Square Enix shared details on its latest entry into Kingdom Hearts franchise after data miners recently uncovered the new game inside the Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road mobile game.
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory will launch later this year, according to a Square Enix trailer published to YouTube on Tuesday. The game will be available on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch, making it the first Kingdom Hearts game to land on the Switch. The developer didn’t say whether it would also be available on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X when they launch this holiday season.
The game’s trailer shows several prominent figures from the franchise, including Sora, Goofy, Aladdin, and Donald Duck. And while it’s difficult to say precisely what players can expect from the title, gameplay footage shows a series of rhythm minigames similar to the gameplay in Square Enix’s Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy.
Square Enix shared very little about what to expect from Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory. Even a new website shares little aside from the game’s trailer and gameplay images, and the company did not immediately respond to Digital Trends’ request for more details on the upcoming game.
But that hasn’t stopped speculation from running rampant about the developer’s plans for the future of the Kingdom Hearts franchise after the successful launch of Kingdom Hearts III last year.
Kingdom Hearts director Tetsuya Nomura said in an interview published to the Square Enix website earlier this year that the company is working on two new entries for the franchise, including one that would release “earlier than you would think.” It’s unclear whether he was referring to Melody of Memory.
What is clear, however, is that Kingdom Hearts 4, which rumors suggest will continue the franchise’s main storyline from Kingdom Hearts 3, won’t be available anytime soon.
“We will need some more time to make another traditional, main-series style Kingdom Hearts game,” Nomura said in the interview.
In addition to the Melody of Memory trailer, Square Enix published a Kingdom Hearts 2020 video to YouTube, where it showcases what the company calls “Kingdom Hearts series second phase.” It includes footage of the Kingdom Hearts 3: Re:Mind DLC and the Kingdom Hearts Dark Road mobile game launching on June 22, in addition to Melody of Memory.
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.