The Sega Genesis Mini just might be the best plug-and-play retro console we’ve seen so far, with more than 40 classic games featuring brilliant emulation, as well as impressive attention to detail on the hardware itself. If you haven’t picked one up yet, you can currently do so at a huge discount just in time for the holidays.
Right now on Amazon, you can buy a new Sega Genesis Mini for $50, down from its standard $80 price. Even at its original price point, the system is worth buying, as it comes with two excellent controllers, a power cable and AC adapter, and an HDMI cable.
Some other plug-and-play systems do not include the adapter, requiring you to use one from a phone to power the system, and the two controllers means you can play several of the games with a friend without needing to spend extra cash.
The game selection on the Genesis Mini is impressive, spanning a wide variety of genres like shoot-’em-ups and role-playing games, and including almost all the big-name hits. The best games on the system include:
The Genesis Mini also comes with suspending functions and multiple save states, so that more than one person can work on the same game simultaneously without erasing the other’s progress. With the discounted price, however, it might even be worthwhile to just purchase a second system. They are relatively easy to find, unlike Nintendo’s NES Classic and SNES Classic, which suffered shortages for months after they launched in 2016 and 2017.
Though it doesn’t actually use cartridges, the Sega Genesis Mini features a functional cartridge slot flap on the top, as well as a dummy volume control switch. It uses standard USB plugs for its controllers, which also allows for third-party controllers to function. This includes 8BitDo’s excellent M30, which adds additional buttons, turbo functionality, and wireless connectivity via a dongle. The Genesis Mini’s controller cords are fairly long, however, so they will still accommodate some living room setups if you don’t want to purchase an extender.
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.