This year’s Game of the Year race has a new contender. Death Stranding 2: On The Beach launches this year and it’s earning high marks from critics who largely seem to agree that it fully realizes its predecessor’s vision. To celebrate, Hideo Kojima’s latest is getting its own custom DualSense controller. If you’re curious as to what it looks like, allow me to give you a full tour.
Design wise, this is your typical PS5 controller so don’t expect to find a BB hanging from its backside. It features an all-black color scheme that’s more or less identical to the Midnight Black DualSense that’s available for $10 less. The extra cash goes towards a few custom touches meant to tie it into Death Stranding 2.
The most notable feature is a big Drawbridge logo over the touch pad, a reference to the new delivery company that Sam Porter Bridges works for in the sequel. It’s an orange, asymmetrical logo that features an image of a bridge and an inscription that reads “Both stick and rope, to protect and connect, together for tomorrow.” There are some matching orange and black decals on the side, featuring some numbers and barcodes that give it some sci-fi flair.
The rest of the details are subtle ones. There’s a black Death Stranding 2 logo on the backside that’s hard to see unless you catch it in a bit of light. Squint and you’ll also see a round ring decal around the face buttons, giving the controller a unique little accent.
So, how does it stack up to other special edition DualSenses? It’s a bit low tier compared to some of Sony’s more involved designs. It’s not quite as creative as Astro Bot’s special controller, nor as aesthetically pleasing as the 30th anniversary PlayStation DualSense. It’s certainly less busy than something like Fortnite‘s decal-overloaded gamepad, so that’s great news for minimalists, but the very similar black Helldivers 2 controller has it beat. Of course, none of that matters if you simply love Death Stranding and want some snazzy accessories to show that off. If that’s you, you can pick one up for $85 through PlayStation’s website.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach launches on June 26 for PS5.
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.