During the Meta Connect presentation, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that Xbox Cloud Gaming is coming to the Meta Quest store. That means VR users will be able to play Game Pass titles on both the Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro.
“In fact, many people are already playing our most popular games like Flight Simulator and Minecraft in VR today,” says Nadella during the stream. “With xCloud gaming, you can stream hundreds of games to any device allowing you to connect with gamers in all new ways, whether they’re right next to you or sitting on the other side of the world.”
With this functionality, players will be able to use an Xbox controller with their headsets and play games from the Xbox Game Pass library on a 2D screen. There wasn’t a specific release date set for this, but more information will come in the future.
Microsoft and Xbox have been at the forefront of cloud gaming. The company mentioned that they are currently working on Keystone, a cloud gaming-focused streaming device, but made the decision earlier this year to pivot away from its current design to find a new approach. Additionally, Hideo Kojima is working on a game with Microsoft that will leverage the company’s cloud technology.
Meta is also investing more in the gaming space in general. Meta acquired Armature Studio, Camouflaj, and Twisted Pixel. Armature Studio developed the VR version of Resident Evil 4, and Camouflaj developed Marvel’s Iron Man VR, the latter of which is a former PlayStation VR exclusive as it’s coming to Quest 2 on November 3.
Other games, such as Among Us VR and The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners — Chapter 2: Retribution, are coming to Quest 2 on November 10 and December 1, respectively.
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 One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it.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.