Gaming accessories are designed to help players feel realistically in action, be it a steering wheel controller for racing games or a light gun for first person shooters. But the next time you get into stance and fire aggressively at your monitor, you might want to watch out for how your neighbors might perceive such leisurely night in. A Liverpool, UK man was allegedly wielding a light gun meant for the game Shoot ‘Em Up from his home before a passerby mistook his toy for an actual firearm, resulting in an armed siege.
According to BBC, the startled passerby witnessed the gamer waving a “weapon” and “pointing it from a window.” The passerby immediately called 999, where police arrived for a short standoff in the residential neighborhood of Spellow Lane, Walton, Liverpool. Cops eventually detained the gamer only to find that his so-called “gun” was a gaming accessory.
“Merseyside Police takes all reports of gun crime seriously and if, as in this case, a member of the public reports that they believe someone is armed with a firearm and is pointing it from a window, officers will respond,” a police spokeswoman said. “In this instance, once officers gained entry to the property, they found that the imitation firearm was, in fact, from a computer console.” The police crew proceeded to give the gamer “suitable advice” and released him without charge.
With the realistic-ness of today’s toy gun designs, it’s easy to see why a fake firearm would look alarming at a glance. No longer are the days of the brightly-colored Nintendo Duck Hunt gun or pastel Time Crisis shooters. Merseyside police warned gamers that they should play carefully, especially when in plain view of the general public. “Merseyside Police would like to remind people that even imitation firearms, including toys, have the potential to cause fear of violence and intimidation and they should be mindful of this when using such items,” the spokeswoman said. “There is also the potential that members of the public could face being confronted with armed officers by not using such items sensibly and with regard for others.”
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.