Fans of Grasshopper Manufacture have something new to get excited about: a release date has been given for The Silver Case, which is finally venturing outside Japan exactly 17 years after its debut.
Announced this week during Tokyo Game Show, an HD remastered version of The Silver Case will be coming out on October 7, 2016 for PC.
The Silver Case is a visual novel and adventure game originally published on the PlayStation in 1999, and was the directorial debut for Goichi Suda (Suda51). It’s a crime story that revolves around a series of bizarre murders that prompt the 24 Districts Police Department to call in two special detectives. They’re eyeing a legendary serial killer who was previously thought deceased — Kamui Uehara — who assassinated government officials 20 years prior to The Silver Case.
Studio Active Gaming Media, whose previous works include Demon’s Souls, Soulcalibur IV, and MotoGP 2015, will be behind the English-language translation of The Silver Case.
A sequel to The Silver Case came in Flower, Sun, and Rain on the PlayStation 2. It too was only released in Japan, but a port on the Nintendo DS did see a western release in 2008. At some point a port for The Silver Case on Nintendo DS was developed, but was never released as Suda 51 was displeased with how it turned out.
The HD remaster of The Silver Case was made in collaboration with Playism, a Japanese publisher that maintains a focus on indie games.
Many of the motifs and themes found in The Silver Case can be found in many of Suda51’s later works. Gamers know Suda51 for his penchant for cell-shaded graphics, nihilistic sensibilities, and aggressive use of violence and obscene language. Games such as Killer7, No More Heroes, Lollypop Chainsaw, and Killer is Dead have become cult gems for many interested in those types of boutique experiences.
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.