The phrase “put the pedal to the metal” always confused me. I get that it means “go fast”, but every time it’s said out loud I hear “petal” or “medal”. None of these words sound real anymore. Aaaaanyway, the only reason I’m thinking about this expression is because Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit’s remaster came out today.

The new and improved version of Criterion’s 2010 racing game comes with cross-platform multiplayer, touched-up visuals and all the main DLCs, as well as 4K and 60fps on PC.

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As the early [cms-block] deals onslaught continues, one discount that particularly caught my eye as I was browsing through Ebuyer’s fresh batch of early bird Black Friday deals today was my much-beloved 1TB WD Blue SN550 SSD, which is now down to £90. While not quite as tantalising as its fleeting Prime Day low of just £85, it’s been several weeks since this excellent 1TB NVMe drive was this cheap, as it’s been at least £95 or above for the last couple of months.

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Yakuza: Like A Dragon

is a big stretch. Not in a “you’ve taken it too far, buddy” sort of way, I mean I can quite literally feel the click of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s bones as they extend their arms to the sky and heave their collective sighs of satisfaction – finally, a fresh start.

They’ve taken this opportunity to strip all the best bits from Yakuza’s creaking action adventure foundations, and build something with renewed focus. If, before, the series had flirted with committing to the role-playing genre, Like A Dragon is down on one knee proposing to the JRPG with happy tears in its eyes. And this relationship works, alright. Oh yes it does.

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There are two, pretty obvious, factors by which I judge strategy games: how immediately satisfying they are to play, and how well that satisfaction holds up in the long run. Success in the first respect is often a trade-off for success in the second, as the things that dazzle on day one become dulled by the cumulative effect of small design problems. It’s hard, then, to take the measure of a big ol’ strategy game during a limited preview play session.

But after just a day with it, I have high hopes that Empire Of Sin, the extraordinary prohibition gangster simulation coming from Romero Games on December 1, is going to hit the big time on both fronts.

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We’re barely into November and the early [cms-block] deals are already here, including a couple of rather good gaming headset deals. Several retailers have started their Black Friday savings early this year, so if you’re looking to grab a gaming headset on the cheap before the big rush at the end of the month, then you’ll find all the best early Black Friday gaming headset deals right here. Naturally, we’re likely to see the greatest number of Black Friday gaming headset deals closer to November 27th, but we’ve already seen some good discounts on some of our top gaming headset recommendations, with no doubt more to come.

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A is for Alphabetised wargame and sim news.

Welcome to the cosy corner of RPS where the vehicular is valued, the historical is hallowed, and the paragraphs are shorter than 7.5 cm Kampfwagenkanone 37 L/24 barrels. (more…)

Below is a list of “33 things wot are rare”. Entries have been stripped of vowels and numbers and had any inter-word spaces repositioned*. For example, if Inverted Jennies was present it might appear as NVR TDJNNS. Supercentenarians would be SPRCNTNRNS.

*Hyphens are treated as spaces. Apostrophes are ignored. (more…)

There are three headsets in Roccat’s new Elo family. At the bottom, there’s the entry-level Elo X Stereo, a simple, lightweight stereo gaming headset that costs just £40 / $50. Then there’s the £60 / $70 Elo 7.1 USB, which, as its name implies, adds a USB connection and 7.1 surround sound to the mix, as well as Roccat’s Aimo RGB lighting and extra sidetone settings. Finally, there’s the wireless Elo 7.1 Air, which pretty much does everything the Elo 7.1 USB offers without the wires for £90 / $90.

Crucially, they all share the same ultra comfy design, which mimics the ski-goggle-style design of my favourite Steelseries Arctis 7 and Logitech G733 Wireless headsets for hours and hours of headpinch-free gaming. It makes the Elo X Stereo a particularly great headset for those on a budget, but is it worth spending that little bit extra on the Elo 7.1 USB? I’ve put both headsets head to head to find out.

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Looking back at it now, 2020 doesn’t feel like a banner year for strategy games, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been a few gems. The list below – gathered by a panel of experts and regularly updated – contains games from as recently as 12 months ago alongside classics from as far back as 28 years ago. They’re all games we think you could play and love right now.

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Apex Legends

‘ seventh season dropped this week, and with it came a load of fun new things – a map, a character and even a vehicle. But it also brought some big changes to how the battle pass works. Unfortunately, these changes made the battle pass a whole lot more difficult to level up, making players need to do about twice the amount of work to get half the amount of progression. Last night, Respawn tweaked the new system, but players still have a huge grind ahead of them compared to previous seasons.

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