PlayStation announced its newest titles coming to PlayStation Plus to kick off the new year in January. The free-to-download titles in the pack include crowd-pleasers Dirt 5 and the spin-off of the popular JRPG Persona 5, Persona 5 Strikers. The 1-4 player co-op first-person shooter, Deep Rock Galactic also makes its PS Plus debut with the new year’s list of downloadable games for the subscription service.
While each of the titles brings something different to the table, the standout title is Persona 5 Strikers. While Strikers seems like a simple Musou/Dynasty Warriors rip-off spin-off of the original Persona 5, it’s also somewhat of a sequel and perfect for players wanting more of the world and characters Persona 5 presents. Of course, the Dynasty Warriors gameplay of the title may produce varied results, as the formula can get repetitive for anyone that isn’t familiar with it.
January’s other PS Plus games, Dirt 5 and Deep Rock Galactic, give players the chance to either compete in global off-road races or explore extraterrestrial environments while working as a team to fight hoards of aliens as space dwarves. The three featured games of the month come together to offer a great variety of different gaming experiences with three quality titles, making this month a win for subscribers.
Persona 5 Strikers will be available to PlayStation 4 PS Plus subscribers, along with Dirt 5 and Deep Rock Galactic for both PS4 and PS5 owners on January 4, 2022. Players will need to add them to their library before February 2 to claim them.
Subscribers can still download last month’s games, Godfall: Challenger Edition, Lego DC Super-Villains, Mortal Shell, and the bonus PS VR titles, The Persistence, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners — Standard Edition, and Until You Fall before January 4.
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.