We got the news on Thursday that Dragon Age: The Veilguard is set to release on October 31, along with how best to preorder it. As with most AAA studio releases, there are multiple editions you can buy, from a standard edition with just the game and a preorder bonus to a deluxe edition with a bunch of cosmetics.
BioWare and publisher Electronic Arts are also offering special editions with some The Veilguard merchandise, but oddly, unlike other special editions, they don’t come with a copy of the game.
These packages are called “physical item bundles,” and they come with, well, physical items only. The biggest one is the Rook’s Coffer edition, which costs $150. The highlight of the set is the Lyrium Dagger replica, which lights up, but you’ll also get a card deck, an “enchanted” D12 die, a glass potion flask, a cloth map and quiver, a companion lithograph, and a thank you letter from the developers.
Then, there’s the Vyrantium Pack by Scanvo, which comes with a steelbook case for your physical game copy (that doesn’t come in the box), a metal print and magnet wall mount, a notebook, and a collector’s outerbox. There’s no pricing listed.
I can see the reasoning here. On one hand, people might just want the gear, especially if they happen to already own or be able to get a copy of the game. The BioWare store also has some merch available to purchase separately. On the other, these physical item bundles are still just as expensive as a collector’s edition if you have to buy the game separately (as most people will if they’re looking for preorder information). Plus, there are restrictions in place to dissuade scalpers; you can only buy the Rook’s Coffer edition on its own and not paired with other items from the BioWare store.
There’s other strange pricing discrepancies, too. A copy of The Veilguard on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S will cost $10 more than the PC version, regardless if you’re getting digital or physical or if you’re getting the deluxe edition or standard.
So say you want the Rook’s Coffer edition along with a console copy of the game. That’ll cost you $220. It’s not much more than other collector’s editions; the Assassin’s Creed Shadows Collector’s Edition from GameStop costs $280, and Star Wars Outlaws Ultimate Edition that costs $130 only comes with digital items and three-day early access. If anything, these The Veilguard physical editions just show that video game release pricing is just becoming more complicated for the consumer.
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.