Sym

You know you’re lost in a metahole when you wonder if the game is annoying you because it’s not that great or because there’s supposed to be a message to the annoyance. We quickly found ourselves deep down that hole with Sym, a game that purports to express issues of social anxiety disorder and does so with the kind of puzzle platformer that instantly makes you feel ill at ease with your surroundings. The mechanics are smart and offer pleasing challenges, but it’s a message and experience hampered by its execution.

Build a Linux PC

Assembling a PC is straightforward, but choosing the components is less so. Neil Bothwick looks at the options

There is a document that has been floating around the internet for at least fifteen years, called ‘What if operating systems were airlines’. The entry for Linux Airlines states: “When you board the plane, you are given a seat, four bolts, a wrench and a copy of the seat-HOWTO.html”. It’s an old joke but as Linux users we are still more accustomed to sometimes having to do things for ourselves than users of other operating systems.

Linux secrets

Linux has more secrets hiding in its delectable depths than in the collective belly of a colony of rotund and affable penguins. Ashton Mills couldn't catch any penguins to divulge their secrets, so here's some of his instead!

MIRROR MIRROR

Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based distributions have a neat little feature in the software updater that lets you not only choose a closer mirror for updates, but benchmark to find the fastest.thereby saving you precious time when it comes to updating. For Ubuntu head to 'System Settings > Software & Updates' and then in the 'Download from' box select Other. You can select Australia or click on 'Choose Best Server' to allow Ubuntu to ping the fastest. This will bring up a list where you can manually select a server in Australia, or optionally click 'Select Best Server' and Ubuntu will ping to find the best.

Windows secrets

Unravelling the secrets of Windows takes a sharp mind and a deft hand and... oh who are we kidding. Everyone has a handful of their own tips and tricks from experience

CHECK YOUR RELIABILITY

Windows 8 has an excellent tool to help you visualise the reliability of your PC and drill-down into the events which may be affecting stability, both of the OS and the programs you run. This one's under the Action Center from the Control Panel, after first clicking the Maintenance drop down. You'll see 'View reliability history', click to launch. You'll see a graph that you can view by days or weeks showcasing system warnings, failures and program crashes. Click on a day to view the events, and then click on an event to learn more about it. For some issues, you may also be able to search for solutions online.

Crypt Of The NecroDancer

It’s funny how just one gameplay mechanic can completely transform a genre, with past examples including the Arkham series’ combat system and the ability to rewind time in recent Prince Of Persia games. Crypt Of The NecroDancer does this with roguelike dungeon-crawling by adding a single element unique to the genre: rhythm-based gameplay.