God of War was one of 2018’s best video games, giving the long-running action franchise a much-needed overhaul to its gameplay, visual style, story, and structure. It did this all without needing to be a traditional reboot by retaining continuity from the past games while also serving as a great starting point for newcomers. If you haven’t played it yet, it can be yours for just $10 right now for Black Friday.
Across several different retailers, including Amazon, the “Greatest Hits” version of God of War is being sold for $10. This is half off its standard price, which was bumped down to $20 when it entered the Greatest Hits line alongside games like Horizon: Zero Dawn and Bloodborne.
The Greatest Hits version has a red band across the top of the box, but it is otherwise identical to the main God of War game, which didn’t receive any paid expansions after its original launch. It is going to be followed almost certainly by a sequel given not only the title’s financial and critical success but also the massive cliffhanger it ended on.
The first six games in the series, which included the original trilogy, prequel game God of War: Ascension, and the PSP games Ghost of Sparta and Chains of Olympus, were all set in the land of Greek mythology. God of War saw protagonist Kratos move away from this setting for the land of Norse gods, where he had started a new family and raised a son.
This son, Atreus, plays a major role in the game, accompanying Kratos on his journey to defeat a mysterious pand owerful figure and even assisting him in combat. Gone is the Kratos blinded by pure rage, instead replaced by a more reflective and compassionate god. He’s no less ferocious, however, with an arsenal of new and old weapons at his disposal, and his magical abilities allow him to take on even the most dangerous monsters.
God of War is available exclusively on PlayStation 4. Presumably, its sequel will appear on Sony’s next-generation console, the PS5, which is scheduled to launch in late 2020.
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.