Gaming News

ShackNews have published a couple more good PUBG articles covering recent developments:

• Battle Royale Juggernaut
• Bullet Penetration
• How to Stay Alive in PUBG

The producers of Playerunknown's Battlegrounds have started to fight back against the heavy cheating that seems to be blighting the game. Whilst some of the measures they are taking could inconvenience some players, most regular players would be unaffected.

Read the press release on Steam

Another sort of guide from Shacknews covers reported crashes following the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. The developers are aware of it, but no fix is imminent at this time.

In addition, at the bottom of the page there's an interview with the PUBG developer. This was recorded prior to the full 1.0 release - some interesting stuff in it.

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More from Shacknews' series of PUBG guides. These two cover weapon muzzles and improving your FPS:

• Weapon Muzzles
• Improve your FPS

Shacknews have started posting a series of PUBG guides. The first two cover weapon attachments:

• Sights and Grips
• Magazines and Stocks

Hopefully more to follow soon...

This last year saw a couple of great BobLAN events, and the switch of this site to SSL. PUBG was a big hit at the last LAN, and now that it is in full release, it should be improving steadily in the runup to the Spring BobLAN!

Thanks for the past year go to:

• [DFC]Lynx for hosting the best LAN parties ever
• Pup and Trebz for sending in the photos from November - it's great to capture the group at the LANs, and to see how little the line-up has actually changed over the years
• }data{ for continuing to host this site, and enabling the Let's Encrypt auto-renew functionality
• Let's Encrypt for providing free SSL certificates to hobbyist sites like ours, who otherwise would not be able to afford one
• @Scott_Helme for providing his securityheaders.io site, where we were able to go from an F security rating to A+ with a few simple tweaks to the site's header information

All in all, a pretty good year. Here's to an even better 2018...

Eric Sauvageau, the developer behind the Merlin firmware for Asus routers, has published his plans for 2018. This is largely focussed on moving to the new codebase that more recent Asus routers use, and taking advantage of any opportunties that may bring.

Some older router models, such as the RT-N66U and RT-AC66U, may lose the ability to update to the latest firmware versions. Some models already have the new version, with the popular RT-AC68U due to receive its update early in the new year.

Read the full readmap on SNB Forums

The annual Steam Holiday Sale is now on, running into early January. Visit the Steam Store to pickup a bargain, or at least something costing a little less than usual!

Independent driver developer Merlin has released version 380.69 for all supported models of Asus router. The update includes various fixes and security enhancements, plus the ability to disable Asus NAT tunnelling (a CPU and memory hog)

Read the full changelog on Merlin's site

The much anticipated full release of what is the world's most popular game is scheduled for 20th December 2017. The full version will bring several new features, including the new desert map Miramar, new vehicles (the jetski sounds fun) and some new weapons, for example a sawn off shotgun to occupy a sidearm slot, and a Winchester rifle. The ability to jump over small obstacles will also make its debut.

You can read plenty about it on pcgamesn and also on Gamespot

Highlights...

• Thembot PC!
• Wij Racing board game win
• Mes - CS killing room
• Thembot PUBG parachute death
• Pup's 0.002 second win against Dan in Grid

Great gaming...

• Loving the PUBG, a fantastic concept - let's hope they tidy up some of the rough edges. Great tactics by Thembot. But need microphones, even in same room - so you can hear footsteps and team chatter.
• Battlefront II a bit of a mixed bag. Some great potential - but you're essentially just running in for kills until you get able to play as a special (AT-AT, BobbaFett, A-Wing, etc) which is where the real fun seems to be. And not good for groups - no one likes spending 15 minutes in a queue
• CS - standard. A couple of tweaks for next time - would nice to be able to play dust 1. Would like grenades included (or the ability to do so) in gun game
• Grid - standard. Very inclusive.
• Rock Band - standard
• Rocket league - standard. Always enjoy. Could probably have played more of it
• Doom - great fun for a blast
• battleborn - doesn't even boot. Couldn't get working. Shame - might have been fun (and free)
• Overwatch - still a bit too expensive for wide spread play - maybe one to try next time as a TF2 style game
• Fuzz ball - had a game with Shane. Seems to get neglected these days
• Battlefield 1 - enjoyed, but we didn't seem to play much?

Other bits...

• Graphics - anything in the 10x0 range of cards will rock any game at the moment
• Hardware - ASUS ROG 27 monitor continues to be the monitor of the Lanners... 1440p is a great Res without impacting frame rate too much
• Network - killed a few times by big install copies - let's try and get the game list circulated and agree a little sooner next time
• People - would be completely remiss not to say that the real highlight of every LAN is the people... awesome to see you all

And finally, how could we forget Rockband Bohemian Rhapsody - view the evidence on youtube

The Autumn 2017 BobLAN is well underway. Games played so far include CS:GO, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Battlefield 1 and GRiD Autosport. We're averaging 6-a-side, which is great fun. More updates to follow...

It's BobLAN 2017.2 eve, so make sure you have all updated your PCs and all games that we are likely to play. Don't forget to start all the game managers - Steam, Origin, Uplay, Bethesda.net etc, and let them do all their heavy lifting before you set off.

As always, the LAN schedule and webcam will be available on our dedicated BobLAN page. We tested the webcam yesterday, and these was around 7 seconds of delay, so not too bad. The camera will be enabled for general viewing tomorrow.

With the revamped version of Dust2 now live, it seemed like a good time to post an interview with the original creator of Dust2. Whilst not involved in the remake, Dave Johnston shares his views on current map making and Dust2's longevity (it was created in 2001!)

Read more on Rock, Paper, Shotgun

The iconic Dust 2 map is being given an overhaul to bring it in line with the graphical style of more recent maps. You can view the before/after images on counter-strike.net

The map is currently in beta, but we should be able to get it in time for BobLAN next month!

Slegdehammer Games, the developers behind the upcoming Call of Duty: WWII, have announced on their site that the multiplayer beta will be available to PC gamers on 29th September 2017.

Due for general release on 3rd November, you can get early access via Steam (although it doesn't say yet if you need to preorder in order to access the beta).

Timing-wise, this could be a BobLAN contender!

The next installment in the Age of Empires series has been announced, over 10 years after the previous version. The game will be created by Relic Entertainment, who are responsible for the highly acclaimed Warhammer 40,000 and Company of Heroes series.

You can view a short trailer on Youtube (no gameplay footage as yet).

The BBC have announced that online channel BBC3 will air six weeks of e-Sports events. You can catch the action on Fridays from 8.45pm, Saturdays from 9pm and Sunday from 5pm on BBC Three's website or BBC iPlayer.

Read more on the BBC3 site

The dates for the second BobLAN of 2017 have been announced. The LAN will take place from Thursday 16th until Sunday 19th November. The LAN Party page and Forums Topic are up and available - what do we fancy playing this time?!

Merlin has released the latest firmware for Asus routers. Plenty of additions, internal upgrades and fixes. Check out the changelog for full details.