• Dragon's Dogma 2 producer Naoto Oyama says Performance Mode will reach 60FPS on console ahead of the Dark Arisen release
• Oyama says the Switch 2 version will hit 30FPS and "even higher"
• He adds that Capcom's RE Engine has been "a really great fit" for Switch 2

Dragon's Dogma 2 is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 later this year alongside the launch of its Dark Arisen expansion, and Capcom has been making some major improvements to the base game in preparation.

Speaking in an interview with Eurogamer about the process of porting the fantasy role-playing game (RPG) to Switch 2, producer Naoto Oyama said that Capcom's RE Engine "has actually been a really great fit for Nintendo Switch 2."

He explained that the team has been able to use knowledge of previous Switch 2 ports, like Pragmata and Resident Evil Requiem, and the improvements made to the RE engine to create a solid port for Dragon's Dogma.

"Because this is an internal [Capcom-owned] engine, we've been able to accumulate knowledge and know-how from other teams," Oyama said. "And that means that the improvements that are made to the engine with each title, and the different features that are added with new games, get to stay with us - and we get to benefit from them on future titles. It's a really positive cycle for us."

The producer confirmed that the team has also been working to improve the game's overall performance, not just on Switch 2, but also on the launch PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S platforms.

"In particular, we've been trying to find as many small tweaks as we can make so we can build up and have a big performance improvement on consoles when it comes to Performance Mode itself," he said, adding that this will be a feature of the August title update, allowing the game to reach 60FPS in Performance Mode on console.

Oyama continued, confirming that the game can reach 30FPS on Switch 2 and "even higher" during many scenes.

"That means that, commensurately, all that effort we've put into the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of the game also pays off in the Switch 2 version," he said, "and we're currently seeing a minimum 30 frames per second rate performance on that hardware (and, in many scenes, it's even higher!).

"So it's a little while to go until the game releases, but it's exceeding our expectations on Switch 2, and I hope the players agree that we've done a great job again with bringing this game to that platform."

Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen, which introduces a new region, Norgan, new armor, weapons, dungeons, and more, launches on October 9.

• The Duskbloods closed network tests begin next month
• Players can sign up to participate and test the game from August 21 to August 24
• The Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive will allow up to eight-player multiplayer matches

FromSoftware has announced the dates for The Duskbloods' closed network test happening next month.

The Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive was announced over a year ago, and details about the renowned Elden Ring studio's next PvPvE multiplayer have been few and far between.

After teasing the closed network test last month alongside a new trailer, FromSoftware has confirmed that there will be four tests over four days, between August 21 and August 24. You can check out the start dates and times below.

"To all prospective Bloodsworn, your participation in the coming Dusk Battles is eagerly awaited!" a post from Nintendo reads on X.

Fans can apply here, starting July 22 at 4PM CEST / 3PM BST until July 28 at 3:59PM CEST / 2:59PM BST.

The player selection announcement will be revealed on August 7 at 3PM CEST / 2PM BST.

The Duskbloods Closed Network Test

• August 21 - 12PM to 4PM CEST / 11 AM to 3 PM BST
• August 22 - 4AM to 8AM CEST / 3 AM to 7 AM BST
• August 22 - 8PM to 12AM CEST / 7 PM to 11 PM BST
• August 23 - 12PM to 4PM CEST / 11 AM to 3 PM BST
• August 24 - 4AM to 8AM CEST / 3 AM to 7 AM BST

"A network test involves using a pre-release version of the game to test performance prior to the commencement of service. We plan to conduct large-scale network load tests to check different technical aspects of the game's online systems," FromSoftware explained on its website.

The campaign will be able to test server load, gameplay balance, and various problems that may occur when multiple people play together across different network environments.

The Duskbloods was one of the highlights of the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct last year, but unfortunately, there's still no release date.

There's also not a lot of information regarding gameplay, setting, and story; however, the studio has confirmed that the network test will feature multiplayer matches that "allows for up to eight players to participate together."

I didn't buy a Switch 2 at launch; I've been holding off on getting one for the time being - I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a limited edition The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time console - but The Duskbloods, and the upcoming closed network tests have me seriously considering finally investing in the console sooner.

The Nintendo Switch 2 has been out for just over a year now, and it’s had a fascinating start to life.

It’s undoubtedly been a commercial success, becoming the second-fastest selling console in recorded US history, and it’s already seen its fair share of hits, whether that be the phenomenon that is Pokémon Pokopia or the 2025 Game of the Year nominee, Donkey Kong Bananza. But some are still unconvinced.

It’s not a stretch to say that, in spite of its high sales, the console has been highly contentious among gamers. While many speak with positivity about the Switch 2, there have been criticisms around the consoles battery life and performance, for instance.

Some gamers have also noted concerns around the lack of big first party hitters, such as a brand new 3D Mario, a new entry in the Legend of Zelda series (rather than a remake), and the system’s slightly patchy release schedule for 2026. Bundle that with some high-priced software and incoming console price rises, and I can see why some fans are yet to be won over.

My thoughts: a brief summary

In my personal opinion, though, the Switch 2 has had a pretty strong start. Growing up, I saw the messy launch of consoles such as the PlayStation 3, and the simply woeful launch titles for its successor, the PlayStation 4 and its counterpart, the Xbox One. Meanwhile, the Switch 2 has some great multiplayer fun in titles like Mario Kart World and Kirby Air Riders, some exceptional single player experiences like the aforementioned Donkey Kong and Pokémon games, and a healthy dosage of third-party support to boot.

What’s more, I’d argue that performance is pretty strong, and with a 1080p 120fps display for handheld mode, it no longer feels like I’m sacrificing too much quality just to play without my TV. Throw in 4K visuals in docked mode, far comfier Joy Con 2 controllers, and surprisingly good virtual surround sound, and I for one am happy with the hardware upgrade brought to the table by Nintendo’s new hybrid console.

I do wish that some games were a little more affordable — $79.99 / £74.99 / AU$119.95 for a physical copy of Mario Kart World definitely feels excessive, even with modern pricing standards. And I really wish the console’s battery life was a bit better too, even if I have found a workaround of sorts.

All in all, though, I’ve had a great first year with the Switch 2, and its prolific sales are there for all to see. But I’m not just here to share my view — there’s something else I’m far more interested in.

Tell us what you think about the Switch 2

That’s right: TechRadar Gaming wants to hear from you.

I’ve briefly spoken about some contentious points, but I want to gauge the thoughts and feelings of all of you out there. Do you think the Nintendo Switch 2 has been a hit or a flop?

Below, you’ll find a poll, where you can tell us what you think.

However, I’m also really keen to draw some specifics from our readers. If you’d like, you can comment below and make your voice heard — has the Switch 2 been a disappointment for you? Is it already among the console elite? We want to hear it all — and your comments may even feature in an upcoming article!

• Future Games Show will return for Gamescom 2026
• The main showcase will begin on August 26, followed by the FGS Live, and the FGS Best Of Gamescom will air on August 30
• Future Games Show at Gamescom will feature world premieres, new trailers, and more

The Future Games Show will officially return next month for Gamescom 2026 with three digital showcases.

Future Games Show at Gamescom will air the same day the industry event kicks off, on August 26, and feature new announcements from "some of the industry’s most creative studios," including world premieres, exclusive trailers, developer deep dives, and brand-new game demos.

The recent Future Game Show Summer Showcase in June included 40+ games and 11 world premieres, and reached over 17.8 million live and launch-weekend views, so viewers should expect some more exciting game reveals.

FGS Live From Gamescom will immediately follow the main showcase on August 26, be hosted by the FGS editorial team, and feature more world premieres and exclusive trailers, as well as news and interviews from the Gamescom show floor.

To round out the event, the FGS Best Of Gamescom broadcast will kick off on August 30 and take viewers to the show floor to wrap up the best games of the event. Those tuning in can also expect exclusive booth tours, developer interviews, and a recap of Gamescom’s most exciting announcements.

All three digital shows can be watched on Future Games Shows' Twitch, YouTube, X, TikTok, Facebook, and GamesRadar+.

"The Future Games Show is the best place to discover new games, from indie gems like acclaimed-puzzler Blue Prince to AAA blockbusters such as sci-fi RPG Exodus," said Daniel Dawkins, Content Director of Future Games Show at Future. "Our Summer Showcase delivered 3.72 wishlists per live viewer, comfortably outperforming industry averages, thanks to our super-engaged viewers.

"Since launching in 2020, we have been proud to showcase the industry's most exciting titles alongside premier hosts like Troy Baker, Alix Wilton Regan and Ben Starr. This Gamescom, we are delivering three massive digital showcases packed with the latest news and world premieres for PC and consoles. Don’t miss it!”

• Mario Kart Tour will shut down on September 29
• Nintendo has confirmed that an offline mode is not planned for release
• Nintendo said "We sincerely thank the many players who have loved and supported the game since service began so long ago"

Nintendo has announced that the servers for Mario Kart Tour will be shut down later this year.

The company notified players in a new blog post, confirming that the mobile racing spin-off, which first launched in 2019 for iOS and Android, will cease operating on September 29 at 11PM PT / 2AM ET / 7AM BST.

"Service for the Mario Kart Tour game for smart devices will come to an end as of 11:00 p.m. Pacific on September 29," the post reads.

"We sincerely thank the many players who have loved and supported the game since service began so long ago. Thank you for playing Mario Kart Tour."

In the FAQ, Nintendo confirmed that "An offline version is not scheduled for release," meaning it's officially the end of the mobile Mario Kart game for now.

All automatic subscription renewals and new subscriptions to the Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass were stopped during the game's maintenance on July 7, in conjunction with the game's end-of-service time frame.

Mario Kart Tour was centered around a race seasons mode and featured online multiplayer that allowed players to compete in live races against others around the world.

The mobile game also featured tracks that were later added to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as part of the Nintendo Switch game's Booster Course Pack DLC.

Nintendo didn't offer a reason for the game's shutdown, although the company may be attempting to encourage more mobile players to make the jump to the recently released Mario Kart World.

The way that consumers buy video games is changing, with Sony recently announcing that it would cease the production of new PlayStation game discs in January 2028 in a bid to push consumers towards more profitable digital purchases.

It's a big shift for the $500+ billion dollar video game industry, which once had a significant retail presence in the US, but one that has been predicted for some time.

A matter of time

Speaking in an investor Q&A session all the way back in 2009, then Nintendo president and Satoru Iwata correctly stated that it would take "20 years or so" for digital distribution to render physical copies in stores obsolete.

He dismissed notions that it could happen sooner as "radical" and argued that it would take a significant number of years for consumer behaviour to change.

His belief has been proven correct by empirical data as Nintendo's latest financial report revealed that the proportion of digital sales have just surpassed physical ones for the first time in the company's 137 year history.

While it seems safe assume that Sony's next console will not feature disc reader, and credible reports suggest Microsoft-owned competitor Xbox headed the same way, Nintendo is ironically the last major industry player that seems fully committed to physical releases — at least for the time being.

Part of a wider trend

Digital game sales are even more dominant on other platforms, hence the Sony decision to ditch physical formats entirely.

According to data from market research firm Ampere Analysis, when the PlayStation 4 originally launched in 2013 just 13% of games sold for Sony platforms were digital.

12 years later in 2025, and the share of digital game sales had steadily grown to almost 80%. Unless plans change, this will presumably be 100% come 2028 — almost exactly two decades since Iwata's 20 year prediction.

• Nintendo will release a new Switch 2 featuring a replaceable battery in Europe to comply with new EU legislation
• Other Nintendo accessories will also be updated and available throughout the year and in early 2027
• The sale of original Switch hardware will also end starting mid-February 2027

Nintendo has announced plans to sell a new Switch 2 console featuring a replaceable battery in Europe later this year and confirmed that it will end the sale of all original Switch hardware in early 2027.

Last month, the Super Mario creator shared a statement saying that it would comply with a new regulation called the EU Batteries Legislation, which was passed in 2023 and requires companies to make products with built-in batteries replaceable by February 18, 2027.

Now, in an updated support post, Nintendo has confirmed that it will launch new versions of the Switch 2 in the EU that will allow users to replace the battery, with the first revised hardware arriving this summer, with additional products becoming available later this year and early 2027.

"Starting summer 2026, in preparation for upcoming changes in European battery regulations coming into effect in mid-February 2027, selected Nintendo products in Europe will begin to be replaced on a rolling basis by revisions that contain a user-replaceable battery," Nintendo said.

The company noted, however, that "There is no difference in functionality between current products and revised products containing user-replaceable batteries."

"The first revised products are expected to become available from summer 2026, with additional products becoming available in autumn, winter, and early 2027. Due to a variety of factors, revised products may not become available in all European countries simultaneously."

The products that will be affected include: the Nintendo Switch 2, Joy-Con pair, Joy-Con (L&R) in Neon Blue and Red, Joy-Con 2 pair, Joy-Con 2 (L&R), Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller, N64 Controller for Nintendo Switch, and GameCube Controller for Nintendo Switch 2.

Seemingly as a result, the company also confirmed in the FAQ that it will stop selling all original Switch hardware next year, almost a decade after the console launched.

"From mid-February 2027, almost ten years after Nintendo Switch launched in March 2017, Nintendo will no longer sell to retailers hardware in the Nintendo Switch family of systems – specifically Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch Lite and Nintendo Switch – OLED Model," the company said.

"Sales of Nintendo Switch hardware on Nintendo Store will also end in mid-February 2027."

For now, the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch Lite, and Nintendo Switch – OLED Model will all continue to be manufactured for the rest of 2026 "and should be widely available in Europe all year."

• Xbox has announced that it is undergoing a "significant restructure"
• This will include the loss of 3,200 jobs over the fiscal year
• This includes 1,600 job losses today

Microsoft has announced that Xbox is to undergo the "most significant restructure" in the brand's history, with 1,600 jobs being cut today, for a total 3,200 jobs going over the coming months including four studios being jettisoned.

In another crushing blow for the people who make the games we love, these layoffs were strongly rumored to be coming this week — the sheer scale was unknown but predicted to be big. It turns out that was true.

In an email sent to Xbox employees that has now been made public via Xbox Wire, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma began by saying, "After careful consideration, I’ve made the difficult decision to reduce our team by approximately 3,200 throughout FY27. This will include approximately 1,600 role eliminations today, and in addition, four studios will leave Xbox to new management."

Sharma added: "Our business today is not healthy. We are operating at margins that are 3-10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses. We entered Gen 9 with a smaller install base and a higher cost structure. To grow, we bet on Game Pass, multi-platform, and a broader portfolio of content. While those businesses have created meaningful value, they did not grow at the pace we expected."

As well as the total of 3,200 jobs going this fiscal year, four studios are also affected. Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions are returning to being independent studios, while Ninja Theory and Undead Labs will gain new ownership with funding to complete their upcoming games, Senua and State of Decay 3.

Arkane — a studio many feared for in the run-up to this restructuring — is "beginning required consultation with its Works Council to review potential strategic options."

In a series of moves over the past decade or so, which has seen Microsoft acquire multiple studios, spend billions and billions of dollars, and make some curious decisions about Game Pass, prices, and more — all to take the brand from third in the console space to, well, third — this kind of feels like the bubble bursting before our very eyes. And the people who will pay the price will be the developers who make the games we all love playing.

Snakebyte Ergo Grip S2 review

The Snakebyte Ergo Grip 2 is a basic grip for the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons, although it has a few tricks up its sleeve.

Its design is very much a case of function over form. There’s no RGB lighting, and the all-black colorway leaves no room for levity. At least it's simple and unfussy, consisting merely of a central bar and two grip handles on either side. These handles are reasonably long but quite thin compared to more traditional controllers.

The build quality isn’t particularly great, it has to be said. There’s quite a bit of flex to the whole unit, although it's solid enough and the plastic feels smooth in the hand. But it’s certainly not going to challenge the best Nintendo Switch 2 controllers on this front.

There’s a small switch underneath the Ergo Grip 2 to release the central bar from the bottom of the pad, allowing it to pivot upwards and out of the way of the grip handles so you can insert the Joy-Cons. This seems a little gimmicky, and what’s more, it’s not strictly necessary: by inserting my Joy-Cons at an angle, I managed to get around the handles while the center was locked down.

I think it would’ve been simpler to engineer a solution where the handles didn’t get in the way at all, rather than have a rotating mechanism. I’m also mildly concerned about the button that locks it down. I noticed a small amount of play while it’s locked down, which could spell failure further down the line.

Happily, the fit for the Joy-Cons is more secure. They slot into the Ergo Grip 2 just as well as they do into the Switch 2 itself. The hold feels strong, and the handles effectively partially cover their outsides, which prevents them from being prised out easily.

In action, it’s quite comfortable. The Joy-Cons sit fairly close together, but not so close as to cause issues. However, the grip handles took me a little while to get used to. At first, I had to slide my hands upwards to reach the Joy-Cons' bumpers when playing games such as Super Mario Bros. Wonder. However, I discovered that I could slot my last two fingers into the handles’ small indents for better purchase, which helped alleviate this problem somewhat.

But there are a few more ergonomic issues with the Ergo Grip 2. The bottom parts of the grips aren’t particularly long, and what’s more, they’re completely vertical, rather than angling outwards. This meant that they didn’t sit in the palms of my hands as well as more traditional gamepads, leading to a less secure feeling of grip.

This verticality extends to the orientation of the Joy-Cons. They don’t angle outwards at the bottom, which is part of the reason why reaching the bumpers can be a struggle. Other grips, such as the Genki Dual Wield, create such an angle, which feels like a more natural way to use the Joy-Cons.

The Ergo Grip 2 features a USB-C port for charging while you play. There are LEDs on top to indicate charging status, although these are basic, merely lighting up red while charging and green once complete.

At 200cm, the included USB-C cable is quite long, but it's made from rubber. This contrasts with the best Nintendo Switch 2 accessories, including other controllers and grips, that come with braided cables for better flexibility. Thankfully, the cable is quite light, so I didn’t feel much resistance while playing, and I wasn’t worried about the cable disconnecting. However, it’s quite hard to unbunch, meaning it fails to maximize its entire length.

At less than £20, though, such shortcomings are easier to swallow. If all you’re after is a cheap way to securely hold your Joy-Con 2 controllers and want to play and charge at the same time, you could do worse than the Ergo Grip 2.

Snakebyte Ergo Grip S2 review: Price and availability

The Ergo Grip 2 can be ordered from Snakebyte’s website for €19.99, which is about £17. However, we have seen it for less than this at other retailers. This is a fair price for a Joy-Con 2 grip, especially one that features charge-and-play.

However, there are Switch 2 accessories that are arguably better value for money, including others from Snakebyte. Its Starter Kit S2, for instance, includes Joy-Con 2 grips, a case, wired earbuds, joystick caps, and a screen protector — all for about the same price as the Ergo Grip 2.

Should I buy the Snakebyte Ergo Grip S2?

Buy it if…

Don't buy it if…

Snakebyte Ergo Grip S2 review: Also consider

How I tested the Snakebyte Ergo Grip S2

I tested the Ergo Grip 2 for several days. I played various games with it attached to my Joy-Cons, including Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Super Mario 3D All-Stars. I attached and detached my Joy-Cons several times to test the fit and pivot mechanism of the grip.

I’ve been gaming for decades and have used many systems and controllers in that time. I’ve also reviewed other Switch 2 grips, as well as numerous controllers for the Switch, PC, Xbox, and mobile.

• Read TechRadar’s reviews guarantee
• First reviewed: June 2026

As someone who loved Batman: Arkham Asylum back when it originally launched, it might surprise you that I never got around to playing Arkham City or Arkham Knight until very recently. Despite all the hype for Arkham City that you still read online, it was Knight that genuinely wowed me. It's a near-perfect Batman game, and believe me, that near is carrying a lot of weight.

Playing Arkham Knight is like being given a key to the DC vaults in game form. The cast is deeper and richer than a chocolate layer cake, with villains ranging from the Joker (somehow returning) to Firefly, all getting their moment in the sun.

Over the course of the many hours that you'll spend in Gotham, you'll fight all of them to some degree, and learn about their particular plans, foibles, and personalities through radio broadcasts aimed at riling up the Bat.

I'm like a bat, I always fly away

And what a joy it is to spend time in this depiction of Gotham. It's split across three large islands, each about as big as the entire Arkham City map, and you're given some fantastic traversal mechanics to help make your journeys easier. Chief among these is the Grapnel Boost, upgraded from its debut in City to make launching off platforms a way to gain significant altitude very quickly.

Then you have the Batmobile, which is, in my view, unfairly maligned. It's fine, as it goes, even if the vehicle handling is far from perfect, and it's also largely secondary to most of your traversal. When you do need it for a puzzle or a mission, it's easy to summon and then easily dismissed. Even the car combat, which many seem to hate, didn't bother me.

Sure, it's not as fun as the hand-to-hand stuff, not by a long shot, but it's a means to an end and never overstays its welcome.

There is one particularly sticky sticking point, however. One thing that almost ruins the game and that's the Riddler challenges, and how the game integrates them into the plot.

Everyone's least favourite genius has an entire mission tree dedicated to him, which is actually pretty fun. He's captured Catwoman, and you need to solve a series of challenges to set her free. Do so, and the mission is over, and you can hand him over to the authorities, right? Nah. Not by a long way.

The game seems to think that you'll love the Riddler challenges so much that just doing the 10 trials to free Catwoman won't be enough. If you want to clap the Riddler in irons, you'll need to find every Riddler trophy, solve all of his riddles, destroy every breakable object, and save every rioter who had a bomb implanted in his brain by the Riddler. That sounds ridiculous, but doable. Let me explain why it's not: there are so many of these. There are 243 challenges in total.

None of them are particularly difficult by themselves, but I didn't save Catwoman until I was close to the end of the game, and had found about 10 Riddler trophies and saved one bomb rioter. As I looked at the scope of the challenge ahead of me, the sheer time that it would take me to complete all of them, I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. This game has just singlehandedly ensured that there is a boss fight that I will never see. I will never fight the Riddler mano-a-mano, and I'm quite okay with that, valuing my time more than a fight that many hail as a series highlight.

If only it ended there. I'd be fine missing a snippet of content, but no, it's worse than that. If you want to see the true ending of the game, the game that you've likely put 40-50 hours into by this point, you'll need to pony up a bunch more hours and complete all of the Riddler challenges. That's right: if you want to see all those hours converted into a narratively satisfying ending, you need to go on a hidden object hunt across the length and breadth of the map.

Or, you could do what I did, and just watch the true ending on YouTube and save yourself a lot of time.

Knight and day

It's a real shame that the game's decided to lock up its ending behind such a convoluted set of tasks that aren't even very fun to do. The riddles are tolerable, but not stellar, while the Trophies are just a collectible with a tiny puzzle attached.

It's as though Assassin's Creed Shadows hid the ending away until you'd found every shrine and painted every animal, and it is patently absurd. It's a far more serious sin than giving you vehicle combat that, while fairly tedious, never lasts that long.

None of this detracts enough from the otherwise towering highs of Arkham Knight. It's a brilliant game with the best traversal and combat mechanics in the entire series. It trades the tight, claustrophobic (and coulrophobic) spaces of Asylum for a sweeping open world that is packed with villains, without landing on an unsatisfying halfway house as City did. It's got a great big bad, a wonderfully diverse set of environments, several playable characters, and is now cheap as chips. I had a huge heaping helping of fun with it.

So please, play Arkham Knight if you've not already, as you're in for a treat. Just don't try to go for the true ending if you value your sanity. Savor the gameplay, then open up YouTube.

The latest installment in Nintendo’s weird and wacky rhythm game franchise has finally landed with Rhythm Heaven Groove (known as Rhythm Paradise Groove in PAL regions). It’s a game that sticks closely to its foundations: there’s a simplistic control scheme, cartoonish art style, and a set of frankly surreal levels to sift through.

That’s not to say that Rhythm Heaven Groove brings nothing new to the table, however. There are plenty of multiplayer minigames available, and there’s a new single player mode called Beatspell, which riffs on the RPG genre.

So, is the mix of classic Rhythm Heaven charm and new content enough to place this entry among the best Nintendo Switch games? Here are my thoughts after hours upon hours of testing my skills.

More of the same — but not in a bad way

Let me begin by laying my cards on the table. I’m a long-time fan of the Rhythm Heaven series, and have poured a ton of hours into perfecting my timing on Rhythm Heaven (DS) and my personal favorite Rhythm Heaven Fever on the Wii.

I’m a sucker for the zany characters and goofy set of circumstances they find themselves in — whether that be dancing in tandem with a group of shrimp or playing badminton with a dog while piloting an airplane (yes, really).

And I’d argue that Nintendo — alongside codeveloper TNX — has re-created what made the series special effectively in Rhythm Heaven Groove. It’s a lot more of the same stuff we got before, but that’s by no means a bad thing.

A lot of the absurdism has been retained, and whether I was playing as a frog and launching my amphibian brethren off a lily pad or bouncing lemons off by biceps as a hard-core gym bro, I felt that the unorthodox appeal of what came before was still alive and breathing on Nintendo Switch.

Levels are, on the whole, pretty memorable, and while I found some to be less compelling — like using a massive hammer to crush cans, or sweeping the floor as part of a four-piece pop band — there’s plenty of personality, vibrant colors, and eccentric character designs to marvel at.

In the core solo levels, there’s a decent amount of variety too, even with the music, which spans a variety of genres, tempos, and styles. I found myself bopping my head to the tunes in Alien Alphabet — a level where you have to communicate with a chatty extra-terrestrial — as well as Hop N Slide — where you play as a computerised creature that has to jump and duck through hurdles — among many others.

If you want, you can even listen to the tracks in the Sound Studio menu, which fills out as you play through the game’s varying levels.

But let’s talk a bit about gameplay, something that there’s understandably little to discuss around. Like its predecessors, Rhythm Heaven Groove keeps things outrageously simple.

Whatever mode you’re playing, you just have to press buttons — sometimes even just one — in time with the beat. Controls are responsive and there are visual and audio cues that help you to nail your timing. You’ll either get your rhythm spot on, a little off, or straight up wrong, and this will determine how well you do in a particular level or minigame.

In the main single player levels, you can earn medals by hitting almost every note faultlessly, and this really brought the perfectionist out of me. I felt almost compelled to get a medal in every level, including the remixes, which combine multiple levels together in one brilliant collage.

You occasionally get the option to go for Perfect in some stages, which can earn you an in-game reward. This can be infuriating — but in a way that’s addictive and oh-so satisfying when you pull off a flawless run.

One minor gripe I have is that there’s no option to restart within a level when going for Perfect. For some reason, you have to jump back to the main menu, re-enter and try again. It’s a minor frustration, sure, but when you’re trying to get in the zone it can feel a tad grating.

Speaking of menus, I was slightly surprised to find that they were quite bland. The main menu is just a list, there’s little visual flair or intrigue about it. Again, this is a nit-pick, but for such a vivid and charismatic title, I expected something a little less rudimentary.

The new stuff: the good, the bad, and everything in between

Right, so despite a couple of small things, the core single player experience is very enjoyable in Rhythm Heaven Groove. But what new stuff can you sink your teeth into.

Well, perhaps the highest profile addition is the aforementioned Beatspell mode, which takes visual and gameplay inspiration from classic RPGs. By entering varying commands at different rhythms, you’re able to cast a handful of spells, including fire and water attacks, healing, and more. You must use your magic to defeat basic monsters as well as bosses, which have varying weaknesses and attack patterns.

You can level up your spells as you progress through each level, although these are reset at the beginning of each new area. It’s a neat idea, and I personally preferred to pour my points into attacking spells to defeat enemies faster — which helps you earn bonus points for a better star rating at the end of each segment. While beating your enemies is pretty easy, getting a high star rating requires consistently good timing, especially later into the campaign.

However, I wouldn’t say that Beatspell is the strongest mode ever. The levels feel pretty repetitive, and the narrative throughout the campaign failed to capture my interest. It’s very basic, and it doesn’t quite have the same quirky feel that the core levels exude.

Sure, there’s a bit more variation in terms of gameplay — you’re not restricted to one or two basic inputs and can approach levels how you see fit, but the music and enemies I encountered felt less charismatic than what the series typically delivers, making me less enthused about returning to levels and perfecting my score.

Still, some of the new additions show promise, and when my talented colleague and TechRadar Gaming Editor, Dash Wood, played the multiplayer minigames, he had an absolute blast. We loved everything here, from the catchy tunes through to the charming visuals and competitive feel, and I’m definitely going to be forcing a few friends and family members to duke it out with me.

There are more modes too, including Drum Lesson, the experimental Rhythm Toy Mode, and the Café, where you can take a break and receive tips. All in all, there’s plenty of ways to enjoy the beat-based fun in Rhythm Heaven Groove, and although I didn’t love Beatspell, the core experience alone had enough content to keep me entertained.

I liked most of the new additions overall, then, although I wasn’t a huge fan of the narrator, named Lil’ Miss Reeds. This robotic character uses text-to-speech to read menus aloud, which is a neat touch in terms of accessibility, although the voice, in my view, is pretty annoying.

Luckily, you can turn text-to-speech off in a sub-menu, which I quickly did — but again, in spite of my dislike for the robo voice, it’s a thoughtful touch. Especially given that there’s an option to describe what’s on screen as well as reading text aloud.

One final point before I wrap up, which has been a fairly big topic of discussion for this title. Although the Nintendo Switch 2 has been out for more than a year now, Nintendo decided to release this entry as an exclusive on the original Switch. In my view, this is a very sensible decision: not only is the Nintendo Switch the best-selling console in history, opening one of the more niche Nintendo franchises up to a larger player base, but the game itself is hardly the most technically demanding.

And I found performance to be consistent throughout — there were no framerate hiccups, visuals looked vibrant and relatively sharp, and controls felt responsive too, whether I was playing on my TV or using wired earbuds in handheld mode (though the latter option will be best for perfectionists due to lower latency).

So, what do I make of Rhythm Heaven Groove overall? For me, it's a continuation of everything that made its predecessors tick. With a whimsical visual style, head-bopping tunes, and zany level design, there’s plenty of the oddball rhythmic fun that we’ve come to expect from this series.

Sure, Beatspell wasn’t my favorite, and the simplistic gameplay won’t be to everyone’s taste, but if you want a beat-hitting game that’s entertaining to dip into solo or with friends, this is an easy title to recommend.

Should you play Rhythm Heaven Groove?

Play it if…

Don’t play it if…

Accessibility features

There aren’t all too many ways to customize your experience in Rhythm Heaven Groove, although you can switch between a few Read-Aloud settings.

There’s the option to have the narrator Read words, read and describe what’s on the screen, or deactivate the narrator altogether.

How I reviewed Rhythm Heaven Groove

I spent around 10 hours playing through Rhythm Heaven Groove. During this time, I played through the main solo levels, the Beatspell campaign, and tried out the other side modes.

The majority of the time, I played the game in TV mode, with my Nintendo Switch 2 connected to the Sky Glass Gen 2 TV and my Marshall Heston 120 soundbar. However, I did also dip into handheld mode a fair few times, and connected up the Sennheiser CX 80U wired earbuds to enjoy the in-game music and sounds.

More generally, I’m a long-time fan of the Rhythm Heaven series and have reviewed many video games during my time here at TechRadar. This has included plenty of Nintendo exclusive games, like Kirby Air Riders, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, and Drag x Drive.

I love every part of Splatoon... Except actually playing it — a problem the upcoming Splatoon Raiders might just fix.

In my eyes, the series’ art style is one of the best in Nintendo’s incredibly strong catalog. It has an attractive urban fantasy world populated by adorable, squid-like characters that feels both modern and fresh. The bright, shiny colors give everything a decidedly Gen Z vibe — one that’s further reinforced by the fashionable street clothes available for your in-game character to wear.

The concept of a third-person shooter all about ink is wonderfully original too, and I adore how the pristine blank stages are gradually smothered in your team’s colourful ink as matches progress. The problem, at least for me, is how incredibly sweaty the player-versus-player (PvP) side of the game inevitably becomes. Both Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 3 offered me a few weeks of fun around launch, but after a while it started to feel like the only people I matched up against had thousands of hours in the game and could destroy me in a flick of a wrist with the twitchy motion controls.

A skill issue, perhaps, but I know that I’m not alone, and it seems like Nintendo has cottoned on as well. While Splatoon 3 offered a single-player campaign, it wasn’t the most exciting, but the developer has clearly taken everything it learned from creating it, alongside the game’s roguelike Side Order DLC, and poured it into this new Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive.

Splatting solo

After playing for a few hours at a recent preview event, I can already see that Splatoon Raiders is shaping up to be the ultimate experience for those who, like me, are enamored with the series but just aren’t cut for competitive online play. Everything that I enjoyed in the main games is here, starting with the character creator.

You can choose to be either a squid-like Inkling or Octoling (an alternate species introduced in the Splatoon 2 expansion), with a few body types and hairstyles to flick through. The designs are all fantastic and aggressively on-trend.

I particularly appreciated the cute bangs available if you choose an Octoling, decked out in shiny plastic charms like a Fairy Kei model. Your options are limited at first, but there’s a decent roster of great-looking outfits to unlock and further customize your look as well.

The character you create is an anonymous mechanic, trapped on a remote island with Shiver, Frye, and Big Man (the iconic television hosts from the in-game Deep Cut broadcasts that trigger every time you log in to Splatoon 3, who it turns out also moonlight as a team of treasure hunters) after an expedition gone awry.

This island serves as your hub world, offering a little firing range and various stations where you can upgrade your gear. The base itself can be upgraded too, adding new targets to the firing range, unlocking new types of gear upgrades, and even introducing a little arcade cabinet where you can play charming retro-style mini games.

While I pored over every little detail, you’re only meant to spend a little bit of time here in between replayable missions. These drop you into surrounding islands to fight off waves of Salmonids — the rabid fish creatures from the other games’ Salmon Run co-op modes.

The shooting is as satisfying as ever, with all the most important weapon types of Splatoon 3 returning from the rapid-fire Splattershots and Dualie Squelchers to long-range options like the Jet Squelcher and Splat Charger.

Fighting fishy foes

There's a good level of enemy variety, with a good selection of basic grunts to mow down on top of some more advanced, and surprisingly tricky, types. I also spotted a handful of new arrivals, like the massive Salty Tongue — a huge, fat salmon that slides around the battlefield on a bed of evil goo and takes a good few shots to beat. Defeated foes drop glowing orange eggs, charging a gauge for a devastating special attack.

Most levels are quite large and open, with your main goal being to recover upgrade material and hidden treasures throughout. A compass guides you towards the available objectives, though eagle-eyed explorers will spot a small number of hidden detours filled with extra loot.

As in the main games, spraying on the ground coats it with a layer of bright slime that you can quickly swim through in a squid form while replenishing your tank of inky ammunition — a mechanic now used for platforming challenges to break up the fights against enemy waves. These are paired with fun little segments that see you surfing across water or floating through the air on wind currents.

It’s clear that Splatoon Raiders is intended to be more approachable than the multiplayer games. It offers three difficulty levels and isn’t particularly punishing if you do die: you retain most of what you’ve collected and can thus invest it in upgrades to make your next run easier. There’s co-op too, which lets you tackle the levels of the campaign with up to three friends if you really need a the added hands.

I’m eager for a second helping when Splatoon Raiders drops on July 23, 2026.

I recently visited Audeze’s HQ in California for a revealing behind-the-scenes look at how one of the most premium audio brands goes about its business, from the science and developments behind the tech to the philosophy, people, and culture driving it.

As someone who covers gaming hardware and tech, one of my most pressing lines of inquiry during my visit was to really nail down why Audeze believes that planar magnetic drivers are superior for gaming audio and in gaming headsets like the Audeze Maxwell 2.

And I got my answer: it’s the driver’s innate ability and technical functionality, but also what it allows a user to do afterwards.

All things transient

“Planar magnetic drivers have several fundamental performance advantages that benefit gaming,” Audeze marketing director Peter James tells me.

“One of those is better transient response … The driver is lighter, moves faster, reacts quicker to the changes in the signal, which means better precision and more realism.”

This can then equate to enhanced “immersion in a single-player game” or a “competitive advantage in a multiplayer game, where you're hearing more precisely and more quickly what's going on around you”, he says.

This is supported by the weighty opinion of Dragoslav Colich (or ‘Dr C’ for short), co-founder and chief technical officer of Audeze: “Transient response is much higher, so bass is much cleaner.”

If you’ve ever compared the likes of an Audeze Maxwell 2 to a competing dynamic driver gaming headset, then this is something you already know. I have had plenty of experience with overly muddy and thumping bass on many leading brands’ gaming sets, which are nowhere near as clean and detailed as the Maxwell 2’s.

The second major benefit of the drivers’ ability to offer lower distortion and the knock-on effects of that.

“Lower distortion, again, means versions of all those things you're hearing, [with] enhanced immersion and precision, regardless of whatever genre of game you're playing. But additionally, the low distortion enables better customization of the sound,” James argues.

This means planar magnetic drivers might not only sound better by default but can also allow you to tweak the sound profile more effectively than other sets.

“Because these drivers are so flexible and so low in distortion, they take EQ very easily and readily without creating even more distortion the way dynamic drivers often do, particularly when you boost bass,” he goes on. “This allows our headphones to be more customizable to people's individual tastes.”

So, better transient response for higher levels of precision and realism, lower distortion, and great flexibility in taking on EQs — and that’s on top of a level of audio quality that is, at least for me, incredible.

Final VR3000 EX for Gaming: two-minute review

The Final VR3000 EX for Gaming is a multi-platform gaming headset aimed at the more affordable end of the gaming market. It offers a low-latency connection, a fold-to-mute mic, and spatial audio for a much more manageable price than many of the premium pads on the market. But does it deliver on everything it promises?

The Final VR3000 EX for Gaming’s build isn’t bad, all things considered. I’m not a huge fan of the plastic on its earcups or how rattly it can be — both make it feel a bit cheap and flimsy — while the adjustable headband doesn’t really go tight enough for people with smaller heads. But the fabric section of the headband and the faux leather cups are really comfortable: despite a tiny bit of sweatiness, I found them comfortable enough to wear for the best part of a day.

Sound quality on the VR3000 EX is really solid: trebles feel crisp enough to give everything real immediacy, while the mids have sufficient clarity that I could easily differentiate the different roars of demons I gunned my way through in Doom. The only area where I’d say the headset doesn’t quite match pace with the best wireless gaming headsets out there is bass. It would be nice if guns had a little more boom — unless I’ve really misunderstood, the F in BFG9000 does not stand for ‘feeble’.

On paper, the VR3000 EX has some pretty great features for its price point, but I found this was the point it really struggled to deliver. Although Final talks a good game about the headset’s spatial audio, in practice the only dimension I really found had strong differentiation was left / right, with noises behind me being harder to pinpoint and there seemingly being no height effect that I could detect at all.

The headset’s Footstep Clarity Mode is a similar story. While creeping around the Dust II map on Counter-Strike 2, I found detecting the footfalls of rivals to be pretty easy, which is great. However, I couldn’t really appreciate a significant difference in this, whether the mode was enabled or not. It seems churlish to complain about this, given footsteps were still easy to hear, but I’m just not sure how much this feature actually adds.

I will give Final less faint praise over the headset’s foldaway mic though. Testing it out, I found it did a pretty creditable job of picking up my voice and its fold-to-mute functionality worked well to stifle the recording, even though there was a slight lag of a little under a second for it to kick in. However, it doesn’t seem to have a near-field mic or significant noise gating, as when it was recording it absolutely picked up the background music I was playing and the clack of my keyboard.

And whatever quibbles I may have about the VR3000 EX’s other features, I was pretty blown away by its battery life. During my battery tests, I found that Final was pretty on the money with its 55-hour estimate for this headset. That blows even many more premium headsets out of the water for longevity and means you’re unlikely to need to charge it more than once a week, even if you’re gaming for a significant proportion of each day.

Everything is relative. Given its price, I’d usually be pretty generous with the Final VR3000 EX for Gaming. And it doesn’t get everything wrong: it has decent enough mids and trebles and a good stereo field. But bass is pretty lacking and many of the features it professes to have are almost imperceptible. In light of that, I’d argue another budget option like the Corsair HS55 Wireless might serve you better instead.

Final VR3000 EX for Gaming review: price & release date

• Launched on December 12, 2025
• List price of $149.99 / £99.99 / $259
• But it’s already on sale for £69.99 in the UK

Released on December 12, 2025, Final VR3000 EX for Gaming is available now. While it originally went on sale at a list price of $149.99 / £99.99 / $259, it’s already showing up for a fair amount less in some regions. You can currently pick it up for as little as £69.99 in the UK, which is a pretty low price for a gaming headset.

As for your options at that price, you probably won’t be surprised to hear that there’s not a whole load of customizability and it only comes in one colorway, black. On the plus side, there aren’t loads of different versions for different platforms: the one version of the VR3000 EX is compatible with PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC, although unfortunately there’s no Xbox Series X / S compatibility.

Final VR3000 EX for Gaming review: specs

Final VR3000 EX for Gaming review: design / features

• Comfortable to wear
• Not all materials feel that premium
• Epic battery life
• Quite loose fitting

Given its price, it’s not surprising that the Final VR3000 EX’s build quality seems a little on the cheap side. Not only does the textured plastic on their cups feel pretty low quality, but they are incredibly rattly when you handle them, which doesn’t speak to a tremendously robust construction. On the plus side, they didn’t seem to rattle at all when they were on my head.

Additionally, the fabric headband and faux leather earcups are delightfully soft, meaning I actually found the VR3000 EX to be surprisingly comfortable. I wore them on and off for much of a day, and they didn’t start to squish my ears, a problem I’ve always found with cheaper headphones and headsets. However, I will say the faux leather gets decidedly sweaty during longer use, particularly during tense first-person shooters.

I’m less convinced by the VR3000 EX’s fit, unfortunately. While the clamping force feels just about right, it’s not all that easy to adjust the stiff adjustable headband while the headset is on your dome. And Final seems to have modeled this headset around Mr Mackey from South Park — I have a pretty big head and yet the VR3000 EX only just about felt stable on the shortest setting, while one of my smaller-skulled colleagues definitely found he couldn’t get it small enough for it to feel comfortable.

All of its controls are on the left earcup. There’s an on switch, the volume dial, a Mode button that lets you switch between Bluetooth and USB mode — as well as play/pause media and answer/end calls — and the Control button, which allows you to trigger Footstep Clarity Mode. Each button has a clicky enough action to provide decent tactile feedback, while the volume dial is lightly notched to make increasing the volume feel nicely precise. However, I will say that they’re positioned close enough that it’s not always easy to know right away which button is which by feel alone.

The app for the Final VR3000 EX is pretty limited. It has three features: it enables you to update the headset’s firmware, switch on Footstep Clarity Mode, and provides access to Final’s EQ settings. While it’s hard to justify using the app just for the Footstep Clarity Mode, the 10-band EQ that’s included is pretty decent, even if I’m not all that convinced that the impact of the lowest 31Hz is really that appreciable. So while it’s not like you need to rush to download this, it’s still useful so I’ll count this one as a bonus.

A far more unequivocal win for the VR3000 EX though is its battery life. Final quotes its total life as being up to 55 hours, and this was borne out by my testing. I set it streaming music constantly for six hours, and during that time the battery only dropped to 90% — a back-of-the-envelope calculation would put its total life at 60 hours. So even factoring in that battery discharge curves aren’t necessarily regular, I’d say 55 hours is a perfectly reasonable expectation for how long this headset should last you.

Final VR3000 EX for Gaming review: performance

• Good sound performance, even if bass is weaker
• Spatial audio claims totally overblown
• Not sure Footstep Clarity mode adds much

Design and features are all well and good. But where the rubber meets the road for a gaming headset is whether those things translate into a good sonic performance in-game. And, sadly, when you actually take the Final VR3000 EX for Gaming for a test drive, it doesn’t quite deliver on the expectations it’s set for itself.

The VR3000 EX sounds very decent, but it is a little uneven in how it handles the balance of frequencies. On the plus side, it has a good level of bite in the high-end. The screams of the possessed when I was playing Doom were immediate enough to be rattling, while the whine of my chainsaw as I carved up imps felt sufficiently realistic.

But it’s when it comes to bass that the VR3000 EX is a little more lacking. When I tested the Turtle Beach Atlas 200, I heaped praise on it for the almighty boom that issued when I was clicking heads with the sniper rifle in Counter-Strike 2. With the VR3000 EX, it almost felt like I was playing a different game, with the game’s rifles having scarcely any more impact than my dual Berettas. While that has a very limited impact on your kill ratio in-game, it does make the whole thing feel a lot less immersive.

Speaking of, Final spends a lot of time hyping up the VR3000 EX’s spatial audio skills in its product description. And yet I’d say rumors of its immersiveness have been greatly exaggerated.

On the one hand, the VR3000 EX has a pretty creditable stereo field, with action occurring on either side of me always feeling pretty easy to pinpoint. Whether I was trying to spot where an inbound explosive engineer was charging from or fleeing from hell knights in Doom, the VR3000 EX generally made it easy to tell which side their howls and roars came from.

Unfortunately, I can’t say Final’s headset fares as well in other dimensions. There’s just enough variation in footsteps in front and behind you that I could tell which was which when giving it my full attention — but in the heat of battle, I’m not sure how useful I actually found these subtle cues. And while Final explicitly mentions height effects on its site, I could not spot any significant difference at all between action happening above me and gunfights happening right under my nose.

Honestly, that’s fine: I do not expect accomplished Dolby Atmos-style effects from hardware that costs roughly the same dough as a couple of AAA computer games. But I do wish brands would stop denuding the term spatial audio of its meaning by using it as a marketing gimmick.

Sadly, the VR3000 EX also treads a pretty similar path with its Footstep mode. While engaged in a free-for-all deathmatch in Counter-Strike 2, the headset did a perfectly adequate job of allowing me to pick out my rivals’ footfall and react accordingly. So far, so good, right? Except during this match I switched Footstep mode on and off many times, and I genuinely couldn’t spot whether I was actually getting an enhanced sense of steps or whether it was largely just a placebo.

One area I’ll happily give the VR3000 EX its due, though, is its connectivity. Using its USB dongle, I honestly couldn’t detect any latency between kills onscreen and the crack of gunfire. While an effective low-latency mode is pretty common with gaming headsets, it’s still a welcome feature on a headset this affordably priced. Even when connected via Bluetooth, the audio wasn’t remotely laggy and enabled me to respond pretty quickly to what was going on around me. So it definitely gets some points there.

And as long as you don’t have particularly high expectations, the VR3000 EX’s foldaway mic works well enough as well. Its action is smooth, and the fold-to-mute function absolutely works, meaning you can be sure no one is overhearing you when you want a bit of privacy — although there is a lag of around a second before it mutes, so bear that in mind. Unfortunately, though, sound quality isn’t great, with my voice sounding a little bit on the tinnier side, and there’s no noise-gating that I can tell, meaning friends and foes online will be able to hear any background chatter or music in your room.

Should I buy the Final VR3000 EX for Gaming?

Buy it if…

Don't buy it if...

Final VR3000 EX for Gaming review: also consider

How I tested the Final VR3000 EX for Gaming

• Tested over a week
• Tried out on a range of titles including Counter-Strike 2 and Doom
• Have 10 years experience writing about audio and 35 of gaming

I tested the Final VR3000 EX for Gaming over the course of a week. I paired it with my desktop PC at home, my MacBook Pro M4 and TechRadar’s Acer Predator Helios 300 gaming laptop. I then tested it out with multiple titles including Counter-Strike 2 and Doom, as well as listening to some playlists on Apple Music.

In terms of specifics, I tested out the spatial audio in multiple Counter-Strike 2 deathmatches and tried switching the Footstep Clarity Mode on and off to see how much difference that made to how perceptible opponents’ positions were. I recorded myself while talking, typing, and playing music to test the VR3000 EX’s foldaway mic, as well as folding it away to test how effectively it muted incoming audio.

When it comes to my personal experience, I’ve been writing about and testing audio gadgets for over ten years now, as well as using audio gear to produce and listen to music. I’ve been playing games on a daily basis since they were all 8-bit, sharing my time pretty evenly between console, handheld and PC gaming. And yet, it turns out, I still get thoroughly mogged when playing Counter-Strike 2, which I blame on my middle-aged reflexes.

• First reviewed: June 2026
• Read more about how we test

• PlayStation boss Hideaki Nishino says "pick up and play" is the most important quality for consoles nowadays
• He says Sony wants to leverage tech "that can be used in various forms and locations"
• The CEO's comments suggest that Sony is looking to rejoin the handheld market

A new PlayStation handheld could be on the table after comments from Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hideaki Nishino suggest the company wants to create new hardware similar to the Nintendo Switch 2.

In an interview with Famitsu (translated by IGN), Nishino was asked whether PlayStation plans to continue focusing on consoles, following a past comment he made in 2024 about how hardware won't be disappearing any time soon.

The CEO confirmed it would, saying, "My belief that a console is necessary for playing games hasn’t changed," adding that Sony "wants to continue providing its own game consoles."

But what sort of consoles? Nishino went on to mention that "pick up and play" is the most important quality for consoles nowadays, which instantly makes one think of the Switch 2 or PlayStation Portal.

Nishino continued, saying that developing new consoles will mean Sony will be "leveraging technologies that can be used in various forms and locations" and that this would enable Sony "to create something exciting."

"For example, although the PlayStation brand is strongly associated with playing on the TV in the living room, we’re planning to release monitors and speakers so that people can play comfortably in other locations as well," Nishino said. "We developed the PlayStation Portal as part of this initiative."

The PlayStation Portal is a remote player, allowing PS5 users to play their PS5 games via their handheld device, a challenge Sony took on to create a new kind of gameplay experience, according to Nishino.

"We were thinking, 'Let’s try this, let’s try that,' and I’d like us to move forward with developing products while exploring various ideas in this way," he said.

While the PlayStation Portal is a handheld console, its purpose is built for streaming and cloud gaming, unlike the PSP and the PS Vita.

While the PSP took off and became Sony's biggest handheld ever, selling 70 million units, the PS Vita didn't fare too well, shifting an estimated 15 to 16 million units before it was discontinued in 2019.

If Sony plans to rejoin the handheld market, it will have tough competition if it goes against the Switch 2, which has officially sold almost 6 million units within its first year of release.

A PS6 handheld has been rumored for some time. According to a reliable insider and leaker, Moore's Law is Dead, Sony will launch its next-generation PlayStation with three devices in 2027, including two consoles and a companion handheld.

• The Nintendo Switch 2 is now the second fastest-selling video game hardware in US tracked history
• The console sold 5.9 million units by the end of its first year of release
• The PS5 and Xbox Series consoles have seen a drop in sales due to price hikes

The Nintendo Switch 2 has just hit a huge sales record in the US within its first 12 months of release, but Xbox and PS5 console unit sales have seen a steep decline.

According to a new report from Circana, the Switch 2 was the best-selling hardware platform in both units and dollars for May and 2026 year-to-date, achieving a US install base of 5.9 million units by the end of its first year of release.

This makes the Switch 2 the second fastest-selling video game hardware in US tracked history, behind the Game Boy Advance, which sold 6.5 million units in its first year.

Thanks to the Switch 2, overall spending on gaming hardware has increased by 38% to $249 million, compared to one year ago.

However, due to recent price increases, PS5 spending was down 43% and had a significant 58% drop in unit sales, while Xbox Series hardware spending grew 7% versus a year ago, but unit sales fell by 12%.

As a result, "PlayStation hardware unit sales fell to their lowest May total since May 2000, while Xbox hardware unit sales were the lowest ever recorded for a May month."

Microsoft yesterday announced that, effective August 1, 2026, the price of the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles will increase by $100 for 512 GB models and $150 for 1 TB models. The company will also be sunsetting its 2TB model, a result of the ongoing memory crisis.

My love of all things Zelda is no secret to my colleagues, friends, and family. In fact, when The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (OoT) remake was first announced, our Global Editor-in-Chief, Marc McLaren, immediately messaged me to ask if I intended to take time off to play it (I do).

When the 40th anniversary of the franchise rolled around earlier this year, I was a little blue to see little-to-no news of a new game or remake, but my long-read ode to the lasting impact of Link's adventures through Hyrule at least gave me a distraction. Now, however, with months to go until I finally make my grand return to the Kokiri forest, my hype has reached new heights.

To pass the time, I plan to spend my money on, you guessed it, even more Zelda merchandise and Switch 2 accessories to accommodate my upcoming increase in playtime. In the current Amazon Prime Day deals, there's a wide selection of cases, storage, merchandise, and more to shop; I've included some of the best below, as well as the essential gear my gaming station will be decked with come OoT's release later this year. Not everything I've linked below is on sale, so look for the percentage-off badge if you're only looking for good deals.

Switch 2 Essentials

Legend of Zelda games

If you're not caught up on the latest and greatest Switch generation Zelda games, you've got plenty of time ahead of the Ocarina of Time's remake releasing to pour some hours into adventure.

Essential Zelda merch

From Lego sets to card games and novelty toys, there's a lot of great Zelda merch out there. I own a lot (really, an embarassing amount) of the below merchandise already; join me in my submission to capitalism's whim.

I know we're all buzzed about the imminent opening of pre-orders for GTA VI. But for me, that ties for most exciting gaming news this month, after Nintendo announced The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake is also dropping later on this year. So if you're as into Zelda games as I am and have a decent chunk of cash spare, I'd absolutely recommend you pick up a Nintendo Switch 2 this Prime Day.

As an ardent fan, The Legend of Zelda series lives absolutely rent-free in my head. I cut my teeth on the sublime pixel art of A Link to the Past on the SNES, donned many mantles in Majora's Mask, and banished the gloom in Twilight Princess. But it's almost certainly Ocarina of Time that made the biggest impression on me at the time, thanks to its epic time-hopping story and, at the time, groundbreaking 3D visuals.

So even though I've played the game to completion an almost shameful number of times, you better believe that I'll be picking up the remake on day one of its release. If you're similarly set on reliving one of the greatest games of all time but don't yet have a Nintendo Switch 2, I have one piece of advice for you: grab your console now.

While epic Prime Day discounts are pretty thin on the ground, there's still a good reason to pick one up now. Thanks to the ongoing RAM crisis, Nintendo has already revealed that price rises are coming to the Switch 2. It's been confirmed that, come September, the price US buyers will pay is increasing from $449 to $499 — and while the exact price rise hitting the UK market is yet to be revealed, expectations are that it will be in roughly the same ballpark as in the US.

I'll admit I didn't upgrade from my Switch right away, in a large part because of the lack of killer exclusives available for Nintendo's new console in the first few months after its release. But when I finally did, I could absolutely see why we awarded it 4.5 stars in our Nintendo Switch 2 review.

Not only is its screen flat out gorgeous, packing plenty of brightness and vibrant colors, but it's silky smooth, hitting highs of 120Hz for compatible games. And performance is impressive — even a much more demanding title like the recent Indiana Jones and The Great Circle port feels great, despite being locked at 30fps rather than the 60fps (or above) hit by other platforms. That's an impressive feat for a handheld console this compact.

And the roster of games available for the Switch 2 has expanded massively since release. Donkey Kong Bananza feels like the exact breath of fresh air the series needed, adding a fun new gimmick in its landscape-smashing shenanigans, while I've genuinely been hoping to see a Metroid Prime 4 for almost two decades now. But it's Pokémon Pokopia that has most thoroughly hijacked my brain's dopamine system, allowing me to pour countless hours into building mansions and amusements for my 'mons.

However, if I hadn't already upgraded, there's no doubt that The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time remake would have pushed me over the top. Getting to relive my nostalgia-soaked memories of one of the greatest adventures of all time with a fresh new coat of paint is a compelling hook indeed. And for any fan dead set on experiencing it, I'd honestly recommend you getting your Switch 2 ordered now before you have to fork out for that extra markup.

If you're still dead set on holding out for a bargain price, keep an eye on our widget below or check out our Amazon Prime Day live blog if you're in the US or our Amazon Prime Day deals roundup in the UK.

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
• Beauty: 50% off toothbrushes & hair tools
• Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
• Garden: tools, mowers, planters from $24.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $186
• Patio: outdoor furniture, rugs & decor from $19.99
• Sports: 50% off fitness gear, treadmills & clothing
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34

With protagonist Fox McCloud appearing in a surprise cameo in the recent Super Mario Galaxy Movie, it’s clear that Nintendo wants to bring its niche on-rail space shooter series to a wider audience. To that end, this new Star Fox makes a lot of sense. It’s a remake of the 1997 title Star Fox 64, which is beloved by fans and a good starting point if you’ve never played one of the games before.

The problem for me is that this is far from the first time that Nintendo has brought Star Fox 64 back. I grew up with the Nintendo 3DS, and experienced it as Star Fox 64 3D. This was followed by some hands-on time with the Wii U reimagining Star Fox Zero, and then finally a playthrough of the original release when it came to Nintendo Switch via Nintendo Switch Online.

Every single mainline Star Fox game that’s come out since I was about eight years old has been a version of Star Fox 64, and now, as an adult, I’m getting yet another one in Star Fox for Nintendo Switch 2.

I really wish the gaming giant had been a little bolder with this release, adding even just a smidge of new gameplay to freshen up the old campaign. Still, Star Fox 64 is a cult classic for a reason, and thanks to its strong base, this remake is still plenty of fun to play through for what is, hopefully, one last time

Into the Lylat Wars

The premise is simple, if a little unconventional. You’re a dashing fox in a universe populated by anthropomorphic animals where civilization has managed to crack space colonization despite an apparent lack of opposable thumbs.

Rather than rooting through sci-fi bins, you’re the leader of a mercenary squad (staffed by you, the bird-like Falco, the lagomorphic Peppy, and slimy Slippy toad) that lends its services to the highest bidder — in this case an intergalactic army that’s waging war against the evil scientist dictator Andross.

Fully voiced and animated cutscenes to convey all this information are one of this remake’s biggest new additions, and they feel like a natural inclusion. They’re not super long or expansive by any means, but all flow well and are decently acted throughout even if there are a few moments where the animation can look a bit cheap.

They provide some much-needed downtime in between each of the levels, which are hectic, high-score challenges that see you steering your ship, the Arwing, through intense battles. The action unfurls in a largely on-rails format, but that doesn't mean that this isn’t a degree of strategy to it.

You can swerve all across the screen, hitting barrel rolls to deflect incoming fire and blasting your laser canons. Your craft very much exists in a 3D space, so enemies often come up behind you, requiring evasive maneuvers like somersaults or hitting the brakes.

There's a boost too, which, deployed at the right time, can see you zooming under falling debris or through closing gaps — often picking up a power-up or two in the process. It’s all remarkably smooth to control, and sections where you pilot other vehicles keep the stages feeling fresh.

Each campaign is extremely short, taking just over an hour to complete, and has you working your way through a map of the galaxy littered with 16 unique planets.

You can’t visit all of them in one playthrough, which, alongside the two main story paths, gives you plenty of reasons to replay it at least a couple of times. That said even when you bear that in mind, the experience is still pretty fleeting and doesn’t feel befitting of the $49.99 / £41.99 / AU$84.95 digital (or $59.99 / £44.99 / AU$99.95 physical) asking price.

This is especially true if you’ve played all the other versions of Star Fox 64, as you’re basically just paying for a new, admittedly quite pretty, coat of paint.

There is thankfully a new battle mode to try out, and it’s pretty good on the whole. It’s in an online 4v4 player versus player (PvP) format, with one team playing as the Star Fox squad and the other cast as their rivals Star Wolf. Each of the three maps has its own associated game mode, ranging from simple control point capture to fighting to drag limited space cargo back to base.

I’ve had a great time with it so far, though I can imagine that online populations will quickly dwindle given the small map pool. Hopefully a post-launch update will add some more.

Should I play Star Fox?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

As with most first-party Nintendo releases, the accessibility features here are thin. Subtitles are used throughout the game, though their appearance cannot be customized. You can invert the axis of the control scheme and disable features like controller rumble, but that’s basically it.

How I reviewed Star Fox

I played Star Fox on Nintendo Switch 2 for roughly eight hours, experiencing all of its major campaign routes, unlocking every planet, and trying out challenge mode.

I also dived into its multiplayer offering, using my earlier hands-on experience with other players when trying it at Nintendo HQ and testing matches against bots. I mainly played the game in handheld mode using the Joy-Con 2 controllers, though I did briefly test it in docked mode on a 4K Samsung TV to ensure the performance and Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller support is up to scratch.

First reviewed June 2026

I test a whole heap of gaming headsets, and have done so for nearly a decade now. I've also worked with a whole load of excellent freelancers who offer brilliantly clear, thoughtful, analytical, and fair takes on the products we test as a collective.

And I've agreed with every single review we've published in my time here at TechRadar Gaming — up until now. While very accurate and full of great advice, especially when the headset launched, I think my writer Phil's (who is one of the best in the business) review of the Audeze Maxwell 2 scored the gaming headset too low with a four-star rating.

I think it's a five-star headset.

Simply put, it is the best-sounding gaming headset I have ever used. After using it for a few months as a daily driver, nothing has come close before or since — even some of my absolute favorites can't hold a candle to it on sheer audio quality, detail, richness, and balance.

As a result, I have been recommending the headset at every opportunity possible. For anyone looking to upgrade their audio and take a step up, no matter your platform, this is absolutely worth the price tag — even at full price.

The whole audio spectrum is served so well by the Maxwell 2's 95mm planar magnetic drivers and design that I have been immersed further into my games, picked up details I didn't realise were there, and been blasted by a full-bodied richness that's just so dang enjoyable.

Further backing this up was my recent visit to Audeze in California, where I got to see the magic, science, and philosophy up close and personal. Hearing the approach that Audeze takes to audio, as well as learning about the planar magnetic tech under the hood, including the patented SLAM technology too, only cemented my newfound opinion on this quality set.

No headset is perfect, of course, and folks will point out that its mic is just OK, or that it's weightier than other headsets — though I think we all have a tendency to be too afraid of heavier headsets, or think that heavy = bad — but the default audio quality, out of the box, is so good that it definitely, absolutely, categorically outweighs all of the potential negatives.

At launch, Phil pointed out the fact that the original Maxwell was still available and this posed a bit of a problem for the Maxwell 2, as it offered also-excellent audio but was much cheaper. However, there are genuine improvements over the Maxwell 1 that the 2 offers (like SLAM), and now, a few months after release, the OG model is harder to find, making the case for going to the Maxwell 2 even stronger.

If you want premium gaming audio, then there is none better on the market right now.

• The UK is experiencing another heatwave, with temperatures expected to exceed 35°C
• Nintendo Switch users should be reminded of the risks of overheating their console
• Nintendo has previously said that the consoles can "malfunction" in temperatures above 35°C

As we enter another UK heatwave, Nintendo Switch users should be reminded of the risks of overheating their console.

Recent weather reports have forecast that temperatures in certain parts of the UK will exceed 35°C this week, reaching as high as 40°C.

An amber warning has been issued, in addition to a rare red extreme heat warning, for some regions and those spending time outside should be prepared for the sweltering heat. Even those indoors should take similar precautions to stay cool, especially if they have any running hardware that can contribute to the heat.

Whether it be a PC, PS5 console, or Xbox Series X, these devices do run the risk of overheating, particularly during a heatwave. The same goes for Switch and Switch 2 consoles, which Nintendo has previously cautioned can "malfunction" if temperatures are above 35°C.

"Using a Nintendo Switch or Nintendo Switch 2 in places with high temperatures may cause the console's temperature to rise," the company said in a post shared last year.

"This could potentially lead to malfunctions, so please use it in locations between 5–35°C. Lately, there have been consecutive days exceeding 35°C. Please take care when using it outdoors."

For this reason, we'd highly recommend avoiding using your Switch or Switch 2 when temperatures are at their highest.

In other news, Nintendo has officially announced The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, and it launches this year on Switch 2.

If you're hoping to pick the console up before the game drops, the Switch 2 just got an absurd Amazon Prime discount thanks to Amazon Prime Day.

With temperatures spiking on either side of the Atlantic, now seems like a great time to go on holiday. Possibly to Antarctica. But if you're as avid a gamer as I am, I'm sure that no matter where you end up taking your summer vaycaysh, you'll want to make sure your handheld gaming gear is juiced up and protected. Fortunately, with Amazon Prime Day underway, there's never been a better time to pick up some upgrades.

• View the full Amazon Prime Day sale

As a handheld gaming fan and TechRadar's reviews editor, I've personally selected some of the best upgrades I can find for your Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch 2 or other portable gaming devices. Whether you want to keep your console charged for days on end, immerse yourself in that fantastic soundtrack or prevent a clumsy moment cracking your screen, I've got some great finds for you.

If you want to know about the hottest US gaming deals as soon as they drop, make sure to follow our Amazon Prime Day live blog for all the latest price drops. Based in the UK? Don't worry: our Amazon Prime Day UK deals roundup has got you covered.

Handheld gaming accessories sale – quick links

• SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds: now £89.95 at Amazon (was £159.99)
• Ugreen Steam Deck Dock (6-In-1): now $31.99 at Amazon (was $45.99)
• Turtle Beach Rematch Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch 2: now £39.99 at Amazon (was £49.99)

Handheld gaming accessories — US deals

Handheld gaming accessories — UK deals

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
• Beauty: 50% off toothbrushes & hair tools
• Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
• Garden: tools, mowers, planters from $24.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $186
• Patio: outdoor furniture, rugs & decor from $19.99
• Sports: 50% off fitness gear, treadmills & clothing
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34

Whether you’re a longtime Pokémon fan looking to hop into recent adventures you’ve missed, a complete newcomer who wants more out of their Nintendo Switch 2, or someone excited to improve their Pokémon Champions prowess with a powerful team, this collection of gaming deals is for you.

I've been a fan of the series for years, and there's frankly never been a better time to experience it than right now with the franchise celebrating its 30th anniversary this year — take our Pokémon quiz to see if you can ace all 30 questions.

Best of all, there’s a host of discounts available on several recent, and slightly older, Pokémon titles across the US and UK. Meaning you can kick back with a new game without breaking the bank, and despite these deals cropping up during Amazon Prime Day in the US (and in the UK) these discounts aren’t exclusive to subscribers!

• View the full Amazon Prime Day sale

Pokémon Prime Day sale – quick links

• Amazon Prime Day Pokémon deals
• Nintendo Switch 2: Choose Your Game Bundle: $499 at Amazon
• Nintendo Switch 2 Console: now £369.95 was £385at Amazon

Today's best Pokémon game deals

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
• Beauty: 50% off toothbrushes & hair tools
• Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
• Garden: tools, mowers, planters from $24.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $186
• Patio: outdoor furniture, rugs & decor from $19.99
• Sports: 50% off fitness gear, treadmills & clothing
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34

More Amazon Prime Day deals in the UK

• Amazon Prime: sign up for a 30-day free trial
• Amazon Devices: Fire TV, Ring & Blink from £21.99
• Apple: AirPods Pro 3 for a record-low price
• Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja, Tefal & Sage
• Essentials: household goods from under £10
• Laptops: from £149.99
• Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £125
• TVs: from £129.99

Upgrading any area of one's gaming setup is something I can always get behind, and regardless of budget, need, desire, or platform, I'm often able to find recommendations across all kinds of gear.

Shop more early Prime Day deals at Amazon US

However, audiophile or high-end gaming headsets is one of my favourite areas in which to delve and recommend. We've seen a surge of new products in recent years either targeting the audiophile market directly or at least the audiophile-adjacent, premium and high-end part of the spectrum. As such, there's now a good few products to choose from nowadays.

But there's only a few I recommend over the others. Each offers something slightly different, but all are excellent and are my personal picks for the best audiophile gaming headsets going right now. They're so good, they justify their price tag even when at full price, I believe, too. So if you're looking to enhance your gaming audio ahead of GTA 6 pre-orders starting this Thursday, then check out my recommendations below.

Planar-magnetic drivers FTW

For me, the Audeze Maxwell 2 is the greatest-sounding gaming headset money can buy right now. It is now my default go-to set of cups for all gaming, no matter the genre or type of game I'm playing, and I absolutely love it.

At the core of the headset are its 90mm planar magnetic drivers, which are frankly absurd. I am a big fan of a lot of brands' default audio quality, but I have never had better audio out of the box than the Maxwell 2's. It's the best going right now, and literally can't speak highly enough about it.

The science and philosophy of Audeze really make it exquisite for those looking to get better audio for single-player games, stemming from the company's history in making premium headphones for music and media. The reality is that it is still brilliant for multiplayer games, and you also get some flexibility via the Audeze app for tweaking your own EQ settings if you need to.

There are very few chinks in the armor, but some things to be aware of might be its good but unspectacular mic, and its overall bulkiness — though I think we are all a bit too scared of headsets that are big and that weigh more than others; it's genuinely OK if a headset weighs a few more ounces or grams, don't worry! I really like the chunky feel and slightly heavier feel of the set myself, and find the set incredibly comfortable.

Otherwise, I simply cannot reiterate this again: if you really want to get the best gaming audio, and something that'll make GTA 6 sing beautifully no matter the scenario, then this is the audiophile gaming headset to buy right now.

An Elite experience

While the Maxwell 2 rules on the driver and audio quality front, if you're looking for an audiophile-level, premium headset that offers a complete solution and all the bells and whistles — along with some excellent audio, of course — that you need from a headset on any platform, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite is worth considering.

It's pricey, I know, but as I said in my review, it really is the best gaming headset I've ever tested. It simply offers it all in one truly excellent package, from audio quality and versatility — you can use it across every platform, simultaneously — to feature set, build quality, comfort, and microphone performance — literally everything.

If you really want one high-grade headset to rule them all while offering audiophile-level gaming audio, then this is the upgrade to make this year, ahead of GTA 6.

It's an old one, but a great one

The PC38X is a wonderful wired audiophile-level headset which I have loved using on both PC and PS5. It sounds fantastic, and is a pretty no-nonsense gaming headset with genuine pedigree behind it.

You might see it styled as Drop + Epos PC38X or just a Drop PC38X, but whichever title you see it under, I really recommend this as a wired set for anyone who wants to keep things simple and get a brilliant-sounding open-backed set of audio givers.

It is a bit old now, but you know what they say: class and quality endures (or something like that. Now, there is one caveat with this headset, and one that is directly related to it being a slightly older model: its availability is a bit spotty. Our automatic price-finding tool below should surface the headset, however, and I have seen it with my own eyes at Amazon US and Amazon UK this week.

However, if you are looking for some wired audiophile gaming headset alternatives to the PC38X if it's not available in your region, then I have some picks for you too.

The Audeze LCD-GX is an open-back premium set of headphones that have been built for gaming. Channeling all that planar magnetic goodness that the brand is known for, these are a seriously high-end set of cups. The massive 106mm drivers pack an almighty punch and offer immense detail, while it comes with a mic, so it's a genuine wired headset option.

The Sennheiser HD 550s are one of my favorite sets of headphones from recent years, and while they may appear as another headphone offering from Sennheiser, these are definitely targeted at gamers who want higher quality audio. You'll need to buy a mic attachment separately to elevate it to a full gaming headset offering.

The Asus ROG Kithara is another option, and is a recent release into the audiophile market. Developed with HiFiMan, this headset has huge 100mm planar-magnetic drivers (not too dissimilar to the Maxwell 2), an open-backed design, and sounds wonderful.

And while not an audiophile gaming headset in the truest sense, per se, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro wired gaming headset is an excellent option for those looking for a complete wired gaming headset experience, with brilliant audio and all the features to boot.

I couldn’t get enough of Pokémon Champions at launch. The Nintendo Switch 2 pokémon battler was a game I’d been waiting for since its announcement and it was close to everything I hoped for— but after a couple of weeks I fell off.

Between a mixture of other games releasing, not always having my Switch 2 on me, and several real life commitments taking up my time, my quest to climb up through Mater rank petered out.

Now Champions has hit smartphones — launching on iOS and Android earlier this week — and the game feels more at home here than it ever did on Nintendo’s hardware. The quest to be the very best is back on.

There’s something somewhat surreal playing an official full-on Pokémon battling game on mobile, especially a mobile game that’s so microtransactions light compared to other Android and iOS releases from the franchise — it’s possible to spend real money on more storage space, teams and a Battle Pass for premium rewards, but nothing beyond cosmetics is exclusive to folks who pay up and the free-to-play experience is fantastic especially if you have transferred in critters from Pokémon Go or a mainline entry via Pokémon Home.

Despite this strangeness, Pokémon Champions works so well because any time your phone is connected to the internet (via wi-fi or a cell network) you can boot into a battle. I’ve battled on London’ tube while commuting to work, when kicking back in bed, while sat at a restaurant waiting for friends to arrive, and I might have snuck a game or two from my work desk….

Because this is all on a device you can slip into your pocket it’s super easier to pick up an impromptu game or two when the moment arises — there’s no prior thought or prep required compared to playing on a Switch. Wile the graphics are a little tuned down compared to what you’ll get on Switch 2, my experience so far has been very smooth on mobile.

I started out using my Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 with the tablet-like inner display giving me a great view of battles even with menus sharing the screen, however I didn’t feel the experience was especially cramped when I switched to its smaller front display, or the screen of my Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.

In fact, there was a strange nostalgia to using the Ultra, with the S Pen stylus making me feel like I was back in 2005 playing Pokémon Diamond on Nintendo DS.

No matter what Android or iOS device you have, the Pokémon Champions experience should feel like a delight and much more fulfilling than other free mobile games out there, but if my words so far aren’t enough to convince you to hop onto the ladder The Pokémon Company is sweetening the deal…

Let’s Go Raichu!

To celebrate the Android and iOS launch all players (who log in by September 1) will receive a free gift: Raichu and both of its Pokémon Legends Z-A DLC Mega Stones to mega evolve it into either Mega Raichu X or Mega Raichu Y.

Having fallen down the ladder in my hiatus I decided to climb back up to Master Rank using Raichu, and as some expected ahead of its debut Raichu Y and its No Guard ability is an absolute beast. A speedy special attacker with 100% accurate Zap Cannon and Focus Blast is a force to be reckoned with, and this pocket monster pairs very well into many of Champion’s biggest threats.

Life Orb Garchomp, or Raichu itself (with its un-mega evolved Lightning Rod ability), are two solid counters if you’re struggling against it on other teams, but I’ve found it’s a lot more fun to ride the Mega Raichu Y wave than try to fight it.

Mega Raichu X is nothing to sniff at, though in Champions’ current doubles meta — which is low on sleep control or future paradox pokémon — its ability to set up electric terrain isn’t super impactful. If/when the future paradoxes and threats like Amoonguss rear their head I see Raichu X finally emerging from hibernation.

That’s the joy of Champions’ approach so far. Slowly rolling out new ‘mons and items to mix things up often enough to keep the game fresh, but not yet so often to feel overwhelming for more casual fans.

If you’re still here I’m not sure what excuse you have. Go download Pokémon Champions, there’s nothing better you could be doing with your phone.

I recently downloaded the Star Fox demo from the Nintendo Switch 2 eShop and thought it had the smoothest, most perfectly-framed camera in gaming history. And you’d write hyperbolic sentences like that, too, if you’d also spent the last week wrestling with the nightmare that is its predecessor.

The Wii U’s Star Fox Zero should have been brilliant. Itself a reimagining of the beloved Star Fox 64 (similar to the upcoming remake), it was developed by Platinum Games, hot off the one-two punch of Bayonetta 2 and The Wonderful 101 — both essential Wii U titles.

Miyamoto was personally involved, saying that Star Fox had skipped the Wii because they felt that it lacked a strong enough idea. Now, to its credit, Star Fox Zero has loads of ideas. Unfortunately, none of them are very good…

For fox sake

The brilliance of Star Fox 64 was its easy-to-learn, hard-to-master controls. It was simple and intuitive to fly your Arwing and blast enemies with lasers. Fun, too, which made the process of gradually getting good enough to avoid all incoming fire with somersaults and barrel rolls joyous.

The Wii U incarnation attempts to innovate by pretending that Star Fox was always missing a second screen. On your TV, you get a third-person view of the action while the Wii U gamepad screen shows the POV of the cockpit. In theory this is meant to simultaneously give you the advantages of a wider view and a more zoomed-in sharpshooting one.

But Star Fox isn’t exactly a game about sniping. It’s a big, loud star war where you’re painting the skies with laser fire. Mostly you’re charging up attacks and locking on to enemies anyway with a generously-sized targeting reticule, so the view on your TV is 99.99% more useful than the gamepad one.

The game’s horrible solution to that is to have the TV camera operated by a hyperactive five-year-old who’s just downed six barrels of Lucozade. Zero is in love with shots that would be described as ‘absolute cinema’ by young people, and ‘game-breakingly misguided’ by my ancient, bitter tongue.

Some enemy ships can’t just explode in peace. The camera has to zoom out and spin around to capture the most epic angle. You’re left lost and wondering where the hell you even are on-screen. Oh, it turns out you were well within the blast range of that explosion, based on how loudly Fox is screaming and how much fire is on the gamepad screen.

Camewahhhh

This particular torment kept happening in a mission where I had to destroy several massive missiles before they reached a teleport. I was about to down the missile with mere seconds left on the clock, only for the camera to go “whoa, what’s this hot new threat?” and immediately abandon the action to get a better look. I glanced down at the gamepad just in time to get a lovely zoomed-in view of me crashing into my target.

It even whiffs clear opportunities for the dual screens to be useful. At one point you have to lock onto a giant mechanical gorilla (the perfectly-named Gigarilla) to get it to follow you. Gigarilla will kindly crush any enemy you lead it to, you see. Well, you don’t see much, actually. Because when you’re locked on to Gigarilla, you’re stuck looking directly at it and have to reverse blindly.

Aha! But with the power of the Wii U, I can look down on the gamepad and see a reversed-view or a wing mirror, surely? Nope. You just see the exact same view as what’s on the TV. Or your disappointed face when the gamepad battery dies again (out of shame, I can only assume.)

Direct why

If you think a stealth level in a spaceship-flying game sounds stupid, then it’s a real pity you weren’t on the Star Fox Zero development team. Operating a slow hovercraft around security beams is boring, with the game barely even bothering to punish you for getting caught. But the real “fun” begins when you have to hack computers to proceed by lowering a little robot called Direct-I. Congratulations to Slippy Toad, who in this exact moment becomes only the second-most hated Star Fox character.

Direct-I is a helium-voiced horrorshow who you lower from a tether out of your ship’s belly. A tiny tether that’s just short enough to make anything as complex as ‘going around a corner’ too much for the poor little robot to comprehend. “Leave it to me!” it squeals merrily, before crashing into a wall and forcing me to try again.

At one point Fox has to save a woman who keeps constantly spouting the exact same request to be saved over and over and over. Imagine her constantly repeating quips, occasionally broken up with Direct-I’s requests to “leave it to me!” as it merrily botches another attempt, and you might be starting to realise why this game didn’t turn things around for the Wii U and drive Microsoft and Sony out of business.

Is Star Fox Zero an abomination then? Well, yes, for the most part. But it’s not quite a total disaster. Platinum may have made more missteps here than someone hosting a tap-dancing contest on a minefield, but the creators of Bayonetta didn’t suddenly lose their eye for over-the-top action. There are still plenty of good boss fights, and can you truly hate a game that features Gigarilla?

It can have so much more on-screen chaos than the Nintendo 64 game could ever dream of as well. When the screen is full of killer robots, colourful laser fire, and the right kind of escalating chaos — and actually letting you see what you’re doing — it occasionally becomes the great next step for Star Fox that Nintendo frustratingly no longer seems interested in taking.

Exciting as the prospect of Ocarina of Time being remade with megagraphics is, wouldn’t it be more satisfying if they’d taken another crack at Wind Waker? The one with all the cut corners and missing dungeons, finally added back in? Likewise, I don’t want to serve in the Lylat Wars yet again, when another go at Zero has so much more potential.

Give it a coherent camera and a snip of the tether that sends Direct-I squealing into a black hole, and I’d be there day one. Let’s hope Star Fox’s Phantom Menace moment hasn’t put Nintendo off ever taking a risk with this series again.

• 007 First Light game director Hakan Abrak says the game was always planned as an origin story
• He says the team pitched to MGM and had ideas for a young Bond story that was a "non-negotiable"
• He adds that there were weekly feedback meetings, but IO was always in charge of the story

IO Interactive has confirmed that 007 First Light was always intended to be a young James Bond story, and it collaborated frequently with the franchise owner, Amazon MGM Studios.

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming at an event adjacent to Summer Game Fest 2026, game director Hakan Abrak discussed the conceptual phase of the game and confirmed that First Light was "always supposed to be a young Bond story," and the pitching process to MGM and Bond IP co-owners Barbara Broccolo and Michael G. Wilson was "massively intimidating."

Abrak recalled the pitching process being in a room decked in old books from James Bond novelist Ian Fleming, a grand piano, and "the atmosphere of history was so thick you could just cut through it."

When he and other IO team members went in to pitch, he remembered the MGM heads came into the room and were "completely silent" before telling the developers to go ahead and pitch.

"We pitch the story, we pitch our approach, and why this would be different from other Bond games," Abrak said. "[They were] very silent, and then Barbara just says, after a while, stonefaced just says, 'I quite like it,' and then the room just erupted right after; [they said] 'These guys are so cool, like they didn't really get it, I was like keeping my cool and whatnot, but deep inside I was like 'phew' that was something."

The game director did note that he thought IO's initial pitch was "a bit ballsy" and the team had lots of ideas of introducing aspects from Ian Fleming novels, like James Bond's scar, and create a young coming-of-age story "where it's not like he has figured everything out."

Abrak said the team didn't want to recreate a "perfect digital version of Daniel Craig, I love Daniel Craig, but it just wanted to make something that feels original."

"More importantly, what we also told them was that we want to go for the gamers, we want to create a Bond for the gamers," he said, explaining that some young gamers might not have a familiar attachment to Bond like the older generation.

"We [wanted] to take that risk and introduce a fresh Bond for the gamers," he said, "We want to make a Bond for the gamers, not the gamification of a movie. It's difficult [to go there] with non-negotiables, but this was a non-negotiable for us. If we did this, we needed to get this freedom for this approach. So, this was very, very clear from the get-go."

While IO had creative control over the story, Abrak said there was input from MGM, as well as several sessions of casting before Patrick Gibson was cast as Bond. The team also had weekly meetings with Eon Productions, the British film production company that primarily produced the Bond film series.

"Although the story was written by IO and delivered by us, we got a lot of feedback," he said. "I think we had some affinity, and we had something to start with, like with the Danish dark humor, dry humor, but getting the British humor right, there [was] still some way to go.

"It's been massively helpful, and we're really into it, and I think for the younger generation of Eon creators that we had meetings with, and the artwork from the movies, which [was] attached to it as well, it was very, very exciting for them to get to do, because they were actually making a new one [Bond] from the ground up.

"It was a collaboration; they were very much involved, but it was always IO, doing the story, doing the characters and things, and then getting feedback and working closely."

007 First Light is out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC. A Nintendo Switch 2 version is slated to launch sometime this year.

• IO Interactive says 007 First Light's upcoming story expansion is "awesome"
• The principal level designer Mattias Engström says fans are "starting to expect" post-launch content from IO Interactive games
• Lead environment artist Hilde Sunde says the positive reception has "been amazing"

IO Interactive has teased 007 First Light's upcoming post-launch content following the game's "unreal" reception.

Speaking with TechRadar Gaming at Summer Game Fest 2026 following the announcement of a brand-new story expansion, principal level designer Mattias Engström and lead environment artist Hilde Sunde discussed working on IO games long after their release, such as Hitman 3 and, in this case, First Light.

According to Engström, getting to create new content for players is "very cool because it's very rewarding for our players," and is something IO is now well known for, unlike other studios that ship their game with no further content updates.

"It doesn't just stop," he said, "it's not the one and done, right? So, adding more content for our fans is very cool. I think it's also something you're starting to expect from IOI, right?"

"It's kind of in our DNA to do that type of stuff and also keeping the players happy," Sunde added. "In Bond, we also have a lot of replayability. So, if you play through it one time, you could do it very differently the next time and try different ways and play it again."

"Also, IO is a pretty big company," continued Engström. "We can have people moving around and going to other projects, and some people who may not have worked on Bond before can get going and bring in fresh new ideas and whatnot."

Engström went on to tease the post-launch content, saying it will be "awesome" and "we want the players to come back, and we want to create more content."

007 First Light was a success with critics and players alike, selling 1.5 million within its first 24 hours before hitting 2.7 million copies worldwide in its first week across all platforms.

Sunde recalled the emotional response she and the team had when the reviews came in, touching on what it was like to hear the reception after working on First Light for six years out of the game's seven-year development cycle.

"A lot of blood, sweat, and tears have gone into this," the developer said. "We really wanted to nail the Bond fantasy and get everything right, and right up until release, when you have worked on a game for that long ride, and you're gonna ship something that is very dear to I think [Bond] fans, you really want to get it right.

"And then when we got the reviews in, there people were crying, we were hugging each other, we were like it was unreal. I was in shock. I'm still in shock. I mean, I knew the game was good, but you're not prepared for it. It just feels so good for everybody who has worked so hard on this at IOI and all the other people we have collaborated with on this.

"It's just been amazing. I still don't believe it. I'm pitching my arm."

007 First Light is out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC. A Nintendo Switch 2 version is slated to launch sometime this year.

• Actor Alastair Mackenzie says the scene in which his character, Q, teaches Bond to tie a bow tie was a "key moment"
• He says it was a "very little special relationship moment"
• Mackenzie adds that the stories like that of 007 First Light are all about "humanity"

The actors behind 007 First Light's supporting cast have revealed the most memorable moments between their characters and James Bond.

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming at an event adjacent to Summer Game Fest 2026, the cast of IO Interactive's Bond game, including Alastair Mackenzie, Priyanga Burford, Lennie James, and Noémie Nakai, sat down to discuss the filming process and how they brought their characters to life.

First Light is a cinematic action-adventure game and a prequel origin story for Bond, so there are plenty of moments where he interacts and grows his relationships with the cast.

Mackenzie, who plays Q, recalls the scene in Vietnam where Bond is struggling to tie his own bow tie before heading off on his mission, and Q helps him in an almost paternal way. It's a lovely moment, and one the actor himself found the most memorable.

"I had to teach him how to tie a bow tie, which I mean, I don't know if you ever tried, but it's impossible," Mackenzie said. "It's a really nice moment between Bond and Q, where he presents him with his tie, and he doesn't know what the f*** to do, so he teaches him how to tie [it]. So that was a little key for me; that's very, very little special relationship moment."

Burford, who plays M, also touched on a "beautiful" moment with reluctant allies Bond and John Greenway early on in the story that demonstrated Bond's character development.

"For me, there was one [scene] where Bond is really angry with Greenway, and he wants to kick the whole thing down and finish it," she said. "And there's a beautiful bit where it's sort of teaching someone how to handle their emotions and how to regulate and step out of an emotional state as a young person might do; someone impulsive who gives in to their anger and looks at the situation from a bit of a wider perspective.

"Instead of getting angry, what can this guy teach you? What do you want them to pick and try and think about it that way. And that, for me, was a good clue about what this dynamic was, and [what] M's approach was."

Mackenzie added that these stories are all about "humanity" and something he believes isn't shown very often in gaming.

"These are all human interactions that make this game," he said. "There's a sort of visceral nature to it, where you're connecting on a human level, which I think doesn't happen in every game, does it? I mean, it's not something that is normal in gaming stories."

007 First Light is out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC. A Nintendo Switch 2 version is expected to launch later this year.

• The 007 First Light cast have shared their Bond movie recommendations
• Lennie James picked On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and thinks George Lazenby "nailed Bond"
• Priyanga Burford thinks players should watch Skyfall after finishing the game because "You get the beginning and the beginning of the end"

The cast of 007 First Light has shared their personal picks for which Bond movies players should watch as a companion to the game.

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming at an event adjacent to Summer Game Fest 2026, where actors Alastair Mackenzie, Priyanga Burford, Lennie James, and Noémie Nakai, along with game director Martin Emborg, discussed IO Interactive's newest release, they were asked to recommend what Bond movies they'd recommend to players to watch before, after, or alongside First Light.

"That's kind of like saying, what's your favorite Bond movie, isn't it?" joked Q actor Mackenzie, before James, who plays John Greenway, decided on the 1969 flick starring George Lazenby, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

"It's old school, but weirdly, even though he only did it once, I think Lazenby nailed Bond in that, until Daniel [Craig], actually, it was a unique telling of a Bond adventure."

Burford, the actress behind M, went with Skyfall, one of the most popular films in Craig's 007 series.

"I'm going to go really obvious and say play the game, and then watch Skyfall. You get the beginning and the beginning of the end," she said.

Emborg agreed with Burford's recommendation, but said, "There's something really interesting in watching No Time to Die, and then playing this game."

"I really like the contrast of [what] he says in Skyfall: 'Well, everyone needs a hobby. Well, what's yours? Resurrection.' And so there's something meeting Bond at the very end, and then seeing him step out of the ocean, a young man. I think there's something quite moving."

Mackenzie added that he "loved every Bond movie" growing up, "even the ones that we look back on now, say they aren't great." However, he loves The Man with the Golden Gun for its locations.

"All of that kind of affected my entire life, really," he said. "I'm thinking, I sort of identify that as being paradise."

Emborg continued, saying it's a difficult question because there are 25 movies and compared it to deciding one's favorite type of music or deciding how you feel depending on the occasion.

"It is really like, what do you feel like today? It's like, what's your favorite type of music? It's like that depends. Did I just break up with someone? That's going to change it."

007 First Light is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC. A Nintendo Switch 2 version will launch later this year.

This article contains descriptions of sexual themes and graphic violence. Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival received ESRB Mature and PEGI 18 ratings, and is intended for adult audiences.

I spent roughly twenty minutes with upcoming survival horror game Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival and in that brief time managed to witness a graphic sex scene (that the demo cold-opens on, no less), the protagonist piercing some nipples, and the deaths of legions of leather-clad enemies that seemed to enjoy being fatally bludgeoned a little too much.

In other words, it’s an unapologetically freaky game that relishes in extreme violence, something you’ll already know if you’ve glimpsed the brutal new release date trailer.

Set 20 years after the start of the equally bloody cult classic Hellraiser horror film series, Revival is an all-new story that was written in collaboration with original franchise creator Clive Barker that seems to capture its essence perfectly.

Welcome to the club

It follows protagonist Aiden Lynch, a gang member who stumbles upon the Genesis Configuration. This is a mysterious puzzle box that’s, unbeknownst to him, somehow connected to the sinister dimension of the Cenobites — towering demonic creatures that relish inflicting otherworldly pain (or pleasure) on unsuspecting humans.

Naturally, his girlfriend Sunny’s first instinct seems to have been to take it to the bedroom, where she accidentally summons the Cenobites into the real world while the pair were getting down and dirty. Following a cutscene that lays out some of the premise, my preview begins with Aiden carefully exploring the interior of a labyrinthine BDSM club, its winding corridors filled with red velvet curtains and sofas that you simply couldn’t pay me to touch.

It’s not long before I start running into traditional genre staples: elaborate doors that require specific keys to unlock, safes that have me scouring for codes hidden nearby, and puzzles that have me fishing around my backpack to pick out the right objects in order to progress.

Although my time at the club was brief, there was a surprising amount of combat in what I played — at least more than I initially expected from a survival horror game. I took on rooms full of rabid cultists all decked out in spiky fetish wear, predominantly switching between a pistol and blunt melee weapons.

The gunplay is decent, as you would expect from a seasoned shooter developer like Saber Interactive, and every swing of my bat had a good feeling of weight to it, something that’s rather uncomfortably emphasized by the moans that occasionally escape from foes’ lips just as a dull thud connects.

The Genesis Configuration also has some powerful tricks up its sleeve, including letting you grab flames from open torches so you can toss them for a lethal scorching blast. I soon find a shotgun and submachine gun as well, and realise that Aiden can pull off an impressively nimble slide with a tap of the crouch button that helps you dart around incoming gunfire.

Just as I was really starting to rack up the kills, I was thrust into a brisk walk through a nightmarish vision of Aiden’s home, interspersed with cutscenes showing him doing the deed with Sunny and dosing up on drugs before everything hit the fan.

After a few laps, I’m walking in on what looks like the girlfriend’s twisted corpse, gagged and impaled on spikes as blood runs from her closed eyes like tears and her organs spill onto the floor. Delightful.

Throw in my brief diversion to a more puzzle-focused section set in the Cenobyte’s twisted world, which had me further manipulating the magic cube in one hand in order to rotate rooms full of platforms, and I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of how the whole game will unfold.

It all feels very Hellraiser, and this little taste of depravity certainly left me eager to see just how far Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival will go when it comes to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC on October 8, 2026.

• Lara Croft's new actress, Alix Wilton Regan, says her version of the character isn't "overtly sexualized"
• Wilton Regan says Lara is "objectively gorgeous" without it being "dependent on a man's gaze"
• She says modernized Lara Croft "unapologetic" and "completely self-possessed"

Alix Wilton Regan, the actress behind the new Lara Croft in Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, has explained how her "modernized" version of the beloved character differs from iterations that have come before.

Speaking in an interview with TechRadar Gaming at Summer Game Fest 2026, Wilton Regan talked at length about her portrayal of the beloved character in Crystal Dynamics' upcoming title, calling her version of Lara someone who is not "overtly sexualized" for the sake of the male gaze, but beautiful because that's who she is.

"Our version of Lara, what I love about this version of Lara, is she is sassy, charismatic, stunning, objectively gorgeous, and completely self-possessed as a woman without being overtly sexualized, and that's something that myself and a lot of the animation team have talked about at length," she began.

"She is attractive simply because that is who she is as a woman, without apology, without it being dependent on a man's gaze, and I actually think that's a really attractive thing to play as a male player and a female player, and everyone else in between.

"That's the feedback that we have gotten from people on the animation team, and so on and so forth. And, you know, her proportions are still remarkable. They just look more realistic now."

Wilton Regan touched on what her version of a "modernized" Lara Croft looks like in Legacy Atlantis, likening her to an evolved version of the character that has existed previously.

"Modernized Lara Croft is cool, charismatic, confident, unapologetic, completely self-possessed, rises to a challenge without her emotions rising at the same time, which is quite an interesting differentiation, I would say," she said.

"Supremely physically capable, of course, that has to be stated," the actress added. "She is supremely physically capable and highly intelligent."

In the same interview, Wilton Regan revealed that her favorite "favorite" movie in the franchise is the original 2001 Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, starring Angelina Jolie, and that Crystal Dynamics used a lot of Jolie's scenes for her auditions.

"They used a lot of those scenes for my callbacks when I was auditioning, because Angelina Jolie encapsulates Lara's charisma, confidence, sassiness, and that was something that the creators at Crystal Dynamics really wanted to capture as we move forward into a new era of Tomb Raider," Wilton Regan said.

You'll be able to play Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis when it launches on February 27, 2027, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

• Lara Croft's new actress, Alix Wilton Regan, says the first Tomb Raider movie starring Angelina Jolie is her "favorite"
• She reveals that "a lot of those scenes" from the movie were used for her Legacy of Atlantis auditions
• The actress says Crystal Dynamics wanted to capture Angelina Jolie's "charisma, confidence, and sassiness"

The actress behind Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis's new Lara Croft, Alix Wilton Regan, has revealed that her auditions were based on scenes from the first Tomb Raider movie.

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming at Summer Game Fest 2026, Wilton Regan, who discussed the process of bringing the character to life for the new "reimagining" of the 1996 game, shared that her "favorite" movie in the franchise is the original 2001 Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, starring Angelina Jolie.

Besides loving Jolie's portrayal of the iconic video game character, the actress also said developer Crystal Dynamics "used a lot of those scenes" for her auditions.

"They used a lot of those scenes for my callbacks when I was auditioning, because Angelina Jolie encapsulates Lara's charisma, confidence, sassiness, and that was something that the creators at Crystal Dynamics really wanted to capture as we move forward into a new era of Tomb Raider," Wilton Regan said.

When asked if players will be able to recognize some of Jolie's vibe from her performance, the actress joked, "I mean, I would never compare myself to Angelina Jolie, but I would love for someone else to compare me to Angeline Jolie."

She went on to outline the audition process, which began in a hot, mountain villa in Italy (very Lara Croft) where she shot three scenes, with two takes each. Afterward, she took a moped down the mountain to a tiny cafe and begged for the Wi-Fi password, then sat for "literally, not figuratively, five hours" getting steadily drunk on Aperol spritz. "Which I love, by the way," she added.

"So it was no chore as I watched these six auditions upload and get sent back to LA to my agents there, and all those were auditions from the game, but they were dummy scenes," Wilton Regan continued.

"Dummy scenes are when they're fake scenes with fake character names, the essence of what the creative team are looking for, and then the next few rounds were a combination of some of the scenes from the Angelina Jolie movies, and also a combination of actual scenes from the video game, where I could see that it said Lara Croft. However, all of the other characters in the scene still had dummy names, so I couldn't work out who Lara was actually talking to."

When she eventually received the news that she got the role, Wilton Regan said she "screamed and burst into tears."

"It was remarkably undignified, but it was very true to what I was feeling emotionally in the moment," she said.

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis will launch on February 27, 2027, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

• Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked has just launched on Nintendo Switch 2
• The port arrives alongside an update that adds a new playable character
• The game is a Dungeons & Dragons themed version of the digital board game Demeo

The smash hit Baldur’s Gate 3 might not be coming to Nintendo Switch 2, but that doesn't mean that you should sleep on some of the other brilliant Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying games (RPGs) out on the platform. In fact, one just launched today in Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked.

As the name would suggest, it's a distinctly D&D take on the existing digital board game Demeo, which has players exploring dungeons and fighting monsters with tactical card-based combat. If you have fond memories of the physical board game HeroQuest, then you’ll feel right at home in Demeo, as it’s almost like a modernised version with a unique deck-builder twist.

Battlemarked adds a whole heap of D&D goodness into the mix, and it’s a match made in heaven. There are eight playable heroes to choose from, including one that’s just been added in time for the Nintendo Switch 2 port, all based on classic D&D classes. There’s a paladin, of course, alongside the expected sorcerer, ranger, fighter, bard, and rogue, all with their own weapons and unique abilities. I’m usually drawn towards playing a versatile bard character, but I’m very keen to unlock the newest addition to the roster: an orc druid who can literally turn into a giant bear.

D&D features like skill checks are present and accounted for throughout the two available story campaigns (more are set to be added in future), but this is by no means a proper adaptation of the ruleset. This is a more casual experience that can be enjoyed with up to three friends regardless of their individual levels of experience with the wider D&D universe.

You don't need to worry if nobody in your friend group has played Demeo before either. There's no prior knowledge of that game needed, as a detailed tutorial explains everything you need to know right when you first start.

The art direction is strong as well, with a presentation that makes it really feel like a board game come to life. The different classes are represented by little miniatures with a set design, though I do appreciate the fact that you can mix up their color schemes or change their in-game names if you’re eager for a little more role-play.

I rarely use the touchscreen on Nintendo Switch 2 in handheld mode, but the support for it in Battlemarked is superb. Dragging your pieces around the board feels totally natural and flicking the die every time you need to roll it is so satisfying that it's become my favorite way to play.

Joy-Con 2 mouse controls are similarly well implemented, with an on-screen cursor appearing automatically and letting you have a similarly enjoyable experience even if you're playing in docked mode on a TV.

This is definitely good thing, as I had one major complaint from my time so far: the regular thumbstick and button controls can be a little fiddly.

You can pick up Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons via the Nintendo Switch 2 eShop for $29.99 / £24.99 / AU$41.99.

It’s also out on PlayStation 5, PC, and Meta Quest with full support for cross-platform multiplayer. If you already own it, there’s no need to worry about missing out on the new content added to the Switch 2 release — it’s coming to other platforms as a free update today.

• Crystal Dynamics confirms Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis is connected to its Tomb Raider Survivor trilogy
• Game director Raul Siqueira says the Survivor trilogy is Lara Croft's past
• He adds that Lara is in "her prime" in Legacy of Atlantis

Crystal Dynamics has said that Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis is connected to its Tomb Raider Survivor trilogy in terms of both gameplay and narrative.

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming at Summer Game Fest 2026, game director Raul Siqueira and experience director Jeff Adams discussed what the studio is calling a "reimagining" of the original 1996 game.

While Legacy of Atlantis may look different, featuring a new actress for Lara Croft in Alix Wilton Regan, and even though the story was released 30 years ago, Siqueira confirmed that the Survivor trilogy is linked to the upcoming game.

"Absolutely," Siqueira replied when asked if they're connected, "but I think [because] we've worked on the modern trilogy, it helps that a lot of people working on this game actually did the previous one.

"Jeff [Adams] has a really nice way of saying it, that it kind of connects the two of them together, that Survivor was Lara's past, right?"

Siqueira said the studio planned Legacy of Atlantis "as Lara's future," where she is in "her prime" and has learned lessons from the events of the Survivor trilogy.

"Everything that you saw in the Survivor trilogy helped shape who she is," he explained. "When she was just starting, she was beginning her career; she didn't have the confidence to pull acrobatics or anything like that. Lara, in the future, does — so when you go from a narrative perspective, there's a lot that we pull from [the Survivor trilogy], but even on the gameplay side of things: you probably saw that the T-Rex has a lot of flavor from [those] high-intensity cinematic moments [in the Survivor trilogy].

"I think that there is quite a bit that we go from jumping from the Survivor trilogy in terms of gameplay, but also from the narrative side of it."

Adams added that they've been asked a similar question before, and if Survivor "counts" within the canon story Crystal Dynamics is telling. He reiterated that "Survivor is absolutely Lara's past, but she is not beholden to that now."

"The Lara that you find in Legacy of Atlantis is one who's unfettered by the past, I guess."

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis launches on February 27, 2027, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

• Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis experience director Jeff Adams has explained why the game is a "reimagining" instead of a remake
• Adams says it allows Crystal Dynamics to capture "iconic moments" and still make new creative decisions
• Some features will be familiar, while others will be brand new, like the new Focus Mode

Crystal Dynamics has explained why it is treating Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis as more of a "reimagining" than a remake or remaster of the classic 1996 game.

That's according to experience director Jeff Adams, who told TechRadar Gaming at Summer Game Fest 2026 that the approach it's taking allows the studio to stick to what fans are familiar with, whether that be story beats and recognizable puzzles, while also building on that groundwork.

"It allows us to still be able to capture these really iconic moments in the original experience and make sure that that feels recognizable and echoic," Adams said, "but it gives us also the creative leeway to say, 'Hey, can we potentially make a slightly different creative decision here and push the game further?'"

Some of those new creative decisions include a reimagined Lara Croft, played by Dragon Age: Inquisition's Alix Wilton Regan, but who will be just as acrobatic as she was 30 years ago, a gorgeous photorealistic world, and a Focus Mode that fills a combat gauge that can grant a slow-motion bullet time ability.

Crystal Dynamics has also applied ideas from its Tomb Raider Survivor Trilogy, like more intuitive traversal and deeper puzzles, while still keeping memorable moments like the T-Rex boss fight.

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis was originally slated to launch this year, but will now launch on February 27, 2027, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

Wilton Regan also spoke to TechRadar Gaming at SGF as well about playing the iconic character in Legacy of Atlantis, saying she feels "incredibly lucky to be bringing Tomb Raider into this new era," and isn't "worried about having to differentiate, because I feel very confident in the choice that we are going back to core Lara."

"Within the context of classic Lara, my job as the actress portraying her is to leave no Laras behind," Wilton Regan said.

"I'm very keen to understand, acknowledge, and respect everything that's been before across the Tomb Raider franchise, take the most important bits, assimilate them, digest them, and then bring them up to speed for modern audiences."

• Patrick Gibson's 007 First Light co-stars reveal what they think about the actor playing Bond in a movie
• Having seen him play and develop the role up front, they all think he's perfect for the role on the silver screen
• The game's narrative director lauded Gibson for "shouldering this thing"

With millions of players now enjoying and finishing 007 First Light, the dust has settled around one of the best James Bond videogames ever made. One of the greatest successes of the game is the performances by its actors, including none other than Patrick Gibson as James Bond himself.

At the IOI Access event in Los Angeles this month, I had the opportunity to grill his co-stars on all things 007 First Light. We spoke about Gibson's performance specifically, and now that he's done it in a video game, whether he could translate that to the silver screen.

Almost before I had finished posing the question, Lennie James (John Greenway) gave me a categorical "Absolutely."

This quickly rippled around the room too, with Noémie Nakai (Charlotte Roth / Isola Vale) adding, "How is that even question?", and Alastair Mackenzie (Q) remarking that, "He's done it."

It's emphatic support, and delivered without hesitation, from those who have seen Gibson's portrayal of Bond up close, and witnessed the development of this version of the iconic action film character.

Laying on some more praise and also analysis of Gibson's performance in the face of any pressure of taking on such an iconic role, cinematic and narrative director, Martin Emborg said that "he was shouldering this thing [being James Bond] and did an amazing job doing that."

Lennie James also spoke about how Patrick Gibson's portrayal of Bond was fuelled by the actor's preparation for a new, younger look at the character: "He researched the hell out of it. He watched everything, he read everything, he knew where his origin was going to take him, and he was trying to map something that lived with who the future Bond was going to be, [and] that you would believe this was a young Bond."

007 First Light is out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC, with a Nintendo Switch 2 version coming at some point later this year.

• Alien: Isolation 2 creative director Al Hope had ideas for a sequel while making the first game
• Hope says its "core" survival systems have been "evolved"
• He adds that the original divert, disrupt, and distract gameplay will remain the same

Alien: Isolation 2 creative director Al Hope has revealed that he and the team at Creative Assembly had ideas about making a sequel before finishing the first game.

In an interview with TechRadar Gaming at Summer Game Fest (SGF) 2026, Hope discussed creating a sequel following the massive success of 2014's Alien: Isolation, a game that many look back on as the best Alien game and one of the best horror games ever made.

The creative director said he was "super proud of the first game and the reaction to it", even though it felt like the team was "taking a bit of a risk" because "there was nothing really quite like it," but he also said he had ideas for a sequel even during its development.

"I'd been thinking about creating a sequel before we even finished the first game, about what that could be," Hope said. "I suppose it was about once we saw the reception of that first game, and what really people really engaged in the nature of this experience, where it's not scripted, it's not choreographed."

Hope compared other survivor horror titles, such as Resident Evil, where "the dog would always jump out the window at the same point," and explained how having an experience where it was "systemic" and the systems that react and respond to the player was the "core" of the Isolation games.

"It felt that's our core," he added, explaining that the idea behind the sequel was "let's just evolve, take what we love, or what people love, and evolve with it", but in ways that feel "intuitive."

"So the first game is all about being in the tin can in space, in the space station, being claustrophobic and trapped, and that's super cool," Hope continued. "We love that. We felt like, what if we were on a planet's surface now, we're being hunted in the exterior, and we had that interior experience as well.

"We've had this kind of best of both worlds. And then it was thinking around, okay, well, let's tell a new story. We've got this new world. Let's tell a new story with a new protagonist, and so I suppose all these things kind of seem to fall into place naturally. I guess that was the, that was the starting point for us."

As Hope put it, in Isolation 2, players will be in a new, exterior environment, and the story will be a "continuation" that follows a new protagonist, Blake, but the core experience will still be "improvise to survive the systemic nature of the entities that you encounter" and using familiar tools to accomplish that.

"That real attention to detail in the fidelity of the world and immersion, the atmosphere that's our core," he said, "A lot of the same rules apply. It's about line of sight, about not being seen, about what tools you have at hand that can divert, disrupt, distract, so a lot of the gameplay remains the same. In the future, we'll be sharing more interesting ways to survive and evade the creature.

"I guess we saw it as an evolution."

Alien: Isolation 2 doesn't have a release date yet, but it will launch on PS5, Xbox Series X, Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

I had no idea what to expect when I accepted the invite to demo an unannounced Sonic crossover game at this year's Summer Game Fest (SGF), but the reveal that it would be Sonic Pico Park still took me by surprise.

I don't think anyone really saw this crossover coming: one of the biggest and most historic platforming franchises joining forces with a burgeoning indie puzzle series.

Slow down, Sonic

If you're not familiar with the original games, Pico Park was released for PC back in 2016 and challenged up to eight players with about two hours' worth of neat little co-op puzzles. It proved a surprise hit, racking up thousands of positive reviews on Steam and prompting the development of an expanded 2024 sequel in Pico Park 2.

Now we're getting Sonic Pico Park, which brings the blue blur, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy into the playable character roster (alongside some of the original Pico Park cats) and incorporates a load of key mechanics from the platformer series.

But how well does the fast-paced action of Sonic gel with the more considered puzzling of Pico Park?

After playing through a selection of eight levels while sprawled on a comfy sofa with a few other members of the press at Summer Game Fest 2026 Play Days, I can confirm that the two disparate properties have been blended together wonderfully.

Your objective in each level is simple: get to the end (represented, of course, as the trademark Sonic end signpost). Standing in your way are various challenges that require full cooperation, and the odd bit of strategy, to complete.

Sonic mechanics are smartly integrated into many of them. One stage, for example, needed everybody to hold on to a single gold ring so we could pass through a deadly laser without triggering a game over. Another featured spring pads to bounce off in order to navigate some big chasms and even a few loop-de-loops to sprint through.

Every character in the game can perform a spin dash, but Tails and Knuckles both get their own extra abilities to play around with. Tails can fly, obviously, and pick up fellow team members, while Knuckles get a little bit of a glide to extend his leaps.

Sonic fans will obviously love these references, but the mechanics are all simple enough to grasp to ensure that Sonic Pico Park can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of their level of experience with the franchise.

The minimalist art direction further enhances the approachability, with easily understandable visuals that are predominantly blue but with occasional splashes of red to highlight key objects. I also can't help but love the super cute renditions of the Sonic cast—especially Tails, just look at that face!

Although I was playing with a group of strangers, we soon found ourselves all chatting and laughing together like we'd been friends for years. It was a highlight of my SGF and, honestly, can you really want much more from a co-op puzzle game like this?

Sonic Pico Park is expected to release later this year, though there's no firm date quite yet. You can currently add it to your wishlist on Steam.

• Alien: Isolation 2 will be built using Unreal Engine 5
• Creative Assembly is developing its own custom lighting and audio technology
• Creative director Al Hope says modern game development allows for "real-time feedback"

Creative Assembly has confirmed that Alien: Isolation 2 will be built with Unreal Engine 5, but the team is also developing custom technology for lighting and audio.

That's according to Creative Director Al Hope, who, alongside Animation Director Simon Ridge, discussed the technological advancement of the upcoming sequel in an interview with TechRadar Gaming at Summer Game Fest (SGF) 2026.

Ridge remarked on how "incredibly proud" he is of how the first Alien: Isolation looked, but "Technology's advanced, and so it allows more opportunities."

"A big part of what we did last time was making sure we were providing an experience to really back up that whole immersion, I guess, on the stress, so the player never really comes out of those moments, and from our discipline, animation, that was around making sure that you were never really seeing points where you could tell it was a game," Ridge said.

"That was a huge goal, you were watching something that was almost like a sentient creature, it was Al [Hope] mentioned many a time, a systemic system.

"So I think now that time's moved on a little bit, it allows us to probably add more variety than what we could before, just due to technical advancement, and just up the quality of the assets themselves."

Hope added that one of the biggest advantages of contemporary game development is the "real-time feedback," with Ridge saying that working on something for a sequel and being able to see it in-engine, in context, straight away, allows the team to get "the quickest kind of representation of how it's going to feel."

The creative director continued, explaining that it "allows us to iterate much faster," unlike during the Alien: Isolation development period. This time, the team is using Unreal Engine 5, but it will also be creating its own custom technology, which Hope calls an "evolution" of what fans are familiar with.

"I think one of the interesting things for us is obviously lighting and audio parts of the experience, and so we're using Unreal [Engine], but for lighting and audio we're developing our own custom technology to really enable us to really fine-tune the experience and create exactly the best Alien experience we possibly can," Hope said.

"It's really interesting with our audio team; it's the same, more or less the same audio team that worked in the original, so it's really an extension of an evolution of both the tech and the kind of creative side that worked on the original.

"I'll blow their trumpet for them. I think they won more or less every audio award going that year for Alien: Isolation. I think that's absolutely fantastic, people recognize that it felt like it was such a big part of the experience, and it's just really exciting to have them working together again on this."

Alien: Isolation 2 is in active development and will launch on PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

Home entertainment brand TCL was out in force at Summer Game Fest 2026, with a big booth dedicated to its new line of gaming monitors right in the middle of the Play Days show floor.

Its flagship model, the TCL C2A Pro, was the big attraction and is intended to deliver "the ultimate AAA gameplay experience" no matter what you like to play.

Those that love immersing themselves in cinematic experiences like The Last of Us Part 1 or Red Dead Redemption 2 will appreciate its vibrant QD-Mini LED colors and high 2,000 nits peak brightness. It's DisplayHDR 1400 certified, denoting a high level of brightness paired with excellent contrast, too.

The crisp 4K resolution of its 27-inch panel offers a strong level of detail while the 160Hz refresh rate keeps the action butter-smooth (provided you have the hardware chops to support it, of course).

Smooth and stylish

I took the monitor for a spin and found it particularly impressive, noting its fluid motion and excellent picture clarity. That said, as a huge Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 player (with more than 370 hours clocked in-game since launch), the TCL C2A Pro has one secret weapon that makes it especially appealing — its 'Game Accelerator' dual mode.

This bumps the resolution down to 1080p and cranks the refresh rate up to 320Hz, which is perfect if you want to maximize responsiveness and your frame rate to give you the edge in such a fast-paced game. It's almost no surprise that the brand is the official partner of Call of Duty.

TCL has also nailed the monitor's aesthetics. The almost sci-fi, white panelled look is tastefully elevated by colorful RGB lighting for an overall design that's distinctly geared towards gamers without seeming overly garish. It means the monitor would also look right at home in a PS5 setup. Out of the box, it comes with a multi-function stand that's geared towards a variety of adjustments and seating positions.

With the TCL C2A Pro retailing at $799, it faces some stiff competition from cheaper alternatives with similar dual-mode features such as the Asus ROG Strix XG27UCG. Still, no competitors have TCL's proprietary QD-Mini LED tech, which the monitor shares with the brand's high-end TVs, and few can come close to offering the premium build here.

It arrives alongside the slightly cheaper TCL C2A gaming monitor. Retailing at $699, that $100 saving loses you some peak brightness (with the monitor capable of 1,200 nits rather than 2,000) and fewer local dimming zones.

There's also the budget-friendly $499 TCL P3A. It's 27 inches still, but at a more modest 1440p resolution and a 260Hz refresh rate.

8. We picked our favorite World Cup tech

Yes, the World Cup has officially kicked off, but it isn’t too late to fine-tune your setup. Far from it — with over a month of soccer to go, we’ve rounded up everything you need for a successful tournament at home.

From our dream watch party setup to soundbar upgrades and the best World Cup tech deals, you won’t be short of ways to upgrade your viewing experience. And once that’s all sorted, you can dive into our ultimate World Cup watching guide for the lowdown on how to catch every match, from anywhere in the world.

• Read the full story: The TechRadar guide to World Cup 2026

7. Ocarina of Time was reborn

Closing out gaming’s week-long celebration that is Summer Game Fest and the showcases surrounding it, Nintendo’s Direct showcased an exciting mix of trailers, which included a tease for a The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake on the Nintendo Switch 2.

Little has been revealed so far beyond child Link’s design, and hints at full voice acting as the Great Deku Tree is heard narrating the intro like he does at the beginning of the N64 game.

Perhaps best of all, the trailer ended with a release year: 2026. So we won’t be waiting too long to get this Zelda game in our hands and find out if this is the series’ Resident Evil 2 Remake moment, as many hope it will be.

• Read the full story: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is coming to the Nintendo Switch 2

6. Trump Phone not ‘made in America’

To probably no one’s surprise — after serious delays, changing promises, and accidentally doxxing its buyers — the Trump Mobile T1 phone has been taken apart by iFixit, and it turns out the “American-proud design” is just a gold-skinned HTC U24 Pro, aka a Taiwanese phone launched in 2024.

In fairness, it does boast a couple of tweaks. The design has been adapted with a new camera bump shape, and the battery is a little larger at 5,000mAh battery — up from 4,600mAh — though it only offers 30W charging rather than the HTC original’s 60W.

iFixit notes that markings on the phone say it’s “assembled in the USA”, which is notably different from being “made in America,” which comes with some very specific FCC requirements that the Trump Mobile phone ironically doesn’t seem to meet.

The teardown company puts it best: “against all expectations, the T1 is actually well priced when compared to the equivalently specced U24 Pro, and the only things you give up are the 60W fast charging and your dignity."

Read the full story: Trump Phone unmasked as a 'gold-painted HTC U24 Pro'

5. Valve abandoned physical gift cards

It’s bad news for PC gamers on Steam this week, as Valve announced it will no longer be restocking physical Steam gift cards. Why? Because scammers are taking advantage of consumers.

This isn’t exactly a new occurrence; Steam scams have been around for years. However, Valve clarifies it’s effectively been forced to end restocks of physical gift cards, as “scammers have adapted”, even after it has actively worked with retailers and law enforcement to foil scams.

Physical gift cards are an excellent gift option for the less gamer-savvy to give their PC gamer loved ones, and can be useful for parents to top up their child’s Steam account with funds without pairing a credit card to it. However, with them gone, digital Steam gift cards will be the only option, as soon as stock runs out across multiple retailers — and one can only hope that scammers don’t end up forcing Valve to restructure digital gift cards as well.

Read the full story: Valve is officially done with Steam physical gift cards

4. Philips launched a virtual skylight

Philips unveiled a new ceiling light dubbed the ‘Philips Skylight’, designed to mimic the effect of natural daylight for indoor use, blending advanced LED and Philips’ NatureConnect technologies. Starting at 499.99 euros (about $580 / £430), the ceiling light comes in four different models and will be available later this month in most regions. It’s coming to the US in September.

Each variant of the Philips Skylight comes with a slim ceiling profile for mounting, a remote control, five preset lighting scenes, and Philips’ Day Rhythm tool, which automatically adjusts color temperature and brightness throughout the day. But despite its slew of features, it’s not Philips Hue.

This means that, unfortunately, it doesn’t connect to Wi-Fi or work with Matter over Thread, so you can't integrate it into your existing smart home setup, and you’ll have to use the included remote to control it manually.

• Read the full story: Philips just launched a new ceiling light that looks like a skylight

3. Apple revealed some major software surprises

Siri AI (see no.1 below) was the undoubted star of Apple’s WWDC event this week, but the software showcase revealed hundreds of other upgrades for iPhones, Macs, Apple Watches and more. And not all of them went down well.

You can read our pick of the best features coming to iPhones in iOS 27, or the macOS 27 highlights below (in entry no.2). But there were some notable surprises too, including the next version of watchOS dropping support for some recent models and Apple controverisally embracing generative AI in Photos.

Apple also went very hard on boosting parental controls at the event — leaving us with a sense that it had one eye on child safety, and another on increasingly demanding government regulators.

• Read the full story: 17 things we learned at WWDC 2026 — Siri's getting a big AI makeover, Golden Gate is the next macOS, Liquid Glass is changing, and more

2. macOS 27 named Golden Gate

Tim Cook's final WWDC as Apple CEO gave us a glimpse of the future of its software, including the upcoming macOS 27 build — called Golden Gate. Unlike previous years, however, it’s not the most exciting.

There are Liquid Glass and other design tweaks that’ll make your Mac feel more usable, plus there’s a new and improved search to help you locate just about anything on your machine. There are also some performance enhancements, with apps said to feel more responsive, and of course, there’s the debut of Siri AI, more on that below.

While not the flashiest update, it’s a solid upgrade from the looks of things, though if you aren’t a fan of AI, it might feel like a downgrade.

• Read the full story: macOS 27 Golden Gate announced at WWDC 2026

1. Siri’s AI upgrade landed

It was a long time coming with at least one false start, but the new Siri that’s already in some people's hands, thanks to the iOS27 Dev Beta, which arrived with the WWDC Keynote, is the Siri Apple promised us in 2024 and more.

Sure, Apple is basically playing catch-up with OpenAI and Google, but in what may be looked back on later as one of the canniest moves in this AI race, Apple has adopted Google Gemini’s best models and crafted something new. Siri AI and the Apple Intelligence updates feel at once familiar and yet like a totally Apple experience. Yes, it even makes photo-realistic fake images.

• Read the full story: I tried Siri AI on the iPhone, Mac, and iPad

Test yourself on last week's biggest tech news

All caught up with this week’s tech news? Why not test yourself on last week’s seven biggest tech stories to see how good your memory is? Take the quiz below.

• Creative Assembly wants Alien: Isolation 2 to be as memorable as the first game
• Creative Director Al Hope says the new exterior setting "feels like a natural evolution of the experience"
• The alien will "adapt and behave" differently to hunt the player

Creative Assembly has said it was "absolutely the intention" for Alien: Isolation to feel "too scary" for players, and the goal is to make the sequel just as memorable.

Alien: Isolation is one of the best horror games of all time, and in the newly announced sequel, players will once again be stranded in space while a sentient creature hunts them down. How lovely!

Unlike the first game, where players are confined to a space station, Alien: Isolation 2 will have a new setting and feature both exterior and interior environments, which Creative Director Al Hope said "feels like a natural evolution of the experience."

"It's the best of both worlds," Hope said in an interview with TechRadar Gaming at Summer Game Fest (SGF) 2026, "it has those claustrophobic-type interior spaces and those now exposed and very vulnerable feeling exterior spaces. I think for us, that's the most exciting starting point."

In Isolation 2, these new open spaces also mean players will need to be on their guard more than before, because the creature will also be able to "adapt and behave in a different way in order to be able to hunt in the exterior."

"The alien is well known for, in Alien: Isolation, learning and adapting based on his encounters with the player," Hope said. "It will be doing that in the exterior as well. So, as you come up with strategies and tactics, it will start to learn about those and then be able to circumvent them. So, you have to think again, get really creative, get imaginative, you know, imaginative in order to be able to survive, progress, and survive."

He continued: "The experience is evolving to include the exterior, thus one of the big changes for the creature is being able to hunt the player effectively in the exterior. For us, right now, it feels like a really fantastic opportunity, and I think people can already imagine what that's going to be like."

Animation Director Simon Ridge knows that the first game was loved by fans, and that it also terrified them, adding that the team's goal with Isolation 2 is to "deliver something to the audience that hopefully makes them as happy, terrified as before."

"That's a really fantastic opportunity," Ridge said.

Hope continued, "I like to think that anyone who played Alien: Isolation probably remembers playing Alien Isolation. Even if they think, 'Oh man, that was too scary,' and that's absolutely the intention for the sequel to make something that's truly unforgettable, and I think that combination of interior and exterior will create these moments that really live long after the player puts down the controller (or mouse and keyboard).

"That's the intention: to create something that really stays."

Alien: Isolation 2 doesn't have a release date yet, but it's set to launch on PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

• Toys for Bob says Activision Blizzard didn't push back on the studio's decision to go independent again
• Studio head Paul Yan says, "Leadership on both sides was very open to the idea"
• Yan says the process was "complex" to navigate while also planning Spyro: A Realm Beyond

Spyro: A Realm Beyond developer Toys for Bob has said there was no "pushback" from Activision Blizzard when it chose to become independent, but the process was "complex."

In 2024, one year after Microsoft officially acquired Activision Blizzard and almost 20 years after being purchased by the latter, Toys for Bob announced that it would split from its parent company and return to its "roots" as an independent studio.

Now, during a press Q&A at Summer Game Fest 2026 while promoting Spyro: A Realm Beyond, Studio Head Paul Yan shared that the team didn't meet any resistance from Activision Blizzard or Microsoft and that "leadership on both sides was very open to the idea."

"It was just complex," Yan said, "because we were talking about navigating many things in a very compressed amount of time, so just the logistics and legality of how do you separate from a company in that way has never been done before."

"I've never done it before, so I'm asking for something that's going to need a ton of coordination across many teams, across two new organizations that don't even know each other," he added, referring to the company's acquisition by Microsoft, "or they've just got married for the most part.

"Meanwhile, we're also trying to navigate a pitch for this game [Spyro: A Realm Beyond], so we're trying to get all that happening at the same time."

Yan said this was "the biggest challenge" overall, reiterating that no one was against Toys for Bob becoming independent again, although the process was something "we've never seen done before."

Associate creative director Lou Studdard added that it was difficult to navigate the process while also "preserving the continuity of the team experience of the team," and making sure it wasn't "such a big culture shock for the studio."

"It's been a tremendous effort to make sure that around two years ago, and this happened when we really started, it was kind of like another day in the office in a good way, and that we are a continued development team that knows how to work with each other and focus on our projects," Studdard said.

Spyro: A Realm Beyond is Toys for Bob's first game since becoming an independent studio again, and it launches in Spring 2027 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

• Toys for Bob says Spyro: A Realm Beyond is designed to be "accessible" and "approachable"
• The game won't be as "hardcore" as Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
• The studio says Spyro has always been more about "discovery and exploration"

Toys for Bob wants Spyro: A Realm Beyond to be an "approachable" new entry in the series, for both long-time fans and new players.

In a press Q&A at Summer Game Fest (SGF) that TechRadar Gaming attended, associate creative director Lou Studdard was asked about Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, designing a difficulty level that stayed true to the long-time series, and if the studio was also conscious of doing the same for A Realm Beyond.

In response, Studdard said that Toys for Bob was focused on designing the upcoming Spyro game as a more approachable entry for the broader audience, with less of the "hardcore" mechanics players would typically find in Crash Bandicoot.

"For Spyro: A Realm Beyond, we are very much focused on making it an accessible adventure, and so that means really focusing in on those difficulty levels, as well as just the general notion of how you play the game," Studdard said. "Spyro definitely is less of a hardcore, or precision-based game; Crash is definitely much more in that line of thing.

"For us, for Spyro, we have had a very focused effort on making sure that it is an accessible, approachable entry, and that goes, hand in hand with the audience that we want to serve, we want this to be something where this could be someone's first Spyro game, and fall in love with our favorite little purple dragon, and be along for the ride from there."

Toys for Bob Chief Creative Officer and Studio Head, Paul Yan, echoed the same sentiment, saying Spyro has always been a very approachable experience.

Both Yan and Studdard agreed that Crash Bandicoot is more about "hard checks" and executing perfectly timed jumps, with Studdard explaining that "precision execution based platforming" was what the team used to build, but not for the new Spyro game.

For the Spyro games, Yan added, it's more about "discovery and exploration" and is more "relaxing" to play, so the team wanted to "preserve its tonal core" for A Realm Beyond.

"I will say that taking flight and moving in a three-dimensional space, as opposed to on the ground, is just inherently more complex than running on the ground, right?" Yan said. "So we spend a lot of effort to make that as approachable as possible. It will be a little bit more complex, just navigating through the air, where we're doing everything that we can to make sure that it is an approachable experience, and that it is engaging and you're making interesting decisions while you're up in the sky."

Spyro: A Realm Beyond launches in Spring 2027 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

• Alien: Isolation 2 will take place months after the events of the first game
• Creative Director Al Hope says the sequel is still inspired by the first Alien movie
• Hope adds, "Our goal is to stay really true in spirit to that first movie"

Creative Assembly has confirmed that Alien: Isolation 2 will take place months after the first game and is once again inspired by the first Alien movie.

Speaking in an interview with TechRadar Gaming at Summer Game Fest 2026 (SGF), Creative Director Al Hope and Animation Director Simon Ridge shared how the studio is expanding the world of Alien in the upcoming sequel, confirming the movies are still the "groundwork."

"We really love the Aliens universe, obviously," Hope said. "I think for us, the first game really was close to the first movie in look and feel, in [the protagonist] Amanda [to Ripley], but in Isolation 2, which takes place months after the events of the first game, we're still in that wonderful space that we absolutely adore.

"We feel the first movie is still a really rich vein for us to tap into and explore and expand. It felt like a really good opportunity to just keep pushing, going deep in that part of the IP."

Ridge added that the first Alien movie was "such an important way of guiding us" when the team made the first game, and was the "ground" for everything it built.

"Keeping that in mind again with the sequel to make sure that we're making something that offers a similar experience, because that's your groundwork, but then also with the new parts are added to it," Ridge said, which he and Hope mentioned included the new exterior environments, which the first movie doesn't feature.

"We're really very serious about creating something that feels very authentic," Hope continued, explaining how the team is still creating "new elements" to "expand" the world.

"Our goal is to stay really true in spirit to that first movie," he said. "Authenticity is the lens we do everything through."

Alien: Isolation 2 is now in development and will launch on PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

• Toys for Bob wanted to recapture the feeling from playing previous games when developing Spyro: A Realm Beyond
• It wanted to focus on "the feeling that we fell in love with" rather than worrying about a list of features
• Chief creative officer and Studio Head, Paul Yan, says, "If you stick too much to nostalgia, it feels like you're rehashing"

Toys for Bob focused on recapturing how the team felt from playing previous games when making Spyro: A Realm Beyond, rather than worrying about a list of features to include.

That's according to Studio Head, Paul Yan, who told TechRadar Gaming in an interview at Summer Game Fest (SGF) that the groundwork of the game was built on what the team loves about the series.

When asked if there are any core features from previous games that the team avoided or tried to modernize, Yan said "everything's going to get touched," but when it worked on a new title "one of the things that we try and do is really hunker down and try and isolate how that franchise makes us feel, not specific feature lists, not comparison of parts, but the feeling that we fell in love with."

"We also look into the fan community," he added, "we look to just outside communication, our own communication, and we start isolating and figuring what that means, like what are the fantasies we want, so when we say, you know, a zen-like kind of exploration with a fluidity of movement that is more important to us to identify that as essential to feeling like Spyro than saying, 'Oh, his charge moves x number of units over x number of time', or things that happen."

"So we build that kind of knowledge and ingrain and canonify those feelings, and that's where we build from, and then throughout development we will have those conversations of are we changing them or touching that, is that new, are we keeping, are we not.

"But at the same time, the tip of the spear is the feelings that we want to preserve, and we want to amplify more than any specific feature institute."

Yan also said that there is a challenge to balancing nostalgia when making a new game, "versus how much do you branch out," explaining that both can be bad in some cases.

"If you stick too much to nostalgia, it feels like you're rehashing," Yan said. "'Why did we even bother doing this?' [...] Then you go on the other extreme, and you change everything, and now it's like 'I don't even recognize this character'. So we're very proud of the fact that through the process of this, we've been very thoughtful about it, and trying to talk about the tone and the core, and making sure that we're referencing all the fan feedback, and all the feelings, and the insights that have come from the Reignited Trilogy, so we feel confident that that base has given us a lot of information informed our own gun instincts about what Spyro is, and then our vision for Spyro is that this is just one of many games for the future.

"We would love to see more in this franchise. Hopefully, you know, around Beyond sets him up on a really strong footing."

Spyro: A Realm Beyond launches in Spring 2027 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is here, but that doesn’t mean the gaming giant has stopped putting out certified bangers for the original Switch.

Hot off the heels of the release of the unbelievably viral Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, we’re getting another entry in a long-running franchise that’s been dormant for a decade in Rhythm Heaven Groove (or Rhythm Paradise Groove if you're in the UK).

This new Rhythm Heaven doesn't seem keen to reinvent the wheel, but that’s certainly not a bad thing. After playing it at a recent Nintendo event, I can already see myself nipping back into its incredibly moreish beat-based minigames whenever I have a spare few minutes once it’s out.

Feel the groove

At its core, Rhythm Heaven is all about hitting a small number of buttons in time with a musical beat. It’s a simple formula that’s easy to pick up, but one that’s deployed in loads of novel and interesting ways.

The handful of minigames that I sampled in Groove ranged all the way from prompting a little round guy to jump through hoops at the right time to chomping flowers as they fly through the air as a marching dinosaur.

My personal favorite, ‘Slice N Dice Kitchen’, had me tapping on cue to catch flying bell peppers and tomatoes to keep them out of the paws of a mischievous, greedy cat. Every game’s mechanics are demonstrated clearly via introductions that teach you exactly which beat you need to make your input on, and little twists, like the sudden changing of colors on screen or complete removal of visual prompts, keep you on your toes as you transition into the real thing.

The minigames are all accompanied by catchy music, with basic beats that gradually ramp up as the actions become more complex and even some full-on songs with Japanese lyrics here and there. Completing a sequence of minigames unlocks a special remix that combines all the games at once to really put your skills to the test, and chasing the highest ranks is likely to be a significant musical challenge.

The presentation is simply adorable too, with a charming cartoon look that just screams Nintendo and amusing text-to-speech dialogue.

Despite being comfortingly familiar for returning fans, Rhythm Heaven Groove does have some surprises up its sleeve. The local multiplayer games are a blast (this one cake-grabbing mini-game that has four eager snackers competing to get their hands on a tasty treat the exact second a clock hits 3pm was especially fun) and there’s even a more story-focused, role-playing game (RPG) style mode that has you making different button combos to cast a variety of spells and defeat enemies in a raft of dungeons.

I walked out of my hands-on session with a huge smile on my face and, honestly, can one really ask for anything more? I can’t wait to try the full thing and, judging by my experience so far, it might just become my favorite Nintendo Switch release of 2026.

Although I did preview the game on Nintendo Switch 2 via backwards compatibility, it is worth reiterating that, yes, this will be a native Nintendo Switch title when it drops on July 2, 2026, which is great news if you’re still holding on to that older hardware.

• After four years, we finally get a second Kingdom Hearts 4 trailer
• Disney characters were few and far between, but two worlds were teased
• We also didn't get a release date

It’s tough being a Kingdom Hearts fan. The series is an all-time great, but if its platform-hopping origins weren’t frustrating enough — with entries exclusive to different consoles and even different regions for a while — we must now face the fact that Square Enix loves taking its time between entries, and between a new game’s announcement and release.

Kingdom Hearts 3 was first showcased around five and a half years before its release, and it seemed Kingdom Hearts 4 might take just as long between merely its first and second trailers. That is, until we got a brand new look at the game at Nintendo Direct, saving this year’s Summer Game Fest event for me just as I had conceded the Disney meets Final Fantasy crossover would be absent yet again.

The minute and a half of footage blended combat gameplay with cutscenes of black robe-clad figures, protagonist Sora facing off against a Heartless behemoth on the streets of Tokyo, and a few new and familiar faces — including several from Kingdom Hearts’ now-defunct mobile and browser games.

Despite these more obscure inclusions, Square has said KH4 is meant as a jumping-on point for the series, with the game’s director, Tetsuya Nomura, describing the KH3 ending in a interview as a “reset” — one which “should make it even easier for newcomers to join the story starting from KH4.”

Disney who?

I’m not convinced the latest trailer supports Nomura’s claims, though, as a long-time fan who has loved the series’ weird spin-offs, I’m not complaining.

The one other interesting detail of the trailer for me is how short it is on Disney characters. We only get the briefest glimpse of Donald and Goofy surrounded by blue flames.

Though we did get hints at two possible Disney worlds we’ll get to visit in some capacity. The first comes from those blue flames, which strongly hint at the return of Hades, the god of the underworld, from Hercules. Hercules’s world has appeared in almost every entry in the series so far, so its inclusion in 4 makes plenty of sense.

Further, while Sora’s fate at the end of Kingdom Hearts 3 is a little strange, it seems he has died in a way, so a god of death would likely be involved in his friend’s quest to find him. Plus, Hades’ voice actor has since teased his involvement online, saying “I might have a little bit of inside knowledge on this” and sharing the latest trailer.

The other hint comes from Sora’s keyblade — a swirl of fire and water combined into one weapon. While we don’t get the best look at it while it’s swung around in combat, this feels like a clear reference to 2023’s Elemental, especially as the keyblade creates a flower effect when it hits enemies, which looks a little bit like the film’s vivisteria flowers.

Interestingly, Sora has this keyblade while battling in the realistic version of Tokyo, suggesting he’ll be world-hopping while still trapped in this alternate reality — one which didn’t experience the visceral conflict of light and darkness before his arrival, we learn in this new clip.

One missing detail

The only thing missing is a release date or even a release year. After four years since it was first teased, you’d hope Square Enix would be able to give us some kind of timeline for this game’s release.

My guess is sometime in late 2027 at the earliest, maybe early 2028. That’s based on a new Kingdom Hearts collection that is landing this October, and that we have the final part of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy dropping in Spring next year (that’ll be sometime in March through May).

This is certainly frustrating. I can’t tell you how desperate I am to jump back into the Kingdom Hearts world, but hopefully the wait will be worth it.

Admittedly, this trailer makes me a little concerned. Perhaps it’s the wide open space of Tokyo’s streets, but the combat felt a little sparse, and something seemed a little off about Sora’s fight against the giant Heartless. Footage, so perhaps things will change come Kingdom Hearts 4’s eventual full release.

At least we found out it’ll be yet another multi-platform launch across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, PC, and the Nintendo Switch 2.

Don’t get me wrong — I’m pretty darn excited for a Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake. But boy, I would have been so much more excited for a sequel instead.

If you’ve somehow missed it, at the most recent Nintendo Direct, we saw a brief teaser for a Switch 2 version of Ocarina of Time. Admittedly, the brief trailer is light on details — merely showcasing a cinematic intro for the iconic adventure with some voice acting and vastly improved graphics over the Nintendo 64 original — but the promise to return to Hyrule later this year has left many (myself included) ecstatic with the hope this is Zelda’s Resident Evil 2 Remake equivalent.

Anyone who has touched Ocarina of Time knows why it’s regarded as one of the best games ever made. It perfectly translated the previously 2D-only series’ sense of adventure into a 3D world, and even close to three decades later, Ocarina’s Hyrule is a delight to explore — with its dungeons to solve, monsters to slay, and songs to learn.

A return to this world with a graphical and gameplay overhaul — taking learnings from titles like Breath of the Wild — would be the perfect way to revisit the classic, and introduce it to a new generation.

More to the story

Though it doesn’t quite hold a candle to its direct sequel, Majora’s Mask.

The darker tone and the repeating three-day cycle create a claustrophobic aspect that pairs perfectly with the game’s expansive world and its various branching stories. You don’t have time to solve every problem at once, so you have to slowly piece together each puzzle through what you learn in previous cycles, and the items and abilities you unlock.

Majora’s Mask could easily have been a mess, but instead it pioneered the Groundhog Day-like genre, setting the bar for what time loop games should deliver.

Everything is perfect… but ultimately unfinished too.

Majora’s Mask picks up where Ocarina of Time ends, with Link on a quest to find his fairy companion Navi after she leaves him at the end of the first game.

While he does save yet another realm, his inciting quest doesn’t have a conclusion, as Majora’s Mask ends with Link venturing on once more to find his fairy friend.

While the Zelda series has had plenty more entries since these two games, it has long felt like there should be a third story in the Ocarina of Time duology — one that ties up this loose end adventure in some way.

So while I’m excited for a new Ocarina of Time, I am left desperately wishing we were getting a fresh follow-up instead, one that finally concludes this long-time Zelda series mystery rather than simply being the fourth Ocarina of Time re-release.

Why not both?

My mixed feelings aside, this remake doesn’t rule out the possibility of a sequel. In fact, it could make one more likely as players are refamiliarized with the game’s story and finale.

Adding to my hope (read: cope) is that we’re coming up fast on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’s 30th anniversary — which lands at the tail end of 2028. Concluding this mystery would be quite the birthday treat for longtime fans of this game.

Now that would be quite a swift turnaround time, but the Zelda series does comfortably hit one entry every couple of years — since 2023, the franchise has actually had a release every year if you count the Switch 2 Editions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

We’ll have to wait and see what Nintendo has up its sleeve, but as I play through Ocarina of Time on my Switch 2 later this year, I’ll be desperately hoping a brand-new sequel to it is just around the corner.