Microsoft has decided to get into the gaming mouse business, unveiling its new SideWinder gaming mouse enabling serious PC gamers to customize and tweak the device to their heart’s content—and thereby, presumably, achieve some sort of nirvana unattainable to mundane mousers. The mouse also marks the return of Microsoft’s old SideWinder line that the company launched n 1995, but discontinued the gaming peripheral series back in 2003, bowing to pressure from more aggressive manufacturers.
“We’re taking gaming mice to a new level with a mouse created in direct response to gamer feedback from all over the world; it offers superior customization and performance handling,” said Bill Jukes, hardware product marketing manager for Microsoft, in a statement. “We found that gamers are a lot like performance car enthusiasts. They like to tweak and tune their mouse to get it just right, and today we are giving them the tools to create a personalized experience that lets them focus on what’s important: being at the top of their game.”
The new SideWinder mouse is highly adjustable, offering a weight tray so users can make the device has fleet (or solid) as they desire, along with interchangeable feet to suport users’ glide preferences. But the highlight hardware change is an on-mouse LCD display gamers can use to keep track of key parameters, like their current DPI settings and steps for recording mouse macros. Users can also switch between low, medium and high-sensitivity DPI settings, and a new “Quick Turn” performance-enhancing macro lets users quickly scan their in-game perimeter with the click of a single button. Microsoft says the mouse’s cable management system offers the feel of a wireless mouse with the connection speed and response of a corded device, since extra cable is kept constrained in a device which also doubles as a storage compartment for mouse weights and feet. The mouse also sports a wide scroll week and two vertical side buttons—and Microsoft is claiming the recordable macro feature is like having almost 5,000 different mice in one. At least, if users want to invest the time to record 5,000 macros.
The SideWinder mouse will be available in October at a suggested price of $79.99; pre-overs are open now on Amazon.com.
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.