Nintendo is giving fans of Kirby’s latest 3D adventure, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, the chance to go back in time and experience his first time taking a third-dimensional adventure. The next Nintendo 64 title hitting Nintendo Switch Online’s Expansion Pack membership is Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, and it’s coming May 20.
Nintendo Switch Online is Nintendo’s membership that allows players to not only play online but also gives access to tons of retro titles from the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo consoles. The Expansion Pack brings Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis titles to the membership at an extra price. This add-on costs more but is becoming a great value considering how much Nintendo has added to it, including all of Mario Kart 8: Deluxe‘s DLC and Splatoon 2‘s Octo-Expansion.
An iconic platformer featuring one of the Kirby’s creepiest final bosses, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards is the latest title coming to the membership. It joins the likes of other available Nintendo 64 games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Banjo-Kazooie, Star Fox 64, Paper Mario, Super Mario 64, and more.
According to an official financial results briefing interview with Nintendo representative director and president, Shuntaro Furukawa, and executive officer, Hajime Murakami, Nintendo Switch Online’s Expansion Pack is doing especially well with U.S. subscribers. The interview confirmed that due to positive reception, it plans to continue expanding the service. This continued growth may mean even more perks other than added games, similar to what Xbox does with Game Pass.
Nintendo Switch Online Expansion members can witness everyone’s favorite pink puffball’s first 3D title via the Switch on May 20.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.