The developers from Battlestate Games, a Russian game studio, have released the hot new video with gameplay of their online game, Escape from Tarkov. The video is set in the outskirts of the Tarkov city, in one of the chemical plant’s dorms that is now being used as a staging post by local raiders. At this location, characters of Escape from Tarkov can encounter Scavs, who have made the place their headquarters and are unlikely to welcome surprise guests. The video showcases inventory management, partial weapon tweaking, search for items, and investigation of the player’s surroundings.

Escape from Tarkov is a hardcore story-driven MMO which combines the elements of FPS/TPS and RPG. The events take place in the Russian city of Tarkov, which has been sealed of by roadblocks and sunk into the chaos of local warfare between private miltray companies. The extreme conditions combat simulator employs a number of custom system modules to create an incredibly immersive gameplay and make players feel the reality of what is happening in the game. The closed beta-testing of Escape from Tarkov is planned for 2016.

You can sign up for the closed beta and get more game info at the Escape from Tarkov official webpage.

Epic Adventure in Eora to Resume with Latest Game Expansion on February 16

Obsidian Entertainment and Paradox Interactive announced today that The White March – Part 2, the second expansion to Pillars of Eternity, will release on February 16, 2016. The White March – Part 2 not only adds new content to the Pillars of Eternity universe, but also allows players to experience the conclusion of the stories told in The White March – Part 1, bringing the first epic chapter of Pillars of Eternity to a close. Players will find a variety of new challenges waiting for them in the snowy borderlands of the Eastern Reach, along with new quests, new abilities and a raised level cap, and a new companion: Meneha, the Barbarian.

For a first glimpse at The White March – Part 2, Obsidian and Paradox have released a new game trailer, available here.

Directed by Josh Sawyer, Game Director of Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity, The White March – Part 2 brings players through an expertly crafted story from the award-winning team at Obsidian Entertainment. A series of new features await fans of the Pillars of Eternity universe, including a new “Story Time” mode, letting players experience the incredible narrative of Pillars of Eternity at a faster pace. Players will discover the answers to questions asked in the prior expansion, and lead companions old and new through new locations such as the Abbey of the Fallen Moon.

For more information on Pillars of Eternity and The White March – Part 2, visit the games official website.

Author: Grady McKinney @ HardOCP

On our test bench today is the XFX R9 380X Double Dissipation XXX OC 4GB video card. It features the latest Ghost Thermal 3.0 cooling technology from XFX and a factory overclock. We will compare it to the ASUS STRIX GTX 960 DCU II OC 4GB in a battle of the $229 price point video cards to determine the better overall value.

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.

• MSI Announces X99 and Z170 Carbon Edition Motherboards with Mystic Light
• ViewSonic Launches New Series of High Performance Gaming Monitors
• Corsair Introduces Three New Mid-Tower Cases: The Spec-Alpha, 400C, and 400Q
• Cooler Master MasterCase Maker 5 – MasterAir Maker 8 and MasterWatt Maker 1200
• ENERMAX Announces the Ostrog Advance Chassis
• Swiftech Launches Drive X2, Drive X2 Prestige AIO Liquid Coolers
• Creative Unleashes The X-Fi Sonic Carrier
• Patriot Releases the Hellfire M.2 and PCIe AIC into the World of SSDs
• Logitech Launches G502 Proteus Spectrum Gaming Mouse
• Linksys Introduces The Largest Portfolio Of MU-MIMO Home Networking Solutions
• Team Group Announces Dark Pro DDR4 Memory
• Velocity Micro Releases All-in-One PC with a Curved 34” Display
• Linksys And DD-WRT Announce Support For The Latest WRT Routers
• ZOTAC Reveals a 2GB/sec PCI-E SSD
• Amped Wireless Ultra-Fast AC2600 WiFi Router with MU-MIMO
• Samsung Electronics Announces Portable SSD T3
• Netgear Unveils New Routers, Range Extenders, Powerline Adapter at CES
• MAINGEAR Unveils 18-core ALPHA 34 All-in-One PC

Ubisoft handles the hunt for Jack the Ripper with surprising care, but familiar gameplay.

By Tom Phillips @ Eurogamer

Ubisoft’s announcement that it would adapt the murders of Jack the Ripper into a rip-roaring epilogue for Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate rose some eyebrows. How would the developer handle the gruesome murders? Would you play as Jack during them? After Syndicate’s solid main storyline and well-written cast of characters, it was a risky swansong to take on.

Read on…

Author: AkG @ Hardware Canucks

When searching for an optimal lag-free solution for online gaming, buyers typically go towards wired internet solutions since they tend to offer the best bandwidth and connection uptime. However, with the advent of 5GHz Wireless AC, WiFi has come all that much closer to achieving what gamers need and companies have begun to take advantage of that fact with new so-called “gaming grade” routers. While products from ASUS, Netgear and Linksys are the most visible in today’s market, ASRock is now introducing their own unique option: the G10 Gaming Router.

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.

• Cooltek Announces the GT-04 Green Edition Mid-tower Chassis
• ASUS Republic of Gamers Announces ROG Maximus VIII Formula Mobo with EK-waterblock and RGB Lighting
• Biostar Introduces Racing Series Motherboards
• Enermax Announces ETS-N30II Air CPU Cooler
• iBuyPower Announces the Revolt 2 eSports Gaming Desktop
• SilverStone Finally Releases the Argon Series AR07 and AR08 CPU Coolers
• ASRock Announces its Intel C232 Chipset Motherboards
• Dell Introduces U2417H InfinityEdge 23.8” 1080p IPS Monitor
• AOC Releases 4K LCD Monitor U2879VF With FreeSync
• Plextor Launches M8Pe NVMe PCI-e 4x SSD Next Week
• Dell SE2417HG 60 HZ Gaming Monitor Announced

The Christmas Truce has been called in the WW1 FPS Verdun. Join the snowball fights and football matches, sing along with Christmas Carols and make sure to send your friends a Christmas card from the trenches. Watch the trailer here.

Verdun is available now with a 40% Holiday Sale discount. Live and let live

The Christmas Truce has begun in Verdun! From December the 22nd to January the 4th 2016 players will have the opportunity to come together with their friends and enemies on a dedicated winter map. Throw some snowballs, play football for some extra points, write Christmas cards to your beloved ones or sing along with Christmas carols while enjoying this extraordinary scene.

Lorraine, the Christmas Truce map, wraps it all together and gives players the opportunity to win an extra Steam key. When players send their friends and enemies Christmas Cards from out of the trenches, they will automatically participate in a daily give away. Each day three random winners will be picked from the many Christmas Cards sent.

Verdun is also offered at a 40% discount during the whole Christmas Truce event on Steam, Humble Bundle, Greenman Gaming, GamersGate, Games Rocket and Bundle Stars.

A Christmas Truce live stream – www.Twitch.TV/VerdunGame – will be hosted with BaronVonGamez, Squire, PhlyDaily and the Verdun team on the 23th of December at 4PM EST /9PM GMT.

Enjoy the Holidays!

Find out more about Verdun at the games official website.

Source: Blue’s News

The Jack the Ripper DLC for Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate is now available, as is a new patch for the latest installment in Ubisoft’s assassination series. The patch notes have all the details on the new version, and the UbiBlog has the rest of what you need to know:

If you’re playing Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate on PC, you can now dive into the macabre, fear-fueled Jack the Ripper DLC and solve the mystery of the Whitechapel murders on your platform of choice. Unfolding (mainly) from Evie Frye’s point of view, the new adventure is set 20 years after the events of Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, and tasks you with tracking down history’s most notorious serial killer.

Jack the Ripper is available through Steam and Uplay for $14.99, and is also included in the $29.99 Season Pass along with a slew of other content. Before you grab the DLC, however, make sure you download the 1.31 patch (detailed in full here), which adds Jack the Ripper support, better performance and stability and a number of other fixes, including the following:

• Added additional parameter to AC.ini for disabling cloth motion 30FPS limits
• Fixed crash in multi-monitor mode in London
• Fixed FXAA with enabled MSAA
• Fixed changing of display in fullscreen mode issues
• Fixed flickering panel in World Map
• Fixed various render issues
• Fixed several online issues
• Minor UI improvements

Final update for the ‘castle sim’ sequel adds new maps, optimizations and single player DLC

Firefly Studios has just released their final content update for Stronghold Crusader 2. The update was announced in a post on the developer’s official website, where Firefly clarifies that no additional single-player content or DLC is planned for the future:

“As a team we’re very happy with the reaction and feedback from Stronghold players over the past year. Stronghold Crusader 2 was an important step forward for the series and we intend to build on that progress in future games. Work has now concluded on post-release DLC and single-player content, but there’s plenty to look forward to in 2016! Starting with the release of Stronghold Kingdoms on iOS and Android, which has been completely redesigned for touch, you’ll hear more about our plans for Stronghold and Firefly. We have lots in the pipeline for 2016 including multiple announcements and new releases, so watch this space!”

Watch the new Mini-Campaigns trailer here.

Free Map Pack

Stronghold Crusader 2 has also been updated with four new skirmish maps:

• Ruins – Just like in the very best 80s boxing movies it’s East vs West in ‘Ruins’. The map’s unique setup provides up to four players with a reliable source of Stone, but leave the elevated centre uncontested and even the mightiest walls will crumble.
• Mirage – All eight players must cross the great desert to reach fertile grasslands and enemy castles. Be quick! Unlike your typical mirage the aforementioned castles and armies within can definitely kill you, if left undisturbed.
• Three Rivers – The turtling player’s dream! Up to three castles stand high atop its very own hill, providing strong natural defences. Resources on the other hand lay scattered about the map in strategically vulnerable locations, so be prepared to fight over those village estates.
• The Fork – Your keep is on a mountain at the conflux of two great rivers. This provides plenty of opportunities to make the rivers run red with blood, just like in Revelation 16:4. Venture outwards to discover plentiful resources before testing your castle design with a few AI sieges.

Optimizations

Fixes and optimizations for pathfinding have now been added to the Steam version, with a GOG Galaxy update soon to follow. These changes should reduce the impact of these systems on frame rates and prevent variations in worker productivity during large games of up to eight Lords. Woodcutters were given special attention, given their importance to almost any player economy. Peasants assigned to Woodcutter Huts will now spend less time seeking resources, finding paths to them and generally act with greater autonomy.

A full list of changes can be found in the Stronghold Crusader 2 forum.

Stronghold Crusader 2: Delivering Justice and Stronghold Crusader 2: Freedom Fighters DLCs are now available on Steam.