Ah, Sparta! Home to the finest warriors in all of ancient Greece, a marvel of a city, a true superpower on the Peloponnesian Peninsula, protected by its mighty city walls... wait a second. Wasn't Sparta famous for its walls being its army only? So why can we see Spartans riding home through a massive wall in Titan Quest II's announcement trailer? The latest dev diary for the upcoming action RPG Titan Quest II highlights Sparta and explains how Titan Quest II offers a fantastical twist on the actual ancient reality.

For a deep dive on the music and world design of Titan Quest check out the previous dev diaries. Forged in the creative crucible of Grimlore Games in Germany, Titan Quest II is currently under development. This epic odyssey is destined for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S/X, eagerly anticipated to launch when the time comes.

The US government is reported to be preparing a very healthy $3.5 billion investment in Intel Corporation—a mid-week published Bloomberg article proposes that the White House has authored a new "fast-moving spending bill." Congressional aides believe that Team Blue—upon official approval/signing off of funds—will be tasked with the production of advanced semiconductors for military and intelligence programs. Bloomberg posits that the resources will be sourced from a "Secure Enclave" project, seemingly linking to a wider tranche of funds within the US government's CHIPS and Science Act. The agreement/contract is expected to run over a period of three years. According to Bloomberg: "the Senate is expected to pass the legislation by a Saturday (March 9) deadline."

Reports from last November suggested that Intel leadership and US government representatives had engaged in negotiations regarding funds for military and intelligence chip applications—the construction costs for new manufacturing facilities were estimated to be in the $3 billion to $4 billion range. A Commerce Department statement was submitted to Bloomberg, but they only commented on an overall $10 billion budget: "We are still reviewing the effect of the appropriations text on the program...(we look) forward to continuing to work with Congress on implementing the Chips and Science Act in a manner the promotes our economic and national security." TSMC, Micron and Samsung are expected to receive "multi-billion-dollar awards" in the near future—these multinational corporations will assist in a bolstering of North American chip manufacturing capabilities.

As we enter the last month of the year, the first week of December starts with a movie based AAA title that is likely to be popular with some and loathed by others. The rest of this coming week's releases aren't quite as impressive, with one exception it seems. However, you can look forward to a mix of underworld dreams, some 4X space action, eggs, another post-apocalyptic MMO and a horror game.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora / This week's AAA title / Thursday 7 December
Abducted by the human militaristic corporation known as the RDA, you, a Na'vi, were trained and molded to serve their purpose. Fifteen years later, you are free, but find yourself a stranger in your birthplace. Reconnect with your lost heritage, discover what it truly means to be Na'vi, and join other clans to protect Pandora from the RDA.

As it's getting darker in the northern hemisphere, we're seeing a continuing stream of new game releases and this week's AAA title appears to involve hammers and ruins of some kind. The rest of this week's releases includes tiny civilizations, rhythms, faith, flashbacks and a Japanese game. Take a gander below to see if there's something for you or maybe you're suffering from new game release overload already?

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin / This week's AAA title / Friday 17 November
Wage a campaign of brutal conquest in this realm-shattering real-time strategy game set in the Warhammer Age of Sigmar universe. Explore the nature of war from the perspectives of righteous champions and villainous warlords. Battle for survival and dominance across a campaign featuring four major factions, including Stormcast Eternals, Orruk Kruleboyz, Nighthaunt and the Disciples of Tzeentch! Experience a cinematic plot, penned in conjunction with acclaimed Black Library author, Gavin Thorpe.

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, launched today the Best-in-Class Kingston IronKey D500S, hardware-encrypted USB flash drive providing military-grade security for classified data in transit. The D500S is FIPS 140-3 Level 3 (Pending) certified with new enhancements from NIST requiring secure microprocessor upgrades for stronger security and attack protections for government and military use. The drive self-tests upon bootup and includes thermal and voltage protection to automatically shut down when certain threshold is reached. Waterproof{{Footnote.N47812}, dustproof, shock and vibration resistant to Military Standards, crush-resistant and epoxy-filled, D500S' rugged zinc casing protects internal components from penetration attacks.

The Multi-Password option with Complex or Passphrase mode allows users to take ownership over their data, making it easier to remember the password to unlock the stringent security. Admin can reset a User password and enable a One-Time Recovery password to restore access should User password be forgotten. Both Admin and User can set a session-based Read-Only mode to protect the drive from malware on untrusted systems, while Admin can also set a Global Read-Only mode until reset. To keep data from getting into the wrong hands, Admin can enter a Crypto-Erase password that will destroy the data and reset the drive to prevent unauthorized access in compromising situations.

Long presumed dead, Anton Sabbados, a veteran returns from a 10-year-long Ottoman slavery. His Carpathian homeland is feebly reigned by the demented prophet-king, its lands ruined by raiders and cursed with a hellish plague. Everything he loved and cherished is either gone or has changed beyond recognition. All he has left is his soldiers' loyalty - and a holy quest to end the plague. Facing hordes of enemies as well as his inner demons, you must help him see it through no matter the cost!

BEAST is a dynamic and brutal gridless tactical turn-based RPG where moral choices during battle influence the gameplay. In a grimdark medieval world, torn by plague and military conflicts, you decide if you should exercise or exorcise your inner beast with dire consequences for you and your allies!

Greetings, mercenaries! To kick off the summer season, we announced at Summer Game Fest that Crossfire: Sierra Squad will be arriving in August. Welp, August is just around the corner, so it's time to let you know officially that the game will launch at PlayStation Store and Steam on August 29th! Add it to your wishlist today for a reminder come launch.

New immersive experience
Crossfire: Sierra Squad is a brand-new game built from the ground up for VR. We've been working hard to make the game an immersive and intuitive experience that gets you into the action immediately. We've fine-tuned the in-game mechanics to come up with a game experience that we believe you'll want to play over and over, both solo and with friends, in a world you'll want to spend a lot of time in. Our goal is to bring all fans of military FPS games together, regardless of experience level, into an exciting and shared VR adventure - solo or co-op with up to 4 players on a team.

According to various news sources, CEOs from Intel, NVIDIA and Qualcomm have been holding meetings with representatives of the US government—with the topic of discussion reportedly being the escalation of semiconductor import restrictions placed on China. AMD was notably absent from Monday's proceedings, due to Dr. Lisa Su attending to business matters in Taiwan. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, National Economic Council director Lael Brainard and National Security Council director Jake Sullivan were alleged to have met with industry leaders.

Chipmakers have expressed worry about new restrictions coming into effect within the next couple of week—the latest negotiations could have touched on some sort of provision for leading silicon manufacturers. The US government believes that by limiting China's access to cutting-edge technology, it will bolster national security interests—with the Chinese military not being able to develop competitive defense systems. The Semiconductor Industry Association stated on Monday that: "overly broad, ambiguous and at times unilateral restrictions risk diminishing the US semiconductor industry's competitiveness, disrupting supply chains, causing significant market uncertainty and prompting continued escalatory retaliation by China." Intel, NVIDIA and Qualcomm did not provide any comments to press outlets following the conclusion of their meetings with senior government officials. It is speculated that Qualcomm is set to lose the most trade following the implementation of stricter rules—Bloomberg proposes that 60% of the firm's business revenue comes from Chinese territories.

Panasonic announced today the world's premier rugged notebook for the Defence industry can now be equipped with the Eclypt Core Encrypted Internal Solid State Drive from global communications company, Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), making the Panasonic TOUGHBOOK 40 unrivalled in its capabilities for the military, border control and emergency services. Available in May 2023, the TOUGHBOOK 40 notebook with solid state self-encrypting hard drive is certified for use in the UK for securing Top Secret information and all security levels below, as well as certified for use by NATO and other European countries.

"This is the next step in extending our partnership with Viasat to offer the highest-level security drives across the TOUGHBOOK range," said Jon Tucker, General Manager Engineering, Product & Mobility Solutions, at Panasonic Mobile Solutions Business Division. "With the current geopolitical tensions across Europe and beyond, the demand for this type of highly secure, rugged and modular flexible device is growing every day."

The Steam Deck is a hit with enthusiasts who require a gaming fix on the move, and Valve has observed its handheld getting revamped heavily by the modification community - but a new adaptation takes the pint-sized PC onto the real battlefield. The GamingOnLinux site yesterday picked up on emerging details from the Ukraine frontline - TDF Media group has shared photos and videos of an automated gun turret system dubbed "Saber" that can be operated remotely. The Steam Deck has somehow become the preferred control method - its on-screen UI, trackpads, analog sticks and button layout factor into the gun turret's operation. A reader has informed me that Valve's hardware is not officially available for sale in the region, so the military must be sourcing units from a grey/dark market source.

Sergey Mohov, lead gameplay designer at Remedy Entertainment, reposted some of TDF Media's photos on his Twitter account earlier this week, and added that "this automatic turret is the best use of Steam Deck I've seen so far." The Territorial Defense Force organization has described the turret (translated) thusly: "Saber is a Ukrainian automated remote-controlled gun turret designed for stationary installation on static objects or moving vehicles. The Saber system's co-ordination is done via a remote control, camera and monitor - which allows combat from up to 500 m from the rig, while preserving the operator's life. This combat platform can be installed in a stationary (capacity) at checkpoints, border and other zones - it is even able to defeat low-flying enemy drones. The platform is flexible enough to accommodate any light anti-infantry or anti-tank weapon weapon - a good example being a Kalashnikov machine gun."

On Monday 27 March U.S. President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act in order to form a budget of $50 million, to be spent on domestic and Canadian production of printed circuit boards (aka PCBs). This move was deemed as important to matters of national defense, and technology has been cited as key part of North American security efforts. In a memo issued that day, Biden stated that without presidential action under the act: "United States industry cannot reasonably be expected to provide the capability for the needed industrial resource, material, or critical technology item in a timely manner."

PCBs form the basis of vital components that are integrated into military-purpose missiles and radars, in addition to electronics utilized for energy distribution and the nation's healthcare. The President continues to outline the importance of the Defense Production Act: "I find that action to expand the domestic production capability for printed circuit boards and advanced packaging is necessary to avert an industrial resource or critical technology item shortfall that would severely impair national defense capability."

We're about to enter the third month of the year and after last week's loaded release schedule, it appears that we're back to more of an average week of new game releases. This week's AAA title is an RPG game from Japan and we also decided to include a DLC in this week's roundup, simply because it's for a very popular game which often has over 100k PC players online, not taking console players into account.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty / This week's AAA title / Friday 3 March
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is a dramatic, action-packed story of a nameless militia soldier fighting for survival in a dark fantasy version of the Later Han Dynasty where demons plague the Three Kingdoms. Players fight off deadly creatures and enemy soldiers using swordplay based on the Chinese martial arts, attempting to overcome the odds by awakening the true power from within.

The United States has recently imposed several sanctions on technology exports to China. These sanctions are designed to restrict the transfer of specific technologies and sensitive information to Chinese entities, particularly those with ties to the Chinese military or government. The primary motivation behind these sanctions is to protect American national security interests, as well as to protect American companies from unfair competition. According to Financial Times, we have information that Chinese tech Giant, Alibaba, can not access Arm licenses for Neoverse V1 technology. Generally, the technology group where Neoverse V-series falls in is called Wassenaar -- multilateral export control regime (MECR) with 42 participating states. This agreement prohibits the sale of technology that could be used for military purposes.

The US argues that Arm's Neoverse V1 IP is not only a product from UK's Arm but a design made in the US as well, meaning that it is a US technology. Since Alibaba's T-Head group responsible for designing processors that go into Alibaba's cloud services can not use Neoverse V1, it has to look for alternative solutions. The Neoverse V1 and V2 can not be sold in China, while Neoverse N1 and N2 can. Alibaba's T-Head engineer argued, "We feel that the western world sees us as second-class people. They won't sell good products to us even if we have money."

ASUS today announced the refreshed 13-inch ExpertBook B5, an ultralight, kilogram-class laptop series available in both traditional clamshell and 360° convertible forms for the ultimate in portability and flexibility, plus the added versatility enabled by stylus support in B5 Flip. The new ExpertBook B5 laptops are built for business success in style, with a precision-crafted and minimalist chassis that pushes the limits of lightness. They're also set for stress-free travel with an amazing 11-hour battery life, and are engineered with many cutting-edge technologies to improve on-the-go work efficiency. These include a 12th Gen Intel Core processor with vPro support, AI noise cancelation, dual-SSD RAID support, ASUS NumberPad 2.0 and ASUS ExpertWidget.

The all-new ExpertBook B5 models are also packed with features to protect personal privacy and business data, including a built-in fingerprint sensor and TPM 2.0 chip. ASUS ExpertBook B5 laptops are sleek, stylish and crafted for the ultimate mobility. Both the top and bottom cover are cut from pure aluminium, while the area around the keyboard area is formed using magnesium-aluminium alloy. These premium materials and careful construction keep the weight down to as little as a feather-light 1.1 kg, while also ensuring that the machines are ready for the rigors of everyday use in the office or on the go. ExpertBook B5 laptops are also remarkably thin, with a profile that measures just 16.9 mm, so they're easy to slip into a bag or briefcase, ready to travel anywhere. B5 Flip also offers stylus support.

Kanguru announces a new FIPS 140-2 Certified External Solid-State Drive with enhanced security. The new Defender SSD350 hardware encrypted solid state drive series provides organizations with data protection at its best. The TAA Compliant, Defender SSD350 family of solid-state drives is ideal for high-security environments, including government, defense, healthcare, financial institutions, energy/utilities and other security-conscious organizations that rely on benchmark FIPS 140-2 Certification and military-grade, hardware encryption to meet strict security demands. Designed and built under the independent and rigorous testing verification process conducted by the National Institute of Standards for Technology (NIST), the Defender SSD350 provides organizations with exceptional data security and value.

Packed with military grade security features for both MacOS and Windows, it can also be remotely managed for a complete data security solution. Security/IT Administrators can monitor their organization's Kanguru Defender drives anywhere in the world with the Kanguru Remote Management Console (KRMC), which allows Admins to enforce security policies, locate lost or stolen drives, manage security settings remotely and much more.

Winmate, a rugged computing industry leader, announced its new M140TG 14-inch extreme rugged tablet designed to provide field users mobility and connectivity needed to help them stay productive. Winmate's M140TG extreme Rugged tablet can be configured to individual user needs. The device can be outfitted with the latest 11th Intel Core Processors boasting up to 2 TB of high performance and reliable PCIe solid-state drives. The new rugged tablet is also IP-65 rated for protection against dust, dirt, and water. The M140TG Rugged extreme tablet has been drop tested from 4ft and has been built to withstand -20 to 60 Fahrenheit temperatures. For those in need of extended battery life, Winmate offers an optional dual hot-swappable battery architecture and an on-the-go charging ecosystem for uninterrupted operation.

Winmate's M140TG extreme rugged tablet can be used in multiple industries, whether the user is mapping property boundaries, designing and laying out subdivisions, or taking precision measurements of angles and elevation. M140TG is the ideal product for collecting land survey data. Increase users' efficiency and productivity while improving the land around them by relying on it for all their land surveying needs.

Extending a strategic relationship that spans a decade, Intel and Lockheed Martin have entered a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) that harnesses innovative 5G software and hardware solutions to enable faster and more decisive actions for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Intel's proven 5G solutions are integrated into Lockheed Martin's 5G.MIL Hybrid Base Station, which acts as a multi-network gateway for ubiquitous communications between military personnel and current and emerging platforms including satellites, aircraft, ships and ground vehicles. Lockheed Martin also leverages Intel's advanced processor technologies and innovations on network as well as edge to bring cloud capabilities to the areas of tactical need.

Leading memory provider TEAMGROUP today announced that all of its industrial storage products have passed military standards testing for shock and vibration resistance. The company's unique graphene-coated copper heatsink was also awarded a U.S. utility patent and is the world's first heat sink to be used for industrial SSDs. In response to the growing Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) and edge computing trends, TEAMGROUP continues to improve the durability, reliability, and safety of its industrial products, striving to create innovative solutions in the field of industrial control.

TEAMGROUP's industrial product series, including industrial memory modules, SSDs and memory cards, have all been tested and certified to meet military shock (MIL-STD-202G and MIL-STD-883K) and vibration (MIL-STD-810G) standards. Whether focused on edge computing or 5G related applications, these products are guaranteed to handle high-speed data processing and computing for long periods of continuous operation. TEAMGROUP has once again proven the stability and durability of its industrial products, which meet the demanding needs for data security and industrial control in extreme conditions.

Foremay, Inc., a leader of technology innovation in rugged solid state drives and one of the world's Top SSD companies, announced today its EC188 series rugged VPX SSD drives. These military and aerospace grade VPX SSDs offer the world's largest capacity with each single card up to 16 TB. Furthermore, Foremay's rugged VPX SSD drives bring unprecedented performance with read/write speeds up to 6.5/6.2 GB/s, and random read/write IOPS at 4KB up to 550K/600K. These cutting-edge features help defense and aerospace system builders design their next generation systems for air, space, ground (including sand, mud & wetland), and underwater applications.

The COVID-19 pandemic did not stop our sustained pace in seeking continuing excellence in technology innovation in rugged solid state drives," said Dr. Jack Winters, Foremay's CTO and co-founder. "Our rugged VPX SSDs were created during a harsh economic environment, and they will serve well in harsh deployment environments."

Access to affordable electronics isn't looking much of a reality for US citizens, as the US government (presently in the outgoing days of Trump's administration) has now announced the addition of Chinese tech company Xiaomi to its military-connections blacklist. The move, enforced via a presidential executive order, now also demands U.S. investors to divest, or sell out, of affected holdings of any companies on the blacklist, by Nov. 11 this year. This addition to the US blacklist is done in accordance with the US National Defense Authorization Act of 1999, and doesn't place XIAOMI in the Entity list, of which Huawei is a part of, which would impede the Chinese tech giant from acquiring US technology and components for fabrication of its products.

The US Department of Defense (DOD) said in a statement that "The Department is determined to highlight and counter the People's Republic of China's (PRC) Military-Civil Fusion development strategy, which supports the modernization goals of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) by ensuring its access to advanced technologies and expertise acquired and developed by even those PRC companies, universities, and research programs that appear to be civilian entities". Xiaomi has been classified as one of nine "Communist Chinese military companies".

Arm today announced a three-year partnership agreement with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), establishing an access framework to all commercially available Arm technology. With DARPA's Electronics Resurgence Initiative gaining momentum, the new agreement will enable the research community that supports DARPA's programs to quickly and easily take advantage of Arm's leading IP, tools and support, accelerating innovation in a variety of fields.

"The span of DARPA research activity opens up a huge range of opportunities for future technological innovation," said Rene Haas, president, IP Products Group, Arm. "Our expanded DARPA partnership will provide them with access to the broadest range of Arm technology to develop compute solutions supported by the world's largest ecosystem of tools, services and software."

Organizations around the world trust their sensitive data to Kanguru Defender Hardware Encrypted Flash Drives for their flexibility, mobility, and security. Kanguru expands on the Defender family with new 256 GB high-capacity drives to help security-conscious organizations get the most out of their investment.

With new 256 GB capacities on Kanguru Defender hardware encrypted USB flash drives, users can freely load enormous amounts of information on a single drive, without the worry of sensitive data getting into the wrong hands. Defender encrypted flash drives maintain the highest military-grade standards for secure data storage, with AES-XTS 256-Bit hardware encryption, FIPS 140-2 Certification, remote management capability, digitally-signed secure firmware and tamper-proof protection.

Activision Blizzard today announced the newest iteration in its award-winning in-game program to support the Call of Duty Endowment's efforts to help unemployed veterans find high-quality careers in the United States and United Kingdom. The Call of Duty: WWII - Call of Duty Endowment (C.O.D.E.) Bravery Pack (PS4/XboxOne/PC), developed by Sledgehammer Games, includes a special Call of Duty Endowment in-game helmet, calling card, and emblem.

The pack will be available for a suggested retail price of $4.99 in the in-game store and the Sony and Microsoft online stores. For the first time, a personalization pack benefitting the Call of Duty Endowment will also be available at all GameStop stores across the U.S. as well as online through BestBuy.com and Amazon.com. One hundred percent of the proceeds received by Activision through the Bravery Pack will directly fund the Endowment's mission to help veterans secure quality careers when they leave military service. More than 4,800 veterans have been placed in high quality jobs through Call of Duty personalization packs to-date, which is a brigade-sized group of vets.

Bohemia Interactive today released the brand new Arma 3 Tac-Ops DLC Mission Pack. Delivering a true boots on the ground experience on a large-scale battlefield, players will be taking part in three distinct single player military operations. In Arma 3 Tac-Ops Mission Pack, players are tasked to lead an infantry, mechanized infantry, and/or special forces unit across an unrestricted warzone, often with multiple objectives to accomplish. The keys to success are thoughtful mission preparation, careful movement and positioning, skillful shooting, as well as patience.

Altogether, the missions should take at least 8+ hours to complete, which soon becomes more depending on playstyle and difficulty settings. Additionally, players can replay selected missions from the perspective of another unit. This, in turn, rewards them with a greater understanding of the military operation as a whole. Furthermore, people can watch special After Action Report (AAR) videos, which are presented by one of Bohemia Interactive's military consultants, and offer mission-specific insights on military tactics and combat.

At Computex 2017, Colorful showcased another two graphics cards based on NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics. First up, we have the iGame GTX 1080 Ti Kudan, a black and gold, triple-fan, triple-slot graphics card, and it would appear it also includes fittings for a watercooling solution. The golden gears and clockwork-reminiscent design may seem a little gaudy, but I actually like it, in a steampunk kind of way. The card features a status monitor (probably to show temperature and clock states), features a 16+2 phases power design, and colorful is boasting of tantalum capacitors. Its stock clock is at 1480 MHz base, while the memory speed seems to remain at stock. The card features a one-key overclock function, though how big an overclock this enables currently stands as "TBD". Connectors-wise, the card comes with 2x DisplayPort, 2x HDMI, and 1x DVI-D.