During the days of the original Xbox, both Nintendo and Sony were battling it out in the mobile space, and it seems that Microsoft also considered jumping in. In an interview with IGN, Microsoft’s former Chief Xbox Officer Robbie Bach revealed that there was an “Xboy” project in development, but it was ultimately scrapped.
Unlike the recently found Nintendo PlayStation, the Xboy never left conceptual stages. There is no prototype tucked away in the desk of a Microsoft designer, just drawings. But there were serious considerations. The Xboy concept did pop up multiple times throughout the course of Bach’s work life at Microsoft. According to Bach, the Xbox console was more than enough for the company to deal with. “We just couldn’t focus” said Bach, “we just did not have the bandwidth.” Considering the smartphone revolution that was spreading across the industry, Microsoft’s decision to walk away from the project might’ve saved the company millions. “For us it was a focus issue and as it turned out strategically it was a smart decision, but that’s somewhat accidental” said Bach.
Bach felt that moving away from Xbox would have been foolhardy, and turns out he was right. His focus on the Xbox 360 proved to be monumentally successful, especially considering the Zune’s less than stellar reception, and of course, the rise of the smartphone.
The handheld gaming scene has seen a major dip in the past decade. What was once a massive market has been hit hard by the advent of smartphones. The PlayStation Vita is now considered a legacy platform, and Nintendo has dialed back the number of 3DS units it expects to ship, after realizing a dedicated gaming handheld device may not capture the market as it once did. That’s probably why many reports point to its next console, codenamed NX, to having some sort of built in handheld functionality. Still, it would’ve been fun to play Halo on the bus.
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.