An image of what may be the world map for an upcoming follow-up to Red Dead Redemption was posted on gaming forum NeoGAF Friday. The map was originally posted on the forum by user Mideon, who then took it down shortly after, but not before other users could download and repost it.
After the leak was published, Techradar reported that a source “close to the development” of the game confirmed the image as an authentic and “very recent” internal art document for a Red Dead Redemption prequel, which will take place “just east” of the area seen in 2010 western.
As the report points out, the two maps share some common ground: An area called Blackwater, which sat on the upper-right corner of the Redemption world map and is in the lower-left corner of the leaked image. The map also features numerous “settlements” and camps, which would make sense if the game were a prequel set during the early days of American settlement.
The report also noted that the map features a city called New Bourdeaux, which happens to be the name of the New Orleans-esque setting for an official upcoming Take-Two Interactive property, Mafia III. On the leaked map, New Bourdeaux is part of an area called “Bayou NWA,” suggesting the city also serves as a New Orleans stand-in here.
As with many rumors and reports, it’s worth noting that none of this information has been confirmed or verified by the series’ developer, Rockstar Games, or publisher, Take-Two Interactive. Neither company has officially confirmed the existence of a new “Red Dead” game. That said, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick referred to the series as one of the company’s “permanent” franchises, indicating that the company planned to get around to a sequel sooner or later.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.