award respawns for their team.

Hillside is the latest map, a reimagining of the classic Insurgency: Source and Insurgency mod map ‘Sinjar’, this time taking place in a new snow environment. The wide, open spaces for attackers and high elevation positions for defenders is a callback to the classic storm-the-beach D-Day FPS experience of old. Hillside is joined by two Galil LMG-variant assault rifles, a new 3x scope for the QBZ-03, and a batch of winter cosmetics for both Insurgents and Security factions. All this content and much more is playable across all maps and game modes!

The new map and game mode arrive with numerous bug fixes and quality of life changes, including a complete overhaul of the Play menu and official matchmaking, and the introduction of limited time weekly playlists featuring “mutated” game modes with tweaked gameplay with everything from bolt-action rifles only to health stealing. You can find more detailed information on the patch notes HERE.

New World Interactive and Focus Home Interactive continue to be delighted with the response and community reception to Insurgency: Sandstorm so far. There are many more free content updates planned for the rest of this year and 2020, including modding support, Co-op and PvP game modes, maps, weapons, cosmetics, and more. Take a look at some of what’s due to arrive in the next few months in the recently announced Free Content Roadmap.

Visit the official Insurgency: Sandstorm website for more game information. Insurgency: Sandstorm is available now on Steam.