Eric Barone’s Stardew Valley garnered critical acclaim when it originally launched on PC in 2016 and it later launched on Buy Now and Buy Now , giving an even larger audience a chance to explore its tranquil, charming world. Soon, Nintendo Switch owners will be able to play it as well, as the game is out on the platform later this week.
Publisher Chucklefish’s CEO Finn Bruce tweeted the news earlier on Monday, October 2, saying that the game would be available on Thursday, October 5 for $15. As a nice bonus, that is the day of the harvest moon for 2017, which usually begins in September.
“I’m very happy to see Stardew come to a Nintendo console,” developer Eric Barone added on the game’s website. “I grew up on Nintendo, after all. This will not only be the first time Stardew Valley appears on a Nintendo platform, but also the first time Stardew will be on a portable system.”
The Switch version was developed by Sickhead Games, a studio that is no stranger to porting acclaimed games. Previously, the studio developed the PlayStation 4 and Vita versions of Darkest Dungeon, as well as the Vita versions of Axiom Verge, Octodad: Dadliest Catch, and Towerfall Ascension.
While Stardew Valley hasn’t been released for Vita yet, a curious fan received word from Barone that the game was actually running on the device already, and that once it had been optimized, he was hoping for a release later in 2017. That seems unlikely at this point, but it would certainly be a welcome addition to the Vita library whenever it does release. Sony ceased development for the console, with Japanese publishers and independent developers managing to keep it afloat, though new PlayStation Plus games are still available for free each month.
Stardew Valley was in development for about five years, beginning as a project for first-time developer Barone after he became frustrated with recent Harvest Moon iterations. When he began development, he promised eager players that the game would include online multiplayer. That is still in development at Chucklefish, though technical issues have kept it from release thus far. You can read more about the game’s extended development in journalist Jason Schreier’s book, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels.
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.