We already knew that Halo 2: Anniversary‘s multiplayer mode would feature remade takes on the multiplayer maps Ascension and Coagulation, but 343 Industries revealed the third (of six) at its San Diego Comic Con panel: Zanzibar. The multipurpose map previously popped up as a remake — under the moniker Last Resort — in Halo 3, but the Anniversary take is a whole new refresh, as evidence by the pair of concept art images above.
Halo 2: Anniversary is just one piece of the larger package contained within 343 Industries’ Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Much like Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, the remake of Halo 2 features overhauled graphics and a handful of new additions. One of which is completely remade cutscenes from Blur Studio.
The new trailer below offers up a first look at how Blur’s efforts are progression. You’ll also find some stills pulled from the new footage in the gallery up top. Halo 2: Anniversary won’t be sold separately (as far as Microsoft has revealed so far, at any rate), but you’ll be able to grab it as part of The Master Chief Collection when it comes exclusively to Xbox One on November 11.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.