We love our old Nintendo wired controllers, but sometimes you want to play a game on your a retro console like the NES and you have to sit across the room. A company called RetroTime has found a way to help.
You might know about the expansion port on the bottom of the NES, and if you don’t, that’s probably because it has a plastic gray cover that shields it from view. While the Japanese version of the NES, the Famicom, offered accessories like modems that worked with the expansion port, it was never utilized on other versions. Now, RetroTime, through retro accessory store 8BitMods (thanks to The Verge for the tip), is releasing the NES HUB, a Bluetooth receiver that allows you to connect up to four wireless controllers to your NES.
This is a big upgrade for the older console, not just because it unlocks wireless capabilities, but because it normally supports only up to two wired controllers out of the box. Granted, because of this limitation, not many NES games supported up to four players, but the NES Four Score accessory allowed for up to four-player couch co-op on certain games like Bomberman 2, Gauntlet 2, and a Jeopardy game.
You can preorder one from the store for $57, and it’s set to start shipping in December. From the instructions, it looks fairly easy to install. Just remove the expansion port cover, plug the HUB in, attach the antenna to the back of the console, and that’s it.
In addition, the HUB unlocks expansion audio, where certain games can get access to more audio channels for better sound quality, and adds three more ports for other accessories like controllers. RetroTime also offers an SNES add-on that lets you use SNES controllers through one of those extra NES HUB ports. That costs $26 on 8BitMods and is also set to ship in December.
Finally, if you want to configure the controls, you can connect it via Bluetooth to your PC and open up BlueRetro Config through Chrome.
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.