After 18 years with Arkane Studios, president Raphael Colantonio is stepping down from his position. With the studio, Colantonio acted as co-director of Dishonored and director of the recently-released Prey.
“The last 18 years have been an amazing adventure,” said Colantonio in an announcement post on Bethesda Softworks’ website. “From starting Arkane in 1999, to making our first game, Arx Fatalis, to joining ZeniMax Media in 2010 and releasing the Dishonored series and Prey to critical acclaim — it is time for me to step out to spend some time with my son and reflect on what is important to me and my future.”
Stepping up to oversee the team in Austin is Colantonio’s longtime friend Harvey Smith. Colantonio will stick around for as long as needed to provide a smooth transition to the new management team. Smith was co-director alongside Colantonio for the original Dishonored and directed Dishonored 2.
“I’ve lived many magical moments,” continued Colantonio. “I’ve also been through the hard times. But, I can say that joining ZeniMax took things to the next level and gave Arkane the opportunity to emerge as a world-class studio. ZenIMax enabled us to make the best games that we’ve ever made. And I know there is even more to come.”
Arkane Studios really made a name for itself with the release of the first Dishonored title. This fast-paced stealth game proved successful with its sandbox-style levels. Users across the internet grasped onto the ability to use the game’s mechanics in unintended ways. Due to the success of the first game, a sequel was released late last year. A standalone add-on, Death of the Outsider, is scheduled for release later this year.
Earlier this year, Bethesda rebooted the Prey franchise with Arkane Studio’s Prey. This sci-fi shooter launched with issues but has since become a fun, sandbox-style sci-fi shooter.
“I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the best and brightest people in the industry, and I feel extremely lucky to have been part of this journey with everyone at Arkane,” said Colantonio. “I wish the best to everyone at Arkane, Bethesda, and ZeniMax. Without a doubt I will miss everyone.”
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.