Microsoft-owned developer Mojang revealed that a new post-apocalyptic content pack inspired by Bethesda’s Fallout series will launch for the console versions of Minecraft in the days ahead, giving players access to 44 new character skins and other exclusive perks.
The upcoming Fallout Mash-Up Pack will also overhaul Minecraft‘s overworld, replacing the game’s once-green pastures with miles of bombed-out wasteland filled with deadly mutated creatures.
After installing the Fallout Mash-Up Pack, Minecraft players will venture into a blocky, low-resolution spoof of Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic RPG series. The pack replaces Minecraft‘s standard heads-up display with a green-tinted UI inspired by Fallout’s Pip-Boy, and players will hear a collection of new background music tracks as they explore the irradiated wastes.
Explorers who survive encounters with the two-headed cows and mutant spiders that populate the Fallout Mash-Up Pack may live to see block-by-block recreations of famous Fallout series locations like Fallout 3‘s Tenpenny Tower and Capitol building. The pack also offers a selection of exclusive skins, transforming player characters and NPCs into familiar faces like Tinker Tom, Nick Valentine, and Fallout series mascot Vault Boy.
The upcoming Fallout Mash-Up Pack is the latest in a string of Mojang-produced resource packs developed specifically for the console versions of Minecraft. The studio previously published Minecraft character and skin packs inspired by games and franchises like Halo, Mass Effect, LittleBigPlanet, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
Mojang partnered with Nintendo earlier this year to produce the Super Mario Mash-Up Pack, which adds Mario-themed music, sound effects, and character skins to the Wii U version of Minecraft. The Super Mario Mash-Up Pack is available as a free download, and is bundled with retail editions of Minecraft for Wii U.
The Fallout Mash-Up Pack is priced at $7, and will launch “soon” for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita platforms.
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.