Microsoft Flight Simulator has a new Game of the Year edition coming to Xbox Series X/S, Windows, and Steam on November 18. This new update of the game brings a load of new content to Flight Simulator along with all the content updates since its 2020 launch.
Microsoft Flight Simulator: Game of the Year Edition also enhances the previous experience of the title with five new aircraft and eight more handcrafted airports. New missions, tutorials, photogrammetric cities, and other features (including an updated weather system and a developer mode replay system) are also being implemented.
The game will add the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, VoloCity, Pilatus PC-6 Porter, CubCrafters NX Cub, and Aviat Pitts Special S1S as aircraft options. The new missions include more of the recently introduced Discovery Flights in new locations such as Singapore, Mount Cook, and Monument Valley. In a blog post, Microsoft notes that it’s adding “information” about 545 United States airports that were previously missing from the game. It’s unclear what exactly that means.
This new edition will be available on Xbox Series X/S, Steam, and Windows through purchase or a Game Pass subscription. That shows Microsoft doubling down on its commitment to launching all first-party games on the service. For those that have already purchased the previous version of Flight Simulator, this Game of the Year update is completely free to download.
Microsoft Flight Simulator is currently available on Xbox Series X/S and Windows 10/11 with Xbox Game Pass and Steam. The Game of the Year edition will be coming to those same marketplaces as well as Xbox and PC Game Pass on November 18, 2021.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.