Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is billed as a faithful recreation of 15th century Bohemia, with an open world setting derived from primary sources and historical consultancy that seeks to "challenge misconceptions", but I'm enjoying it partly for the inconsistencies. As I amble into a random village, my eye is caught by what feel like carefully observed period flourishes: a particular arrangement of crops in a sloping field, a woman praying at a shrine by the gate. Some of these sights and sounds unlock codex entries, layering up the pedagogic texture.

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Some eager beavers who bought the GeForce RTX 4090 at launch were, quite infamously, rewarded for their investment with a defective power adapter, one that that could melt the plastic in their £1679 graphics card like it was Ronald Lacey’s face. Nvidia reckon that won’t be an issue with for the imminent RTX 5090 and RTX 5080, though, even with the former’s drastically increased 575W power limit.

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The high-end prebuilt PC market is a battleground for premium prices, but catching a solid deal can save you a significant chunk of change. Case in point: Dell is offering the Alienware Aurora R16 GeForce RTX 4090 gaming PC for $2,899.99, a full $1,000 off the usual price. It's a rare sight to see an RTX 4090 gaming rig dip below the $3,000 mark, especially given the recent uptick in standalone GPU prices.

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Fanatical has kicked off its Lunar New Year sale, packed with fantastic discounts perfect for anyone on PC who’s ready to expand their ever-growing Steam library. Go ahead, tell yourself you’ll play these games right away—we’ve all been there.

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On this Sunday, I find myself deeply nostalgic for chunky scart cables, terrible bookmarks though they may make. Book for now!

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Sundays are for resting, supposedly, but it can also be for mopping the floors, washing the bedding, and catching up on work because you simply have too much to do.

Remember the Electronic Wireless Show? Two of its hosts, Alice Bell and Nate Crowley, have started a new podcast "about video games (mostly)". It's called Total Playtime and an introductory episode 0 and a Patreon are live now. The third host is Jon Hicks, with whom you may be less familiar, but he used to be my boss and thus may be considered the 5th Beatle of RPS. Anyway, go give it a listen.

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Look there, my friends. The almighty and sombre Hippopotamus Of Farewell has graced our presence again this weekend. Whether you do it in the comments below or on his actual leaving post (or indeed his other leaving post), let's all give our resident Edders a good send-off. And now we shall drown our sorrows in digital worlds. Here's what we're all clicking on this weekend.

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Superheroes often conceal their identities behind masks, capes and in my case, a pungent snood-and-hoodtop combo that makes me look like I've crawled out of a drain. No, don't ask what my real superhero identity is. After all, knowing my secrets might expose you to the wrath of my enemies. And in any case, I don't trust you. It turns out some> of you people have been keeping secrets from me, as well. You have been furtively playing superhero shooter Marvel Rivals with a keyboard and mouse adapter, which makes it look as though you're playing with a controller, so that you can take advantage of controller features such as high-sensitivity aim-assist in competitive play.

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The wallpaper on my phone is of a nondescript street in Shibuya. If I hold my thumb down on the photo in my phone's gallery, it actually springs to life for a few seconds and rewinds time in the process. It shows me wobble the phone into position and take the snap: a giant crab clings to a restaurant, a lady totters towards us with a white plastic bag looped around her arm, colourful signs stacked like Legos jut out of grey, "The Body Shop" lies in the distance because of course it does.

It means a lot to me, this photo. It's the precise moment I felt excitement shoot through my chest, a pang of "I can't believe I'm back". Then the next morning, a jolt that, in hindsight, definitely altered my brain chemistry. A wave of, "I finally get to disconnect and in many ways, I get to reconnect, too".

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Following the Republican victory in the US 2024 elections, several US companies have experimented with "pivoting away" from Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, a collection of employment practices aimed at challenging bias and prejudice in the workplace. Facebook owners Meta, Amazon, Walmart, McDonalds and others are reportedly scaling back their DEI initiatives to stave off backlash or litigation from conservative pundits and politicians, who regard DEI guidance about discrimination as a form of discrimination in itself. Following the election, I've also noticed a couple of video game company executives express misgivings about DEI - misgivings that, amongst other things, illustrate that "DEI" has come to mean a lot more than just annual training about micro-aggressions.

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