StarCraft II: one of the biggest games of the year, if not the decade. It’s already sold over a million units worldwide, we’ve given it an amazing score this issue, and it’s certainly got the world back into the humble RTS. If you haven’t already got it, you’re missing out.

If you’re one of the six people who haven’t already invested in the stunning RTS, you can get it via the PC Format competition route. In addition to the Limited Collector’s Edition of the game, you can get your hands on about £250 worth of Terran-related swag, including a Jinx StarCraft II T-shirt, a BradyGames game guide, a poker set, a WoW magazine, a badge, a Noobz toy, a bag, a comic book, a SteelSeries StarCraft II mouse pad, a magnet and some stickers. It’s like a StarCraft II Christmas stocking, only without the manky satsuma and 50p. And you won’t even have to give your dad some sherry and a carrot.  read more »

Tease me, tease me, Mr G-man...

The Black Mesa mod is probably the most eagerly anticipated total conversion mod in PC gaming history. It's a complete remake of the original Half-Life storyline using a customised Source Engine, totally new models, maps, soundtrack, voice acting and textures. And someone has got to play it. Damn them...  read more »

Apple announces a few fruity additions...

For those that have better things to do than follow every word that dribbles out of Steve Jobs' gob, yesterday was a big day for the fruitiest of manufacturers.

Apparently it reinvented the iPod nano, unveiled a new iPod shuffle, introduced a new iPod touch and rolled out iTunes 10 (which has something called Ping in it – nothing to do with checking latencies though). Such things will undoubtedly be very exciting for a certain demographic, but for us, the most interesting re... er release is the rejigged Apple TV.  read more »

Have you ever succumbed to temptation and had “just one more go?” Do you find yourself playing games and then later realising you had other things you should have been doing? Like sleeping, to take an example entirely at random… Almost all gamers will have tasted that peculiar guilty feeling of having played one hour or level too many at some point. The question is: when does it become a problem? Is it the point when you’ve not done the dishes for a week? When you’ve skipped the pub to stay in front of your screen? Or when you die? And there have been deaths.  read more »

We all need a bit of music-fuel as PC Format hurtles towards deadline. Hurts - whose single Wonderful Life has to be the best song of the year - have a choose-your-own-adventure thing on Spotify at the moment. Start here, listen to the track, then choose the next track. It's a great, inventive piece of promotion, but it's not really helping me get my work done.

When you’re looking at building a desktop PC, you are most likely constrained by the amount of cash at your disposal and maybe by your power supply, but that’s probably it. Size isn’t really an issue unless you’ve got your sights on sliding the PC under your television. Noise? It’d be nice to keep it quiet,but there are plenty of things you can do after the fact to make it quieter. Want a more powerful graphics engine? Put in a pair of cards, or even three if you’re feeling flush. Overclock it all if you want an even faster number cruncher.  read more »

Bonkers suicidal zero-G blow 'em Plain Sight took over the office for a good few lunchtimes when we reviewed it. It's absurdly brilliant, and now it's on Steam for just $2 (£1.60). Be quick, though: the offer expires on the 26th of August. Which is tomorrow. Or today, if you're reading this tomorrow. Or yesterday, if you're reading this the day after tomorrow. Etc.

Hello Ari, we think AntiChrist667 may be compatible. He's 31, likes kittens, red wine, veal, comics, Terry Pratchett and long country walks - would you like to friend/block him?

Now that games such as Modern Warfare 2 have thrust multiplayer gaming into the news and the mainstream, isn't it about time we had more sophisticated game matchmaking?

And I'm not just talking about the usual player statistics coupled with geographical filtering. What we really need is the gaming equivalent of eHarmony.com's deep compatibility magic.

Gamers may not want to have some 'deep and profound connection' with the people they game with - or want to sleep with them - but armed with anonymous demographic data about an individual, matching players up effectively could vastly improve.

Why then can't we have matchmaking systems that scrutinise other players looking for a game and give consideration to whether they will offer you what most online gamers are after - the ‘GG' or ‘Good Game' vibe?
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The world is divided into two camps – those who like to run around in public and those who don’t. Most of us would rather throw our PCs in the toilet than heave our bodies at high speed around the pavements with one finger ready and primed to dial 999. So it was the latter camp that was relieved when the concept of the exercise game sidled onto the market. Everyone’s heard of the idea. Hell, there’s probably a hermit in the Himalayas who, even now, is powering up his yak-driven PC and stepping onto his dance mat.  read more »

We like games, and we like graphics. And because of that we like graphics cards that make games run smoothly and look dead pretty. The GTX 470 is one such card to make with the moving pictorial loveliness.

Based on the same GF100 GPU that made the overheating GTX 480 such a graphical behemoth, the £300 GTX 470 will quite happily make mincemeat out of pretty much any game you care to throw its way. With 448 CUDA cores for their parallel processing goodness, and 40 whole ROPs, this card is a bit of a beast.

That’s why we think NVIDIA’s second spin of its first Fermi GPU was so super-special, and we think it’s so good that you readers ought to have one as well. The folk that make Runes of Magic (PCF233 84%) think so too, so we’ve got together to bring three lucky readers a brand new Gainward GTX 470 graphics card as well as a boxed copy of the client and some fantastically stylish RoM threads.
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