Ubisoft has provided more information about Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which takes place in Baghdad and is set 20 years before the events of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The open-world game will launch in 2023 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Amazon Luna.
The game’s new protagonist is named Basim. Originally born in Samarra, Basim goes from a cunning street thief to a master assassin with the help of his mentor, Roshan, played by Iranian-American actress Shohreh Aghdashloo. Basim flees Baghdad and joins an ancient organization called the Hidden Ones in its stronghold called Alamut. Here, Roshan takes Basim under her wing, making him her first true apprentice.
Ubisoft is offering a collector’s edition, which includes the deluxe version of the game, and a DLC pack inspired by the Prince of Persia series. It also comes with a steelbook case, a selected soundtrack, a figurine of Basim, a replica of Basim’s brooch, a map of Baghdad, and a digital art book. The whole package will cost $150.
Mirage wasn’t the only Assassin’s Creed title shown during the stream. Ubisoft also officially revealed three new installments of the franchise. Assassin’s Creed Codename: Jade is a mobile game set in China and includes a character customizer. Assassin’s Creed Codename: Red was also officially announced. It takes place in Japan, with development led by Ubisoft Quebec. The mysterious Assassin’s Creed Codenamed Hexe is being developed by Ubisoft Montreal.
While details on Hexe weren’t provided, it has been reported that it will take place during the Holy Roman Empire and will involve witch trials. Both Red and Hexe are reportedly not expected to release until at least early 2024.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.