Latest News - Page 356

It's quite well known that one of the biggest problems Nintendo Switch users faced throughout the lengthy life of the console is the chance of Joy-Con controllers suffering from stick drift. Unfortunately, Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con's may suffer the same fate.

For those who don't know, stick drift causes the system to register movement when no user is touching the stick. This hardware problem can occur in any analog stick and can be caused by multiple things: wear and tear on the contact pads, dust or debris within the stick housing influencing the internal sensors, or a simple design flaw. As for Joy-Con stick drift, the problem became so prominent among users it resulted in Nintendo facing lawsuits and issuing an announcement for free worldwide repairs to those affected users.

Hall Effect sticks are far less prone to stick drift, and now a new report by Nintendo Life can confirm the Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con's won't be using Hall Effect sticks, which may come as a big disappointment to some, especially those that have been affected by stick drift issues with the original Nintendo Switch. The confirmation comes from an interview with Nintendo of America's Nate Bihldorff, who outright said the Joy-Con 2's controllers aren't using Hall Effect sticks, but have been designed from the ground up.

NVIDIA is continuing to face a whole lot of flak over the problems its more recent graphics drivers have been causing.

Gamers Nexus is the latest to highlight driver instability issues with NVIDIA GPUs (VideoCardz brought word of the latest YouTube video from the channel, which you can see above).

To summarize, Gamers Nexus highlights a whole bunch of crashes, such as Marvel Rivals which saw the PC lock up (with a familiar black screen) after turning on frame generation. Other titles exhibited this behavior, too, when using what many PC gamers are now referring to as 'fake frames' of course.

Marvel Rivals' Season 2 update is on the way, and with it comes the Hellfire Gala featuring Emma Frost and the villainous Ultron. However, NetEase Games has bigger plans for the game's future rollout, planning to release a hero per month, and shaving the game's season length by a third.

Since its launch, Marvel Rivals has seen four 'Fantastic' additions to the roster, with Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Thing, and Johnny Storm joining the cast in February. The game currently has 37 playable heroes, and starting with Season 2 on April 11, that number will continue to grow with the addition of the X-Men Comics' Emma Frost and Avengers supervillain Ultron.

While the game's first and second seasons follow a three-month schedule, game director Guangyun Chen has highlighted NetEase's plans to speed up the content rollout, promising a new hero per month, and a two-month season rotation moving forward.

Schedule I, the drug dealing simulator released by TVGS (Tyler's Video Game Studio), has continued its explosion in popularity since its March 24 launch. Recently, it reached 459,075 active players on Steam, enough to make it one of the most successful solo developer projects of all time.

The game, developed by sole developer Tyler, quickly surpassed heavyweights like GTA V, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Marvel Rivals to become the #4 most played game on Steam - surpassed only by Counter Strike 2, Dota 2 and PUBG: Battlegrounds. The game spent over a week holding the #1 spot on "Trending Games," "Hot Releases," and "Popular Releases," and has gradually climbed in player counts until reaching its peak of 459,075 as of yesterday.

Aside from passing industry heavyweights, Schedule I has also cemented itself as one of the largest solo-developed projects of all time, nearly doubling Stardew Valley's peak player count of 236,000, and quickly surpassing famous solo projects like Lethal Company (241,000), Unturned (113,000), Balatro (44,000), and Undertale (11,000).

Apple has long maintained its prices for its various products, particularly its iPhones, but due to President Trump's recent tariffs on foreign countries, Apple could be forced to increase iPhone prices.

The fear of Apple having to increase its prices for its iPhone models has spread to consumers who have reportedly been flooding Apple stores in a flurry of "panic buying," according to Bloomberg reporter and Apple insider Mark Gurman.

Notably, Apple has been hanging onto the $999 price tag of its flagship iPhone model for quite some time, and with tariffs now threatening Apple's sources of production, the company may finally have to increase prices above that $999 mark, which could significantly impact sales of that model due to it breaking the longstanding psychological threshold that many consumers may not want to pass -- even if they are on payment plans for the device.

Kawasaki has unveiled a new futuristic robot called the CORLEO at the Osaka-Kansai Expo in Japan, with the new robot being designed to respond to the movements of its rider. Yes, a ridable robot.

The CORLEO should be thought of as similar to a robotic horse combined with a panther, as the company behind it explains its four legs are designed to navigate various terrains, similar to how a panther or wolf would agilely move across them. However, riders mount it like a horse. The idea behind the concept is to provide an alternative to all-terrain motorcycles, offering increased maneuverability and stability, particularly enabling access to difficult mountainous areas/regions.

The CORLEO is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell and contains a 150cc engine. Its four legs operate autonomously, and the system is integrated with AI software designed to improve stability, balance, and navigation. CORLEO is designed to respond to the body movements of the rider, with the rider shifting their center of gravity to steer the robot in a direction. Moreover, CORLEO comes equipped with a heads-up display that provides the rider with data such as hydrogen levels, navigation details, weight distribution, etc.

Nintendo developers have confirmed an emulator was designed to run original Switch games on the newly announced Nintendo Switch 2.

Nintendo has finally unveiled the Nintendo Switch 2 with a close-up look at the upcoming console during a recent Direct dedicated to the successor of the original Switch, and during the Direct, the Mario-makers revealed the upcoming console will be able to play original Switch games. But there's a catch. It won't play these games natively, as Nintendo developers have recently confirmed an emulator has been created to run these older titles on the Switch 2.

Nintendo developers explained that past consoles such as the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo DS, along with the Wii and Wii U, had similar enough hardware that backwards compatibility was easy enough strictly through hardware. However, the Switch 2 hardware isn't anything like the original Switch, meaning a workaround needed to be conceived.

NVIDIA's PhysX and Flow technologies are fully open-source. The source code for PhysX V5.6.0 and Flow V2.2.0 is now available via GitHub under the BSD-3 license. This is good news because the last time PhysX made headlines was back in February when it was reported that NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 50 Series no longer supports 32-bit CUDA applications.

This means 32-bit PhysX games like Batman: Arkham Asylum, Arkham City (seen above), and Borderlands 2 run extremely poorly on GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs with PhysX enabled. As the name suggests, PhysX is all about simulating real-world physics using your GeForce GPU - with everything from body dynamics to deformable objects to fluid simulation and more. NVIDIA Flow is all about large-scale fluid simulation.

With the complete source code, developers and modders will not only be able to leverage GPUs and CUDA to implement, tinker, and experiment with real-time physics, but they could also use the code to mod or update older 32-bit PhysX games so that they can run on modern GeForce RTX 50 Series hardware via a 32-bit ti 64-bit compatibility layer.

With the Nintendo Switch 2 launching with 256GB of internal storage, which will also be notably faster than the 32GB found in the original non-OLED edition, many have been wondering if it will be enough to store a bunch of games on day one, delaying the need to rush out and buy a pricey microSD Express card with 512GB or 1TB of expanded storage.

With the Japanese My Nintendo Store now listing Switch 2 games, it's also listing each game's installation size. The good news is that first-party Nintendo games look pretty conservative in their storage requirements, with Mario Kart World being the biggest launch-window game from Nintendo. Its 23.4GB size would only take up roughly 10% of the 256GB available - not counting system files.

Donkey Kong Bananza, the latest game from the talented Super Mario Odyssey team, weighs in at only 10GG - half the size of the flagship Mario Kart World. Nintendo's My Nintendo Store lists the storage requirements for a couple of enhanced Nintendo Switch 2 Edition titles and the classic GameCube games pack for Nintendo Switch Online.

According to a new post at Board Channels (via Videocardz), the upcoming GeForce RTX 5060 Ti will follow 'the same pricing strategy' as the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti launch. A card that debuted with a $399 MSRP for the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB model and then $499 for the 16GB version that dropped weeks later. Several leaks point to the GeForce RTX 5060 Ti launching with both models on day one - which means 'the same pricing strategy' would make the 16GB version more expensive. $100 more.

Many assumptions and several grains of salt need to be considered regarding these pricing rumors for the upcoming GeForce RTX 5060 Ti, a card reportedly launching on April 15. In addition to shortages and demand pushing new and older GPU prices up to the point where MSRP can feel meaningless, there's also the looming chaos on the way with new tariffs being imposed on imports by the Trump administration.

Companies like NVIDIA and AMD also disclose pricing at the last minute to avoid leaks, and based on the current climate, we expect pricing to come at the very last minute for the GeForce RTX 5060 and Radeon RX 9060 Series.

Bungie, the developers of Halo and the Destiny franchise, have confirmed that it will be unveiling its next big game this week. It's a team-based extraction shooter called Marathon.

The developer and publisher of the esteemed Halo and Destiny franchises released a Save the Date trailer for Marathon, which showcases a vibrant artistic visual design through a remote alien planet. According to the game's Steam listing, players will become a Runner in this upcoming sci-fi PvP extraction shooter that also has a mix of PvE.

Keeping to the Steam listing, the description for the title states a massive ghost ship is hovering in low orbit over a lost colony on the planet Tau Ceti IV, where 30,000 souls have mysteriously gone missing without a trace.

The new GAMEMAX Leader 2 mid-tower PC chassis is designed for gamers. It supports up to 425mm-long GPUs and the latest back-connector motherboards, and it's built for PC gaming in 2025. During the company's recent 'Roar to the Future' event, we saw its new lion-themed logo and a breakdown of its focus on creating sleek and advanced PC gear.

Aesthetically, the GAMEMAX Leader 2 mid-tower PC chassis, available in black or white, adopts the company's new lion-them by turning the mesh on the front panel into a subtle claw mark. Affordably priced at $99.99 for the black version and $104.99 for the white, the GAMEMAX Leader 2 features ample room and versatility to showcase or house a wide range of builds.

Plus, it's stacked with features. It ships with four pre-installed 140mm ARGB/PWM fans, and an ARGB/PWM controller (three on the front, one on the rear), and the case can support up to 9 x 120mm or 8 x 140mm fans for exceptional airflow. In addition to being able to house an overclocked GeForce RTX 5080 or Radeon RX 9070 XT, there's also support for up to a 420mm radiator for extreme CPU cooling potential.

When choosing memory for a new build, especially for content creation or gaming, you'll probably need to sacrifice some capacity if you're after pure speed. Unless you pick up G.SKILL's 128 GB high-capacity OC memory kits (2 x 64GB) that offer DDR5-8000 speeds with CL44-58-58 timing. G.SKILL is calling it the world's first large-capacity overclocked memory kit that can hit this level of performance.

"This is the world's first DDR5 memory kit with 64GB high-capacity modules to reach the extreme overclock level of DDR5-8000, setting a new milestone for high-performance computing, content creation, AI applications, and advanced workstation workloads," G.SKILL writes in the press release.

Previously, this speed and OC potential level were only available in 96GB memory kits with two 48GB modules. To showcase the milestone, G.SKILL has presented the validation you see above, with the DDR5-8000 CL44-58-58 128GB (64GBx2) memory kit paired with an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X processor and ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR X870E APEX motherboard.

The Switch 2 could have cost as low as $350 if it weren't for U.S. tariffs, two analysts have said.

Nintendo recently made an unprecedented decision to delay the pre-orders of its new video games machine in the United States. Nintendo says that Switch 2 pre-orders were pushed back because of tariff concerns. It's assumed that Nintendo will raise the price of the Switch 2 commensurate with the potential impact of tariffs on hardware profit margins, meaning the Switch 2 could end up costing more than its $450 launch price.

Analysts have said the Switch 2's high $450 price tag was influenced by uncertain economic risk and disruption that the Trump Administration's tariffs could inflict on Nintendo's business, which relies on a carefully-controlled global trade network. If it weren't for tariffs, the Switch 2 could have been $100 cheaper than its announced price.

Although FromSoftware's next two games emphasize multiplayer, Hidetaka Miyazaki wants you to know that the team hasn't given up on singleplayer games.

Elden Ring: Nightreign and the newly announced Switch 2 exclusive Duskbloods might be different in scope--Nightreign is a 3-player PVE-only game and Duskbloods is PvPvE for maximum chaos--but they share something big in common: Multiplayer. Online modes give devs opportunities to sell content, microtransactions, and even platform-level subscriptions like Switch Online and PlayStation Plus/Xbox Game Pass, all of which are needed to play these games.

FromSoftware isn't about to go all-in on live service games, though. In a recent Nintendo Creator's Voice article, director Hidetaka Miyazaki confirms that more singleplayer-focused games are on the way.

You may have had your hopes raised by the recent rumor that the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remake might just land this week - well, yesterday, and clearly it didn't - but don't give up on the game's supposedly imminent arrival just yet.

Another leaker on X, Nate the Hate, was questioned about the non-release of the Oblivion remake and clarified that they "never claimed it would release this week," to which a follow-up question was asked about whether they still believed it would be out in April.

As you can see in the above post (which Wccftech highlighted), the reply to that was yes, it will be, at least as things stand (which does still leave a little room for doubt, admittedly).

ASUS has increased the headroom available for juicing up its top-end RTX 5080 graphics card, and by a large amount of wattage, although there are very much diminishing returns in terms of overclocking potential when it comes to flooding the GPU with power like this.

The board in question is the ROG Astral RTX 5080, and a new BIOS from ASUS has upped the ceiling for the TGP to 450W. Previously, it was 400W, so this is a jump of 12.5%, as highlighted by Tech Powerup (via VideoCardz).

However, if you're expecting to get 10% faster frame rates by pushing the power limit of the ROG Astral to 450W, then don't be under any illusions - that's not going to happen.

Nintendo has clarified that Switch 2 pre-orders will not begin on April 9 as planned.

Switch 2 pre-orders have been delayed as Nintendo weighs the impact of international trade tariffs.

"Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the U.S. will not start April 9, 2025 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions. Nintendo will update timing at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged," Nintendo said in a new statement to Gamespot.

The new GeForce RTX 50 Series and Radeon RX 9070 Series graphics cards are hard to find, and when they are available, they sell out at inflated prices; the current GPU market for PC gaming is pretty dire in the U.S. With limited availability of brand-new models, increased pricing, and the whole tariff fiasco, the chaos extends to older GPUs too.

We could detail issues and delays surrounding the GeForce RTX 50 Series launch and discuss reports indicating that NVIDIA chose to halt the GeForce RTX 40 Series last year as the entire RTX Blackwell line-up was on track for a Q1 2025 launch. However, all you need to know about the current state of PC gaming GPUs can be found in Newegg's best-selling GPU list.

The MSI Ventus GeForce RTX 4060 2X is in the top spot with a price point of $459.98, a 53% increase over the MSRP. To make matters worse, the $460 price is presented as a discount, 9% off the $507 price. A GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4060 EAGLE model is also available for $454.98.

Ahead of the big Nintendo Switch 2 reveal, many hoped the company would equip it with an OLED display or at least offer a premium version with OLED technology. For those who have experienced gaming on an original Switch, Steam Deck, or PC with an OLED display, you'll understand why there's hype for a Switch 2 OLED; it's one of those "one you try it" pieces of technology that's hard to come back from.

That said, there is good news - the Nintendo Switch's 7.9-inch 1080p LCD is an impressive display. With an IPS panel that will deliver excellent color and clarity, HDR10 support for a wide color gamut, and VRR up to 120 Hz, it's a massive leap forward for Nintendo. Even better, the HDR and VRR are handled by NVIDIA G-SYNC, which is widely considered the gold standard for variable refresh-rate technology.

As part of NVIDIA's post about the NVIDIA GPU and technologies inside the Switch 2, it makes special mention of NVIDIA G-SYNC and HDR, which leads us to believe that the Switch 2's display will include a dedicated G-SYNC chip.