The Sims 4 already lets you take your virtual humans out to fancy restaurants, into the woods for a camping trip, or to the spa for a relaxing break, but they will soon be able to partake in an even more exciting adventure — becoming a vampire.
The Sims 4‘s “Vampires Game Pack” introduces a “Create-a-Sim” customization options, including glowing eyes, “creepy eye sockets,” and less “alive” skin tones so you can design your own undead creature of the night, and the pack also includes Vampire-specific powers, as well as new motives and needs. We assume most motives and needs will be “drink more blood,” as well as their desire to go down to the local Sim-Topic for some new ripped black shirts.
As far as the powers are concerned, EA gave us a little taste in the first screenshots. Mesmerizing a human Sim appears to be the first step in bringing them into your home for a late dinner.
The new game pack also introduced the “Forgotten Hollow” world, which comes with “creeping fog” and dying plant life outside, as well as a longer nighttime to allow for your vampires to complete more spooky activities. The moon looms overhead, large enough to turn even the most stoic werewolf into an uncontrollable killing machine — but there’s no sign that they will be around to cause problems for the vampires.
Decorations for inside the home look to be classic, Stoker-inspired vampiric goodness. Holes are burned through the red wallpaper lining a living room, mysterious drinks sit on the probably-not-coffee table, and characters discuss and contemplate on complicated topics such as blood plasma and sharp teeth. On the wall are three paintings of the same rose and both candles and a fireplace add ambiance.
The Sims 4‘s “Vampire Game Pack” will be available on January 24. All previous game packs cost $20, so expect it to follow suit.
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.