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Microsoft’s Game Room Encounters Freezing Issues on Launch Day

Microsoft released Xbox Live Game Room virtual arcade today, but freezing issues have put a damper on the launch.

Game Room was first announced by Microsoft during January at CES. Today, it officially hit Xbox Live Arcade, but it has encountered some freezing issues. The free client can be downloaded without issues, but when users attempt to load any games Game Room, freezes up. Microsoft is working on a fix and has stated that the client can still be downloaded while a fix is put in place.

When working, Game Room allows gamers to download a large variety of classic arcade and console games in their original forms. It is available for the Xbox 360 and Windows-based PCs and currently offers up 30 classic games for purchase with more certainly on the way.

Microsoft’s Official Game Room Trailer

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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.