PlayStation Productions showed up big at CES 2025. We not only got new looks at the second season of The Last of Us and the Until Dawn film, both of which will be released this April, but also received confirmation of some other new video game adaptations during a Sony press conference.
The first adaptation to be shown off was Ghost of Tsushima: Legends, a new anime series by Crunchyroll and Aniplex. It’s based on the multiplayer mode of Ghost of Tsushima, which is getting a sequel later this year in Ghost of Yotei. A press release from Crunchyroll also confirms that the series will premiere on Crunchyroll in 2027. It is directed by Takanobu Mizumo, written by Gen Urobuchi, and will feature a soundtrack curated by Sony Music.
Asad Qizilbash, head of PlayStation Productions, and Ashley Brucks, president of Screen Gems, then came on stage to reveal more. While speaking on stage, Qizilbash confirmed that PlayStation Productions is working on film adaptations of both Helldivers 2 and Horizon Zero Dawn.
Sony Pictures will produce the Helldivers 2 film, while Columbia Pictures will produce the Horizon Zero Dawn movie. Not much else about these projects was confirmed at this time, as they all seem to be fairly early in production. We also now have more details on the PlayStation Productions adaptations coming out very soon. First, Qizilbash and Brucks teased the film adaptation of Until Dawn before playing a video message recorded by Peter Stormare to hype up the film ahead of its theatrical release in April. A Lego Horizon Adventures music video was also showcased.
Neil Druckmann then came out on stage to close out the press conference. He gave a shout-out to Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which was revealed at The Game Awards 2024. Finally, a new trailer for the second season of The Last of Us was aired, giving us our first look at Kaitlyn Dever’s Abby and Isabela Merced’s Dina. It also confirmed that the second season will start releasing episodes via HBO and Max this April.
Those at CES 2025 will also be able to partake in an immersive The Last of Us-themed experience. It’s clear that PlayStation wants to build on the momentum it gained with the success of adaptations like The Last of Us, Gran Turismo, and Twisted Metal, as it is now working to adapt even more of its biggest franchises into mediums other than video 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.