If you haven’t been keeping up with the Kingdom Hearts games over the years, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll have absolutely no idea what’s going on in Kingdom Hearts III. Ahead of that game’s release next year, Square Enix is offering up Kingdom Hearts — The Story So Far, a bundle that will get you all caught up on the lore and history to date.
Kingdom Hearts – The Story So Far is a bundle containing two other compilations. Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX includes seven different games. They are Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days, Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix, and Kingdom Hearts Re: coded.
Confused yet? If you are, that may be because Kingdom Hearts 2D 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is also included in the bundle. That compilation includes the games Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD, Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep — A fragmentary passage — as well as the Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover movie.
Known by many for its rather confusing timeline and story, the compilation should give you what you need to prepare for Kingdom Hearts III. It’s the most cohesive collection of the series to date and will make a lovely addition to any Kingdom Hearts fan’s collection.
You won’t be getting the original experience for Chain of Memories, however, which was first released on Game Boy Advance and remade later for the PlayStation 2 with visuals more in line with the rest of the series. The latter is the version included in The Story So Far collection.
The only setback is that Square Enix doesn’t include a timeline for the series with the Kingdom Hearts – The Story So Far collection so you’ll have to do a little research before embarking on your journey. The good news is, you should have no trouble as there is plenty of information on the Kingdom Hearts lore available on the web.
Kingdom Hearts – The Story So Far is available now on the Square Enix store, and on Amazon. It released for PlayStation 4 on October 30, followed by Kingdom Hearts III for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on January 25, 2019. The latter game has been delayed numerous times, and is the first true numbered sequel in more than 13 years.
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.