As promised, Codemasters released a mobile version of its latest Formula One racing game, F1 2016.
Now, the official video game of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship can be played on tvOS, iOS, and Android devices — sorry Windows Mobile users, you are out of luck.
Like its console and desktop counterpart, the mobile version of F1 2016 features the full roster of 2016 Formula One drivers, as well as all 21 circuits used throughout this season.
F1 2016 offers six different racing modes: Time Trial, Weekly Event, Season, Quick Race, and Custom Season. Live multiplayer is not available and there is no word on whether or not it will become available, but for now you will be stuck battling against AI drivers on the circuits.
As is to be expected, the controls in the mobile version of F1 2016 are dramatically simplified with four different control schemes. Two of the setups use a combination of on-screen controls and your smartphone’s accelerometer for controlling steering, while the other two use only on-screen controls. The tvOS version of the game uses slightly different controls, but for the most part keeps consistent with the iOS and Android versions.
On compatible devices, F1 2016 offers haptic feedback and stereo audio to create an immersive on-the-go experience.
Rather than utilizing a freemium model for pricing, Codemasters has made F1 2016 an outright purchase. For $10, you have access to every feature in the game. This makes it a heavy up-front investment, especially if you already own the game for a console or desktop computer, but it prevents the small microtransactions that might end up costing more in the long run.
Head on over to the iOS App Store or Google Play Store to take your favorite Formula One car for a spin around any of the 21 circuits available.
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.