Blizzard’s game Heroes of the Storm has been functioning in an alpha state for a bit now, slowly but surely adding to and improving a game based on feedback. Now it seems that enough has been tweaked to stand as a base for the game, because it’s upgraded itself to Closed Beta.

The update has come with some new features too, including a new hero and a fresh new ground on which to do battle. Sky Temple is the name of that new arena and its themed in a desert style with temples that can be taken control of to fire beams of energy at enemy structures. The new hero will be Thrall, a Horde Warchief with powerful melee abilities such as Chain Lightning, Windfury and Earthquake.

A new mode has also been added, the Hero League which is a ranked play mode for high-level players. To join you need to be Level 30 or over and have a collection of 10 heroes and can join as either a solo player or with a group of your friends in a team. Wins and losses obviously contribute to your ranking to stay within this play bracket.

Lastly a Draft Mode has been added to help players build a team to compete and counter your opponent’s hero choices.

To be a part of the closed beta you need to have either signed up at the Heroes of the Storm website or have ticked the ‘opt in’ option for Beta Profile Settings on your Battle.net account management. It’s obviously not a sure thing that you’ll gain access but you need to be on the list to get chosen. If you do get selected you’ll be able to play whenever you like as well.

The details for Battlefield Hardline’s next upcoming Beta have been revealed today by Visceral and EA, and it’s going to be open to all, regardless of platforms or if you were a part of the previous Beta.

The open beta will show off two maps and mods with 64-player Conquest being a part of it as well as new mode Hotwire – basically an excuse to have a lot of high-speed pursuits in cars and shoot at each other. As if players needed excuses to do that. However despite the map and mode limits, there will be no cap to the experience so feel free to get stuck in and unlock classes, weapons, gizmos; as much as has been included for the beta. The developers want the players to come in and stay awhile.

That first beta took place not long after the game was announced, but the feedback suggested that frankly it had a very long way to go to be anything special; most seeing it as a reskin of the same game just with cops and robbers instead of the standard Battlefield soldier. That feedback led Visceral and EA to postpone the game’s release to try and make Hardline the game the community wanted it to be.

While there’s been no date set for the beta, we do know that Battlefield Hardline’s new release date is March 17th. I just hope that the extra time means that it will turn out to be a halfway decent game this time.

The Chinese pantheon finally has a hunter as Hou Yi, Defender of Earth joins the rest of the gods in Smite!

Curious about his kit? We’ve got you covered with a handy video below!

The assault on the Iron Horde begins on February 3rd. The Blackrock Foundry and the third Warlords of Draenor world boss, Rukhmar, drops in the next few weeks. And if you’re sitting on the edge of your seat like the rest of the World of Warcraft Raiders, then you will want to ask for the following days off.

Those who plan to jump into the action in the Raid Finder will need a minimum item level of 635.

February 3, 2015:
–Blackrock Foundry opens with Normal and Heroic difficulties available.
–World boss Rukhmar becomes available in Spires of Arak.

February 10, 2015:
–Mythic difficulty becomes available.

February 17, 2015:
–Raid Finder Wing 1: Slagworks (Gruul, Oregorger, and The Blast Furnace) unlocks.

February 24, 2015:
–Raid Finder Wing 2: The Black Forge (Hans’gar and Franzok, Flamebender Ka’graz, and Kromog ) unlocks.

March 10, 2015:
–Raid Finder Wing 3: Iron Assembly (Beastlord Darmac, Operator Thogar, and The Iron Maidens) unlocks.

March 24, 2015:
–Raid Finder Wing 4: Blackhand’s Crucible (Blackhand) unlocks.

Last week there was a rumour going around about the PC version of GTA V. People were saying that the game’s release was going to be delayed because the date of release on Steam had changed. Of course, Rockstar got on record as soon as they could to say that the rumours were untrue. Of course GTA V PC wasn’t going to be delayed…

… Yep. It is.

Today Rockstar confirmed that GTA V will not arrive now on PC until March, changing from the previous release date of January 27th. They say that the game is being delayed for a few more fixes and “polish” before release. They did release the hardware specs which look reasonable (although the install file will be large) and have gone into a little more detail about what we can expect. The online multiplayer will support 30 players and will launch with support for the new GTA Online Heists that are due to be released soon too. The game will also include the Rockstar Editor, a selection of editing tools to help create gameplay clips.

As always I can’t be angry at a release delay. It will give more time for a game to be the best it can be. Just a shame that it had to be a game I really would like to play soon.