The World Video Game Hall of Fame announced this year’s finalists that are set to join the ranks of the most legendary titles of all time. Among these new hall inductees is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (and it’s about time).
The World Video Game Hall of Fame is a program that looks to shine an extra light on video games that have popularity that’s proven to stand the test of time. This year’s titles are all-around heavy hitters and include The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Dance Dance Revolution, Sid Meier’s Civilization, and arcade classic Ms. Pac Man.
Titles such as those picked to be added to the Hall of Fame are chosen through nominations, which can be sent in by anyone. These nominations are studied and final decisions for inductees are made based on “the advice of journalists, scholars, and other individuals familiar with the history of video games and their role in society.”
These four inductees were announced at the Video Game Hall of Fame’s location at The Strong Museum in Rochester, New York, on May 5. Museum-goers can now witness them in all their glory, complete with lengthy bios on each game and their importance, on the second floor of the museum.
Not every game can get inducted. There are plenty of finalists that didn’t quite make the cut this year including Assassin’s Creed, Candy Crush Saga, Minesweeper, NBA Jam, PaRappa the Rapper, Resident Evil, Rogue, and Words with Friends. These may be some titles to expect to join 2022’s inductees next year.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.