Dishonored 2: Like Father, Like Daughter

Dishonored 2 returns with double the trouble for those who threaten the throne at Dunwall Tower

When Arkane Studios unleashed Dishonored into the world in 2012, everything about its creation defied expectations. Conventional wisdom said if a publisher is debuting a new title in the summer, it should make the announcement at E3. Instead, Bethesda revealed Dishonored to the world a month after the yearly showcase on the cover of Game Informer. Conventional wisdom argued making a single-player focused game was madness in an age where multiplayer was taking over. But Dishonored shunned competitive and cooperative play altogether to focus on a simulation-driven, emergent fantasy of playing a supernatural assassin who, unconventionally, doesn’t need to kiljl to complete his missions. Conventional wisdom also claimed releasing a new intellectual property late in the console cycle was a death sentence - how can you stand a chance when you’re standing toe-to-toe with a field of well-seasoned sequels? Dishonored came out seven years after the debut of the Xbox 360 and more than stood its ground. It thrived.

Remembering… Windows XP

David Hayward looks back at one of the most successful operating systems ever

The operating system that refused to die. Despite being released nearly 15 years ago and Microsoft trying to kill it, Windows XP is still hanging around.

Even after Windows 10 was a month old, Windows XP was still ranked as the third most popular operating system in terms of use. But what made this OS such a popular choice for PC users?

Urbanista Melbourne Portable Bluetooth Speakers

Urbanista delivers a small speaker with big sound ambitions

There was a time when anything Bluetooth was inherently special, but these days this lowpower wireless technology is practically omnipresent.

One trick it can do that’s helped it succeed is the ability to stream stereo audio while not exhausting the battery of the source phone or tablet.

The Urbanista Melbourne was designed to exploit the wonders of Bluetooth 4.0 and provide output better than a phone speaker for those on the move.

Archos PC Stick

A new palm-sized Windows 10 PC

Last year, for a while, the media couldn’t get enough of the Intel Compute Stick. This small device connected to the HDMI port of a monitor or TV and booted into a fully working copy of Windows 8.1.

Since then, there have been a number of contenders, each offering a slight advantage in terms of performance, ports available and so on, but the furore has calmed a little since then. Until now, of course.

CorelDraw X8

Joe Lavery looks at the latest version of Corel’s premier graphics suite

Here we have version 8X of the CorelDraw Suite, bristling with new features and a few tweaks for the old ones. If you’re familiar with the product, you’ll already know it contains a lot more than the illustration program that forms the core part of the package, because you also get Corel Photo-Paint, Corel Website Creator, Corel Capture, Corel Font Manager and more. The company have now made purchasing the product more flexible. Naturally, you can still buy it with a one-off payment, but alternatively you can start a 365-day subscription for £14.95 a month. At a total outlay of £179.40, it’s considerably cheaper than upgrading.

BenQ BL2205PT

Great ergonomics and an even better price

The BenQ BL business range of monitors is widely accepted as one of the better series for CAD users, designers and those who sit in front of a screen for long stretches of the working day. It offers a good mix of technology, ergonomics and quality, so we’re interested to see how one of the company’s newest model, the BL2205PT, fits into the grand scheme of things.