Square Enix London Mobile and Nickelodeon have announced the soft launch of Avatar: Generations, a new free-to-play RPG mobile game based on the hit anime Avatar: The Last Airbender. Players in Canada, Denmark, South Africa, and Sweden will be able to play the game on Android and iOS starting today, and it will be expanded to other territories in the following months.
Avatar: Generations is being developed by Canada-based studio Navigator Games, and it expands upon the Avatar franchise and puts players in the shoes of Aang, Katara, Sokka, and other fan-favorite characters as they travel around the world to help Aang fulfill his destiny of mastering all four elements and being the Avatar. As the title suggests, the game will have expansions focusing on Avatar Kyoshi, Roku, Korra, and others across the timelines of the Four Nations.
The game allows players to revisit some of their favorite locales from the show, like the Northern Water Tribe and Ba Sing Se, and experience new stories that expand the lore of the Avatar universe. The gameplay experience features squad-based battles, adventure sequences, and upgrades and customization systems players need to recruit new characters and increase their team.
Will Moore, CEO of Navigator Games, said that Avatar: Generations will appeal to fans of the original series and RPGs, even if some of them have never played traditional RPG games.
“With a globally beloved brand of this level, we’ve endeavored to create a game that expands the rich and storied universe of Avatar: The Last Airbender in a way that feels authentic and exciting to fans of the series and RPG games alike. At the same time, we’ve ensured that the game remains accessible to anyone who doesn’t traditionally play RPGs” Moore says in a press release. “Our partners at Square Enix London Mobile have been hugely supportive in these efforts, and we’re working closely with our community during this soft-launch period to make the best version of the game possible.”
Avatar: The Last Airbender has spawned console games that were set during the events of the show 16 years ago, but they were met with mixed reception from critics. However, Aang and his friends are gaining prominence in the gaming scene by making appearances in other games, including SMITE and the recently released Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl.
Avatar: Generations is expected to officially launch later this year.
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.