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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, out March 17 2023. The Next Chapter in Cal Kestis' Saga

The galaxy is more dangerous than ever as the next chapter in Cal Kestis' journey begins. Today at The Game Awards, Respawn Entertainment, Electronic Arts, and Lucasfilm Games revealed that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC on March 17, 2023. During the annual awards show, a first look at gameplay was premiered in a new Official Reveal trailer showcasing Cal Kestis (Cameron Monaghan) as a stronger and more experienced Jedi Knight while setting up the threats that await him. The veteran team at Respawn Entertainment is developing Star Wars Jedi: Survivor for the latest generation of gaming hardware to deliver action-packed Jedi combat with the deepest exploration and cinematic gameplay in the series.

"Star Wars Jedi: Survivor evolves the gameplay, story, and exploration from Fallen Order in every way," said Stig Asmussen, game director, Respawn. "Responsive and powerful combat makes players feel like a true Jedi Knight, with new lightsaber skills and Force abilities that add additional layers of strategy to each enemy encounter, and worlds that are filled with environmental challenges that must be overcome to unveil the mysteries within."

Seagate Unveils New Star Wars-Inspired FireCuda Portable HDDs

Today, Star Wars fans have another way to feel the power of the Force with three new collectible Seagate Hard Disk Drives (HDD) inspired by heroes and villains of the Star Wars galaxy. Featuring Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and Han Solo, the latest additions to the company's line of licensed special edition storage devices bring speed, capacity, and striking appearance to the battle stations of Star Wars collectors and tech enthusiasts.

The special edition FireCuda external hard drives represent the famed characters with three unique aesthetics: the courage of Luke Skywalker, the raw power of Darth Vader, and the confidence of the galaxy's favorite smuggler, Han Solo. The drives offer customizable RGB LED lighting and each design features a default custom character light out-of-the-box: a forceful blue for Luke Skywalker, a wrathful red for Darth Vader, and a white glow reminiscent of the Millennium Falcon for Han Solo. With built-in and customizable lighting options, all three of the drives enable Star Wars enthusiasts and gamers to awaken the powers of the Force at home.

Take Flight and Go Full Maverick With Turtle Beach's All-New Designed for Xbox Velocityone Flightstick

Leading gaming accessories maker Turtle Beach Corporation today unveiled its all-new, eagerly anticipated Turtle Beach VelocityOne Flightstick, a universal simulation controller joystick for air and space combat simulation games. Designed for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows PCs, the VelocityOne Flightstick is the gaming flight stick of the future, equipping gamers with immersive, accurate controls for navigating air and space flight sim and combat games. A total of eight axes, including contactless hall effect sensors on the main X&Y axes, provide precise control while two multifunction levers handle main engine power and adjustment of control surfaces. VelocityOne Flightstick's precise nano trim wheel allows for fine tuning of altitude, and an OLED Flight Management Display makes for easy adjustments. With 27 programmable buttons, a rapid-fire trigger, an integrated trackpad, and Bluetooth connectivity to its companion app, Turtle Beach's VelocityOne Flightstick arms gamers on Xbox and Windows PCs with a multitude of controls. VelocityOne Flightstick is available for pre-order now from www.turtlebeach.com and participating retailers for $129.99 (£119.99/€129.99) MSRP and launches November 17, 2022.

"VelocityOne Flightstick melds Turtle Beach's expertise in controller design with the latest technologies to give air and space combat sim gamers a groundbreaking, modern flight stick controller experience," said Juergen Stark, Chairman and CEO, Turtle Beach Corporation. "While our award-winning VelocityOne Flight products continue to impress the flight simulation community, there's a massive audience of gamers who love air and space flight combat, making the Flightstick perfect for games like Microsoft Flight Sim 2020, X-Plane, Elite Dangerous, War Thunder, Star Citizen, Everspace, and Star Wars flight games to name a few. However gamers want to fly - whether casually, or by the seat of their pants with their hair on fire - it'll be a better experience with VelocityOne Flightstick in their hands."

Respawn and Lucasfilm Games Unveil Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Today at Star Wars Celebration, Respawn Entertainment, Electronic Arts, and Lucasfilm Games unveiled Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the next chapter of the beloved Star Wars action-adventure series chronicling the journey of Jedi Cal Kestis. Developed by the veteran team at Respawn under the leadership of game director Stig Asmussen, Star WarsJedi: Survivor will expand upon the iconic Star Wars stories, worlds, characters, and thrilling combat first experienced in the series' debut title, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is being built for the current generation of gaming hardware to create a deeper and more expansive Star Wars experience for players worldwide when the game launches in 2023.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor picks up five years after the events of Jedi: Fallen Order. Cal must stay one step ahead of the Empire's constant pursuit as he begins to feel the weight of being one of the last remaining Jedi in the galaxy. Accompanied by his trusty companion BD-1, Cal will meet and ally himself with an array of unique and interesting characters on his journey. Jedi: Survivor will expand on the series' dynamic combat in new and innovative ways. In order to survive, Cal must learn new skills and grow his connection with the Force.

Electronic Arts & Lucasfilm Games announce new Star Wars titles from Respawn Entertainment

Electronic Arts Inc. and Lucasfilm Games are joining forces to continue delivering all-new, world-class gaming experiences set within the beloved Star Wars galaxy. Respawn Entertainment, best known for their work on Apex Legends, Titanfall and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, is leading the development and production of these new projects. Vince Zampella, Group GM and Founder of Respawn, will oversee this new phase of EA's relationship with Lucasfilm, building on Respawn's award-winning history in game development and expertise in telling compelling Star Wars stories.

Game Director Stig Asmussen and his team at the studio are already working on the next game in the action adventure Star Wars Jedi series, and are joined by two new teams working to deliver additional unique Star Wars gameplay experiences across multiple genres. Leading the development of Respawn's all-new Star Wars first-person shooter game is Peter Hirschmann, Game Director at Respawn, who has a long and accomplished history with the Star Wars franchise. The third title is a Star Wars strategy game developed through a production collaboration with the newly formed studio Bit Reactor, helmed by games industry veteran Greg Foerstch. Respawn will produce the new Star Wars strategy game while Bit Reactor leads on the development of the title.

Seagate and Lucasfilm Collaborate to Take Gaming to the Next Level

Seagate Technology Holdings plc today introduced the new family of Star Wars Beskar Ingot Drives, the first release in a collaboration to bring designs inspired by the Star Wars franchise to its line of PC gaming storage devices, taking gamers' battle stations to the next level. The first release in the collaboration celebrates the legends of the Star Wars Mandalorian galaxy. These drives bring the iconic Star Wars "precious metal" aesthetic to the FireCuda line-up. The special edition designs will be available in M.2 NVMe, 2.5-inch SATA, and external HDD formats. Each drive resembles an ingot of Beskar, including its Imperial stamp featured prominently in the series, making these drives the ultimate collectible for Star Wars fans.

"We are thrilled to bring unique, iconic designs from one of the world's most popular franchises to the forefront of every gamer's battle station," said Jeff Fochtman, Senior Vice President of Business and Marketing at Seagate Technology. "This collaboration appeals to global audiences including gamers, PC builders, and Star Wars enthusiasts alike."

NVIDIA Releases Game Ready 456.55 WHQL Driver With Improved Stability of RTX 3000 Series Cards, Support for Star Wars: Squadrons

NVIDIA has today released the latest iteration of its Game Ready driver with the version number 456.55. Marked as a WHQL release, the driver is supposedly going to bring new advancements to the stability of the latest GeForce RTX 3000 series Ampere graphics cards. While the release notes don't officially mention anything on how it improves, it is already confirmed by a few Redditors that the new driver removes crashed experienced with the past version 456.38. In the latest revision, the support has been added for NVIDIA Reflex in Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, as well as support for Star Wars: Squadrons game. Below is the link to the driver download page redirecting to NVIDIA's site, and in no time the TechPowerUp download page will be updated as well.
DOWNLOAD:NVIDIA GeForce 456.55 WHQL Game Ready Drivers

The change-log follows:

EA, Motive and Lucasfilm Announce Star Wars: Squadrons

Calling all pilots! Electronic Arts Inc., Motive Studios and Lucasfilm today announced Star Wars : Squadrons, an immersive, first-person space dogfighting experience set in the beloved Star Wars galaxy. Star Wars: Squadrons will feature thrilling 5v5 multiplayer dogfights, monumental fleet battles, and an original story set during the final days of the Galactic Empire and the rise of the New Republic after the events of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. The game will launch October 2, 2020 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC via Origin, Steam and the Epic Games Store, and will be playable via Virtual Reality (VR) on PlayStation 4 and PC with cross-play support. Tune into EA Play Live on June 18 at 4:00pm PT for the gameplay reveal of Star Wars:Squadrons.

Update Jun 18th: EA has confirmed that the game will fully support joysticks and HOTAS joysticks. They have also published the minimum and recommended system requirements which can be viewed down below.

EA Battlefield Franchise, More Games Return to Steam

Players can experience modern day warfare in Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4 or the WWI and WWII battles of the past in Battlefield 1 and Battlefield V respectively. Players can also fight for humanity as Commander Shepard in Mass Effect 3 or visit new worlds as Sara or Scott Ryder in Mass Effect Andromeda. In addition, players can play as iconic Star Wars characters and with the incredible Star Wars vehicles in Star Wars Battlefront I and Star Wars Battlefront II.

Last Friday, the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection was the second new EA game to launch on Steam to great success, reaching the top game globally on Steam best-selling charts during its launch weekend. Last weekend, EA games also had five games appear in the top 10 of the Steam best-selling charts with their first wave of titles released on Steam last Thursday, giving players the opportunity to explore the fantastical worlds of the BioWare award-winning Role-Playing Games - Dragon Age : Inquisition and Dragon Age II and experience high-speed, white-knuckle driving action in Need for Speed Heat, Need for Speed: Rivals and Need for Speed (2016). Players can also battle it out in the wacky, fun and over-the-top shooter, Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, or play from a selection of the bold and innovative games from EA's indie development partners like Unravel, Unravel II, Fe and Sea of Solitude.

Can I Interest You in Single Player Experiences? Respawn's Jedi: Fallen Order is EA's Fastest-Selling Star Wars Game Ever

There has always been something to be said about single-player experiences - most players just seem to prefer a strong single-player game to full-on multiplayer games. EA, LucasArts and Respawn Entertainment have now come out of the woodwork regarding the latest Star Wars release in the form of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen order, and it seems the game is shipping in no small amounts worldwide. The partners announced that this game has cemented itself as the fastest-selling digital launch for a Star Wars game in its first two weeks. And concurrently, EA has said this is the fastest selling PC-game for the company (in all distribution formats) in these same two weeks.

Of course, one needs to remember that fastest, highest-selling doesn't automatically make the game the most grossing Star Wars release. It's likely that Star Wars games with a more multiplayer-focused DNA (such as Battlefront I and Battlefront II from DICE) will gross more in their lifetime than Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order ever will. That said, it goes to show what an original storytelling experience set in a beloved franchise can achieve. Read on after the break for the comments from all developing parties.

AMD Releases Radeon Software Adrenalin 19.11.2

AMD Thursday released its latest version of Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition. Version 19.11.2 beta is the second release for the month of November 2019, and comes with optimization for "Star Wars Jedi: The Fallen Order." The driver also addresses a bug with certain map areas or cities in "Player Unknown's Battlegrounds" (PUBG) intermittently experiencing stuttering or performance loss. Grab the drivers from the link below.
DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 19.11.2

NVIDIA Releases GeForce 441.20 WHQL Drivers

NVIDIA today posted GeForce 441.20 WHQL software. The drivers come game-ready for "Star Wars Jedi: The Fallen Order," and "Stormland." This includes SLI support for the latest Star Wars game. NVIDIA also introduced support for CUDA 10.2 compute API. The list of G-Sync compatible monitors has been expanded with three more displays. Among the issues addressed with this release are geometry corruption on GTX 900-series "Maxwell" GPUs with "Red Dead Redemption" in Vulkan; G-Sync getting disengaged when V-Sync is disabled in "Red Dead Redemption." Vulkan-related errors with "The Surge" have also been fixed. There's also a surprising bug-fix, "Quake 3 Arena" appearing washed-out when color-depth is set to 16-bit. Performance drops with "CS: GO" have also been addressed. Grab the driver from the link below.
DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 441.20 WHQL Drivers

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order System Requirements Outed

The upcoming single-player Star Wars Jedi: Fallen order will be a tall calling for Respawn. Few franchises are as loved as Star Wars, and this one will definitely leave a mark in the company's legacy. It's unlikely EA will "pull an EA" on the studio even if it flops, though: Apex Legends remains an incredibly successful release form Respawn Entertainment, and it should be enough to hold EA's reins - at least for a while.

The system requirements for the highly-awaited, story-driven single-player game have been outed, and they're in the usual side of things. Minimum requirements call for an AMD FX-6100 or an Intel Core i3-3220, paired with 8 GB of RAM and an AMD Radeon HD 7750 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 - alongside 65 GB of storage. The recommended specs are relatively standard as well, and nothing to throw users in an upgrade fit... We're looking at an AMD AMD Ryzen 7 1700 or an Intel i7-6700K, 16 GB of system RAM, An AMD RX Vega 56 or NVIDIA GTX 1070 graphics cards. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order drops on November 15th.

AMD Releases Radeon Software Adrenalin 19.7.2 Drivers

AMD late Tuesday posted its latest version of Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition. Version 19.7.2 adds optimization for "GEARS 5" beta. It fixes a number of issues, beginning with Facebook being unavailable with Radeon ReLive. "Star Wars Battlefront II" textures appearing pixellated or blurry with the DirectX 11 API has also been fixed. Radeon Overlay flickering in DirectX 9 apps with Radeon Image Sharpening enabled, is fixed. Valve Index HMD experiencing flickering when launching SteamVR on machines with Radeon RX 5700-series graphics cards, is fixed.

Radeon WattMan auto-tuning global settings not applying per-game has also been fixed. WattMan showing max values instead of increased values in auto-tuning results screen has also been fixed. The WattMan memory clock gauge now correctly auto-updates. Texture corruption on enemy models in "Doom" (2016) has been fixed. A bug that caused Radeon display drivers to fail to uninstall in hybrid graphics configurations has been fixed. Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 19.7.2

EA Expands Its Subscription Service to PlayStation 4

Today, Electronic Arts Inc. announced that it is bringing EA Access to the PlayStation 4 (PS4 ) system. Starting this July, players can sign-up for a monthly subscription (MSRP $4.99), or an annual subscription (MSRP $29.99) through PlayStation Store. With the addition of the PlayStation 4 console to the already existing membership services on Xbox One and PC via Origin , EA now offers its subscription services on more platforms than any other publisher.

As we continue to invest in digital and subscription services, bringing great games to even more players across more platforms is an exciting opportunity for everyone," said Matt Bilbey, Executive VP of Strategic Growth. "Our goal is to give players more choice to try and play our games wherever and however they choose, and we're happy to bring EA Access to PlayStation 4."

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is EA's New Single-Player Star Wars Game Releasing Nov, 2019

We knew it was coming, and were patiently waiting for more news on a new IP from Electronic Arts based on the Star Wars license they have.. not made the best use of to date. Handed to developers Respawn Entertainment, who are on a high from Apex Legends and have shown how to create a new IP franchise for single- and mult-player gaming with Titanfall, the new single-player focused game is titled Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Respawn and EA shared more details on the game yesterday as part of the Star Wars celebration event in Chicago, and let us know that the central character is a Jedi padawan, Cal Kestis, who survived Order 66 and the destruction of most of the Jedi order.

Cal Kestis turns to scavenging on the planet Braka while hiding from the Sith empire, in a move that will no doubt draw comparisons to Disney's new numbered film trilogy. With merchandise no doubt a factor, we will also see a new droid companion called BD-1, as seen in the images below. Given the nature of the protagonist being a padawan trainee, there will also be a Jedi knight who will accompany the player as a mentor. Combat will involve strategy, as per Respawn, with the player needing to employ abilities and spatial movement to make the most of the situation. Enemy units will include the Purge Troopers, a melee-focused variant of the Storm Troopers, who have already appeared in the Star Wars Extended Universe before as specialized units dedicated to hunting down survivors of Order 66. EA and Respawn were both quick to reveal this will be a single-player only game with no microtransactions, and the game releases on PC and consoles on November 15, 2019. While we wait for more details, no doubt coming near E3 or closer to debut, here's a reveal trailer to hold you till then.

NVIDIA Also Releases Tech Demos for RTX: Star Wars, Atomic Heart, Justice Available for Download

We've seen NVIDIA's move to provide RTX effects on older, non-RT capable hardware today being met with what the company was certainly expecting: a cry of dismay from users that now get to see exactly what their non-Turing NVIDIA hardware is capable of. The move from NVIDIA could be framed as a way to democratize access to RTX effects via Windows DXR, enabling users of its GTX 1600 and 1000 series of GPUs to take a look at the benefits of raytracing; but also as an upgrade incentive for those that now see how their performance is lacking without the new specialized Turing cores to handle the added burden.

Whatever your side of the fence on that issue, however, NVIDIA has provided users with one more raytraced joy today. Three of them, in fact, in the form of three previously-shown tech demos. The Star Wars tech demo (download) is the most well known, certainly, with its studies on reflections on Captain Phasma's breastplate. Atomic Heart (download) is another one that makes use of RTX for reflections and shadows, while Justice (download) adds caustics to that equation. If you have a Turing graphics card, you can test these demos in their full glory, with added DLSS for improved performance. If you're on Pascal, you won't have that performance-enhancing mode available, and will have to slog it through software computations. Follow the embedded links for our direct downloads of these tech demos.

Star Wars Game Jedi: Fallen Order to Be Officially Revealed April 13th

If you've been clamoring, silently or not so silently, for a new story-driven Star Wars game, you're in luck. The Respawn-developed Star Wars game Jedi: Fallen Order is set for a reveal on April 13th. That doesn't mean the game is launching anywhere close to that slice of time, mind you; it's likely EA is just starting up the hype machine for the game, as it usually does. A fall release is expected, nonetheless, which means that Respawn was working in two very disparate game experiences a the same time - this really should speak to that studios' ingenuity.

Respawn has wrapped up their silent, ninja-like development of Apex Legends to a full game release, and is on cruise mode when it comes to the games' support. Provided they keep adding features - and raking in the money from all that hard work in what has quickly become one of the video game hits of recent times - the company's efforts can now certainly be focused solely on the Star Wars story-driven game. The announcement came straight from EA's Star Wars Twitter account, and the reveal is set for the Star Wars Celebration in Chicago. Some tidbits about the games' setting are delivered, such as that you're a "Padawan who survives Order 66" and you explore "the universe in a time after the fall of the Jedi Order". Whether "exploring the universe" is overly enthusiastic jargon for an on-rails experience or code for a somewhat emergent/open world game system remains to be seen, but it's Star Wars. The budget is big, and Respawn has developed great games.

Uncharted Series' Amy Hennig Confirms Leaving EA Back in January, Starts Her Own Indie Studio

After EA shuttered Visceral Studios, who where working on a new, linear, single-player Star Wars videogame, Amy Hennig's situation never was cleared up by the publisher. Doubts remained on whether the developer, best known for her work at Naughty Dog with the Uncharted series, was still attached, in any capacity, to the newly-pivoted development of the aforementioned Star Wars videogame in EA Vancouver. Now, at the Gamelab conference in Barcelone, the air has been cleared: Amy Hennig has confirmed she hasn't been working with EA since January of this year. And the linear, single-player experience she was developing has been shelved by EA.

Hennig says that she is staying independent, now, and is in the process of setting up her own indie studio - and is likely taking a VR spin with her next creations. We wish her all the best, and hope that the indie liberty gives her enough room - and funds - to develop that dying breed of videogames that is the solo kind. Meanwhile, Henig's also confirmed that EA Vancouver's pivoting of the Star Wars videogame is reworking it into a - can you guess? - open world approach that is barely recognizable from her own work - so it does seem a game in the likes of Destiny and Anthem will be the end product.

Lucasfilm Rumored to Ditch EA for a New Game Publisher

Rumors are going around that Lucasfilm isn't too happy with how the Star Wars franchise is turning out since they handed the license on a silver platter over to Electronic Arts in 2013. Up to now, EA has produced a total of two titles under the Star Wars: Battlefront sub-series. Their first Star Wars: Battlefront game was released in 2015 and many considered it a reboot of the previous games. Regardless, Star Wars: Battlefront (2015) was highly criticized for its lack of a single-player campaign. EA's solution to keep die-hard Star Wars fans happy was to release a multitude of free expansions and paid DLC packs to add more content to the game. And then came Star Wars: Battlefront II in 2017, a sequel that received even harsher backlash because of the over aggressive loot-crate system that was implemented into the game. In an attempt to put out the fire, EA temporarily eliminated the microtransactions.

Then, to make matters even worse, EA closed Visceral Games last year. The studio was working on the single-player driven Star Wars: Project Ragtag title, but apparently it didn't fit into EA's business model so they decided to pull the plug. With all that has occurred, EA's relationship with Lucasfilm hangs on a thin thread right now. The gaming giant's lackluster record of releasing two games in a five year period allegedly forced Lucasfilm to explore other options. Ubisoft and Activision were the two big names that have been mentioned so far. If the rumors were true, who would you rather have working on the next Star Wars game?

AMD Releases Radeon Software Adrenalin 17.12.2 Beta Drivers

AMD today released an update to their Radeon Software Adrenalin Drivers and software suite. Under the Beta label, the new version brings many resolved issues to the table, whilst listing some unresolved - but recognized as existent - issues behind it still. Some problems with AMD XConnect for hot-swapping external GPUs should be fixed, some areas of Star Wars: Battlefront II that were displaying graphics corruption should no longer do so, and your Netflix playback should finally let you chill without any kind of AMD-caused stuttering, among other quality of life improvements.

Look for the full patch notes after the break, and keep in mind you can download the latest AMD drivers right here on TPU. Just follow the link below.
DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 17.12.2 Beta

EA Bleeds $3.1 Billion in Stock Value Over Battlefront II Fiasco

Electronic Arts (EA) bled USD $3.1 billion (£2.3 billion) in stock value at the markets over the week, as the company scaled down its controversial loot-crate system deployed in "Star Wars: Battlefront II." The company is fighting a PR debacle as gamers complain of terrible pricing of the base-game, DLC, and an aggressive loot-crate system that's drawing the attention of government regulators around the world, who are threatening to impose gambling regulations against the game.

The concept of loot-crate is simple. You pay a seemingly small amount of money for a "mystery box" containing either something great (like weapon-attachments), or something of no tangible impact on gameplay (like skins). You're incentivized to buy more loot-crates in hope that you'll get something better. This becomes a gamble. In 2016, EA earned over $800 million in profits selling loot-crates among other micro-transactions, across various game franchises, such as Battlefield and Need for Speed. With EA scaling down several of its ancillary revenue models for the game, the studio's stock bled 8.5 percent month-to-date. Drew Crum, an analyst with investment firm Stifel also attributes underwhelming Black Friday sales of the game to EA's bear-hug.

AMD Releases Radeon Software Crimson ReLive 17.11.2

AMD today released the Radeon Software Crimson ReLive 17.11.2 beta software. The drivers come with launch-day optimization for "Star Wars: Battlefront II." The drivers also fix a handful issues related to Radeon ReLive game video capture/streaming software, in which chroma artifacts would show up on the screen, and an issue which caused recording to fail when switching between borderless fullscreen and fullscreen modes. The drivers also address WattMan issues, in which undervolted values wouldn't correctly apply on some "Polaris" (RX 400 and RX 500 series) GPUs, and underclocked GPU memory values not reflecting in the user-interface. Grab the drivers from the link below.
DOWNLOAD: AMD Radeon Software Crimson ReLive 17.11.2

The change-log follows.

Overwatch, Star Wars Battlefront II Loot Crates Under Gambling Scrutiny

According to Belgium's VTM Nieuws, the Chancellor Commission from that country has opened an investigation into both Overwatch and Star Wars Battlefront II loot crates, so as to rule whether or not these constitute gambling. Loot boxes being compared to gambling isn't a new debate, but up until now, a clear ruling that characterizes loot crates as such still hasn't made its way onto the courts or commissions that have been looking into these issues. That loot crates and other microtransactions are resounding successes in ever increasing monetization of game experiences is no secret: Digital River has released a report that stated microtransactions and the whole "Games as a Service" model has tripled the industry's value.

EA has been receiving a lot of flak for the way they implemented their loot boxing mechanics in Star Wars Battlefront II, which has led to repeated cycles of posturing, bullying, and ultimately some small steps backward for the company, regarding its initial stance on Battlefront II's specific implementation. Already has the company decreased costs for unlocking characters in-game, though some are reporting that for players to unlock everything the $60 game supposedly offers, they'd have to play it for at least 4,528 hours - or pony-up $2,100 to unlock all the base content.

EA Makes it Tougher to Cancel Battlefront 2 Pre-orders

EA is under fire for predatory pricing of DLC and add-ons for its upcoming "Star Wars: Battlefront 2" release. Gamers complain of the company effectively pricing it above $80 just to play as Darth Vader, and giving game reviewers a faster in-game content unlock progression, compared to paying gamers, misrepresenting the product. Pre-orders of the game can be cancelled and so gamers took to Reddit, and other forums, to distribute links to the pages on EA's website that let you easily cancel your pre-order. With pre-order cancellations gaining traction, EA pulled out its bag of dirty tricks.

The publisher has reportedly changed the way you cancel pre-orders. Instead of simply clicking on a web-based form to cancel your pre-order and get the reference number to your refund, you now have to speak with a sales agent via chat to cancel your order. Trouble is, that the process is bogged down by too many people trying to cancel their orders (due to a finite number of agents), and thus EA has effectively made it impossible for everyone who pre-ordered to cancel. Only those who can endure the long agent waiting queue to chat with an agent, can cancel their pre-orders, as the November 17 release-date (beyond which you can't cancel pre-orders), looms closer.
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