Among the many reasons that The Witcher 3 was widely praised when it released earlier this year was its massive scope. With “open world” games in ascendance, The Witcher 3 confidently bestrode the globe like the colossus it was and is, with its landmass clocking in at over 35 times larger than the more linear The Witcher 2, and 20 percent larger than the standard gaming world measuring stick, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. And apparently the developer’s next project, the sci-fi RPG Cyberpunk 2077, will be even bigger.
CD Projekt Red visual effects artist Jose Teixeira told MCV that “Cyberpunk is far bigger than anything else that CD Projekt Red has done before. Far, far bigger. We’re really stepping into the unknown in terms of complexity and size and problems we encounter.”
The learning experience of creating The Witcher 3, which was the studio’s first attempt at a truly open world, has directly informed and greatly focused its ability to create the world of Cyberpunk 2077.
“The Witcher helped Cyberpunk quite a bit, because the game got so big and so complex that it really taught us,” Teixeira explained. “We really didn’t know what was going to happen. If anything, working on The Witcher 3 was a really good and often brutal learning experience. Cyberpunk is going to benefit greatly from it. I can almost guarantee it.”
Cyberpunk 2077 is set in a dystopian future not unlike that in the Deus Ex series, where human augmentation has spread rapidly and has destabilized many elements of society. It is based on Mike Pondsmith’s pen-and-paper RPG, Cyberpunk 2020, which was first published in the late 80s. After nearly a decade of swords and sorcery in the world of The Witcher, the developers are probably eager for the change of pace to Cyberpunk’s near-future science fiction.
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.