Every gaming franchise has a black sheep — an experimental entry in the series that, regardless of its overall quality, may not fit into the overall legacy of the franchise. Super Mario Sunshine, the GameCube platformer where Mario wears a water gun backpack and cleans a city covered in toxic sludge, has a small, but loyal fanbase that keeps it from being forgotten. One member of that fanbase, Redditor Sp00kens, is taking steps to ensure that at least a little part of the game upscales to the current generation by re-creating the game’s Delfino Plaza section in Unreal Engine 4.
Sp00kens shared two photos from his creation on Reddit Thursday, an overhead shot of the fully modeled plaza and a ground-level image of the level’s waterfront, with waves crashing against a pier. According to TechRadar, the core of what’s been built so far may be based on another adaptation, the Delfino Plaza level from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Though it is still a work in progress, anyone who’s played the game will definitely recognize the locale, which served as the hub world in Sunshine.
“Next thing on my list to do is to add water to the map, then I will fix shading, then texture and add music,” Sp00kens said.
Recreating game art in Unreal Engine 4 has become an increasingly popular form of fan art. Players have made levels from World of Warcraft, Goldeneye, and even the bridge from Star Trek Voyager. Every so often, a fan project does lead to something playable, such as Resident Evil 2: Reborn, a fan remake of Resident Evil 2 with improved visuals and modernized gameplay mechanics.
Though Sp00kens initially intended to have the level up and running in a day, it now seems it will be at least a week before the level is ready to download.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.