Rocket League was one of this year’s most unexpected hits. Developer Psyonix has kept the buzz alive with a steady stream of updates ever since its launch in July. The newest of these is an infusion of free, Halloween-themed content that will be dropping on Oct. 18. The free DLC includes six new items that can drop after matches and be used to customize players’ cars:
These items will be available for a limited time only. If you don’t grab them by Nov. 2, you will have to wait until Halloween season 2016 for another shot.
There is also another paid piece of DLC coming out later this month. “Revenge of the Battle-Cars” arrives on Oct. 13 with two classic cars, a selection of customization options, and five new trophies to win. It will be available for $4, but note that it is not necessary in order to enjoy the Halloween content.
All content will be available on both of the game’s platforms: PlayStation 4 and PC. One of the most recent patches improved the functionality and stability of cross-platform play. It also smoothed out the matchmaking process for ranked play, positioning the game in the growing field of eSports. Furthermore, although only launched initially on two platforms, the developer has announced its intention to expand the small team and port the game over onto other platforms, based on its immense success so far. Although Psyonix has not yet specified what those platforms might be, Xbox One seems likely to top the list.
Rocket League is a fast-paced, team-based game of soccer by way of demolition derby. Teams compete to drive an enormous soccer ball into the opposing team’s goal by pushing it around in rocket-powered cars. Cars can be customized with parts won through playing. It came out in summer 2015 as a sequel to Psyonix’s much wordier Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle Cars.
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.