Destiny 2 has been going strong since its release in 2017 and, while laying out the updates featured in version 2.2.2, Bungie is beginning to paint a picture of what players will be experiencing during the summer. Before that, though, players much sharpen their skills for the final opportunity to participate in Iron Banner during the Season of the Drifter and earn the Iron Burden triumph.
Players who have updated to Destiny 2 version 2.2.2 will likely be making a beeline for the Zero Hour, a new secret dungeon quest that will net Guardians the Outbreak Prime exotic pulse rifle. The rifle was vaulted previously but makes its valiant return as a reward for the game’s dedicated community. It’s going to take some hard work and coordination to attain, though, because there is a timer that will be ticking down on each attempt.
Destiny 2’s 2.2.2 patch fixed an issue with an Iron Ruby shader reward just in time for the return of Iron Banner. The shader can be earned by dismantling a reward in your inventory or one of the Iron Banner rewards that you earn during the event’s final phase during the Season of the Drifter. Iron Banner starts at 10 a.m. PT on May 14 and ends at 10 a.m. on May 21. Completing weekly bounties while it’s going on can earn you a new pistol or grenade launcher. This is also the last hurrah for the Iron Burden experiment where players tally their kills with their Power levels lowered by 100.
In a snapshot of the future for Destiny 2, Bungie announced that the Season of Opulence will start on June 4. This coincides with the launch of the new raid, Crown of Sorrow, which launches on the first day of the season. In celebration, the studio is hosting a race to finish the rain on day one for all owners of the Annual Pass. If you’re one of the Guardians lucky enough to have all of your squadmates available for the race, the Crown of Sorrow race will start at 4 p.m. PT on June 4. Each season comes with more challenges and Bungie will be revealing more about the Season of Opulence in the near future.
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.