Being a voice actor on a video game is not an easy gig. The hours are long, often the pay is low, and you can spend an entire day just making strange noises over and over again.
On the other hand, you sometimes get some really cool swag out of the deal.
Bungie recently rewarded Nathan Fillion, the voice of Cayde-6 from the blockbuster franchise with his very own Destiny Ace of Spades Exotic Hand Cannon. Created by Impact Props, it’s a replica of the iconic weapon from Destiny introduced in The Taken King expansion.
The company also created prop replicas for some of the other voice actors in the game, including a helmet mask for Bill Nighy (The Speaker) and a Titan mark for Lance Reddick (Zavalva). You can see more of their work at their official site and on their Twitter feed.
Bungie has a history of commissioning expensive props for their games that would be the envy of any ComiCon cosplayer. However, sometimes it turns out that carrying a realistic-looking rifle through the streets is not a good idea.
Destiny 2 is a massive multiplayer online futuristic first-person shooter that improves on the original game in almost every way. Although it has the feel of a work in progress, it’s got an ardent fanbase that’s euphoric over the new content. It’s even got a smartphone companion app. If you’re new to the series and a little hesitant to dive in and start blasting aliens, check out our explainer that will catch you up on all the story elements from the first game.
Fillion is probably best known for his role in Firefly as Captain “Mal” Reynolds and, more recently, the TV series Castle. An accomplished gaming voice actor, he has a history with Bungie, with roles in Halo 5: Reach, Halo 3, and Halo 3: ODST.
The Beastie Boys rarely allow their music to be used in advertisements, but if you’re not already sick of Sabotage, you can see Nathan in action in the insane live-action trailer for the game. “Puppies!”
Destiny 2 was released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 6. A PC release (a first for the series) is slated for October 24.
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.