When RGB products began to take over the world of PC hardware, I was turned off by a lot of poor and tacky applications of it. However, the G.Skill Trident Z RGB series RAM released early this year is a completely different story. The Trident Z RGB series introduces an addressable LED light bar that brings with it vibrant new lighting possibilities that were never seen before. That’s why we were surprised to see the Trident Z RGB didn’t require any external power and even more shocked to see the

If you need a new laptop with some gaming chops, Newegg has an exclusive on a 15.6-inch machine from Asus with a Core i7-7700HQ processor and GeForce GTX 1050 GPU inside. It’s on sale for $899 with promo code EMCSBCCG3, down from $1,049. We’re not in agreement with Newegg listing this as a “powerful gaming laptop,” but it’s certainly serviceable for playing games on its native 1920×1080 display. It also has a 256GB solid state drive paired with a 1TB hard drive, 802.11ac 2×2 Wi-Fi, and a red bac

Endless Conquest is currently limited to new accounts, although the developers are giving thought to enabling owners of lapsed accounts to transfer over. The new mode also opens the door to an “alternative ruleset server,” although that’s still a long way down the road. “The first is that everyone seems to have a different view of what the perfect alternative server ruleset would include. The Endless Conquest is going to be a huge step in overcoming it.” Dark Age of Camelot: Endless Conquest is

It seems Nvidia is planning to launch yet another GeForce GTX 1060 variant, one with 5GB of GDDR5 memory to go along with existing 6GB and 3GB models. Instead, Expreview yesterday posted an image of the card’s GPU (GP106-350-K3-A1), claiming the GeForce GTX 1060 5GB would be destined for internet cafes in China. Now a day later, Videocardz uploaded a handful of images showing an apparent Gigabyte SKU, the GeForce GTX 1060 5GB Windforce OC with a custom cooling solution. If the 5GB model comes to

G.Skill has launched a new high-speed 64GB DDR4-3466 memory kit for laptops and small form factor PCs. The new kit is also twice as capacious and nearly as fast as the 32GB DDR4-3800 memory G.Skill announced in October. That remains the fastest SO-DIMM RAM around, though both kits are built with “rigorously” binned Samsung B-die ICs. “The need of faster and larger capacity memory kits continue to rise as modern day workloads increases in both capacity and weight. This latest Ripjaws kit has its

But just ahead of Christmas, publisher New Blood Interactive announced that it will instead go through a more conventional Early Access process on Steam. The Early Access release of Dusk will include the first two episodes (the second part was recently completed), two Endless Arenas, and access to the Duskworld multiplayer. New Blood also said that, with the benefit of hindsight, it should have gone with an Early Access release right from the start. “But back in August we naively thought we woul

Civilization 6’s first expansion, Rise and Fall, is coming in February, and Firaxis has gradually been teasing details about the nine new leaders that are coming to the game. We already know that Genghis Khan, Queen Seondeok of Korea and the Netherlands’ Queen Wilhelmina will be joining the party, and now we know all about Chandragupta, the new leader of the Indians. He commands an elephant-mounted army and his leader ability, Arthashastra, will let you declare a war of territorial expansion. He

Few games deliver as many genuinely laugh out loud moments as Hearthstone. As we approach the end of 2017 and look back, it’s clear that this has been a bountiful year for memetastic Hearthstone content. Kibler burning the card everyone wanted to seeYou are Brian Kibler. You’re probably not actually Brian Kibler, but for the purposes of this exercise, imagine you are Brian Kibler. That dude who dances when he casts DefileThis changed the whole funny Hearthstone clip game.

Absolver’s 1v1 brawling is a layer cake, each sheet tasty on its own without overpowering the others. Instead of high kick, low punch, spin, they suddenly get sweeping kick, twirly dodge attack, jumpy kick. Clothes have stats, and affect how much damage you take and how much damage you can deliver depending on your fighting style. It’s vital to time moves to chain them most effectively, but tricky button presses aren’t Absolver’s primary focus. Absolver is about misdirection and deceit through a

Twitch Plays is a category on Twitch.tv born from the Twitch community’s love of chaos and frustration—a love even more powerful than nostalgia for the soothing painting of Bob Ross . These are the best (though not always most successful) times that Twitch chat has collectively played games. Unlike other Twitch Plays channels, the claw machine (as of now) accepts each input, rather than polling a group to vote. As part of a promotion for Pure Chess, Ripstone Games pitted Twitch chat against ches

The announcement of Dead Dozen—a multiplayer ghouls vs survivors game from the creators of The Wild Eight—created a bit of a buzz, but would-be fans were after some gameplay footage before passing judgment. Developer Fntastic has now obliged, releasing the first video of the game in action (above). There’s sub-categories within those roles, with one offense subclass getting a taser and a stamina boost, for example. Dead survivors come back to life on the opposing team and try to hunt down their

Overwatch players can unwrap a late Christmas present if they log into the game before January 1. Blizzard has stuffed everybody’s stockings with five free loot boxes, which in real money would cost £3.99/$4.99. The crates will contain a selection of the 150 items from the Winter Wonderland event . 🏷: The Overwatch Community❤️: The Overwatch TeamHAPPY HOLIDAYS!Enjoy five Winter Loot Boxes on us! I haven’t actually played Overwatch in December, but these free loot boxes seem like a decent excuse

It’s by no means a comprehensive list of every visual novel you should play, and we heartily recommend you scour through itch.io for its hidden indie gems under the visual novel tag. But if you’re looking to get started, these are the best visual novels on PC. Clannad is the place to go if you like the stereotypes of visual novels. Where visual novels shine is in strong writing, interesting characters, and a perspective that can draw you in. The Yawhg bends the conventions of visual novels but s

It has been another dramatic year for PC games and, thus, for PC Gamer. We also rounded up the best hand animations in first person games, with gifs, and rounded up the best kick-ass kicking in PC games, with gifs. Taking things slightly more seriously, we assessed genres to pick out the best RPGs, the best strategy games, the best FPS games and more. Community heroesThis year we have also discovered stories about players who have been affected by PC games, or used PC games to do nice things. We

By now, the Corsair K95 RGB Platinum has donned the best high-end gaming keyboard crown for almost the entire year. First and foremost, the K95 RGB Platinum upholds its reputation with its solid performance. Whether you like the tactile Cherry MX Brown or the speedy Cherry MX Silver, there’s a switch for you. Durable, functional, and visually appealing, there’s little downside to the Corsair K95 RGB Platinum besides its price. At $200, the K95 RGB simply doesn’t fit into a frugal budget.

Dishonored 2 was easily my favourite game of last year, and so it’s little surprise that I enjoyed this standalone expansion so much. My play style in Death of the Outsider was more lethal than in any previous Dishonored game, and for what I perceived as justifiable story reasons. Death of the Outsider also features some brilliant environments—missions that, in some instances, rival Dishonored 2’s. I think Death of the Outsider is marginally my favourite, right here, right now. Disclaimer: One o

Our Best Open World Game 2017 is Assassin’s Creed Origins. The splendor of Origins’ Egypt, however, and the staggering breadth of its world, is enough to overcome the limitations of this kind of design. Tom Senior: I’m still playing Assassin’s Creed Origins even though there’s so much in it that I actually dislike. What other Assassin’s Creed game has this variety? Check out Chris’s review of Assassin’s Creed Origins.

Thanks to a bundling service called Ninite, you can download and install most of these in one go. It’s mercifully free of the annoying toolbars and free offers and other adware most installers try to sneak onto your PC. RuntimesAll of them (Java 8, .Net, Silverlight, Air, Shockwave) – Sooner or later you’ll probably need all of these for something. If you’re assembling your own installer, give each of the above programs a checkmark, then click “Get Your Ninite” to create an installer that bundle

Boxing Day is a big deal for our UK and Canadian readers, and we’ve scoured the net looking for the best Boxing Day PC gaming deals as we near the end of the year. You’ll also find some great US PC gaming deals on this page too. The best Boxing Day deals right nowThe Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 is $46 on Amazon ($54 off). We just updated our Best gaming monitors guide with all current and discount pricing. VPN Unlimited economy: $5/month, (save $5/month)VPN Unlimited professional: $2.08/month, (

Amazon is selling the Oculus Rift and Touch controller bundle for an all time low price of $349 right now, putting it a nice $30 below Oculus’s own pricing and matching Black Friday. Even crazier, Amazon UK has it for £349 as well—but is listing it on the UK side as a one day only Boxing Day deal. If you’ve been holding out for a VR headset, specifically the Rift, now is the time to get it. Since its launch, the games library has expanded significantly, and Oculus recently launched its new Rift