Author - Jerry Paxton

Wargame AirLand Battle Reveals Dynamic Campaign

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MAY 17, 2013 — Wargame AirLand Battle, the spectacular real-time strategy game for which the official and definitive release date is May 30th, will surprise players with its brand new Dynamic Campaign system, that we are pleased to unveil for the first time with a series of 4 screenshots!

Willing to make something very different from the solo campaigns of Wargame European Escalation, Eugen Systems made great efforts to offer Wargame AirLand Battle an exciting campaign that’s both innovativeand fascinating. As you can see in today’s screenshots, in this campaign, you’ll handle your army and your battle groups on a huge strategic map representing Europe: ordering movements, asking for reinforcements, but also launching support strikes such as intelligence missions, special forces strikes, satellite spying, bombardment, tactical nuclear attacks, etc…

When a zone is under attack and you need to defend it, or when you send your own battle groups to assault, you are thrown into the heart of the spectacular battles happening in real-time. Your army is persistent all along the campaign: your units and battle groups will earn experience, making them perform better with every battle they survive…. but keep in mind losses are definitive as well!

Last but not least, the campaign is also playable in multiplayer against another player!

War is about to begin… pick your side and lead your army to victory!

Wargame will be available on PC on May 30th.

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Theme Park Studio Makes Kickstarter Goal

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Porter Ranch, Calif.–May 17, 2013–Pantera Entertainment today announced that the Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for Theme Park Studio, an advanced theme park and roller coaster builder for PC, has successfully achieved and surpassed its funding goal of $80,000. As the campaign heads into its final weekend, Pantera is focusing on hitting the stretch goal of integrating support for the Razer™ Hydra motion sensing controller at $85,000. The company has also added the option of accepting funding via PayPal, with contributors receiving the same rewards as Kickstarter backers. See
http://funding.themeparkstudio.com/ for more details.

A new trailer for the game was will also be released today, showcasing gameplay footage of creating a park entrance, with paths and vegetation, from scratch. The video will be available on the Kickstarter page at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1011099242/theme-park-studio-create-the-ultimate-theme-park

“We’re humbled by the outpouring of support for Theme Park Studio and incredibly excited to be able to move forward with our plans,” says Steve Fielding, president of Pantera Entertainment. “Anyone interested in the game should get on our mailing list and stay tuned, because we still have lots of updates coming in the next few weeks.”

Theme Park Studio is a powerful set of tools that allows players to build amazing theme parks of their own design. The simulator includes a robust coaster editor that is both easy to use and flexible, allowing rails to be bent, twisted, and shaped into almost any design imaginable. With brakes, accelerators, tunnels, and custom mesh, there is virtually no limit to what players can come up with. Prefabricated templates also provide the ease of click-and-drop designs.

Theme Park Studio breaks new ground with its new custom flat rides designer, a unique tool that gives players the opportunity to design, build, and invent custom rides, or simply select from the extensive library of pre-built rides. Extensive landscaping tools, custom scenery importing, and advanced vegetation solutions that make trees, bushes and flowers react to wind and turbulence make it possible to create stunning, picturesque environments. A full particle effects editor delivers amazing and realistic visuals, and full 3D stereoscopic support lets you experience your rides in eye-popping 3D. When your park is complete, open the gates and watch guests tour your park and enjoy the coasters and rides.

Already in development for several months, Theme Park Studio has generated excitement and acclaim among fans of the genre. Pantera has extensive experience creating theme park and roller coaster simulators, with a portfolio that includes one of the most advanced roller coaster designers ever created.

Razer Launches Atrox Arcade Stick for Xbox 360

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CARLSBAD, Calif. – May 16, 2013 – Razer™, the world leader in high-performance gaming hardware, software and systems, today announced the Razer Atrox Arcade Stick for Xbox 360®, the final product following an extensive beta testing program.

Tested by some of the world’s best pro-gamers and Fighting Game Community members all over the world, the Razer Atrox Arcade Stick is constructed with modders and tournament gamers in mind.  Featuring premium quality Sanwa™ components, the 10 highly responsive buttons and a precision eight-way joystick allow gamers to strike instantly and surely, game after game, while maintaining peak performance and reliability.

An extremely moddable controller, the inside of the arcade stick platform opens up at the touch of a button, making the Razer Atrox  a breeze to customize for all tastes and play styles. Users can swap in their own personal designs for a unique look, while also getting access to the internal compartments and honeycomb structure for easy screw mounting.

The easily accessible internal compartment of the Razer Atrox reveals dedicated slots to store an included alternate bat top joystick, the detachable cable, and a screwdriver for modding, giving gamers plenty of room for storage as they travel around dominating FGC events.

“Following a huge beta testing program, we’re confident that we’ve built an arcade stick enthusiasts will love,” says Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director. “We know that the Fighting Game Community is huge on modding their arcade sticks, and that is why we made the Razer Atrox extremely mod friendly. We are excited to see what extreme mods the Razer Atrox will be the base for.”

About the Razer Atrox Arcade Stick for Xbox 360®

Arcade gaming has come a long way since its glory days– an era woven into the fabric of gaming history as one that paved the way for innovation, and also one that brought us bittersweet nostalgia. Hours spent at the arcade honed the gamer in you; for every coin you inserted, every combo you executed, every hit you took, and every ultra you unleashed in return – you became a better player.  And this is the approach we took when designing the Razer Atrox Arcade Stick.

Years upon years of collective gaming experience from pro-gamers and you, the Razer community, have culminated in the ultimate Arcade Stick for the Xbox 360.  Engineered and refined to perfection through countless prototypes and an extensive beta testing phase, the Razer Atrox Arcade Stick is crafted to allow advanced modification – With internals and storage easily accessible at the touch of a button, the joystick, all 10 buttons and the top panel are fully interchangeable for full customizability.  And that’s just the beginning.

Featuring genuine Sanwa hardware and an ergonomically authentic arcade layout, the Razer Atrox represents the pinnacle of precision and reliability and is the definitive Arcade Stick for tournament-grade gaming.

Forged from the fires of an arcade gaming legacy, the Razer Atrox is, in the most primeval sense, Bred to Fight.

Price:

U.S. $199.99 / EU €199.99

Availability:
Razerzone.com – Pre Order on 21st May 2013
Japan – May 2013
Worldwide – June 2013

Product features:

  • 10 tournament-grade Sanwa buttons
  • Authentic Sanwa joystick with ball top and additional bat top
  • Interchangeable top plate allows for custom artwork finishes
  • Fully accessible internals and storage compartments for easy modding
  • Honeycomb structure on the inside for easy screw mounting
  • Storage room for alternative bat top joystick and more
  • 13 ft / 4 m detachable USB cable
  • Screwdriver included for modding
  • 2.5 mm audio jack for headset use on Xbox LIVE

For more information about the Razer Atrox, please visit www.razerzone.com/atrox.

Star Trek Rivals Launch Trailer

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MAY 16th, 2013 — Elephant Mouse is excited to announce a brand new addition to the Star Trek universe with Star Trek™ Rivals, a free-to-play card battle game set to materialize alongside the debut of the new film, Star Trek Into Darkness.

Join the legendary crew of the USS Enterprise in this strategic, turn-based, card battle game, including chief medical officer Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, communications officer Nyota Uhura, chief engineer “Scotty,” and Captain James T. Kirk. Collect and upgrade cards and battle friends and foes alike in your pursuit of the ultimate winning hand.

With more than 100 cards for players to collect, featuring characters, starships, and technologies seen in the film Star Trek Into Darkness, the central cast reports to their posts and readies for turn-based battle!

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Ride to Hell Screenshots and Trailer

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Larkspur, Calif., May 16, 2013 — Tired of dithering between action and strategic thinking? Deep Silver now combines both aspects in one game: Ride to Hell: Route 666 lets players experience the whole lifestyle of biker gangs, but those who want to dominate the infamous Route 66 need to act smart. In this new trailer, different classes of gang members and enemies are explained as well as how to arrange formations and how to finish off opposing bikers in close combat. Set up your team, choose your weapons and hit the road! Ride to Hell: Route 666 is scheduled for release on the PlayStation® Store and on Xbox Live® as an arcade game for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft this summer.

Ride to Hell: Route 666 is set within the Ride to Hell universe, a world of bare-knuckle violence, and rip-roaring motorcycles. Later this year the setting will be extended by two further titles featuring the unique and incomparable biker lifestyle; Ride to Hell: Retribution and Ride to Hell: Beatdown.

Ride to Hell: Retribution tells the story of a lone rider, Jake Conway, a man with either a gun in his hand or a girl on his lap (and on more than one occasion both!). He’s on a merciless path of revenge against a brutal biker gang called The Devil’s Hand, armed to the teeth with an arsenal of deadly weapons to enact his vengeance on foot and on bike. The only law Jake answers to is his own.  Hit hard, ride fast and leave ’em in the dust starting June 2013 for Xbox 360, Windows® PC, and PlayStation®3.

The Ride to Hell universe will be rounded out with Ride to Hell: Beatdown, a rock’n’roll brawler set to light up the mobile space, on the go! More details on this title will follow soon.

Ride to Hell: Retribution is developed by Eutechnyx, Ride to Hell: Route 666 by Black Forest Games.

For more information about the Ride to Hell universe, please visit www.ridetohell.com.

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15-Year Anniversary World of Tanks Tournaments

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May 16, 2013 — Wargaming, the leading free-to-play MMO developer and publisher, today announced a special World of Tanks tournament in celebration of the company’s 15th anniversary. The tournament will unfold in key regions around the globe, including Europe, North America, Russia, South Korea, Southeast Asia, China, and Vietnam. Winning teams from each region will score themselves an all-expenses-paid trip to the World of Tanks development studio located in Minsk, Belarus.

Following a traditional eSports 7 vs. 7 format, the tournaments will kick off in May, with final games scheduled for the end of June. Second and third place finishers won’t walk away empty-handed and will take home massive in-game gold prizes for their efforts.

“This is a great opportunity for teams around the globe to show their peers and prove they have what it takes to really be the best at World of Tanks,” said Alexey Kuznetsov, eSports Lead at Wargaming. “We’re extremely excited to welcome the winning teams to Belarus and give them a closer look at how their favorite game is made.

 

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing Hunters Lair Trailer

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May 16th, 2013 — Indie developer NeocoreGames debuted today the trailer for the Hunter’s Lair – a secret hideout for the legendary vampire hunter to meet with allies and accept new quests – for its gothic-noir steampunk action-RPG, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing. Set to release on Windows® PC on May 22, 2013, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing will be made available for $14.99 on Steam.

Trailer

CAA Roni Pistol-Carbine Conversion for P226 Series Review (Airsoft)

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CAA Airsoft sent us over one of their new CAA RONI Pistol-Carbine Conversion Kits for P226 series Airsoft handguns. These pistol-carbine conversion kits are making their way into all sorts of real steel applications these days. Naturally, the Airsoft world follows suit and creates equivalents for us BB-shooters out there. This new RONI Pistol-Carbine Conversion Kit promises to give pistoleers the increased accuracy and stability of a carbine without sacrificing the maneuverability of a pistol.

The CAA RONI Pistol-Carbine Conversion Kit features  a sweet, fold-out fore grip, QD sling points, multi-position stock with cheek riser, dual flip-up sights, extra magazine holder, and manual trigger guard.

Installing the 226 pistol into the RONI conversion kit is a very straight-forward process, given that you don’t have a KWA model. If that’s the case, then you need to physically-modify the RONI kit by pulling off some small plastic “ribs” that hold certain 226 models in place. Once done, the no-tool bolts are easily manipulated and the gun will fit like a glove. I would recommend that you add some teflon grease to the inside of the ABS plastic where the pistol slide will ride against, just to make sure that everything moves freely.

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Two “ribs” that might need removing

Using the RONI Pistol-Carbine conversion kit is simply a joy. The company has accurately recreated the feel of using the real-steel conversion kit, albeit in an Airsoft form. I especially loved how quickly the extra magazine holder allowed me to reload the pistol. You can go from mag release to dump pouch to extra mag to insertion in a few seconds. This means that you will not spend a lot of time fumbling about trying to reload. CAA Airsoft has also included their “standard” bells and whistles like flip-up sights and a cheek riser – further adding to user comfort.

Overall, I enjoyed the added stability and accuracy which the CAA RONI conversion kit provided my KWA M226 pistol. However, adapting the RONI to fit my KWA M226 was an unnerving chore as I was afraid I would break the kit altogether. For $120 dollars, I want to feel comfortable with my purchase and I don’t know if a retailer would exchange a “rib removal” gone wrong. Aside from this, the conversion kit makes a great accessory for pistoleers out there – adding both stability and comfort, while also increasing accuracy.

[easyreview title=”CAA Roni Pistol-Carbine Conversion for P226 Series Review Score” cat1title=”Overall Score (out of 5)” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4″] Our Rating Scores Explained

[wpcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””]Pros

  • Good build quality
  • Hard ABS plastic is surprisingly rugged
  • Staying true to its promise, this kit does increase pistol stability and accuracy
  • Gives platform for more advanced rail accessories

[/wpcol_1half] [wpcol_1half_end id=”” class=”” style=””]Cons

  • Having to cut off the plastic ribs is a big pain – especially if you end up getting a different brand of pistol down the road

[/wpcol_1half_end]

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