Nintendo Of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé confirmed that last weekend’s Nintendo Switch release was the company’s biggest console launch ever in North America, topping a previous 48-hour sales record set by its 2006 Wii console.
In the U.K., retailers revealed that the Switch sold around 80,000 units during its launch weekend, doubling the estimated 40,000 Wii U consoles sold during a 48-hour launch period in 2013, while trailing equivalent launches for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo’s own 3DS.
The Nintendo Switch is a hybrid gaming console that transforms into a portable gaming unit when removed from its TV-connected dock. The new console includes a pair of Joy-Con controllers, which function as wireless input during TV play and can be attached to the system’s touchscreen for on-the-go portable sessions.
Despite skepticism from the gaming community and prerelease concerns regarding Joy-Con connectivity, the Nintendo Switch quickly sold out at many retailers in North America, establishing a new sales record. Speaking to New York Times reporter Nick Wingfield, Fils-Aimé said the Switch “exceeded first 2-day sales in Americas for any system in Nintendo history.”
Fils-Aimé also confirmed that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is now Nintendo’s fastest-selling stand-alone launch title in the United States, not counting games that were bundled with Nintendo console hardware. Nintendo’s previous top-selling U.S. launch title was 1996’s Super Mario 64, which debuted alongside the Nintendo 64 in 1996.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild also emerged as a popular pick during its opening weekend, though Sony’s Horizon: Zero Dawn ranks as the week’s overall biggest seller across all platforms in the U.K. Other Switch launch titles appearing in this week’s U.K. sales charts, according to GamesInudstry.biz, include the minigame compilation 1-2 Switch and the multiplayer action game Super Bomberman R.
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.