In an ironic twist, Microsoft is extending an offer to replace some of the discs for its just-launched Halo 3 video game because game packaging can damage the discs before players ever get a chance to launch the game.
The replacement program detailed on Microsoft’s Xbox Web site covers the Halo 3 Limited Edition Game Disc and Essentials Disc, following a spate of reports that the Limited Edition packaging was scratching the discs. Microsoft will replace the discs free of charge through December 31, 2007; before that point, the company apparently hopes to have the disc-scratching packaging out of retail channels.
Impacted customers must compete a form (available in PDF format) for each damaged disc and mail it to Microsoft’s disc replacement program. Microsoft says replacement discs should arrive in two weeks.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.