If you’re sick of your Xbox One controllers being too opaque and mysterious, then you’re in for a treat. The Xbox Wireless Controller — Phantom White Special Edition is on the way, and it looks like it’s about to disappear into the netherworld.
Announced during the latest edition of Inside Xbox on Tuesday, March 12, the Phantom White Xbox One controller is the second controller in the “Phantom” line after the Phantom Black controller. The buttons, sticks, and directional pad are all a light gray or white color, and at the bottom of the controller there is standard white plastic. As you move up, it turns translucent, allowing the gold mechanic pieces underneath to show through. There are still textured grips on the back so your hands won’t slip during long gaming sessions, or if the controller decides it wants to fully ascend into the great beyond.
“The design is the optimal blend of luxury and sci-fi, embodying a new slant on technical beauty,” Microsoft global product marketing manager Bree White said. “The controller reflects a sense of mystery with rich, neutral colors that fade away to reveal the technology inside.”
That’s a lot to take in for something you’ll barely look at while you’re actually using it, but it’s hard to deny that Microsoft denies some gorgeous controllers. Through the Xbox Design Lab website, you can fully customize your own personal controller, as well, changing the color of everything from the shell to the buttons.
As with other Xbox One controllers, the Phantom White version comes with a 3.5mm input and Bluetooth support, so you can use it on your PC. This will come especially in handy after Halo: The Master Chief Collection releases on the platform. It will be available piecemeal, beginning with the prequel Halo: Reach and ending with 2012’s Halo 4. Neither has been available on PC before, though the original Halo: Combat Evolved has been.
The Xbox Wireless Controller — Phantom White Special Edition will be available for pre-order for $70 from retailers around the world beginning on April 2, and in certain regions, it will come with a two-week trial to Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass.
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.