Gaming

microprose-logoSource: Blue’s News

Recently revived publisher Microprose announces two first-person shooter projects coming from developer Drakeling Labs. One is Operation: Harsh Doorstop, a free community project offering a Cold War shooter devoid of micro-transactions, paid downloadable content, or loot box mechanics. This is coming soon to Steam and you can get a look in this Announcement Teaser. The other is Warfare 1944, a World War II shooter that shares a name with a Flash game we featured in 2009. They say game focused on tactical decision-making will debut on Steam on July 7th. Here’s a Warfare 1944 Announcement Teaser and here’s more on both games:

Warfare 1944
Fight on the frontlines of World War 2 in this stylized tactical shooter. Engage in large open environments with a variety of weapons and equipment during the pinnacle of World War 2. Make smart decisions, and lead your team to victory.

Warfare 1944 focuses on tactical gameplay. Bullets are deadly, one shot can kill. Team communication is essential and Warfare 1944 features robust proximity voice communication which allows you to communicate with your fellow soldiers alongside you.

Wield a wide variety of weapons and equipment while you attempt to survive the chaos of war. Rally your friends to your team, and fight in massive battles across vast open landscapes. Keep your wits, and defeat your enemies. Warfare is unforgiving.

Operation: Harsh Doorstop
Operation: Harsh Doorstop is a free community project devoid of micro-transactions, paid downloadable content, or loot box mechanics. Deploy to eastern Afghanistan into a fictionalized conflict between Soviet and NATO forces during the summer of 1991.

Experience large-scale tactical warfare in Operation: Harsh Doorstop. Communicate with your team and emerge victorious in this brutally realistic competitive multiplayer title.

Utilize a wide variety of weapons and equipment to achieve dynamically changing objectives.

Operation: Harsh Doorstop is a love letter to the tactical gaming genre, built by a passionate community of developers and gamers alike… with no price tag. Support the Operation: Harsh Doorstop project and help bring tactical gaming to the masses.

Gaming | Donster | |

microprose-logoThis would probably be enough to send shivers down the spine of every strategy and simulation gamer out there. MicroProse has always been about the games, and this announcement is intended to show everybody how we intend to take the market by the storm with original and high-quality games in the strategy and simulation genres.

We are proud to announce three new games that are in development right now and on Steam.

This is only the beginning, though. Other announcements will follow soon as our line-up is constantly growing, together with our ambitious plans. Enough with bragging, let’s get to the games!

Sea Power – Developer: Triassic Games

Brought to you by the lead designer of Cold Waters, Sea Power lets you control NATO and Warsaw Pact forces in a modern naval conflict.

Whether it’s gunning it out with Boghammars in a surface duel, fighting off aerial attackers armed with long-range missiles, or hunting for enemy submarines with aircraft and surface ships, advanced weaponry and sensors are at your disposal.

Can you successfully hide your forces while detecting and tracking theirs? It is up to you to play an advanced game of cat and mouse on the high seas, to seize the initiative and attack with the advantage of surprise on your side. And at all times, you have to observe rules of engagement and take care not to cause an unnecessary incident that could lead to escalation. After all, you cannot really be sure just who that radar contact at 30.000 feet is, can you?

Second Front – Developer: Hexdraw

Second Front is the tactical WWII game that genre enthusiasts always wanted and never really got. Sporting a full-fledged 3D engine and an easy to use user interface, the game is easy to play but hard to master.

Playing a tactical game that is deeper than your average X-Com clone, with a competent AI and a powerful editor to create scenarios and campaigns has been the dream of tactical players for long.

Second Front comes with multiple campaigns covering different fronts of World War II and sporting German, American and Russian units. Scenarios are fought in a 60 turns battle cycle, from morning to night. Fight and rest or push your troops to the limit and press the attack. These are not set-pieces scripted battles but continuous emergent skirmishes with persistent loss, fatigue, and experience.
Task Force Admiral – Developer: Drydock Dreams Games

Task Force Admiral Vol.1: American Carrier Battles is a single-player experience centred on the command of an early Pacific War US Navy carrier task force.

As the overall commander, you are in charge of seeking the destruction of the enemy naval forces and preventing your opponent, the Japanese Navy, from accomplishing its objectives. To achieve your aims, you have at your disposal the most fearsome sea projection weapon known to Man in 1942: your carrier air groups and the task forces that support them.

Forget about the limitations of the past and let the best of wargaming and simulation blend and blossom together in this new take on command at sea! Re-live the great battles of the first year of the Pacific War as if you were there yourself. In here there is no dice roll, no artificial skill-tree, no arbitrary stats, selective fog of war or supernatural crystal-clear communications. It is real-time crisis management for you, realism and historicity without concession, as little abstraction as can be, and loads of action, suspense and refreshing gameplay packed in the same single computer software.

More info about MicroProse and its new games can be found on the official MicroProse website!

Gaming | Donster | |

nvidia-geforce-nowSource: TechPowerUp!

NVIDIA has finally launched its GeForce Now streaming gaming service, and users can enjoy partial amounts of free gaming under the business model. There are two tiers of users on offer: Free, and Founders. The free tier, which you may give a go to check the streaming infrastructure and if it’s something you would enjoy paying for, is limited to 60-minute play sessions. This means that after the clock has stopped ticking (with potentially intrusive pop-up notifications reminding you of how much time you have left every 10 minutes), you’ll be forced to quit the game, and submit yourself to a playing queue until your next 60-minute window is up. RTX isn’t available in this tier, though – so if you also wanted to see for yourself what the raytracing talk is all about, you’ll have to pay $5 (monthly subscription) to cross that particular river.

Founder-tier members, however, will be able to enjoy the latest RTX-enabled games. The only ones listed on the service, for now, are Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Call of Duty: modern Warfare, Metro Exodus, and Deliver Us the Moon, which NVIDIA has recently started bundling with select RTX graphics cards). There is still a catch though: play sessions will be limited to 6 hours, after which time you’ll be brought back to a gaming queue (though you’ll have precedence over Free tier accounts, should there be many Founders-tier players in the queue, you might have to wait a while). There’s a limited-time 90-day introductory period of which you can take advantage while subscribing for the Founders tier right now, which means you will only be billed after that 90-day grace period is over. Remember – you have to own a digital copy of the game you want to play in any of the more popular storefronts, such as EPIC and Steam, before you can game – but it’s still a nice way to experience RTX should you currently own a non-RTX-enabled graphics card.

System requirements for NVIDIA’s GeForce Now are as stands:

  • 15 Mbps internet connection (25 Mbps recommended). A 5 GHz network is preferred if using wireless.
  • Any Windows PC running Windows 7 (64-bit) or higher, 4 GB of system memory, a 2.0 GHz dual-core X86 CPU or higher and a GPU that supports DirectX 11.
  • Any Mac with macOS 10.10 or higher.
  • Any Nvidia Shield TV (2015, 2017, 2019; Base and Pro models).
  • Any Android phone running Android 5.0 (L) or higher and 2 GB of system memory.
  • A Bluetooth gamepad is strongly recommended, including the Shield controller, Razer Raiju and Junglecat Mobile, or Steelseries Stratus Duo.
Gaming | Donster | |

electronic-arts-logoElectronic Arts and Valve Announce Partnership to Bring EA Access Subscription and EA Games to Steam

Subscription Arrives for Steam Players this Spring, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Will Be the First Game Available at Launch.

Today, Electronic Arts Inc. and Valve announced a partnership to put EA games into the hands of players on Steam. EA Access will launch on Steam next spring, giving players another place to subscribe to a great collection of EA games and member benefits on PC. The first new EA game launching on Steam will arrive on November 15, when the eagerly anticipated title, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order™, debuts worldwide. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is available to pre-order on Steam beginning today.

This is the start of an exciting partnership with Valve that will see us innovating for PC players around the world,” said Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts. “Through our subscription, great games and more, we’re excited to bring players in the Steam and Origin communities together with access to the best games, whenever and wherever they want to play.

This is a good day for gamers,” said Valve’s Gabe Newell. “We’re excited to partner with EA to not only bring their great games and subscription service to Steam, but also to open up our communities to each other in an unprecedented way that will benefit players and developers around the world.

EA Access will give subscribers access to a broad portfolio of EA games, valuable member benefits and discounts on full game purchases, expansions, in-game items and more. EA has been offering subscription services since 2014, and currently reaches players on the Xbox One, PlayStation®4 and Origin™ platforms.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order™ – the new single player, third-person action adventure Star Wars™ game from Respawn and EA – launches to players worldwide on November 15, 2019. Click HERE for more game information.

You can pre-order the game on Steam now!

In the coming months, players on Steam will be able to play other games such as The Sims™ 4 and Unravel™ 2. Multiplayer games like Apex Legends™, FIFA 20 and Battlefield™ V will become available next year, and players on Origin and Steam will have the ability to play together.

Gaming | Donster | |

uplay-plusSource: TechPowerUp!

Ubisoft’s games SaaS (software as a service) subscription platform, UPlay+, has gone live in select markets, such as the UK. The month of September is completely free, and is charged £12.99 per month thereafter. Unlike Origin Access, UPlay+ isn’t tiered, and you get full access to over 100 AAA titles from Ubisoft, including their premium editions and DLCs. UPlay+ subscribers also become eligible to early-access beta access to upcoming games. You also get SaaS essentials such as the ability to cancel your subscription at any time, and renew it later (along with your data intact). There’s a catch to the September FFA – you need to provide your credit card details upfront, which UPlay authenticates with a £1 reversible charge. On October 1, the first charge for £12.99 takes place, and your subscription rolls on. Reddit members have reported teething troubles with the payment gateway such as failed credit card charges.

Gaming | Donster | |

uplay-plusAnd there’s a month-long free trial

By Matt Wales @ Eurogamer

Back in June, amid the hubbub of E3, Ubisoft announced that it was preparing to launch its own PC games subscription offering, Uplay+. At the time, a library of more than 100 titles was promised for launch, and the publisher has now confirmed the full list of games that will be available when the service arrives on 3rd September.

A Uplay+ subscription costs €14.99/$14.99 USD a month (an official UK price is yet to be confirmed) and provides access to Uplay’s full PC games library, which, as you’d expect, includes all of Ubisoft’s blockbuster franchises – so the likes of Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs, and Far Cry are, unsurprisingly, accounted for – plus all of the publisher’s upcoming titles, including Gods & Monsters and Watch Dogs Legion.

There’s ample representation of classic series from Ubisoft’s enormous back catalogue too – Rayman, Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, and The Settlers get a good airing, for instance – alongside the Steeps, Starlinks, and The Crews of this world.

Read on…

Gaming | Donster | |

steam-labsSource: Blue’s News

Valve offers a look at what they’re cooking up by opening up the doors to the Steam Labs. This unveils “experiments,” works in progress which will not necessarily succeed in the long run. The first three of these are: Micro Trailers, the Interactive Recommender, and Automatic Show. Micro Trailers “are six-second looping videos designed to quickly inform viewers about titles on Steam with a presentation that’s easy to skim.” The Automatic Show is a bot-generated entertainment program. Finally the Interactive Recommender is a new recommendation engine. This last one seems to hold the most promise, as they offer a separate news post with extensive details on its operation. Here’s an explanation on how they hope this might improve upon previous ways of generating game recommendations:

Recommendations on Steam
Rather than introducing a big change to the way customized recommendations are determined on Steam, we’re introducing this new recommender as an experiment customers can seek out and try. This will help us get better usage data while avoiding any sudden shifts that we know can be frustrating for customers and developers who are accustomed to Steam. Should the interactive recommender or related experiments prove useful, we’ll share an update before rolling out any big changes to the way Steam recommends titles to people. The data driving Popular, New, and Trending is different from that of the Discovery Queue, this new recommender, and so on. We view this new interactive recommender as one discovery element among many, and look forward to introducing more ways to connect customers with interesting content and developers.

Recommendations and new games
New games in a system such as this one have a chicken-and-egg effect known as the “cold start” problem. The model can’t recommend games that don’t have players yet, because it has no data about them. It can react quite quickly, and when re-trained it picks up on new releases with just a few days of data. That said, it can’t fill the role played by the Discovery Queue in surfacing brand new content, and so we view this tool to be additive to existing mechanisms rather than a replacement for them.

Why it works for short games
The recommender knows that there are great short-form games you can finish in an hour, and those you’ll play for thousands. Your playtime data is normalized to reflect the distribution of playtime in each game, ensuring that all games are on an equal footing.

No need for developer optimization
Sometimes, computer-driven discovery makes creators focus on optimizing for “The Algorithm” rather than customers. You might ask, how is this any different? We designed the recommender to be driven by what players do, not by extrinsic elements like tags or reviews. The best way for a developer to optimize for this model is to make a game that people enjoy playing. While it’s important to supply users with useful information about your game on its store page, you shouldn’t agonize about whether tags or other metadata will affect how a recommendations model sees your game.

Gaming | Donster | |

razer-game-storeThe Razer Game Store rewards customers with zSilver loyalty rewards credits for any purchase.

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced a new digital distribution platform for PC games – the Razer Game Store – which goes live globally today.

The Razer Game Store (gamestore.razer.com) offers instant access to thousands of digital games and rewards customers with every purchase. Games are delivered in the form of Steam or Uplay product keys.

With Razer’s global leadership in gaming peripherals, laptops and software, the Razer Game Store is the next step in its expanding ecosystem for gamers.

Get Games, Get Rewarded

When gamers buy games from the Razer Game Store, they get access to exclusive offers, Razer Game Store vouchers, discounted Razer peripherals on the RazerStore or other perks.

In addition, gamers will also earn zSilver loyalty rewards credits with each purchase on the Razer Game Store, including credit card transactions. Paying instead with zGold grants even larger zSilver rewards.

With its unique rewards system , buying a game from the Razer Game Store grants more value than in any other digital store as gamers are then able to redeem their rewards for other Razer products and more each time they checkout.

As gamers, we know the importance of a good deal and the Razer Game Store delivers that to everyone,” says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder and CEO. “We have been delighting gamers with our high-performing peripherals, laptops and software, and we’re now also able to provide the content itself that fuels their passion.

Read the full press release HERE.

Gaming | Donster | |

Source: Blue’s News

As expected, the Summer Sale is now underway on Steam, or as they’re calling this year’s installment the Summer Picnic Sale. We can probably find more details when an announcement rolls in, but in the meantime, we can see that there are the usual discounts to be had, and this year’s side game involves getting three free trading cards each day. Initial sales are for things like LEGO games for 30-75% off, the Arma franchise for 20-80% off, and the Call of Duty franchise for 50-67% off.

Gaming | Donster | |

operation-supply-drop-logoLeading Military Charity Partners with Brooke Army Medical Center to Provide Wounded Veterans Entertainment and Occupational Therapy through Video Games

Military charity Operation Supply Drop (OSD) – the world’s most generationally relevant support organization for veterans and active duty military – is proud to announce that on November 18, 2015, it delivered its most impactful video game care package (“Supply Drop”) to date, benefiting the approximately 800 patients treated annually by the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAISR) Burn Center, located at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) in San Antonio, TX, the United State’s largest and busiest military hospital.

In partnership with USAISR Burn Center and through generous support from video game developers, publishers, hardware manufacturers, and both private and institutional donors, OSD was able to offer stress-reducing entertainment and support occupational therapy efforts for patients at BAMC. The military hospital provides care for more than 4,000 patients each day and comprises five separate clinics: Fort Sam Houston Primary Care Clinic, McWethy Troop Medical Clinic, Taylor Burk Clinic, the Schertz Medical Home, and the Corpus Christi Occupational Health Clinic. In addition to being the nation’s largest military hospital, BAMC is a Level-I military trauma center and provides industry-leading burn injury treatment to military and civilians.

“There’s no limit to the potential use of games as a therapeutic tool,” said Major Erik Johnson, Chief of Occupational Therapy for the Burn Center at the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research. “You can use the current generation of video game consoles, such as the XBox with Kinect motion sensor, for a wide range of supplemental treatments. These include improving range of motion in the upper extremities and balance enhancement activities, even with patients who have suffered a brain injury. Perhaps the biggest benefit I’ve observed, however, is that when we engage patients in this type of therapy it significantly boosts their emotional state. And anything we can do to provide them positive emotional feedback is a huge deal for us.”

For more information about this great charity, please visit www.operationsupplydrop.org.

Gaming | Donster | |