Sony is reportedly readying its newest subscription service for a big reveal. Bloomberg reports that people familiar with the plans of PlayStation’s game subscription service code-named Spartacus say that the announcement could come as soon as next week.
PlayStation’s answer to Game Pass has long been rumored and is allegedly in development under the code name Spartacus. Like Xbox Game Pass, it is a subscription service that gives members access to a large library of downloadable games for a monthly or yearly payment. Bloomberg reports that a private source familiar with the project states that “Sony’s will debut with a splashy lineup of hit games from recent years.”
Bloomberg also affirmed more details about the upcoming service, explaining that Spartacus will combine PlayStation’s current subscription services, PlayStation Now and PlayStation Plus. Like Game Pass, Spartacus will offer multiple tiers for subscribers. In PlayStation’s case, the more expensive tiers will enable subscribers to play classics from older PlayStation eras, access extended demos or new releases, and stream games over the internet.
PlayStation’s Spartacus may also greatly differ from Game Pass in the recent nature of its offered games. It seems that Sony is focusing on highlighting titles from throughout PlayStation history instead of putting games on the service as soon as they launch. Bloomberg reports that the service won’t include PlayStation’s biggest titles, like the upcoming God of War: Ragnarok, on the day they come out. All Xbox Game Studios titles launch on Game Pass on day one.
It remains to be seen how PlayStation’s clone of Game Pass will go over with fans, but we apparently won’t have to wait long to find out.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.