Real-time tactical World War 2 ’em up Blitzkrieg 3 [official site] launched today. It’s been a long time coming, as Blitzkrieg 2 came out twelve years ago and 3 has been in early access for two. Blitzkrieg 3 plays through World War 2 from the invasion of Poland to the capture of Berlin across sixty-ish missions, putting players in charge of squads of men, aircraft, tanks, and all that. The war stuff. … [visit site to read more]

Ah, the hallowed neural net! For decades, video game developers have tried to create a digital brain, trap it in a box, and teach it to wage war on humans. The first game I remember claiming to have a neural net was Derek Smart’s Battlecruiser 3000AD and now, twenty years later, Blitzkrieg 3 [official site] says it’s got one. Developers Nival claim that their artificial intelligence, named General Boris, “is capable of playing at the top player’s level while not using any hidden information about the enemy.” He has a name but no heart. What monsters Nival are. … [visit site to read more]

Blitzkrieg 3 [official site] has got a big ol’ update with a new PvP mode. It’s something called Active Defense, which from my understanding of WWII front line defense – most of which has been gleaned from Nick Frost in Spaced – means the developers at Nival are angling for slightly more realistic combat.

Essentially this means it’s in real-time. Up until this point, Blitzkrieg 3’s multiplayer mode was “asynchronous,” meaning the defending team in its front line were offline players whose forces were controlled by AI. Which is slightly strange. It’s only now that they’ve introduced real-time PvP between attacking and defending players.

… [visit site to read more]

Blitzkrieg 3 [official site] is eventually going to have a substantial singleplayer campaign, but its more inventive and intriguing mode is its asynchronous multiplayer. That’s what is available now via Steam Early Access. You spend resources to build bases which, even when you’re offline, other players can then choose to attack. Come see the trailer below.

… [visit site to read more]