Diablo III is set to receive its first expansion pack, Reaper of Souls, as Blizzard Entertainment revealed in a Gamescom 2013 press conference. The add-on pack brings new story content to the game, an additional character class (the Crusader), and an assortment of tweaks and enhancements.
The story of the expansion works as a fifth act for the original game, pitting players against Malthael, the fallen Archangel of Wisdom. He’s been absent from the world since the end of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, but he’s back now, with a fresh, new title: Angel of Death. Malthael takes possession of the Black Soulstone, a magical artifact that contains the essence of the Prime Evil. In other words: he’s not exactly a cheerful fellow.
The Crusader is described in the press release as righteous warrior that has been “hardened through relentless, brutal combat with the foul evils plaguing eastern Sanctuary.” This class wears heavy armor and makes use of “cruel and punishing weapons” as well as battle magic “to strengthen allies and weaken foes.” In more succinct terms, the Crusader is fundamentally a tank class that also offers some team and combat support capabilities.
There’s more as well. Reaper of Souls doesn’t just add new story content, and the monsters, quests, and loot to go with it; the expansion also makes changes to some of Diablo III‘s underlying systems. Loot experience allows players to further customize Legendary items, especially with additional item-crafting options available at the Blacksmith and Jeweler.
There’s also an update to the game’s Paragon system incoming, creating new opportunities for end-game play. New modes “Loot Run” and “Nephalem Trials” also aim to give players more to do once they’ve plowed through all the story content. Blizzard’s feature-filled patch updates for Diablo III set a terrifying precedent for proper expansion content, but Reaper of Souls looks like it could deliver. We’ll find out more from hands-on impressions at Gamescom 2013, and from Blizzard’s future updates on the expansion at November’s BlizzCon gathering.
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.