Forthcoming PlayStation 3 shooter Starhawk features split-screen multiplayer, publisher Sony has announced.

As detailed in a post on the PlayStation Blog, two players can fight it out on the same TV. Developer Lightbox Interactive looked into four player split screen but eventually decided against it.

"We are very aware that some of you wanted four player split screen like Warhawk. We thought about it a lot and decided not to go this route," explained senior producer Florence Kum.

"Based on our data, not enough people ever used four player split in Warhawk, so we concentrated our efforts in other areas, such as making two player just plain better.

"For the few people that actually played four player split screen… we're very sorry about that. For everyone else, we think you'll like the aspect ratio change and the bigger radar map."

Kum added that both players will be able to sign in to their PSN IDs on the one machine, allowing each of them to level up. However, only one player will be able to earn achievements, "as these are saved directly to the PS3".

"It's not perfect, but it's way better than Warhawk where Player 2 couldn't level up at all."

The follow-up to 2007 effort Warhawk is due out in May. See our Starhawk preview for more on what to expect.

Angry Birds developer Rovio plans to deploy themed sets of swings and slides to playgrounds around the country.

The initiative will start this summer in Finland, Angry Birds' homeland. UK playgrounds will follow.

"Rovio wanted to invite people who play the game to not only sit inside on the sofa, but to go out, move themselves and have fun," Rovio's playground equipment partner Lappset Group told BBC News.

The parks will feature "exclusive" downloads and interactive content.

"You have large screens where you can play the games in the park. There's a tunnel that you have to run though at a certain speed - if you don't get there in time you get sprayed with water."

Rovio has already announced plans to launch a new themed Angry Birds Land at the Finnish theme park Särkänniemi Adventure Park. It will feature "Magic Places", areas where "activities and the gaming world meet".

Angry Birds Space, the latest downloadable game in the addictive series, is released tomorrow.

Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser has bought the same Brooklyn mansion once inhabited by legendary true crime author Truman Capote for a staggering $12.5 million.

As reported by New York Observer, the house, located at 70 Willow Street in New York's Brooklyn Heights district, was home to the In Cold Blood author for 10 years.

The sale is thought to be the largest ever in Brooklyn, beating the previous record by 1.5 million.

Houser's new 9000 square foot pad boasts 18 rooms over three floors, 11 fireplaces and a showpiece spiral staircase.

The British émigré relocated to New York back in 1998 to get Rockstar off the ground with his brother Sam, Terry Donovan, Jamie King and Gary Foreman. The developer is currently hard at work on Grand Theft Auto 5.

Modern Warfare 3 developer Infinity Ward has threatened to ban any players taking advantage of a glitch in new DLC for the game.

Creative strategist Robert Bowling Tweeted last night:

"There's a glitch in Black Box that allows you to get under the map. Fix already in the works, out by Friday. Don't exploit, we'll be banning."

His post got a hostile reception from some, who accused the developer of punishing gamers for its own cock-up.

"Shouldn't be banning people for your mistakes. Let them have their fun but hurry up and fix it," Tweeted one follower.

"Big man handing out bans for releasing a broken map. I bet you sleep well at night knowing you hand out bs bans. ;)," wrote another.

The first Modern Warfare 3 DLC collection launched on Xbox 360 earlier this week.

Players who pre-order Far Cry 3 will receive The Lost Expeditions Edition of the game. It contains two exclusive missions not available in the regular version.

These missions, "The Forgotten Experiment" and "Ignition in the Deep", offer up an extra 40 minutes of gameplay, Ubisoft revealed.

You'll also get a Type 10 Japanese World War 2 flare gun for use in the game's multiplayer modes.

The new info comes from a fresh Far Cry 3 trailer, viewable below. It focuses on the "unhinged" Dr Earnhardt. Violence, animal slaughter and hard drug use follow:

Do good things really come in threes? When we reviewed Alienware's respectable take on the "Small Form Factor" PC with the X51, we also had a chance to test out a trio of their latest line of gaming laptops. These included the netbook-sized M11x, the feature-rich M17x (including an integrated 3D LED panel), and the back-breaking powerhouse that is the M18x. Each of these being in their third revision, they represent the very best that the company has to offer in the portable space today.

But given the current technical demands of DirectX 11 titles such as Crysis 2 and Battlefield 3, are any of these actually good enough to hold their own with the most cutting-edge releases? Is laptop gaming a viable proposition for the most demanding PC players?

We'll get to that in just a second, but the most pertinent issue for most people on the scout for a new laptop is, of course, price. Tallying up the total cost for each configuration here, it's clear that there's little room for those working with a budget of under £600. The smallest begins at that price point, while the middle entry starts at £1,299, and the largest at £1,699 - all without any extra parts, higher resolution screens or CPU upgrades. Even in their bare-bones forms, each of these laptops guns for the extreme end of the market - with an obvious ambition to deliver the best graphics possible while being grounded by the sobering realities of power consumption, size, weight, noise and heat output.

The Alienware Trio Compared

All the laptops in Alienware's latest wave share a few common threads as far as design and technical ambition go. In terms of raw specs, they each proudly sport variations of the Intel Core i7 processor from the entry level, plus discrete DirectX 11-compatible graphics chips. Courtesy of NVIDIA Optimus support, this will dynamically switch to and from an integrated Intel HD3000 chipset according to which program is being used.

In fact, these GPUs are so powerful that, by default, they're set to automatically scale down their clock speeds whenever the laptops are running straight off the mains, with the energy throughput being simply too high for the laptops to sustain themselves from the battery alone. For laptops determined to squeeze out as much usage time as possible, these power saving tricks are invaluable. The use of 250GB SSDs all round is another plus for battery life (with the option for larger hybrid HDDs available) and has a tangible effect on games like Rage where constant streaming of textures is a necessity.

"Each of these laptops guns for the extreme end of the market - with an obvious ambition to deliver the best graphics possible while being grounded by the sobering realities of power consumption, size, weight, noise and heat output."

There are the similarities in design too, with the token alien head logo emblazoned on each lid and making an appearance as the bespoke power button above each keyboard. There are also two LED-lit speakers at the front undercut by a protruding, glossy lip, each covered, perhaps superfluously, by a meshed design. The whole thing lives up to the extraterrestrial theme the design team set themselves from the company's inception, and it does at least look like something you'd pay that high premium for.

Connectivity is pretty comprehensive between the three. There are two "SuperSpeed" USB 3.0 ports on each laptop, with two headphone sockets, one microphone socket, an Ethernet port, Firewire port, SD card slots, plus options for HDMI 1.4 and DisplayPort output being a commonality. On the M11x, the omission of an optical drive is typical of netbooks designed to the same size specification, and basically makes getting games on there a bit of a hassle unless you've gone with Steam all the way.

The two larger models set themselves apart by adding the flexibility of an eSATA port, an extra USB slot, a SPDIF output and a HDMI 1.3 input, in case you want another device to hijack their LED displays. Naturally, all of these come with integrated 802.11a/g/n wireless cards and Bluetooth support as standard, plus an extra option for Wireless HD to another, presumably larger, monitor or TV, should you want to play games from a distance. All in all, there's not a stone left unturned here.

Opening them up while powered gives you a view of their LED-backlit keyboards. These lights are divided into four segments across its span, and through the built-in AlienFX software can be individually programmed to show off different colours. Much like the X51, this also allows you to program custom presets for each application, where browsing the web can be set to give you a full gamut of colours which gradually oscillate in brightness.

"The AlienFX software allows you to program custom LED presets for each application, where browsing the web can be set to give you a full gamut of colours which gradually oscillate in brightness."

You can use the pre-installed AlienFX software to set up your own LED fireworks display (as seen top-left). Having these lights pulsate and switch colour in each segment of the keyboard, trackpad, logos and speakers is entertaining, but too much of a distraction to maintain during gaming.

Unfortunately, the use of glossy screens for each unit does have a conflict of interests with the vibrant nature of this backlit keyboard. This is particularly true of night-time play, when you're most likely to need it, as dark scenes just end up revealing a mirror image of the laptop's bottom half when it's enabled in full glory. It's a bit of a shame that no option for matte coating on LED panels is available. In all other situations though, the keyboard is an optional, entertaining extra which has come to set the Alienware brand apart from the competition.

To round off the comparisons, the M11x makes use of a smaller power brick that feels sensible for the light-packing commuter, while a much larger external PSU is needed to give the M17x and M18x the juice they require. No doubt their larger, brighter screens and more power-ravenous processors factor heavily into this, as they each draw around 90WHr and 97WHr from their respective batteries. Interestingly, this is precisely the same block used for the X51 PC, and is a tad too cumbersome to be packed for regular travel.

M11x: The Little Netbook That Could

From here, each laptop treads its own path. Focusing on just the M11x for a moment, we find its rated weight of 2kg to be an incredible achievement given the power it's packing. What we have here is an Intel Core i7-2617M processor clocked at 1.5GHz (ramping up to 2.6GHz in turbo mode), 4GB of 1333MHz DDR3 RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GT540M graphics chip, which is enough to play all of the most demanding games of the last year.

Speaking briefly on build quality, the rubberised exterior feels solid and makes for a good grip, but tends to leave residual marks quite easily. Nevertheless, this and the heft necessary to draw the screen upwards gives us an impression of robustness - not that we'd consider flinging it against the wall to test this. There are some disappointments though; namely, the uneven balance we have on our unit when placing it on any flat surface, resulting in a slight wobble.

Alienware M11x (R3) Specs

The baby of the Alienware gaming line, the M11x is remarkable in its ability to run the latest games playably on what is essentially a netbook form-factor.

• CPU: Intel Core i7 2617M at 1.50GHz (2.6GHz turbo) 4MB L3 Cache
• Graphics Core: NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M 2GB DDR3 (672MHz core clock, 900MHz memory clock)
• Memory: 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 RAM
• Storage: 250GB SSD
• OS: Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit

Our review set-up is at the top-end, costing around £1,274. At the other end of the spectrum, £599 gets you a Core i3 2357M (1.3GHz, 3MB Cache), 2GB of 1333MHz DDR3 and a 500GB 7200rpm hard drive. The base configuration retains the crucial GT 540M graphics core, albeit with 1GB of RAM.

The slightly minimised keys feel a bit uneven at points, and their entirely flat surfaces make them tricky to use, with fingers getting caught quite easily on the pointed edges of adjacent keys. As a result, we don't find that they depress as cleanly or comfortably as other laptop keyboards of even a lower price range, which is a massive shame. The Synaptics trackpad is a pleasure to use though, with its lightly textured surface making it easy to distinguish from the surrounding area when you're using it blind during gameplay. The only other minor grievance we have with it is the proximity of its two USB 3.0 ports, which are just a bit too close together to hold some USB sticks or dongles at once.

Meanwhile, the M11x's glossy-coated, 11.6 inch LED backlit screen is suitably thin, has a resolution of 1366x768 (on par with most "HD Ready" HDTVs) and is contoured by a large, black reflective border. Given the processing power, this proves to be a good fit for games such as Crysis 2 and Battlefield 3, where bumping up the resolution tends to take its toll on the GPU's 2GB worth of RAM. Here, the default resolution is nicely matched with what the hardware can deliver - and failing that, the option for 720p helps to alleviate the strain on fill rate.

However, given its purpose as a gaming netbook, we can't by any means call the quality of the screen itself anything more than average. The biggest problem with it is the contrast ratio, where at any brightness level the colours look dull and undefined most of the time. To add to the problem, both vertical and horizontal viewing angles are also extremely restrictive, meaning the edges of the screen tend to look slightly washed out even when looking at it dead-centre. This ranks as the biggest let-down for the device, and we're surprised that a screen of this quality is being shipped with hardware that purports to be on the cutting edge and is being sold for a premium. It's all the more disappointing because the M11x can actually deliver on some high graphical standards when it comes to playing the games themselves; only half of its promise is lived up to in this regard.

Putting that issue aside, just how far can the hardware be pushed during gameplay? To jump in at the deep end, we test out Crysis 2, set to the maximum 1366x768 resolution with v-sync engaged, and we're surprised by how well it can cope. Even with the optional high resolution texture pack installed, playing around the early, besieged New York stages on the lowest setting gives us performance on the better side of 30FPS. Switching on DirectX 11 features such as tessellation forces the game down to 25FPS and lower at points, making action a bit too choppy to enjoy. The original Crysis performs a little more smoothly on the M11x, but overall this is an impressive result.

"Crysis 2 (DX9) ran at the maximum 1366x768 resolution with v-sync engaged at the better side of 30FPS - deeply impressive stuff for a netbook form-factor."

A selection of games running at the M11x's native 1366x768 resolution. Skyrim is playable at medium settings, but benefits from the much smoother play on low. Meanwhile, DirectX 11 games such as Battlefield 3 and Crysis 2 remain enjoyable at the lowest settings.

Next up, Battlefield 3's single-player gives us a very similar scenario as far as frame-rate is concerned. Again, when set to the low graphical preset, demanding campaign levels such as Operation Swordbreaker render at a rate just shy of the 30-frame refresh, although improvements come with subsequent missions, where more directed, linear level designs enter the fray. Jumping into multiplayer proves surprisingly more fruitful. Here we can join a game with 32 players engaged on the Caspian Border map and still enjoy the improved AA settings on the Medium preset, without causing the frame rate to dip too far to the nether of 40FPS.

Fans of Skyrim will no doubt be pleased to hear that Bethesda's broad, Nordic fantasy RPG plays at around 40-50FPS on medium settings, although you can squeeze it to the full 60FPS refresh on low. Anything more is sadly a stretch too far, but given the narrow dimensions of the screen itself, the scaled down texture filtering and level-of-detail (LOD) settings tend not to be too noticeable. As a bonus, loading times on entering dungeons are blisteringly fast as a result of the SSD.

Moving on to the realm of real-time strategy, the M11x is up to the task of playing StarCraft 2 on Ultra settings, complete with Blizzard's more complex shader model, resulting in 40FPS on average. However, end-game shenanigans in 4v4 games are an unpleasantly zoetropic affair, making the Medium preset necessary for those looking to attain that crucial 60FPS performance across most match-ups. It's fortunate, though, that Blizzard has always been willing to cater to the lowest common denominator, and the art design still maintains its charm at these lower levels.

Having a little machine deliver big results like these does have implications on battery life, heat and fan noise. Where using the M11x purely for web browsing gives us around ten hours and 30 minutes (medium brightness and volume) off the battery, playing games gives us just over two hours. It's also remarkable how much heat is being channelled through its two air vents, present on the bottom and rear of the device, particularly once the fan kicks into top gear during games like Battlefield 3. It's during these situations that the fan overwhelms the output of the two front speakers, meaning you have to crank them up a bit.

M17x: Performance in 3D Gaming

Next, we move over to the middle entry, the M17x. The external build quality hits a similarly high standard of visual flair and sturdiness, but it's only once you prise the clam open to reveal its keyboard and screen that improvements start to become evident. Gone are the flattened keys and dull LCD panel of its smaller sibling, and in their place are nicely shaped, full-size buttons and a simply gorgeous 17-inch screen with support for NVIDIA's 3D Vision.

Above the keyboard is now room for a stylish, LED-lit media bar featuring all the usual controls for sound and video playback, but also a button which gives you immediate access to the AlienFX program. It's on this bar that we also notice an eject button which controls an optional slot-loading Blu-ray drive to the right side of the device. The coarse texturing of the M11x's track-pad has also been supplanted in favour of a larger, smoother surface, recessed by a millimetre from the palm rest to help navigate without having to constantly refer back at it.

Alienware M17x (R3) Specs

The 17-inch entrant into the R3 line-up gives you the native 1080p screen you desire at this size, but also offers up a 120Hz refresh and NVIDIA 3D Vision support.

• CPU: Intel Core i7-2630QM 2.00GHz (2.9GHz turbo) 6MB L3 Cache
• Graphics Cores: Dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M 3GB (675MHz Core clock, 1250MHz Memory clock)
• Memory: 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 RAM
• Storage: 250GB SSD
• Optical Drive: Slot-loading BR-RW drive
• OS: Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit

Nobody said this was going to be cheap! Our test config weighs in at a mighty £1,824. The base-spec £1,299 model features a Core i7-2670QM (2.20Ghz, 6MB L3 Cache), a 1.5GB GTX 560M, 4GB of 1333MHz DDR3 RAM, a 750GB 7,200rpm hard drive, a 1600x900 LCD and a DVD rewriter.

The specifications are a commendable step up too; the M17x contains an Intel Core i7-2630QM, able to clock all the way up to 2.9GHz on turbo, 4GB of 1333MHz RAM, and a dual setup of NVIDIA GTX 460M graphics chips. This doubling allows for twice the overall effective VRAM as well, which now tallies up to 3GB. In the configuration we have, the unit weighs in at 4.39kg (adding .0.13kg for the 3d panel) which is well within the realms of comfort when placed on the lap, and also for general portability.

Naturally for this 3D-enabled screen, refresh rates of up to 120Hz are possible, meaning the world of 120FPS gaming opens wide up - if realistically only with older, classic games. Even for those not interested in stereoscopy or higher frame-rates, the screen provides the full 1920x1080 resolution, some truly superb pixel response and a great contrast ratio too. The only downsides we notice are some minor banding on grey gradients, as seen on the rising smoke on Skyrim's menu screen, and also some pixel noise over densely packed areas of black and white stripes. Input lag is minimal compared to most LCD panels, and although black levels are roughly on par for LED-backlit technology, there are no blemishes in the way of backlight bleed.

The clarity and response of the display serves to bring out the best in the games. We start with Batman: Arkham Asylum to see NVIDIA's 3D Vision in effect, and are not disappointed. While 60FPS on high settings is only possible with 3D turned off, we still manage to achieve almost 40FPS with it enabled, which is enough to carry the effect convincingly. The altered brightness level does take a moment to adapt to once the shutter glasses engage, but image quality is remarkably clear by comparison to 3D offerings on home console platforms, where the framebuffer for each eye is typically lowered in order to meet the hardware's fill-rate. Here, a full 1920x1080 frame is rendered for each eye and the game looks all the better for it.

Battlefield 3 and Crysis 2 both run very smoothly indeed when set to medium, although sadly struggle to handle stereoscopic output. Even with the effect off, we find that the 60FPS target is out of reach mainly due to resolution settings, where rendering at 1920x1080 seems to only allow 30-40FPS during campaign levels. Reducing this to 720p, however, brings it up to par, and remains entirely stable at that maximum level during multiplayer. It's a similar story for Crysis 2 on DirectX 11 mode, which needs to be run at a lower resolution in order to showcase the superior textures and effects on the higher presets.

"1080p native resolution is desirable but this may have an impact if you are looking to play the most demanding games on max settings, or with 3D Vision engaged."

A good all-rounder, the M17x can play Batman: Arkham City and Rage with few compromises, and adding stereoscopic 3D into the mix is a very inviting option.

Otherwise, games like Rage fare very well due to included CUDA support on the discrete NVIDIA GPU, where benchmarking the game with GPU transcode enabled gives us 170 megatexels per second. This allows for faster streaming of textures, and in conjunction with the installed SSD practically eliminates the issue of pop-in. Sharp turns around landscapes outdoors can introduce minor bouts of stuttering, but even maxed out, the game can hit 60FPS, and there are no problems around interior environments at all. This is a far cry from the poor level of optimisation the game had on any configuration on release, and we're thoroughly impressed by the results here.

With regards to battery life, the laptop managed to last out for four hours and five minutes while watching video and web browsing, while gaming off the battery gave us just under an hour. The heat output becomes very noticeable due to the way two of its four vents are positioned on the bottom of the device, precisely where your legs are positioned during actual use as a laptop. In terms of noise, the fans kick in at full velocity during games like Battlefield 3 after just 60 seconds, meaning you need to resort to at least 60 per cent volume from the speakers.

M18x: Exceed Until Excess

The last, biggest, and undoubtedly most powerful of the bunch is the M18x. If high-end laptops of this breed are supposed to strike an ideal balance of performance, heat, weight and size, then this gargantuan creation may be pushing its boundaries a little bit. At a daunting starting weight of 5.41kg, it's even heavier than the X51 mini PC we reviewed earlier, making for an uncomfortable experience when literally used as a laptop. Also, we're sad to see that, as it stands, this model currently excludes the option for adding 3D LED panels.

So has anything been added? Over and above the media bar at the top, it does include a customisable set of hot-keys to the left, which are colour coded by LEDs according to their preset. In general, we found that their position at the extreme end of the keyboard made locating the Ctrl and Shift keys less intuitive, but this may simply take some time adapting to. Otherwise, the keys maintain the superior upward-sloping style of the M17x, although this time we see a slight flex to the board when typing at its centre.

Alienware M18x (R3) Specs

An 18-inch monster, the M18x doesn't feature the 3D Vision capabilities of its 17-inch brother, but its single AMD Radeon 6970M GPU manages to comprehensively out-quaff the SLI set-up featured in the M17x.

• CPU: Intel Core i7-2630QM at 2GHz (2.9GHz turbo) 6MB L3 Cache
• Graphics Core: AMD Radeon 6970M 2GB (680MHz core clock, 900MHz memory clock)
• Memory: 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 RAM
• Storage: 250GB SSD
• Optical Drive: Slot-loading DVD-RW drive
• OS: Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit

Our review configuration is at the top-end at £1,894 but this product isn't cheap even at the base level, with the cheapest kit costing £1,699. That gets you a 2.2GHz Core i7-2720QM, a 1.5GB GTX 560M, 4GB of 1333MHz DDR3, a 7,200rpm 750GB hard drive and a DVD rewriter.

Build quality remains creditably high regardless, with the lid taking a good yank to open to reveal the screen. Here we find that the non-3D panel offers slightly worse black levels which, together with the lower pixel density of the display factoring in at 1920x1080, leaves us looking back fondly at the smaller model. This isn't to say the display is bad by any means - the colours are rich, and response times seem equal to the former in practice. Also, the support for 120Hz, potentially allowing for 120FPS in games, is missed, but perhaps not essential in the grand scheme of things.

At first glance the specification of the M18x appears to be quite similar to the M17x, with a matching Intel Core i7-2630QM and 4GB of DDR3 RAM. The big switch comes in the form of the AMD Radeon 6970M with 2GB GDDR as the top-end selection: a single GPU that draws 100W of power, as opposed to the 150W requirement of the dual GTX460M. This change translates to a massive improvement to gameplay in most cases.

For games like Batman: Arkham City and Skyrim we see similarly sky-high results on medium settings, but it's in Crysis 2 that we experience the biggest leap forward. On very high settings, we see the frame rate hold confidently at 60FPS, as opposed to roughly half that on the M17x. This gives us breathing room to experiment, where even bumping it up to extreme doesn't give it too much trouble. Enabling DirectX 11, however, does show its limitations and pulls it back down to the 40FPS mark.

Potentially, this is a cause for concern with games like Battlefield 3 which run exclusively on the DirectX 11 API. In practise, an unerring 60FPS performance is very much sustainable during the Operation Swordbreaker segment, running at the recommended settings with ultra textures, high shadow quality and horizontal-based ambient occlusion (HBAO) all checked. It's a triumphant result, and gives us the confidence to jump into a large multiplayer game with 64 players and never feel like it's the hardware that's holding us back from climbing the scoreboards.

"With the powerful AMD GPU in the M18x, we were able to comfortably play Crysis 2 in DX9 at 1080p60 on very high settings, with DX11 pulling that down to the 40FPS mark."

The top-end AMD GPU in the M18x delivers almost double the frame rate of the M17x in demanding titles such as Crysis 2 and Battlefield 3, giving a bright green light for competitive play on higher settings.

Looking elsewhere, we find Rage suffers ever-so-slightly for its slower texture streaming. This is, we suspect, due to the AMD card's inability to have GPU transcode selected as a result of no CUDA cores being available. Running the benchmark without gives us just 62 megatexels per second, a figure close to the M11x's rating of 57 when the option actually enabled there, and translates to a touch more pop-in while whipping around 180 degree turns in the wasteland. Otherwise, we're still seeing perfect, jitter-free motion during gameplay, with full texture filtering, detail and cache settings enabled and 2 x multi-sample anti-aliasing (MSAA) selected.

The results are superb, but this does come at the biggest expense in terms of power throughput. The M18x uses a high capacity 12-cell Lithium ion battery, rated at 97 WHr, that lasts out for 50 minutes when away from the mains (set to half screen brightness and volume). For web browsing and other non-GPU intensive activities, it's still good for three hours and 30 minutes of use before the ominous little alien icon starts blinking away again. Fortunately, the recharge time here is acceptable; much like the other two laptops, it's able to reach maximum capacity once more in just under two hours.

Alienware's R3 Laptop Range: The Digital Foundry Verdict

In review, you're looking at three stratospherically high-end gaming laptops for whoever is willing to bite the bullet. They each have their place on the market, pinning their corners down with distinct advantages and disadvantages. The M11x is a robust little unit which tows the line between being a power-conservative netbook and a lightweight gaming platform, but the viewing angles and poor contrast ratio of its screen do strike us as a let-down. The uncomfortable, restrictive keyboard design also leaves us wanting more, but on the plus side, it can certainly push those polygons. It plays games like Skyrim at 60FPS at its native resolution without much trepidation, and even Battlefield 3 on the lowest settings, which has to be seen to be believed.

"If you can stomach the very high costs, the M11x and M17x are our picks - the netbook offering has got to be seen to be believed while the 17-inch model is a nice all-rounder with very cool 3D support."

Next down the line is the M17x, which for our tastes strikes the most practical balance between performance, build quality and power consumption, and as an added perk is the only one of the three to offer a 120Hz LED-backlit panel as an option. This is for use with NVIDIA's 3D Vision platform, which is well matched with the laptop's graphical capabilities when playing titles such as Batman: Arkham City at full 1920x1080 resolution. It can also handle demanding DirectX 11 games like Crysis 2 handsomely, but the resulting heat and noise after a few minutes play have us placing it on a table rather than our laps and cranking up the volume to compensate.

We find it a little difficult to recommend the largest sibling, the M18x, without looking back to the M17x's features and design. The overall weight of the unit makes it far less convenient to transport, and the lesser black levels and PPI of its screen do make games seem less crisp when playing up-close. It's by far the most powerful laptop of its size that we've tried though, and playing Battlefield 3 at high settings is a very fluid experience, suggesting it'll be future-proofed on the technical requirement front for a good while yet.

Chalk and cheese, then. If you have the money to spend on laptops of these extravagant extremes, you're certainly covered for options between these three. Detracting points aside, each laptop sets out to squeeze the most from its respective physical dimensions, and it's all delivered in Alienware's signature, otherworldly style with great build quality across the board. For our vote though, experiencing the stereoscopic capabilities of the M17x's screen had our eyebrows raised highest - leaving us with the hope that this will become available to the other models in future revisions.

Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two is currently in development for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii, producer Warren Spector has announced.

Speaking in an Associated Press interview, Spector revealed that, unlike the 2010 original, the game will be a musical with full voice acting for all characters.

"I'm such a geek about musicals," he said.

"I love the co-op and next-gen stuff, but for me, when a character breaks into song, which they do on a regular basis in this game, it's magic."

You can also expect drop-in, drop-out co-op, with one player controlling Mickey and his paintbrush, and the other playing as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who wields a remote control with which he can manipulate electricity.

"You can sit down at any time with a friend who is playing as Mickey, and you can take control of Oswald," explained Spector.

"If you're playing as a single player, Oswald will be there every second of the game. He's not just a multiplayer character. He's a helper, whether you're playing alone or with a friend or family member."

The other key focus for Spector and his team at developer Junction Point is the game's camera - much criticised in the original. He promised a much more user-friendly experience this time around.

"We've had a team working on the camera from literally the day we finished the first game. They'll be working on it until the day we ship the second game," he said.

"(There have been) over 1000 specific changes made to the camera. Our goal is that you will not have to touch the manual camera controls even once to play through the main story path of this game."

Spector didn't reveal much detail about the sequel's plot other than that it will see Mickey return to Wasteland. Similarly, no word on a release date or on the 3DS version rumoured earlier this week.

Its Wii-only predecessor picked up a middling 6/10 back in November 2010.

"For all its big ideas, Disney Epic Mickey never quite weaves its disparate strands into a convincing whole. Its conceptual ambition is let down by merely adequate mechanics, and Mickey himself remains a rather abstract figure at the centre of it all," read Eurogamer's Epic Mickey review.

BioWare appears to have capitulated - the team are working on "content initiatives" to answer the questions left by the controversial Mass Effect 3 ending.

In an open letter, BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka addressed the heated topic.

"I personally believe Mass Effect 3 is the best work we've yet created. So, it's incredibly painful to receive feedback from our core fans that the game's endings were not up to their expectations," he wrote.

"Our first instinct is to defend our work and point to the high ratings offered by critics - but out of respect to our fans, we need to accept the criticism and feedback with humility."

Which has led to: "Exec Producer Casey Hudson and the team are hard at work on a number of game content initiatives that will help answer the questions, providing more clarity for those seeking further closure to their journey," Muzyka announced.

Time to unmask Tali!

"You'll hear more on this in April.

"We're working hard to maintain the right balance between the artistic integrity of the original story while addressing the fan feedback we've received.

"This is in addition to our existing plan to continue providing new Mass Effect content and new full games, so rest assured that your journey in the Mass Effect universe can, and will, continue."

Casey Hudson revealed recently that there had been plans to offer a character dialogue at the end of Mass Effect 3 to discuss the origins of the universe, and answer questions such as where the reapers came from and beyond.

But then Hudson and writer Mac Walters decided against it - to keep the content "high level" and on a need to know basis. And players, it was deemed, did not need to know.

"We listen and will respond to constructive criticism, but much as we will not tolerate individual attacks on our team members, we will not support or respond to destructive commentary."

Ray Muzyka, co-founder, BioWare

The Mass Effect 3 ending debate has sparked a petition thousands of signatures long. It's also prompted vitriolic feedback, and Ray Muzyka was clear that such communication would not be merited with a response.

"Some of the criticism that has been delivered in the heat of passion by our most ardent fans, even if founded on valid principles, such as seeking more clarity to questions or looking for more closure, for example - has unfortunately become destructive rather than constructive," he remarked.

"We listen and will respond to constructive criticism, but much as we will not tolerate individual attacks on our team members, we will not support or respond to destructive commentary.

"If you are a Mass Effect fan and have input for the team - we respect your opinion and want to hear it. We're committed to address your constructive feedback as best we can.

"In return, I'd ask that you help us do that by supporting what I truly believe is the best game BioWare has yet crafted. I urge you to do your own research: play the game, finish it and tell us what you think. Tell your friends if you feel it's a good game as a whole. Trust that we are doing our damndest, as always, to address your feedback.

"As artists, we care about our fans deeply and we appreciate your support."

BioWare has posted a list of changes made yesterday to Mass Effect 3 multiplayer.

The alterations look to be server side, and tend to only insignificantly tweak damage/shield/health. But there are some meatier changes to class abilities.

The first Mass Effect 3 update was 6th March, then on 13th March, then on 20th March.

Keep an eye on the BioWare forum thread for future changes.

"But Shepard, why won't you recruit me?"

20th March

Phaeston Assault Rifle

• Damage increased from [29.7-37.2] to [34.7-42.2]

Revenant Assault Rifle

• Damage increased from [52.9-66.2] to [57.9-71.2]

Claymore Shotgun

• Damage increased from [152.8-191.0] to [167.8-206.0]

Falcon Assault Rifle

• Increased refire time on the Falcon to 0.65 seconds
• Decreased rate of fire from 125 to 50
• Decreased max spare ammo from [24-34] to [18-28]

Sentry Turret Power

• Increased base shields from 500 to 1000
• Increased base damage from 25 to 30
• Evolve 5 Rocket upgrade damage increased from 150 to 250
• Evolve 5 Rocket upgrade radius increased from 1.5 meters to 2.0 meters

Combat Drone Power

• Evolve 5 Rocket upgrade damage increased from 150 to 250
• Evolve 5 Rocket upgrade radius increased from 1.5 meters to 2.0 meters

Ops Survival Pack Consumable

Atlas

• (Silver) Armor increased from 11250 to 12940
• (Silver) Shields increased from 11250 to 12940ó
• (Gold) Armor increased from 16875 to 21094
• (Gold) Shields increased from 16875 to 21094

13th March

Tempest SMG

• Damage increased from [35.7-44.6] to [41.1-53.5]

Locust SMG

• Damage increased from [26.2-32.8] to [30.1-39.3]

Shuriken SMG

• Damage increased from [29.3-36.6] to [33.6-42.1]

Mattock Assault Rifle

• Damage increased from [83.7-104.7] to [94.2-117.8]

Vindicator Assault Rifle

• Damage decreased from [68.6-85.8] to [62.4-78.0]
• Encumbrance increased from [1.0-0.5] to [1.25-0.7]

Sabotage Power

• Damage from weapon backfire increased from 150 to 200
• Rank 4 weapon backfire damage bonus increased from 30% to 50%
• Maximum number of simultaneous hacked robots reduced from 2 to 1
• Base cooldown increased from 8 to 14 seconds
• Rank 5 cooldown bonus increased from 25% to 35%
• Base hack duration reduced from 12 to 10 seconds
• Rank 6 Berserk upgrade damage bonus reduced from 100% to 50%
• Delay before enemies can attack hacked robots increased from 2 to 8 seconds

Geth Trooper

• Weapon damage increased from 30 to 35
• (Bronze) Health increased from 750 to 825
• (Silver) Health increased from 1125 to 1238
• (Gold) Health increased from 1688 to 1856

Geth Pyro

• Damage of flamethrower increased from 50 to 65
• (Bronze) Shields increased from 750 to 1170
• (Silver) Shields increased from 1125 to 1755
• (Gold) Shields increased from 1688 to 2633
• (Silver & Gold) Evades less frequently from weapon damage
• (Silver & Gold) Evades less frequently from projectile powers

Geth Hunter

• Fixed a bug where Hunters would never re-cloak after decloaking to fire on Gold
• (Bronze) Health increased from 750 to 900
• (Bronze) Shields increased from 675 to 1013
• (Silver) Health increased from 1125 to 1350
• (Silver) Shields increased from 1013 to 1519
• (Silver) Movement speed modifier while cloaked increased from 75% to 90%
• (Gold) Health increased from 1688 to 2025
• (Gold) Shields increased from 1519 to 2278
• (Gold) Movement speed modifier while cloaked increased from 80% to 110%
• (Gold) Aim delay before firing decreased from 0.5 to 0.25 seconds

Geth Prime

• (Silver) Reduced chance to play hit reactions from 35% to 27.5%
• (Gold) Reduced chance to play hit reactions from 30% to 15%

6th March

Tech Armor Power

• Base detonation damage increased from 200 to 400
• Base cooldown decreased from 12 to 8 seconds

Stasis

• Base cooldown increased from 8 to 12 seconds

Adrenaline Rush Power

• Base weapon damage bonus increased from 35% to 45%
• Rank 4 weapon damage bonus increased from 15% to 20%

Cluster Grenade Power

• Base damage increased from 450 to 500

Proximity Mine Power

• Evolve 3 "increase damage by X% to impacted targets" value changed from 25% to 20%

Energy Drain Power

• Evolve 6 now gives you a 40% damage reduction effect instead of 15%

Drell Adept

• Starting encumbrance capacity increased from 30% to 45%

Drell Vanguard

• Starting encumbrance capacity increased from 30% to 45%

Drell Fitness Power

• Base health/shield bonus increased from 10% to 20%
• Rank 2 health/shield bonus increased from 10% to 15%
• Rank 4 health/shield bonus increased from 15% to 20%
• Rank 6 health/shield bonus increased from 20% to 25%
• Rank 6 movement speed bonus increased from 5% to 10%
• Base regular melee damage increased from 150 to 225
• Base heavy melee damage increased from 500 to 600

Mattock Assault Rifle

• Damage increased from [76.1-95.2] to [83.7-104.7]

Revenant Assault Rifle

• Damage increased from [47.6-59.6] to [52.9-66.2]

Carnifex Heavy Pistol

• Encumbrance increased from [0.75-0.35] to [1.0-0.5]

Paladin Heavy Pistol

• Encumbrance increased from [0.75-0.35] to [1.0-0.5]

Her name is Commander Shepard, though her friends call her anything from Jane to Shiva to Lydia. She's one of the most popular heroines in gaming history; a three-time galaxy saviour who takes no crap and wouldn't be caught dead in a chainmail bikini. To most, she's a long-haired redhead, but she's been seen trying other colours and styles. To some, she's a diplomat, to others, a ruthless, trigger-happy bitch.

And if she didn't already exist, BioWare would never have created her.

It's no secret that BioWare has always considered 'FemShep' (the one and only time I'll be using that ghastly nickname) a mere alternative to Mass Effect's real hero - the grizzled male Commander Shepard seen in all the adverts and on all the game boxes.

They provided one because one was expected, but aside from recording a couple of romance scenes and a few alterered pronouns in conversations, then tweaking some armour designs to give them a bit more space here and here, she was a very half-hearted addition. The female Shepard very obviously uses male motion capture data for instance, which reached its ultimate nadir with the Kasumi DLC for ME2, when she gets a slinky dress to wear, but promptly loses the ability to sit down without putting on a show.

Garrus and Shepard together in ME3 is a classic failure of gender coding and mo-cap in action.

Mass Effect 2 in particular showed off a depressing lack of interest. For instance, when pressed as to why it didn't offer gay relationship options like in Dragon Age 2, BioWare's response was simply that Shepard is heterosexual by design.

That would be perfectly valid... except for the fact that Shepardesses had been able to have a lesbian fling with not only their PA, but no fewer than four yes-they're-female asari babes by that point. Only in the romances was there any suggestion that BioWare saw her as anything other than a man in a woman's body, and it wouldn't be until Mass Effect 3 that both Shepards could bat for either team.

Yet despite these shaky foundations, somehow she works, and she works damn well. She's hands-down the fan-favourite Shepard, even if most players still opt for the male default, and one of the best heroines around. The irony is that much of this feels like it's down to BioWare's apathy. In not particularly trying to create a great female character, they lucked into producing one of the most enjoyable ones around.

There are good reasons for this. Writers (of both genders) often struggle to write good female characters, at least in part because so many of them have been done badly. One of the biggest hang-ups is that 'male' is traditionally treated as as the generic template, with female-ness treated as something extra. Look at cartoon animals. More often than not, the males will simply be shown as funny animals, while the females are identified with bows, dresses and breasts.

Hopefully the next great heroine won't need the word 'Fem' in front of her name so people know who she is.

The same applies throughout the English language. The word 'hero' conveys nothing specifically about the subject being a man - and of course, 'heroes' can be a group of either. 'Heroine' on the other hand is explicitly femine. All this leads to the unfortunate, but all-too-common double standard that while a man gets the luxury of being a collection of assorted, variably important traits, a woman is a woman first, and her traits defined through that lens.

At least part of Shepard's appeal is that she doesn't suffer from this. She is a woman, and that plays obvious roles in her relationships and the occasional ill-advised alien quip, but it's her other traits that take centre stage - her strength, her resolve, her commanding presence, and her status as Earth's greatest champion.

Her heroism is direct and active, and refreshingly free of being shoehorned into a direct mothering role like her obvious sci-fi sisters Ellen Ripley and Samus Aran. Her achievements are recognised as the sum of many years of hard work and raw talent, with her gender never treated as a limiting factor. She's not simply the right woman for the job. She's the right human being, full stop.

Would any of this have worked so well without Jennifer Hale breathing life into the character? Possibly, but there's no question that BioWare lucked out by bringing her on board. Divorcing gender from character is no better than obsessing over it - whatever we are, it's a core part of our identities. With a simple pronoun-swapped script, it's very common to end up in what's often referred to as 'man with breasts' syndrome. It's not only writers who bring cultural baggage to their work after all.

It's not quite over yet, of course. There's still some ME3 DLC coming, which might even fix that awful, awful ending.

Hale's acting does far more than just give Shepard a female voice. Her performance both grounds her in the Mass Effect universe and adds an emotional core that picks up where the script might have stumbled. You can hear both the smirk as Shepard teases her crew and the knives in her voice when she demands respect from bulletproof lizards twice her size.

She has drive, fears, passion, regrets, high-points, low-points - in short, everything you want from someone in her position, and everything you'd expect from someone with the weight of a whole galaxy on her shoulders. She may not have been written with the idea of creating a Strong Female Character, but that doesn't mean she isn't a strong female character.

So with all this good stuff going on, why is it hard to imagine BioWare and all its in-house talent choosing to create Shepard in her current form? For starters, it's impossible to ignore that when it finally accepted they'd created something special and beloved - a powerful, non-sexualised, mature hero for a modern sci-fi story - its first response was to throw a beauty contest. This already painful face palm gets even more bruising when you factor in that not only had they previously made the rather huffy point that
only 18% of players were playing as a female Shepard, simply having that stat suggests they already knew what hair people gave her.

Even if you just write this off as marketing nonsense though, the Mass Effect series' design priorities shine through with a quick glance at the rest of the female cast. Don't get me wrong, I really like most of them. They're fun to spend time with, well-written in their own right, and with great story arcs spanning five years of epic action. Pretty much any other sci-fi game would be lucky to have them.

Wouldn't it be great if you had the authority and gravitas to Renegade Interrupt people who annoyed you? Oh yeah! Bam! Right in the face!

They're not however cut from anything like the same cloth as the default Commander Shepard, which becomes even more noticeable when you compare the male version to the likes of Kaidan, Jacob and Vega. For starters, none of the boys are introduced wearing anything as silly as the bubblegum pink armour we first see Ashley wearing on Eden Prime. Nor are any a counter to the male gaze focused world that leaves 'perfect woman' Miranda spending much of her time giving the camera free arse-shots, EDI ultimately rocking a new 'I Can't Believe It's Not A Sexbot' body, Diana going from embedded reporter to beddable love interest in zero time squared, and the asari... my god, just everything with the asari. They're a species whose Saturday jobs consist of 'stripper' or 'psychic super-commando', and who can't even get a break when turned into Banshees. It's bad enough being zombified by evil Lovecraftian space robots without being sent into unholy battle with super-sized breasts and glowing blue nipple pasties.

This is the school of design a female Shepard would have emerged from, and in fact did. With that loathed beauty contest, we got to see exactly the kind of heroine BioWare would have given the series if it had known anyone was going to care about her. Surprising nobody, it turned out to be someone much younger and thinner, not to mention wearing rather more eye-liner, than the slightly butch, mature, scarred default of Mass Effect 2. She'd have been a perfectly acceptable heroine in many games, but a grizzled war veteran capable of tackling a charging krogan? Charitably, let's just say 'no'.

Still, never mind. It wouldn't have hurt for BioWare to stick closer to the character people made a connection with, just as it'd be appreciated to see both gender options as equal partners in their next RPG, and to be able to hold up their next heroine and say 'That's how you do it!' instead of 'Wow, that turned out surprisingly well, considering.'

What's important though is that however we got Commander Shepard, we got Commander Shepard. By hook or by crook, by accident and design, she's one of the greatest heroines in gaming history. Her adventures may almost be over, but as the end of Mass Effect 3 says, they've already made her a legend. May it live on for many, many years to come.