It’s been almost three years since Nintendo began proving conclusively that a motion-sensitive controller can be a hit in the video gaming world, and now Sony has announced it plans to get in on the act, saying it plans to ship a new motion controller for its PlayStation 3 video game system. However, folks who were planning on maybe buying (or receiving) a stocking-stuffer for the holiday season are out of luck: the new controller won’t be available until “spring 2010,” which in marketing-speak means sometime before mid-June.
Sony’s new controller will integrate with Sony’s Eye camera, which can track player’s body motion, voices, and faces. The company claims the controller will be “sub-millimeter” precise, and seems to split the difference between Microsoft’s forthcoming Project Natal—which aims to let users control games using just body motion, with no controller at all—and Nintendo’s Wii controller, which captures its own motion and orientation and button status, but is unaware of a user’s real body motion.
Sony did not reveal any pricing information for the controller.
Sony also announced that its new PS3 Slim is racking up impressive sales numbers: according to the company, the PS3 Slim has sold more than 1 million units worldwide since its introduction three weeks ago. Sales have no doubt been aided by the console’s new price point—$299 US—and the revamped console is not only smaller, but consumers less power and produces less noise.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.