Nintendo outlined its upcoming 3DS release schedule as part of Thursday’s Nintendo Direct presentation, revealing that the sports-themed minigame compilation Mario Sports Superstars will launch in the spring of 2017.
Other games heading to the 3DS include Mario Party: Star Rush, Yo-kai Watch 2, and an expanded selection of StreetPass Mii Plaza titles.
Revealed for the first time earlier today, Mario Sports Superstars assembles an all-star Nintendo cast for a multisport showdown. The game includes what Nintendo describes as “full-fledged” takes on baseball, tennis, golf, soccer, and horse racing. All featured sports include single-player and online multiplayer modes.
Thursday’s showcased footage indicates that players shouldn’t expect much in the way of extras, however. Single-player content appears to be limited to tournament play across multiple difficulty settings, and Nintendo has issued no word regarding a possible campaign or story mode. It’s likely that all featured games will be stripped down in terms of extras, given that Mario Sports Superstars will be competing with existing sports-themed 3DS games like Mario Golf World Tour and Mario Tennis Open.
Thursday also marks the launch of Picross 3D Round 2, a follow-up to the 2010 puzzler Picross 3D. Like its predecessor, Picross 3D Round 2 challenges players to reveal objects hidden within 3D slates by removing puzzle pieces block by block. The game includes more than 300 puzzles, and players can scan amiibo figures to unlock additional challenges. A free demo of Picross 3D Round 2 is available now via the eShop, and the full version is priced at $30.
Nintendo also announced new details regarding its upcoming multiplayer party game Mario Party: Star Rush. The full version will feature seven gameplay modes, including the strategy-oriented Toad Scramble mode and the minigame gauntlet Coinathon. New amiibo figurines, including Daisy, Waluigi, and a glow-in-the-dark Boo, will launch alongside Mario Party Star Rush at retail on November 4.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf fans also have new in-game content to look forward to in the months ahead. A free update will add amiibo compatibility, allowing players to import villagers into their custom-built towns by scanning amiibo figurines and trading cards. A series of 50 new Animal Crossing trading cards will launch later this year, and many introduce new characters that did not originally appear in New Leaf.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf Welcome amiibo, a repackaged version of the game that bundles all previously issued add-on content, is due to hit retail on December 2.
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.