In a press release on Thursday morning, June 6, Nintendo detailed the games fans can expect to see on the showroom floor at E3 2019. Titles such as Pokémon Sword and Shield, Luigi’s Mansion 3, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order were all confirmed to be in attendance, but one of the most anticipated Nintendo titles of 2019 was not included: Animal Crossing.
While this doesn’t necessarily mean that it won’t an appearance at E3 at all, especially since the release mentions these games are “in addition to other games playable in Nintendo’s booth,” its absence from the list could spark concern among fans that have been waiting to hear more about the long-awaited title.
More about Animal Crossing could be in the plans for the Nintendo Direct scheduled for Tuesday morning, June 11. The statement alludes to this by adding in a reassuring line about how fans can expect to “hear details about additional upcoming titles for Nintendo Switch.” The direct will be followed up by a Nintendo Treehouse: Live on Thursday, June 13, which will have a focus on indie games.
Nintendo goes on to detail all the other activities fans can participate in, in addition to the Direct and Treehouse events, during the week of E3 2019. There will be several game tournaments held on Saturday, June 8 that will include a Super Mario Maker 2 Invitational, Splatoon 2 World Championship, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate World Championship. Remote viewers can join in on the fun by tuning in on Nintendo’s YouTube and Twitch channels.
Fans can also play Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order ahead of release by visiting one of the 80 Best Buy locations participating in an early access event. Participating locations can be found on the Best Buy website.
Nintendo New York will also be holding free, open-to-the-public activities of its own that include viewing parties for all the E3 Nintendo Events (tournaments, Direct, and Treehouse) along with hands-on time with the games “featured at E3”.
In celebration of E3 2019, A Nintendo eShop sale will kick off on June 11 at 10 a.m. PT, and run through June 18 at 11:59 p.m. PT, so make sure you check the sale page for any games you’ve been dying to grab for cheap during all the festivities.
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.