Samsung 850 Pro 512GB SSD

Samsung is the SSD slayer.

Samsung’s efforts in the SSD market really have been quite remarkable. Ever since unveiling it’s 840 series in 2012, the company has absolutely dominated the consumer SSD market, delivering blitzkrieg speeds at affordable prices. The new 850 Pro aims to lengthen the companies lead, and appears to have accomplished its mission.

Key to the new drive is the use of 3D V-NAND ash memory, a proprietary type of memory developed by Samsung where the memory is layered both horizontally and vertically. This is powered by the existing MEX controller found in other Sammy drives, but the speed has been bumped up by 100MHz, now maxing out at 400MHz. A SATA 3 interface provides the interconnect between the drive and the motherboard, which is limited to a maximum speed of 6Gb/sec, which is fast becoming the bottleneck in today’s consumer SSDs.

Cougar 700M laser gaming mouse

Ugly but effective.

Finding the right mouse for your mitts can be an arduous task, as we’re not all clones with identically sized palms. The Cougar 700M aims to solve this problem with its adjustable palm wrest. A small screw at the base increases or decreases the wrest height, while a second wrest of slightly smaller size can be swapped out for the default component. It doesn’t go quite as far as some adjustable mice though, as there’s no way to change the position of the thumb wrest.

Flockers

Let’s get the flock out of here.

Team 17, the developers best known for the long lived Worms franchise was also responsible for the well-received last installment of the equally long lived Lemmings franchise. They are also responsible for Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust but we won’t hold it against them (anymore). The developer’s latest game melds elements of Worms and Lemmings to deliver a fiendishly difficult yet still approachable and appealing puzzle adventure game that will have you cheering and pulling your hair out in equal measure.

Wasteland 2

The triumphant return of the RPG.

It is easy to forget that the RPG was once filled with titles renown for their immensity, for the multiple paths you could take, the encounters you’d never see, the companions left behind. Back before consoles took hold, before Nolan North voiceovers, the AAA budgets and the shift towards guns and conversation the RPG was a very different beast indeed.

Wasteland 2 is very much ye olde RPG, a massive affair possessing that elusive hook that had me firing up another playthrough when my first 60ish hour odyssey came to a close. It was clear that choices had closed off avenues, that there were more tales to be told, secrets left unclear. It mattered little that I know knew the twists and turns that bring the game to an end. For this is a title where the journey is what matters, as a great RPG should be.

Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth

JOHN GILLOOLY spends some time getting to grips with a preview build of Firaxis’ new opus.

It has come to that strange time of the year where, after a drought, the ood of games has begun. Odds are that by the time you read this Beyond Earth will be out, but unfortunately review code timing and embargo dates mean that we missed out on including a review by mere days. We have, however, been able to spend a pretty serious chunk of our time playing a preview build of the game, limited to 250 turns. While this means it lacks the all important endgame, it was enough to give us a pretty good understanding of how the game has turned out, freshing out the information conveyed during various chats with Firaxis throughout the game’s development.