Arms has been out for a few weeks now, so players have had a chance to become comfortable with all 10 characters. July 12 will bring the first major content update, which will introduce Max Brass as a playable character.
Each character in Arms has a unique ability and default glove loadout. Max Brass, or “The Commish,” is a heavy fighter who grows larger when his arms are charged up. Just like Master Mummy, this allows Max Brass to take punches without flinching. He also becomes permanently charged up when his health falls below 20 percent.
Along with Max Brass himself, his default arms all seem to be new as well. The first pair, called Nade, appear to be standard gloves that gain fire elemental when charged. His next pair, called Roaster, look like a set of grenades. They work as standard gloves, except they explode on impact when charged. This increased damage comes with reduced accuracy. His final set of Arms, Kablammer, is a variation of the Whammer. Instead of stunning when charged, this heavy alternative gains an explosive ability.
With every fighter comes a personalized stage. Max Brass joins the league along with Sky Arena, the final stage of the Grand Prix. This outdoor fighting arena sits at the top of a tall skyscraper. In case people weren’t aware of whose stage it was, there is a giant statue of the champ looming over the ring.
Since launch, Max Brass has existed as the title fight of the Grand Prix. He created the Arms League and has acted as reigning champ for years.
Max Brass, his three arms, and his new stage will all be added to Arms via a free update. But that’s not all.
Speaking with Eurogamer, Arms producer Kosuke Yabuki detailed an added surprise for fans — a brand-new versus game mode featuring Hedlok, the most challenging opponent in the game. In the mode, two to three players can battle over a Hedlok mask. The player who secures the mask will transform into Hedlok, while the other player or players will be forced to defeat the player who now has Hedlok’s powerful abilities (and six devastatingly strong arms). Yabuki didn’t reveal the name of the game mode, but it will be available in both online and offline game modes.
More fighters, stages, and arms will be added in the future. These updates will continue to be free.
In our review, we said Arms had surprising depth, nuance, and strategy, with a good variety of modes to keep things busy. For anyone who is just getting into Arms, or is having difficulty improving, check out our Arms Beginner’s Guide for some helpful tips and tricks.
Updated on 07-11-2017 by Steven Petite: Added details about the new game mode.
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.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
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.