We are entering another packed month for PlayStation Plus. Not only are we getting our typical monthly Essential and Extra batches of titles, but those will contain some games coming to the subscription service the day they launch as well. One of those launched earlier this week and it’s the first Harry Potter game to be released on consoles since Hogwarts Legacy. On top of that, there are still some great games from August’s PS Plus Premium lineup that you should get around to playing. Those are the games to check out if you’re looking for something to play this weekend.
If you were bummed out by Hogwarts Legacy’s lack of a quidditch mode, then you’ll want to check out one of this month’s PS Plus Essential games. Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is a full multiplayer game dedicated to the Wizarding World’s favorite sport. Quidditch Champions does a surprisingly great job at adapting this fictional sport — which originated as something to only be read about, not played — into video game form. It can get surprisingly tense, capturing the energy of some of the Quidditch scenes from the Harry Potter films. Playing a Harry Potter game in 2024 does come with some baggage, but Quidditch Champions is worth it for those who have always found that corner of the Wizarding World enticing. Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is available for PS4 and PS5 via PS Plus Essential between now and September 30. It’s also available to purchase on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, and it’s in development for Nintendo Switch.
If you’re still in a sports game mood after Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, but want something more realistic, then check out MLB The Show 24. This is Sony San Diego’s latest annual entry in its simulation baseball game series. Although Sony San Diego doesn’t have much in the way of competition, that fortunately hasn’t impacted the quality of MLB The Show as it’s still a very refined and entertaining take on the sport. MLB The Show 24 is particularly notable because it finally added the option to play as a woman in its Road to the Show career mode and features a Storyline mode dedicated to the career of Derek Jeter. You can pick up the PS4 and PS5 versions of MLB The Show 24 via PS Plus Essential until September 30. It’s also available on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S through Game Pass and Nintendo Switch.
Dipping into August’s PS Plus Premium additions, TimeSplitters 2 is worth playing for fans of retro shooters. The TimeSplitters series is a cult classic franchise that people remember fondly because of its time-hopping premise and gameplay that harks back to shooters from developer Rare like GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark. All three TimeSplitters games were added to PS Plus in August, which was a nice surprise considering Embracer Group canceled a revival of the series last year when it shut down its developer. TimeSplitters 2 is considered the crown jewel of the series, so it’s the one to play if you want to understand why people enjoy these first-person shooters from Free Radical. TimeSplitters 2 is available as part of the PS Plus Premium Classics Catalog on PS4 and PS5.
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.