Stardew Valley mobile and console players won’t have to wait much longer for the 1.6 update. Game creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone confirmed in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday that it’ll be hitting those platforms on November 4.
This has been a long time coming. The 1.6 update, which hit PC on March 19, was one of the largest for the cozy farming and life sim since 2020. It added more late-game content, two new mini festivals, one new large festival, new dialogue, a new farm type, a new bookseller NPC, and a ton of little additions to surprise veteran players (yes, you can drink the mayonnaise now. Yes, it’s absolutely worth it).
Release date for Stardew Valley console & mobile 1.6 update: November 4th
— ConcernedApe (@ConcernedApe) September 22, 2024
Barone promised with the original announcement that the update would be coming to consoles, including Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices, but this took longer than expected. He’s been providing semi-regular updates to players on the console and mobile versions, along with reminders that he hasn’t forgotten about his announced Stardew follow-up, Haunted Chocolatier. However, he hasn’t touched the latter game while he worked on update 1.6.
The previous post was on August 28, where he wrote an apology to fans. “It would be a huge relief to me if they were ready today, but they aren’t, so all we can do is continue working on them until they are ready,” he said. “To those who are frustrated or even [angry] about the timeline, I understand and accept full responsibility.”
As for why it released on PC first, Barone said in a follow-up post that he likes to use it as a “‘beta test’ to make sure there are no critical … bugs, which are a much bigger deal on consoles because they can’t be patched out as quickly.”
So players still have to wait a few weeks, but here’s a tip from somebody who’s been playing on PC: Start a new save with the new Meadowlands Farm type, and enjoy the quick access to eggs you get with a free chicken coop. There are a lot of small additions in 1.6 that longtime players will appreciate as well, so explore everything.
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.