Source: TechPowerUp!

Hot on the heels of its massive Radeon RX 6800 series graphics card launch, AMD released the Radeon Software Adrenalin 20.11.2 WHQL drivers. These drivers add support for the newly launched Radeon RX 6800 XT and RX 6800 graphics cards. It also adds optimization of “World of Warcraft: Shadowlands.” The Vulkan ICD is expanded with a new extension, “VK_KHR_fragment_shading_rate.”

AMD also fixed a handful new bugs. To begin, hitching or stuttering caused by Radeon Instant Replay during fullscreen video playback has been fixed. Certain RX 500 series graphics cards not remembering fan settings after sleep has been fixed. With multiple multiple high refresh rate Radeon FreeSync displays connected to certain RX 500 series graphics cards, glitching was being noticed, which has been fixed. A case of stuttering when disabling performance metrics overlay in-game has also been fixed. Performance issues RX 5700 series cards were noticing with “Xuan-Yuan Sword VII” have been fixed. Mouse corruption in “Serious Sam 4,” when changing graphics options in Vulkan API mode, has been fixed.

The Radeon Software Adrenalin 20.11.2 WHQL 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.

• Team Group Launches Two ZEUS Series Gaming Memory Modules
• PowerColor Unveils Radeon RX 6800 XT Red Devil Graphics Card
• NZXT Expands its Kraken AIO Liquid CPU Cooler Line-Up
• MSI Announces Radeon™ RX 6800 Series Graphics Cards
• Alphacool Announces Eisblock Aurora Acryl GPX-A for Radeon RX 6800 XT and RX 6800
• BIOSTAR Announces its Radeon RX 6800 Series Graphics Cards
• MSI Releases Preliminary Beta BIOS for AMD 500 Series Motherboard to Support Smart Access Memory
• ASRock Releases Ryzen 5000 BIOS Update for B450 Motherboards
• LG 27QN600-B 27-inch WQHD LCD Monitor Announced
• Logitech G Unveils its Lightest Wireless Esports Gaming Mouse Yet
• EK Rolls Out the Red Carpet for New Enthusiast-class Graphics Cards
• EVGA Announces the BP Bronze Series Power Supplies

By Morgan Park @ PC Gamer

Talking to friends and colleagues about a new Call of Duty is never the same as our banter about other games. As an annual series defined by incremental changes to a formula, nitpicking is ingrained in the discourse. That’s certainly the case for Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War, a good game that falls short of its predecessor. Instead of being undermined by unforgivable sins, it’s an accumulation of smaller flaws, like how guns feel or maps flow.

Read the Review Here

ICBM, the thermonuclear Third World War game, is now available. Watch the new ICBM In Two Minutes Trailer HERE.

ICBM is a real time strategy game inspired by the all-time classic movie Wargames and its cultural heritage. In ICBM players take control of a nuclear superpower and prepare it to face a global war. They will attempt to maximize the destruction of their enemies with the best offensive strategy, all whilst limiting damages to their own Homeland cities.

Fight against advanced AI in single player or face up to 7 human opponents in online competitive mode. Form alliances, but remember that betrayal is always an option ­– like in the Cold War age, there are no reliable allies.

Up for something different? ICBM comes with full modding support out of the box. Add or change maps, units, technologies, rules, graphics and much more. Check out Steam Workshop for the available mods.

ICBM is now available on GOG.com and Steam.

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.

• Mad Catz Announces the M.O.J.O M1 Lightweight Gaming Mouse
• BitFenix Launches Nova Mesh SE & Nova Mesh SE TG Chassis
• HyperX Announces FURY DDR4 RGB Memory SKU Additions
• Sharkoon Launch the RGB Slider Midi-ATX Case
• ASRock Launches AMD Radeon RX 6800 Series Graphics Cards
• MSI GeForce RTX 3080, RTX 3090 SUPRIM X Graphics Cards Ready for Launch
• PowerColor Showcases Its Radeon RX 6800 XT Red Devil Graphics Card
• Genesis Announces the Seaborg 400 Racing Wheel Controller
• EKWB Releases the EK-AIO Elite 360 D-RGB AIO
• Jonsbo Intros the UMX6 All-Aluminum Case
• Montech Unleash New Sky Series PC Cases
• Western Digital Offers Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War Branded Gaming Storage
• EK Updates Its Vector Lineup With Extended Compatibility Water Blocks for RTX 3080, 3090 GPUs
• GALAX Teases New Graphics Card Series: Work The Frames
• BIOSTAR Announces the P500 Portable SSD
• Jonsbo Intros CR-2100 Dual Fin-stack CPU Cooler
• ZALMAN Announces the N4 Mid-Tower Case
• EVGA Announces Liquid-Cooled GeForce RTX 30-series Graphics Cards

#1 Selling Call of Duty Series Continues Franchise Momentum and Releases to the Largest, Most Engaged Community at the time of Launch in Call of Duty History

Activision today announced the worldwide launch of the highly-anticipated Call of Duty®: Black Ops Cold War, an all-new entry in the #1 selling series in Call of Duty and a direct sequel to the fan favorite Call of Duty: Black Ops.

The new title infuses 1980s pop culture into a gripping conspiracy set at the height of the Cold War. In the fictional story campaign players must stop a plot decades in the making that could destabilize the global balance of power and change the course of history. The game delivers the next generation of online multiplayer combat with an arsenal of Cold War weapons and equipment across a wide variety of new maps and modes. Black Ops Cold War also provides an all-new co-operative Zombies survival mode experience.

The title supports cross-play across next generation and current generation systems with cross progression across all modes. Players can look forward to the biggest series of free, post-launch content in Black Ops history across Multiplayer and Zombies, as well as a robust schedule of in-game community events.

“Today’s launch starts the next great Black Ops experience across story, multiplayer and zombies in a direct sequel to one of the most iconic titles in Call of Duty,” said Byron Beede, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Call of Duty, Activision. “This is just the beginning. Our players can look forward to the biggest series of post-launch free content, community events and ongoing support ever in Black Ops plus tight integration across the ecosystem with Warzone. It’s a great time to play Call of Duty.”

The PC edition can be picked up through the Blizzard Shop. Watch the Call of Duty®: Black Ops Cold War Official PC Trailer HERE. For more game information please visit the official Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War website.

DISCOVER ENGLAND’S DARK AGES AND BUILD THE LEGEND OF EIVOR, A VIKING WARRIOR ON A QUEST FOR GLORY

Ubisoft has announced that Assassin’s Creed® Valhalla, the next iteration of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, is now available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One consoles, 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+. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla will release on PlayStation®5 alongside the launch of the console on 12th November.

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, including raids, settlement-building and the ability to customize hair, tattoos and more. 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.

Watch the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Launch Trailer HERE.

Players can also embark on more adventures with the Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Season Pass. Included in the Gold, Ultimate and Collector’s Editions, or available for purchase separately, the season pass includes:

• The Legend of Beowulf quest – In this exclusive quest, players will uncover the monstrous truth behind the legend of Beowulf, available on launch day.
• Expansion 1 – Wrath of the Druids (Spring 2021) – In this new adventure, players will journey to Ireland and unravel the secrets 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.
• Expansion 2 – The Siege of Paris (Summer 2021) – In The Siege of Paris, players will have the chance to relive the most ambitious battle in Viking history with key historical figures of war-torn Frankia. During this key moment in history, players will infiltrate the fortified city of Paris and the River Seine under a prolonged siege, uncover enemy secrets and form strategic alliances to safeguard their clan’s future.

In addition, all players will have access to an extensive lineup of free seasonal content, including new narrative content and in-game events available after launch. Each season will last three months and will be accessible to all player types and levels of progression, focusing on gameplay, world evolution, and other exciting content. Season 1 will launch in December and includes:

• A new settlement area, allowing players to continue to grow and evolve their settlement.
• The Yule Festival, a traditional Viking festival for players to experience in their settlement.
• River Raids, a new game mode building on the game’s core raiding mechanic to deliver a dynamic, challenging and highly replayable raid experience.
• The addition of the Ranks for Jomsviking where players can not only create their lieutenant to be part of their raiding crew, but also recruit from their friends and the community. In Season 1, players will see an update to the Jomsviking feature, which will allow their Jomsviking to earn XP and rank up. The higher the rank of the lieutenant, the more silver players will earn when recruited by other players.
• Season 1 will also come with new player skills, abilities, weapons and gear, along with new cosmetic items for their settlement, long ship, horse and raven.

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

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.

• Phanteks Releases New Glacier G30 STRIX Blocks and Backplates for the ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 30 Series
• Sharkoon Releases the RUSH ER30 USB Gaming Headset
• ASUS ROG Announces Strix Scope RX Keyboard
• Sharkoon Announces SKILLER SGS40 Gaming Chair
• XPG Launches the VENTO PRO 120 PWM Cooling Fan
• Super Flower Intros Neon 122 CPU Cooler
• Lenovo Inserts Two New G27 27inch IPS Gaming Monitors
• Super Flower Also Announced the Neon 240 and Neon 360 AIO Liquid CPU Coolers
• be quiet! Announces Silent Base 802 PC Case
• Highpoint Announces SSD7540 8-port M.2 NVMe SSD RAID Card
• EKWB Unveils the QuantumX Delta TEC Water Block
• XPG Launches STARKER Compact ATX Mid-Tower Chassis
• Cooler Master Introduces the ML360 Sub-Zero with Build in TEC (by Intel)
• Fractal launches Meshify 2 and Meshify 2 XL Cases
• Porsche Design and AOC Unveil the Porsche Design AOC AGON PD27
• HyperX Now Shipping Cloud II Wireless Gaming Headset
• Alphacool Offers New GPU Cooler for RTX 3070/3080/3090
• Sharkoon Announces RUSH ER30 USB Gaming Headset

By Steven Messner @ PC Gamer

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is my favorite Assassin’s Creed, which is saying something considering it’s a series that spans 23 games. It builds on the already excellent RPG foundations laid by Origins and Odyssey, but with meaningful improvements that iron out many of the frustrations I had with both games. Case in point: Not once during the 60-hour story was I told to stop and level up a bunch before I could take on the next quest. That also means Ubisoft isn’t selling optional experience boosts, either. Thank god.

Read the Review Here

Source: TechPowerUp!

NVIDIA today released the GeForce 457.30 WHQL drivers. The drivers come “game ready” (optimized) for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and Godfall. The SLI profile for Black Desert has also been updated. The drivers also add G-Sync support for the Acer CP3271U V, Asus XG27AQ, MSI MAG274QR and Xiaomi Mi 245 HF monitors.

Among the bugs fixed with this release are a drop in performance during gameplay for Warzone; a laptop-only error where the internal panel flashes upon resume from sleep mode or from display off; and a bug specific for Ampere, in a G-SYNC, HDR, Dual-head 8K display environment where the display screen goes black.

You can download the GeForce 457.30 WHQL drivers via GeForce.com.