UHQBot

October 12, 2022

The original No More Heroes is the Grasshopper Manufacture game that lands for me. This studio is mostly represented by its creative lead Goichi Suda, aka Suda-51, and is behind a long list of offbeat and unusual titles. Everyone who's into the studio's games has a favourite, whether it's Killer7 or Shadows of the Damned, but the highest compliment I can pay Grasshopper is that, good or bad, it's never boring.

No More Heroes is arguably its most successful title (it's certainly the one with the most subsequent entries) and last year saw the release of No More Heroes 3 on Switch. Then yesterday it finally popped up on Steam, but there may be a couple of reasons not to get too excited.

I haven't had the chance to play it yet, but the first eyebrow raiser is the price: this costs $44.99 / £44.99, which is a hefty chunk of change for a game that I fully expect to be a jankfest. It does feature a 10% launch discount but, y'know: whatever.

A bigger complaint in the early Steam reviews however is that this is an upgraded port of the Switch version, not the shinier PS5 / Xbox rerelease. This may not necessarily be a bad thing, as I thought it looked great anyway on Switch and the main thing this comes with is an uncapped framerate, but it is weird that there's a more technically advanced version of this game and it's not the one ported to PC.

No More Heroes 3 divided the critics on release and was always going to do so: you either meet these games halfway and revel in the trashier elements and slapped-together feel, or you have a bad time and wonder why anyone likes them. This release has caught me on the hop but, despite that price tag, I'll be going back to Santa Destroy: it's kill or be killed with the world's premiere otaku assassin! It may be great, it may be middling, but I know it'll be memorable.

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October 12, 2022

Wildfrost, a strategy card game from indie publisher Chucklefish, somehow escalates from beginner-friendly to unforgiving within minutes. I never had a Hearthstone or Magic the Gathering phase, but it’s hard for me to believe that even a seasoned pro could plow through these piles of abominable snowmen and witches with ease.

The world of Chucklefish's roguelike deckbuilder (yes, another one) has been overcome by “wildfrost,” a climatic malady that’s covered the world in ice. It's up to the player to battle hordes of foes until they reach the Sun Temple, where they will supposedly be able to put an end to this eternal winter. In between runs, you can strengthen your leaders, recruit companions, and build the city of Snowdwell.

All roguelikes have a degree of randomness to them. Here, you start each run by picking between three fur-robed leaders (because this is basically the Ice Age) with different abilities and plunging into your first battle. From there, a fork in the road could mean picking between a buff pink berry companion and a healing item that could save you from the brink of death. The tutorial lulled me into thinking Wildfrost would be easy, but an hour or so in, I realized that just one wasted turn could kill my entire team. Even playing my cards right wouldn't necessarily be enough in the face of an overpowered enemy. The only forgiving part was the tutorial.

At the start of each round, you place your leader on the battlefield and draw a hand of six cards. Your leader works like a king on a chessboard: If the enemy kills your king, the battle ends and the run is over. You can have as many companions as you want, but the moment they’re knocked out, they’re knocked out for good. They don’t respawn in your deck. In a game where the enemy can quickly and unexpectedly gather an army of combatants, you better heal your own when you have the chance. Actions like rearranging units on the field or redrawing cards (with a fully charged “redraw action”) don’t cost time, so it's important to gauge when to use these resources to your advantage.

There are two ways to attack: directly with cards, and when you and your companions' card “counters” run out. At the bottom of each card is a star-shaped counter with a number that dictates how many more turns the character has to wait until they attack or activate their abilities. Characters may attack sooner with time-shortening cards or under specific circumstances written in their abilities, which can really turn the tide in your favor. Knocking out enemies before they have the chance to retaliate means defending against fewer attacks.

(Image credit: Chucklefish)

How much those options matter depends partially on luck, though. You have limited options to pick from companions, special abilities (a.k.a. charms), and new cards. One time I managed to scrape through the second battle of my run with a half-injured team. I was proud that I withdrew injured characters before they were knocked out so that I could heal them and take them with me into the next battle.

The third battle threw that effort straight into the garbage. A boss with a “barrage” ability that let it attack all characters in one row was able to one-hit KO my team before I could draw a single healing card.

That wasn’t my first disappointment. Other times I lost the first battle of my run within a few turns. I did not get good at Wildfrost, but I did get good at losing.

The stacked enemy teams felt unfair, especially because I was just starting out and didn’t have many cards to use in my defense. I felt like Yugi during an episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! when Kaiba suddenly summoned a horde of monsters in one turn. It’s also frustrating to technically have the cards I need without being able to play them when I need them—Wildfrost was my first taste of the randomness in deckbuilding, and in the demo I didn't have many tools to mitigate it. If you hate that RNG, I can’t imagine you’d bother trying to enjoy these runs without at least a little bit of motivation in a progression system.

As difficult as it is, Wildfrost makes losses feel like there’s a positive side to them because I can go back into town and fiddle with new features and check how much further I have to go to unlock new ones. Every action, like using the reshuffle bell or acquiring a new companion, helps to unlock new features in your town that can be used automatically in battle.

Wildfrost works like Hades, where returning to the Underworld meant upgrading weapons and abilities so that you could go further and further from home. Wildfrost didn’t make me feel like I progressed much, but it’s possible that the final game will pile on more robust starting abilities pretty quickly. What felt overwhelmingly difficult for me will hopefully become more manageable with time. I only spent an hour with the demo, which was enough time for me to make mistakes, learn from them, and still end up frustrated when the RNG wrecked my new plans. It's nagging at me whether I could’ve won what seemed like an impossible run, but not to the point that I’m sure I would come running back after launch.

(Image credit: Chucklefish)

Wildfrost has a “baby’s first deckbuilder” vibe to it, but it’s not. The card combat is easy to pick up and understand, with frequent reminders to use features that you may be ignoring. Then the abominable snowmen show up.

You can still play the Steam Next Fest demo of Wildfrost, but the final game isn't far off: it's out this winter.

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October 12, 2022

The first headset I ever purchased was a Turtle Beach one for my Xbox 360, after the included one just wasn't cutting it. I was so excited to have my first headset, and gingerly took it out of the box to admire on the train home... when it immediately broke into pieces. I haven't exactly had the highest opinion of the brand since, but even I have to admit the Turtles are well into their migration.

The distance between my first headset and the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2 Max Wireless (gosh what a mouthful though) is as vast as the ocean.

This headset is immediately noticeable for its aesthetic, especially the navy and gold coloured edition I'm rocking. It has large, closed ear cups that are devoid of any RGB lighting or other gamer pizazz, instead favouring a simpler and cleaner design. The headband connects to the cups at the front, which makes the headset feel like you're putting it on backwards but that has it sit a bit more forward on the head.

Combined with the drop-down boom mic the strong fighter pilot vibes the Stealth Gen 2 offers up turns the wearer into a real cool looking maverick.

Stealth 700 Gen 2 Max specs

(Image credit: Turtle Beach)

Connection: Wireless 2.4GHz, Bluetooth
Type: Closed back
Frequency response: 20Hz - 22kHz
Battery: 40+ hours
Connector: USB Type-C
Microphone: Flip-up Omni-Directional
Drivers: 50mm neodymium
Weight: 380g
Price: $199.99 USD | $319 AUD

The exterior, while looking very slick, is all plastic which isn't that uncommon, but due to the large flat panels it can feel a little cheap. The plastic microphone, while clear and fine for chat, makes a slight grinding noise when you pull it down, and the buttons and volume dials on the back don't feel as smooth as they should.

All of this isn't really on my radar in general use, and doesn't really affect my experience, but I'm reminded whenever I go to use these features that they could feel better. That's not what you'd hope for in a headset that costs $200 ($319 AUD).

I was worried the pads on the cups themselves might be similar and feel a little cheap, but thankfully they couldn't be further away in terms of construction. The pads are huge and plush. They have a synthetic leather finish on the sides and a softer piece for the face, which doesn't seem to absorb sweat. There's also a cooling layer that stops the finish from getting too warm on your face. Often headsets with these pads can feel too hot to wear after even short gaming sessions, but I haven't felt that way with these cans.

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(Image credit: Turtle Beach)

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(Image credit: Turtle Beach)

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(Image credit: Future)

As a bonus for my bespectacled comrades, there's even an adjustable portion of the pad for the arms of glasses. You have to take the pads off first, which is a bit more difficult than the manual leads you to believe, but once you do it's simple to adjust this setting. It also gives you a good look at the cups and speakers underneath, which is a boost of confidence if nothing else. Still, this glasses mode is a great touch, especially because these headphones are very fond of your head.

If you've ever felt unloved, I recommend getting this headset. The Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2 Max delivers the tightest hug my head has ever received without being uncomfortable. It is a good thing these cans have so much padding because there is little to no stretch in the width of the bands.

I was really expecting be in some discomfort pretty quickly due to the pressure they exert, but somehow, they don't ever get to that point. They give enough room to completely enclose the ears and have a firm grip on your cranium without crushing it from the sides. I found that I tended to tire at the top of my head under the headband first, which could probably do with a little more padding akin to its padded cup brothers.

This could also be partially due to the weight of the headset. It's not crazy heavy, but it is noticeably heavier than other headsets I've used, such as the HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless.

I could put this down to the battery life, because it is truly quite good. I'd say I got about 3 days' worth of on and off use, including long music listening sessions while working and many gaming sessions before needing a charge. However, the HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless does still hold the top spot for battery. That being said, the Stealth 700 Gen 2 probably has the second-best wireless battery of any headset I've used, and there's no shame in silver.

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(Image credit: Future)

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(Image credit: Future)

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(Image credit: Future)

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(Image credit: Future)

As far as sound goes, that's another place where the Stealth 700 Gen 2 does a fine job, though certainly not the best. It handles music, games, and music all fairly well, especially if you've got Dolby compatibility, but doesn't handle its highest volumes—which are far too loud anyway—too well.

It has extra modes to do things like enhance footsteps, but the software is clunky and only usable via a mobile device. And on top of that I found it doesn't really do much. In every mode I felt a good sense of spatial sound, and I could hear enemy footsteps and directions well.

I find the Turtle Beach cans best for atmospheric sounds though. While exploring the new Sumeru area in Genshin Impact, I was enjoying the always excellent soundtrack when suddenly it started to rain all around me in the tropical jungle. I set my controller aside to experience a stolen moment in another world, which absolutely has to be the mark of a good headset.

Another huge boon to the Stealth 700 Gen 2's arsenal is its range of connectivity. It comes with a dongle—which arguably could be smaller—that works with PC and Xbox. Then on top of that you've got Bluetooth pairing for devices such as the Switch or mobile phones. It's a headset that works with everything I own and is very easy to move to and from devices. You can even have multiple connections with Bluetooth and dongle at the same time, so it's a useful little beast indeed.

One thing's for sure, the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2 Max Wireless is the best Turtle Beach headset I've ever tried, and might be the best one the company has ever made. It looks cool, feels mostly very comfy, does a good job at sound, has a great battery, and works with everything. You're not getting full audiophile quality, but it's still pretty good for a gaming headset, especially if you're a fan of anything running Dolby sound. The biggest drawback, however, is all that plastic feels a little cheap considering much it costs. And with this somewhat over-eager head hugger it's also hard to recommend unless you've given it a try first.

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October 12, 2022

Patch Notes

Content Updates

Added a "Manual Mode" to the Camera Mode settings.
- After receiving feedback about wanting to be able to customize settings in Camera Mode, we added a "Manual Mode" to the Camera Mode settings.
- Unlike the previous Camera Mode where you could only adjust the maximum camera distance, the newly added Manual Mode allows you to adjust the viewing angle and zoom in speed. When you select Manual Mode, you can adjust values by using a slide bar.
- The existing modes can be used just like before, but please note the settings for Wide View as adjusted back to the previous settings prior to the May 26 (Thurs), 2022 update. If you want a wider view, please utilize the new Manual Mode.
There is now a Peace Zone at the respawn point for faction respawns at the Great Prairie of the West.
- This Peace Zone is narrower compared to other respawn points, and the Guard will not attack you even if you are from another faction.
The "Auto-Loot Powerstone: 30-Day Marvelous Mab only" used to bind when unwrapped, but will now bind on pickup.

Events

The October Hallowtide Festival has begun.
- "Two Crowns" and "Solis Headlands" become peace zones during the festival period.
The Lulu's Gift Box event has begun.
Double the Gain Event has begun. (until October 27, 2022 before maintenance)
- Double XP, Loot Drop Rate, Conflict/War/Siege/Quest Honor Points, and Vocation Badges.

Bug Fixes

The Sunglow Lunagem: Revitalizing Cheer effect will now also apply to Ancestral skills.
Fixed the issue where Labor would be consumed without obtaining the Community Boost effect when you had the War Time effect at the Community Center.
Fixed the issue where the Blue Salt Request: Preserves quest could not be accepted with the Blueberry Seed Bundle.
Fixed the issue where the Blue Salt Request: Preserves quest could not be accepted with the Millet Seed Bundle.
Fixed the issue where the Birch Treehouse Design sales settings would not work.

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October 12, 2022

Event

Hallowtide Festival

Event Period

Oct. 13, 2022 (Thurs) after maintenance–Nov. 3, 2022 (Thurs) before maintenance

Event Details

Basic Info

The festival is available during the Hallowtide period.
The "Two Crowns" and "Solis Headlands" will become a Hallowtide peace zone area during the festival period.
There will be a Worldgate that takes you quickly to the festival area.
- Marianople, Austera's Faction Base, and Diamond Shores

Two Crowns Quest

Troubled Spirits (can be completed 3 times daily)
- Start Quest: Ceremony Guide Verdi
- Objective: Touch the Demon War Soulstone
- Caution: Ceremony Guide Verdi appears at CEST 13:00, 18:00, 23:00 (PDT 11:00, 16:00, 21:00) and disappears after an hour.
- Quest Reward: Festival Coin x1
Moonswept Homes Jack o' Lantern/Cheer Up the Ezna Spirits (can be completed 3 times daily / Time limit: 1 hour)
- Start Quest: Ceremony Guide Verdi
- Objective
  - Obtain Moonswept Homes Spirit and then throw the Moonswept Spirit Candy into the Moonswept Homes Jack o' Lantern's mouth.
  - Obtain Ezna Spirit and then throw Ezna Spirit Candy into the Ezna Jack o' Lantern's mouth.
  - Compete against someone who obtained another type of spirit and then open either a Treasure Chest or Shabby Treasure Chest.
- Caution: The spirit candies and jack o' lanterns appear at CEST 13:00, 18:00, 23:00 (PDT 11:00, 16:00, 21:00) and disappear after an hour.
- Available after completing Troubled Spirits.
- Quest Rewards
  - Reward: Festival Coin x1
  - Shabby Treasure Chest Defeat Reward: Harvest Festival Box
    - Mysterious Hiram Infusion x1, Festival Coin x1–2
  - Treasure Chest Victory Reward: Harvest Festival Box
    - Mysterious Hiram Infusion x2, Festival Coin x3–5
Light Up the Night (Daily Quest)
- Start Quest: Welkos
- Objective: Light up 3 Decorative Pumpkin Lanterns near the arena.
- Quest Reward: Festival Coin x1, Welkos's Candy x3

Solis Headlands Quest

Pumpkins for the Dead (Daily Quest)
- Start Quest: Hallowtide Guide Bongro
- Objective: Craft Festival Pumpkin Decoration at the Hallowtide Workbench.
- Quest Reward: Festival Coin x1, 30 Handicraft Proficiency
Slow Rider (Daily Quest)
- Start Quest: Snail Trainer Zerk
- Objective: Select Shellraiser Racing Snail, Fastropod Racing Snail, or Bestcargot Racing Snail
  - Can be used for 30 min and could be purchased again through Snail Trainer Zerk.
Candy Hunter (Daily Quest)
- Start Quest: Snail Trainer Zerk
- Objective: Ride Shellraiser Racing Snail, Fastropod Racing Snail, or Bestcargot Racing Snail around the Dropped Pouch near the Sylvina Hot Springs, and then use the Sniff skill to obtain 3 Purple Pumpkin Candies.
  - The quest has a 30-minute time limit. If you fail, you can forfeit the quest and accept it again.
- Quest Reward: Festival Coin x1
Commemorative Pumpkins (Daily Quest)
- Start Quest: Pumpkin Carver Suyeon
- Objective: Deliver the Candy-filled Pumpkin Decoration to Welkos around the Two Crowns Arena.
- Quest Reward: Festival Coin x1

Items Exchangeable With Festival Coins

Check here[archeage.playkakaogames.com].

Disclaimer

All Daily Quests reset at CEST 23:00 (PDT 21:00).
All festival NPCs and Festival quest items disappear after the maintenance on the last day of the festival.
Festival items cannot be restored once they have been destroyed.
If you installed a furniture you received as a reward from the festival, it will disappear if you demolish the building on which you installed the furniture at.
The Festival Gift Exchanger will disappear after the festival ends, but will remain at Mirage Isle.
Only character Lv10 or higher can participate in festival quests.

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October 12, 2022

Event

Lulu's Gift Box

Event Period

Oct. 13, 2022 (Thurs) after maintenance–Oct. 27, 2022 (Thu) before maintenance

Event Details

How to Participate

Purchase 3 Lulu's Hammers for free at the Marketplace (once per account during the event period).
Patron accounts will receive 3 Lulu's Hammers to their character's mailbox every 30 minutes they are logged in.
Break Lulu's Box at the coast of Mirage Isle and get gifts.

Items Inside Lulu's Box

You can get up to 4 items, and all except Wrapped Migration Scale will bind when you obtain them.
100% Guaranteed Items
- Manastorm Tearforger x1 (Binds on Pickup)
- Bound Hereafter Stone
- Secret Boost
Items with a 10% chance to appear per box
- Bound Worn Costume
- Temper Crate x2
- Vitalizing Treat
- Request Completion Ticket
- Radiant Hiram Awakening Scroll x5
- Decrystallization Scroll
- Bound Serendipity Stone Shard x4
- Bound Labor Recharger
- Greater ArchePass XP Boost
- Radiant Infusion Supply Kit x5
Items with a 1% chance to appear per box
- Bound Lucent Serendipity Stone
- 30-Day Trial Chest
- Unidentified Eternal Hiram Infusion x4
- ArchePass XP Boost x6
- Manastorm Crystal x6
- Honorable Potion Crate: Rank 3
- Unidentified Eternal Abyssal Enhancer x4
- Bound Serendipity Stone
- Wrapped Migration Scale (can be traded)
- ArcheBlessing: 3 Days

Event Achievements

Smash Time
- Can be achieved by diligently participating in the event.
- Achievement Reward: Manastorm Crystal x50

Disclaimer

Obtained items can disappear if you do not have enough space inside your Bag when you break the box. Make sure you leave some room in your Bag!
Lulu's Box and Lulu's Hammer can only be used by Lv55 or higher characters.
Lulu's Hammer mail resets daily at CEST 05:00 (PDT 03:00).
Lulu's Hammer mail is sent directly to the character that is logged in. We will not transfer the hammer to another character.
Lulu's Hammer and Lulu's Gift Box will disappear on the maintenance on Oct. 27 (Thurs).
The 30-Day Trial Chest will disappear 30 days after you obtain it.
All event items can't be restored.

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October 12, 2022

A lil somethin somethin: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page here.

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October 12, 2022

A lil somethin somethin: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page here.

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October 12, 2022

A lil somethin somethin: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page here.

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October 12, 2022

Greetings Inheritors!

We will be conducting scheduled maintenance at the following times:

Maintenance Start Time:
UTC: Oct 13 at 08:00 am
CEST: Oct 13 at 10:00 am
EDT: Oct 13 at 04:00 am
PDT: Oct 13 at 01:00 am

Maintenance End Time:
UTC: Oct 13 at 2:30 pm
CEST: Oct 13 at 4:30 pm
EDT: Oct 13 at 10:30 am
PDT: Oct 13 at 07:30 am

* Please note that the game will shut down before maintenance. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.

Thank you for your understanding!

The ArcheAge Team

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October 12, 2022

A lil somethin somethin: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page here.

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October 12, 2022

It's been five years since Polish studio The Astronauts announced Witchfire, a dark fantasy shooter about witches (and worse) in an alt-history medieval world. And it'll be a while yet before the game sees the light of day, as the studio announced today that the release planned for the end of this year has been delayed into early 2023.

The delay has been caused by a major redesign that's changing the game from arena-style combat to open-world fighting. That sounds like a pretty major job for a relatively short delay to me, but Astronauts co-founder and creative director Adrian Chmielarz said the new feature is already "95% implemented."

"It makes the game better," Chmielarz said. "It is kind of hard for me to imagine the player did not have that freedom before. Sure, you can still be trapped by the witch in this or that spot, and some doors will be closed until you find a key, and it might be too dangerous to enter areas closer to the boss before you are ready–but the world is wide open for you to explore in almost any order, and you can both push forward and retreat as you please.”

Chmielarz went into greater detail on the delay in a blog post in which he said the core experience of Witchfire remains the same, "but the way the player experiences the world has changed significantly." In the original design, players would "enter an area, fight some monsters, and then have a choice: take this reward and go left, or take that reward and go right." Under the new system, however, barriers separating different areas of the game have been removed, enabling players (with some limitations—Chmielarz described Witchfire now as a "semi-open world") to travel where they like, when they like.

Naturally, taking out those barriers had all sorts of spillover effect on other parts of the game, including enemy behaviors, spawns, rewards, and how to keep players from breaking the game by doing unpredictable things. But Chmielarz said, presumably with some irony, that the change "made this fantasy game more... realistic."

I've been eager to get my hands on Witchfire pretty much from the moment it was announced. The Astronauts was founded in 2012 by Chmielarz, Michał Kosieradzki, and Andrzej Poznański, also the founders of People Can Fly, the developer of Painkiller and Bulletstorm. Bulletstorm is a blast but Painkiller is amazing, one of my favorite shooters of all time, and while I was happy for all involved that they had such success with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, I'm honestly excited to see the team getting back to its original love of supernatural gunfire.

Chmielarz also addressed questions about Witchfire's release plan, saying it will debut in early access as an Epic Games Store exclusive but go to other storefronts at full release.

"Epic is fine, Epic Game Store is fine, we like our cooperation. But the choice of where to buy Witchfire is yours," he wrote. "If you want to support us and play the Early Access version, it is coming to EGS soon. If you prefer Steam or maybe you don’t even play on PC and want a console version, just please wait a little longer, until the game is done. As simple as this."

Check out some fresh screens below:

(Image credit: The Astronauts)

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October 12, 2022

After the completely unnecessary Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi, I was ready to call it quits on the live action Star Wars TV offerings, and I couldn't have predicted that a character who I'd completely forgotten about could bring me back into the fold. But here we are. Andor is the best thing to happen to Star Wars in ages, and I wish what made it special could be applied to more Star Wars games.

Plenty of games from a galaxy far, far away have stolen my heart, particularly KotOR, Dark Forces and Rogue Squadron. I've even found a lot to like in the newer stuff. I still play Star Wars: The Old Republic, and while it was entirely absent likeable characters, I still mostly enjoyed Fallen Order. But after 30 years of devouring Star Wars media, I'm a bit bored of it.

(Image credit: EA)

Jedi, Sith, stormtroopers—all the iconic stuff—are all so familiar that there's very little in the way of new story potential. Overfamiliarity has killed my interest. Andor sidesteps this issue by, well, ignoring all the stuff you'd expect it to show off. Instead of faceless stormtroopers, it's got flawed corporate security goons and conflicted naval officers. It's the height of the Empire's power, but you'll be able to count how many TIE fighters you see on one hand.

This means that when you do see something familiar, it packs more of a punch. The few times Cassian Andor spots a TIE, they're special moments. I've seen a million of them blow up, and contributed to that number myself, but watching a single unaccompanied fighter flying over some hiding rebels filled me with dread and gave me a much deeper appreciation of how menacing they look and sound.

So Andor isn't desperate to escape the recognisable stuff; it just uses some restraint to make sure they have an impact. And there's still a wee bit of fan service, too, like getting to see a fella munching some cereal in blue milk.

(Image credit: Lucasfilm)

Andor himself is also an unconventional Star Wars protagonist. The first time we meet him in both Rogue One and his own show, he's murdering people—not because he's trying to eradicate evil from the galaxy, and not because he's a badass bounty hunter, but because he's a morally conflicted survivor.

It's a side of Star Wars we rarely get to see, especially in this detail, and games feel like an even better space to explore this.

It's a side of Star Wars we rarely get to see, especially in this detail, and games feel like an even better space to explore this. Andor isn't your average bloke, but compared to characters like Boba Fett and Luke Skywalker, he's just an ordinary guy. Han Solo is the closest comparison I can think of when it comes to the major characters, but he's still very much an archetype—the charming rogue—while Andor is harder to pin down. And I'm desperate to play that kind of character. One with nuance and complexity.

Even when Andor reintroduces us to Mon Mothma, we get to see her in a new light. She's this massively important figure, but since she doesn't get to swing a lightsaber or shoot a hundred stormtroopers with a blaster, the movies push her off to the side, turning her into this unknowable entity who occasionally tells people what to do. In Andor, she's a savvy politician stuck in a poopoo marriage with a kid who hates her, and at all times she has to wear this mask, pretending to be a loyal servant of the empire, all while trying to find opportunities to sneak off and fund the nascent rebellion.

(Image credit: EA)

I understand the desire to use the familiar as a hook for a game, but Andor shows us how that can be done while still offering something new. And games, with their more flexible scope and run-time, have even more room to play around with this. But they so rarely bother. We just get cardboard cutouts. Who is Fallen Order's Cal, aside from a ginger Luke? He's just a nice boy who's a bit sad about all the bad stuff going on and is adept in the Force. I spent over 30 hours with him and that's the most meaningful description I can muster.

Most games lack an identity or vision that goes beyond just being Star Wars, but there's a whole galaxy out there waiting to be mined. That's likely why I love KotOR 2 more than any other Star Wars adaptation. It's still ultimately focused on Jedi and Sith, but Obsidian was interested in digging deeper into what makes these magical monks tick. It's a treatise on the Force itself, exploring the actual philosophy behind the Jedi and Sith. And it's ambiguous, eschewing the juvenile morality of most Star Wars media. Sadly, it's an exception.

(Image credit: Electronic Arts, DICE)

For Andor, the movies and expanded universe are tools to be deployed when they are needed, rather than the entire reason for its existence. It's a spy thriller that just so happens to share a universe with A New Hope, The Mandalorian and all the rest, rather than being a Star Wars show first.

When I see games trading in nostalgia and fan service, it reeks of a lack of confidence in their own stories. If they aren't good enough to stand on their own without legions of gormless stormtroopers and a kaleidoscope of lightsabers, then they probably aren't good enough period.

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October 12, 2022

The Colorful RTX 4090 NB EV-X is the first third-party RTX 4090 graphics card we've had in the test rig, and honestly, I was surprised it's even bigger than the humongous Founders Edition that has already impressed me. The surprise only lasted until the MSI RTX 4090 Suprim X landed with an audible thud in the PC Gamer office, however, because that's even bigger still.

There's a reason third-party versions of the first Ada Lovelace generation GPU are seemingly all shipping with graphics card supports. Try mounting this thing vertically in your chassis without one and you're looking at a potent recipe for bending, or even shearing the PCI Express slot clean off your motherboard.

The Colorful RTX 4090, however, is a $1,600 mostly reference-clocked card as opposed to the actually overclocked MSI, so you can forgive it being a little smaller. You only need to go to a 3.5-slot design if you're really pushing the power, right? It can't quite decide what to call this card, though. The retail box says 'Battle Ax' the product page says RTX 4090 NB EX-V, but then also references a Battle Axe cooling array. That's axe. With an 'e'. Fun, eh?

But there is still a tremendous, tangible sense of value when picking up this chonk boi of a graphics card. The amount of aluminium in that heatsink array, poking out from beneath the triple fan shroud, points to the latent power inside this thing.

And it's a pretty restrained design from Colorful, and actually not that colourful. You can, of course, change the RGB logo on top of it via the iGame software, but that's about it. The last Colorful card we checked out was its RTX 3080 iGame Advanced OC, which was a little over the top, to say the least. Not just in the angular RGB-lit shroud, but also in its push for aggressively overclocking the GPU at its heart which made it rather flaky at launch.

The RTX 4090 Battle Ax, however, is solid, square, and so far as reliable as the Nvidia Founders Edition.

RTX 4090 NB EX-V specs

GPU: Nvidia AD102
Lithography: TSMC 4N
CUDA Cores: 16,384
Boost clock: 2,565MHz
Memory: 24GB GDDR6X
Memory speed: 21Gbps
TDP: 480W
Dimensions: 327 x 151.2 x 67.1mm (over 3 slot)
Price: $1,599.99

When I said it was mostly reference-clocked that's because its boost clock is 2,565MHz as opposed to the 2,520MHz of the Founders Edition card. Now, I know some manufacturers would still call that 'overclocked' so kudos to Colorful for not spouting that line in any of its marketing around the card.

Though I'm not going to let the 'menacing luxury' line pass without comment when it talks about that 'diamond cutting design' in the product description. When it comes to luxury, the last thing I want it to be is menacing. It's up there with advertising your restaurant as offering 'caustic gastronomy'.

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That aside, the AD102 GPU gets the same treatment as that in the RTX 4090 Founders Edition, that is to say a phenomenal number of CUDA Cores, all the 3rd Gen RT Cores and 4th Gen Tensor Cores, extra cache, and 24GB of GDDR6X memory to call its own.

So yeah, still an absolute monster of a graphics card. If you want to get to grips with the new tech I've already gone into depth with the Ada Lovelace architecture in the FE review.

The power side of things is where it looks a little different, however. Colorful, like other manufacturers, is recommending 1000W power supplies for the RTX 4090 (though MSI still says an 850W PSU is the minimum requirement), and it's also referring to the TGP as 480W, not 450W as with Nvidia's own card.

Again, the 480W figure is what MSI is suggesting for its RTX 4090 Suprim in overclocked 'Gaming Mode'.

Synthetic performance

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All those specs would have you expecting the Colorful card to surpass the RTX 4090 Founders Edition in the benchmarking stakes. But you'd be wrong. And maybe that's down to the actual design of Nvidia's own board. Nvidia's engineers crafted the AD102 to deal with a huge amount of power going through its 4N transistors, to the point that it's able to hit an average 2,716MHz in our testing.

And part of that is going to be down to the 20 phase power design of its PCB, delivering a steady flow of clean energy to the GPU. This Colorful board, however, is sporting a 14+3 power phase design, which might explain why we're only seeing an average 2,577MHz in the test rig.

4K gaming performance

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I was still able to overclock the chip to run at a steady 2,865MHz by upping the power limits and manually adjusting the clock speed in the iGame software, but that took a little work. Though it shows the power design is still enough to get a lot of performance out of the Colorful card. I am still a bit sad I couldn't easily hit 3GHz, but I've yet to properly try my hand at seriously overclocking the RTX 4090.

This lower clock speed is indicative of lower performance across the board for the Colorful RTX 4090. But only by a fractional amount, and it is still monumentally faster than the RTX 3090 that came before it.

Power and thermals

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PCG test rig

CPU: Intel Core i9 12900K
Motherboard: Asus ROG Z690 Maximus Hero
Cooler: Corsair H100i RGB
RAM: 32GB G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-5600
Storage: 1TB WD Black SN850, 4TB Sabrent Rocket 4Q
PSU: Seasonic Prime TX 1600W
OS: Windows 11 22H2
Chassis: DimasTech Mini V2
Monitor: Dough Spectrum ES07D03

The power and thermal demands of a third-party card will always be an important part of any decision on which RTX 4090 to buy. But it's all rather level when it comes to those metrics between the Founders Edition and the two AIB cards we've tested so far. The Colorful is the coolest-running, though also the slowest, which means its power draw is also low by comparison.

It's worth noting that the MSI card in the benchmarks above is running at almost the same speed as the Founders version, sometimes offering higher performance, but actually seems a bit cuter in terms of what it demands on the power side.

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All those raw benchmark numbers aside, the Colorful RTX 4090 is still a perfect vehicle for the majesty that is DLSS 3 with Frame Generation. That is one of the stand out features of the Ada GPUs, and could be the thing that saves the RTX 4080s from looking so much weaker by comparison. Frame Generation is some incredible AI-based wizardry, and makes even CPU-limited games, such as MS Flight Sim, absolutely—pardon the pun—fly.

And it looks great doing it. I'd go so far to say that DLSS 3 with Frame Generation, at 4K even on the Performance setting, looks markedly better than running the games we've tested at 4K native.

So, the Colorful RTX 4090 Battle Ax is still essentially an RTX 4090, and that means it's a mighty powerful graphics card. But Nvidia has engineered another incredible Founders Edition version, which stands apart from the partner cards, and means that if you have a choice that is the one to buy. It will always be $1,600 and I'd always take that over any third-party version, overclocked, water-cooled, or whatever.

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October 12, 2022

It’s one of gaming’s great tragedies that we never got a sequel to Build engine classic Blood. At least, not one worth speaking of. Enter Cultic, an ambitious spiritual successor from solo indie developer Jasozz Games, launching today into early access. Despite being only part of a planned whole, what you can play of Cultic right now is a juicy (positively blue-rare, even) budget-priced slice of halloweeny FPS fun.

Cultic evokes fond memories of Blood from the get-go, but it's not just trying to be Blood. You are a gunslinger (a detective this time, rather than a cowboy) risen from the grave to get revenge on the cultist army that offed you and seemingly half the county’s population to fuel their rituals. While our protagonist is (sadly) silent, there are enough expository journals and notes to fill in any blanks. It’s a simple premise delivered largely through environmental storytelling, which is reason enough to shoot a lot of color-coded mooks in robes.

And the shooting is excellent. Like Blood, it’s twitchy and aggressive, with machine gun- and shotgun-wielding cultists able to tear you to shreds on sight. Blitzing unaware groups of human or undead foes with lobbed dynamite (satisfyingly reducing foes to chunky clouds), molotovs and headshots before scrambling for cover is Cultic’s heartbeat. You’re a glass cannon, a problem mitigated by stockpiling healing items you can use to patch yourself up mid-fight.

While this is immediately familiar retro FPS stuff, Cultic does mix things up. Its levels are long, containing claustrophobic carnage closets and larger outdoors battlefields for sniper-range combat, scouting and flanking tactics. The hefty arsenal of 1950s-esque guns feel grimy, noisy and impactful, and secret areas often hold upgrade parts that can be used to add up to four perks to each gun. Fully upgraded, the sawed-off shotgun becomes Team Fortress 2’s Force-A-Nature, recoil double-jumps and all.

What Cultic impressed me with most was its ability to shift tonal gears. Within a single level it’s not unusual to traverse long trails full of small encampments before assaulting a cult stronghold in a frantic cover-to-cover battle accompanied by some very John Carpenter synth jams. Moments later, I’m in a dark corpse-lined tunnel, tension building and the music completely absent until a horror set piece introduces a new supernatural threat. All that in the space of 10 minutes.

This initial offering is generous: For 10 bucks, you get a 10-level campaign. Two of those are shorter boss stages, but the eight main levels took me around 20-35 minutes each on the third of five difficulties. With nastier enemy placements on higher settings and plenty of secrets I didn't find, there’s good replay value. Were it not for a plot hook set up in the closing seconds, Cultic could already pass for a finished and satisfying four-hour game.

There’s also a survival mode with three maps and a smart gimmick. You fight waves of enemies in arenas, collecting resources and money to buy gear between waves. The game ends on death or when the clock runs out, encouraging frantic, reckless play to clear waves as fast as possible. It’s good fun and the time pressure makes it feel distinct from the campaign. Considering the low price, the campaign is meaty enough, and survival is a tasty side dish.

Despite being just the first part of a larger game, Cultic’s early access version is a nicely self-contained FPS. It's polished enough that I can only come up with minor issues to nitpick. Precise sniping can trivialize some encounters and there’s a few strange difficulty spikes and dips, but nothing that player feedback can’t hammer out. The way the game renders in ultrawide is a little unusual too, with stuff on the screen edges being magnified, but I only noticed it when I was actively looking for it.

(Image credit: Jasozz Games)

My only halfway serious critique is that elements of Cultic’s positively scrunkly low-fi style don’t quite do it for me. Now, the environments, the sprites, the chunky voxel decorations? They’re all great. The textures evoke the DOS era perfectly. It feels authentic, while pushing a bit beyond '90s limitations in physics and scope. It’s the post-processing that goes too far.

While Blood (and other Build engine games) had some crunchy sounds and a limited DOS color palette, combat barks for these cultists can sound like they’re being belted out though a speaker packed with glass shards, and the visual effects sometimes makes the game look like a 256-colour image hit with some JPEG compression. I’m sure some will love the look, but it’s not for me. Thankfully there’s options to tone down the color-grading and dithering effects, but the audio remains extra sharp.

Those few issues did nothing to dull my enjoyment while I was playing. While clear and proudly inspired by its Build engine inspiration, Cultic already delivers a solid transfusion of new ideas into that body. I see no reason not to B-Positive about the levels yet to come.

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October 12, 2022

Over the last year or so we've watched the dissolution of one of gaming's longest running partnerships, as EA's incredibly successful FIFA series detaches itself from licensing the FIFA name from football's world governing body. Long before this happened publicly senior EA figures would, behind closed doors, hint to miscreants like me that it was coming: because all the value came from EA's side. The videogame publisher has arguably done more to build FIFA as a brand over the last few decades than FIFA has done in its entire history.

Or as EA CEO Andrew Wilson put it to investors: FIFA is just "four letters on the front of the box". FIFA itself, which had been dropped after reportedly demanding $1 billion per series entry, took the news like a spoiled child, with president Gianni Infantino declaring that whatever game had the FIFA branding will be "THE BEST", emphasis his.

So this year's FIFA 23 is the last in the series to bear that name (which made me oddly melancholy), and next year EA will move on to releasing its football games under the name EA Sports FC. Meanwhile FIFA is looking for multiple new partners and hoping against hope that it can build something to compete against the juggernaut that once bore its name.

It's thus unsurprising that Roblox has been able to persuade FIFA to dip its toes into the wildly successful gaming platform (50 million daily users, according to the press release). Making Roblox games is cheap: or, at least, cheaper than competing with EA. And it also means you can get something out fast to a huge and overwhelmingly young audience.

The collaboration is called FIFA World, "a virtual environment that celebrates the power of football and the rich history of its pinnacle events." There are some references to the metaverse which I'll spare you, and to answer the most obvious question first: no, it's not a football game. This is a kind of walkaround social space with various football-themed rewards and challenges, with minigames based on things like keepie-ups, and various videos of great moments in football history.

Absolutely bizarrely, it also includes bowling. The Adidas Footbowling Arena. You had one job FIFA.

(Image credit: Roblox Corporation)

Flailing nonsense in other words, as EA proceeds to gobble up all that delicious football pie. This is a sideshow to what's going on in videogame sports, and there's nothing wrong with that, but the claim it's going to evolve and adapt and somehow be the representative space for this year's Qatar world cup or the 2023 women’s world cup is ludicrous.

"FIFA believes that such a multi-layered experience will result in a truly inclusive and fun gameplay–in turn, engaging new and existing football fans from across the globe, as well as promoting the values of the sport to an even broader audience," says FIFA's Romy Gai. What would those FIFA values be I wonder: trousering bribes to award the world cup to a despotic regime, perhaps?

Christina Wootton, on the other hand, is VP of global partnerships at Roblox, and you best believe she's looking forward to her Christmas bonus: "We believe discovering and enjoying events together with friends from all over the globe is a unique experience that often can’t be replicated in the physical world".

That line is so insane I simply can't parse it. Look: I don't watch football with my dad as much as I did when I was a boy. But when we get the chance to, it's special because we're together. This notion that something like Roblox can somehow annex those kinds of social spaces is fundamentally sociopathic.

Not that a bit of grousing on PC Gamer dot com will stop the onwards march. Soon we will all have metaverse legs.

"It’s incredibly exciting to see FIFA and Roblox come together," says Barcelona star Pedri, while blinking 'SOS' in morse code. "I can’t wait to be a part of FIFA World as it continues to evolve! The football fans I see in the stands every week love gaming."

The morse code bit was a joke, FIFA lawyers. In all seriousness, FIFA World is obviously not built for a has-been like myself, but that huge Roblox audience which snacks from game to game and may have a dabble with something new and shiny that includes video clips of great goals. At the time of writing it's had about 6,000 visits, and you can visit FIFA World here.

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October 12, 2022

The next generation of graphics cards is officially launching today, with Nvidia's RTX 4090 on sale 12th October at 6am PT | 9am ET | 2pm BST. We've been obsessively benchmarking a bunch of different versions of the new Ada Lovelace GPUs over the past couple of weeks, and it represents a genuinely impressive piece of technical graphics wizardry.

There is no other graphics card on the market today that can come close to the power and performance of the RTX 4090, whether that's for rendering, gaming, or going all out and ray tracing at 4K and beyond. And even though AMD is set to announce its new chiplet-based RDNA 3 graphics cards in early November, the rumours suggest the top card is unlikely to best the RTX 4090.

There will be slightly more affordable Ada graphics cards arriving next month, too, but whether they'll have the same generational impact as the RTX 4090 is tough to say. We're not convinced.

So, for now, if you want the magic that is the best graphics card in the world right now, that $1,599 price tag is what you need to pay. That's the base MSRP, and the price of the excellent Nvidia Founders Edition, but there are far more expensive options on the table as well. Though we'd struggle to see a reason why you should spend $2,000 on the Asus ROG RTX 4090.

But if you desire a new high-performance graphics card, there is nothing better, and probably won't be for a good while. But don't expect the cards to hang around. They may not disappear as quickly as in previous launches, given the extreme price of them. And there are a host of third-party cards available, too. But I would still expect the first shipment of RTX 4090 cards to sell out soon after launch. Which means it will pay to get in line early.

So, where can you funnel your hard-earned cash in exchange for the fastest consumer GPU ever made?

When does the RTX 4090 go on sale?

The Nvidia RTX 4090 will go on sale Wednesday 12th October at 6am PT | 9am ET | 2pm BST.

Where can I buy the RTX 4090 Founders Edition?

In the US Best Buy continues as Nvidia's go-to partner for its Founders Edition sales, so that's where you can find the best-value version of the new RTX 4090.

In the UK we believe that Nvidia will also stick with Scan as the go-to reseller for the RTX 4090 Founders Edition, too.

Nvidia RTX 4090 retailers in the US

Amazon

There are no listings yet for Amazon, but you can expect links to go live around the time the products launch elsewhere. It's a funny old store...

Best Buy

Newegg

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Nvidia RTX 4090 retailers in the UK

Right now, there aren't many retailers listing pricing for the RTX 4090, but we've listed below the landing pages for the main GPU sellers in the UK. The price of the RTX 4090 recently went up, thanks to the current governmental fiscal fun, so it's now starting at £1,699.99 for the Founders Edition.

Amazon

Amazon hasn't listed any RTX 4090 cards as yet, but we expect the pages will go live as soon as the embargo lifts and they do actually go on sale.

Overclockers

Overclockers has a full list of cards that it's going to stock, but as yet no prices on any of them until they actually go live at 2pm today.

Scan

Box

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Just for reference, here is the 4K performance of the new Nvidia card. Just in case you wanted to know just how fast it is compared to the high-end competition. And also to put you off spending $1,200 on an RTX 3090 Ti just because it has some $800 discount on it.

It's just not worth the price now the RTX 4090 has landed.

4K gaming performance

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October 12, 2022

Here's a question for you: what do you reckon is Meta's "most requested feature" on its roadmap to the VR revolution, according to Mark Zuckerberg? Avatars without the cold, dead eyes of a killer? Rehiring Meta's fired ethics team? A point?

Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. At yesterday's Meta Connect event, when Mark Zuckerberg took to the stage in the form of his digital double—an avatar that does, in fairness, look better than the one from his August selfie—he revealed that the people have apparently been clamouring for one thing and one thing only: legs.

Legs are coming soon! Are you excited? pic.twitter.com/SB6qSepKm4October 11, 2022

Meta's Horizon avatars will become bipedal at some point later next year, as part of a big update that will make everyone's avatar as pretty as the one Zuckerberg was using yesterday. For now, though, those of us outside of the Meta C-suite are stuck with the legless avatars of old, watching Zuckerberg twirl and cavort on stage while all we have is our stupid arms and hands.

It's taken this long for Meta to conquer the lower 50% of the human body because, Zuckerberg says, legs are tough for standalone VR headsets to figure out. In his presentation, Zuckerberg gave the example of sitting with your legs under a desk (which I can't wait to do in a completely virtual world with limitless imaginative potential): once they're out of sight, the headset doesn't know what they're up to. So, Meta says it needs to build an AI model to predict what the heck your legs are doing under there.

The entire announcement had an air of unreality to it, which isn't out of character for Meta. And just like with Zuckerberg's selfie from a couple of months ago, the internet has wasted no time memeing on the inherent weirdness of dedicating a chunk of your $300-billion company's press event to announcing legs.

the rapid innovation in the virtual reality space has gotten to “the avatars have legs now”https://t.co/IJiYA5uaM0October 11, 2022

the people in the background here do not have legs. are metalegs only granted at a certain level of seniority. are legs a right or a privilege, mark https://t.co/RyYxsG0HGYOctober 12, 2022

https://t.co/bijuoe6KkP pic.twitter.com/0DczEBRhkdOctober 12, 2022

[looking down at my lap]Me: [chanting] legs, legs-My friends who wear pants: legs, LEGSMy groupchat with Mark Zuckerberg: [slamming the table]: LEGS, LEGS, LEGS, LEGGGGGGGGS!!!!! pic.twitter.com/Qtane9tvTNOctober 11, 2022

To be fair to old Zuck, the Meta Connect wasn't 100% all-legs all the time, although that would have been a lot funnier. The company also took the opportunity to unveil the Meta Quest Pro, a $1,500 VR headset notionally designed for high-powered corporate types, but that we just want to use to play games. Maybe the painful price tag is to cover the cost of all that intensive leg R&D.

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October 12, 2022

The End of the Rainbow transmat effect is a free reward that Bungie is giving to all players in celebration of National Coming Out day. The official Bungie blog post is a great source of info if you want to know why this day is important to so many, or if you're personally in need of support.

"The act of coming out is not limited to a single day, a single month, or even a single year," says the blog post. "It is a journey whose only destination is to be your truest self, and no matter where you are on your path, you deserve to shine. We're proud today to release the End of the Rainbow transmat effect permanently for all players to give a venue for that shine."

If you want to get the End of the Rainbow transmat effect for yourself, here's the code you'll need and how you can redeem it. The blog post also features some special wallpapers for Destiny 2's queer characters as part of the celebration.

How to get the End of the Rainbow transmat

We celebrate and honor #NationalComingOutDay for everyone who identifies as LBGTQIA+.Be brave, Guardians. And know you don’t walk alone.https://t.co/bpjndCpNRp pic.twitter.com/6doaB84kgDOctober 11, 2022

You can get the code for End of the Rainbow from the official Bungie blog post about National Coming Out day. It's not often that players need to redeem Bungie codes, so here's a refresher on how to unlock the transmat for your characters and, more importantly, the code you'll need.

R9J79MJ6C - End of the Rainbow transmat

To redeem it, you'll need to:

Head to the Bungie code redemption page
Log in to your account
Copy the code into the box and hit redeem
Claim the transmat from Master Rahool in the Tower

After you've unlocked it, all you need to do is slot it into your chosen ship to start basking in those rainbows every time you respawn.

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October 12, 2022

To complete this chrome-related Fortnite challenge, you'll need to destroy chrome structures. There's a catch, though: you can't just destroy the many existing chrome structures you can find around the Fortnite map and hope for the best. In this guide, I'll talk you through how to collect Chrome Splash to turn regular structures into chrome structures so that you can complete the challenge.

How to turn structure chrome in Fortnite

There are plenty of chrome structures in Fortnite, like buildings, rocks and even a few shiny animals. New locations like Lustrous Lagoon and Herald's Sanctum are covered in chrome but it appears all around the map. Stumbling upon a chrome structure and destroying it using your pickaxe or weapon isn't going to cut it here, but it is the first step in completing this quest.

By destroying existing chrome structures, you'll get Chrome Splash, which is basically a chrome bomb. To turn something chrome—including yourself—launch the Chrome Splash and wait for the structure to turn silver. Then, have at it with your pickaxe or weapon. More Chrome Splash should spawn this way, which means you can create even more chrome structures that you can destroy.

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Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 4 guides

(Image credit: Epic Games)

Where to find Mending Machines
How to slide kick a runaway boulder
How to find and open Vaults
How to unlock the Bytes outfit and tune the TV

You can build structures if you have enough materials, turn them chrome then smash them up if you're wanting to avoid being in named locations. Just remember to keep an eye out for opponents who may use this opportunity to eliminate you.

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October 12, 2022

Whatever help you need with today's Wordle, you'll find it all here. I can offer you fresh clues, handy hints, and even guides covering the basics if you've never played before. And if you just need the answer to the October 12 (480) challenge delivered without any fuss then you'll find that just below too.

One green, a light dusting of yellows, and a sudden flash of inspiration lead to a pleasantly quick solution today—but only after turning over a full row of greys first. This Wordle was a good reminder of how helpful knowing which letters not to use is.

Wordle hint

Today's Wordle: A hint for Wednesday, October 12

You'll need to think about chemistry terms today, specifically related to electrically charged atoms. Today's answer is a five-letter word used when discussing that particular type of atom—as a compound, for example. Three of today's five letters are vowels, with one of them the same vowel used twice.

Wordle help: 3 tips for beating Wordle every day

If there's one thing better than playing Wordle, it's playing Wordle well, which is why I'm going to share a few quick tips to help set you on the path to success:

A good opener contains a balanced mix of unique vowels and consonants.
A tactical second guess helps to narrow down the pool of letters quickly.
The solution may contain repeat letters.

There's no time pressure beyond making sure it's done by midnight. So there's no reason to not treat the game like a casual newspaper crossword and come back to it later if you're coming up blank.

Wordle answer

(Image credit: Josh Wardle)

What is the Wordle 480 answer?

No greens? No problem. The answer to the October 12 (480) Wordle is IONIC.

Previous answers

Wordle archive: Which words have been used

The more past Wordle answers you can cram into your memory banks, the better your chances of guessing today's Wordle answer without accidentally picking a solution that's already been used. Past Wordle answers can also give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle solving fresh.

Here are some recent Wordle solutions:

October 11: VALID
October 10: ENJOY
October 9: HOWDY
October 8: VIGOR
October 7: DANDY
October 6: SLOTH
October 5: MARSH
October 4: BOUGH
October 3: STING
October 2: TWINE

Learn more about Wordle

Every day Wordle presents you with six rows of five boxes, and it's up to you to work out which secret five-letter word is hiding inside them.

You'll want to start with a strong word like ALERT—something containing multiple vowels, common consonants, and no repeat letters. Hit Enter and the boxes will show you which letters you've got right or wrong. If a box turns ️, it means that letter isn't in the secret word at all. means the letter is in the word, but not in that position. means you've got the right letter in the right spot.

You'll want your second go to compliment the first, using another "good" word to cover any common letters you missed last time while also trying to avoid any letter you now know for a fact isn't present in today's answer.

After that it's just a case of using what you've learned to narrow your guesses down to the right word. You have six tries in total and can only use real words (so no filling the boxes with EEEEE to see if there's an E). Don't forget letters can repeat too (ex: BOOKS).

If you need any further advice feel free to check out our Wordle tips, and if you'd like to find out which words have already been used you'll find those below.

Originally, Wordle was dreamed up by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a surprise for his partner who loves word games. From there it spread to his family, and finally got released to the public. The word puzzle game has since inspired tons of games like Wordle, refocusing the daily gimmick around music or math or geography. It wasn't long before Wordle became so popular it was sold to the New York Times for seven figures. Surely it's only a matter of time before we all solely communicate in tricolor boxes.

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October 12, 2022

I never thought I'd see the day, but it seems manufacturers may be uncertain about the future of the large household TV, and are instead looking to the PC monitor for the future of screens. Surprisingly, it looks like one such company is LG, a brand known for producing some of the most popular TVs around, even taking out our best gaming TV award with the LG OLED48CX. Still it's an interesting move from a company that recently announced both the biggest and smallest OLED gaming TVs on the market.

According to reports received by OLED-info, the electronics giant is going to focus on producing white OLED or WOLED panels predominantly around 40 inches. This has a focus on smaller TVs, but also clearly on gaming monitors as the brand plans to start producing 27-inch WOLEDs by the end of this month, with displays hopefully in the wild in Q1 of next year in LGE screens.

When it comes to screens, WOLED can be a bit of a mixed bag. Thanks to the white backlight they can pacify colours and sometimes not have blacks as deep. In saying that, LG has already been using WOLED tech for many of its TVs and they tend to be great for deep blacks and HDR so far. Plus they add gaming features like app support for Nvidia's GeForce Now. As far as track records go, we're expecting some nice panels. Still, it'd be nice to see these smaller panels in action to see how they handle up-close experiences.

The hope is that these new WOLED screens from LG will also come with a nicer price tag. Current OLED monitors of this size from LG are packed with Japan OLED standard panels and a bunch of other features leading to fairly expensive pieces of kit. If LG is producing its own panels this time around, hopefully that will lead to cheaper manufacturing and the passing of those savings onto consumers.

Screen queens

(Image credit: Future)

Best gaming monitor: Pixel-perfect panels for your PC
Best high refresh rate monitor: Screaming quick screens
Best 4K monitor for gaming: When only high-res will do
Best 4K TV for gaming: Big-screen 4K PC gaming

For now LG has just launched the 48GQ900-B UltraGear 48-inch UHD 4K OLED gaming monitor in Australia with an RRP of $AU2,599. This has been out for a while in other parts of the world and sports an official refresh rate of 120 Hz, or up to 138 Hz if you switch it into overclocked mode. Given that delay in release though, it could be that Aussies won't see these new WOLED screens for a little while.

This comes during an interesting time for gaming monitors. This year we've seen HyperX join the scene with new gaming monitors that come standard with VESA arms. Corsair announced that wild bending monitor, which happens to use an LG-provided panel. It turns out this is the same OLED LG is packing into its new LG UltraGear 240 Hz curved OLED screen, which was only announced a few months back. It feels like things are moving very quickly in the monitor world right now, and I can't wait to see what's next.

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October 12, 2022

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Welcome to UnityHQ Nolfseries Community. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

Speedian joined on the 10/11/2022.

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October 12, 2022

In keeping with the rule of live service launches, Overwatch 2 had a crappy first week. Matchmaking queues were interminable, two DDoS attacks brought the game down entirely, and many players experienced problems carrying over their progress —and heroes—from the original Overwatch. It was a bit of a mess.

Blizzard knows this, and after acknowledging it several times throughout the week since launch, the studio has now detailed some compensation. This will come in the form of "several" double match XP weekends, as well as a Cursed Captain Reaper legendary skin and Health Pack Weapon charm for anyone who logs in between October 25 and the end of season two. Here's what those cosmetics will look like:

Image 1 of 2

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Cursed Captain Reaper Legendary Skin

Image 2 of 2

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Health Pack Weapon Charm

No word yet on when those double XP weekends will actually happen, but there will be several. Blizzard's update also confirms that another patch is coming this week, linking to a live document outlining all known issues. These include an issue preventing users from accessing their owned heroes. "This is caused by an issue with our servers that tracks player progression," the notes read, "we are working to get this issue resolved as quickly as possible."

That's a pretty serious issue, but less serious (at least, it's funny) is the temporary suspension of Bastion and Torbjörn. The former is "taking a quick trip to the workshop" thanks to a gloriously busted ultimate that turned the robot into a riot of artillery strikes. Keep in game but nerf, Blizzard?

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October 12, 2022

As you shop for the best deals during Amazon Prime Day Early Access, you should be aware of an Amazon Prime perk that doesn't get enough attention. Prime members can save 20% on eligible open box items at the Amazon Warehouse, where Amazon sells all things pre-owned, used, and open box.

Open box products are items that have been returned to Amazon which are tested and resold without their original packaging. The item description details the exact condition of the product. I'd recommend sticking to 'like new' since those items are the closest thing to buying something right off the shelf.

The price difference between new and open-box products can often be pretty impressive. Throw another 20% on top, and you'll get a sweet discount. For example, this HyperX Cloud II headset is $75 brand new, though the open box model with the discount applied brings it down to $49.43, nearly $30 off. The only note is it may have a "cosmetic imperfection" somewhere on the headset. Amazon actually offers a breakdown of what each Warehouse product condition description means, so you'll know what you're getting.

The Prime Day Warehouse deals extend beyond headsets; you can get an Xbox Series S for $211 before tax, and we even found an Asus AX1800 WiFi 6 Router gaming router for $51 after the discount. There are dirt cheap 4K HDMI cables and microSD cards. Other popular items you should consider shopping through the Amazon Warehouse are TVs or gaming monitors. Suppose you don't mind losing out on the original packaging or instruction manuals—in that case, it's a really easy way to save some money on newer products that often don't go on sale this deep, as long as you don't mind them showing up in a nondescript brown box (or one that's a bit beat up).

HyperX Cloud II | 7.1 surround| $75 $49.43 at Amazon (save $26)
One of our longtime favorite gaming headsets, this one supports 7.1 surround and works with consoles as well as PC. Plus it's comfy.

ASUS AX1800 WiFi 6 Router | Dual band | Gigabit | 1800 Mbps| $130 $51.5 at Amazon (save $79)
A capable midrange router from Asus with some nice extra features, like being able to enter into a WiFi mesh if you need to extend its range.

You don't have to worry about getting stuck with dead pixels: All open box items are covered under Amazon's return policy, meaning the same rules apply to these items. Amazon can't guarantee replacement stock in the same condition if you decide to return it, though, so, that's something to keep in mind.

Again, be sure to read the details of the product to see what's missing or for cosmetic damage. Even if you don't take advantage of the current 20% discount, remember to keep an eye on Amazon Warehouse, especially after Prime Early Access has ended. You might be able to save some money on PC gaming gear someone impulsively bought and returned a week later.

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