The excitement surrounding Halo Infinite‘s big unveiling this week is palpable. And studio 343 Industries only stoked the flames on Wednesday with box art that sheds some light on what the game may offer at launch.
The Halo development house unveiled its official Halo Infinite box art, complete with Master Chief featured prominently in a field with a broken down Halo installation. Master Chief is holding a gun and staring back.
Microsoft plans to hold its July games showcase on Thursday, where it plans to showcase the first glimpse at Halo Infinite campaign gameplay. Microsoft and 343 Industries haven’t revealed much about their plans but have said that Halo Infinite will feature prominently during the event. Digital Trends will be following the showcase and reporting on its announcements in real time. It starts at 9 a.m. PT.
Although the game’s unveiling is less than a day away, Halo fans haven’t stopped searching for clues. Even in the box art, players have been trying to find details about what the game will offer.
Master Chief’s visor may tell a tale. Eagle-eyed observers noticed that another in-game character’s reflection can be seen on Master Chief’s visor. It’s unclear who the character is, but players have postulated that it’s the game’s antagonist and perhaps a member of The Banished faction that’s expected to play a role in the game.
Several recent rumors have suggested Halo Infinite will feature a variety of mobility changes that will pave the way for better Master Chief movement. In addition to sprinting, which was floated earlier this week, rumormongers also say a grappling hook could be used in the game. The box art appears to show a grappling hook on Master Chief’s left arm.
It’s been a long wait for a new entrant into the main Halo franchise. The last release, Halo 5: Guardians, launched in 2015. Halo Wars 2, which isn’t part of the main storyline, launched in 2017.
Halo Infinite is slated to launch later this year but neither Microsoft nor 343 Industries have announced an official launch date. It will be available on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC when it hits store shelves.
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.