Atari and Plaion revealed that they are working together to create the Atari 7800+, a scaled-down throwback mini-console based on Atari’s NES and Sega Master System competitor.
The Atari 7800 was originally released in 1986, and it was Atari’s first piece of hardware after the video game crash of 1983. It didn’t reach the heights of popularity that the NES and Sega Master System were achieving at the time, but it was still notable for being one of the first backward compatible consoles and featuring solid ports of arcade classics like Food Fight, Galaga, and Dig Dug. Now, the Atari 7800+ offers a more compact version of that original design, and it’s compatible with modern TVs.
Taking cues from last year’s Atari 2600+, the Atari 7800+ lets people use their own game cartridges and play the games on an official system with HDMI connectivity and widescreen support. It’s a step above systems like the NES Classic Edition, which came pre-bundled with a select number of games. As is the case with the original console and 2600+, the Atari 7800+ will support 2600 and 7800 game cartridges. In addition, Atari is releasing 10 new game cartridges that will be compatible with the system.
Those games are Astroids Deluxe, Bounty Bob Strikes Back, Bentley Bear’s Crystal Quest, Berzerk, Frenzy, Space Duel, Caverns of Mars, Epyx Game Collections, M Network Collection, and RealSports Collection. These games will retail for $30 and come with color game manuals. Atari and Plaion are also releasing the CX78+ Wireless Gamepad and CX40+ Wireless Joystick for $35 each, although a CX78+ and a copy of Bentley Bear’s Crystal Quest will come bundled with each Atari 7800+.
The Atari 7800+ is available for preorder now, costs $130, and will be released sometime during winter 2024.
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.