U.S. Navy fighter pilot Alex Vraciu downed 19 Japanese airplanes, but in the process lost three Hellcats, earning him a reputation as “Grumman’s best customer.”

By Barrett Tillman @ Aviation History Magazine

Lieutenant (j.g.) Alexander Vraciu was one frustrated fighter pilot. On June 19, 1944—the biggest day of air combat in the Pacific War—his Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat struggled to keep pace with the rest of Fighter Squadron 16. The “Fighting Airedales” had scrambled from the aircraft carrier Lexington (CV-16) in response to the second Japa­nese attack of the morning against Task Force 58, whose 15 carriers outnumbered the nine Japa­nese flattops.

Vraciu was already a double ace with 12 victories, and he was positioned to increase his score in a sky full of targets. But his Pratt & Whitney engine was stuck in low blower, depriving him of maximum speed and climb. He watched in frustration as his squadron mates pulled away to intercept incoming enemy bombers.

Read on…

New update introduces First Soviet Navy battleships in early access, new collaboration with Azur Lane and camouflage from popular mecha designer Makoto Kobayashi

Today developer and producer Wargaming has released their latest major update 0.8.3 for its popular naval combat game World of Warships, introducing the new Victory competition and the opportunity for players to get early access to the upcoming Soviet Battleship line. The update also brings lots of new content for anime fans, with the return of the collaboration with mobile game Azur Lane and the addition of a permanent camouflage for the Japanese Tier X Battleship Yamato, by legendary mecha and spaceship designer Makoto Kobayashi.

A new trailer for Soviet battleships is available HERE.

With the launch of update 0.8.3., players will be able to participate in the Victory competition by daily picking one of two teams – Glory or Honor, to fight for. For achieving good results in battle players will earn Allowance tokens that can be traded in the Armory for exclusive rewards, such as Tier VII Soviet premium cruiser Lazo, Victory camouflage or containers with a chance to unlock one of the four new Soviet battleships. The next day, the winning team will have to complete more difficult tasks, but will earn more valuable rewards as well.

The new Tier V Pyotr Velikiy, Tier VI Izmail, T VII Sinop and T VIII Vladivostok are made for daring players. Contrary to their other nations’ counterparts, these heavily armored ships are equipped with powerful caliber guns and are best used at close to medium ranges. This aggressive design will allow players to punch through the enemy lines, leading the way for their fleet and dealing massive damage to their opponents in the process.

Anime fans will also be pleased to see the return of the Azure Lane collaboration, with the addition of 2 new ships and 15 unique commanders inspired from the license’s most popular characters. Legendary mecha designer Makoto Kobayashi also makes his return in World of Warships by designing a brand new permanent camouflage for the Japanese Tier X battleship Yamato.

Yamato – one of the most iconic warships, also got a facelift. After conducting additional research, World of Warships’ engineers managed to update the ship model with even more details, meaning that Yamato now looks exactly the same as she did when she set off to her final battle.

Lastly, update 0.8.3. comes with a host of new improvements, including a new Treasury building for Clans to store resources, improved signals and camouflages installation, and much more. Further details on the update 0.8.3. are available in the latest patch notes.

For the latest game information, and to sign up for World of Warships for free, visit the games official website!

Paradox Development Studio Releases New Grand Strategy Experience

Alexander is dead, and his generals now fight over his legacy and empire. To the east, Chandragupta has established dominion over much of India. To the west, the commercial republic of Carthage and martial republic of Rome are on a collision course for control of their half of the Mediterranean. And, far from the cities of coastal empires, fierce tribes of what the Greeks call “barbarians” follow their own paths.

Get ready to dive into the epic conquests and geopolitical drama of the classical world in Imperator: Rome, a new grand strategy game from Paradox Development Studio available now for $39.99 at major online retailers.

Choose from hundreds of republics, monarchies and tribal regimes and guide your nation to eternal glory. Will you repeat history and lead Rome to empire and glory? Or will you defy the fates and unite the Hellenistic Kingdoms under one crown? Can Carthage resist destruction, or will old Cato’s demand for its total destruction be fulfilled again?

The features of Imperator: Rome include:

• Challenging but familiar classical setting: Rome does not yet dominate Italy. Carthage manages dozens of vassal city states in a naval empire. The mantle of Alexander is disputed by kings in Macedonia, Egypt, Anatolia and Persia. India bows to Chandragupta’s Mauryan might.
• Unique Government Mechanics: Kings will find they have a freer hand to do as they please than a consul in a republic, but with fewer political outlets, monarchies may breed traitors more quickly.
• Most detailed Paradox map yet: Hundreds of towns dot the map, some with fortresses or ports to emphasize their strategic importance. Each province’s population will ultimately determine its value and purpose in the empire.
• Population management: Citizens, freemen, slaves and tribal populations bring benefits to your empire, but also burdens if the influx of cheap foreign labor strains your research or food supply.
• Flexible trade system: Exchange surplus goods from far across the sea to satisfy your people or build better armies, or keep your surplus for added bonuses at home.
• Cultural Military Traditions: Different cultures will evolve their armies in different ways. Embrace the Parthian horse archer as a Persian nation, strengthen your triremes as a Punic power or trust everything to the heavy infantry as a Roman.
• Battle tactics: Choose how your general will approach the coming battle, making the most of force composition and terrain. Use your light infantry to skirmish advantage in rough ground. Gamble on a full assault in open plains.
• Manage a court of hundreds of characters: Watch and guide hundreds of characters through three centuries of history. Families will rise and fall in prominence. Some will be heroes, some will be traitors. Create new legends that will sing through time.
• And Much More: Dynamic events, scheming against rivals, beautiful art and music, barbarian migrations, inventions, religious ideas, laws, royal pretenders and other features to fill in a rich ancient mosaic.

Be a Hannibal. Be a Ptolemy. Be a Caesar. The riches and majesty of the ancient Mediterranean are yours for the taking. Seize the day!

For more game information, to purchase the game, and to view the new release trailer, visit the official Imperator: Rome webpage. Imperator: Rome is also available via Steam.

Ubisoft has announced that Fields of Elysium, the first episode of the second post-launch story arc of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, The Fate of Atlantis, is now available across all available platforms. Throughout Fields of Elysium, players will continue their odyssey in the Greek afterlife to uncover the great mysteries within the ancient realms of the gods.

Fields of Elysium introduces players to the paradise of Elysium, an otherworldly realm of luscious growth and no conflict, ruled by the goddess Persephone. As the story unfolds, players uncover its sinister secrets while trying to unlock the power of the Staff of Hermes to find a way out of Elysium. Helping Hermes, Persephone’s friend Hekate, and the human Adonis, players uncover the true nature of Elysium as it inevitably descends into civil war.

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

• Ares Bull Charge: Part of the Warrior branch of the skill tree. This ability enhancement summons a projectile that takes the form of a bull charging forward. The projectile knocks down any enemy it hits and pierces though them.
• Ares Madness: Also part of the Warrior branch of the skill tree. Ares Madness will allow players to have a new fighting set that overpowers their enemies for a short period of time.
• Might of Artemis: Part of the Hunter branch of the skill tree. Enemies, when hit by the stun, automatically take critical damage from any subsequent melee attack for the duration of the stun.
• Kronos Time Warp: Part of the Assassin branch of the skill tree. This ability will grant each head shot additional slow-down time and higher damage, which is perfect for fighting enemies.

In order to play Fields of Elysium, 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 Heir of Memories, the Lost Tales of Greece questline that is available after completing the former questline. Finally, they must have reached character Level 28 or above.
• Otherwise, players will be able to use a shortcut created specifically for those who would like to play The Fate of Atlantis and who do not fulfill all the above conditions. Thanks to this shortcut, players will enter Greece at Level 52 with preset abilities and resources enabling them to start their adventure into the afterlife with the Lost Tales of Greece questline Heir of Memories. They will also have the opportunity to choose their hero. However, unlike 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 are 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 are released 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 assassinscreed.com.

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 GeForce GTX 1650 Released
• ASUS Announces GeForce GTX 1650 Family of Graphics Cards
• INNO3D Announces the GeForce GTX 1650 TWIN X2 OC, GTX 1650 COMPACT Graphics Cards
• EVGA GeForce GTX 1650 Series Elevates Your Gaming
• Palit Releases the Turing Architecture- GeForce GTX 1650 Series
• ZOTAC Announces the Power Sipping FHD-capable GeForce GTX 1650
• GIGABYTE Unveils GeForce GTX 1650 Series Graphics Cards
• MSI Announces New GeForce GTX 1650 Series Graphics Cards
• Colorful iGame GeForce GTX 1650 Ultra 4G Graphics Card Announced
• Thermaltake’s New 80 PLUS Platinum PSUs Have Digital RGB LED
• AMD Readying Commemorative 50th Anniversary Editions of Radeon VII, Ryzen 7 2700X
• DIYPC Releases Model C Chassis: aRGB lighting and 3 Glass Panels for $90
• HyperX Releases Predator DDR4 Memory at in 4266 MHz and 4600 MHz
• GIGABYTE Intros X470 AORUS GAMING 7 WIFI-50 For AMD’s 50th Anniversary
• Thermaltake Releases Threadripper-Specific Floe Riing RGB 360
• ADATA Launches XPG SPECTRIX D60G DDR4 Memory Module
• Intel 9th-gen Desktop Lineup is Here, Finally Fleshes Out the Coffee Lake Refresh

NVIDIA has launched worldwide its new entry level GeForce GTX 1650, giving you smooth performance on the latest games. With the GTX 1650 pricing starting at $149, the GTX 1650 is the great choice for gamers looking for a quick, easy upgrade, or those building a compact, power-efficient system able to play modern games. Like its other GeForce GTX 16-series siblings, the GTX 1650 is derived from the “Turing” architecture, but without RTX real-time raytracing hardware, such as RT cores or tensor cores. NVIDIA has not made a Founders Edition for GTX 1650. So the following reviews will be custom designs from various manufacturers. We’ve searched the web and posted the links to those reviews below.

• TOM’S HARDWARE
• TECHSPOT
• GURU3D – ZOTAC
• GURU3D – MSI
• TECHPOWERUP! – PALIT
• ETEKNIX – GIGABYTE
• TECHPOWERUP! – ASUS

Source: TechPowerUp!

AMD has released the latest in their driver suite, which brings about improved performance and support for Mortal Kombat 11 – that means gory details in full GPU-acceleration for the best possible gaming experience. Apart from that, not much to see here: there’s a fixed issue relating to AMD Link and Radeon Settings sometimes displaying incorrect parameters. The list of known issues is slightly larger, and follows after the break.

The new Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.4.3 drivers are available online at the AMD driver download page.

Source: TechPowerUp!

NVIDIA has rolled out its GeForce 430.39 WHQL drivers, which introduce support for the new GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card launched earlier today. The drivers also add support for the new notebook variants of the GTX 1660 Ti and GTX 1660. Most importantly, the drivers add support for Windows 10 May 2019 Update (1903), which adds a standardized method of variable-rate shading. The drivers add or improve optimization for “Mortal Kombat XI,” “Anthem,” and “Strange Brigade.” NVIDIA tested and approved 7 more VESA Adaptive Sync-capable monitors for G-Sync support added through these drivers (full list here).

Among the other features is the new ability to merge two portrait monitors to a landscape display head. Fixes include MadVR not correctly rendering HDR mode using MPC-HC; a random desktop flicker seen in some multi-display PCs, and memory leaks noticed when launching certain games.

You can download the new GeForce 430.39 WHQL drivers through GeForce Experience or via GeForce.com.

Eugen Systems Delays Launch for Additional Army General Mode Improvements, and Extended Beta Phases

Independent developer and publisher Eugen Systems announced today plans to delay the launch for Steel Division 2, the sequel to the critically acclaimed real-time strategy title Steel Division: Normandy 44. Players who pre-ordered a Digital Deluxe Edition of Steel Division 2, can now look forward to playing the final version of the game on June 18, 2019 before the wide release of the Standard Edition on June 20, 2019.

For an independent studio, this decision was not made lightly. The decision to delay the Steel Division 2 launch will afford the development team additional time to focus on improving the Army General mode. This single player campaign mode has grown over the course of development and is shaping up to be an entirely new game-within-a-game. Steel Division 2 fans can expect more details on the progress concerning the Army General mode soon this month and are encouraged to keep an eye on the official Steel Division 2 news feed on Steam for Developer Diaries on the topic.

In addition, the new launch date will allow Eugen Systems to deliver on direct requests from players for more frequent and extended beta phases. With more development time, Eugen Systems will focus on addressing direct requests and feedback from beta players to create the best possible single- and multi-player experiences when Steel Division 2 launches.

To that end, starting today, Steel Division 2 players can look forward to the biggest and longest Beta play session to-date with Beta Phase 3 starting today on Steam. Playable today, from April 18 through April 23, players can look forward to a ton of new content to experience, including:

• Four Divisions: The 20. Panzerdivision, the 29th Tank Corps, as well as the 78. Sturmdivision, the 26th Guards Rifle Division
• Three Game Modes: Conquest, Closer Combat and Breakthrough, featuring the brand-new Defensive Structures
• Three Maps: Autobahn zur Hölle, Vitebsk East (now updated with new lighting, a new mini-map, and a lot of fixes) and the well-known Orsha North
• And of course, more 5-Player coop

Starting on May 29, the Steel Division 2 beta will remain open and uninterrupted until the final game launch on June 20. Until then, Steel Division 2 fans can also look forward to regular updates and additional beta phases as development continues. For details on the upcoming beta phases and more on the recent delay announcement for Steel Division 2, please head to the page on Steam.

For full details on pre-order bonuses for Steel Division 2, please head to the official website at buy.steeldivision2.com.

Steel Division 2 is the sequel to the critically acclaimed real-time strategy title Steel Division: Normandy 44. Set during Operation Bagration on the Eastern Front in the summer of 1944, Steel Division 2 pushes the limits of the World War II tactical experience, delivering new 1:1 scale Dynamic Strategic Campaigns. Command entire armies during Operation Bagration, covering the Soviet counter-attack against Axis forces in Byelorussia. Battle in the multiple skirmish modes on 25 maps and customize your battlegroups in the brand-new deck system, allowing for an unprecedented level of customization.

To stay up to date on the latest regarding Steel Division 2, be sure to visit the game’s official website.

As the smoke clears on the events that unfolded on Monday at the Notre-Dame de Paris, we stand in solidarité with our fellow Parisians and everyone around the world moved by the devastation the fire caused. Notre-Dame is an integral part of Paris, a city to which we are deeply connected. Seeing the monument in peril like this affected us all.

In light of Monday’s events, we will be donating €500,000 to help with the restoration and reconstruction of the Cathedral. We encourage all of you who are interested to donate as well. In addition, we want to give everyone the chance to experience the majesty and beauty of Notre-Dame the best way we know how. For one week (April 17th to April 25th), we will be giving Assassin’s Creed: Unity away free on PC, for anyone who wants to enjoy it. You can download it now for Uplay PC HERE.

When we created Assassin’s Creed: Unity, we developed an even closer connection with this incredible city and its landmarks – one of the most notable elements of the game was the extraordinary recreation of Notre-Dame.

Video games can enable us to explore places in ways we never could have otherwise imagined. We hope, with this small gesture, we can provide everyone an opportunity to appreciate our virtual homage to this monumental piece of architecture.