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359€95 564/5000 PC HardWare.fr Office - Updated on 14/09/2018 A simple, reliable and versatile Mini PC that will meet all your office, internet and multimedia needs on a daily basis. Comes in kit to mount at reception and without OS (operating system) to give you more freedom in the choice of it. High quality components handpicked by HardWare.fr: Intel Pentium G4560 processor (3.5 GHz) ASRock H110M-ITX motherboard / ac Memory 8 GB (2x 4 GB) DDR4 2133 MHz CL15 SR X8 Samsung 860 EVO 250 GB SSD IN WIN Chopin BQ 696 Mini-PC Case

WAR THUNDER Perhaps the best thing about this free MMO is that it’s very easy to just plunge into it, get a decent idea of its systems and start having fun right away. Try saying that about Flight Simulator X with a straight face. If you’re after sheer volume of machinery, War Thunder’s WW2/Korean War era roster exceeds 300 aircraft. Each can be piloted using arcade (boo!) or simulation physics models to blast away at airborne adversaries playing on both PC and consoles – its servers know no platform boundaries. Which, of course, means there’s usually plenty of easy meat for PC players to pick off. If War Thunder’s skies offer an opportunity for a quick joyride and a bit of sightseeing, ground combat offers the exact opposite – the steel beasts in this tank game move at such a glacial pace that you’re constantly on high alert, scanning for enemies in the scrubland. Whoever fires first in this free Steam game almost always carries away the spoils. The USA, Russia, Britain, Germany and Japan all wage war here, each with their own particular mechanical strengths (there’s a long-running argument concerning Soviet machinery bias in this area), weaknesses… and convoluted upgrade paths. If you’re averse to grinding, this might not be the simulation game for you. If you’re after a WW2 sim with an enormous community that you can start playing with no financial outlay, though… well, your demands are very specific, and War Thunder’s your sim. Play War Thunder for free FARMING SIMULATOR 19 When it comes to farming simulator games, look no further than, er, Farming Simulator 19. The clue’s in the name, frankly. Please excuse our facetiousness, but believe us when we say that if you’re looking for the closest one-to-one recreation of truly living off the land, Giants Software’s latest agricultural outing is for you. And we’re experts, as our Farming Simulator 19 diary eloquently (read: sort of) shows. Considering you’ll most likely be losing many hours to tending your crops and livestock, it’s great that Farming Simulator gives us a graphical overhaul. That doesn’t help the smell of the manure, though. With more vehicles and detail than ever before, Farming Simulator is the kind of management game that teaches you new skills as you get away from the big smoke. Or just lets you make creepy crop circles. FLIGHT SIMULATOR X When people say the word ‘simulator,’ Microsoft’s imperious and encyclopaedic aviation behemoth is the first game that springs to mind. It’s inevitable – like picturing a Christian Bale in a clear raincoat flecked with blood whenever you hear Huey Lewis and the News. It’s rare for a sim to be so all-encompassing that it can provide both light entertainment to the curious casual gamer who wants to fly fighter jets under bridges with a gamepad, and valuable education to a budding pilot ensconced in a home-made cockpit – but such is FSX’s scope. In a recurring theme throughout this feature, mod support plays a huge role in its prolonged lifespan. At this point, all FSX’s best planes and environment maps come from third parties, which means to get the most out of it you’ll need to invest a fair few hours gathering .zips of high-res textures before you fly. TRAIN SIMULATOR 2016 Train Simulator 2016 has some big problems, and a risible pricing model – and yet, it’s unquestionably the best way to travel the world’s best-known and most historic railways without leaving the comfort of your PC gaming dungeon. It’s a tricky one. If you already own Train Simulator 2015, this year’s game is available as a free update that adds a shiny new UI, expanded tutorials and better search functionality. However, it also includes new trains and routes that you can buy by either shelling out TS2016 as a standalone game, or purchasing them separately. Currently the game has over £3000/$5000 of DLC on its Steam store page, carrying over from title to title dating back to 2014, with individual routes and trains costing as much as £24.99/$27.99 each. That pricing model is bewildering at best, and yet armchair locomotion enthusiasts have no better option than TS. Routes are exceptionally detailed, trains include familiar domestic and exotic historical machinery, and while the series has yet to make the jump to Unreal Engine 4 as promised, it boasts higher visual detail than its limited rivals. F1 2015 In some respects, Codemasters’ F1 series has been on something of a downward trajectory for several years, with enjoyable additions such as historical content stripped out and the game’s once lavish career mode now reduced to a single championship season in one of the real drivers’ flame retardant booties. However, beneath this year’s disconcertingly bare game lies the best driving the series has ever seen. F1 2015 arrives with a handling model that articulately conveys the grippiness and volatility of a modern F1 car. Brakes must be applied like you’re taking home a box of eggs in the footwell; turn-in points precisely anticipated and throttle modulated as your V6 engine does its best to squirm away from your control. There are numerous other ways to chase the F1 rush – Assetto Corsa and Project CARS offer something approaching top-tier open wheeled racing, and modders have built damn good approximations of the sport in every simulation game from rFactor to GTR2. But F1 2015 offers fully licensed cars and tracks, both rendered with impressive detail, without the need to unRAR a single file or visit the game directory once. Its wheel support is improving year-on-year, too.

Get ready, because 2019 is shaping up to be a special year for video games. While it's always possible for a year to take us by surprise in regards to how great it is for gaming or how bad it ends up being, you can generally tell when you're going to have a marquee year. In the case of the formidable 2019, we get the feeling that it might be the last full year of the current console generation. Considering that the final years of consoles are often their best, there's plenty of reason to believe that 2019 is going to be the final, victorious bow for this generation's best developers. Besides, a quick look at the best video games coming out in 2019 reveals a variety of titles that rank near the top of our most-anticipated games. From beloved RPG developers branching out into online shooters to the return of one of the greatest horror games ever made, 2019 is loaded with the kind of games that make you grateful to be a gamer. First, though, we must share a brief explanation of our choices. While we're just as excited as you are about games like Ghost of Tsushima, Cyberpunk 2077, Halo Infinite, and The Last of Us Part II -- and fully believe that they will rank amongst the year's best video games -- there is currently no confirmation that those games will be released in 2019. As such, we are limiting this list to games that are currently scheduled for a 2019 release date. With that out of the way, let's take a look at the best video games of 2019: Anthem February 22 | BioWare | PS4, XBO, PC BioWare’s Anthem is the studio’s most talked about game in years, even if it’s not always being talked about for the reasons that BioWare and EA would like. Questions of microtransactions and originality still surround this title a year after it was first announced. Yes, Anthem is certainly a departure for the house that RPGs built, but everything that developer BioWare has shown of this Destiny-like online experience suggests that this online multiplayer experience is exactly what they needed to get back on track. Can this online shooter learn from the mistakes of its predecessors and deliver the ultimate sci-fi shared world experience? Battletoads TBA | Rare | XBO We were starting to think that we’d never get another Battletoads game given that it’s been over 20 years since we’ve last received a new installment, but Rare is returning to the franchise that most people remember as one of the hardest games on the NES. This new Battletoads might feature a slightly different art style and other modern improvements, but we fully expect it to be largely familiar to fans who have been waiting years for another co-op brawler from this beloved, and undeniably bizarre, series. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night TBA | ArtPlay & DICO | PS4, XBO, Switch, PC Since its Kickstarter debut, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night's name has come second to that of its creator, Koji Igarashi. Many of you may remember Igarashi as the director of the revolutionary Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and his return with a game that is very much in the spirit of his classic Castlevania tiles has been anticipated by genre fans for many years. While we have some concerns regarding the possibility that Ritual of the Night ends up being the next Mighty No. 9, the quality of this team's side project - the 2D action/adventure title Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon - leads us to believe that these guys know what makes this genre tick and may be prepared to deliver something special. Crackdown 3 February 15 | Reagent Games, Sumo Digital, Ruffian Games, Cloudgine | XBO, PC It's been almost eight years since we last heard from the Crackdown series. There was a time when Microsoft's hidden gem open-world title provided a breath of fresh air to the subgenre. Its outlandish, superhero-like gameplay afforded players the chance to just go wild in a metro setting. The open-world genre -- and the world at large -- has changed quite a bit, though. In order for Crackdown 3 to make the same impact that Crackdown protagonists make when they jump off the city's highest buildings and crash onto the streets below, it's going to have to invoke the casual gameplay of the first two games while finding a way to advance the game's style just enough to make us feel that old joy of galivanting around a superhero sandbox. Code Vein TBA | Bandai Namco | PS4, XBO In a world without Dark Souls and Bloodborne (at least for the foreseeable future), the time is now for an outsider to ascend the throne and rule the kingdom that FromSoftware's titles helped establish. To that end, it's entirely possible that Code Vein may just become the next big game in this genre. Code Vein is easily described as "anime Dark Souls." It's an over-the-top action-RPG that emphasizes an intricate combat system, character builds, and a sometimes punishing level of difficulty. It also adds a sometimes over-the-top style that is a far cry from Dark Souls' muted tones and grim atmosphere but just might be enough to help put this game over-the-top.

2019 is looking like a great year for gaming overall, and the strategy genre is no different. From historical wargames to a classic fantasy franchise getting a new coat of sci-fi paint to city builders right out of the '90s, there's something for everyone out there. So check out our list of the top 10 most anticipated strategy games of 2019. Who knows, you may see something you'll like. Total War: Three Kingdoms Creative Assembly's venerable strategy series ventures into truly new historical territory for the first time since 2009's Empire: Total War. As they try to knock off Koei from their perch atop the throne of Romance of the Three Kingdoms-inspired storytelling through play, they'll be bringing to bear the classic Total War formula that's been working for them since 2000. On a detailed map of China featuring all the historical locations from the second and third centuries AD, the early look and feel of the combat seems vaguely reminiscent of the old Rise of the Samurai campaign in Shogun 2: Total War from 2011. Total War: Three Kingdoms drops on Steam on March 7, 2019. ------------- Tropico 6 Taking gameplay beyond the confines of a single island for the first time in the Tropico series, Tropico 6 builds on the gameplay of its immediate predecessor to create a series of interconnected island economies across an archipelago, opening up new strategic avenues for the player who's been with this series either in recent iterations or since the very first one hit way back in 2001. We covered the game with our impressions of the preview build, so why not give that a read while you get yourself hyped up for the game's launch? Tropico 6 lands on PC January 25, 2019. Paradox Interactive has ventured into Roman history before, but the result was the uneven, disappointing Europa Universalis: Rome in 2008. They've dispensed with trying to make this a Europa Universalis game this time, choosing instead to allow the game some room to breathe in its own right, in hopes that they'll create something that will stand alongside their other historical strategy titles and possibly launch a franchise in its own right to go with EU, Crusader Kings, Victoria, and Hearts of Iron. This doesn't excuse you from making Victoria 3, Paradox. Get on that. Imperator: Rome will stretch across the known Classical world sometime in early 2019. Narcos: Rise of the Cartels Not much is known about this video game tie-in to the Netflix series of the same name, but early indications are that it's going to be a turn-based strategy game pitting Pablo Escobar's Medellin cartel against the US Drug Enforcement Agency in a game of move and counter-move. The Netflix show is renowned for its gritty brutality, and no doubt that vibe is going to translate to the game as well, with players right at the head of all of it. Narcos: Rise of the Cartels is slated for a PC and console release in the third quarter of 2019, just in time for it to have some press before the hot holiday season releases.

Xbox One X Not only does the Xbox One X have a large library of new and classic game titles – it’s also an extremely powerful unit that’s great for both gaming and multimedia app usage. ------------------------ Nintendo Switch The Nintendo Switch is a portable hybrid console that you can play anywhere, solo or with friends. You can play exclusives or third-party titles, record your gameplay and pair your Amiibos. -------------------------- Xbox One S With its 4K UHD Blu-ray playback capability and aesthetically pleasing and modern white design, the Xbox One S lets you enjoy gaming and plenty of multimedia entertainment without breaking the bank.

What are the best shooting games on PC? From the classic physics chaos of Half-Life 2 to Overwatch’s incredible guns, these are the finest first-person shooters. For more than two decades, the best FPS games have been the driving force of the PC games industry. They’ve let us travel from the depths of Hell in Doom to the outer reaches of space in Titanfall 2. Others have taken us on a detour through the likes of Half-Life 2’s zombie-infested Ravenholm, while some have embraced futuristic cities. Some of these shooters are old, others are new, all are great. Wolfenstein 2’s amazing campaign; Rainbow Six Siege and its tight tactical multiplayer; Overwatch and its vast array of amazing heroes. No matter what sort of virtual gunplay you’re after, the following FPS games will satisfy your itchy trigger finger. So crack those knuckles, get ready to make all the headshots, and keep in mind that guns will solve all your problems in the following shooty gems. These are the best FPS games on PC. We hope your aim isn’t off… HALF-LIFE 2 So much more than an evolution of its superb predecessor, Half-Life 2 is frequently hailed as the best PC games of all time. Such accolades are not undeserved, either. The long-awaited sequel to Half-Life is hugely ambitious, benefitting from being developed by a much more confident Valve. Everything is bigger than the 1998 original: the environments, the enemies, the story – it’s a blockbuster, but a smart one. There are decent AI companions; real characters who exist to do more than die comically; physics that transform the world into a seemingly real, tangible place. Valve again works magic with its environments. Despite often being larger and more open than Half-Life’s, they are still crafted with the same care and attention to detail. And, importantly, they remain memorable, from the haunted streets of Ravenholm to the ominous Citadel, standing over City 17 like a steel and glass tyrant. Age may have worn away some of the sheen, but it remains a striking, compelling FPS. RAINBOW SIX SIEGE Thanks to continued support from Ubisoft, Rainbow Six Siege is almost completely unrecognisable from the so-so shooter that emerged with a whimper rather than a bang in 2015. Now, with its burgeoning e-sports scene, a constant flow of Rainbow Six Siege operators, and some of the best multiplayer gameplay around, it has become one of the best shooting games on PC. Every moment of Siege’s boxed-in battles is fraught with tension and danger, from the moment you start scouting an area with your drone – praying your enemies don’t spot it before you can find the hostage – to that final attempt to save the day by shooting down walls and smashing through the ceiling. Its asymmetrical multiplayer and tactical openness mean no round plays out the same way. It is a psychological battle as much as it is a series of gunfights; a game about mani[CENSORED]tion and control as you attempt to make your foes react in specific ways while you try to keep your own team working together. You never feel safe: an attack can come from anywhere, usually everywhere all at once. After all these years of feeling safe behind walls, Siege’s destructible environments force you to think on your feet and trust no wall. Siege features a relatively high barrier to entry, but unsure players can jump into the fray cheaply with the Rainbow Six Siege Starter Edition. For those who take to Rainbow’s punishing gameplay, you can be assured Ubisoft Montreal’s shooter is here to stay with new seasons and content coming all the time. LEFT 4 DEAD 2 Valve’s zombies are not like other zombies. In Left 4 Dead 2, they crash over you like waves, crawling up walls and leaping across gaps. They are accompanied by specials: highly-evolved undead that force you to work together. A Smoker will drag you off into an alley with its long tongue where you’ll be mobbed by common undead. A Hunter will pin you to the asphalt before tearing out your throat. A Boomer will charge right into your face and explode, drowning you in green gloop. Even though zombies are a dime a dozen and Left 4 Dead 2 has been around for a long time, the tension, level design, and countless mods ensure it remains a compelling romp. It remains one of the best co-op games on PC. TEAM FORTRESS 2 In this extra shooty, class-based affair, angry cartoon men capture briefcases, escort bombs, and stand on nodes. Team Fortress 2 is brilliant, and it’s still easily one of the best shooting games on PC. It has also evolved, with mountains of user-created content, maps, modes, and new Team Fortress 2 gadgets helping keep the shooter relevant. The premise is as simple as ever: you pick a character from a cast of nine and take your place on a team. Modes include Capture the Flag, King of the Hill, and Payload – the latter seeing a team drive a bomb forward on a rail track, while their opponents desperately attempt to hold them back. It is a classic that has become the flagship mode of Overwatch, but it was refined to perfection here in Team Fortress 2 first. UNREAL TOURNAMENT Epic made a name for itself with Unreal – impressive in a time when shooters were dominated by id – but it was with 1999’s Unreal Tournament that Epic earned its grand moniker. Tournament had the same core concept of Quake Arena but offered an alternative for those looking for a few more frills. Among the game’s exciting weapons is the BioRifle, which weaponises toxic sludge. You can even charge it up and release a great bulb of the stuff, using it as a gelatinous landmine. Then there is Redeemer, a rocket launcher that flings a pilotable thermonuclear warhead at your enemies. You should also try the Ripper, which fires saw blades that bounce around corners. Each gun has separate strengths and alternate fire modes that need mastering in order for you to dominate in the arena. Tournament’s maps – old and new – are filled with memorably mad architecture. There is nothing quite like leaping in low gravity between the three stratospheric towers in DM-Morpheus – particularly if you can gib someone in mid-air, spraying their gore through the sky. FAR CRY 3 Even after more than half a decade, Far Cry 3 remains the high point for this sandbox shooter series. Set in a lush tropical paradise, one moment you’re diving off a boat to hunt sharks, the next you’re infiltrating an enemy outpost with nothing but a bow and some Molotov cocktails. There is an interesting story beneath it all, too. With Far Cry 3, Ubisoft Montreal subverted colonial fiction, skewering it while also firing shots at its legacy of entitled Western holidaymakers. Sometimes it gets a bit too close to simply mimicking colonial fiction, but it is bold for one of the best shooting games to attempt to say anything at all. Spin-off Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon’s gameplay is a thoroughly campy, affection nod to ’80s sci-fi, and is also well worth playing. So there you have it, the best FPS games on PC. 2018 has already been very good to shooter fans, and as you can tell from our Far Cry 5 PC review, we have a particular soft spot for Ubi’s latest open world. With so many upcoming PC games taking the form of shooters – we can still dream of a Half-Life 3 release date being announced, right? – now is a glorious time to be an FPS fan. So give that trigger finger a stretch, and keep practicing your virtual headshots. After all, those Nazis, zombies, and virtual terrorists won’t shoot themselves.

As the nights are (still) dark, long, and cold, we don’t blame you for being semi-reluctant to going outside. So there’s no better way to spend your evenings than sitting down with one of the best RPG games around, and losing yourself in its dense world crammed full of quests, copious looting, and enough exploration to make you feel tired just by thinking about all the in-game travelling you’ll be doing. However, finding the right one is key, as the RPG genre is continuously expanding as more and more games incorporate RPG elements, like the stunning Assassin’s Creed Odyssey with its brand new dialogue and romance options. With so many to choose from, we’ve managed to narrow it down to the top 25 you can play right now, from the all-time greats to some that you might have overlooked. Just remember to take a break every now and again and ingest some vitamin D, ok? And one more thing - a few of these games can display in 4K resolution, so you'll need an Xbox One X or PS4 Pro to see them at their best on console. For those who haven't got one yet, visit our dedicated pages for Xbox One X deals or PS4 Pro deals. Read more: 25 best open world games to play right now and completely forget real life exists 4. Kingdom Come: Deliverance Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC Henry the blacksmith’s son can either be a hero...or an utter cad. Thanks to Kingdom Come: Deliverance’s intricate - and unforgiving - mechanics, he can pickpocket the villages scratching a living out of the Bohemian villages, dedicate time to making the perfect potion, or refine parrying to become the scourge of bandits everywhere. Kingdom Come: Deliverance is one of the best RPG games out there not just because of its protagonist, but also because the world around Henry has strict rules, which are obviously there to be broken. Breaking or abiding by these rules gives you enough role-playing potential for playthrough after playthrough, with multiple ways to solve each quest just begging you to be a dick one moment and a benevolent helper the next. 3. South Park: The Stick of Truth Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch It should come as no surprise that not only is South Park: The Stick of Truth ridiculously funny, but it also pushes fantasy tropes as far as they’ll go. Thankfully that doesn’t mean that you’re stuck as a Mage, Fighter, Thief, or Jew (a class which grants you the jew-jitsu fighting style - no, I’m not kidding) as throughout the game you can learn whichever skills you want and tailor the New Kid to be exactly the hero you have in mind. You know, if you imagine 2D kids when you hear the word ‘hero’. Characters from the TV show fight alongside you, although you can only saunter around with one of them at a time, and as long as you’re ok with tons of inside jokes and the odd magical fart attack, The Stick of Truth will delight for hours on end. 2. Diablo 3 Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC Loot, glorious loot: Diablo 3 has a ton of it. Anyone looking for endless customisation options in their ideal RPG should gravitate to Diablo 3 like a well-aimed crossbow gravitates towards a demon’s skull. That endless torrent of coloured loot push you onwards no matter which of the seven classes you decide to play as, constantly evolving your playstyle to suit the shiniest new item and experimenting so that those pesky demons have a much harder time beating you up. Randomly-generated levels means that it’s a literally endless RPG, so if for some reason you’re not too fussed by an impressively-voiced story campaign and atmosphere you can just go on a majestic quest for loot. Lots and lots of loot. 1. Persona 5 Available on: PS4 School is hard. It’s even harder when you have a super-powered alter ego who spends their nights roaming through a supernatural realm fighting the bloodthirsty, personified desires of the people around them. Fighting isn’t the only thing that makes Persona 5 one of the best RPG games of 2017, though. As well as slashing your way through winding combat levels, you have to navigate daily life as a student at your new Academy. Chat to your fellow classmates, try to balance schoolwork with a part-time job… or be a bit more productive with your time and craft items that’ll help you in an alternate world that’s filled with the manifestation of people’s (rather unfriendly) inner psyches. The two different gameplay cycles flesh out Persona 5 and make it an incredibly well balanced game, and one that you can’t miss even if you have a ton of homework to do.

Now Playing: Activision Blizzard Execs Leave For Netflix, Square, And New Marvel Game - GS News Update Activision Blizzard, the gaming giant behind franchises like Call of Duty, Destiny, Overwatch, Diablo, and World of Warcraft, is starting 2019 down two top executives. Activision Blizzard CFO Spencer Neumann recently left, and was recently named the next CFO of Netflix. And now, Blizzard CFO Amrita Ahuja has left the company to join mobile payment company Square as its new CFO. Jack Dorsey, Square's co-founder, said in a statement that Ahuja "brings us a deep understanding of ecosystem businesses, and she's purpose-driven, disciplined, and has a strong growth mindset." Ahuja was with Activision Blizzard for more than eight years, where she held a number of finance-related positions including VP of Finance and Operations and VP of Strategy and Business Development, before becoming CFO. Before joining Activision Blizzard, Ahuja worked at Fox Networks, Walt Disney and Morgan Stanley. Ahuja's departure from Blizzard comes not long after the company's controversial announcement of Diablo Immortal at BlizzCon late last year. Kotaku reports that there has been increased friction between management at Activision and Blizzard, and the report also states that Blizzard is trying to cut costs. Blizzard co-founder and longtime president Mike Morhaime left the company in October 2018. Filed under:OverwatchDiablo IIIWorld of WarcraftPCXbox OnePlayStation 4

The 2020 Toyota Supra is one of the spotlight reveals at this year’s Detroit auto show, and it might have just gotten a premature reveal on Toyota Mexico’s Twitter feed. According to the Supra MkV forum, the video was posted to Toyota Mexico’s feed before being taken down a few hours later. Shocking no one, it seems like this video maybe wasn’t supposed to see light of day until after the Supra makes a public reveal during the auto show. From the video, it looks like the design team at Toyota did a great job separating the Supra from its BMW bones. Basically, that means that the Supra doesn’t look like a badge engineered spinoff of the BMW Z4, and should please Toyota devotees. It’s probably safe to say that this video is legitimate, considering its prompt removal. Judging by the video’s quality, it could be part of the preview played before the Supra’s reveal. If you want to see the 2020 Toyota Supra before you’re supposed to, check out the video above. If you want to get an even better look, check back next week for our Detroit auto show coverage.

If you’re finally getting to sleep at past midnight and waking up to go to work at 5am, your inefficient sleeping pattern could be affecting your everyday life. But what can you do to improve your sleeping pattern. Is waking up at the same every day the answer? Professor Colin Espie at Nuffield Department of Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Oxford and co-founder of Sleepio has some insight. However when it comes to what time to go to sleep, Professor Espie explains that the rules are much vaguer. “It’s important not to get stuck on the idea of one bedtime that suits all, because different individuals can have different chronotypes. Most of us sit in the middle between being an early bird or a night owl, but there are people who are on either extreme of this.” He explained that each individual “should discover what they personally need and then make this a recurring habit.”

Firefighters have been tackling a blaze in a business in the centre of Paris after a powerful explosion left 12 people seriously injured. Cars were wrecked and other buildings were damaged by the blast on Rue de Trévise in the 9th Arrondissement. Police suspect a gas leak caused the explosion which occurred in a bakery around 09:00 (08:00 GMT). They have asked people to stay away from the area, to allow emergency services access. In the immediate aftermath, smashed cars and debris from other shop fronts littered the street in front of the burning bakery as people stood around, looking stunned by the force of the explosion. In pictures: Rescuers fight bakery blaze Visiting the scene, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said the situation was now under control. Paris and other French cities have been bracing themselves for a new round of anti-government protests by "yellow vest" demonstrators, with 80,000 police officers due to be on duty on Saturday - although the explosion is not thought to be connected with the demonstrations. What happened? The Hubert bakery at No 6 Rue de Trévise was not due to be open at the time of the blast, Le Parisien newspaper reports. A gas leak had been reported in the building and firefighters had been on their way to deal with it when the explosion occurred. Helicopters landed on the nearby Place de l'Opéra to evacuate the injured, Reuters news agency reports. A passing journalist, Emily Molli, described the force of the blast and vast extent of the damage. A resident named Killian was asleep when the explosion blew in his windows. Everybody in the building came downstairs, he said, and he could hear screaming. The blast also destroyed a theatre, he told French news channel BFMTV. "I was sleeping and woke up by the blast wave," Claire Sallavuard told AFP news agency. "All the windows in the apartment exploded, doors were blown off their hinges, I had to walk on the door to leave the room, all the kids were panicking, they couldn't get out of their room." Paula Nagui, a receptionist at the nearby Diva Hotel, said there had been an "enormous blast" that shattered all the windows. Anxious guests had received assurances that it was not a terror attack, she told Le Parisien. Why such heavy security for the protests? For the ninth Saturday in a row, demonstrators are turning out to criticise the government's policies in a mass phenomenon which began with a protest over tax on vehicle fuel on 17 November. Called the "yellow vests" because of the colour of the high-visibility vests they wear symbolically, they have disrupted traffic on roads and in towns across France, and their marches have descended into some of the worst rioting France has seen in decades. Who are the 'gilets jaunes'? Les gilets jaunes: The full story Yellow vests could be seen gathering outside the finance ministry in Paris on Saturday. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe recently announced plans to punish people who hold unsanctioned protests. Ten deaths have been linked to the unrest, all but one in traffic accidents, the tenth being an elderly woman hit in the face by a tear gas grenade in her flat in Marseille. More than 1,500 people among the demonstrators have been injured, 53 of them seriously. Nearly 1,100 members of the security forces were also hurt, French TV reported on 5 January. As of 6 January, 5,339 people had been taken into custody and 152 had been sent to prison, the justice ministry told L'Express newspaper.

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SHARE Year-end lists are a wasted opportunity, a relic from the heyday of magazines and newspapers, a recap of the recommendations you missed because an issue got lost in the mail or consumed by the family dog. They tend to be a bit foggy (why did I like this game, again?) and incomplete (what came out in January?). Worse, they arrive when we’re too busy with the holidays to put the lists to their intended use. A list of the best games of the year is more useful, more thoughtful and more complete, we believe, if it accumulates all year long. That’s why we made a change. Throughout the year, the Polygon team collected its game of the year list in real time. We updated the list as new games made the cut. Now, with 2018 in the books, we’ve reorganized that list, ranking entries into a Top 50. In January, we’ll start the process over with a new rolling list. You may notice the inclusion of games that were either fully released or made available in Early Access prior to 2018. Because many games change from update to update, let alone year to year, we will include previously available games that receive a significant update within the year or become available on a platform that substantially impacts how that game is experienced. For example, Fortnite Battle Royale is included, ranked No. 13, because we feel its recent seasons were the first great game of 2018. Don’t worry too much about the ranking. It’s a fun and light exercise. Ultimately, we recommend all of these games. That’s why we’ve included a bit on what makes each one special: so you can find the best games of 2018 for you. 5- NI NO KUNI 2: REVENANT KINGDOM No, you needn’t have played the first Ni no Kuni to enjoy its sequel, a feverishly optimistic (and welcomingly naïve) Japanese role-playing game inspired, in part, by the works of Studio Ghibli. Its colorful animation conceals a rich but not overly complicated kingdom-management system that gives the adventure a grand sense of scope. A fairytale storyline gives its motley band of heroes a playful pep that feels anachronistic, if not flagrantly in conflict with our times. Here’s Cameron Kunzelman’s take from our review: “There’s not a wasted breath or a plot point that doesn’t manage to pay off in a significant way. Ni no Kuni 2 is a solid contemporary JRPG that brings a lot of design ideas that I love into sharp, clear focus while staying entertaining and engaging throughout.” —Chris Plante Available on PlayStation 4 and Windows PC. 4-CAPTAIN TOAD: TREASURE TRACKER When Nintendo released Super Mario 3D World on Wii U — you know, the console that barely anybody owned — the game maker included a handful of experimental levels starring perennial Mario sidekick Toad. They were wonderful little puzzle boxes in which players guided the waddling Toad through diorama-like levels to collect stars. Nintendo later expanded that idea into a full game, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. Unfortunately, it too was doomed on the Wii U. Now available on Switch, one of Nintendo’s most underappreciated projects is getting the audience it deserves. Treasure Tracker is a puzzle-adventure game that’s relaxing at times and confounding at others, thanks to Nintendo’s smart, sometimes devilish level designs. It is also consistently charming, as Captain Toad (and Toadette) light up the screen with beaming smiles and chirps of success as they hunt down golden treasures. It’s an accessible game with easy-to-understand rules, but it will regularly surprise you. Like a lot of Nintendo games, it’s also great for kids and co-op play, with little in the way of frantic action or combat. (It’s also on Nintendo 3DS and it’s great there too.) —Michael McWhertor Available on Nintendo 3DS and Switch. 3- LUMINES REMASTERED None of the many sequels and ports for 2004’s Lumines stack up to the PlayStation Portable original, a marriage of high-fidelity graphics, pumping Japanese dance tracks and bright charm. That the original Lumines was portable made it all the more enjoyable. Lumines Remastered, the franchise’s latest entry, is available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and most importantly, the Nintendo Switch. The Switch version captures and in some ways bests the feel of the original, with improved visuals and better controls on the Switch’s comparably more spacious Joy-Cons. All versions feature “trance vibration,” a term that series creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi po[CENSORED]rized with another of his beloved games, Rez. Additional controllers can be paired to Lumines Remastered and turned into vibrating nodes, humming in rhythm with the game. The Joy-Con controllers fit in your pockets or underneath your toes, providing a subtle vibration that adds a little extra texture to the experience without feeling too weird. If “trance vibration” isn’t your cup of ayahuasca tea, Lumines Remastered stands on its own as one of the best rhythm games ever made. We’ve waited over a decade for an experience to rival the original Lumines on PSP. It’s finally arrived. —Jeff Ramos Available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. 2- FROSTPUNK Frostpunk gives me a deep sense of dread and satisfaction I didn’t think a city management sim could deliver. Unlike its contemporaries, which might include fiddling with a city’s economy, zoning and the happiness of its citizens, in this game, all my decisions have life and death consequences. Because in this world, resources are limited and there’s hardly any safety nets to be found. Mismanagement could mean folks might starve, freeze or beat each other to death. While I enjoy the leisurely pace of similar sims, I really love how Frostpunk always manages to keep me on edge. Keeping a society alive, stable, and most importantly hopeful, in the darkest of scenarios is reason enough to keep playing. Not every decision I have to make is easy — many of which are the toughest I’ve ever been asked to make in a virtual world — but being the pillar of a crumbling society is a task I couldn’t help taking on time and time again. There’s something about crawling from the depths of despair to find hope over the horizon that keeps me coming back, even when all I could see ahead was an approaching storm. —Jeff Ramos Available on Windows PC. 1- OCTOPATH TRAVELER Octopath Traveler’s plot certainly doesn’t shy away from the stereotypical JRPG confusion, but its eight parallel stories highlight how much the entire game feels like an ode to the genre. The gorgeous sprites and lighting effects emphasize Octopath’s pop-up book aesthetic and fill it with joyous nostalgia. The combat is what really sets Octopath apart. The break and boost mechanics convert boss battles into long-form puzzles, where a misplaced hit or a well-timed spell can turn the tide of the entire fight. And these elements aren’t the only thing keeping random battles from becoming a chore; Yasunori Nishiki’s score is a delight and makes spending hours in this world all the more worthwhile. —Brian Gilbert Available on Nintendo Switch.

Strategy games have been making a welcome comeback in recent years. After so long with only genre juggernauts keeping things afloat, we now see an explosion of creative brilliance across many platforms. The revival of XCOM especially has led to many innovators and imitators, with Into The Breach and Frostpunk being just a couple of shining examples. If the world of strategy has ever felt overwhelming to you in the past, worry not, as Trusted Reviews has compiled some of the biggest and best you can play right now. Many of these are friendly to newcomers while still offering a staggering amount of depth for veterans ready and willing to dedicate themselves. Regardless of your knowledge with this long-running genre, it’s time to get started! Into the Breach Ingenious combination of block puzzle and tactics Creates stories through its gameplay systems Beautiful musical score Cons: Won’t necessarily convert those who don’t enjoy the genre Latest Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701 cof Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701 – First look cof Asus ROG Mothership GZ700GX – First look Samsung 75-inch MicroLED first look Into The Breach takes the world of turn-based tactics and shrinks it down into something small, digestible and immensely satisfying. Confined to an 8×8 grid, you control a series of mechanical robots doing battle with evil insects amidst myriad different environments. You’ll also need to take surroundings into constant consideration, as the buildings being attacked by our creepy crawling enemies are the very same that power our only means of the defense. This leads to a melodic sequence of movements, attacks and strategic thought that isn’t afraid to challenge the player at every conceivable turn. Upon failure, you’ll need to start again, although select upgrades and modes of progression will be carried over as you embark on another run. Into The Breach is an addictive marvel, and one of the best strategy games to emerge in 2018. XCOM 2: War of the Chosen Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Mac, Linux Pros: Tight tactical gameplay Dynamic and unpredictable Wider strategy full of tough, meaningful decisions New stealth options work well Strong cinematic presentation Cons: Views don’t always provide necessary information Where Into the Breach is a tiny perfect snack of tactics, XCOM 2: War of the Chosen is an all you can eat buffet. It’s a gigantic, globe spanning game with dozens of systems layered on top of each other, all combining to make you break your keyboard when your favourite soldier gets nailed with a poorly thrown grenade. While the first game had you defend earth against alien invaders, the second presumes you’ve already lost, and are now mounting a resistance against an occupying force. The fantastic War of the Chosen DLC adds more to this, with various resistance groups and recurring villain aliens hampering your fightback. Simply the best execution of the venerable XCOM concept yet. Company of Heroes Platforms: PC, Mac Pros: Incredible micro-management depth The best RTS to play co-op vs AI Amazing levels of tension Cons: Sometimes overwhelming The genius of Company of Heroes is to scale the RTS right down. Every squad of soldiers has a massive range of micro-management options, but there are few enough of them that those of us who aren’t professional Starcraft players can use them properly. When encountering a machine gun a rifle squad will dive to the deck, suppressed by the hail of fire, but by carefully maneuvering them around cover and tossing a grenade, they can take that emplacement out. The Opposing Fronts DLC is a must have, adding two exciting new factions, while the Soviet themed sequel isn’t quite as good as the original.

Kids love video games, but not all games or consoles are suitable for the little ones. We help you choose the right games machine for family-friendly fun. Video games are one of the most immersive and rewarding forms of entertainment out there. Yet choosing the right games console or game for your children or grandchildren can be something of a nightmare. If it wasn’t hard enough already, games today seem to be designed solely for either adults or extremely young children and finding the line between the two can be incredibly difficult, especially if you don’t know your Xbox from you Nintendo 3DS. [Read more: Is the Nintendo Switch safe for my child?] To help you cut through the noise and decide which console is best for you and your family here’s our handy guide: Child-friendly games Nintendo is the clear winner when it comes to making games specifically for children. The Nintendo 2DS XL is a perfect starting point for young children. It’s portable, has a huge catalogue of games that kids can save up for and it has limited internet access. Great starter games on the 2DS include Mario Kart 7, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Pokemon Yellow, Luigi’s Mansion and Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Beyond that, the Nintendo Switch is a fantastic games console for the whole family. The console’s unique feature is that it can be used in portable mode or connected to your big-screen TV in docked mode. While the selection of games can include some very adult choices (Doom, Wolfenstein: The New Colossus) Nintendo has created a superb companion app that lets parents control their children’s experience on the console. Using the app you can set time limits for certain games and even remotely stop them playing if they go over the allocated limit. The Switch also has a comprehensive selection of both big-budget video games and smaller more family-focused titles including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, FIFA 19, Fortnite, Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu, Just Dance 2019 and the charming team-based cooking game Overcooked. The Xbox One S is a great starter console for slightly older children and teens, combining a good selection of fun titles with all the big-budget blockbuster titles that you would expect from a state-of-the-art games console. Games that are perfect for teens include Sea of Thieves, Forza Horizon 4, Fortnite. WWE 2K19 and the vast sci-fi epic No Man’s Sky. The PlayStation 4 similarly offers games designed for a slightly older audience, but again that doesn’t mean there isn’t a really solid selection available for those who are heading into their teens. Choice titles for teens on the PS4 include: Fortnite, FIFA 19, Rocket League, Spyro Reignited and the brilliantly dazzling Tetris Effect. Affordability The Nintendo 2DS XL takes the crown for affordability thanks to its £135 starting price tag. There are also loads of different styles to choose from so you can let your child pick one that best suits their tastes. Coming in a close second is the Xbox One S which offers up blockbuster gaming for the living room at around £200. Today’s video games take up a lot of memory so make sure you select the 1TB version. At around the same price range is the PS4 although it does come with only half the storage space of the Xbox. If you want the same amount of space you’ll need to spend around £230. The Nintendo Switch is the newest of the video games consoles and as such comes with one of the highest price tags. The basic Switch costs £279 and there are some extra costs you’ll have to consider as well. The Switch only has enough storage space for a few games, so you will probably need to increase the storage by buying a memory card. The type you will need is called a microSD card and we would recommend getting a size of 100GB or higher. You could also pick up a mini retro console like the NES Classic Mini or the SNES Classic Mini. These come preloaded with games, which means you can't buy extra titles for them, so they're a bit more limited. They're also less powerful than modern consoles, don't connect to the internet, and are designed with retro-loving big kids in mind. Still, little ones will probably still find them fun too. Family fun The Nintendo Switch is by far the best games console for getting the entire family involved. Thanks to its design, the Switch’s controls actually detach from the console to create two separate controllers. You can then buy another pair, giving you four controllers for the price of two. The Switch also has a huge range of team-based games that encourage the whole family to get involved. Mario Kart offers up cartoon racing while the brilliant Overcooked sets families the challenge of preparing and making meals in bizarre scenarios. If you have more than one Switch then players can easily connect them without wires, allowing kids to play against each other even without the need for a wi-fi network. The PlayStation 4 comes in a close second thanks to a new type of video game called PlayLink. PlayLink lets families and friends play a new and exciting range of video games by using their phones as the controller. Games like That’s You offers a unique take on the quiz show, challenging players to demonstrate just how much they know about each other. Frantics, on the other hand, consists of a selection of fun, quirky mini-games that’ll see you using your phones in new ways in order to compete. The Xbox One S does support multiple players on the same console however it is more focused on online video games which means that while your child will be playing with other people, they won’t be in the same room as them. One rather nice feature with the Xbox One is something called Copilot. This allows a parent and child to have two separate controllers but still be controlling the same character so that the parent can jump in and help if their child is struggling without having to physically take their controller away from them. Entertainment extras The modern video games console can do a lot more than just play games. As well as playing DVDs and Blu-ray discs they can stream TV shows and movies from services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video. Both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 get the top prize for offering extra entertainment as both support a huge range of streaming apps including BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Amazon Prime, 4OD and even Sky and Now TV. The Xbox One and PlayStation both support a technology called HDR. This drastically improves the picture quality of what’s on the screen and if you family has a HDR-compatible TV it’ll make your games and films looks even better. For parents who want the latest and greatest sound systems in their living rooms the Xbox One also supports a new sound technology called Dolby Atmos. This new technology creates a highly-realistic surround sound effect that can make you feel like you’re actually in the scene that’s on the screen. Spotify users can also create their own soundtracks on Xbox and PlayStation by playing their music in the background while enjoying their games. While the Nintendo Switch lacks many of these apps, it does have YouTube.

What are the best shooting games on PC? From the classic physics chaos of Half-Life 2 to Overwatch’s incredible guns, these are the finest first-person shooters. For more than two decades, the best FPS games have been the driving force of the PC games industry. They’ve let us travel from the depths of Hell in Doom to the outer reaches of space in Titanfall 2. Others have taken us on a detour through the likes of Half-Life 2’s zombie-infested Ravenholm, while some have embraced futuristic cities. Some of these shooters are old, others are new, all are great. Wolfenstein 2’s amazing campaign; Rainbow Six Siege and its tight tactical multiplayer; Overwatch and its vast array of amazing heroes. No matter what sort of virtual gunplay you’re after, the following FPS games will satisfy your itchy trigger finger. So crack those knuckles, get ready to make all the headshots, and keep in mind that guns will solve all your problems in the following shooty gems. These are the best FPS games on PC. We hope your aim isn’t off… The best FPS games are: -Titanfall 2 -Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus -Doom -Call of Duty: WWII -Overwatch -Counter-Strike: Global Offensive -Half-Life 2 -Rainbow Six Siege -Left 4 Dead 2 -Team Fortress 2 -Unreal Tournament -Far Cry 3 TITANFALL 2 EA and Respawn built on everything the first game got right and balance this shooter sequel’s multiplayer so well it became one of the best PC games of 2016. There’s nothing quite like Titanfall2’s juxtaposition of crunchy, industrial mech brawling and nimble pilot combat. As you’ll see in our Titanfall 2 campaign review, the solo portion of this FPS also serves as both an excellent intro to the game’s mechanics and a charming, self-contained narrative. The campaign never tries to outdo the gameplay with epic setpieces or blockbuster bombast. Instead, the raw mechanics serve up all the thrills: wall-running at a group of enemies and blowing them away with a few, unnervingly satisfying blasts of your shotgun feels exhilarating every time. What’s more, the PC version holds up wonderfully as we saw in our Titanfall 2 PC port review. Respawn have not only added depth to single-player; a four-player co-op wave mode is an excellent companion to the competitive multiplayer that contains a wide varitey of Titanfall 2 classes. Titanfall 2 is a bigger and better beast than before, and a breath of fresh air for the genre as a whole. WOLFENSTEIN 2: THE NEW COLOSSUS Wolfenstein: The New Order effectively made the case that a good dose of Nazi-bashing and a decent yarn are not mutually exclusive. MachineGames had their work cut out with the sequel, Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, but they certainly delivered. As you can find out in our Wolfenstein 2 PC review, this is an incredible follow-up to a very strong reboot… even if some sections can get a little gun-heavy. MachineGames once again show that they can tell an engaging story to match the copious shooty slaughter. Blowing out the brains of Wolfenstein 2’s Nazis offers constant punchy thrills, and every setpiece has been turned emphatically up to 11. Rudely awakened from your hospital bed after the defeat of the subtly-named Wilhelm “Deathshead” Strasse, you return once more as the bellicose B.J. Blazkowicz to try to trigger a Second American Revolution. With the infamous swastika adorning the US, you’ll want to look at our Wolfenstein 2 weapons guide to familiarise yourself with Blaz’s arsenal. A breathless, high-octane thrill ride from start to finish, Wolfenstein 2 is undoubtedly one of the best shooting games on PC. Oh, and don’t forget to check out our Wolfenstein 2 perks guide. With the right powers equipped, those despicable digital Nazis don’t stand a chance.

Role-playing games have a long and fascinating history. From its humble tabletop origins, the RPG has grown and evolved over the years into the most dominant and ambitious game genre, boasting a catalog as critically acclaimed as it is diverse. The best RPGs embrace a rich storytelling tradition as well as deep and engaging gameplay to create universes that are as exciting to explore as they are thrilling to quest and do battle in. And we’ve sunk hundreds — sometimes even thousands — of hours immersing ourselves in those incredible universes, whether that be stunning high fantasy kingdoms full of knights and dragons, exciting sci-fi realms brimming with possibilities, or even extraordinary versions of our own world. EverQuest CHRIS REEDIt wasn’t the first MMO, but EverQuest was the first to bring the genre to widespread po[CENSORED]rity and become a household name. Featuring a gorgeous open world, po[CENSORED]ted with fantasy creatures and real-life players alike, it gave gamers an expansive chunk of real estate to explore for days, months, and years on end. And once you reached the level cap, you could roll a new kind of character with a different play style to tide yourself over until the next expansion arrived. The MMO genre eventually evolved and branched off in many directions, leaving EverQuest feeling rooted in the past. But that doesn’t take away from the memories EverQuest created, or the impact it had on the industry. Wizardry 8 CHRIS REEDRPG franchises don’t get much older than Wizardry, a series that kicked off back in 1981. The final game, Wizardry 8, launched 20 years later. It mixes sci-fi trappings with traditional fantasy fare, so you have a smattering of guns and aliens alongside swords and spells. One of the best things about Wizardry 8 is its robust character creation tools. You can choose among 11 different races, ranging from Humans and Elves to Faeries, Mooks, and Hobbits. Layer on a choice of 15 classes, and you end up with a stunning number of combinations to try in your party. Unlike The Elder Scrolls, which offers similar character options, Wizardry 8 lets you customize six party members instead of just one. Titan Quest CHRIS REEDTitan Quest is often shrugged off as just another Diablo clone. And while there’s something to that argument, it also ignores the interesting things Titan Quest adds to the formula to create a wholly enjoyable action RPG. Instead of a well-trodden fantasy setting, Titan Quest looks to myths for inspiration. To that end, it has you travel across China, Egypt, and Greece, slaying beasts likes centaurs and gorgons, while collecting ever more powerful gear. The gameplay is highly customizable, thanks to its deep class and mastering systems, which provide plenty of replay value for anyone looking to try different combat styles. And when you finish the game, you can make your very own campaign, thanks to a robust level editor. Fable II CHRIS REEDIt’s safe to say Peter Molyneux’s games often fail to live up to the hype he sparks for them. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case with Fable II, a delightful action RPG that offers players a bit of nearly everything. The game weaves an epic story that spans your character’s life from childhood on. Combat feels like a fluid dance, thanks to the melee, magic, and ranged attacks you can string together with ease. To top it off, the whole thing is rife with humor and charm. So whether you want to amass a real estate empire or simply woo a spouse, you can. And let’s not forget the real star of the show: your lovable canine companion. Torchlight II CHRIS REEDWhen done right, dungeon crawlers create a sense of momentum as you hack through monsters, pick up the loot they drop, equip any high-level gear, and move on to do it again. This is a gameplay loop Torchlight II completely nails. Story and character tend to fall to the wayside here, but you’re too busy wreaking ultra-violence and collecting shiny new things to care. The four character classes are stocked with skills that are satisfying to use, the environments pulse with color, and playing co-op with friends makes it even more of a chaotic joy to play. The craving for loot is real, and Torchlight II delivers it in the best way.

25. Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown This Bandai Namco title is more than just a flight simulator. Reaching its seventh main entry, Skies Unkown dips you into world of airtight anime-like storytelling and action-packed airplane combat. Usually dubbed the metal of gear of the skies, stealth and VR are on its way in this sequel coming out to the PC on February 1st. 24. Frozen Flame Fans of Runic's Torchlight might also love this survival ARPG from Magisterion. Currently on early access in Steam, Frozen Flame puts you in the open world of a slowly freezing planet wrapped in darkness. Letting you choose your own unique character classes and build your own shelters, it'll be an enveloping 3D adventure. Coming out on the PC on February 1st. 23. The Occupation on the PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One A first person indie adventure, this unreal engine 4 powered title from White Paper Games is oozing with Bioshock Infinite feels. With a clear focus on atmosphere, its non-linear storyline puts you in the shoes of a whistleblowing journalist that's working against and through time itself. It's set to release on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on February 5th. 22. Etrian Odyssey Nexus Already released in Japan, Atlus' sixth mainline title to their award-winning RPG series is finally coming to the West. Another story revolving around the world tree, Yggdrasil, we get to pick from 19 playable classes with which to unveil Princess Persephone's grand standalone story. It's coming to the 3DS on February 5th. 21. Away: Journey to the Unexpected on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One This indie 3D roguelite is a colorful treat. Inspired by the anime of the 90s, AWAY teaches you the value of getting lost. Roam around their vibrant landscapes, meet each of their unique characters, and see the world their eyes as you bring along your unexpected journey. It's set to release sometime next month on the PC, with release dates of February 5 on the PS4, and Feb 8 on the Xbox One. 20. PRO FISHING SIMULATOR on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 A fishing simulator that tries to bring the relaxing sunday activity to the comforts of the living room. First released on the PC, though, it was mostly panned for its high price tag, bugs, and underwhelming features. Still, crafted with good intentions, it has 9 different fishing areas, 79 fish types with realistic behavior and hundreds of equipment to collect. It's coming to the PS4 and Xbox One on February 5, 2019. 19. God Eater 3 on the PlayStation 4 and PC Another one of Bandai Namco's JRPGs, God Eater reaches its third installment with a grand battle against Kirby-like alien creatures. Called the Aragami, the monsters become what they eat, so to speak, and the last hope to defeat them is the God-Arc-wielding eaters. Released in Japan last December, it's coming out on PC and PS4 in the West on February 8th. 18. Catherine: Full Body on the PS Vita and PS4 An enhanced port of the PlayStation 3's Catherine in 2011, Full Body makes Vincent Brooks' sexy love affairs available to players on the current gen PlayStation consoles. It will also include new sexy events, patrons, swimsuit costumes, Persona 5 cameos, as well as a brand new girl called Rin. Coming out on the PS4 and PlayStation Vita this valentines. 17. Code:Realize - Wintertide Miracles on the PS4 and PS Vita Aksys Games’ otome dating simulator takes you to the life of Cardia as she chooses love from a wide selection of men. Yes, that’s what Otome games are. Set in 19th Century Steampunk London, lead Cardia as she ventures into a mysterious world looking for answers, and of course, LOVE. It comes out this February 14 on the PlayStation 4 and PS Vita. 16. Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm The Civilization series takes us home to Hawaiki in this second expansion to their latest installment. It welcomes the Maori civilization and its expressive leader Kupe to their diverse list. That's along with 8 other new leaders, 7 new civilizations. All that, with new 21st Century tech and civics as well some fancy engineering projects. Coming to the PC on February 14th. 15. Crackdown 3 on the Xbox One and the PC Very important information: Terry Crews is in it. The complete opposite of mild mannered, he ushers us into the colorful open world of all out destruction. Reaching new heights in terms of unadulterated chaos, get wrecking in multiplayer arenas or go big budget against skyscrapers and criminal syndicates. It's set to release on the PC and Xbox One on February 15, 2019 14. Jump Force on the PC, PlayStation and Xbox One Featuring the most po[CENSORED]r characters in the Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine, watch all your favorite anime and manga characters come alive in the fighting arena. It currently has a roster of 28 fighters, with four brand new faces by the master Akira Toriyama himself. It's coming out on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on February 15th. 13. DEAD OR ALIVE 6 on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC Adding in more high-flying fighters to their lineup, this 19th installment to the long running series rounds it up to 20 fierce fighters. Mostly known for their fanservicey battles, this entry marks a move towards esport viability with its deeper and more instense strategic gameplay. Shake off valentines with the roster as it comes to the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on February 15th. 12. Far Cry: New Dawn on the PC, PS4 and Xbox One With the success of Far Cry 5, this standalone spin-off title takes place in a vibrant post-apocalyptic world set in Hope County, Montana. Fight for survival and retain your humanity in a planet covered by madness. Take up arms, or find a partner in its co-op mode as you brave through this post-apocalyptic playground. They’re giving this spin-off the Blood Dragon treatment. So that’s something huge. It comes out this February 15 on the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. 11. Metro Exodus on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC Deep Silver’s third and latest Metro entry takes us once again to irradiated Russia in the hopes of a brighter future for humanity. Exodus literally ascends the Metro experience by placing you outside of the underground looking for hope. Wipe your masks, fend off mutated creatures, and survive the nuclear winter in this atmospheric first person shooter. It comes out this 15th of February on the PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. 10. Elle L. Stotch’s simple indie adventure game takes you to the life of Elle. There’s no fancy tutorials to take, dangerous game decisions taken, and big-budget development spent. It’s just an addicting puzzle game reminiscent to the old Game Boy days. With over 50 levels, help Elle make it to each of them. It comes out this February 16 on the PC. 9. Steins;Gate Elite 5pb's upcoming visual novel game will be a fully animated adventure game. Injecting the vibrance of their anime version of 24 minute episodes, this latest entry will also feature new routes never before seen in the anime. It's a fully remastered version of the first Steins Gate title, creating a fully immersive world with various endings depending on your choices. Fate is at your hands when it comes out on February 19, 2019 on the PS4. 8. Anthem on the PC, PS4 and Xbox One Bioware returns with a huge sci-fi RPG shooter that could rival Bungie’s Destiny, or Microsoft’s Halo. Get ready to suit up and enter a dangerous planet filled with freaks of nature. Bioware seems to be doing things right with the game's lush graphics that form a fitting backdrop to their MMO action. Hopefully, they won’t be pulling another disappointing entry full of microtransactions and underwhelming content. It comes out this 22nd of February on the PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. 7. Anno 1800 Lead your society to the Industrial Age in this city building game from Ubisoft. It’s the most exciting entry of the series yet. Rivaling Sid Meier’s revolutionary Civilization series, Anno 1800 showcases fast-changing time periods alongside their new technologies, continents and societies. It’s a culmination of the years of Anno history with improved AI and better gameplay. It comes out this 26th of February on the PC. 6. Trials Rising on the PS4, Xbox One and PC This the first new title in the Trials series since 2014's Trials Fusion. Opening new horizons with its move to the 2.5th Dimension, conquer trials anew in scenic and exotic locations around the globe. Hoping to add to their unique brand of enjoyment is their new Tandem Bike mode. Hilarity ensues as you and a friend control a single bike together. Coming this February 26 on the PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. 5. DiRT Rally 2.0 on the PC, PS4 and Xbox One Enjoyed by critics and gamers, the game has confidently bagged the top spots in many of our past rankings. As new as the title was, it's shaping up to become one the leading Rally games on the market. Now with a looming release from the veterans of racing, Codemasters is looking to impress once more. Dirt Rally 2.0 is taking us on an immersive ride through 6 real life locations, developing our teams, and riding around with french co-driver, Stéphane Prévot. It's set to release on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on Feb 26th 2019. 4. The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame on the PC, PS4 and XBox One A sequel of sequels. This videogame adaptation of Warner Bros awesome animated comedy is back for more LEGO hijinks. Set after the events of the second movie, Emmet and friends go beyond their world to save their friends from alien monsters. Use the game’s signature LEGO building gameplay and be a master builder. It comes out this February 26 on the PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. 3. Degrees of Separation on the PC, PS4 and Xbox One Dealing with the highs and lows of temperature, Moondrop's 2D puzzle adventure challenges you to harness the elements. Play as the starcrossed lovers, Ember and Rime, and use their special powers to navigate their fantastical universe. It's set to release on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on February 2019. 2. Path Of Exile Not Diablo 4 but a worthy successor to Blizzard’s failing franchise. Grinding Gear Games’ enormous action RPG is packed with deep character customization, strong item economy and competitive PvP. If you could just look at that insane skill tree. Travel to the world of Wraeclast in an effort to survive its ever-changing environment. Explore, make new friends, and develop your character to its most formidable. It comes out this February 2019 on the PS4. 1. Ghost Of A Tale An action RPG that lets you play as an adventurous mouse named Tito. SeithCG’s hybrid of role playing and stealth makes up for a cute and wonderful experience akin to fantastic tales like Despereaux and American Tale. If not for its atmospheric world, its adorable main character and its huge lore makes up for it. It’s set to release this February 2019 on the PS4.

Natural Grocers, America’s Nutrition Education ExpertSM, surveyed more than 70 of the company’s nutrition experts and pored over the latest research to identify the expected top 10 breakout trends in nutrition and health in 2019. Here are the top 10 hottest nutrition trends in 2019: Mitochondrial optimization will keep healthy fats in focus Five years ago, the buzzword was microbiome. This year it is mitochondria. Mitochondria are our cells’ “power plants,” converting oxygen and food into the energy our body needs to stay alive and thrive. When your mitochondria are dysfunctional, not only will your energy reserve decrease, resulting in fatigue and brain fog, but you can also become vulnerable to degenerative diseases like heart disease, diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases. The best way to support healthy mitochondria function is to eat more fat! Healthy fat, that is. Mitochondria function at their best when fueled by fat, not carbs. One tool to support mitochondria is the trending ketogenic diet. In 2019, expect to hear more about mitochondrial health and look to see brands embracing more high-fat focused and ketogenic products to support optimal mitochondrial function. Collagen and bone broth are easier than ever Scoop by healthy scoop, collagen has gained mainstream interest over the past year as everyone adds it to their smoothies, matchas and lattes in the quest for glowing skin, healthy joints and gut healing. In 2019, as more collagen and bone broth products enter the market, so will convenient opportunities for consumers to take collagen on a daily basis. Supplement companies will continue to offer an array of collagen products, including collagen powders, gummies and drinks; marine collagen powders; and even vegan-friendly collagen precursors. Bone broth is one of the richest food sources of collagen, and it will continue its expansion into the mainstream as well. Companies are looking for unique and simple ways for consumers to try out bone broth, including bone broth protein bars, pre-made soups and even bone-broth infused coffee! Sorry sugar, we’re breaking up with you In 2019, consumers will continue to become aware of how much sugar is insidiously added to almost everything we eat. Look in your pantry and refrigerator and you’re likely to find the major culprits— ketchup, barbecue sauce, flavored yogurts, coffee creamers, chips, breads, cereals, spaghetti sauce, fruit juice, sports drinks and even bacon! This year, learn how to break up with sugar. Once you become a savvy monitor of added sugar, it will become easier to for you to avoid it and enjoy the health benefits you’re bound to experience. The shroom boom In the last several years, the amount of scientific research published on mushrooms has exploded. Turns out, mushrooms hold the power to support the immune system, blood sugar balance, brain health, liver health, respiratory health, hormone balance and can even boost energy levels. In response to the growing mountain of research promoting the health benefits of mushrooms, the supplement, grocery and even body-care industries are introducing more ways to try out these fungal superheroes. Supplement companies are turning out a variety of mushroom-centric supplements, geared toward everything from brain health to immunity. The stunning benefits of mushrooms are influencing new grocery products as well. We’ll continue to see the category grow, with more mushroom teas, tonics, broths and coffees making an appearance in 2019. Nootropics + neuroplasticity Neuroplasticity is the now proven principle that we can change the structure and function of our brains throughout our lives and that our thoughts, emotions and behavior are the primary means of doing that. Supplements help too. Best. News. Ever. Right? The discovery of neuroplasticity has led to the explosion of natural nootropics. Nootropics are substances that can be taken to improve mental performance in healthy people (one of the most well-known nootropics is the caffeine found in the beloved cup of morning coffee) and they are most often used to boost memory, focus, creativity, intelligence and motivation. Nootropics may also reduce age-related declines in brain function. Look for more brain-boosting formulas on the supplement shelves in the coming year. Promoting the body’s ability to heal itself We will see companies meet the demands of consumers who want to swap their use of over-the-counter (OTC) meds and prescription drugs for natural remedies that support the body in healing. Instead of opening the medicine cabinet, people will use a combination of lifestyle choices, herbal remedies and vitamin supplementation to support the body in times of discomfort. Immune support remedies like mushrooms, elderberry, manuka honey throat sprays and natural zinc lozenges will dominate. Additionally, we’ll see more alternatives to common OTC remedies and prescription drugs for digestive discomfort and general pain management. 2019 will be the year of supporting the structure and function of the body in a multitude of ways with beneficial natural remedies. Green beauty boom A recent study revealed that the products we slather on our bodies daily, like shampoo and deodorant, can create plumes of petrochemical emissions. The researchers, who originally set out to record emissions around the city of Boulder, Colorado, discovered strange spikes in the data, especially during the morning commute, that weren’t coming from cars. Instead, the compounds were from personal care products that emit D5 siloxane, a chemical emollient found in certain body care products. That’s right, your deodorant and lotion are potentially as toxic as your vehicle’s tailpipe! Consumers are becoming more aware about the slew of chemicals that come from body care products, including ubiquitous endocrine disruptors, and are looking for products with ingredient lists that don’t require a chemistry degree to understand. In 2019, expect companies to offer a wide variety of clean body care products with simple, natural ingredients that work! Ingredient lists over nutrition facts We’ve likely all grappled with counting calories and grams of fat, but in 2019, a new paradigm is bound to free us from some of the struggles we’ve formed around food, nutrition and our everyday health. Nutrition labels will be demoted and instead, consumers will read and make food choices based on ingredient labels. The days of counting every single calorie are nearing an end. Rather than glorifying macronutrient logs and adhering to extremely strict dietary guidelines, 2019 will foster a friendlier relationship with food that focuses on simple, clean ingredients in products made with whole, real foods. Lutein reigns supreme over blue light Blue light—from our smart phones, tablets, computers, TVs and even light bulbs—has become ever-present, and a growing body of research is showing that all of this blue-light exposure can damage the retina of the eye and can lead to age-related macular degeneration1 (i.e., the leading cause of blindness in older adults).i Excessive blue light also disrupts the circadian rhythm, which plays many roles in health, including regulating the sleep-wake cycle, hormone balance, digestion and body temperature.2 Enter lutein. Lutein preferentially accumulates in the macula, the part of the retina responsible for central vision, where it filters damaging blue light and increases macular pigment density.3 And because the health of the retina is directly related to how well our brains age,ii lutein also benefits the brain (see nootropics above). In 2019, lutein will solidify its role as protector of the eyes and the brain. Love your liver While it shouldn’t be “trendy” to have fatty liver disease, unfortunately the disease is trending. In 2018 we were shocked to learn that millennials are getting fatty liver disease faster than any other age group. According to the National Institutes of Health, up to 40 percent of U.S. adults have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.4We believe that loving your liver will be a trend in 2019. Consumers will clean up their diets, ditching culprits like high fructose corn syrup and vegetable oils and will embrace “mocktails” to reduce alcohol consumption. We also predict an increase in sales of herbal supplements that support liver health, like milk thistle and berberine, as well as MCT oil, which has been shown to reduce fat in the liver.

Ford will unveil its new flagship Explorer SUV at the Detroit motor show next week, ahead of an expected UK launch in April. The sixth iteration of America’s best-selling SUV of all time receives new styling, a more diverse model range, new engines and, for the first time, a rear-wheel-drive powertrain on entry-level models. The company claims that the shift from front to rear-wheel drive for entry-level variants of the Explorer has allowed for a roomier and more versatile interior layout, as well as more “athletic” exterior styling. Blacked-out A and D-pillars are carried over from previous generations of Explorer, while a sloping roofline and shorter front overhang lend a sportier appearance to the Jeep Grand Cherokee rival. Starting from $400 more than the previous Explorer, the new model is equipped with an electronically assisted tailgate, an 8.0in infotainment touchscreen, in-car wi-fi and the FordPass Connect intelligent navigation technology as standard. Parking and braking assistance systems can be equipped with the Platinum trim package. OUR VERDICT Ford Edge Ford Edge Ford tops its range line-up with an Americanised, big Ford for the 21st century. But can it make a large enough impact to upset its premium rivals? Find an Autocar car review Driven this week Suzuki Swift Sport 2018 long-term review hero front 10 JANUARY 2019 FIRST DRIVE Suzuki Swift Sport long-term review The Japanese hot hatch is all grown up in terms of character, technology and... Skoda Karoq Scout 2019 first drive review - hero front 10 JANUARY 2019 FIRST DRIVE Skoda Karoq Scout 2019 UK review New rugged-looking crossover derivative is practical, versatile and entirely... Lexus ES 2019 first drive review - hero front 10 JANUARY 2019 FIRST DRIVE Lexus ES 300h 2019 review Our first European drive of Lexus' GS replacement reveals an improved... Also fitted as standard is the Ford Co-Pilot360 package, which comprises active safety technology that helps the driver stay in lane, avoid pedestrians, see through blindspots and take evasive action. Chris Billman, Co-Pilot360 engineering manager, said the Explorer’s abundance of autonomous technology is not about “filling the vehicle with technology for technology’s sake". He explained: “It’s about improving the experience, making driving less stressful and helping the driver to feel more confident behind the wheel.” New engines for the Explorer include a tuned variant of the turbocharged 2.3-litre petrol Ecoboost unit used in the entry-level Mustang and a twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre petrol V6 - the most powerful engine ever fitted to an Explorer. As part of its restructuring programme for Europe announced today, Ford has said that a new SUV for Europe, expected to be the Explorer, will be revealed in April. It will also shift its focus away from MPVs, axing models such as the C-Max and Grand C-Max in favour of new models like the Fiesta-based compact SUV that is set to replace the Ecosport.