Fans of Capcom’s long-running Mega Man series can already pick up many of the Blue Bomber’s adventures in the Mega Man Legacy Collection, but these games leave out the popular Mega Man X sub-series. The dark and engaging X games are among the best 2D action-platformers of all time, and you can play them on current-generation consoles and PC this July.
Mega Man X Legacy Collection comes to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on July 24, and includes the original Mega Man X, Mega Man X2, Mega Man X3, and Mega Man X4. Also on July 24 — and for the same machines — you can purchase the Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2, which includes X5, X6, X7, and X8.
The two collections are available on all platforms for $20 each digitally, and on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Switch, you can also buy them together as a $40 physical combo pack. The Xbox and PlayStation versions each include two discs — one for each collection — while the Switch includes a cartridge for the first collection and a download code for the second.
If you purchased the SNES Classic Edition, you have likely had a chance to try the original Mega Man X. The game follows the titular X in the futuristic 21XX and builds on the gameplay established in the original titles. The first three entries in the X series were released on the Super Nintendo, while the rest were available on PlayStation systems. A Buy Now also called the Mega Man X Collection was released for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube in 2006 and included seven games.
Both collections launching in July come with several bonus features, as well. In addition to full soundtracks for all games and the video “The Day of ∑” from Marick Hunter X, the collections also include “X Challenge.” This score-based mode tasks you with mowing down Maverick enemies with as many as three weapons, and leaderboards will show off your accomplishments (or failures) to your friends.
You can check out the announcement trailer for both collections above, which shows off the level of technical improvements made in the games over the years. Of course, this is all just a tease for Mega Man 11, which is currently planned for release later this year.
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.