Valve has announced some major changes to the way that games bought via Steam can be gifted to other users. The element of the online storefront has long been problematic for the company, as many unofficial resellers used the system to facilitate their sales, but it seems that the time has come for a crackdown.
Steam users will no longer be able to send gifts to their recipients email address, or have them forwarded to an inventory. Instead, games will be transferred directly from the gift giver to the library of the recipient, according to a post on the Steam Blog.
This should cut down on frustration in the event that the recipient already owns the game that they’re being given. Previously, this would result in the giver having the game added to their inventory, but going forward they will simply get a refund, should the recipient decline the gift.
Valve is also giving users more control over when their recipient gets their gift. If you’re looking to send a surprise on a birthday or another special occasion, you can schedule its delivery months in advance and ensure that it arrives on time when the day comes.
Gifting between regions is also set to become more reliable, as games sent via the new system will be guaranteed to work on their recipients account, which wasn’t always the case when they were sent via email or directly to their inventory. However, if there’s a sizeable price difference between those two reasons, it won’t be possible to send the gift — the purchase will be blocked at checkout.
These new policies are now in effect, which will please certain users and frustrate many resellers. It’s been confirmed that pre-existing gifts already present in a user’s inventory or previously distributed via email will not be affected by the change.
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.