I spent the weekend giving my trusty Mionix Naos 5000 a rest in favour of two mice from Zowie, a company that caters exclusively to the competitive gaming crowd.

It was an interesting weekend.

See, normally, whether personally or professionally, I've only ever enjoyed the extreme ends of the PC gaming mouse spectrum. A spectrum that in my younger days had "cheap crap" at one end and now has "luxurious battleship mouse" at the other.

Zowie's offerings exist somewhere between this, with the added caveat that they're not trying to appeal to a diverse range of people or genres. There aren't concessions made to PhotoShop users or MMO fanatics here. These are mice for people who play fast games, seriously, and I appreciate that kind of practicality!

The two mice I used were the EC1 eVo black and the AM. Both have a number of things in common, like their overall design and a great matte black rubberised finish. They both sell for $60, are both optical (not laser) and both let you switch DPI on the fly, ranging from 450-2300.

The differences? There aren't many! The AM is ambidextrous, with its side buttons mirrored to accomodate both left and right handers, while the EC1 eVo is a little larger and features a mousewheel that changes colour depending on the DPI setting selected.

Of the two, I preferred the AM. Not just because it looked a little better (with red highlights), but its compact size made it more comfortable to use over extended periods of playing Borderlands 2, Mirror's Edge and War of the Roses. Both were great mice though, being super-responsive and consistent throughout.

To go with them, I also tried out a couple of Zowie's mouse pads. I know, I know, many people don't even both anymore, but I do, so I put my Rude Teflon pad away and tested their G-TF and G-CM pads.

Coarsely stitched, the G-TF must be an acquired taste, because I didn't like the feeling at all, not the way the mouse moved nor how my wrist fared against the rough surface. The G-CM was much nicer, being a smooth pad, but lost me with the GIANT BRANDING, which I always find a little bit much on a mousepad.

So, in all, not a bad weekend! The pads I could live without, but both mice were a nice surprise, especially since they're so light and nimble (and I'm a guy who normally uses a large, heavy mouse). Like I said, the AM was probably the better of the two in my books, but if you've got bigger hands (or different tastes) the EC1 eVo was largely the same.

If you've got any questions, let me know in the comments below!

Zowie Gear [Zowie]

Don't you just love having a pet?

In the first Borderlands you could satiate your need for a cuddly companion by playing as Mordecai, the sniper expert who was always accompanied by Bloodwing. Depending on the skill tree you chose, Bloodwing's abilities ranged from deadly to unfairly deadly. I went for unfairly deadly. It was awesome.

So far in Borderlands 2, though, the closest thing you could get to cuddles is Axton's turret. The turret is something of a stand-in girlfriend. But regardless of Axton's cute nicknames and weird love for her, the turret isn't comparable to something more personified.

Enter Deathtrap, the hulkish amalgamation of hovering metal scraps that whispers ominous catch phrases while doing your dirty work. Gaige—the character you play as who controls DT—is a Mechromancer, and Deathtrap is your science project turned bodyguard.

Gaige herself feels like a cross between Lilith—with her red hair and spunky attitude—and Tiny Tina—with her small frame and the whole "being an insane genius" thing. Deathtrap makes her a very powerful character, maybe more so than any of the other four vault hunters.

Gaige is a strong, versatile character and a welcome addition to the new set of vault hunters in Borderlands 2. She even adds to the enormous list of easter eggs already in the game, which a cursory glance at her skill trees will prove. She's like an outspoken, pixie Pippi Longstocking with a can-kick-ass attitude. And she has a giant, fearsome robot on her side that can shoot laser beams at her enemies. But really this new class is all about the mech component, as your coolest skills will at least in some way involve DT. And that's wonderful, because he feels like my big, cuddly, bear bodyguard and I love sending him to slaughter anyone or thing that stands in my way.

This is also the first time developer Gearbox is introducing a character whose skill tree can be specialized to accommodate the needs of a less skilled first-person shooter player. The Best Friends Forever skill tree focuses on alleviating the stress of damage to your health, shields, and even crappy aim. You can train Deathtrap to regenerate your (and your teammates') shields, and you can program your guns to ricochet bullets off the ground where you shot it to bounce to the enemy where you meant to shoot it.

As an experienced first-person shooter player, I still found the tree entertaining and useful without being too hand-holdy. The benefit of regenerating health on a full magazine isn't so far from how I chose to spec my siren, Maya, to heal under certain similar met circumstances.

That's not to say that Gaige, the Mechromancer class, was built as a strictly introductory character. In fact, she's simultaneously the newbie class as well as the hardcore class. The Ordered Chaos skill tree is a bit more complicated to understand, but gives the player more to consider in the midst of murdering bandits and bug creatures.

Let's dig into this skill tree a bit.

Do you get in the habit of reloading your gun immediately after a firefight cools down? I tend to do that, to be at my most prepared for the next firefights that I'll surely face. But with the Ordered Chaos skill tree, you'll want to reload as little as possible. If you let the magazine empty and reload itself automatically, you'll gain a stack of something called anarchy. This means that your accuracy is slightly lowered, but your hit damage is slightly raised. Continue to let your gun reload on its own, and you gain more anarchy stacks, meaning further decreased accuracy and further increased damage. By the time you start racking up until the 80s, 90s and more, you'll barely be able to shoot Face McShooty point blank in the face. But when you finally do, you'll do upwards of 1k damage [update: I should mention this was at a roughly level 20 character who was doing far less damage].

Or you can specialize the anarchy tree to use up anarchy stacks for a buff that increases accuracy and fire rate for your weapons. But you'll be continuously sacrificing your stacks of anarchy while that's activated. So instead of conserving the stacks to rack up the damage you can do, you can opt to let the stacked anarchy give you these buffs. Best of all is that you can turn anarchy stacking on and off by simply changing up how you play based on your needs.

The in-between skill tree—Little Big Trouble—is all about elemental damage, particularly shock damage. It was my instinct to play with that tree first, because I like to wrap enemies in slag and shock them with electricity. I built this tree to include a shock wave, which sends out a circle of electricity around me every time I would reload. I'd get into the habit of running up to enemies while reloading to make use of that skill. Many cackles were had.

Perhaps the niftiest detail that Gearbox included with the duo is that depending on how you spec Gaige, Deathtrap will be adorned very differently. He'll have blades on his back, and stickers on his chest that reflect which tree you've decided to upgrade your Gaige in.

Remember how in my review I said that your Maya may be different than my Maya? That variety in a single character I attested to goes even further for Gaige. You can specialize her and DT to the point of playing in a completely different style.

Playing with the noobie tree, I hung back more to let Deathtrap regenerate my shields and ward off threats. I'd shoot at ceilings above where I knew enemies were so that my bullets would ricochet to shoot them. Playing with anarchy, though, I had a happier trigger finger, thirstily hunting for my next target. I'd play a minigame with myself to see how high I could get the stacks up to (it's sometimes hard to resist reloading on instinct). I also opted for a shotgun with a smaller magazine, that way I'd be reloading a lot more often and therefore building anarchy stacks a lot quicker. That middle skill tree that focuses on elemental damage forced me to keep the extra damage possibilities in mind. I'd have to remember to use a certain weapon or rely on a certain ability (like reloading) that I loaded up with extra damage.

The selection actually makes me a little nervous, wanting to play a combination of all three at once. Decisions are hard, guys.

But once you make your decision, one thing will remain true: Gaige is a tough chick, and her companion Deathtrap even more so. He can be a little slow to catch up with you (though that can also be upgraded in a specific skill tree) but he can float up to reach places you can't. And he stays out on the field with you for a long enough while to wipe out plenty of enemies. Sometimes too many enemies. Like when he killed a boss before I could even go up and look at it in its ugly face. I wanted to see its ugly face first! But you know what, Deathtrap? I wouldn't have it any other way.

The final raspberry (I don't like cherries as much) on this cake is that Gearbox decided to release the DLC early. So while it was originally slated for an October 16th release, players on all platforms—Xbox 360, PS3, PC—will be able to download the Mechromancer by the end of today (October 9th). And you should, because she's great.

It may not look like much, but it's got it where it counts.

The game you're about to see here is A New Zero. It's under 1MB in size. And is built entirely on procedurally-generated animation.

A project that's been underway for over four years now, it's built entirely on physics, meaning every single thing that happens is the result of forces being applied to objects, and not some pre-determined piece of code.

This makes things a little wobbly, but in terms of potential and a unique experience, this is right up there.

While the video above shows infantry footage, the currently-available build (which is multiplayer-ready) only has vehicles.

You can grab it below.

A New Zero [Game Site, via SalsaShark @ NeoGAF]

"What is this I don't even" reads the video's description on YouTube. I'd say that pretty much nails it.

[Vinesauce] Vinny - Half-Mind [YouTube, via PC Gamer]

This is Adam, Prince of Eternia, defender of the secrets of Castle Grayskull. Fabulous secret powers were revealed to him the day he held aloft his magic sword and said "By the power of Grayskull, I have the power!" He's kind of a big deal, and he's coming to iPhone and iPad to prove it.

Revealed earlier today via IGN because my friends at Mattel had forsaken me, He-Man: The Most Powerful Game in the Universe is a game that I've been waiting for since the dawn of time. I am not exaggerating (he's exaggerating).

The fine folks at Chillingo are bringing Prince Adam to our phones and pads with this cartoony beat-em up, featuring 27 levels across seven portions of Eternia, unlockable secret powers and Man-E familiar faces. Looking through the screens here we've got Beast Man, Mer-Man, Skeletor and some robots that look an awful lot like the minions of Hordak, though he was mainly a She-Ra villain.

We cannot wait to get our hands on He-Man: The Most Powerful Game in the Universe. Luckily we won't have long to wait—it won't be long before we're ready to tell you what's going on.

I also did not realize that Sean Connery played as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. You learn something new from LEGO parody videos every day!

Kudos to Brotherhood Workshop for the hilarious short. And the new perspective.

Head over to the Talk Amongst Yourselves forum for more conversations, off and on-topic.

LEGO The Cranky Cavetroll [YouTube]

Saving the world ain't easy. It takes strategy, preparation, determination and more than a little luck. So don't be thinking you can just fire up XCOM: Enemy Unknown and see alien corpses pile up at your feet. Go in with that attitude and the only corpses you'll see are those of your trusted and highly personalised XCOM soldiers.

Instead, you might want to think about adopting a few of the strategies that got us safely through the game last week. They may not be the best for you, but they worked for us, so they're at least worth considering!

TRY AND KEEP EVERYONE ALIVE
This can't be emphasised enough. As your troops kill aliens and complete missions, they'll level up in rank, unlocking new abilities and perks that become essential later in the game to bringing down more difficult opponents. Let too many of your best men and women die and you'll be stuck with a bunch of rookies, and you don't want that when the really tough guys show up.

You don't need to frantically save your game every turn and keep everyone alive, but you should aim to have at least 10-12 experienced soldiers on-hand at all times.

CAMPING FOR VICTORY
Take extra special care of your snipers, because the abilities they unlock can alter the shape of an entire battle. An experienced sniper with a good rifle and elevated vantage point will dominate, to the extent they'll easily rack up twice the number of kills compared to your more intimate troops. There's even an ability where they can take two shots per turn (everyone else only gets one), and those shots are usually insta-kills. Handy, that.

So always take a sniper. And make sure it's a good one.

MEDIC!
Support classes, with their high range of motion and (eventual) ability to carry more than one medikit, are crucial. Especially for some of the longer story missions. You'll frequently need to regroup and heal your soldiers, and you don't want to be sweating your health as you draw in to the final few encounters. Bring a medic, or better, bring two.

THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR
After playing through part of a campaign on preview code with the default randomly generated names, I (Kirk) started naming my characters after friends and co-workers, and even customizing them to look a bit like my friends. That has caused me to become hugely attached to my characters, but in a good way—even if they die in combat, their sacrifice is always noble and heroic, and I do love to tell the actual people all about their exploits in my game afterwards. (The world will remember Luke and Owen for their selfless deeds.) Twitter can be great fun for this—I suspect that over the coming weeks, more and more people will be hearing of their last-second grenade tosses and snap-shot pistol rescues in 140 characters or less.

PRIORITY RESEARCH
Unless you're racing to finish the story, you'll continually have options as to what to focus your research on. Luke's recommendation: focus on armour and plasma weapons. If you're not rocking Titan Armour and plasma rifles by 2/3 of the way through the game, you'd better have a whole bunch of coffins standing by at XCOM HQ. Indeed, it's not even worth bridging your ballistic weapons with laser gear. Just shoot straight for the more powerful plasma. (Damn, I wish I'd read this one before I spent so much time researching laser weapons. -K)

SAVE OFTEN, BUT NOT TOO OFTEN
It is possible to obsessively save your way through missions, perfecting your strategy and working every encounter to your advantage. And while of course, you should play with whatever style works for you, as you get better at the game, it can be enjoyable to dial back the number if mid-mission saves you allow yourself, and to live with the consequences of your bad decisions a little bit. And remember: It doesn't appear to be possible to game the system by reloading just before a shot until the percentages work out in your favor. Once the game has decided you'll miss a shot, you'll always miss it. Of course, I (Kirk) have only heard that and have never tried it because I WOULD NEVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

DOG COMPANY
You'll quickly have the space to take six soldiers on a single mission, leaving you with the question: which soldiers to take? While some situations call for certain combinations, for most battles - those taking place outdoors and asking you to do nothing but kill a bunch of aliens - your best bet is one sniper, two support (both packing med kits), two assault and a heavy. The sniper observes and supports, the assaults kick the doors down and do the dirty work, the supports stay behind for mop-up shots and healing and the heavy...can do whatever they want. Which is usually putting a rocket in the middle of a room full of aliens.

DON'T HOARD YOUR POWERS
When you're in combat, don't hoard your abilities, ammo, explosives, or special moves. Use them early and often. Especially on the standard abduction, terror and UFO crash missions; most of them involve only 8-12 enemies, and you'll almost always end up with a bunch of leftover grenades, rockets and medkits. They'll save your ass more than once. Longer story missions are the only times when you'll want to think about pacing yourself, and even then, a live heavy with no rockets is much more useful than a dead heavy with two.

OVERWATCH
The simplest and most effective tip for battles is to use the "Overwatch" ability. Every. Single. Turn. Unless it's a timed mission (of which there are a few), you can afford to move at a snail's pace, because the defence and covering firepower you get from the ability is the most effective way to keep your squad safe. And remember, you really, really need to keep your soldiers safe! (Yes. This. Overwatch is key. -K)

THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS
When you first encounter psi training, it would be easy to write it off as a gamble, or a highly-specialised ability that's rarely used. Nope. While more complicated abilities are a little hit and miss, the basic psi attack does nothing but cause damage, and does so with 100% accuracy. This makes it the perfect clean-up weapon for those enemies who are stuck with half their HP left but who are in a position to hurt your troops.

PLAN YOUR FLOORPLAN
While some aspects of the base management are a bit bare-bones, your base's layout can still be easily maximized to your advantage. Leave room to build at least two of everything—laboratory, workshop, power generator, satellite uplink—and remember that vertical and horizontal adjacency give a bonus. Don't dig deeper than you have to at first—use all of your lateral space before spending money expanding downwards. Try to keep ahead of the curve by building labs and workshops before their respective delegates start nagging you to expand.

HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE
You'll lose soldiers in this game, and you'll probably lose council members, too. Don't sweat this. You can afford to lose a lot of them before it's game over, so just focus on keeping the wealthy ones (each nation pays you a different monthly amount, so make note of this) happy. You'll survive if Nigeria pulls out, but if the USA leaves XCOM, you have problems.

DON'T FORGET THE LONG GAME
Related to that last tip, don't forget the long game. It's easy to put all of your money into developing sweet kit for your commando squad, but it's all for naught if your coalition falls apart. Remember to build and deploy satellites, planes, and other resources around the world, and when you're given the option between three abduction sites, pick the one with the highest panic rating, unless they're all high, then pick the wealthiest country. But remember: It sucks to make it 25 hours into the game only to realize that while your squad is nearly unstoppable, you're woefully underprepared to fight the long war necessary to win the game.

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE
Remember, this is a turn-based strategy game in which most missions are without time limits! So when you find yourself in a tight spot, or up against one of the super-tough bad guys near the end of the game, don't be afraid to cut and run. Moving around corners will generally get you out of their sights, and a full-blown retreat can be useful either to get enough space to heal wounded soldiers or, even better, to lure aggressive enemies into a trap. Preferably one full of snipers and heavies with rocket launchers.

Retro City Rampage will be out tomorrow for PlayStation Vita, PS3, Steam and GoG. We already told you that. But what we can't possibly do on our own is identify every gaming in-joke packed into this amazing launch trailer.

So let's do it together. Pick a screen from the trailer. Cap it. Put it in the comments with a note about what it's a reference to. Are you in?

I'll start...

There's a reason most indie games come out digitally. All that printing and packing and shipping costs a whole lot of money. And while the convenience of downloadable titles is nice, sometimes you want a physical memento of a game you really love.

Edmund McMillen knows how you feel. The game-maker's The Binding of Isaac will be getting a spiffy retail release from publishers Merge and Headup Games, complete with the giant Wrath of the Lamb update that funneled in 50% more goodness into the satanic roguelike. This new Most Unholy Edition comes a DRM-free copy of the game, along with a new soundtrack, art book and poster. It's a curious and great development for a game that came out of nowhere and plumbs such disturbing and difficult depths.

For an MMORPG like Guild Wars 2, getting the game launched is just a small fraction of its development. The team needs not only to keep developing new content as time goes by, but also to be able to address bugs, security concerns, and balance in existing content as the game evolves.

So how does it work? ArenaNet's Colin Johanson took to the game's blog to explain that it isn't just one "dev team" working on Guild Wars 2 after launch, but rather eight different sets of folks, each with a singular focus.

The Live Response team handles bugs, feedback, and balance, while Live Security deals with bots, spammers, and account thefts. Commerce tackles the economy and the Black Lion Trading Company. Living World adds content, as does the Holidays and Events team. Yet another group is dedicated to PvP and eSports, building out Guild Wars 2 into a competitive game. One team is working solely on performance and the Mac client. And that leaves "Bonus Teams," who work on mysterious projects that don't fit into the above.

Guild Wars 2 is not alone among MMORPGs in needing massive support for all the years that come after launch. But it's neat to get a quick glimpse into what makes a game go.

Colin Johanson Outlines Guild Wars 2 Live Game Development [Guild Wars 2 official site]