DrLupo is one of the biggest names in gaming, and he joins Ariana Escalante and Andre Stone in the Digital Trends CES Experience Center from Omaha, Nebraska for our ongoing coverage of CES 2021.
By most measures, 2020 wasn’t a great year, but DrLupo used his name, time, and energy to try to make it better through his involvement with “Build Against Cancer” and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Because of a previous fundraising partnership, he has always had a soft spot for St. Jude. “I’m super lucky in that I’ve never had to deal with childhood cancer in my family, but I know a lot of families have. The impact [of St. Jude] cannot be overstated, because it is truly a global charity.” During a charity marathon this past December, he was able to help raise $2.3 million dollars. “The goal is to remind people that gaming as a whole is a positive thing!”
So when was the first time he realized gaming could be used for a greater good? “I think gaming has always been in my life something that’s driven toward positivity. It’s inspired me to do good. It’s inspired me to meet people. And honestly, to step outside my comfort zone,” he says. “So gaming has always been a super positive thing to me.”
While 2020 may not have been great for many industries, gaming has had a different story. DrLupo has seen quite a few changes over the past year. Gaming is now rivaling — and in some areas, surpassing — traditional media like TV and movies in sales. Large companies like State Farm, who aren’t usually thought of when you think of streamers and gaming, are now main supporters of gaming and e-sports. “The reach that the gaming industry has had in a bunch of different avenues of entertainment is crazy.” Actors, singers, musicians — you’ll find them all playing things like Among Us. “I think it makes people more relatable, and for an entertainer, you’re trying to build an audience, and relatability is huge,” he says.
The popularity of games like Among Us, Fortnite, and Minecraft before that, have shown the appetite for simple, straight-forward games that don’t need high-performance machines to run. Why does “simple” seem to be winning right now? “I think it says gameplay is such a huge thing for people. For a long time, we went through this ‘gaming arms race’ of who can the higher-fidelity graphics, the crazy [light] ray treatments — that whole thing existed because of the arms race of gaming. I think we’ve gotten to a point now where people say, ‘Ok, yeah. It’s super pretty, but…’” But when you look at something like Among Us, with its simple design, it’s 100% about the interaction between people.” And during a global pandemic, the importance of those relationships and interactions can’t be overstated.
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.