First-Person Shooters

Tripwire Interactive and Antimatter Games Announce Massive Incoming Update for Award-winning First-person Shooter

As part of its continued commitment to support its active community with regular and significant free updates, Tripwire Interactive and Antimatter Games announced today that the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) update for Rising Storm 2: Vietnam is scheduled to launch soon on May 29, 2018 via Steam.

Over one million Vietnamese served in the ARVN over the course of the Vietnam War, with over 250,000 lost in action. Largely equipped with older US military equipment and trained by foreign military advisors, ARVN soldiers bore the brunt of frontline fighting throughout the war both prior to the escalation of US military involvement and after the US began reducing its troop presence.

With the release of the ARVN update on May 29, 2018 for Rising Storm 2: Vietnam, players will be able to play as soldiers in the ARVN faction for the first time with new weapons and five brand-new maps.

Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) Weapons:

• M1 Garand
• M1D Garand Sniper Rifle
• Thompson M1A1 SMG
• M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR)
• M1919A6 .30-cal Browning LMG
• Douglas A-1 Skyraider ground-attack aircraft

New Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) Maps:

• Quang Tri: Set during 1972, Quang Tri is a daytime supremacy map set in the citadel of the provincial capital, pitting the new ARVN forces with limited US helicopter support against NVA main-force units.
• A Sau: Set on an airfield and fortified camp in the A Sau valley, this nighttime territory attack map finds ARVN forces defending against attacking NVA main-force units. Visibility is limited under the cover of darkness with occasional flares lighting up the battlefield.

New Community Maps:

• Made by fans for fans, the following player-made maps from Tripwire Interactive’s recent RISING STORM 2: VIETNAM $40,000 Modding Contest will also be officially introduced to the game with the release of the ARVN update.
• Firebase Georgina: Daytime attack by main-force NVA on a series of positions held by the US Army.
• Borderwatch: Australian forces attack territory held by the NLF (Viet Cong), pushing through jungles and across open fields to the VC’s final hidden base.
• Resort: US Marines stage a heliborne assault from the sea on a resort area held by Viet Cong guerrillas.

Available now on PC, Rising Storm 2: Vietnam is the sequel to Rising Storm, PC Gamer magazine’s 2013 ‘Multiplayer Game of the Year’, published by Tripwire Interactive and developed by Antimatter Games. Command your team to victory in massive 64-player battles with authentic weapons, aircraft, and maps that pit conventional military forces against guerilla forces.

Stay up-to-date with the latest Rising Storm 2: Vietnam news and information at www.rs2Vietnam.com.

Source: VideoGamer

Intrepid Battlefield 1 players appear to have discovered the reveal date for Battlefield 5 via a new Easter egg in buried in the depths of 2016′s acclaimed World War I shooter.

The Room, as it’s called, is a pretty complicated affair though rewards gamers with a special dogtag featuring morse code that spells ‘Secrets Revealed.’ However, it goes just beyond that. Once the tag is unlocked, it’ll cue a special music track, as well as a barely-discernible sound of dripping water coming from the hidden room.

This isn’t just any odd dripping water coming from a leaky tap though; it’s rhythmic, and later discovered to be morse code. When translated, fans discovered it points to this website.

Read more…

Source: IGN

The upcoming Battlefield V will include “compelling single-player stories”, seemingly pointing to a continuation of the campaign style introduced in Battlefield 1.

While Battlefield’s traditional competitor, Call of Duty has apparently dropped a single-player mode for this year’s Black Ops 4, it seems DICE and EA will not be following suit.

As part of yesterday’s earnings report, EA CEO Andrew Wilson described the upcoming game:

“With our next Battlefield game, the team at DICE is bringing the intensity of combat to life in new and unexpected ways. Every battle is unique, and every mode brings its own challenges – from the way you interact with the environment around you, to compelling single-player stories, to the next level of large-scale multiplayer that spans across multiple maps and modes.”

Read more…

Today UBISOFT revealed first details of “Operation Para Bellum”, the major update of Season 2 of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege Year Three.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege Year 3 Season 2 content seeks to enrich the community experience with two new Italian operators specialised in defense and the nineteenth map of the game.

Operation Para Bellum will also introduce the Pick & Ban system that provides an extra layer of strategy between teams, as each side tries to counter their opponents’ picks during the banning phase.

The full reveal of Year 3 Season 2 content of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege will be made on May 19th – 20th during the Pro League Finals.

For more information about Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege, please visit: https://rainbow6.ubisoft.com.

Steam News announces a free weekend and sale are underway for Call of Duty: WWII. From now until Sunday, May 6th at 1PM PDT, Call of Duty: WWII Multiplayer is free to access on PC!

Details:

• All progression carries over from free trial to full title once purchased
• All inventory items and unlockables will carry over from free trial to full title once purchased

There’s also a Steam Discount on WWII from today until May 7th:

• Call of Duty: WWII – 35% Discount
• Call of Duty: WWII Digital Deluxe Edition – 25% Discount
• Call of Duty: WWII Season Pass – 20% Discount

Get in and try it out on your own, or party up with your friends!

New World Interactive has announced a Steam Free Weekend for Day of Infamy beginning Thursday April 26th at 1pm EST, lasting until Monday April 30th at 1pm EST! This is a perfect time to try out the game if you’re a longtime Insurgency fan, and a perfect weekend to play with your friends! Our last free weekend was a huge success with over 200,000 new players joining battle over the 3 days, and this year we’re looking to make it even bigger and better!

Watch the Day of Infamy Free Steam Weekend Trailer HERE.

We’re extremely proud of our community, which won ModDB’s Community Award for 2017. It’s with your help we can make this event a success!

Steam Free Weekend (April 26-30) and massive discounts on Arma games

After already welcoming 4+ million players to its highly-rated military sandbox game, Bohemia Interactive is calling in additional reinforcements by hosting a Free Weekend for Arma 3 on Steam. The Free Weekend starts on April 26 at 19:00 CEST (all time zones) and ends on April 30 at 19:00 CEST. It provides all Steam users with the opportunity to try out the complete Arma 3 base game. Plus, if they wish to continue playing after the Free Weekend, people can pick up Arma and nearly all of its DLC packs at massive discounts of up to 66% (and 80% off previous Arma games).

Arma 3 is an authentic military shooter game, in which you enter a massive military sandbox terrain to engage in diverse tactical combat. Players have access to a wide variety of gear and weapons – and are able to operate all sorts of military vehicles such as tanks, helicopters, and jets. The game also offers a large number of singleplayer scenarios (including a story-driven campaign) and multiplayer modes. Plus, there’s a powerful yet intuitive 3D Scenario Editor for users to create their own scenarios, as well as the Arma 3 Zeus interface that lets users act as a real-time Game Master for other players in multiplayer.

On top of that, Arma 3 fully supports all types of player-created content and modifications, which can be easily shared with other players via the Arma 3 Steam Workshop. The Workshop already hosts 50,000+ publicly shared items, ranging from weapons, vehicles, and uniforms to new gameplay features, singleplayer or co-op campaigns, and community-made multiplayer modes such as the original PLAYERUNKNOWN’s Battle Royale.

Since the initial release of the Alpha version on Steam Early Access in 2013, Arma 3 has come a long way by introducing lots of additional content, new features, and improvements. The game has received 75 free platform updates and 10 DLC packs, which have helped to achieve an impressive average playtime per Arma 3 user of 150+ hours. In a new infographic poster, Bohemia Interactive provides a quick overview of Arma 3′s development and how people have engaged with the game so far.

For more information about Arma 3, please visit the official website at www.arma3.com.

By Ian Boudreau @ Wargamer

One of the things that keeps me coming back to ArmA 3 is its stern-faced commitment to realism in an unchangeably goofy video game world. There’s something David Lynchian about the whole affair – you’re never quite sure whether the developers are completely earnest or if you’ve just gotten a wry wink at the absurdity of it all.

Take the latest Tanks DLC package. I’ll run through the vital statistics later, but there’s such a funny juxtaposition of an obsessively intense focus on simulating real-world military operations with the realization that a lot of what happens in the military isn’t any fun. While I was gleefully thundering around in my Rhino MGS, a tank destroyer introduced in this new pack, some incoming mortar fire blew out my front two passenger-side tires.

The damage model is detailed enough so that this has a pretty severe impact on handling. But then I got out of the Rhino, clicked a prompt, and had the tires back in action in about 25 seconds total.

Read on…

Today, all players that own Battlefield 1 can jump into Rupture for free, which is a map featured in Battlefield 1: They Shall Not Pass, set during the Second Battle of the Marne and characterized by its poppies growing over rusty wrecks. In addition, the next few months will bring even more free content to all Battlefield 1 players including Soissons in May, also from Battlefield 1: They Shall Not Pass, to tackle one of the biggest tank assaults of World War I.

In June, bit-sized epicness is coming to Battlefield 1 in a new mode, Shock Operations. The mode supports 40 players and sees attackers and defenders battling over sectors like in fan-favorite Operations mode, but with the action focused to one single map – ideal for those that don’t have time for a full Operations match. Shock Operations will be available on five maps: Giant’s Shadow, Prise de Tahure, Lupkow Pass, Zeebrugge, and River Somme. Most of these maps are normally only available to owners of Battlefield 1 Premium Pass or standalone expansion packs. However, base game owners will be able to access them too when playing Shock Operations.

Check out the Battlefield 1 blog to stay up to date on what’s to come to Battlefield 1 in the coming months.

Starting today, Call of Duty: WWII players will have an additional ally on their side with the Call of Duty Alexa Skill. Created by Activision and available today in Beta, the Call of Duty Alexa Skill features an array of support options, including personalized player recommendations, updates on in-game achievements and the ability to stay connected with and compare your play with friends. Did you just play a match of Call of Duty: WWII and want to know how you did, as well as how to improve your chances next time? Ask Alexa how to improve your skills, and you’ll get a personalized recommendation ready for your next match. Want to know if your friends are online and playing Call of Duty: WWII? Just ask Alexa. The skill supports all platforms of Call of Duty: WWII and is available free of charge, through the Alexa companion app.

The Call of Duty Alexa Skill employs AI and machine learning to create personalized recommendations, including specific loadouts, play styles, maps, modes, perks and divisions for each player. Using cluster analysis, the machine learning model analyzes more than 20 factors, including accuracy, movement, engagement distance, K/D, shots, score per minute, time played and relationships to other players to make personalized recommendations for each player. The Skill then employs natural language generation to create personalized responses to 2,500 questions about the game and an individual’s performance. Using a soldier-like voice, the Skill can deliver 250,000 distinct responses that incorporate real-time statistics, status and recommendations from the game.

“The Call of Duty Alexa Skill gives every player a personal Call of Duty coach for the first time, using AI and machine learning to analyze how you play and providing tips on how to improve your gameplay based on your individual strengths, weaknesses and play style,” said Tim Ellis, Chief Marketing Officer of Activision. “We know that people play more Call of Duty as their skills improve and the more often they play with their friends. The Call of Duty Alexa Skill is designed to help players improve their Call of Duty skills, connect more easily with their friends and get to the fun faster in Call of Duty: WWII.”

The Call of Duty Alexa Skill can be used during a match, in between matches or away from the game. It serves to not only answer questions about Call of Duty: WWII matches, but also to provide insights with personalized responses, automated insights and real-time play analysis regarding Call of Duty’s blockbuster most recent release. The Skill also provides players with a complete onboarding experience for Call of Duty: WWII, providing key background details and mission objectives, as well as analysis on how to improve their skills. Gamers can also use the Skill to find out who from their friend group is also playing Call of Duty: WWII, or simply hear how they stack up against their friends.

There are 15 categories of features available in the Call of Duty Alexa Skill for Call of Duty: WWII, including:

• Personalized recommendations to improve your skills
• Match summaries, and highlights of your recent gameplay
• Social features, including whether friends are currently playing, and comparing your stats and achievements to theirs
• Contract and order status, both during and after a match, so that you see how close you are to completing the contract and earning a reward
• Latest in-game news, including events and game updates
• Game and features descriptions

For more information on the Call of Duty Alexa Skill Beta, please visit www.callofduty.com/alexa.