Paradox’s Grand Strategy Wargame Marks Milestone Birthday

Three years ago, Paradox Development Studio expanded on its beloved Hearts of Iron series with the fourth version of the World War II simulation game. With a greater focus on long-range planning and alternate histories, Hearts of Iron IV quickly became popular with armchair generals and all those who think they have a better battle plan for France.

Hearts of Iron IV marks this anniversary with a relaunch of its official website. heartsofiron.com will now provide players with up to date information on the status of the game, as well as reveals of upcoming features and downloadable content and more to come!

We’ve also prepared a celebratory trailer that notes how much has happened over the last three years.

Earlier this week, Paradox released two new DLC packs via Steam for Hearts of Iron IV – a new pack of armor graphics for the major Axis powers and a radio pack that highlights new music for each of the major factions in an attractive music player.

“The last three years have been a crazy journey for us, shaping HOI4 into its current form. We feel like we’ve done this alongside the players,” said Hearts of Iron game director Dan Lind, “I can’t wait to see what the coming years have in stock for us!”

Paradox Development Studio thanks its community for the support they have offered Hearts of Iron over the last three years. There are still many stories about World War II (or alternate World Wars) that we have yet to examine, and we look forward to bringing them to life.

Hearts of Iron IV and many of its add-on packs are on sale (limited time only) for up to 60% off and available via the Paradox Store and on Steam.

Ubisoft has announced that Torment of Hades, the second episode of the post-launch story arc of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: The Fate of Atlantis, is now available on the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, the Xbox One family of devices including Xbox One X and Windows PC.

Torment of Hades transports players to the Underworld, a vast world of endless gloom filled with the wandering dead, ruled by the sharp and cunning Hades. As the story unfolds, players will come face-to-face with the ghosts of their past and continue their journey in mastering the Staff of Hermes. In order to escape the afterlife, players will have to help the dead find their rightful resting place and settle the debt that Hades demands.

Each of the episodes of The Fate of Atlantis will introduce new ability enhancements related to the different branches of the skill tree – Hunter, Warrior and Assassin. In this second episode, players will discover three new ability enhancements, including:

• Kronos Time Shift – part of the Warrior branch of the skill tree, and launches players into the air while temporarily blinding surrounding enemies. While you are in the air, time pauses for a moment, letting you use abilities from above or in a chain with Leap of Faith’s ground smash.
• Ares Last Breath – part of the Warrior branch of the skill tree. This healing ability will grant immunity to enemy attacks, restore 5% of damage dealt as Health and automatically parry enemy melee hits.
• Artemis Trickery – part of the Hunter branch of the skill tree, and transforms players’ arrows into deadly traps that detonate and deal damage to enemies that come in close proximity. Any type of arrow can be used and will offer a different type of effect on detonation.

In order to play Torment of Hades, players will have two different options:

• Following the main game, players will have to complete the questline Between Two Worlds, the mythological main game story arc, and the Lost Tales of Greece questline Heir of Memories that is available after completing the former questline. Finally, they must have reached character level 28 or above.
• Players who do not fulfil all the above conditions will be able to use a shortcut created specifically for them. Thanks to this shortcut, players will enter Greece at level 52 with pre-set abilities and resources, enabling them to start their adventure into the afterlife with Heir of Memories. They will also have the opportunity to choose their hero. However, contrary to the previous option, player progression using the shortcut will not carry over to the main game save, and they will not be able to obtain achievements.

The Assassin’s Creed Odyssey post-launch plan is the biggest and most ambitious in the franchise, and season pass owners will be able to access two major episodic storylines, Legacy of the First Blade and The Fate of Atlantis. Players can dive into new episodes as they premiere or experience the epic adventures in their entirety once all episodes are available. The season pass also includes Assassin’s Creed III Remastered and Assassin’s Creed III Liberation Remastered, which released for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, the Xbox One family of devices including Xbox One X and Windows PC on March 29th, 2019.

For more information on Assassin’s Creed, please visit the games official website.

Strategic Command is back, and this time it is bringing you the Great War!

Matrix Games along with Fury Software have announced the latest Strategic Command title, Strategic Command: World War I, is currently in development.

Relive this momentous conflict from the opening shots of 1914 to the final offensives. From the bloody fields of Flanders to the sweeping advances in the east, the fighting in Italy, the Balkans and Middle East, Strategic Command: World War I covers all the main aspects and theaters of the war.

Improvements since our original WWI game:

• This game features a greatly improved interface and a return to hexes.
• It can be played in four languages: English, French, Spanish or German.
• Friendly Majors can be set to be AI-controlled, and this selection can be adjusted at any time in the game. You can even switch sides should you wish to.
• Games can be played via a PBEM++ Multiplayer server with a Challenge Lobby and seamless in game sending/receiving of turns.
• The war is fought on a 20 mile per hex map of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and the Atlantic, as seen in our recent WWII: War in Europe release, though with some special modifications suitable for WWI, such as the addition of Ypres and Gallipoli.
• Victory will require developing new military doctrines to improve your commanders’ abilities, the combat effectiveness of your units, and even your ability to deploy new technologies like the Tank and Fighter aircraft.
• You can minimize the Decision box to examine the map and assess the situation prior to responding to any Decisions, and many decisions have additional notes providing their historical context and advice.
• Enhanced Fog of War clearly shows the limits of your units’ spotting range.
• Dynamic Movement allows units that haven’t used up all their Action Points to be de-selected and re-selected again later, making planning your moves so much easier.
• Naval Cruise allows you to move your naval units swiftly over longer distances.
• Naval units can only be reinforced in stages, preventing instant repair following significant damage.

Get more details from the Strategic Command: World War I product page.

Source: TechPowerUp!

AMD late Monday released a WHQL-signed version of Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.5.2. This driver is practically identical to the 19.5.2 Beta released on May 23, and has an identical change-log. Compared to the 19.5.1 Beta, the drivers add optimization for “Total War: Three Kingdoms.” Multi-desktop flickering issues with Radeon VII are fixed. Radeon WattMan reporting incorrect max temperature on some GPUs has been fixed. GPU utilization counters of Radeon Overlay would show up on unsupported products, which has been fixed. Videos with HDR would freeze or show corruption with Windows Movies & TV app. This has been fixed.

The new Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.5.2 WHQL drivers are available online at the AMD driver download page.

Square Enix Collective is pleased to announce that Battalion 1944 has launched alongside a major new update Battalion 1944: Eastern Front and will feature integration with FACEIT, the largest global online competitive platform.

Big things are happening in Battalion 1944 as Bulkhead Interactive are also releasing an exciting update that introduces the highly anticipated Russian faction.

Other new features included in this update are:

• 8 new weapons (PPSH41, PPS43, Mosin Nagant Rifle, Mosin Nagant Scoped, TT-33, Baikal 22, SVT-40, Fedorov Avtomat)
• New competitive matchmaking powered by FACEIT
• 3 new maps – take the fight to Italy, Russia and France with all new levels inspired by classic shooters
• New game mode: Free for All – where everyone becomes your enemy!
• Improved game modes – Wartide, CTF, DOM and TDF all updated with more modern and rewarding design, with audio that reacts to your gameplay
• Match replay system & match history – download and play your previous matches with high settings to create epic video content!
• New BattleRank season
• Challenges, medals and leaderboards – earn and collect medals based on gameplay to show off your in-game achievements and get ultimate bragging rights
• Community modding – create your own maps via the all new Battalion 1944 Development Kit

With currently more than 12 million users and over 100,000 concurrent players, the FACEIT platform aims to empower and grow the competitive ecosystem of the game titles it integrates with. The integration between FACEIT and Battalion goes deeper than ever before: thanks to in-game widgets and an in-game overlay, players will be able to access the main FACEIT features, including competitive matchmaking, rankings and leaderboards, without leaving the game. For those players who prefer the traditional FACEIT experience, Battalion will be available through the FACEIT client and website at www.faceit.com/en.

“We are excited to work with Bulkhead Interactive to provide the Battalion 1944 community with an engaging and rewarding competitive experience at launch. For the first time we will manage the entire competitive life-cycle of the game which will be accessible within the game client as well as the FACEIT platform, ensuring players have the most seamless experience to play competitively. This will be the first integration of this kind with many more to come and I can’t think of a better partner to be the first developer to take full advantage of the series of developer tools that we have built through the years,” said Niccolo Maisto, CEO & Co-Founder of FACEIT.

Joe Brammer, CEO of Bulkhead Interactive, is eager to let fans get hands-on with the full launch of Battalion. “I’m so excited. Early Access isn’t easy but the feedback from the community has been imperative to this massive overhaul of the game. I love that we took a step back and pivoted to target people’s core issues such as Time To Kill and wanting the game to be more like the older classic titles. We’ve kept sprint in the game, but there are so many new features that will feel familiar to classic FPS players.”

Brammer also goes on to talk about how the studio has grown and learnt a lot during their early access period. “We had a lot to improve on but I think it shows in the full release of Battalion 1944. Personally, I’ve learned a lot about being accountable to players and communicating issues from the players across all social media to the developers who are toiling away on the game. I think that link between the players and devs is now more important than ever in 2019.”

Watch the Battalion 1944: Eastern Front Release Trailer HERE.

Battalion 1944 is available out of Early Access on Steam for £15.99/$19.99/€19.99.

This Reboot Wants to Make You Uncomfortable

By Ryan McCaffrey  @ IGN

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is probably going to upset people, perhaps by design. The reboot, which brings familiar characters like Captain Price into modern-day, “ripped from the headlines” missions but is otherwise not connected to the previous entries in the brand’s best-known subfranchise, brings with it all of the expected technical upgrades: ray tracing, multi-layer shading, spectral rendering, 4K resolution, HDR, etc. But it’s the renewed focus on realism and the single-player campaign, which was so unimportant to Call of Duty in last year’s Black Ops 4 that it literally didn’t have one, that’s going to help Modern Warfare leave its mark.

Read on…

Matrix Games has announced that Wolves at the Gate – the fifth DLC in the Field of Glory II series – is available. Welcome to the Dark Ages!

Play with Fatimids, Khazars, Magyars, Vikings – and many more other factions – and deploy into the battlefield powerful units such as Huscarls, Byzantine Skutatoi, Berserkers, Varangian Guard, along with other historical formations of the time for a total of 55 new units!

Further, as said in a previous announcement, the accompanying free patch adds tons of new features and elements, including the new Allies mechanic. Click here to read the full changelog!

But the good news is not over!

To celebrate this important milestone, Field of Glory II (base game), Immortal Fire, Legions Triumphant, Age of Belisarius and Rise of Persia are getting a nice discount! Hurry up! You have until June 3rd to take advantage of the offer.

Get more information about Wolves at the Gate on its official webpage.

By Meng Vang @ Legit Reviews

In the recent months, Roccat has added a new line of keyboards featuring the Titan switch, designed from the ground up by Roccat themselves. These keyboards include the Vulcan 80, Vulcan 100 AIMO, and the Vulcan 120 AIMO. They do have a few common features, like the anodized aluminum plate, customizable per-key lighting, and Roccat Swarm software support. The Vulcan 80 does not include RGB capabilities and is the entry-level keyboard in this series. The Vulcan 120 AIMO is the top of the line keyboard in this series, featuring Roccat’s AIMO intelligent lighting system and a detachable wrist rest. In this review, we will be taking a look at the Vulcan 100 AIMO, which does not include the detachable wrist rest but does feature the AIMO lighting system.

Read The Review Here

Source: TechPowerUp!

NVIDIA Friday released the GeForce Hotfix 430.97 driver. Hotfix drivers are released when NVIDIA needs to address a limited number of glaring issues with a recently released driver, in this case, the 430.86 WHQL and 430.64 WHQL. Released only for Windows 10, the drivers fix a game crash noticed in “Forza Horizon 4″ when driving through tunnels. It also addresses a “Code 43″ error noticed on machines powered by Intel “Sandy Bridge” processors when trying to install the WDDM 2.6-ready 430.64 WHQL drivers on Windows 10 May 2019 Update (1903).

You can download the GeForce Hotfix 430.97 driver through GeForce Experience or via GeForce.com.

One of the Most Iconic Series in Gaming History Returns in Ground-Breaking Experience

Prepare to go dark, Modern Warfare is back! The most celebrated series in Call of Duty will make its highly-anticipated return when Call of Duty: Modern Warfare launches October 25th in a powerful experience reimagined from the ground-up. The all-new title, published by Activision and developed by Infinity Ward, engulfs players in a modern-day conflict, where split-second decisions could affect the global balance of power. The new Modern Warfare features a unified narrative experience and progression across a heart racing, epic single-player story, an action-packed multiplayer playground, and new cooperative gameplay.

View the Official Call of Duty: Modern Warfare – Reveal Trailer HERE.

“This is an all-new Modern Warfare reimagined in every way,” said Dave Stohl, co-Studio Head, Infinity Ward. “We are creating an emotionally charged experience that’s inspired by the headlines in the world today, where the rules are grey and battle lines are blurred. Players will join a varied cast of international special forces and freedom fighters in gripping and heart-pounding missions through iconic European cities and volatile expanses of the Middle East. It’s intense, it’s exciting, and we can’t wait for our fans to play this October.”

“Every design decision has been made with our players in mind,” said Patrick Kelly, Creative Director and co-Studio Head, Infinity Ward. “With the launch of Modern Warfare, we’re taking steps to unite the community. First, we plan for Modern Warfare to be played together across PC and console through cross-play support. Second, we’re eliminating the traditional season pass, so that we can deliver more free maps and content as well as post-launch events to all players. This is just the beginning – there’s much more to come.”

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare features a new engine delivering an immersive and photo-realistic experience. The new technology utilizes the latest advancements in visual engineering, including a physically-based material system allowing for state of the art photogrammetry, a new hybrid tile based streaming system, new PBR decal rendering system, world volumetric lighting, 4K HDR, DirectX Raytracing (PC) and more as well as a new GPU geometry pipeline. Spectral rendering delivers thermal heat radiation and infrared identification for both thermal and night-vision in-game imaging. The technical investment provides a cutting edge animation and blend shape system, while the new suite of audio tools supports full Dolby ATMOS, on supported platforms, along with the latest in audio simulation effects.

Starting today, fans can pre-order the digital version of the new Modern Warfare and receive a prestige token to be used immediately in-game in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4*.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is scheduled for release globally October 25th on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The title features a fully-optimized PC version, developed in partnership with Beenox, which will be available exclusively on Blizzard Battle.net®**, Blizzard Entertainment’s online gaming platform. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is published by Activision, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) with development led by award-winning developer, Infinity Ward, with additional development support from Raven Software.

Winner of numerous awards and honors following its release in 2007, including the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences “Game of the Year,” the original Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare received worldwide acclaim as it won the hearts of fans everywhere. With the two sequels that followed, the Modern Warfare series has left an indelible mark as one of the most iconic and decorated gaming series in history.

*Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 game on pre-order platform required. Sold separately.
**Battle.net is a trademark or registered trademark of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., in the U.S. and/or other countries.