Plue, there are submarines on the horizon. Update 0.8.8 for World of Warships brings two new battleships into the, err, battle - with the Tier X British Thunderer and American Ohio. Alongside plenty of anniversary rewards, including super containers for your first victory aboard a Tier X ship, and an overhaul to the sound system.

Which was already impressive so we're keen to see, or hear, what that's all about. First wins on lower a Tier ship, for those still new to the game like us, will net you an exclusive Anniversary camouflage. Plus new combat missions to tackle.

Here's a breakdown of the festivities.



And some more info on the two new battleships - the British Thunderer and the American Ohio battleships.

The Thunderer is an alternative take on its close cousin, the Conqueror, and sports 457 mm guns with very high shell damage, have a good accuracy and a fast reload time. The new British battleship comes with a less effective Repair party consumable than that of the Conqueror, but will be able to use it once more than its sister-ship.

The American Ohio battleship features eight 457 mm guns and powerful secondary armament. This, combined with a shorter reload on the Repair Party consumable, as well as its decent armour make the Ohio a well-suited ship for close to medium range.

A special anniversary stream is also coming this weekend, Saturday September 21 at 0200 AEDT, via the World of Warships YouTube channel - with giveaways and a sneak peek at what's in store.

With the big three to be included when they debut. These being U.S., Germany, and the USSR - with other nations, including underwater submarines from Japanese forces, to follow. After a successful submarine test run with the Halloween event last year, Wargaming have been hard at form adding them to World of Warships proper. As a brand-new fourth class being added to the game, expect a pretty major shake-up.

As per our preview, submarines add a third dimension to the battlefield. Namely the ability to dive underwater. Where, things get pretty tense.

The submarine in World of Warships has three depth levels, the first sitting above the surface, the second at periscope level, and the third fully submerged and ready to fire. The deeper it goes the slower the submarine moves, with an oxygen meter introduced to limit pure invisibility; forcing players to use the vessel strategically and come up for air from time to time. Of course, going underwater doesn’t make a submarine completely invulnerable from attack, as faster ships like Destroyers will be able to track them by following and staying within detection circles to mimic the process of triangulation.

Once overhead depth charges will automatically drop into the water, with a few precise hits taking out the deep-sea threat.

It all sounds very cool - and here's a look at some World of Warships subs in motion.



Submarines will be limited to three Tiers when they debut, with the first batch announced as follows:

The United States: the Cachalot (Tier VI), Salmon (Tier VIII) and Balao (Tier X).
Germany: the U-69 (Tier VI), U-190 (Tier VIII) and U-2501 (Tier X).
USSR: the S-1 (Tier VI), L-20 (Tier VIII) and K1 (Tier X).

Wargaming will be rolling out the new class in a measured manner, starting with limited Super Test phase before opening full U-Boat control to the public. If all goes well, a public PvP event will occur later in the year with a full deployment to take place sometime in the first-half of 2020.

Perhaps the coolest aspects of the new class which we learned from our hands-on preview was that once the submarine fully submerged you're basically blind, with only sonar to guide you. Add in the creaks and sub-sounds of underwater metal acting all weird, plus ominous music that ramps up the claustrophobia - and you could even say the new class brings a touch of survival horror to the experience.

Click Here to Read Our Full Preview 'Submarines Bring Underwater Terror to World of Warships'

Here at AusGamers we've always used April Fool's Day as a chance to shelter those in need of respite from the rest of the dribble the Internet serves up on the day. And what with us being so globally connected now, but geographically so far apart, that days lasts way longer than it ought to. But Wargaming just gave us a heads up on a truly excellent April Fool's initiative.


And that initiative is them taking World of Warships off our own planet and out into space and on to other planets in a unique sci-fi update:

Starting April 1, aspiring space commanders will don their space suits and set a course for adventure at warp speed. Wargaming is inviting players to engage in intergalactic battles during a time limited event — The Space Warships Intergalactic Games. Set on planets in galaxies far away, ship commanders will experience exciting battles in environments that are truly out of this world!

As Intergalactic Games event will gradually unfold in the following weeks, it will l offer 12 unique ships decked out in their sci-fi best: the mighty All-destroyer, the sleek and regal Zaya, a brand-new ship to this year’s games - the Century Hawk, and more. Space battles will be held on futuristic alien maps that will fulfill any sci-fi fantasy. Diehard players will see a return to the world of Appulse, with three new maps added to the mix — the Ironium crystal Risus map, the hauntingly desolate Ludus map, and the ethereal Navis map — a planet formed by rings of hardened lava. And finally, players can take part in daily in-game events to snag some space camouflage.

Four space-themed battle modes will put your skills to the test:

• Rings of Saturn, a re-work of Epicenter mode where capturing areas will no longer be blocked if the enemy pursues an inner area capture, and more points will be rewarded for holding the inner ring
  
  
• Binary Star tests your quick thinking and strategy as you seize shrinking control points while simultaneously defending your territory
  
  
• Space Assault pits attacking and defending teams against one another — each with their own advantages; and while attacking team with be able to respawn their ships, defending ships will be more resistant due to gradually recovering HP ability
  
  
• Torpedo Beat puts destroyers at center stage: torpedoes become your primary weapon in this explosive 5 vs 5 player team battle; with enhanced maneuverability and accelerated torpedo tubes reloading it’s an ultimate survival test for destroyers’ specialists

Full release of Royal Navy aircraft carriers

Coming back to planet Earth, World of Warships’ update 0.8.2. will also feature a full release of Royal Navy aircraft carrier tech tree. Three ships that were previously available in early access (tier IV Hermes, tier VI Furious, tier VIII Implacable) have now been added to the British line, together with brand new tier X Audacious.

After United States and Japan, U.K. is the third nation with its own aircraft carrier tech tree in World of Warships.

Lastly, update 0.8.2 brings with it a host of new improvements. The Arsenal gets its new name — the Armory — and with it a choice of 50 premium ships now available for doubloons, together with the whole range of space camouflages and other in-game items.

At least some people know how to take April Fool's Day seriously... wait, what?

And this change is based entirely on community feedback, where the RTS style control of the integral unit simply wasn't working in unison with the rest of the game's more direct unit control style.

Here's what Wargaming had to say about the change:

Taking into account several rounds of beta testing, and significant player feedback, Wargaming has reworked Aircraft Carriers so that they now offer players direct control of their aircraft squadrons, sending them to attack targets, while Carrier commanders now feature additional skills specific to aircraft tactics. Also, when closing in on an enemy target, players can now take direct control of an attack group, giving the player a much more interactive air-attack experience. To celebrate the changes to the Carrier class, a new event, “Fly! Strike! Win!” will run from now until late April 2019, offering Carrier fans an opportunity to try out the new features and earn in-game prizes.

Moreover, the Cyprus-based and Belarus-founded publishing and development giant has rung in the Lunar New Year within the same update (0.8.0) adding in a makeover to Dragon Port to celebrate the occasion, and have added new camouflage patterns for the Anshan, Loyang, Huanghe, and Iria. But wait, there's more:

Ranked Battles return in Update 0.8.0, allowing commanders to test their skills against one another to see who really is the best. This season sees a fresh new set of rules, designed to create more diverse gameplay for players.

For Clan players, a new “Naval Battle” series of Clan-focused missions arrives in this update. Every week, the Naval Battle continues from Friday through Sunday, giving players a chance to earn oil and glory for their Clan.

It might not be everyone's jam, but it's still great to see not only more post-release content trickling in, in a significant manner, but to also have major changes as promoted by the community taking place. Keep it up, Wargaming.

Check out a video highlighting much of the above, embedded below.

With developer Wargaming St Petersburg bringing a trailer for the upcoming PS4 and Xbox One release of World of Warships: Legends to Gamescom. With the added moniker of Legends, this version of the popular PC title has been re-designed with console players in mind to bring all that historically accurate warship action to the comfort of couches the world over.



“The game has been built with console gamers in mind and to fit their needs. Battles are shorter and more action-packed with smaller teams,” states Victor Kislyi, Founder and CEO of Wargaming. “The UI has been specifically created to give the most player-friendly experience and the frontline of our engineering team has been hard at work completely overhauling the game engine making everything bigger, brighter and more shiny on consoles.”

World of Warships: Legends offers fast-paced 9v9 naval battles, with the same attention to detail and historical accuracy as World of Tanks. The graphics engine that powers the game is also getting special attention and Legends will offer up specific enhancements for PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X owners. World of Warships: Legends has planned 2019 release window.

For more on World of Warships check out our fascinating in-depth feature with the developers where we talked about the process behind bringing real warships into the game - The Story Behind Bringing Real Naval History into World of Warships.

We go behind the scenes of Wargaming's World of Warships to discuss the process behind bringing historical vessels into the game. Chatting with Executive Producer Artur Plociennik we learn about the various research teams, archival expeditions, a more.

It’s rare that the planning and design phase for game development extends beyond visiting locations for reference photography, and in the case of World of Warships the term ‘archival expedition’ has become a key part of the development process. Where over the years it has been honed to an intense degree, where experience and being fluent in several languages has resulted in World of Warships extending its included suite of naval vessels to include ships from a wide range of countries.

Including Australia. When discussing the addition of the HMAS Vampire, the Royal Australian Navy’s most iconic vessel, Artur mentions that the team liaised directly with the National Archives of Australia, the National Maritime Museum in London, and the Imperial War Museum to collect the necessary photos and plans. “This is quite a standard approach for us when we are working on Commonwealth ships,” Artur adds. “To check both UK archives and national ones as well.”

Click Here to Go Behind the Scenes of World of Warships

World of Warships finally comes out of the testing bath, and sails into the open sea waters of the general public next month, and ahead of that Wargaming has announced a partnerships with ASUS for exclusive in-game content.

This collaboration brings exclusive World of Warships camouflaged vessels, free in-game Premium currency (Doubloons), and Premium Account time for those who purchase qualifying ASUS gaming gear.

This uniquely designed camouflage for Marblehead and Diana cruisers, and the Tachibana destroyer, can’t be found anywhere else, and will only be available when purchasing from a variety of select ASUS gaming desktops and gaming laptops. Players can also qualify for 1,000 Doubloons, 30-days of Premium Account status, and even more bundles ready to enhance their World of Warships experience.

These deals are also available across many quality ASUS gaming products like motherboards, graphics cards, headsets, mice, keyboard, and other items. To claim rewards on qualifying ASUS and ASUS ROG gaming gear, players must use a redemption code. The redemption period commences today and continues until January 20, 2017. It is available worldwide (except China).

“Wargaming and ASUS share the passion for delivering state-of-the-art gaming experiences,” said Konstantin Kamenev, Business Development Director at Wargaming via press release. “By working with ASUS to set up exclusive offers, we will provide naval combat enthusiasts with the combination of Triple-A gaming and Triple-A hardware, ensuring they can take World of Warships to the next level.”

Have you been playing World of Warships ahead of its official release? If not, can you see yourself jumping in? Do you think it'll have the lasting power of World of Tanks?

World of Warships feels like its been in the 100-years closed beta war, but today the rest of the world can join in as the super-developer has opened its beta doors to everyone.

"World of Warships’ Closed Beta was strong out of the gate and showed no signs of slowing as players and streamers embraced the game, then took to the high seas for legendary naval combat,” said Jake Neri, Publishing Producer Wargaming NA via press release. “Participation was solid and a community of passionate, dedicated players was born to help shape the game with their feedback. We can only match that by working on the game with just as much passion. Building on all of this enthusiasm we look forward to welcoming even more players into the Open Beta test for a game we are so proud of.”

The Open Beta launches with over 80 warships from America and Japan and 10 original maps to participate in thrilling 12v12 matches. Players will shape the fight by harnessing the power of mighty battleships, swift destroyers, tactical aircraft carriers or versatile cruisers. Whether it is the fierce competition of PvP combat or the action-packed experience of PvE mode, commanders will take the helm, join forces with other players and sink the competition across the high seas.

Open Beta also brings new additions to the World of Warships experience. With the inclusion of Soviet and UK nations, the finest vessels that Britain and the USSR built will be joining the fleet. For the first time ever, World of Warships introduces a robust signal flag customization system. Earned in battle as achievements and applied to vessels to enhance performance, the signal flags in-game are not only cosmetic but also functional. Signal flags will display a player’s prowess on the water while providing buffs and advantages, such as giving extra credits for a battle, increasing the number of experience points gained in combat, improving the speed of the vessel, and more!

As the Open Beta commences, all purchased pre-order packages are credited to players. Closed Beta testers who used their bundles during the previous testing phase are credited them once again.

To get aboard your vessel, head over here.

Following the weekend's shortform access, we have a hands-on preview of Wargaming's third entry in the 'World of' series, World of Warships.

Nachosjustice takes us to the high-seas in the third cog in Wargaming's unstoppable war machine and walks away maintaining that the strength across all three 'World of' brands is how different they all play against one another.

From his preview:

Much like its older brothers, World of Warships separates its fighting vehicles into categories. In this instance, players choose between Cruisers, Destroyers, Battleships and Aircraft Carriers, with the latter instance also acting as a VIP ship that should be destroyed if it’s flying opposing colours, or protected if it’s waving your team’s flag. The different classes also represent a pecking order and rock-paper-scissors-style gameplay mechanic where the lighter and faster classes are purpose built to take down their lumbering opponents in bigger boats.

Click here for our full World of Warships hands-on preview.

hanks to the fine crew at Wargaming, we have a literal boatload of keys available for this weekend's two-day sneak peak event, dubbed “World of Warships: Rock-Paper-Scissors."

“This weekend with World of Warships, we are starting with a new model of testing and are looking forward to seeing the results of this new approach,” stated Daniil Volkov, World of Warships Development Director. “The game is still in the early stages of development. Opening it to a larger audience will allow us to get a lot of relevant feedback that will be instrumental in defining player expectations and outlining what we are to focus on in the coming months.”

The two-day event will feature three classes of military vessels, offering players the chance to experience the unique “Rock-Paper-Scissors” approach to naval combat. Players will have the opportunity to command American cruisers and destroyers as well as Japanese battleships, cruisers, and destroyers.

To claim your key, head over to the promotion page and follow the instructions.