Next month marks two years since the release of Rocket League, and on July 5 a celebratory update will introduce a new arena and kick-start the new competitive season. Now, it has been announced that the update will also add some free customization items inspired by the cult TV show Rick and Morty.
Players will be able to unlock a host of characters from the show as ornaments for their car, including antennas based on Rick and Morty, and toppers depicting Mr. PBH, Mr. Meeseeks, and Cromulon. There’s also a special painted variant of the Cromulon topper, although it’s not known which other color schemes are available.
The update will also add a new rocket trail inspired by the show’s unique sci-fi aesthetic, dubbed Interdimensional GB. A new set of wheels known as the Sanchez DC-137 is perhaps the most exciting customization item being offered up, as it’s based on the rifts in time and space that are opened up by Rick’s trademark portal gun.
All of these items will start dropping as part of the common rarity tier of items in online and offline games following the July 5 update. Unlike some of the other promotional content that has been added to Rocket League, all of these ornaments can be obtained for free.
Rick and Morty fans are still waiting patiently for season 3, after the series didn’t air any new episodes in 2016. Hopefully, this cross-promotion with Rocket League indicates that the duo are set to return to our screens sooner rather than later.
Rocket League developer Psyonix is no stranger to this kind of content, having previously added paid DLC to the game in support of movies like The Fate of the Furious and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. The most recent campaign of this kind was launched in February 2017, when vehicles inspired by Hot Wheels toys were introduced to the game.
It’s no small feat for a multiplayer game to remain hugely popular two years after its launch, as Rocket League has. Regular injections of free and paid content have surely helped along the way — and these new Rick and Morty items will surely give fans of the series an excuse to play a few rounds.
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.