Nintendo just announced a surprise Nintendo Direct livestream coming today, Thursday, September 23. As with most of its Directs since the Switch’s release, Nintendo will be showcasing games coming to the Nintendo Switch in the future. Nintendo Directs always are a cause for excitement, as they tend to bring new game announcements. This one will focus on the company’s winter plans, which could include some surprise news. Here’s what to expect from the show.
Nintendo’s new Direct will air at 3 p.m. PT today, September, 23. Nintendo reports via Twitter that the livestream will run for roughly 40 minutes. That’s about as long as its loaded E3 showcase was this year.
As always, Nintendo air the Direct on its Twitch and YouTube channels. It’s unknown if it will be streaming via Nintendo’s Twitter page this time around.
Nintendo says the Direct will be focusing mainly on Switch games launching this winter. Expect more about Metroid Dread, Shin Megami Tensei V, and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl. Nintendo didn’t specify if it was only talking its 2021 plans, so we can expect to hear more about its January and February lineup too, which includes Pokémon Legends: Arceus. It’s also very likely that the final Super Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC character will finally be revealed during the event, so that’s sure to cause a stir — for better or worse.
As for new announcements, there are a few rumors floating around that could manifest here. Most notably, recent leaks indicate that a collection of Game Boy Advance Castlevania games are coming soon. There’s a good chance we could see that revealed here.
As Nintendo is being a little vague here, it’s not clear what’s out of the question.
Two titles that are ill-advised to look forward to are Bayonetta 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2. The former could always appear, but it’s been a no-show at Nintendo events for a few years, so why start now? As for Zelda, the game just got a major reveal at E3 2021, so it seems unlikely that it’ll get another spotlight this soon.
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.