Sony hosted its investor relations meeting for 2019 and, as expected, one of the main topics was the PS5 and plans for the PlayStation brand going into the next generation of home console gaming. One of the more curious developments at the tail end of the current generation is the reveal of Google Stadia and how the competition will respond. As revealed in the IR documents for the game and network services segment of the meeting, Sony didn’t consider cloud game streaming a true part of current gen but is dedicating resources and evolving it for next-gen services.
In a previous report, we pondered whether or not a newly revealed patent meant Sony would be introducing a streaming service alongside the PlayStation 5. The idea is that it would compete with the Stadia, Google’s cloud game streaming platform which launches this fall, but the IR report shows that Sony is aiming to enhance PlayStation Now and present it as one of the three ways gamers can experience the next generation of PlayStation. Here’s the vision Sony laid out for streaming in the future:
“A massively enhanced PlayStation community where enriched and shared PlayStation experiences can be seamlessly enjoyed independent of time and place – with or without a console.”
The “without a console” part is key here as PlayStation Now is currently limited to PC and PS4 (stream to both, download on PS4 only). Google Stadia will work with laptops, televisions, and tablets without a need for additional hardware and it seems like Sony is gearing up to do the same with PlayStation Now. Sony also points toward the new partnership with Microsoft as a means to achieve the ideal growth and scale. That handshake between the two gaming giants allows Sony to utilize Microsoft’s platform for content streaming. The last interesting footnote is the mention that the 780 games that are on PlayStation Now require “no developer effort.”
One of Google Stadia’s focal points has been how the platform will seamlessly work with tools game developers already utilize, allowing them to just work on one version of their game and not have to work on porting to all the different devices Stadia will stream to.
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.