Publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has outlined its recommended hardware specs for the Windows PC version of Buy Now , giving series fans plenty of time to bulk up their gaming PCs prior to the game’s launch later this year.
Among other suggestions, Warner Bros. recommends an Intel Core i7-3770 CPU and a higher-end video card from AMD’s Radeon or Nvidia’s GeForce lineup in order to run Shadow of War at its full intended framerate at maximum settings.
Shadow of War is the sequel to 2014’s Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, an open-world action game that features characters and settings from J. R. R. Tolkien’s Buy Now series of fantasy novels. Gameplay consists of a series of melee combat encounters in which players pull off combos, counters, and finishers within a mechanical framework similar to other Warner Bros-published games like Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Knight.
Shadow of Mordor also introduced the Nemesis System, which pairs players up with adversaries who grow in strength and intelligence over the course of the game’s campaign. Though no details regarding Shadow of War‘s gameplay have been revealed as of yet, the Nemesis System is likely to return in the sequel.
While Warner Bros. is currently teasing its upcoming reveal of Shadow of War‘s gameplay, the publisher has issued a set of recommended hardware specs for PC players, likely in response to Batman: Arkham Knight‘s disastrous PC port in 2014. According to Warner Bros, all Shadow of War players will need at least 8 GB of RAM, 60 GB of hard drive space, and a DirectX 11 installation in order to boot the game.
Players will also need an Intel Core i5-2550K CPU and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 or AMD Radeon HD 7950 video card in order to run Shadow of War at minimum settings. For maximum performance, Warner Bros. recommends an Intel Core i7-3770 CPU, 16 GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 970, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060, AMD Radeon R9 290X, or AMD Radeon RX 480 video card.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War launches for the Buy Now , Buy Now , and Buy Now platforms on August 22.
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.