After too many years and far too many mice which now clog up a desk drawer, I thought I’d found my ideal mouse. Wireless, multi-device, speedy and responsive but without looking like a broken piece of someone’s Gears of War Halloween costume. A gaming mouse that did not look like a gaming mouse: Valhalla indeed. Logitech’s G603 is so, so close to being the rodent to end all rodents – but for one fatal flaw. My quest continues. (more…)

Around an hour into The Norwood Suite, I was nestled so snugly into my comfort zone that it would have taken heavy machinery to shift me. That’s despite the fact that this is a game that makes me suspect something sinister is lurking just out of view, that the edges of my vision aren’t to be trusted. It’s a very discomforting comfort zone.

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Nioh is a peculiar beast in that we consider it to possess “one of the finest combat systems ever put on a screen”, but at the same time its lack of keyboard and mouse support makes it a bit of a black sheep in the PC family. Dark Souls comparisons have been inevitable for Nioh, not only because of its steely try’n’die fantasy swordplay, but also because Dark Souls too originally launched on PC in a rather compromised state. Fortunately, official fixes for Nioh have been a whole lot quicker to arrive – it’s about to support the PC’s oldest inputs after all. (more…)

Civilization VI is getting its first expansion on February 8th 2018 and it sounds like it might be shake things up significantly. Going by the name Rise and Fall, it applies changes across the whole span of history and rather than introducing one big new system, it seems to focus on the actual rhythm and flow of the game.

There are new rules for Great Ages, city loyalty, governors, emergencies, and loads of additions in the form of civs, leaders, buildings, wonders and government policies, but it’s the overall sense that Firaxis are adding a sprinkling of grand strategy to the series that has me most excited.

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Version 1.0 of Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds has once again returned to the test servers. The 100-player Battle Royale ’em up still isn’t ready to launch in full but if you fancy parkouring all over with the new climbing & vaulting system or blasting new guns with a new ballistics model, hey, you have another few days to play around before the test servers shut down again. This week’s test build hasn’t changed much since the last one — and rubberbanding lag still seems a real problem, especially at the start of rounds — but I’ll certainly be rounding up the lads to leap and lark about. (more…)

Explosive numbers-go-up shooter Destiny 2 is getting a free demo this week, says Bungie. Starting today, the trial will let players begin the story campaign and bullet-hose other gunfolk to death in the multiplayer Crucible. I don t know how long this will go on for, but probably long enough for you to experience one or both of the following:

a) a general sense of excitement and fun

b) a growing weariness at the MMO-like design principles of blockbuster games (more…)

Gazillion Entertainment, the makers of Marvel Heroes, have shut down. This means the free-to-play superhero action-RPG has also shut down, one month earlier than it was supposed to. Disney, who own Marvel, had announced earlier this month that they were breaking up their partnership with Gazillion and so the game would shut down on December 31st. But losing their big gig meant that Gazillion needed to shut down, and with no one left to run the game it’s gone now too. This has gone badly for everyone. (more…)

Hey everyone, look. The creators of The Beginner s Guide have made a new game. I wonder what emotional masterpiece they ve made this time? Let s go take a lo– oh. It s an RPGMaker game about Keanu Reeves indiscriminately stabbing people. Well, you know, maybe there s a hidden message. A deep satire on the state of the videogames industry. A worthy soliloquy hidden in the dialogue. Perhaps there s some understanding of the human condition to be gleaned from

No. No, it s just a rando JRPG about Keanu Reeves dealing drugs to children. (more…)

Vintage joke game Desert Bus, where players drive the eight-hour journey from Tuscon to Las Vegas in a wonky bus which veers slightly to the right, is now remade in full modern fancy-o-vision as Desert Bus VR. Published by Borderlands devs Gearbox, this new version is completely free, it adds online multiplayer, and yes, it has a non-VR version too. The original Desert Bus was part of an unreleased Sega CD game, Penn & Teller’s Smoke and Mirrors (yes, Penn & Teller the wizards), which leaked online then came to fame through Desert Bus for Hope, the annual charity fundraiser marathon. (more…)

Oh dear. A pilot in Elite Dangerous has fallen for a cheeky prank. Commander SpeedyBebop undertook a six-hour journey to Hutton orbital (a remote space station orbiting 0.22 lightyears from its parent star) after hearing that a free Anaconda awaited anyone who travelled there. This is one of the space sim s most expensive and powerful ships. But when he arrived, he discovered the whole thing was a ruse. There was no Anaconda. And it turns out he s not the first one to fall for this prank – it has become a running joke among Elite s pilots. (more…)