Articles about Gaming

When building a gaming PC, one of the most important purchases you can make is memory. With that said, you don't necessarily need a ton of RAM, nor do you need the fastest. In other words, for gaming, 16GB of memory is still totally fine -- 32GB is more of a want than a need. Unless you are using an integrated GPU, such as an AMD APU, faster RAM speeds won't necessarily give you better game performance either. Currently, 16GB of 3,200MHz memory seems to be the sweet spot -- a good performance/value balance.

Today, GeIL launches its latest such gaming memory. Called "EVO SPEAR Phantom Gaming Edition," it is designed to work with ASRock Phantom Gaming series motherboards. Is that a marketing thing? Yeah, pretty much. I mean, these sticks of RAM will of course work with motherboards made by other manufacturers, such as ASUS, Gigabyte or MSI. If you are an ASRock fan, however, this RAM will be extra interesting to you. There are two types from which to choose -- sticks optimized for either AMD or Intel. You can then choose amongst various frequencies and capacities.

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Last month, Logitech did something very cool. The company released a limited-edition pink variant of its G PRO wireless gaming mouse. It dubbed this model "PIXEL" and vowed to donate the profits from its sales to charities. This proved to be extremely popular, as the PIXEL sold out the same day it was released. This was a big success, as not only did some Logitech fans score a rare collectible, but charities received money as a result.

Today, the Logitech is doing it again, this time with a mouse called "GHOST." Once again, it is a limited-edition G PRO wireless gaming mouse, but this time, the rare color is white rather than pink. I expect GHOST to sell out much faster than PIXEL, as the pink color had a more limited appeal. A white mouse may entice more shoppers, such as Mac users that want to match with their Apple keyboard, for instance. And yes, there are gamers that use macOS.

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Rocket League is one of my favorite PC games. Not only is it extremely fun, but it runs well on average hardware and is very easy to play. Seriously, folks, the learning curve is so low that almost anyone can just start playing right away. If you aren't familiar with Rocket League, please know it is essentially soccer with cars -- you drive into a giant ball and try to get it into the goal.

Another cool aspect of Rocket League? It is cross-platform, running on Windows, Mac, and even Linux. Sadly, this is changing, as the game's developer, Psyonix, is killing support for all desktop PC platforms that aren't Windows. That's right, if you are a Linux or macOS gamer (yes, they really exist), you will get one final patch before March -- when support officially ends. Sadly, this update will remove the ability to play the Mac and Linux versions online. And no, you cannot avoid the patch and continue to play online. In other words, you will soon be limited to offline play. Laughably, the game will continue to work fully on the now-unsupported Windows 7.

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You can't get much for a dollar these days. Sure, you can score a fast food item off of a bargain menu or a pregnancy test from Dollar Tree (yes, really), but nothing of real value. Or can you?

Actually, Microsoft is offering a really good deal on Xbox Game Pass for PC. In a blog post about three new games coming to the service, the company drops the bombshell that for just one friggin' dollar, you can get three months of access to the service. Yes, for a quarter of a year, you can play more than 100 legit PC games. Seriously. One dollar. Of course, there is a small catch -- it is only for brand new subscribers.

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There are many excellent open source software projects these days, such as the Linux kernel, GIMP, and LibreOffice to name a few. But what about games? Yes, there are open source games, one of which is SuperTuxKart. If you aren't familiar, STK is essentially an open source Mario Kart game clone. While it is very popular with Linux users, it is also available for Windows and macOS.

Today, SuperTuxKart reaches version 1.1. While it features bug fixes and other improvements, the real star of the update is the addition of a new arena called "Pumpkin Park."

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Some Linux gamers who are using Wine to play Battlefield V are finding themselves permanently banned from the game.

Player using the DXVK package are falling foul of Electronic Arts' anti-cheat system, seemingly because the DXVK Direct3D DLLs -- used to render 3D scenes in Wine -- are detected, for some reason, as being a cheat tool.

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Despite being over four years old, Witcher 3: Wild Hunt not only remains popular but is actually more popular than ever on Steam.

Yesterday, over 94,000 players were logged into the game, exceeding the previous record from the launch back in May 2015. There is no doubt that the Netflix Witcher series has helped to boost interest in the game, but Steam also has a huge sale on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt -- Game of the Year Edition (which includes the Hearts of Stone and Blood & Wine expansions), with a massive 70 percent off serving as a huge enticement for newcomers.

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Microsoft has never been very good at naming things. Windows 10, for instance, isn't even the tenth version of Windows. The company plans to eventually release an operating system called Windows 10X -- since X is the Roman numeral for ten, is it technically "Windows 10 10" then? Sigh. The original Xbox was followed by the Xbox 360, which was then followed by Xbox One. In other words, the third Xbox is named "One" -- what kind of craziness is that? The company confused things even further by releasing Xbox One variants dubbed "S" and "X."

And now, Microsoft has unveiled its next generation Xbox, and following tradition, it has a terrible name! What has the company named it? Xbox Series X. Yup, that's the real name. Its name is way too close to "Xbox One X," and shows Microsoft is apparently devoid of any creativity in the branding department. Name aside, however, it does look really cool -- it is a vertical tower that can be positioned horizontally if you prefer. Thankfully, it appears to have an optical drive, so physical games disks will live on for at least one more generation of game console.

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Not everyone can afford the top of the line graphics card, and that's fine. If you are a PC gamer on a budget, there are plenty of options these days that will allow you to play the latest and greatest games, albeit with the resolution and other settings turned down a bit. For instance 4K is all the rage these days, but if you are OK with 1080p gaming, you can actually get by with some affordable gear.

Today, AMD shows some major respect for the 1080p gamers of the world with the all-new Radeon RX 5500 XT. While not the most powerful card, it should be able to play all of the newest games at 1080p. It should be positioned a bit higher than the excellent, yet aging, RX 580. Best of all, the starting price is significantly below $200.

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Do M.2 PCIe solid state drives need heatsinks? Need? No, but believe it or not, sticking a piece of aluminum on the drive won't only potentially extend its life, but it can make it faster too. Yes, really. You see, when these SSDs get hot, read and write performance can take a hit. And so, cooling can matter. Keep in mind though, a heatsink can prevent an SSD from being used in a laptop if there isn't enough room for it.

Today, Patriot (under its VIPER GAMING brand) is launching a new solid state drive that not only has a big aluminum heatsink, but it is very beautiful too. Called "VPR100," this M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 x4 RGB SSD features customizable lighting and impressive read and write speeds. Does RGB lighting on an SSD really matter, though? Possibly. In some computers, the PCIe SSD can be hidden from view, making it a non-factor.

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Are all sticks of RAM the same? No. Any seasoned system builder will tell you that opting for cheap budget memory can lead to frustrating experiences of troubleshooting errors and blue screens of death in Windows. Saving a few bucks is never worth it. Take my advice and stick to reputable companies for both RAM and power supply units -- you will be thankful you did.

With all of that said, there are many reputable companies manufacturing sticks of RAM these days, making it hard to know what to select. You probably know all the typical names, such as G.SKILL, Crucial, and HyperX, but there are other lesser-known brands you can depend on too. Case in point, TEAMGROUP -- many system builders trust its memory. Today, that company announces its latest DDR4 RAM and it is absolutely gorgeous. Called "T-FORCE XTREEM ARGB," it features customizable lighting, a mirror design, and an achievable overclock of up to 4800MHz.

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Wizards of the Coast -- publisher of, among other titles, Magic: The Gathering -- has confirmed a security incident that exposed information relating to 452,634 players.

The company left a backup database containing gamer information in a public Amazon Web Services storage bucket where it was accessible from early September. Specifically, the database was used to house data relating to the game's online portal, Magic: The Gathering Arena.

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PC gamers used to turn their noses up at laptops, as they weren't capable of playing top-tier games. While most gamers still prefer desktops -- which are more powerful -- there are notebooks that are capable of running modern PC games. Thanks to Thunderbolt 3, laptop owners can even expand their machines with high-end devices, such as PCIe-based storage and even graphics cards.

Today, Seagate unveils two new products that laptop gamers will want to keep an eye on -- the FireCuda Thunderbolt 3 Gaming Dock and FireCuda 520 PCIe 4.0 SSD. What is a gaming dock? Well, it is your typical TB3 docking station, but also, it houses a 4TB HDD for storing your games. It even features adjustable RGB lighting -- something many gamers love. As an added bonus, it also has a PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD expansion slot, but it is only Gen3.

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The Nintendo 64 is one of the greatest game consoles of all time. I remember getting one at launch as a kid after trying (and being blown away by) Super Mario 64 at Toys R Us. Believe it or not, despite ultimately becoming a successful game system, it launched with just two games in the USA. No, that is not a typo -- it literally had a pair of games at launch. There was the aforementioned Mario game, plus Pilotwings 64. Over time, there were many classic games released for the N64, but the sparse launch library was rather shocking.

That's why today's announcement by Google that its Stadia streaming game service will "only" have a dozen games at launch (less than previously promised) doesn't disappoint me. Quite frankly, 12 launch titles is actually quite respectable. Not to mention, these are high-quality games too -- there is seemingly no filler to pad the list. With that said, three of the titles are from the Tomb Raider franchise.

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A little over a year ago, HyperX launched the Cloud MIX gaming headset. What made this model particularly cool was its ability to work both wired and wireless. In other words, you could use it as a Bluetooth headset when you wanted, but also, using the included cable, you could hard-wire it into your computer or other device.

Today, HyperX launches a new "Rose Gold" edition of the Cloud MIX headset. What new features does it have? Absolutely zero. It is virtually identical to the normal Cloud MIX except it has a new rose gold color. Now, the entire headset isn't rose gold -- it is mostly white. The namesake color is more of an accent. Regardless, it looks quite pretty.

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