Half of Bohemia Interactive’s net revenue from Laws of War DLC in 2017 donated to ICRC

As pledged last August, independent games developer Bohemia Interactive has donated half of its 2017 net revenue from direct sales of the Arma 3 Laws of War DLC to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The total amount raised is USD 176,667 (one-hundred and seventy-six thousand, six-hundred and sixty-seven US dollars – approximately EUR 143,543 or GBP 126,016).

To further celebrate the special occasion, the studio published a special blog post, which includes a new story trailer for the DLC, plus an infographic with statistics on how people played Laws of War’s mini-campaign.

“With over two billion gamers worldwide, video games have an incredible potential to convey the importance of international humanitarian law (IHL). The collaboration between Bohemia interactive and the ICRC has been extraordinary and we have learned a lot from each other by exchanging ideas and our respective expertise on how to incorporate IHL into a video game. The success of the Arma 3 Laws of War DLC has shown us that video games are one of the many ways to reach new audiences and call attention to the fact that wars do have limits and rules. We are also very grateful that Bohemia Interactive will donate $176,667 to the ICRC, which shows their commitment to support our work, to help people affected by armed conflict and other situations of violence in over eighty countries.” said Helen Durham, Director for International Law and Policy at the ICRC.

Bohemia Interactive’s CEO, Marek Spanel: “We knew this DLC’s theme might seem a bit unusual, but we also felt that it has a rightful place in a game like Arma 3. At the same time, our community normally expects more traditional content you’d see in a military game, such as new weapons, tanks, and helicopters. That has made it even more amazing to see the immense level of player support for the Laws of War DLC, which really shows again how both games and the gaming audience have matured. If you also consider that some of our players are in the military or might pursue a military career in the future, then we’re glad this DLC has been able to increase awareness for this important topic. And being able to also make a financial contribution to the ICRC’s efforts is a great bonus.”

Arma 3 Laws of War is a downloadable content pack for Bohemia Interactive’s military game Arma 3. It explores a different perspective on the battlefield by introducing a fictional humanitarian NGO faction called IDAP (International Development & Aid Project) to the game. The package also includes a new van, a drone, outfits and gear, and a range of decorative objects such as shelter tents and medical or food supplies. One of the main highlights of the DLC is the “Remnants of War” mini-campaign. Here, players take on the role of IDAP explosive specialist Nathan MacDade, and uncover what happened in the town of Oreokastro – witnessing the long-term consequences of war and particularly the effects of mines and unexploded ordnance.

Furthermore, the Laws of War DLC implemented a free Showcase scenario on the topic of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). This singleplayer scenario, which is presented as a virtual reality training course hosted by IDAP, aims to provide all Arma 3 players with the opportunity to become more familiar with the DLC’s complex and serious theme.

More information about the Arma 3 Laws of War DLC is available on the official Arma 3 Laws of War webpage.

Command the Tides in Europa Universalis IV: Rule Britannia

The old king of legend couldn’t control the waves with a flick of his hand, but you, his heirs, can master them with the power of your navy and the reach of your trade fleets. The destiny of millions is in your hand in Rule Britannia, the newest immersion pack for Paradox Development Studio’s classic historical strategy game Europa Universalis IV.

Watch the release trailer HERE.

Rule Britannia brings greater depth to the lands of England, Scotland and Ireland while offering tools that will deepen the experience of Europa Universalis IV no matter where you choose play. The mission system has been completely reorganized (with new unique missions for the British and Irish nations), and any nation with a fleet can choose a naval doctrine that will boost its galleys, reduce its maintenance cost or strengthen the power of its trading ships.

Features of Europa Universalis IV: Rule Britannia include:

• New British Missions: Exclusive Mission Trees for England, Scotland, Ireland and Great Britain, embedded in the new Europa Universalis IV mission system (coming with the 1.25 update).
• Innovativeness: Earn rewards for being the first nation to unlock new knowledge, including lower power costs.
• Naval Doctrine: Adopt a general strategy for your fleets, giving you bonuses to ship maintenance, trade power or battle performance.
• Anglicanism: A new Protestant faith can appear in England with new bonuses and religious choices.
• New Units: New army designs for British and Irish nations, including independent Northumberland and Cornwall.
• New Music: The epic score of history has been filled out with new music to backdrop your quest for world supremacy
• Knowledge Sharing: Help your lagging allies or subjects by promoting the spread of institutions in their realms.
• Trade Steering: Force your defeated enemies to have their merchants fill your coffers.

Europa Universalis IV: Rule Britannia is now available in the Paradox store and on Steam for the suggested retail price of $9.99.

By Richard Gouge @ HardOCP

The new Enermax LiqFusion is an All-in-One liquid CPU cooler packed with unique features and desirable options. It has an exclusive RGB-sync waterblock, flow indicator, ceramic bearing pump, as well as a serviceable design, but how well does it cool our highly overclocked Ryzen test system?

Read the Review Here

Source: TechPowerUp!

NVIDIA today released GeForce 391.24 WHQL software. The drivers add more optimization for “Sea of Thieves,” and two new NVIDIA Freestyle post-fx filters – “Old Film” and “Tilt-Shift.” The drivers address issues related to VR headsets from both HTC and Oculus, in which the headset would stop working after several application launches or resumption of system from hibernation. A bug that prevented Freestyle from being enabled on games that support it, is fixed. MPC-HC no longer stutters in the first couple of seconds of the video playback. A driver TDR error with Mozilla Firefox was fixed. A rare bug that caused stuttering on “Rise of Tomb Raider” when opening the in-game menu on GTX 1060, was fixed.

You can download the new GeForce 391.24 WHQL drivers from GeForce Experience and GeForce.com.

Source: TechPowerUp!

AMD has released the latest version Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition. Version 18.3.3 Beta is the third release for this month, and features a major API update, in addition to game optimization. The drivers introduce support for the Vulkan 1.1 API. In addition, the drivers provide optimization for “Sea of Thieves,” and “A Way Out.” An intermittent stuttering issue was fixed with “Forza Motorsport 7.” A system hang seen on “Star Wars Battlefront 2,” on multi-GPU systems, was fixed. Also fixed are flickering and objects disappearing from the scene, with “Final Fantasy XV.”

The new Radeon Software Adrenalin 18.3.3 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.

• Raijintek Releases the ZOFOS EVO Chassis
• HyperX Expands FURY DDR4 and Impact DDR4 Product Lines
• GIGABYTE Intros RX 580 Gaming Box
• Thermaltake New TT RGB PLUS Ecosystem with TT AI Voice Control Launched
• Marvell Introduces New NVMe Switch and SSD Controllers
• ASUS Republic of Gamers Announces ROG Strix Flare Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
• ASRock Phantom Gaming Video Cards Coming Soon

Source: Blue’s News

1C Game Studios now offers Battle of Kuban, a third installment in IL-2 Sturmovik that features the air war in World War II’s eastern front. This operates as a standalone game or as an add-on for Battle of Stalingrad or Battle of Moscow, except on Steam, as word is: “On Steam, customers must first purchase Battle of Stalingrad if they wish to purchase Battle of Kuban.” This forum post has all the details on the new release as well as a new version 3.001 patch for Battle of Stalingrad. Here are the details:

The third installment of the next-gen IL-2 Sturmovik series is dedicated to large scale aerial battles between the Red Air Force and the Luftwaffe in the skies over the Kuban front in 1943. It contains ten aircraft.

This edition contains two additional Collector Planes – the legendary Spitfire Mk.VВ (Lend-Lease version imported from Britain) and the rugged German Hs-129 B-2 ground attack airplane. These two aircraft bring the total amount of included aircraft to ten in the Premium Edition.

IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Kuban can be used as a separate product or be integrated with BOS and/or BOM, resulting in one big WWII Eastern Front combat flight-sim.

• 2 Collector Planes (Spitfire Mk.VВ and Hs-129 B-2)
• 8 Battle of Kuban Aircraft
• Kuban Map
• Battle of Kuban Campaign
• Quick Mission Builder
• Single-Player Missions
• Multi-Player Mode
• Player Controlled Tanks

Massive Update 1.77 ‘Advancing Storm’ enhances visuals, audio, and enters next-gen armored warfare with M1 Abrams, Challenger 1, Leopard 2K, T-64B & more

Gaijin Entertainment today announced the release of major Update 1.77 ‘Advancing Storm’ for its vehicular combat MMOG War Thunder. ‘Advancing Storm’  introduces the PC and console versions of War Thunder to Gaijin’s new and improved Dagor 5.0 engine, capable of near photo realistic environments and vehicles. The update also adds nearly two dozen new vehicles, including five next generation tanks on Rank VI: the M1 Abrams, Challenger 1, Leopard 2K, T-64B and AMX-30B2 Brenus.

Among the graphical improvements introduced with Dagor Engine 5.0 are technologies like Global Illumination (GI) and Contact Shadows. Together with photorealistic weather effects, volumetric fog and smoke, War Thunder is now visually more much more life-like and detailed. Also new is Temporal Anti-Aliasing (Variance Clipping TAA), an anti-aliasing algorithm that greatly reduces the visible “noise” on distant vegetation, smooths the appearance of objects, and adds more detail to surfaces. Furthermore, the creation of landscapes was improved with the addition of visible reliefs via displacement mapping, resulting in much more visually diverse environments. Roads, for example, now have potholes, ruts and may show puddles of slush, water or mud – with the latter depending on the current weather and type of terrain. These landscape changes are visible to players on all graphics settings.

Accompanying the visual improvements is a complete redesign of in-game sound effects. Each shot effect is now created from several layers of sounds that correspond to peak and residual effects. Thus, experienced tankers are now able to determine the caliber of the cannon that fired the shot, even from distance. The effects themselves received additional details, so players can now hear the sound of cases dropping as they fire, or the working loading mechanisms of their cannons. Aircraft sounds are more vibrant and powerful. Further improvements are also planned for future updates.

Several next generation main battle tanks of the 1970s and 1980s now reinforce the arsenal of War Thunder on Rank VI: the U.S. M1 Abrams, British Challenger 1, German Leopard 2K, Soviet T-64B and French AMX-30B2 Brenus. All of them boast powerful weapons, armor, high speed, and mobility. Noteworthy here is the special cannon of the T-64B that allows it to fire ‘Cobra’ guided anti-tank missiles and the AMX-30B2 Brenus’ powerful reactive armor. Some of the vehicles introduced with Update 1.77 are still in service today.

German pilots can look forward to the heavy Heinkel He 177 A-5 Greif bomber, which was created by a War Thunder player under the Revenue Share Partner Program. You can follow up on the He 177’s creation process on War Thunder Live.

Update 1.77 ‘Advancing Storm’ features plenty of other graphical improvements, vehicles and changes. Read more on the official War Thunder website.

Matrix Games have announced today that Check Your 6! has been released.

Born from Scott Fisher’s board game and developed by “The Lordz Games Studio”, Check Your 6! will bring you in the middle of World War II’s air battles.

Play as the British or as the Germans in 18 different missions covering air battles, and protecting and destroying important objectives. Use 14 different aircraft, each with its own strength and weakness, with a huge number of weapons that allow the player to attack with different precision and ranges.

Check Your 6! is also available on Steam, but remember that if you buy the game from the Matrix Games Store you’ll receive a Steam key for free!

Also today Matrix Games has released two quick video tutorials, one talking about Basics and UI, while the other one talks about Movement and Combat.

Source: GURU3D

As Intel finalizes them, Microsoft started distributing Microcode updates for the Spectre variant 2, the updates now have a reach from the latest Coffee Lake processors, Kaby Lake (Core iX-7xxx and iX-8xxxU), Intel Skylake (Core iX-6xxx) up-to-now even Sandy Bridge (Core iX-2xxx).

Put short, these patches will make your PC safer, even without a mandatory firmware update. To be able to retrieve the patches, you must have Windows 10 installed with build 1607/1703 or 1709. If you are on Windows 7 or 8.1, you’ll need to wait until your motherboard manufacturers if and will release a firmware update to patch the vulnerabilities.

Read on…