You thought the PSN username “LimpBizkitRulezzz” would be timeless when you created it during the PlayStation 3 era, but tastes change and you’re likely tired of having to look at it. Until this point, there was nothing you could do about that, but Sony has finally announced the ability to change your PlayStation username, and the feature arrives to beta testers very soon.
Releasing initially as part of the PlayStation Preview program, the PSN Online ID Change feature will let you change your username for free one time. Subsequent changes will cost $5 for PlayStation Plus members and $10 for everyone else, though we’re not really sure why you’d want to change your name if you aren’t playing online already.
The changes will be available to other PlayStation users in early 2019, but you might encounter issues with your new name displaying correctly in certain games. Sony said the feature will work for all games published after April 1, 2018, but earlier games could fail to show your new name. You can revert back to your previous name as a one-time action during the preview testing stage, and there’s also an option to display your old ID alongside your new one so your friends know it’s still you.
PlayStation 4 also gives you the option to display your real name to those on your friends list, so it’s likely many of them won’t even notice the change. If you’re connected to Facebook, you can even make your profile picture the same as your Facebook page for these users, as well.
Those in the preview program will have until the end of November to change their name. The program also gives you access to changes coming in future PlayStation 4 updates, such as UI tweaks or organizational changes. As these changes are still in beta during this period, they could have problems not seen in the final version.
This feature has certainly been requested from users, as Xbox has allowed you to change your username for years. Doing so on Xbox also costs money, though if you’re changing it from a randomized username picked by Microsoft, you can do so one time for free.
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.