Some basic details about the story of Gears of War 4 were released in a report from Game Informer Tuesday, in advance of a major feature on the game in its April, 2016, issue.
According to the report, Gears of War 4 picks up 25 years after the conclusion of Gears of War 3, and will feature a “largely new” cast. The game’s story will revolve around JD Fenix, son of the series original protagonist, Marcus Fenix. According to the report, the younger Fenix joined the COG army in his youth, but goes his own way after a “classified incident” that will be revealed during the game. Spartacus star Liam McIntyre will serve as the voice of JD Fenix.
Fenix will reportedly fight with two other — presumably playable — characters. Del Walker, Fenix’ childhood friend who both joins and runs away from the COG army with him, will be voiced by Eugene Byrd, who has played recurring characters on shows such as Bones and Arrow. Kait Diaz, played by veteran game voice actress Laura Bailey, is from a group of Outsiders — survivalists who live independently and without the protection of the COG army — but becomes friends with Fenix.
The report also suggested that the game will feature a gameplay mechanic involving windstorms, which will “radically change the field of battle.”
Rod Fergusson, producer of Gears of War 4 developer The Coalition, and Xbox marketing chief Aaron Greenberg primed the pump for Gears of War 4 hype last week; Fergusson tweeted that Greenberg had recently seen the game, prompting Greenberg to reply that his “mind was blown.”
Gears of War 4 will come to Xbox One (and possibly Windows 10) in Fall 2016. Players who opened Gears of War: Ultimate Edition before March 1 will have access to the game’s as-yet-unscheduled pre-release beta.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.