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.

• Fractal Design Intros Expandable T12, S24, and S36 Water Coolers
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 with GM206 GPU in January
• EK Introduces Water Blocks for GIGABYTE X99 Series Motherboards
• EK Releases ASUS GTX 970 Strix Full-Cover Water Block
• ADATA Clicks Off a Stylish New UC340 USB 3.0 Flash Drive
• Samsung Announces SSD 850 EVO Series Featuring 3-bit V-NAND
• Marvell Announces DRAM-less NVMe SSD Controller

Source: Blue’s News

The Fighter Collection announces DCS: Bf 109 K-4 Kurfürst is now available for sale on the DCS E-Shop, offering the latest addition to DCS World. Here’s a new trailer, and here’s the deal:

Like previous DCS World titles, DCS: Bf 109 K-4 Kurfürst features a painstakingly reproduced model of the aircraft, including the external model, fully interactive cockpit, mechanical systems, and a Professional Flight Model (PFM). Along the lines of our DCS: P-51D Mustang and DCS: Fw 190 D-9 Dora titles, DCS: Bf 109K-4 Kurfürst places you behind the controls of a powerful, propeller-driven, piston engine combat aircraft. Designed long before “fly-by-wire” technology was available to assist the pilot in flight control or smart bombs and beyond visual range missiles were developed to engage targets with precision from afar, the Kurfürst is a personal and exhilarating challenge to master. Powerful and deadly, the last production model of the only single-engined German fighter to see service throughout World War II, the Kurfürst provides an exhilarating combat experience to its drivers, and a worthy challenge to all fans of DCS: P-51D Mustang.

Newest episode of video tutorials explains canopy roll

Wargaming today announced a brand new series of video tutorials for the flight action MMO World of Warplanes, aimed at providing players with guidance on how to pull off some of the most iconic and acrobatic maneuvers to ever grace the skies. From canopy rolls, basic loops combat turns and the legendary Immelmann turn, each of the four new videos will give World of Warplanes players a crash course in improving their aerial prowess and look great while doing it.

Besides giving players the skills to look great in combat, the video series will also shed light on using these incredible maneuvers in actual combat situations. Whether evading fire from enemy planes or using techniques to flank enemy squadrons, this new video series will give all of World of Warplane’s virtual pilots the opportunity to take their game to the next level.

The canopy roll, the focus of the first episode of the series, is an evasive maneuver that helps shake enemies off your tail and avoid potentially devastating damage. The three types of canopy roll, mastery of the game’s controls, and knowing exactly when to pull off the maneuvers will be just a few of the details revealed in the video.

• www.worldofwarplanes.com (North America)
• www.worldofwarplanes.eu (Europe)

The new definitive wargame of the Western Front is out now!

“The enemy must be annihilated before he reaches our main battlefield…We must stop him in the water…destroying all his equipment while it is still afloat.” (Erwin Rommel – German Field Marshal)

4 years after the release of War in the East, Gary Grigsby is moving the action to the Western Front with his new grand operational/strategy masterpiece: War in the West! In this monster wargame, players will take command of both Allied and Axis forces and relive the biggest operations in Italy, France, The Netherlands, and the other main battlefields that took the Allies to the gates of Berlin.

Renowned developer 2by3 Games has used all its talent and experience to create a deep historical simulation with an incredible level of realism. Order of Battle, logistics, air war, weather, terrain features… all of the ingredients that made this front unique are included in this wargame, and players can dig into all the details to make their plans come together. To help you get up to speed, five video tutorials and a Player’s Handbook along with introductory scenarios complement the full game manual and grand campaigns. Defeating the German army or defending the Atlantic Wall is a very challenging task, and both players and AI have multiple assets and possibilities to rewrite history… forever!

The game features 3 main campaigns and 7 smaller scenarios for a comprehensive coverage of combat in Western Europe between July 1943 and mid 1945.

Today we are very excited to announced that the game is finally available on the Matrix Games Online Store! Such a game deserved a special treatment in terms of packaging so connoisseurs of beautiful objects will be pleased to know that the physical edition of the game comes with an impressive hardbound color printed manual of more than 300 pages!

For holiday shoppers, please note that we expect the physical copies to start shipping out on December 16th.

Get more information on Gary Grigsby’s War in the West from its launch trailer and its official product page as well as the many after action reports in the official forum.

Set in 432 BC at the outset of the Peloponnesian War, Wrath of Sparta is an entirely new campaign expansion for Total War: Rome II and the earliest period that Total War has ever attempted.

As the legendary warriors of Sparta are called into open conflict against an arrogant Athens by scheming Korinthos and Boiotia, Wrath of Sparta challenges you to dominate the Hellenic world. However, while the City States vie for control of their homelands, across the Aegean sea the vengeful Persian Empire watches its old foe closely…

Across a bespoke campaign map focussing on a highly-detailed ancient Greece, the Greek Islands and the Ionian Coast, this campaign pack features all new tech-trees, battlefield and naval units, great wonders and famous Greek heroes. In addition, a flavour-packed focus on ancient Greek culture is delivered through many iconic athletic competitions and festivals.

Wrath of Sparta is a campaign pack like no other, and brings this desperate conflict to life in thrilling detail across hundreds of hours of gameplay.

For more information, catch the latest episode of community show Rally Point or the store page HERE.

Author: Sebastian Peak @ PC Perspective

In the last few years NZXT has emerged as a popular choice for computer builds with stylish cases for a variety of needs. The newest member of the H series, the H440, promises quiet performance and offers a clean look by eliminating optical drive bays entirely from the design. While this might be a deal-breaker for some, the days of the ODD seem to be numbered as more enclosures are making the move away from the 5.25″ bay. But we aren’t looking at just any H440 today, as NZXT has sent along a completely custom version designed in alliance with gaming accessory maker Razer to be “the ultimate gamer’s chassis”. In this review we’ll look at just what makes this H440 different, and test out a complete build while we’re at it. Performance will be as big a metric as appearance here since the H440 is after all an enclosure designed for silence, with noise dampening an integral part of NZXT’s construction of the case.

Read The Review Here

By Josh Jackson @ PureOC

Noctua is a name synonymous with the idea of a nearly perfect fan. Some would say they are too pricey, but most people who have owned one usually deem the cost worth the quality of the product. In fact, the only quibble I’ve seen consistently stick with Noctua fans is the color scheme. While beige and brown provide a unique aesthetic that clearly defines the brand, it hardly fits in most color schemes that builders decide on for their rigs. Just when all hope was lost that we would ever see anything different, Noctua decided to give us two new colors in their arsenal of fans; a grey scheme for the Redux line and a black/brown scheme for their Industrial line. Before we dive into the fans, let’s learn a little bit about the company behind the magic.

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 Announces GeForce GTX 980 ROG Matrix Platinum
• Xigmatek Announces TYR-SD962 CPU Cooler
• Antec Launches GX300 Entry-level Chassis
• Raijintek Releases Morpheus Core Edition VGA Cooler – VIDEO
• COUGAR Launches 600K Gaming Keyboard
• ASUS Announces PB279Q: 10-bit, 4K Monitor With 100% sRGB Color Gamut
• TRENDnet Ships Home Smart Switch with Wireless Extender
• Amped Wireless Releases Next Gen Wi-Fi Power & Range with AC1750 Router
• Sceptre Announces Availability of 27-inch E275W-1920 LED 1080P Monitor

The David vs. Goliath naval battle between destroyer HMS Glowworm and the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper

By John Dudek @ The Wargamer

A fierce Force 10 late winter gale blew across the icy, storm swept Norwegian Sea on the early morning of 7 April 1940 as the solitary British destroyer HMS. Glowworm, badly hit and blazing brightly from numerous shell hits from German heavy cruiser and destroyer gun fire emerged from behind her own smokescreen to confront her five attackers. She was now running at a full flank speed of 38 knots to present an impossible and nightmarish spectacle to the nearby German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. Many of Hipper’s crewmen’s jaws dropped open in shock and awe at what was about to befall them. The heavy cruiser had already successfully dodged 2 salvos of Glowworm’s torpedoes, before hitting the British destroyer a number times with her main and secondary gun batteries, setting the ship afire. Glowworm’s Captain Lt. Commander Gerard Roope, noting Hipper’s position, now deliberately cut across the cruiser’s bow, before putting his helm hard over to deliberately ram the cruiser. Glowworm’s bow slammed into the Hipper just abaft her anchor, scrapping along its starboard side for over 150 feet, The collision ripped away both most of Glowworm’s own bow and a good deal of armor plate from the Hipper’s side. One of Hipper’s torpedo mounts was sheered away overboard and the cruiser shipped over 500 tons of seawater through the rents in her hull, but was able to contain the damage. Not so the Glowworm. Even though ablaze from stem to stern a few of her guns were still in action as she continued to hurl their hatred at the German enemy. The out of control fires quickly reached the destroyer’s ammunition magazine and the ship exploded in a fitful roar to capsize and quickly disappear into the Norwegian Sea’s dark, icy depths. Of Glow-worm’s crew of 146 men, only 40 souls survived to be plucked out of the near frozen water by Hipper’s crew. Lt Commander Roope was momentarily one of those few survivors. He grabbed at one of the life lines thrown to him, but exposure and fatigue overcame him and he dropped back into the water to disappear into its depths, never to be seen again. He later was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously. When regarding fighting men of this bravery and caliber, one tends to immediately think of the adage of the Emperor Napoleon who said: “Audacity, audacity, above all audacity.”

Read on…

War in the West is coming in just two days! We have already shared with you a wealth of information on the game, as the guys from 2by3 Games have been answering your questions on the forums and we have also released to AARs to show you some of the gameplay. But there is more!

Tomorrow on 20:00 CET/ 14:00 EST, we will be playing a scenario live for all to watch! This will be the ultimate possibility to get familiar with the game and see some actual gameplay in progress! During the stream, we will cover the basics of the gameplay, as well as some of the new major features in the game.

To get you in the mood, we have also prepared a trailer, made of authentic World War II footage! Watch it here to get a taste of the war on the Western Front!

The live stream will be live here.

Click here for more information on War in the West.