Read our full Hyrule Warriors review.
Nintendo offered a closer glimpse at the upcoming Hyrule Warriors during its digital event at E3 2014, further detailing a side installment of one of its most storied franchises. Tecmo Koei, the team behind the Dynasty Warriors titles, developed the Legend of Zelda-themed hack ‘n’ slasher, bringing the same over-the-top style of gameplay that characterized the studio’s past offerings.
Showcased during Nintendo’s digital event, Hyrule Warriors differs from traditional Zelda titles in multiple ways. The game features the ability to play as several different characters from the beloved franchise, such as iconic Impa and Twighlight Princess’ Midna, though Nintendo has yet to confirm the entire cast of playable characters.You’ll unlock more characters as you progress through the game’s storyline, each of which touts its own set of unique moves and weapon types, rendering no two characters alike. You’ll also collect Rupees and other hallmark items from the franchise as the maneuver about the battlefield to craft badges, upgrade weapons, and boost your abilities.
Besides a notable cast of playable characters, Hyrule Warriors additionally features a unique style of gameplay not yet seen in the land of Hyrule. Like past Dynasty Warriors titles, the game will exhibit multiple battles at once, with the added ability to explore different areas and assist others engaged in frenzied scuffles. Characters can unleash devastating combos and high-powered attacks to clear the waves of attacking enemies, and as expected, challenging bosses will spawn throughout the battlefield with accompanying cinematics. You’ll also have to utilize a particular set of strategies and tactics in order to defeat the bosses like past Zelda games, and the game will also feature a co-op mode in which one player uses the TV and the other the Wii U’s bundled GamePad. Hyrule Warriors is slated for release on Sept. 26, 2014, on the Wii U.
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.