Season 2 of Apex Legends is nearly here and Respawn Entertainment will be introducing the new content today but a leak has sprung prior to the planned reveal. In response, Respawn released one of the two trailers which shows the new playable Legend, Wattson, in action and teases an ominous character whose actions change Kings Canyon in a significant way.
The new Apex Legends trailer introduces gamers to season 2, named Battle Charge, and gives us a look at Wattson working alongside Octane and Bangalore. The clip utilizes the same animation style seen in Apex Legends’ launch trailer and gives viewers a stylized look at how Wattson will support her teammates.
Throughout this trailer, a threatening character is shown activating an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) that destroys a tall tower in Kings Canyon. It seems like this particular structure has been keeping creatures out of Kings Canyon so the Apex contests can take place but now they’re spilling into the map. There are various flying dinosaur-like creatures seen in the trailer as well as a massive monster that looks like a walking mountain that stomps through the canyon.
The second leaked trailer, first reported by GameSpot, is in-engine gameplay and shows that these events have changed Kings Canyon in ways that players will witness when they drop back into the battlefield when season 2 goes live on July 2. The collapsed tower remains, destitute areas are now overgrown with greenery, new structures have been built, and more. There are caged creatures and a few roaming free in Kings Canyon, but it isn’t clear how or if they impact gameplay.
A few new legendary weapons and character skins are teased in the trailer and a new energy-based light machine gun called L-Star is shown as well. One clip shows Octane doing flips in the air when diving into battle, which is how Respawn is introducing the new skydive emotes. Last but not least, the tiers for the new ranked game mode were revealed. Players are able to progress through six tiers, from bronze to Apex Predator. The official reveal is happening around 10 a.m. PT on Monday, June 27, and will likely include the two new trailers along with some further details on the new weapon, ranked mode, and more from the Apex Legends developers.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.