There's been lots of mixed signals on a new Switch model, and Nintendo of course doesn't clear anything up.

We've been hearing about a Switch Mini for a while now. Reports say system will replace the flagging 3DS as a lower-cost entry point to the Switch ecosystem, playing all Switch games and even dock for TV play. The trade-off? Fused JoyCons that don't detach, a smaller form factor with possibly a smaller screen, and no included dock. Specs should be the same. A Chinese retailer also put up some mock-up cases for the Switch Mini, igniting further speculation. There's also rumblings of a beefier next-gen Switch model that could get some upgrades, or a slightly revised Switch variant with a new OLED panel. Then key sources told Bloomberg that the next-gen Switch isn't happening after all. So what gives?

Nintendo didn't reveal any new info (and won't until the device is actually ready) but we did get a few teasers from the recent shareholders Q&A event in Japan. Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa says the company is always making new hardware (most of which is never actually released) and he won't discuss any details because it'd ruin the surprise.

Cloud game streaming is on the rise, but Nintendo isn't ready to jump in just yet. It plans to watch to see how the game unfolds.

Two major game streaming platforms are launching this year: Google's new Stadia platform, and Microsoft's Project xCloud. Both will beam games directly to devices gamers already own for a set fee. Sony has likewise been in the streaming game since 2014 with PS Now. But Nintendo's foray with streaming has been a toe-dip versus its competitors' deep dives. The company's been experimenting with a weird on-demand cloud streaming option in Japan that rents out Switch games for a period of time...however that's not really sustainable. Now Nintendo says it's interested in game streaming, 5G, and cloud tech, but only as a tentative buffer to its dedicated console business.

In a recent shareholders Q&A session, top Nintendo execs remarked about game streaming and how it could affect their strategy for the future. If anything, it'll supplement the core business of selling games on dedicated hardware instead of replacing it (both Microsoft and Sony are taking this proactive approach, whereas Stadia is a hostile attack on all gaming hardware). And Nintendo will only fully embrace game streaming when it becomes big.

The Switch might not be as powerful as an Xbox One or PS4, but it's quite mighty in other ways.

To get games running on the Nintendo Switch, developers have to scale back their games and dial down resolution, frame rates, draw distances--pretty much every aspect has to be carefully balanced. The Nintendo Switch's lower-end Tegra X1 SoC is a thorn in developers' sides and the system's form-factor power disparity doesn't help. As a result, many AAA games have skipped the Switch because certain games just won't run on it (conversely, even The Witcher 3 is getting ported).

Nintendo investors have noticed this gap in AAA games. The Switch's 34.74 million install base makes it appealing for some projects like indies, re-releases, and a handful of new titles, but it's not always included for big-budget games (although more and more publishers are embracing it).

What gamer doesn't like free games right? Well, head on over to the Epic Games Store to get your hands-on your own copy of Overcooked.

If you aren't quite sure what Overcooked is, the game is team based title where you and some trusty friends have to work your way around ever-changing kitchens. Each of the kitchens come with their own little puzzles and quirks that players will have to overcome in order to successfully get each of the required meals out.

I have personally enjoyed a lot of time in Overcooked and can whole heartedly recommend it to anyone who wants another couch co-op experience to sink their teeth into. The game is best enjoyed when you and three other players are all in the same room screaming at each other, it really does get quite intense and makes for some solid laughs that you wouldn't really expect you'd have. Overcooked is free on the Epic Games Store until July 11th.

AMD looks to have reduced the price of its next-gen Radeon RX 5700 XT and Radeon RX 5700 in the last hours before its launch on 7/7, with VideoCardz reporting that AMD has reportedly dropped the Radeon RX 5700 to $399 down from $449 and the RX 5700 to $349 down from $379.

This move makes sense as it's something I was genuinely concerned about at the AMD Next Horizon Gaming event and expressed my dismay to other tech journalists and AMD themselves, saying that at over $399 the new RX 5700 XT would be dead in the water to whatever SUPER would end up being. Days later NVIDIA unveiled SUPER to a very limited number of press in LA at E3 2019 which I attended, and it was then that it was absolutely confirmed without a doubt that Navi was in trouble at $449.

If AMD is genuinely pricing the new Radeon RX 5700 XT at $399 then it is in a much better position to compete against the new GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER from NVIDIA, we just have to wait until our NDA expires on 7/7. Until then, back to benchmarking my Navi GPU samples -- and if you didn't see it, I just tested NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER graphics cards in NVLink mode!

Basically every gamer is somewhat excited to see what Cyberpunk 2077 is going to be like next year when it launches in April. Even though gamers definitely want the game, what if there was a movie in the works based on the game?

In an interview with Video Games Chronicle, Cyberpunk franchise creator Mike Pondsmith discussed the possibility of a movie being released about Cyberpunk 2077. Here is what he had to say, "I can't really say anything on [the movie rights]. But with Keanu Reeves being tied up in things, it's become much more of a possibility."

He continues and says that at this moment in time we are "Teaching people about this new kind of cyberpunk. My favorite film is Blade Runner, but I recognize inherently that it's a cerebral film and 2049 was even more cerebral. We found a sweet spot with Cyberpunk which is, we make you think, but we don't bog you down and give you an education."

Microsoft have been sitting on their hands in terms of Age of Empires IV news, all we have had to go off of is one trailer. So when will more news be released?

Apparently fresh news isn't that far away at all. According to an interview with PCGamesN, Adam Isgreen, the Age of Empires Creative Director was asked a question regarding AoE4 and when more news will be released. Isgreen replied and said "I'm happy to tell you that we're going to start talking about Age of Empires IV later this year."

He continued and explained that Gamescom and XO are two events that Microsoft have announcement in the pipeline for. "As you know, there are two major events right now - Gamescom and XO - that Microsoft always does stuff for. So one or the other, maybe? I can't be specific, but suffice to say that we've got Gamescom coming up, and then XO later this year in London, so at the latest, you'll hear more about Age of Empires IV by XO."

A Professional Super Smash Bros. player has recently taken to Twitter to announce his retirement from the Smash Bros. competitive scene in wake of him admitting to having a relationship with a fellow pro-player who is underage.

The players name is 27-year old Elliot Bastien Carroza-Oyarce, or better known in Smash Bros. community as Ally. Oyarce took to Twitter on the 3rd of July to openly admit that he had a relationship with fellow pro-player Zack "PA|CaptainZack" Lauth who is 16 years old. In the same statement he announced his retirement from the Smash Bros. competitive scene.

Full statement: "I think it's time to come out clean. It's been rough months mentally for me, unsure if everything was going to end up okay, but it didn't. I'm going to admit I dated Zack. I didn't do him any wrongs but it was a stupid mistake regardless and I'm really sorry for not saying it until now. I was really scared. I'm sorry Tamin for lying to you about dating him. Because I feel like it's the right thing to do, I'm going to retire from Smash. Sorry to everyone I disappointed. Sorry Canada."

Everyday we are moving closer to the launch of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, and many real-time-strategy game fans are preparing to sink their teeth into the games new civilizations, but how many will there be?

In a recent interview with PCGamesN, Age of Empires Creative Director Adam Isgreen discussed the coming new civilizations in The Last Khans expansion and the possibility of more being in the pipeline for post-launch. According to Isgreen, the choice of taping into the Mongol Empire was because the developers were wondering "what's left?"

Isgreen's full comment: "We were trying to find a period in history which still fit the general time scope that Age II occupies. We've covered so much of the world now in terms of that period that, after a lot of discussions, we finally fell on to telling the stories of the fallout of the Mongol empire, which is what The Last Khans is all about".

The day for PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs is here, with our recent look at the Sabrent Rocket PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD offering 1TB for $230 and now the GIGABYTE-made AORUS PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD is being rolled out after its debut during Computex 2019.

I have one of the new AORUS PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs here with me in the 2TB flavor and it is glorious, with GIGABYTE offering up to a huge 5GB/sec in reads and up to 4.4GB/sec writes. The 1TB version will cost $260 while the larger 2TB drive will cost $480. GIGABYTE will be shipping out its new AORUS PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs on July 8, the day after AMD unleashes its new Zen 2 processors and PCIe 4.0-capable X570 chipset on July 7.

You'll want to match the new AORUS PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD with a high-end X570 motherboard and next-gen Ryzen 3000 series CPU, which both drop in a few days time.

AOC has just unveiled two new high-end gaming monitors in their AGON gaming range of displayts, with the new AGON AG271FZ2 and AG251FZ2 both coming in as esports/enthusiast level 240Hz refresh rates.

The new 240Hz gaming displays also boast AMD FreeSync technology, and I think a never-before-seen 0.5ms response time. The AOC AGON AG251FZ2 is a 24.5-inch panel while the AG271FZ2 is a larger 27-inch monitor, both with lower native 1920x1080 resolutions. 1440p at 240Hz would've been much nicer, but much more expensive at the same time.

Both of the new AOC AGON 240Hz gaming displays include DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI, and VGA inputs as well as built-in speakers, and 4 x USB 3.0 ports with a fast-charging port, too. AOC includes Lowblue Light Mode and Shadow Control. As for pricing, we're looking at the 24.5-inch version costing $330 while the larger 27-inch panel will cost $380.

ASRock has just unleashed its next generation X570 based motherboards that are ready for AMD's new Ryzen 3000 series CPUs and the unleashing of a totally next generation PCIe 4.0 connectivity.

We have new X570 motherboards from ASRock in their famous Taichi and Phantom Gaming families, with some boards rolling out with a huge full-coverage aluminum heat sink that keeps those next-gen PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs cool. Considering PCIe 4.0-capable NVMe SSDs can do up to 5GB/sec, you're going to need to keep those things cool.

It wouldn't be a new ASRock motherboard without some awesome RGB effects, so ASRock has included a bunch of RGBs and 3-pin addressable RGB headers joined by traditional 4-pin RGB LED headers that let you plug up other RGB lighting to your ASRock X570 motherboard.

Iceborne will be the first and only major expansion for Monster Hunter World, Capcom confirms.

As the best-selling game in Capcom's history, you'd think more than one expansion would be released for Monster Hunter World. More expansions means more long-term revenues and re-spark engagement long after the base game's release. But Iceborne is so big it's almost like an actual sequel; in fact Capcom is treating it like a big-budget AAA release, and it's the only major project they're releasing this year.

Instead of more big expansions like Iceborne, Monster Hunter World will continually evolve with new smaller content updates. "Yes, Iceborne basically completes World so it will be the last expansion. We're still planning a lot of updates for the future. We think players will get a lot of enjoyment from it," game producer Ryozo Tsujimoto told Game Informer.

Other territories and countries like the UK and Europe won't get to try Stadia out before it launches later this year.

Stadia, like any online-based service, needs some extensive beta testing. Internal tests are crucial of course, but public tests in particular help tremendously and arm developers, engineers, and execs with powerful knowledge. Google tested Stadia out in the U.S. with its Project Stream beta run last year. But Stadia won't get another test run in other countries. Google is pretty confident in Stadia and overseas network infrastructures, so it doesn't really need to hold any more trials.

In a recent interview with GamesRadar, Stadia head Phil Harrison affirms Google is confident in cloud-powered service.

Guerrilla Games is significantly ramping up its forces, signifying work on big next-gen projects is underway.

Just yesterday Guerrilla Games put up 64 new job listings on its website (which is now down, curiously enough), and many of them are for senior high-level positions (some of these might be repeats though). The listings give key details on what the studio is working on next while seemingly corroborating reports of a Horizon: Zero Dawn sequel for 2021.

Guerrilla is calling for devs from all disciplines from animation and network engineering to character artists and writers. Based on the job titles we can extrapolate some simple information. For example, Guerrilla is hiring a senior technical animator for its Living World team, and a Senior Writer who will push "dramatic story-telling in open-world games." Some interesting clues can be gleaned from the following listings:

Social Club, the online network that ties together GTA Online and RDR Online, could be teasing a Red Dead Redemption 2 PC port.

We know Red Dead Redemption 2 is coming PC. There's no way Rockstar and Take-Two would miss out on that fistful of dollars with another infamous year-long staggered release. The only real question is when? Possibly soonish, maybe even next year.

Eagle-eyed Twitter user JakoMako spotted a PC reference in the Social Club website source code. The code says RDR2_PC_Accomplishments:"Accomplishments", and PC in this case could mean Player Character, but the string is listed right next to a line for PS4 Trophies, hinting that it's an actual platform.

The official PC requirements for Shenmue 3 have been released online by Deep Silver and Ys Net.

Fans of Shenmue 3 who plan to play the title on PC now have some minimum and recommended hardware requirements to check out. Developer Ys Net says that PC players will at least have to have an "Intel Core i5-4460 (3.4GHz) Quad-core or Better", at least 4GB of RAM and an "NVIDIA GeForce 650 Ti 2GB or better".

Recommended specifications come in with a "Intel Core i7-7700 (3.6GHz) Quad-core", 16GB of RAM and "NVIDIA GeForce 1070 or better". Shenmue 3 will require 100GB of free storage to install and a internet connection to be played. Shenmue 3 for the PC is planned to release on November 19th as a timed exclusive on the Epic Games Store, more on that here.

Ubisoft has announced the release date for the final DLC chapter in Assassin's Creed Odyssey: Judgement of Atlantis.

Ubisoft has taken to their official Assassin's Creed Twitter account to reveal the release date of their upcoming final DLC for Assassin's Creed Odyssey. The final DLC will be part 3 of the campaign expansion and judging on the size of the past DLC's we can assume Judgement of Atlantis will pack a similar amount of content.

The specific details have been kept under wraps so players will have to wait until July 16th to sink their gaming teeth into the new content. Assassin's Creed Odyssey is currently available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. On a side note, Assasin's Creed Odyssey is currently 50% off on Steam as its apart of the Steam Summer sale, check out the store listing for it here.

Remember back when the first RuneScape decided to add micro-tranactions and then everyone quit? Well, Jagex is at it again but this time its coming under the disguise of 'partnerships'.

Jagex has taken to their blog for Old School RuneScape to discuss their recently proposed 'Partnership Program' for OSRS. The partnership program is a new scheme Jagex is attempting to introduce that allows for players to spend real-life money through third-party vendors to acquire cosmetics in-game. Jagex believes these partnerships with third-parties will be an incentive for new players to join OSRS.

An example of this is the partnership Jagex had with Twitch, players who purchased Twitch Prime were offered a free month of RuneScape membership as well as the option to change their skin color to purple. The option to change your skin color to purple was later added to the game for free, this same principal is the premise for Jagex's proposed partnerships.

Whether you are a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate player or not, there is a high chance you would recognize the character mural that has been used as promotional material. Who was the brain child behind the design?

According to an interview with Nintendo Dream Web, who had the chance to sit down with Yusuke Nakono, the creator of the art piece, Masahiro Sakurai, the director of the game birthed the idea. Siliconera translated Nakono's notes and according to them "the idea came from Sakurai-san" and the mural was designed to show "how impactful" the newest instalment in the series was.

Nakono continued to dissect how he continued to piece together the art, saying "First, with the 66 Fighters revealed at E3, I considered 'what pose they would make' and 'how they would be placed' on the long canvas, by drawing rough linework and piecing it together like a puzzle. The Fighters in Smash Bros. are all main characters, so I didn't place them focused around the center, but averaged them out around the artwork. The theme was that no matter which part you cropped, there would be sights to behold."