Disney Infinity might be coming to an end, but the toys-to-life game genre is still anything but dead. The franchise that started it all, Skylanders, is getting a new installment this fall, and it’s offering something that could reinvigorate fan interest in Spyro’s plastic adventures: the ability to create your own characters.
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Skylanders Imaginators is Activision’s fulfillment of the “countless” requests the publisher has received for players to be able to create their own characters in the Skylanders universe.
No matter how in touch with our ‘inner kids’ we might think we are as adults, nothing comes close to the creativity that springs from the mind of an inspired kid,” says Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg in the official release. “We’ve turned this year’s game into the ultimate blank canvas for kids’ imaginations so they can create and play their own Skylanders.”
This blank canvas certainly allows for some … unique character possibilities. A short teaser for the game shows off a banana-headed creature holding a skewer of hot dogs, a man with snakes for hands and a brain for a head, and a skeleton creature that looks like it was pulled from MediEvil.
Skylanders Imaginators also introduces the “Senseis,” powerful characters that help players unlock weapons and new areas. Some of these characters are “fan-favorite villains” who have decided to switch sides, but one thing is for certain: They’re all badasses. The trailer shows them walking away from exploding crates of dynamite in slow motion, and they don’t even look.
We loved last year’s game, Skylanders SuperChargers, but Imaginators looks like exactly what the franchise needs to avoid fatigue. And if you still want to use your classic characters, all of them are supported.
Skylanders Imaginators launches this fall for Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and Wii U. The starter pack includes two new characters, as well as the “Creation Crystal,” which allows you to send your Frankenstein’s monsters into the game.
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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.