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Nintendo has officially given us a close-up look at the Nintendo Switch 2 in a recent Switch 2-dedicated Direct where the company showcased a ton of new content for the upcoming console, along with all of its features. However, what has been discovered on Nintendo's website is likely making physical game collectors scream.

In a customer support article published shortly after the conclusion of the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, Nintendo detailed its new approach to physical game cartridges, and while the approach is mostly the same, gamers will need to take into account one new addition - Game-Key cards.

As explained in the support post, some Nintendo Switch 2 games, despite being purchased physically with a game cartridge, won't actually be on that cartridge at all, and instead, the cartridge serves as a key to download the full game.

Diablo 4 was the first Blizzard game to join the service on March 28, 2024. Although Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard was completed in late 2023, it's taken a while for the publisher and developer's back catalog to make its way over to Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass.

When it comes to Blizzard, outside of Diablo 4 and free-to-play titles like Overwatch 2 and Heroes of the Storm, there are quite a few games that fans of the studio are waiting for. Recently PC Game Pass for StarCraft Remastered and StarCraft 2, which was very cool to see. In April 2025, another Blizzard classic from the same period will debut in Game Pass.

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - Ultimate Evil Edition is coming to Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Game Pass Standard. As one of the best-selling games of all time, Diablo 3's more fast-paced arcade-style take on the action RPG is still played by millions. The Ultimate Evil Edition includes the base game, the Reaper of Souls expansion, but not the add-on Necromancer class.

Nintendo has finally lifted the lid on all things Nintendo Switch 2, and there were several surprises during the company's hourlong presentation. It was a stacked Nintendo Direct, covering everything from the impressive 120 Hz HDR display to games to the arrival of Nintendo GameCube emulation as part of Nintendo Switch Online.

One thing we were all expecting to learn was that Metroid Prime 4 Beyond would be launching with two versions - one for the current Switch and a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition that will take advantage of the new hardware. Developed by Retro Studios, Metroid Prime 4 is set to run at 4K 60 FPS in 'Quality' mode or 1080p 120 FPS in 'Performance' mode when docked.

It's expected that this will use some form of dynamic resolution or DLSS to maintain a playable frame rate, but we know the game will look significantly better on the Nintendo Switch 2. Nintendo released a new Metroid Prime 4 Beyond trailer last week, with gameplay captured on original Switch hardware. We've been able to line up a few of the shots from that and the brief look at the Switch 2 version from the latest Direct to present this comparison.

Nintendo has just wrapped up its official deep dive into the Nintendo Switch 2, and less than 24 hours later, the Trump administration has introduced tariffs that may cause the price of Nintendo's next-generation console to fluctuate.

The Nintendo Switch has been officially priced at $449, which is on the higher end of the scale of previous estimations that pegged the console to be priced anywhere between $350 - $500. However, that price may jump to $600 if Trump's new import tariffs cause manufacturers to increase prices to maintain profit margins.

Here's what has happened. The Trump administration has revealed a new 10% across-the-board tariff for all foreign imports, along with a "reciprocal" tariff aimed at individual countries. China is one of the hardest hit countries, along with Vietnam, the two countries where Switch 2 manufacturing takes place.

The Steam Hardware & Software Survey results for March 2025 are in, and the very first GeForce RTX 50 Series GPU has made the list of most used graphics cards among PC gamers - and it's the GeForce RTX 5080.

The GeForce RTX 5080 squeaks in at the bottom of the list ahead of the GeForce RTX 5090. As the more 'affordable' high-end 4K RTX Blackwell option launched at the end of January 2025, it makes sense - mainly because it arrived with an MSRP lower than the previous generation's GeForce RTX 4080.

With the mid-range GeForce RTX 5070 Series and Radeon RX 9070 Series being more recent launches, we should expect to see these show up in the results in the coming months. Elsewhere, there's been some reshuffling, with the GeForce RTX 3060 retaking the crown from the GeForce RTX 4060 and the GeForce RTX 4070 dropping out of the Top 10.

Intel has officially announced that its next-generation Core Ultra 300 series "Panther Lake" CPUs will be launching in 2H 2025, with a volume supply planned for early 2026, with the new processors made on its bleeding-edge in-house Intel 18A process node.

Intel's next-gen Panther Lake CPUs are the first to debut on its new 18A process node, which is a huge advancement over its previous-gen in-house Intel 3 process node. We have new packaging technologies including BSPDN (Backside Power Delivery) which will move the power delivery process to the backside of the wafer.

Panther Lake CPUs will feature new Cougar Cove P-Cores with Skymont E-Cores, with Intel expected to use 6 P-Cores and 8 E-Cores for mobile platforms, but the mobile GPU is the highlight here: new Xe3 "Celestial" GPU architecture that will reportedly feature up to 12 Xe3 GPU cores packaged in a chiplet standard, ready to compete against AMD's new RDNA 3.5-based Strix Point and Strix Halo APUs.

Intel announced that its bleeding-edge 18A process node has entered "risk production" and its mass production will begin shortly after.

At its recent Intel Vision 2025 event, the company announced that its in-house Intel 18A process node has entered risk production, and that mass production kicks off later this year. Risk production is the stage before mass production, usually involving a limited-scale production to see how the process and its manufacturability and performance are, before it goes into mass production for consumer markets.

The new Intel 18A process node will be first seen with the company's next-gen Core Ultra 300 series "Panther Lake" processors, where it will show off its new semiconductor manufacturing prowess against TSMC.

GameCube games are coming to the Switch 2 at launch, Nintendo has confirmed.

It's official: GameCube games will soon arrive to the Nintendo Switch Online's classics library. The GameCube classics are exclusive to the Switch 2 and will be part of the Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription, which currently retails for $49.99 per year. It's unclear whether or not Nintendo will raise the service's price to reflect the new GameCube library, especially since Nintendo has raised the price of Switch 2 games to $80.

Switch 2 will get three GameCube games on launch day: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Soul Calibur II, and F-Zero GX, the last of which supports four-player local or online multiplayer. Games will have higher resolution, smoother gameplay, and the added bonus of save states.

Nintendo's new Switch 2 console shake things up in a big way, adding new features centered around social play and sharing.

The Switch 1 was about bringing games on-the-go and playing with anyone. The Switch 2 builds on that concept and has more of a console-oriented feature set centered around social play, online engagement, and friend interactions. As per Nintendo, the Switch 2 "brings new forms of communication to life," and that's certainly true: The Switch 2 has a camera attachment and two online features that define the system's new focus.

The Switch 2's new GameChat and GameShare features are the backbone of the innovations, and they're tied to a Switch Online subscription. GameChat isn't exactly novel, but it's new for the Switch: Users can make online parties on-system and chat with the Switch 2's built-in mic, or buy a camera and video chat. GameShare lets you do just that: Share a copy of your game with a friend online as you play, and then play together.

Nintendo Switch 2 only supports microSD Express cards to keep up with the new faster loading times.

The rumors were true: The Switch 2 supports microSD Express flash cards. The bad news is that regular microSD cards aren't supported on the Switch 2. To see if your card is supported, look for an EX on the card itself. If there's no EX anywhere, then it's not Express.

The microSD Express protocol is capable of delivering SSD-like speeds of up to 985MB/sec, which is a massive boost over the 104MB/sec that the base microSD cards deliver.

Nintendo has bumped prices of its games to $80, and is prepared to charge as much as $90 for physical Switch 2 cartridges.

Today, Nintendo announced the Switch 2 will arrive on June 5 for $450, which is higher than most analysts had predicted. The system isn't the only thing that may be expensive to consumers who are currently navigating uncertain global economic conditions--the games themselves will be more expensive than the Switch 1 generation.

While not mentioned in press release information, Nintendo has inadvertently confirmed that Switch 2 games will be priced at $80 for digital titles and $90 for physical cartridge-based games. Nintendo's official Mario Kart World website confirms a $79.99 MSRP for the game, and the same game is listed at 89.99 euros on the Nintendo Spain Store (the prices are typically the same between Europe and North America).

Apple is working on a next-generation M6 processor that will be found inside of a new iPad Pro in 2027, with a custom in-house C2 or C3 5G modem in 2027.

In a new post from Bloomberg insider Mark Gurman, we're learning that the new M5 processor will enter mass production in 2026 at its new factory in Houston, expected to debut inside of new iPad Pros and MacBook Pro laptops. Meanwhile, the future-gen M6 processor will feature a new in-house C2/C3 5G modem and be ready for release sometime in 2027.

Gurman writes: "Apple's M5 iPad Pro goes into advanced testing ahead of launch this year. The company is planning to make the iPad Pro one of the first devices to include the next-generation M5 chip. The new versions of that model, code-named J817, J818, J820 and J821, are in late testing within Apple and on track for production in the second half of this year. The company has also started early work on M6 versions with in-house modem chips, which are being targeted for 2027".

Some original Switch games will be enhanced on Switch 2, but gamers will have to pay extra to get them.

Today's Switch 2 reveal highlighted a bold strategy for Nintendo: Charging for next-gen enhancements and upgrades. Select original Switch 1 games will play better on the Switch 2, complete with a bunch of additions and extras, but it won't be free.

Some original Switch games will get a "Switch 2 Edition" that leverages the power of the new Switch 2 console via upgrades (full details here). These will be sold as a separate game SKU in storefronts. Unlike the PS5 and Xbox Series generation, these upgrades won't be free right out of the gate. When the 9th console generation kicked off in 2020, publishers typically gave a grace period between the cross-gen migration and gave away free next-gen versions of their games as a bonus.

You probably didn't miss the recent fuss about Microsoft cutting off a workaround to enable a Windows 11 installation to be carried out with a local account, rather than being tied to a Microsoft account - but it turns out that when one door closes, another two open.

To recap on this, the door being closed was the so-called 'bypassnro' method (used in the command prompt during Windows 11 setup), although there remains a way to do this via the Registry still (although that's clunkier, and surely likely to be stripped out soon enough, anyway).

WitherOrNot subsequently highlighted a better workaround on X, and on top of that, Neowin noticed that there's now yet another way to fudge a local install of Windows 11 - check out the post above from XPower7125 on X.

NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 50 series Laptop GPUs are now out in the market, with new testing pointing out that the new RTX 5080 Laptop GPU is only 10-15% slower than the RTX 5090 Laptop GPU in gaming tests... and RTX 5080 gaming laptops are 72% cheaper.

In some new benchmarks from the folks at Notebookcheck, we get a battle against NVIDIA's new flagship GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU against the RTX 5080 Laptop GPU, with some big differences in terms of specs between teh mobile GPUs, a chasm in price (72% or so), yet the RTX 5080 Laptop GPU isn't that much slower.

NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU features 37% more CUDA cores than the RTX 5080 Laptop GPU, but both of them are limited to just 150W (175W with Dynamic Boost). Another big difference between the two laptop graphics chips is that the RTX 5090 Laptop GPU features 24GB of GDDR7 while the RTX 5080 Laptop GPU sports 16GB GDDR7.

The remake of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion might be imminent, and could even be released as soon as tomorrow, if a new rumor is right.

This speculation was aired by a leaker relatively fresh to the gaming scene, a certain Detective Seeds posting on X, as noticed by Wccftech.

If Detective Seeds is correct, the Oblivion remake might debut as soon as tomorrow, April 3 - or if not, it'll arrive next week, but the expectation is very much that it's about to be unleashed.

ADATA's gaming brand XPG is back again with another DDR5 world record, collaborating with GIGABYTE on using its XPG LANCER RGB DDR5 memory and LN2 cooling to smash 12762MT/s, and setting a new DDR5 memory OC world record.

Overclocker Hicookier used an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processor on a GIGABYTE Z890 AORUS Tachyon ICE motherboard, using a stick of ADATA XPG LANCER RGB DDR5 memory at 6381.2MHz (12762MT/s). ADATA proudly announced on its website: "This remarkable achievement has been verified by the renowned international overclocking scoring platform, HWBOT, reinforcing XPG's leadership in extreme overclocking memory".

Nintendo has confirmed the big first-party title to launch alongside the Nintendo Switch 2 will be Mario Kart World, or Mario Kart 9 for those who are counting.

Nintendo has just wrapped up its Nintendo Switch 2-dedicated Direct and kicked off the hour-long show by jumping straight into the action with the unveiling of Mario Kart World. The presentation with a lengthy reveal of the new Mario Kart game will launch exclusively on the Nintendo Switch 2 when the new console becomes available on June 5.

According to the showcased footage seen above, players will be able to race seamlessly across connected roads and racetracks and participate in a new Knockout Tour mode that will put players on back-to-back courses with no pit stops. Nintendo confirms that Mario Kart World will introduce atmospheric weather conditions, meaning that, depending on the "time of day," the conditions on the road will change. The Grand Prix mode will enable players to drive to each new course, and Mario Kart World will enable up to 24 players in each race, the most of any Mario Kart game.

After years of waiting, countless rumors, and an entire hour-long dedicated Direct to the new console, Nintendo has finally confirmed when the Switch 2 will be released.

Nintendo has just wrapped up its official Switch 2-dedicated Direct, which gave us a detailed look at the new console, showing how it compares to the original Nintendo Switch and what gamers will get if they decide to upgrade. The hour-long Direct covered many aspects of the Switch 2, such as its general features, performance aspects, unique Switch 2 features, and launch titles.

The Nintendo Switch 2 will officially launch on June 5, but unfortunately, Nintendo didn't reveal the price tag for the console, instead, we got a myriad of games confirmed for the new system, such as Mario Kart Worlds and Elden Ring, juicy specifications, such as a 1920 x 1080p resolution display capable of a 120Hz refresh rate and 4K video output when docked, and an explanation to the new mouse feature with the Joy-Cons.

Nintendo has just confirmed that Elden Ring is coming to Nintendo's next-generation handheld console, the Nintendo Switch 2.

The Nintendo Switch 2 edition of Elden Ring is called "Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition" and will launch on the new console, which was just confirmed to have a 1080p display capable of a 120Hz refresh rate and HDR. It's currently unclear if Elden Ring will be able to take full advantage of the 120Hz refresh rate or use the new mouse functionality with the Joy-Cons.

Additionally, the Switch 2 is capable of 4K video output while docked, which would be particularly good for Elden Ring and those gamers who want to take advantage of the newly announced Pro Controller. Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition will be released on the Nintendo Switch 2 sometime in 2025, presumably after June 5, which is when the Switch 2 will be available.