Blizzard just released a patch for Diablo II, a game they released back in the year 2000. That’s right: this game came out so long ago people were still saying “the year” in front of “2000,” and Blizzard just patched it.
The patch, version 1.14, doesn’t add any gameplay or mechanic tweaks, according to Ars Technica. Instead, it lets the game work on new operating systems, including Windows 10 and OS X El Capitan.
“There is still a large Diablo II community around the world, and we thank you for continuing to play and slay with us,” a Blizzard developer wrote on the BattleNet forums. “This journey starts by making Diablo II run on modern platforms, but it does not end there. See you in Sanctuary, adventurers.”
The update will be particularly welcome to Mac users, who haven’t been able to run the game in any form since Apple transitioned to Intel chips way back in 2005. But Windows users should have a much easier time getting Diablo II to run after the patch, which reduces glitches.
Diablo II came out 16 years ago, at the turn of the century. Even its sequel, Diablo III, came out back in 2012 — four years ago, an eternity in a gaming industry generally obsessed with the next big thing.
For Blizzard to release a patch for a game this old shows a dedication fans will no doubt appreciate. And it seems like there’s more to come: The company posted a job application a few months ago for a “senior software engineer, classic games,” who would own implementation and curation of features new and old.
So this probably isn’t the first updated installer we’ll see for a classic Blizzard game, and it likely isn’t the only update we’ll see for Diablo II — which, after 16 years, is more than fans could ask for. Who would have thought the game would still get official patches two years after extend support for Windows XP ended?
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.