Xbox collaborated with Roblox and WNBA team New York Liberty to create the WNBA’s first gaming-inspired basketball court at Barclays Center. The court was constructed at Barclays Center and inside Roblox for the New York Liberty’s August 2 and August 3 home games against the Los Angeles Sparks.
In addition to being the first video game-inspired court for the WNBA, the Xbox and Roblox-themed court is also the first secondary court among the current teams. While we don’t know if the court will be there temporarily or permanently, Xbox and Roblox integrated it into Dunking Simulator with features like fireworks, fan chants, and pyrotechnics. It even includes guidance from 11-year-old sports journalist and broadcaster, Pepper Persley.
.@Xbox has helped us create a very special basketball court IRL and in-game for the first time. Please visit Dunking Simulator and create an account on @Roblox.@xbox #Xbox #Poweryourdreams pic.twitter.com/Phfi2a0WuN
— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) August 2, 2022
Those who play on the Xbox basketball court in Dunking Simulator will be able to score some virtual gear for their avatars to wear and show off to other players, including the New York Liberty jersey, an Xbox belt bag, and Xbox shutter shades. These items are not exclusive to Dunking Simulator, as they can be unlocked in other Roblox games.
To commemorate the announcement of the Xbox-themed basketball court, Microsoft will also donate $10 to the Mamba and Mambacit Foundation and Girls Who Code for every dream submission to the Power Her Dreams website.
The integration of the Xbox-themed basketball court into Roblox is one of the WNBA’s first independent attempts at highlighting its teams in a metaverse game. Hopefully, designing the court in the real world and in-game will inspire Roblox players, regardless of gender, to watch more WNBA games.
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.