After more than a year, Nintendo revealed it will not continue development of its fitness-minded sleep monitoring device. Announced by former company president Satoru Iwata in October, 2014, the wireless sleep sensor was part of a proposed “quality of life” initiative at Nintendo, intended to build on the success of the Wii Fit and Wii U Fit balance boards. Earlier this week, Nintendo CEO Tatsumi Kimishima told investors the company no longer considered the sensor a viable product in a meeting following the company’s recent quarterly earnings report.
“In regards to the Quality of Life [device], which was not mentioned in any of today’s questions, we do not have the conviction that the sleep-and-fatigue-themed [device] can enter the phase of actually becoming a product,” Kimishima said, according to a translation from Wired. On the other hand, we still believe there are things we can do in the general category of Quality of Life, and we will continue to study the possibility of expanding into this field.”
Based on an early diagram, users would have placed the sensor on a nightstand or nearby table, allowing it to monitor and analyze users’ breathing, heartbeat, body movement during sleep using “non-contact sensor measurement technology and sleep condition estimation technology.” The device would also provide feedback aimed at improving the user’s lifestyle. Though the device was not connected to any console, Iwata did suggest Nintendo would incorporate its understanding of game design to make the experience of using a fitness tracker into “something fun.”
“Fatigue and sleep are themes that are rather hard to visualize in more objective ways,” Iwata told investors during an October, 2014, presentation. “At Nintendo, we believe that if we could visualize them, there would be great potential for many people regardless of age, gender, language or culture.”
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.