Nvidia’s first crop of RTX gaming laptops are finally here and the first one to slide across my desk is Asus’ ROG Strix Scar II GL504GW. Packed with an Intel Core i7-8750H processor, 16GB of RAM and one of Nvidia’s new RTX 2070 chips, this 15.6in laptop is primed and ready to take full advantage of its 1920×1080 resolution display and 144Hz refresh rate, but is it worth spending a massive two grand on? Let’s take a look.

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Hacking games fall into two main categories – fanciful Hollywood-style UI showcases like Uplink, or grittier, more code-based ones like Exapunks. NITE Team 4 left early access today and looks like it straddles that divide. Developed by Alice & Smith (nothing to do with our crew, but a studio that John is rather fond of) it’s a game of military hacking and espionage with serious command-line stuff wrapped in some lovely-looking interfaces. Just going on looks alone, it’s come a long way since its minimalist 2016 demo – see a trailer below.

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Hacking games fall into two main categories – fanciful Hollywood-style UI showcases like Uplink, or grittier, more code-based ones like Exapunks. NITE Team 4 left early access today and looks like it straddles that divide. Developed by Alice & Smith (nothing to do with our crew, but a studio that John is rather fond of) it’s a game of military hacking and espionage with serious command-line stuff wrapped in some lovely-looking interfaces. Just going on looks alone, it’s come a long way since its minimalist 2016 demo – see a trailer below.

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Excuse me while I come to terms with the fact that I ve been playing de_dust2 for 18 years. If my playing Dust2 was a person, I realise, it could legally drink, vote, and join the army in the UK. My playing Dust2 could have its university picked out, could be settling into a career path. It could have moved out. I could have driven it, teary eyed, to its new home, where it would find its own way in life, maybe even find its own first-person shooter map that it could play for 18 years.

I m trying to say that I have been playing Dust2 for a very long time. And somehow, I m still not any fucking good at it>. Sheer bloody mindedness alone should ve seen me get incrementally better, but dipping back into the newly free-to-play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, I m still making the same mistakes I was in 2001. I m still rushing B too fast and getting mown down by a CT in the cracked wall. I m still hawking around the AWP corridor from the T spawn, getting my head taken off by a sniper shot for my troubles. I m still getting flashbanged by everyone, be they friend or foe. It s frustrating to still be this bad, to still not understand Counter-Strike s emphasis on precision and movement.

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Digital games store GOG will soon stop offering customers store credit equivalent to how much less their purchase would cost in North America, a scheme they call Fair Price Package. It’s GOG’s solution to the prickly problem of regional pricing, which often means people outside North America end up paying a higher price in their native currency. GOG have themselves been paying for these rebates, which they claim average 12% of the game’s price and go up to 37%, but say they can no longer afford to do that. This is a mite concerning given rumours surrounding GOG’s recent layoffs, though GOG say it’s to help them secure more releases by giving developers a better cut of sales.

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It’s been a while since I last looked at Blade’s Shadow cloud PC service. Over a year, in fact. Since then, Blade have grown quite a bit, expanding their remit to the US and five other European countries after initially starting out in France, and today marks the release of their brand-new cloud box for sticking under your TV or monitor, the Shadow Ghost (which is pictured up the top there). Could this tiddly monochrome miniature of the London Aquatics Centre really replace your current gaming tower, though? Let’s find out.

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Masterwork items in Anthem are among the most coveted. They not only have potentially the best stats, if you’re lucky with the inscriptions, but they can also have some unusual effects that are unique to that item type, and this includes the masterwork gears. This guide will go over all of the masterwork gears in the game, listing what they can do.

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This week a lot of people have been asking me which teams are shaking out as the ones to watch in this season of the Overwatch League, or how their favourites are doing. The answer to these questions is always: no one knows, every single team has either caused or suffered an upset (or both!), and everything is chaos.

Except for the New York Excelsior, obviously, who continue to crush it.

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After sporadic experiments in event modes and tests, Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds has added flare guns that players can use to call in an airdrop of a double-sized care package or an armoured car. That’s powerful, sure, but also sends up a literal flare to indicate where you are and where some big loot will soon be. I found they added an interesting tactical element during the events, and am glad to see them become regular items. Today’s update also brings two new vehicles for the map Vikendi, a zippy snowbike and a ruff tuff 4×4.

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Caring not for the sanctity of a normal news cycle, Blizzard released Baptiste on the Overwatch test servers a few hours after announcing him. He’s a combat medic who, we know now, has an ability that renders him and nearby teammates immune to damage. Like, all types of damage. People are running around in the death-zones underneath cliffs. They’re jumping about in traffic. It’s carnage.

Fortunately, lead Overwatch designer Jeff Kaplan is also knocking around with a dev video discussing what Baptiste can do and why. Kaplan’s voice is always a bastion in trying times.

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