Activision has released a new Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 update that nerfs the game’s best long-range weapons: the Cronen Squall and the ISO Hemlock. Specifically, the damage across both weapons has been reduced, making them both less effective in all situations.
The news comes from the battle royale game’s latest round of patch notes, which outlines the new changes to the weapons. There are some major implications to those changes, though the updates aren’t as devastating as they might initially seem. Here’s every tweak that was implemented in the new patch.
While the ISO Hemlock was never the strongest weapon, it was easily the most accurate, making it great for players who struggle to hit their shots. The update has now reduced the damage to armor when using 5.56 ammo, which makes it even less powerful than before. It still retains its ease of use.
The Cronen Squall was effectively the most powerful weapon in the game when switched to semi-auto mode. This new update actually addresses this by increasing its recoil and reducing its fire rate in semi-auto mode.
However, the Cronen Squall is still one of the best weapons in the game, even when utilizing its semi-auto fire mode. This is because the weapon was so grossly overpowered before that a small nerf still doesn’t change much about how it performs. It will likely receive another nerf, possibly as early as Season 4, to bring it in line with the other rifles in the game.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.