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.

Read The Review Here

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.

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.

• 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

The Japanese Battleship Fleet in WWII

By John Dudek @ The Wargamer

The Japanese Navy began WWII in the Pacific with 12 battleships in its inventory or still in the final stages of completion. All but two of these capital ships had joined the fleet before, during, or immediately following WWI. Japan’s final two battleships IJN’s Yamato and Musashi were laid down in the late 1930′s. The twin sister ships were the largest, heaviest armed capital ships ever designed and built by any power until the emergence of the modern, post-war era US aircraft carriers in the 1950′s. Five of these enormous Japanese battleships were called for, of which two would be built to original specifications with the third ship being converted into a giant armored aircraft carrier. All of Japan’s older battleships were modernized or improved throughout the interwar years and later, during the war, to increase both their speed and to improve their survivability in battle. At the end of World War II, only one of the 12 Japanese battleships, the IJN. Nagato, survived the years of fierce fighting. Its fate was to be destroyed as a target in post-war atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll.

Read on…

For the last two months the On Target Simulations team has been hard at work to polish the PC Game of the Year 2013 (awarded by The Wargamer) – Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm. The developers have been focused on the community feedback, and the 2.04 patch introduces a lot of improvements that the players have been requesting since the original release of the game.

New features, tons of fixes, UI improvements and enhanced game functions come together to make the game play even better. As of now you will get more feedback on events, more flexibility with custom maps and markers, and even get open access to the game’s awesome scenarios so you can adapt them to your own taste!

The list of improvements is so long that On Target Simulations wrote a comprehensive “What’s new” document that you can read here. They do not forget the newcomers either, so the new armchair generals can get access to the revised version of the “Quick Start & Tutorial Guide” by clicking here.

Here you can see some of the major changes brought by 2.04:

• Movement Orders End State Setting: Once you finish issuing a movement order you can select the end state order of the move among four choices: Hold, Screen, On Call and Resupply
• Dismount Dialog: If the unit is carrying infantry or scouts you will have the option to have them dismount and move to the final objective on foot with the transports supporting the move. The unit will adopt the order state given in the new Orders on Arrival dialog
• Waypoints/Waypoint Editor: there is an option to inspect group waypoints and also set delays to coordinate arrivals better.

Click here to download the 2.04 patch.

Get more information on Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm from its official product page.

Matrix Games announce that Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon, one of the most anticipated turn-based strategy games of the year, is getting ready for release! This detailed multiplatform wargame is now ready to enter the PC beta phase and we invite players to help us test it! By signing up for the beta, players will have a chance to be selected to be one of the lucky few, who will be able experience Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon before release and help us with the final touches, ensuring a smooth release later this year.

Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon is set during the Second War for Armageddon. In this hex-based, turn-based game developed by Flashback Games and The Lordz Games Studio, players will lead the Imperial forces of the Armageddon Steel Legion and Space Marines from a variety of Chapters against the Ork invasion through over 30 scenarios, on the hostile terrain of the planet and its gigantic Hive Cities.

The game features a complex plot, involving known characters from the Warhammer 40,000 universe and while advancing through the campaign, the player will have the ability to carryover his core force from scenario to scenario.

Players can sign up for the beta by clicking here.

Get more information on Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon from its official product page.

Go behind the scenes with Obsidian Project Director Richard Taylor in this 6-minute video, as he answers questions from fans and shows all new footage of the Armored Warfare world. Hear what the team has to say about map size, projectile properties, water effects and more, and learn how to sign up for beta at aw.my.com.

WATCH VIDEO IN HD (Hosted by YouTube)

By Stuart Davidson @ Hardware Heaven

Over the years case designs have significantly evolved to the stage where a large portion of a system budget can be spend on that area of a build. In the enthusiast arena for example bigger tends to be better and the ability to install liquid cooling is a must, especially as GPUs are now available which have their own radiator block for a 12cm fan location. At the opposite end of the spectrum budget cases have changed too. Even in the last 4 or 5 years that has been the case and thanks to some great design we have a bunch of low cost, high quality and flexible options.

Fractal Design recently released their Core 3300 case, a model designed to appeal to those looking for a low cost chassis with plenty of flexibility. Today we take a look at it.

Read The Review Here