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Wartile – Early Access Launch Trailer

Copenhagen, Denmark – March 17, 2017 – Playwood Project’s medieval tabletop-inspired real time strategy game Wartile is now available on Steam Early Access. Featuring stunning, highly detailed digital dioramas and innovative, tactical gameplay, Wartile takes players on a journey through intricately crafted environments as they lead a hoard of Viking warriors through a series of beautifully detailed battle boards, each with its own story and lore.

“We’re thrilled to finally launch on Steam Early Access and confident that Wartile’s impressive digital dioramas and unique gameplay will bring something new and visually jarring to the RTS genre,” said Michael Rud Jakobsen, Founder and Creative Director of Playwood Project. “The combined effort from all the team, not to mention the initial praise and reaction from press and community, has kept us going for many months and we are excited to see what players think of our efforts thus far!”

Wartile is a single player and multiplayer real time tabletop inspired game for PC with a strong turn based flavor. The game replicates the feeling of playing a tabletop game but with a tactical edge and more immediate combat. Each Battle Board is an intricately realised digital diorama complete with tiles that allow players to strategize their tactical moves and attack in real time. Units are fully customizable with armor, weapons and new stat tokens that players can pick up throughout the game by completing special challenges. Stat tokens provide points that players can add to their characters’ stats which unlock when players level up and are found in each of the various Battle Boards in the game. Players can add a tactical slant to their close quarter and ranged combat moves by utilizing Ability cards and Godly cards as their figurines gain more experience and by completing special Battle Board objectives. Godly cards and abilities can be assembled by the player before engaging in battle and used during combat. These cards can easily change the course of the fight should the odds be stacked against their favor.

The game eventually plans to include a wide range of detailed environments, including Norwegian mountains, murky swamps, rocky English coastlines, dark dungeons and sweeping grasslands. Wartile also allows players to unlock and collect an array of different characters, all with different combat abilities to provide a choice of tactical options before they embark on each quest.

Wartile’s beautifully realised digital dioramas and innovative game mechanics aim to bring a wholly unique and refreshing perspective to the RTS genre. Players will be challenged to utilise their Viking figurines carefully in both ranged and hand to hand combat as they navigate each Battle Board toward their objective. Wartile will also be making an eagerly awaited appearance at EGX Rezzed in London’s Tobacco Dock in the Unreal Showcase Zone from the 30th March through to 1st April.

Wartile is available now on Steam Early Access priced $19.99, €19.99, £14.99. A 10% discount offer will be in place for its first week on sale.

War Thunder Update 1.67 Trailer

March 16, 2017 – Gaijin Entertainment today announced the release of their latest major update 1.67 ‘Assault!’ for its military MMOG War Thunder. The update introduces almost twenty new vehicles including Japanese tanks and three new battle locations bringing the total number of maps to more than 80 available in the game. A new cooperative game mode (Assault) will be added soon after the Update 1.67 launch.

New Co-Op game mode ‘Assault’: Coming soon, available in two iterations, the new game mode challenges players to defend a strategic location against waves of enemy ground vehicles or aircraft. For tankers, combat is fought tank to tank on the ground, with the ability to temporarily support teammates in attack aircraft or bombers. Pilots are tasked with maintaining air superiority over a zone by fending off enemy bombers approaching from all directions. As each successive wave is stronger than the previous one, players have to work together to hold out until the end, upon which they will receive well-deserved rewards.

19 New Vehicles Expand War Thunder’s Arsenal: Some interesting new machines arrive with War Thunder’s Update 1.67, including the new British self-propelled gun FV4005 with its deadly 183mm anti-tank cannon – now the largest cannon in the game by far – replacing the KV-2’s 152mm howitzer as the new heavy hitting champion. The recently introduced Japanese Ground Forces tree receives three new vehicles, including the ATGM carrier Type 60 APC and multi-turreted Type 95 Ro-Go. The other War Thunder nations also receive a stockpile of new tanks and aircraft. More information can be found in the Developer Diaries here: http://warthunder.com/devblog

Three New Map Locations – More Than 80 Maps in Total! The ‘Assault’ update includes three new battle locations including one map for air and two maps for combined arms battles. On ‘Guiana Highlands’ fighting begins at an altitude 6000 meters above sea level, with the whole area being divided into several ‘floors’ that each feature their own battle and victory conditions.

The two combined arms battles, ‘Ardennes’ and ‘Phang Nga’, are set during the early stages of the Battle of the Bulge and the Pacific War, respectively. The former puts players into the outskirts of the Belgian town of Bastogne as they fight for control over the town and the frost covered hilltops surrounding it. The latter, which will be made available in one of the upcoming Naval Pre-Beta weekends, sees players contest the coast of Thailand in a battle waged from air and sea.

DreamWorks Animation WonderCon 2017 Panel Information

Here are DreamWorks Animation Television’s 2017 WonderCon Panels for Voltron Legendary Defender and Trollhunters from Guillermo del Toro! Check out the details below.

  • DreamWorks Trollhunters, a Netflix original series
  • Friday, March 31st, 1:15 – 2:15 PM
  • Room 300AB
    • Following the epic first season of the Netflix original series DreamWorks Trollhunters, join executive producers Marc Guggenheim, Rodrigo Blaas and Chad Hammes as they share their favorite moments from season 1 and take you behind-the-scenes of this critically-acclaimed series from Guillermo del Toro. The panel will be moderated by Josh Macuga of Collider.
    • Panelists include: Marc Guggenheim, Rodrigo Blaas and Chad Hammes
  • DreamWorks Trollhunters Signing
  • Friday, March 31st, 2:30 – 3:30
  • Location: TBA
    • Marc Guggenheim, Rodrigo Blaas and Chad Hammes
  • DreamWorks Voltron Legendary Defender Signing
  • Saturday, April 1st, 1:30 – 2:30
  • Location: TBA
    • Executive Producer Joaquim Dos Santos, Co-Executive Producer Lauren Montgomery, Story Editor Tim Hedrick, Jeremy Shada, Josh Keaton, Tyler Labine, Kimberly Brooks, and Bex Taylor-Klaus.
  • DreamWorks Voltron Legendary Defender, a Netflix original series
  • Saturday, April 1st, 5:30 – 6:30 PM
  • Room 300DE
    • Join EP Joaquim Dos Santos, Co-EP Lauren Montgomery, story editor Tim Hedrick and voice cast for an in-depth discussion of the epic second season of the critically acclaimed Netflix original series DreamWorks Voltron Legendary Defender. They’ll highlight their favorite moments and come ready for an extended fan Q&A. The conversation will be moderated by Kyle Anderson of Nerdist and panel attendees will receive a WonderCon exclusive poster created by Joaquim Dos Santos.
    • Panelists include: Executive Producer Joaquim Dos Santos, Co-Executive Producer Lauren Montgomery, Story Editor Tim Hedrick, Jeremy Shada, Josh Keaton, Tyler Labine, Kimberly Brooks, and Bex Taylor-Klaus.

Corsair Unveils K63 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

FREMONT, CA –March 16th – CORSAIR®, a world leader in enthusiast memory, PC components and high-performance gaming hardware today announced the new K63 mechanical gaming keyboard. Continuing the CORSAIR legacy of top-quality, high-performance gaming keyboards, the K63 combines tenkeyless design, precision CHERRY MX Red mechanical keyswitches, a full complement of media keys and per-key red LED illumination. What’s more, K63 offers all this at a price that puts mechanical performance within reach of gamers wanting to step up their game to the next level. The result is a perfect combination of mechanical precision, advanced gaming features and a space-saving design that makes it ideal for compact desktops or gamers on-the-go.

Packing the best of CORSAIR keyboards into a new compact size, the K63 boasts a host of features ready to match the most demanding games. Beneath its sleek exterior and gold-contact CHERRY MX Red key switches, per-key red LED backlighting vibrantly illuminates each key. With the power of CORSAIR Utility Engine (CUE) software, every key’s lighting can be controlled individually, allowing for virtually unlimited lighting customization and control. CUE software also allows for near endless programmability, with every key individually reprogrammable with alternative commands, custom macros or dynamic lighting effects.

Dedicated volume and multimedia controls located at the top of the keyboard offer easy access to audio adjustments in-game, while dedicated Windows Key Lock and brightness adjustment buttons allow gamers to keep distractions to a minimum at crucial moments.

Precision and accuracy are nothing without control, and the K63 delivers when it matters most. 100% Anti-ghosting with full key rollover ensures that every press of the keyboard is registered, no matter how many keys are pressed simultaneously, or how fast you press them.

CORSAIR K63 Specifications

  • 100% CHERRY MX Red mechanical keyswitches: Gold-contact CHERRY MX mechanical gaming keyswitches deliver the ultimate performance and competitive advantage.
  • Per-key red LED backlighting and large font keycaps: Brilliant red LED backlighting enhances the experience with dynamic and virtually unlimited lighting adjustability.
  • Compact, tenkeyless design: Great for travel, and you’ll have more room for your mouse.
  • Dedicated volume and multimedia controls: Control to adjust media on-the-fly, without interrupting your game.
  • 100% Anti-ghosting with full key rollover: No matter how fast your in-game actions are, your keystrokes always register the way you intended.
  • The power of CUE: Fully programmable with CUE to assign macros to any key and create dynamic lighting effects.
  • Windows Key Lock mode: Stay focused and prevent accidental Windows and Context Menu key presses.

Availability, Warranty and Pricing

The CORSAIR K63 is available immediately from the CORSAIR worldwide network of authorized retailers, and distributors and is backed by a two-year warranty and the CORSAIR worldwide customer support network.

For up-to-date pricing, please contact your local CORSAIR sales or PR representative.

Web Pages:

For more information on the CORSAIR K63, please visit

http://www.corsair.com/k63

Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel Refurbishment Details

ANAHEIM, Calif. – An exciting, hotel-wide refurbishment is bringing new magic to the luxurious Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa at the Disneyland Resort, with completely redesigned guest rooms plus a refreshed lobby, pool areas and the concierge-level Craftsman Club. The most extensive refurbishment since the hotel’s 2001 opening will elevate the premium guest experience and bring a contemporary approach to the Arts & Crafts design style.

The renovations will roll out in phases, with expected completion by the end of 2017. Guests will begin to enjoy the first phase of refreshed guest rooms starting this spring.

Recently named a AAA Four Diamond hotel by the Automobile Club of Southern California for the sixteenth year in a row, the 948-room Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa captures the romantic spirit of California’s Arts & Crafts movement in the early 20th century.

“Our renovation adds more luxury to this iconic Southern California hotel, while staying committed to its signature Arts & Crafts design,” said Dan Coleman, General Manager of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa. “We want our guests to feel they are staying in a Disney hotel that’s distinctly situated in beautiful California. The revitalized design helps convey this feeling and allows us to continue exceeding guest expectations.”

Redesigned Guest Rooms
Every single element in the redesigned guest rooms will be new, creating a fresh sense of luxury – from floor and walls to furnishings, bedding and linens, as well as upgraded bathrooms. Upon entry, guests will notice beautiful hardwood flooring transitioning into soft, bright-toned carpeting. Linens and pillows are restyled in a bright, white palette and upgraded bathrooms include new fixtures. The room decor is a contemporary take on the Arts & Crafts style featuring all-new furniture made of natural oak, specially designed for each room, as well as California-inspired artwork created by artists and Disney Imagineers, including beautiful headboard walls with wood inlay designs featuring Chip ‘n Dale climbing orange trees! Guests with sharp eyes will catch other uniquely Disney details throughout these newly enhanced rooms.

Other Enhancements

  • Pools: The pools and surrounding areas have been redesigned with new hardscapes that reinforce the Arts and Crafts feeling of this premier Disney resort. A variety of natural stones were chosen to create a warm and welcoming environment at each pool.
  • Lobby: The already spectacular six-story Grand Hall lobby will continue to impress guests with new, stylish furnishings to complement the existing Arts and Crafts décor.
  • The Craftsman Club: The new design for The Craftsman Club, the hotel’s concierge-level lounge, will draw inspiration from the architectural and furniture designs of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a visionary of the Glasgow Style of the Arts and Crafts movement. New hardwood flooring, custom-designed rugs, finely-crafted artisanal furniture and specially-commissioned art will add to the sophisticated, upscale tone of the Club.

Disney’s Grand California Hotel & Spa is the first Disney resort hotel in the world to be located inside a theme park, providing guests with an exclusive entrance to Disney California Adventure Park. Guests staying at Disneyland Resort hotels also enjoy Extra Magic Hour, which provides early entry to select Disneyland and Disney California Adventure attractions.

For updates and progress reports on Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa refurbishment, visit www.disneyparksblog.com.

Boysenberry Festival Returns to Knott’s Berry Farm in April

March 15, 2017 – The yummiest season returns to Knott’s Berry Farm this spring with the Boysenberry Festival from April 1 – April 23. The festival celebrates the flavorful berry that started it all for Knott’s Berry Farm, the boysenberry!  For the first time ever, the mouthwatering festival is expanding to three weeks featuring over 75 one-of-a-kind boysenberry inspired items, drinks and live entertainment.

For 2017, the mouthwatering line-up of boysenberry fishes feature the irresistible boysenberry pizza made with arugula, goat cheese and black forest ham, a new creamy ravioli dish packed with boysenberry flavors, freshly-baked boysenberry fry bread topped off with Nutella and whip cream plus lip-smacking corn on the cob with boysenberry butter and mayo to name a few.

Returning items include a few fan favorites like the crispy deep fried alligator bites paired with farm-made zesty boysenberry aioli, finger-lickin boysenberry BBQ wings and the savory boysenberry meatballs. Plus, new this year, tasting cards will be both online and at the park. Guests will now have the opportunity purchase their tasting cards in advance. In honor of the boysenberry’s historic roots, which originate from Buena Park due to Walter and Cordelia Knott, April 3, 2017 has been officially proclaimed National Boysenberry Day. To celebrate the special day, Knott’s will be hosting several special activities and contests throughout the day at the park. There will be memorable photo ops, and exclusive give-a-ways for all guests.

Knott’s Berry Farm
8039 Beach Blvd.
Buena Park, CA 90620

Knotts.com

Danger Zone and Archer Coming to Rock Band 4

March 15, 2017 – Iconic ‘80s songs don’t get much bigger than Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone”. Taken from one of the best-selling soundtracks of all-time, “Danger Zone” peaked at #2 on the Hot 100 and cemented Kenny Loggins’ status as the King of ‘80s soundtracks.  The song (co-penned by disco pioneer Giorgio Moroder) has become a pop culture staple and true anthem.

Sterling Archer: secret agent turned private investigator turned…rock star? That’s right, in celebration of the April 5th debut of Archer: Dreamland on FXX and the debut of Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” in the Rock Band4 DLC library, everyone’s favorite spy will be making his highly anticipated Rock Band debut this Thursday as part of the free March content update for Rock Band 4.

Bringing Archer into the Rock Band world presented a unique challenge for the art team. The Archer TV show is 2D animation with a cel-shaded style – completely different from the signature look of Rock Band. The team wanted to stay true to the Archer Style, so we created a custom cel-shader in Rock Band just for this character. The end result is an Archer that looks like he was pulled straight from TV and dropped on stage.

Archer will be available to all Rock Band 4 players when the March update hits tomorrow, March 16.  Check him out in action below, and get pumped for the new season, Archer: Dreamland, premiering April 5th on FXX.

Starbreeze to Publish System Shock 3

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (March 14, 2017) Starbreeze AB, an independent creator, publisher and distributor of high quality entertainment products, has signed a publishing agreement with Otherside Entertainment regarding the game System Shock 3. Starbreeze will invest $12 million to bring the game to PC and other platforms.

System Shock 3 – The latest in the series of landmark, award-winning games from Otherside Entertainment is in development under the direction of industry legend Warren Spector and a dream team behind such ground breaking games including the original System Shock & System Shock 2, as well as Thief: The Dark Project and Deus Ex.

“System Shock is one of those iconic franchises in the history of games that still gets my blood going and Mr. Spector is one of the founding fathers of the modern action RPG” said Bo Andersson-Klint, Starbreeze CEO. “We’re greatly looking forward to bringing System Shock 3 to players world wide in our collaboration with Otherside Entertainment and Warren Spector’s team.  I’ll be first in line to play”.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Starbreeze for System Shock 3,” said OtherSide’s CEO Paul Neurath. They truly get games and gamers, and have been able to translate that understanding into a robust publishing business, and build thriving gaming communities around their franchises.”

Starbreeze will be able to recoup 120% of its full investment including marketing costs. Starbreeze share of revenues will become 50% after the investment is recouped. Otherside Entertainement will retain 100% of the intellectual property relating to System Shock 3.

System Shock 3 is currently in the early concept stages of development. Fans can go to the game site (http://otherside-e.com/wp/games/system-shock-3) to receive updates as they become available.

The Dwarves Gets 3 New Multiplayer Modes

The Dwarves screenshot image

Vienna/Austria, Bremen/Germany – March 13, 2017 – The Dwarves has received a major update, adding a complete new gameplay experience. With the ‘Challenges’, players are given access to three different game modes. First is Horde Mode where the heroes fight against a vast enemy army that grows in numbers and difficulty from wave to wave. Time Challenge demands players to kill all opponents as fast as possible, whilst in Chase, the goal is to capture a running Orc with his rucksack, while hacking and slashing through his comrades.

These new modes can be played directly from the main menu. To add a competitive edge, players will earn points and can unlock all of the game’s 15 heroes to use them in these modes, with a high score leaderboard showing the results of each attempt.

The patch is now live on PC, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 4™ and Xbox One as a free download

See full patch notes below:

Patch notes:
– New game modes: 3 different Challenges on 6 maps
– 3 new achievements for the new challenges
– New campaign difficulty mode: Very Easy
– Engine update: performance upgrade in many scenes
– Divided display language and subtitle option
– Turkish language added (Subtitles / OnScreen-Text)
– Optimized camera collision

Windows/Mac/Linux only:
– Additional graphics settings
– Free Key Bindings

GDC 2018 Dates Revealed

SAN FRANCISCO – March 13, 2017 – The 2017 Game Developers Conference (GDC), the world’s largest and longest-running event serving professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games, concluded a successful week of networking, learning and inspiration. In total, last week’s conference hosted more than 26,000 professional attendees, 500 lectures, panels, tutorials and roundtable discussions, and 570 companies exhibiting in San Francisco’s Moscone Center. GDC 2017 marked a return of the Virtual Reality Developers Conference, which debuted at GDC 2016. That event, which runs concurrent to GDC, again fostered key learnings and insights into the flourishing field of virtual and augmented reality. GDC and VRDC will be returning to the Moscone Center in San Francisco from Monday, March 19 to Friday, March 23, 2018. Call for submissions for both GDC and VRDC open this summer.

This year, developers of some of the industry’s most acclaimed new titles took to the stage to present an inside look into the making of their games. Pokemon GO’s development team, Niantic, took a rare opportunity to describe turning their landmark augmented reality title into a worldwide phenomenon. Nintendo put their expertly-honed design skills on display with their session, “Change and Constant: Breaking Conventions with ‘The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’.” In it, they showed off simple 2D prototypes they created to test out the new gameplay mechanics, these experiments ultimately yielded one of the most acclaimed games of all time.

2017 marked a year of transition for an industry adjusting to mid-cycle hardware releases, with the recent release of the portable Nintendo Switch, the PlayStation 4 Pro, and the first year of VR hardware availability to consumers. As always, GDC 2017 featured essential speaking sessions that illuminated the way for developers learning the ins and outs of the new platforms. Among the esteemed roster of speakers were developers from Nintendo, Electronic Arts/DICE, and multiplatform VR developer Owlchemy Labs. GDC 2017 was also an opportunity for legendary game designers to host retrospectives of their influential titles with the Classic Game Postmortems sessions for Seaman presented by creator Yutaka “Yoot” Saito, Oregon Trail presented by co-inventor Don Rawitsch, Sid Meier’s Civilization presented by creators Sid Meier and Bruce Shelley, and Deus Ex, presented by game director Warren Spector.

The annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards and Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA) took place on the night of Wednesday, March 1. The 2017 IGF Awards honored some of the best independent games of the year, with Blendo Games’ Quadrilateral Cowboy earning this year’s Seumas McNally Grand Prize and accompanying $30,000 award. The title also earned the Excellence in Design Award and its $3,000 award.

Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch took home the award for Game of the Year at the 17th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA). The multiplayer shooter also received the award for Best Design. An archive of the IGF and GDCA ceremonies can be viewed at http://twitch.tv/gdc.

The bustling Expo Floor in Moscone’s South Hall featured a diverse roster of more than 570 companies exhibiting their hottest products, services, technologies and talents. From industry giants like Google, Sony, Microsoft and Amazon, to influential game developers like Epic Games, Insomniac Games, Hi-Rez Studios, Oculus, Valve, Unity Technologies, and hundreds of others. The Moscone North Hall housed the IGF Pavilion which featured all of the finalists for the IGF Awards, and the playable alt.ctrl.GDC demos which showcased games using unconventional controllers and alternative control schemes. Returning this year were the GDC Play Pavilions which are special areas for emerging developers, allowing them display their games to key distributors, publishers, press and investors in attendance.

In addition to the Expo Floors, GDC hosted a variety of Interactive Spaces throughout the week. Independent developers and some of the latest indie games were featured in the GDC Train Jam and Mild Rumpus areas, a special edition of Double Fine’s “Day of the Devs,” and the Indie MEGABOOTH showcase. For fans of tabletop board games, ”Shut Up and Sit Down” hosted a selection of the best board games of the year for all attendees to enjoy. This year also introduced Art Boss from iam8bit, which served as a showcase for all forms of art created during the production of a videogame.

“Every GDC gives us a deeper appreciation of the hard work that goes into every aspect of game production, and every role requires attention and deserves respect. With GDC, we aim to honor the commitment, passion and love that all game creators put into each project, I’d like to think we’ve done that this year,” said Meggan Scavio, general manager of the Game Developers Conference. “Games can be scary, exciting, funny, and above all else, fun. They run the gamut of emotions and themes, and there’s a game out there for everyone. GDC embraces this spirit, and we welcome developers of all backgrounds. The last few months have seen lots of challenges and changes, but also some truly amazing gameplay and VR experiences. If GDC 2017 is any indication, we should be in for a hell of a year for games.”

For additional information about GDC and VRDC@GDC, visit www.gdconf.com. The GDC Vault website – www.gdcvault.com – will offer access to a wide variety of GDC and VRDC@GDC 2017 lectures and sessions in the coming days and weeks, including speaker slides, synchronized video and presentations for select sponsor lectures, as well as a broad range of conference videos. GDC All Access Pass holders and individual Vault subscribers will get access to hundreds of video sessions from this and previous GDC shows. Select content from GDC 2017 will also be posted to the official GDC YouTube channel – http://youtube.com/c/gdconf. Official photos are available via the GDC Flickr account – www.flickr.com/photos/officialgdc/.