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Just Announced Hardware for 30 May 2017

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. Computex 2017 at Taipei, Taiwan kicked off today, so we have bonus coverage from the event!

Hardware | Donster | May 30, 2017 |

Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China Leaves Early Access, Full Release Now Available

“The sky was a maelstrom of exploding bombers, twisting tracers, flaming parachutes, and Robert’s own burning fighter… then his engine quit!”

Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China (“FTSOC”), the historical air-combat action game based on the events of America’s secret volunteer squadrons who flew combat in Southeast Asia during World War 2, launches today on Steam in 13 languages including English, German, Russian and Chinese. View the launch trailer here.

Published and developed by Ace Maddox, FTSOC was created in Steam’s Early Access program allowing the development team to gather ongoing feedback from the game’s community while iterating, improving and adding new content and features to the game on a near-monthly basis for over a year and a half.

The Digital Deluxe Edition, also available today, contains the Paradise Island DLC which includes the Phi Phi Islands dogfight and multiplayer map, and two amphibious fighters: the Japanese A6M2-N “Rufe” and the US Navy SC-1 “Seahawk”, plus the digital soundtrack OST featuring original music from the game.

FEATURES:

RARELY DEPICTED AIR-BATTLES OF WORLD WAR 2
Action-packed campaign recreates the clandestine operations of the American Volunteer Group in fighter, bomber, gunner, reconnaissance, torpedo, and night missions.

APPROACHABLE TAKE ON AIR-COMBAT
Features TrazerTime™ slow-motion precision firing, arcade-like combat maneuvers, sim-style pitch & roll controls, moody weathers (including thunderous monsoons, beautiful sunsets and misty dawns), 20+ Allied and Japanese planes, adjustable mouse & keyboard, gamepad, and flightstick controls, and more!

MULTIPLAYER FOR UP TO 16 PLAYERS
Steam leaderboards eternalize players’ online rankings across five battle modes! Coordinate devastating air-attacks in TEAM DOGFIGHT while providing cover for your comrades, outdo all enemies using powerful rocket weaponry in ROCKET BATTLE VS, or take to the skies to “Capture the Flag” in the FLAGBUSTERS mode.

PAY ONCE AND PLAY
No micro-transactions or F2P-elements – for a single purchase, you’ll get the full, stand-alone experience – with unrestricted multiplayer!

FLY IN COCKPIT OR THIRD-PERSON MODE
Soar through the skies of Southeast Asia in third-person or cockpit view in a variety of American, British, Russian/Chinese, and Japanese aircraft.

STRIKING RENDITION OF THE FAR EAST
Faithful environments, beautiful graphics, booming sound effects and an epic-orchestral soundtrack create a lasting impression of the China-Burma-India theatre.

Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China is priced at $14.99/€14.99/£10.99 for the standard version, with the digital deluxe edition costing $18.99/€18.99/£13.99.

FTSOC is available in 13 languages: English, Spanish, French, Polish, German, Portuguese-Brazil, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Russian, Italian, Czech, Turkish, and Japanese.

Get more information about the game at the official Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China website.

Historical Article: ‘A Shattered Command’

Outnumbered and outgunned, the Marine pilots of VMF-221 paid a heavy price for their heroic efforts to stem the Japanese onslaught on Midway Atoll

By Richard Camp @ Historynet.com

At 0555 hours on June 4, 1942, the heart-pounding wail of Midway atoll’s air raid siren sent the pilots of Marine Fighting Squadron 221 (VMF-221) scrambling to their aircraft. The island’s air defense radar had detected a swarm of Japanese aircraft—“Many planes, 93 miles, 310 degrees, altitude 11,000 feet”—heading their way, and no pilot wanted to be caught on the ground when they arrived.

Read on…

Military History | Donster | May 26, 2017 |

Command: Chains of War Review

By James Cobb @ The Wargamer

UAVs aside, recent military action has been pretty low tech. Small units attack terrorist positions with flashbangs and small arms; conventional artillery and armor grind away at Mosul. No country has used all those exotic weapons they’ve been spending trillions on. Game developers need to create simulations using them or gamers may not be around to see how they work in games? How many computers will survive an EMP exchange? Postwar games probably won’t have much of a market waiting. The never-tiring team at Warfaresims has gotten a jump on Armageddon with the latest standalone expansion of Command Modern Air and Naval Operations (CMANO), Command: Chains of War. Will another level of lethal tech finally make players to cry “Uncle”?

Read on…

Command: Modern Air/Naval Operations Strategy and Wargaming | Donster | May 26, 2017 |

Ubisoft Announces Far Cry 5 is Coming to America’s Heartland on February 27, 2018

far-cry-5 Today, Ubisoft announced that gamers will experience the chaos, unpredictability, and ferociousness of the Far Cry franchise with Far Cry 5 on PlayStation®4 Pro computer entertainment system, PlayStation®4, the Xbox One family of devices, including Project Scorpio, and Windows PC. Set in America for the first time, in Montana, players will have total freedom to navigate this serene-looking yet deeply twisted world solo or entirely in two-player co-op as they fight for survival and freedom, when the game releases on February 27th 2018. Development for Far Cry 5 is being led by Ubisoft Montreal.

As the new junior deputy of fictional Hope County, Montana, players will find that their arrival accelerates a years-long silent coup by a fanatical doomsday cult, the Project at Eden’s Gate, igniting a violent takeover of the county. Caught off guard and drawn into a power struggle, players must disrupt the carefully laid plans of the Project at Eden’s Gate, and fan the fires of resistance to help liberate the Hope County community and themselves.

Under siege and cut off from the rest of the world, players will join forces with residents of Hope County and form the Resistance. The fight against the cult will take players to unique locations throughout Hope County that provide different gameplay experiences. During their journey, players can fly planes to engage cult forces in aerial dogfights across Big Sky Country. While tracking down cult members and gathering resources for survival across farmland, forests, mountains and rivers, players can get behind the wheel of iconic American muscle cars, big rigs, ATVs and boats. Vehicles also provide refuge when under attack by animals or as a way to quickly escape when things don’t go as planned.

To take down the cult, players will need to utilise any and all weapons at their disposal, including ranged weapons such as guns and grenades and melee weapons like a sledgehammer or baseball bat. Additionally, players can recruit Guns for Hire from a large cast of characters, or even Fangs for Hire, specialised animals like bears and cougars to complement players’ playstyles whether they’re going in stealthily or forcefully. How players approach each situation and the chaos they create in Far Cry 5 is up to them. Far Cry 5 will also see the return of the map editor, giving players the opportunity to create and play an infinite amount of new playgrounds. The map editor will include new features that add a new dimension to the content created by fans, with more details coming soon.

Click here to view the Far Cry 5 intro trailer, three character intro trailers, screenshots and more!

For the latest on Far Cry 5 and all of Ubisoft’s games, please visit www.ubiblog.com.

For more information about Far Cry 5, please visit http://farcry.com.

Far Cry 5 First-Person Shooters | Donster | May 26, 2017 |

Just Announced Hardware for 26 May 2017

Hardware | Donster | May 26, 2017 |

‘Escape from Tarkov’ Shows Off New Location, The Shoreline – Screens

Battlestate Games, developer of Escape from Tarkov, the realism-focused hardcore FPS/MMO hybrid, have released screenshots and concept artwork for the new location – The Shoreline. The Shoreline closely neighbors the Tarkov evacuation point, and is characterized by a noticeably larger map footprint than any other Tarkov locations. The Shoreline houses a partially abandoned village, modern private housing, fields, a marina, gas station, weather station, cellular base station and more.

Its chief point of interest is the large “Azure Coast” health resort, consisting of several buildings with a central hydroelectric power plant. The main exit from of this new area will be located next to the Russian Armed Forces checkpoint at the Port entrance.

View the new screenshots here (Hosted by Worthplaying).

More info on Escape From Tarkov can be found at the game’s official website.

Escape from Tarkov MMORPGs | Donster | May 25, 2017 |

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Multiplayer DLC Trial Pack Next Week

Source: Blue’s News

A Call of Duty blog post has word that on May 30th they will offer the Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Multiplayer DLC Trial Pack, a 30-day free trial of the DLC for the shooter sequel. This will happen automatically, so this post on Steam explains how to opt out if for some reason you don’t want to download all that. Here’s word on the plan:

Next week, starting on Tuesday, May 30 at 10am/PDT, we’re kicking off the Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Multiplayer DLC Trial Pack for PC, a 30-day free trial that will give players access to all of the multiplayer goodness found in all four Downloadable Content packs. Furthermore, all of the MP maps will be added to all of the playlists.

Already own the DLC?

Glad you asked. . .

If you already own the DLC that you’re playing, you’ll get a 2XP reward. The deal is even sweeter for Season Pass owners, who will receive 2XP on all multiplayer maps. And those offers last through the duration of the 30-day trial.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 First-Person Shooters | Donster | May 25, 2017 |

War Thunder: ‘Regia Aeronautica’ Released

Update 1.69 adds Italy as new major nation and introduces new vehicles, locations and features including support for PlayStation®4 Pro

Gaijin Entertainment today announced the release of Update 1.69 ‘Regia Aeronautica’ for its vehicular combat MMOG War Thunder. “Regia Aeronautica” unlocks Italy as War Thunder’s sixth nation, initially offering a formidable line-up of 35 of the most historically accurate representations of their famous Air Force in any computer game ever. Other features include new aircraft and tanks for four other nations, the long-awaited ability to launch smoke shells and smokescreens from tanks, new realistic recreations of battlefields, and support for PlayStation®4 Pro.

The Regia Aeronautica
The new Italian aircraft tree stretches from Italy’s famous biplanes of the 1930’s to its powerful jet fighters of the 1960s. Among the latter is the Fiat G.91, a light, fast and agile fighter-bomber that is highly versatile in combat, thanks to its rapid-firing, heavy Browning machine guns, bombs and 38 rockets. Italian bombers include highlights such as the heavy four-engined Piaggio P.108B, which can carry a staggering 3.5 tons of bombs or three torpedoes. Its sister model, the ship hunter P.108A, comes equipped with a massive 102mm anti-ship cannon with 50 rounds of ammunition, which is now the largest aviation weapon in the game by far. All players will get gradual access to the new nation’s aircraft, with new models being unlocked for research every few days. More information will follow in the Developer’s Blog.

New ground vehicles
The United States gets access to a new top-rank vehicle, the M60A2 “Starship”, which can fire both conventional shells and guided-missiles from its 152mm cannon. For the Soviet Union, the T-55A is introduced as a worthy successor to the T-54, sporting excellent close combat and flanking capabilities. The German tree sees its first armored car, the Sd.Kfz. 234/2 “Puma” with a rapid-firing 50mm cannon.

Smoke shells and smokescreen launchers
Two completely new features in War Thunder are smoke shells and smokescreen launchers. The former, will allow tankers to deploy protective smoke over large distances, while the latter is an effective method to hide from enemy fire while repairing on the battlefield or defending a capture point.

Three new locations
The ground battles location ‘Kuban’ has been greatly revamped, which will make tank combat on the new location much more tactical and varied. For pilots, the hot sands of ‘Tunisia’ await, while naval captains can now assault the Black Sea on the new ‘Black Sea Port’ map.

PlayStation®4 Pro support
Now, thanks to the improved performance of the PlayStation®4 Pro console, owners can play War Thunder in native 4K resolution.

For more update info, screenshots and to watch the War Thunder: Update 1.69 “Regia Aeronautica” release video, click here.

MMORPGs War Thunder | Donster | May 25, 2017 |

Strategic Command World War II: War in Europe Available on Steam June 6th

6th of June 1944, the greatest seaborne operation in World War II begins. But there is another 6th of June to keep in mind, this one soon however.

Because on June the 6th 2017 Strategic Command World War II: War in Europe, one of the most intriguing wargames on the market, will be available on Steam!

Since its release, Strategic Command has been known to employ a very well designed Historical Decision Event System, where every military decision must be taken very carefully, always balancing the advantages and the disadvantages.

In combination with a smart AI capable of long-term strategies, prioritizing fronts and making good strategic choices, Strategic Command WWII: War in Europe happened to be a very nice addition for both experienced wargamers and newcomers.

With Strategic Command marching straight to Steam, developer studio Fury Software is very proud to announce that an important update has been released for beta testing. This new version adds some needed icons for the UI, Expanded tooltips, an Amended supply distribution system, and many more improvements, making this version of Strategic Command the most playable and enjoyable one ever!

What are you waiting for? Get more information about the game from its official Product Page!

Strategic Command WWII: War in Europe Strategy and Wargaming | Donster | May 25, 2017 |