Are you having trouble logging into Nintendo’s online services this week? You’re not alone. Nintendo announced that Switch, Wii U, and 3DS online services will see a series of planned outages this week as the company prepares for an extended server maintenance session.
Nintendo warns that “certain network services” for its consoles and portable platforms will be unavailable as server maintenance begins Tuesday evening and additional outages are expected throughout the coming week.
Nintendo is working to improve its online services following the recent launch of its Switch console, which will host several online multiplayer games in the coming year. This week’s server maintenance period arrives in the wake of a recent server stress test for Splatoon 2, a territory-capturing multiplayer game with a significant online component.
Other online-capable games heading to the Switch in the months ahead include Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a kart racing game that features a variety of multiplayer modes, and Ultra Street Fighter II, a head-to-head fighting game that requires consistent online performance for lag-free matches.
Nintendo notes that online play and rankings for specific Switch games will be unavailable starting tonight at 9 p.m. (PT) and services will be restored at 10:30 p.m. Nintendo Wii U owners will also see an online services blackout this evening between 5:50 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Online play across all Nintendo platforms, including the Switch, will also be unavailable on Wednesday between 6:45 p.m. and 8 p.m. This week’s final cross-platform server maintenance period for Nintendo platforms will begin on Thursday at 9 p.m. and will conclude on Friday at 2 a.m.
Nintendo has not issued any word regarding any planned server improvements or upgrades, but players can expect to resume regular online gameplay this weekend.
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.