Author - Jerry Paxton

Space Hulk: Deathwing GamesCom Trailer

August 18, 2016 – Powered by Unreal 4, Space Hulk: Deathwing is a first person shooter with tactical elements set in Games Workshop’s gritty Warhammer 40k Universe. In today’s Gamescom trailer, witness the Deathwing squad inspired by the Battle Hymn of Vengeance (written by renowned 40k author Gav Thorpe), hold a last stand against a swarm of insurmountable Genestealers.

Play in coop with friends in a Dark Angels Terminator squad of the elite Deathwing, dispatched to eradicate the Genestealer threat on Space Hulk Olethros, a cluster of derelict ships and debris collected over years of war. Playable in single or multiplayer, lead your squad through xeno-infested ships and debris as you search for the source of ominous psychic disturbances.

Your Terminator and your squad can be customized – skills can be learned and levelled up, and you can choose a wide variety of ranged and melee weapons to bring in to the Space Hulk. During battle, command your team to hold choke points, hack into doors, and cover your advance. Nothing is as it seems in Space Hulk Olethros, and with a story co-written by acclaimed Dark Angels writer Gavin Thorpe, you can be sure that easter eggs are hidden around every corner.

Don the Terminator power armor and bring glory to the Emperor in Space Hulk: Deathwing when the game launches in November 2016 on PC!

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard GamesCom 2016 Trailer and Screenshots

August 18, 2016 – As part of this week’s gamescom activity over in Cologne, Germany, Capcom has released a brand new gameplay trailer and screenshots for Resident Evil 7 biohazard. Taking a deeper look at the horror players will see in the release of the title early next year, players are introduced to Marguerite Baker and another mysterious female character in this latest gameplay sequence taken from the main game*. Resident Evil 7 biohazard will be available for PlayStation® 4 (the full gameplay experience will also be available via the included PlayStation® VR mode), Xbox One and PC when it launches across North America and Europe on January 24, 2017.

Set within the sinister plantation house in Dulvey, Louisiana, the Baker family, including Jack and Marguerite, were residents but no-one has seen or heard from them in a while. Where could they be? One thing is clear in the latest content to be shown from the game – there’s something not quite right within the plantation. Who is the mysterious girl in the gameplay? What does Marguerite want with her?

Consumers visiting gamescom this week can visit the Sony booth located within Hall 7, B-010 to step inside the Resident Evil 7 biohazard plantation and experience the Beginning Hour demo first debuted at E3 in the intense PlayStation® VR mode.

Screenshots

Watch Dogs 2 Online Experience Trailer

COLOGNE, GERMANY — August 17, 2016 Today at Gamescom, Ubisoft® unveiled the new Bounty Hunter mode for WATCH_DOGS® 2, the upcoming installment in the blockbuster WATCH_DOGS franchise. Bounty Hunter enriches the online component of WATCH_DOGS 2 which is seamlessly integrated with the single player experience.

A new approach to online play in WATCH_DOGS 2, the Bounty Hunter mode is tied to the police heat system and playable by two to four players. When a player creates too much chaos in the single player open world experience and is pursued by the police, the conflict may trigger a Bounty Hunter PVP event pitting the target against up to three rival hunter players who seamlessly join the pursuit and try to neutralize the target. Additionally, players can manually trigger a bounty on themselves using the Contacts app on Marcus’ in-game phone.

Another online mode players can experience is Hacking Invasion, a fan-favorite from the original WATCH_DOGS, the objective of this PVP mode is to download data from a target player while remaining undetected. Finally, Online Co-op allows two players to team up seamlessly and lets them explore the San Francisco Bay Area or participate in cooperative missions. Also in co-op, players can also participate in Hacking Invasion and Bounty Hunter activities, adding even more depth and excitement to their seamless online experience.

In WATCH_DOGS 2, hacking is the ultimate weapon, and players can not only hack into the city’s infrastructure, but also every person and any connected device they possess, to trigger unpredictable chains of events. With the ability to take control of drones, cars, cranes, security robots and much more at their disposal, players can choose whether to use stealth hacking to complete missions without killing a single enemy or go guns blazing for a more ferocious approach.

WATCH_DOGS 2 will release on November 15, 2016 for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One and Windows PC. All PlayStation®4 players will be granted a 30-day exclusive access to all the post launch downloadable content.

For more information on WATCH_DOGS 2, please visit watchdogs.com.

To learn more about other Ubisoft games, please visit ubiblog.com.

Knott’s Announces Soak City Water Park Renovation

BUENA PARK, Calif, (August 2016) – Knott’s Berry Farm announces an exciting expansion, renovations and new additions coming to Knott’s Soak City Water Park next summer.

Orange County’s largest water park will debut two water slide towers featuring exhilarating attractions geared for families and thrill seekers. Shore Break will tower over seven stories and offer six different thrilling water slide experiences. Four of the slides on the 60-foot tall tower will start with guests climbing inside an Aqua-Launch chamber where they will wait anxiously for the floor to drop out from underneath their feet, sending them into a high-speed, almost vertical free fall through a series of flat loops and S-curves in a translucent flume. Shore Break will also feature dueling tube slides that will zip riders through an enchanting series of drops and turns. The height requirements for Shore Break slides are 48 inches. The Wedge slide tower will take the location of the current Pacific Spin and will be an open air family raft ride. Up to six guests at a time will descend down navigating twists and turns and surprise drops. Height requirement for The Wedge is 48 inches or 40 inches when accompanied by a supervising companion. Guests will be able to experience both water slide towers when Knott’s Soak City Water Park opens for the summer season in May 2017.

The expansion project will also include updated shaded seating areas, cabanas and a remodeled Longboard’s Grill to the water park. Construction is set to begin onSeptember 12 and a grand-reopening is scheduled for summer 2017.

A 2017 Knott’s Gold Season Pass is the best way to experience all of the new additions coming to Knott’s Soak City Water Park next year. 2017 Gold Season Passes include one free admission during the 2016 season to Knott’s Berry Farm and Knott’s Soak City Water Park, unlimited visits in 2017 to both parks with no blackout dates, discounts on select food and merchandise, and access to exciting year-round seasonal events.  2017 Season Passes will be available beginningAugust 26 at the best offer of the year for a limited time on knotts.com or soakcityoc.com.

For more information about Knott’s Berry Farm and Knott’s Soak City please visit knotts.com, soakcityoc.com or download the Knott’s Berry Farm app for your smart phone.  Join the conversation about the new ride using the #KnottsSoakCity.

German Battleships Arrive to World of Warships

August 17, 2016 — World of Warships welcomes the highly anticipated addition of German battleships. Meticulously engineered, sleek and powerful, eight new warships are already available in the game. And that’s not all. Captains can also ready themselves for a second wave as World of Warships is poised to add British cruisers this autumn.

“We’re extremely excited to be finally letting these fearsome German vessels loose on the battlefield,” said Artur Plociennik, Global Publishing Producer, World of Warships. “They’re versatile warships that are adept at bringing the battle to the enemy. Plus, with British ships on their way, it’s just another way we’re giving players as much freedom as possible to make the battle their own.”

German battleships dive into the heart of combat, bringing to players several iconic heavy-hitters: the legendary Bismarck (Tier VIII) with its vast expanse of armor and 8 main caliber guns in 4 turrets; the strongly armored Bayern (Tier VI); and the tough Großer Kurfürst, whose strong torpedo protection, enhanced horizontal armor and more advanced AA guns can even compete with mighty ships such as IJNYamato and USS Montana.

German battleships leverage thick armor, a high rate of fire, and powerful secondary weaponry to make them extremely tough in close quarters combat. At the top of the branch, these vessels also benefit from “Hydro-acoustic search” equipment, which allows them to rapidly detect nearby opponents. In short, German battleships are perfect for the captain who isn’t afraid to get up close and personal.

Not long after the launch of the German battleships the first branch of the British fleet will also be preparing to set sail. A full branch of 10 British cruisers will include Caledon at Tier III, Leander at Tier VI,Edinburgh at Tier VIII, and Minotaur at Tier X. Commanders will be able to discover more about these vessels, lurking across the horizon, in the very near future. Guests to the Wargaming booth at gamescom 2016 can even get a first glimpse of the new line today, during the World of Warships presentation, commencing 12PM (GMT +2) at the Wargaming B2C booth.

For the latest information, visit the official World of Warships website:

Activision Announces Gamescom 2016 Line-up

Cologne, Germany – August 17, 2016 – Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), will showcase its latest line-up of leading entertainment franchise releases – Call of Duty®: Infinite Warfare, Destiny: Rise of Iron and Skylanders® Imaginators – at Gamescom 2016 beginning Wednesday, August 17 at the Koelnmesse GmbH Exhibition Centre in Cologne, Germany.

“Gamescom is a great opportunity to show our fans this year’s slate of games packed full of breakthrough innovations featuring rich, immersive storytelling,” said Philip Earl, EVP International, Activision Publishing. “For Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, it’s the world premiere of Call of Duty®: Zombies in Spaceland, the all-new cooperative mode coming in this year’s epic release from Infinity Ward; in Destiny: Rise of Iron fans will see the next great expansion of the universe; and with Skylanders® Imaginators creativity and imagination reach new levels as gamers bring their creations to life.”

Activision’s Gamescom slate includes:

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare: Fans in attendance can celebrate the global reveal of the new ‘80s-themed co-operative Call of Duty® mode Zombies in Spaceland. The new mode takes zombies to a fresh era in a thrilling 1980s themepark setting, sure to frighten and delight zombies’ fans, in a truly unique experience you have to see to believe. Consumers in attendance will discover more at the Sony Interactive Entertainment Deutschland Booth in Hall 7, via an immersive theatre experience that will bring the Zombies in Spaceland game mode to life with some fun, creative and utterly terrifying surprises.

Fans can learn more about Zombies in Spaceland by tuning in August 17 at 9:00am Pacific on Twitch at www.twitch.tv/callofduty, on YouTube at www.youtube.com/callofduty and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/callofduty for a special reveal stream hosted by actor Jay Pharoah as he speaks with the game developers in more detail.

The Call of Duty fan experience also showcases content from the story campaign in award-winning studio Infinity Ward’s newest title. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare breaks new ground in storytelling by exploring the weight of leadership and the responsibilities that come with it in an emotional, character-driven narrative. Players are thrust into wartime leadership as Captain Reyes, a Tier 1 Special Operations soldier, takes the helm of the Retribution, one of Earth’s last remaining warships. In a time of unthinkable hardships, Reyes must lead the remnants of coalition forces against a relentless enemy in a war that stretches across our solar system to terrains beyond Earth.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare introduces new weaponry, unique player abilities and stunning all-new settings to the Call of Duty franchise. In addition to a riveting single player story campaign, and a radical co-operative zombies experience: Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare: Zombies in Spaceland, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare will also unveil a robust multiplayer mode at the upcoming Call of Duty fan celebration, Call of Duty® XP, in September. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare is in development for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare is not yet rated by PEGI.

For more information, visit: www.callofduty.com, www.youtube.com/callofduty or follow @CallofDuty on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Destiny: Rise of Iron: Activision and Bungie will unveil the first hands-on gameplay from Destiny: Rise of Iron at Gamescom. Rise of Iron is the next highly-anticipated large expansion in the Destiny universe. Guardians must rise to the challenge and join forces with a legend from humanity’s past to defeat a plague of unstoppable evil once and for all. Aspiring heroes attending Gamescom will be able to test their PvP skills playing a new competitive multiplayer mode, Supremacy, in Sony Interactive Entertainment Deutschland’s booth in Hall 7.

Bungie premiered Destiny’s newest 6v6 objective based Crucible mode, Supremacy, in the studio’s first ever external broadcast, streaming live from Cologne on the eve of Gamescom. During the stream Bungie also debuted the latest Rise of Iron ViDoc and announced that Private Matches will be introduced to the Crucible, for all PlayStation 4 and Xbox One Destiny owners with the launch of the Rise of Iron on September 20th.

To celebrate the Rise of Iron gameplay premiere at Gamescom, Bungie and Activision have also partnered with European streamers to allow fans across the globe to witness the latest PvE content being played live in Cologne. Streamers will be testing their Guardian skills in a new three-player co-operative Strike “The Wretched Eye” which will have them pursuing a SIVA-infected Fallen biologist into a hive-controlled missile silo. The full schedule of livestreams can be found here.

On Monday 15th August, Bungie and Activision also announced the launch of Destiny – The Collection. Containing every release from the award-winning first-person adventure franchise to date, including the new large expansion, Destiny: Rise of Iron, Destiny – The Collection is the perfect opportunity for new Guardians to join the fight for humanity’s survival. Destiny – The Collection will launch alongside Rise of Iron on September 20, 2016 and will be available for the PlayStation®4 and Xbox One (PlayStation®Plus, Xbox Live Gold, required for some features). Gamers who pre-purchase Destiny – The Collection digitally will be able to experience Destiny, The Dark Below, House of Wolves and The Taken King immediately, while awaiting the release of Rise of Iron.

Destiny: Rise of Iron launches on September 20, 2016 and will be available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (PlayStation Plus, Xbox Live Gold, required for some features) and requires Destiny game and The Taken King (includes Expansions I & II), sold separately. Destiny – The Collection launches on September 20, 2016 and will be available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. For more information, visit www.DestinyTheGame.com. For exclusive updates, follow the official Destiny social channels at www.facebook.com/DestinyTheGame and @DestinyTheGame on Twitter, and interact directly with the developers at www.Bungie.net

Skylanders Imaginators: Activision and Toys For Bob continue to innovate the toys-to-life category with Skylanders Imaginators, the latest chapter in the Skylanders® story, which empowers players to unleash their creativity by creating their own Skylanders.

Playable in the Family and Friends area in Hall 10, Portal Masters will be able to harness the power of their own imagination and create their own Skylander. Visitors to Gamescom will also get first hands on with some of this year’s Senseis characters, a mix of heroes and villains-turned-good, including:

  • Kaos: Kaos will be available as a fully-playable Skylander toy for the first time, and will be able to be controlled by Portal Masters as they wield his evil skills for good
  • Crash Bandicoot®: Celebrating his 20-year anniversary, pop-culture videogame icon Crash Bandicoot returns in 2016 in Skylanders Imaginators. Crash Bandicoot maintains his unique and quirky personality as a fully-playable Skylander Sensei and toy. Never one to shy away from danger, the legendary marsupial Crash Bandicoot travels through the wormhole to join the Skylanders in the ultimate battle against Kaos!
  • Dr. Neo Cortex: Crash Bandicoot’s creator and primary antagonist, Dr. Neo Cortex makes his debut appearance as part of the Skylanders Imaginators line up. Fighting alongside the Skylanders as a powerful mystic warrior, Dr. Neo Cortex puts his dastardly genius to work with his signature blaster ray, hoverboard and explosive mines to thwart Kaos’ forces. He can even summon the powerful Uka Uka mask!
  • Dr. Krankcase and Hood Sickle: One-time villains-turned-Senseis characters Dr. Krankcase and Hood Sickle are among the latest in this year’s toy line-up to be unveiled. They can be seen and played at Gamescom

In North America, fans who pre-order and purchase the Skylanders Imaginators Starter Pack will receive a playable Kaos Sensei toy for free while supplies last between October 16 – 22, 2016.

American Horror Story Coming to Halloween Horror Nights #UniversalHHN

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif., ORLANDO, Fla. (August 16, 2016) – One of the most horrifying and wickedly gruesome shows in television history is bleeding off the screen and into your nightmares.

“American Horror Story,” FX’s critically-acclaimed, Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning television series that has terrorized viewers for five suspenseful installments, will come to life at “Halloween Horror Nights” at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando Resort, beginning Friday, September 16.

Three chapters of “American Horror Story” will haunt the nation’s best, most intense Halloween event in all-new frightening mazes. Guests will embark on a terrifying journey to become the next doomed residents of Murder House from Installment 1, tortured performers in the disturbing and twisted Freak Show from Installment 4, and victims of the otherworldly, death-dealing Hotel from Installment 5.

For the first time ever, guests will venture through Ryan Murphy’s groundbreaking horror anthology, encountering a plethora of iconic scenes and memorable characters designed to jolt them to their very core.  Twisted scenes from Murder House will unleash the evil spirits that possess the Harmon estate, spiraling guests through decades of the tortured dead who previously resided there.  In Freak Show, guests will join a troupe of biological misfits in a sinister sideshow where they’ll be stalked by the murderous and deformed Twisty the Clown. Finally, guests will succumb to the warped desires of The Countess after checking in to the haunted Hotel Cortez, conceived from the beginning as a torture chamber for its customers.

“‘American Horror Story’ is one of the most disturbing television shows ever produced, and with such perverse storylines unfolding with each installment, ‘Halloween Horror Nights’ is undoubtedly the only place that could create a living version of the nightmares that Ryan Murphy dreams up,” said John Murdy, Creative Director at Universal Studios Hollywood and Executive Producer of “Halloween Horror Nights.” “Plus, as a fan favorite, ‘American Horror Story’ has been the number one requested maze from our guests and we’re excited to let them know that we listened to them and are bringing ‘American Horror Story’ to life.”

“‘American Horror Story’ is engaging for so many reasons, one of them being the fantastic way each installment of the series reveals completely new characters and stories for its viewers,” said Michael Aiello, Director of Entertainment Creative Development for Universal Orlando Resort. “It’s that constant evolution that makes this popular series a perfect fit for Halloween Horror Nights – and we can’t wait for our guests to experience some of the horror they’ve seen on the show.”

“20th Century Fox Consumer Products is thrilled to team once again with Universal Studios to premiere visionary Ryan Murphy’s groundbreaking series, ‘American Horror Story’ through an all-new Halloween Horror Night maze,” said Greg Lombardo, SVP of Global Live and Location Based Entertainment, 20th Century Fox Consumer Products. “The attraction – which showcases multiple chapters from the acclaimed FX anthology – offers a chilling live-action thrill and simultaneously complements the series highly anticipated premiere on September 14th.”

AHS at USH-HHN 2016

Captivating – and shocking – viewers since its debut in 2011, “American Horror Story” has won 13 Emmys, two Golden Globes, four Critics’ Choice Awards and one People’s Choice Award. “American Horror Story” 6 begins September 14 on FX.

Universal Studios’ “Halloween Horror Nights” is the ultimate Halloween event. For more than 25 years, guests from around the world have visited “Halloween Horror Nights” in Orlando and Hollywood to become victims inside their own horror film. The streets of each coast’s event are transformed into highly-themed scare zones where menacing “scare-actors” lunge from every darkened corner. Multiple movie-quality haunted houses are erected throughout the event, based on anything from iconic slasher films to hit horror television series to haunting original stories.

Additional details about Universal Studios’ “Halloween Horror Nights” will be revealed soon. For more information about Halloween Horror Nights at either Universal Studios Hollywood or Universal Orlando Resort, visit www.HalloweenHorrorNights.com.

The Surge – Gamescom Gameplay Trailer

August 16, 2016 – Deck13’s upcoming sci-fi Action RPG The Surge is showcased today in a 15-minute gameplay video, demonstrating the combat mechanics and crafting integral to the core gameplay experience.

Fitted with an advanced CREO exo-suit, balancing your core power against your implants and exo-suit upgrades will allow you to specialize in a huge variety of combat styles, thanks to the almost limitless combinations of addons and dozens of make-shift weapons salvaged from the industrial complex. Finely tune your gear to match your playstyle, and to best suit the challenge ahead. The Metroidvanian levels open up as your core power increases, allowing you to over-charge doors previously too strong for your suit to damage and opening new pathways for you to explore. The CREO facility is vast, and if you want to find and craft the best equipment and weapons, you will need to search every area for secrets and hidden items.

The Surge features innovative combat mechanics, allowing you to target individual limbs and dismember the exo-suit add-on or weapon you want to acquire. Collecting tech-scrap and blueprints, you will be able to return to the Operation Center to level up and craft new exo-suit addons and weapons salvaged throughout the level. The most powerful of these can be acquired from the world’s gigantic, industrial bosses. Most of what you encounter in The Surge was never originally designed to kill you, and most of the items you loot and craft were never meant for combat. However, the combined strength of the exo-suit and near-future technology of CREO mean that anything from fork-lifting addons to laser cutters can be used as lethal weapons for diving deeper into the facility.

Find out what it takes to meld man and machine when The Surge releases in 2017.

MSI Unveils NVIDIA GTX 10 Series GPU Gaming Laptops

City of Industry, Calif. – August 16, 2016 – MSI Computer Corp, a leading manufacturer of computer hardware products and solutions, announces the availability of the world’s first selection of gaming laptops armed with NVIDIA’s GeForce® GTX 10 Series GPU.  The new selection of VR-ready gaming laptops, including models from the GT, GS, and GE series, are packed with GeForce® GTX 1080, GeForce® GTX 1070, and GeForce® GTX 1060 GPUs and deliver over 40% performance improvement over previous models.

“NVIDIA’s GTX 10 Series GPU ushers a new era of mobile gaming where mind-blowing visual performance is no longer restricted to desktops, and VR is a reality no matter where you are,” states Andy Tung, president of MSI Pan America.  “Our world leading selection of gaming laptops with NVIDIA’s Pascal GPU caters to every type of gamer, from the eleet looking for extreme power to the casual gamer seeking a balanced unit.”

Gaming Powerhouses

Reimagine and redefined, MSI’s GT83/73VR Titan series now showcases an even more commanding design with sports car inspired exhausts and MSI’s Cooler Boost Titan, featuring multiple exhausts and dual whirlwind blade fans to guarantee the best performance even under the most stress.  Available in 3 different sizes and 17 unique configurations, including with SLI graphics, 4K panels and Tobii’s eye-tracking technology, MSI’s GT series is the optimum laptop for serious gamers.

Mobile Gaming

Supremely mobile and distinctly sexy, MSI’s redesigned GS73/63 VR Stealth Pro series now comes with MSI’s Cooler Boost Trinity, a temperature control system featuring three ultra-thin whirlwind blade fans, and a 5-pipe thermal design optimized for ultra-slim gaming notebooks.  Available in 17-inch, 15-inch, and 14-inch options, MSI’s GS series gives power mobile gaming a new meaning with the performance of larger systems while measuring less than 1-inch thick.

Balanced Gaming

The perfect balance of performance, portability and affordability, MSI’s GE72/62 VR Apache series now features MSI’s Cooler Boost 4 technology, an enhanced cooling system with multiple exhausts to keep temperatures low even during the most headed battles.  Starting at $1,649, the VR-ready GE series comes in two different sizes and is the ideal unit for gaming enthusiast looking for a powerful and reliable unit.

Select MSI laptops with NVIDIA GTX 10 Series GPU feature 120Hz IPS level panel with a 5ms response time for unmatched graphics, True Color technology that delivers vibrant color and sharp images, and comes with Nahimic 2 Virtual Surround Sound to create the ultimate immersive experience.  The new laptops are also equipped with Killer DoubleShot Pro, which automatically prioritizes network traffic to eliminate lag and ensure smooth gaming; and are VR-ready with NVIDIA’s VRWorks™ and VR Audio technologies, capable of automatically detect a VR device to automatically optimize the system for optimum experience.

MSI’s complete arsenal of gaming laptops armed with NVIDIA GTX 10 Series GPUs are now available.  For more information about the complete lineup of MSI laptops and and gaming solutions, visit us.msi.com.