Aspyr Media has announced yet another retro Star Wars game remaster. This time, it’s bringing Star Wars Episode 1: Jedi Power Battles to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam on January 23, 2025.
The trailer shows Jedi Power Battles, the action game that had players fighting and jumping through multiple levels from the The Phantom Menace with little plot to speak of, looking mostly the way it did back in 2000. Aspyr has added some new features, though. While the original game only offered five playable characters at the start (and they were all Jedi), the remaster will unlock all characters, including Darth Maul and Queen Amidala. You can also unlock 13 new playable characters after your first playthrough, so if you ever wanted to just play as a nameless Rifle Droid or Tusken Raider, now’s your chance.
Aspyr has also added more modern features, including the ability to switch between classic and newer control schemes, choose between multiple lightsaber colors, and play through modes from later releases, like training mode. As with the original game, you can play through the remaster in couch co-op. And while the game still looks purposefully janky in the trailer, Aspyr has upgraded the models and environments.
Jedi Power Battles is an interesting choice for a remaster. It’s not particularly well-remembered, although it isn’t actively hated, either. There are other Star Wars games that would’ve drummed up more excitement, like Rogue Squadron from 1998. Either way, the game will cost $20 when it launches early next year, and preorders are now live on your preferred platform.
Aspyr has been behind multiple Star Wars remasters and ports over the past decade, including Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection from earlier this year. However, it has a hit-or-miss reputation. While some of its remasters, like Republic Commando, turned out well, Battlefront Classic Collection was a disaster, with very few online servers to use at launch, which caused a lot of multiplayer issues.
It was originally set to develop a remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, one of the most celebrated Star Wars games of all time. That was announced back in 2021. However, development stalled, and was eventually moved over to former Aspyr parent company Saber Interactive, which is still developing the game despite being sold by Embracer Group earlier 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.