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Archived News:
A patch is now available for DOOM, updating id Software's first person
shooter with support for the Vulkan low-level graphics API, a fitting move since
part of the fluid gameplay of the original DOOM was achieved through low-level
programming innovations (thanks RedEye9). They offer a
Vulkan FAQ explaining
all the details, and
this post from id Software CTO Robert Duffy gives the news. Here's part of
that, and how this may be able to allow some older machines to live long and
prosper running the game: When we were looking to adopt Vulkan for DOOM,
the main question we asked ourselves was: “What’s the gamer benefit?” Ultimately
the biggest benefit will be high framerates. There are a number of game-focused
reasons super-high framerates matter, but primarily its movement and player
feel. The game just feels amazing running that fast, so we made it a priority to
try to really exploit the available hardware on PC.
We also anticipate some older GPUs will now be able to play the game at good
framerates. We hope the range of GPU support widens with additional game and
driver updates. That said, this is the first time a triple-A game is releasing
on a brand-new API and brand-new drivers so there may be a few bumps, but our
testing is showing really great performance and stability.
Vulkan is a cutting-edge next-generation graphics and compute API from the
Khronos Group. Vulkan allows very low-level access to the hardware and moves
most of the driver overhead into the developers’ hands. For PC gamers Vulkan
will bring speed and features to DOOM, which is a big upside.
The Arma 3
website announces the release of Arma 3: Apex, the new expansion for Arma 3,
Bohemia Interactive's military shooter sequel. They offer a
launch trailer and the
following explanation: Celebrated with a
launch trailer,
Bohemia Interactive today released the much-anticipated Apex expansion for their
tactical military shooter game, Arma 3. For the first time ever in the series,
players are deployed to a South Pacific warzone, reinforced with new vehicles,
weapons, and gear to overcome the challenges of a hostile foreign terrain.
As reflected by the expansion’s name,
Arma 3 Apex represents the
pinnacle of over 15 years of Arma development. It builds upon the series’
signature large-scale authentic combat gameplay, where movement, shooting, and
teamwork truly matter – and introduces fresh opportunities for all types of
combat operations.
The key features of the Arma 3 Apex expansion are:
- New terrain
The 100 km2 South Pacific island archipelago Tanoa, with varied locations
ranging from rainforest jungles, cities, shanty towns, a sugar cane factory,
a mine, an industrial port, a volcano , and more.
- New armed forces
A new faction of local Tanoan criminals and ex-paramilitaries called
Syndikat, NATO & CSAT special forces, Pacific expeditionary units, and the
Gendarmerie local law enforcement agency.
- 13 new weapons
A mix of classic and modern firearms, thermal-masking uniforms and headgear,
backpacks, NVGs, and a weapon optic.
- 10 new vehicles
New vehicle classes: VTOL aircraft and Light Strike Vehicles – and more new
vehicles such as the UCAV drones, RHIB, 4WD Offroad Car, Propeller Plane,
and Water Scooter.
- Co-op campaign
Take on the role of a NATO CTRG special operator in the 1-4 player "Apex
Protocol" co-op campaign. Connected to the events in the original Arma 3
"The East Wind" campaign, the co-op campaign consists of 7 highly replayable
missions, featuring a drop-in/drop-out multiplayer structure, and the
difficulty scales up or down based on the number of players.
- Additional Apex content
A selection of existing Arma 3 weapons and vehicles repainted in a South
Pacific camo pattern, new character appearances: Tanoan and Chinese, new
radio protocols: French, French-English, and Chinese, new environment assets
and props for content creators, a Tanoa Zeus Game Master scenario, 3 new End
Game scenarios, 13 new Steam Achievements, and the Arma 3 Apex official
soundtrack.
Continue here to read the full story.
UbiBlog highlights a significant change from the upcoming version 3.4 patch
for Rainbow Six Siege that will punish players for excessive team kills.
They outline a list of penalties that escalate for repeat offenders, saying that
some players may end up with permanent bans. The following are highlights on the
topic from the patch
notes: If a player repeatedly team kills, they will temporarily be
banned from matchmaking. After multiple offenses, a permanent ban may be issued
to the offending player’s account.
First offense:
- Casual – Kicked from match.
- Ranked – Banned for 15 minutes, 50% Renown penalty for 30
minutes.
Second offense: Banned from Matchmaking for 30 minutes.
Third offense: Banned from Matchmaking for 2 hours.
Fourth offense: Banned from Matchmaking for 24 hours.
Fifth offense: Banned from Matchmaking for 7 days.
Duration of a suspension will be decided at Ubisoft’s discretion, on a case
by case basis. After multiple offenses, the player may receive up to a permanent
ban. Actual disciplinary action may differ from the list of examples depending
on the severity of the behavior and, again, shall be decided at Ubisoft’s
discretion, on a case-by-case basis.
A new patch is now available for Homefront: The Revolution
on Steam, updating the
first-person shooter to version 1.06 and adding the game's first mission pack
with two new missions for Resistance Mode. Here's word from
the announcement: We are excited to announce that the first of two new
missions will be joining Resistance Mode today!
“Three Birds” and “Triage” will be added today in patch 1.06 on all platforms,
which will also see other fixes and improvements as part of our continuous
post-launch support. And as promised, these and all future Resistance Mode
missions will be available to everyone for free.
Full Patch 1.06 Notes:
- Resistance Mode Map Pack #1 - 2 new missions,
titled "Triage" & "Three Birds" are included
- Fix for missing map icons in Ashgate
- Fix for a vehicle blocking the SAM launcher convoy
- Performance optimisation on the mini map
- Save stall optimisation
- Autosave disabled on revive
- Animation performance optimisation
- Lighting optimisation
- Vehicle creation optimisation
- General bug fixes in Resistance Mode
- Fix for multiple binded keys being changed
Three Birds
The KPA are using their Duster drones as weapons of terror against the civilian
population. We have to show people the Resistance can protect them. We believe
the Dusters are operating out of Elmtree, we need to find them and destroy them.
Triage
Resistance hospitals are in desperate need of medical supplies. Your team is
being sent to rendezvous with the Eagles in enemy territory and recover
supplies, just don’t expect the KPA to stand by while you do it.
Just Cause
Multiplayer forums announce "the indefinite halt of JC3-MP
development," which sounds like a death knell for this multiplayer modification
for Just Cause 3 (thanks
DSOGaming). The good news is that this is because the mod's co-lead
developer has been hired by Avalanche Studios, so hopefully some of his work
will find its way into the main game. The other optimistic note is that this was
one of two planned multiplayer mods for the action sequel, and
nanos GbR continues to work on theirs. Here's
word on what's going on: Good and bad news often come in pairs, and this
case is no exception; several months ago, I was approached with an offer I
couldn't refuse: to join Avalanche Studios Sweden as a developer so that I could
work on projects present and future. As part of Avalanche, I'll be able to bring
many of the things you know and love from JC2-MP into future Avalanche
experiences, while reaching heights that a mere mod couldn't facilitate.
Unfortunately, due to time constraints, neither I or the rest of the team can
actively pursue development on JC3-MP; our lives are just too busy to allow for
it right now.
We will still be maintaining JC2-MP where appropriate - while we're not actively
adding new features, we will fix bugs, maintain stability, and ensure that
JC2-MP remains a quality experience for players present and future. We're still
searching for solutions to our most prevalent issues (including AMD
compatibility without workarounds); hopefully, we'll be able to make headway in
the future.
The Sims 4 remains number one on the
GfK Chart-Track PC top 30 chart of the bestselling games in the U.K. for the
week ending July 9th. That chart is pretty similar to last week's, and so is the
all platforms top 40 chart, where LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens retains
the top spot. Here's the
summary the activity: Warner’s ‘Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens’
takes a second week at No1 (-54%) and a WiiU version debuts this week, making
for a total of 7 physical formats.
Activision Blizzard’s ‘Overwatch’ climbs one place to No2 (-2%), as does
Bethesda’s ‘Doom’, up from No4 to No3 as sales climb overall and particularly on
PS4 thanks to price promotion (+7%). EA’s ‘FIFA 16’ drops 2 places to No4
(-30%). 505 Games’ ‘Rocket League’ is showing resilience by climbing to a best
chart position in its third week since launch, up 2 places to No5 (-7%). The
lone new entry is ‘Carmageddon: Max Damage’ for PS4 & Xbox One debuting at No22.
This Carmageddon re-boot is published by Sold Out and developed by the original
series developer Stainless Games (first published on PC in 1997). UK indie
Stainless Games acquired the rights to the Carmageddon franchise – the original
game generated around £4m in the UK as a boxed release, on PC, PS1, N64, Gameboy
Color and Apple Mac.
- Arctic Accelero Hybrid III-140 Cooler on
Overclocked Inside. German.
- ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1070 OC Graphics Card on
HEXUS.net.
- Asustor AS3202T 2-Bay NAS on
techPowerUp.
- Bitdefender BOX Home Network Security Box on
Big Bruin.
- Chillblast Fusion Tristar Gaming PC on
gamesTM.
- Intel Skull Canyon NUC6i7KYK PC on
TechSpot.
- ROCCAT Ryos MK FX Keyboard on
pcGameware.
- Scythe Fuma CPU Cooler on
ThinkComputers.org.
- SilverStone Redline Series RL05 Mid-Tower Chassis on
eTeknix.
- Steelseries Rival 300 CS-GO Fade Special Edition Mouse on
Play3r.net.
- Zotac Sonix 480GB PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive on
eTeknix.
Happy 7/11! As usual, I will offer an unpaid commercial for 7-Eleven, as they
annually celebrate the occasion by giving way free Slurpees. And apparently all
the stops are being pulled out this year, as it's their 50th anniversary, so
there is some sort of extra icing on the ice this time around, and
this page has the details on how to get
in on the frozen action. I know that there are 7/11s in other countries, now,
but I don't know if this promotion extends outside the U.S. (as has been noted
in the past, the proper date for celebration in Europe would be November 7th).
So there. Enjoy.
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