These kids today with their fancy CD players and cassette tapes. In the good old days, we listened to our music on vinyl records, and thanks to Mafia III Collector’s Edition, we’ll get the chance to do it again.
The music of the 1960s was unlike any other period in history, and given Mafia III‘s setting of 1968 New Orleans (which developer Hangar 13 has reimagined as “New Bordeaux”), the extra emphasis on audio seems right at home. Included in the collector’s edition is Mafia III: Official Soundtrack of New Bordeaux, which includes hits from the era from The Animals, Sam Cooke, Jimi Hendrix, and The Rolling Stones, but the collector’s edition also includes a second vinyl of the game’s original score. 2K describes it as “a Rhythm and Blues-inspired tour through a city ruled by organized crime and corrupt officials,” and it will be interesting to see how it’s interwoven with the licensed tracks.
If vinyl isn’t your thing, the collector’s edition has plenty of other goodies as well. The season pass (of course), lithographs from Playboy, a 56-page art book, and a pair of protagonist Lincoln Clay’s dog tags are also included. The best part, however, might be the “faux leather establishment drink coasters,” which will almost certainly confuse your house guests into believing there’s a major city in the United States that has been kept a secret.
The reveal also comes with news that Mafia II, originally released in 2010, will be 80 percent off on Steam from today until June 8. While the titles aren’t intimately connected, 2K notes that main character Vito Scaletta does make an appearance in the sequel.
Mafia III is scheduled to hit Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on October 7. Expect to see much more of it in a couple of weeks at E3. The collector’s edition will set you back at $150.
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.