Name: Gigabyte U2442F
Type: Ultrabook
Review Model Specifications: Click here for full specs
Price: Around £1,050
Gigabyte turn their attention away from motherboards to the ultrabook market with the release of the Gigabyte U2442F. A well-rounded portable machine with dedicated graphics, find out just how well it performs in our full review.
Measuring 339mm x 233mm x 19mm, and weighing 1.59kg, the Gigabyte U2442F ultrabook is a modestly attractive laptop - not quite as thin or light as some of the more dazzling ultrabooks, it remains stylish thanks to its reserved brushed aluminium finish, and particularly appealing thanks to its relatively powerful internal components.
Our review model came equipped with a 2GHz Intel Core i7-3517U power-efficient processor, 8GB of RAM and an 128GB SSD (an additional 8GB of RAM and as much as a 1TB HDD can also be optionally configured when purchased). Turbo boosting to 3.1GHz, it's a processor not to be sniffed at, even though standard mobile processors can offer a bit more grunt at the expense of power reserves.
The real selling point here then is the dedicated 2GB Nvidia GeForce GT 650M. Though now superseded by the GT 700 series of Nvidia laptop GPUs, last year's range still offer superb gaming performance for all but the most demanding of titles. And with ultrabooks usually resting on the integrated graphics capabilities of the Intel chips, this makes the U2442F one to watch for gaming enthusiasts. For instance, we ran Dirt Showdown benchmarking test at High quality at the laptop's native resolution of 1,600 x 900, and saw it average frame rates hovering between 50fps and 60fps. Even the still-demanding Crysis 2 at Ultra quality settings at the same resolution was reasonably playable at 20fps, and dialling the graphics settings back more made for a pleasant play session. All in, very impressive for an ultrabook that doesn't brand itself as a dedicated gaming machine.
With gaming performance like this, you can expect the U2442F to serve you well with everyday computing tasks too. Running Windows 8, its 128GB SSD lets you boot up the machine instantly, waking from sleep just as quickly. That 128GB SSD will fill up fast if you've sizeable media libraries however, or if you're looking to exploit the machine's gaming potential, so consider configuring the machine to include the optional HDD. It is worth noting though that Gigabyte mercifully leave the computer free from bloatware, meaning that you've got a pretty clean install of Windows 8 on here out of the box.
There's a good selection of ports around the left and right edges of the machine too, offering up four USB ports (2x 3.0, 2x 2.0), both VGA and HDMI ports, an SD card reader, Ethernet connection for wired web access and both mic and headphone jacks.
Moving onto the keyboard, it's a backlit Chiclet style affair. While the keys themselves have a lightness that makes them feel a tad cheap, they're well spaced, making for a comfortable typing experience. Proving more enticing was the trackpad - offering a slightly textured finish and paired with a single button bar for clicks, it was responsive and made triggering Windows 8's vital gesture controls a breeze.
The 14-inch display, maxing out at a 1600 x 900 resolution won't impress those now sporting full HD resolutions and above, but fits the bill for this reasonably-priced ultrabook well. We must admit however that with Windows 8's focus on touch controls, we're increasingly of the belief that Windows 8 ultrabooks should be equipped with touchscreen displays in order to make the most of the OS.
Gigabyte have opted for a matte finish on the display, making it infinitely more useable outdoors or in rooms with harsh point lighting. The trade off here is in colour vibrancy and brightness, which is reduced compared to glossy LCD displays. Workers will probably find the matte finish very beneficial, while gamers may prefer the more striking richness of a glossy display. Keeping in mind a matte finish is often a premium configuration option though, its again showing the value of the U2442F.
If there's one real weakness here, it's in the speaker array, which sits in a strip just below the screen (in a rather nutty dot-grille pattern, no less). There's a tinny sound from the speakers, and no real sense of stereo direction. Best to pair the machine with a set of headphones for games and multimedia playback then.
In terms of battery life, the U2442F also performed well. We squeezed 5 hours out of the battery with the brightness dialled back to halfway. Considering that included firing up the GPU for a session with XCOM Enemy Unknown, that's not half bad, and those just looking to work through some spreadsheets could expect to get nearly a full working day out of the Gigabyte machine without running to the mains.
Verdict:
A very worthy ultrabook, the Gigabyte U2442F is in the enviable position of being able to provide some decent gaming chops in a portable, fast-booting style. It's not the thinnest, nor the lightest, but its one of the more flexible machines performance-wise, and offers good bang for your buck.
Along the top of the device you'll find the Airwave HD's controls, including a power slider, a volume rocker (which has an annoyingly large number of minuscule volume steps, taking an age before jumping to the top decibel levels) and a Bluetooth pairing button. You'll also find a battery/Bluetooth indicator light here, as well as an opening for an integrated microphone. Around the rear in a recess you'll find the microUSB charging port (which will work with basically any microUSB charger and can be used for adding juice from the speaker to a mobile device too) and an Aux-in port, next to a cavity for improving bass response.
Pairing is incredibly simple with the Creative Airwave HD thanks to built-in NFC connectivity - simply switch the feature on on your smartphone, place the mobile against the rear of the speaker and the two become music-sharing buddies. It's great, and far more reliable than sometimes-finicky standard Bluetooth pairing, and we wish it was available in every wireless speaker. If you don't have an NFC-enabled device, you can pair the speaker in the standard Bluetooth fashion by holding down a button on the top of the Airwave HD and selecting the speaker from the Bluetooth menu on your music player. And, of course, there's always the option of a wired connection through the Aux-in port on the rear.
The wireless systems employed here also have a few other neat features. An integrated microphone will allow you to wirelessly take calls with the speaker (so long as you don't mind your call being broadcast to anyone within earshot), while multipoint Bluetooth connectivity will allow two devices to connect to the speaker wirelessly at once. It's a useful feature for when playing tune-tennis with a pal - as soon as one user pauses their music and the other's starts, the speaker knows exactly which device's sound it should be pumping out.
In terms of sound, the Creative Airwave HD is a mixed bag. Though cranking up incredibly loudly thanks to an integrated Creative Super Charged amplifier (loud enough to wind up every other person in the park that we tested it in), it's not the most elegant sounding system out there. Trying every genre from classic 70s rock through to the glacial electronic sounds of Alex Metric, the Creative Airwave HD's sound is firmly footed in the mid-range. There's a bit of kick to the bass end, but no warmth to the tone, and treble is harsh rather than detailed. It's not a bad sounding speaker by any means, and sits just behind the better portable systems we've heard, but it's overall a bit flat, and not a patch on the best audiophile home hi-fi's you'll hear. In terms of its soundstage, its size and triangular shape allows for a wider dispersal of sound than similar speakers, though it's still lacking the width of a wider stereo speaker set up, meaning pans get lost in the mix. 
To get overly particular on whether or not the Airwave HD will please audiophiles is sort of missing the point though too - the speaker is intended for outdoor, drunken tunes without hassle, and in one key area its got this totally sewn up: its best feature of all is the incredibly impressive battery life. Though the company state 7 hours of playback on their website, that seems a conservative statistic. Running the speaker constantly, streaming a lengthy Spotify playlist to the Airwave HD, we sailed right past the 8 hour mark with the volume levels fairly loud throughout. We wouldn't be surprised if you could squeeze 9 or more hours out of the speaker from one charge if you dialled the volume down a little lower. Great stuff.
There's a slight curvature to the dark grey plastic casing around the back (sealing in the non-removable battery), while chrome-look edging runs around the side of the device. The bottom edge houses a microUSB charging and data transfer port, while the top has a microSIM slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The left hand side has a microSD card storage slot, while halfway down the right-hand side sits the volume rocker with the power button slightly above that. If this seems an odd place for the buttons to go, it actually proves the most comfortable place to reach them, given the size of the thing.
The key attraction here then has to be that screen, and it is certainly quite lovely. Using a bright IPS LCD display, it has a resolution of 1280 x 720. What it lacks in pixel density (240 ppi compared to the 267 ppi of the nearest comparable handset, the Note 2), it makes up for in readability and brightness - text is large and clear on the handset, making eBook reading and web browsing very comfortable, not to mention watching videos. Watching movies on the device is great, nearly as good an experience as using a 7-inch tablet for the same purpose, and the loudspeaker clean enough to negate the need for headphones the whole time. The screen also supports a "Gloves" mode, letting those in colder climes ramp up the sensitivity of the screen in order to be able to use it without removing mittens.
Under the hood, the Ascend Mate features a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, backed by 2GB of RAM. That's a premium spec, but the handset's performance just doesn't match it - even the most basic of tasks, such as inputting text, results in noticeable lag, and 3D gaming performance is well below what you'd expect form a quad-core chipset. What's causing this disparity is unclear, and though most basic phone tasks aren't massively affected, it's noticeably more sluggish when sat next to other quad-core phones. Frustratingly, it's a widely varying performance too - playback of a 720p video didn't strain the phone, but messaging did. There's a capable processor in here somewhere but something is dragging it down. It may well be the bespoke UI, which we'll detail next.
The Huawei Ascend has a 2MP camera round the front, perfectly adequate for video calling, and an 8MP sensor for serious still photos and video capture around the back.
Video capture tops out at an odd 1920 x 1088 resolution, making for an ever-so-slightly taller image than a standard Full HD video. To the naked eye it's almost imperceptible, but it'll likely play havoc with a TV's overscan settings if you're looking to play back videos recorded here on the bigscreen.
A little way down the cable from the mic is an aluminium fastener, with the cable ending in a 3.5mm L-jack next to a cable tidy. Frustratingly, the cable has a rubbery finish that when combined with the extra weight of the aluminium fastener can cause the cabling to tangle often if that cable tidy isn't' used. The cable isn't detachable from the buds either, and given that these are at the pricier end of the in-ear market, you'll do well to look after them knowing that a damaged cable on the EB-50s can't be replaced.
In fact, Musical Fidelity's extras thrown in here are among the most generous we've seen in a while. As well as both a hard carry case and a leather bag, they've also thrown in a 6.35mm jack, a headphone splitter, a lapel clip, optional hooks for to support the weight of the buds, a cleaning cloth (though we're not sure how dirty anyone ever really gets their earphones - the thought in fact makes us a little queasy) and ten additional sets of tips to suit all ear sizes. It's a very nice package.
With the mid-ranges the most dominant, the EB-50s aren't quite as detailed at the top-end as as some rival earphones, nor as overwrought at the bottom. As such they favour rock and acoustic music, where the mids and mid-lows often take precedence. We rocked along to Queens Of The Stoneage's latest album '...Like Clockwork" enjoyably, with the chunky guitar riffs hammering home satisfyingly. The shimmer of our electronic favourites Crystal Castles wasn't quite as pronounced as we'd have liked in the EB-50s, making them hard to recommend to dance music fans, but no genre felt so misrepresented as to be an uncomfortable listen through the buds.
Pulling all of these disparate parts together is a story that plays out like a post-apocalyptic road movie. A worldwide epidemic has turned the majority of the planet's population into fungal monstrosities, with spores floating in the air that first turn humans into raging animals and then, over time dull all their senses except for hearing and cause them to deform with large mushroom-like growths. The few who have managed to avoid infection live out their lives in high-walled police state cities, barely eating enough to survive. A mysterious freedom fighting force named the Fireflies aims to bring balance to the hardships of city life, but for many the relative safety behind the walls is far more preferable than the dangers beyond. Urban life as we know it is irreversibly changed; in the 20-odd years since the infection took hold, skyscrapers have crumbled, cars rust in piles on motorways and nature has reclaimed the land, growing over the concrete monoliths of civilisation past. Only wildlife and the roaming, screaming infected remain.
Human enemies will also attack Joel and Ellie from time to time, be they military forces on the lookout for the runaways or scavengers whose morality has been dashed with the struggle to keep on living. They're a truly devious challenge, often attacking in numbers and changing patrol routes regularly, with an uncanny ability to communicate your last known position and eventually surrounded you. Though you have a flashlight at your disposal, the shadows are often your best friend, and The Last Of Us' stealth sequences are right up their with the best moments the Splinter Cell games managed.
Though it's less set-piece heavy than Uncharted, when Naughty Dog do flex their directorial chops, they prove themselves to be masters of the medium. The opening sequence in particularly is one of the most finely scripted scenes (both mechanically and in terms of writing) that I've ever played through, with surround sound audio cues and dramatic events drawing the players attention in a natural way that cinema's cuts and transitions could only ever dream of. This is interactive fiction at its best.
The Last Of Us is a magnificent achievement, one that weaves exciting, varied gameplay challenges naturally through an engrossing, expertly delivered story in a visually arresting world. 
Multiplayer in The Last Of Us is called "Factions" and sees you siding with either the Fireflies or the Hunters. Winning multiplayer matches will see you bolster the number of members in your clan, and the clan's survival appears to be tied to your ability to collect supplies littered around maps and scavenged from the bodies of fallen foes. Helping your clan survive a set number of days will unlock new weapons and customisation options, while hitting a 12 week milestone looks set to introduce new challenges to the mode and unlock the top-tier rewards.
There's also Facebook integration included in Factions. We're not sure how deep it runs yet, having not been able to access a multiplayer game, but in the menus at least it throws your pals' profile pictures together with a line of text describing what they've been up to in the world of Factions. Seeing my girlfriend's aunt's picture pop up along with a line saying she was currently distilling ethanol definitely made me laugh.
Rather than obsessing over an exhaustive list of cars, Grid 2 focuses on a few dozen lust-worthy road warriors, decking them out in fictional sponsor-heavy paint jobs. While the lack of real-world licensing may put off purists, Codemasters have weaved a worthy plot through Grid 2's single player campaign to justify the game's cars and sponsors. A monied petrol-head is looking to establish a new racing championship called "World Series Racing", a multi-discipline season that pits racers of many specialities against each other on a global stage. You're among those racers. Though only ever really a framing device to get you from one race or event to the next, it's delivered with authenticity, as your racer rises in popularity on social media channels and becomes the talk of in-game ESPN pundits. It gives a great sense of momentum and progression to the campaign.
However, while there's a good number of tracks and modes to conquer, many reuse track segments and assets too often to feel truly unique, and you'll likely tire of them before long if you choose to pursue multiple WSR seasons. Likewise, some of the city-based tracks can feel a little bit lifeless and drab, whereas offroad races are filled with neat touches such as animals crossing roads and flurries of leaves. The influence of Codemaster's Colin McRae series is keenly felt here, and it seems to be where the developers are most confident when it comes to track design.
Multiplayer is delivered through the thorough RaceNet system, which tracks all of your Grid 2 online achievements. It smartly sets you up against racers of a similar ability to yourself, and even assigns you a real-world "Rival" to challenge for grudge matches, rotating rivals to give fresh opposition over time. Live events too will offer unique challenges throughout Grid 2's online lifetime, letting the hardiest of racers battle it out for the most prestigious rankings. However, Grid 2's multiplayer suffers from the same track shortcomings as the single player mode, and it's frustrating that you can't carry over your fleet of unlocked cars from single player to multiplayer too. You'll have to be committed to a wholly separate progression system to make use of the best cars online.
And though it's billed as a wireless speaker with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and WPS connectivity, it doesn't leave music players without wireless capabilities completely out in the cold: on the rear you'll also find a 3.5mm input and a phono pair.
Though small in stature, the Minx Air 100 does a good job of creating room-filling sound. Being a compact package, it smartly sidesteps attempts to deliver a true stereo image in favour of a wider mono-arc. Using BMR driver (balanced modal radiators), the Minx throws its tunes out at 180-degrees - a sound just as pleasing as an attempt to mimic a stereo effect within such a small distance as it removes the notion of a "sweetspot". Two BMR 10cm drivers are onboard, using Cambridge Audio's own design to deliver 100W of power.
Netatmo claim that the smaller outdoor sensor can be placed as far as 100m away from the indoor mains connected unit, but that distance is cut considerably once walls and other obstacles are placed in the way. In reality (unless you live under a wall-less gazebo), expect that range to be halved. It's also worth noting that the outdoor unit must be sheltered from harsh weather as it isn't waterproof. You'll have to find a little alcove outside for it to live in or face certain readings be skewed by factors such as heavy rain, for instance, a notable problem for a device that will spend almost all of its life outdoors.
It's fascinating stuff, and at times a little too revealing! I got into a panic when I saw CO2 levels in my flat beginning to rise, though it turned out they were well within perfectly liveable ranges. But it proved to show just how muggy our indoors living conditions can be, let alone the pollutants outside. I'm just as concerned now with ventilation (especially around my kitchen's gas-powered oven) as I am with keeping the heating off.
Each version of the app can also be used to set up alerts, sent to your device of choice once the sensors pick up certain pre-determined readings. There are preset notification events that can be triggered, or you can create your own. For instance, setting the indoor sensor to pick up minute changes in sound levels when placed near your front door could well be used as a burglar alarm, or a way of letting you know your kids have got home safely from school. We can also see a busy market for the sensors for horticulturists with indoor greenhouse wares of the not-so-legal variety, too. 
Around the edges are a handful of switches and physical buttons, including a power button, a playback button, one to switch on the camera's built-in Wi-Fi connectivity for connecting to a tablet or smartphone, and another to access the Creative Shot mode (which we'll detail a little later). There are also a handful of ports and slots; one for accessing the microSD storage, another for hooking up the charger, and another to access the AA-size rechargeable battery. Inevitably, a camera this small was always going to suffer with fiddly buttons and ports, and it can be a bit difficult to press the button you need in a hurry as a result.
The PowerShot N's BSI 12.1 MP sensor shoots JPG images at 4000 x 3000 resolution, with widest apertures of f/3.0 and f/5.9 and a maximum sensitivity of ISO 6400 . However, grain began to muddy our images at ISO 400, so don't go too crazy there. Even at the highest ISO 6400 setting images remain legible though, providing you're willing to accept a drop-off in vibrancy in darker image areas and a drop in definition around the edges of lighter elements.
Though an uninspiring design, the Disgo 8400G packs in enough compelling hardware features to make it a cut above the budget tablet competition. Packing in 3G connectivity as well as Wi-Fi, the tablet also has GPS and A-GPS capabilities (making it a reasonable alternative to a dedicated sat nav) and Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity with Disgo pulling in some low power elements of Bluetooth 4.0 in an attempt to extend battery life.
Were you deciding to sit and watch many films on the Disgo 8400G you may be a little disappointed. Running at a 1024 x 768 resolution, the screen suffers from a lack of sharpness, brightness and a tighter viewing angle than its competitors offer. A tablet newbie won't necessarily notice at first glance, but pop the 8400G next to an iPad and there's a marked difference in screen quality.
The tablet is powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, backed by 512MB of RAM. With so little RAM and a processor speed that would be considered entry-to-mid level by today's top-end standards, performance across all aspects of the tablet is as expected a bit lifeless, with a notable lag between your input in almost all tasks, and choppy visuals on more demanding applications. It is however, performance consistent with the price, considering there's a premium 3G connection also squeezed in here. 
Thankfully, apart from a "Nature" inspired theme with homescreen imagery fitting of the title, Disgo have pretty much stuck with the core Android Jelly Bean UI experience. Five homescreens can be customised to your liking, letting you add app shortcuts across the device from the app drawer. There are also a number of resizable Live Widgets pre-loaded on the Disgo 8400G; these are larger icons spread across the homescreens that offer live updating information at a glance. Calnedar, web bookmarks and contact details are among the pre-installed widgest, though others such as condensed Twitter or Facebook feeds, email inboxes or weather reports, for example, can be grabbed from the Google Play store.
Being an Android tablet, its easy to fill the Disgo 8400G with either your own content side loaded from a computer, or fresh movies, music and TV shows from the Google Play store. Though it's still no match for iTunes, Google Play offers a wide variety of film and TV shows at a reasonable price to buy or rent. And if you're the user of multiple Android devices, your purchases carry over across devices too.
Though we've some reservations about the performance with the Disgo 8400G, one thing that's indisputably excellent is its value for money. At £149.99, it's one of the cheapest 3G-enabled tablets around. Compared to rival tablets in the 7-inch category, that's considerably less than the 3G Nexus 7 (£239) and a hell of a lot cheaper than the 3G iPad Mini (£369). Of course, the premium you pay on those two devices bags you a more consistent user experience and premium design sensibilities, but considering the Disgo 8400G shares much of the same functionality as those two more expensive rivals, it's maybe a concession worth considering. If you simply looking for the cheapest possible tablet and can live without 3G functionality, check out Amazon's Wi-Fi Kindle Fire tablet line; starting at £129, even the entry-level model is altogether slicker than the Disgo 8400G.
While not quite as dazzling as the flagship F8000 models with their slimline bezels and low-clearance stands, the F6400 Samsung TVs still look very attractive. 
The UE32F6400 has a standard 1080x1920 Full HD 1080p resolution, and performs above and beyond the picture quality we'd expect from a TV this price.
The F6400 uses active shutter 3D technology, and it performs well for a TV this size. Of course, with a 3D visuals, you're looking to bag as big a screen as possible to keep the 3D effect immersively encompassing your peripheral vision, but for a 3D gamer sat up close to the screen, the effect is still pretty good.
Packing in both Wi-Fi connectivity and an Ethernet connection, the F6400 has access to many of the Smart TV bells and whistles of its pricer counterparts. Though there's no built-in webcam or mic, putting Skype video calling out of the question as well as the so-so motion controls, you can still use the microphone built into the second of the two supplied remotes to interact with the TV screen.
As seems Samsung's standard this year, the UE32F6400 comes with not one, but two remote controls. 
The UE55F800 is a truly beautiful set, with a jaw-dropping design befitting of its price tag. Measuring just under 35mm thick at its plumpest point (and barely 15mm at its thinnest), it's almost impossibly thin given its huge panel size. The image on screen itself is pushed to the fore thanks to a bezel only half a centimetre thick - the closest we've seen a television come to that "bezel-free" dream that all TV manufacturers are chasing at the moment.
The rear also houses a small control panel on the bottom right hand side should you misplace the sets two remote controls. The topmost edge of the television hides a small retractable webcam that pops out when pressed, smoothly extending to sit flush on the top edge of the screen. The lower edge has a small glowing Samsung logo which, like the boot-up graphic, can be disabled if you find it annoying.
If you're not planning on wall-mounting the set, an attractive curved stand comes with television, arching around the rear of the screen and allowing the television to sit very close to the surface on which it stands, with clearance of little more than an inch. While the stand is stylish and unobtrusive, it's frustratingly balanced. It seems as if all the weight of the set is taken at the front-most points of the stands feet, meaning can lean forwards and topple over if not placed on a wide surface. Though relatively light at 18.3kg with the stand attached (16.8kg without) it'd still do some damage to the screen if it were to fall this way, so think carefully before placing it down.
The UE55F8000 has a standard 1080x1920 Full HD 1080p resolution, and with Samsung now testing the UHD waters, could well be the company's last flagship at this resolution. If that's the case, it's a fitting swansong - the image quality here is superb. 
Flat screen TVs never perform that well in the audio department; when they're this thin, where are the speakers to go? 
Packing in both Wi-Fi connectivity and an Ethernet connection, it's easy to get the UE55F8000 hooked up to your home network, letting you access a wide variety of Smart TV content and apps.
A fourth screen allows access to music, video and photos shared on your network or a locally connected device, displayed in all their glory on the big screen. Recorded TV shows can again be accessed from here too.
The UE46ES7000 comes with not one, but two remote controls. 
Star Command puts you in control of a very Star-Trek-esque ship and crew. As a Star Command captain, you'll travel through the galaxy, encountering alien races and hostile space pirates, directing a crew to man critical ship systems and firing upon hulking cruisers bearing down upon you.
Space battles are part strategy, part mini-game reflex tests. You'll have to balance attacks from your weapons based upon the ship your facing and its abilities, while also repelling invaders with X-COM-style crew controls, setting phasers to kill.
Crew and ship upgrades are earned as you progress through the game. Crew pick up XP for successfully participating in battles (without biting the laser-bullet), while each successful battle earns you tokens with which you can hire more crew, build new ship facilities and improve existing ship areas, such as weapons medical rooms. Levelling up your crew and customising their looks gives you an attachment to them similar to that of X-COM - death here is permanent, and losing a seasoned member of your team is a killer (even though more an be recruited from home planets).
Even when the difficulty ramps up (and it will get pretty hard once you get a few hours in), you'll always be inspired to keep going by the sumptuous score. It's packed with tunes as rousing and evocative as any John Williams Star Wars soundtrack. I'd happily give it a whirl on my iPod separate from the game; it's that good.
Not counting an array of charging cables and a digital optical cable, the XP510 is comprised of four main components: the over-ear headset, an RF wireless transmitter, a detachable microphone and an XBA Bluetooth adapter that slots into the bottom of your Xbox 360 controller. Though billed as an Xbox 360 accessory primarily, the set will work with a PlayStation 3 too or Bluetooth-enabled PC. A cheaper version without the XBA adapter aimed at PS3 owners is also available.
You'll even be able to pair the headset with the base unit and a Bluetooth audio player (such as a smartphone or iPod) simultaneously, allowing all manner of combinations between answering calls, in-game chat, game audio and music playback through the headset. 
A gaming headset of this price should really enhance your game considerably to be worthwhile, and the XP510 doesn't disappoint. As well as offering virtual 5.1 surround sound (with a good soundstage giving the impression that audio events are occurring all around you), the XP510 comes equipped with all manner of pre-loaded EQ presets on board, which an be navigated with a press of a button found on the left ear can. These include everything from a setting that enhances the sound of enemy footsteps creeping up behind you to a setting that amplifies in game explosions for a more immersive experience. Ten presets are pre-loaded into the XP510, but Turtle Beach's keen community have made tons more that can be uploaded onto the headset using the supplied data cable. For the first time in a Turtle Beach headset, there are also settings optimised for movie and music playback.
Which is why perhaps we weren't convinced by the "surround angles" feature, activated by a button press on the transmitter. It's supposed to elongate and widen the "rear" channels of the simulated surround sound, but we couldn't hear any discernible difference with it activated. Thankfully, the standard 5.1 offering onboard does a fine job of enveloping you in game sounds.
Perhaps the most useful of all the features of the XP510 is just how much control you have over all the separate audio volume sources. The left can offers separate volume dials for game volume and how much of your own voice you can hear in the headset from the mic, while the right has buttons for controlling the volume of connected Bluetooth devices (including incoming Xbox Live chat), while the transmitter base unit has a separate volume dial for line-in devices. Being able to fine tune them to your in-game needs is really useful - being able to quickly dial down mouthy teammates during a crucial co-op cutscene, for instance, can be a lifesaver.
Should you run out of battery, the headset can be hooked up directly to a device with a standard 3.5mm cable.
Both the headband and ear cups are generously padded, each with a leather covering, adding to the premium feel. The headband grip is a snug fit, so you shouldn't be in any fear of them slipping off your head, but that also means your ears will get a little toasty.
Sadly, the cable doesn't offer an in-line remote, meaning you're going to have to pull out your music player of choice if you want to adjust volume or skip tracks. Onkyo promise that versions with a remote will be available later this year. It's worth noting that the audiophile-grade cable is the only discernible difference between the high-end Onkyo ES-HF300 headphones and the company's cheaper ES-FC300 headphones. Seeing as the cabling is detachable on both, and Onkyo offer the audiophile cable as an optional upgrade for ES-FC300 owners, it's worth considering the cheaper alternative and buying the more expensive cable if you find you really need it later on.
We threw every musical genre we could bring our ears to listen to at the ES-HF300s, and couldn't find a weak link anywhere. Phoenix's new 
There's a markedly different feel to the action in The Knife of Dunwall. Though there's still ample room for experimentation and multiple stealthy routes to each goal, the focus here seems much more action and combat orientated. Daud's moveset and skills lean towards bloodier solutions to problems; satisfyingly grisly, if often not quite as smart as the original's.
Where Daud has Dishonored's hero Corvo beat however is in his arsenal of gadgets. Again, they're combat focussed, but all bring a smile to the face. From the laser-like Arc Mines that disintegrate any guards hapless enough to walk into their range to the ninja-like Chokedust grenades that produce a veil of cover within which to dispatch your foes, Daud is like a steampunk Batman.
Though The Knife of Dunwall inevitably recycles assets and locations, the new Rothwild Slaughterhouse area is truly spectacular. A towering warehouse in the middle of an industrial dispute, it's beautifully lit in an evening glow, and filled with the spoils of Dunwall's whaling industry. There are multiple pathways across each location, be they pipework walkways or blood-tinged sewer networks, and a wide courtyard expanse littered with opportunities to flex your stealthy muscles in. Engaging in sword fights with the buzzsaw-armed butchers employed in the slaughterhouse is also a thrilling challenge.
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