As James Cameron’s Avatar series is finally ready to hit the big screen again, Ubisoft is preparing to release its own official Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (blue guys, not airbenders) game in the coming months. The game promises to be a showcase of just what the latest consoles like the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 can do as players will be able to explore the beautiful world of Pandora (blue guys, not vault hunters). Here’s everything we know!
Frontiers of Pandora was set for a 2022 launch but has been delayed until at least March 2023.
“We are committed to delivering a cutting-edge immersive experience that takes full advantage of next-gen technology, as this amazing global entertainment brand represents a major multiyear opportunity for Ubisoft,” the company said on a recent earnings call.
Cameron’s next big Avatar movie, which is supposed to be followed by three more sequels in the coming years, is set to launch sometime at the end of 2022.
Frontiers of Pandora will be available on PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Google Stadia, and Amazon Luna. Developers used the Snowdrop engine to create it, and it’s expected to be one of the best-looking games on consoles this year … which is also why it’s not available on older console generations, and you’ll want a powerful device (and bandwidth) if you’re playing over something like Luna or Stadia.
In 2021, the game received a first-look trailer that remains the most expansive view that we’ve had so far. Unsurprisingly, the cinematics highlight the verdant growth and alien wildlife of Pandora. We get to see a lot of creatures, plus some bad guy warfare and a bit of aerial combat.
Unfortunately, we don’t get to see any gameplay, so there are still many unanswered questions. Ubisoft calls the game a first-person, action-adventure title that sports an immersive, open-world experience. If the trailer reminded you of Horizon Forbidden West or one of the Far Cry titles, you’re not alone, but we don’t know much beyond that.
Ubisoft is keeping the story of Frontiers of Pandora largely hidden at this time, but there are a few things worth noting. First, the publisher has been clear that this is an independent story that’s connected to neither past nor future Avatar movies. You can play the game without getting any spoilers for the movie, and vice versa.
Otherwise, we know that you will “play as a Na’vi and embark on a journey across the Western Frontier, a never-before-seen part of Pandora.” This will require you to “push back the formidable RDA forces that threaten it.” That RDA is the Resources Development Administation, aka the human baddies trying to exploit Pandora for its resources with the help of a not-insignificant army. Players will be fighting them in a “living and reactive world,” and developers have mentioned that NPCs will have fully active 24-hour schedules that will shift depending on events in the world.
While Frontiers of Pandora hasn’t been explicitly called a single-player game, there does not appear to be any multiplayer aspects at this time.
There’s no pricing info or pre-order options yet. Far Cry 6 sold for $59.99, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla sold for $59.99, and we don’t expect anything different for Frontiers of Pandora at this time, aside from any premium bundles that may be offered. Ubisoft also loves its season passes with extra content, so we suspect one of those will be present, too.
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.