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 RP-AC68U Gaming Router
• GIGABYTE Announces F2A88X-D3HP FM2+ Motherboard
• Cooler Master Announces Hyper 212X and TX3i CPU Coolers
• EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti VR Edition Now Available
• BIOSTAR Announces H110MD PRO Motherboard
• Plextor Introduces M6S Plus SSDs with Toshiba’s 15nm MLC NAND
• MSI Vortex Gaming Tower (new photos)

A Free, Cross-Platform, 3D Game Engine Integrated with Amazon Web Services and Twitch

Amazon Web Services Inc., an Amazon.com company, today announced Amazon Lumberyard, a free, cross-platform, 3D game engine for developers to create the highest-quality games, connect their games to the vast compute and storage of the AWS Cloud, and engage fans on Twitch. Amazon Lumberyard helps developers build beautiful worlds, make realistic characters, and create stunning real-time effects. With Amazon Lumberyard’s visual scripting tool, even non-technical game developers can add cloud-connected features to a game in minutes (such as a community news feed, daily gifts, or server-side combat resolution) through a drag-and-drop graphical user interface.

AWS is also announcing Amazon GameLift, a new service for deploying, operating, and scaling session-based multiplayer games. With Amazon GameLift, Amazon Lumberyard developers can quickly scale high-performance game servers up and down to meet player demand, without any additional engineering effort or upfront costs.

Amazon Lumberyard is free, and available today in beta for developers building PC and console games, with mobile and virtual reality (VR) platforms coming soon. Amazon GameLift has a small per-player fee, plus for both Amazon GameLift and Amazon Lumberyard, developers pay standard AWS fees for AWS services used. To learn more about Amazon Lumberyard, click here. To learn more about Amazon GameLift, click here.

Today, Ubisoft announced an Open Beta for Tom Clancy’s the Division which will take place February 19-21 on Xbox One, PlayStation® 4 and Windows PC and everyone can preload the content starting February 16. Xbox One players will also have exclusive 24-hour early access starting on February 18.

With the highly anticipated release of Tom Clancy’s The Division just weeks away, and following the recent Closed Beta, the Open Beta is an invitation for all players to get a taste of the game’s mid-crisis New York ahead of its official launch on March 8. This beta will test the game systems further, and provide player feedback that will benefit the game experience at launch.

In addition to the content that was featured in the Closed Beta, the Open Beta will include an all new story mission for players to explore in their pursuit to save the city. Furthermore, everyone who participates in this latest testing phase will receive a special in-game reward which will unlock for players when the full game is released.

Tom Clancy’s The Division takes place weeks after a devastating pandemic sweeps through New York City on Black Friday. One by one, basic services fail and in only days, without food or water, society collapses into chaos. The Division, an autonomous unit of tactical agents leading seemingly ordinary lives among us, is activated to save society. Team up with other players to investigate the source of the virus, protect civilians from dangerous factions, and reclaim the city from the overwhelming turmoil.

View the just released “Enemy Factions” trailer here.

For more game and open beta information, visit the Tom Clancy’s The Division website.

Source: GamingBolt

Battlestate Games have just released a brand new developer diary for their upcoming story focused MMO, Escape from Tarkov. The new development diary takes us behind the scenes into the game’s development, as the developers discuss the motion capture techniques that they are using to achieve realistic animations.

Battlestate also discuss several other things- they talk about the weapons that will be in the game, and show us some military advisers multiple times. Curiously enough, these advisers all seem to be shrouded in darkness, so we can never actually see them or their faces.

Almost as interesting is the appearance of the Oculus Rift in this video- now, Oculus Rift support has not yet been confirmed for this game, and the developers don’t even bring attention to the headset themselves, but it may be a tease- could VR compatibility be in the works for this project?

Escape from Tarkov is an MMO shooter anticipated to launch later this year.

More game information is available at the Escape from Tarkov website.

Are you excited for the Tigers on the Hunt release date getting closer?

Take a look at this nice gameplay video, featuring a German kampfgruppe defending a village assaulted by elements of the 3rd US Armoured Division!

You will have the chance to see a lot of actions with a lot of units involved, bold manoeuvres and tank fights!

Stay tuned! The game will be released on February 25!

Get more information about Tigers on the Hunt from its official product page.

Developer Obsidian Entertainment and publisher My.com unveil new information about the upcoming update 0.13 coming to Armored Warfare on February 11. Coastal Threat is a brand-new map for PvP and brings great possibilities for all classes of vehicles that capitalize on their strategic use in the thick of battle.

Watch the Armored Warfare video here.

Throughout history, the Black Sea region has been a strategic location many parties sought to control due to its importance in trade, as well as its tactical value. In the universe of Armored Warfare, set in the late 2020’s, the relations in the region have significantly deteriorated. The entire area became a battleground for various interests, often backed by the power of one of the newly established Private Military Companies.

An otherwise peaceful town on the coastline has just seen the first glimmers of global conflict; destruction and devastation is left in the wake of armored combatants launching a siege on the area in order to take hold of its natural resources. This 1200×1200 meter map consists of several regions that offer plenty of space to flank your opponents – the southern bay area and the north offer wide arcs of fire, while the city can be used by heavier and slower vehicles to advance under cover.

Other features introduced with update 0.13:

• Originating from China, a rising new arms dealer by the name of Zhang Feng and his roster of dangerous vehicles, will soon become available for all tank Commanders.
• Changes will be made so rewards in PvE function similar to PvP in order for the systems to be equitable and beneficial.
• Updates to the matchmaking system will provide an overall better experience and more balanced matches.

To learn more about Armored Warfare, and to download the game, please visit the official Armored Warfare website.

Recently announced World War 2 shooter ‘Battalion 1944’ has reached its initial funding goal within under 3 days of being announced. The Bulkhead Interactive team have released a new heart felt thank you trailer including clips of all the support they’ve received from content creators and press as well as new unseen footage from the work in progress pre-alpha.

The team have also announced that Battalion 1944 will be launching additional stretch goals very soon, promising to satisfy some of the biggest community requested features in line with their ethos of direct community driven development. Whilst large AAA developers are so focused on the monetization of extremely large scale shooters, it’s great to see that a tight, gritty and focused shooter like Battalion 1944 can still capture the hearts of gamers worldwide.

“Thank you for backing Battalion 1944. The team you’re investing in are ready to build the next big first person shooter. We couldn’t have done it without you, the community. We have an incredible opportunity over the next 26 days to give this game the best budget it can possibly have. All of the funds from the campaign go straight towards the making of Battalion. Please don’t hesitate to become a part of this amazing community of players and a part of Battalion’s history.” – Joe Brammer, Producer at Bulkhead Interactive

Battalion 1944 recaptures the core of classic multiplayer shooters and propels WW2 into the next generation. Battalion 1944 utilizes the most advanced industry technology to create a visceral and heart-thumping multiplayer experience that has been crafted by the designers who have grown up playing Medal of Honor and Call of Duty 2.

Bulkhead Interactive have promised to invest a minimum extra of £100,000 of their own money into Battalion 1944. All the funding received past the initial funding goal will be put towards their soon to be announced stretch goals and the overall budget of the game.

Watch the Battalion 1944 Thank You trailer here.

More game info available at the Battalion 1944 website.

Author: Steve Lynch @ HARDOCP

Today we are reviewing the Thermaltake Core P5 Wall-Mounted ATX chassis and comes in with a street price of around $140. The main element that Thermaltake wants you to be able to accomplish with it new Core P5 Chassis, is for you to be able to show off your awesome PC system configuration that you have spent weeks working on so that it is near-perfect. While the P5 checks off more feature boxes than that, it surely does a good job of showing off your rig.

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 Republic of Gamers Announces Horus GK2000 Gaming Keyboard
• Phanteks Announces the Eclipse P400 and P400S Chassis
• Patriot Develops New Enhancements to V560 Gaming Mouse Software
• Alphacool Launches NexXxoS X-Flow Radiator Series
• GIGABYTE FORCE H7 and H5 Gaming Headsets Now Available
• ViewSonic High Performance XG Gaming Monitors Now Shipping
• Matrox Unveils World’s First Single-Slot Graphics Card with Nine DisplayPorts
• Dell U2717D and U2717DA Infinity Edge Monitors
• Kingston Digital Acquires USB Technology and Assets of IronKey from Imation
• ASRock Silently Removes BIOS SKY OC Patch for Non-K Model Skylake CPUs

By Don Miller @ Combatsim.com

Windows 7 and 8/8.1 users this week will soon notice that the Windows 10 Update will be downloaded through Windows Update and attempt to install on your system. Especially if you have Windows Update set at “Install Updates Automatically”, which is the default setting. If so, after a reboot of you system Windows 10 Update will begin to install.

In Windows Update, under “Optional”, you have to check the box to download an item and install. “Recommended” items, will be downloaded and installed unless you change the default setting of Windows Update.

Now I am not to get into the whys and wherefores here, or if Microsoft is a corporate bully forcing an operating system on you. I just want to point out a couple things you can do to prevent this install from happening on your PC or laptop if you are not yet ready to make the change, or simply do not want to.

First, change the Windows Update setting from “Install Updates Automatically” to “Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them.” Here is how you get to Windows Update and make the changes manually:

Windows 8 and Windows 8.1

• Open Windows Update by swiping in from the right edge of the screen (or, if you’re using a mouse, by pointing to the lower-right corner of the screen and moving the mouse pointer up), then tapping or clicking Settings, tapping or clicking Change PC settings, and then tapping or clicking Update and recovery.
• Tap or click Choose how updates get installed.
• Under Important updates, select the option that you want.
• Under Recommended updates, select the Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates check box, and then click Apply.

Windows 7

• To turn on or off Automatic Updates yourself, follow these steps:
• Click Start, type Windows update in the search box, and then click Windows Update in the Programs list.
• In the left pane, click Change settings.
• Select the option that you want.
• Under Recommended updates, select the Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates or Include recommended updates when downloading, installing, or notifying me about updates check box, and then click OK.

Here is how the Windows Update Panel looks like in Windows 7:

Now that you have completed that task, I recommend you download and install GWX Control Panel by Josh Mayfield. Not only does GWX Control Panel have settings to remove the annoying “Get Windows 10″ icon from your taskbar, but its also “protects you from unwanted Windows 10 upgrades and notifications without disabling important or popular operating system features, and without requiring you to change the way you work with Windows.”

GWX Control Panel is highly recommended by many windows news and help sites. You can visit Josh Mayfield’s website to view his user guide for GWX Control Panel. I recommend watching the following tutorial videos that Josh has created on how to set up GWX Control Panel. Click on the links below to view…

VIDEO 1

VIDEO 2

If you have already downloaded and installed GWX Control Panel, or are going to after watching the above videos, you will notice that Josh has made considerable upgrades to GWX Control Panel since the videos were made. Josh has added many actions within GWX Control Panel, including a button to directly access Windows Update so you can make the setting changes there. Very nice addition to GWX Control Panel!

I have installed GWX Control Panel on my wife’s laptop, which had the “Get Windows 10″ icon in the taskbar. Using GWX Control Panel, I was able to get rid of it. I also performed the recommend setting changes. Since then I have nor has my wife had any issues with the laptops performance. I have also installed GWX Control Panel on my desktop PC. I had no “Get Windows 10″ icon showing in the taskbar. I am assuming that since I have built my own PC, using OEM Windows 7, that may be the reason why. My wife’s desktop that I built is the same way. GWX Control Panel showed that the icon app was not running. On the laptop it showed it was running. Shows me this program is working nicely.

And once you decide to upgrade to Windows 10, you can make the changes in the GWX Control Panel to allow you to upgrade. Remember you have 30 days to try out Windows 10, and if you do not like it, you can revert back to your original system. I have played with Windows 10 on my PC by creating a dual boot setup with a clean install of Windows 10. So far, I have not had a single program that I have installed that hasn’t worked. And I must say, so far I am warming up to Windows 10. It is a vast improvement from Windows 8/8.1. Its functions and interface is more like Windows 7 with a bit of Windows 8/8.1 mixed in. I have not performed the Windows 10 upgrade on my Windows 7 system as of yet, as I wanted to really see if I would like Win 10 or not. So I cannot tell you how it well the update works. Most people I have talked to have said it worked just fine for them. If you do decide to update to Windows 10, make sure you back up all your important documents, photos, video, etc. Also I would recommend that you do not have any other storage drives to your motherboard, or any external drives connected when you perform the upgrade. Also, make sure you turn off any antivirus and anti-malware software too.