There’s little question that Nintendo broke some new ground with its Wii Fit game and Balance Board accessory (which has sold more than 8 million copies in the U.S.), enabling users to tap into the Wii console for a bit of home fitness without necessarily having to undergo the humiliation of something like Dance Dance Revolution. Balance Board-supporting games and Wii Fit have proven a hit among a demographic Nintendo has unique success with—non-traditional gamers—as parents, seniors, and young children get into the games.
Now Nintendo is upping the ante with Wii Fit Plus, offering customized workouts for every member of a household—what’s more, users can even create Miis for their pets and track their own pets weight.
“As the fast pace of the holiday season kicks in, Wii Fit Plus delivers an unbeatable at-home fitness option,” said Nintendo America sales VP Cammie Dunaway, in a statement. “Whether people have specific fitness goals or just want a fun way to stay active, they can create a personalized, productive workout routine that they’ll actually look forward to each day.”
Wii Fit Plus includes activities that encompass aerobic activity, strength strength training, and balance; the game features 20 new activities that weren’t present in the original Wii Fit, including a Segway course, skateboarding, and (with the Wii Remote and Nunchuck controller) Kung Fu. Users can select workout routines that last anywhere from five minutes to an hour, and customize routines so they focus on particular activities or target areas.
Wii Fit Plus is available now with a Balance Board accessory for $99.99; folks who already have the Balance Board can grab just the Wii Fit Plus software for $19.99.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.