Assassin's Creed 1 Story Line

• the game starts with you playing as Desmond Miles, a New York bartender. You've been kidnapped by a pharmaceutical company called Abstergo, which is run by some barmy old codger called Warren Vidic (who just so happens to be a complete smug prick who thinks his shit don't stink). Vidic tells you that Abstergo is a famous company that has developed pretty much every invention ever. As you play the game, you find out that Abstergo is a modern day front for the Knights Templar, a faction who strive for world peace by taking away free will (they're the bad guys). You also learn that they think you're a member of the Assassin Brotherhood (you used to be, but not anymore), a faction that have been rivalling the Templars for centuries to try and stop their shenanigans (eeeevil shenanigans).

• the reason they kidnapped you, is to place you in a machine called the Animus (which is actually Latin for soul). What the Animus does is allow you to relive the memories of your ancestors by accessing the genetic memory stored inside your DNA. They want to do this because your ancestor, an assassin from the 12th century called Altair Ibn La-Ahad, came into possession of an artifact called The Apple, which is one of many Pieces Of Eden. So without so much as a how-do-you-do, they (Warren and his assistant Lucy Stillman), place you in the machine.

• when the Animus starts up, you take over as Altair at Solomon's Temple, looking for the Apple, but arrive just in time to see Robert de Sable, the Templar Grandmaster, get to it first. Because he's such a massive douche who stole your prize, Altair tries to stab him in the face, but fails. Shit hits the fan, and your buddies get caught behind as you're forced to flee the collapsing temple.

• you return to the Assassin's castle stronghold at Masyaf (real place, used to actually be the stronghold of the Hashashin, the people where the word 'assassin' comes from). Your buddy who was left behind, rocks up minus a functioning arm with the Apple, with a Templar force right behind him. You do some sneaky bastard stuff, and sneak around them and overpower them.

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• after they've fucked off, your boss, another barmy old codger named Al Mualim, thinks you dun goofed, so he demotes you by stabbing you in the neck. Okay... aaanyway, somehow you survive, and are told you're going to have to earn you way back up to the top rank.

• you are the provided with names of people who require murdering because they're being complete and utter bastards. You ride to three different cities; Jerusalem, Damascus and Acre (the game's set in the Holy Land during the Crusades. 1191 to be exact), and have a particualr target at each one, whether it be a weapons dealer, a lord, a military commander, or just some fat cunt with a squeaky voice. You gather info on your targets, and assassinate them one by one over the duration of the game. Every kill restores a level of rank (also, each target is based on an actual historical figure that died in 1191). As you notch up a bodycount, you notice that each of them, in their dying moments, all make a confession (this happens with every main target in each game of the series): what they did, they did for the people to prepare for a New World Order. You start to question whether you're doing the right thing, and come to the conclusion that you are, because the NWO requires the sacrifice of free will, something heinous in the eyes of the Brotherhood. So you kill and kill some more, getting closer to that douchebag de Sable.

• he discovers that de Sable has been planning something nefarious: to unite the Christian and Muslim armies together against the Assassins. Fuck. He chases down Robert and catches up to him in front of Richard the Lionheart (who is one fat motherfucker). Dick says a trial by combat should take place, with God deciding who is right. Altair wins, then tells Dick that God had nothing to do with it, he did it all himself (I wonder if he made a faces of atheism post about that. "I heard people praise God when I smote that bastard Robert de Sable. I DIDN'T SPEND MY WHOLE LIFE TRAINING FOR AN INVISIBLE SKY WIZARD TO GET THE CREDIT"). He then tries to convince King Dick that ending the war would be beneficial to both parties (Dick says no). Before he's proper dead, de Sable tells Altair that Al Mualim is actually a Templar too. What. A. Cunt.

• you go back to Masyaf to do your own version of Star Wars (Dirt Wars?) and confront bossman. He tells you The Apple can conjure illusions, and that all religious miracles are products of the artifact. Altair's all "pfff, get da fuck outa here, you crazy fool", then Al Pooalim shows him some magic tricks, creating clones of himself. You then have a throwdown, and win. You recover the Apple from his body, and it turns on, showing a globe of the world with locations marked all over the place.

• with the memory complete, Desmond is pulled out of the Animus to find Vidic chucking a conniption fit because a small band of Assasins are trying to mount a rescue effort to save you. Lucy, who you'd been talking with every time you came out of the Animus, tells you she's an assassin working undercover, and she's going to help you soon. When she leaves, you experience something weird: Eagle Vision. Walking around, you see symbols all over the floor and walls that you can't see normally. It turns out the previous person to do this shit, 'Subject 16', was in the Animus for so long he ended up crazier than a shithouse rat, and opened his veins up and painted the walls with his blood to leave a bunch of cryptic clues behind. After seeing enough symbols, credits roll

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The Empowered Edge

Today, the primary concern of every industry is the laggy approach that sometimes affects the overall management of the operations. Therefore, industries are focusing more on the efficiency and the response rate of computing, through which data analysis is made. And here comes the role of edge computing. 

Edge computing brings data storage and computation closer to the businesses, and hence, ameliorates the response times and saves bandwidth. Also, it weighs more like the latest trend in technology because the industries are rapidly empowered with sophisticated and specialized resources, which is bound to reduce the latency. 

As of now, edge computing is being fueled by the rapid evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) and in the future, it will create an unstructured architecture over a set of distributed cloud services. 

For instance, we have got drones that directly communicate with the enterprise IoT platform and conduct peer-to-peer exchanges. There is an increasing rise in the use of storage, sensor, computer, and advanced AI capabilities. One such example is the latest package delivery drone by Amazon. 

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5G Network

The advent of 5G is one of the most enigmatic new upcoming technologies that can impact businesses in 2020. Many industry experts have termed 5G as the future of communication and to some extent, it’s true.

“5G wireless networks will support 1,000-fold gains in capacity, connections for at least 100 billion devices and a 10 Gb/s individual user experience of extremely low latency and response times, as stated by Huawei. “Deployment of these networks will emerge between 2020 and 2030.”  

However, to take this speed to everyday mobile users, mobile network carriers will need to increase bandwidth and reduce network costs. Moreover, LTE adoption isn’t waning and is estimated to reach $672 billion by the end of 2020. 

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Russia Says It's on the Brink of Robot Warfare

A new report out of Russia's military research center suggests the Kremlin is close to realizing an army of Terminator-like robot soldiers that could soon replace humans in battle.

"Living fighters will gradually begin to be replaced by their robotic 'brothers' who can act faster, more accurately and more selectively than people," Vitaly Davydov told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti on April 21, according to a Forbes report. Davydov is the deputy director of the Advanced Research Foundation, which is Russia's version of the U.S. Defensed Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Davydov argued that not only will military robots be faster and more discriminating in target selection, but they'll also be more accurate, he says. While machines can already respond to sensor data, no algorithms exist yet that have transferred over the firing response to the machine, alone.

"At this point, the Ministry of Defence says that robots replacing humans saves human soldiers from danger," Samuel Bendett, an adviser at the Center for Naval Analyses, told Forbes. "Built into that statement is the assumption that a sophisticated unmanned system would be able to eventually distinguish military targets from civilian ones, avoiding unnecessary casualties."

To be clear, Russia has been wanting robo-fighters for some time now. In February 2019, the Advanced Research Foundation showing mini tanks that the army could deploy right next to infantry, plus swarms of quadrotor drones. The idea is that both the tanks and the robot swarm could relay target information back to a killer robot that could do the shooting.

Later in 2019, an unnamed Russian official told RIA Novosti that the armed forces would use ground robots in urban street battles as early as 2020, building on experience that the military gained in Syria.

That source said that the greatest challenge Russia faces in the eventual deployment of a robot army is a lack of central focus. However, they said, by 2025, the Kremlin expects to roll out groups of multifunctional robots that can solve combat missions by deploying each for a particular purpose.

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Hyper-automation

Hyper-automation elevates task automation to the next level. It is the application of advanced technologies like Artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine learning (ML) to automate processes (not just tasks) in ways that are significantly more impactful than that of traditional automation capabilities. 

It’s the combination of multiple machine learning, packaged software and automation tools to deliver work. 

Hyper-automation requires a combination of tools to help support replicating pieces of where the human is involved in a task. 

This trend kicked off with robotic process automation (RPA) but will see growth with the combination of process intelligence, content intelligence, AI, OCR and other innovative technology

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Unhackable internet

An internet based on quantum physics will soon enable inherently secure communication. A team led by Stephanie Wehner, at Delft University of Technology, is building a network connecting four cities in the Netherlands entirely by means of quantum technology. Messages sent over this network will be unhackable.

In the last few years, scientists have learned to transmit pairs of photons across fiber-optic cables in a way that absolutely protects the information encoded in them. A team in China used a form of the technology to construct a 2,000-kilometer network backbone between Beijing and Shanghai—but that project relies partly on classical components that periodically break the quantum link before establishing a new one, introducing the risk of hacking.

The Delft network, in contrast, will be the first to transmit information between cities using quantum techniques from end to end.

The technology relies on a quantum behavior of atomic particles called entanglement. Entangled photons can’t be covertly read without disrupting their content.

But entangled particles are difficult to create, and harder still to transmit over long distances. Wehner’s team has demonstrated it can send them more than 1.5 kilometers (0.93 miles), and they are confident they can set up a quantum link between Delft and the Hague by around the end of this year. Ensuring an unbroken connection over greater distances will require quantum repeaters that extend the network.

Such repeaters are currently in design at Delft and elsewhere. The first should be completed in the next five to six years, says Wehner, with a global quantum network following by the end of the decade.

source-https://www.technologyreview.com

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Samsung Sero TV

Samsung Electronics Debuts Expanded MicroLED, QLED 8K and Lifestyle TV Lineups Ahead of CES 2020

Samsung Electronics unveiled its latest lineup of MicroLED, QLED 8K and Lifestyle TVs ahead of CES 2020. With the introduction of new display sizes, 8K AI upscaling capabilities, innovative display orientation technology, and more, Samsung showcased how its 2020 offerings redefine immersion and revolutionize home integration.

“Consumers use screens every day to work from home, exercise from home, and even shop from home. As our lifestyles continue to evolve, the TV screen is evolving with them to provide consumers access to their favorite content and real-time information whenever and wherever they want it,” said Jong-hee Han, President of Visual Displays at Samsung Electronics. “As part of our vision of ‘Screens Everywhere,’ we’re thrilled to deliver a more vivid and connected at-home viewing experience by incorporating AI-enabled features and 8K technology into our displays.”

Samsung introduced the home-ready, modular MicroLED, which combines next-generation screen technology with unprecedented customization capabilities. Consumers are now able to personally experience how Samsung’s design and innovation engineering teams have reimagined the TV.

With 75-, 88-, 93-, 110-, and 150-inch display sizes, MicroLED models are suited for a variety of homes and lifestyles. In particular, the new 88- and 150-inch MicroLED models introduce ultra-slim infinity designs, virtually removing all four sides of the bezels for a finish that blends right into any wall. And consumers can also connect multiple MicroLED panels together to create new combinations and adapt their TV for their specific space.

MicroLED displays offer best-in-class picture quality. They deliver greater depth, better resolution, and higher clarity as well as a peak brightness of 5,000 nits. They also leverage upscaling abilities based on deep learning to deliver the highest-quality content, regardless of the source. The result is an unparalleled sense of immersion for consumers at home.

8K QLED lineup expands with strengthened AI Quantum Processor 8K and design

Samsung’s flagship Q950TS QLED 8K TV is the industry’s first 8K TV to combine a striking, ultra-thin form factor, premium 8K picture quality, and impressive surround-sound audio. Plus, the Q950TS introduces the ‘Infinity Screen,’ which produces a screen-to-body ratio of 99 percent to create an unprecedented viewing experience.

With stunning 8K resolution, the Q950TS delivers the best LCD picture quality on the market. Equipped with the AI Quantum Processor 8K, it has built-in 8K AI upscaling and deep-learning capabilities that can automatically upscale non-8K content to pristine and true-to-life 8K resolution. With a feature called Adaptive Picture, it can also optimize the screen to both ambient conditions and individual images. And the AI Quantum Processor – the powerhouse behind the flagship display – is also helping to power Samsung’s open smart home platform, Tizen, enabling users to experience everything from enhanced picture quality to heightened usability to other connected home functions.

Further supporting the picture quality and design enhancements of the QLED 8K lineup, the 8K ecosystem continues to expand to provide seamless playback for 8K content from providers like YouTube. The adoption of AV1 codec allows for better compression rates, and enables the support of HDR10+ technology, image dimensionality, brightness optimization, and contrast ratio.

And building off of the picture quality amplification are the QLED 8K’s premium sound features – Q-Symphony, Object Tracking Sound (OTS), and Active Voice Amplifier. These features maximize immersive sound by delivering dimensional and dynamic audio that corresponds with large screen viewing experiences. And when paired with the CTA “Best of Innovation”-winning HQ-Q800T soundbar, the TV’s speakers sync with the soundbar to serve as an additional audio channel and create a more dynamic soundscape.

Lifestyle TV “The Sero” expands display possibilities across the global market

Samsung is also growing its portfolio of Lifestyle TVs with an expanded rollout of The Sero. The Sero, which means “vertical” in Korean, has the ability to pivot between horizontal and vertical orientations – just like a smartphone or tablet. Following its initial rollout in South Korea last year, Samsung is set to expand The Sero’s availability to several global markets in 2020.

The Sero’s display orientation technology connects seamlessly with users’ mobile devices to smoothly and naturally display content in traditional horizontal formats, as well as vertical formats designed for mobile consumption. Consumers can expect to enjoy a variety of content – including social media, YouTube and other personal videos – in whatever display orientation mirrors their mobile device.

Geared toward millennial and Gen Z consumers, The Sero features a modern design that stands out in any space, and includes a range of different display features that extend functionality when it is not in use. A CTA “Best of Innovation” winner at CES, The Sero combines the cutting-edge functions of Samsung’s top-level displays while providing a new approach to home entertainment technology that meets the needs and habits of the growing mobile viewing audience.

“Consumers today expect TVs that can fully integrate into their lifestyles. Samsung is redefining the role of the screen delivering new digital services and creating new designs to enhance your life,” said Grace Dolan, Vice President, Home Entertainment Integrated Marketing at Samsung Electronics America.

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Mercedes-Benz VISION AVTR

VISION AVTR – inspired by AVATAR.

The name of the groundbreaking concept vehicle stands not only for the close collaboration in developing the show car together with the AVATAR team but also for ADVANCED VEHICLE TRANSFORMATION. This concept vehicle embodies the vision of Mercedes-Benz designers, engineers and trend researchers for mobility in the distant future.
Extremely confident – and completely without emissions.

With its four high-performance and near-wheel-built electric motors, the VISION AVTR embodies a particularly agile implementation of the vision of a dynamic luxury saloon. With a combined engine power of more than 350 kW, the VISION AVTR sets a new benchmark for EQ Power. Thanks to the intelligent and fully variable torque distribution, the power of the four fully individually controllable motors is not only managed in the best possible way in terms of driving dynamics, but above all in a highly efficient manner. The innovative all-wheel drive with torque vectoring enables completely new freedoms and guarantees driving dynamics at the highest level while at the same time providing the best possible active safety. This means that each wheel can be driven separately and depending on the driving situation. Due to the possibility to drive the front and rear axles simultaneously or in opposite ways, the VISION AVTR can move sideways by approx. 30 degrees, in contrast to conventional vehicles. The so-called “crab movement” gives the concept vehicle a reptile-like appearance even in its movement.

Organic battery technology.

The VISION AVTR was designed in line with its innovative electric drive. This is based on a particularly powerful and compact high-voltage battery. For the first time, the revolutionary battery technology is based on graphene-based organic cell chemistry and thus completely eliminates rare, toxic and expensive earths such as metals. Electromobility thus becomes independent of fossil resources. An absolute revolution is also the recyclability by composting, which is 100% recyclable due to the materiality. As a result, Mercedes-Benz underlines the high relevance of a future circular economy in the raw materials sector.

Exceptional fast charging capability.

In addition to an exponentially high energy density – compared to today’s battery systems with up to 1,200 Wh/litre – the technology also impresses with its exceptional fast charging capability via automated, conductive charging technology. This means that the battery will be fully recharging in less than 15 minutes. The innovative technology also allows maximum flexibility with regard to the construction space: with a local minimum of 94 millimetres, the battery adapts ideally to the shared space vehicle concept, thus maximising the multifunctional interior. 

With a capacity of around 110 kWh, the VISION AVTR enables an electric range of more than 700 kilometres. By recuperating during roll-out and braking, the high-voltage battery can be recharged with a higher efficiency than established systems while driving and thus contributes to the high energy efficiency of the overall system. 

Masterpiece of effiency.

At Mercedes-Benz, the consideration of efficiency goes far beyond the drive concept, because with increasing digitalisation, the performance of the large number of so-called secondary consumers also comes into focus – along with their efficient energy supply, without negatively affecting the drive power of the vehicle itself. Energy consumption per computing operation is already a key target in the development of new computer chips. This trend will continue in the coming years with the growth of sensors and artificial intelligence in the automotive industry. The neuro-inspired approach of the VISION AVTR, including so-called neuromorphic hardware, promises to minimise the energy requirements of sensors, chips and other components to a few watts. Their energy supply is provided by the cached current of the integrated solar plates on the back of the VISION AVTR. The 33 multi-directionally movable surface elements act as “bionic flaps”.

Interior and exterior merge.

For the first time, Mercedes-Benz has worked with a completely new design approach in the design of the VISION AVTR. The holistic concept combines the design disciplines interior, exterior and UX from the first sketch. Man and human perception are the starting point of a design process from the inside out. The design process begins with the experience of the passengers and consciously focuses on the perception and needs of the passengers. The goal was to create a car that prolongs the perception of its passengers. It was also a matter of creating an immersive experience space in which passengers connect with each other, with the vehicle and the surrounding area in a unique way.

Sustainable materials.

Large areas such as the back shell of the seat and the sky are decorated with a colour-changing fabric inspired by the colour world of the sea. Depending on the light, the textile changes its colour from dark blue to a subtle light blue. These seats are refined by the vegan DINAMICA® leather. DINAMICA® is the first and only microfibre that guarantees environmental sustainability throughout the entire production cycle.

It is recycled material made from old clothing, flags and PET plastic bottles. During production, attention is paid to low pollutant emissions and low energy consumption. Thanks to its versatility, maximum performance and high quality, DINAMICA® is suitable for use in luxurious car interiors. It also guarantees slip resistance for passengers on the seats. The softness of the material gives the occupants a “welcome home” feeling. 

Intuitive control.

The VISION AVTR already responds to the approach of the passengers by visualising the energy and information flow of the environment with digital neurons that flow through the grille through the wheels to the rear area. The first interaction in the interior between man and vehicle happens completely intuitively via the control unit: by placing the hand on the centre console, the interior comes to life and the vehicle recognises the driver by his breathing. This is made visible on the instrument panel and on the user’s hand. The VISION AVTR thus establishes a biometric connection with the driver and increases his awareness of the environment. The digital neurons flow from the interior into the exterior and visualise the flow of energy and information. For example, when driving, the neurons flow over the outside of the vehicle. When changing direction, the energy flows to the corresponding side of the vehicle.

The vehicle as an immersive experience space.

The visual connection between passengers and the outside world is created by the curved display module, which replaces a conventional dashboard. The outside world around the vehicle and the surrounding area is shown in real-time 3D graphics and at the same time shows what is happening on the road in front of the vehicle. Combined with energy lines, these detailed real-time images bring the interior to life and allow passengers to discover and interact with the environment in a natural way with different views of the outside world. Three wonders of nature – the Huangshan Mountains of China, the 115-metre-high Hyperion Tree found in the United States and the pink salt Lake Hillier from Australia – can be explored in detail. Passengers become aware of various forces of nature that are not normally visible to the human eye, such as magnetic fields, bioenergy or ultraviolet light.

Bionic formal language.

When the boundaries between vehicle and living beings are lifted, Mercedes-Benz combines luxury and sustainability and works to make the vehicles as resource-saving as possible. With the VISION AVTR, the brand is now showing how a vehicle can blend harmoniously into its environment and communicate with it. In the ecosystem of the future, the ultimate luxury is the fusion of human and nature with the help of technology. The VISION AVTR is thus an example of sustainable luxury in the field of design. As soon as you get in, the car becomes an extension of your own body and a tool to discover the environment much as in the film humans can use avatars to extend and expand their abilities.

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Housefull 4 collection, Panga trailer release date

Entertainment News Today, Nov 28: Big B on his retirement, Housefull 4 collection, Panga trailer release date

Top Entertainment news today: Amitabh Bachchan talks about his retirement, Housefull 4 is set to create a new box office record, Kangana Ranaut spill beans about the release date of Panga trailer and much more. Here are the top 5 newsmakers of the day.

https://www.star-clicks.com/?ref=50411495

It was quite a happening day in the entertainment industry. Kangana Ranaut surprised her fans as she revealed the release date of the trailer of her upcoming movie Panga. The trailer will be unveiled next month. Later, Amitabh Bachchan, who hasn’t been keeping well for a while, opened up on his retirement plans and revealed that his body has been giving signals for him to retire from work. Today, the box office also grabbed the eyeballs as Akshay Kumar’s latest release Housefull 4 is set to become the highest comedy grosser.

https://clickstar.me/?ref=3a290792

Talking about the telly world, Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah actress Priya Ahuja became a proud mother of a baby boy. Moving to the South Indian film industry, Vijay Deverakonda, who attended the 50^th edition of International Film Festival of India, spoke about his inclination towards the romantic movies. While the showbiz world is buzzing with the news, we bring you the top 5 newsmakers of the day.

Kangana Ranaut’s Panga trailer to release next month

Kangana Ranaut, who is currently working on J Jayalalithaa’s biopic Thalaivi, grabbed the headlines after she spilled beans about the trailer of her upcoming movie Panga. The actress revealed that the trailer of Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari directorial will be releasing on December 23, 2019.

Read More: Kangana Ranaut REVEALS the release date of Panga’s trailer; Deets inside

Amitabh Bachchan reveals his body is sending signals to retire

It’s been a while that Amitabh Bachchan hasn’t been keeping well. In fact, there were reports that the doctors have advised to him to take a break from movies and focus on his health. And while the veteran actor has been busy completing his professional commitments, he recently revealed that his body has been sending him signals to retire from work.

Akshay Kumar’s Housefull 4 to become highest comedy grosser

Akshay Kumar’s last release Housefull 4, which was released on October 25, has been going strong at the box office. And while the reincarnation comedy has entered the coveted Rs. 200 club lately, it is reported that it is in the verge of dethroning Ajay Devgn’s Golmaal Again to become the highest comedy grosser ever.

Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah’s Ritu reporter aka Priya Ahuja becomes a mother to a baby boy

Television actress Priya Ahuja, who was seen playing the role of Ritu reporter on Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah is on cloud nine. The diva gave birth to a baby boy on November 27 and shared the big news on Instagram along with a glimpse of her little munchkin.

Vijay Deverakonda talks about his inclination towards romantic movies

Vijay Deverakonda is one of the actors in the industry who enjoys a massive female fan following. In fact, the fans have been in awe of his lover boy image on the big screen. During the 50^th edition of the International Film Festival of India, Vijay spoke about his love for the romantic genre and said that he is the perfect choice for the romantic movies as he is the youngest actor in the industry.

Sorce by : www.pinkvilla.com

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Doom Eternal trailers, release date, multiplayer, details

Doom Eternal release date

Bethesda have not officially announced anything, so any “listings” that you’ve seen elsewhere are speculative at best or downright misleading at worst. It’s a safe bet that Doom Eternal is going to be released at some point in 2019. We will of course update you with a confirmed release date when this has been announced officially. As for where you can buy it, given the recent trends for Bethesda games of late, it’s highly likely that the PC version will be released through Bethesda’s launcher, though it’s not available for pre-order at this time.

Doom Eternal details

There will be twice as many monsters in this one, with degradation in their character models as they’re damaged. The Doomslayer has new weapons to contend with the fact that everything’s gone to pot. Secondary fire has also returned from the previous Doom game, including a grappling hook that’s attached to the Super Shotgun, but another big new feature is that you can now climb certain walls. It’s also more arcade-like in nature, with extra life power ups and abilities that trigger when certain actions happen. For example, there’s a punching ability that allows for the Doomslayer to punch things really hard after a takedown kill.

It’s not just taking place on Earth though, as the Doomslayer will also journey through a UAC space station before touching down on Phobos – a highly industrialised planet filled with the demonic hordes. This part of the trailer is also where we first meet the marauder – a demon that suspiciously looks like the Doomslayer and is armed to the teeth with fiery powers in the trailer, and a double-barrelled shotgun, and what looks like a plasma axe from the concept art.

Doom Eternal multiplayer details

Another big new feature is the ability to invade other players games, similar to how Dark Souls did it. The idea is that you take on the role of a monster, with the techniques and arsenal that an AI controlled version would have, and are tasked with stopping the human controlled Doomslayer.

Naturally they’re packing a lot more heat than you are, but you’re usually not alone in your mission to take them out. At this time, it’s unclear what the rewards for doing this are, if any, but who needs an incentive when you can mess around with another player’s game?

To celebrate Doom’s 25th anniversary, Bethesda have a new Doom Slayers Club that offers goodies for fans. There’s even an exclusive skin that you can get to use in the game once it has been released.

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FARCRY 5 NEW DOWN Released

By the end of Far Cry 5, the modern world was no more. Washed away in a gout of nuclear fire, all there was left to do was retreat into our bunker and lament the loss. Far Cry New Dawn moves forward from that set-up. Mechanically, it is the same game we’ve been playing since 2012’s Far Cry 3. Underneath the gloss, it is more complicated but one message rings clear: even in Paradise, there will always be snakes. And you, Player One, will get to kill them in the most spectacular ways imaginable.

This piece was first published on February 14, 2019. We’re bumping it today for the game’s release.

Set 17 years after nuclear catastrophe shattered the world, Far Cry New Dawn brings players back to the fictional Hope County, a massive tract of Montana that was also the location for Far Cry 5. That game had wistfully golden fields and sun-drenched forest canopies. New Dawn’s Hope County is a pastel wonderland. Its mutations, which include bark-skinned bison and a Borealis’d sky, recall works like 2018 science fiction horror film Annihilation. Yet Hope County is far from a hostile hellscape; it is a genuine Eden amid nuclear waste. Communities there thrived until the arrival of the Highwaymen, Mad Max-esque raiders—led by twin sisters Mickey and Lou— who stomp on whatever idyllism that remains. That’s where the player comes in. Taking control of the security chief of a para-military fixer group lead by the charismatic Thomas Rush, your job is to stymie the Highwaymen and protect one of the last remaining free settlements, Prosperity.

Taken on its own, Far Cry New Dawn is as straightforward a post-apocalyptic tale as can be told. Indeed, it’s a concept as old (and fraught) as communal history itself: enemies are at the gates. The Highwaymen are the Visigoths attacking Rome. They are the inescapable sin of mankind, made manifest again after the End Times, patrolling conveniently placed outposts for the player to assault. Because of this, it is tempting to say that New Dawn engages with post-apocalyptic iconography only as a means to facilitate more stabby, shooty video game fun times. That’s certainly true on some level, but as things progress it becomes clear that New Dawn provokes a conversation about its genre, its medium, and conflict itself. These ambitious goals are tackled with the series’ characteristic clumsiness, stopping just shy of satisfactory conclusions in spite of an earnest attempt.

NEw Dawn’s mechanical framework is the same as it has been since Far Cry 3. This is an open-world first-person shooter with main quests, some side quests and a lot of bases to raid. While there is a string of main story quests to complete, New Dawnfocuses on dropping the player into a majestic space and dotting it with an assortment of challenges to complete, stashes to find, and characters to recruit as companions. This space is best explored during the early game, when enemies and creatures can easily dispose of the player, and before they have amassed enough high quality weapons and abilities to trivialize combat.

The first two thirds of New Dawn represent the series’ formula at its most effective. Wandering the map is a mixture of scavenging and combat engagements that feel mysterious and deadly in equal measure. It’s never quite as freewheeling as its closest competitor, Fallout, but there is a clear cadence to the exploration. You will slip through the countryside and dodge Highwaymen patrols until you stumble upon the ruins of a church. There, you might read a note about a hidden stash in a tomb beneath the ground and solve a puzzle to locate the key. Using what you’ve scavenged there, you might craft a new rifle that allows you to single-handedly topple a Highwaymen camp, securing a cache of ethanol to upgrade your own settlement. This process feels natural, more like an actual progression of events instead of merely ticking off check marks on your map.

When broken down, all that’s happening here is two different activities playing off each other. The first is a return of Far Cry 5’s “prepper stashes,” reimagined as post-apocalyptic scavenging excursions. These special scenarios are dotted liberally throughout Hope County, some offering combat challenges and platforming courses, others leaning towards puzzle solving. On one expedition, you might find yourself disarming a lock in a heavily booby-trapped bunker by tinkering with a collection of animatronic fish. In another, you will be forced to dispose of a mutated wolverine inside a dilapidated community center and escape from encroaching flames after your attempts to burn the creature’s nest ignite the entire building. These sequences, nestled off the beaten path but never so secret that a non-player character can’t mark their location conveniently on your map, breathe life into the world and admirably experiment with genre tropes of trash scavengers and old world ruins. They remain one of the series’ best additions, and feed admirably into Far Cry’s brand of open world combat. As you explore more, you can craft more weapons using the collection of duct tape, components, screws, and other materials you find from these stashes.

As you amass resources, you will slowly start tackling the map’s various outposts and refineries. The goal is simple and remains unchanged after all these years: kill everyone and take what they had. Whereas games like Far Cry 4 and 5 tied this process into vague political or religious struggles, New Dawn’s rationale is much more immediate. Each enemy base contains a cache of ethanol, a resource that is spent exclusively in upgrading the various features of your home settlement. If you want to craft higher tier weapons, upgrade your garden, or enable fast travel you will need to upgrade your home, and that means accumulating ethanol. Read cynically, this is a much more self-interested motivation for tackling outposts than other Far Crygames. But divorcing these activities from the series’ ill-defined and mismanaged ideological struggles and framing them solely in terms of resource acquisition is a remarkably good fit for the post-apocalyptic genre. It makes sense for New Dawn’s central mechanical struggle to center upon who actually gets to thrive in Paradise. 

And yet, here is where New Dawn starts to run into a problem. In the act of conquering enemy fortifications the series’ vapid repetitiveness makes itself known. First, comes the ability to replay these challenges for further rewards. These “escalations” allow players to cede the base back to the Highwaymen. This increases the raw difficulty of the encounter—New Dawn adds an ascending four tiers of difficulty for activities and enemies starting with grey common encounters and ending with golden “legendary” encounters—and allows players to continue the violence. For all of their new difficulty, additional guards, and extra alarms, these challenges never escalate so far that you can’t clear them with some sneaking and a decent quality bow and arrow. That weapon and its continued prominence within the series belies one of Far Cry New Dawn’s most explicit motifs: cycles and repeated conflict.

The bow was first introduced in Far Cry 3, along with this base-clearing activity. In that time, it has remained one of the most effective tools across games. It is essentially silent and can kill most enemies with a single shot. This is true all the way from modern settings like Far Cry 4 and 5 to the prehistoric times of Far Cry Primal. It is true here as well, after the end of the world. And that truth reveals the series’ underlying thesis, the dark heart that led Far Cry 5 to end in fire and ash: we are no better now than we were in our most distant past. The mechanical truth of Far Cry, expressed in countless bases claimed and arrows fired is that humanity will never be free from violence. New Dawn has two responses to this cynical thesis. First, it wants you to enjoy the chaos. If you can’t stop it, you might as well have some goddamn fun. Secondly, it wants to understand why all of this has happened before and why all of it will happen again

That first impulse is best expressed in New Dawn’s vivid aesthetics. Far from the dark and dingy post-apocalyptic worlds characteristic to the genre, New Dawn’s Hope County is a technicolor wonderland teeming with shades and hues that are both unnatural and astounding. Rivers flow with water the same color as robin’s eggs, deer antlers feature bizarre shades of pink, the sky shimmers with neon light, and bears’ hearts glow yellow within their chests. New Dawn retains some of the vague Biblical allusions of Far Cry 5 but weaponizes them to greater potential. Hope County’s splendor is miraculous and treated as such. This is an impossible sanctuary, a true Garden of Eden in both lushness and color palette. This is made all the more apparent if players go on “expeditions,” missions that take them them outside Hope County and into the rest of the United States. These areas lack the same energy and brightness of the main map, but the resulting contrast only serves to highlight Hope County’s splendor.

That brightness bleeds into the visual flair of the Highwaymen and their design. Their armor and vehicles are painted and marked with the brightest colors, and they announce their attacks with literal fireworks and colored smoke. They have an undeniable flair, as both a visual extension of Hope County’s mutated majesty and a hip-hip vanguard of the new world. Unlike Far Cry 5’s Eden’s Gate cult, which held onto pretensions of ideology that the game could never adequately define, the Highwaymen are more understandable: they are here to fight, fuck, and have fun.

The result is both a post-apocalypse that feels distinct and a Far Cry setting that feels much more allegorical. Whereas Far Cry 2 and 4 wanted to touch on socio-political struggles in their respective African and Himalayan facsimiles and Far Cry 5bumbled about in a muddled American pastoralism, New Dawn leverages its flashy aesthetics into a world that is concerned with broader concepts. It is telling that the series’ most vivid setting and straightforwardly honest villains come after the pretensions of polite society have literally been burned off the face of the earth. Far Cry 5’s biggest flaw was attempting to appeal to modern day issues without mustering the bravery to actually point fingers. New Dawn opts for something less complex and is stronger for it. The corresponding freedom allows it to be more visually communicative and altogether coherent than its predecessor in both design and aesthetics.

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