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Hi and welcome to pcGameware we hope that you enjoy your time here, please take a moment to read a little about the site, its ethos and get to know the guys that work (or is that play!) here.

 

Ethos

 

Here at pcGameware we pride ourselves on one major thing above all others and that is the accuracy of our reviews. That is not to say that this is a site dedicated to nerds (even though a couple work here!), this accuracy comes from the fact that each review will be carried out over a 1 – 2 week period by someone who actually play games and the component being reviewed will be part of their gaming rig for that time. These components for review wont be tested on test-benches or in open cases as that’s not what YOU will be doing! These reviews will not be done within a matter of hours because of a products newness to market and we have no reason to favour one manufacturer over another, nor are we trying to sell you anything. As we are also not after being one of the first reviews to be published this should allow us to bring you some of the most balanced and accurate reviews on the web. Real world testing is what we are talking about here at pcGameware.

 

Review process

 

Outlined below is pcGameware’s standard review process:

Each component is reviewed over a 1 – 2 week period using the reviewers associated gaming rig (details can be found here). The component being reviewed is then given a score out of 10 in the following 3 categories:

Design/Quality – A close look at the build quality of the product and the design & thought that has gone into it, has a manufacturer gone that extra mile.

Performance – How well does the product achieve what it set out to do, often just how fast is it

Value – Is what’s on offer by the product in sync with the price (street price; as that’s what most of us pay).

These 3 scores are then added together and a rounded Overall score is given. If the product scores 7.5 or above (rounded to 8.0) then a Bronze pcGameware dogtag award is awarded, 8.5 or above (rounded to 9.0) and a Silver dogtag is awarded and finally if the component scores 9.5 or over (rounded to 10) then a Gold dogatg is awarded.

 

 

Meet the team:

 

• James

James is the founder of pcGameware and has been involved with computers since 1982 when he took his first steps via a ZX Spectrum and Horrace Goes Skiing. James has been effectively tied to a computer ever since apart from a few years (1986 -1991) where he thought windsufing was going to become his life (fool!). He can thank his wife (thanks!) for the re-introduction to computers after in 1992 he received an Amiga for Xmas. Since then James has always been heavily involved in games, at one point he was building a complete new rig every 12 months. It was during this time that James took another step and that was into the world of over-clocking. This has seen James build some rather impressive gaming rigs (we are NOT talking over-clocked water cooled monsters) but rigs that have an uncanny ability to be reliable, fast and surprisingly, not that expensive!

It’s these skills and this knowledge combined with James’s dedication to quality and accuracy that has led him here. Of course he couldn’t do this alone and below are the invaluable guys that are helping him achieve the ethos…

 

• Greg

Greg has been gaming since he first got his Spectrum 48k as a shared Christmas present with his younger brother. Back in those days text based adventures were all the rage so to get a machine that could display graphics was a revelation! Since that moment he was hooked, moving next onto the Commodore 64 his interest grew and it was then he decided to learn how to program; aspiring to one day make a game like the ones he played. He never really got far programming games due to the lure of actually playing them! – but due to his interest he did get his first taste in writing reviews for a ‘press gang’ style computing magazine call Stardate 64.

After taking a brief detour to the dark side of consoles in the form of the original PlayStation, he soon returned to PC gaming with a custom built rig from a local computer store. During his C64 years Greg had become a fan of on-line adventures (MUD’s) and when he found PC games that you could play on-line against each other he was once again hooked; this time for life?

Battlefield was his main obsession and it has been ever since; owning every version and every expansion pack, he is what is known as a ‘Battlefield Veteran’. Battlefield can be demanding on your gaming rig so he has been keen to keep up to-date with the latest PC tech and his latest build is in readiness for Battlefield 3 due out in November 2011.

 

• Mark

Mark’s 1st venture into the world of computers was with a ZX81 and after using it for a few months he quickly realized his passion for computers and quickly changed his chosen career path from electronics engineer to IT professional.

After the ZX81 came a Commodore VIC 20, Commodore 64 and finally his first real PC, a DX4 100 from Evesham Micros. Although the company no longer exists, its ethos of allowing people to upgrade machines purchased from them without invalidating the original warranty allowed Mark to gain his 1st experience of upgrading hardware.

Today Mark’s IT job allows him to fund his gaming addiction and although he can’t afford the most expensive components he enjoys the challenge of obtaining the best performance out of the mid range equipment he tends to purchase.

 

• David

David has been around computers and consoles for most of his life. He started gaming in the 70′s when he first became addicted to playing Space Invaders at his local swimming pool and has never looked back since. His first ever gaming experience at home was on a Grandstand console that had Tennis, Soccer and Squash games which were basically all variations of Pong but with more paddles! He then got to use his first ever computer, a HEKTOR microcomputer printed-circuit board (a bare circuit board!) which came as part of a Microprocessor course run by the Open University.

He eventually moved onto typing in games from his favourite gaming magazines on his Commodore Vic20 and ZX81 and then when he was older moved onto using a Commodore Amiga 500 and his very first PC, an IBM 286. During this time he became hooked on point & click adventure games including Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle and to this day still loves to play them, forget Battlefield! David has since been building and repairing PCs from that day forth for both himself, family and friends.