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Fall Guys is going free to play ahead of Switch, Xbox launch

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is going free-to-play as Mediatonic brings the game to more platforms.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, 2020’s free-for-all battle royale party hit, is going free-to-play two years after its original release. The bean-filled game is also brawling its way to even more platforms, including Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and the Epic Games Store.

Fall Guys originally released in 2020 on the PlayStation 4 through PS Plus and PC via Steam for $20. With the game making its way to other platforms, crossplay is finally being implemented, allowing beans to play together regardless of console.

Not only is the game going free-to-play, but an all-new season is on the way titled “Free For All.” The new chapter of the knockout game brings fresh rewards, events, progression systems, levels, and challenges. Like Fortnite, Fall Guys is also introducing a new in-game currency called “Show-Bucks,” which can be used to purchase the season pass. While a new currency is being introduced, Kudos and the existing free progression pass will remain implemented.

Mediatonic is also giving something to those players who previously purchased Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout before its new free-to-play transition. Anyone that’s paid for the full game will receive a free Legacy Pack bundle featuring the three costumes Veggie Dog, Regal, and Feisty Dwarf. Early adopters also get the free premium season pass for the new Free For All season, complete with 100 Tiers.

Fall Guys‘ new free-to-play update and console ports to Xbox, Switch, and Epic Games Store will drop on June 21. Players can also get in on the new FTP fun by preregistering on the Fall Guys website, which gives access to exclusive perks.

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.