Update 0.17 Introduces a New Competitive Map “Frontline” and Continues to Make Changes From Community Feedback

Obsidian Entertainment and global publisher My.com are proud to announce the newest addition to Armored Warfare. Update 0.17 focuses on several quality of life improvements to continue the trend of addressing community requested enhancements. New features include the new VBR wheeled Armored Fighting Vehicle, the new co-op PvE challenge “Leviathan,” and the large and open PvP map, “Frontline”.

Watch the Armored Warfare – Frontline Map Trailer HERE.

Update 0.17 features include:

• Due to its size and natural openness, there are almost no natural routes for the players to take and tactics depend almost entirely on each team, as the terrain no longer dictates the vehicle deployment. The flow of battle is less predictable than on some of the other Armored Warfare maps and the players need to be constantly vigilant for the shifting tides of war.
• A brand new challenge for the co-operative PvE mode of Armored Warfare. The newly-finished Aurora satellite sits on a remote island in the Pacific, having received the final touches that will facilitate its maiden flight. When adversarial forces threaten to destroy Aurora and its component parts, players must protect the satellite and defend the island’s facilities, stopping the enemies from capturing the Aurora and destroying it.
• The VBR Tier 8 AFV and the AMX 10 RCR Tier 8 Premium Tank Destroyer
• We have continued to improve and optimized Armored Warfare’s weapon firing model in many aspects, with the goal of making it easier for players to hit targets more consistently while firing on the move.
• Before spawning an AI vehicle, this new system will check to see if it has Line of Sight and is within close radius to players in an attempt to find a location that is not directly on top of players. This should greatly reduce the cases in which AI vehicles spawn in-sight of and around players.

Find more about the 0.17 updates HERE.

You can download the game for free and get more information at the official Armored Warfare website.

Source: TechPowerUp!

AMD late Wednesday released the Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.8.3 drivers. The drivers come with optimization, including CrossFire support, for the week’s biggest game releases, “Battlefield 1″ Open Beta, and “Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.” The drivers address a rare bug noticed on machines with AMD “Polaris” GPUs, in which a blank or colored screen is noticed intermittently when gaming.

You can download the Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.8.3 drivers here.

Drive on Moscow is an immediate, exciting and fast paced strategy game set in 1941, with the German Wehrmacht making a push for the capital of the Soviet Union. It was previously available only on iPad, but it’s being ported to PC and upgraded with many new features for the occasion!

The game puts you in charge of either the Wehrmacht or the Red Army. In the winter of 1941, the key to the war is Moscow. Were it to fall, the Soviet Union would receive such a huge blow that it might not recover. But were it to stand, maybe the Russians will be able to reverse the tide…

Sporting an incredible impulse-based turn activation system, the gameplay revolves around decisive initiative, clever timing and exploiting the weather and the terrain. Weather in particular is crucial: it affects the dynamic map, and even the turns’ duration!

The game is being upgraded with a new Live PBEM system, implementation of Slitherine’s Tournament system, as well as a greatly enhanced AI! Drive on Moscow is being improved greatly in both single and multiplayer. The addition of the tournament system in particular will allow us to organize tournaments in the future: you’ll have the chance to win glory on the battlefield (as well as some nice prizes!).

Last, but not least: the game is about to enter its beta phase. Feel free to join and help us: the goal is to provide you with the best gameplay experience, and we need your help. We’ll be extremely grateful for that. Click here to join the beta.

The hit Heroes of Normandie gets richer with the release of its latest DLC, 21st Panzer Division.

This expansion adds 20 new units, a new hero, several new unit abilities, new mechanics such as the firing arc, and more, all for the mighty Wehrmacht!

Heroes of Normandie is an extremely fun game, a digital adaptation by the popular boardgame with the same name by Devil Pig Games. The developers Cat Rabbit are working hard to constantly improve the game and add more features: 21st Panzer Division is yet another step in that direction.

The expansion is now out on our store, and on Steam.

Source: Blue’s News

After a brief early access for Battlefield Insiders, the Battlefield 1 open beta is now available for everyone through Origin. This previous announcement has details on testing the World War I shooter. Here’s word:

The Battlefield 1 Open Beta will include the Sinai Desert map, a scorching hot battlefield located just East of El-Jifar. From infantry skirmishes in the narrow streets of the village of Bir el Mazar to dogfights above the majestic cliffs, you’ll need to make tactical use of the dunes as you engage in explosive battles. When all hope is lost, reinforcements will arrive in the shape of a powerful Behemoth: a deadly Armored Train charging through the desert sands.

Two modes will be available as well:

• Conquest. An all-time fan favorite of Battlefield players, Conquest is a large-scale game mode with up to 64 players fighting for the control of key objectives. With large armies on foot or behind the wheel and the addition of fearsome Behemoths, Conquest brings together all the elements of the signature Battlefield All-Out War.
• Rush. A 24-player mode where the Attacking force must find and destroy the Defending force’s Telegraph Posts, which can be used to call in artillery strikes. The Defenders can deny the Attackers their mission by disarming explosives they plant on the telegraph positions. Should the Telegraph Posts be destroyed, the Defenders must fall back to the next sector and protect the Telegraph Posts there.

Get your Squad ready to deploy, because on August 31, you’re going to experience war on an epic scale in Battlefield 1.

Today Firefly Studios becomes the first developer to place the fate of entire game worlds in the hands of its players. The Stronghold developer announced that their ‘Final Age’ expansion for medieval castle MMO Stronghold Kingdoms will give a single player, the Marshall of a winning House, the option end their game world with the press of a single button.

Stronghold Kingdoms: The Final Age – Launch Trailer

As the British developer prepares for the cross-platform release of Stronghold Kingdoms on iOS and Android, players on PC and Mac ready themselves for the unique trials of the Final Age. In this expansion a single House of players must conquer and capture all Royal Towers, a new PvE target on the world map, before deciding whether or not to press ‘The Button’ and close their world forever. Players are then rewarded with multiple prize tiers based on their rank and position at world end, with up to $500 of in-game loot each.

“From the very beginning we knew players would be involved in development, this is the ultimate expression of that” said Simon Bradbury, Lead Designer at Firefly Studios. “Players deserve a proper endgame and in the case of Kingdoms we believe this means letting the community decide whether or not to close their game worlds. This doesn’t mean Stronghold Kingdoms is coming to an end, far from it! For those worlds that players do decide to close new ones will open. We also have updates planned for the game, including our upcoming events system and redesigned iOS and Android versions.”

While the Sixth Age is already available, the Final Age expansion is set for release in the near future. Meanwhile Firefly is responding to one particular request from the community by developing a new in-game event system, offering global PvE and PvP challenges in which players compete for rewards. There are even new world types on the horizon to replace the old and give all players the opportunity for a fresh start in new and uncharted lands.

For more game information please visit the official Stronghold Kingdoms website.

Source: TechPowerUp!

NVIDIA has released the GeForce 372.70 WHQL “Game Ready” drivers. These drivers feature day-one optimization for “Battlefield 1″ Open Beta, “World of Warcraft: Legion,” and “Quantum Break” Steam release (Win32 variant, supports multi-GPU). The drivers also include a DPC fix for multi-GPU machines, building on the fix NVIDIA released for single-GPU machines in the previous release. The drivers also enable NVIDIA Fast Sync for GeForce 900 series “Maxwell” GPUs.

You can download the new GeForce 372.70 WHQL drivers from GeForce Experience and GeForce.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.

• XFX Announces Fanless Radeon RX 460
• Colorful iGame GTX 1060 3GB Series Released
• BIOSTAR Announces the TB150 PRO Motherboard Designed for Professional Mining
• EVGA Launches GeForce GTX 1080 FTW Hybrid
• ADATA Launches XPG Flame DDR4 Memory Modules
• Logitech Introduces Its First Ever Silent Mice
• G.SKILL Expands Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Family with KM780R Models
• EK Releases Full-Cover Water Blocks for Multiple PALIT and Gainward Graphics Cards
• LG Electronics Announces the World’s Largest UltraWide Gaming Monitors
• Acer Announces Predator 21 X – World’s First Curved Screen Gaming Notebook
• BIOSTAR S100 SATA 6.0 Gbps SSDs Introduced
• iiyama ProLite Releases GB2888UHSU 28-Inch 4K LCD Monitor

Get the Expansion on October 11th, Live Streams Begin

In the wake of the announcement of “Rights of Man”, Paradox Development Studio is reviving their Europa Universalis multiplayer stream. In these weekly streams fans can watch the development studio compete against each other for world domination. Tune in on Tuesday the 30th of August at 15.00 CEST for the first episode of what will most certainly be an epic tale of betrayal and tense work environment relations.

For those who desire a more in-depth look at the features coming to the “Rights of Man” expansion without all the drama of developers trying to annex one another, there will be a feature live stream on the same channel on Wednesday August 30th at 16.00 with Junior Game Designer Jake and Johan Andersson, EVP of Creative Direction at Paradox Development Studio.

Check out the Europa Universalis IV: The Rights of Man, Release Date Reveal Trailer here.

For more information about Europa Universalis IV: Rights of Man please visit the “Rights of Man” webpage.

“The Reaper’s Due” Kills Your Free Time (and half of Europe) 

Few things are more contagious than the stories people tell about Crusader Kings II. Tales of intrigue, piety, conquest and murderous sibling rivalry have circled the internet for over four years. Today, Paradox Development Studio adds the world’s greatest pandemic to the mix in The Reaper’s Due, the latest expansion to its best-selling medieval grand strategy-roleplaying game. Watch the release trailer here.

The Reaper’s Due adds a host of new mechanics centered on the Black Death and other world shaping epidemics. Lock your gates to keep the plague from infecting your court, even if it means cutting yourself off from your suffering citizens. Peace and good management will see your provinces reward you with greater wealth and manpower, but rampant disease may depopulate your countryside.

The Reaper’s Due introduces many new systems and features to what is already the richest medieval tapestry in gaming:

• The Black Death: New additions to epidemic system include this super destructive disease and a new map mode that track the expansion of deadly illnesses.
• Court Physicians: This new position for learned courtiers opens up a series of events tied to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases with medieval tech.
• Hospitals: Slow down the spread of epidemics by investing in these outposts that care for the sick and infirm.
• Prosperity and Depopulation: Watch your provinces thrive under your careful attention and degrade under the pressures of diseases run amok.
• Seclusion: Take a page from the Masque of the Red Death and hide yourself away with your court as plagues ravage the countryside.
• And even more: New physical traits, new events chain and a host of smaller changes.

And, as always, The Reaper’s Due will be accompanied by a major free update for everyone who owns Crusader Kings II, whether they buy the new expansion or not.

Are you a clever enough ruler to make it through one of humanity’s darkest moments? Invest wisely and avoid the plague, or shut yourself off and take advantage of the destruction later. The choice, as always, is yours.

For more information about Crusader Kings II, visit the games official website.