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  • Mordhau dev statement clarifies 'no plan' for character filter, say artists "were ill-informed"

    Mordhau developers Triternion have released an official statement responding to the claims they planned to introduce a toggle to hide women and non-white characters from their medieval murderfest. Those claims, I should say, were made by Triternion themselves, in an interview between two of the company's artists and PC Gamer. The official statement says that they never had plans for a toggle on non-white characters, that they discussed but dismissed the idea of a toggle to hide women characters, and that the two artists were "were ill-informed of this decision."

  • Intel Core i5-8600K review: No longer the best mid-range gaming CPU

    For years, Intel's Core i5-8600K has been the go-to gaming CPU for mid-range PC builders the world over. Try and find one now, however, and you'll see prices have soared way beyond its new 9th Gen Coffee Lake successor, the Core i5-9600K, and even AMD's upmarket Ryzen 7 2700 CPU. Is it still worth hunting one down? Here's wot I think.

  • Intel Core i7-9700K review: The best gaming CPU that doesn't break the bank

    Intel Core i7-9700K review: The best gaming CPU that doesn't break the bank

    But you will need good cooling to get the best from it

    Intel's Core i7 processors may not be the absolute cream of the crop any more thanks to the introduction of their new 9th Gen Coffee Lake Core i9 range of gaming CPUs, but I'll be damned if the Core i7-9700K still isn't one of the best gaming CPUs you can buy today. For starters, it costs a heck of a lot less than Intel's top dog Core i9-9900K, with prices starting at £360 / $410 at time of writing compared to the whopping £485 / $490 you still have to fork out for the i9. Plus, its gaming performance is pretty darn great, too. Here's wot I think.

  • Intel Core i7-8700K review: Get the i7-9700K instead

    Here it is, the big daddy of Intel's 8th Gen Coffee Lake gaming processors. Once the six-core king of the bestest best gaming CPUs, the Core i7-8700K has since been dethroned by both its immediate 9th Gen Coffee Lake successor, the Intel Core i7-9700K, and Intel's new super duper Core i9-9900K. Both CPUs, however, are still relatively expensive compared to the i7-8700K, so is this £345 / $350 processor still worth seeking one out for your next PC build? Here's wot I think.

  • Intel Core i5-9600K review: Our new best gaming CPU champion

    Intel's Core i5-8600K has been one of the top gaming CPUs ever since it came out at the end of 2017. Now, however, there's a new best gaming CPU in town in the form of its 9th Gen Coffee Lake successor, the Core i5-9600K.

    Priced at a very competitive £220 / $230 at time of writing, Intel's Core i5-9600K is a tough act to beat - especially when AMD's upcoming Ryzen 5 3600X CPU is slated to start at an even more expensive $250 when it launches on July 7th. The Ryzen, admittedly, does have the added benefit of coming with a bundled cooler in the box (which the i5-9600K sadly does not), but even once you factor in the additional cost of a cooler, the Ryzen 5 3600X is going to have a pretty tough job on its hands if it's going to beat the i5-9600K's exceptional gaming chops. I will, of course, be updating this review once I've got my hands on the Ryzen 5 3600X, but in the mean time, here's how the i5-9600K stacks up to the rest of the gaming CPU spectrum right now.

  • Intel Core i5-8400 review: Still a great Ryzen 5 killer

    When I first reviewed AMD's Ryzen 5 2600 and 2600X CPUs, I called them the Intel Core i5 Coffee Lake killers. Specifically, I said they were Intel Core i5-8600K killers - and to some extent that's still true. While not as fast as the Core i5-8600K when it comes to overall gaming performance, their lower price, bundled cooler and generally superior multi-tasking performance in everyday desktop tasks make them a compelling alternative for mid-range PC builders. But how do they stand up against Intel's entry-level Core i5 CPU, the i5-8400? Priced much more closely to AMD's rival pair of CPUs, this £185 / $212 processor might just be a potential Ryzen 5 killer. How about that for a twist in our best gaming CPU rankings, eh?

  • Intel Core i3-8100 review: A great entry-level gaming CPU

    At just £120 / $130, Intel's Core i3-8100 is one of the cheapest gaming CPUs you can buy today. It's a pretty tempting package, too. Unlike previous generations of Intel's Coffee Lake Core i3 chips, the i3-8100 comes with four cores clocked at a reasonably nippy 3.6GHz, and its 1080p gaming performance impressed when I first saw it inside Overclockers UK's Kinetic Z1 gaming desktop.

    However, now that I've had a chance to test it against some of its other Core i3 siblings, such as the top-end Intel Core i3-8350K, and its rival AMD Ryzen 5 2600 CPU, is it worth spending a little bit more on your gaming CPU, or can the Core i3-8100 still hold its own as the go-to best gaming CPU for those on a budget? Here's wot I think.

  • Intel Core i7-8700 review: Not as good value as the Core i5-9600K

    For some, spending more than £300 / $300 on a graphics card can sometimes feel like a step too far. For me, it's spending that kind of money on a processor, as I've just never been able to justify forking out that kind of cash for a top-notch gaming CPU. Is it really worth it? In the case of Intel's Core i7-8700, I'm not so sure it is, especially when its Intel Core i5-9600K cousin offers similar (ish) levels of performance for £100 / $80 less. Don't get me wrong - there are definitely benefits to stepping up to one of Intel's Core i7 Coffee Lake CPUs, but is the six-core i7-8700 really best gaming CPU material? Here's wot I think.

  • Intel Core i3-8350K review: Entry-level overclocking

    Intel Core i3-8350K review: Entry-level overclocking

    But just a bit too close in price to Intel's Core i5 CPUs to make it worthwhile

    Intel's Core i3-8350K CPU probably isn't the first processor you'd think of for building your next gaming PC, but this £170 / $195 quad-core chip holds its own surprisingly well against the Core i5 and Ryzen 5 big boys. Priced at a similar level to AMD's Ryzen 5 2600X CPU, Intel's Core i3-8350K could be just the thing if you're looking for a new best gaming CPU that doesn't end up breaking the bank.

  • Hand Mage deck list guide - Rise of Shadows - Hearthstone (July 2019)

    Hand Mage deck list guide - Rise of Shadows - Hearthstone (July 2019)

    Early thoughts on how Hand Mage might shape up in the new expansion.

    Hand Mage is a Hearthstone deck that’s emerged as one of the top picks in Rise of Shadows, especially after its impressive showing at the recent HCT World Championships. Also known as Khadgar Mage, this deck is focused on using the extra summoning power from that legendary to create wide boards of extremely powerful minions to crush your opponent.

    Players had been experimenting with the Hand Mage archetype in since the introduction of Meteorologist and Astromancer, but this version feels like a more significant step towards realising its full potential. Instead of exclusively focusing on amassing a large hand size, the introduction of Khadgar gives the deck a more impactful way to create a strong board.

    We’re happy to say that with the Rise of Shadows expansion, Hand Mage is a very viable deck in the current meta. If you want to give it a go for yourself, our Hand Mage guide covers everything you need to know to get started. We’ve got the best deck list currently seeing play, some advice on how to pilot the deck and details on all the key combos you need to know to master it.

  • How the cat jokes and beast names of Monster Hunter: World are translated into English

    “I do remember there being some pretty bad cat puns that we all wish we could unhear," Marco Bombasi tells me. He’s the localisation director for Monster Hunter: World, the man in charge of translating the dinosaur-harvesting game from its original Japanese into other languages, including English. Every player in Monster Hunter gets a cat sidekick who says things like “Hello Meow-ster”, so I’ve asked Bombasi if writing the game's ubiquitous cat punnage ever produced wordplay so heinous it managed to give the team paws for thought. He says yes, it got bad.

    “So bad, in fact, that our editor and resident cat pun professional, David, had to write a rulebook on acceptable usage.”

  • Zachtronics games now free for schools

    Cor, kids have it easy nowadays. Sure, they're inheriting a polluted hellhole teetering on the brink of ecological and economic ruin, but look at all the neat games they get to grow up with. Thanks to Zachtronics announcing they're giving away (nearly) all their games to schools, some of them even get to muck about with fabulously inventive puzzle boxes during their pretend workday. Imagine that! Privileged tykes.

  • Dota Underlords seems great, but only for those versed in Dota

    I fell pretty deep down the Dota 2 hole. I’d say the game served as another life for a teenager that didn’t really have one, but that would undersell what Dota 2 was for me. I played hours of it, every single evening, for several years in a row. That phase had as much to do with the friends I chatted with than the wizards I clicked on, but at the moment that’s besides the point.

    The point is that I’m currently falling for Dota Underlords, but only because I know the game it's based on like the back of my RSI-riddled hand.

  • Have You Played... Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide?

    I've always thought Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide did a lot for the Skaven's image. What were once an unconvincing race of miniature rat folk, are now as horrifying as an entire horde of zombies.

  • DDoS attacker hit with 27 month prison sentence and a hefty fine

    The wheels of justice turn slow, but they crush with terrible force. One of the hackers behind denial-of-service attacks on Sony Online Entertainment (now Daybreak), Blizzard and Riot Games in late 2013/early 2014 has been sentenced to two years in prison and $95,000 in damages paid to Daybreak. As reported by Polygon, Austin Thompson was part of hacking group "DerpTrolling", who amused themselves by kicking over game servers and bragging about it on Twitter. The sentencing judge didn't find it so funny, accepting a guilty plea for "Damage to a protected computer".

  • Magic: The Gathering Arena shatters under the weight of recursive raptors

    Open the door, get on the floor, infinitely spawn the dinosaurs! The free-to-play CCG Magic: The Gathering Arena updated yesterday with the 2020 core card set. One card from this new set -- Marauding Raptor -- can be played together with Polyraptor to destroy the game. Causing an infinite loop of dinosaur spawning, the perpetrator can only grin smugly and dare their opponent to hit the concede button. It's either that, or watch helplessly until the heat-death of the universe. Below, a video of this by "RiddledWith Adventure" on YouTube.

  • River City Girls tears up Japan's streets on September 5th

    There's another River City Ransom sequel in the works, and this time it's by Shantae and Double Dragon Neon studio WayForward. River City Girls is a one or two player (local) brawler that flips the script a bit on the series. This time, delinquent high-school lasses Kyoko and Misako are beating seven shades out of the entire town to rescue their lads, who have been captured by the biggest, meanest gang of all; the cops. Below, a lyrical teaser trailer giving us a brief peek at some beautifully animated pixelated pugilism.

  • Metal Wolf Chaos XD throws down at the Fight House on August 6th

    Metal Wolf Chaos XD throws down at the Fight House on August 6th

    You can't war here! This is the FIGHT HOUSE.

    The headline does not lie - one of the boss fights in FromSoftware's Metal Wolf Chaos XD is a mech battle against an armoured, armed and re-branded White House. Despite arguably being the most American game on the original Xbox, its tale of a power-armoured US President liberating the nation one state at a time has been Japanese-only until now. Ported to PC by General Arcade, the new 'XD' (cute) version lands on August 6th. As one of the few people to have actually played the original version, some thoughts (and a trailer) lurk below.

  • Epic covering refund costs for crowdfunded games going exclusive to their store

    Epic Games are continuing to slap on a thick coat of cash to smooth over problems with their substandard store, now announcing money is their solution to discontent over crowdfunded games such as Shenmue III becoming Epic exclusives. For games whose crowdfunding campaigns offered keys for the game on a specific store before the game became a timed Epic exclusive, Epic now say, they'll either arrange keys for the promised store or pay for refunds. I do think people are making mountains out of molehills, but I'm told that's what the Internet is for. And goodness me, have Epic bought the Thompson Hillsquisher XR300, the 'Silver Sentinel'? Complete with the optional racing stripes, saddlebags, and pewter bell?

  • Forza Horizon 4 lets you be Top Gear's The Stig for a day

    Forza Horizon 4's season pass may have wrapped up with a trip to LEGO land, but Playground Games still have a few free goodies for us. Yesterday they rolled out an official Top Gear crossover story for the Great British driving sandbox. Seven events based on the format of the BBC car show, narrated by host Chris Harris (leaving me suddenly relieved that they've exiled Jeremy Clarkson to The Amazon) and casting the player as masked mystery speedster The Stig. Below, a trailer for the new crossover, some quick thoughts and some other tweaks made in the new update.

  • Wot I Think: Heavy Rain

    Review: Wot I Think: Heavy Rain

    Soaked through

    After nearly a decade of PlayStation exclusivity, Heavy Rain is on PC, which means you can now press 1 rather than X to “Jason! Jason! Jason!”

  • You're wrong, Greg

    Supporters only: You're wrong, Greg

    Just look at Gandalf

    Look, I don't mean to start using supporter posts as a platform for resolving petty disputes with my mates. But also last night my friend Greg told me he'd moved on from Mordhau because of the combat's supposed emphasis on "dragging" and "accelerating", two techniques that let you change the speed of your sword swings. Come back, Greg! Come back and look at this cool duel where neither me nor my opponent do either.

  • Welcome Sin Vega, RPS's newest staff writer

    "Would you like to write for RPS?" That was the subject line of the email I sent to Sin Vega on August 30th, 2014. After almost five years of intense contract negotiations, it has finally happened. Sin Vega is RPS's new staff writer.

  • Cuphead devs cooking The Delicious Last Course slowly to avoid burning

    The continuing adventures of Cuphead and co. will have to wait, as developers studio MDHR have delayed the pretty-pretty platformer's expansion until next year. Announced for a 2019 launch during E3 2018, now 'The Delicious Last Course' is pushed back to some time in 2020 and for good reasons. Basically, the devs say, they want to make it proper good but don't want to wreck themselves making it. Cuphead's lead developers once remortgaged their homes to finance the game--a gamble with terrible odds that will ruin most people, to be clear--so hanging loose for a while sounds sensible. For now, hey look, a new trailer.

  • Warsaw looking like Darkest Dungeon but with Nazi occupation

    Looking a fair bit like Darkest Dungeon only with Nazis instead of fishmen, Warsaw is coming our way on September 4th, developers Pixelated Milk announced today. It's a turn-based tactical battler set during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, when Polish resistance groups battled German occupiers. The real Warsaw Uprising ended with so much death and destruction, and I do wonder how much Warsaw the game will commit to that. The devs do say we'll encounter both historical and fictional scenarios as we build a resistance group and fight for the city. Hmm! For now, here, peep the new trailer.

  • ‘Kids are not born toxic’ - How Roblox tries to keep 90 million children safe

    “Kids are not born toxic,” says Laura Higgins. “Adults generally are where most of the negative stuff is online. It's not kids doing it.”

    Higgins works for Roblox, a children’s game of blocky-armed figures and even blockier cars. Well technically, it’s not one game, but many. Roblox is a sort of pick-your-own-playground with a platter of multiplayer minigames made by other players. You could fly planes in a kind of PG-13 Grand Theft Auto minigame, or go camping until a big scary man attacks you at night, or get adopted by an unusual mum. These are cherry-picked YouTube highlights, of course. For many players, it’s simply an a la carte menu of misadventure with friends, as Minecraft has become. It’s also hugely popular with kids, according to the company's figures. But kids can also be cheeky. They get into arguments and fights, they will do things they’re not supposed to, and they can find themselves in real danger. Higgins knows all this about kids already. After all, she’s looking after 90 million of them.

  • Mordhau devs deny plan for toggle to hide women and non-white characters, after telling people of that exact plan

    Mordhau's developers Triternion have denied on Twitter that they ever "had plans to add a toggle to hide other ethnicities or 'disable characters that aren’t white'" in their hacky-stabby medieval multiplayer game. This is bold, given that they previously told PC Gamer explicitly that a plan to add such a toggle was their "current thinking." Let's unpick this mess.

  • CD Projekt say no, they're not already making Cyberpunk 2077's sequel

    The problem with this week's Cyberpunk 2077 confusion is that our world is insufficiently cyber. I suspected CD Projekt weren't saying they were already making another Cyberpunk game, but if machine translation were better or I could jack myself full of languages I might know for certain. Or if I could hack into CD Projekt's servers with the blink of an eye I'd know that the other mysterious unannounced game they mentioned is a mobile game. And if I could punch through walls with my steel fists I'd... have trashed my flat punching through a wall when I realised yes, I'm a fool for trusting Google Translate too much.

  • Innovative new controller lets you ragequit by pouring literal salt

    If only there was an easier way to stop playing your favourite games. The infuriating multiplayer ones, I mean - mid-session while you're at the peak of being piqued. I'm guilty of a ragequit or three, and I'm thrilled at the prospect of future anger absconsions being facilitated by the literal manifestation of my salt. The dream is real thanks to Eric Heckman, a YouTuber and builder of novelty controllers. Leaving Overwatch and League Of Legends mid-game will never be the same again.

  • The most promising upcoming stealth games

    The most promising upcoming stealth games

    Separating the chaff grenades from the wheat... grenades

    It’s a bit tricky to knock together a list of the best upcoming stealth games, because it’s a bit tricky to say what a stealth game even is anymore. Stealth is more frequently looking like a playstyle or bulletpoint rather than the crux of an entire game. Even the best stealth games in recent memory - yer Invisible Incs, Ian Hitmans, Alien: Isolations - have all layered their stealth within towering trifles of genre mashups. And that’s good! It just means we've had to flex the definition for this list.

    Below, I’ve gathered together a few of the best upcoming stealth games that I’ve got my ridiculously over powered, patrol pattern-sensing eye on. Some of these aren’t strictly genre adherent, but all offer stealthy play as at least core element. Do feel free to suggest your own upcoming games in the comments.