It’s another Tuesday so you know what that means. Epic Games has released the Fortnite weekly content update 5.40.2 that changes up both the Battle Royale PvP mode as well as the Save the World PvE portion. This latest update arrives just before the season five week 10 challenges release. The update brings with it only a few changes but includes some pretty notable ones that players will want to know about.
For starters, the Fortnite update 5.40.2 patch notes remove the controversial Drum Gun. This machine gun is the latest weapon to be vaulted by Epic Games alongside the likes of the jetpack and the crossbow. Surprisingly, Epic Games hasn’t given an official reason as to why the Drum Gun has been vaulted but it has been a weapon that fans have disliked for some time now.
The Drum Gun was known to be pretty overpowered at both close and mid-range, allowing users to devastate opponents with ease. It didn’t help that the Drum Gun also had the added benefit of destroying walls and structures quickly. Though the overpowered Drum Gun is gone, the new Suppressed Assault Rifle has stepped up to takes its place in Battle Royale.
The Fortnite update 5.40.2 patch notes introduce the Suppressed Assault Rifle, a precise automatic weapon that is best suited for taking down enemies swiftly and quietly. The Suppressed Assault Rifle is much quieter than the normal version, allowing for players to sneak up on enemies and attack from afar without giving away their position. While not the beast that the Drum Gun was, the Suppressed Assault Rifle is sure to shake up Battle Royale from here on since it encourages a more stealthy approach to matches.
Outside of those two major changes to Battle Royale, there are a few important bug fixes that come with the Fortnite update 5.40.2 patch notes to the Getaway limited time mode. These fix issues with the jewel and certain equipped outfits. Though the Battle Royale changes are meager this week, update 5.40.2 gives some love to the Save the World PvE mode in Fortnite.
Save the World players can now hop onto the battlefield with the new character Field Agent Rio. The Field Agent comes with a brand-new subclass Rook that players can check out. Field Agent Rio arrives alongside the week six Horde challenges that task Save the World players with taking out assassin Husks while having no shields.
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.