When it comes to gaming PCs, I prefer to build my own. Selecting the components, piece by piece, can be very rewarding. If you are on a budget, it is often more affordable than buying a pre-built machine too.

While many hardcore PC gamers would pooh-pooh buying an already-assembled computer, sometimes a tower comes along that is so special, that all rules go out the window. Today, such a special PC begins shipping to consumers. The MSI Vortex is a tiny gaming PC in a cylinder-shaped chassis. It is sort of like Apple's Mac Pro in outward appearance, but the comparisons stop there.

Razer has announced the new Blade gaming laptop, which features improved specs and a lower price compared to the previous generation. The device will ship in April, with pre-orders starting today at the company's online store.

The new Blade ships with a sixth-generation quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M graphics with 6 GB of VRAM, 16 GB of RAM, 256 GB or 512 GB of PCIe SSD storage, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, and a 14-inch IGZO touch-display with a resolution of 3,200 by 1,800, as the main highlights.

Although the Xbox One is undoubtedly a games console at heart, Microsoft wants it to be so much more. It's part of the reason for the blurring of boundaries between Windows 10 on the desktop and the Xbox One's version of the operating system, and there are already a number of media center features to be found. But things are on the verge of improving. A lot.

It's one thing to be able to watch OTA TV broadcasts on your console, but we've all become used to the notion of time-shifted viewing. DVR functionality -- the ability to pause and record shows as they are broadcast -- has been promised for some time, and now it's undergoing internal testing at Microsoft, strongly suggesting that a public release is not too far away.

Microsoft has announced that cross-network play is coming to Xbox One. This means that as well as being able to play against other Xbox One owners and those running Windows 10, gamers will also be able to play against people who are using a PlayStation 4.

This is the announcement that Xbox Live subscribers have been waiting for, and it's something that gamers have been begging for for years. It's not something that's going to happen overnight however. Microsoft may have got the ball rolling, but it's going to need support from Sony as well as game developers -- although it's hard to imagine that they won't give it.

It’s Pi Day, so naturally the Raspberry Pi Foundation has a little gift for Raspberry Pi owners. No, it’s not new hardware, but rather news that you can now play some of the all-time best point and click adventure games on the diminutive board.

The popular adventure game emulator ScummVM has now been ported over to the Raspberry Pi, allowing users to enjoy some of the greatest games from the early 1990s.

Nearly a third of gamers say they have been harassed while playing online, figures from a survey by Broadband Genie show. 31 percent of players found themselves on the receiving end of abuse, and 13 percent of respondents said they don’t always feel safe in online games. While it's possible to dismiss some of the harassment as banter (bantz, if you will) this is not true in every instance.

Two thirds of gamers thought abusive comments could be classed as little more than banter, but the prevalence of racist, sexist and homophobic -- as illustrated by the ongoing Gamergate controversy -- serves as a warning not only for gamers, but for the parents of children let loose online. Some harassment is limited to within games, but in five percent of cases, victims said the abuse continued on social media and forums.

Microsoft has announced sweeping changes at Microsoft Studios, affecting development teams in the UK and Denmark. In sad news for gamers, development of Fable Legends has been brought to an end. The Fable series is one that has suffered numerous setbacks and delays over the years, but this is the biggest blow yet.

More than this, the team behind Fable -- Lionhead Studios -- is at risk of closure, and Microsoft is in talk with employees about this. General Manager of Microsoft Studios Europe, Hanno Lemke also announced that Press Play Studios in Denmark will close, leading to the end of development on Project Knoxville.

There's a new preview build for Xbox One, and it sees the arrival of Xbox 360 Backward compatible games in the Store. Coming from the TH2 branch, the update makes it easier to discover games that are backwards compatible with the older console.

The availability of backwards compatible games not only helps to increase the number of games Xbox One users can choose from, but also helps to reduce the cost of gaming -- older games are significantly cheaper than newer titles.

A walled-garden approach to apps for operating system is something we've become used to in the mobile world. Apple, in particular, has been incredibly successful in creating a closed-off eco-system that ensures it remains -- broadly speaking -- in control of what hits the App Store. With Windows 10, Microsoft is trying to blur the boundaries between mobile and non-mobile, and developers -- especially game developers -- are not happy.

Windows 10's Universal Windows Platform (UWP) is described by Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney as a "closed platform-within-a-platform". More than this, Sweeney says that it is the "most aggressive move Microsoft has ever made", warning that the company is trying to monopolize app distribution to the detriment of consumers and the entire PC industry. Writing for the Guardian, Sweeney bellows out a call to arms saying that UWP "can, should, must, and will die".

A few weeks ago we told you that Sony planned to release a beta version of its PS4 software, taking it to build 3.5. The beta was opened up to people to sign up for and now it's approaching the roll-out date. And the company is detailing what customers should expect.

Code-named "Musashi", the iteration begins to go out to users tomorrow. Regardless if you have chosen to enter the program, you will get this software sooner or later, once the testing ends.

When Windows Store launched, it featured apps and games that had a clear mobile focus. Games made available via Windows Store were casual for the most part, and it seemed unlikely that the situation would change in the future.

It changed however with the launch of the Universal Windows Platform which improved what developers could do with the framework that Microsoft provided them with, and the release of Windows 10.

When it comes to next-gen console gaming the community is largely segmented into two camps: Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. A few people stay out of this fray, opting instead for the Nintendo offering.

Now, as it has done before, Sony is looking to sign up guinea pigs, or rather willing customers, to try out the latest beta version of its upcoming console software.

If you grew up in the UK in the 1980s, you likely either had a Sinclair ZX Spectrum or a Commodore 64. I was firmly in the Spectrum camp, and whiled away much of my youth playing classics such as Jet Set Willy and Skool Daze.

Retro Computers, led by Sir Clive Sinclair, last year resurrected the Spectrum in the form of the Vega, and this year it’s following up that low-cost games computer with a handheld model -- the Vega+.

Only around two percent of free to play game users spend money making in-game purchases. A new report into buying habits from gaming analytics specialist SOOMLA reveals the -- perhaps unsurprising -- information that those who made an in-app purchase in one game are six times more likely to do so in another.

Yaniv Nizan, Co-founder and CEO of SOOMLA, says, "Attracting payers to your game is like finding a needle in a haystack, but when crossing in-app purchase data from thousands of other games, our payer prediction technology reveals which user segments will eventually convert and what they're likely to buy".

Although there are lots of apps and services you can use for chatting to friends, Facebook Messenger is one of the better options because you can pretty much guarantee most people you know will have a Facebook account.

In addition to chatting with your friends you can now challenge them to play a game of chess, but only if you know the secret phrase to launch it, and the hotkeys used to pay the game.