A new patent filed by Sony reveals that PlayStation has been looking into the use of NFTs and blockchain technology in its games. The patent, titled Tracking Unique In-Game Digital Assets Using Tokens on a Distributed Ledger, was filed last year and published last Thursday, according to a report from Video Game Chronicle.
The filing details a system that could be used to track digital assets that are created, used, modified, and transferred within a game, as well as assets based on the gameplay of a particular game. It suggests that the systems and technologies would be used to verify the authenticity of the NFTs created by players, including assets based on specific characters, costumes, in-game items, and even gameplay moments like cutscenes, images, and audio clips. They could even buy, sell, or rent assets created by gamers and content creators, most notably Twitch streamers.
“The techniques and technologies described herein expand the capabilities of digital assets associated with video games, and of systems that create and manage such digital assets, by converting the digital assets associated with video games from being fungible to being non-fungible,” the patent reads. “The techniques and technologies described herein expand the functionality of digital assets associated with video games, and of systems that create and manage such digital assets, by tracking a history of the digital assets. Tracking the history of the digital assets can include, for example, tracking when, how, and by whom the digital asset was created, used, modified, rented to, rented by, sold to, purchased by, licensed to, licensed by, exchanged to, exchanged by, and/or other actions.”
It’s not clear if Sony actually intends to implement the idea, as patents don’t always turn into real products. The filing does show that Sony has considered the idea of experimenting with the tech, though.
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.