If you like sims, strategy games, or driving various vehicles, you’re in luck with Xbox Game Pass in September. Xbox announced the games coming to its subscription service in the first half of the month, and it includes a seemingly random, smaller list of releases that hones in on a couple of specific player types.
The big addition from an Xbox perspective is Age of Mythology: Retold, which is hitting the platform at launch on September 4. The real-time strategy game is published by Xbox Game Studios, so it’s of course making a day-one appearance. It’s developed in part by World’s Edge, the makers behind the Age of Empires series, but instead of real-world armies, you’ll pit mythological figures against each other.
Many of the other games releasing on Xbox Game Pass this month are based around transportation in some way, which may or may not have been intentional. First up is Star Trucker, a sci-fi trucker sim that places you in the front seat of a big rig in space. Then, we have Riders Republic, a Ubisoft-developed extreme sports sandbox game. If that weren’t enough, train fans have Train Sim World 5, which lets you drive trains across multiple cities.
Here’s everything that’s coming and going from Xbox Game Pass for the first half of September.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Perks (all available now)
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.
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.