If the pre-orders are any indication, the Microsoft Kinect may be in trouble. According to the UK retailer, ShopTo, “Pre-orders are very low.”
ShopTo CEO Igor Cipolletta claims that the reason for the low orders is simple enough, the cost. “It’s too high,” Cipolletta said in an interview with Eurogamer.
“We believe that with this current economy it should be around £70 ($105). For £140 ($210) you can buy a Wii.” Cipolletta said.
The price has been a contention for many, but Microsoft has said that the $150 sticker is merely a placeholder, and a decision on the final price has not been reached. It’s a somewhat odd assertion, considering that several retailers, including Microsoft’s own store, have the price listed as $149.99.
Microsoft may be reconsidering how much to charge in wake of the low pre-orders. Competition from the Sony’s Move – which will ship with a game for $99 and have a big head start over the Kinect’s November 4 release date when the Move ships on September 19 – may also affect the decision to lower the cost.
Although it might not be that simple for Microsoft. The website Develop is reporting that the Kinect may actually cost $150 to manufacture, so Microsoft may be forced into the position of limiting its sales by charging a cost that makes no profit, or take a loss in order to compete. Regardless of the final decision, the Kinect is not off to a stellar beginning.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.