Higher speed, lower latency DDR5 is becoming more affordable, and in the US we spotted a great deal on TeamGroup memory over at Amazon. There, you can find a 32GB kit of DDR5-5600 CL36 memory for $150, reduced from its normal price of $180. That's more expensive than 32GB of DDR4, but you're getting a substantial increase in bandwidth and reduction in latency compared to the DDR5-4800 CL40 JEDEC standard.
Man, I was worried this week. I've had a string of possible reports that were all disappointingly tepid. Then I played Trail Out, a chaotic crash-and-ram racing game with, for some reason, a story mode about a former stunt driver who is very much some guy. I'm still not sure if he's talking to himself, through the fourth wall, or to his dog. His best friend wears a gas mask and lifts weights in the junkyard without breaking eye contact.
The racing is very solid, but more importantly it has character. Odd, odd character.
Yesterday at the Tokyo Games Show, Capcom formally announced the addition of Ken, Blanka, E.Honda and Dhalsim to the Street Fighter 6 roster. Technically, none of this should come as a surprise. Not only are they all Street Fighter faithfuls, but pretty much the entire> cast list got leaked back in June thanks to some rogue character art. One thing that has been pleasantly surprising, however, is learning that Ken, pictured in that leaked document as looking rather dishevelled and rocking a bit of a 'sad, middle-aged dad' look, is anything but.
Indeed, when I went to play the latest build of Street Fighter 6 at Capcom's UK offices earlier in the week, Ken was absolutely killing it. Rather than suffering from a mid-life crisis, Ken was hauling it across the screen like an absolute battering ram, clearly full of the same mad protein shakes his mate Ryu's been hawking down since their last SF outing, as both of them have gone full-on Redfield Beefcake this time.
The Corsair iCUE 5000X is the Californian company's best mid-size computer case, thanks to its clean tempered glass design, excellent cooling support and a range of features that make it easy to build in. The 5000X normally costs quite a bit - the RRP is £220 and even discounts drop it to £155+ - but today it's down to £116.66 when you buy from Box via Amazon.
That could be a misprice, given the vast price discrepancy between the RRP and sale price. With only two units available you'll have to move fast to pick this one up...
This week on the Electronic Wireless Show podcast we, prompted by friendly listener OurSuperior, talk about the best changes of eras in games. As you can imagine, this is an easier task for Nate than it is to me, because many of his favourite games are predicated around era changes. Thus I find myself in the position of arguing semantics. How the turn tables have turned.
I'm able to win Nate around on at least one of my desperate bids to classify things that aren't eras as eras, although he does promptly shut me down on the most ridiculous one. It may surprise you to know that we don't actually talk about too many history games (although time travel comes up a lot). And stick around for a thrilling Cavern Of Lies. Will the Red Baron (me) be shot down at last?
One of the best 1000W computer power supplies is going cheap(er) on Amazon today, as the EVGA SuperNova 1000 P6 has dropped from £200 to £150. That's an excellent price for a well-reviewed unit with 80+ Platinum efficiency and a fully modular design - not to mention a surprisingly compact ATX design that will work in a wide range of PC cases.
Disney Dreamlight Valley is a glittering life simulator in which you — having somehow slipped out of the real world into a kind of Disney-sponsored coma — find yourself living alongside all of your favourite intellectual property. Your mission? Emotionally manipulate the awful dog-beast Goofy by gifting him dandelions and bream until he becomes your best friend, then set about working on Scrooge McDuck and the rest.
Before we dive too far into this thing: if you’re here because you’ve got a kid and you just want to know if Disney Dreamlight Valley will make them happy, and that the rat from Ratatouille doesn’t say the f-word, and that at no point does Ariel drag herself onto the beach to try to recruit them into a multi-level marketing scam, then you’re golden. Disney Dreamlight Valley is a top-marks Animal Crossing rip-off that will make fans of too-big mice irreversibly giddy. Your children may eventually need a special operation to stop them smiling.
Last time, you decided that physics freakouts are better than beautiful food. As much as I admire delicious dishes, I am very glad that something that's wholly unintentional (and often unwanted by developers) is still in the running. Games are weird and daft magic tracks, and that's great. This week, you must choose between oddity and serendipity. What's better: impossible geometry, or games playing the music CD left in your drive?
Tekken 8 is happening, and it’s running in Unreal Engine 5. The fighting octequel was revealed during yesterday’s Sony State Of Play livestream. Bandai Namco haven’t given a release window for the game yet, but PC is a confirmed platform alongside current-gen consoles. Take a look at the real-time rendered trailer below, and brace yourself for a hefty dose of the punchings.
I did a lot of talking at Gamescom, whether that be to developers or muttering to myself deliriously as I typed stuff up in the evening. Talking to devs especially is a wonderful thing, especially when you're playing their game and it resonates with you. But getting hands-on with an early portion of American Arcadia rendered me virtually silent, to the point where I had to apologise to the devs for being so quiet.
And I wasn't being rude; far from it! I was just so engrossed in the game's mixture of side-scrolling platforming and first-person puzzling. Keep this under surveillance, because I think it's going to be a real hit when it lands.