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PlayStation Plus adds Stray, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, and more

PlayStation shared its inaugural additions for PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium, including Stray.

PlayStation revealed a new batch of games coming to PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium on July 19. Headlining the bunch is a day one release in the upcoming cat-starred cyberpunk adventure game, Stray.

PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium are two subscriptions recently integrated into the PS ecosystem. The subscription service shares similarities with Xbox Game Pass, adding new games every month. The 17 titles hitting the service this month are the inaugural additions for the new model.

The main highlight of the bunch is the launch release of Stray for PlayStation 4 and 5. This long-awaited PS exclusive is the first “day one” release we’ve seen coming to PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium. Along with it are other high-profile titles like Marvel’s Avengers, which exclusively includes Spider-Man on PlayStation consoles, and the PS5 exclusive Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade.

A bunch of other titles are joining alongside those heavy hitters, including several Assassin’s Creed titles.

The set also includes two more classic games, though they aren’t the flashiest additions. No Heroes Allowed! (PSP) and LocoRoco Midnight Carnival (PSP) will be available for Premium members.

These games are set to hit PlayStation Plus’ Extra and Premium subscriber catalogs next week on July 19.

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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.