They are, beyond control schemes and visuals, the single best reason to play games on a PC. Mods can, at their laziest, tweak a game so its settings or features behave more to your liking. At their most ambitious, they can transform your entire experience, leaving you with something that feels like an all-new game.

This year was a big one for PC mods, with two - DayZ and Black Mesa - rivalling commercial products for public awareness and, perhaps more importantly, quality. But they weren't the only great mods released this year, here's a shortlist of the best mods released during 2012.

Roccat has announced the availability of its latest gaming peripheral, the multi-color, macro-laden Isku FX keyboard. Expected to hit shelves later this week for $100 and Є100, the Isku touts in-house features including "Roccat Talk," "Roccat Talk FX" and "Easy Shift"...

Announced earlier this year, Nvidia's "GeForce Experience" has finally hit beta -- albeit in limited scope. The service is open to the first 10,000 users who register, after which signups will be closed until Nvidia has a chance to analyze user feedback and squash major bugs...

Valve has announced the public launch of Steam's new TV-oriented "Big Picture" mode, which makes it easier for PC gamers to step away from their desk and enjoy titles from a couch. The new interface was first teased in early 2011 and finally hit beta this September...

With a fresh console generation around the corner, many large publishers have been hesitant to release new properties, especially those that lack mass appeal, but Bethesda's gamble on Arkane Studios' first-person stealth action title seems to have paid off...

WoW Mists of Pandaria expansion is huge. One one end, it starts at level one, with a new starting area for the new Pandaren race. On the other end, it raises the level cap from 85 to 90 and adds an enormous amount of end-game zones.

Mists of Pandaria is best looked at from two different perspectives. One: how is it for the new player? And two: how is it for the experienced player? If someone's been in a holding pattern at level 85 for years, what does Mists of Pandaria offer to that player, and how do its many changes improve or diminish the World of Warcraft experience?

Appreciating the original Razer Blade required a dramatic shift in the way I thought about portable gaming machines. Form factor always took a back seat to performance. The second generation Razer Blade is not quite a high performance gaming laptop, but it's getting better.

Currently in beta, Ravaged is the brainchild of Boris Ustaev and his crew at 2Dawn Games, who have spent the last few years toiling away on a fast-paced post-apocalyptic multiplayer shooter with a strong focus on skills, teamwork, vehicular combat and most importantly, fun. In other words, it's everything the folks at 2Dawn have wanted in a modern PC shooter, but have been unable to find.

We recently had a chance to chat with 2Dawn about its upcoming title, its experience with Kickstarter and what it's like developing a PC game as an independent studio.

A report from the PC Gaming Alliance (PCGA) suggests the industry is alive and kicking with record software sales of $18.6 billion in 2011, a 15% increase over 2010. That's partly attributed to China, which is growing nearly twice as fast as the global market...

Like a rollercoaster, 2011 was full of transient highs and enduring lows -- mostly the latter for PC gamers. The year began with a promising lineup, but title after title fell flat. Determined to redeem themselves, developers have readied yet another tantalizing roster.

In fact, many of last year's most anticipated titles have spilled over into 2012, including Diablo III, Guild Wars 2, Mass Effect 3 and Max Payne 3. As usual, we've assembled a list of the hottest PC games expected to hit shelves over the next 12 months.

DRM has been a major point of contention between publishers and gamers in recent years. The former argues that restrictions are needed to prevent piracy, while the latter says that's a load of baloney because DRM-laced software lands on filesharing sites anyway...

Although 2011 had its share of solid PC games, an unfortunate number were riddled with bugs. Rage, Skyrim, Batman: Arkham City, Dead Island, Battlefield 3 and many others caught negative press over buggy launches, prompting swift apologies and patches from their developers...

Twenty-eleven is coming to a rapid conclusion and game makers are preparing to cash in on the holiday season by unleashing some of the year's finest titles. Although some of our most anticipated games wound up being duds on some level, there's still hope for the tailgunners of 2011.

In keeping with tradition, we've assembled a list of 16 PC games that should be on your radar for the frigid months ahead. Titles are ordered by their North American PC release date -- no earlier than September 15 and no later than December 31.