Microsoft has announced it will lower the price on its external Xbox 360 HD DVD Player from $199 to $179 beginning August 1—and, furthermore, the company will offer five free HD DVD movies with players purchased between August 1 and September 30, 2007. The free movie deal closely parallel’s Toshiba’s recent promotion of five free HD DVD discs with Toshiba HD DVD players—when purchasing an Xbox 460 HD DVD player, customers will be able to choose five free movies from a selection of 15 HD DVD titles via a mail-in offer.
“With the price reduction to $179, the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player continues to be the most affordable way to enjoy high definition,” said Jeff Bell, corporate VP of global Marketing, for Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division. “From the beginning, we set out to offer Xbox 360 owners an unrivaled high-definition experience, with a choice of optical discs on the HD DVD format and digital downloads through Xbox LIVE Marketplace—both of which have a selection of the best content Hollywood has to offer.”
Microsoft also announced promotions to tie in with the HD DVD releases of the film 300 and the first season of the NBC television show Heroes. Microsoft will offer 300 on demand via Xbox Live Marketplace beginning August 14, and will offer the Heroes pilot episode as a free high definition download for a limited time. Microsoft will also offer teasers, trailers, and other Heroes promotional materials as free downloads.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.