Rebecca Spear
Self-professed geek, Rebecca Spear, is one of Windows Central's gaming editors with a focus on Xbox and PC gaming. When she isn't checking out the latest titles on Xbox Game Pass, PC, or Steam Deck; she can be found digital drawing with a Wacom tablet. She's written thousands of game guides, previews, interviews, features, and hardware reviews over the last few years. If you need information about anything gaming related, her articles can help you out. She also loves testing game accessories and any new tech on the market. Drawing tablets and drawing programs like Adobe Fresco and Photoshop are among her chief interests.
When away from electronics, she loves taking her corgi, Penny, out to the river to go swimming and is always up for a game of volleyball. Otherwise, you'll most often find her curled up with a fantasy or sci-fi novel as her cats purr on her lap. She also loves attending comic conventions while cosplaying as her favorite video game characters. Her house is filled with gaming collectibles and posters and she's always on the lookout for more.
Latest articles by Rebecca Spear

Where to find all the Gobstones for Zenobia in Hogwarts Legacy
By Rebecca Spear published
Collect all six Zenobia Noke wants help collecting the six Gobstones that have been taken from her. Here is where you can find them.

Hogwarts Legacy Dogweed and Deathcap location: Where to get Mandrake, Venomous Tentacula, and Chinese Chomping Cabbage
By Rebecca Spear published
Plant shop Dogweed and Deathcap is a helpful store in Hogsmeade, but it’s a bit harder to find than most of the other shops in this magic village.

Hogwarts Legacy: How to solve floating candles map Ghost of Our Love quest
By Rebecca Spear published
House differences The Ghost of Our Love quest in Hogwarts Legacy is different depending on what Hogwarts house you are in. Here’s the solution regardless of how you’re playing.

How to get a large pot in Hogwarts Legacy: Unlock Large Potting Tables
By Rebecca Spear published
Green thumb You can grow your own plants for potion ingredients in Hogwarts Legacy, but you'll need to get a large pot if you want to grow certain helpful vegetation. Here's how to do that.

Where to find Troll Bogeys in Hogwarts Legacy
By Rebecca Spear published
Troll Bogeys! You can brew several potions in Hogwarts Legacy, but one of the most important ingredients is Troll Bogeys. Here's where to find them.

All 30 Hogwarts Legacy Demiguise Statue locations list
By Rebecca Spear published
Moonlight magic You can unlock various doors and chests using Alohomora In Hogwarts Legacy, but to do so you have to collect Demiguise Statues.

Best PC games of all time: Our top picks you should play in 2023
By Rebecca Spear last updated
Must-play PC games There are hundreds of classic PC games out there, but these are the very best titles. If you haven't played these before then you really ought to.

How to solve the Hogwarts Legacy Merlin Trials
By Rebecca Spear published
Magic puzzles There are dozens of Merlin Trials puzzles to solve when exploring outside of Hogwarts. Here is how to complete each of the puzzles you encounter.

Hogwarts Legacy Eye Chests: How to open them
By Rebecca Spear published
Eye on the prize There are Eye Chests hidden all over the place in Hogwarts Legacy and they usually contain 500 Galleons. Here's how to open them.

How to choose the best wand in Hogwarts Legacy
By Rebecca Spear published
Swish and flick! Near the start of your Hogwarts adventure, you'll be able to create your own wand. There are several options to choose from.

How to solve the door puzzles in Hogwarts Legacy
By Rebecca Spear published
Math at Hogwarts Hogwarts Legacy is full of puzzles and one of the ones that gives the best rewards are the puzzle doors in the castle. Here's how to solve them.

Review: Hogwarts Legacy wants to fulfill your wizarding wishes
By Rebecca Spear last updated
Muggles unite! Hogwarts Legacy manages to fulfill every Harry Potter fantasy — the non-erotic ones anyway.

How to enable Steam Deck Performance Overlay — See FPS, GPU/CPU data, and more
By Rebecca Spear published
Check game performance It's possible to see how well the games you are playing are running on Steam Deck. With just a few clicks you can check frame rate and other performance aspects.

Review — Age of Empires 2 for Xbox, by some miracle, has truly amazing controls
By Rebecca Spear last updated
Finally on Xbox Series X Age of Empires 2 has long been one of the very best RTS games ever made and now it's finally been brought to Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S in a way that doesn't tarnish its glory.

Phil Spencer is "more confident" in the Activision Blizzard deal now than he was a year ago
By Rebecca Spear published
Xbox CEO Xbox CEO Phil Spencer stated in an interview that he is more confident in the Activision Blizzard deal now than he was a year ago. Many other aspects of Xbox in 2023 were also discussed.

NVIDIA reveals GeForce Now DLSS 3 boosts for Hitman 3 and Marvel's Midnight Suns
By Rebecca Spear published
Boosted gaming Improved visuals and performance are rolling out with NVIDIA RTX 4080 SuperPODs.

Everything announced during Xbox Developer_Direct
By Rebecca Spear published
From the developers Today's presentation gave gamers insights into an upcoming Elder Scrolls Online update as well as gameplay info for Hi-Fi Rush, Minecraft Legends, Forza Motorsport, and Redfall.

Xbox Game Pass hit "new highs," with the platform hitting 120M monthly active users
By Rebecca Spear published
Looking up Microsoft released its FY23 Q2 earnings this morning and while it wasn't all positive, Xbox Game Pass seems to be doing incredibly well.

Where to watch the Xbox Developer_Direct
By Rebecca Spear published
Upcoming games The first Xbox Developer_Direct is fast approaching and will showcase creators talking about their upcoming games or updates to existing ones.

Monster Hunter Rise: Beginner's tips for new Xbox and PC players
By Rebecca Spear last updated
Take 'em down fast There are several things to keep in mind if you want to take down Monster Hunter Rise monsters in the most efficient ways possible.

Paradox unveils a strategy duo: 'Age of Wonders 4' and 'Surviving the Abyss' head to Xbox and PC
By Rebecca Spear published
Fantasy strategy Today Age of Wonders 4 was announced for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5. It looks to be a good continuation of an already-established strategy gaming series.

Hogwarts Legacy for Xbox Series X and PC: Gameplay and everything you need to know
By Jennifer Locke, Rebecca Spear last updated
Wizarding open-world Interested in Hogwarts Legacy, the upcoming Harry Potter RPG? We've gathered everything you'll need to know about it, from its gameplay to its story and release date.

As Blizzard ends operations in China, things at NetEase have reportedly turned hostile
By Rebecca Spear published
Save your game locally Due to an end of an agreement between Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase, millions of game accounts in China will be suspended soon.
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