Slowed tech progress, inflation, and global trade wars are doing a number on game console pricing this year, and the bad news keeps coming. Nintendo delayed preorders of the Switch 2 in the US and increased accessory prices, and Microsoft gave its Series S and X consoles across-the-board price hikesin May.

Today, Nintendo is back for more, increasing prices on the original Switch hardware, as well as some Amiibo, the Alarmo clock, and some Switch and Switch 2 accessories. The price increases will formally take effect on August 3.

The company says that there are currently no price increases coming for the Switch 2 console, Nintendo Online memberships, and physical and digital Switch 2 games. But it didn't take future price increases off the table, noting that "price adjustments may be necessary in the future."

Read full article

Comments

© Nintendo

Today's Fortnite live event is Super Showdown. Here's our coverage, including reactions now that the event is over.

Looking for NYT Connections answers and hints? Here's all you need to know to solve today's game, plus my commentary on the puzzles.

The Joy-Con 2 controllers are much better than the originals, but I won’t be using them outside of handheld play.

Analogue’s 4K remake of the Nintendo 64 has been delayed again and again due to the US tariff situation. But at least you can get 8BitDo’s updated take on the N64 controller, which was announced alongside the Analogue 3D, while you wait. You can get one through Amazon in white or black for $39.99 and while it’s one of 8BitDo’s more budget-friendly controllers, its functionality is limited.

The Nintendo 64, which launched in 1996, had an unusual three-prong controller design, with a single analog joystick in the center of the gamepad above the middle grip. The 8BitDo 64 offers the same buttons as the N64’s controller in a more traditional layout, but while it’s easier to hold, the lack of a second joystick limits its compatibility with modern games, which generally expect two. The 8BitDo 64 is compatible with the Switch, Switch 2 (after updating the controller’s firmware), Windows, and Android devices and connects to consoles, PCs, and mobile devices using either a Bluetooth connection or a USB cable. 

It also features more durable Hall effect joysticks and shoulder buttons which should help prevent it from developing stick drift over time. But if you’re not planning to use it with the Analogue 3D (someday), the controller will potentially only be useful for playing classic N64 games through an emulator or the Nintendo Switch Online service but your GoldenEye 007 muscle memory may not perfectly transfer over to the updated button layout. Nintendo’s own wireless N64 controller is a more accurate reproduction, but you still need to be a Nintendo Switch Online subscriber to buy one.

Roblox and Fortnite are two of the biggest games around, and a huge part of why is because they aren't just one game: instead, they're vast platforms where you can party up with your friends, dress up in ridiculous digital outfits, and quickly jump from one experience to another. Back in the day, Fortnite copied PUBG by making a battle royale, and now, PUBG is mimicking Fortnite by trying to become more of a platform than a game.

As part of a roadmap released earlier this year, PUBG developer Krafton said that it would let players create their own modes as part of an alpha, and it revealed more details about the alpha this month. This week, …

Read the full story at The Verge.

The developers are also required to submit proof that an authoritative third-party body has declared the app to be a "game of skill," the company proposed.

Here at Ars, we're big fans of classic console emulators that go beyond providing perfect re-creations to those that actually improve on original hardware with new features we could only dream of as kids. So we were excited when we recently stumbled on a Reddit post that shows a full Super Game Boy-esque color palette added to the usual shades of red and black found in Virtual Boy Wario Land.

After experiencing colorized Virtual Boy emulation for ourselves (and grabbing the sample screenshots you can see in this piece), we were struck by just how much a splash of color adds new life to Nintendo's failed '90s experiment (which Ars' own Benj Edwards has written about extensively). Going beyond the usual red-and-black graphics helps to highlight the artistry in the small selection of official Virtual Boy games and provides a great excuse to check out the system's surprisingly vibrant homebrew scene.

Red in the face

Nintendo famously chose to use a line of (then cheap and abundant) red LEDs for the Virtual Boy's stereoscopic display, leading to its iconic monochromatic color palette. While the handful of '90s Virtual Boy developers did their best under this limitation, the hardware's red-on-black graphics have aged even worse than the often muddy grayscale found on the original Game Boy.

Read full article

Comments

© Kyle Orland / Red Viper

Ayaneo is bringing back the Nintendo DS nostalgia with the Pocket DS, as the 'world's first' dual-screen Android handheld gaming device.

We try upcoming open-world adventure Where Winds Meet and end up with the bubonic plague.

Looking for NYT Connections answers and hints? Here's all you need to know to solve today's game, plus my commentary on the puzzles.

Nintendo has officially announced the next Nintendo Direct showcase.

Nintendo Switch Online just overhauled its CRT filter for SNES games, and it's way better than I thought it would be.

Nvidia’s usual budget winner can’t keep up with the competition this year.

Now that the Switch 2 is out, and the console’s biggest exclusives — Mario Kart World, and Donkey Kong Bananza — are delighting fans, it’s time to see what else this thing can do. Nintendo’s hosting its next Direct presentation on Thursday July 31st bright and early at 9 AM ET. You can watch the direct on YouTube here and, of course, in the Nintendo Today app.

According to Nintendo, the 25-minute presentation will be a partner showcase, focusing on third-party titles for the Switch and Switch 2. (Sorry, y’all are gonna have to wait a little longer for more news on Metroid Prime 4.)

Join us for a #NintendoDirect Partner Showcase tomorrow, July 31, at 6am PT! Tune in for roughly 25 minutes of information on upcoming #NintendoSwitch2 and #NintendoSwitch games from our publishing partners.

Watch here: https://t.co/PvBBmmxGTI pic.twitter.com/8hJBngwXHw

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) July 30, 2025

A handful of older games are finding new life (and new audiences) on the Switch 2 like Cyberpunk 2077, and I expect there will be many more announcements of studios bringing their backlogs to the console. And for new games, Silksong, the long, long awaited sequel to Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight might finally get to see the light of day.

Last month, rumors from prominent insiders and leakers swirled that a Direct would be announced for the end of the month. They also speculated about what games would be shown which included a Persona 3 Reload port and, of all things, a new Animal Crossing. But we’ll find out for sure what Nintendo will give us next when the presentation airs tomorrow at 9 AM.

I maintain a to-do list of story ideas to write at Ars, and for about a year "monthly column on DOS games I love" has been near the top of the list. When we spoke with the team at GOG, it felt less like an obligation and more like a way to add another cool angle to what I was already planning to do.

I'm going to start with the PC game I played most in high school and the one that introduced me to the very idea of online play. That game is Descent.

As far as I can recall, Descent was the first shooter to be fully 3D with six degrees of freedom. It's not often in today's gaming world that you get something completely and totally new, but that's exactly what Descent was 30 years ago in 1995.

Read full article

Comments

© GOG

Fortnite OG's first live event was the Blast Off rocket launch. Here's our live coverage as it happened, including info on the start time.

Looking for NYT Connections answers and hints? Here's all you need to know to solve today's game, plus my commentary on the puzzles.

The Quersus ICOS.2 has decided to do the gaming chair a little differently – but has its gamble paid off?

All we've heard about Fable so far this year is that it's delayed until 2026. Surely we're due more of an update...