Acer unveiled the Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller at CES 2025, providing an alternative to Backbone or Razer’s mobile gaming by providing something that works on both iOS and Android phones right out of the box.
It’s a foldable controller people can use to play games on their phones. The Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller seems to be clearly inspired by the likes of the Backbone One and Razer Kishi V2, which provide a sturdy controller that people can plug their phones into if they want to play with a more traditional controller. It’s particularly useful when playing console games on mobile through cloud gaming.
Digital Trends got its hands on the controller at CES 2025 eo get a full sense of how it looks, feels, and works. Notably, the Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller connects to phones up to 8.3 inches in size via a USB-C port and allows passthrough charging.
Acer has given the Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller some other unique flourishes to stand out from the competitors. It comes with five rubber pads that make it easier to grip. The Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller can also be folded up, making it more compact than similar controllers. It weighs only 121.6 grams and has dimensions of 175.15 by 85.73 by 34.12 millimeters.
The Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller is compatible with both iOS and Android devices right out of the box. More specifically, it supports Apple devices from the iPhone 15 onward and Android devices that support Android 9.0 or above. Acer’s Nitro Mobile Gaming Controller will be released in North America sometime in the future for $70.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.