Update 0.10.2 also brings a large-scale makeover to all in-game effects and part two of the Italian Battleships event with new combat mission rewards

Wargaming, developer and publisher of the widely popular, free to play naval combat game World of Warships (WoWS), has today revealed Update 0.10.2 for the game, launching today. The update introduces a new temporary battle type ‘Big Hunt’, updated visual effects and new rewards to be earned in part two of the Italian Battleships event.

The Big Hunt Begins!
The sea monsters are back with a vengeance in a revamped version of the Key Battle game mode which debuted last Halloween. The new battle type pits 16 players against each other and AI-controller monsters as they race to escape through the portal at the centre of the huge Polygon map. With a wide range of modules and consumables on the exclusive event ships, there are lots of build variations for players to experiment with to make an impact.

Players enter each battle solo but can build up a team of their own as the action unfolds, or if entering as part of a Division, they can find each other on the map and unite to coordinate their efforts.

By destroying monsters, other players and a new boss ship ‘Aurora’, players can earn a temporary resource—Battle Points that can be used to reinforce their ship directly in battle and exchange later for rewards in the armory.

Visual Enhancements
This new update ushers in a large-scale makeover across all in-game effects — from shell tracers and gun fire, to water splashes, fires on board ships, and all AA effects — they’ve all been enhanced and reworked to accommodate the new lighting system. This comes alongside a huge array of visual effects added for ricochets, citadel hits, incapacitated weapons and consumables. Imagery and assets related to these enhancements can be found here.

Part Two of the Italian Battleships Event
The Early Access rollout of Italian Battleships continues, as players continue to enjoy the tier IV to VI, as well as tier VIII and IX ships which hit the seas in Early Access with the release of Update 0.10.1.

Italian Battleship containers earned as combat missions rewards may now drop one of the following Premium ships: VI Leone, VII Duca degli Abruzzi, VIII Roma, or IX Marco Polo, as well as special signals, Free XP, Regia Marina expendable camouflages, days of Warships Premium Account, and Doubloons.

Visit the official World of Warships website now for more game info and to sign up to play World of Warships for free!

ENJOY THE OSTARA FESTIVAL UNTIL 8TH APRIL, GEAR CUSTOMISATION NOW AVAILABLE

Today, Ubisoft announced that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s first major expansion, Wrath of the Druids, will be available on 29th April. In addition, Season 2, Ostara Season, features exclusive narrative content and in-game events accessible to all players. Starting today, players can celebrate Spring as part of the time-limited Ostara Festival with new challenges and rewards.

Ostara Festival, the first update of Ostara Season, invites players to discover an in-game event active until 8th April in a dedicated area of Ravensthorpe. Various Easter-themed festivities will be available, including:

• Settlement decoration activity
• Drinking, Archery, and Fighting mini-games
• Three new character quests: Eivor can enjoy an Egg Hunt, the May-Queen celebration, and protect the settlement against night spirits
• Three new skills: Fearless Leaper lets Eivor land a mastered falling attack atop enemies, while the Raven’s Loot and Loot Food skills increase Eivor’s efficiency when at range or fighting close-up
• Exclusive rewards including settlement decorations and customisation items

To experience the Ostara Festival, players must reach England and complete one of the first narrative arcs – either Grantebridgescire or Ledecestrescire. The festival will then be triggered automatically when players visit the settlement. To access the May-Queen activity, players’ settlement must have reached Level 3.

Starting today, players will be able to change Eivor’s gear appearance with visual customisation, better known as transmogrification or “Change Appearance” in-game. The original gear and armour stats remain unchanged as Eivor is visually customised, allowing players to stick to their build and unleash their inner Viking in style. Once a piece of gear or a weapon is found, its visuals can be equipped in exchange of silver by visiting the Blacksmith in Ravensthorpe if the item is from the same category.

To celebrate the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla community, players will receive Altair’s Outfit, the Yule Gear Set and cosmetics, and 300 opals for free. To claim the rewards, they must access the Animus Store.

Two future updates will add more content for Ostara Season, including:

• Mastery Challenge: A second update will add a new game mode building on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s core combat mechanics, bringing a highly replayable combat experience. A Master arrives at the settlement, inspiring Eivor to train and perfect challenges to become a Master.
• Additional rewards

In Wrath of the Druids, available on 29th April, players will journey to Ireland and unravel the mysteries of an ancient and mysterious druidic cult, tracking and discovering their members. Diving into Gaelic myths and folklores, they’ll need to fight their way through haunted forests and dazzling landscapes while gaining influence among Gaelic kings. The Wrath of the Druids expansion can be purchased as a standalone. Players can also access the expansion through the Season Pass, available now or as part of the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Gold, Ultimate, and Collector Editions.

With development led by Ubisoft Montreal*, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla offers players the captivating experience of playing as Eivor, a legendary Viking warrior, driven from Norway by endless wars and dwindling resources in ninth century AD. Players can relive the ruthless fighting style of Viking warriors with a revamped dual-wielding combat system and experience new gameplay features such as raids, assaults, and the settlement, as well as a revamped progression and gear upgrade system. Political alliances, combat decisions and dialogue choices can influence the world of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, so players must choose wisely to protect their clan’s home and their future.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is available on Xbox Series X | S, Xbox One consoles, PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, the Epic Games Store and Ubisoft Store on Windows PC, as well as on Stadia, Amazon Luna and Ubisoft’s subscription service, Ubisoft+.

For more information about Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, please visit assassinscreed.com.

1941 was a crucial year in World War II.

Having secured western Europe, now the Wehrmacht looks east. The largest front in the war is about to open, and the biggest and most decisive battles are about to take place.

Panzer Corps 2: Axis Operations  1941 brings the decisive battles of 1941 to Panzer Corps 2. Relive the invasion of the Balkans, of Greece and of the Soviet Union and fight both popular and more obscure battles in its 20 scenarios campaign.

As part of the Axis Operations series, you can decide to import a core army from the previous DLC, 1940, or play with a brand new army. You will also be able to export your core army at the conclusion of the 1941 campaign, and export it to the next DLC.

Watch the new Panzer Corps 2: Axis Operations 1941 in 2 minutes video HERE.

You can read more about the DLC and its new features on the product page.

Source: TechPowerUp!

AMD today released the latest version of Radeon Software Adrenalin 2021 drivers. Version 21.3.1 beta comes with support for the new Radeon RX 6700 series. It’s interesting that they didn’t specify the RX 6700 XT, which means other SKUs such as the RX 6700, could be right around the corner. Next up, the drivers come with optimization for “DOOM Eternal: The Ancient Gods, Part Two.” The drivers also introduce many new feature updates. Radeon Anti-Lag technology now supports DirectX 12 games. The Radeon Boost performance enhancement has been updated with support for DirectX 12 and Variable Rate Shading on select titles. The Performance Tuning section of Radeon Software now comes with an internal stress-test. The drivers also introduce support for new Vulkan API extensions, including VK_KHR_synchronization, VK_EXT_4444_formats, VK_EXT_conditional_rendering, and VK_KHR_sampler_ycbcr_conversion.

Among the issues fixed with Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.3.1 include high CPU utilization for Radeon Software, even when idling; Oculus VR headset causing system crashes when connected to GCN (pre-Polaris) GPUs; corrupted or missing textures for “Minecraft DXR,” a crash with “Call of Duty : Modern Warfare” with raytracing enabled on RX 6000 series GPUs, improper lighting with “Star Citizen” on RX 6800 series; Enhanced Sync + V-sync causing black screens on Vulkan games; and a black screen on Hybrid Graphics systems; a crash with Bethesda Launcher, color corruption with Epic Games Social Overlay; display flicker or corruption on high refresh-rate multi-monitor configs using RX Vega series GPUs, and audio loss on TV displays connected to the video card’s audio output.

The Radeon Software Adrenalin 21.3.1 beta drivers are available online at the AMD driver download page.

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.

• Patriot launches Supersonic Rage Pro USB 3.2 Gen.1 Flash Drive
• MSI Quietly Releases GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 SUPRIM SE Series
• CORSAIR Launches SP RGB ELITE Fan Series
• Patriot Rolls Out Supersonic Rage Pro USB 3.1 Flash Drives
• Gigabyte Releases M32Q Gaming Monitor
• SAPPHIRE Launches NITRO+ AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT Graphics Card
• Lexar Announces New NQ100 2.5″ SATA III SSD
• CORSAIR Launches New 11th-Gen Intel-Powered VENGEANCE i7200 Series Gaming PC
• EKWB Announces New Class of Cooling – Active Backplates for RTX 3080, 3090 Reference GPUs
• The Coolest XC3 GPU Sandwich – EK Active Backplate for EVGA XC3 GPUs
• EK Launches an Active Backplate Made for ZOTAC TRINITY RTX 3080/3090 GPUS
• PowerColor Announces its Custom AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT Cards
• ASRock Launches AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT Series Graphics Cards

AMD releases their Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics card tomorrow to retail. The review embargo has been lifted, and we bring you a number of reviews on the reference card and custom cards from a number of different manufactures. Here’s a bit from AMD:

The AMD Radeon™ RX 6700 XT graphics card, powered by AMD RDNA™ 2 architecture, featuring 40 powerful enhanced Compute Units, the all new AMD Infinity Cache and 12GB of dedicated GDDR6 memory, is engineered to deliver ultra-high frame rates and powerhouse 1440p resolution gaming.

Check out the reviews listed below.

Reference card reviews:

• TECHPOWERUP!
• GURU3D
• HOT HARDWARE
• PC PERSPECTIVE

Custom card reviews:

• GURU3D - ASUS Radeon RX 6700 XT STRIX OC
• GURU3D - PowerColor Radeon RX 6700 XT Hellhound
• TECHPOWERUP! - PowerColor RX 6700 XT Red Devil
• TECHPOWERUP! - XFX Radeon RX 6700 XT Merc 319 Black
• WCCFTECH - SAPPHIRE Nitro+ Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB
• ETEKNIX - MSI Radeon RX 6700 XT Gaming X
• ETEKNIX - Gigabyte RX 6700 XT Gaming OC

Northern Lords Flavor Pack Spotlights Norse and Viking Culture

One of 2020’s most celebrated games gets its first new content today. Crusader Kings III, Paradox Interactive’s strategy role-playing game about medieval dynasties, expands with a new flavor pack highlighting one of the game’s most popular regions.

Northern Lords adds greater depth and variety to the Norse cultures of medieval Europe through a series of new events, options and decisions. With more detail on Norse religion, raiding and internal disputes, this flavor pack is now available at major online retailers and the Paradox Store for $6.99/£5.19/€6.99.

Watch the Crusader Kings III: Northern Lords Release Trailer HERE.

Features of Crusader Kings III: Northern Lords include:

• Norse Adventurer Realms: Norse characters may abandon their own homes and lead hosts into foreign lands to establish their own kingdoms.
• Jomsvikings and Shieldmaidens: Norse holy warriors and stalwart shieldmaidens take up arms on your behalf, while poets can compose stinging rebukes or romantic overtures.
• New Cultural Content: Special Norse dynastic legacies, Norse blot sacrifices, trials by combat and cultural innovations as well as numerous new events add additional color.
• New Art and Music: Original art and musical score to enhance your playing experience.
• And more: Berserkers, missionaries, runestones, Varangian adventurers, new decisions and other highlights from the exciting history of the Norse people.

Crusader Kings III: Northern Lords will be accompanied by a free update that adds harsher winter conditions to the map, as well as character duels and a new poet trait.

More game information is available on the official Crusader Kings III website.

Slitherine has released a new Battle video showcasing one of the scenarios coming with Panzer Corps 2: Axis Operations 1941.

This time we are featuring a large battle fought on the eastern front: Bryansk. In the video, among other things, we showcase the new muddy terrain coming with the new DLC.

It’s only a few days until the release of Axis Operations 1941. Are you ready?

After the stunning defeat of Poland shocked the world, the Western Allies prepare for the inevitable. The British Expeditionary Force has landed on the continent, Belgian and Dutch forces man their fortifications, and the vaunted French Army mobilize their formidable heavy tanks for combat.

After German plans fall into their hands during the Mechelen Incident, the Allies think themselves ready for the coming storm. But in truth, they have no idea what is coming as Germany launches Von Manstein’s master plan to conquer Western Europe!

To execute the plan, your veteran Wehrmacht forces are called to action to once again!

The Warplan Pacific beta is coming to an end and we’re getting closer and closer to release.

With that in mind, we have prepared the Warplan Pacific Tour, covering the main changes and improvements introduced in Warplan Pacific. The new series has a very special tour guide, as the videos are narrated by Alvaro Sousa, the developer of the Warplan series of games.

A new episode will be published on a weekly basis.

EPISODE #1 – Advancements and Unit Changes

The first video covers changes in advancement that were based on player recommendations. It will also talk about unit differences between countries, the new marine unit ability, special country rules, and added events for China.

Find out more here.

By Peter Donnell @ eTeknix

Corsair is one of the biggest names in the industry, and over the years, they’ve delivered many of the greatest gaming keyboards we’ve ever seen. It’s more than likely that you’re typing on a Corsair keyboard right now or that you at least own one Corsair product as part of your PC gaming setup. However, where they’re often better known for their full-size mechanical keyboards, such as the K95. Today, they’re launching a tiny mechanical keyboard. The K65 RGB Mini is even smaller than a TKL keyboard, and it’s what’s known as a 60% mechanical. Don’t confuse smaller with fewer features, though, as Corsair has equipped this with an impressive suite of hardware and software.

Read the Review Here