Oslo, Norway – May 26th, 2016 – Funcom, the independent developer and publisher of computer and console games, today announced that the company has received a 6.3 million USD private placement investment. The company has also significantly reduced its debt by 7.7 million USD through a debt conversion process that has no cash impact on the company. As a result, the company’s equity has been greatly improved from -10 million USD to more than +4 million USD. The investment ensures a considerably healthier financial situation for the company that allows it to execute its new strategy, secure development on new titles, and continue to support its portfolio of live online games.
“This investment is a major turning point for the company,” said Funcom CEO Rui Casais. “Funcom has been making great games for more than twenty-three years, but it is no secret that the company has had a strained financial situation in recent years that made it challenging to fully realize our new strategy and get back on the right track. This investment allows us to finally do that.”
Funcom has been working since last year on preparing the company for its new strategy. Going forward, Funcom is focusing on developing both smaller and larger scale games simultaneously in both Oslo and North Carolina, and aims to experiment with new ideas, technologies, and business models on the smaller projects that will serve to benefit the larger projects. The first of these smaller games was ‘The Park’ which allowed the company to experiment with new technologies and acquire key knowledge on how to successfully launch on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles.
Funcom’s largest project is currently ‘Conan Exiles’, an open-world survival game that will launch into Early Access during late summer 2016. The company announced last year that it has entered into a new partnership with Conan Properties making it the preferred partner for all PC and console games based on the ‘Conan the Barbarian’ brand, the first of which is ‘Conan Exiles’.
The company’s strengthened financial situation also allows it to continue supporting and expanding its current live games. Funcom has one of the longest-running portfolio of online games in the industry, with ‘Anarchy Online’ currently going on its fifteen years in operation, ‘Age of Conan’ on its eighth year, and ‘The Secret World’ just about to celebrate its fourth anniversary.
For more information about Funcom, please visit our website at www.funcom.com. For more information about ‘Conan Exiles’, please visitwww.conanexiles.com.
Vienna, Austria: May 25, 2016 – This year Nordic Games is going right back to the roots of the SpellForce saga with SpellForce 3, a perfect blend of real-time strategy and role-playing game. SpellForce 3 combines the best of the two genres in the renowned SpellForce universe with a rich, deep backstory. The action takes place prior to the events in “SpellForce: The Order of Dawn”, and this “prequel” immerses players in the lush and luxuriant fantasy world of Eo.
Heroes and Quests
Similar to its successful predecessors, players create their hero from scratch and can then develop the hero’s skills during the campaign, complete quests, explore the game world and join forces with up to three characters to form a group of heroes.
Organic Growth
The map in SpellForce 3 is divided into different sectors. The player’s base won’t grow arbitrarily, but always organically. Concretely, this means that the player can only conquer sectors, which are connected to the base or other, already conquered, sectors. This is important because there is no “Global Economy”, but the distribution of resources will happen mechanically (resources are being transported via carts). The player can decide which raw materials he wants to collect, distribute and export in each sector and must therefore carefully plan where to build the sectors.
Sector Management
If for example, the player defeats all the enemies in a particular sector and the bandit camp is captured, he can establish an outpost in this area. The player can then construct buildings in the sectors, exploit raw materials (wood, stone, food, etc.), transport goods and produce resources to then recruit new fighting units. Each outpost has a set number of workers who can be hired, so a core element of the game is to balance the sector economy and manage the sector to ensure the most efficient deployment of the available workers.
Hybrid Gameplay
We don’t want to ignore the RPG component and want players to have the best gaming experience possible with SpellForce 3, so the micro management is not as hectic and fast-paced as in many other RTS games. Players can therefore enjoy both gameplay genres (RTS and RPG) in equal measure.
SpellForce 3 Features
RTS/RPG Mix: Unique gameplay combining RTS and Top-Down RPG genres
RTS: the RTS part focuses on macromanagement (overall strategy, building a base/economy, conquering of zones, managing large groups of units)
RPG: the RPG part
puts emphasis on micromanaging the party of heroes (skills of ALL heroes of the party have assigned keyboard bindings) in battles
Create & Customize: Assemble your party of heroes and choose between numerous combinations of different skill builds
Strengthen and Command Your Army: Prepare your troops and fight the mother of all battles. Moreover, players can utilize a wide array of strategic choices (like e.g. terrain, troop formations, visibility, scouting etc.) that would make Sun Tzu proud
Epic Storyline: Unravel a deep and sophisticated story, eventually leading up to the events that cause the world-changing convocation ritual
Rich Universe & Lore: Explore the world Eo and discover intrigues, secrets and a lot of loot for your hero
Extensive Single-Player Campaign: 30+ hours, even more when you manage to discover all the things Grimlore put in the world
Multiplayer: Strong multiplayer component with various modes – Play cooperatively or in versus battles
About Grimlore Games GmbH
The team of Grimlore Games joined Nordic Games already in December 2013 and found now its new home base as the entity of Grimlore Games GmbH – within the Nordic Games Group. The main focus of the team lies in the RTS and RPG genre for core gamers. Nordic Games brings intellectual properties and a respectable set of tools to the table, whilst the Grimlore team mates will take over the development and work within this scope for development.
About Nordic Games GmbH
Nordic Games GmbH is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nordic Games Group AB, focusing on computer- and video games for PC/MAC/Linux and present/past console platforms. Founded in 2011, the Vienna/Austria based company puts great emphasis on its extensive game catalogue. The core portfolio comprises products and brands which have been acquired from various parties (THQ and others), and further acquisitions of IPs and trademarks will follow.
The company will pursue the long-term goal of delivering quality products that live up to expectations of gamers worldwide.
May 26, 2016 – It is exciting to let you know we are ready to release our new “Sniper Stock”, UKSR. When it comes to sniper stock, it should provide the adjustable cheek piece and adjustable length. ICS UKSR offers 12 levels to be adjusted for the snipers. Additionally, UKSR has the large battery space that you can put 11.1V Lipo easily. Especially, you can remove the UKSR butt pad quickly and easily, the important thing for Airsoft players; Only with one coin, you can change the battery without any tool. Moreover, UKSR is compatible with M4 stock tubes from most of the brands in the market. ICS UKSR offers a fine-tuned and customized touch to every Airsoft player.
FREMONT, CA –May 25th 2016 – CORSAIR®, a world leader in enthusiast memory, PC components and high-performance gaming hardware today announced the release of its eagerly anticipated BULLDOG 4K living room PC kit and LAPDOG portable gaming control center, bringing 4K PC Gaming into the living room with the intuitive, accurate controls of a full size mouse and keyboard.
BULLDOG compresses high-end desktop PC performance into a form factor fit for your living room, supporting liquid cooling for both the processor and graphics card to deliver true 4K performance for the most detailed and immersive gaming experience possible. LAPDOG is the perfect companion for BULLDOG, bringing precision desktop peripherals to your couch with un-matched comfort. Together, BULLDOG and LAPDOG deliver the un-rivalled 4K PC Gaming experience in your living room.
CORSAIR BULLDOG – True 4K Gaming Performance in Your Living Room
First announced as a prototype at Computex 2015, the CORSAIR BULLDOG set PC enthusiast imaginations racing with the prospect of finally bringing a full-performance, liquid cooled PC into the living room. Continuously developed since and collecting a Best of CES 2016 Honoree distinction, CORSAIR BULLDOG finally realises the potential of a full-performance liquid-cooled PC in the living room.
Available as both a kit and via select configured systems from Micro Center in North America, BULLDOG includes a trio of innovations right in the box to bring the enthusiast PC to a living-room friendly form factor. Sleek industrial design and a console-sized case fit right in with the rest of your home entertainment gear, the multi-award winning CORSAIR SF600 SFX power supply powers the most ambitious of builds and the low-profile CORSAIR H5SF liquid cooler efficiently cools the CPU. BULLDOG comes with an Intel Z170 mini-ITX motherboard (specific model varies between retailer) right in the box, so all you need to do is add the CPU, memory, graphics card and storage to build a true living room gaming PC, with no compromises on performance.
While BULLDOG comes pre-configured for easy assembly and compatibility, it’s also been built with upgrades in mind. Supporting up to three 2.5in SSDs or one 2.5in and one 3.5in HDD mount, BULLDOG carries all the features you’d expect from a CORSAIR case. Builder-friendly layout, tool-free fittings and a standard mini-ITX form factor makes upgrades easy. What’s more, BULLDOG can mount not just the H5SF low-profile CPU cooler, but also a host of compatible all-in-one graphics card liquid-coolers such as the Corsair HG10 and H55, providing the benefits of liquid cooling to not just the CPU, but the power-hungry GPU as well.
LAPDOG – Living Room PC Gaming Done Right.
First shown at Computex 2015 and the winner of numerous “Best of Show” awards CORSAIR Lapdog brings desktop CORSAIR gaming peripheral performance to the living room. A full-size portable gaming control center, LAPDOG allows you to mount your choice of CORSAIR K70 or K65 Keyboard and mouse to enjoy the complete PC gaming experience from the comfort of your couch.
Built from anodized, brushed aluminium LAPDOG feels as good as it looks, and with a huge removable memory foam lap cushion is made for comfort as well as style. Weighing just 5.8lbs (2.63 kg), multi-hour gaming sessions are a breeze, with the light-weight aluminium chassis and moulded cushion minimizing weight and pressure. Any CORSAIR K70 or K65 mechanical keyboard fits securely into Lapdog, while a full-size 11in x 11in textured-finish mouse pad provides both precision tracking for optical or laser sensor equipped mice and enough surface area to enable the best gaming mouse experience.
CORSAIR is no new-comer when it comes to cable management, and LAPDOG is no exception. Cables and connectors are tucked away inside LAPDOG’s hidden compartment, along with an integrated powered USB 3.0 hub with four USB 3.0 ports, allowing gamers to connect not just a keyboard and mouse, but also a USB headset, phone, flash drive or any other USB device, all right from their seat. Connected via a 16ft / 4.8m USB 3.0 cable, LAPDOG offers the reliability of a wired connection for maximum performance and minimal latency.
Combining the precision of CORSAIR’s industry leading keyboards and mice with supreme comfort and aluminium construction, LAPDOG is living room PC gaming done right.
BULLDOG Availability and Pricing
Available initially only in North America and Australia CORSAIR BULLDOG is sold in the below configurations:
BULLDOG DIY Kit Inc. Motherboard
SKU: CS-9000001:
Includes: BULLDOG Chassis, Hydro Series H5 SF Cooler, SF600 Power Supply and Gigabyte Z170N-WiFi Motherboard.
MSRP: $399
BULLDOG Complete System
Includes: BULLDOG Chassis, Hydro Series H5 SF Cooler and SF600 Power Supply, System Configuration Varies
MSRP: Varies with configuration
LAPDOG Availability and Pricing
Available initially in North America, UK, France, Germany and Scandanavia, LAPDOG is available immediately from CORSAIR’s world-wide network of retailers and distributors, as well as directly from CORSAIR.
SKU: CH-9500000-NA
Warranty: Corsair LAPDOG carries a 2 Year Warranty
San Francisco, California – May 25, 2016 – Today AOC, one of the world’s leading monitor brands, announced that their latest quantum dot-based monitors will be available in North America this year. The new monitors, which were introduced in China last month, integrate QD Vision’s Color IQ™ technology to deliver the most vivid color viewing experience commercially available today, enabling 50 percent better color performance than a typical LCD monitor, at a competitive price point.
AOC will sell its 27-inch and quantum dot displays, which deliver 98 percent Adobe RGB color, making them ideal for entertainment, photography and gaming. The new AOC Quantum Dot monitors will be available later this year online and at AOC retailers.
“Given the overwhelming positive feedback we’ve received from customers and reviewers alike, we are thrilled to expand our distribution to North America,” said Mr. Lidong Yan, general manager of monitor BU, OBM China, TPV Group. “QD Vision has helped us deliver the widest color gamut displays available today with their leading-edge quantum dot technology, and we can now bring the latest product innovations and display technology to a broader global audience.”
QD Vision’s Color IQ solution enables the widest, more accurate color gamut across screens by utilizing semiconductor nanocrystals, called quantum dots, to precisely and efficiently convert light emissions and create virtually any color of the visible spectrum. Color IQ Optics lead in green chemistry nano-material innovation and deliver the most brilliant, full gamut color displays, providing a superior viewing experience over any other commercial technology, including OLED, but at a much lower overall cost.
“Quantum dot technology provides far more natural and vivid viewing, and these new monitors from AOC will enhance performance, accuracy and user experience for consumers worldwide,” said John Volkmann, chief marketing officer at QD Vision. “AOC is one of the leaders in delivering the most accurate, wide color gamut experience and by integrating QD Vision’s Color IQ optics, these monitors deliver incredible performance at affordable price points.”
Today, most high-end monitors can only display 95 percent of the Adobe RGB color gamut while many mainstream models are limited to illustrating, at most, 70 percent of the Adobe spectrum. Using QD Vision’s Color IQ solution, AOC quantum dot displays deliver nearly 100 percent of the full Adobe RGB spectrum, resulting in remarkably crisp images with vivid, life-like colors, making them ideally suited for binge-watching television shows, online gaming, personal photography or other activities that would benefit from the highest degree of color accuracy and brightness consistency.
The PLS/PLS-ADS wide view angle panel offers perfect image performance and real color uniformity at an extremely large viewing angle of 178°, and flicker-free technology provides critical eye support for photographers who are used to long-time photo editing, providing a more comfortable viewing experience that promotes greater eye health. The AOC 27” quantum dot monitors features 1920 x 1080 resolution, ?E<3 color deviation, 50 million:1 dynamic contrast and support for multiple I/O ports including VGA, DVI-D, HDMI and an audio line output. The series is compatible with Blu-ray players and most gaming consoles, including PS3/PS4 and Xbox 360.
Cambridge, UK. 25 May 2016. Frontier Developments plc (AIM: FDEV) has launched the second phase of Planet Coaster’s Early-Bird Alpha for PC, putting the most powerful creative tools ever designed for a simulation game in the hands of the Planet Coaster Alpha community.
Planet Coaster is the next great leap for creative gaming and coaster park simulation, building on a decade of experience from the studio behind the genre’s benchmark. At launch, Planet Coaster will deliver the most powerful creative tools, the deepest coaster park simulation, the most expressive and believable crowds, and the most comprehensive sharing and community features. All in the world’s most authentic coaster park game.
Planet Coaster’s Early-Bird Alpha launched in March, allowing players to build rides, lay paths, place scenery and explore the revolutionary modular construction system. The extraordinary success of the first Alpha has seen YouTube flooded with spectacular creations from the incredible Planet Coaster Alpha community.
Planet Coaster Alpha 2 takes another major step towards launch. Alpha 2’s new Terrain Sculpting toolset lets players reshape the earth itself, forging hills, mountains, craters and caverns to create something truly unique. Whether building the coaster park of your dreams, re-creating a natural wonder or crafting impossible floating islands in the sky,Planet Coaster lets you bring any creative vision to life.
And Alpha 2 players can now build their own rollercoasters with Planet Coaster’s advanced construction toolset. Planet Coaster Alpha 2 lets players build high into the sky, tunnel below ground and even carve through mountains as they build without limits.Alpha 2 introduces more authentic coaster types, new stations and all-new paint options to offer unprecedented opportunities for customization and creativity.
Planet Coaster Alpha 2 also adds dozens of new features to make construction easier than ever before. Advanced controls allow for precision editing of scenery, all-new building pieces unlock new design options, and new curved elevated paths let guests explore your parks from every angle.
This summer, Phase 3 of the Planet Coaster Early Bird Alpha will add further features on the road to Planet Coaster’s launch in Q4 2016.
We hope you’ll join us for the ride.
Planet Coaster’s Early Bird Alpha is available to play now at FrontierStore.net for £49.99 ($74.99, €67.99, 3,750 RUB).
Planet Coaster will be available at launch in Q4 for £29.99 ($49.99, €39.99, 2,250 RUB), and is available to pre-order today at the discounted price of £19.99 ($29.99, €26.99, 1,500 RUB).
See the Planet Coaster trailer, pre-order, get early access and even become part of the game at PlanetCoaster.com. Join Planet Coaster on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram all @PlanetCoaster.
May 25, 2016 – The Surge is the new sci-fi Action RPG from developer Deck 13, set in the near-future. Play as a CREO factory employee Warren, equipped with a highly advanced mechanical exoskeleton designed to assist in heavy industrial labour. Start your journey as a new CREO applicant, in a massive international company dedicated to repairing the atmosphere and addressing climate control. Soon, danger rears its ugly head, and you will have to upgrade your exoskeleton to fight and survive.
The Surge’s combat system is fast-paced, tactical, and brutal, with an innovative limb targeting system enabling you to attack and cut off specific limbs, farming materials to craft upgrades for your exo-suit. Some enemies will have less armour on their legs or their arms, making for an easy kill, but poor loot! You have to decide if you want to go for the easy kill, or instead opt for modules and crafting materials that will give you a combative edge.
The screenshots revealed today show off some of the security forces you’ll be facing in your adventure. They use the same exo-suit technology as you but have tools built for combat, making them incredibly deadly foes. In The Surge, you will not just be facing opponents your own size; towering mechanical enemies armed to the teeth are ready to face against you.
The Surge will be present at E3 2016 in Los Angeles on June 14-16.
If you play enough airsoft games out in warm climates, you will no doubt wonder why there is such a lack of quality combat shirts in short sleeve varieties. Most companies opt for long sleeve combat shirts, which are more protective – especially ones designed for actual soldiers. However, that protection comes at the cost of higher heat levels. In airsoft, we are obviously not in any mortal danger or situations which would absolutely require a longer length sleeve. That is why when I saw that Tru-Spec had released a short sleeve 1/4 zip combat shirt, I had to get one to review.
The Tru-Spec Short Sleeve 1/4 Zip Combat Shirt comes in four color varieties: Black, Navy, MultiCam-Coyote, and Olive Drab. The torso fabric is soft and allows for a lot of air flow through its fabric. This softer torso material is made from a blend of 60/40 cotton nylon CORDURA. The sleeves are thicker and made from a 65/35 polyester cotton vat rip-stop material. The sleeves also feature shoulder pockets and patch space, both of which are excellent things to have available to you for airsoft play. I can’t count the number of times I have thrown my keys or ID into one of the shoulder pockets for safe keeping so that it doesn’t get tangle up with all the rest of the gear I wear out to airsoft events.
Features of Tru-Spec Nylon / Cotton 1/4 Zip Short Sleeve Combat Shirt
65% polyester / 35% cotton vat ripstop sleeves
60% cotton / 40% nylon Cordura Baselayer body
6.5 oz. fabric
Tactical Response Uniform short sleeves
Dual shoulder pockets
Loop fields on pockets for patch attachment
Quarter zip front
Mandarin collar
The fit is comfortable and similar to the fit of the Tru-Spec full sleeve combat shirt. I usually wear a large t-shirt and a large size fit very well. Also helping with this was that there were no sleeves to have to worry about, which can often be cut too narrow for your arm to get through – well, mine anyway. Obviously, each person has different proportions.
Overall, Tru-Spec has done a fantastic job with their Short Sleeve 1/4 Zip Combat Shirt. They are available now and range in price between $50 and $85 dollars depending on the length of the shirt and the retailer you go through.
[easyreview title=”Tru-Spec Short Sleeve 1/4 Zip Combat Shirt Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”5″ ]
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Lately I have been playing a lot of strategic games, sharpening my mind while my body is resting. I start playing figuring I might go for an hour – then three hours later I’m still playing, my eyes have become blurry and I need something to take my mind off of sharpening my mind. TV can be nice for that but it is passive participation and sometimes you really just need some silly hands-on carnage to release the stress of the day. It doesn’t get much more active crazy carnage than a classic killer brought up to date with gorgeous gore like Postal Redux on Steam.
Hands On Guns:
Ah 1997, the Nintendo 64 was hot, Final Fantasy VII reased in Japan, human cloning is banned… ah heck who cares about that crap? If you are reading this you want to know about Postal which made a bloody splash on the market back in that year. In human years 19 isn’t that big of a deal, in video game years that is an exceptionally long time ago! As a result Postal was a little unrefined looking but nobody really cared it was all about the mass unadulterated slaughter of everything in sight. It earned it’s claim to fame in video game history and those who lived through the days talked about it fondly.
Now fast forward to these days and those who talk about it fondly decided to do something about it and bring it back, cleaned up graphics with a couple more goodies to main and kill with, another mode and some new areas to kill in because let’s face it everyone wants to go kill happy in a Carnival.
Just like in the old days the cops show up at your house and boy is that a mistake. So as to not give away plot points (there are a couple) you use up to 10 weapons including mines, heat seeking missiles, flame throwers, of course machine guns and now the Commanding Revolver to tear your way through 17 levels. Tear through a junkyard with your trusty boomstick (they call it a shotgun but I will always call them boomsticks) which is also great for the all important double tap, head through the ghetto with a Molotov cocktail (I’m sure they won’t mind) and lay mines for extra fireworks on the midway at the Carnival. Just remember above all save some flamethrower for the marching squad, that is epic!
The improved graphics really make the game the fun that it is, the old one which is still available and around is okay but look at a comparison and you can see the huge difference. I absolutely love the Carnival level in case you haven’t gotten the hint, the colors and richness of the graphics show the how much the developers cared about the game’s updating.
The addition of Rampage Mode also will keep you coming back for more since it is a constant wave mode that rewards kill streaks, creative kills and speed. It’s a great way to play then challenge a buddy to beat your score and go back and forth.
Last Blast:
Postal Redux on Steam took a classic game that players looked back on with nostalgia and gave it a caring update that makes it even more fun than it was in the old days with graphics that it well deserved. So the next time you head it pounding from a hard day or you just want to unwind or heck you simply want to napalm angry ostriches have Postal Redux updated and thrill in the mayhem.
SANTA MONICA, Calif. – May 24, 2016 – Activision Publishing, Inc., Nickelodeon and PlatinumGames Inc. have released Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™: Mutants in Manhattan, a new action game starring New York City’s Heroes in a Half-Shell – Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo. Made with developer PlatinumGames’ unique flair for fast, satisfying combat and bold, energetic visuals, it pits players against aliens, mutants and the soldiers of the Foot Clan in a showdown for the sprawling streets, subways, sewers and skylines of the Big Apple.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan is a third-person, team-based brawler that can be enjoyed alone or with up to four players in online cooperative multiplayer. Dish out justice to huge swarms of enemies, and stand strong against hard-hitting, fan-favorite villains like Shredder, General Krang, Karai, Bebop, Rocksteady, Armaggon, Wingnut and Slash. Each Turtle has a distinct play style and can be customized with special Ninjutsu moves, combat items and other bonuses to top the global leaderboards across multiple difficulty levels.
Drawing from the gritty but lighthearted attitude of the series’ origins, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan delivers an original storyline from IDW Publishing author Tom Waltz and is crafted with beautifully colorful cel-shaded 3D graphics.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan is out today for $49.99 on the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One, and Windows PC via Steam. It is also available on the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360 for $39.99. This game is rated T (Teen) by the ESRB.
