Mixing the historical and hysterical in the land before time Is relocating Far Cry to 10,000 BC really so radical? The modern-day games may arm you to the teeth with modern-day killing machines, but they do tap into man’s more primitive ways. Outposts are seized one slit throat at a time; long grass is crept … Read more
It’s a tough time to be an Aussie component importer at the moment. With our dollar now buying just over 70 US cents, it’s far costlier to import new products than it is to sell of the large inventories of products released six months ago that were bought on a much stronger dollar. And this … Read more
Essentially a slimmed down Orion Spark, the Atlas Dawn is Logitech’s latest mechanical keyboard from its vaunted G-series of gaming peripherals. Missing the macro keys and Numpad from its bigger brother, this compact keyboard is basically Logitech’s version of Razer’s Blackwidow Tournament Edition, aimed at delivering a convenient solution for people who are used to … Read more
The Creative Assembly talks about Orcs, the campaign map and the art of making a faction In the grim darkness of far Horsham, there is only Warhammer. This time I’m at The Creative Assembly’s top secret headquarters (it’s the giant building opposite the church steeple), to see Total Warhammer’s campaign mode and to talk to … Read more
Asus’ Radeon R9 380 Strix 2GB is both the longest and tallest AMD card on test, with its 272 x 138mm dimensions throwing out any notion of squeezing it into a small case. The upside of this size, though, is that you get enough space for good heat dissipation, along with a quiet, efficient and … Read more
Can adding a tiny, ARM-based 32-bit computer to your Linux box really be all you need to improve cryptographic security? Entropy – the contents, basically, of /dev/random – isn’t something to which most Linux users give a second thought, but it keeps server administrators and cryptographers awake at night. A system starved of entropy or, … Read more
The adaptable Swedes with Just Cause to celebrate 12 years of sandbox success Things can get hairy pretty quickly in Avalanche Studios’ Just Cause games, but the player always has enough tools at their disposal to improvise a solution – or, if all else fails, an escape route. And the developer certainly has plenty of … Read more
The anti-authoritarian adventure that opened a window to a new world of first person play Mirror’s Edge arrived in 2008 as a searing white riposte to a jus t-ended generation of over-brown WWII shooters and firstperson trudging. It was different, and new – different partially because it was new, forming a partnership of opposites with … Read more
Getting into the thicket of it Beneath goofy scenes of a wand-wielding rose turning opponents into goats, zombies charging around on roaring jackhammers, and an angry stick of corn spitting projectiles while wearing a soggy bowl of cereal around his neck, Plants Vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 is serious business. With this sequel, PopCap’s energetic … Read more
As its name suggests, the Sapphire Radeon R9 380 ITX Compact OC has a small PCB, with an overall package that’s designed to fit into a compact mini-ITX chassis where space is at a premium. It measures just 171mm long, making it just 1mm longer than a mini-ITX board. Its height of 107mm means it’s … Read more
How a team of Swedish programmers redefined ‘niche’ Paradox’s position as standard bearer on the field of grand strategy is fitting, given it claims to have invented the genre. It’s near impossible to discuss games of invasion and diplomacy on a global scale without some reference to its dogged, 20-year effort to simulate and pervert … Read more
Kazuma Kiryu finds life more than acceptable in the ’80s Ten minutes in, we finally get to press a button, and it’s to skip a line of dialogue. Soon afterward, we’re strolling through the streets of ’80s Kamurocho, with red no-entry signs forbidding us from exploring any side alleys. As we push through a group … Read more