The Pokémon franchise has certainly taken the “bigger is better” approach in recent years, particularly with the introduction of Mega Evolutions to quickly turn the tide of a battle. This year’s games, Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, take things a step further with the most powerful attacks we’ve seen in the series.
Dubbed “Z-Moves,” these superpowered attacks can only be used once each battle. The moves combine the power of both the trainer and his Pokémon to deliver something that seems more at home in Dragonball Z. A new trailer gives us a brief look at a few of the new attacks, including Pikachu’s “Gigavolt Havoc,” which absolutely obliterates a poor Sandshrew, and new starter Litten’s terrifying “Inferno Overdrive.” The attack launches a flaming wall at the enemy Pokémon, eventually taking up nearly the entire screen.
To go along with the new ability, TOMY International will also be releasing a physical “Z-Ring,” which will light up and make different noises based on the specific Z-Move being used. A virtual Z-Ring, as well as a crystal, are also required to use Z-Moves.
“If a Pokémon holds the same variety of Z-Crystal as its trainer, the two will be able to resonate with each other,” an announcement says.
While there are plenty of new Pokémon coming to Sun and Moon, what’s perhaps more interesting are the alterations being made to existing favorites. In the new “Alola” region, the monsters have been “adapted to the distinctive microclimates” of Alola and now bear little resemblance to their “natural” form. Vulpix and Ninetales, for example, are ice-type Pokémon within the region, while Exeggutor is a much taller creature, modeled after a palm tree. Even Sandshrew and his evolved form, Sandslash, have special forms in Alola, delivering a deadly combination of ice and steel.
Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon arrive exclusively to the Nintendo 3DS on November 18.
Updated on 08-01-2016 by Mike Epstein: This article originally said the trailer showed Pikachu using its “Gigavolt Havoc” Z-Move on a Squirtle. In the video, Pikachu attacks a Sandshrew.
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.