The Galactic Civilizations III website announces the release of a new map pack for the 4X space strategy game, saying: "The Map Pack DLC includes 8 new maps which range in size from gigantic 18 player areas to intimate maps perfectly sized for two-player duels. Players can also design their own galaxies with the all new custom map editor." What custom map editor you ask? Why the one mentioned in this post about the new version 1.1 patch that adds it along with Steam Workshop support. Here's more on that:

The 1.1 update includes Steam Workshop integration, two new difficulty levels, and UI improvements. With Steam Workshop integration, players can easily share their ship designs and custom factions with other Galactic Civilizations III players. There are already over 400 new ship designs and custom factions available for download today on Steam Workshop!

This update also includes custom map support for multiplayer games, pirates in multiplayer, and a ton of other improvements and fixes for the game. You can see the full changelog here: http://forums.galciv3.com/467453

Activision announces a new Shadows of Evil co-op mode for Call of Duty: Black Ops III Zombies, showing it off today at the San Diego Comic-Con, also revealing plans for a comic series and an exclusive Mega Bloks Zombies figurine. There's also a confirmation of reports that a special Juggernog edition of the game will come with a working mini-fridge, because... we've got nothing. Back to Shadows of Evil, this time around it's set in the 1940s and the cast will star Jeff Goldblum, Heather Graham, Neal McDonough, Ron Perlman, and Robert Picardo, as can be seen in the reveal trailer (NSFW). Here's word on the plan:

Call of Duty: Black Ops III: Zombies – Shadows of Evil drops players into a recognizable yet terrifyingly unfamiliar world, as they uncover the secrets and challenges laid out for them by a shadowy figure, who holds their fate in his hands. Set in a 1940s film-noir era, Shadows of Evil introduces four unwitting characters – The Magician, The Femme-Fatale, The Cop and The Boxer – into an unraveling experience masterminded by the mysterious Shadow Man. Featuring voices and likenesses, the characters are played by Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic Park, Independence Day), Heather Graham (The Hangover 1-3, Californication), Neil McDonough (Captain America: The First Avenger, Band of Brothers), Ron Perlman (Sons of Anarchy, Hellboy) and Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager, Stargate SG-1).

Continue here to read the full story.

A Steam Community Group Announcement reveals a long-term partnership for DiRT Rally with the FIA World Rallycross Championship. This trailer celebrates the news, and here's word on what this will soon bring to the Early Access racing title:

Owners of the game will soon be able to drive a selection of these monstrous cars for themselves across three different game modes and experience the sheer speed, action, dynamism and performance that makes World RX one of the fastest growing motorsports in the world. As with all previous updates, this new content will be available free of charge to existing and included for new owners of the game.

Continue here to read the full story.

• "We seem to like making completely new things" Randy Pitchford - GamesIndustry.biz.
• Soderlund: EA "can't just be a company that's only about gigantic big things" - GamesIndustry.biz.

• 2 Weeks to QuakeCon – Schedule of Events.
• Elder Scrolls Online QuakeCon 2015 plans.
• Heroes of the Storm North America July Open Live This Weekend.

• Google patent uses finger frames to snap pics with Glass-like devices. Thanks HARDOCP.
• Apple releases the first iOS 9 public beta.
• Actress Patti LuPone grabs phone out of the hands of a texting woman mid-show.
• Marvel Contest of Champions Unveils New Game Update in Anticipation of Marvel’s Ant-Man Feature Film.
• 1010! World on the App Store on iTunes.
• Balloon Paradise on Google Play and iTunes.
• Mushroom Wars: Space! on Google Play and iTunes.

• Twitch outranks YouTube in $3.8bn gaming video market - Superdata.

• IBM Discloses Working Version of a Much Higher-Capacity Chip. Thanks HARDOCP.
• Microsoft Releases Office 2016 For Mac.

Thanks j.c.f.

• Microsoft security tool fails malware detection test.
• Hacked hacking company- Terrorists could be using our tools right now. Thanks j.c.f.
• Adobe Patches Hacking Team's Flash Player Zero-Day.
• Cybercriminal Group Spying On US, European Businesses For Profit.
• Crypto Leaders: ‘Exceptional Access’ Will Undo Security.
• ANTlabs Patches Vulnerabilities in Gateway Products.

• Ken Makes His Return in Street Fighter V…

R.I.P.: Caspar Bowden, tireless defender of online privacy, dies.

Into the Stars is now available on Steam as an Early Access title, offering the chance to play this space simulation game before its full release. "Our goal in forming Fugitive Games was to leverage years of AAA experience to bring high-quality titles to the indie space," explains Ben Jones, development director at Fugitive Games. "With Into The Stars our four-man team has crafted a massive world that looks, feels and sounds more like a AAA title than an indie game thanks to the power of Unreal Engine 4. We think Into The Stars’ distinctive gameplay and replayability will resonate with the community, and we look forward to fan feedback during Early Access to help enhance the game." They illustrate the news with a new Early Access trailer showing off some gameplay, and here's word on the game:

Into the Stars is an open-world space survival simulation built in Unreal Engine 4 that features an original score from legendary composer Jack Wall. Players will take on the role of Captain as they explore a massive star system in search of a new home for humanity. With each journey, players will outfit their ships, hand pick their crew and set off on a voyage where they must scavenge resources, shelter civilians and outrun a hostile alien force in order to survive.

Continue here to read the full story.

SEGA of America announces Company of Heroes 2: The British Forces, a new "standalone multiplayer army pack" coming for Relic Entertainment's RTS sequel on September 3rd, bringing 15 new units, six new commanders, and eight new multiplayer maps. They say preorders will get a 10% discount and owners of any Company of Heroes game will receive a 20% discount off the MSRP of $12.99/£9.99/€12.99. They also take the opportunity to also announce plans to update "every title in the Company of Heroes 2 catalogue" to "greatly improve the overall balance of all five factions," and add infantry unit animation and visual improvements. There's no word yet on the seldom updated Company of Heroes website, but there are more details in the announcement:

SEGA® of America, Inc. and SEGA® Europe Ltd. today announced Company of Heroes® 2: The British Forces from Relic Entertainment ™ - an all-new standalone multiplayer army pack launching September 3, 2015 for $12.99, £9.99, €12.99. The British Forces features 15 new units, six new commanders with unique abilities and a total of eight new multiplayer maps portraying historic battlefield locations representing the shattered infrastructure seen throughout Europe at the end of World War II.

An authentic representation of the British army, The British Forces brings to life the iconic vehicles, weapons and multicultural makeup of World War II’s longest standing Allied force. The portrayal of the British army also extends to how their fighting style was implemented into the overall game design. With a military tactical doctrine that balanced mobility and defense, The British Forces gives players a choice in how they progress through the tech tree. They can either follow an ‘anvil’ approach by adopting powerful defensive positions through the use of emplacements or they can take an aggressive ‘hammer’ approach by using fast, hard-hitting units to wreak havoc on the battlefield.

Additionally, coinciding with The British Forces’ release, every title in the Company of Heroes 2 catalogue will receive a major design upgrade that will greatly improve the overall balance of all five factions featured in Company of Heroes 2. The game also features animation and visual improvements to most infantry units in the game, which further increase the authenticity of Company of Heroes 2.

Continue here to read the full story.

Battle.net announces that Blizzard has suspended or permanently banned "numerous" Heroes of the Storm accounts for terms of service violations, including the use of hacking programs (thanks PCGamesN). These actions follow recent evidence that map hacks are in the wild for the MOBA, and Blizzard states cheats and hacks "will not be tolerated." Here's word:

Cheating and using hacks while playing Heroes of the Storm or any Blizzard game will not be tolerated. These actions undermine the spirit of fair competition that’s essential to play on Battle.net, and can lead to stability and performance issues with the service. In Heroes of the Storm, cheaters ruin the competitive atmosphere not only for their opponents, but for their allies as well.

We recently suspended numerous accounts and issued permanent bans to Heroes of the Storm players who were found to be in violation of the Battle.net Terms of Use for cheating and/or using hack programs.

As always, maintaining a stable, safe, and secure online gaming experience is a top priority for us. We'll continue to keep a close eye on cheating in Heroes of the Storm and stamp out offending accounts to uphold the integrity of the game.

A lengthy post on the RSI Community Forums from Ben Lesnick of Cloud Imperium Games' offers "some thoughts on concerns" that have been raised about Star Citizen (thanks PC Invasion), saying this is "all in the spirit of improving communication" about their upcoming space game (even though one of the answers in the post says it's "absolutely incorrect" that they have not been communicating with the community). Questions about the state of the project have intensified amid news of a delay to the FPS module, the departure of the game's executive producer, and the ongoing crowdfunding and virual item sales that continually add to the game's budget. The post takes on these issues and more, deeming almost every concern expressed about the project to be inaccurate. Ben does grant that they have not been communicating enough about promised features on their website, but dismisses most other concerns. Here's a digest:

• ‘Star Marine is delayed indefinitely.’ - "First of all: the phrase ‘delayed indefinitely’ being bandied around is incorrect…"
• ‘Star Marine is Call of Duty in space!’ - "First of all, let me speak out against reducing any concept to such broad strokes…"
• ‘You are spending too much time polishing the game.’ - "This is absolutely inaccurate. We are grappling with blockers, not a polish…"
• ‘Feature creep!’ - "I don’t have much to say to this, beyond that it’s not accurate…"
• ‘You’re spending all your time on concept sales!’ - "We aren’t! Concept sales are something of a slow burn that uses mostly outsource talent who would not otherwise be working on the game…"
• ‘My ship isn’t flyable yet!’ - "Despite rumors (and jokes, I promise!) to the contrary, we have not forgotten about the Caterpillar, Banu Merchantman, Xi’An Scout, Constellation, Retaliator, Orion, Herald, Vanguard or any of the others. :) Every ship we’ve sold (and quite a few we haven’t) are on the block schedule and every dog will get his day. Why are some ships prioritized before others? There’s a couple reasons for that.…"
• ‘They’re only making assets for Squadron 42!’ - "This is also not the case…"
• ‘Sales are down, we’re doomed!’ - "We are not concerned, and you shouldn’t be either…"
• ‘Where are the previous web features you’ve talked about?’ - "This is a good question, and reviewing our past six months of communication I believe it’s probably the most serious concern here…"
• ‘Chris Roberts is wasting his time directing the performance capture shoot.’ - "Positively untrue…"
• ‘X employee is leaving, we’re doomed!’ - "As I said in a recent post, turnover sucks… but it’s a constant in this or pretty much any other industry. The sky is not falling…
• ‘It’s not open development!’ - "I think this is an easy one to attack because it’s a vague concept; there’s no dictionary definition for ‘open development’ and if there were we’d still argue about it. We see open development as sharing our progress with you every step of the way, and I believe we do a fairly good job of that. We’ll continue to get better, we’ll continue to work from feedback… but we make the entire team available to interact with you, we tell you what we’re doing on a weekly and monthly basis… we think it’s pretty open…"
• ‘CIG is not communicating with us!’ - "I firmly believe that this is absolutely incorrect, but I also believe that it’s a criticism that will never, ever go away…"

Issues have popped up for PC gamers who installed the newly released Grand Theft Auto V ILL-GOTTEN GAINS Update Part 2. Users have complained of missing cars, which Rockstar says may just be "rearranged," as well as complaints of stuttering after the patch on the Rockstar Forums and Steam, though Rockstar has not yet responded to these framerate concerns. Thanks VG247.

A new Cossacks 3 Musketeer Animations Short Film shows off some character animations from GSC Game Worlds upcoming strategy sequel. To clarify the name of the clip, this does not show off Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, nor is it meant to show off three animations, rather it shows several animations from Cossacks 3, which include shooting someone as well as getting shot, offering a take on the circle of life without any Elton John music. They also offer note the recent release of what they are calling a video screenshot, which is actually another video, offering a panning shot showing the scope of a battlefield. Continue here to read the full story.

• The Collector’s Aegis of Champions - Dota 2.

• Star Citizen Special with Derek Smart - PC Invasion Podcast #6.

• Rocket League PS4 overheating fix is being taken ‘very seriously’ - hot fixes and patches incoming.
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 PS4 multiplayer beta begins in August.
• World of Tanks Xbox One beta this weekend.
• Nintendo Download Highlights New Digital Content for Nintendo Systems.
• PS4 and Xbox One differences are 'not that important,' says Spiders boss.
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 PS4 beta dated for August.
• PlayStation Now gets PS4 makeover, 6 new games coming this month.

• iOS ad and tracker-blocking taken for a surprisingly fast spin. Thanks Ant.
• Slime Smasher EX on Google Play and iTunes.

• Analysis: Nadella threatens to consign Microsoft to a future of desktop obscurity - Ars Technica.

• Simultaneous downing of NY Stock Exchange, United, and WSJ.com rattles nerves.
• SUPERAntiSpyware version 6.0.1200. Thanks DSL Reports via Ant.

• Man drugs girlfriend so he can keep on playing videogames. "Oh, the sex is wild, but she's got this incredible toy collection and she won't let me near it!"

• SPECTRA on Gaming Nexus.

• Asus TUF Sabertooth X99, Military Tough on Bjorn3D.
• ASUSTOR AS-5102T 2-bay NAS on Mad Shrimps.
• Corsair H100i GTX CPU Cooler on Hardware Secrets.
• Cougar 500K Gaming Keyboard on TweakTown.
• D-Link WiFi Smart Plug on ThinkComputers.org.
• ICY DOCK ICYCube MB561U3S-4S Four Bay USB 3.0 Storage Enclosure on TweakTown.
• Fractal Design Kelvin T12 on Technic3D. German.
• Intel Core i7-5775C (Broadwell) on Legion Hardware.
• Intel NUC5i5RYK Mini PC on Techgage.
• Klevv Genuine DDR3-2400-CL11 1.65V on ocaholic.
• Lian Li PC-T80 Test Bench on ThinkComputers.org.
• Logitech G230 and G35 Headsets on PC Perspective.
• PAPAGO! GoSafe 520 Dashcam on Bjorn3D.
• Razer Seiren Pro on LAN OC.
• Sapphire Fury X vs EVGA GTX 980 Ti SC+ Showdown on Babel Tech Reviews.
• Seasonic Snow Silent 750W on HARDOCP and techPowerUp.
• TteSports Shock 3D 7.1 PC Gaming Headset on eTeknix.

• Disney Infinity 3.0 release date set for August…
• Help from Hell - 09 July - Rocket League Trophies…
• Conan Goes to Comic-con Mad Max Style…
• A New Hope - EPIC Rollercoaster (Minecraft)…
• Duncan Jones Wants To Make Two Warcraft Sequels. The Peter Jackson of game movies…

I've mentioned before my personal superpower is recognizing men's voices. This caused me some recent puzzlement when I heard some ads for the PGA's "The Open" on ESPN that I could swear were narrated by Brian Cox, except to go with the theme he was affecting this strong Scottish brogue. This had me thinking my power had failed me in this case, but then I looked it up, and it turns out the actor was born in Dundee, Scotland, so I guess I was right after all. I always enjoy his performances, and now I'm all the more impressed that I've never noticed his accent slip when he's played Americans or other non-Scottish roles.

Accented Links:	Thanks Ant and Acleacius.
Play:	Disaster Will Strike 5. UFO - Blackstorm Shield. Gravity Driver 2.
Science:	Rapid-fire electron gun may reveal dance of atoms. Radio astronomers see black hole come to life. Teen catches math error in golden ratio at Boston museum. Thanks HARDOCP.
Media:	One-Minute Time Machine (NSFW). Thanks HARDOCP. Ravioli & Lava 2 Nikon D800 and GoPro. Thanks Joshag.
The Funnies:	xkcd: 90s Kid.