YaKoMoS

Google has revealed an update to its Play Store app marketplace rules that it says should ban so-called "stalkerware" apps for good. The company has moved to block spying apps that allow a victim's devices to be monitored by a third-party, including their location and what information they access online, following a global outcry. Recent research found hundreds of such services were available to download via the Google Play Store, allowing users to spy on their families, partners, children or even total strangers. Such apps often run unnoticed on victim's devices, meaning they can be incredibly harmful and difficult to remove. Check out our list of the best malware removal software around We've built a list of the best password managers available Here's our list of the best ransomware protection on the market Stalkerware ban The news was revealed in an update to Google's Developer Program policy, where the company stated that "adequate notice or consent" must be gained from the user of any app that tracks them and sends their personal information to another device. Such apps will also need to show a "persistent notification" that the user's actions are being tracked going forward. The new rules, which are set to come into effect on October 1 after a grace period to allow developer to make changes, look to ban any apps that don't make these updates, blocking them from the Play Store. However Google notes that there are some "acceptable forms" of such apps - namely for parents tracking the whereabouts of their children. "Only policy compliant apps exclusively designed and marketed for parental (including family) monitoring or enterprise management may distribute on the Play Store with tracking and reporting features," Google noted. This means that stalkerware makers could simply refresh and redesign their apps as targeting parents, whilst in reality still allowing criminals or abusers to continue using the services as before. Google had previously issued an updated ads policy in July, which banned vendors from advertising any product used to track or monitor another individual without consent. The company set the relevant organizations a hard deadline of August 11 to remove the offending ads. A report from Avast found an 51% increase in the use of online spying and stalkerware apps across the globe during the lockdown period.

Something to look forward to: Intel has been having a hard time squeezing every bit of performance possible out of their older CPU architectures to remain in contention. Considering how aggressive AMD has been, you could arguably say they've done a good job keeping afloat, whether it's on servers, desktop or laptops. But they could only hang on for so long. Tiger Lake and Xe is how Intel is beginning to strike back. For the past year Ryzen has clearly dominated desktop CPU buying recommendations, on the server side AMD Epyc has gained ground, but on laptops Intel went unchallenged until just recently. They appear to be ready to strike back there first with its 11th-gen Core "Tiger Lake" processors. The new line of silicon features Iris Xe graphics and uses Intel's latest 10nm "SuperFin" process. Tiger Lake is aimed at thin-and-light laptops because they offer higher performance with better power efficiency. Intel also claims to outperform AMD's Ryzen 7 4800U which we tested recently and is darn good. We'll eventually review Tiger Lake ourselves but laptops equipped with the chip are not expected to go on sale for another month or so. In the meantime, a small number of publications have received a pre-production Tiger Lake laptop equipped with their top-of-the-line Core i7-1185G7 for a preliminary performance overview. Here are some takeaways from PCMag's testing which compared the laptop against AMD's Ryzen 4000 "Renoir" to determine where each laptop CPU shines on performance: Tiger Lake is faster than Ryzen 'Renoir' on integrated graphics, thanks to next generation Iris Xe. This is the first instance of Intel's Iris Xe, their new generation graphics. Thanks to it, some proper PC gaming is possible, with caveats. Lighter tasks = no problem. Because both of these are "low-power" chips destined for thin, light, and stylish ultraportable laptops, the idea is that they will be used mostly for lighter tasks, such as video conferencing and web browsing. On those types of workflows, PCMag tests suggest that Tiger Lake can be as good as Renoir. Gaming performance: Many po[CENSORED]r, demanding games look like they may well be nicely playable on a Tiger Lake Core i7 in a full-wattage implementation. They might well be playable on the equivalent Renoir Ryzen 7, as well, but the amount of playability "wiggle room" will be less. Not better than a gaming laptop. The integrated graphics solutions on neither of these chips can hold a candle to the far-more-powerful discrete GPUs that power gaming laptops. Pure media processing: Running Cinebench and Handbrake, there’s a clear winner: Ryzen 7. The Ryzen 7 is better on Cinebench almost entirely thanks to its additional cores and threads. Tiger Lake however does well in those same tests when benchmarking single-core performance. On Adobe Photoshop, with slightly more graphics muscle and high clocks that come to the fore in this "bursty" test, the Core i7 performed slightly better than the Ryzen 7 did. Intel "AI-assisted workflows." Intel’s AI wizardry got a quad-core Core i7 to outperform a Ryzen 7 with more advanced silicon and twice as many cores.

The Total War series is known for its lively modding scene. Just recently, we’ve seen a Total War: Warhammer II mod that lets you play as any faction, including the rogue armies that wander around the map. The series even has mods planned that let it swallow up whole different game universes, like this one that gives The Witcher a grand strategy makeover. Any talented tinkerers tentatively tapping out code for potential Total War Saga: Troy mods will have to wait a bit longer, however. Hot off the Achilles’ heels of the announcement of an upcoming Amazons DLC pack – which will be free for a limited time – comes the news that mod support for the Trojan strategy game will be delayed by “at least a month”. The news comes from a tweet from Total War studio Creative Assembly, nestled under the much better news of the upcoming DLC. The planned lord pack will allow players to take control of Amazon heroes Hippolyta and her “fierce warrior-queen sister”, Penthesilea. This, alongside new mission chains, buildings, events, and faction mechanics. Beyond this announcement, there’s no information on when we can expect to see mod support come to the game, but it sounds like it’ll be late October at the earliest. Rich said in his Total War Saga: Troy review that the game “is the most beautiful Total War yet, and vies with Three Kingdoms for the best campaign layer”. High praise coming from the man who also called inspiring, handsome underdog Grom from Total War: Warhammer II’s The Warden and the Paunch DLC an “odious pub bore”.

Security giant McAfee has revealed the latest generation of its online protection suite, including a significant boost to its native VPN offering. The company says that its new platform is designed to dovetail with the increase in working from home, offering business-focused tools and services alongside its usual focus on individual and consumer security. Along with an upgraded VPN service that offers easier access and anti-malware device protection via one central log-in, the new platform looks to address a number of issues arising from users increasingly working from home. Best ransomware protection: free, paid and decryption tools Check out our list of the best malware removal software out there Here's the best business VPN around McAfee 2021: The company recently carried out research that found 375 new threats per minute, attributed to a rise in fraudulent apps, phishing scams and malware. To address this, McAfee WebAdvisor now provides a warning when visiting websites that can be used by cybercriminals to gain remote access to your PC. The company says it has also enhanced its machine learning capabilities to cut down on the time it takes to detect emerging malware threats, and improve protection against file-less threats.  McAfee has also boosted its social media protection following further research by the company that found over a quarter (27%) of social media users have received a dodgy link via social messaging services, and a further 20% have fallen victim to fake discounts or deals via social channels. Users will also now get a clearer view of when mobile apps request personal information, with app privacy now integrated into the main scan of Android devices.  “Now, and looking to the future, consumers will continue to need improved, integrated, intuitive protection for all aspects of their digital lives- from working to shopping, learning and entertaining from home,” said Jesús Sanchez-Aguilera, head of EMEA Consumer at McAfee. “We’re confident that our latest products offer consumers the right solutions that allow them to enjoy their connectivity and focus on what matters most to them- their family and their friends.” 

Something to look forward to: With its inclusion in Nvidia’s new RTX 3000-series cards and the next-gen consoles, the HDMI 2.1 standard is under the spotlight right now, and Acer has just announced its first gaming monitor to feature support. The Acer XV282K KV offers a 4K resolution alongside a 144Hz refresh rate, which should make it an appealing prospect for those buying an Ampere card or (probably) AMD’s Radeon 6000. The Acer XV282K KV, part of the company’s Nitro XV2 monitor series, boasts a 28-inch, 3,840 x 2,160 IPS panel made by Innolux with that high refresh rate of 144Hz. The prominent feature here is the inclusion of two HDMI 2.1 ports, which allow 4K@120Hz and even 8K/10K@60Hz over a single cable. There’s also four USB 3.0 ports, dual 2W speakers, a 3.5mm jack, and a DisplayPort 1.4 input with DSC (Display Stream Compression) support for 4K@144Hz. Elsewhere, the monitor features a flicker-free WLED backlight that offers up to 90% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut and 550 cd/m2 of luminance. It offers maximum luminance pluses of 600 cd/m², giving it a VESA HDR600 certification. There’s also support for AMD’s FreeSync and Adaptive-Sync, offering a variable refresh rate of 48Hz to 144Hz, and a 1ms response time. For those considering an RTX 3000-series card, AMD’s Radeon 6000, or want a monitor for the PS5/Xbox Series X/S, the Acer XV282K KV could be an enticing upgrade. It’s priced at ¥8499.00 (around $1,246), and pre-orders are now live with shipping expected in January.

Following the recent Dota 2 Windranger Arcana release, the MOBA game’s developer Valve has launched the current battle pass’s next chunk of content: Immortal Treasure III. It’s packed with new goodies for Dota 2 heroes Clockwerk, Gyrocopter, Lich, Oracle, Pugna, and Treant. Oh, and if you’re keen to keep pushing ahead with the battle pass’s offerings, there’s good news on that front, too – it’s been extended. As with the two Immortals packs before it, each treasure “offers increasing odds of receiving a rare reward of 50 battle pass levels, a very rare golden version of the Pugna item, or the ultra rare phoenix wings,” a blog post explains. And, “as always, there is a cosmically rare chance you’ll discover a divine emblem”. According to the battle pass’s page, the new Treasure’s items include ‘Rabid Watchdog’ – a weapon featuring “hookshot effects” – for Clockwerk, a ‘B.U.S.T.E.R’ homing missile compartment item for Gyrocopter, and a spooky-sounding head item with “sinister gaze effects” for Lich. Gulp. As for Oracle, there’s a “head item with custom Purifying Flames effects” called Sagas of the Cymyurrin Sage, while Pugna and Treant also get headgear, with life draining power and overgrowth effects, respectively. Plus, Valve announces the current battle pass has been extended a further three weeks, meaning you now have until October 9 to work your way through it. Until then, battle pass owners can also nab “up to two bundles of 60 levels at a 30% discount”. So, go get stuck in if you’re keen to make the most of the extended battle pass period.

DH1 looks better

NEW DELHI | BENGALURU: TikTok and Oracle’s business partnership in the US is unlikely to lead to an easing of the ban on the short-video platform in India, two senior government officials told ET. he officials said the partnership, even if it extends to India, will not be adequate as it does not assure the Centre that the data of Indian users will be safe and won’t be sent abroad. Picking Oracle as its “trusted tech partner” instead of an “outright sale” may not be “adequate” to assuage Indian government’s concerns about data transfer to Chinese servers, said one of the officials. The person added that the app will continue to be owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company. “ “There is no way to verify or for them to prove that data transfer is not happening to their servers in China.” A second official said that unless issues around security, data privacy and user permissions are addressed, the ban — announced in June end — will stay. ‘Larger Issues not Addressed’ “The reasons for banning the app are more than just ownership… The ownership is only a partial and a small part of the concern. The larger issue is around security and data privacy, and unless those concerns are addressed, the ban will not be revoked,” the second official said. On Monday, global media reports said Oracle had emerged the winner for TikTok’s US operations, with the company likely to be named TikTok’s ‘trusted tech partner’. The deal is unlikely to be structured as an outright sale, the reports said. The contours of the partnership will, however, require approval from the US government, which has issued an executive order to ban the app in the country if it is not sold to an American company within a sti[CENSORED]ted time frame. TikTok claims to have 700 million monthly active users globally, according to its latest lawsuit filed in the US. India is one of the largest markets for the po[CENSORED]r app along with the US. Meanwhile, Microsoft, which had evinced interest in buying Tiktok, released a statement on Sunday. “ByteDance let us know today they would not be selling TikTok’s US operations to Microsoft. We are confident our proposal would have been good for TikTok’s users, while protecting national security interests,” the statement said. The Chinese government had thrown a spanner in TikTok’s sale negotiations with Microsoft and others by issuing new export restrictions late last month on the kind ..

Gigabyte announces the 2 TB AORUS Gen4 AIC SSD, which features four 500 GB SSDs pre-installed on the board and uses just a single PCIe slot. This AIC SSD also offers an advanced thermal solution for users that substantially faster storage when compared to connecting the SSDs to their boards through an NVMe slot directly. GIGABYTE announces the 2 TB AORUS Gen4 AIC SSD, offers significantly improved sequential read and write speeds This AIC SSD comes pre-installed with four different 500 GB NVMe SSDs and connected to the PC system through a PCIe Slot; the total amount of storage provided by this device is 2 Terabytes. This incredibly fast storage is perfect for content creators who require faster storage while editing more extensive videos or projects. Some of the main features of the AORUS Gen 4 AIC SSD include: Form Factor: PCl Express Card Interface: PCI-Express 4.0 x16, NVMe 1.3 Total Capacity: 8,000GB Seq. Read Speed: up to 15,000 MB/s Seq. Write Speed: up to 15,000 MB/s Wear Leveling, Over-Provision Technologies TRIM & S.M.A.R.T Supported Advanced Thermal Solution with Copper Heatsink Warranty: Limited 5-years This AIC SSD offers a sequential read speed of up to 15,000 MB/s and a sequential write speed of up to 9,500 MB/s. This speed is much faster when compared to connecting these drives to the computer's Motherboard NVMe slots. This AIC SSD is PCIe 4.0 ready for PC's that utilize the third-generation processors; this AIC SSD uses the world's first PCIe 4.0 x4 controller, PHISON PS5016-E16 controllers, which uses the advanced fabrication process to ensure that the PS5016-E16 has more than enough compute power for ECC processing when adopting the latest 3D TLC NAND flash chips. This device also features support the NVMe 1.3 Protocol, LDPC error correction, wear leveling, and even over-provision technology, which not only improves reliability as well as the durability of the SSDs. Source: Gigabyte This AIC SSD also has been designed with high-end Gen4 SSDs; this is present in the overall thermal design of the device itself. This AIC SSD utilizes not only a Two ball bearing blower fan, a High-Thermal conductivity pad, and even features a 5.5m Pure cover heatsink. This cooling design allows the working temperature to be up to 30 degrees cooler than just using a single copper heatsink. GIGABYTE has yet to announce when the 2 TB AORUS Gen4 AIC SSD is going to be available or what the pricing of this SSD is expected to be.

Ferrari debuted its first new model since the coronavirus pandemic temporarily closed much of the company's operations, unveiling a more powerful Portofino. The Portofino M, which stands for Modificata, or Modified, is equipped with 612-hp V-8 turbo engine, boosted from 592 hp in the current version. It has a new eight-speed gearbox instead of a seven-speed transmission, and a five-position Manettino dial that includes a race mode. The Portofino M is the first open-top Ferrari to get an eight-speed transmission. The clutch module is 20 percent smaller and torque delivery is 35 percent higher, according to the automaker. Enrico Galliera, Ferrari's chief marketing and commercial officer, told a news conference on Wednesday that deliveries of the Portofino M would start in Europe starting in the second quarter of next year, with a starting price of around 206,000 euros ($244,000) in Italy -- just above the current Portofino. After a record five new models last year, including the SF90 Stradale, Ferrari's first hybrid car in series production, the Portofino M is the seventh in a pipeline of 15 models promised in Ferrari's 2018-2022 plan. The automaker also introduced the Roma coupe last year with a mid-front-mounted 620-hp engine. Ferrari, best known for its high-performance sports cars, is now aiming to increase sales of easier-driving gran tourers (GTs), designed to be comfortable on longer road trips. It has said previously that about 40 percent of total sales could come from GT models by 2022, up from 32 percent. Hybrid models The carmaker, controlled by Exor, the holding company of Italy's Agnelli family, has said that 60 percent of its cars sold by 2022 would be hybrid. A full-electric model, however, is not expected until after 2025, as the battery technology requires more development and the group needs to prepare customers more used to roaring engines than a quiet drive. In August, Ferrari narrowed the range of its full-year profit guidance toward the lower end after the supercar maker was forced to shutter factories for seven weeks to contain the spread of COVID-19. Reuters contributed to this report

The chief project engineer for Boeing's 737 Max jet told House investigators that he approved a critical design change to software on the plane even though he was unaware of key details about how it worked or of a previous warning from a test pilot that if the system malfunctioned, the results could be "catastrophic." That was what happened in October 2018, and again the following March, when the software forced down the noses of two of the new planes in a way their pilots could not overcome, causing crashes that killed 346 people. The engineer's acknowledgment is one of several revelations contained in a new report released Wednesday by investigators from the House Transportation Committee. The document details myriad gaps in oversight that allowed federal regulators to certify the plane was safe to fly even though officials at both Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration did not fully understand how it was designed. After months of delays by the FAA, the investigators in May were allowed to view a draft "oversight report" written months after the initial Max crash in Indonesia. The February 2019 draft report considered Boeing's actions in the years before the deadly incident, and its conclusions shocked investigators. The FAA's examination "did not reveal any noncompliance" by Boeing, according to the document, meaning that the company was found to have followed federal safety regulations even though the result was a flawed plane. About a month after that draft report was prepared, according to investigators, the second Max crashed, this time in Ethiopia. "That's the bureaucratic word. It was 'compliant.' But the problem is it was compliant and not safe. And people died," Transportation Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said. "Obviously, the system is inadequate." The final committee report on the Max offers the clearest indication yet that Boeing - or the unit tasked with overseeing the certification process on the FAA's behalf - could have caught flaws in the Max's flight control system during the airplane's design stage. But it failed to act on concerns that were raised about the flawed Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which was identified as a factor in both crashes. The Boeing employees were driven in part by what investigators concluded was pressure to get the new planes to customers quickly and without requiring their pilots to undergo extensive retraining - a goal symbolized by "countdown clocks" on the wall of a conference room, according to the report. The House investigators concluded that the two crashes in less than five months "were the horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeing's engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of Boeing's management, and grossly insufficient oversight by the FAA." "The facts laid out in this report document a disturbing pattern of technical miscalculations and troubling management misjudgments made by Boeing," investigators concluded. "It also illuminates numerous oversight lapses and accountability gaps by the FAA that played a significant role in the 737 MAX crashes." Investigators said Boeing had "multiple missed opportunities" that could have shifted "the trajectory of the Max's design and development toward a safer course." The FAA had a series of its own missed opportunities, the report concluded. The two crashes are "clear evidence that the current regulatory system is fundamentally flawed and needs to be repaired," investigators concluded. FAA officials have testified that the agency has learned lessons from the crashes and have defended the federal oversight system, saying it has helped produce a stellar safety record overall. "These tragic accidents should not have happened," FAA Administrator Stephen M. Dickson said in congressional testimony in June. "We continue to work tirelessly to see that the lessons learned from these accidents will result in a higher margin of safety for the aviation industry globally." But the extent of the agency's efforts to address its failures remains uncertain, and lawmakers in both the House and Senate are now considering ways to strengthen the FAA's oversight of Boeing and other aviation companies. Defazio said he is seeking bipartisan agreement in the House on legislative fixes to the oversight process, and talks are ongoing. A Senate committee is scheduled to consider a bipartisan proposal at a meeting on Wednesday. Boeing, in a statement, said it cooperated "fully and extensively" with the committee's inquiry. "We have been hard at work strengthening our safety culture and rebuilding trust with our customers, regulators, and the flying public," spokesman Bradley N. Akubuiro said. "The passengers and crew on board Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, as well as their loved ones, continue to be in our thoughts and prayers." Akubuiro noted that Boeing has incorporated many of the recommendations contained in previous reports from review committees, experts and governmental authorities, as well as from its own internal reviews, into the 737 Max and the overall aircraft design process. He said Boeing has set up a new safety organization within the company to "enhance and standardize safety practices" and made internal changes designed to "give engineers a stronger voice and a more direct line to share concerns with top management." In addition, its board of directors now includes a permanent Aerospace Safety Committee, and it has expanded the role of the Safety Promotion Center. "The revised design of the MAX has received intensive internal and regulatory review, including more than 375,000 engineering and test hours and 1,300 test flights," Akubuiro said. "Once the FAA and other regulators have determined the MAX can safely return to service, it will be one of the most thoroughly-scrutinized aircraft in history, and we have full confidence in its safety." The FAA said in a statement that it was "committed to continually advancing aviation safety and looks forward to working with the Committee to implement improvements identified in its report. "We are already undertaking important initiatives based on what we have learned from our own internal reviews as well as independent reviews of the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines accidents. These initiatives are focused on advancing overall aviation safety by improving our organization, processes, and culture," the agency said. The FAA said it has published a notice of a proposed rulemaking for an airworthiness directive "that will mandate a number of design changes to the Boeing 737 MAX before it returns to passenger service. The FAA continues to follow a thorough process, not a prescribed timeline, for returning the aircraft to service." The Max remains grounded by aviation authorities worldwide, but it is expected to be cleared to fly again in coming months, following an overhaul of the MCAS software. The process of ungrounding the planes moved ahead Monday, when international regulators began meeting at London's Gatwick Airport to review training requirements for Max pilots. Michael Stumo, whose daughter Samya died in the second crash, said the report showed that recertification of the Max needed to be stopped. "The FAA and Boeing hid information before and are doing it again," Stumo said in a statement, saying the victims' families still did not have technical data on the fixes to the planes that they are seeking under the Freedom of Information Act. The report draws from interviews with key Boeing executives, top FAA safety officials and others with knowledge of the crashes. Investigators wrote that even months after two fatal crashes, officials at Boeing and the FAA still refused to acknowledge problems with the approval process. "Despite the sweeping and substantive problems that have been identified by this Committee's investigation as well as various other investigations, both Boeing and the FAA have suggested that the certification of the 737 MAX was compliant with FAA regulations," investigators found. The House report highlights the roles of senior Boeing and FAA officials in the development of the jet and responding to the crashes, outlining interviews with Michael Teal, the Max project engineer, Keith Leverkuhn, Boeing's former general manager for the Max, and Ali Bahrami, the head of the FAA's safety branch. The report describes the Boeing officials as "extraordinarily reluctant to acknowledge any missteps or mistakes" and Bahrami as "unphased by many of the revelations that have deeply disturbed many aviation experts and engineers about the MAX." Bahrami told investigators when he was interviewed in December that he could not recall any conversations with Boeing about the Max in the period between the two crashes and that he was unaware of an FAA analysis concluding that the jet would continue to crash. "It was surprising to the Committee that Mr. Bahrami appeared to be largely disengaged from the aftermath and repercussions of the Lion Air accident," the investigators wrote, referring to the Oct. 29, 2018, crash of a Max into the Java Sea off the coast of Indonesia that killed all eight crew members and 181 passengers on board. Teal told investigators that while he didn't know some of the details of how the MCAS software worked, "he relied on the advice of the engineers on the MAX program." The report also identified multiple incidents in which Boeing employees granted special authority by the FAA to represent the agency's interests and ensure that the 737 Max's systems and designs are compliant with regulations failed to disclose critical information that could have made the 737 Max safer. It said the employees raised concerns internally that were never relayed to the FAA. In June 2016, one of the employees was worried about MCAS countering the pilot's commands during a test flight and the potential for faulty sensor data to cause problems with the system. The employee's colleagues "discounted" the concerns, according to the report. But problems with the connection between the sensors and MCAS have been identified as a major factor in the two crashes. Similarly, internal Boeing documents regularly referred to the test pilot's delay of more than 10 seconds in responding to MCAS in a flight simulator, but the finding was not disseminated more widely. "The Committee has found no evidence that Boeing shared this information with the FAA, its customers, or 737 MAX pilots and Boeing has confirmed to the Committee that it found no record showing it shared any of these MCAS Coordination Sheets with the FAA because they were not required to do so," according to the report. The relationship between Boeing and its overseers at the FAA has been a particular focus for lawmakers, and there are signs that it continues to be troubled. Employees in the FAA's safety branch surveyed by an agency contractor said they continued to feel under pressure to meet the demands of Boeing and other companies, and said that too little had been done to impose internal accountability for the Max crashes. "One reason people distrust upper management is because of communications from leadership that 'our processes are fine,' even after 340-plus people died," an employee said during a focus group. The Senate legislation would give the FAA greater say over which Boeing employees are empowered to act on its behalf.

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Game Informations : Developer: inXile Entertainment Platforms: PC , XBOX Initial release date: 27 Aug, 2020 Wasteland 3 is a game of extremes, there are no half measures, no middle ground – only wrong or right, death by an obese dracula-impersonator or complete mercy, butcher everyone or walk free. It’s a game where you begin with a holy moral compass and it quickly weathers into ‘how does this benefit me exactly?’ It’s an apocalypse game where everyone is either a softly spoken sweetheart or a gut guzzling sycophant. It’s a fictional future of the most extreme depravity and it’ll force you into uncomfortable places and ask you hard questions. All the extremities and bloated stereotypes should be a hard pill to swallow, but you glug it down like it’s the apocalypse, and you haven’t had a taste of bitter bourbon in a long time. Now, though, I’m stood in front of The Patriarch. After a bloody opening scene in which half my Desert Ranger squad, Team November, are decimated on entering Colorado, I’m quickly whisked through the tutorials for the remainder of the trek to reach him. He’s the ruler of Colorado, and we are seeking supplies and aid. He’s willing to help, for a cost. I quickly learn this is the way of Wasteland 3 – everything comes at a cost. The Patriarch is a big-built brute with a sledgehammer he’s more than happy to use. He sits on a throne of empty rocket shells adorned with the American flag and speaks firmly in a low, authoritative tone. He’s one of the many stereotypes of the apocalypse: a blood-hungry gang called The Dorseys, who call the next phase of the apocalypse ‘The Deluge of Blood’; a pious cult of mechanical Ronald Reagan worshippers called Gippers; a group of corpse-tossing outcasts called Godfishers; and many, many eccentric lost souls that you’ll come across along the way. You can recruit some people as companions – two at any one time – along with up to four Rangers to form a party of six. It’s a good idea to choose a party that compliments each other, and Wasteland 3 does a good job at giving you polite nods in the right direction. The RPG elements in Wasteland 3 are mesmerising and addictive, there’s plenty to tuck into as you level up including perks, skills points, and attributes. I spend hours refining my ragtag gang of rangers and randoms, from cowgirl Lucia Wesson to the drunken hick Scothmo. I also have a tagalong called Major Tomcat, a companion of sorts, he’s a cat who aids in combat but doesn’t actually count towards my companion quota. I begin enamoured with Major Tomcat – look at his cute trilby hat and the way he scratches up enemies. But, in a nightmarish encounter, Major Tomcat falls. In events that should move me to tears, I walk away – what was he bringing to the party anyway? There are plenty of these disposable companions, from robot chickens, to a first aid dancing mech. What have I become? Wasteland 3’s Rangers, however, don’t have any distinct personalities and remain mostly silent during your jaunt around Colorado. The companions are better as each have their own backstory and reasons for wanting to help out the Rangers, and these interactions throughout the game bolster their importance for me, but not enough to warrant my affection (or their revival if they perma-die). Don’t expect a lot of banter, though, apart from the occasional weird comment like ‘did you touch my gun’ and the fact I pour a lot of time into upgrading them, I still remain detached. Not that I mind, Wasteland 3 has corrupted me. I go through about ten hours of gameplay feeling pretty comfortable and confident in combat, until I’m not. It’s in that moment I start to run out of ammo, supplies, medkits, and feel the full weight of my decision making. You can’t pick every fight in Wasteland 3, and you shouldn’t. Resources are precious and costly, and although there are tons of various side missions to gain money and rewards, it can sometimes cost you more in resources than it’s worth. You are in the frozen wastes, after all. Combat will fleece you of supplies and, although, yeah, it’s fun to fight, sometimes it’s fun to live as well. Encounters can’t always be avoided, though, as dialogue and progressing the game can be locked behind having enough of a certain attribute or skill to meet a criteria. If you do find yourself in a fight, the turn-based combat starts off a little easy at the start of the game, and becomes a logistical fever dream of ensuring your squad is up to taking on each fight. This might be where you develop ‘favourites’, again not down to their compelling wit, but how much your Rangers and companions bring to the fight. The variety in enemies gives each fight its own flavour and requires you to think about your approach, making for some intense battles that I’ll remember for a long time. It’s in these moments – when the gameplay audio dims and an old country song plays as a soundtrack to a fight, subsequently fading out in the bloody aftermath as I’m left surrounded by corpses – that it feels like it should be a time to reflect. Like the scene in Red Dead Redemption 2 when riding away from a shoot out to Unshaken by D’Angelo, thinking about how needless all the bloodshed is. Yet, I don’t feel that way in Wasteland 3 when the fighting’s over. There’s no remorse in my actions, it’s a cutthroat business and I’m here to do a job, to survive. And survival is tough in Wasteland 3’s open-world, and although I’m free to explore, I usually only go to areas if a mission warrants it, getting around using the new vehicle called the Kodiak which you can pimp out in your Ranger HQ. As well as churning up the snowy roads and making mincemeat of bystanding deer, you can also use your vehicle in combat. I was never a fan of Phoenix Point’s equivalent mechanic, but it not only works in Wasteland 3, it’s pivotal to survival. Using your souped-up snowmobile to explore Colorado is wonderfully authentic, although the loading screens between areas and the time it takes to navigate to each location can be a little tedious. You’ll also almost certainly be ambushed by road-side dwellers looking to steal your goods, or just fight you, because. You can, and will piss people off, as well as earn a name for yourself in Colorado by completing missions or interacting with the right people. The fame meter can count for and against you, and balancing your relationships with all the different factions will always cause someone to dislike you, it’s just up to you who that is. I realise early on that +1 in reputation can quickly dissolve into a -15 with just one, wrong, reply. Like I said, everything will cost you. One of the first decisions in the game is severe, I had to take a moment to decide what to do, but that swiftly changes as the game progresses, I push aside what is right, what is fair, and become utterly selfish in my decisions. Wasteland 3 does offer moments of intimacy and nuggets of information in the overheard conversations or happened-upon interactions. You can glean information about the situation in Colorado, or follow a robot to hidden treasure, but it’s true that a yellow smiley face in the snow is the closest you’ll get to warmer times. Although it doesn’t offer anything immediately innovative, it slams the nostalgia card down on the table in a brash, unforgiving way that makes this game incredibly moreish. It takes you on a moral journey and corrupts you, making everything you thought was so unfeasible about an apocalypse seem so normal. You can feel everything that it’s borrowed and given back to the Fallout series, along with the return of previous Wasteland characters. And if I could offer just one word of advice? TRUST NO ONE. Here are the Wasteland 3 System Requirements (Minimum) CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K or equivalent CPU SPEED: Info RAM: 8 GB OS: Windows 7/8/8.1/10 (64 bit) VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 or Radeon HD 7970 PIXEL SHADER: 5.0 VERTEX SHADER: 5.0 FREE DISK SPACE: 55 GB DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 2048 MB Wasteland 3 Recommended Requirements CPU: Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater CPU SPEED: Info RAM: 16 GB OS: Windows 7/8/8.1/10 (64 bit) VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GTX 970/AMD 290 equivalent or greater PIXEL SHADER: 5.1 VERTEX SHADER: 5.1 FREE DISK SPACE: 55 GB DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 4096 MB

Well,looks like the first DH is better,even the the second also good but i preffer the first one,good job .