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We’ve all been there: you’ve picked all the parts for your new gaming PC, and funds are running low, so you spend your leftover budget on a basic chair. Before long, your back hurts, your chair creaks, and gaming on your glorious new PC starts to feel like a chore. If you spend long hours at your desk, cheaping out on your chair is never a good idea.

That’s where the Cooler Master Ergo L comes in, throwing out the usual gaming chair tropes and embracing ergonomics. Woven from high-tension mesh, supported by a solid aluminum frame, and loaded with adjustments, the Ergo L has more in common with Herman Miller than DXRacer.

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Design and Features

At first glance, the Ergo L doesn’t look much like a gaming chair at all. Except for the purple brand logo on the headrest, this chair would easily feel right at home in an office. The mix of mesh, faux leather, and mirrored aluminum lend it a classy look that feels much more “grown up” than the typical racing chair.

The differences are more than skin deep. Virtually every aspect of the Ergo L is designed with ergonomics and long-term durability in mind. Ergonomics: it’s a boring word, I know, but in the case of this chair, it means features — features that will keep you gaming in comfort for longer than your average gaming chair.

As a result, it really feels like the Ergo L is competing in a different weight class. In the gaming world, it’s closest competitors are the Vertagear Triigger 275 which is equally priced at $599.99 and the NeueChair at $549, each without the headrest Cooler Master includes. Looking to the wider world of high-end office chairs, it’s easy to see that it shares DNA with the likes of Herman Miller or X-Chair. A good ergonomic chair doesn’t come cheap, so though Cooler Master is topping the cost of most standard PC gaming seats, it’s currently one of the most competitively priced chairs of its kind.

The biggest difference you’ll find is that the Ergo L uses a high-tension mesh for its seat, and most of its backrest, instead of foam. The mesh is slightly elastic, allowing it to conform to your body and completely avoids the firmness that foam chairs usually ship with. There’s no break-in period where you’re stuck waiting for the foam to soften – Cooler Master’s MuscleFlex mesh is ready to go, right out of the box. It’s also much more breathable than foam and helped me keep cool, even in my upstairs office.

Beyond the mesh, the chair is contoured to provide support and promote good posture. The backrest is formed to match the natural curve of your spine and features an adjustable lumbar support to align it perfectly to your back. The headrest is also curved to make contact with your neck without forcing your head forward like the usual strap-on pillows that come bundled with racing chairs. The seat also has a waterfall edge so it won’t cut off your circulation and force you to move into an unhealthy position.

The other big difference here is the multiple adjustments it offers. The chair features a Class 4 gas lift rated for users up to 440 lbs and 3.3 inches of height adjustment. The seat itself is depth adjustable, so you can adjust the angle that your back meets the lumbar support. From there, you can move that lumbar support up or down to dial in exactly the contour you need. The headrest can also be set for height and angle to match what’s most comfortable for your neck. The armrests are oddly limited, though, and only adjust for height and depth.

Along the side of the chair, you’ll also find a knob to adjust the rocking tension and a lever to lock it into position. Unlike a normal gaming chair, this doesn’t allow you to recline back into a full laying position. I was able to lean back and get comfortable with my feet up with no problem, but napping may be out of the question. Still, I found the chair to be flexible enough to keep me comfortable whether I was working, PC gaming, or kicking back watching a movie, which is what any good gaming chair needs to do.

Assembly and Build Quality

Unlike the Vertagear Triigger and NeueChair, the Ergo L comes completely disassembled. Putting the chair together isn’t difficult, but it definitely takes more work than either of its competitors. While those other chairs come with the entire top half of the chair fully assembled, this one demands a process very similar to a normal racing chair: everything needs to be positioned and screwed into place. The only improvement is the tilt base, which is mechanically more complicated and is understandably pre-installed.

The entire process took me about twenty minutes following each step of the guide. I didn’t find it necessary to have a second set of hands, but the chair is quite heavy (61 pounds, fully assembled), so I’d suggest having someone nearby just in case. Cooler Master provides all of the hardware you need, but the included wrench is pretty cumbersome, so I swapped it out for some of my own tools.

The plus side to needing to assemble everything by hand is that it gave me a chance to appreciate how heavy duty the chair is. The aluminum frame is thick, heavy, and rock solid. The mirror finish also looks fantastic, and I love how it supports the back in a narrow “X.” It makes for a wonderful visual contrast and a premium look.

The aluminum wheel base follows the design and is wonderfully heavy and solid. By contrast, the casters feel lightweight and too plasticky. They’re large, at 75mm, which is a nice touch for the overall height of the chair but are otherwise unremarkable.

What I found much more interesting was the mix of mesh and faux leather. The trim gives the chair a unique look that is very stylish. Unfortunately, Cooler Master seems to have put form over function with the backrest, running a leather strip straight down the center where it meets your back, diminishing the effect of the mesh. They’ve mitigated this with micro-perforations and using only very thin foam, but I would much rather have just seen a full mesh back.

Performance

Thankfully, a thin strip of leather doesn’t stop the Ergo L from being a great gaming chair. Having used similar seats in the past, I knew what to expect going in and was ready to climb the “ergo chair” learning curve. If you’ve never used a chair like this before, be prepared to do a lot of adjusting on your first day as you figure out what feels best for your body.

Cooler Master’s mesh is a real winner in terms of comfort, though I can’t say how it will hold up in the long-term. It offered enough flex to conform to my body to offer immediate support, right out of the box. The lack of break in period was very nice, especially coming from my Secret Lab Titan XL’s firm cold cure foam. Still, I wish the company was more generous with their warranty to reinforce that the mesh will stay as good years into the future. With companies like Vertagear and NeueChair offering 10 and 12-year warranties on their ergo chairs, Cooler Master’s 2-year guarantee feels a bit short, especially at this price.

I tend to spend my days writing with bursts of gaming mixed in. That means I need a chair I can quickly switch positions in; one that will promote good posture so I’m not hunching over my keyboard but that will also let me adopt a lazier posture when it’s time to relax. The flexibility of the Ergo L allowed me to find a comfortable fit no matter what I wanted to do. The soft armrests also saved me from the sore elbows when gaming with a controller.

The adaptability of the chair is one of its high points, but it’s not without shortcomings. The lumbar support is difficult to adjust with how it’s set into the back of the chair, and adjusting the seat depth without getting up from the chair is awkward. Trying to scoot the seat in or out while holding the armrests had a nasty tendency to make them slip to the end of their track. Thankfully, I didn’t find the need to adjust these unless I was tilting back into a full recline, which I usually don’t do at my PC.

With the warm and humid weather throughout my test period, I was thankful for the breathability the mesh provided. There’s no question: the Ergo L is absolutely a better fit than a foam-lined chair for warm weather. That said, the faux leather did make my back begin to sweat slightly, whereas I didn’t have that issue at all with the full mesh chair I tested against. I didn’t have the same issue with the headrest, but if the back of your neck tends to sweat, it’s not going to help matters, especially since the micro-perforations are to the sides of where your head will actually touch.

These issues aside, I was generally very happy with the Ergo L. Even with the odd concessions to style, it was one of the most comfortable gaming chairs I’ve ever used. Most importantly, after 6 to 8 hours at the PC, I never suffered the telltale back ache when finally getting up at the end of the day. The added support and adjustability made a fundamental difference, both in promoting good posture and adapting to my body.

Purchasing Guide

The Cooler Master Ergo L is available on Amazon, B&H Photo, and other retailers with an MSRP of $599.

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Real-world history has been the bedrock of Activision’s marketing strategy for the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War–its trailer featured several clips from major historical events like the Vietnam War, civil rights marches, and the tank man from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. That trailer, which released last week, was removed and replaced with a shorter one without the Tiananmen Square footage earlier this week.

According to the South China Morning Post, the second-long bit of Beijing protest footage was replaced with a black screen or other footage on local Chinese platforms like Bilibili. Activision replaced the original two-minute long trailer worldwide with a video half as long without the protest footage soon after.

The trailer, which is based around a 1984 interview with former Soviet KGB informant and defector Yuri Bezmenov, only showed seconds of the Beijing protests but that was enough to get internet commentators buzzing. You can still see the original video on YouTube, but it’s no longer posted on official Activision channels.

The South China Morning Post, as well as other publications from the region, say that the crackdown following the Tiananmen protests “remains a taboo topic in mainland China.” Call of Duty fans have even expressed concerns that the game could be banned in China following the trailer.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War was officially revealed today with a special event within Call of Duty: Warzone. Players had to find map key codes, traverse the map, and eventually find an NPC tucked away in order to unlock special rewards. The event ended as a nuke was about to go off in Verdansk. A trailer for the new game played before we could see the explosion happen in-game.

Despite the political nature of everything the studio has posted about the game thus far, Treyarch has maintained it isn’t trying “to make any political statement of any kind” with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

NASA announced Tuesday that it has discovered a galaxy far, far away that’s shaped like an imperial TIE fighter from Star Wars.

The active galaxy — designated TXS 0128+554 — is located 500 million light-years from us in the Cassiopeia constellation.

“The first time I saw the results, I immediately thought it looked like Darth Vader’s TIE fighter spacecraft from Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope,” said Purdue University scientist Matthew Lister, one of the authors of a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal announcing the findings.

Lister added, “That was a fun surprise, but its appearance at different radio frequencies also helped us learn more about how active galaxies can change dramatically on decade time scales.”

The scientific research team, using multiple telescopes and observatories, documented the galaxy from a number of positions. “We’re seeing TXS 0128+554 at an angle, which emphasizes its Star Wars features,” CNET noted.

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CNET added, “The galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its center and is blasting out twin jets of energy. The starfighter appearance became very apparent when the Very Long Baseline Array network took a look at radio signals emanating from the galaxy.”

Frankly, a galaxy shaped like a TIE fighter isn’t the strangest thing science news of late, given the reports of a “Galactus” cloud, the purported recovery of “off-world vehicles,” a parallel universe where time runs backward, and scientists resurrecting 100-million-year-old underwater lifeforms.

So what do you think of this galaxy far, far away? Let us know in the comments.

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Jason Todd, Batman’s second Robin who is now known as the Red Hood, is one of the most badass and tragic characters in the DC Comics library. Though he can be described as “Batman With Guns,” he’s so much more, so with the news that Red Hood will be a playable character in the upcoming Gotham Knights game and that Red Hood will be making his debut on Season 3 of Titans, we’re pulling back the hood to cover everything you need to know about Batman’s fallen former sidekick.

Who is the Red Hood? Is he a good guy or a bad guy? Why does he share a name with a Batman villain? We’re covering all that and more. Here’s a list of all the topics we’ll be discussing:

• Who Is Red Hood?
• Red Hood’s Origin
• Red Hood’s Powers, Abilities and Weapons
• Red Hood’s Teams
• Red Hood in Movies, TV and Games

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Who Is Red Hood?

Jason Todd, better known as the Red Hood, is a vigilante anti-hero who fights to protect Gotham City with his dual-pistols and quite a bit of pent-up rage. As a former Robin to Batman, Red Hood is a part of the Bat-family, a network of street-level heroes with ties to the Dark Knight, although his loner attitude, penchant for violence and use of firearms often puts him at odds with the likes of Batgirl, Nightwing, and Batman himself.

Red Hood’s Origin

The Red Hood has a long history in DC Comics canon that goes back decades, and as often happens with comics, there have been numerous revisions, updates, and retcons to his story over the years. It would take one of those walls covered in photos and charts and yarn to explain every last detail, so instead we’re going to cover the general highlights of his origin that have remained consistent.

After Batman’s first Robin, Dick Grayson, flew the nest, Batman recruited Jason Todd to be his next Robin after he caught him trying to steal the wheels off the Batmobile. Jason may have resembled Dick, but right away it was clear that he couldn’t be more different. Whereas Dick was upbeat and always wore a smile, Jason was angsty, bull-headed, and brash — qualities that would eventually lead him down a dark and tragic path.

While on a personal quest to find his long lost mother, Jason ran afoul of the Joker, who captured, tortured, and seemingly killed Robin 2.0 by beating him with a crowbar and leaving him behind with a timed bomb to finish the job. (Whether Jason ultimately lived or died was actually voted on by DC fans!) Batman was too late to save poor Robin, and losing him has become what the Caped Crusader considers to be the greatest failure of his life.

But this is comics, where death is like a revolving door, and years later Jason Todd was brought back to life thanks to Talia al Ghul restoring him with the resurrecting power of the Lazarus Pit. It wasn’t long before Jason learned that the Joker was still alive, and so he cursed Batman’s name for not killing the villain who took the life of his sidekick.

Believing Batman’s methods for delivering justice were too soft and ineffective, Jason decided to take up the mantle of the Red Hood so he could punish evildoers with his own brutal sense of justice. The Red Hood was originally a disguise worn by the Joker before he was transformed into a laughing maniac. Jason chose to take over the moniker so he could own what the Joker did to him and use it to become the Joker’s destruction.

This set the Red Hood on a path to become a brooding, bitter anti-hero who often crosses lines that others in the Bat-family won’t. The mere fact that he uses guns is a big middle finger to Batman, who has sworn them off as the tool of the enemy. That said, Jason doesn’t execute bad guys willy nilly like Marvel’s Punisher; he usually digs down deep to find the restraint not to become an executioner. He even spared the Joker’s life when he finally got the chance to take his revenge, showing that despite the tragedy he’s suffered, there’s still a spark of light within him that keeps him aligned with the side of good. (Although, given the ever-changing nature of comics, a recent development has seen Red Hood go darker than ever before.)

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Red Hood’s Powers, Abilities and Weapons

Though Red Hood has no superpowers, he does have a vast array of talents thanks to being trained by Batman. He has world-class strength, stamina, athleticism and acrobatic skills. He’s been trained in detective work and combat strategy. He’s an expert in hand-to-hand fighting and all manner of high tech gadgets.

Though Jason was trained as Robin to use non-lethal weapons like Batarangs, upon becoming Red Hood he sought out training by the world’s greatest marksmen so he could kill any target, making him a master of firearms.

His signature weapons are a pair of handguns. He also keeps a dagger on him for close-combat fighting.

Red Hood’s helmet not only conceals his identity but contains a radio transmitter, plus it’s armored to protect his head.

Red Hood’s Teams

Though Red Hood tends to march to the beat of his own drum, that hasn’t stopped him from teaming up with some of DC’s other heroes. Red Hood’s teams include the Challengers From Beyond, the Outlaws, Teen Titans, and Young Justice.

Red Hood in Movies, TV and Games

Jason Todd/Red Hood has been featured in various movies, TV shows and games. Over the years, he’s been mentioned in passing (often for a joke in Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go!) or popped up as an Easter egg (like in Harley Quinn when Joker reminds Batman about how he killed his sidekick), so we’re going to focus on the meatier appearances.

In the animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood, Jason Todd (voiced by Jensen Ackles) returns years after his apparent death under the guise of the Red Hood. His identity remains a mystery to Batman for a bulk of the film, but after it’s revealed, the two have a dramatic confrontation where Jason confronts Batman over what happened. This is the best thing to watch if you want to get the full story of the Red Hood told in compelling fashion.

In the live-action Titans show, Jason Todd (played by Curran Walters) plays a foil to Dick Grayson. Dick had left Batman behind, so he’s not exactly happy to see Jason show up and tell him that he’s Batman’s new sidekick. Jason fights alongside the Titans for a while, but his cavalier attitude and violent tactics bring a lot of friction to the team. After a falling out with the group, a disillusioned Jason quits, setting up his return as the Red Hood in Season 3.

In the video game Batman: Arkham Knight — spoilers! — the titular Arkham Knight is revealed to be none other than Jason Todd. Jason’s backstory was streamlined and tailored to fit the Arkham universe. It became much more focused on how the Joker not only beat him near to death but kept him captive to completely break his psyche, going so far as to brand his cheek with the letter J for Joker. This version of Jason is much more extreme because his plan for revenge on Batman sees him assemble an army and try to take over all of Gotham City as a super villain. In the final act of the story, Jason transforms his Arkham Knight armor so the helmet turns red, giving him his signature look. Then in the post-game DLC, he gives up the Arkham Knight identity to become the Red Hood we’re more familiar with.

Finally, the Red Hood will be a playable character in the Gotham Knights video game alongside Nightwing, Robin (Tim Drake), and Batgirl (Barbara Gordon).

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Joshua is Senior Features Editor at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.

Grounded has gotten its first monthly update with a number of changes including the addition of a giant bird. It’s not clear if players will be able to fight the feathery friend or if it’s only window dressing for the games’ life-sized sandbox setting but it looks terrifying either way.

Obsidian announced the news, along with details about other changes to the game, in a post on the official Xbox Blog. Feathers can be collected from the bird and used to craft a bed and a new Marksman’s Cap that will buff bow attacks. Feathers aren’t collected from the bird directly but nearby one of the towers that fire lasers.

“The biggest creature in the backyard has arrived,” the post read. “How will this play into the adventure of the backyard?” We don’t know much about how the bird will impact the game but at the moment it doesn’t seem to do much.

The update also added perks that add small mutations to your character like the ability to “cut grass faster, increase health, improve defenses,” and more. Players can equip three perks at a time. New fences and tables, including the Sprig Fence, Acorn Picket Fence, Grass Table, and Clover Table, have been added so you can spice up the variety of furniture in your home base.

The update brought other changes to the game including dozens of bug fixes, buffs and nerfs to certain creatures, and quality of life changes. Grounded is still in early access, meaning there isn’t an awful lot to do in the game, but Obsidian has promised more updates in the future.

“Grounded has the foundation needed to turn into a great survival game, but it has a long way to go yet. The titular term comes from aviation–when a pilot finds themselves, for whatever reason, unable to fly, they are Grounded,” said Joab Gilroy in GameSpot’s Grounded review. “It’s a pretty apt name for the current state of Obsidian’s foray into the co-op survival genre. But like a balsa wood airplane, Grounded sits at the outstretched tension point of a strong rubber band. It is pure, unadulterated potential energy, and all we can do is sit back and wait to see if that rubber band snaps or if the game achieves take off. I think it’s gonna fly.”

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is heading to PS4, Xbox One, and PC on November 13. The PS5 and Xbox Series X versions will arrive at a later date. This year’s installment of the long-running military shooter series includes a campaign, along with multiplayer, Zombies, and a continuation of Warzone. It’s available to preorder now.

As usual, you can purchase Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War in a variety of editions. Notably, one new edition is the cross-gen bundle, which lets you play the game on current-gen hardware, and when PS5 and Xbox Series X arrive, you’ll be able to play on the respective next-gen console with all the visual upgrades and shorter loading times. The standard edition will be backwards-compatible on both next-gen consoles as well, but without the next-gen upgrades.

Preorder Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Standard Edition

PS4

• Get it at Best Buy – $59.99
• Get it at GameStop – $59.99
• Get it at PS Store (digital) – $59.99

Xbox One

• Get it at Best Buy – $59.99
• Get it at GameStop – $59.99
• Get it at MS Store (digital) – $59.99

PC

• Get it at GameStop – $59.99
• Get it at Battle.net – $59.99

The standard edition gets you access to the game itself. On consoles, you’ll be able to play the game on PS5 and Xbox Series X once those arrive (thanks to backwards compatibility), but this version won’t have the upgraded features available on the next-gen versions of the game. To get those, you’ll want to read on and preorder the cross-gen bundle version.

Preorder Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Cross-Gen Bundle

• Get it for PS4/PS5 (digital) – $69.99
• Get it for Xbox One/Series X (digital) – $69.99

Buying the cross-gen bundle edition gets you the game on Xbox One or PS4, plus full access to the Xbox Series X or PS5 versions (respectively) when those consoles come out.

Preorder Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Ultimate Edition

• Get it for PS4/PS5 at PS Store (digital) – $89.99
• Get it for Xbox One/Series X at MS Store (digital) – $89.99
• Get it for PC at Battle.net – $89.99

The ultimate edition comes with everything in the cross-gen bundle (so, access to the full next-gen edition when those consoles launch), plus the following items:

• Land, Sea and Air Pack:
• 3 Operator Skins
• 3 Vehicle Skins
• 3 Weapon Blueprints
• Battle Pass Bundle (1 Season Battle Pass + 20 Tier Skips)
• Confrontation Weapons Pack

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Preorder Bonus

Preorder any digital edition of the game, and you’ll get access to the beta. Additionally, Best Buy is offering a $10 reward for My Best Buy members.

As for what to expect from the game itself, the campaign is set in the early 1980s, where Activision says you’ll encounter real-life historical figures as you drop into hostile situations in places like East Berlin, Vietnam, Turkey, and Soviet KGB headquarters. The multiplayer and Zombies mode will use the same era-appropriate weapons in skirmishes against real-life opponents and undead enemies respectively.

You’ll find a lot more information in our Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War hands-on preview.

Other Preorder Guides

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Chris Reed is IGN’s shopping and commerce editor. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.

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