Take your tank to the sea, warship to the Jacuzzi, and shoot pool on the Moon

April Fool’s Day is generally celebrated by playing a good-natured practical joke, an amusing hoax, or, in Wargaming’s case, an entire parade of special in-game events created for its passionate community.

In “Moon Mayhem” (April 1 – 5) World of Tanks PC establishes its first colony on the Moon. Why? Because why not? In this event, you command the latest weapon in spherical tank technology: the IS 8-BALL. In your space-age vehicle, you must knock other commanders on the “Crater” map into one of several billiard-type holes.

Of course, we’re on the Moon, which means less gravity. You’ll find that IS 8-BALL feels a little different than a regular tank. That’s because it’s so smooth. With less friction, various in-game hazards, like Meteor Showers and strange gravitational anomalies, this mode offers an out of this world experience. To play, all you have to do is enter your Garage, choose the IS 8-Ball and click the Battle! button. You will be added to a special queue with other players who have also selected the event vehicle.

April Fool’s Day in World of Warships (March 31—April 11) exchanges the high seas for hot tubs in the special “Ruinberg In Jacuzzi” map. Take charge of the captain’s boat from the animated series “Bad Advice” and battle other players in a not-so-relaxing hot tub. All you have to do is start the game and search your Port for the 4 types of vessels available: the Pokeboat (JP), Botishkaff (RU), Das Boot (DE) and Bottlesheep (US). Choose whichever ship you take a fancy to, then click the Battle! button.

Each ship sports a Fish captain at the helm, stylized with the nation of its ship. When the little boat is bobbing in your port, a 3D model of “Bad Captain” will be visible on the ship. While the captain lacks a bikini, you can hear some of his trademark sounds from the show. Why not stick your toe in the water?

We have something for everyone this April Fools’ Day, so make sure you don’t miss out!

Also, Don’t Miss Exciting New Gameplay Footage, And This Weekend’s First-Ever Twitch Stream

Escape from Tarkov, the upcoming FPS/MMO that has all of the Internet buzzing, is going to show just how flexible the game’s weaponry is in a new video released today. It’s not simply about adding a bigger magazine, or a flashlight, or even a laser sight…no, in Escape from Tarkov, from developer Battlestate Games, it’s about thousands, possibly millions of combinations of tactical weapon add-ons that will take a basic pistol, and make it a handheld war machine of epic proportions.

To show just how incredibly deep Escape from Tarkov’s weapon modding system is, today we’re releasing a new video showcasing various weapons and the available mods. Stocks, magazines, muzzles, barrels, they’re all there for the modding. Along with the video, we have an overview dossier that explains the options available in the modding system. Watch the new video, and see why PC Gamer calls Escape from Tarkov, “The FPS that’s taking weapon customization to absurd heights,” and why the game is on every FPS fans’ wish list.

Battlestate has also released an Escape from Tarkov clip showcasing two minutes of gameplay from the game, if you can’t get enough Escape from Tarkov, this Saturday. Battlestate will be hosting the first ever Twitch stream for the game. Tune in to Twitch this Saturday April 2nd at 11AM Pacific Time (2PM Eastern) to experience even more of this exciting FPS/MMO.

Tackom Ltd is developing a new Tactical Simulation Art of Combat: Anzio 44.  This new game will be a hybrid game with a complete strategic layer, as well as a battle layer for real time battles.

The best way to imagine Art of Combat is as an old table top game. The Table is the Strategic [Strat Map] This is where the operational aspects of the game take place. You move your Bgs [Battle Groups] around, [Infantry – Armour – Recon – Heavy Infantry – Engineers – Mixed etc] . You endeavor to outmaneuver your AI or human opponent as you would on a real table top, using real tactics. Once you have moved units, sorted supply, intel etc out, you finish your “turn” hit next, the opponent moves in the same way. At this point Battles will occur, this is where you drop down to the battlemap, to actually fight your battles in realtime.

This is where the actual real time fighting will occur. Here below the Strategic [Strat] layer, on the Battle layer is where your Battle Groups will engage in real time combat. With a far better AI than any tactical wargame until now, with AA class modelling and graphics, pathing, physics etc, you will be able to fight ultra-realistic battles with features that have never been seen before in any game.

About The Art of Combat

What we as developers are aiming to do, is to create a new type of wargame, with brand new features. All it will have in common with past RTS type games is that it will be Real Time. It is essentially an RTTS [Real Time Tactical Simulation]. The aim is to build a game that will eventually cover many time periods, not just WW2. The game will have a host of features, such as civilians who can become insurgents/partisans, booby traps, the ability to realistically model many differing types of tactical warfare from WW2 to Asymmetric, insurgent based warfare.

Find out more, view some screenshots, and join the game forum at the official Art of Combat website.

Legendary Naval Fleet Ships And Galleons Deliver The Broadside

Gaijin Entertainment today announced that its award-winning MMO WWII online game, War Thunder, will be introducing legendary sailing ships in its latest update for War Thunder’s ten million players to enjoy.

Available for all players, these historic battleships will take the fight to distant lands and contested waters. The first test-session starts today and will last until the end of the weekend.

Long before the history books documented the modern toil of land and air warfare in tanks and planes, the oceans were ruled by huge battleships decked with cannon and shot.

War Thunder ‘s latest update will introduce British fighting ships from the beginning of the Eighteenth Century with other nations to be added later.

“It’s been a very interesting and challenging task to recreate historic battles of the most powerful sailing nations. We started working on it last year, adding interactive water, and then a few days ago we added interactive weather conditions, which are very important for realistic sailing conditions,” said Gaijin Entertainment CEO Anton Yudintsev. “The weather can change from complete calm to raging storm.”

Like their tank and plane counterparts, War Thunder’s sailing ships will also have their own interactive damage model (no health points). Gaijin Entertainment has taken care in crafting these sailing behemoths to be armored the way they were during their dominance of the oceans of long ago.

Naval battles will be available in the War Thunder Events menu in the game and will be available in Arcade mode. Players will be able to take the rank 1 British ship, the legendary “Golden Hind” galleon and join a battle on the shores of the lost islands. More ships of the Royal Navy and other nations will become available soon.

Information videos:

• Planned Royal Navy line-up
• Interactive weather conditions in War Thunder
• Interactive water effects in War Thunder

To download War Thunder, please visit the official War Thunder website.

New Video and Special Edition Tanks Now Available

Developer Obsidian Entertainment and global publisher My.com present the special edition Wolf Pack vehicles, featuring four of the most renowned steel machines of destruction. These unique vehicles will tear enemies to shreds and are available in celebration of Armored Warfare’s latest update 0.14.

Armored Warfare’s Wolf Pack vehicles feature a unique look (bloodthirsty red stripes on deep black with Wolf’s emblem), created especially for this limited time offer. On top of the awe inspiring graphics, these vehicles come fully upgraded with maximum level crews and premium status. The pack containing the Centauro 120, Challenger 1, BMD-2, and Wiesel 1 will go on sale as part of the coming update and will be available for purchase individually.

Get more details on the new Wolf Pack for Armored Warfare and watch the Wolf Pack video here.

Days of War seeks to bring the online FPS back to it’s competitive roots by simplifying gameplay and returning to a classic WW2 setting. Armed with a fully functional Alpha prototype and a $100k budget to get to early access ($50k from backers and $50k studio match), Days of War will be hitting the store at the end of this Summer.

For players who can’t wait that long, Alpha and Beta tester access can be secured by backing through Kickstarter. Full copies of the game are also available at a highly discounted price ($19).

Days of War is rejuvenating FPS fans of old. Clans from Medal of Honor, CoD 2, Day of Defeat, and Enemy Territory are reassembling with great enthusiasm due to general dissatisfaction with the evolution of the mass market shooter and lackluster annual releases.

Days of War also appeals to the younger generation who have yet to experience a great online WW2 shooter. (even Call of Duty: World at War was 8 years ago)

Days of War has reached its first stretch goal, guaranteeing the British forces make an appearance in game, and is looking like it’s on track to hit the next goal, the Soviet Army.

You can find the official Days of War website here.

“There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a second-hand opinion.”
Gen. William Thornson, U.S. Army

With the release date of Order of Battle: U.S. Marines drawing near, we have decided to prepare a little treat for everyone interested in the WW2 era: some infographics showing the maps and interesting facts from three of the eleven new scenarios included in this expansion. Which is completely focused on the “uncommon valor” of the American Marines in the Pacific Theatre.

Order of Battle: U.S. Marines is the second expansion for Order of Battle: Pacific and it’s due to release on 7th April!

Source: TechPowerUp!

AMD made its second release of Radeon Software Crimson Edition for March 2016, with version 16.3.2. The new drivers come with official support for the two popular VR headsets, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. It also adds support for the recently announced Radeon Pro Duo dual-GPU graphics card. The drivers improve CrossFire performance for “Hitman (2016)” in DirectX 11 mode, and “Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.” It also fixes critical bugs related to the Radeon R9 Fury, which saw display corruption on system idle mode; and XCOM 2 stuttering.

You can download the Radeon Software Crimson Edition version 16.3.2 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.

• Team Group Announces the Delta Line of DDR4 Memory Modules
• Corsair Packs 12,000 DPI Pixart PMW336x Sensor Into M65 Pro RGB Gaming Mouse
• EKWB Announces EK-RAM Monarch Modules
• BenQ Unveils the BL2420Z Low Blue-light Monitor
• Seagate Launches World’s First USB-Powered Desktop Hard Drive with Innov8
• Razer Ripsaw Game Capture Card Debuts For $180
• AOC Launches C2783FQ 27-Inch Curved LCD Monitor

By Alex Connolly @ The Wargamer

The Drinking Glass. The Crocodile. The Flying Tank. Whatever you call this iconic Russian gunship, the Mi-24 HIND looms in the imagination as a brutal piece of Cold War engineering. As arresting as it grotesque, Moscow’s answer to the Huey went beyond its role as a robust troop carrier in becoming a bristling carnivore, stalking the Mujahideen during the ill-fated Soviet invasion.

I’m happy to say, bellowing from the rotor wash and feeling Bagram grit collect in my gum line, the chopper love seen in Heliborne continues with Air Missions: HIND. Unlike Jetcat Games’ multi-era celebration of Cold War rotorcraft, the armoured bully is the sole focus of 3DIVISION’s simucade project. On higher difficulty, Air Missions: HIND flies much closer to a Gaijin Entertainment level of control fidelity and feedback, sidling alongside the forgotten Apache Air Assault in laying an acceptable level of realism atop slightly more forgiving flight physics.

Read on…