TwitchCon 2018 tickets are available for purchase now, Twitch announced on Friday, July 6. The three-day event takes place at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California from October 26-28. The annual event, which debuted in 2015, focuses on all things video game streaming, from popular content creators to the fans. It’s also where Twitch is likely to discuss plans for the streaming platform going forward. Last year, the event garnered 50,000 attendees.
Twitch Chief Marketing Officer Kate Jhaveri said, “TwitchCon is a celebration of the many varied interests of the Twitch community, from gameplay and design, to cosplay, fundraising, speedrunning, esports, and more.”
TwitchCon has two major additions this year: the Ambassador Program and Games Done Quick. The Ambassador Program brings 15 Twitch partners to the event for a series of panels, meet and greets, and other activities. Here is the full list of ambassadors, all of whom will probably be well-known to avid stream watchers:
Games Done Quick, branded as GDQ Express, will feature a 50-hour speedrunning marathon throughout the event. Like all Games Done Quick events, the marathon will raise money for various charities located in the TwitchCon Charity Plaza. If you’re interested in showing off your speedrunning skills at TwitchCon, GDQ is holding open submissions from July 8-14.
In addition to raising money through GDQ Express, the TwitchCon Charity Decathlon will feature 150 Twitch streamers in a wide-ranging competition including both gaming challenges and musical contests. The 10 charities represented at TwitchCon will be located at TwitchCon Charity Plaza. Last year, the decathlon raised $117,000 for charity.
Attendees will also be able to try new and upcoming games on the expo floor. TwitchCon will be host to dozens of panels on a wide array of streaming-related topics. If you think you have something worthwhile for a panel session, you can apply for a slot in the show until July 16. Other events include a cosplay competition and Artist Alley, where streamers can sell their art in the arena.
If you’re interested in purchasing tickets for TwitchCon, you can do so here. You get a steep discount by purchasing a three-day pass for $179. If you only want to go for a single day, October 26 is $99 and the following two days are $89 a piece.
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.