As if you needed any further justification to pick up the next installment of the Halo franchise from Microsoft and 343 Industries, here’s another: the soundtrack will be composed by Massive Attack’s producer, Neil Davidge.
When it was announced that Bungie would be leaving behind the franchise that had made it famous (and arguably saved the Xbox in the process), fans were understandably concerned about the future of the series. But as more and more news of the upcoming title is released, there are a lot of good reasons to be excited for when the game is released later this year. And while the music alone probably won’t get anyone to shell out the $60 or so for Halo 4, bringing in the producer of one of the pioneers in electronica music is a good fit and can only help.
Beyond his career as a producer for Massive attack, Davidge has recently made a name for himself creating music for movies, including Luc Besson and Jet Li’s Danny the Dog (later renamed Unchained), the Oscar nominated score for Trouble With Water, and Clash of the Titans. This marks the first foray into video games for Davidge.
“As a passionate ‘Halo’ fan, I’m incredibly honored and thrilled to have the opportunity to compose the score for Halo 4,” Davidge said in a press release. “Music has always been at the heart of what makes ‘Halo’ so captivating and iconic. With Halo 4, we want to build upon the franchise’s amazing legacy and create a score that captures the awe and wonder of the ‘Halo’ universe, and reinforces the deeper and more emotionally impactful journey Master Chief will embark on.”
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.