Alienware 15 with Graphics Amplifier

Sure, it’s a nice solution. But what was the problem?

Gaming and laptops have never been best mates. This is a simple fact. The problem is that the confines of a laptop chassis aren’t well-suited to a hot, angry graphics chip. They consume so much power. They produce hideous amounts of heat.

EK Water Blocks Predator 240

Could this be the new king of the watercooling jungle?

If you’ve spent any amount of time around the depths of the custom water-cooling world, you’ll have come across one name in particular – EK Water Blocks. Along with Bitspower, EK is one of the most popular water-cooling componentry firms globally. And for good reason. Providing top-notch cooling capacity and an aesthetic design style so clean you could eat your dinner off of it, it’s easy to stick with EKWB throughout any of your water-cooling projects.

Razer Kraken Pro

Bass, bass, buttery biscuit bass

What is it with Razer and just not doing so great lately? If there was ever a time for it to shine, you’d think it would be now. After years of research and development, it should be winning hearts and minds with its LED-encompassing peripherals of power. However, that’s simply not the case. That’s not the way the cookie crumbles, and nowhere is this more apparent than with the Razer Kraken Pro.

Razer Firefly

Let there be cables

Where on Earth should we start with this? Let’s go with a little bit of a history into mousemats. That’s what we usually do, right? Mousemats have existed for as long as there have been trackball mice.

Thief Encounters

On 18 March 2016, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End will finally hit PS4. Matthew Pellett tracks down creative director Neil Druckmann and writer Josh Scherr to find out why Nathan Drake’s final outing will change the gaming landscape forever

Why is Uncharted 4 going to be the best Naughty Dog game ever made? That’s what you came here to find out, which is why it’s the first question we put to creative director Neil Druckmann when we discuss the concluding chapter of PlayStation posterboy Nathan Drake’s adventures.

Forza Motorsport 6

Our car lurches violently to the right and, for once, it’s not down to the damage caused by rear-ending an opponent during an optimistic out-braking manoeuvre. This time, it’s because we barrelled into a large puddle on the apex. Turn 10 promised much for Forza 6’s three-dimensional pools, and they don’t disappoint. The loss of traction from hitting one at speed is instantly telegraphed, and you can feel the steering lighten as you aquaplane, hoping your tread finds purchase again in time to avoid that fast-approaching wall. Equally, hit them with less pace and the thud of additional drag is palpable. Puddles, it turns out, are no damp squib.

Stellaris

Supermassive galactic strategy from one of the masters of human history

Since 1999, Paradox Development Studio has enabled us to invade and negotiate with (and even make vassal states of) global powers, and taken strategy fans to such periods as Victorian times, the Middle Ages and WWII. So until you see Stellaris in motion, it would be easy to imagine this three-act, procedurally generated 4X (explore, expand, exploit, exterminate) space opera as some sort of midlife crisis. But while history has been flushed out the airlock and the world map has been replaced by constellations of unfamiliar destinations, the evidence of 15 years’ study in grand strategy is unmistakable. Stellaris is the political domineering of its forebears run rampant in space, revelling in its freedom to invent the future, infiltrating neighbouring genres and intent on telling stories. ‘Grand’ barely covers its ambitions.

Crackdown 3

Reagent’s cloud tech might topple the status quo as drastically as it does virtual buildings

Everything starts with a single bullet. A hole appears in the barricade as the projectile smashes through it, sending cracks outward from the point of impact. More bullets follow in quick succession and the wall crumbles further, rubble piling up on the floor below until enough has been blown away that it’s possible to see through the structure to the other side. Another volley of ammunition severs a now-dangling piece of masonry, which joins the heap of debris. All of those shards are persistent, we’re told, just as all the damage inflicted in Crackdown 3’s online multiplayer sessions will be. A little later, we watch with barely contained awe as a neon-lit skyscraper yields to a sustained barrage and topples into the building next to it.

Quantum Break

Half game, half TV show, ambitious Xbox One exclusive Quantum Break forges new paths through both

Telling a story about time travel, a good one, is the scriptwriter’s Everest. A subgenre predisposed to paradox and plot holes, narrative threads getting knottier with every rewrite, it’s a stern enough challenge in any form of media. In Quantum Break, a thirdperson adventure from Remedy in which the narrative plays out both in-game and via live-action TV show episodes, and which allows players to impact the story with their decisions, it’s more like climbing Everest in a blizzard. "If we had a time machine and we knew everything back then that we know now,” says creative director Sam Lake, "certainly there’d be things we’d do differently to avoid extra work and time.”