Microsoft has officially detailed the new features and capabilities it plans to unleash on Xbox 360 users with its Fall Dashboard Update beginning at 2 AM Pacific Time, December 4. Chief among the new goodies: the Xbox Originals and Xbox Live Arcate Hits download-to-own services, news feeds, expanded profiles, new video features, and improved parental controls.
First of all, the Dashboard update will bring two new download options. Announced back on November 13, Xbox Originals will enable Xbox 360 owner to grab download-to-own versions of games developed for Microsoft’s original Xbox console, including titles like Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex,Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge,Psychonauts, and the original Halo. Xbox Originals will features games at a fixed price of 1,200 Microsoft points—that translated to $15 U.S.—and Microsoft is promising to expand the catalog of available games over time. Also online will be Xbox live Arcade Hits, which will offer reduced prices on selected popular arcade titles like Bankshot Billiards 2 and Marble Blast Ultra. Free trial downloads will be available, and Arcade Hits Prices will range from 400 to 800 Microsoft points.
On the social side, the Fall Dashboard Update will offer expanded access to users’ friends lists, enabling gamer to see the Friends Lists of other Xbox Live Members. If you ever wanted to hit up a friend-of-a-friend for a friendly game of arena combat, this might be your opportunity, although the feature has raised some privacy concerns amongst online gamers. Members will also be able to add more details to their online profiles with an expanded bio.
The Dashboard update will also include new parental controls that will enable parents to set the total amount of time an Xbox 360 can be used on a per-week or per-day basis, a news feed that delivers Xbox information to a consistent location, expanded descriptions and visuals in the video library, and new video codec support (along with full screen movie previews).
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.