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Just Announced Hardware for 12 November 2014

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.

Hardware | Donster | November 12, 2014 |

Assassin’s Creed: Unity Launch Trailer Released

Source: CVG

Ubisoft has released the Assassin’s Creed: Unity launch trailer. Primarily set during the French Revolution, the series’ first new-gen outing sees players embark on a quest for redemption in the violent and anarchic 18th century Paris. For a more detailed overview of the game’s key features, check out this seven minute Assassin’s Creed: Unity 101 trailer.

The Assassin’s Creed: Unity release date is November 11 in North America, November 13 in Europe and November 14 in the UK. The game will be available on Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Action/Strategy Assassin's Creed: Unity | Donster | November 7, 2014 |

New Map, Balancing and Bug Fixes for Stronghold Crusader 2

Developer promises more free updates, with extra features and content currently in development

Firefly Studios has released a new update (1.0.19574) for Stronghold Crusader 2, the recently released ‘castle sim’ sequel. The update, which is now live on Steam, introduces a new skirmish map, unit stats, map balancing and bug fixes. Click here for full changelist.

In a new blog post on the official Stronghold Crusader 2 website, Firefly revealed that the majority of post-release content for the game will be made available for free. “We really are just getting started and, after we have finished working on fixes and optimisation, the team will be adding more features and content. Extra AI characters will come in the form of paid-for DLC, but the majority of this post-release content will be free and automatically downloaded through Steam.”

Stronghold Crusader 2 is out now on Steam.

Strategy and Wargaming Stronghold Crusader 2 | Donster | November 7, 2014 |

New Trailer Showcases Pre-Order Content for Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault

For the very first time in the Company of Heroes franchise, players will be able to choose between three different Companies, all with their own unique abilities, to forge their path to glory. Customers who pre-order will gain access to a fourth company; “Fox” Company, led by Captain Monte Durante.

This video details some of the many exciting new options that Fox Company will bring to the game including, their devastating M83 Cluster Bombs, Pinpoint Accurate Artillery and their main weapon, the Fox Company Elite Infantry who will do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Pre-order Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault today to receive Fox Company free of charge and then look forward to the game’s release on November 18th, 2014.

For more information on Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault, log on to www.companyofheroes.com.

Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault Strategy and Wargaming | Donster | November 7, 2014 |

New Cinematic Trailer for Total War: ATTILA Heralds the Coming of the Apocalypse

“And I saw, and behold a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.” – Revelation 6:2

As the world descends into the mists of the Dark Ages, civilization begins to crumble. Early Christians of Western Europe clamor to repent, stricken by looming omens of a divine apocalypse. In this climate of turmoil, the Eastern Roman Empire stands at a crossroads.

Secure behind the impenetrable walls of Constantinople, there are opportunities for fresh conquest. But with the warlike Visigoths to the North, the heathen Sassanids to the East, and their closest ally to the west stretched thin and tearing itself apart in its greed, is now truly the time to ride out and expand the Empire? And who will rightfully wear the crown?

Click here to watch the Total War: ATTILA – The White Horse Trailer.

Total War: ATTILA is due for release in 2015. More game information is available at the Total War: ATTILA website.

Strategy and Wargaming Total War: Attila | Donster | November 7, 2014 |

Assassin’s Creed: Unity 101 Trailer

Source: The UbiBlog

Assassin’s Creed: Unity is nearly here. In advance of the launch of the franchise’s first true steps into the new generation, we’ve got an info-packed new 101 trailer, detailing everything from customization to co-op to the city of Paris. It even has new details on the mysterious time anomaly feature in the game.

With 7 diverse districts, a near 1:1 scale, fully detailed interiors and the possibility of up to 5,000 NPCs on screen at a time, Assassin’s Creed Unity’s Paris promises to be the most immersive and systemic setting to date.
For the first time, you will be able to craft the perfect Assassin to suit your playstyle. From your clothing and weapons to your skills, this Assassin will be unique to you. The Arno you create will then be carried over into co-op for all your friends to admire.
Make use of the group skills when you’re trying out the co-op. Become a team healer or ammo supplier and help out your comrades. Everyone benefits from these perks. Create a balanced team to successfully take on the narrative-driven Brotherhood missions, the endlessly replayable Heist missions, or even just the free-roaming exploration of Paris.
Historical figures like Napoleon, the Marquis de Sade, Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and Robespierre all play roles in Assassin’s Creed Unity. Some will be friends, some will be foes, but all will be more realistic than any characters seen before in Assassin’s Creed, thanks to the power of the Anvil engine’s character design and motion capture.
We recently revealed the new time anomaly feature in Assassin’s Creed Unity, though we provided very little information as to what exactly it is. Take a leap of faith into an unstable time anomaly and face Paris in a different time period – like the German occupation of Paris during World War II.

Action/Strategy Assassin's Creed: Unity | Donster | November 6, 2014 |

Combat Mission: Black Sea Announced

Battlefront.com today announced its newest modern ground warfare simulation Combat Mission: Black Sea, depicting a fictional 2017 conflict between NATO and Russia in Ukraine! Combat Mission: Black Sea is a military simulation depicting a fictional 2017 conflict between NATO and Russia in Ukraine. Following the events in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine in 2014, the Kiev government and Russia continue to clash over the status of the contested regions. This culminates several years later in a dramatic announcement by Ukraine that they will be joining NATO and the EU. Tensions explode as Russia perceives a direct threat to Russian citizens and deploy troops to the Ukrainian border again, while Western governments, welcoming a chance to expand NATO and EU influence eastward, mobilize as well. The escalation continues until the summer of 2017, when a large firefight erupts between Ukrainian and Russian troops in the Donetsk region. The next day fighting flares up on the border, and on a dark early morning in June 2017, pre-positioned Russian and NATO forces roll forward into Ukraine.

Click here to preorder Combat Mission: Black Sea.

Click here to visit the official Combat Mission: Black Sea webpage for all the game details!

Combat Mission: Black Sea Strategy and Wargaming | Donster | November 6, 2014 |

Sapphire Radeon R9 290X Vapor-X 8GB Review

By Don Woligroski @ Tom’s Hardware

Better late than never, though. Today Sapphire introduces its Vapor-X R9 290X 8GB card, a factory overclocked model with twice the amount of RAM found on the reference 290X that was released just over one year ago. A lot has changed in that year, but most importantly Nvidia has launched the similarly-performing $330 GeForce GTX 970, pushing the Radeon R9 290X’s original $550 MSRP down to a the same range. From a marketing perspective the timing is right for Sapphire to release a 290X with twice the video memory, at a time when the Radeon R9 290X can use an edge against the tough Nvidia competitor.

Read The Review Here

Hardware Video Cards | Donster | November 6, 2014 |

Just Announced Hardware for 6 November 2014

Hardware | Donster | November 6, 2014 |

Historical Article: Clipped Wings of the Rising Sun Part 3

Concluding part of our series on Japanese aircraft carrier operations in early WWII

By John Dudek @ The Wargamer

The small Japanese naval task force sailed sedately along on this sunny 24 August 1942 morning, a hundred miles off the northerly coast of Guadalcanal, with the light carrier RYUJO escorted by a heavy cruiser and two destroyers. It was a near picture perfect South Pacific day and all was serene until the sudden and unexpected arrival of an airstrike of 30 American Dauntless dive bombers and 8 TBF Avenger torpedo planes from the US aircraft carrier SARATOGA. Four bomb hits, and at least one torpedo ripped into RYUJO knocking out the ship’s boiler room, leaving her dead in the water with an ever growing list to starboard. An escorting destroyer removed most of her crew but 133 men and officers were lost as the ship capsized to starboard, revealing an insulting torpedo hole in her bottom. Before the attack, the captain of one of the destroyers, who was an Etta Jima Naval academy classmate to Ryujo’s skipper, had worried about the carrier’s lack of any combat air patrol overhead in these fiercely contested waters so close to Guadalcanal’s US Marine airstrip at Henderson Field. Using a signal man’s light, he blinkered the carrier, inquiring as to the reason for the lack of any protective fighter aircraft escort patrolling overhead. He received the blinkered light answer from his class mate skipper. “Deeply appreciate the admonition. Will try and co-ordinate better in the future.” An instant later, Zero fighter planes, with their engines turning, appeared on the carrier’s flight deck carried up from the hangar deck below. After launching two air strikes bound for Henderson Field, RYUJO launched an additional small CAP overhead just in time to meet the inbound American airstrike who soon caused the carrier’s complete destruction. The Battle of Guadalcanal and the six month campaign around the Solomon Islands soon sounded a second major, death knell of Japanese aircraft carrier aviation in WWII. The first death knell, with its ruinous and ever mounting attrition rate of so many highly trained pilots and their air crews, began with the Battle’s of the Coral Sea and especially so at Midway. However, they were only a portent of the incredible amount of blood letting of Japanese pilots and planes that would later take place throughout the embattled Solomon Islands.

Read on…

Military History | Donster | November 5, 2014 |