Apple hosted a special livestream event at the San Jose Convention Center during the company’s annual World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC). During the event, Apple revealed that the upcoming game subscription service Apple Arcade will feature support for the Xbox One controller and PlayStation 4’s DualShock 4.
Google Stadia isn’t the only new gaming platform coming in 2019. Apple Arcade will be released in the fall but, unlike Stadia, it is not a cloud streaming platform. With Apple Arcade, gamers will be using a connection to download the games in full but you won’t need an active connection to play. The platform will feature exclusive games that Apple has reportedly invested more than $500 million to obtain and a subscription will get you and five other users access to those titles. You can access the Apple Arcade platform via an iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV.
It’s reported that none of the Apple Arcade titles will come to Android devices but the door is open for home consoles and PC. This is supported by the reveal of integration with the DualShock 4 and Xbox One controller made during WWDC 2019. Arcade will be a new face in the competition for gamer’s time but this move alludes to a more collaborative relationship with the established companies within the space.
Considering Apple’s strength in the smartphone industry, it makes sense to be concerned that Apple Arcade could just be another way to deliver experiences tailored toward mobile gamers. Support for the DualShock 4 and Xbox One controller, though, reaffirms the potential for Apple Arcade to be a gaming platform closer to home gaming experiences and not just a home for ported mobile experiences.
With these gamepads, you’ll eventually be playing games from the likes of Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and The Sims designer Will Wright. There are already many revealed games for the platform as well, like Sonic Racing, Overland, and Beyond a Steel Sky. You can check them out in our guide to all we know about the Apple Arcade. The new gaming platform will be launching in fall 2019 but the prices for the platform have not been revealed yet.
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.