Fans excited to play Fallout 4 have been eagerly dissecting every scrap of information shared by developer Bethesda in the lead-up to the game’s long-anticipated November 10 release. Previously only shared in closed-door sessions at conventions like E3 and Gamescom, a newly-released video finally delves into how perks and character development will work in the open-world role-playing game.
In the Fallout franchise, perks are special traits and abilities that unlock over the course of gameplay, allowing players to customize how their character survives and thrives in the post-apocalyptic wasteland. These range from simple bonuses when using particular types of weapons to more radical abilities like healing through cannibalism, or a chance for shot enemies to explode in a bloody mess of gore and viscera. In Bethesda’s previous entry, Fallout 3, players chose one perk for each level from a growing selection that was gated by level and stat requirements.
Fallout 4 changes that model by doing away with level requirements, at least for the base level of every perk. Instead perks are laid out on a grid, with one corresponding to each SPECIAL stat value from 1 to 10. Players can select any perk for which their stats qualify them right from the start of the game. Each perk then has multiple levels that add new abilities, some of which still do have level requirements. For instance, anyone with a 10 in charisma can select Intimidation, which gives them a chance to pacify lower-level human enemies by pointing a gun at them. At level 23 this can be upgraded so that pacified enemies can be incited to violence, and at level 50 you can give them specific commands.
All in all, there are 70 base perks, with multiple ranks bringing it up to 275 different abilities available for character customization. Allowing for players to choose any of the initial 70 if they meet the stat requirements will open up a much wider range of character builds right out of the gate than was possible previously, when players only had a handful of options available at level 1. Bethesda has underlined player freedom as a central design principle of the upcoming game, and this is certainly a strong move in that direction for its core systems.
Fallout 4 arrives on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on November 10, 2015.
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.