Written By: Joe Evans @ Legit Reviews

Ever since OCZ decided to solely focus on their SSD products, their drive offerings have leaned towards workstation and enthusiast level drives which has left somewhat of a gap in their entry-level or value oriented product line. Given the lower margins for such products and OCZ’s financial struggles (prior to the Toshiba buyout), it’s not very surprising. Their competitors have aggressively pursued this market segment however, and we’ve seen some very economically priced drives from Crucial/Micron, Samsung, SanDisk and others. This is an important demographic as it can be the gateway to building brand loyalty and win over customers who will potentially upgrade to a more performance oriented drive later on. To plug that hole, OCZ is releasing the ARC 100 drive which is aimed squarely at the entry level SSD market, although this doesn’t mean they’ve compromised on performance for the sake of price. They’ve equipped it with their Indilinx Barefoot M10 controller which we know to be a very solid part.

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Author: Daniel Dobrowolski @ HardOCP

MSI’s Z97 XPower AC is one of its flagship LGA 1150 motherboards and is specifically designed for the overclocking enthusiast. It carries a huge list of features, a rich bundle of accessories, and and a rich price tag as well at $379. Is the Z97 XPower AC actually worth that? We wondered the same thing.

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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.

• SteelSeries Announces Heroes of the Storm Gaming Mouse and QcK Mousepad
• SteelSeries Introduces an All-New Surface Design for Gamers – Fast Glide and Low Friction – The DeX Mousepad
• NVIDIA Announces Entry-Level GT 720 Graphics Card
• OCZ Officially Launches the ARC 100 Series Solid State Drive
• Acer Announces Full Line of 4K2K and WQHD Resolution Monitors
• Mad Catz Announces the Tournament Edition Gaming Mice and Keyboard for PC  - VIDEO
• Rapoo Announces VPRO V700 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
• Rapoo Also Announces VPRO V900 Gaming Mouse
• Kingston Memory Releases a Trio of New HyperX Products
• Noctua Provides Free Mounting Upgrade for Upcoming Intel ‘Haswell-E’ Platform (X99)
• EK Introduces 16 mm Variant of EK-HDC Compression Fittings
• EK Delivers EK-FC R9-290X SE for Non-reference Hawaii GPUs
• EK Launches the New Line of Pastel Nano-Coolants
• ASRock Shares Pictures of Upcoming X99X Killer Motherboard
• Gigabyte X99 SOC Force Motherboard Unveiled – Flagship OC Board Fitted With OC Panel
• Razer Goes Full Spectrum Color With All-New Chroma Feature
• Aerocool Presents New Chassis at Gamescom 2014
• Thermaltake New Power Supply with Smart Software Toughpower DPS G Series and DPSApp
• Digital Storm Reveals its Velox Customizable Gaming PCs
• Falcon Northwest Debuts the Tiki-Z Micro-Tower Gaming PC
• Plantronics Brings PC Games to Life with RIG Surround and RIG Flex Gaming Headsets

All-new Exoskeleton Abilities Take Call of Duty to New Level, Unprecedented Customization Revolutionizes Player Personalization

Activision and Sledgehammer Games today unveiled a new era for Call of Duty with the world premiere of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare multiplayer. Built for next generation gaming systems, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare fundamentally changes Call of Duty multiplayer, delivering new player movements and capabilities, along with the deepest customization and player engagement features in franchise history.

With the all-new exoskeleton, players can boost jump, dodge, dash, slide, slam and more as the action goes vertical, while using future-tech, cutting-edge capabilities and a brand-new weapon class as part of nearly 350 custom weapons. Offering a new reward system, including more than 1,000 in-game player rewards, and nearly limitless customization options that create more than 2 billion unique player combinations and more, the title offers the most in-depth, robust and advanced Call of Duty multiplayer experience ever on both next generation and current generation systems.

In addition to the multiplayer premiere, Activision today announced the Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Day Zero Edition, which offers fans for the first time 24-hour early access to the game starting November 3rd. The Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Day Zero Edition is available on all platforms to customers who pre-order the game and pick up on day zero – at no added cost. Collector’s Edition copies of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare will also be available for Day Zero early purchase and play, and will include the special Day Zero Edition content. In addition to the early access of up to 24 hours in some territories, the Day Zero Edition also includes two new, custom weapons as well as the previously announced Advanced Arsenal incentive.

For more information, visit the official Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Website.

Source: Gamer’s Hell

Deep Silver and 4A Games have launched a new video for Metro Redux, which will hit stores on the 26th August in the US, and the 29th August in Europe. The boxed copy of Metro Redux contains remastered versions of both Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light, with all previously released add-on content. Both campaigns can be tackled in ‘Spartan’ or ‘Survival’ play styles, and the legendary Ranger Mode is also included in both games. Metro 2033 Redux and Metro: Last Light Redux are also available separately as digital download only.

New Trailer Reveals First-ever In-engine Footage to the General Public

Paradox Interactive today invited strategists and warmongers everywhere to enlist in the “Rush to the Front” reward campaign for Hearts of Iron IV, the upcoming World War II strategy game from Paradox Development Studio. Armies are massing as the world prepares to rewrite the greatest conflict in history, and Hearts of Iron fans can unlock exclusive rewards by winning over recruits to their side.

Simply by visiting the Hearts of Iron website at heartsofiron4.com, ambitious generals can join one of three factions: The Axis, the Allies, or the Comintern. The more members each faction recruits, the more rewards will ultimately be unlocked for all fans, and fans who recruit 20 or more soldiers will have the chance gain access to the Hearts of Iron IV beta. For more details, please visit heartsofiron4.com.

A new trailer today for Hearts of Iron IV has been revealed, displaying in-engine footage of the game’s new strategic planning system for the first time ever.

Witness history in the re-making HERE.

Hearts of Iron IV challenges players to face the brutal conflict of World War II in a multifaceted grand strategy game, where history can be fully relived or rewritten from the perspective of a global superpower attempting to change the world – or a small nation simply trying to survive.

Strategy fans will discover the most authentic real-time simulation of World War II to date, with authentic historical figures battling on land, sea, and air with period-accurate armies, vehicles, and newly discovered weapons of mass destruction – along with plenty of diplomatic and trade tactics.

Gentlemen, upgrade your war! The 3.0 Upgrades for Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy and Combat Mission: Fortress Italy are finally here! The Upgrades convert and upgrade your existing games (and any installed modules) automagically to include most of the advanced new CMx2 v3.00 game features! (This includes features you may already know and enjoy in Combat Mission: Red Thunder and makes them available for Normandy and Italy!)

Visit the Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy news page at Battlefront.com for more upgrade information!

Author: SKYMTL @ Hardware Canucks

Though they are normally associated with being one of the few board partners entrusted with NVIDIA’s Quadro lineup, PNY also has a relatively large and expanding stable of GeForce products as well. The GTX 780 Ti XLR8 OC is their flagship single GPU card and while it doesn’t have a well-marketed name like Classified, Matrix, Lightning or Super Overclock but unlike those indirect competitors, its price is quite a bit lower. PNY intends the XLR8 OC series to compete against the likes of ASUS’ DirectCU II OC, Gigabyte’s Windforce OC and MSI’s Gaming-branded cards. In the face of such entrenched competition, the GTX 780 Ti XLR8 OC will need to emphasize its relative value.

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By Ian Cutress @ AnandTech

One of AMD’s main selling points it likes to promote is towards the gamer, especially those on a tighter budget. This subsequently suggests to the motherboard manufacturers to build models oriented for gaming. MSI’s Gaming Range has become a solid part of MSI’s plethora of motherboards, and now this extends to the FM2+ platform. Today we review the MSI A88X-G45 Gaming.

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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.

• BIOSTAR Preparing To Launch New “Hi-Fi Mainboard”
• ASUS Maximus VII Impact Takes it Vertical with Five Daughterboards
• Gigabyte X99 Gaming G1 Makes an Appearance
• AMD Radeon R9 285 with Tonga GPU Pictured
• SanDisk Debuts the Ultra Fit USB 3.0 Flash Drive
• Apacer Introduces the 2 TB AC233 USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive