Sony has announced its PlayStation Plus lineup for June, and it includes God of War, Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker, and Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl.
For some, God of War may feel like an odd choice for a free monthly release, as the game is already available via the PlayStation Plus Collection for PlayStation 5 subscribers and will be featured in the Extra tier of Sony’s PlayStation Plus revamp, which launches in the U.S. on June 13. Even so, adding the 2018 hit title is likely just Sony’s attempt to build hype for the upcoming sequel God of War Ragnarok, which may receive a release date very soon.
Meanwhile, Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker is a 4v4 multiplayer title filled to the brim with popular characters from the franchise, and it continues to receive regular DLC releases. The game’s Season Pass 5 was revealed a few weeks ago, promising to bring with it more characters and a host of quality-of-life updates.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is a platformer brawler in the same vein as Nintendo’s hit Super Smash Bros. series, pitting players against one another as classic Nickelodeon characters like SpongeBob, Oblina, Nigel Thornberry, and many more. It received plenty of attention from genre fans when it launched last year, but interest in the game seemed to wane quickly. A release on PlayStation Plus may be just what it needs to gain back some momentum.
You can download all three new PS Plus games beginning Tuesday, June 7. Until then, May’s games – which include FIFA 22, Tribes of Midgard, and Curse of the Dead Gods – are all still available to add to your library. PlayStation Plus will also expand with more expensive Extra and Premium tiers on June 13, making this a significant month for the service.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.