Products with the Logitech G label — one of four brands under the Logitech umbrella, focused on equipment for gamers — aren’t always “cool,” even if they’re good. Last August, the company released a gaming mouse and keyboard with ordinary designs, eschewing flashy lights and futuristic builds altogether.
The new G560 speakers, however, are built with both style and substance. The 2.1-channel system includes a downward-firing subwoofer and two custom-tuned satellite speakers, each of which are outfitted with two RGB LED zones — one facing backward, intended to splay onto the wall behind your PC, and one that shines behind the grille in front.
The G560 support DTS:X Ultra surround sound imaging (which you can toggle on and off), and reach a peak of 240 watts. You can connect via USB, 3.5mm aux, or Bluetooth (you can connect two devices simultaneously via Bluetooth). The “G” key on the satellite speakers can control macros if you set them up in the Logitech G software; by default, the button adjusts LED brightness.
The G560 are designed with an open software development kit (SDK), which means game developers can actually program in scenes based upon events that happen in-game. For example, Epic Games has already built in support for its ultra-popular Fortnite Battle Royale, so when players find themselves caught in “the storm,” all of the lights will immediately turn purple, immersing the player further into the experience. Developers can use this kit to transform the lights into indicators for health bars, ammo counts, or pretty much anything else you can think up.
That might sound limiting — after all, you can’t expect every game studio to implement such features — but the G560 have some neat tricks to improve your experience with other games, too. The software allows you to choose between five different color effects, including “audio visualizer” (which works with any audio source) and “screen sampler,” an awesome mode that allows you to select four different rectangular areas on your screen and assign those areas to the four RGB zones. The software will then pull whatever color appears most in a given area and change the LED colors accordingly. So, if your character is wandering through a forest, your lights will shine green — even if the developer hasn’t utilized the SDK.
The G560 are available for pre-order as of March 15, and will begin shipping later in the month. They retail for $200.
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.