PlatinumGames’ over-the-top action-role-playing game Buy Now is heading to PC platforms less than two weeks after its PlayStation 4 debut, publisher Square Enix revealed Friday.
Originally announced as a PlayStation 4 exclusive, Nier: Automata will hit Steam on March 17 alongside an array of Day One Edition bonus content, including a platform-exclusive Valve Character Accessory.
Nier: Automata is a hack-and-slash action game that takes place in a post-apocalyptic dystopia. Players explore miles of jagged metallic wasteland as android protagonist 2B, who seeks control of the surrounding robotic metropolis alongside her fellow synthetic humans.
Nier: Automata serves as a direct follow-up to 2010’s Nier, a fantasy-themed action-RPG that earned a cult following in the years after its release. Though it features hack-and-slash gameplay mechanics at its core, Nier frequently veers off into unexpected territory, confronting players with fishing challenges, visual novel sequences, and boss battles inspired by bullet hell shoot-’em-ups. It’s likely that Nier: Automata will follow suit with similar gameplay switch-ups throughout.
Bayonetta and Transformers: Devastation developer PlatinumGames is heading up development of Nier: Automata, taking creative control of the series following the closure of franchise creator Cavia in 2010. Nier director Yoko Taro has returned to direct the upcoming sequel, however, ensuring that Automata will match the unconventional gameplay standards established by its predecessor and its PlayStation 3 spinoff Drakengard 3.
Players who prepurchase the Steam Day One Edition of Nier: Automata will receive a free digital bundle of bonus character skins, accessories, and costumes, including the Machine Mask Accessory, Grimoire Weiss Pod, Retro Grey Pod Skin, Retro Red Pod Skin, and Cardboard Pod Skin. Early adopters will also get a “Valve Character Accessory,” though details regarding the platform-specific perk are not yet known.
Nier: Automata launches for the Buy Now on March 7. A digital Buy Now will unlock via Steam on March 17.
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.