Electronic Arts is kicking off a free trial weekend for Titanfall 2 this Friday, letting first-person shooter fanatics get a taste of the game’s mech-piloting multiplayer action across the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PCs.
EA Access and Origin Access members get a few additional days of free playtime, giving them a head start on Titanfall 2‘s multiplayer mode before it opens up to the general public this weekend.
Developed by a team of Call of Duty series veterans at Respawn Entertainment, Titanfall 2 is a futuristic first-person shooter that allows soldiers to take control of hulking bipedal Titans throughout the course of each multiplayer match. This year’s sequel introduces new gameplay mechanics like sliding, enemy-tracking throwing knives, and a grappling hook, among other innovations.
While Titanfall 2 introduces a single-player campaign mode for the first time in series history, multiplayer remains the game’s biggest draw. A new progression system gives players incentive to play multiplayer matches on a regular basis, and EA pledged to release free downloadable content in the months ahead to keep gameplay fresh.
Titanfall 2‘s first batch of add-on content, Angel City’s Most Wanted, premieres digitally for pre-order customers on November 30. The expansion adds a revised version of the original Titanfall‘s Angel City map to the sequel’s selection of multiplayer levels, and overhauls the game’s UI and menus in response to fan feedback.
Angel City is one of many playable Titanfall 2 maps that will be featured throughout this weekend’s free multiplayer session. From November 30 through December 2, EA Access and EA Origin members can sample Titanfall 2‘s multiplayer mode for free without buying a digital or physical copy of the game itself.
On December 2, Titanfall 2‘s multiplayer mode is free for all players across the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PCs, though EA notes that the PC trial “can be played once per EA account and computer.” Console players require an active PlayStation Plus or Xbox Live Gold subscription to participate.
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.