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'Overwatch' test lets you pick and queue for a specific hero class
Players have been asking for it for years and finally, it's arrived: Blizzard is introducing Role Queue to Overwatch. From today, players in the PTR will be able to beta test a feature that allows them to choose the role they want to play -- tank, support or damage -- before a match begins. Usually this decision-making happens in a fairly fraught 40 seconds before a match starts, as everyone selects their heroes and responds to other players' role choices -- so it's not uncommon to feel bummed out as a team comes together.
Razer's new 'Overwatch' gear completes your D.Va cosplay (updated)
Are you into Overwatch as a broadcaster, looking to use Blizzard's new influencer-friendly features? Or are you a super fan who's played through every special event since the game released? Did you start playing the developer's more traditional MOBA, Heroes of the Storm because it added the pink mech-stylings of D.Va? Then you'll love this new gear from Razer, with an amazingly perfect D.va-styled headset, mouse and mousepad.
Old-school tank shooter 'Battlezone' comes to Oculus and Vive
If you grew up in the age of arcades, you probably played Atari's seminal first-person tank game, Battlezone. In the arcade version, you'd play the game with your face stuck into a set of faux goggles that helped you feel like you were in the sweaty confines of an actual tank. It felt like stepping into a virtual world. When developer Rebellion rebooted the classic for PSVR, that 1980 promise of actual virtual reality was fulfilled. Battlezone is now making the leap from PlayStation to the PC via the VR goggles of the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive.
The Marines are fitting their tanks with anti-missile tech
The US Marine Corps believes it's time to upgrade their trusty tanks with technology that can detect and deflect incoming missiles. In fact, it's joining forces with the Army to test out the Israeli Trophy Active Protection System (APS). When Trophy's sensors detect that there's an anti-tank missile on the way, it fires small rounds to deflect them. It can also use jammers to mislead the enemy. According to Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, they're seeing "much more sophisticated threat(s) on the ground," and adding more armor to the vehicles will just slow them down. They needed to turn to high-tech solutions to protect the tanks and their drivers, like how the Navy is developing new technologies for its ships.
ICYMI: Computer chips cooled by 'blood,' tiny tank and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-392885{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-392885, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-392885{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-392885").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: IBM Research in Zurich is using fluid to both power and cool computer chips, modeled off of the way the human brain works. University of Southampton scientists created small glass discs for mega data storage that they say can survive for billions of years. A new unmanned ground vehicle that's basically a DIY tank is available for all those die-hard infantry fans. If you need your dose of nature, check out the video from a Minnesota-based YouTuber of the ice on Lake Superior breaking. As always, please share any interesting science or tech videos, anytime! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.
Atari pioneer Steve Bristow passes away
Steve Bristow, who Nolan Bushnell called one of the world's most powerful gaming pioneers, has died, according to Atari historian Marty Goldberg. Bristow was an early Atari employee who helped birth the Atari 2600 (originally called the Atari Video computer System, or VCS) back in 1977. The pioneering home console was one of the first to use a microprocessor and game cartridges, and sold over 10 million copies by 1982. Bristow also headed Atari's coin-op arcade division during its heyday and helped develop classic games like Tank and Breakout. If you enjoyed the original games or remakes, why not hoist a drink to the man who built them (and his magnificent muttonchops)?
World of Tanks missions get personal tomorrow
World of Tanks is getting a new personal missions feature starting January 15th. You can access them via the upper left corner of your garage screen, and getting started is as easy as picking a sortie, accepting it, and rolling out to the battlefield. You can complete each mission as long as its major win condition is met, but you may want to stick around a bit longer and rack up extra rewards by fulfilling secondary objectives as well. Further details are outlined in today's WoT website update.
World of Tanks introduce pixel-tastic Winter Showdown
Ready to take on some blocky other tanks in blocky arenas with your own blocky tank? World of Tanks wants to endorse your readiness, not block you. The development team behind the game has announced the approaching Winter Showdown mode, an homage to the simpler games of youth -- assuming that you were growing up between 1985 and 1995 and the games of your youth featured online connectivity and pixels rendered in three-dimensional space, anyway. This mode is more than just a simple graphical overhaul, featuring three exclusive tank types, platoons of five tanks, and special gold rounds that hurt enemies or heal your allies. If you can't wait to start rolling in your pixel-based tank, good news: The mode will be available for play starting on January 26th in the United States. Take a gander at the trailer just past the break to see the blocky action in... um... action. [Source: Wargaming.net press release]
World of Tanks' 9.5 update detailed in new trailer, review vid
Wargaming has released a new trailer for World of Tanks version 9.5. The patch adds three new maps, a host of British war machines, an overhauled minimap, and much more. The trailer is kind of a quickie, so we've also embedded the 9.5 review video just beyond the break WoT 9.5 is now available for download via the game's official website.
World of Tanks' replay files vulnerable to code injection
Are you a World of Tanks player who watches match replays from Wargaming's free-to-play arena battler? You'd best be careful, as the company has publicized a vulnerability that allows third parties to "inject malicious code into replay files." The problem will be addressed in WoT's 9.5 update as well as the 1.7 patch for World of Warplanes. In the meantime, Wargaming says that "the code is executed automatically when opening the compromised replays via the game client. Your system may be at risk if you download potentially modified replays from the internet."
SWTOR's Guardian, Juggernaut discipline changes detailed
Another day has brought us another Star Wars: The Old Republic dev blog detailing the class changes coming in the Shadow of Revan expansion. This time around, the focus falls squarely on Jedi Guardians and Sith Juggernauts. BioWare says that both versions of SWTOR's single-saber tank will get new passives, new utilities, and more thanks to the discipline tweaks scheduled to hit the game's class trees in December 9th's 3.0 update.
World of Tanks' 9.4 adds Stalingrad map, tweaks strongholds and more
World of Tanks' 9.4 update is now live, assuming you're playing from North America or Europe. If you're in Asia, well, you'll have to wait until tomorrow. The patch reworks WoT's team battles mode, adds a new historical map (Stalingrad), and improves strongholds. "Strongholds and the structures that produce reserves for a clan have been extended to level 10," Wargaming says. "In addition, clans now have the ability to seek out and attack other clan strongholds and each clan is able to designate specific times where they are available to defend opposing clan attacks." Click past the cut to watch the strongholds trailer. [Source: Wargaming press release]
War Thunder prepares to roll out Steel Generals
Do you enjoy being able to roll around on the ground in War Thunder while taking out anything on the business end of your tank's main guns? Good! The game's next update is giving you new ways to do just that. War Thunder: Steel Generals is due out by the end of the year and is aimed at spicing up the ground game with the addition of US military hardware to the game's lineup. How many pieces of hardware, exactly? Try 30 new tanks and AA units from the appropriate time period. It's exactly the sort of update that can appeal to players who like the game so far but feel it just doesn't feature quite enough tanks. No specific release date has yet been announced, but it's due out before the end of the year, so you won't have to wait long to get your US-based tank on. [Source: Gaijin Entertainment press release]
World of Tanks 360 edition gets French tech tree
If you're an Xbox 360 World of Tanks player, you'll be glad to know that today's update adds the French tech tree, 28 new tanks, and two new maps to the game. The new content is technically free to download, but it does require an Xbox Live Gold subscription. We've embedded a new six-minute dev diary including French tank footage just past the break.
Take a look inside the cockpit of DARPA's self-driving tank
You've seen what DARPA's slimmer, lighter tanks of the future could look like and how they could evade RPGs -- now, you'll also see what's inside the high-tech war vehicle. As you'd expect, DARPA plans to design an advanced cockpit to go with the advanced tank, with a huge HD display and lots of automated elements. Automation's key to making the design work, since the Ground-X Vehicle Technology project aims to (1) reduce the number of people needed to operate a tank, (2) lower the pilot's workload and (3) make it easy to operate even for those with minimal training.
Tank racing coming to World of Tanks on September 29
Wargaming is adding racing to its ubiquitous World of Tanks battler. Tank Rally mode will "pit players against each other on a racing track full of destruction and explosive action," according to a new press release. The catch is that it's only playable from September 29th through October 12th, so you'll have a limited amount of time to perfect your tactics. Teams of three tankers will compete to capture a control point, destroy each other, and race across a track filled with ramps and explosives. Participants will be limited to the new M24 Chaffee sport tank which will be given to all registered players for free. [Source: Wargaming press release]
Here's how DARPA's high-tech tanks will dodge RPGs (video)
DARPA's new Ground X-Vehicle Technology project aims to design tanks with less armor, but are faster and more agile as a result. Now, in the movies, we always see these beefy military vehicles rolling along slowly to action, so faster, grenade-dodging tanks might be a bit hard to imagine. Thankfully, the agency released a concept video that shows how exactly its advanced tanks can avoid getting shot at. Apparently, they will have the capacity to duck (fold low into the ground) and swerve out of the way the moment they detect threat coming their way. DARPA will work on designing these vehicles for the next 24 months, so hit play on the video below, because it'll take a long time before you see the real deal.
Wargaming claims over 100 million registered users
How many players has Wargaming amassed via its ubiquitous World of titles? Over 100 million registered souls across all platforms, according to the firm's latest press release. The company of course neglects to mention how many of those 100 million players are active or how many of them have spent money, but we suspect it's doing OK for itself in both departments. You can read the full blurb after the break. [Source: Wargaming press release]
Do certain roles encourage bad behavior?
I still like tanking and healing more than anything else in the game, but they have their deficiencies while you're trying to smash Hexos into a well-deserved stain on the floor. In order to finish off Brawler's Guild achievements, I went DPS for the first time in 6 years and then thought, "This is actually kind of fun. Let's try some LFR and see what this puppy does in a raid." In a matter of days, I and my hapless raid-mates encountered the following: A tank who RP-walked to everything. (Spoils took forever.) A tank who posted the meters after each trash pull and boss to make fun of the least well-geared DPS. Tanks who couldn't be persuaded to kill the blademasters in Gates of Retributon, trapping the entire raid in perma-combat. Tanks who kept taunting Thok back and forth to alternately breathe on or tail-swipe the raid. Notice a pattern?
Red Steel Rain is coming down to World of Tanks on the Xbox 360
It seems incomprehensible, but World of Tanks on the Xbox 360 is about to get even tankier. I mean, the game already has a high concentration of tanks, but there will be even more tanks. It will be tanked up to the next level. How is this possible? Well, the Red Steel Rain update adds in 15 new vehicles, including the Soviet Artillery line, thus ensuring that you have an even wider variety of tanks to tank about with. Do you not need more tanks? That's all right. The update also includes two new maps with weather conditions as well as the new Platoon battle format. The former gives you more places for your tanks to do whatever tanks do (arrange decorative flower garlands), whilst the latter offers a chance for organized team play with pre-made groups, a mode that the developers will be watching closely to determine the optimal size. Red Steel Rain goes live on August 12th. [Source: Wargaming.net press release]
