Blizzard’s annual celebration of all things War and Star-craft was extra special this year, as it’s the 25th anniversary of the prolific gaming company. Every one of the current titles is receiving hoards of new content, but perhaps none are as exciting as the new two heroes coming to Heroes of the Storm.
The first is legendary former king of Stormwind, Varian Wrynn. His appearance in the Nexus marks the game’s first multi-class hero. At levels 4 and 10, players will be able to select from game-changing perks that turn Wrynn to either a shield-bearing brawler, or twin-bladed assassin.
Wrynn isn’t the only epic character making its way into the Nexus, either. Long-time World of Warcraft players will recognize Ragnaros, the Fire Lord from the Molten Core raids of old. In Heroes of the Storm, he’ll send lava spilling out, and molten rocks crashing down, but of course, Ragnaros is a massive boss. You’ll be able to take over a fort, whether alive or dead, and become the gigantic fire lord you always dreamed you could be.
There were other smaller announcements as well. There’s a new map, Blackheart’s Revenge, where teams will take turns attacking and defending a ghostly ship. And it wouldn’t be a Heroes of the Storm update without a slew of new mounts, skins, and other trinkets for collecting.
In an effort to encourage people to play with friends, Blizzard also announced the upcoming Nexus Challenge mode. Play 15 games with a friend, and you’ll both receive the Oni skin for Genji in Overwatch, and Zarya for Heroes of the Storm. Play 30, and you’ll unlock a slew of special character skins in Heroes of the Storm, as well as the Orochi Hovercycle mount.
While Varian Wrynn will appear on the public test realm beginning next week, players will have to wait until December for their chance to swing Sulfuras. The other maps and modes will roll out publicly in between the two.
For years, Call of Duty’s campaign mode has used big, scripted set pieces to tell the overarching story amid all the adrenaline-pumping action. The 2023 Modern Warfare 3 tried to shake up the established formula by introducing a handful of short open combat missions, and I genuinely liked the idea, but the game's overall negative reception seeped into how those missions were received.
I feared the next iteration might abandon the idea because of the backlash, but I am glad it didn't. MW4’s “Stranded” mission uses the same approach, but instead of fragmenting it across the campaign, it puts it all in a single large-scale open-world mission.
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.