AMD Support now offers downloads of new version 15.7 Catalyst reference drivers for AMD graphics cards running under Windows, noting these offer support for the imminent Windows 10 and DirectX 12 (thanks HARDOCP). Here's word:

Windows® 10 Support
This is a Technical Preview driver with full WDDM 2.0 support for Windows® 10 and DirectX® 12 on all Graphics Core Next (GCN) supported products, -AMD Radeon™ HD 7000 and newer graphics products. Official driver support for AMD products will be available when Microsoft launches Windows® 10 on July 29th, 2015.

NOTE: To ensure stability, users should upgrade to the latest available Windows® 10 Technical Preview build provided by Microsoft before installing AMD Catalyst™ 15.7.

Team17 announces plans to develop and publish The Escapists The Walking Dead, a game based on the zombie series using the 8-bit pixel art style of Skybound Entertainment's The Escapists that's coming this year to Windows and Xbox One. Here's a teaser trailer showing off how this looks, and here are some more details:

Merging the award-winning, smash-hit, indie game The Escapists with the worldwide phenomenon that is The Walking Dead, Team17 have taken the very best of both worlds and are now providing players with the opportunity to play Rick Grimes as he takes on hordes of zombies let loose upon the world.

In this unique game, recreated entirely in the charming 8-bit pixel art style of The Escapists, Rick is in charge of a band of survivors featuring many of the original comic book cast. He must secure the safety of the group by seeking out a safe escape route from each area, and manage several dangerous tasks to keep as many of the group alive as possible. The game faithfully matches the timeline of the comics and so as the player makes progress in the game they play through locations that mirror the progress of the band of the survivors taken from the award-winning comic's epic story.

Daniel Murray, President at Skybound Entertainment said, “Team17 presented a creative plan to blend The Walking Dead into The Escapists and our response was simple. When do we get started? The Escapists is a charming example of a single creator’s vision come to life. We are excited to offer fans of The Walking Dead something different and The Escapists The Walking Dead is just that. A playful interpretation that we believe fans of great games in general will love.”

Debbie Bestwick, Team17’s Managing Director added, “With well over 600,000 units sold, the award-winning The Escapists is one of the hit indie titles of 2015. Masterminding your escape from prison is hard enough but how can we make it harder? Zombies. Remember poor Rick Grimes trying to escape hospital, organise life at a farm or hold up in an abandoned prison? A little bit of awesome 8-bit pixel love later and BOOM! It is great to partner with Skybound and The Walking Dead and we are really excited to ‘escapify’ the amazing, rich and sinister world of Robert Kirkman.”

Team17 will be globally debuting the game at the Walker Stalker Fan Fest in Petco Park, San Diego, California during the 10th and 11th July.

Attendees, roamers and fans will be able to get exclusive first hands-on playable with Rick Grimes in the Harrison Memorial Hospital level.

Continue here to read the full story.

Devolver Digital announces Road to Gehenna, an expansion for The Talos Principle coming to Croteam's Windows, OS X, and Linux first-person puzzle game on July 23rd through Steam. Here's word:

The Talos Principle: Road to Gehenna will consist of four episodes that take experienced players through some of the most advanced and challenging puzzles yet. Players will return to a strange, hidden part of the simulation as Uriel, Elohim's messenger, and attempt to free the souls trapped in this mysterious place.

The Talos Principle writers Tom Jubert and Jonas Kyratzes have returned to pen the expansion and show players an entirely different side of Elohim's world through a journey to Gehenna filled with new characters and a new society with its own history and philosophy.

“The original plan was to divide The Talos Principle: Road to Gehenna into over 100 different $5 DLCs but the Devolver Digital DLC Ethics Department advised against it,” noted Devolver Digital CFO Fork Parker. “That particular department has subsequently been disbanded.”

Steam News announces the release of Rocket League, a Windows game where association football/soccer is played using rocker powered cars. Word is: "Soccer meets driving once again in the long-awaited, physics-based multiplayer-focused sequel to Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars! Choose a variety of high-flying vehicles equipped with huge rocket boosters to score amazing aerial goals and pull-off incredible game-changing saves!" Here's more:

A futuristic Sports-Action game, Rocket League, equips players with booster-rigged vehicles that can be crashed into balls for incredible goals or epic saves across multiple, highly-detailed arenas. Using an advanced physics system to simulate realistic interactions, Rocket League relies on mass and momentum to give players a complete sense of intuitive control in this unbelievable, high-octane re-imagining of association football.

Gunpowder is now available on Steam offering Windows, OS X, and Linux editions of this explosive puzzle game from Rogue Rocket Games (their co-founders list Star Wars: Republic Commando, Earthworm Jim, MDK, and Escape From Monkey Island on their resumes). The game recently debuted on iPad, and the desktop version includes support for Steam Achievements, Leaderboards, Cloud Saves and Trading Cards. Here's more:

Gunpowder is a one-of-a-kind physics-based puzzle game set in a wacky rendition of the Wild West, in which players go head-to-head against the greedy wolf, Boss Grimshaw. Players take on the role of Incendio, a friendly fox inspired by the noble deeds of Robin Hood, to reclaim stolen riches for the people, using a series of carefully choreographed explosions ignited by gunpowder lines. Barrels and numerous environmental objects – flaming wagons, Gatling guns, chandeliers, cannons, mine carts and more - aid or hamper the effort! Gunpowder can be played many times over, as players seek to find the fastest and best way to solve each puzzle.

• How Kickstarter Saved Obsidian - Kotaku.
• Grip - Steam Greenlight. "'Grip' is a futuristic combat racing game that has competitors battle across diverse landscapes of distant worlds.
  It's also inspired by the Rollcage games from 1999 and 2000." Here's a trailer.
• Nova Blitz real-time TCG - Steam Greenlight. "Nova Blitz is a real-time, digital, trading card game set in a science fiction universe ruled by five Aspects of energy: Arcane, Tech, Divine, Nature, and Chaos."

• Ubisoft chief: 'We learned from the mistakes we made with Watch Dogs' - The Guardian. "That’s what we learned from the Watch Dogs experience – if it can’t be played on the target machine, it can be a risk." 29 years of AAA game development culminates in a surprising lesson.

• The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on Steam. Save 75%.
• Coffin Dodgers on Steam. Save 20%.
• Ground Control Anthology on Steam. Save 10%.
• Ground Control II: Operation Exodus on Steam. Save 10%.
• Heroes of the Storm Weekly Sale- July 7 – 14, 2015.
• The Legend of Korra on Steam. Save 75%.
• LISA on Steam. Save 50%.
• VoidExpanse on Steam. Save 25%.

• The GTA Online ILL-GOTTEN GAINS Update Part 2 Is Now Available. Now with patch notes.
• Heroes of the Storm Hotfix Patch Notes -- July 8, 2015.

• BioWare Blog: Stepping Into San Diego Comic Con.
• Heroes of the Storm Ultimate Fan Art Contest Semi-Finalists Revealed.

• SMITE Xbox One open beta testing begins.
• There's a brand new Peanuts and Snoopy video game on the way.
• Destiny Limited Edition PS4 announced, coming this September.
• God of War 3 Remastered intro looks incredible in 1080p-60fps.
• Street Fighter 5 beta detailed, features 3 stages and online versus only.
• PlayStation Now will give new long tail to industry, says Sony.
• Batman: Arkham Knight Review on Zero Punctuation. NSFW.

• Report: Gameloft lays off staff at its New York office.
• Magic Duels on the App Store on iTunes.
• Pothole! on the App Store on iTunes.

• D&D's original Players Handbook finally available as a PDF. Thanks nin.
• Google’s Chromecast gets a hardwired Ethernet adapter.

• Microsoft to axe up to 7,800 jobs, writes off $7.6bn from Nokia deal.
• NASA’s cool, radical and visionary concepts.
• The Mob's IT Department. Thanks nin.
• Report: Paramount to test earlier home releases of theatrical films.

Thanks j.c.f.

• FBI chief tells Senate committee we’re doomed without crypto backdoors.
• Old MS Office feature can be exploited to deliver, execute malware.
• Google Pulls ClickFraud App from Google Play.
• Flaw allows hijacking of professional surveillance AirLive cameras.
• Hackers targeting users of Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Lloyds Bank and Santander.

• FBI seized child porn website with 215,000 users: court filing.
• Daybreak CEO To Convicted Lizard Squad Hacker- ‘I’m Coming For You.' Thanks nin.
• Apple persuades U.S. judge to void $533 million iTunes award. Thanks HARDOCP.
• Time Warner Cable Sued For Robocalling Wrong Woman...153 Times. Thanks Ant.

Link of the Day: GTA POLICE. Thanks Ant.

With Windows 10 due at the end of the month, GOG.com announces their support for the new operating system, saying they hope to offer a "near-seamless transition" for the good old games offered on their service:

Currently, we are very optimistic about July 29th and hope you will make a near-seamless transition to gaming on the newest version of your Windows operating system.

GOG.com has always been about making sure our releases, especially the classics, are tested and playable out of the box on modern computers.

When GOG.com launched in 2008, Windows XP was by far the most popular operating system among gamers. Ever since then we've meticulously tested our entire library to introduce Day 1 compatibility with every new Windows release. We've done it for Windows 7, we've done it for Windows 8 - now we're doing it all again for Windows 10.

So far, things are looking great. We're encountering very few problems and most of those are either resolvable on our end, or likely to get fixed as Windows 10 nears release. In fact, many games that had issues on operating systems newer than Windows XP once again won’t suffer any hiccups on Windows 10. The OS is still a work in progress, so while anything can happen until the release date we're confident for the future. This is the smoothest transition to a brand new system that we've ever worked on.

Some games may need a patch to run perfectly smoothly, but don't worry - they will be available on the site, and if you use GOG Galaxy, your games will be ready to go automatically.

Almost a year to the day after announcing changes to Ghost Recon Phantoms to inspire more players to check it out, Ubisoft announces they are now offering version 2.0 of the free-to-play shooter which includes a free trial version of its premium Infinite Pack. This trailer shows off all the changes in the new version, and this announcement has details on the patch and the Infinite Pack trial:

Today, Ubisoft® announced Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Phantoms® game update 2.0, which offers a free trial of the all-inclusive Infinite Pack, welcoming new players to the same great tactical gameplay with streamlined improvements and more free content – available now.

Free Infinite Pack Trial
Ghost Recon Phantoms is radically modifying its new user experience to make starting easier for beginners. All new users now receive instant equipment rewards as they progress to level 15, as well as a trial version of the Infinite Pack for free. The all-inclusive Infinite Pack rewards players as they level up with all standard gear in the game as well as bonus rewards.

New Improvements
In addition to the Infinite Pack trial, update 2.0 brings with it a number of user experience changes to make Ghost Recon Phantoms more accessible than ever. As Producer Francois Logeais explains it: “Our goal is to reduce the confusion and choice paralysis new users feel by progressively exposing them to our systems. We will guide new users through the new streamlined early experience and offer only directly relevant options and modes.” These changes include a more user-friendly user interface (UI) as well as community-requested removal of the Armor Maintenance system, which frees up more in-game currency for players to get the gear they want.

Update 2.0 also includes new free content, such as new Tier 11 and Legendary weapons, a new Team Deathmatch map, and an increase in level cap from 50-70.

Continue here to read the full story.

Strategy First announces an all-new FlatOut racing game is in the works at Kylotonn Entertainment, saying this is expected for release next year for PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, "and more." This series, originated by Bugbear, includes demolition as well as racing, and the last installment was the Team6-developed FlatOut 3: Chaos & Destruction, which was released in 2011. The news of a new game is not supported with any art or a website at this time, so all we have for now is this announcement:

Strategy First Inc., a PC and Mobile games publisher celebrating its 26th year, is proud to announce the development of an all new FlatOut racing game expected for release in 2016.

Strategy First is proud to announce the development partnership with Kylotonn Entertainment. The Paris based studio Kylotonn Entertainment has developed a high profile in the racing and destruction racing genre. The latest in the beloved demolition derby style racing game franchise, the new FlatOut game will be made available for multiple platforms including PC, Xbox One, Play Station 4 and more.

After receiving numerous offers from great developers worldwide, Strategy First is confident that Kylotonn Entertainment will deliver the FlatOut experience that fans have been waiting for. The All NEW FlatOut will be the most ambitious title in the franchise’s history. For that to happen, Strategy First and Kylotonn have invited the online community to get involved in the creative process. Over the course of the next few weeks and months, Strategy First and Kylotonn Entertainment will announce a variety of ways in which the online community may help shape the all new FlatOut game.

“FlatOut is our most important franchise. There is a strong vocal community that have numerous constructive ideas and suggestions on what they would like to experience in an all new FlatOut. We would like to invite anyone who is a fan of FlatOut to be part of the process. We are excited about our partnership with Kylotonn Entertainment“, says Strategy First Director Emanuel Wall.

“Strategy First and Kylotonn will create an exciting FlatOut experience. The online game community will still have everything that originally made FlatOut such a great title. While at the same time we here at Kylotonn will introduce and create new experiences and moments that we think people will love,“ says Roman Vincent, Director of Kylotonn Entertainment.

Ongoing information on the all new FlatOut will be made available soon.

We cannot wait for the all new FlatOut to be available. When content creators and content consumers work together, everyone benefits by creating a superior, enduring, and fun game.

A community manager post to battle.net explains that all the maps are back in rotation in the Americas for Heroes of the Storm, and they should be restored in other regions for the MOBA now or soon. Maps were removed last week to give players more chances of playing the new Eternal Conflict map, a move that comments suggest wasn't well received by all players, as it often led to playing several games in a row on the same map. Speaking of player complaints, in a separate post a community manager reacts to the numerous threads stating the new Butcher hero is overpowered, saying Blizzard is currently satisfied that the character is balanced based on win-rates at higher levels according to their top-secret MMR system:

According to stats, the Butcher has a positive win rate at lower MMRs. However, when we assess his win rate when looking at higher MMRs, he starts to even out very nicely. The Butcher is just barely under a 50% win rate when looking at average to high level play. Currently, he appears to be nowhere near overpowered or underpowered.

Obviously there is always more to balancing a hero than just win rates, but at a high level, he seems to be looking fine. The dev team will continue to monitor his success (and failures) in the Nexus and tune as necessary, just like the rest of the roster in Heroes of the Storm.

Blizzard introduces a masked vigilante called Soldier: 76 as the latest hero in OverWatch, their upcoming teamplay shooter. They celebrate the news with no fewer than three new videos centered on the character, an introduction trailer, an origin story, and an ability overview. Here's word on the character:

Soldier: 76 is on a mission to expose the truth behind the fall of Overwatch. Currently the target of an international manhunt as the prime suspect in a series of attacks around the globe, he's prepared to do what's necessary to bring those responsible for organization’s sudden collapse to justice.

Armed with cutting-edge weaponry, including an experimental pulse rifle that’s also capable of firing spirals of high-powered Helix Rockets, Soldier: 76 demonstrates the speed and support know-how of a highly trained military warrior. And when he has an objective in his sights, his target-tracking Tactical Visor ensures he makes the shot every time.

Continue here to read the full story.

The BioWare Blog has details on a new Patch 8 that's now available for Dragon Age: Inquisition, their RPG sequel. This includes new multiplayer content, including "new and rare high level" weapons, a new T4 accessory, and a new tutorial level. This also introduces a save game importer for consoles, which is explained in detail on this page. Here are the details on the patch:

Introduced the Save Importer, allowing players to migrate their save games to current-gen consoles. Click here for more details.
[Multiplayer] Introduced new and rare high level weapons, including some from the Avvar clans.
[Multiplayer] Introduced one new T4 accessory.
[Multiplayer] Introduced Proving Grounds, a new tutorial level accessible from the class selection screen.
[Multiplayer] Introduced Nightmare difficulty, a step up from Perilous.
[Multiplayer] Fixed an issue that caused the Multiplayer menu to be reloaded after a quick match failure.
[Multiplayer] Fixed an issue when using Reset Ability Points with a full inventory.
[Multiplayer] Fixed an issue which could prevent Multiplayer maps from streaming in during high latency matches.
[Multiplayer] Fixed the text for the Challenge “Relentless Pursuit” to list the correct Multiplayer character.
[PS4] Fixed a crash when playing while installing relating to the Flames of the Inquisition items.
[PS4] Fixed an issue that prevented joining a Multiplayer game via PS4 Friends List

• Family Man - Steam Greenlight. "Family Man is a first person adventure RPG in which your play out the life of a normal everyday guy, Joe Smith. Things don't go well for you and your family as you're forced to make morally dubious decisions to support them."
• 'NotGTAV: The Kickstarter Avoidance Album' releasing on Steam 10/07/2015. "Having decided to give all the profits of our game to charity, we have recently been faced with the dilemma of having no money to make our next game. We thought about KickStarter but after careful consideration we realised that our fans and customers might prefer to get more for their money than a promise of a game sometime in the future which might or might not happen."

• Get Ready for San Diego Comic-Con With the Ubi Workshop.
• Doing Something About the ‘Impossible Problem’ of Abuse in Online Games.
• Portal Designer Kim Swift Giving Keynote Address at PAX Prime.

• GTA Online: Ill-Gotten Gains Part 2 update is live now. No patch notes yet.

• Xbox One Update for July 7, 2015.
• King’s Quest - The Complete Collection is Now Available for Digital Pre-order and Pre-download on Xbox One.
• Overkill is 'upset' about dropping support for Payday 2 on PS3 and 360. Imagine how customers feel.

Thanks Ant.

• EA appoints new head of EA Mobile.
• How to find cellular access when traveling (without international roaming).
• Police: Don't buy a gun-shaped iPhone case.
• Rayman Adventures Revealed for Mobile Devices.
• Epic Cat Runner - Endless Adventure Arcade Game on the App Store on iTunes.

• YouTuber PewDiePie opens up about his $7.3 million earnings from playing video games.
• Facebook To Build Completely Green Data Center.
• AT&T will give poor people 1.5Mbps DSL for $10 if US allows DirecTV merger.

• Logitech Is Changing Its Name to "Logi" Because Tech Means Nothing. You can't spell logic without "logi."
• Japan is building solar energy plants on abandoned golf courses—and the idea is spreading. Solar freakin' fairways! Thanks HARDOCP.
• AMD Delivers World’s First Server GPU with Industry-Leading 32GB Memory for High Performance Compute. Translated? Thanks HARDOCP.

Thanks Ant.

• Security gurus deliver coup de grace to US govt's encryption backdoor demands.
• Meet the hackers who break into Microsoft and Apple to steal insider info.
• OpenSSL tells users to prepare for a high severity flaw.
• Major Flash bug uncovered in leaked Hacking Team data dump.
• Adobe Security Bulletin - New Flash Player. Thanks DSLReports.
• Days after Hacking Team breach, nobody fired, no customers lost.
• In Russia, selfie takes you, prompts official “safety selfie” warning.

• Xbox Live and PSN hacker gets suspended sentence, escapes prison.

• Her Story on Just Adventure.

• Aerocool Aero-1000 White Chassis on Hardware Slave.
• ASUS Sabertooth X99 on Overclockers Club.
• Azio MGK1 Backlit USB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard on Benchmark Reviews.
• CM Storm Sirus-C Professional 2.2 Gaming Headset on TweakTown.
• Patriot Viper DDR4 2400MHz 16GB Kit on pcGameware.
• Performance SATA Solid State Drive Roundup on HARDOCP.
• Thecus N5810 Pro SMB NAS on TweakTown.
• ZOTAC GeForce GTX 980 Ti AMP! on Technic3D and techPowerUp.

• The Relentless Champions Of Classic Fallout. Thanks Aleksey, author of this unapproved response…
• Amazon 3D Printed Products Store Now Offering Customization of Popular Video Game Characters from Smite, Primal Carnage and Infinity Blade…
• BATMAN- ARKHAM KNIGHT (Honest Game Trailers)…
• Renegade X: Beta 5 Released. Thanks DSOGaming…

Some comments in our forums pointed out that my thought yesterday about the 7/7 date possibly being considered lucky was inappropriate in light of the 7 July London bombings in 2005. That certainly is the case, and it probably won't help me seem less indifferent to explain I was not recalling the anniversary when I wrote what I did, so it was an oversight. Apologies for the insensitivity.

Links:	Thanks Ant and Acleacius.
Play:	Tower Droids. Frag-Ments. Idle Killer.
Stories:	Star Wars- Han Solo origins film announced. Bitten by a radioactive rogue. Minnesota Zoo grizzly bear shatters glass pane with rock. Thanks Boing Boing.
Media:	Honest Trailers - Iron Man. USA CHALLENGES JAPAN TO GIANT ROBOT DUEL. The Simpsons - Trumptastic Voyage. GoPro- Wingsuit Flight Through 2 Meter Cave - Uli Emanuele. Eek!
The Funnies:	Harry Shearer returning to The Simpsons. Thanks nin.