The Sega Genesis Mini might just be the best mini plug-and-play console we’ve seen to date, with more than 40 games loaded, two packaged controllers, and attention to detail that is even more impressive than Nintendo’s offerings. It launched a few months ago for $80, but you can get it for less than half that price during GameStop’s Deal of the Day.
If you go to GameStop’s website right now, the Sega Genesis Mini will be priced at $50, but if you add it to your cart, the price lowers to $35. This effectively means you’re paying less than $1 per game, even before factoring in the cost of the unit itself, the controllers, and the HDMI cable. Unlike some of its competitors, the Genesis Mini also comes with a USB adapter, so you won’t have to get one of your old phone chargers to power the system.
Games included in the Genesis Mini offer a great deal of variety, and there are very few weak links here. Some of our favorites include the shooters Contra: Hard Corps and Thunder Force III as well as the action games Castlevania: Bloodlines and Ghouls ‘n Ghosts. As you would expect, there are plenty of Sonic the Hedgehog games, as well, including the original two titles, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, and Sonic Spinball.
Bonus games with the Genesis Mini are Tetris and Darius. The former was a canceled version of the game that was planned for release on the original Genesis, while the latter is an arcade port. Neither game can hold much of a candle to the 40 included Genesis games — the Tetris port is not that great — but as a piece of history, they’re both excellent additions.
You have everything you need to play the Genesis Mini with the contents included in the box, but if you want an even better controller, you can order the 8BitDo M30 2.4G. It features a turbo function, additional face buttons, wireless play, and 35 hours of play between charges of its battery. It’s also compatible with Switch and lets you go back to the home menu of the Genesis Mini without touching the console.
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.