Wyrdsong was first announced three years ago on Gamescom Opening Night, but the RPG from long-time Bethesda and Obsidian veterans has faced numerous obstacles since its announcement. Developed by Something Wicked Games, Wyrdsong promised to be blending of talents that had Elder Scrolls fans excited for something that would (probably) release before The Elder Scrolls 6, but the studio announced last year that it had laid off much of its staff. Now we have more news that the project isn’t dead in the water, but it doesn’t look like its original vision.
NetEase founded the game’s development with an initial investment of just over 13 million dollars, but that isn’t enough money to go far in today’s industry. Later attempts to find investors fell flat, and the studio made cuts to extend the development and finish the project.
Studio co-founder Jeff Gardiner told PCGamer, “We’re down to a skeleton crew, and I am continuing to work hard to try to find further investment or publishing offers for the game. I’m hoping to sometime this year, but we’re just trying to hang on to ride out the storm, which a lot of people thought was going to be over in 2025 and I do not see that reality at all currently. Right now, it’s very tough.”
Gardiner says the quality and size of modern games contributes to part of the problem. In the earlier years of the industry, video games were shorter and fans would buy them more frequently. Now, massive games allow players to sink hundreds or thousands of hours into a single title. He cites Skyrim as an example.
Wyrdsong is still in development, and the team behind it is full of big names with years of developmental experience. However, unless they find funding and more talent to help finish the title out, Gardiner said there’s a chance the game might not release. “The risk of it never seeing the light of day, it makes me sad. That’s why I’m working really hard to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
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.