The kurultai has concluded and good news, my lord! You have been chosen the Great Khan! Paradox Development Studio arms you with new territories, new armies and new ways of ruling the restless hordes at your disposal in Horse Lords, the newest expansion to Crusader Kings II, our best-selling medieval strategy simulation.

Lead grand armies to victories on the steppes of Asia as you cut new paths towards the wealth of the Silk Road, India and Europe. Force mighty foreign potentates to become your tributaries and manage the cutthroat rivalries and feuds of nomadic society as only a Great Khan can.

Horse Lords introduces a wide range of new tools and mechanics to add even greater variety to what is already one of the most diverse titles in strategy gaming history.

• Larger Map: The steppes of Central Asia are now open for you to conquer or develop.
• New rules for nomads: Now distinct from other pagan tribes, the Mongol and Turkic nomads draw strength from open pastures and large populations.
• Clan management: Struggle alongside rival clans within your nomadic nation, even launching civil wars to keep your khan on top.
• Tributaries: Vassals are often a lot of trouble, so why not simply force a conquered enemy to send u a load of gold every now and then?
• The Silk Road: This great historical trading route linked the Mediterranean and the Far East. Exploit its wealth or pillage its trade posts.
• Forts: New temporary structures you can build to hold enemy territory while your army marches onward.

And more! Crusader Kings II: Horse Lords is available now from major digital retailers.

For more information on Crusader Kings II, click here.

Nival, an independent game developer renowned for their strategy games, have announced the largest update so far for Blitzkrieg 3 in the form of the new and much requested PvP mode: Active Defense.

Blitzkrieg 3′s multiplayer is a simulated front line, in which one player attacks the key points of an opponent’s fortified garrison while the other player defends them. Up until now, the multiplayer mode in Blitzkrieg 3 was always “asynchronous” where the defending side was chosen from players currently offline. After feedback from its community, Nival has now introduced real time PvP to Blitzkrieg 3, where both players – attacking and defending – are directly controlling their units in real time.

“We were looking for some really fresh ideas for the continuation of the Blitzkrieg 3 series, and the “attack-defense” tactical scheme as the basis for online battles seemed to be an interesting solution”, commented Sergey Orlovskiy, founder and CEO of Nival. Orlovskiy continued, “While in a real war sides are never put in symmetrical conditions, the PvP modes in games invariably present abstract duels in which opponents fight in equal conditions. The only wide-known exception to this so far has been CounterStrike and we thought that implementing this tactical scheme as the basis for online battles not in a shooter but in a strategy genre might be that fresh idea that will breath new life in to the RTS genre.”

In this sizeable update the in-game matchmaker will look for players online initially. If players are not able to directly control the defense of their garrison the AI will do it for you, exactly as it was before.

Blitzkrieg 3 is currently in Steam Early Access and the playing community continues to provide valuable input and feedback in to the development of the game.

The Early Access launch trailer can be viewed here.

For more information on Blitzkrieg 3 head to the games official website.

Author: Brent Justice @ HardOCP

AMD’s Radeon Fury X is here, the AMD Radeon R9 Fury presents itself and we evaluate a full retail custom ASUS STRIX R9 Fury using ASUS’ new DirectCU III technology. We will compare this to a GeForce GTX 980 using the new drivers AMD just released and find out what kind of gameplay experience the R9 Fury has to offer.

Read The Review Here

Written By: Nathan Kirsch @ Legit Reviews

When the AMD Radeon R9 Fury X video card that is powered by the Fiji GPU was revealed to the world in June 2015 we were promised by AMD that the less powerful, but more affordable AMD Radeon R9 Fury video card would be coming. Reviewing the flagship AMD Radeon R9 Fury X 4GB HBM memory card showed that AMD was able to catch back up to NVIDIA, but not everyone wants or can afford a $649 water cooled graphics cards for their gaming PC. The new AMD Radeon R9 Fury video card is basically a cut down version of the Fury X with slightly lower core clock speeds and air cooling for a suggested retail price of $549. Our friends over at Sapphire hooked us up with the Sapphire Radeon R9 Fury Tri-X OC video card for this launch. The number of cards was very limited for this launch and we actually drove to meet Sapphire and picked up a card for testing that just came back from another site on June 9th. By the time we got the card on the test bench there was less than 16 hours before the embargo lifted, so that is why this review is posted up a little later in the day than usual. As soon as we are done we are packing the card back up and it’s out the door on Monday.

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.

• AMD Announces the Radeon R9 Fury Graphics Card
• PowerColor Announces its Radeon R9 Fury Graphics Card
• Sapphire Tri-X Radeon R9 Fury Video Card Officially Announced
• Aqua Computer Unveils Radeon R9 Fury X Full Coverage Water Block
• ASUS Readies Radeon R9 Fury STRIX
• GIGABYTE Intros a Pair of WindForce 2X Radeon R9 390 Series Graphics Cards
• MSI Teases Black And White Z170 Krait Before Skylake Launch
• You Can Pair an R9 300 Series GPU with an R9 200 in CrossFire
• AMD’s Partners Cannot Get Enough Radeon R9 Fury Graphics Cards
• NETGEAR Ratchets up Performance of New AC1750 Smart WiFi Router
• Lepa Announces the EXllusion 240 Liquid CPU Cooler
• SanDisk Reinvents Consumer Mobile Storage With New Wireless Flash Drive
• Plextor M6V SSD Launch Date Revealed
• Samsung UHD UE590 and UE850 Monitors Have FreeSync
• Micron Announces M510DC SSD with TCG Enterprise-level Hardware Encryption
• AOC G2460PF and G2770PF Have FreeSync Support
• Microsoft Reveals its Windows 10 Launch Celebration Plans

Includes Community-Voted Replica Grappling Hook, Medici Map and More

The community has spoken — Square Enix Inc. today revealed the items that will be included in the Just Cause 3 Collector’s Edition, the ultimate collection for the open world action game launching December 1. In addition to the Day One Edition of the game, the Collector’s Edition will contain a variety of collectibles, including the fan-voted centerpiece — a faithfully recreated 15-inch display version of Rico’s trademark grappling hook. Players interested in this community-curated collection can pre-order now from participating retail sites for $109.99.

“Much like the high-octane action of Just Cause 3, we wanted to give fans a Collector’s Edition that speaks to their breed of fun,” said Senior Product Marketing Manager, Damian Garcia. “Out of all the items we offered, the grappling hook was by far the most popular, and the fans made a solid choice to elevate this collection.”

The Just Cause 3 Collector’s Edition includes:

• Day One Edition of Just Cause 3
• Replica version of Rico’s famous grappling hook
• Weaponized Vehicle Pack in-game content
• 24-inch by 24-inch poster map of the Mediterranean archipelago of Medici
• 32-page, hardcover art book

Just Cause 3 launches for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC on December 1, 2015.

More game information available at the Just Cause 3 website.

Standalone Multiplayer Army Pack Enhances the Depth of Company of Heroes 2

SEGA of America, Inc. and SEGA Europe Ltd. today announced Company of Heroes 2: The British Forces from Relic Entertainment  - an all-new standalone multiplayer army pack launching September 3, 2015 for $12.99, £9.99, €12.99. The British Forces features 15 new units, six new commanders with unique abilities and a total of eight new multiplayer maps portraying historic battlefield locations representing the shattered infrastructure seen throughout Europe at the end of World War II.

An authentic representation of the British army, The British Forces brings to life the iconic vehicles, weapons and multicultural makeup of World War II’s longest standing Allied force. The portrayal of the British army also extends to how their fighting style was implemented into the overall game design. With a military tactical doctrine that balanced mobility and defense, The British Forces gives players a choice in how they progress through the tech tree. They can either follow an ‘anvil’ approach by adopting powerful defensive positions through the use of emplacements or they can take an aggressive ‘hammer’ approach by using fast, hard-hitting units to wreak havoc on the battlefield.

Additionally, coinciding with The British Forces’ release, every title in the Company of Heroes 2 catalogue will receive a major design upgrade that will greatly improve the overall balance of all five factions featured in Company of Heroes 2. The game also features animation and visual improvements to most infantry units in the game, which further increase the authenticity of Company of Heroes 2.

“The British Army has been one of the most requested factions since we first announced Company of Heroes 2 three years ago. The British were a major player in WWII and we are excited to bring their unique makeup and overall tactical doctrine to the Company of Heroes 2 battlefield,” said Greg Wilson, Executive Producer at Relic Entertainment. “Finally, every player – whether they are new to the franchise or a long standing fan – can play The British Forces and have a compelling multiplayer experience with an army that can certainly go toe-to-toe with every other faction in the game.”

The British Forces will be available from September 3, 2015 as a stand-alone package that is the perfect entry point into the vibrant Company of Heroes 2 community. New players will also have access to all pre-existing Company of Heroes 2 maps via auto-match as well as the ability to battle against all other existing factions.

Pre-order on Steam to receive a 10% discount. Owners of any Company of Heroes game will receive a 20% discount. The pre-order incentive will be live from July 9, 10AM PST/6PM BST/7PM CET.

Click here to view the announcement trailer.

For more information on Company of Heroes 2, please visit the games official website.

Written By: Nathan Kirsch @ Legit Reviews

OCZ Storage Solutions today launched the Trion 100 series of Solid-State Drives (SSDs) that are the company’s latest value-oriented storage option for those wanting an affordable SATA III SSD. The OCZ Trion 100 series is an all Toshiba solution that features a Toshiba TC58 SSD controller paired with Toshiba A19 2D planar Triple-Level Cell (TLC) NAND flash. TLC SSDs have been made popular in recent years by Samsung and SanDisk as they have been shipping TLC drives in volume on their entry level drives. TLC memory is more affordable to manufacture, so the drives on the market utilizing TLC NAND Flash memory have allowed for lower SSD pricing. TLC NAND Flash memory is less durable than Multi-Level Cell (MLC) memory, but when parred with the proper controller that has error-correcting abilities it has been proven that TLC NAND is acceptable for use in consumer SSDs. Now that OCZ has a TLC SSD solution they should be better able to compete with the big name brands when it comes to pricing.

Read The Review Here

Source: techPowerUp!

AMD released the Catalyst 15.7 WHQL driver suite, its first WHQL-signed Catalyst driver in 212 days (since 14.12 Omega). These drivers add official support for all the new AMD Radeon R9 300 series and R9 Fury series graphics processors launched in the past two months, and comes with a ship load of new features and game optimizations. They also include WDDM 2.0 support, letting you use them with Windows 10.

To begin with, Catalyst 15.7 WHQL adds support for AMD FreeSync in CrossFire setups, on DirectX 10 and higher 3D applications. Features such as VSR (virtual super-resolution) and FRTC (frame-rate target control) are now official. CrossFire profiles have been added/improved for over a dozen games since 14.12 Omega. Frame-rates have been increased for Far Cry 4 and Tomb Raider.

You can download the AMD Catalyst 15.7 WHQL drivers here.

Source: Legit Reviews

NVIDIA today released GeForce 353.45 Hotfix drivers that resolve an issue where Sony Vegas Pro was crashing on some users. This driver build includes all the fixes that were in the previous 353.38 hotfix driver release, so this is the latest and greatest driver from NVIDIA. The NVIDIA forums have a number of users saying that GeForce 353.45 Hotfix drivers are causing issues on Windows 10 though, so you might want to avoid this driver if you are running Windows 10. You can download GeForce 353.45 Hotfix drivers here.

UPDATE: NVIDIA has released GeForce 353.49 Hotfix drivers that solve the Windows 10 issue introduced with GeForce 353.45 drivers, so be sure to download those!