It's possible Gearbox Software is returning to the World War II setting they first explored with their Brothers in Arms series (thanks PSU). Responding to a tweet from Rami Ismail of Vlambeer about indications that Call of Duty will return to World War II, Randy Pitchford tweets: "You're going to hate something we're doing, then." Interestingly, in another tweet, Randy takes what he seems to feel is the blame for the CoD series, saying, "Call of Duty is actually my fault. First sold BiA to ATVI as 'Wargame' with 'In war, no one fights alone' as pitch line."

EA's Star Wars website has word to expect the first trailer for Star Wars Battlefront II on April 15th. This will hopefully provide the first details about the action game sequel, which has barely been officially announced up until now. Here's the plan:

Commence primary ignition – the first trailer for Star Wars™ Battlefront™ II is imminent. On April 15 at 2:30PM ET/11:30AM PT at Star Wars Celebration, we’ll be presenting during the “The Galaxywide Premiere of Star Wars Battlefront II” panel. Not able to attend in person? You’ll still be able to watch online. Join the award-winning developers from DICE, Criterion and Motive as they offer a glimpse at the game and debut the first trailer.

You can find more information on the official Star Wars Celebration site. Keep an eye on the EAStarWars Twitter and Facebook channels for details in the coming weeks.

Steel Division: Normandy 44 is on display in a new trailer from Paradox, offering a look at gameplay from the upcoming World War II strategy game. You say you want some more? Well here's some more, as they plan three different livestreams for the game starting tomorrow. Here's word on the new video and the upcoming livestreams:

Paradox Interactive, a publisher with a robust video division, today released the first trailer made with in-game footage of Steel Division: Normandy 44. Developed by the veteran strategy-game creators at Eugen Systems, Steel Division: Normandy 44 is an upcoming tactical real-time strategy game for Windows PCs that puts players in command of World War II military divisions. Featuring historically accurate units and environments as displayed in Eugen’s IRISZOOM engine, the game allows for battles to play out in extreme detail whether viewed from a broad overhead perspective or while focused on a single unit.

This weekend, Paradox and Eugen will be featuring several live streams of Steel Division: Normandy 44 from the show floor of EGX Rezzed in London. Multiplayer games will be broadcast featuring developers and show attendees, and game features will be highlighted in a developer stream on Paradox’s Twitch channel. All streams will be available at https://www.twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive, and the stream schedule will be as follows:

• Thursday, March 30th, 14:30 GMT: Developer Stream with Paradox and Eugen
• Friday, March 31st , 11:00 GMT: Live Multiplayer
• Saturday, April 1st, 11:30 GMT: Live Multiplayer

A new trailer from LEGO City Undercover uncovers some details about the vehicles in the upcoming blocky adventure game. Word is: "In LEGO CITY, every vehicle on the street can be used to cruise around the open-world! With more than 100 types to choose from, play as super-cop Chase McCain and get behind the wheel of sports cars, UFO’s, lawnmowers, motorcycles, helicopters and more to help track down corrupt criminals or just take a leisurely ride through the city." The clip is accompanied by a little more about the game:

LEGO CITY Undercover features more than 20 unique districts to investigate, filled with car thieves to bust, vehicles to navigate, mischievous aliens to capture, hilarious movie references to discover, lost pigs to rescue and of course, hundreds of collectibles. Bringing together witty, original storytelling with signature LEGO humor, this open-world adventure creates a fun-filled experience for players of all ages. Join the Chase when LEGO CITY Undercover is released in North America on April 4, 2017for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One®, Nintendo Switch™ and PC for the first time.

Continue here to read the full story.

Gameplay from Surf World Series is on display in a new video from the upcoming wave catching simulation. Hang ten and check out theses accompanying details: "Lead producer Jamie Fisher, from developer Climax Studios, discusses gameplay, customisation and more from the upcoming title Surf World Series on PS4, Xbox One and PC later this year." Continue here to read the full story.

• Dota 2 Update - March 29th, 2017.
• Heroes of the Storm 2.0 Open Beta Notes — March 29, 2017.
• Stellar Overload Early Access Update 3.

• Heroes of the Storm Weekly Sale- Mar 29 - Apr 4, 2017.
• Jotun: Valhalla Edition on Steam. Save 67%.

• Exclusive Interview: Funcom on the Secret World Legends reboot and the end of updates for The Secret World – Massively Overpowered. Thanks Acleacius.

• MyWorld Users Competition.

• Xbox One's faster, simpler interface is available to everyone. Thanks Slashdot via Ant.
• PS4 graphics can achieve photorealism before PS5 release, says dev.
• Destiny Age of Triumph easter egg revealed.
• PlayStation Plus games April 2017 revealed, includes 10 Second Ninja X.
• Akiba’s Beat Launches on PS4, PS Vita May 16.
• PS Plus- Free Games for April 2017.

• Samsung Galaxy S8 hands-on: Samsung produces a stunning redesign - Ars Technica
• “Samsung Dex” is a Galaxy S8 dock that makes your phone into a desktop.
• Tom Clancy's ShadowBreak Announced for Mobile Platforms.

• “Samsung Connect” wrangles all the insecure Things in your Internet of Things.
• Our team (and this dog) present to you: 1080p streaming on Twitch. Thanks Hypothermia.
• Verizon Begins Testing 4K TV for FiOS TV Service.

• Intel is keeping Moore’s Law alive by making bigger improvements less often.
• AMD Working On 16-Core 32 Thread "Threadripper" CPU?

• Your privacy online is the same as it was yesterday. Thanks Ant.
• How not to phish a security researcher on Twitter. Thanks RedEye9.

• Now Available on Steam - Fallout Shelter…
• This Free Online Flight Sim Is Multi-Player Too. Thanks Ant…

Link of the Day: COCO Trailer 2 (2017) Disney Pixar Movie.

The Heroes of the Storm website announces plans for Heroes of the Storm 2.0, an overhaul of Blizzard's free-to-play MOBA. This will go live in the next patch, but is also now in beta testing on the PTR. Word is: "Since launch, we’ve added tons of content to Heroes of the Storm. Now, we’re ready to take the game to the next level with a more powerful progression system, reward-packed Loot Chests, an innovative new Battleground, and, of course, heaps of rule-shattering heroes." Information on this will be doled out in portions, and they currently offer an article on a new progression system and a new reward system, adding loot chests, sprays, announcers, and more. They also have a Cassia profile for a new hero, showing off an assassin described as an Amazon Warmatron. They have locked articles with dates for two Reddit Q&As, a Heroes timeline, two more hero reveals, a launch event, and more. Here's an overview video and some details:

The first major update coming with Heroes of the Storm 2.0 is a massive overhaul of our leveling and progression systems! In our next patch, we’ve decided to make progression more straightforward by removing the Player Level cap and transforming it into the sum of all the Hero levels you’ve gained. We’ve also removed the Hero level cap so that your ability to continue progressing is near limitless.

As a result, the XP you’ll earn by completing games will now only affect your Hero progression. Whenever you gain a new Hero level, your overall Player Level will increase as well.

Uncapping progression helps us accomplish our goals to make progression more frequent and more meaningful. It also gives us enough flexibility to reward you with some sweet in-game loot every time you level up one of your Heroes!

We’re rolling out game-changing additions to make Heroes of the Storm a new, even better experience: stronger player progression in the form of Loot Chests; innovative new Battlegrounds from more Blizzard universes; new mechanical twists on over-the-top brawls; and, of course, tons of rule-shattering Heroes.

Continue here to read the full story.

Funcom announces plans to relaunch The Secret World this spring as Secret World Legends, the game is being reconceived as a "shared world action/RPG" with revamped combat, a new progression system, and updated graphics. The Secret World Legends website is online as home to the project, offering a teaser trailer with a look at what to expect. The game will be free-to-play, and they say all content will be free, as will future updates, adding that all content can be earned in-game to avoid a pay-to-win situation. More details on the business model and the remake can be found in this FAQ, and those interested in trying this out as soon as possible can register for beta testing on this page. Here's word:

Funcom is excited to announce that their acclaimed story-driven game The Secret World will be relaunched this spring as Secret World Legends, a shared-world action RPG with completely revamped combat, a newly designed progression system, and updated visuals. The game’s full collection of missions and mysteries will be free to play, with over 100 hours of mature storytelling and surprises. Players can sign up for Secret World Legends’ beta at www.SecretWorldLegends.com.

“Over the course of five years, The Secret World has created a truly memorable RPG universe that stands out to this day for the uniqueness of its dark setting and tone, the depth of its quest design, and the high quality of its voice acting throughout,” said Rui Casais, CEO of Funcom. “Secret World Legends uses that foundation to mark a new era for the game, offering a fresh start for newcomers and long-time fans alike, delivering a captivating journey that can be enjoyed entirely on your own or with friends.”

Secret World Legends plunges players into a shadowy war against the supernatural in an adventure that crosses our world with the realms of ancient myth and legend. As players traverse the globe unraveling complex investigations into the unknown, they’ll need to uncover clues and use their own wits as much as their characters’ abilities. A highly extensive and customizable arsenal of firearms, weapons, gear and otherworldly powers will give players the strength to battle the forces of darkness as they dig deeper into these vast and mysterious lands. Players can go at it alone and enjoy the over 100 hours of story at their own pace, or team up with others as they explore the world and unravel its mysteries.

“One of our biggest goals in relaunching the game has been to reimagine the core gameplay experience in a way befitting a modern-day action RPG,” said Scott Junior, executive producer. “Secret World Legends features combat that feels more natural, deep systems that are more intuitive, better structuring of the early game for new players, and improved mission flow to strengthen the pace of progression for players.”

Continue here to read the full story.

The Strong National Museum of Play announces the finalists for their Videogame Hall of Fame. This Hall is still a bit of a newb, so they have lots of worthy games to honor. Word is: "The World Video Game Hall of Fame recognizes electronic games that meet the following criteria: icon-status, the game is widely recognized and remembered; longevity, the game is more than a passing fad and has enjoyed popularity over time; geographical reach, the game meets the above criteria across international boundaries; and influence, the game has exerted significant influence on the design and development of other games, on other forms of entertainment, or on popular culture and society in general. (A game may be inducted on the basis of the last criterion without necessarily having met all of the first three.)" This press release has all the finalists, saying inductees will be announced on May 4th. Here are the dozen games in the running:

• Donkey Kong
• Final Fantasy VII
• Halo: Combat Evolved
• Microsoft Windows Solitaire
• Mortal Kombat
• Myst
• Pokémon Red and Green
• Portal
• Resident Evil
• Street Fighter II
• Tomb Raider
• Wii Sports

Origin now offers They Shall Not Pass, the first DLC pack for Battlefield 1, the World War I shooter. Here's word on what this offers:

New mode: Frontlines
Force your way through the enemy line and claw back precious territory in the newest game mode for Battlefield 1. Both teams battle over a series of control points to capture the enemy’s HQ, then dive into frantic Rush-style combat to destroy or defend critical telegraph posts.

4 brand new maps
The hardened veterans of the French army make a stand in a brutal defense of their homeland. Fight through blazing forest fires, brave close-quarters combat, and engage in full-on tank warfare as you try to capture precious territory, or save your home from invaders.

New Behemoth: the Char 2C
Based on the real-world French tank, this super-heavy beast remains one of the biggest and most heavily-armored tanks ever made. When the enemy has your back to the wall, the Char 2C is just what you need to turn the tide of battle and win the day.

Thrilling new features
The battlefield gets even bigger with a new army, new vehicles and more. Discover a whole new set of tools to dominate the enemy team.

The World of Warcraft Forums detail a change in World of Warcraft not noted in the most recent patch notes (thanks PCGamesN). As of now, top level characters will face mobs scaled to their item level rather than their character level. Here's word:

Our goal is basically to safeguard against that degenerate extreme. We tune outdoor combat for a fresh 110 around a 12-15sec duration against a standard non-elite, non-boss enemy. It's great for gear, over the course of an expansion to cut that time in half, or even by two-thirds. But once you get down to a duration of one or two global cooldowns, the game just wasn't built to support that as the norm. (Note that this is an current-content endgame concern; running legacy content for completion/transmog/etc. purposes is a totally different story.)

The intent of our change in 7.2 was to smooth out that progression curve a bit, not flatten it out, and certainly never to invert it. If you get a great set of item upgrades that make you 5% stronger, maybe the world gets 1-2% tougher. Perhaps instead of getting 400% stronger over the course of the expansion relative to the outdoor world, you only get 250% stronger. But you should always be getting more powerful in relative terms, and upgrades should always matter. From some reactions so far, it sounds like we may be off on that tuning. And as noted above, the fact that unequipping items can ever be helpful is a bug that we'll be investigating and fixing.

Finally, there's the natural question of why we didn't patch-note this. It was not to be deceptive; we know it's impossible to hide a change from millions of players. But the system was meant to feel largely transparent and subtle, just like level-scaling does if you don't stop and really think about it, and so we did want players to first experience the change organically. Your feedback and reactions and first impressions of the system are more useful in this particular case when they are not skewed by the experience of logging in and actively trying to spot the differences. Thank you for that, and I look forward to continued discussion.

A new trailer from Syberia III centers on the story from the upcoming adventure game sequel. As such the clip includes cinematic footage and lots of exposition. The description doesn't offer any new details, it just has the game's itinerary and bona fides:

The game will be released on April 20 in Europe and April 25 in North America on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC/Mac.

Enter the enchanting world of Benoit Sokal's latest masterpiece.

Join Kate Walker in the unique world of Syberia.
Dive into the story, puzzles, and mysteries of this fabulous adventure, conceived and drawn by Benoit Sokal, with music by Inon Zur.

Major Nelson announces the release of Snake Pass, a new version of classic puzzle platformer. This is an Xbox Play Anywhere title, so one purchase covers Windows 10 and Xbox One, and supports playing across both platforms. Here's word:

A unique, physics based puzzle platform game, Snake Pass challenges players to ‘think like a snake’ as they tackle precarious puzzles as only a snake can. Slither through long grass, coil around bamboo and climb out of trouble in the latest game from award winning independent studio Sumo Digital!

• Dota 2 Update - March 28th, 2017.

• Beam Streaming, Intuitive Guide And More Come To Xbox One Starting Today.
• Nintendo Switch System Update Version 2.1.0 Now Available.
• Air Guitar Warrior for Kinect Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• Has the Red Dead Redemption 2 release date been leaked by a Polish retailer?
• Psyonix is Considering Bringing Rocket League to the Switch.

• NBC Will Air the 2018 Winter Olympic Games Live for the First Time. Thanks Ant.
• A Plan to Save Blockchain Democracy From Bitcoin’s Civil War.

Thanks Ant.

• Windows 10 Creators Update is quite a small major update.
• Berlin has lowest rent and shortest commute for tech startup workers. Thanks Slashdot.
• Making Music On The Amiga + Full Amiga Album. Thanks OS news.

• How the Republicans Sold Your Privacy to Internet Providers. By Tom Wheeler.
• IRS loses lawsuit in attempt to get Amazon to pay $1.5B in back taxes.
• Man who claims he invented e-mail is now running for US Senate.

• Dark Souls 3 Ringed City on PC Invasion.
• Filmmaker on Just Adventure.
• Rain World on Eurogamer and PC Invasion.
• The Walking Dead: A New Frontier Episode 3 on Angry Centaur Gaming.

• Amped Wireless ALLY Plus Whole Home Smart Wi-Fi System on Big Bruin.
• AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Edition 8G Motherboard on TweakTown.
• Arctic Accelero Hybrid AIO Mod Anleitung on Overclocked Inside. German.
• ASRock X370 Taichi AM4 Motherboard on Hardware Canucks.
• be quiet! Pure Base 600 Window Case on Vortez.
• BitFenix Shogun E-ATX Dual Tempered Glass Gaming Case on Benchmark Reviews.
• Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 6 Case on ThinkComputers.org.
• Corsair Gaming K63 Mechanical Keyboard on eTeknix.
• Corsair Vengeance LED DDR4-3200C16 32GB RAM on ocaholic.
• Epicgear Morpha X Fully Modular Optical and Laser Gaming Mouse on eTeknix.
• Lexar JumpDrive P20 Flash Drive on PC Perspective.
• NZXT Kraken X52 Liquid CPU Cooler on TweakTown.
• Samsung EVO Plus 128GB MicroSDXC Memory Card on Legit Reviews.
• SteelSeries' Rival 700 gaming mouse on The Tech Report.
• Thermalright True Spirit 140 Direct Cooler on techPowerUp.

• THE TRACER PARADOX! - THE SCIENCE!... of Overwatch. Thanks Ant…

This "flat Earth" craze came up in the forums yesterday, and it reminded me that this odd form of ignorance seems to be growing. I haven't delved too far into this besides to see that that most "proof" that the Earth is flat come in the form of nonsensical questions about things like how skyscrapers stand up straight. So my question is, what do people living in this alternate reality answer when asked how a plane can circle the earth and end up where it started? Or why nobody ever comes to the "edge" of the earth? Or what's on the other side of the edge? Or what's containing the edges of the oceans? All these questions seem so elementary it's hard to believe this all isn't global trolling, but there seem to be people who really believe they are uncovering a conspiracy here. For that matter do any of them explain why the "truth" about the Earth's flatness is being hidden? It seems like you can make a better case for things with no proper evidence at all like bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. This aggressive embrace of anti-science is genuinely disturbing... it feels like the roots of the plot to The Omega Man or something.

R.I.P.: 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' Star Darlene Cates Dies at 69.

Omega Links:	Thanks Ant and Acleacius.
Play:	Rogue Fable 2.
Stories:	Indonesian man found dead inside giant python. Golf ball lawsuit shows why Americans can't have nice things cheap. Thanks Slashdot. Three killed after two Weather Channel storm chasers crash into a third while pursuing tornado.
Science:	Spiders could theoretically eat every human on Earth in one year. Thanks Hypothermia. Westinghouse Files for Bankruptcy, in Blow to Nuclear Power. Paralyzed man uses arm thanks to experimental device.
Media:	Rayna meets a "robot". Thanks ViperFour. Which Jewelry Brands Are The Biggest Ripoffs? Gorillaz: Saturnz Barz (Spirit House).
Follow-up:	Wreck-It Ralph Sequel Titled 'Ralph Breaks The Internet'.