After decades of being the lesser-liked child of gaming, the RTS genre has recently exploded in popularity with the emergence of games like StarCraft 2 and League of Legends, both of which redefined e-sports as we know it. Luckily for those of us that have been fans of RTS games since the early days of Command & Conquer -- the DOS one -- the genre is still experiencing an influx of innovation and creativity, as Pixel Foundry boasts for their upcoming game, BlackSpace. Alongside Fray, the cyberpunk/dystopian game we posted about earlier today, this year's shaping up to look awesome for the indie market.

Cyberpunk and dystopian settings have long been a favorite of mine, ever simulating a Tron-like (the original, not the other one), high-stakes, all-out cyber warfare between factions which have been cybernetically altered or otherwise digitized. With the existing contenders in this market aging, like the Source mod Dystopia, independent game developers Brain Candy have jumped into the, err, fray with their upcoming "simultaneous turn-based strategy" game, Fray. Damn puns.

The sci-fi title has an intriguing backstory to any lover of computers: It's the year 2098 and, as we should hope, human interaction has been entirely limited to the Internet - or whatever it becomes in the future. Fulfilling the cyberpunk requirements of being a world dominated by malevolent companies, the world of Fray is dominated by three mega-corporations, in true 1984 fashion, with each fighting over the remaining supplies on earth. This is where the "virtual reality modules" come into play: There are multiple variations of 'modules' in the world of Fray, each serving as an escape to the definitely-going-to-happen reality of megacorporation combat -- the module we care about, though, is the combat one.

Coming to the market from Taiwan is a new budget-minded tower from the company Lancool. The PC-K56N is part of Lancool's Dragonlord series and is a full ATX tower supporting some competent features for a case of this class.

Having gone through dozens of headsets over the past years -- each iteration an exploratory phase on what makes headsets so hit-or-miss -- I can honestly say that I've never seen a headset with what is effectively a "rumble pack" built-in.

Mgame USA has released new information on its new free-to-play MMOG, Rise of the Dragonian (or RODE). A recent press release scheduled their second beta test for this weekend, February 11th and 12th, from 8am to 8pm PST. This will be the final beta test before the game's official release. To encourage gamers to try out their game, Mgame has put large giveaway opportunities on the table.