The Canadian – American 1st Special Service Force

By John Dudek @ The Wargamer

Freezing rain and biting sleet pelted the men of the elite Canadian-American 1st Special Service Force (aka The Devils Brigade) as they climbed the ice slick ropes up the steep side of Monte la Difensa Italy on the night of 2 December 1943. After hours of climbing the sheer rock mountain walls with their weapons and heavy packs strapped onto their backs, the men of the Second Regiment reached its summit and deployed, going to ground to lie motionless in holes and defiles well above the dug-in German positions further down the mountain. Before long the men lying absolutely still on the ground, were encased in a thin rhyme of ice. They were nearly completely glazed over as they waited patiently for the remainder of their men to join them and begin the attack on the clueless Germans still sleeping below. In the wee hours of the morning, and at the appointed attack hour, the Forcemen, with their faces blackened with boot polish, arose in a body and low-crawled to enter the German defensive trench works, silently slitting the throats of every sentry they encountered. The Germans, still fast asleep in their bunkers, at first remained completely unaware of their enemy’s presence. Around 0600 hours, one of the advancing Forcemen tripped a loose shale of rock sending a cascade of gravel and rocks noisily rattling downhill. One of the surviving German sentries popped a parachute flare skyward, bathing the mountain top in unworldly magnesium light and the fight was on. Both sides exchanged grenades, their targets illuminated only by explosions or the constant popping of aerial flares. A 1st SSF captain was trying to take a surrendering German prisoner when the German’s comrade sprang from his hiding place and shot the officer point-blank in the face, killing him. From then on, Frederick’s men took no prisoners unless specifically ordered to do so for interrogation purposes.

Read on…

Source: Blue’s News

Game Informer’s Just Cause 3 announcement coverage continues with word that Just Cause 3 will not ship with multiplayer, and any multiplayer support the sandbox action sequel receives will come after release, similar to Just Cause 2, which has a multiplayer mod created with Avalanche’s blessings. Studio cofounder Christofer Sundberg remains guarded on the topic at this time, saying, “Maybe sometime down the line, we’ll take Rico into the modern world of multiplaying.” The article also talks with the creators of the Just Cause 2 multiplayer mod, who remain cagy, raising suspicions they may have plans they are not revealing at this time. Shinra Technologies vice president of business Jacob Navok has the following to say:

“We’re working on a possible future collaboration with Avalanche Studios.” Game Informer may have more game information they are not sharing as well, as despite the vagueness of all the official statements, they come away saying they’d bet “not a small amount” that MP support will eventually come to the game.

Battlefield 4 Final Stand will be releasing to Battlefield 4 Premium members today on all platforms.

Watch the new hovertank, snowmobile, rail gun, remote operated high-speed flying drone, new levolution moments and more in action.

The battle in Final Stand reaches its epic conclusion on four all-new maps set on the wintry Russian landscapes. On Giants of Karelia, Hammerhead, Hangar 21, and Operation Whiteout you’ll fight both the opposing team as well as the sub-zero temperatures and harsh blizzards. Taking cover inside, you’ll find secret installations with military prototypes reminiscent of those in Battlefield 2142.

Watch the Battlefield 4 Final Stand Official Gameplay Trailer HERE.

Battlefield 4 Final Stand will be available for all non-Battlefield 4 Premium members starting December 2.

For more information please visit the official Battlefield 4 website.

Revisit the Battle of the Bulge in this all-new standalone content for Company of Heroes 2!

SEGA of America, Inc. and SEGA Europe, Ltd. are pleased to announce that Relic Entertainment’s Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault is available to purchase online and in stores today with an RRP of £29.99/$39.99/€39.99. Based around the Battle of the Bulge, which Churchill called “arguably the most important victory in American military history,” players will take on 18 all-new single player scenarios as they attempt to drive the advancing German forces out of the Ardennes region and lead their heroes on a path to glory.

SEGA also released a brand new live action trailer to celebrate the launch of Ardennes Assault.

For more information regarding Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault, visit the games official website.

Author: Darksaber @ techPowerUp!

The Silent Base 800 is be quiet!’s long awaited entry into the case market. Rumors were confirmed at Computex 2014 with the case making its first official appearance, and after more than 12 months in development, it is finally available. The resulting Silent Base 800 may just be the start of a great new product line by be quiet!.

Read The Review Here

Source: Overclockers Club

New NVIDIA Game Ready Drivers are available, with Dragon Age: Inquisition, Far Cry 4, The Crew, and World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor all getting some nice improvements. The new GeForce 344.75 WHQL drivers offer performance improvements in those four games and others, so if any of you picked them up or are planning to pick them up, now is a good time to update your drivers. There are also new SLI profiles for Heroes of the Storm Alpha and Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, plus an updated one for Assassin’s Creed Unity. NVIDIA does state that both BioWare and Ubisoft are working to get any single and multi-GPU issues ironed out for Dragon Age: Inquisition and Far Cry 4, so please be patient while that is being resolved. Ubisoft plans to get something out today, while BioWare is still working on it.

The 344.75 drivers also provide support for NVIDIA’s Multi-Frame Sampled Anti-Aliasing (MFAA), which helps to improve anti-aliasing quality while minimizing the performance hit. It only works on the GTX 980, 970, 980M, and 970M right now, as well as about 20 games. In order to take advantage of MFAA, you simply need to enable it in the NVIDIA Control Panel and then set MSAA in the games to either 2x or 4x. You can see the full list of supported games at GeForce.com, but some examples include: Civilization: Beyond Earth, Assassin’s Creed Unity, Battlefield 4, Crysis 3, and Saints Row IV.

NVIDIA’s GeForce Game Ready 344.75 WHQL drivers can be downloaded from GeForce.com or through GeForce Experience.

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 Launches GeForce GTX 970 Golden Edition OC
• Corsair Hydro Series HG10 GPU Liquid Cooling Bracket Released – VIDEOS
• Thermalright Announces HR-02 Macho Rev. B CPU Cooler
• be quiet! Announces its First High-end PC Case
• SeaSonic Announces Snow Silent 1050W Power Supply
• GIGABYTE Announces X99M-Gaming 5 Micro-ATX Motherboard
• Corsair Launches the Neutron XT Line of Performance SSDs
• NVIDIA Announces Tesla K80, First Graphics Card with 24GB RAM
• NVIDIA Breathes Life into Kepler with the GK210 Silicon
• OCZ Slips Out Vertex 460A SSD
• Swiftech Announces the MCR140-X Drive Radiator, Pump, and Reservoir Integration
• EK Releases MSI® GTX 970 Gaming 4G Full-Cover Water Block
• Aqua Computer Introduces Farbwerk RGB LED Controller
• Alphacool Announces Laing DDC Pumps

Source: Battlefield 4 Blog

The epic conclusion is imminent. Battlefield 4 Final Stand, featuring 4 all-new arctic maps packed with futuristic military hardware, will be available on November 18 for Battlefield 4 Premium members. And we’ve got a lot in stock for those who’ll join the fight among the snowy Russian landscapes…

We’ve worked hard to ensure you’ll have a blast with the new weapons, gadgets, and vehicles featured in Final Stand. You’ll traverse the environments with the new Snowmobile and use the strafing abilities of the new Hovertank. High-tech prototype weapons like the devastating railgun Rorsch MK-1 should also give an itch to your trigger finger.

The all-new maps include the Siberian, blizzard-ridden Operation Whiteout – and the thrilling Hammerhead which lets you fight around a submarine base. Take a good peek at the hi-tech gadgets in the military installation of Hangar 21, and the vast Giants of Karelia, set around a weapons factory.

Battlefield 4 Final Stand will be available to all non-Premium members starting on December 2. If you’re eager to jump into Final Stand with a 2-week head start – become a Battlefield 4 Premium member.

Battlefront.com has announced that the long awaited v1.01 patch for Combat Mission: Red Thunder has been released. It provides a number of important improvements and fixes, including improved stability of internet play, improved building entry for some systems, a mouse text targeting feature indicating range, improved TacAI logic, and much more.

The v1.01 patch is available for PC and Mac. The list of changes can be found HERE.

Click here to jump to the download page.

Murray Walker OBE opens The Tank Museum’s latest exhibition, ‘Fury’

Sponsored by Wargaming, this exhibition gives a fascinating insight in to the Museum’s involvement in the making of David Ayer’s latest war film, Fury, starring Brad Pitt.

On the day of the opening, Curator of The Tank Museum, David Willey welcomed guests and introduced Tracy Spaight, Director of Special Projects at Wargaming, who spoke about the company’s contribution to heritage organizations worldwide and their long-running cooperation with The Tank Museum.

Murray Walker, a former Sherman tank Commander with the Scots Greys during World War II, well-known for being a racing commentator, then enthralled the audience with stories from his time in service and officially opened the new exhibit.

The ribbon in front of the new exhibition was cut by two Tank Museum employees, Ian “Buzz” Aldridge and Brian Frost, who were heavily involved in the filming of Fury.

Situated in the World War II hall, ‘Fury’ tells the story of the Museum’s integral part in the making of David Ayer’s visionary war film, using props and images from the set, interviews with Museum staff and the Sherman M4A2E8 Fury itself.

Visitors will be transported from the familiar surroundings of a cinema to the backdrop of a destroyed town at the end of World War II; similar to the sets used in the film.

The exhibition also includes gaming stations, where visitors will be invited to play World of Tanks and recreate battles fought in the film.

It is hoped that people will come away with an insight in to the issues faced by the Museum during this time; the difficult decisions that had to be made when working to protect the vehicles, what being involved might mean for the Museum’s reputation and what it was like for the staff on set.

This video, put together by The Tank Museum, gives viewers an insight in to the themes explored in the ‘Fury’ exhibition, as well as a look at the exhibition itself.

The ‘Fury’ exhibition is set to run until the end of 2015 and entry is included in admission price.

About The Tank Museum

The Tank Museum is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles at Bovington Camp in Dorset, South West England. The collection traces the history of the tank. With almost 300 vehicles on exhibition from 26 countries it is the largest collection of tanks and the second largest collection of armoured vehicles in the world. It includes the only working example of a German Tiger I tank and a British First World War Mark I, the world’s oldest surviving combat tank.

Please visit The Tank Museum website.

About Wargaming

Wargaming is an award-winning online game developer and publisher. It is one of the leaders in the free-to-play MMO market. Founded as a privately held company in 1998, Wargaming has shipped more than 15 titles. Currently, Wargaming is focused on its team-based MMO war series dedicated to mid-20th century warfare including the armoured fighting machines of World of Tanks, the flight combat of World of Warplanes and the naval clashes of World of Warships. These three intertwined titles will form a common gaming universe integrated within the portal www.wargaming.net.