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Just Announced Hardware for 4 January 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.

Hardware | Donster | January 4, 2017 |

Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China ‘Kipling’ Update

Some people say that World War II started in China when the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937, a full two years before German aggression seized Europe. Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China, a historical air-combat action game currently in Steam Early Access, is based on the true events of covert American WW2 fighter pilots who flew combat for the Chinese Nationalist Party under Chiang Kai-shek, more commonly referred to as the Republic of China or the Kuomintang aka KMT (the Kuomintang were forced to retreat to Taiwan in 1949 after being defeated by the Communist Party of China during the Chinese Civil War).

The “Kipling” Steam update introduces the first set of hand-painted illustrations that strives to capture the mood, look and feel of aerial warfare in 1940s South-East Asia theatre of World War II, more commonly known as the CBI (China-Burma-India).

Watch the Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China - “Kipling” Aviation Art Steam Update Video here.

About the Kuomintang of China (KMT)
The Kuomintang of China, often translated as the Nationalist Party of China or Chinese Nationalist Party, was the ruling party in mainland China from 1928 until its retreat to Taiwan in 1949 after being defeated by the Communist Party of China (CPC) during the Chinese Civil War. Together with the People First Party and New Party, the KMT forms what is known as the Taiwanese Pan-Blue Coalition, which supports eventual unification with the mainland. However, the KMT has been forced to moderate its stance by advocating the political and legal status quo of modern Taiwan. The KMT accepts a “One China Principle” – it officially considers that there is only one China, but that the Republic of China rather than the People’s Republic of China is its legitimate government. In 1930, large-scale civil war broke out between warlords who had fought in alliance with the Kuomintang during the Northern Expedition and the central government. In addition, the Chinese Communists (CPC, or Communist Party of China) revolted against the central government following a purge of its members by the KMT in 1927. The Chinese government diverted much attention into fighting these civil wars, following a policy of “first internal pacification, then external resistance”.

About The Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (July 7, 1937 – September 9, 1945) was a military conflict fought primarily between the nationalist Republic of China and the Empire of Japan from 1937 to 1945 (the First Sino-Japanese War happened in 1894–95).

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

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 New Mission Revealed

Jon North Puts Skills to Work in a Bloody Slaughterhouse

CI Games, developer of the Sniper: Ghost Warrior series and Lords of the Fallen, explores the dark depths of a slaughterhouse shown in a never-before-seen map location in Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3.

Watch the Slaughterhouse gameplay video here.

Located deep in the Georgian mountains, an American prisoner is being held captive in an old slaughterhouse repurposed by separatists to be a site of body disposal. Watch as American Marine Jon North uses his skills to rescue the prisoner quickly and efficiently while he’s still alive.

Armed with a variety of weapons and equipment, Jon North’s combat prowess is fully realized when properly prepared for the mission. New to the series, the aerial drone with the proper upgrades provide an advantage before entering the area. Using Sniper skills to pick off lone separatists on watch, and then using Ghost skills to take out the enemy stealthily with the trusty knife helps create and easy way of infiltration and exfiltration.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 tells the story of brotherhood, faith and betrayal in the most complete sniper experience ever. Take the role of an American sniper named Jonathan North, who is dropped into enemy territory in northern Georgia, nearby Russian borders. Explore large open-world maps with dynamic weather and a day and night cycle that actually impacts play and decisions. Customize weapon equipment, accessories, vehicles and a drone, and utilize the three pillars of gameplay to your liking: Sniper, Ghost and Warrior.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 will launch on Windows PC, PlayStation®4, and Xbox One on April 4, 2017.

To learn more about CI Games and Sniper Ghost Warrior 3, visit the CI Games website.

First-Person Shooters Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 | Donster | December 23, 2016 |

War Thunder Enters Release of Main Game – Moves Out of Open Beta

Update ‘Way of the Samurai’ reveals the Japanese tanks, adds cockpit interiors for all aircraft, new vehicles, maps and additional improvements

Gaijin Entertainment today announced that update 1.65 ‘Way of the Samurai’ marks the release of the originally proposed War Thunder game and ends Open Beta with all current in-game nations featuring their own aircraft and tank trees. The introduction of ships also means that War Thunder now takes the fight to land, air and sea to complement the game. Gaijin Entertainment will continue its commitment to improving the game through regular updates, as they progress toward the research trees of War Thunder Ships, which currently reside in pre-beta testing.

“After reaching this important development milestone, which marks the end of Open Beta, the goals set out for War Thunder in 2012 are now complete. We will focus on adding new features and improvements, to let virtual pilots, tankers and navy captains enjoy one of the most realistic, extensive and accessible war simulations of all time”, says Kirill Yudintsev, Creative Director of Gaijin Entertainment.

War Thunder’s ‘Way of the Samurai’ update will focus on completing the Armor of the Imperial Japanese Army, which adds 30 armored ground forces vehicles, featuring a full range of light and medium tanks as well as self-propelled guns and anti-aircraft vehicles modeled on interwar vehicles to proven mid-war workhorses and modern developments of the Cold War era.

Update 1.65 includes the integration of cockpit interiors for all aircraft with working gauges and indicators. The update contains two new maps for ground and combined arms combat, “Abandoned Factory” and “38th Parallel”. While the first challenges tankers and air support to identify targets in a maze of industrial workshops and loading bays, the latter propels players into the Korean peninsula and is the first ground combat location based on a post-World War II setting. It also contains a dozen additional ground and air vehicles for other nations bringing the total number of available vehicles to more than 800.

In 2017, Gaijin plans to focus on two major game modes for War Thunder, the previously announced World War mode that allows players to experience massive operations across different theatres of World War II, as well as the full release of War Thunder Naval Forces for all nations.

Work will continue on additional features such as adding new nations, new game modes and further improvements to eSport and other forms of competitive play.

Gaijin Entertainment also used the opportunity of War Thunder’s release to congratulate players with the start of a series of holiday timed events and specials. Everyone logging in to the game until New Year’s will receive a progression booster as a present. In addition, the holiday season will bring a variety of events where players can unlock several Premium vehicles and other content for free.

To find out more, head over to the War Thunder devblog page here.

More information about the Japanese tank packs can be found here.

Further information on the release of War Thunder is provided here.

The release trailer can be found here.

MMORPGs War Thunder | Donster | December 23, 2016 |

Linksys MAX-STREAM EA9500 Router Review

By AkG @ Hardware Canucks

Is it a router, outer space invader or Cylon Basestar? Linksys’ MAX-STREAM EA9500 may look odd but it also happens to be one of the most powerful routers on the market.

Read The Review Here

Hardware Networking | Donster | December 23, 2016 |

Corsair Force MP500 480GB M.2 NVMe SSD Review

By Nathan Kirsch @ Legit Reviews

Corsair hasn’t been that aggressive in the SSD market recently, but all that changed earlier this month when their announced the Force MP500. This drive marks a number of firsts for Corsair as it is their first drive to ever use the M.2 2280 form factor, PCIe interface, and the NVMe protocol. Since this is Corsair’s first PCIe Gen 3 x4 SSD it has blisteringly fast sequential speeds of up to 3,000 MB/s read and 2,400 MB/s write, which makes it roughly 5 times faster than the Corsair Nuetron Series XTi drives that used to be their flagship storage drive series. Things are also impressive on the 4K Random Read/Write performance as the Phison 5007-E7 controller and 15nm Toshiba MLC NAND Flash are capable of reaching up to 250,000 IOPS for 4K Random Reads and 210,000 IOPS of 4K Random Write performance.

Read The Review Here

Hardware Storage | Donster | December 23, 2016 |

Just Announced Hardware for 23 December 2016

Hardware | Donster | December 23, 2016 |

Escape from Tarkov – “The Woods” Screenshots

Battlestate Games, developers of the much-anticipated military-themed FPS/MMO Escape from Tarkov have released several screenshots of a new in-game location – the Forest. This vast Forest covers a major section of the city of Tarkov’s immediate outskirts and it hides many secrets. Attentive explorers will discover many locations, most of them dangerous, including an abandoned railroad station, sawmill, the remains of a crashed plane and much more. To succeed in the forest battlefield, players will have to adopt special combat tactics and learn to navigate in dense vegetation and open spaces.

Escape from Tarkov is a hardcore story-driven MMO featuring elements of both FPS and RPGs. The events take place in the Russian city of Tarkov, which has been sealed off by roadblocks after having plunged into chaos of warfare between private military companies. Escape from Tarkov’s Hazardous Environment Combat Simulator employs a number of custom system modules to create incredibly immersive gameplay and lets players feel the reality of what is happening in the game.

Escape from Tarkov is currently in the Alpha testing stage and is being prepared for transition to closed beta. At the moment, most key game mechanics are already in place including trade, handling of weapons/inventory, raid objectives and character leveling/skill upgrades system.

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

Escape from Tarkov MMORPGs | Donster | December 15, 2016 |

Hearts of Iron IV: Together for Victory Now Available

Reinforcements Have Arrived, eh? Together for Victory is Here.

The time has come for all the subjects of his Majesty to stand shoulder to shoulder against Fascism. Will you answer the call?

Together for Victory, the first expansion for Hearts of Iron IV (PEGI 7), is now available on major digital retailers. This add-on for Paradox’s grand strategy epic about the tumultuous years leading to and including WWII puts the British Dominions and Commonwealth nations in the spotlight.

The major new mechanic is the Autonomy system. Nations still subject to a greater power have a range of actions available to them depending on how subservient they are. A Dominion will have some constraints on its foreign policy, but will be more independent than a puppet regime. Through decisions and actions, these subjects can assert themselves and gain full independence.

Together for Victory also includes:

New National Focuses: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India each receive their own National Focus Trees, bringing their history to life
Spearheads: A new order simplifies breakthroughs in land invasions
Continuous Focuses: Choose a National Focus to boost your nation’s capabilities over time, prioritizing one aspect of your military machine over another
Alternate Histories: Each of the Dominion nations has alternate history branches. Lead South Africa to a Communist revolution that will end segregation but alienate Great Britain. Make Canada a Fascist state warily eyeing the giant to the south.
Tech Sharing: Cozy up to an advanced great power and take advantage of their research progress to accelerate your own development.
Combat Log: Extensive details on the performance of your divisions in battle are now available for you, Commander.
Request Lend Lease: Ask for assistance from across the seas in the form of lend lease, adding new vehicles and equipment to beleaguered armies.
New Art: New portraits for new leaders, old leaders have some portraits redone, and new unit designs and event pictures make their debut.

Enlist for a new challenge in Hearts of Iron IV: Together for Victory.

For more game information click here.

Hearts of Iron IV Strategy and Wargaming | Donster | December 15, 2016 |

Sniper Elite 4 – Target: Führer Trailer

sniper-elite-4 Watch the atmospheric first video reveal of Target: Führer, the campaign mission for 1-2 players FREE with all Sniper Elite 4 pre-orders (all editions, all platforms).

Catch a world-first look at the daunting U-boat facility you must infiltrate, crawling inside and out with elite Nazi troops and packed with an array of creative environmental kills! There are literally dozens of ways to takedown the Führer – how many can you spot?

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

First-Person Shooters Sniper Elite 4 | Donster | December 15, 2016 |