Sony has been playing up its new handheld gaming rig for a while now, but today is when the SKUs hit the shelves: Sony’s PSPgo portable gaming system is on sale at North American retailers for a suggested price of $249.99. The PSPgo features a 3.8-inch display that slides up to reveal gaming controls, 802.11b Wi-Fi (for connecting to available networks and the PlayStation Network), and Bluetooth wireless networking (for handling headsets or Dualshock controllers).
What’s missing? Sony’s little-loved UMD disc drive, which helps the PSPgo be over 40 percent smaller than its predecessors. Sony plans to make up for it by offering full-length portable game titles via the PlayStation Network. Sony is, of course, offering a plethora of new gaming content on the PlayStation Network to support the launch, including Gran Turismo, Motorstorm Arctic Edge, and PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe. Overall, Sony claims more than 225 full-game titles are available for the PSPgo via the PlayStation Network, along with more than 16,000 other content items like movies, TV shows, PSOne games, and comics. The units even come with a Rock Band Unplugged Lite voucher, just to get people started on the path of buying into game franchises.
The PSPGo features 16 GB of onboard flash memory, along with Memory Stick micro card support so users can sideload titles, photos, and other media. Users will be able to leverage the Bluetooth capabilities to listen to music via a compatible Bluetooth device, as well as tap into Internet radio and use headsets with VoIP services like Skype. The PSPgo also includes Web browsing capability, so enabling users to access online video and other services.
An open question is whether Sony can succeed with the PSPgo again the likes of the iPod touch and the Nintendo DSi: Nintendo has always seemed to have the edge amongst casual gamers (and the DS family has always outsold the PSP line), and Apple has captured significant mindshare with the iPod touch…whic starts out at a lower price point than the PSPgo. On the other hand, for the time being Sony arguably has the edge in terms of game content, and for folks looking for a portable gaming experience, the content is about all that matters.
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.