The new year has just begun, and Microsoft has announced the first group of games coming to Xbox Game Pass this year. Throughout the first half of January, Microsoft’s game subscription service is set to receive eight new games. Most notably, Capcom’s excellent Resident Evil 2 remake from 2019 joins Xbox Game Pass on January 16.
First released nearly five years ago on January 25, 2019, Resident Evil 2 set a new standard for horror remakes. It completely reimagined the original fixed-camera PlayStation 1 horror game as a tense third-person shooter with an intimate over-the-shoulder camera, while still retaining the core elements that made the original great. The influence of Resident Evil 2’s remake can be felt not just in subsequent Resident Evil games, but in titles from other developers, like Alan Wake 2, Dead Space, and the upcoming Alone in the Dark remake.
It’s a must-play if you haven’t tried it already. As for the other games coming to the service, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the next most noteworthy title, while We Happy Few from Xbox-owned studio Compulsion Games is finally coming back to the service. In chronological order, here’s the list of games Microsoft will add to the Xbox Game Pass catalog over the first half of January:
As is the case every month, some games will also leave Xbox Game Pass throughout January. The first removal of the year is a big one, as Grand Theft Auto V leaves the service on January 5. The following games will then leave Xbox Game Pass on January 15:
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.