During the June 2024 Nintendo Direct, Nintendo announced that an HD remaster for Donkey Kong Country Returns will release on January 16, 2025 for the Nintendo Switch.
It’s unknown which studio is handling the remaster, but the game’s original developer was Retro Studios. It was the first game in the Donkey Kong series that did not involve original developer Rare, which Microsoft acquired in 2002.
The game’s trailer shows off a few of the levels with their upgraded visuals. The HD remaster will include the levels that were in the Nintendo 3DS version, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, which was developed by Monster Games. The game will have 80 levels total and will feature two player local co-op.
So far, it doesn’t seem like Donkey Kong Country Returns HD will get any new content. It will just be complete package containing both the Wii and 3DS versions.
Donkey Kong Country Returns got a sequel later in 2014 with Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze on Wii U. While it was critically acclaimed, some criticized it for its high difficulty. When it was ported to Switch in 2018, it offered a new “Funky mode” that was essentially the game’s “easy mode.”
Retro Studios also handled Metroid Prime Remastered last year, and is currently working on Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. Its development was rebooted in 2019 and it is finally coming in 2025. However, it’s unclear whether it’ll launch for the current Nintendo Switch platform or its successor. In the meantime, Retro Studios is working on the Donkey Kong Country Returns HD remaster.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.