Microsoft has announced that it will offer a pre-release, beta version of Halo 3 via its Xbox Live online gaming service in spring 2007. The test edition will mark the fifth anniversary of the company’s Halo video game franchise; the pre-release will only be available for the Xbox 360, but will offer multiplayer capability.
To tease the third installment of the game series, Microsoft will also stage a one-time airing of a 60-second Halo 3 advertisement on ESPON’s Monday Night Football on December 4, 2006. The company also plans to offer new, Xbox 360-exclusive downloadable content for its existing Halo 2 game this holiday season.
“The ‘Halo’ Nation has a nearly insatiable desire,” said Jeff Bell,corporate VP of global marketing for Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business. “We hope a taste of advance Halo 3 gameplay satisfies some of their appetite as we count down to the game’s launch later in 2007.”
According to Microsoft, Halo 3 will offer a climax to the Halo story, following Master Chief as he brings the conflict between the Covenant, the Flood, and the human race to a conclusion. Halo 3 will boast a number of technical and gameplay improvements by leveraging the capabilities of the Xbox 360 console; Microsoft plans to use the pre-release to collect feedback and refine the eventual commercial release of Halo 3. The installment will offer enhanced AI, improved high-definition visuals, an advanced real-time lighting engine, plus a myriad of new weapons, characters, and obstacles.
Microsoft also plans to introduce new multiplayer makes for Xbox 360-equipped Halo 2 players in early 2007.
Microsoft has inked a deal with Oscar winners Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh to craft a new game series set in the Halo universe, as well as an original game franchise. Jackson and Walsh also started work on a Halo feature film, although production was recently suspended after studios Universal and Fox backed out of financing the project.
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.