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 »

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.

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?
 read more »

The shadow of a new expansion makes for some interesting times for WoW devotees. While it's the perfect time to clear up some achievements, go and play other games and generally enjoy the world around you, it's also a time to start planning what to do when Cataclysm hits.  read more »

We're all agreed, NVIDIA's GTX 460 is an awesome li'l card, especially in the sub-£200 market. There's nothing between the 768MB card at £150 and the HD 5870 at £300 that comes close. And if you check out next month's issue you'll see all the SLI goodness the GTX 460 gives when you pair up a couple of the GF104-based bad boys.

But EVGA doesn't think the GTX 460 is good enough. Not content with pumping out overclocked...sorry...Superclocked versions of both 768MB and 1GB flavours of the mid-range marvel, it's now offering owners of its cards a free performance boost.  read more »

I've been stunned (with a riot prod) by what I've seen of Deus Ex: Human Revolution so far, and Eidos Montreal seems to have really captured what made the original game such a unique and enjoyable experience.

It's over to you now. If you've got any questions about the prequel, post 'em below, and I'll put them to Deus Ex's Game Director on Thursday, and post the answers on Friday. And no rude questions either. I'm sure the Game Director will be wearing trousers.

In the meantime, enjoy this stirring and rather Dark Knight-esque trailer.  read more »

Here's an offer you can't refuse - yeah, I know I can't resist a Godfather reference - The Mafia 2 demo for PC is out on Steam!

Says here in the press release that you'll be able to try out a 1950s mission where you as "Vito Scaletta and his buddies, Joe and Henry, are sent to take out a mobster known as "The Fat Man". This mission showcases vibrant edge-of-your-seat action, era-evoking cars, memorable characters and a snapshot of the expansive city of Empire Bay in this colorful era."

We would say more, but it's verboten - embargoes are in place (and attached to Dave's family jewels and wired into the mains), but Dave has reviewed it for the next issue of PC Format.

I don't know what 'Slage' means either but it's probably not what Urban Dictionary is trying to define it as...

It seems the prospect of Diablo 3 and popularity of the Diablo series has injected lightning through the nips of the monster that is action-RPGs and has let it sire some more prodigy.

We've seen Torchlight rock up from the ashes of Flagship Studios and there seems no stopping them with the announcement of Torchlight 2. Maxis, the developer behind Spore has also stepped into the fray with its own sci-fi twist called DarkSpore (see the presentation).

And now we've got some work in progress footage of Slage, another multiplayer only, Diablo-esque contender squeaked out by French developer, Ankama.  read more »