Mark Mackay

Games I Own: Final Fantasy VII

July 3, 2009 | 14:44

Tales of Vesperia Review

It sometimes seems the games industry churns out JRPGs quicker than you can say "androgynous teenage hero with spiky hair". There are jewels hidden amongst the emo haircuts and world-threatening disasters though and Tales of Vesperia is a JRPG that stands out from the crowd.

June 28, 2009 | 11:43

Overlord II Review

The original Overlord gained a reputation for spiking its gameplay with satirical humour. The sequel promises more of the same blend of strategic combat and mouthy goblin gits to satiate your destructive urges. We fire it up to see whether turning to the dark side is still fun.

June 25, 2009 | 10:14

Chieftec Dragon CH-07 Review

The release of Chieftec's legendary Dragon marked the beginning of a new era in enthusiasts hardware. Today we have the latest case from Chieftec to sport the Dragon name. Is the Dragon CH-07 made of the same ground breaking stuff as its namesake?

June 23, 2009 | 11:26

What makes a classic overclocking motherboard?

June 17, 2009 | 08:29

Antec P193 Review

Antec's update to the P190, the P193 addresses many of the problems of the original, as well as offering a few tweaks of its own. Whether you think its an unsightly eye sore or an innovative bit of eye candy, we find out if the P193 can keep up with the best of them.

June 16, 2009 | 12:10

Lian Li PC-P50 Review

We're looking at another aluminium entry from the Taiwanese chassis builders of excellence, Lian Li. With two 140mm fans in the roof and an entirely tooless installation system, the PC-P50 has potential, but how does it compare with the likes of the Antec's Nine Hundred Two?

May 29, 2009 | 09:56

Gigabyte ATI Radeon HD 4770 512MB

After being impressed by the AMD's new ATI Radeon 4770 HD 512MB graphics card, we're taking a look at our first partner design from Gigabyte. At £88 it's more expensive than both the reference design and other models on the market, so we take a look at what we get for our extra few quid.

May 12, 2009 | 09:09

How does playing a game become a job?

May 8, 2009 | 10:40

Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram

For anyone that found the TV series Robot Wars totally inept at satisfying your childhood urges for giant robots beating the crap out of each other, help is at hand. For 1200 Xbox Live Arcade points, you could battle your own mechs in the awesomely arcdady world of Virtua On.

May 3, 2009 | 09:50

The Future of Artificial Intelligence

The exponential rise in computing power has led to many big steps forward in the world of Artificial Intelligence. Mark Mackay examines some of the research that is being done in this area and looks at what the future might hold for all of us.

April 29, 2009 | 09:10

Corsair CX400W PSU

For very little money you could have a Corsair designed, Seasonic built 400W power supply for budget builds. Does it retain the usual Corsair quality, or simply cut too many corners to achieve its low price?

April 27, 2009 | 08:05

Games I Own: EVE Online

April 16, 2009 | 11:34

Razer Mamba

No it's not a typo: the Razer Mamba is a wireless gaming mouse that costs the best part of £120. Razer claims it has incorporated wireless technology that matches a wired connection for responsiveness, and if that's not enough to whet your appetite, maybe the 5,600dpi count or Rolex-style packaging will be.

April 11, 2009 | 12:46

Why I don’t like consoles

April 9, 2009 | 14:19

Foxconn Renaissance

Is it a cupcake? Is it a speaker? No! It's a heatsink! Armed with its novelty wares the Foxconn Renaissance is branded with the slogan for 'Digital Life', affording 'high performance computing, connectivity and digital entertainment'. Is that ambiguous marketing or part of a bigger idea?

April 7, 2009 | 09:16

The Dark Eye: Drakensang

Welcome to Adventuria, a place of high fantasy and plentiful loincloths. Based on the classic German tabletop RPG system, Drakensang is a game of old-school experience harvesting and character development, so we sent Mark in to see what he thought.

April 1, 2009 | 08:16

Silverstone Sugo SG04-H

Silverstone's sturdy little Sugo SG04-H is in fact the next instalment to the company's line of portable micro ATX cases. Build quality and portability are both strong points for the SG04 but as ever certain compromises have to make when going small form factor.

March 30, 2009 | 09:13

Antec MicroFusion Remote 350

This is the Antec MicroFusion 350, the micro ATX little brother of Antec's awesome Fusion HTPC chassis. Although the case has had a face lift, the Fusion styling is still there, but why does opting for less case mean you have to pay more money? We built a PC inside it to find out.

March 27, 2009 | 11:29

I hope PC gaming graphics have plateaued

March 26, 2009 | 12:14

Addictions on the go: Puzzle Quest

March 20, 2009 | 11:11

Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R

Another Core i7 motherboard creeps in the price bracket of affordability along with the MSI X58 Pro at £160. Not only is the Gigabyte UD3R a damned sight better looking, this time the overclocking and cooling performance is one thing that has not been trimmed off to keep the costs down.

March 16, 2009 | 09:13