Microsoft has introduced cross-play compatibility for its sci-fi third-person shooter Gears of War 4, allowing players on the Xbox One and PC platforms to play together in public versus multiplayer matches.
The update makes Gears of War 4 one of the few Xbox One titles to support online matches featuring both console and PC players, following on the heels of other cross-platform favorites like Rocket League and Killer Instinct.
Gears of War 4 marks the franchise’s Xbox One debut, originally launching for Microsoft’s console in October. A PC version also dropped last year, though players were initially locked to their chosen platform when searching out competitors in the game’s many included online versus multiplayer modes.
Starting Friday, Gears of War 4‘s Social Quickplay mode now defaults to a cross-play playlist, putting Xbox One and PC players in competition with one another as part of the matchmaking process. The Coalition community manager Liam Ashley explains that the change was made after results from a recent test weekend proved encouraging.
“Late last year, we conducted a cross-play Test Weekend to bring our Windows 10 and Xbox One fans together in public Versus Multiplayer, combining fan feedback and extensive data gathering to help us decide the next steps to take to deliver a matchmaking cross-play Versus experience,” Ashley said.
“When we looked at the extensive data we received thanks to the incredible participation from our community, there was a clear message — it works. […] As such, beginning today, Social Quickplay will now be a Cross-play playlist! This step is planned to be a permanent move for the future of Social Quickplay, with the first few months being a ‘trial period’ in order to monitor player feedback alongside data to ensure the Test Weekend was representative.”
Gears of War 4 is available for the Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs.
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.