By Tyler Wilde @ PC Gamer

I tried playing Sniper Elite 4 as a pure stealth game, carefully sneaking past patrols and waiting for a plane to roar overhead to mask the crack of my rifle as I debrained my first fascist officer. But a little while later some wandering putz spotted me and so I sniped him, too. And then my minimap turned red and everyone got all aggro and so I just went ahead and sniped them all. Cut to me standing at the top of a lovely hill on the Italian countryside with a brand new moat of bodies at its base.

Sniper Elite 4 became much more fun when I started treating it less like a stealth game and more like a shooter with some sneaking. It isn’t as playful or full of gadgets as Hitman or Metal Gear Solid 5. You can lure enemies out of cover with sound and set explosive traps on bodies, but there are no boxes to hide in and no non-lethal options. I wouldn’t expect any in a game that delights in slow-mo x-ray shots of bullets crashing into foreheads and tumbling out the backs of skulls. That’s the Sniper Elite way, and it’s never been better at doing its own thing than it is in Sniper Elite 4.

Read on…

As Japanese Tanks Closed Beta ends – War Thunder prepares to profile the might of Interesting and Unique Imperial Japanese armor in daily profiles.

Gaijin Entertainment today announced that following on from its December 1.65 update and recent end of closed beta for Japanese tanks ‘Way of the Samurai’, additional Japanese tanks will be rolling out in its next major update for all players. Ahead of this rollout, Gaijin Entertainment will be providing daily profiles of some of the key vehicles on its War Thunder devblog beginning with the Japanese Type 87 SPAAG self- propelled anti-aircraft gun. The current roster of Japanese armor has added 30 armored ground forces vehicles modeled on interwar vehicles and modern developments of the Cold War era, featuring a full range of tanks, self-propelled guns and anti-aircraft vehicles, including exotic models, such as the largest amphibious tank of World War II, the Type 2 Ka-Mi, and a modification of the Chi-Ha tank equipped with a 120mm naval cannon, the Chi-Ha Short Gun.

In War Thunder, the Type 87 SPAAG will be the new top anti aircraft vehicle at rank V of the Japanese Ground Forces tree. Highly effective against any airborne threat, the Type 87 is also capable of engaging ground targets using a variety of armour piercing shells. The vehicles light armor and speed allow it to quickly exploit holes in the enemy’s flanks or relocate behind cover.

Besides the Type 87, the forthcoming update will add many other Japanese ground vehicles to the game, including a multi-turreted tank and an ATGM vehicle. Additionally, new ground vehicles and aircraft will be also be released for the other in-game Nations USA, UK, USSR and Germany. In the following weeks, the most interesting innovations will be presented in the developer diaries on War Thunder’s official website here.

Details on the SPAAG, the first of many daily profiles on Japanese armor can be seen here.

GATHER YOUR SQUAD OF UP TO 4 PLAYERS AND START THE FIGHT FOR THE WILDLANDS

Today, Ubisoft® announced that the Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands Open Beta will be available to all players from February 23rd to 27th, 2017, on current-gen consoles and PC. Players eager to jump into the Ghost’s boots and tame the Wildlands will be able to pre-load the Open Beta starting this Monday, February 20th, 2017.

Each player entering this Open Beta will get access to an exclusive mission – the “Unidad Conspiracy” mission, in which players will spark a war between the Unidad, a local corrupt militia group, and the Santa Blanca cartel – by playing the full game before March 31st, using the same Ubisoft account.

The Open Beta will introduce players to two provinces among the 21 of the final game: Itacua, a flourishing and mountainous province where the grip of the cartel is looser, ideal to perfect your sniping skills and get introduced to the Wildlands. Montuyoc, set in the snowy Altiplano, and the second province available in this Open Beta, is much more challenging – players who have suppressed the Itacua bosses will gain XP and skills boosts allowing them to face this dangerous area, home to Santa Blanca elite training centers. Players can of course confront Montuyoc right away… at their own risk.

As in the full game, all the content in the Open Beta will be playable with up to three friends on the same platform via four player co-op, or in single player. Players are free to utilise a large variety of vehicles, tactical equipment and weapons to get the job done.

Set in the largest action-adventure open world ever created by Ubisoft, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands takes place in Bolivia, a few years from now, as the country has been turned by the vicious Santa Blanca drug cartel into a narco-state. Players are tasked with eliminating the cartel by any means necessary. The massive and responsive open world encourages a variety of playstyles, allowing players the freedom to choose how they execute any and all missions.

The Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands PC Specs and System Requirements have also been announced today, along with a new “Open Beta” trailer, so please visit Ubiblog to get the full details and watch the trailer!

For more information about Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands, please visit the official Ghost Recon: Wildlands website.

By MAC @ Hardware Canucks

Today, we are reviewing another MSI motherboard – the Z270 Gaming M7 – and this model sheds itself of any mainstream pretenses and aims for the top-end of the market. In fact, with a price point of about $245 USD / $320 CAD, the Gaming M7 is the most high-end Z270 motherboard that MSI offers. What does this model bring to the table that its cheaper sibling did not? Not as much as you might expect, at least with regard to conventional specs. Both have three PCI-E x16 and three PCI-E x1 slots, both have six SATA 6Gb/s ports, both have one USB 3.1 Type-A and USB 3.1 Type-C port, both have only one LAN port, and both have two video outputs. So as you can see, a lot of the fundamentals that most shoppers quickly look at when evaluating a motherboard are the same between both models. Thankfully, there are important differences that make the Gaming M7 a radically different beast.

Read The Review Here

By Hilbert Hagedoorn @ Guru3D

We will look at Sniper Elite 4 from Rebeliion – in our PC graphics performance and PC gamer way. The 4th iteration of the game now is DirectX 12 compatible with ASYNC enrolment. We’ll test the game on the PC platform relative towards graphics card performance with the latest AMD/NVIDIA graphics card drivers. Multiple graphics cards are being tested and benchmarked. We have a look at performance with the newest graphics cards and technologies.

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.

• ASUS Announces the ROG Strix Impact Gaming Mouse
• ASUS Reveals the DSL-AC88U Ultra-Fast Gaming Grade Modem and Router
• ADATA Releases the XPG SX950 SSD and EX500 Enclosure
• Creative Intros Tournament Edition Variants of its SoundBlasterX H7 and H5
• Alphacool Launches Eiswand 360 Liquid Cooling
• MSI Z270 Gaming Plus Added to the Extensive MSI Z270 Line-up
• AMD Ryzen Reviews and Shipping Coming on February 28th
• ASUS Teases ROG Crosshair VI Hero and X370 Motherboards

Source: Kotaku

Numerous changes are coming to Battlefield 1 as part of a winter update. Alongside the expansion pack They Shall Not Pass, the game will see changes to class rankings and the addition of combat ribbons.

In a blog post today, the Battlefield 1 team outlined some new additions that will come in the game’s winter update. Chief among these are combat ribbons. In previous titles, ribbons were in-game commendations given to players for completing certain tasks in a round.

Read more and watch the “New Guns” video hosted by Kotaku.

Source: Blue’s News

Steam News announces that Sniper Elite 4 is now available on Steam, offering the latest installment in this sharpshooting series. Word is: “Discover unrivaled sniping freedom in the largest and most advanced World War 2 shooter ever built. Experience tactical third-person combat, gameplay choice and epic longshots across gigantic levels as you liberate wartime Italy from the grip of Fascism.” Here’s more on the game:

Discover unrivaled sniping freedom in the largest and most advanced World War 2 shooter ever built. Experience tactical third-person combat, gameplay choice and epic longshots across gigantic levels as you liberate wartime Italy from the grip of Fascism.

Set in the aftermath of its award-winning predecessor, Sniper Elite 4 transports players across the beautiful Italian peninsula, from sun-drenched Mediterranean coastal towns, to ancient forests, mountain valleys and colossal Nazi megastructures.

Covert agent and elite marksman Karl Fairburne must fight alongside the brave men and women of the Italian Resistance and defeat a terrifying new threat with the potential to halt the Allied fightback in Europe before it’s even begun.

For more game info head to the Sniper Elite 4 website.

Matrix Games is pleased to announce that Afghanistan ’11 will hit your screens on March 23rd.

Afghanistan ’11 builds upon the very successful Vietnam ’65 and brings its original formula to the desolate mountains of Afghanistan, where the US armed forces, assisted by the local Afghan National Army, fought for years against an invisible enemy.

Afghanistan ’11 isn’t your standard wargame: if you want to win it won’t just be about eliminating the enemy on the battlefield, but you will need to conquer the Hearts & Minds of the locals by ensuring safety to villages, isolating and eliminating Taliban units, training the Afghan army and building and protecting infrastructure.

Logistics and organization will be extremely important as the Taliban and tribal militias will attempt to thwart your efforts with sneaky ambushes and sudden strikes – the enemy plays hide and seek and could be everywhere and only the most skilled strategist will manage to win the war in Afghanistan and help build a modern nation.

Afghanistan ’11 brings back the extremely successful formula of Vietnam ’65 and expands on it. The gameplay is now richer than ever! Extend your supply lines with a whole new modular FOB system. It will be the player’s duty to fight the war on drug production – destroy opium crops and deprive the Taliban of their economic sustenance. Oversee dynamic national elections which could affect your whole strategy! React to many unique political events which will add further unpredictability to your game! And much more.

Watch the introductory trailer here.

Visit the Afghanistan ’11 official product page here.

Last but not least, the Steam page is also now live!

Paradox’s Medieval Strategy Classic Still Going Strong Half a Decade Later

On Valentine’s Day 2012, Paradox Development Studio and Paradox Interactive released Crusader Kings II, a game about Medieval conquest, intrigue, diplomacy, and faith. Over the last five years, Paradox has updated, supported and expanded Crusader Kings II and it continues to challenge the development team’s imagination. Over the last five years, the game has sold over a million copies, not counting the many hundreds of thousands of sales for the many expansions and cosmetic DLC.

Crusader Kings II launched Paradox Development Studio into a new era of popular success, demonstrating that broad and complex games about serious subjects could find a large audience. For half a decade, the game’s community has shared stories of world conquest, daring Crusades, accidental empires and soul-compromising sins.

Let’s be honest; there has been a lot of murder.

To mark this milestone, Paradox will dedicate much of 2017 to celebrating Crusader Kings II and its community. The first step in this year of modern medieval pageantry is to give away a free portrait pack to everyone that owns Crusader Kings II. This South Indian portrait pack will add more color and personality for those who fight for control of the great subcontinent. The pack is available here.

And then tomorrow the celebrations continue with a celebratory video from LongGameShort. His humorous animated videos are firm favorites of the Dev team and the community, so it seemed only right to involve him in our celebrations!

LongGameShort will help in the celebrations with a video release on the 15th of February

Paradox is very grateful for everyone that has embraced Crusader Kings and hopes that you will join us through the year as we pay homage to the lord and master of role-playing grand strategy games.

Those who have not delved into the plotting and intrigue of Crusader Kings II can even pick it up with up to a 75% discount at the Paradox store here!