Steam owners of Hitman 3 are getting free edition upgrades for the game courtesy of its development team, IO Interactive. The free updates come in the wake of a somewhat lackluster launch for the Steam version of the game that resulted in a loud uproar from adopters of the platform.
Hitman 3 originally released for PC platforms exclusively through the Epic Games Store. After a year of solely being available in Epic’s marketplace, it arrived on Steam without a markdown in price, much to the dismay of those who waited for the end of the exclusivity period.
The game received countless mixed to negative reviews on Steam due to it being a full $60 even after being on the market for a year. Many people cited other Steam late launch discounts that were brought on due to an exclusivity deal waiting period.
IO heard the complaints and announced that it would work to amend the ill will by releasing free upgrades to all Hitman 3 Steam copies purchased from launch day through to Feb 19. The updates upgrade standard editions of the game to the deluxe edition and deluxe or trilogy copies to the Seven Deadly Sins Collection.
“Ultimately, we didn’t meet our own expectations of a launch experience,” IO Interactive stated in a press release, “and we don’t like that our Steam community is beginning their Hitman 3 journey in this way.”
The upgrade process reportedly begins today and rolls out automatically via Steam entitlements. All owners of the titles have to do is launch their Steam copy of Hitman 3 and the new content from the free upgrade will be available.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.