Arkane Studios has released an alternate version of Prey‘s recent QuakeCon trailer, revealing that gamers can play as either a male or female lead for the duration of the first-person sci-fi adventure.
Arkane notes that the player’s choice of gender has no bearing on Prey‘s storyline, and explains that the feature serves as “yet another way that Arkane is saying yes to the player.”
Announced at E3 earlier this year, Prey is a reimagined version of Human Head Studios’ 2006 first-person shooter of the same name. Trailers showcased in recent months indicate that the new Prey shares little in common with its 2006 predecessor, as the upcoming reboot features a new storyline and an alternate cast of starring characters.
Taking place aboard a space station that is under siege by an invasive alien race, Prey challenges players to survive close-quarters combat encounters using an array of futuristic weaponry. As gameplay progresses, players will seize control of supernatural powers — including the ability to assume the form of everyday objects like chairs and coffee mugs — in order to outwit their alien pursuers.
Developer Arkane Studios revealed earlier this year that the game’s starring character Morgan Yu can either be male or female, at the player’s option. Outside of changing the main character’s appearance and voice, however, the player’s choice of gender otherwise has no effect on the game’s core narrative.
“In Prey, players will not only define themselves through their actions, but they can also choose their gender,” the developer explained in a recent blog post. “While this choice won’t change the story or how you interact with the world — because Morgan Yu is Morgan Yu, and he or she will be defined by the choices you make — it’s yet another way that Arkane is saying yes to the player.”
“The theme of identity is central to Prey,” creative director Raphael Colantonio adds. “Who is Morgan Yu exactly? We want to give you the freedom of being a man or a woman, but we also don’t want to limit who you become when you make that choice.”
Prey is currently in development for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PC platforms, and is set to launch in 2017.
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.