Free-to-play card game Marvel Snap has taken the video game industry by storm, bringing even non-comic book fans on board to enjoy its wild antics. It’s a game with a satisfying loop, a rewarding sense of progression, and plenty to unlock, without ever feeling overwhelming. Despite this, developer Second Dinner still has lots in store for Marvel Snap players, including a new way to play with friends.
After months of waiting, you can finally pair up with your friends to battle it out online. This is thanks to the new Battle Mode in Marvel Snap, which aims to allow a more casual way to play with anyone you’d like.
With Battle Mode, being able to pair with friends is the main draw. You’ll use a match code to find the game you want, and players will have a much more casual experience, without worrying about rank. This way, you’ll get to test out various decks and strategies without any penalties.
In addition, the mode will be based on a health system, wherein players will deal damage by winning matches. Each player starts with 10 health, and — just like the main mode — snapping allows you to double down and raise the stakes (or in this case, the amount of damage you’ll do). You’ll play multiple matches until the final player is left standing, which is a nice change of pace from the standard mode.
As part of the update that went live on January 31, 2023, Battle Mode is featured in Marvel Snap, and you can access it via the new Game Modes menu. From here, you have two options: Create or Join a match.
If you Create a match, you’ll be given a unique Match Code that you can share with your opponent. These codes are five digits long and are specific to this particular match. Then, the other person needs to select Join and must input the aforementioned Match Code where it says Enter Code Here. Select Join after that, and you’ll match up with your friend.
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.