Review

Worlds collide as two major Japanese studios come together to bring you Etrian Mystery Dungeon, a mash-up of all the best parts of the Etrian Odyssey and Mystery Dungeon series’ of Japanese role-playing games. With the potential for dozens upon dozens of hours of dungeon crawling, rogue-like action, this is one collaboration worth checking out for more than just the crossover fan service it provides.

Most consumer tablets have displays in the 8-inch to 10-inch size range. Microsoft tapped the prosumer and professional market when it released the big-screen Surface Pro line of tablets that convert to a PC laptop form factor. HP—one of the world’s largest PC manufacturers—offers its own take on that the 2-in-1 convertible laptop form factor. The Envy x2 13.3, a very big Windows tablet with features Surface fans will find familiar, namely a kickstand, digital pen support and a magnetically attached keyboard cover. The approach is familiar, but the Envy x2 is a different beast from the Surface Pro (and new Surface), as I found out during my review period.

The fastest selling original game on Xbox Live Arcade comes to the Xbox One. State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition features enhanced graphics, new achievements, community challenges, and includes two major add-ons: Break Down and Lifeline.   Do you have what it takes to face the zombie apocalypse, and make it out alive? 

The first gaming laptop my wife ever brought home must have taken up half of our coffee table and weighed about as much. The second she owned was a little thinner but almost as heavy. The HP Omen’s size pales in comparison to those two monstrous laptops and that’s a good thing. As thin as many of today’s laptops and weighing less than 5 pounds, the HP Omen defies our conventional belief of what a gaming laptop should look and feel like. That’s just the beginning.  Come take a look.

Kids loving playing with tablets like the iPad. And some of the latest toys, like the Tiggly Geoshapes and Counting toys, interact with apps to make the experience fun and interactive. I, and my 3-year-old son, spent some time with both sets to give our take on them.

In the world of fitness and activity trackers, Fitbit dominates. With sales of these wearables taking off, Fitbit—which has been selling the devices since 2008—holds nearly 70 percent of the market. The new Fitbit Charge HR is a prime example of why the company has been so successful. Add in a vast ecosystem of app partners and supporting hardware like its Aria smart scale, and going with the Fitbit Charge HR is a good bet to help you to be successful in reaching your own fitness goals.

The M-Audio Producer USB was one of the first USB microphones to hit the market a few years ago – ushering in an era of minimalistic mobile recording solutions. You no longer needed a host of middleware hardware to deliver decent audio into your computer or mobile device. USB microphones allow you to plug directly into your computers USB port and start recording. As a solid, professional-looking microphone that’s simple to setup and use, the M-Audio Producer USB is a decent choice in this category of microphones.

What has been the most attractive Android smartphone for the last two years is back, and the HTC One M9 sticks to the same design principles of its predecessors. The familiarity extends throughout the hardware and software, making this phone an iterative update from last year, rather than a major upgrade. There’s more speed, along with some refinements to HTC’s software overlay and the camera, but there’s no sign of an overhaul here.

In the last couple of years, iPads have become such a popular tool and toy for kids, and there are so many apps now available for fun, learning and gaming. For even more fun, there are interactive apps with gaming accessories like Osmo.

Need headphones to block out the world while you watch TV? These Sennheiser versions should do the job, but do they deliver? Read our review.