Sniper Elite V2 Remastered is now available for Windows on GOG.com and Steam. This remake comes with a pretty premium price, but Steam is also offering an upgrade for owners of the original version that's $9.99 USD. Here's the launch trailer, and here's word:

With gripping gameplay, revamped visuals and exciting new features, the trailer shows off all the improvements you can look forward to when you pick up your copy.

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered takes the original's iconic sniping and advanced ballistics, and amplifies the game with a host of improvements and added extras. In addition to remastered visuals the game features overhauled assets, modernized rendering and much more.

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered also adds a versatile new photo mode that lets you pause and move the action frame-by-frame, for that perfect X-ray Kill Cam shot. You can also play the campaign and multiplayer modes as one of 7 new characters from the Zombie Army series. And now multiplayer is expanded for up to 16 players online across all modes.

On top of all this, Sniper Elite V2 Remastered includes all the DLC ever released for the game including the iconic “Assassinate the Führer” mission, making it incredible value-for-money.

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered is priced £29.99 / $34.99 / €34.99 across all platforms. Steam and GOG users who already own the original Sniper Elite V2 can upgrade to Sniper Elite V2 Remastered from just £6.99 / $9.99 / €9.99.

Galactic Civilizations III was first released on May 14, 2015, and Stardock celebrates its fourth birthday with the release of a new version 3.7 Anniversary Update as well as a sale on the 4X space strategy sequel. This post has all the details on the patch, which is inspired by fan feedback, as well as the sale, which offers the chance to pick up the Core Edition for 85% off or the Gold Edition for 70% off. Here's the overview: "For the game's 4th anniversary, we've focused exclusively on a top-to-bottom series of improvements based on fan requests! These improvements are major quality of life changes that improve the overall experience of Galactic Civilizations III. v3.7 improves ship AI, multiplayer performance, memory use, pathfinding performance, pacing, and the empire management UI, as well as addresses a host of minor bugs. It's available now as a free download for owners of the base game." Here's the change log for the patch:

Gameplay

• Ships are more likely to use hyperlanes (Retribution only)
• AI handles ships more intelligently on larger galaxies in terms of evaluating their target value.
• AI handles building up new colonies better later in the game
• The AI no longer uses the Government as "explorers." (aka fodder)
• Colony Capital now gives +1 raw production for every level it goes up.
• Reduced thruster hull mass modifiers to 0.05% from 25% in both Crusade and the Base game
• Fix some balance issues with weapons and growth improvements reported on the steam forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/226860/discussions/4/1771511442695715977/
  Re-Enabled the Fusion Power Plant, but nerfed it to work better as a prereq to the Quantum Power plant.
• Fix mismatched description and value on Precursor Factory world for Morale value. Changed both to 4 from 10, make sure it is not OP.
• Synthetic races can build the Advanced Planet Capital and Terraforming improvements.
• Yor Manufacturing: Increased manufacturing bonus
• Yor Manufacturing: Level one adjacency value is now a multiplier ( for consistency with subsequent upgrades).
• Synthetics can properly colonize extreme worlds.
• Tweaked the leader-game-intro screen and economy summary
• Ship designs that use components removed in Retribution can now be loaded again in Retribution. The old deprecated components are simply ignored.
• Extreme world colony mercenary ships can now actually colonize extreme worlds if Crusade is installed.

UI

Continue here to read the full story.

Here's another anniversary, a Tripwire Interactive celebrates 10 years of Killing Floor, as the first installment in their zed shooter series was initially released on May 14, 2009. They mark the occasion by noting that more than 15 million unique players have played games in the series, which has earned over $100 million USD over the past decade. Here are some details:

Today, publisher and developer Tripwire Interactive celebrates the 10-year anniversary of the Killing Floor franchise. Since the horror based co-op first person shooter first launched on May 14, 2009 for PC on Steam, the Killing Floor franchise, including the original Killing Floor, Killing Floor 2, and Killing Floor: Incursion, has sold nearly 10 million units, earned over $100 million in franchise revenue, and has been played by over 15 million unique players worldwide.

Speaking to VentureBeat last year, Tripwire Interactive Vice President Alan Wilson attributes some of the long term success of Killing Floor to the studio’s efforts in providing regular and free content updates to players and Tripwire’s roots in the modding scene. “With Killing Floor, we’ve added all sorts of new things over the years,” said Wilson. “We started with seasonal events, which have been wildly successful. We also introduced new weapons, new game modes, new characters, etc.”

To-date, Killing Floor 2 players on PC, PlayStation®4, and Xbox One have seen numerous free seasonal updates that make painting the town red with blood feel fresh, with over 49 new maps and 139 mad scientist weapons and more on the way.

To celebrate 10 years of Killing Floor, Tripwire Interactive has released a fun infographic highlighting some of the series’ major milestones and player achievements. PC players can also look forward to a major Tripwire Interactive Steam publisher sale that starts later today and runs through Monday, May 20, 2019. The Tripwire Steam Publisher Sale will include deep discounts on the entire Tripwire Interactive Steam catalog including last week’s Spring Content Update for Rising Storm 2: Vietnam.

Blizzard announces WoW Classic will go live worldwide on August 27th, offering a map showing the times the revival of the original World of Warcraft will go live in various regions. They also announce they will open up character creation on August 13th, allowing players with active subscriptions or game time on their accounts to create up to three characters per World of Warcraft account to reserve character names. For those who cannot wait that long to get their old-school MMORPG on, they also reveal that starting tomorrow they will be inviting select players to participate in small scale testing, and they will be holding the first of three stress tests next week. Here's word on testing along with a schedule:

Beginning May 15, select WoW players will be invited to participate in a small-scale, focused closed beta test. Players will also get a chance to help put our servers and technology through their paces in a series of stress tests running from May through July—you can opt in now through Account Management and select the WoW Classic beta. Subsequent stress tests will extend the opportunity to even more players. Level caps will also be in place to ensure we’re emphasizing the “stress” in “stress test”

—we want to push our tech to the limit, and that means a critical mass of players in close proximity.

STRESS TEST SCHEDULE*

• Stress Test 1: Wed May 22–Thurs May 23
• Stress Test 2: Wed Jun 19– Thurs Jun 20
• Stress Test 3: Thurs Jul 18– Fri July 19

*Dates of each stress test are subject to change.

To fill our pool of beta and stress test participants, we’ll be choosing dedicated players who meet select criteria from both the WoW Classic beta opt-in and the standard Warcraft beta opt-in. Participants will also need to have an active subscription or active game time on their Battle.net Account. While opting-in to the beta is the primary way to make sure you’re in the running to join the test it doesn’t guarantee an invitation to the closed beta test. We may also consider additional factors such as how long a player has been subscribed to the game so that we have the right mix of players to ensure great feedback toward making WoW Classic the very best experience for the community.

Modus Indie Access #1 is a behind-the-scenes video with a look at development of Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince, the upcoming 2.5D installment in the platformer series. Word is the clip includes a discussion of the game from the developers: "Alongside new footage of Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince, Frozenbyte candidly reflects on development decisions they've made in their decade-long career and discusses how the studio has refocused itself, returning to its roots to bring fans the most robust Trine game to date." Continue here to read the full story.

• Team Fortress 2 Update Released.

• Steam Midweek Madness - Farming Simulator 19, 20% Off.
• Steam Daily Deal - Analgesic Productions Developer Sale, Up To 75% Off.
• Steam Daily Deal - Plug & Play, 66% Off.
• Tripwire Publisher Midweek, Save 50% to 75%.

• TinyBuild- Development to publishing, and back again - GamesIndustry.biz.

• Red Dead Online to introduce a full role-playing system this summer.
• Red Dead Online adds more of a co-op campaign, cuts down on griefing.
• Super Tennis Blast Is Now Available For Digital Pre-order And Pre-download On Xbox One.
• SAMURAI SHODOWN Is Now Available For Digital Pre-order And Pre-download On Xbox One.

• 5G likely to mess with weather forecasts, but FCC auctions spectrum anyway.
• Virgin mobile service restored after outage.

• 'Hard-to-fix' Cisco flaw puts work email at risk.

• AT&T promised 7,000 new jobs to get tax break—it cut 23,000 jobs instead.
• U.S. Senate moves forward on plan to develop electric vehicle supply chain.
• Samsung to End B-Die DDR4: The Overclockers' Favorite.
• Dell’s 75-Inch 4K Display with Multitouch: A Rival for Microsoft Surface Hub.
• Audacity Release Notes 2.3.2. Thanks Ant.
• Uber’s Colossal I.P.O. Flop May Be the Worst Ever on Wall Street. Thanks Hypothermia.

• New Intel security flaws could slow some chips by nearly 20%.
• Microsoft warns wormable Windows bug could lead to another WannaCry.
• Russian hackers hit 2016 voter databases but election wasn't compromised, says Florida's GOP governor Ron DeSantis.

• Employers must track staff working hours, EU court rules.
• The Future is Bloodless! China Bans Blood in Video Games.
• Trump expected to sign order paving way for U.S. telecoms ban on Huawei. My way or the Huawei.
• DOJ accuses Verizon and AT&T employees of participating in SIM-swap identity theft crimes.
• Adobe warning of legal problems if subscribers keep using old versions of Creative Cloud apps. Thanks Ant.

• Ubisoft Says Tweets About Potential New Splinter Cell Are 'Joking'. Good one…
• TAITO Corporation Announces SPACE INVADERS - THE BOARD GAME…

Link of the Day: Next Star Wars Film Will Be From Game of Thrones' Showrunners. This does not feel like the ideal moment to overjoy people with this news.

R.I.P.: Tim Conway, star of the 'Carol Burnett Show,' dies at 85.

AMD Support now offers an adrenalin rush with the release of new version 19.5.1 Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition drivers for AMD graphics cards running under Windows. These offer support for RAGE 2 and the latest Windows 10 update. Here are the details:

Support For

• RAGE®2
  • Up to 16% performance gains with AMD Radeon™ Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.5.1, on an AMD Radeon™ VII.RS-295
• Windows®10 May 2019 Update
• Instruction Tracing for Radeon GPU Profiler 1.5.X

Fixed Issues

• Performance metrics overlay may experience intermittent flicker when playing back protected content with this feature enabled.
• DOOM™ may experience an application hang during launch on AMD XConnect™ Technology system configurations.
• Radeon Software installation may fail or get stuck at 33% when installing on AMD Radeon HD 7970 system configurations.
• Some Radeon RX 400 and Radeon RX 500 series graphics products may experience a system hang when hot plugging 8K displays.
• AMD Radeon VII may fail to apply Radeon Settings video profiles to video playback.
• HTC VIVE™ devices may experience connection or detection issues by the OS or SteamVR™.
• System instability may be experienced on ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 laptop when a wireless display is connected.
• Stuttering or frame drop may be experienced when playing back DivX interlaced content in the Windows® Movies & TV application.
• Radeon RX Vega series graphics products may experience higher than expected memory clocks at idle or desktop with multi-display system configurations.
• Some system configurations may not be able to set 10-Bit color in Radeon Settings when the connected display is set to 4K 60hz.
• Enhanced Sync may fail to enable on Radeon FreeSync enabled displays in DirectX®9 API games on game first launch.
• AMD Link may experience intermittent authentication issues. An update of the AMD Link application is also required.
• Some games may experience texture flickering or corruption on Radeon RX Vega series graphics products when using the Vulkan™ API.

Known Issues

• Radeon ReLive streaming and uploading of videos and other content to Facebook™ is currently unavailable.
• ASUS TUF Gaming FX505 may experience discrete GPU connection issues with devices disappearing from device manager when the system is idle.
• World War Z™ may experience an application hang after extended periods of play.
• AMD Radeon VII may experience screen flicker in multi display setups on desktop or while applications are running.
• Performance metrics overlay and Radeon WattMan gauges may experience inaccurate fluctuating readings on AMD Radeon VII.
• HDR Video may freeze or have corruption during playback when using Movies and TV Application with some Ryzen APUs.

Paradox Interactive announces Ancient Relics, a new story pack for Stellaris, the grand strategy game for Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs set in space, where no one can hear you singing show tunes. This does not have an exact release date, but they say it's coming soon. The add-on brings two new Precursors to investigate, Relic Worlds to explore, and archaeological treasures, as shown in this trailer (which sounds like its narrated by Diva Plavalaguna). Here's more on what this brings to the space table:

Uncover the ruins of long-dead civilizations in Relic Worlds to piece together the story of their rise and eventual downfall. Mine their derelict cities and ships to unearth the truth, discover powerful relics and harness them for your own empire’s ambitions.

Stellaris: Ancient Relics includes:

• Said Ancient Relics: Collect and acquire valuable relics in your adventures as rewards for overcoming major crises or after completing a dig at an archaeological site and solving the chapters. Each relic gives significant benefits to your empire to aid in your interstellar escapades.
• Those Who Came Before: Encounter clues about two extinct Precursor civilizations, the Baol and the Zroni, the former a sprawling hivemind of plantoids, the latter some of the most the most powerful psionics to have ever lived. Players can investigate these home systems to understand who they were and, more importantly, what one can learn from their demise.
• Relic Worlds: Once filled with teeming life, these Relic Worlds now lie dead, replete with desolate ruins and dormant mysteries. Players can excavate guaranteed archeological sites on these worlds to explore these remnants and bring to light powerful relics and artifacts.
• Dig In: Hit the dirt on a variety of enigmatic and alien worlds with more archeology sites available for your empire to study… or plunder. Each site begins a story with between one and six chapters to investigate. Retrace the history to discover artifacts and relics that can be boons to your empire.
• Matter of Artifacts: Learning from history is much more than parables and antiques, it can often be the key to understanding one’s own place in the galaxy. Utilizing archaeological research, discover Minor Artifacts, a new resource type which can help empower one’s empire.

Continue here to read the full story.

The Star Trek Online Website announces new Rise of Discovery content is now live in the Trekkie MMORPG, offering content based on the franchise's newest series. Word is: "Starting today, Star Trek Online players will have the opportunity to travel back in time and board the U.S.S. Buran, encountering Captain Gabriel Lorca (voiced by Jason Isaacs) and Commander Ellen Landry (voiced by Rekha Sharma) from the show. Captains can play through Rise of Discovery to uncover the startling chain of events that ultimately determined the fates of these compelling characters in the first season of Star Trek: Discovery. The update also introduces a brand new reputation and a system wide update that removes player level restrictions for all premium Tier 6 starships across PC, Xbox One and PlayStation®4." This trailer shows off the game's depiction of the show's stars, and here's more on how you will interact with them in the game:

In the first season of Star Trek: Discovery, fans were introduced to Captain Gabriel Lorca and his Chief of Security, Commander Ellen Landry. However, very little was revealed about their collective past and what led them to assume command of the legendary U.S.S. Discovery. These questions will be answered in Rise of Discovery, which takes players to the decks of the U.S.S. Buran with Lorca and Landry just one month after the Battle at the Binary Stars. The Federation starship is on a mission to transport Klingon prisoners to a secure facility when it becomes the target of an incursion led by J’Ula, the matriarch of House Mo’Kai. A devastating turn of events leaves Captain Lorca as the sole survivor of the attack. After crash landing on a barren ice moon above Priors World, he must rely on his trusted commanding officer and Star Trek Online players to rescue him before he is apprehended by Klingon forces.

Continue here to read the full story.

RAGE 2 (aka Rage 2) is now available on Steam, offering a sequel to id Software's 2010 first-person shooter. This return to the apocalyptic wasteland is developed by Avalanche Studios in conjunction with id, and the announcement has word on the game, which puts you in the boots of Ranger "Texas" Walker:

Let the RAGE-ing commence! RAGE 2 is now available worldwide for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. In RAGE 2’s “shooterverse,” you’ll experience classic id Software combat in an insane Avalanche Studios open world as Ranger Walker, the world’s closest thing to a superhero and best hope at overthrowing the tyrannical reign of General Cross and his mutated Authority minions.

WATCH the launch trailer here: https://youtu.be/PLQg-Vq2zQk

Master your devastating arsenal of flesh-chewing weapons combined with your performance enhancing Nanotrite-infused abilities to help turn the enemies of the wastes into bags of flesh. From the River Hogs of the swamps, to the Goon Squad of the wastes, to the sewer-dwelling mutants, to the samurai-esque Immortal Shrouded, everything in RAGE 2 is out to get you. Make sure you get all of them first. Want to learn more about what RAGE 2 brings to the table?

Continue here to read the full story.

A Plague Tale: Innocence is now available for Windows and consoles, offering a rat-infested adventure set during the scourge of the plague. This is not to be confused with A Plaque Tale: Guilt, the story of my last dental cleaning. Yesterday's launch trailer offers a look at what to expect, and you can pick up a copy of the Windows edition on The Focus Website, Green Man Gaming, or Steam. Here's word:

A Plague Tale: Innocence brings rats, the Inquisition, and the Middle Ages to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC today!

Asobo Studio’s debut new IP, A Plague Tale: Innocence, is out now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Watch the Launch Trailer now and embark on a dark adventure through a war-torn, medieval France, relentlessly pursued by the Inquisition and never-ending hordes of ravenous rats.

A Plague Tale: Innocence tells a grim and emotional story, with gameplay blending action and adventure. Follow Amicia and her little brother Hugo, as they attempt to survive a harsh, brutal world plagued by war and the Black Death. On the run from the Inquisition and surrounded by unnatural swarms of rats, the siblings’ rocky journey will not leave them unscathed.

Continue here to read the full story.

Relevant to the above, here is a roundup of reviews for A Plague Tale: Innocence:

• A Plague Tale: Innocence Review "Buy, Wait for Sale, Rent, Never Touch?" - Angry Centaur Gaming.
• A Plague Tale: Innocence review - dull stealth almost spoils a tender and ravishing apocalyptic fable • Eurogamer.net.
• A Plague Tale: Innocence Review - A Sea Of Putrid Rats - GameSpot.
• A Plague Tale: Innocence PC Review - GameWatcher.
• A Plague Tale: Innocence Review - IGN.
• Test de A Plague Tale - Innocence par jeuxvideo.com.
• Surviving Rat-Infested France During The Black Plague - Kotaku.
• A Plague Tale: Innocence review – you’ll want to catch this one - PCGamesN.
• A Plague Tale: Innocence review - Rock Paper Shotgun.
• A Plague Tale- Innocence review - The Verge.
• A Plague Tale: Innocence review - great characters make the Middle Ages worth living through - VG247.
• A Plague Tale: Innocence Review - Who's The Real Monster? WCCFTECH.

• The Division 2 - Title Update 3- Operation Dark Hours - Launch Summary.
• Fortnite - We've deployed a hotfix to fix an issue where Impulse Grenades were not properly affecting vehicles.

• AMD To Host “Next Horizon Gaming” Event & Product Unveil at E3 2019- June 10th, 3pm PT.
• Netflix Is Getting A Special Panel At E3 2019 On Developing Original Shows Into Video Games.
• Save the date- the TR BBQ XVI is happening on August 10th. Thanks Neutronbeam.

• RAGE 2 Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• Sniper Elite V2 Remastered Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• A Plague Tale: Innocence Is Now Available For Xbox One.
• Totally Digital Returns to PlayStation Store.
• Marvel's Spider-Man: A Technical Postmortem. Thanks Ant.
• Cricket 19 Is Now Available For Digital Pre-order And Pre-download On Xbox One.
• This Week’s Xbox Deals With Gold And Spotlight Sale.

• HP is making a dual-screen gaming laptop with liquid metal cooling.

• Alexa Guard is coming soon for all Echo owners in the US.
• Apple TV app arrives on Samsung Smart TVs as Apple expands its services push. Thanks Ant.
• It took just five days for bitcoin to rise from $6,000 to $8,000.
• Google Assistant finally controls Sonos speakers.
• WarnerMedia may stream show debuts before they reach TV.
• Match app adds an offline dating coach for your online dating woes.
• Amazon’s Away Teams laid bare- How AWS's hivemind of engineers develop and maintain their internal tech.
• AT&T Launches DirecTV Streaming App on Magic Leap Headset.
• Pay with crypto at Whole Foods, Gamestop and other retailers.
• Disney Assumes Full Control of Hulu in Deal With Comcast.

• Nvidia to counter AMD’s Navi with refreshed 16Gbps Turing graphics cards.
• How much open source is too much when it's in Microsoft's clutches? Eclipse Foundation boss sounds note of alarm.
• NVIDIA Delivers 6,000x Speedup on Hedge Fund Algorithm. Thanks Hypothermia.

• WhatsApp discovers 'very scary' spyware, pushes patch to 1.5 billion users.

• 'Zero' chance it passes- Game analysts break down senator's anti-loot box bill.
• Adobe warns Creative Cloud users with older apps of legal problems.
• Grindr's Chinese owner has to sell the app by June 2020.
• Russian Man Jailed For Buying F-16 Manuals, Claims They Were For Flight Sims.
• California court sentences ex-Autonomy CFO Sushovan Hussain to five years in clink for fraud.

• Life Is Strange 2 - Episode 3 on IGN.
• A Plague Tale: Innocence on PCGamesN.
• Rage 2 PC on PC Invasion and TechPowerUp. Technical reviews.
• Sniper Elite V2 Remastered on PC Invasion. Tech review.

• Acer Predator Triton 500 Gaming Laptop on IGN.
• Astrologaster on Rock Paper Shotgun.
• Asustor AS4004T NAS on Modders-Inc.
• be quiet! Dark Rock Slim CPU Cooler on Vortez.
• Corsair Glaive RGB Pro Mouse on Vortez.
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Gaming OC Graphics Card on Guru3D.
• Lian-Li Lancool One Digital PC Case on eTeknix.
• Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless Mouse on LanOC Reviews.
• Noctua NH-U12A CPU Cooler on ThinkComputers.org.
• Western Digital Black SN750 with Heatsink SSD on TweakTown.

• New Mortal Kombat movie has been officially announced…
• Starbreeze sells subsidiary to Rockstar as its battle for survival continues…
• Riot “didn’t have the time” to fix League of Legends rewards that trigger epilepsy…
• An MOTD snuck out about a sale. There is an Epic Games store sale on games in the works, but it hasn't launched yet. Stay tuned to @EpicGames for details in a few days…

‘Bond 25’ Suspends Shooting After Daniel Craig Injury. I'm starting to think this movie is jinxed (and not in that sexy Halle Berry sort of way). I also suspect the worst injury Roger Moore suffered on the set was probably cold lobster while watching a stuntman run across the backs of alligators, but those were different times.

Jinxed Links:	Thanks Ant.
Links:	Celebrate Free Cone Day with Häagen-Dazs on May 14th, 2019. The Best and Worst Airlines and Airports of 2019. Any New Yorker can guess number one.
Stories:	Trump administration proposes another $1.6 billion for Moon efforts. Deepest ever dive finds plastic bag at bottom of Mariana Trench in the western Pacific.
Science:	A cup of Joe and you’re good to go (Under 6 a day and you’re A-OK). Space stunner: Moon is shrinking, shocking study reveals. Japan's mission to mine Mars' moon is cleared.
Media:	Bill Nye the Science Guy - The Planet is on F**king Fire!!! (NSFW). And so is Bill! I AM MOTHER Official Trailer (2019) NEW Netflix Sci Fi Movie. As Seen On TV Garden Gadgets TESTED. Thanks Boing Boing.
Follow-ups:	George R.R. Martin slams absurd rumor about the final Game of Thrones books. Rooker & "Matrix 4" Reports Shot Down. California jury hits Bayer with $2 billion award in Roundup cancer trial.
The Funnies:	Brevity.