In celebration of Fallout’s 25th anniversary, Bethesda has announced that Fallout 4 will get an upgrade for the current generation of consoles in 2023. This free update will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC and comes with a variety of new features that take advantage of more powerful hardware.
The upgraded version will include a performance mode that prioritizes high frame rates, in addition to new quality features that boost the game to 4K resolution. This new version of Fallout 4 also offers bug fixes and Creation Club content. Players who already own the game on PS4, Xbox One, and PC will gain access to the current-gen upgrade at no additional cost. It’s unclear how much the game will cost for players buying it for the first time on PS5 or Xbox Series X/S.
Fallout 4 originally launched for PS4, Xbox One, and PC in 2015, and garnered mostly positive reviews. At the time, the game was criticized for its bugs and visuals, so hopefully, the new version for current-gen machines will alleviate some of these issues. Bethesda did not announce a specific release date for this update, but we’ll likely find out more in the coming months. Bethesda also revealed a number of new features coming to Fallout 76. These include the Spooky Scorched Halloween event, new free items added to the Atomic Shop, and additional content for Prime Gaming and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.
The Fallout series began in 1997 and has evolved tremendously since then, venturing into the first-person shooter genre with newer entries and even a management simulation game in Fallout Shelter. Bethesda is currently working on Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI, so it’ll likely be a while before the next mainline Fallout game releases.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.