The public beta for Fable Legends, the upcoming multiplayer free-to-play entry in Microsoft’s action-RPG series, has been pushed back to “Spring 2016,” according to a blog post on the game’s official website. Originally set to begin during the 2015 holiday season, developer Lionhead Studios has opted to extend their current private beta, which has been underway since October 16.
According to the post, Lionhead decided to hold off on opening the beta because of the game’s increased scope, which combines “RTS and RPG gameplay.”
“To be honest, we didn’t anticipate just how big Fable Legends is becoming,” the post explained. “It’s simply the most ambitious game we’ve ever created at Lionhead.”
The studio also noted that the game includes platform cross-play between Windows 10 and Xbox One, but does not directly state that the system played a role in the decision. According to previous reports, cross-play in Fable Legends will allow players to swap their accounts between platforms. Though the game is free-to-play, Xbox One users must have an Xbox Live Gold membership to play any game online.
In the meantime, the studio said it will add 100,000 new players into the current test from the beta sign-up list in the coming weeks, as well as “lots” of new content, including quests, features, heroes, and creatures.
The release timetable for Legends has remained a source of contention for fans. Over the summer, Lionhead denied reports that the game would be released outright in October. With “hundreds of thousands” of players already accessing the game and many more to come, the distinction between the game’s public beta and an official launch date may end up being a matter of semantics.
Players interested in joining the private and, eventually, public beta for Fable Legends can sign up here.
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.