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More on WoW Classic era (Image credit: Blizzard)WoW Classic race guide: the best for your class WoW Classic class guide: choose wisely WoW Classic professions: make money fast WoW Classic server: which to go for Looking for the best WoW Classic addons? With the imminent release of Wrath of the Lich King Classic, you might have decided to take the plunge back into Blizzard's old-school MMO. While World of Warcraft is still going strong, the original user interface leaves a lot to be desired. Luckily, there are a number of addons that help tidy things up a bit. Many of today's WoW addons won't work in Classic, but there are plenty that have their own separate versions. So if you're planning to venture back to Northrend and eventually confront the Lich King himself at Icecrown Citadel, you should make sure your UI is up to the task. Here's a list of the best WoW Classic addons you can use to help make your journey back in time that much easier. How to install WoW Classic addons Once you download your chosen mod, it’ll be in a .zip file—which should be in your Download/Downloads directory. If you’re a Windows user, click on the file once in Explorer, then choose 'Extract All' from the menu toolbar. Then select where you want to save it. By default WoW Classic addons are located in Program Files (x86)/World of Warcraft/_classic_/Interface/AddOns folder—this is where to unzip the new files. If you’ve put WoW somewhere different, navigate to the same folder, but in the directory where you’ve put your Warcraft installation. In either case, you’ll end up with a new folder or folders inside 'AddOns' named after your mod. Mac users must double click on the file to extract all of it into a new folder named after the mod. Then use 'Finder' to navigate to 'Applications'. Look for the World of Warcraft folder, then the _classic_ folder inside, then 'Interface', then 'AddOns'. Copy your new folder (the one named after the mod) into the 'AddOns' folder. Then the next time you start WoW from scratch your new addons will be active. If you don't like installing addons manually, there are several WoW addon managers that can make the job less gruelling and save you some time. Do check which ones work with WoW Classic before installing though. Bartender4 This addon fully replaces your action bar with one that is completely customizable. Using Bartender4, you can change the positioning, size, and transparency of every action bar, which goes a long way in personalizing your own UI. One of my favorite features, though, is the ability to write macros that drive things like hiding action bars when I'm not mousing over them. Bagnon Tired of managing your inventory across multiple bags? Bagnon is an inventory overhaul that makes sifting through your items so much easier. Instead of having multiple bags to manage, Bagnon condenses everything into one big bag and can automatically sort and group items by type. Colored borders tell you an item's quality at a glance, and a search function let's you quickly find what you need. Bagnon even tracks items across multiple characters, so you know what your alts have without having to log in. Questie One of the biggest conveniences in modern Warcraft is the addition of quest markers and objectives to the mini and world map. Once you accept a quest, moving to the relevant area will see a highlight of where to go. This isn’t part of Classic, so Questie aims to address that by putting available quests on your maps and marking the potential locations of your quest objectives. It's not perfect, but for those looking for Classic with this crucial modern convenience, it’s the best you've got. (Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment/AeroScripts) Auctionator Classic Gold is a precious resource in WoW Classic, but managing auction house listings can be a pain. Auctionator is a long-standing addon that makes the process a little easier by suggesting listing prices and automating the posting of items for other people to buy. If you frequently find yourself buying tradeskill materials or other items, it’ll simplify that, too. Deadly Boss Mods Deadly Boss Mods is a must-have addon for the modern game. While there are fewer things to track in vanilla WoW, DBM still nudges you when things are coming and recommending a reaction. It includes information and warnings for all Classic dungeons except Blackrock Depths, Blackrock Spire, Dire Maul, and Scholomance, which are still in progress. Details! Damage Meter Classic Details! Damage Meter is one of the most popular damage meters in the modern game, and this is the Wrath Classic port—go here for the original WoW Classic version. It breaks down how much damage or healing you and other party members do by abilities, individual fights, for example. It doesn't boast as many features as the modern version, but this is the mod that will tell you if you really are better off wanding than, say, casting actual damage spells as a priest. (Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment/Tercioo) AtlasLoot Classic Modern WoW has a handy journal that logs loot drops from all of its raids and dungeons, but Classic has no such luxury—unless you start using AtlasLoot Classic. This handy mod let's you quickly browse the loot tables for every dungeon and raid to see what bosses drop the gear you need. It's a mandatory mod if you're already at level 60 and farming best-in-slot gear. Titan Panel Classic Vanilla addon Titan Panel is equally useful now as Titan Panel Classic. It adds a dark stripe (or two) to the top and/or bottom of your screen to display configurable information about your character. Want to know how much gold or ranged weapon ammo you have left? How about the coordinates for your location, what your PC performance is, or how long you have to your next level? All these and more are built in by default, and more plug-ins use this mod to deliver useful information. View the full article

Wrath of the Lich King Classic launches on September 26. Often hailed as World of Warcraft's most beloved expansion, Wrath continues the story of the Prince of Lordaeron, Arthas Menethil, which started back in the days of Warcraft 3. We'll get to (re)explore the vast continent of Northrend and ultimately confront the Lich King himself at the Frozen Throne, at the top of the legendary Icecrown Citadel. Ahead of Wrath Classic's release next week, I had the chance to sit down and chat with two of Blizzard's lead software engineers, Brian Birmingham and Ana Resendez. To kick things off, we started with the elephant in the room—the Wrath Classic server queues. The price of popularity Spending hours sitting in a queue to log in to your favourite game isn't a new experience for most MMO players. It's something that's plagued every remotely successful game in recent years, and World of Warcraft has its own history of server troubles with new expansion releases or big updates. Wrath Classic's pre-patch has been no exception. There are other server capacity problems that we can't solve with layers. Brian Birmingham "One of the things that we have been doing over most of the history of World Warcraft is leaning on letting players play what they want, where they want, and trying to increase server capacity to allow that," says Brian Birmingham. "Classic philosophy originally was to try to get everybody back down to one layer after launch. We eventually abandoned that effort, especially with a big surge of players when the pandemic hit." The launch of WoW Classic allowed Blizzard to add layers to servers to help alleviate the strain—something that is used successfully in modern WoW. Essentially, layering means that players would be spread over different server instances, even if they were stood at the same exact spot in the same zone. But this also leads to problems with areas potentially feeling empty when in reality, they're not. But as Birmingham goes on to explain, not all server problems can be solved with layering. "We're at that point where we have to change our strategy a little bit, too many people are clustering onto too few realms, and causing those realms to be over capacity in a variety of ways. So while layers can help the problem of too many people in one tight space—we can make multiple copies of that—there are other server capacity problems that we can't solve with layers. There are things like the auction house, for example, which is not layered. But that's just one example. There are all kinds of bottlenecks behind the bottlenecks." (Image credit: Blizzard) The large servers that are locked right now are likely to stay locked for the foreseeable future, but it's not all doom and gloom if you're planning on playing. "So at this point, we have a lot of really healthy realms," continues Birmingham. "Some of them are really too popular, and we have stopped transfers and character creations on those. But then the rest of [the servers] have really healthy and vibrant communities. And so if you're allowed to make a new character there, you're gonna have a good permanent home. That's what we want to be able to guarantee." As for the future, the World of Warcraft team encompasses both Classic and modern WoW and server technology is something that both groups discuss. "I'm really happy to see all the technological advancements," says Ana Resendez. "It's a conversation we have all the time with our partner teams in the modern game. And that helps us continue exploring different solutions for the future. But I just want to really reiterate that it's something that we are constantly looking at and we monitor the health of the servers closely." The introduction of the fresh start servers for Wrath Classic was mainly due to the team's expectations for the number of players jumping in for the popular Wrath expansion, especially those playing Classic for the first time. It's also partly what prompted the XP buff, Joyous Journeys, which sadly ends on September 26. "We were [always] planning to have it stop at launch. We knew as we were introducing it that the longer we left it, the more people would come to count on it forever," says Birmingham. "We do really like what we've seen from it—it has invigorated the community to make new characters, level them up together, and go explore old dungeons. And so maybe it'll come back at some point in the future, but we don't have any specific plans for that yet." (Image credit: Blizzard) Dungeon (finder) decisions Earlier this year, Blizzard announced that the Random Dungeon Finder tool wouldn't be added to Wrath Classic and this has been a point of contention for some. The original Wrath expansion added the tool during one of the later patches, allowing players to form five-person groups with the click of a button and be thrown into a dungeon with randoms. This is something that modern WoW still makes use of, but many feel that the tool was the start of the decline of the social aspect of the game, when the feeling of community the early game fostered began to fade. "The original experience was without the dungeon finder, at least at the beginning of Wrath," says Resendez. "But that said, it's something that we've been talking about a lot inside the team. I don't think that it was an easy decision. This automated system of already picking who's going to be grouped with you can create less personal communication. So we're really leaning towards the opposite side of that—you go and pick out the group that you want to experiment with and have some social interactions." You have those chances to make those off-spec groups or try something a little bit zany. Brian Birmingham "Automatic dungeon finding is a cool tool if you want to get a quick game over lunch, I get that," adds Birmingham. "But there's also value in a kind of a game where you have to put a little bit more effort in to make a new friendship, to try to reach out to somebody else to say, 'Hey, do you want to come do this?' Opening up that conversation means that you have those chances to make those off-spec groups or try something a little bit zany. Rather than wait as long as it's gonna take for DPS to find a tank and a healer, you can try to figure out some way to cobble it together yourself. And we want that kind of opportunity to have those social engagements, and also those opportunities to creatively solve problems." Blizzard is well aware of the split in the community on the subject of the Random Dungeon Finder. In fact, it first surfaced internally, according to Birmingham. "We wanted to make sure we announced it early. Partly because we knew it would be contentious from talking internally on the team. There were some people who were like, 'Oh, I can't wait that we're gonna get to Wrath and get [the Random Dungeon Finder],' and we're like, 'No, we're thinking we aren't.' And we did have a conversation at that point." If you're hoping the RDF tool will be added in a later update, you'll likely be disappointed, though Birmingham said it hasn't been ruled out entirely. "I do know there has been a popular request that maybe we should introduce it with Icecrown Citadel. But that's not the plan right now. That said, our plans are always evolving. We're always still listening. So I don't want to say for sure, one way or the other. But right now we're thinking we're not going to add it." (Image credit: Blizzard) Remaking Wrath It has to be a difficult line to walk with regard to what changes to implement without messing with what players loved about the original Wrath—especially when the instincts of a developer are to make the best experience possible with the technology at hand. I asked if there is some sort of criteria in place that must be met before a change will be considered. A big part of it is we want to recreate experiences, and we wanted to have the same feeling. Ana Resendez "In general, we like to keep as much as true as we can with Classic," says Resendez. "A big part of it is we want to recreate experiences, and we wanted to have the same feeling. It's something very difficult to make, especially when the community has evolved so much over the years, and we're looking at it through a different lens. Part of it is we look at what the community is saying, we keep this open communication." You don't have to be active on the forums or social media to be heard, as a great deal of feedback is achieved through player actions, as Resendez goes on to explain. "I am a big fan of looking at data. There are a lot of people that enjoy the game and are not vocal, but we still want to listen to them. So our way of listening to these people is through data. Seeing how people are actually engaging with the game and what sort of activities they are doing, what sort of activities they enjoy the most, and what they keep repeating. So looking at data is another avenue that we use." There are some minor changes arriving with Wrath Classic that have originated in modern WoW, such as body types replacing genders in character creation, as well as the barber shop changes. This made me wonder if any other low-impact modern systems had ever been considered for Classic, such as the party-sync function which allows players of vastly different levels to quest together. (Image credit: Blizzard) "It's actually funny that you bring this up because Wrath of the Lich King is the first [expansion] that introduced phasing," says Resendez, "We were looking through different ideas because we discovered that phasing can introduce certain situations that are not ideal—you want to go help someone, but they're in a different phase. So we talked about what other solutions already exist in [modern WoW]. But on that front, we decided, for right now, not to make any changes." "On party-sync specifically, we did actually talk about whether or not there was something we could bring back to try to adjust phrasing," says Birmingham. "And it turns out it's more than just the technical capability of being able to sync with your party. There are some design changes around what it means if I can redo that quest a second time. And so we decided it would invite too many changes to Wrath of the Lich King, although we do kind of like the idea of being able to bridge that gap with phasing." "What we decided to do instead was add additional rewards to some of the quests that put you in later phases. So hopefully you feel like there's a good reason to finish the zones and get to that final phase where you're in the same place as everybody else. Because there's a little bit more of a reward we put like, in I believe it's an Emblem of Justice on the end of all of those phase cappers. So if you do all these zone capper requests, you can have a sizable head start on your first piece of gear." (Image credit: Blizzard) So, Heroic Plus dungeons? A new type of content, potentially arriving when the Ulduar raid is released, is the additional difficulty level of heroic dungeons, coined as Heroic Plus dungeons. "We're planning to introduce a new harder version of the Heroic modes that will have additional rewards attached to it, probably the next badge up and maybe the old 10-player, Naxxramus gear as well," says Birmingham. "Because we're planning to have, as Ulduar unlocks, the 25-player and 10-player versions drop the same [25-player] loot and then move the 10-player loot to the harder heroics." We're planning to introduce a new harder version of the Heroic modes that will have additional rewards. Brian Birmingham With both 10 and 25-player versions of the same raid traditionally available in older WoW expansions—and with different loot drops for each—it's easy to get overwhelmed with the amount of repetitive content you need to do if you want to get the best gear for your character. Especially once there's more than one raid available. The solution of moving 10-player raid loot to the new Heroic Plus dungeons once Ulduar unlocks also means the dungeons themselves present a challenge to players for a longer period of time, as Birmingham explains. "Part of the reason for that is because we want to give a little more life to people who are saying, 'I'm moving on to Ulduar, but I want to do pick-up groups in [10-player] Naxxramus still'. And if you want to do that, we want to make sure that you still feel like that's rewarding, and something that will supplement your activities and feel like a worthwhile effort. But also, we want to make sure that we don't have the problem that we saw with the original Wrath launch, where people were always chasing this easier and easier version of the heroic—easier because they were more powerful, and it didn't change with them." I asked if the harder heroic dungeons would be a set difficulty, basically a harder version of a regular heroic dungeon, or if there will be some spin on that, like a time limit (as with Mythic plus dungeons in modern WoW). "It's a little early to say for sure," says Birmingham. "We're looking at ideas right now. This is still an idea and we're not fully committed to it yet, but we feel pretty strongly that we're likely to go in some direction like this. So I don't have a lot of details to commit to. Like I said, this is going to come with the release of Ulduar at the earliest. So we're not ready to pin it down yet. But we are excited to have that opportunity and to hear feedback from what people want to see in this kind of approach." (Image credit: Blizzard) Life after Wrath A Cataclysm survey recently went out to gauge players' interest in what comes after Wrath Classic. Many players consider Wrath of the Lich King to be the last 'vanilla-era' expansion, and I wondered if Blizzard had always expected Classic expansions to run that far. "I'll say we're always looking to the future," says Birmingham. "Of course right now we're primarily focused on Wrath of the Lich King. We always want to get these conversations started early. It's one of the reasons why we talked about some of the things we were planning with Wrath of the Lich King early on in its development. [...] And that way we can get that feedback and that community discussion going so that we can hear that and find out what players want so we can try to deliver that." That raises the odd thought of convergence. If Classic comes to an end—and let me be clear here, there's no suggestion that it will—would it be hypothetically possible to transfer a character from Classic to modern WoW if that's the path a player wanted to take? Surprisingly enough it might technically be possible, though it's not something Blizzard would ever plan on implementing. "We've always said that we wouldn't do that," says Birmingham. "One of the reasons was that we didn't want players to go play Classic because they wanted to get some achievement in modern World of Warcraft. We really want you to be playing Classic because you want to play Classic. And so we've always tried to keep those environments separate. So it's not really a technical restriction. If we ever got to a point where we wanted to change our minds there, we probably could. But right now, that isn't in the plans." Wrath of the Lich King Classic is set to arrive on live servers on Monday, September 26, and here's everything we know about it. View the full article

Blizzard has released a new 'Journey' trailer for the imminent release of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion for WoW Classic, and it's amazing—but not for the usual reasons. When I think of Blizzard cinematics the first thought that comes to mind is the lavish CG spectacles that introduced us to the world of Overwatch, or Diablo and Starcraft's ludicrously OTT cutscenes. This one, however, is all about the players. There's a reason for that. The video was put together by Hurricane, a youtuber who specialises in making awesome WoW trailers and has been doing so for many years. But they've always been a fan creator, someone beloved by the community but doing their own thing, and this is their first commission from Blizzard. What's awesome about this trailer is how it encapsulates the build-up to the Lich King's invasion of Azeroth, and builds pure hype through the use of in-game models and real players' avatars. To be clear, this is a mix of cinematic and what looks like in-game models with HD textures, rather than in-game footage, but a whole bunch of it has either been done in-engine or made to look exactly like it has been, mimicking the movement of large groups of players as they scramble to defend Azeroth. That is ultimately why this is so good. Wrath is one of the most-beloved eras in WoW's history: the death knight class is amazing, the quests are great, and the storytelling is as good as WoW ever got (which is to say: very good). It is an epic expansion, and so many of the great moments from it, large and small, get a few seconds in the sun here. It's a simple reminder of what an awesome time WotLK was and will hopefully be again, and makes you want to no-life it. Wrath of the Lich King Classic releases on Monday 26 September and, after this, I'm there. View the full article

Looking to pull off a sick slide kick in Fortnite? As part of this week's challenges, you'll need to slide kick into a runaway boulder. Chances are you've already been sliding your way around the map, so pulling off a slide kick will be easy enough—you just need to focus on making contact. With that in mind, let's take a look at how to pull off a slide kick. How to do a slide kick in Fortnite The sliding function has been around for a while—all you need to do is press the left Ctrl button to slide while you're running or sprinting. If you're going downhill, going into a slide is a good way to get away from opponents fast, especially the wolves and shiny chromed pigs. To pull off a slide kick, though, you must make contact with an opponent or object. If you stop a few inches short then you'll need to try again. Your best bet is to sprint then slide to an opponent and make contact with them, which will automatically activate the kick. The only effort required from you is reaching them which, in fairness, is more difficult than it sounds. (Image credit: Epic Games) To complete the challenge for this week, you'll need to keep sprinting and sliding into the boulder until it dislodges. You can damage it with a weapon or your pickaxe beforehand to speed things up. Make sure you have a weapon to hand to eliminate any opponents lurking nearby. View the full article

This wasn't on my bingo card for 2022, but Paradox's sci-fi 4X Stellaris is getting a spin-off: a VR "action-roguelite set in Paradox’s sci-fi milieu" for the Meta Quest 2. It comes from Fast Travel Games, who also made a Cities: Skylines VR experience once upon a time. It's called Ghost Signal: A Stellaris Game, and it looks very Star Trek indeed. You play the captain of the good ship Aurora as it ventures into the void on a quest for the titular ghost signal emanating from somewhere in the unplumbed depths of space. That name should ring a bell for Stellaris players: it's the thing that kicks off the Contingency late-game crisis in regular games of Stellaris. It's basically a galaxy-wide genocide of all sapient life, so, you know, you'll probably want to put a stop to that. Along the way, you'll meet—and probably destroy—all sorts of familiar Stellaris aliens: the trailer shows encounters with space amoebas, the leviathan Shard, and a stellar devourer all in the space of 55 seconds. It doesn't look like the game has completely shed its 4X roots, mind you. You can research new species as you encounter them—just like in Stellaris—and progress up a tech tree to unlock new stuff for your ship. Beyond that, though, it's a full-on roguelite, replete with "randomized maps and reshuffled discoveries". I'm kind of curious to know how random those randomised maps are. The beauty of Stellaris is that, unless you're deliberately playing alongside the pre-generated empires, your opponents are generated from the same bric-à-brac of ideologies and physical traits that you are. Will the VR game generate new empires on the fly each time you begin a run, or will the civilisations you encounter just come from a pool of pre-generated factions? If it's the latter, you'll probably become quickly familiar with how each one of them behaves, which I reckon would kneecap the sense of wonder and the unknown that the trailer is clearly going for. We shouldn't have to wait long to find out: Ghost Signal will launch some time in 2023. If you just can't wait to drift between the stars, though, Stellaris is still one of the best strategy games out there and it's only gotten better with six years of DLC, the occasional dud aside. If I'm completely honest, this announcement has mostly put me in the mood to play a load more Stellaris rather than to dig out a VR headset. I guess that's success of a sort? View the full article

The original Devil May Cry is one of the stranger developments in games. It started life as a Resident Evil title, but morphed into a pseudo-fighting-game complete with combos and flashy aerial attacks—and yet it kept the horror setting and fixed camera angles. Recent entries take place in fully three-dimensional worlds, and have downplayed the horror element—but what if they hadn't? Scrappy DMC-like Soulstice is here to answer that question. Where Devil May Cry has become more OTT and comedic over the years, Soulstice is dark, dour and drenched in a grim, medieval atmosphere. In terms of aesthetic (though certainly not world design) it resembles a less cheery Dark Souls, without even the fleeting glimpse of an onion knight, or an incandescent sun to offer moments of warmth and beauty. What's left is a ruinous settlement—the towering city of Ilden—filled with transformed citizens and monsters from the void. Playing as Briar the Ashen Knight, and her spectral sister Lute, you have to enter the city and close the breach to save the world. (Image credit: Modus Games) Soulstice's story lives in an awkward place, sprinkling moments of melodrama atop a thin, simple plot that never stretches beyond the city, or a handful of actors. We're asked to care about the sisters, but both are drawn from uninteresting archetypes—the driven, po-faced warrior and the innocent little sister—and neither display elements of personality beyond that. The game is peppered with little exchanges that should in theory tell us something about them, but they're rarely more than banal remarks—"I wish the killing could come to an end"—and, worse, they're repeated endlessly as you progress. Chapters are bookended by cutscenes that serve to move the characters to new locations, but do very little to flesh them out in the process—likewise for the world and its history. There's being sparing with exposition and character development, and there's being plain lacking. You have to give us a reason to care eventually. Dark Soulstice Instead, story takes a back seat to action and atmosphere in this apocalyptic, grimdark fantasy setting. It's a thickly ladled mood created by an overbearing soundscape that only lets up during the fast-paced battles, and a desaturated colour palette that makes it difficult to read the world at a glance. I had to squint at my screen multiple times to work out the layout of a scene, to see the edge of a platform before I fell off the end of it. Upping the brightness helps a bit, but there's still not enough variation in the colour scheme—it's mainly shades of black and blue and green—for the environments to be legible immediately. (Image credit: Modus Games) As in Devil May Cry, stages in Soulstice bounce between two phases. There's the exploration phase, where Briar traverses linear environments (with the occasional power-up or stash of currency stashed in a dead-end path), and there are the chunky breakout battles, as creatures leap out of portals to have a go at you. Magical barriers create closed combat arenas, and when you've dispatched every enemy you're graded on your performance: how long you took, the combos you pulled off, how much damage you suffered, etc. I had to squint at my screen multiple times to work out the layout of a scene, to see the edge of a platform before I fell off the end of it. While the animation is a bit stiff, and the enemies not nearly as extravagant as in DMC or Bayonetta, combat in Soulstice is enjoyable, with rewarding feedback to the weapon thwacks and monsters that explode in glitter bombs of meat and currency. There's less emphasis on long-range combat (it's quite a while before you get a bow), and a great deal placed on your ghost companion, who can interrupt enemy attacks at the touch of a button. As you're whacking and dodging as Briar, juggling creatures and trying to remember combos, often a button prompt will appear over enemies. Get the timing right and Lute will intervene, repelling an arrow or swatting a weapon back or freezing an enemy in place, depending on the context. It's a wee bit Arkham Asylum, letting you take on multiple enemies simultaneously without having to worry about being attacked from all sides. (Image credit: Modus Games) Lute-'em-up The timings are generous, but combat remains challenging, as Lute is unable to fend off everything at once. Battles grow in scale and complexity, introducing monsters that are invulnerable until you activate the appropriate energy field, knights with armour that has to be punched off first, and wraiths that possess creatures—and threaten to revive them. As such, it can be difficult to keep up with all of Lute's button prompts, and to remember that a frozen enemy will eventually thaw out. Button-mashing is just about doable, with the aid of consumable (and limited) health items that you can purchase or find secreted in the world, but at no point can you fully switch off during battle. Just when you've got the hang of energy fields—switching on the red so you can hurt red-tinged monsters, and the blue so you can pummel ghosts—suddenly you have to contend with mines as well. These flare up when you turn the red on, and explode if you leave it on too long. At times, combat in Soulstice just asks too much. Still, it feels good to survive a draining battle and see a Platinum badge appear at the end—OK, a Gold; fine, a Silver; yes, a Bronze. This lousy result grew more common for me as the systems piled up in Soulstice, from the super-powered Unity moves to the temporarily devastating Rapture State. These advanced powers practically become essential later in the game, but it does a poor job of teaching them. The tutorial pop-ups lack detail, and the skill trees are full of confusing upgrades. (Image credit: Modus Games) For the longest time I had no earthly idea how to pull off Unity moves. Turns out they're actually finishers. You first have to build up the Unity meter (by mixing Briar and Lute's attacks, without getting hit), before executing certain special moves—the finishers will then follow on. But it's not clear at all, and I only figured it out by poring over the help menu and Lute's (four) skill trees. As those are bafflingly rife with options, I'm grateful for Briar's veritable shrub of a tree, which is just a list of weapon combos and improvements. Sometimes less is more, you know? Bosh—I've just unlocked a new move for the whip. City limits There's a lot of platforming in Soulstice, and never at consistent camera angles. Outside of battle, this is a far simpler game. You follow the winding paths through the dim and colourless city, sometimes ducking down alleys to smash up crystals for currency, or to pick up the occasional upgrade nugget. Lute's multi-purpose energy fields also allow Briar to bypass traps, destroy crystal gates and jump on ghostly platforms – none of which works as well as you'd hope. It's primarily the fault of the camera, which is a throwback to the early days of Devil May Cry. When not in combat, there are fixed camera angles that really do frame the city in gorgeous ways but make it difficult to, ah, actually play the game. Take the platforming, for example. There's a lot of platforming in Soulstice, and never at consistent camera angles. Scenes are framed for style rather than utility much of the time, making it hard to judge the distance of adjacent platforms. I typically use the character's shadow as a guide when 3D games insist on platforming sections, but Soulstice's world is so gloomy that isn't really an option. This shaky sense of depth perception is a persistent issue, not just in the platforming, but sometimes during battle, or when you're smashing up crystals in mid-air. Am I beside them or not? It can be so hard to tell. Miss and you have to clamber back up for another go. (Image credit: Modus Games) Thankfully, battles (usually) grant you full control of the camera, zooming in and letting you swivel the damn thing around at your leisure. These moments of freedom are a balm—but then you win, unfortunately, and are clumsily thrown back to the primary, floating perspective. Camera obscura I found this switching always disorientating, always frustrating, as if I was being forced to admire all the work that has gone into the environment. Sure, sometimes it's beautiful, as sunlight filters over a smouldering skyline, but I'd rather have a consistent viewpoint that lets me progress without having to constantly find my bearings. The world rings false nearly everywhere you go, with explorable spaces that don't line up with what you're seeing in front of you. You're forever butting up against invisible walls—oh, you can't go down that alley, or jump on that roof, or that platform, and only certain (glowing) crates can be destroyed. There's an art to hiding invisible walls, but they're in plain view in Soulstice, and it robs the game of any sense of immersion. More than anything, what Soulstice feels like is a forgotten Xbox 360 action game: a relic from the halcyon days of AA-gaming. Games like Dark Sector and Dead to Rights: Retribution—games that brought some fresh ideas and were decidedly alright at the time, but are maybe less so over a decade down the line. Soulstice similarly has some good ideas—Lute does much to disturb the sacred formula of DMC-style games—but is similarly rough around the edges, with a yoyo-ing camera that constantly undermines the game. For me, the monotonous setting and level design ultimately drained my enthusiasm, but if you can look past its issues, this is a solid Devil May Cry-like, featuring chunky and challenging combat, and there aren't enough of those to go around. View the full article

The best microphone for gaming and streaming makes you sound professional. Not only does the best microphone sound crystal clear, but it's easy to use too—you won't need an audio engineering degree to get the most absolute best from it. Plug it in, turn it on, and you're good to start capturing your beautiful vocals. Easy. Don't know your XLR from your elbow? Don't worry, I've tested dozens of microphones and picked out the best ones for every situation. Shopping for a microphone online is an exhausting experience. To help, I've recorded test audio samples of my favorite microphones so you can hear the differences and help narrow down your choice. USB microphones are the go-to option for the vast majority of at-home streaming and podcasting. Audiophiles will want to go down the XLR route because of its sound quality and flexibility; however, good XLR mics are often way more expensive than your typical USB mic. XLRs also require an external audio interface to connect to your PC, like the Focusrite Scarlett Solo, which isn't cheap. The good news is we've seen a rise in budget microphones under $100 recently. They offer excellent recording quality at a fraction of the cost. The only real downside is that they lack features like mute buttons and gain controls. But when you can pick them up for as little as $40, it can well be worth the sacrifice. Below we've put together a list of the best microphones we've tested for different budgets and uses. Best microphone for streaming Hear these microphones for yourself using the Soundcloud embed below. Image 1 of 4 (Image credit: FUTURE)Shure MV7 Podcast Microphone Image 2 of 4 (Image credit: FUTURE)Shure MV7 Podcast Microphone Image 3 of 4 (Image credit: FUTURE)Shure MV7 Podcast Microphone Image 4 of 4 (Image credit: Shure)Shure MV7 Podcast Microphone 1. Shure MV7 Podcast Microphone The best hybrid USB/XLR microphone Polar patterns: Unidirectional Cardioid Polar Pattern | Connectivity: USB, XLR | Recording Sample Rate: 24-bit 48kHz | Frequency response: 20–20,000Hz | Features: Integrated Touch Panel for Mic Controls Excellent vocal clarityUSB/XLR comboVersatileEasy use softwareNo mic stand includedUses Micro-USB rather than Type-C If you're a musician or want your voice to sound the way it's meant to be heard, the MV7 is an easy recommendation. If you don't mind reaching deep into your pocketbook, that is. There are affordable mics on this list, but it is still absolutely true that if you want the best, you will have to pay for it. You don't really need to be much of a sound person to know Shure makes killer audio gear. Chances are, you've seen some of your favorite musicians rock a Shure microphone on stage or in the studio. Shure has been providing pro-grade microphones for an age, and the MV 7 Podcast microphone is its attempt to bring its high-end sound to content creators. The USB Type-B Micro/XLR connection will be the big draw for a lot of folks. It gives you the best of both worlds by providing the adaptability of XLR (especially if you use professional audio interfaces) and the versatility of Type-B Micro inputs for recording on the go with laptops and mobile devices. The Shure MV7 is a great-sounding XLR/USB hybrid microphone that'll give veteran podcasters and streamers a serious upgrade. Shure's first hybrid XLR/USB microphone manages to provide pro-grade sound with minimal set-up and expertise. While it is more expensive than your average premium mic, its versatility completely justifies the cost. It's hands-down one of the best microphones I've used for recording. The mic itself does an excellent job of isolating my voice while ignoring the loud hums of my desktop PC, air conditioner, and any other ambient nonsense I have going on in the background. You will notice some pretty loud plosives, so it might be best to invest in a shield to block your breath from the mic, or not having the mic directly in front of you when recording. The MV7 takes advantage of the ShurePlus Motiv software, which lets you tweak and fine-tune your sound with relative ease. From here, you can mess with things like adding compression to your voice, adjust your EQ, and add a limiter. One of the more understated features is the Auto Level Mode. We've seen similar features in other mics, such as the Elgato Wave 3, which basically keeps you from hitting the red. That's especially useful if your content involves lots of shouting or singing or both. So now you don't have to worry about bursting your viewers' eardrums when a jump scare gets the better of you in Phasmophobia. Also, nice if you're a bit of an audio novice, and your recording area isn't acoustically sound. The Shure MV7 is a great-sounding XLR/USB hybrid microphone that'll give veteran podcasters and streamers a serious upgrade, especially if you're looking for a microphone that'll plug into a USB audio interface at first and later can be useful in upgrading to an all XLR setup down the line. It's for content creators who want to bring their production values to pro-grade levels but don't want to or can't spend that pro-grade money. $250 for a hybrid USB/XLR microphone isn't that big of an ask when you consider the flexibility of the Shure MV7. Read our full Shure MV7 Podcast Microphone review. Image 1 of 5 (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 5 (Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 5 (Image credit: Future)Image 4 of 5 HyperX SoloCast (Image credit: Blue)Image 5 of 5 (Image credit: blue)Blue Yeti X 2. Blue Yeti X The best microphone for podcasting Polar patterns: Cardioid, Bidirectional, Omnidirectional, Stereo | Connectivity: USB | Recording Sample Rate: 24-bit 48kHz | Frequency response: 20–20,000Hz | Features: Blue Voice, zero-latency monitoring, Smart knob controls Best sounding Blue microphoneLED front panelBlue Vo!ce software offers great flexiblityLow mic standBetter with a mic armDelicate ports There's a reason Blue microphones tend always to have a place on our list. The Blue Yeti X is a hybrid model of the Nano and the original Yeti, an amalgam of the better bits of both. Even as new microphones enter the space, the Yeti X continues to be a reliable recommendation for anyone looking for a great-sounding mic. The sturdy microphone now has an LED-lit front panel that usefully monitors your volume levels at a glance, and the sound quality remains top-notch. This 'Smart Knob' functionality also allows on-the-go tweaks to gain, headphone levels (while using the built-in 3.5mm jack), and blend modes. That means you can adjust how loud you are in your headphones, how loud you sound to others and the volume of your headphones all from the front of the unit. It's clear why this is still the mic of choice of many professional podcasters and streamers. On the back of the Yeti X there's a single button that switches through the four pickup patterns on offer. There's cardioid for recording and streaming, omnidirectional for big calls with lots of people, bi-directional for two-person podcasts, and stereo for... well ASMR, apparently. When it comes to microphone quality, it's clear why this is still the mic of choice of many professional podcasters and streamers. It's crisp and clear, with an impressively wide range that feels like it represents your voice clearly in recordings. The downside to this mic is it's quite chunky, but the included stand does a great job of keeping it stable on a desk. It also does okay at keeping vibrations from shooting through it and into the microphone, causing annoying feedback. Your best bet to reduce this further will be a boom arm with some form of suspension, however. Blue recently released a World of Warcraft Edition Yeti X, too. That's the one pictured above from our testing. It offers the same features as the Yeti X, except it's rocking a nice black with gold trim design along with some neat fantasy glyphs all over the mic. More importantly, it lets you choose to voice to various Warcraft races like gnomes, imps, and of course, Orcs. If that's not your thing, you can find the Yeti X in a range of colors to suit most PC builds and desktops. Image 1 of 4 (Image credit: Hyperx)Image 2 of 4 (Image credit: Hyperx)Image 3 of 4 (Image credit: Hyperx)Image 4 of 4 (Image credit: HyperX) 3. HyperX SoloCast The best budget microphone Polar patterns: Unidirectional Cardioid Polar Pattern | Connectivity: USB | Recording Sample Rate: 16-bit 48kHz | Frequency response: 20–20,000Hz | Features: Tap-to-mute sensor Sounds nearly identical to QuadCast MicGreat pricePortable designNo gain control on mic, which makes this one fiddler than some for small tweaks The HyperX SoloCast is the best of a slew of new budget-oriented microphones. This new breed delivers their more expensive siblings' audio performance, prioritizing the sound over extensive feature sets for a frankly fantastic price. For less than $60 you're really paying for the portability and ease of use. As far as sound quality is concerned, you usually get what you pay for, but the HyperX SoloCast is hoping to prove that a microphone that's cheaper in price doesn't have to mean cheap sound. With the JLab Audio Talk GO and Razer Seiren Mini all offering great sound, the HyperX SoloCast stands above the others because it gives us the audio chops of its pricier QuadCast S compatriot. That's a fantastic microphone in its own right, and we can bear losing the full list of features and range of polar patterns when we want an easy plug-and-play mic. The SoloCast has just the single cardioid polar pattern. The SoloCast seems to take a 'sound over anything else' approach, much like its wildly successful HyperX Cloud gaming headsets have. HyperX has stripped down one of its QuadCast mics down to the bare essentials. I reviewed the $160 HyperX Quadcast S and fell in love with its sound and the number of smart quality-of-life features on the microphone, which set it apart from other mics. When comparing the HyperX SoloCast and QuadCast S, the sound quality is scarily similar when using cardioid mode across both. Both mics have a 20Hz-20kHz frequency response and a 16-bit sample rate. So the quality of sound is there if that's your chief concern. Unlike its namesake, the SoloCast has just the single cardioid polar pattern as opposed to the four that are offered on the QuadCast mics. The features HyperX has sacrificed to the audio gods are a headphone jack, gain control, shock mount, internal pop filter, and, let's not forget, that fun-looking RGB lighting. All gone with the simplistic SoloCast. The gain control is particularly missed, as not being able to regulate the gain on the fly with the SoloCast is a pain since the mic sounded just a bit too hot out of the box. This means any changes you need to do have to be done on the software level in your streaming apps, such as OBS or XSplit. But if you're just after higher-quality audio and don't want to mess around with gain settings mid-stream, the SoloCast could be all the mic you need. Read our full HyperX SoloCast review. Image 1 of 3 HyperX SoloCast (Image credit: RODE)Image 2 of 3 (Image credit: RODE)Image 3 of 3 HyperX SoloCast (Image credit: RODE) 4. Rode NT-USB-Mini The best microphone for entry-level content creators Polar patterns: Cardioid | Connectivity: USB | Recording sample rate: 24-bit 48kHz | Frequency response: 20–20,000Hz | Features: Zero-latency monitoring, mute & headphone volume controls Great SoundSimple Compact DesignDecent SoftwareSoftware only works with NT MinisPicks up background noise As tiny mics go, the Rode NT-USB-Mini is an impressive offering from Rode. It takes everything I want from a premium mic and shrinks down to something more affordable but still retains the top-tier audio quality we've come to know from Rode. It's a solid-sounding microphone despite its tendency to pick up some background noise. The $100 Rode microphone seems a bit unbelievable, but somehow it's a reality. Years ago, we reviewed the Rode NT-USB; the NT-USB Mini somehow manages to shrink that mic down even further. Now it's a cute little recording cube, but it also offers some subtle, smart design improvements. The first thing you notice is that yes, this thing is tiny. It's just 90mm wide and 141mm tall. Taking cues from other smaller mics like the Razer Seiren Mini, Rode has stripped a lot of the usual features you'd find in the standard mic for a more no-fuss, no-muss design approach. The Mini has a built-in pop filter to deal with your plosives and a neat little detachable magnetic stand that makes for easy traveling. Rode has always been known for its top-tier audio gear. Though the NT-USB does offer some useful features. Zero-latency monitoring mode removes the delay of your voice in playback. That's important because, depending on the type of setup you have, it can be super distracting to hear your own voice a few milliseconds after speaking. This deals with all that rather well. The Rode NT Mini's digital mixer, Rode Connect, allows for up to four Minis (and only Minis) to be plugged into a PC. It may not seem like a big deal, but most people would be shocked to know that trying to get multiple USB mics to work on a single computer is a nightmare. It often confuses your recording software or, worse, makes all the mics share the same track, which makes it near impossible to edit. That's great for podcasts, or streams featuring multiple people, along with being a pretty handy tool for folks who hate dealing with messing with audio settings during a stream. Rode has always been known for its top-tier audio gear. It is often a strong recommendation for anyone looking to upgrade from semi-pro to pro streaming or podcasting status. The cost has always been a sticking point, however, since Rode's gear has always been traditionally skewed towards the serious prosumer. The Mini's $100 price makes it a good choice for anyone looking for a quality microphone that travels well and keeps its traditional Rode durability. From the test recordings, you can hear that the quality of the mic is good, if not better, than more expensive microphones on the market. Read our full Rode NT-USB Mini review. Image 1 of 4 (Image credit: hyperx)Image 2 of 4 (Image credit: hyperx)Image 3 of 4 (Image credit: hyperx)Image 4 of 4 (Image credit: HyperX) 5. HyperX Quadcast S The best microphone with RGB Polar patterns: Cardioid, Bidirectional, Omnidirectional, Stereo | Connectivity: USB | Recording sample rate: 16-bit 48kHz | Frequency response: 20–20,000Hz | Features: Built-in Shockmount Easy to set useTouch-sensitive mute buttonBuilt-in ShockmountCool RGB lightingRGB is not for everyone...... and costly The gamer-centric HyperX Quadcast S is an excellent microphone for the gamer or streamer looking for an easy-to-use, clear-sounding mic. While it doesn't quite match up to the Yeti X in terms of sound quality, the Quadcast S makes up for it in design and feature set. The biggest draw of the Quadcast S is that it's loaded with built-in features that usually end up being pricey add-ons for other streaming microphones. The built-in shock mount prevents the mic from picking up any accidental bumps that happen during a contentious Warzone match or overly active Discord chat. The built-in pop filter is also a nice touch considering I always have issues trying to find the optimal position and distance for my rink-a-dink $7 pop-shield, and it never quite stays where it's supposed to when mounted. The touch-sensitive mute button at the top of the microphone is excellent, too. Often mute buttons and switches make a loud click when recording. This doesn't. The Quadcast S hits the sweet spot of price, sound, and features if you're looking to add something to your live stream. It looks like you're speaking into a lava lamp. Specs-wise, the S is more or less identical to last year's Quadcast, offering the same frequency response of 20Hz-20kHz, bit-rate of 16-bit, three 14mm condensers, and lets you choose between four polar patterns. Though my plosives tended to sound a little more blown out than I'd like, the quality of my voice sounds good. During conference calls, I can be heard clearly with numerous colleagues commenting on how much louder I was than anyone else, which is an easy fix by bringing down the gain. On the software side of things, the HyperX Quadcast S uses its proprietary Ngenuity software to handle all things RGB, and that's pretty much it. I mean, you can adjust things such as the mic level and get a description of each polar pattern. But other than that it's pretty light in options when compared to the Elgato Wave: 3, which comes with a digital audio mixer, or Blue Yeti X's Blu! Voice software that lets you apply audio filters. It still retains its sports-talk radio broadcast mic look, which isn't for everyone, but I think it has a certain charm. I love the dynamic RGB lighting, anyways. It looks like you're speaking into a lava lamp. While the RGB is impressive and fun, it doesn't merit an upgrade for existing Quadcast owners, since the microphone is the same from last year except for the lightshow. But if you're choosing between the Quadcast and Quadcast S, the dynamic RGB is neat and loud, which could always deter anyone after something more low-key. If that's the case, the Quadcast is probably more your style (and you'll save around $20). Read our full HyperX Quadcast S review. Image 1 of 3 (Image credit: Elgato)Image 2 of 3 (Image credit: Elgato)Image 3 of 3 (Image credit: Elgato) 6. Elgato Wave 3 Best microphone for streaming and gaming Polar patterns: Cardioid | Connectivity: USB | Recording sample rate: 24-bit 96kHz | Frequency response: 70–20,000Hz | Features: Capacitive Mute, Volume control, Gain Control Clear audioDigital mixerSimple mountingSingle polar pattern Elgato's debut microphone is aimed at streamers looking to add quality audio to their streams with minimum fuss. The Wave 3 is a feature-packed 96kHz microphone that sounds incredible, is easy to use, and is compatible with most desk boom arms. The Wave 3's design finds an excellent middle ground between looking modern while still hitting the same aesthetic notes as an old-timey microphone. It's a look that's grown on me over time. But what I especially like is how easy it is to set up on even the cheap $18 boom scissor arm I have mounted on my desk. An included boom arm adapter didn't require me to order any special shock mounts or anything. The capacitive mute button is also a nice touch. The single cardioid polar pattern ultimately limits the Wave 3's versatility. Elgato's custom software, Wave Link, works as a digital audio mixer that controls all aspects of your stream from one place. You can put up to 8 channels for game audio, multiple microphones, even game chat. Xsplit and OBS users can add Wave Link as a master audio source, which is a lifesaver. Most streamers will tell you that the most annoying and unpredictable part of a stream is always the audio. Handily, the Elgato's Clipguard tech automatically adjusts your levels from ever hitting red. Clipguard "automatically soothes overdriven soundwaves before sending them to your computer." This means the microphone will automatically adjust your levels as you stream. So, even if you're blowing out your microphone in real-time because you're having a screaming fit after a BS death in Fortnite, the Wave: 3 will do its best to make sure your loud screeches of defeat don't blow out anyone listening to your stream. Most importantly, the Wave: 3 sounds pretty great. Even with the gain set on the lower end, you can listen to every little detail in my post-date night hungover voice, right down to the smacking of my dry lips. I should drink more water. My party members in Call of Duty Warzone said I sounded pretty clear along with my coworkers during conference calls, though I will recommend again keeping your gain low, so it doesn't pick up the hum of your PC while you're trying to talk to teammates. The single cardioid polar pattern ultimately limits the Wave 3's versatility, but this is a decent option if you're looking for an easy-to-use microphone for your next stream. Read our full Elgato Wave 3 review. Best gaming headset | Best gaming monitor | Best HDMI cable for gaming Best computer speakers | Best SSD for gaming | Best CPU for gaming Image 1 of 3 (Image credit: RAZER)Image 2 of 3 (Image credit: Razer)Image 3 of 3 (Image credit: Razer) 7. Razer Seiren Mini The best tiny microphone Polar patterns: Super-Cardioid | Recording Sample Rate: 16-bit 48kHz | Connectivity: USB | Frequency response: 20–20,000Hz | Features: Tap-to-mute sensor Pill-shaped designGreat soundAll you need on a budgetBare minimum features More gear for streaming Best webcams: be seen while you get your stream on Best capture cards: lessen the load with a dedicated card The Razer Seiren Mini is one of those obnoxiously adorable pieces of hardware I instantly want to put on my desk. Its stylish design and color variety give the Mini the personality lacking in some of our other choices on this list. And it sounds great, to boot. Much like the HyperX SoloCast, many features were stripped away from the Seiren Mini to keep the sound quality up and the cost down. There's no volume or gain dial. Hell, there isn't even a mute button. What the Mini lacks in features, it makes up in price and sound. The Seiren Mini's adorable pill-shaped design comes in your choice of Black, Mercury White, and Quartz (pink). Out of the budget mics out there, the Seiren Mini's design is the most eye-catching. I was sent a Mercury White microphone, and it's one of my favorite-looking pieces of hardware I've gotten this year and pretty darn cute. Razer has been slowly adopting some design cues from Apple, especially when it comes to its gaming laptops. The Seiren Mini is a perfect entry for Razer's already reliable line of microphones. As you can hear above, the Seiren Mini sounds just as good as Razer's more expensive Seiren offerings. The Mini's super-cardioid polar pattern does a better job of tapering down background noise to focus on what's in front of it, though it does sound a bit softer than the Seiren Emote at its default gain. HyperX SoloCast sounds slightly better than the Mini but not much, which is an impressive feat on its own considering how much the SoloCast has impressed us. The Seiren Mini is a perfect entry for Razer's already reliable line of microphones. Its ultra-portable size and pricing give streamers another good option for a budget microphone. The lack of a mute control and some other quality-of-life features will take some getting used to for any more pro folks, but they'll be aiming their sights higher up the product stack anyways. Some people won't get over the fact that there's no mute button, and the proprietary micro-USB is a bit of a pain. I would have loved to have seen a ⅝ to ⅜ thread adapter so that it'll mount on most boom arms, too. Even so, the Seiren Mini makes for an excellent starter mic for budding podcasters and streamers. Read our full Razer Seiren Mini review. Image 1 of 3 (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 3 (Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 3 (Image credit: Future) 8. Thronmax MDrill One Pro Best sub-$100 mic Polar patterns: Cardioid, Stereo, 360 Bi-Directional, Omni-Directional | Recording Sample Rate: 24-bit 96kHz | Connectivity: USB, 3.5mm jack | Frequency response: 20–20,000Hz | Features: Volume, gain, mute, pattern, lighting Excellent no-fuss audioBeautiful design and solid buildOn-mic level monitoringNo software neededNo control over sidetoneBest audio requires a boom arm The Thronmax MDrill One Pro is the most surprising microphone I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing in the past few years. The $90 Thronmax MDrill One Pro is a USB Condenser microphone that works with Windows, Linux, MacOS, and PlayStation 4 and 5. It's a plug-and-play mic, and I can’t stress enough how happy I am that I don't need to use some overly complex software to get the most out of it—I’m looking at you Razer Seiren V2 Pro. Thronmax says its Vertigain technology increases clarity and quality by 10% over other condenser mics. While I can't really substantiate that with any scientific accuracy, I can say that this mic sounds incredibly rich and bodied. I’ve never sounded sexier and when I sent my wife a little middle-of-the-day voice note over WhatsApp I’ve never sounded sexier and when I sent my wife a little middle-of-the-day voice note over WhatsApp, she was completely blown away. Extra brownie points for me. The mic captures voices with a warm tone, and absolutely no hiss or distortion. I did a bunch of testing and found the best distance is about a foot away from your mouth, so a boom arm might be a good purchase with this one—you can easily swivel the mic in this stand to get the optimum position though. There's gain control on the mic itself, but that didn't do too much to improve my voice, it just picked up more background environmental sound. Still, I love that I didn’t need to fiddle around with software to get this good sound. The excellent audio is a result of the Vertigain tech that uses three internal condensers to pick up sound waves without being scattered by typical microphone mesh. There's also a built-in shock mount that does a fantastic job dampening unwanted desk vibrations. It also helps that the mic has a high sample rate up to 24-Bit/96KHz which is great for professional application. The MDrill One Pro is not too bad looking either with its aluminum cylinder painted in gunmetal gray and held up by a hefty desk stand. All the controls for the mic are on the body with volume and gain dials on the back. It also includes RGB mood lighting; you can choose any of seven colors for the ring and while it isn't bright enough to bathe your desk in RGB. I really appreciated that the mute button has a bright backlight that stays bright green when on and angry red as if saying, "you're on mute." Oh, and the headphone jack means you can monitor your audio in real-time as well. At under $100, the Thronmax MDrill One Pro is a no-brainer for anyone looking for a quality mic. It’s cheaper than most of our favorite microphones besides the flashy HyperX Quadcast S, it's possibly one of the most handsome. It sounds amazing and just works without any extra software shenanigans. This is a fantastic and fun microphone that just works and I heartily recommend it. Read our full Thronmax MDrill One Pro review. Image 1 of 3 (Image credit: Scarlett)Image 2 of 3 (Image credit: Scarlett)Image 3 of 3 (Image credit: Scarlett) 9. Focusrite Scarlett 2I2 Studio Bundle Best XLR and audio interface bundle Polar patterns: Cardioid | Recording Sample Rate: 24-bit 192kHz | Connectivity: USB Type-C | Frequency response: 50–20,000Hz | Features: Scarlett CM25 MkIII Microphone, Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen interface,Scarlett HP60 MkIII Fantastic mic qualityEverything you need for XLRGreat for streamingEasy to useMakes mixing easyNo microphone stand includedHeadphones feel cheaper than the rest of the bundle Think of the Scarlett Solo Studio 3rd Gen bundle as the perfect XLR microphone starter kit for under $300. The bundle includes Scarlett 2i2 3rd Gen Interface, a CM25 MkIII condenser microphone, HP60 MkIII closed-back headphones, one XLR cable, and a Type-C to Type-A USB cable to connect it to your PC. Everything you need to start podcasting or streaming. XLR mics are known for their sound quality but require a USB interface like the Solo Studio, which could be a bit pricey. The $280 is an incredibly great price for all of that. Focusrite isn't some recording nobody, either. It's a well-respected brand in professional audio with a legacy of quality products. From the products I've experienced in the past, I can see why: they're simple to operate yet technically effective for high-grade audio production. That still holds true for the 3rd generation 2i2 included in the Studio bundle, which now runs entirely on a single USB Type-C to Type-A cable, even power. Its interface is brighter, cleaner, and more easily navigated than previous models. As much a great condenser microphone as you could want from a setup at this price. The 2i2 is a twin-preamp design, meaning you can run two microphones through this single interface for an easy podcast setup. Each input offers individual gain control, which is handy if you have a loud friend on the other end of the mic, but also great if you want to hook up an instrument on one input and record your silky voice box on the other. There's an INST switch for each input, which tweaks a couple of key specs for use with instruments, though what might be of greater interest to streamers and podcasters is the AIR switch. The AIR switch, once enabled, bolsters the high frequencies by recreating the ISA 110 mic preamp found on the Focusrite Studio Console. That might not mean much to you, but the end result is it helps your voice pop just that little bit more. I also find it helps with clarity in the final recording. Regarding microphone quality, the CM25 MkIII is as much a great condenser microphone as you could want from a setup at this price. It's functional and straightforward, and its all-metal construction gives me a lot of faith in its longevity. The tone is balanced and crisp, though you will need to be closer to the mic than you might otherwise with some popular USB microphones to get the tone you're looking for. That might suit you well if you're competing with ambient noise, though you might have to boost the gain a little higher than you'd like if you need to keep the mic further away from your face. The 2i2's twin-preamp design lets you run two microphones through a single interface. This has always been a pain point for anyone who tried to plug more than one USB mic into a PC. That value alone is worth the price of admission, but there's a lot more to the 2i2 that we love. Read our full Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Studio Bundle review. Best microphone FAQ What is a polar pattern and which do I need for gaming?A polar pattern determines how much and from which direction an audio signal will be picked up by a microphone. For gaming, you'll mostly want a pattern that picks up sound directly in front of the microphone (you) and not much else from anywhere else (the environment). These are the most common polar patterns: Cardioid: Records in front of the microphone. Perfect for voice-over, vocals, and streaming. Bidirectional: Captures audio in front of and behind the mic. Ideal for one-on-one interviews. Omnidirectional: Picks up sound from every direction. Perfect for round-table interviews, but not so much for gaming or streaming. Stereo: Perfect for ASMR recordings. YouTube 'ASMR' if you want the best example because I couldn't do it just justice. Do I need a microphone boom arm, shock mount, or pop filter?Everyone’s desk and setup requirements are different, so a mic must perform well under a handful of different scenarios. Suppose a microphone sounds better than all the rest combined but only when it’s on a suspended mic stand with a shock mount positioned precisely six inches away from your mouth. In that case, it’s not necessarily a reliable option to recommend. Saying that, however, there are some valuable bits you might want to pick up if you're looking to clear away clutter or build a more professional setup. A boom arm certainly helps achieve both of those things. These almost always clip onto the side of your desk and are super handy to keep your mic close to hand while off your desk, saving precious real estate. While a pop filter will help reduce plosives, the sound of air escaping violently from your mouth and towards the mic, from making their way over to airwaves to your listeners' unfortunate ear holes. It'll also stop your microphone from getting grubby when you're up-close and sounding sibilants. A shock mount is perhaps the least necessary of the lot, at least for gaming. These prevent vibrations from traveling through your microphone stand or boom arm and into the microphone, which can come through as rustle, thuds, or otherwise unwanted noise. Certainly a must-have for music studios, unless you are one to slam your way through a match of Apex Legends, you might be okay without. What's is a good sample and bit rate for a microphone?Sample rate is the number of samples of audio recorded every second. 48kHz is the most common sample rate you'll see on many microphones, and you shouldn't be any lower than that. Bit rate is the speed at which a digital and audio file gets encoded. Without trekking too much into audiophile territory, 16 bit and above is considered a good bit rate. What connector do I need? XLR or USB?USB microphones are among the most prevalent for gaming and streaming fare, but you'll sometimes see the more widely used professional connection standard, XLR, make its way into high-end units. Hybrid USB/XLR can offer you the best of both worlds but tend to be more expensive. USB is the simpler of the two, and if you're looking for plug-and-play ease, then it's your best bet. However, that simplicity comes at a cost. It's difficult to record more than one USB microphone simultaneously, and monitoring and adjusting the mix will be done digitally. With the added complexity of XLR comes a great deal of flexibility that you otherwise wouldn't be able to access without even more complex digital mixing software on a USB mic. You can mix, adjust, and monitor an XLR mic before it ever touches your PC, and that's a massive boon if you're looking for a more complex setup. The downside to XLR is that they will require additional equipment to connect to your PC. It is nothing wild, just something to interface between the mic and PC, such as the many devices by that name, which often comes with mixing functionality built-in. How much should I spend on a microphone?And as PC gamers, we will, of course, always try to get the best we can for less. It’s easy to get lost in the deep dark woods that are the world of audio and even easier to spend a ludicrous amount of time and money chasing the best possible setup. But we don’t need studio-ready equipment, so the price is essential when looking at how good a particular mic is. Think about your use case; if you're only using a microphone to chat with your teammates, chances are, you don't need a microphone with half a dozen polar patterns and have a podcast studio level of quality. Don't spend money on features you don't need or use. Some $50 or fewer microphones are more than adequate and great for gaming. We picked out the best budget microphones that we have tested this year if you need some guidance. View the full article

The best G-Sync monitors make for a silky smooth gaming experience. This is because a G-Sync monitor will synchronize the frame rate to the output of your graphics card. The end result is a tear-free experience. This is just as great for high frame rates as it is for sub-60fps too, so you're covered for whatever games you love to play. But what is G-Sync tech? For the uninitiated, G-Sync is Nvidia's name for its frame synchronization technology. It makes use of dedicated silicon in the monitor so it can match your GPU's output to your gaming monitor's refresh rate, for the smoothest gaming experience. It removes a whole load of guesswork in getting the display settings right, especially if you have an older GPU. The catch is that the tech only works with Nvidia GPUs. G-Sync Ready or G-Sync Compatible monitors can be found, too. They're often cheaper, but the monitors themselves don't have dedicated G-Sync silicon inside them. You can still use G-Sync, but for best results, you want a screen that's certified by Nvidia. Here's where things might get a little complicated: G-Sync features do work with AMD's adaptive FreeSync tech monitors, but not the other way around. If you have an AMD graphics card, you'll for sure want to check out the best FreeSync monitors along with checking our overall best gaming monitors for any budget. Best G-Sync monitors Image 1 of 5 (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 5 (Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 5 (Image credit: Future)Image 4 of 5 (Image credit: Future)Image 5 of 5 (Image credit: Asus) 1. Asus ROG Swift PG32UQX The best G-Sync Ultimate gaming monitor Screen size: 32-inch | Panel type: IPS | Aspect ratio: 16:9 | Resolution: 3840 x 2160 | Response time: 4ms | Refresh rate: 144Hz | G-Sync tier: G-Sync Ultimate Brilliant 4K 144Hz Mini-LED panelExceptional picture & color qualityImpressive HDR 14001152 LED dimming zonesInsane priceNo HDMI 2.1Some haloing Brand new gaming monitor technology comes at a premium, and the Asus ROG Swift PH32UQX proves that point. As the world's first Mini-LED gaming monitor, it sets a precedent for both performance and price, delivering extremely impressive specs for an extreme price tag. The PG32UQX is easily one of the best panels I've used to date. The colors are punchy yet accurate and that insane brightness earns the PG32UQX the auspicious DisplayHDR 1400 certification. However, since these are LED zones and not self-lit pixels like an OLED, you won't get those insane blacks for infinite contrast. Mini-LED monitors do offer full-array local dimming (FALD) for precise backlight control, though. What that means for the picture we see is extreme contrast from impressive blacks to extremely bright DisplayHDR 1400 spec. If you want to brag with the best G-Sync gaming monitor around, this is the way to do it. Beyond brightness, you can also expect color range to boast about. The colors burst with life and the dark hides ominous foes for you to slay in your quest for the newest loot. Of course, at 4K you'll need the equivalent of one of the best gaming PCs to get 144fps. I did get Doom Eternal to cross the 144Hz barrier in 4K HDR using an RTX 3080 and boy was it marvelous. That rapid 144Hz refresh rate is accompanied by HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4 ports, along with two USB 3.1 ports join the action, with a further USB 2.0 sitting on the top of the monitor to connect your webcam. And of course, we expected no less than excellent 4K resolution, especially at this price. As for its G-Sync credentials, the ROG Swift delivers G-Sync Ultimate, which is everything a dedicated G-Sync chip can offer in terms of silky smooth performance and support for HDR. So if you want to brag with the best G-Sync gaming monitor around, this is the way to do it. However, scroll on for some more realistic recommendations in terms of price. Read our full Asus ROG Swift PG32UQX review. Image 1 of 7 (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 7 (Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 7 (Image credit: Future)Image 4 of 7 (Image credit: Future)Image 5 of 7 (Image credit: Future)Image 6 of 7 (Image credit: Alienware, Dell)Image 7 of 7 (Image credit: Alienware, Dell) 2. Alienware 34 QD-OLED (AW3423DW) The best ultrawide G-Sync Ultimate monitor Screen size: 34-inch | Panel type: IPS | Aspect ratio: 21:9 | Resolution: 3440 x 1440 | Response time: 0.1ms | Refresh rate: 175Hz | G-Sync tier: G-Sync Ultimate Fabulous contrast and coloursStupendous pixel responseGenuine HDR capabilityNot a great all-purpose panelLatency isn't a strong pointNo HDMI 2.1 OLED has truly arrived on PC, and in ultrawide format no less. Alienware's 34 QD-OLED is one of very few gaming monitors to receive such a stellar score from us, and it's no surprise. Dell has nailed the OLED panel in this screen and it's absolutely gorgeous for PC gaming. Although this monitor isn’t perfect, it is dramatically better than any LCD-based monitor by several gaming-critical metrics. And it’s a genuine thrill to use. What that 34-inch, 21:9 panel can deliver in either of its HDR modes—HDR 400 True Black or HDR Peak 1000—is nothing short of exceptional. The 3440 x 1440 native resolution image it produces across that gentle 1800R curve is punchy and vibrant. With 99.3% coverage of the demanding DCI-P3 colour space, and fully 1,000 nits brightness, it makes a good go, though that brightness level can only be achieved on a small portion of the panel. Still, there’s so much depth, saturation and clarity to the in-game image thanks to that per-pixel lighting, but this OLED screen needs to be in HDR mode to do its thing. And that applies to SDR content, too. HDR Peak 1000 mode enables that maximum 1,000 nit performance in small areas of the panel but actually looks less vibrant and punchy most of the time. The Alienware 34 QD-OLED's response time is absurdly quick at 0.1ms. HDR 400 True Black mode generally gives the best results, after you jump into the Windows Display Settings menu and crank the SDR brightness up, it looks much more zingy. Burn-in is the great fear and that leads to a few quirks. For starters, you’ll occasionally notice the entire image shifting by a pixel or two. The panel is actually overprovisioned with pixels by about 20 in both axes, providing plenty of leeway. It’s a little like the overprovisioning of memory cells in an SSD and it allows Alienware to prevent static elements from “burning” into the display over time. Latency is also traditionally a weak point for OLED, and while we didn’t sense any subjective issue with this 175Hz monitor, there’s little doubt that if your gaming fun and success hinges on having the lowest possible latency, there are faster screens available. You can only achieve the full 175Hz with the single DisplayPort input, too. The Alienware 34 QD-OLED's response time is absurdly quick at 0.1ms, and it cruised through our monitor testing suite. You really notice that speed in-game, too. There's no HDMI 2.1 on this panel, however. So it's probably not the best fit for console gaming as a result. But this is PC Gamer, and if you're going to hook your PC up to a high-end gaming monitor, we recommend it be this one. Read our full Alienware 34 QD-OLED (AW3423DW) review. Image 1 of 5 (Image credit: LG )Image 2 of 5 (Image credit: LG)Image 3 of 5 (Image credit: LG)Image 4 of 5 (Image credit: LG)Image 5 of 5 (Image credit: LG) 3. LG 27GN950-B The best G-Sync Compatible 4K monitor Screen size: 27-inch | Panel type: Nano IPS | Aspect ratio: 16:9 | Resolution: 3840 x 2160 | Response time: 1ms | Refresh rate: 144Hz | G-Sync tier: G-Sync Compatible Bright vivid colorsG-Sync/FreeSync compatibleExcellent response time for a 4K monitorOversaturated sRGB mode 4K gaming is a premium endeavor. You need a colossal amount of rendering power to hit decent frame rates at such a high resolution. But if you're rocking a top-shelf graphics card, like an RTX 3080, RTX 3090, or RX 6800 XT then this dream can be a reality, at last. While the LG 27GN950-B is a fantastic gaming panel, it's also infuriatingly flawed. The LG UltraGear is the first 4K, Nano IPS, gaming monitor with 1ms response times, that'll properly show off your superpowered GPU. Coming in with Nvidia G-Sync and AMD’s FreeSync adaptive refresh compatibility, this slick slim-bezel design even offers LG’s Sphere Lighting 2.0 RGB visual theatrics. And combined with the crazy-sharp detail that comes with the 4K pixel grid, that buttery smooth 144Hz is pretty special. The color fidelity of the NanoIPS panel is outstanding. While it does suffer with a little characteristic IPS glow. It appears mostly at the screen extremities when you’re spying darker game scenes, but isn't an issue most of the time. The HDR is a little disappointing as, frankly, 16 edge-lit local dimming zones do not a true HDR panel make. What is most impressive, however, is the Nano IPS tech that offers a wider color gamut and stellar viewing angles. And the color fidelity of the NanoIPS panel is outstanding. The LG UltraGear 27GN950-B bags you a terrific panel with exquisite IPS image quality. Despite the lesser HDR capabilities, it also nets beautiful colors and contrast for your games too. G-Sync offers stable pictures and smoothness, and the speedy refresh rate and response times back this up too. And while the lack of HDMI 2.1 and USB Type-C is a little limiting, especially looking forward, right now it's one of the best monitors going. Read our full LG Ultragear 27GN950 review. Image 1 of 3 (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 3 (Image credit: MSI)Image 3 of 3 (Image credit: MSI) 4. MSI Optix MPG321UR A great G-Sync Compatible 4K monitor Screen size: 32-inch | Panel type: IPS | Aspect ratio: 16:9 | Resolution: 3840 x 2160 | Response time: 4ms | Refresh rate: 144Hz | G-Sync tier: G-Sync Compatible 4K IPS at 144Hz1ms GTG response rate97% DCI-P3 colorBuilt-in KVMExpensive in some regionsSaturated gaming presets The MSI Optix MPG321UR is kitted out for high-speed 4K gaming, and it absolutely delivers. Despite the price point this monitor doesn’t have a physical G-Sync chip, it is officially certified and has been tested by Nvidia to hit the necessary standards for G-Sync compatibility. It does also offer FreeSync Premium Pro certification, as well as DCI-P3 RGB color space and sRGB. That makes this a versatile piece of kit, and that 3840 x 2160 resolution is enough to prevent any pixelation across this generous, 32-inch screen. The 16:9 panel doesn't curve, but does offer a professional-level, sub 1ms grey-to-grey (GTG) response rate. Sadly, there's been no effort to build in any custom variable overdrive features, so you’ll have to expect you'll get artifacts on fast moving objects. Still, the MSI Optix MPG321UR does come with a 600nit peak brightness, and Vesa HDR 600 certification, alongside 97% DCI-P3 colour reproduction capabilities. All this goes toward an amazingly vibrant screen that's almost accurate enough to be used for professional colour grading purposes. Plus, it's HDMI 2.1 inputs will let you run current console games at their peak 4K 120Hz output settings. The Optix is one of MSI's more recent flagship models, so you know you're getting serious quality and performance. Its panel looks gorgeous, even at high speeds, managing a 1ms GTG response time. Though MSI's Optix is missing a physical G-Sync chip, it'll still run nicely with any modern Nvidia GPU, or AMD card if you happen to have one of those lying around. Read our full MSI OPTIX MPG321UR review. Image 1 of 5 (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 5 (Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 5 (Image credit: Future)Image 4 of 5 (Image credit: Future)Image 5 of 5 (Image credit: Future) 5. Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165 The best G-Sync Compatible 1440p monitor Screen size: 32-inch | Panel type: IPS | Aspect ratio: 16:9 | Resolution: 2560 x 1440 | Response time: 1 ms | Refresh rate: 165 Hz | G-Sync tier: G-Sync Compatible Great all-round image qualityPretty quick and responsiveExcellent build quality“Only” 1440pLimited HDR supportSeriously pricey The Xeneon is Corsair's attempt at breaking into the gaming monitor market. To do that, the company has opted for 32 inches of IPS panel at 1440p resolution. Once again we're looking at a FreeSync Premium monitor that has been certified to work with GeForce cards by Nvidia. It pretty much nails the sweetspot for real-world gaming, what with 4K generating such immense levels of GPU load and ultrawide monitors coming with their own set of limitations. The 2,560 by 1,440 pixel native resolution combined with the 32-inch 16:9 aspect panel proportions translate into sub-100DPI pixel density. That’s not necessarily a major problem in-game. But it does make for chunky pixels in a broader computing context. It‘s punchy, vibrant, and well-calibrated. Here, you're looking at a swanky cast aluminum stand, which adjusts for height, tilt, and swivel, and is a definite cut above the norm for build quality. The OSD menu UI is clearer and more logical than many, too, and those unusually high levels of polish and refinement extend yet further. That sub-3ms response, combined with a 165Hz refresh, means the thing isn't a slouch when it comes to gaming capability, though there are certainly more impressive gaming monitors out there. The two HDMI 2.0 sockets are limited to 144Hz, and the DisplayPort 1.4 interface is predictable enough. But the USB Type-C with power delivery for a single cable connection with charging to a laptop is a nice extra. Or, at least, it would be if the charging power wasn’t limited to a mere 15W, which is barely enough for something like a MacBook Air, let alone a gaming laptop. The core image quality is certainly good, though. It‘s punchy, vibrant, and well-calibrated. And while it's quite pricey for a 1440p model, it delivers all it sets out to with aplomb. On the whole, the Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165 doesn’t truly excel at anything, but it's still a worthy consideration in 2022. Read our full Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165 review. Image 1 of 2 (Image credit: Acer)Image 2 of 2 (Image credit: Acer) 6. Acer Predator XB273K The best bang for buck G-Sync Compatible monitor Screen size: 27-inch | Panel type: IPS | Aspect ratio: 16:9 | Resolution: 3840 x 2160 | Response time: 4ms | Refresh rate: 120Hz (overclocked to 144Hz) | G-Sync tier: G-Sync Compatible Excellent picture qualityGreat for gamingGood menu optionsMinimum-spec HDR Housing Nvidia’s tech alongside a 4K resolution and HDR tech means that this is an absolute beast of a monitor that will give you the best of, well, everything. And by everything, we mean everything. The XB273K’s gaming pedigree is obvious the second you unbox it: it is a 27-inch, G-Sync compatible, IPS screen, that boasts a 4ms gray-to-gray response rate, and a 144Hz refresh rate. While that may not sound like a heck of a lot compared to some of today's monitors, it also means you can bag it for a little less. And for a 4K resolution panel with HDR, it's not a bad buy. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey looked glorious. This monitor gave up an incredibly vivid showing, and has the crispest of image qualities to boot; no blurred or smudged edges to see and each feature looks almost perfectly defined and graphically identified. The contrasts are particularly strong with any colors punching through the greys and blacks. Particular highlights are the way water effects, lighting, reflections and sheens are presented, but there is equal enjoyment to be had from landscape features, the people, and urban elements. All further benefiting from a widespread excellence in color, contrast, shades (and shadows), and tones. The contrasts are particularly strong with any colors punching through the greys and blacks. However, the smaller details here are equally good, down to clothing detail, skin tone and complexion, and facial expressions once again. There is an immersion-heightening quality to the blacks and grays of the Metro and those games certainly don’t feel five years old on the XB273K. The IPS panel is also made better by Acer’s integrated VisionCare technology that will aim to protect your retinas—plus, it looks damn good. The buttons to access the menu are easy enough to use, and the main stick makes it particularly simple to navigate. And the ports you have available increase your ability to either plug and go or adapt to your machines’ needs: an HDMI; DisplayPort and five USB 3.0 ports are at your service. The Predator XB273K is one for those who want everything now and want to future-proof themselves in the years ahead. It might not have the same HDR heights that its predecessor, the X27, had, but it offers everything else for a much-reduced price tag. Therefore, the value it provides is incredible, even if it is still a rather sizeable investment. Read our full Acer Predator XB273K review. Image 1 of 4 (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 4 (Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 4 (Image credit: Future)Image 4 of 4 (Image credit: Future) 7. Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 The best ultrawide G-Sync Compatible monitor Screen size: 49-inch | Panel type: VA | Aspect ratio: 32:9 | Resolution: 5120 x 1440 | Response time: 1ms | Refresh rate: 240Hz | G-Sync tier: G-Sync Compatible Stupendous 49-inch, uber-curved VA panelOutrageous peak brightnessSuper-fast pixel response and refreshMini-LED backlight implementation is clunkyPreposterously expensive compared with big screen TVs 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 The best just got a whole lot better. That’s surely a foregone conclusion for the new Samsung Odyssey Neo G9. After all, the original Odyssey G9 was already Samsung’s tip-top gaming monitor. Now it’s been given the one upgrade it really needed. Yup, the Neo G9 is packing a mini-LED backlight. Out of the box, it looks identical to the old G9. Deep inside, however, the original G9’s single most obvious shortcoming has been addressed. And then some. The Neo G9 still has a fantastic VA panel. But its new backlight doesn’t just have full-array rather than edge-lit dimming. It packs a cutting-edge mini-LED tech with no fewer than 2,048 zones. This thing is several orders of magnitude more sophisticated than before. As if that wasn’t enough, the Neo G9’s peak brightness has doubled to a retina-wrecking 2,000 nits. What a beast. The problem with any backlight-based rather than per-pixel local dimming technology is that compromises have to be made. Put another way, an algorithm has to decide how bright any given zone should be based on the image data. The results are never going to be perfect. Visible halos around small, bright objects are the sort of issue you expect from full-array dimming. But the Neo G9 has its own, surprisingly crude, backlight-induced image quality issues. Admittedly, they’re most visible on the Windows desktop rather than in-game or watching video. Graphics-heavy titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 or Witcher III are what the G9 does best. If you position a bright white window next to an all-black window, the adjacent edge of the former visibly dims. Or let’s say you move a small, bright object over a dark background. The same thing happens. The small, bright object dims. Even uglier, if something like a bright dialogue box pops up across the divide between light and dark elements, the result is a gradient of brightness across the box. All this applies to both SDR and HDR modes and, on the Windows desktop, it’s all rather messy and distracting. Sure, this monitor isn’t designed for serious content creation or office work. But at this price point, it’s surely a serious flaw. Still, that 1000R curve, huge 49-inch proportions, and relatively high resolution combine to deliver an experience that few, if any, screens can match. Graphics-heavy titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 or Witcher III are what the G9 does best. In that context, the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 delivers arguably the best visual experience on the PC today. In practice, the Neo G9’s mini-LED creates as many problems as it solves. We also can’t help but observe that, at this price point, you have so many options. The most obvious alternative, perhaps, is a large-format 120Hz OLED TV with HDMI 2.1 connectivity. Read our full Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 review. Best gaming monitors | Best 4K monitors for gaming | Best graphics cards Best gaming PC | Gaming PC build | Best gaming chair G-Sync gaming monitor FAQ What is the difference in G-Sync and G-Sync Compatible?G-Sync and G-Sync Ultimate monitors come with a bespoke G-Sync processor, which enables a full variable refresh rate range and variable overdrive. G-Sync Compatible monitors don't come with this chip, and that means they may have a more restricted variable refresh rate range. Fundamentally, though, all G-Sync capable monitors offer a smoother gaming experience than those without any frame-syncing tech. Should I go for a FreeSync or G-Sync monitor?In general, FreeSync monitors will be cheaper. It used to be the case that they would only work in combination with an AMD GPU. The same went for G-Sync monitors and Nvidia GPUs. Nowadays, though, it is possible to find G-Sync compatible FreeSync monitors if you're intent on spending less. Should I go for an IPS, TN or VA panel?We would always recommend an IPS panel over TN. The clarity of image, viewing angle, and color reproduction are far superior to the cheaper technology, but you'll often find a faster TN for cheaper. The other alternative, less expensive than IPS and better than TN, is VA tech. The colors aren't quite so hot, but the contrast performance is impressive. Jargon buster - gaming monitor terminology Refresh Rate (Hz) The speed at which the screen refreshes. For example, 144Hz means the display refreshes 144 times a second. The higher the number, the smoother the screen will appear when you play games. V-Sync Graphics tech synchronizes a game's framerate with your monitor's refresh rate to help prevent screen tearing by syncing your GPU frame rate to the display's maximum refresh rate. Turn V-Sync on in your games for a smoother experience, but you'll lose information, so turn it off for fast-paced shooters (and live with the tearing). Useful if you have an older model display that can't keep up with a new GPU. G-Sync Nvidia's frame synching tech that works with Nvidia GPUs. It basically allows the monitor to sync up with the GPU. It does by showing a new frame as soon as the GPU has one ready. FreeSync AMD's take on frame synching uses a similar technique as G-Sync, with the biggest difference being that it uses DisplayPort's Adaptive-Sync technology which doesn't cost monitor manufacturers anything. Ghosting When movement on your display leaves behind a trail of pixels when watching a movie or playing a game, this is often a result of a monitor having slow response times. Response Time The amount of time it takes a pixel to transition to a new color and back. Often referenced as G2G or Grey-to-Grey. Slow response times can lead to ghosting. A suitable range for a gaming monitor is between 1-4 milliseconds. TN Panels Twisted-nematic is the most common (and cheapest) gaming panel. TN panels tend to have poorer viewing angles and color reproduction but have higher refresh rates and response times. IPS In-plane switching, panels offer the best contrast and color despite having weaker blacks. IPS panels tend to be more expensive and have higher response times. VA Vertical Alignment panels provide good viewing angles and have better contrast than even IPS but are still slower than TN panels. They are often a compromise between a TN and IPS panel. HDR High Dynamic Range. HDR provides a wider color range than normal SDR panels and offers increased brightness. The result is more vivid colors, deeper blacks, and a brighter picture. Peak Brightness This refers to the maximum brightness of a monitor or television and is measured in nits. Ultrawide Shorthand for monitors with aspect wider aspect ratios like 32:9 or 21:9 Resolution The number of pixels that make up a monitor's display, measured by height and width. For example: 1920 x 1080 (aka 1080p), 2560 x 1440 (2K), and 3840 x 2160 (4K). View the full article

Whether you'd just like a little help with today's Wordle or you'd simply like to read the answer to the September 23 (461) puzzle with a minimal amount of fuss, you'll find all that and plenty of other Wordle tips and tricks on this very page. It wasn't looking good for me today—one yellow was the best I had to show for two guesses. But that also meant I had nine greys as well as a little bit of a "It can't get any worse than this attitude" to guide me, and thankfully I was able to turn it around just in time. Wordle hint Today's Wordle: A hint for Friday, September 23 There's nothing but high praise and great honour to be found in today's answer. This is a prestigious and noble term, the sort of word you'd find in a national anthem, patriotic poem, or a military motto. It's also used in restoration work, when something magnificent is restored to its former magnificence. There's just one vowel today. 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 461 answer? Some days there just aren't enough guesses. The answer to the September 23 (461) Wordle is GLORY. 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: September 22: SAINTSeptember 21: RECAPSeptember 20: ALIKESeptember 19: TRICESeptember 18: STICKSeptember 17: CHUTESeptember 16: PARERSeptember 15: DOUBTSeptember 14: THYMESeptember 13: ALPHA 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. View the full article

Nvidia’s RTX 40-series graphics cards have been announced, but you won’t be able to buy an EVGA flavoured one. Just days before the announcement of Nvidia’s new Ada Lovelace range, EVGA sent shockwaves through the PC market, saying that it would be exiting the graphics card business. One of the questions that went unanswered was what would happen to EVGA’s flagship Kingpin line of products. That question has now been answered by Vince ‘Kingpin’ Lucido himself. In a Facebook post, Kingpin thanked the community and left open the idea that the Kingpin brand could live on at another vendor. The all-important quote follows: "If the KP hardware is meant to continue on in one way or another, I'm sure that it will :)." Well well. It would seem he is open to offers from other vendors. Though Kingpin has been partnered with Nvidia in one form or another for many years, you never know, even an AMD partner could be in the future. Wouldn’t that be something, especially if the likes of an Asus, Gigabyte or MSI are willing to consider a partnership. All three have the budgets, design and engineering teams and all make both Nvidia and AMD cards. One could imagine that one or all of these companies are reaching out to Kingpin to at least discuss the idea. Even ignoring the hardware side of it, all vendors have their own in house overclockers. Every vendor uses extreme OC results for marketing purposes. And there is no bigger name in overclocking circles than Kingpin. Your next upgrade (Image credit: Future)Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMD Best gaming motherboard: The right boards Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the rest It’s true that overclocking has taken a back seat to gaming in recent years, at least when it comes to branding and marketing, but in the last year or two, that’s reversed a little. Asrock brought back its OC Formula motherboard range after missing a couple of generations. Gigabyte introduced its Tachyon range, while Asus’ Apex motherboards are consistently held in high regard. Once can imagine that a well-engineered Kingpin branded overclocking motherboard from a major vendor would generate buzz, marketing value and deliver more than a few sales. Heck I’m here talking about it! Z890 Maximus Kingpin anyone? RX 8900XT Kingpin? Pure speculation of course, but if Vince has his way, it seems as though the Kingpin brand will live on in one form or another. View the full article

G.Skill has announced the release of the fastest DDR5 memory kit to date. At DDR5-6800 with a CAS latency of 32, the kit offers a tantalizing combination of high speed and low latency. G.Skill also announced a 2x32GB 6400MHz CL32 kit. This one really does raise the bar for high capacity DDR5. The Trident Z5 RGB 32GB (2x16GB) kit is rated to run at DDR5-6800 CL32-45-45-108. The operating voltage and IC weren’t revealed, but given the timings, highly binned Hynix would be my guess, with a voltage of at least 1.4. However, we’re almost a year into the life of DDR5, and second-generation ICs are certain to appear at some point. Until we get the kit on our test bench, it’s just a guess. The headline CAS latency of 32 at 6800MHz is impressive, though the Trcd, Trp and Tras are all 45 which is on the high side. Of course, if you’re going to spend the big bucks on a kit like this, you’re probably one who will try to lower those timings with some additional voltage. The high-density kit is just as impressive, if not more so. This 2x32GB kit runs at 6400MHz with timings of 32-39-39-102. If you are interested in this kit, apart from needing some deep pockets, it’ll be important to pay attention to your motherboard qualified vendor list (QVL). This is the kind of kit that will certainly require BIOS support. I would expect users to encounter some issues while such a kit is still fresh to the market. Moar RAM (Image credit: Future)Best DDR5 RAM: the latest and greatest Best DDR4 RAM: affordable and fast High density DDR5 kits at speeds beyond 4800MHz are rare, not because of the capabilities of the memory itself, but the limitations of the Intel 12th Gen memory controller. High density kits, particularly if you run four of them, are very difficult to run, and with a full set of dual rank modules, a 12th Gen CPU defaults to a rather pedestrian DDR5-3600. It will be interesting to see how high speed 64GB and 128GB configurations run on 13th Gen and Ryzen 7000 series processors. DDR5 has already surpassed the 10,000MHz barrier in the hands of overclockers with liquid nitrogen. We’re hearing that some very impressive results are in the pipeline on next gen platforms. Expect DDR5 speeds to take a leap forward. It’s no coincidence that kits in the 6600MHz range are about to become a lot more prevalent. But, outright speed isn’t everything. Latency matters for gamers. For Ryzen 7000 buyers, it's looking like a good low latency 6000MHz EXPO kit will be optimal, as you’ll be able to run it with a 1:1 Infinity Fabric clock. There’s also G.Skill’s own Trident Z5 DDR5-5600 C28 kit to consider. The age old question: Latency or timings? That’s something we’ll definitely circle back to once the secrets—and quirks —of the next gen platforms are known. We plan to review G.Skill’s latest and greatest memory with a next gen system (or both of them!). 6800MHz really sounds impressive, but will it deliver a meaningful performance increase? Stay tuned for that. Both new memory kits will be available starting in October. View the full article

The Steam Top 100 page is no more. That old utilitarian list of Steam's most popular games by concurrent player count has been replaced by a deeper and more attractive set of rankings. You can still see which games are currently being played by the most people, but now you can also sort games by their daily unique player counts and by how much money they're making. The new Steam stats page is called "Steam Charts," which could lead to some confusion, since there's already a helpful website called Steam Charts (www.steamcharts.com) that uses the Steam API to provide more comprehensive concurrent player data than Steam itself displays. Steam Charts remains a useful website—I use it all the time—but it'll be harder to distinguish from Valve's official stats page in Google search results. C’est la vie, I guess! The most notable addition to Steam's new Steam Charts page is the Top Selling Games chart. Valve has been sharing monthly sales charts for a while now, but with these weekly charts its journey to Billboard Hot 100 territory has finally concluded. Like the famous song ranking, Steam's top sellers charts display how many places a game has moved up or down since the previous week's chart. It's easy to imagine talking about a "chart-topping game" or a game that "topped the Steam chart for four weeks"—a more contemporary version of those old NPD game sales reports that go around whenever console warriors are beefing about exclusives. The top sellers chart is based on all revenue earned through Steam, not just units sold, so free-to-play games are included (provided they're making lots of money through DLC or in-game transactions). Apex Legends is third on the list right now, for instance. Cyberpunk 2077 is fourth on the list, which tells us that the surge of players that followed the release of the Netflix anime isn't just people returning to the game; people are buying it. And of course we're happy to see Trombone Champ sliding in at #12. Steam already had a top sellers list long before this—it's a category on the front page of the store—but the presentation of these new charts and the fact that they're archived each week could multiply their power. Fixating on player counts is already a popular PC gaming pastime, and I can't imagine this new Billboard-style chart will go unexploited by people who are trying to prove that one game is better, deader, or more profit-driven than another. And one minor note about the existing top sellers list: It's apparently been using a different ranking system. In a new blog post, Valve said that the top sellers store category will start using the "new method of calculating revenue" devised for these Steam Charts reports. (Image credit: Valve) Another small-but-interesting change is the new option to sort the concurrent players list by "daily players." Instead of ranking Steam games by the number of people playing them this very moment, the daily players setting "ranks the games based on the total number of unique players over the past 24 hours," says Valve. That changes the picture considerably. Games that are more popular in time zones other than my own, like PUBG, jump up several places when I switch to the daily players view. Grand Theft Auto 5 and Cyberpunk 2077 also leap up the list. Meanwhile, Team Fortress 2 drops 19 spots when I look at daily uniques instead of concurrents—that means that lots of instances of TF2 are running at the same time, but more people play Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel every day. I'll refrain from jumping to any unsupported conclusions, but it's certainly a curious statistic. View the full article

Announced eight years ago, Scorn is a determinedly eerie first-person horror game set in a surreal subterranea clearly inspired by the work of HR Giger. Since then it has been subject to several delays, and has shifted away from an episodic model (what an exquisitely mid-2010s phenomenon!) towards a more conventional full-length package. The fruits of Ebb Software's labour will be playable soon, because the new gameplay footage above confirms an October 21 release date for Scorn. We've seen extended gameplay footage of Scorn before, but the environmental design in this new video appears a lot more ornate than previously. The usual Giger trappings are there: decor that looks like a byzantine arrangement of mechanical intestines, and a mood that walks the extremely fine line between decrepit grandiosity and discomforting body horror. It's an aesthetic we've seen in games before, but Scorn has garnered a curious following because it hews closer to its inspiration than anything else. There's some serious art talent involved here, and even if the game doesn't turn out great, it'll always look amazing. Curiously, this new 'prologue' video doesn't feature any combat. The game will certainly have weapons (earlier footage has shown some weird prosthesis-style shotgun) but this new footage seems to be preparing us for a true survival horror trip: there's some light puzzle solving, and the focus here is on steadily mounting dread. A first-person shooter this ain't. The first footage of Scorn released all the way back in 2014, before it had even hit Steam Greenlight (remember that?). Comparing that old video with the new one is fascinating. It looks good for its time, but you can imagine it brought up in the current dialogue about graphics in early development games. In a 2017 interview, project lead Ljubomir Peklar described Scorn's art style as "biomechanical" in the way it "deals with human anatomy in a utilitarian way, how our organs and flesh work as a cohesive system." Peklar also insisted that the game will not be "weird for the sake of weird," so expect some terrifying internal logic to the grotesquery on display. View the full article

In a post shared to the Discord official blog, the company announced a partnership with Capcom to reward players who stream Monster Hunter Rise to their friends starting September 29. Players have to use the "Go Live" feature to share Rise or Sunbreak gameplay with their friends on the platform. This is the first time that Discord has implemented this kind of incentive-based streaming promotion. The post indicates that rewards become available to the streamer after no more than 30 minutes of play. The blog post did not specify an end date for the promotion⁠—The official last day of fall this year is December 20, spiritually, I think we can all agree it's November 30, and I would assume the promo will run through October. It's an interesting idea, but I find myself conflicted on it. In a vacuum, it's a relatively harmless bit of promo tie-in⁠—get a friend or two on call to catch up, grind out some hunts, get the reward, a cute little fall outfit. It's a bit of a reversal of Twitch's "Drops," where viewers are rewarded for seeking out streams of a particular game. On the other hand, man, you just can't get away from advertising anywhere these days, huh. "Bro, please watch my stream, it's just 30 minutes I need this outfit," is what I would say if I was particularly desperate for a beige long coat for my little cat person buddy and all my friends were too busy going out clubbing that night or something. Part of me wonders if this is an early sign of Discord ambitions to enter the streaming game in some fashion. As it stands, Going Live is really just a way to group watch a movie, play Jackbox, or show your friend who gets motion sickness some Amid Evil gameplay so he doesn't feel left out. One could read this Monster Hunter World promo as a flirtation with something more concerted. View the full article

The next Hearthstone mini-set has been revealed as Maw and Disorder, a collection of 35 cards featuring the return of Sylvanas, who hasn't been a playable card in Standard since her original incarnation was sent to the Hall of Fame in 2017. This time around the most infamous of the Windrunner sisters "has been brought before the Jailer to answer for her crimes." The mini-set will include 35 new cards—16 common, 14 rare, one epic, and four legendary—which can be found in Murder at Castle Nathria card packs when Maw and Disorder goes live on September 27. For those who'd rather not go at it piecemeal, the full mini-set (with 66 cards in total: one copy of each legendary card and two copies of all the rest) will also be available for purchase in two editions: A normal edition available in-game for 2,000 Gold or 1,500 Runestones, and an All-Golden version which can be had for $70 or 7,000 Runestones. Blizzard didn't share too many details on the mini-set, but as far as I can make out, Sylvanas stands accused of perpetrating the crimes stemming from the main Murder at Castle Nathria set. This is apparently a TWIST. Zovaal, (that's the Jailer), will preside over the case. "Revendreth was shocked when it was revealed that the judge to oversee the Sylvanas Anima Drought Trial was Zovaal himself," an overwrought (and, to be clear, entirely fake) newspaper article claimed. "To those who questioned how one man can be both Judge and Jailer, Zovaal's long history of placing people in their afterlives was brought up. "However, when Zovaal's long history of fighting warriors and causing chaos in the Shadowlands was brought up, Zovaal glowered and you know what, we shut up. The Judger—er, the Jailer—will answer such questions as, 'What the heck happened here,' and 'Why not put on a shirt dagnab it?'" Clearly this isn't going to be the most serious trial of the century, but there is history between Zovaal and Sylvanas that goes way beyond Hearthstone: The two were allied for a time and brought chaos to the Shadowlands, until Sylvanas realized that Zovaal's motives were not what he claimed and turned against him. Speaking of Sylvanas, here's her card. It has the highest Infuse requirement so far at 7, but her effect is strong whether it's been juiced up or not. In terms of flavor, it also plays into what the OG version did. We'll have to see whether it becomes a similarly ubiquitous inclusion. When she hits the stand, everyone will know.Introducing, Sylvanas! pic.twitter.com/oodXoGRNUPSeptember 22, 2022 See more And here's the Jailer, who hasn't appeared in Hearthstone previously. His effect, which destroys your own deck but renders your remaining minions Immune, is obviously insane and has the potential to end plenty of games. There is counterplay though. A judicious Whirlpool or Twisting Nether will still be able to remove the entire board, despite the Immune tag. Prepare to enter the courtroom of Judge Zovaal. The suspects are real, the anima is missing, their soul's fate is final. pic.twitter.com/yC9va2eLMwSeptember 22, 2022 See more Ahead of the launch of Maw and Disorder (on September 27, remember), cards from the set will continue to be revealed on the Hearthstone Twitter account. View the full article

Early on in the demo of Fortune's Run, an FPS recently featured in the Realms Deep digital event, I stepped into a sci-fi nightclub that has more personality and world building than every single dive in Night City put together. The demo's single level, Trouble At Club V'heni, starts with a stealthy infiltration of the titular nightclub as a different character from protagonist Mozah. Playing as this unnamed antagonist, you sneak your way through the bar and its environs to the VIP lounge at the back. It then cuts back to Mozah's perspective, schmoozing with V'heni's Mos Eisley Cantina-esque clientele. You can ask the dancers how they're handling the recent political instability, chat up the vaguely left wing revolutionaries the bar's turned to for muscle, and get into a growling match with some Totally-Not-Bossk-From-Empire-Strikes-Back-type thugs. It's an incredible little sci-fi space, with music and ambience that has blown me away in each of my three playthroughs of the demo. After chatting up club owner and former revolutionary associate Z'tar and making your way to the back, you realize your contact's been assassinated (by that other guy from the playable intro no less) and the dope club you were just enjoying comes under attack by forces of resident space fascists, the Federation. Club V'heni is an extensive playground, with multiple paths to objectives, creative shortcuts, and an abundance of immersive sim-style small details. It reminds me most of the levels of the phenomenal Jedi Knight FPS series, or Arkane's early gem, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. Indeed, V'heni feels like an homage to the renditions of the Hutt city planet Nar Shaddaa from Dark Forces, Jedi Knight, and Jedi Outcast, with grimy cantina interiors contrasting with vertigo-inducing exterior portions. One set piece in particular involving snipers on adjoining rooftops feels like it was lifted straight out of Outcast. The star of the show in Fortune's Run's arsenal is its katana melee weapon, which feels like it builds on the superb lightsaber mechanics of the Jedi Knight games. You have to time strikes as well as mix up where on enemies' bodies you aim to confuse their guard, block their attacks in turn, and even parry bullets with well-timed swings. You're not quite as invincible as when wielding the Jedi Knight series' auto-parrying lightsabers, but that makes it even better⁠ for my money—bringing a sword to a gunfight in Fortune's Run is intense and exhilarating, with success or failure balanced on a knife's (or space katana's) edge. A big part of what keeps me coming back to the demo is this addictive, pulse-pounding combat, a Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance-level fulfilment of that cyborg ninja fantasy all cool and normal people have. You're extremely fragile in Fortune's Run, but thankfully it loads Hotline Miami-quick (at least on my SSD). Unlike recent immersive sims like Gloomwood that have removed quicksaving entirely, Fortune's Run enshrines it as a tactic, encouraging trial and error in its firefights. I especially appreciate the little Deathloop/Prince of Persia-esque rewind animation that plays on a quickload. The demo rarely autosaves, so spamming F5 is a must. These frenetic encounters never seem to play out the same way twice, and I'm positive I haven't uncovered every secret of this map yet, hence the unending replays. Expanded Universe Image 1 of 5 The cutscenes really evoke the comic book cinematics from Dark Forces. (Image credit: Team Fortune)Image 2 of 5 This guy really reminds me of those talking heads from the early Fallouts. (Image credit: Team Fortune)Image 3 of 5 Sometimes guns make more sense than the katana, like when fighting the level's boss. (Image credit: Team Fortune)Image 4 of 5 Bombs away. (Image credit: Team Fortune)Image 5 of 5 The extremely cinematic, well shot cutscenes do incredible things with the gritty, low-fi pixel art. (Image credit: Team Fortune) The writing and world building in this tiny sliver of the game surpassed all my expectations. The protagonist, Mozah, is a failed revolutionary turned corporate samurai on work release following a 10-year prison sentence. Bar owner Z'tar and other patrons at the establishment allude to some kind of job gone wrong, a revolutionary action that resulted in mass death. The oppressive but prosperous Federation is about to pull out of the game's setting of New Zabra, promising freedom but also a power vacuum and political instability. Most of the bar's well-heeled clientele have departed and Z'tar's thrown in with that band of ideologically ambiguous revolutionaries, trading his supply connections for their muscle. I find this all to be really tangible worldbuilding, stuff with a sense of history like Disco Elysium, and it's aided by naturalistic dialogue and superb voice acting. Fortune's Run's delivers this band of characters with incredible art direction⁠—it has a real sense of that old, Star Wars Expanded Universe grungy weirdness. Its alien species take a lot of cues from the rubbery practical effects of old Star Wars, with main character Mozah feeling extremely Twi'lek adjacent. Those characters all have that weird clay look of 3D models posed and captured as sprites, and the whole shebang has a real "lost '90s masterpiece" vibe to it. Loved this cheeky Deus Ex reference in the environment art. (Image credit: Team Fortune) There are some pain points in the demo. Much like with the Jedi Knight games, I found it difficult to know where to go next sometimes. After a fight I might find every door locked and have to spend a couple minutes to find the vent cover to break or occluded ledge to climb up. This is a stylistic choice that mostly works for me⁠—rough edges grip better after all⁠—but there's one jumping puzzle in particular that still feels more like sequence breaking than the intended path through the game. The path forward is not especially well-signposted, and the sequence requires some Destiny Raid-level navigation of wall geometry to make it out of a strange, fenced-in silo over a lethal drop. I still run hot and cold on the game's wall jump, an essential tool for handling its verticality and occasional platforming puzzles. Team Fortune put out a handy guide on Twitter to the variations and inputs necessary to bounce off the walls like a pro, which helped on my subsequent playthroughs of the demo. I still feel like it's reaching fighting game combo levels of input memorization though, and there were a few times when I felt like I should have mantled a ledge and instead fell to my death. Even with that caveat, Fortune's Run has immediately jumped to the top of my personal most-wanted list, even surpassing Dread Delusion and going toe-to-toe with the unannounced-but-inevitable Elden Ring expansion pack in my silly little consumer-enthusiast cosmology. I crave more of this world, the game's fantastic imm-sim-lite exploration, and its arresting sword fighting combat. Act 1 early access really can't come soon enough for me⁠—time for one last run through Club V'heni I guess. View the full article

Two teases on Hunt: Showdown's Twitter account in the last two days have convinced me that the next feature and creature added to the game will be a flying surveillance bug that players can use to spy on opponents. And I think it could be arriving as soon as next month. The above image, shared yesterday, was actually focused on the return of the promotional skin Billy Story, a likeable homage to Daniel Day Lewis' character from Gangs of New York. But careful observers (ie, those with at least one eye) can take more from the flittering silhouette released from Billy's hand, a flying beetle that we've never seen before. Surely this scary scarab isn't just for decoration—it would be out of precedent for Crytek to show a detail like this and not back it up with something concrete. And very quickly, it did. Exactly 24 hours and 1 minute later, the team at Crytek shared this short video: As current findings are relatively new, and scientists have yet to conclude their research, we can only assume that further information will be revealed in the near future regarding this species, and their origins. pic.twitter.com/OfRPlCSZiNSeptember 22, 2022 See more It shows a hovering first-person camera patrolling one of Hunt's prison compounds. A creepy-crawling, upsetting exoskeletal sound can be heard. The heavily vignetted vision—blackened like a modern security camera—pulses in rhythm with a heartbeat. This has gotta be our bug. The accompanying lore blurb for the video even alludes to a newly discovered creature: "As current findings are relatively new, and scientists have yet to conclude their research, we can only assume that further information will be revealed in the near future regarding this species, and their origins." To be clear, Crytek and the Hunt: Showdown team haven't explicitly announced the existence of a bug item or feature. But several facts support this educated guess: Crytek has talked for years about camping as a behavior in Hunt: Showdown, something that it probably doesn't want to eliminate entirely but has taken steps in the past to curtail, like when the studio redesigned compound layouts in 2018. An aerial drone would be another incremental way of literally nudging campers out of their comfort zone.On September 5, the studio shared a piece of in-fiction sketchbook art showing a flying beetle alongside a description that read "...an erratic, unified movement—a so called "hivemind behavior'—between the beetles and their keepers.'" With the added context of today's video, this sounds like a lore explanation for how players will take control of the flying beetles: through some version of the existing darksight ability.A flying surveillance camera, as it's showcased in the video, would be a Hunt-equivalent of gadgets we've seen in games like Rainbow Six Siege, where the character Echo has an aerial RC drone that behaves similarly to the clip Previous promotion of Billy Story from summer 2020 did not feature this insect familiar Hunt community members had previously been speculating that some manner of beetle monster was to be Hunt's next, unannounced boss. A video from Hunt YouTuber HomeReel laid out the case on September 9, pointing to patch notes and bug fixes that had reduced "the performance overhead of idle AI," which HomeReel believed might indicate Crytek laying the groundwork for a bug or swarm-themed boss made up of many. Of course, Hunt kinda-sorta already has a bug-based boss: the Assassin, a skittering pile of crawlies that shifts in and out of humanoid form, splitting into copies of itself, and occasionally covering the player's screen in insects. Hunt is just a few days away from the end of its 60-day Serpent Moon event, and with Halloween being a perfect thematic match for the game's creepy, horrific atmosphere, releasing a new creature to accompany the Twitch drop-exclusive Billy Story character promotion (scheduled for October 12) would be a good way to kick off the season. View the full article

It's clear from the first sweeping panorama over Middle-earth what Amazon wants to accomplish with its new Lord of the Rings show. The Rings of Power ceaselessly hops between characters who each represent different regions of the greater Lord of the Rings legendarium. We have imperial elves residing in leafy, eternally autumnal kingdoms, humans digging out a yeoman's living in thatched-roof cottages, and proto-Hobbits rustling up berries in dense, wild valleys. The camera frequently pulls back to reveal a sepia-toned map, laminated with all of the Tolkien realms—the places that only pop up in the apocryphal comic-books and RPGs—demonstrating how the Lord of the Rings universe has officially broken free of the Peter Jackson constraints, and can now balloon across countless spin-offs, sequels, and multiversal digressions. The franchise era is finally here, and that makes it hard to watch The Rings of Power without hungering for a fully realized, Bezos-funded Middle-earth MMO. They already tried this once. Amazon, with its nascent games division, was hard at work on an MMORPG built within the trappings of the mysterious Second Age, which is when The Rings of Power takes place. It's the perfect vantage for a videogame based on a beloved story—familiar surroundings, but a blank slate for storytelling. Nothing concrete about the design philosophy leaked beyond that, but we may never hear more about it. The project was canceled in 2021. Amazon's interactive division hasn't been able to produce one resonant hit (I'm not counting that six-week period where everyone played a bunch of New World; that was a collective hallucination) but the cancellation was apparently not due to ricketiness in Amazon's shop. Bloomberg reported that the project was put on ice due to a contract dispute between Amazon and Tencent, which is hard to even conceptualize. There was so much money to be made, couldn't these two gilded behemoths figure it out? You know what would make The Second Age a lot more immersive? If you could ding 60 in it. So now we have The Rings of Power, which practically serves as an advertisement for whatever grand plans Amazon had for a megaton gaming venture. You can easily visualize the hypothetical game's bustling capital cities, gloomy raid dungeons, and soaring flight paths as you watch. Elrond descends into a lively Khazad-dum—bright, vibrant, full of ball-busting dwarves who are certainly pathing between the Auction House and the Reagent Vendor for eternity. We see the island kingdom of Númenor—with its Balearic, white-stone architecture—making so many World of Warcraft veterans desperate to grind rep for our dashing nautical princes and princesses. A gigantic Elfin spire towers over the rugged Southlands, which stretches out into an endless horizon. It looks like the perfect 20-30 zone. I'd love nothing more than to right-click on a wanted poster in one of those little farming hamlets that gives me instructions to kill an elite Orc. It's an ache I will carry with me throughout the rest of The Rings of Power's first season; if only my journey and Galadriel's journey could be joined in concert. After all, a lot of people have complained that the show is a bit too narcissistic with its endless establishing shots over ethereal, CGI vistas. You know what would make The Second Age a lot more immersive? If you could ding 60 in it. (Image credit: Amazon Studios) I'm not going to be bouncing my grandchildren on my knee telling them about Shadow of War. To be clear, there is already a pretty good Lord of the Rings MMO available right now. Lord of the Rings Online is still trucking along, 15 years after its 2007 release, with a trickle of new expansions to sate its tiny, but dedicated community. Back in the white-hot zenith of the MMO boom, LOTRO was routinely recommended as the hipster's alternative to Guild Wars or World of Warcraft—it was a little more slow-paced, a little more focused on the storytelling, and equipped with a dogmatic dedication to the fiction. (When the game rolled out a PvP mode, it did so by allowing players to transform into monsters—hobbit on hobbit violence was strictly forbidden.) You can make the case that publishers should tread carefully when they swoop into an established work of fiction with the promise that they will execute on the immersion better than the developers of yore. (I mean, remember what happened with the interminably hyped, and ultimately bland Old Republic? Star Wars Galaxies veterans are still peeved about that desecration.) But you have to think that a Lord of the Rings renaissance should, at the very least, give us something new to play. The recent catalog has been pretty barren! I'm not going to be bouncing my grandchildren on my knee telling them about Shadow of War. We're thirsty out here, and Rings of Power only makes us more parched. So please, Amazon, after all of these false starts and layoffs and confusing business misadventures, give us the Lord of the Rings MMO we deserve. Resist all of the greasy investor-speak that is certainly whispering in your ears; do not give us a LoTR Clash of Clans facsimile, or a LoTR idle dungeon, or an LoTR crypto game. If you do finally make a Rings of Power adaptation, and Nori pops up on screen asking me to purchase 2,000 more Silmarillions to continue to the next level, we will burn the place down. Similarly, do not give me one of those tentative, half-stepped, modern MMOs like Destiny where you and a legion of Elves and Dwarves idle around some beautifully restrictive hubzone—called, like, "Dalandrath" or whatever—waiting to teleport to tiny instanced zones in order to hunt down Sauron. No man, we need to go old school. We're talking Asheron's Call old school. The time is now. Image 1 of 5 (Image credit: Amazon Studios)Image 2 of 5 (Image credit: Amazon Studios)Image 3 of 5 (Image credit: Amazon Studios)Image 4 of 5 (Image credit: Amazon Studios)Image 5 of 5 (Image credit: Amazon Studios) I know this is easier said than done. Who knows if Amazon is even allowed to start a new LotR MMO project? Amazon Studios made The Rings of Power under license from the Tolkien Estate, but most Lord of the Rings TV, film, and videogame rights are held by Middle-earth Enterprises, which Embracer Group just bought. (Randy Pitchford's Rings of Power, coming soon?) So maybe Bezos needs to make an additional gargantuan licensing deal to get these plans off the tarmac in the first place. But I swear to you, it'd be worth it. Amazon has been flailing at its development efforts for years, but came pretty close to nailing it with New World. It has the formula in place to satiate a legion of adrift 34-year-olds who are searching for anything to fill them with a wonder they haven't experienced since they sat in a movie theater for the original trilogy—which at the time was simulated, to a near plagiaristic degree, by Blizzard in World of Warcraft. (They put a fake Mount Doom in the Searing Gorge! We could harvest Mithril veins if we leveled up our mining skills!) So, please, Amazon: Let me roll a class and kill some rats until I unlock some better abilities, allowing me to kill some kobolds instead. Let me eat and drink on the shores of the Sundering Sea. Let me score a Server First on Morgoth. You have the world, now all you need to do is craft an expansive, modern MMO and keep the player base fed with juicy updates forever. (Suddenly, producing a $1 billion TV show looks like the easy part.) View the full article

There's good news for people waiting for a Steam Deck, or who might be in the market for one: Production capacity is now at a point that should allow Valve to fulfill all reservations by the end of the year. But there's also bad news for people waiting for a Steam Deck in Canada because, well, that might not apply to you. "Our distributor has hit a processing backlog for orders to Canada, so folks in this region will see a (very) temporary pause on order emails," Valve explained on Twitter. "We're working on it, and are optimistic we can resume emails to Canada soon." Valve clarified that the pause is to enable the distributor to get through the backlog of paid orders in Canada, and that emails and shipments in other regions will not be impacted. As PC Gamer's resident Canadian, I have to say that, well, this sucks. Hopefully the pause is as brief as Valve suggests, and the Decks will start flowing tomorrow or maybe next week at the latest, but regardless of the duration, it's the principle of the thing. Unlike most of the rest of the world, which is separated from it by large bodies of water, for us in Canada the US is literally right there. Did you know that 90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the US border? It's right there! And yet, borders, man. Our distributor has hit a processing backlog for orders to Canada, so folks in this region will see a (very) temporary pause on order emails. We're working on it, and are optimistic we can resume emails to Canada soon. This doesn't impact emails or shipments to other regions.September 22, 2022 See more Performative outrage aside, what's really interesting about the announcement is the implication that by 2023, anyone who wants a Steam Deck will be able to simply purchase one off the shelf, so to speak, without having to horse around with reservations and waits. It was inevitable that Valve would eventually work through the backlog, and Valve announced earlier this week that it had begun fulfilling some Steam Deck shipments that weren't expected to go out until Q4. Even so, this is an impressive turnaround given that just six months ago Valve couldn't nail down some shipment targets with any better accuracy than "after Q2." I've reached out to Valve to ask if it does in fact expect to start shipping Steam Decks directly next year, and if there's a time frame for the Canadian pause, and will update if I receive a reply. View the full article

Music rhythm game Trombone Champ became the main character on Twitter yesterday, but in a good way. After posting a video of myself playing Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, scores of people were delighted, enthusiastic, and in some cases even moved to tears (because of how horribly I played). But Trombone Champ isn't just a fast-paced, fun, and goofy music game. There's way, way more to it than just trying to toot along to The William Tell Overture, Hava Nagila, and a trap mix of Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik. There's a dramatic Dark Souls-like cutscene introdcution, lots of secrets and mysteries and unlockable trombones, a turd-based card creation system, a summonable demon, hefty doses of trombone lore, a lot of information about how many hot dogs legendary trombone players can eat in a single sitting, and more baboons than you would expect in a music game. (I would expect zero baboons in a music game. I would be way off.) Questions? Yes. I have many. Thankfully the creator of Trombone Champ, Dan Vecchitto of developer Holy Wow Studios, agreed to answer a few of them, starting with the origins of the game. Vecchitto, who says he does 95% of the work on the game while his wife, Jackie, assists with artwork and assets, tells me he thinks the spark came to him after building an arcade cabinet for an earlier Holy Wow game, Icarus Proudbottom’s Typing Party. "I suddenly had the idea for an arcade cabinet with an enormous rubber (it had to be floppy rubber) trombone controller, with the player desperately trying to match a bunch of squiggly note lines headed their way," Vecchitto says. He later realized that moving a mouse forwards and backwards could mimic the act of moving a trombone's slide in and out, negating the need for an actual trombone-like controller. After throwing together a prototype of Trombone Champ, he decided to make it a full game. "I thought it would just take a few months to make, but whoops! It ended up taking something like 4 years," he says. Despite no personal tromboning experience (Vecchitto does play the saxophone and clarinet) the game has been embraced by real-life trombone players—even though after posting the announcement trailer in 2020 a few were quick to point out that the characters weren't holding the trombone correctly. (That has now been fixed.) "I honestly expected real trombonists to hate the game, because it’s not even remotely realistic. But the reception from them has been extremely positive!" Vecchitto says. "I’m not sure if being a trombonist makes you better [at Trombone Champ], but it certainly makes you more enthusiastic about seeing a trombone in a video game." (Image credit: Holy Wow Studios) A Brassy Future "I had a pretty solid idea for a track called 'trombone traphouse' although I never got around to recording it because I can’t rap" Dan Vecchitto, Holy Wow Studios Though Trombone Champ is a fully-released game, Vecchitto plans to continue expanding it with improvements, language localizations (it's currently English-only), and leaderboards so players can compare their tooting prowess with their friends. He also hopes to include a way for players to import their own tracks in the future, as Beat Saber does, though at this stage he's not sure how it will work. "It’s definitely in the cards as soon as we figure it out!" he says. There are also more songs on the way to increase Trombone Champ's current roster of 20 tracks. "I really want to add a rap song," Vecchitto says. "I had a pretty solid idea for a track called 'trombone traphouse' although I never got around to recording it because I can’t rap and didn’t know who would volunteer to rap for a trombone track." Other upcoming songs will include additional anthems. The game currently features The Star Spangled Banner, Stars and Stripes Forever, God Save the King, and O Canada, but as more localizations are added there are plans to include the anthems from more countries. Other possibilities for future songs are Happy Birthday, The Mexican Hat Dance (Jarabe Tapatío) and—brace yourself—Flight of the Bumblebee. Better start building up your wrist and finger muscles for that one. (Image credit: Holy Wow Games) I also asked Vecchitto for his top three pure wishlist songs, if licensing fees and other legal concerns were completely off the table. "I’m kind of an obsessive music nerd and would love to include tracks from the artists I obsess over," he said. "Todd Rundgren’s Zen Archer, Yellow Magic Orchestra’s Le Femme Chinoise, and maybe something by Deerhoof, or Aai Shanibar from Rupa’s Disco Jazz." Vecchitto said he also hopes to continue working with musician and producer Max Tundra, who created a song called "Long Tail Limbo" for Trombone Champ. "If anyone is reading this, purchase his three big LPs immediately. We’re talking about a guy who got a 9+ Pitchfork score… and somehow he’s on the Trombone Champ soundtrack. Incredible." Baboons, explained (Image credit: Holy Wow Games) Eagle-eyed trombone tooters may have noticed the game has a few (dozen) references to baboons, such as the mention of legendary baboons in the game's intro, several collectible and craftable baboon cards, a shadowy chamber accessed from the main menu that contains a mysterious engraved baboon tablet, a "baboon quantity" setting, and an entire song about baboons called "Baboons!" (A sample of the lyrics: "Babooooons. Baboooooons. Ba. Ba-boons. Ba… ba-boons.") Surprisingly, Trombone Champ's baboon fixation originated with a feature that didn't even wind up in the finished game. While in early development, Vecchitto planned for each song to have three difficulty levels. While that idea was ultimately dropped, it still had a big impact, baboon-wise. "I wanted to call the easy difficulty 'baby' and the hardest difficulty 'bonkers.' But I was struggling with what to call the medium difficulty," says Vecchitto. "It had to be a word that started with 'B.' At some point I thought: what if the standard difficulty were called 'baboon,' so the difficulties were 'baby,' 'baboon,' and 'bonkers?' "From that point, I became obsessed with inserting 'baboon' into the game as much as possible. When I eventually decided to make the storyline an odd parody of Dark Souls, I realized that having 'primordial baboons' would be perfect." (Image credit: Holy Wow Games) I also asked Vecchitto a question I always end interviews with because I'm a terrible interviewer: What question did I not ask that you wish I'd asked, and what's your answer? Luckily, he was prepared for such an eventuality. "Goku or Vegeta?" Vecchitto says. "I would definitely say Goku, but Jackie would say Vegeta. I’d also have to specify Japanese-language Goku, because Japanese Goku is completely different than English Goku. English Goku is kind of boring and sounds like a nerd; whereas Japanese Goku sounds like a goblin and is MUCH dumber; the translations always strip out jokes that make Goku seem extremely dumb. "If we have to compare English Goku to English Vegeta?... then Vegeta probably wins out, because he has so much more energy and magnetism. Although, even there, I would say that I prefer Japanese Vegeta, who sounds a lot more intelligent and cunning, whereas the English Vegeta sounds like any bog-standard cartoon villain." Finally, how many hot dogs can the makers of Trombone Champ eat in a single sitting? Jackie: "Three." Dan: "Over nine thousand." I'm glad we cleared that up. You can find Trombone Champ here on Steam. View the full article

Nearly two years after its troubled release, Cyberpunk 2077 may finally be hitting its stride: CD Projekt said that the game has drawn in more than a million players, "new and returning," every day this week. "Each day of this week Night City has been visited by 1 million players, both new and returning," the Cyberpunk 2077 Twitter account revealed. "We wanted to use this opportunity to thank you for being with us and playing the game. Thanks, Chooms!" Each day of this week Night City has been visited by 1 million players, both new and returning. We wanted to use this opportunity to thank you for being with us and playing the game. Thanks, Chooms! pic.twitter.com/zqggblztF8September 21, 2022 See more Those are clearly multiplatform numbers, but Cyberpunk 2077 is also seeing a real uptick in numbers on Steam specifically. According to Steamcharts, Cyberpunk's average concurrent player count has more than doubled over the past month, from 10,411 in August to 22,911 through the last 30 days. The peak concurrent player count is up even higher, from 18,695 in August to 89,387 over the past 30 days. That's a far cry from the eye-watering player counts at launch—the average concurrent player count in December 2020 on PC was 332,395, and it peaked at over 830,000—but still represents Cyberpunk 2077's best performance since February 2021, a point at which the true extent of the Cyberpunk debacle had fully sunk in. (In case you'd forgotten, Sony took the extraordinary step of removing the game from the PlayStation Store two months earlier because it was such a five-alarm mess. It took a full six months before it was allowed back in.) Cyberpunk 2077's player numbers first began climbing upward in early September, coinciding with the debut of the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime on Netflix. Edgerunners was an immediate hit with critics and viewers alike: Our own Wes Fenlon described it as "a surprisingly compelling gutter-level view of Night City" and said it made him want to give the game another shot. Clearly, he wasn't alone in that feeling. This isn't the first time a CD Projekt game has benefitted from a Netflix spinoff: In January 2020, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt broke 100,000 concurrent players on Steam for the first time ever—nearly five full years after it launched—thanks primarily to the success of The Witcher series on Netflix, which had debuted the previous month. Of course, Netflix isn't the only reason that people are giving Cyberpunk 2077 a try. The game has also improved in the 21 months since it first launched thanks to multiple updates, most recently the 1.6 "Edgerunners" update, which have fixed a plethora of bugs and performance issues, and added new options including a long-awaited transmog system. It's still a little too soon for me to jump in—an overhaul of Cyberpunk 2077's woefully-borked police is still in the works, for instance, and more bug fixes and content including a full-on expansion are bound to keep coming—but overall, Cyberpunk 2077 would now seem to be in the shape it should have been two years ago. For Edgerunners viewers unaware of the game's ugly history, or anyone who's just tired of waiting, that's not a bad place to start. View the full article

Hello radab915, 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. radab915 joined on the 09/22/2022. View Member

Logitech has made a name for itself in affordable PC racing wheels over the years, no more so than with the G29. You might also know its G920. Or the G923. Admittedly, there have been many cranks of the wheel for what's all but the same product over the years—"if it ain't broke, don't fix it"—but I promise you the new driving gear on my desk today are anything but the same old thing respun with a different number attached to it. The Logitech Pro Racing Wheel and Pro Racing Pedals are a frightfully powerful combination for sim racing. The gear-driven motor system so often found in Logitech's racing wheels is gone. In its stead, the Pro Racing Wheel comes with a direct drive motor that will shake you all the way down to your little racing booties. Need proof of that? Logitech's Pro Racing Wheel delivers a staggering 11Nm (Newton metres) of torque. That's a massive amount of power to throw behind a racing wheel for a PC. If I hadn't already rigorously stress tested my largely cardboard Ikea desk by standing on it multiple times to reach for something dangerously high up, I'd have suspected it would've ripped it in two by the sheer strength of the wheelbase motor. At the very least, it's more than enough power to ignite that feeling of being behind the wheel of a race car as you throw it nose-first into a corner at high-speed (or perhaps into a barrier). While there are direct drive wheelbases that can deliver torque in excess of 25Nm, the Logitech Pro Racing Wheel is comparatively powerful in its price bracket. Compared to the Fanatec CSL DD I have to hand, the Logitech's 11Nm appears practically immense next to the Fanatec's baseline 5Nm. However, the Fanatec wheelbase is capable of delivering up to 8Nm torque with a secondary adapter for extra dosh. Pro Racing specsMotor: direct drive Paddles: magnetic gear shift paddles, dual clutch paddles Wheel: 300mm diameter, removable Compatibility: PC + PlayStation | PC + Xbox Mounting: table clamp included, bolt holes for more secure fitting Pedals: 3-pedal, load-cell brake, hall effect gas/clutch Price: Pro Racing Wheel - $1,000 / £849| Pro Racing Pedals - $350 / £299 In regards to price, the Fanatec CSL DD 5nm kit is a little cheaper than the Logitech Pro Racing Wheel at $700, or $850 with the beefed up 8Nm boost kit, and it also comes with pedals. Whereas the Logitech G Pro Racing Wheel will set you back $1000, and if you want its excellent pedals as well, you'll have to buy them separately for $350. I certainly prefer to set up my racing wheel knowing that I'm going to be able to extract all the performance out of it right out of the box, though the Logitech does appear the less flexible option of the two considering its premium cost. There's more wiggle room in the cost of a Fanatec package, depending on what you want out of it. There are other reasons you might want to consider Logitech beyond a raw power advantage, however. For starters, the Pro Racing Pedal set is absolutely superb. Yes, it is sold separately, and no it's not exactly cheap. But it's actually quite a good offer for the price. This is a three-pedal set, including two metal plated brake and clutch pedals and a large gas pedal. That's not the best bit, though the inclusion of a clutch pedal as standard is much appreciated. The best bit is that the brake is a load-cell brake, which is something of a must-have feature for a racing sim fan that wants to really mimic the feeling of a race car's brake system. Where a cheaper pedal might measure through travel, alongside a spring to add resistance, a load-cell brake measures via pressure. For that, it is a far closer match to real-life. Trust me, you can feel the difference in action. Image 1 of 3 (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 3 (Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 3 (Image credit: Future) Not only does the Pro Racing Pedals come with a load-cell brake but it also feels superb under foot. The construction of the pedal set is unlike anything else I've used. It's very smartly designed to hide away any cables and make it so it's a simple and quick job to shift the location of each pedal to your preference. You just need to loosen a handful of bolts and you can shift the pedals side to side, which amounts to a quicker and more granular adjustment process than on the Fanatec CSL pedal set. As I mentioned before, the load cell is the ideal brake system for replicating the feel of a real race car's braking system, but it does come with a stipulation in order to use it effectively: you need to fix or butt it against something to make sure it's secure, as a load-cell brake will require you to hoof the pedal with all your might to engage it. Why can nobody make it around the first corner?! While relatively stable by comparison to many of the racing wheels I've tested lately—including those from Thrustmaster, Logitech, and Fanatec—there's really no getting away from the gradual slipping that will happen in some capacity when you put your full weight on the brake pedal. For better results, you'll want to butt the pedal set up against the wall or install it within a larger frame. I went for the former and it worked a treat, though I'm eyeing up a more permanent racing rig solution. Just need to find somewhere to put it first. Upwards from the pedals, Logitech has paid similar attention to detail in crafting the racing wheel itself. The wheel is fully removable and comes with a quick release so you can feel like the real deal as you disembark your machine at the end of a long and tiring race. Or if you want to throw your wheel away in pure rage because someone smashed into the back of your car for the upteenth time in an online F1 22 lobby and you can't actually believe it's happened again. Why can nobody make it around the first corner?! Sorry, but it seems even the best racing wheel in the world won't teach you to back off and fight another day. Image 1 of 3 (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 3 (Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 3 (Image credit: Future) Anyways, the wheel is available in either PlayStation or Xbox livery. There are only small differences, namely button labels, so you're free to pick your poison. Both work just fine on PC, so PC gamers needn't worry about compatibility, but I've opted for the PlayStation version for this review. The Pro Racing Wheel comes in at 300mm in diameter, which is on the larger side, though I have found it to be a good fit for a wide range of racing games despite its size. It's certainly very comfortable to use over long periods and for relatively disparate driving experiences: I've been testing across F1 22 and WRC 10, two racing games that couldn't be further from one another, and the wheel is accurate and responsive in both. Though they are actually seeing the wheel as two fundamentally different things. You see, one of the strengths of buying one of Logitech's more popular racing wheels is that, as they're so popular, they're very widely supported in racing games. With a new wheel like the Pro, there's no longer a fully-functioning preset for your wheel ready and raring to go as you boot a game. That can sometimes mean you just have to make one yourself, as is the case with F1 22, and Logitech has created a very handy webpage that will guide you through the best way to go about it. But in other games, like WRC 10, you will need to engage compatibility mode, or essentially, G923 mode. A compatibility mode isn't exactly a wild new idea in the world of racing wheels, many wheels offer them, but they are a handy technique to ensure functionality with a wider range of games. Those games that may have once been a complete nightmare to add wheel support to. You're already thinking of Forza, but I'm not going to say it. I mention compatibility mode because when you read this next part, you should bear in mind that some of the functionality isn't available in G923 mode, though most of the important stuff is. Image 1 of 3 (Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 3 (Image credit: Future)Image 3 of 3 (Image credit: Future) The G Pro Wheel is highly customisable. Either through the Logitech G app, or, as I found myself doing most often, via the display on the wheel base itself. From here, it's easy to adjust settings on a per-game basis. You can even set up multiple profiles to keep track of these settings for each game, including options to adjust force feedback, Trueforce feedback, maximum wheel rotation, brake pedal sensitivity, and even what you want to use the second set of paddles on the rear of the wheel. These are stored on the wheel base too. Speaking of which, this is another of the features that is worth talking about on the Pro Racing Wheel. You have your traditional paddle shifters on the rear of the Pro Racing Wheel but also dual clutch paddles beneath. The gear shifters use a magnetic actuation, which makes for incredibly swift and tactile response, however, the dual clutch paddles are a more gentle actuation. Though that's handy for nailing smoother starts off the line. Though that's only half the story. Via the aforementioned settings on the wheel base, you can set these dual clutch paddles to act as different functions. Perhaps the best use I've found for it is using the clutch paddle as a handbrake in games where that might be required. For someone like me without a dedicated handbrake accessory, this feature is great for nailing drifts (or trying to). The Logitech Pro Racing kit feels as much a high-end offering in power and performance as it should for the price. Though as I said before, that awesome customisable paddle functionality is only available if you're opting to run in Pro mode, and not G923 mode. And unfortunately games like Forza and WRC, which I find myself trying to drift in, are better suited to G923 mode. You can try and program your own controls in these games using the Pro mode if you don't mind tinkering for 20 minutes before gaming, however, so don't completely discount your favourite racing games if they're only recommended with G923 mode. There is so much customisation on offer with the Logitech G Pro Racing Wheel and Pedals and it's all within easy reach. Even the impressive force feedback can be adjusted to better take advantage of the information available to it on a per-game basis, and I'm talking about Logitech's own Trueforce rumble feedback feature here, too. Trueforce isn't necessarily a reason to buy a racing wheel, but I'll take it when offered. It's effectively a way in which minor, let's say, atmospheric rumbles are picked up from the game engine and translated through the wheel into your hands and arms. It'll change how you perceive driving on a gravel road to smooth asphalt, or if you lose control and veer into grass becoming a very expensive, high-speed lawnmower. You'll feel the difference, and it's a neat effect. Race on (Image credit: Future)Best PC racing wheels : perfect for any circuit. Best VR headset: which set is right for trackdays? But I'm impressed with the Logitech G Pro Racing Wheel and Pedals. Not only because of the serious step up in performance that this set offers over Logitech's more popular G923-style models, but also that a direct drive wheelbase and high-quality wheel feels a very obvious step forward for Logitech's racing wheels if done correctly, and Logitech has absolutely done it correctly here. I have no qualms about recommending the Pro Racing Wheel and Pedals for the racing rookie looking to level up their sim experience, or indeed even a more seasoned racer with ageing kit that needs a lick more power. However, I will say there's still absolutely a place for more modular kits, such as those from the likes of Fanatec. The ability to piece together a racing sim rig over time, starting off with a cheaper, upgradeable unit, does appeal to me on a more practical level, and there's no getting away from the complete Logitech solution's $1,350 price tag all-in. That's a lot of money to drop in one lump sum. But I wouldn't say you would come away disappointed had you spent that money on this racing wheel. The Logitech Pro Racing kit feels as much a high-end offering in power and performance as it should for the price, and it'll come as no surprise that every detail and every material screams premium, long-lasting quality as we've come to expect from Logitech over the years. View the full article

Ever wonder what happens after an action-packed shootout in a movie? Assuming the police don't get there first, you'd have to think that someone gets sent over to clean up the mess, right? Shell casings, dead bodies, bloodstains, you name it—it's all got to go, and in Serial Cleaners it's your job to take care of it. The game throws you into all kinds of high-intensity scenarios where you need to sort out a crime scene while avoiding the patrolling authorities and other undesirables. The story is depicted through flashback, as the titular cleaners recount their 'glory days' through a filter of 90s cult movie nostalgia. Taking place across iconic era-appropriate settings like old-school arcades, live-audience sitcom sets, and grimy urban locales evoking 90s New York City, Serial Cleaners is a love letter to films from directors like Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, and the Coen Brothers. (Image credit: 505 Games) The homages start on the very first mission, which is set in a drug den inspired by Scorsese's relatively unknown (by the director's lofty standards) Bringing Out the Dead, starring Nicolas Cage. Other stages will give you flashbacks too, such as a certain convenience store that's reminiscent of Kevin Smith's slacker comedy Clerks, and a train station where you need to extract a mobster who's in the process of bleeding out (which may trigger memories of a certain Al Pacino flick that rhymes with 'Crime Don't Pay.') Wander through the arcade level, meanwhile, and you'll see arcade cabinets adorned with legendary quotes from mistranslated 90s Japanese Arcade games. 'All your attention are belong to us?' Good, then let's proceed. (Image credit: 505 Games) It's not just the references that make Serial Cleaners an ode to all that was great about 90s cinema, but the tone of the game. Most of the levels are drenched in moody lighting, splattered with graffiti in the style of Jean-Michel Basquiat, and accompanied by a soundtrack that evokes classic music moments, like the rave in vampiric Wesley Snipes vehicle Blade, or Nine Inch Nails' number in Brandon Lee's The Crow. Maybe to distance the Cleaners from their grisly night job, or maybe simply because it's fun, the game bases its 90s settings not on reality, but in the super-stylised way we remember them through the golden era of gritty, sharp-talking crime films that existed at this time. To that end, each character in the game is a cool '90s archetype (with the 'Psycho' character Hal being a riff on the hitman Mr. Wrench from Coens' crime caper Fargo). (Image credit: 505 Games) Serial Cleaners is almost ready to rewind us back to its faithfully fictionalised version of the 90s. It's not all style without substance either, as at its core this is a stealth game that will push your skills in subtlety to the limit. Its story, we're told, will be something quite special too, with the kind of twist that would throw even Keyser Soze into a loop. You can grab Serial Cleaners from September 22 on Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG, as well as all major console platforms. Meanwhile, check out the game's official site and Steam page, and keep up with the latest goings-on at 505 Games through their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages. View the full article

She Hulk is the only part of the MCU I'm currently remotely invested in at the moment. Aside from WandaVision, it's one of the few things Marvel Studios has produced that actually reflects how broad superhero comics can be. They are so much more than banter and big monster fights, but that's largely all we get from the MCU. While She Hulk does dabble in these things, it's more Ally McBeal than Avengers, and the result is immensely entertaining. Developers thinking of pitching a superhero game should take note. As much as I had a hoot web-slinging my way through New-York in Spider-Man and Miles Morales, there's not much to get excited about when it comes to superhero games these days. Crystal Dynamic's take on the Avengers ended up being a disappointing live service affair, and there have been few other notable releases. There are plenty of very simple mobile games filled to the brim with microtransactions, I guess, and the Lego Marvel and DC games continue to be a laugh, though they have settled into a very familiar groove. (Image credit: Marvel) Even if we were inundated with them, however, I'm not convinced I'd be that interested. Let's face it: they'd almost all be open-world action games. Like Marvel Studios, game devs and publishers also seem to have a myopic vision of what superheroes are all about. And it's mostly punching stuff. That's why She Hulk is a gift. In the comics, She Hulk does her fair share of superheroics, but the best stuff is always just her being a giant green lawyer. Thankfully, that's also what the show focuses on. Her lawyer shenanigans are elevated by the fact that she specifically deals with superhuman cases—like an elf scamming another lawyer by pretending to be Megan Thee Stallion—that serve as excellent comedy fodder. The MCU's heroes might spit out a lot of jokes, but the movies and shows still take themselves pretty seriously, which isn't an issue for She Hulk. Last week, her depressing dates with a series of awful dudes became a key component of a legal battle. It's incredibly dumb and it revels in it. Her dating profile, by the way, includes this incredible line: "Mean, green and straight poured into these jeans." Amid the gags, She Hulk also explores what it's like to simply live as a superhero: what it's like to date, to go out for drinks with friends, to hold down a regular job. Mundane stuff made infinitely more novel because of gamma radiation. These are all fun scenarios that don't involve a giant monster knocking down skyscrapers. And I'm convinced they'd be just as fun to experience in a game—especially when games about driving through mud and snow or unpacking boxes have proved to be so riveting. (Image credit: Capcom) The Ace Attorney series serves as a good framework for what a She Hulk game could be like—and not just because there's a dearth of lawyer protagonists in videogames. Part visual novel, part adventure game, and full of courtroom battles, they're exactly the sort of games that fit She Hulk's MO. And like She Hulk, they're far more interested in human drama than the ins and outs of the legal system. I can already see Jen Walters hulked out and screaming "Objection!" or defending superheroes—maybe Squirrel Girl has been accused of robbing supermarkets of all their nuts. Ace Attorney already has all the ingredients waiting to be lifted, but there are plenty of other genres that could serve as inspiration. The love lives of superheroes is well-trodden territory, but the romances of Captain America, Iron Man and Scarlet Witch are all high drama, doomed affairs. She Hulk's grounded tone, however, gives us dating disasters that are tragic for more relatable reasons, while also exploring what it's like to simply exist as a larger-than-life public figure with a not-remotely-secret dual identity. A dating sim that's really more about the civilian lives of superheroes than finding romance might be a welcome contrast to the usual superpowered brawls. Since I can't go a day without craving a management game, I'd be up for running a law firm as She Hulk as well. Her comic counterpart's already done it, drumming up business to keep the lights on while occasionally being interrupted by Howard the Duck. I'm not convinced running a regular law firm would be very exciting, but one in a world where alien invasions, time travel and space gods are passé is bound to be a bit more compelling. (Image credit: Marvel) There's a lot to work with here that doesn't involve putting on a costume and tangoing with a supervillain, but that doesn't need to be excluded entirely, and could even complement the legal fights or management wrinkles. Someone from her rogues' gallery is bound to make a nuisance out of themselves at some point, kicking down the door right as she's reading out a will. It just doesn't need to be the character's sole dimension. She Hulk is perfect for an unconventional superhero game because, at least in the show, she's specifically trying to live a mostly normal life and not join Avengers or get involved in cataclysmic battles over the fate of the planet. If superhero games are to be liberated from the shackles of open-world punchfests, she's the hero to do it. View the full article