Panic, the Portland-based game publisher behind the Playdate and hilarious games like Thank Goodness You’re Here, held a showcase today. It gave us a deeper look at recently released games like Thank Goodness You’re Here and Arco, and confirmed a Nintendo Switch port of Nour: Play With Your Food while also teasing a strong 2025 lineup for the publisher filled titles like Despelote, Time Flies, and Okamotive’s Herdling.
The show kicked off with a Thank Goodness You’re Here segment that delved into the game’s development at Coal Supper. If you’re interested in learning more about how some of its jokes came to be, how Coal Supper settled on its distinct art style, and how one of the main voice actresses involved in the project was found, then you’ll enjoy its segment. Thank Goodness You’re Here is quickly building buzz as one of the year’s best indie games, so it’s amazing to get an inside look at its development like this.
After that, we got a look at Arco, a new Western-themed strategy game released earlier in the month, and some more insight into its development via a conversation with its developers. After that, Panic turned its focus to what we can expect from it in 2025. First up was Despelote, which looks like an interesting game about soccer and the impact it has on the lives of children in Ecuador. A new trailer showcased its beautifully distinct art style once again and reaffirmed its 2025 release window. It’s neat to see a sports game that’s not just a simulation.
After that, Panic gave us a deeper look at Herdling, which developer Okamotive first revealed at Gamescom Opening Night Live. Panic showed that reveal trailer once again, and then an interview with some of the game’s developers emphasizing the major roles that music and the player’s bond with the Calicorns will play in Herdling.
We then got another look at Time Flies, a game where players control a fly and try to complete tasks before dying. It’s delayed from 2024 to 2025 now, but still looks great. To cap off the show, Panic confirmed that Nour: Play With Your Food will launch for Nintendo Switch on August 29, and showed a brief gameplay clip of a colorful structure in Big Walk, the next game from Untitled Goose Game studio House House that’s launching in 2025.
Overall, it was an indie showcase with a solid lineup of games. While there weren’t any shocking surprise announcements, it reaffirmed that Panic is a game publisher to watch if you like hilarious yet meaningful indie games.
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.