The first post-launch patch for Mass Effect: Andromeda will roll out across all platforms this week in a bid to fix the game’s widely criticized lip-sync and facial animation issues.
Mass Effect: Andromeda Patch 1.05 will also introduce several major balance changes while adding a “much-requested” option to skip the many autopilot sequences players will see throughout the game’s lengthy campaign.
Released in March, Mass Effect: Andromeda is a sci-fi action-RPG with a focus on character building and interpersonal relationships. The release marks the series’ first appearance on current-generation consoles, following up on the success of an initial trilogy of games for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PCs.
Unlike previous series entries, Mass Effect: Andromeda is developed by BioWare Montreal, a spinoff studio that was founded in 2009. The studio’s inexperience with the series, combined with tight deadlines imposed by publisher Electronic Arts, ultimately resulted in a product that hit retail with buggy animations, awkward dialogue, and stability issues.
BioWare Montreal will begin addressing Mass Effect: Andromeda‘s various bugs starting this week with the multiplatform release of Patch 1.05. The studio notes that incoming fixes include improved lip-sync and facial acting, the addition of missing sound cues, and corrected collision detection in certain areas.
Players can also expect to see many balance changes across the game’s single-player and multiplayer modes, addressing reported issues with difficulty and progression. Other planned improvements target problems with tutorial placement, save file functionality, voiceover sequences, interactivity following certain cutscenes and events in single-player and multiplayer modes, and “logic, timing, and continuity for relationships and story arcs.”
The game’s first post-launch patch arrives as a downloadable update for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC platforms on Thursday.
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.