Microsoft has announced some upgrades to its Xbox Wireless Headset on Tuesday, with improved audio, better battery life, and an upgraded microphone for $110, which is $10 more than its predecessor. And it’s available to buy now.
Xbox calls this a “refresh” in the announcement post on its website, and indeed it doesn’t change up a lot in terms of design. The only significant difference is that it no longer sports a green ring around the earcups. Instead, it opts for an all-black look.
The most pronounced change is in battery life, with the new Xbox Wireless Headset touting 20 hours of playtime instead of the last model’s 15. The microphone has also been upgraded with enhanced auto-mute and voice isolation capabilities to eliminate background distractions. For the best sound, the company has also included Dolby Atmos for spatial sound at “no additional cost” (great for audio-rich games like Hellblade 2), and Bluetooth 5.3 for more stable connections between devices.
The previous Xbox Wireless Headset, which released in 2021, is a good affordable headset. It doesn’t have many of the advanced abilities you’d see on other wireless gaming headsets, but it provides clear sound, allows you to adjust settings on the earcups, and has a retractable mic. Plus, it cost $100, making it more affordable than other great Xbox headsets, even ones that are wired only. And with Bluetooth, you can connect it to your PC or mobile device if you want.
The new Xbox Wireless Headset will replace the 2021 version at retailers, and is the only one you can buy on the Xbox Store. It’s also priced at $110, which isn’t a huge price hike, but isn’t insignificant either. If you want a first-party headset, the only other choice is the cheaper, wired Xbox Stereo Headset, which is sold out at the time of this writing.
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.