A new mechanical hero is joining in the next wave of Xenoblade Chronicle 3’s DLC. This fresh party member named Ino is a part of the game’s expansion pass, which is split up into four volumes.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 launched earlier this year to a widely positive reaction, blowing away all expectations set by Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Ino is a fully robotic character such as Kos-Mos and other series icons that’s completely new to the title and the rest of the Xenoblade franchise. Her new update comes packed in with a fresh quest to unlock her, which also serves as her introduction.
Wave two of the expansion pass also comes with a new mode called Challenge Battles. Here, players are tasked with fighting in high-difficulty consecutive battles against various enemy hordes and bosses alike. In completing all enemy waves of this mode, they’re graded and given rewards. The rewards change based on the completion time and rank. Players can also challenge stronger enemies in this mode to earn valuable accessories and special outfits, such as the shown-off bathing suits, for party members.
The Nintendo Direct also confirmed that wave three of the expansion pass features another new hero and more tough challenges. These tough challenges entail a new updated Challenge Battles mode featuring an updated ruleset and maybe new enemy waves for the new mode.
You can get the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 expansion pass for $30 right now through the Nintendo eShop and be ready for wave two when it releases with Challenge Battles and its new hero Ino on October 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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.