With toy-integrated video game franchises like Skylanders or Nintendo’s Amiibo raking in enormous sums over the last few years, it was only a matter of time before someone developed a game to integrate one of the 20th century’s most iconic playthings: the toy car. According to a recent U.K. survey, nearly a quarter of adults admit to still playing with toy cars, even when their kids aren’t around. Pocket Racing, which just launched its Kickstarter campaign, aims to bring this beloved toy into the 21st century with a tablet game that integrates directly with synced-up, actuated toy cars.
Players place their special toy car onto their tablet, where the road furls out from under it as if it were racing in the game. Three built-in pistons and lights in the car respond to the game in real time as you play — the car shakes when knocking into other vehicles on the road, or might even blow its top off in a crash. Light sensors on the bottom of the car help track its location on the tablet in real time, and the wheels have been designed with just enough grip to keep their position even at an angle, while not leaving any unsightly smudges on the screen. Multiple shells will be available so players can customize their cars.
The accompanying game will be available for both iOS and Android. It features both online and local multiplayer, and a progression system through which players can earn experience used to unlock new in-game abilities for their cars. The game and accompanying cars are being developed by Ptah Tech (so-named for the Egyptian god of craftsmen), in Shenzhen, China. A pledge of $39 for the Kickstarter will net you one basic car and a basic shell. They are expected to ship this coming July.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.