For a company whose only other major release was the original Half Life, Valve has pushed the boundaries with fresh, bold gameplay that stays true to the legendary legacy.

The first expansion to Half Life 2 doesn't provide much excitement.

Valve may have missed the point of episodic gaming, but this is one of the best value gaming packs ever released

It isn't an add-on, a mod or a new way of playing the world's most popular online shooter. Counter-Strike: Source is the same game that's known, loved and often responsible for gamers sitting motionless for days on end. But it's now been ported to Valve's new 3D engine, the Source engine, giving us our first glimpse of the technology that will be powering Half-Life 2.

A fast, fun, cheap game to keep you going over the weekend.

Using the same engine that has won Half-Life 2 more than a few friends, Bloodlines turns players into one of the 'eternally dammed' on the streets of LA. It comes with a terrific plot supported by excellent writing, and developer Troika has pitched Bloodlines squarely at an adult audience.

Although heavily kitted out with an ATI Mobility RADEON 9700 featuring 128MB of dedicated video memory, 1.5GHz Pentium M and half a gigabyte of PC2700 DDR, the Zephyra XT finished in the lower half for overall placement.

Dell's reputation at providing reasonably priced capable 'books shines through in the 510M - the cheapest notebook on test this month.

The two-and-a-half thousand dollar price point is a popular one for PC systems.

Punch Technology's Punch Biz+ system features a 2.8GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor, half gigabyte of PC3200 DDR-SDRAM, 52-speed CD-RW and a 17in monitor for under $2000 -- impressive pricing for this sort of spec machine.

The absolute epitome of 'feature-packed', the number of inclusions on this unit floored us. Its whopping 162 point feature score is over one-and-a-half times the average point score and comes on the back of its big feature line up.

A full $300 less than the flagship 7900 GTX, but still a damn fast card for extreme gaming.

When Dell shook the Pocket PC world with the aggressively priced Axim X5 (March 2003, page 41), its rivals could always point out that the X5 was bulkier and uglier than their devices. With its latest Axim, however, Dell has produced a slimmer, more attractive model without compromising on spec, features or price.

Small, powerful and relatively cheap. This baby notebook is an ideal travel companion.

A couple of nifty gimmicks and an extended warranty help give this netbook the boost that its ergonomics don’t.

Purely because of its size, even the smallest PDA isn’t something you’re likely to feel comfortable holding to your ear as a phone for long periods of time. And, despite its slim curves and great physique, the Xda II is no exception.

Half-decent for the money - but only half

Online multiplayer combat from the big guns at EA.

Creating a half-decent looking Web site usually requires pulling out the big guns - a heavy-duty graphics program, a few choice plug-ins such as Alien Skin for button and text effects and some sort of HTML editor (and a text editor, of course, for die-hard hand coders).

A familiar plot – meddling with forces beyond our control – and some new weapons greet you as you once again enter the Mars UAC facility.