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'Far Cry 5' has a cult-fighting dog
The next Far Cry is based in America, and our first glimpse of gameplay at Ubisoft's E3 2017 press event suggests a game where your band of misfit guns for hire are pretty darn important -- and one of them is a dog. Amazing Grace formed the soundtrack for the Far Cry 5 intro, sung by one of the antagonists as he holds a pretty darn meaty gun in the middle of a church.
Welcome to CES, where $50,000 can turn you into a skilled marksman
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-881708{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-881708, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-881708{width:629px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-881708").style.display="none";}catch(e){} What's holding most everyone back from being a talented sharpshooter? Lots of training. But now you don't even need that to hit a target from thousands of feet away thanks to TrackingPoint's Mile Maker sniper rifle. Well, anyone who's rich enough that is. The outfit's targeting this (pun intended? You be the judge!) massive and heavy gun at people with way more money than time: folks like doctors and lawyers who want to go on safari in Africa and come back with a zebra bust for the wall, guaranteed. If you have a spare $49,500 lying around, you could bag practically any trophy too. But doesn't that take away from the art and discipline of shooting? For TrackingPoint's answer to that question, check out our stage interview above.
Star Wars: The Old Republic explains 3.0's Sniper and Gunslinger
Star Wars: The Old Republic finishes up its series examining the class changes coming with the 3.0 update today with the Sniper and the Gunslinger. Why were those two the last on the list? Probably because they were hiding way in the back. That's sort of how they do things. As both of the base classes (Smuggler and Imperial Agent) have seen some significant changes, some of the changes to Snipers and Gunslingers focus around keeping the core utility of the advanced classes while removing unnecessary or superfluous buttons. Sharpshooter/Marksmanship are fairly unchanged from their current incarnations, save for a new ability replacing an older ability in regular rotation. Engineer/Saboteur is largely unchained, but the changes to abilities should produce smoother overall rotations. Last but not least, Virulence/Dirty Fighting specialties both gain a new ability that functionally replaces an older option and a new passive ability to spread damage over time. Check out the details on the new tricks on the official development blog.
The Game Archaeologist: Four online sci-fi titles no one remembers
In the MMO industry, science fiction has always taken the role of the overlooked little brother to big sister fantasy's popularity. Sure, there have been several online games that eschewed dungeons and dragons for spaceships and solar radiation poisoning, but even today the fantasy genre continues to be the dominant one in the genre. So not only have we had fewer online sci-fi games, but the ones that have attempted to make in-roads are all too soon forgotten. Over the years that I've been researching and writing The Game Archaeologist, I continue to come across these little games that have been all but forgotten by modern gamers, and many of these titles are indeed of a sci-fi bent. This week I'll be taking a look at four such games, including one that never even made it to launch, in an attempt to acknowledge their place at the family dinner table.
Watch these smart bullets home in on targets like tiny missiles
Soldiers have long dreamed of smart bullets that always hit their targets, and it looks like they're now much closer to getting their wish. DARPA has posted the first footage of EXACTO (Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance), a .50-caliber bullet that uses optical guidance and sensors to home in on its prey. As you see in the fuzzy-looking video below, the projectile compensates for movement, weather and wind with all the agility of a missile -- even if you try to miss, it easily swerves back on track. The project is still young, but it could prove a tremendous help to long-distance snipers for whom even the tiniest slip-up could ruin a shot.
Weekends with Engadget: Android Wear review, ditching social media and more!
This week, we reviewed Google's Android Wear platform, examined a few practical steps toward ditching social media, watched a sniper hit his target without looking and took a look at the phenomenon of social media activism. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last seven days. Oh, and be sure to subscribe to our Flipboard magazine!
Engadget Daily: ditching social media, sharpshooting with HUD goggles and more!
Today, we review Garmin's new Forerunner 15 sports watch, learn how to escape social media, watch a sniper hit his target while looking in another direction and hear what our readers have to say about the new HTC One. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.
Hitman Go dev locks and loads Hitman: Sniper
Square Enix Montreal announced a new game based on the Hitman series for mobile devices today, Hitman: Sniper. As with the developer's recent approach to mobile in Hitman Go, Sniper is "tailor-built for touch screen devices." It plans to show off the game on undisclosed smartphones and tablets at E3 next week. Hitman: Sniper is a "massively competitive sniping game that will focus on the subtlety of execution," according to the developer. Players will complete contracts that include any number of assignments and targets, each expected to be worth replaying multiple times to topple other players' scores on leaderboards. Square Enix Montreal drew comparisons to IO Interactive's Hitman: Sniper Challenge, which launched ahead of Hitman: Absolution, and that those familiar with the stand-alone game will "have a pretty good idea of the sort of action you can expect" from Hitman: Sniper. When the developer announced Hitman Go in February, it noted that it was working on "something else" that fit "perfectly within the Hitman fantasy." The sniping game sure seems to fit that bill, and will launch "later this year" for free with optional in-app purchases. Square Enix Montreal just began offering Hitman Go on Android devices yesterday and is "working hard on the next set of levels" for the game. [Image: Square Enix]
Snipers confirmed for Titanfall, but quick- and no-scope shots are 'ineffective'
Beyond the joys of stomping people into goo from the cockpit of a giant robot, Titanfall is largely a traditional shooter, though unlike other, modern console shooters Titanfall won't allow snipers to cheat the system. "Sniping is in the game, but due to how the game plays it's a pretty different animal than you'll find in your run of the mill modern military shooter," claimed "scriptacus," a representative of developer Respawn Entertainment in the game's forums. "Quick scoping and no scoping are ineffective." For those unfamiliar with the terms, "quick scoping" and "no scoping" allow snipers to drastically increase their fire rate by exploiting the way virtual rifles work. No scoping is simply firing without aiming and relying on the power of your gun to offset your lack of precision. Quick scoping is a practice in which virtual snipers learn to bring up the scope reticle only long enough to squeeze off one, quick shot. On consoles, where auto-aim has become standard, those who have mastered quick scoping can almost guarantee a hit - which is usually all a sniper will need. How Titanfall's developers plan to counter these tactics is unknown. It could be that players simply move too fast for quick scoping and no scoping to work properly (as in Tribes: Ascend), or Respawn may have increased the amount of time necessary to aim and then fire. We have attempted to contact the developer for further information, but have yet to hear back.
EVE Evolved: Fitting Heavy Assault Cruisers in Odyssey 1.1, part 2
EVE Online recently revamped all of the Heavy Assault Cruisers in its Odyssey 1.1 update, in addition to buffing active shield boosters and armour repairers and rebalancing medium beam lasers and railguns. Last week I put together a new brawler setup for the recently revamped Deimos, a sentry drone sniper fitting for the Ishtar, an extremely effective anti-frigate Cerberus setup, and a sadly underwhelming railgun Eagle. This week I've turned my attention toward the Amarr and Minmatar HACs, with some surprising results. The Zealot and Sacrilege are still as powerful as ever, and the Muninn may see some use as a tactical frigate sniper, but this patch could see many players retiring their Vagabonds. The nano-fit Vagabond was once the unrivaled number one ship for lone pirates, able to speed-tank anything larger than a frigate and still deal over 500 DPS. It engaged safely from outside web range, moved too fast for turrets to track, and absorbed any attacks that did hit with its sizable buffer tank. When CCP made warp scramblers knock out microwarpdrives, Vagabond pilots adapted with dual propulsion module fits that use a microwarpdrive to approach the target and an afterburner to orbit. Unfortunately, the Vagabond didn't fare well in the Odyssey 1.1 patch and players aren't sure if they can adapt this time. In this week's EVE Evolved, I put together PvP setups for the at the Zealot, Sacrilege, Muninn, and Vagabond Heavy Assault Cruisers.
EVE Evolved: Fitting Heavy Assault Cruisers in Odyssey 1.1
The Odyssey 1.1 patch landed this week in EVE Online, introducing several highly requested PvP tweaks and overhauling all of the Command Ships and Heavy Assault Ships. Active shield boosters, armour repairers and medium-sized long range turrets all received sizable buffs, but it's the newly updated Heavy Assault Cruisers that really took my interest. They've historically been used as highly mobile damage-dealers for fleet warfare, but now each has been targeted at a specific combat niche. The Deimos is a brawler for small-scale gang warfare, the Ishtar is a heavy drone platform, the Cerberus turns frigates into molten poop, and the Eagle is... well, nobody can really figure out what to do with the Eagle yet. All of the HACs have been augmented with a new role bonus that reduces the signature radius penalty of activating a microwarpdrive by 50%. This may seem pretty weak, but in practice it makes the ships a lot more viable in PvP. Activating your microwarpdrive will normally increase your signature radius size by 500%, making you a hell of a lot easier to hit and increasing the damage you take from missiles. The speed boost will counteract this to some degree, but it takes a while to reach that speed, and you're very vulnerable in the interim. Reducing this to only 250% means you get all the defensive benefit of the speed increase without much of the vulnerability. In most cases, you'll actually take less damage with the microwarpdrive on than off. In this week's EVE Evolved, I put together PvP setups for the at the newly revamped Deimos, Ishtar, Cerberus, and Eagle Heavy Assault Cruisers.
EVE Evolved: First impressions of DUST 514
Every time I'm in a conversation about DUST 514, I find myself excusing its gameplay problems on the basis that it's treading new ground and has years of development ahead of it. But even though CCP has revealed an aggressive new schedule of big monthly updates, console gamers aren't willing to give it a free pass today based on future potential. I finally convinced my console gamer friends to pick the game up this week and gave it a fair go myself. I absolutely love the idea of DUST 514 and want to see the game succeed, but console gamers just don't seem impressed. When the game officially launched on May 14th, it was largely regarded as just another mediocre and buggy first-person shooter with a perishable gear system. The MMO components such as territorial control aren't very visible or accessible to new players, the gameplay balance and graphics need serious work, and the link with EVE Online feels practically non-existent. It pains me to say it, but DUST is neither a great FPS nor a great MMO. In this week's EVE Evolved, I delve into DUST 514 and give my first impressions of it as an EVE player.
EVE Evolved: Fitting battleships for PvP in Odyssey, part 2
Battleships used to be the backbone of every major PvP fleet in EVE Online, but recent years have seen them increasingly overtaken by more mobile Battlecruisers, Heavy Assault Cruisers, and tech 3 Strategic Cruisers. Armour buffered battleships are still used in carrier-supported fleets and for a while nullsec played host to huge missile-spamming Maelstrom blobs of unholy death, but many of the battleships just haven't been worth using. Developers saught to rectify that in the recent Odyssey expansion with a complete balance overhaul of the standard tech 1 battleships, and it's starting to pay off. In last week's EVE Evolved, I looked at how Odyssey buffed the tier one Dominix, Scorpion, Typhoon, and Armageddon beyond all recognition and experimented with new PvP setups for each of them. This week I've turned my attention toward the tier 2 battleships, which turned out to be equally versatile and deadly. Now officially falling under the umbrella of "Combat Battleships," the Megathron, Raven, Apocalypse, and Tempest have become powerful damage-dealing platforms for fleet warfare. Each of them can now fulfill sniper or close-range damage roles and carry a spare flight of Warrior II drones to bat off tacklers, but what's impressed me the most is the sheer level of damage and tank they can achieve. In this week's EVE Evolved, I experiment with setups for the recently revamped Megathron, Raven, Apocalypse, and Tempest tier 2 battleships. These setups may require Advanced Weapon Upgrades 4 and a cheap 1-3% powergrid or CPU implant.
EVE Evolved: Fitting battleships for PvP in Odyssey
Tech 1 ships in EVE Online used to be arranged in tiers that determined the cost and power of the ship and what level of the appropriate skill was required to fly it. This gave a sense of progression back in 2004 when all we had was frigates, cruisers, and battleships, but developers have since filled in the gaps between ship classes with destroyers, battlecruisers, strategic cruisers, and tech 2 ships of all shapes and sizes. In a recent game design initiative, CCP has been removing the tiers from within each tech 1 ship class by buffing the lower-tier ships up to the same rough power level as the largest ship in its class. The recent Odyssey expansion saw the humble battleship buffed beyond all recognition. The Megathron, Raven, Tempest, and Apocalypse all became extreme damage-dealing powerhouses, but the Dominix, Scorpion, Typhoon, and Armageddon were buffed the most. Each of them can now fit several monster setups, dealing upward of 1,000 damage per second or completely disabling enemy ships with energy neutralisers and electronic warfare. The build costs of these tier one battleships were more than doubled in the expansion, but prices are only slowly rising due to the existing stock on the market. That makes the tier one battleships incredibly cost-effective PvP powerhouses at the moment, and players are beginning to take advantage of it. In this week's EVE Evolved, I experiment with PvP setups for the newly revamped Typhoon, Armageddon, Scorpion, and Dominix battleships.
Inteliscope app version one shows off its iPhone-enabled sniping skills (video)
In the old days, when you wanted to double-tap a bad guy with an AR-15, you had to rely on plain-jane scopes or sights... booooring. Good thing we live in a more tactically technological time, the age of the Inteliscope -- a mount and app combo that lets you slap an iPhone or iPod touch atop an assault rifle to give the killing fields a little Cupertino flair. Until now, we'd only seen a screenshot of the app, but the company has just released a video of it in action. So, head on down to see for yourself what it's like swapping reticles, getting range info and recording video of target practice from a sniper's POV.
Team Fortress 2 14-inch Sniper statue sure is a 'beaut
The fourth mega TF2 statue from Gaming Heads is the BLU Sniper Exclusive, and boy is she pretty. The BLU Sniper Exclusive is 14 inches from the base to the top of its arrows, and since it's the exclusive version, it comes with the Razorback battery-powered tribal shield. There are only 350 of these bad boys, and they cost $235 each. They'll be available in Q3 2013, though pre-orders start today.Gaming Heads also has the Medic, Soldier and Heavy in standard and exclusive versions. If you haven't already started saving up, maybe do that now.
DARPA calls on Cubic Corporation to develop frighteningly accurate One Shot XG sniper rifle
Sighting in a target through the scope of a high-caliber rifle can be a bit more complicated than it sounds -- snipers have to account for cross-winds, range and a whole host of external factors that could put their projectile off course. It isn't easy, and the required calculations can seriously slow down a shooter's time to trigger. The solution? High tech laser-equipped sniper scopes, of course. DARPA has actually been working on this problem for quite some time, and calls its' project One Shot. Previous iterations of the targeting system helped shooters increase their chance of hitting their mark by a factor of four, but suffered from short battery life, range finder accuracy errors and overheating problems. DARPA is putting its faith into Cubic Corporation to overcome these faults, awarding the firm with a $6 million contract to develop a "compact observation, measurement and ballistic calculation system" that it calls the One Shot XG. Like its predecessors, the XG is designed to give the shooter a offset aim point to counteract the environmental conditions that would impact bullet trajectory. DARPA is hoping to see ten weapon or scope-mountable field devices within 15 months. Consider this fair warning, Segway bots.
SWTOR increases Sniper damage, fixes bugs, and cures the Rakghoul plague
Snipers and Gunslingers should be happy about the changes to Star Wars: The Old Republic this morning. Five of their most prominent abilities have received a 5% increase in damage output. With the latest patch 1.2.1, abilities like Snipe, Charged Burst, Aim Shot, and Ambush now have a measurable difference in damage output. Although Snipers and Gunslingers were the only classes to receive a bonus to damage, many other minor and why-is-this-an-issue bugs have been fixed with the introduction of this patch. For instance, each player can add other players to his friends list even if those other players are offline. And that persistent and annoying jet-engine sound heard on Carrick and Vaiken station has been fixed. On a sad note, the Rakghoul plague has come to and end (or is that good news?). Either way, the announcements on the stations have stopped, and the crash site has been fully cleaned up, including the jawa vendor. But chin up, event-fans: Lead Designer Daniel Erickson mentioned on Mos Eisley Radio that although BioWare does not have plans to revive this specific event, there is a whole team specifically dedicated to creating future live events.
Now you don't see him: Meet PlanetSide 2's Infiltrator
He's the boogeyman whom battle-hardened soldiers fear and the guy whom Batman consults with on a daily basis. He's the Infiltrator, PlanetSide 2's sneaky assassin, and he won't stop coming for you until you are dead. Unless he gets lost. Planets are big. SOE revealed the Infiltrator today as the game's stealth-user and long-distance sniper. Using advanced technology and camouflage systems, the Infiltrator can get to places that no other class can -- and do a lot of damage once there. Interestingly enough, while the Infiltrator lacks heavy armor, SOE does claim that the class' tactical advantages will prove to be just as protective as a titanium suit. Infiltrators can use both sniper and scout rifles as well as pistols for close-quarter combat. The sniper rifle boasts the best range, while the scout rifle is better for mobile assault missions. It will, of course, be up to the player to decide whichever is the best to use in which situation.
Good Guy Sniper: Kills Hitler in Sniper Elite V2 pre-order bonus, doesn't die
Sniper Elite V2 doesn't ask too much out of players, just that they have a steady hand and, with a new pre-order bonus, that they kill Hitler. Pre-ordering Sniper Elite V2 before its North American ship date of May 1 gets players the Kill Hitler bonus mission and two new rifles, the SVT-40 and the Kar 98.The story in Kill Hitler has players intercept the Fuhrer's train before it leaves for Berlin and snipe him as he scurries away on foot, with only one opportunity to actually hit Hitler and alter history. Really, this game is actually a time-paradox generator, and every time you miss sniping Hitler a world exactly like our own is created -- and you know you don't want that. If you hit him, though, you'll have never been born. Twilight Zone style.
