During QuakeCon 2016, Bethesda released a new video showcasing the upcoming arena shooter dedicated to the PC platform, Quake Champions. Instead of the fluff offered in the original introductory CGI trailer, we’re now given a dose of the gameplay in an environment that, quite frankly, at times looks like Unreal Tournament.
If you missed what Quake Champions is all about, Bethesda and id Software decided not to revisit the dark world inhabited by Shub-Nggurath in a new single-player campaign, and instead chose to create a follow-up to Quake III Arena. It’s a competitive online arena shooter featuring “Champions” packed with different attributes, meeting every PC gamer’s unique gameplay style.
As you’ll see in the video embedded above, Bethesda and Id Software retain the fast-action gameplay that made the multiplayer portion of the Quake series so popular. Rocket jumps appear to be present along with some of the architectural designs seen in the previous multiplayer-only installment. Power-ups like Quad Damage and throwable weapons make an appearance in the video too.
The new gameplay trailer also shows that the map designers incorporated lots of vertical space for rocket jumping, blasting enemies running below a lower tier, and attacking from above after stepping on a jump pad. Assault guns, rocket launchers, shotguns, and plasma rifles all light up enemy players in a bloody mess. These weapons are acquired as pick-ups or by defeating an opponent.
“No loadouts, no limit to the amount of guns you can carry,” Willits said. “Time the weapon pickups, or kill your opponents. That’s how you get weapons in a Quake game.”
As previously reported in June, Quake Champions will run at 120Hz with unlocked framerates even though many players can’t tell the difference between that and 60Hz. However, for professional PC gamers, every frame is critical in their gameplay. Creative Tim Willits previously said there was a noticeable difference in gameplay when Quake Live was bumped up from 30Hz to 60Hz. The move from 60Hz to 120Hz will be noticeable to some too.
“Most of us, and even me, I can’t really tell the difference,” he told GameSpot. “But there are some players who are inhuman. And we can’t come out and say we’re going to make a game for them and not run ridiculously fast. Because if we lose the pro guys, we’re in trouble.”
Don’t worry: Quake Champions won’t be entirely aimed at the eSports community packing high-end hardware. The game is designed to work on a large range of configurations, enabling players to crank down the details so that Quake Champions plays rather well on low-end systems. The focus with Quake Champions is gameplay, enabling everyone to jump in and have a blast. However, Id Software wants it to look spectacular on high-end configurations too.
Right now the game is in an alpha state, so the gameplay seen above isn’t entirely polished. A closed beta is expected to be launched sometime in 2017 offering around 12 Champions to sample, possibly including the hoverboard-riding Anarki from Quake III Arena who made his updated debut during QuakeCon 2016. We already know Ranger, Visor, and new characters Scalebearer and Nyx are in the mix, but there are other unnamed Champions that were teased during Willits’ QuakeCon presentation that could be on the closed beta roster too.
Bethesda currently plays host to a video with Tim Willits talking about Quake Champions and eSports right here. The company also released four new screenshots, which we’ve added below.
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.