Fear Effect, an original PlayStation-era horror shooter franchise, may be revived next year in an officially licensed sequel by an independent developer, if the studio can raise enough funding through an upcoming Kickstarter campaign. Fear Effect Sedna, a project from French developer Sushee Games, will reimagine the highly stylized shooter as a turn-based strategy game similar to the XCOM series and 2013 indie Shadowrun Returns. Though the game will be funded and made independently, it comes with the official license and seal of approval from the series’ license holder, Square Enix.
Sedna is the first licensed project approved by Square Enix’ crowdsourcing-based publishing initiative, “The Collective,” which allows independent studios to receive publishing support for crowdfunded games, according to Eurogamer. Sushee is no stranger to the program; the team published its last game, a PC adventure game called Goetia, through the Square Enix Collective. Last year, the studios put out an open call for game ideas based on three of the publisher’s defunct western franchises, Fear Effect, Gex, and Anachronox. In exchange for their support and, in this case, licensing rights, Sushee will pay Square Enix five percent of the funds earned by the Kickstarter campaign, if its successful, and 10 percent of the game’s revenue. The Kickstarter campaign will seek to raise €100,000.
Fear Effect and Fear Effect 2, were cult hits for the PlayStation from the late ’90s and early aughts, which Square Enix acquired with the purchase of western subsidiary, Eidos Interactive. An unreleased third entry in the series was cancelled late in development. As part of the agreement, Sushee was given access to the script and a prototype from Fear Effect 3, and the unreleased game’s story will be canon in the potential sequel’s story. According to the developer, Sedna will take place four year after the events of Fear Effect 3 and will feature the game’s four protagonists, Hana, Rain Qin, Royce Glas, and Jacob “Deke” DeCourt, working as mercenaries. Sushee said it has consulted John Zuur Platten, director of the original Fear Effect games, to ensure the the sequel’s authenticity.
The Fear Effect Sedna Kickstarter campaign will kick off April 12. If successful, Sushee hopes to release the game on PC in “mid-2017.” Console versions will be a campaign stretch goal.
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.