Bohemia Interactive and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) today shared a new video to raise awareness for the topic of ‘Health Care in Danger’. In the video, Christian Rouffaer – head of the ICRC’s international humanitarian law and video games project – discusses his role at the ICRC, the ICRC’s Health Care in Danger campaign, and the connection with Bohemia Interactive’s €500,000 Make Arma Not War contest.

The ICRC’s Health Care in Danger campaign, which is part of the organization’s many efforts to protect victims of war, aims to address the current violence against the health care sector – ranging from direct attacks to patients, medical staff and health-care facilities and medical transports, to denial of access to and forced entry and looting of health care facilities. The campaign was launched as a response to an uprising of illegal and violent acts that impede or prevent health care delivery.

Aside from developing practical solutions to improve the safety of health care, the ICRC is also committed to raising public awareness for the problem. This led to the unique collaboration with video game developer Bohemia Interactive, who is well-known for its award-winning Arma® military game series. Looking to create a change in virtual reality which can hopefully be carried into the real world, the two parties set up the Health Care in Danger Special Award as part of Bohemia Interactive’s €500,000 content creation contest for Arma 3. Given to the entry which covers the topic of ‘health care in danger’ the best, the winner(s) of the award will go on a one-week trip to an ICRC mission in a foreign country, organized by the ICRC.

“We’re looking for game content where medevac procedures are more complex. For example, a game mod where providing first-aid to a wounded enemy would be rewarded – or new hospital, ambulance, medical personnel and equipment models, which other players and mission builders can use to enrich their gameplay. We believe that you can get inspiration from many real-life stories from past and present conflicts”, said Christian Rouffaer, who also represents the ICRC in the Make Arma Not War jury.

The winners of the Make Arma Not War contest, including the winner(s) of the Health Care in Danger Special Award, will be announced on January 15th, 2015. More information about the Make Arma Not War contest, the rules, prizes, and categories is available on www.makearma.com.

Read the full Press Release and watch the video HERE.

Fight for Power and Glory in BattleCry Studios’ 32-Player Online Team Action Game

Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax® Media company, today announced BATTLECRY™, an all-new multiplayer action combat game featuring fast-paced and frenetic 32-player battles under development at BattleCry Studios.

BattleCry is the first project for the studio since it was formed in 2012 with one goal: to create fun, high-quality online experiences for a connected world. Led by long-time industry veteran Rich Vogel, the team at BattleCry Studios is comprised of seasoned developers with decades of experience working on critically-acclaimed action and competitive multiplayer franchises. Together they have created BattleCry – a fun and accessible free-to-play game that amplifies team-based combat by combining visceral brutality, striking art direction and competitive multiplayer action to create a refreshingly new gameplay experience.

Step into a bold, expressive world envisioned by Viktor Antonov (Half-Life 2, Dishonored) where gun powder has been banned following a cataclysmic world war at the dawn of the 20th century. Traditional warfare is now a relic of the past and all conflicts are settled head-on by elite teams of chosen warriors in sanctioned WarZones. Trained and bred for battle they face off for the glory of their nations.

Choose your faction and progress your warrior through the ranks. Each rank unlocks new abilities and effects allowing deep strategic builds for your warrior on every level. Risk life and limb as the powerful Royal Marines or the fearless Cossacks in imaginative WarZones each designed to combine positioning, spacing and verticality to redefine your core combat experience. Fight with transformative melee and ranged weapons that harness iron and energy and eviscerate your opponents with swords that transform into shields, bows that can punch an arrow straight through an armored skull or electrocute your foes with high powered blades crackling with electro-static energy.

“The BattleCry team is happy to unveil the game that bears our studio’s name,” said Rich Vogel, president and executive producer at BattleCry Studios. “We have been hard at work to create a fresh experience for gamers that brings together multiplayer action with visually stunning combat and are excited to share details about the game and have people play BATTLECRY in Bethesda’s booth at E3.”

The official announcement trailer can be seen today on the official BattleCry Website.

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.

• NVIDIA Finally Launches GeForce GTX TITAN Z
• ASUS Announces GTX Titan Z Dual GK110 GPU Graphics Card
• GIGABYTE Announces its GeForce GTX TITAN-Z 12GB Graphics Card
• Palit Introduces the Ultimate Power: GeForce® GTX TITAN Z 12GB
• Gainward GeForce® GTX TITAN Z – The First 12GB Card on the Planet
• EVGA Announces a Trio of GeForce GTX TITAN-Z Graphics Cards
• MSI Announces GeForce GTX Titan Z
• ZOTAC Unleashes Most Powerful Graphics Card – The GeForce GTX Titan Z
• EK-FC Titan Z Water Block for NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan Z Released
• ORIGIN PC Launches New NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z Graphics Card
• Maingear Now Offering Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan Z Graphics Card Options on All Desktops
• MSI Introduces the GeForce GTX 780 GAMING 6G
• Rapoo Releases its Newest Collection of Optical Mice
• Lamptron Releases the CF525 High Power Fan Controller
• StarTech Releases Two DisplayPort Multi Stream Transport Hubs
• Futuremark Announces 3DMark Sky Diver – VIDEO

Source: Blue’s News

The Haggard Games website now offers downloads of a free playable demo for Death to Spies III, their Smershy espionage sequel. Here is the description of the full game:

Death to Spies 3 is our new title for PC and XBOX360. The action of the game this time is taking place during the Cold War. Colonel Strogov and his new team are participating in a conflict between the two superpowers. Along with new characters, Victor Kovalev and Olga Godunova-Lopes, Strogov is going to have to complete a series of missions in Europe, US and Cuba.

The game is a third-person stealth action, where player will be able to control all three characters any time. Each of them have there own unique abilities, gadgets and weaknesses.

Battle Fleet 2 expands the original concept of turn based naval combat where the player controls the angle and power of their guns and the movement of the ship to include a campaign conquest mode in addition to stand alone scenarios. The combat system has been improved for faster and even more exciting battles and it all looks better than the original with the new graphical engine.

Additional improvements include better options for outfitting your ships, including the ability to place individual commanders with special abilities, expanded power-up cards to play, better multiplayer options, and an entirely new graphics engine. Battle Fleet 2 looks better, plays better, but is otherwise a true successor to the original best seller.

Battle Fleet 2 is a true naval combat sim set in the WW2 era. Players manually control the weapon loadout of their ships, selecting which guns to bring, setting what the angle and power of their shots are, and determining how the ships move and turn. Additionally carriers bring planes, bombing runs, and interception into battles taking place around island chains, which can help provide cover, blocking line of sight, or forcing enemies to run aground. All of this comes together in a fast paced battle in scenarios, campaign mode, or online against other players.

Find out more at the official Battle Fleet 2 Website.

Wargaming today released the first installment from a series of developer diaries for World of Warships, taking an extensive look at the unique features of naval warfare, the huge fleet of combat vessels and their classes.

In the first episode, the World of Warships development team dives into the complex research that goes into creating and maintaining the game’s historical authenticity, as well as the tactical approaches for conquering the high seas with the different types of combat vehicles that players will have at their command, including the aircraft carriers, massive battleships, heavy cruisers, and the light and agile destroyers.

The series will continue to center on the upcoming naval action MMO game and the team behind it, focusing on each aspect of the project throughout its development.

WATCH VIDEO IN HD (Hosted by YouTube – 5:35)

For more information about the game please visit the official World of Warships Website.

Firefly Studios are proud to announce that Stronghold Crusader 2, the long awaited sequel to cult classic RTS Stronghold Crusader, will be released worldwide on September 2nd 2014.

The September 2nd release date will be a worldwide simultaneous retail and digital release. On launch day Stronghold Crusader 2 will be available both online through Steam and in stores, with a physical copy of the game on offer to fans looking to add Crusader 2 to their collection. Both physical and digital versions of the game will be exclusive to the Steam platform, requiring the software to active.

For more information please visit the official Stronghold Crusader 2 Website.

By ccokeman @ Overclockers Club

ASUS ROG Z87 offerings were excellent performers in their own right and now Intel and its board partners have introduced the Z97 PCH-equipped socket 1150 offerings, which includes the Maximus VII Hero I have here today. Not only do you get improvement through the Z97 PCH, but you get software updates to the ROG standbys, along with new implementations including Keybot, a new UEFI BIOS interface, and improved hardware.

Read The Review Here

Ultra M.2 x4 Tested With XP941

By Ian Cutress @ AnandTech

ASRock has a history of bringing new features to motherboards where others can tread conservatively. In recent generations, this means the Extreme11 range with an onboard LSI3008 for SATA ports, or the C2750D4I, an octo-core Atom platform with 64GB DRAM support and 12 SATA ports on a mini-ITX. For the ASRock Z97 Extreme6 we have an M.2 slot that runs at PCIe x4, with lanes taken direct from the CPU. We test the motherboard, the performance of this slot, and the effect of dual-GPU gaming with four CPU PCIe lanes tied up in storage.

Read The Review Here

By Andrew Burnes @ NVIDIA

The new GeForce 337.88 WHQL, Game Ready Watch Dogs Drivers are now available to download from GeForce.com, and automatically through GeForce Experience. For gamers jumping into the world of Watch Dogs tomorrow, the 337.88 WHQL drivers are an essential upgrade, optimizing single GPU and multi-GPU SLI performance in the open-world title. For more about the game, its performance, and how to tweak it for the ultimate experience, check out our Watch Dogs Graphics, Performance, & Tweaking Guide.

In addition to day-of-launch Watch Dogs enhancements, 337.88 WHQL also includes a wealth of upgrades and optimizations that boost system performance and improve existing features. Namely, system-wide DirectX 11 and SLI performance optimizations of up to 75%, new technology that reduces game load times, new and updated SLI profiles, and 3D Vision enhancements that optimize DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 3D titles.

Get more info and download the NVIDIA GeForce 337.88 WHQL Drivers HERE.