News Nintendo Switch 2’s Game-Key Cards Won’t be Tied to Specific Nintendo Consoles or Accounts The Game-Key Cards will work like any other physical release of a Switch 2 game, which players can share or even sell as a used game. Posted By Joelle Daniels | On 08th, Apr. 2025 Among the many new things unveiled by Nintendo during and around its Switch 2-oriented Direct last week was its new Game-Key Cards initiative. Through this, the company seemingly aims to sell much larger games than would otherwise fit in a Switch 2 Game Card through physical channels. Nintendo’s Tetsuya Sasaki has confirmed that in a conversation with GameSpot that, despite the Game Card itself not including any data for the game, purchasing and using a Game-Key Card will not tie it to a Nintendo account or specific Switch 2 console. According to Sasaki, this means that Game-Key Cards will function like any other physical copy of a Switch 2 game. This also means that the Game-Key Card can be shared with other Switch 2 owners, and even be re-sold in the used games market. “So key cards will start up on the console or system that it is slotted into, so it’s not tied to an account or anything,” said Sasaki. For context, games released through the Game-Key Card will come in physical packaging like any other Switch 2 game. The Game Card itself will also have the red colour that Switch 2 Game Cards will have. Inserting a Game-Key Card into a Switch 2 basically has the console download the entire game from Nintendo’s servers. The card itself will not include any game data aside from the necessary DRM code that lets the console know that you own the game. It is also worth noting that, after having downloaded a game through a Game-Key Card, the card has to be inserted into the Switch 2 to play the game. Taking the card out will mean that the game will not be playable until the card is re-inserted into the console, much like a physical copy of any other Switch 2 game. Nintendo also points out through its support page that, aside from downloading the game, only the first launch of the title will require an Internet connection. While Nintendo hasn’t confirmed if any of the games it unveiled during the Switch 2 Direct will make use of Game-Key Cards for their physical release, the system has likely been put in place in advance for the ever-growing sizes of AAA game releases. While Nintendo’s own titles tend to make efficient use of space, third-party AAA games tend to be quite a bit larger. The upgraded specs of the Switch 2 over its predecessor might also lead to games needing more storage space. Since the upcoming console can push a much larger number of pixels thanks to its horsepower, various game assets like textures will likely end up being much larger so that they look good when played at 1080p or even 4K, and art assets, alongside audio, tends to make up the bulk of the storage that a game often requires. The Nintendo Switch 2 will be hitting store shelves on June 5. Pre-orders for the console have been put on hold for the time being as the company evaluates the effect the US tariffs will have on the market. Tagged With: Atomfall Publisher:Rebellion Developments Developer:Rebellion Developments Platforms:PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4, Xbox One, PCView More Monster Hunter Wilds Publisher:Capcom Developer:Capcom Platforms:PS5, Xbox Series X, PCView More South of Midnight Publisher:Microsoft Developer:Compulsion Games Platforms:Xbox Series X, PCView More Amazing Articles You Might Want To Check Out! Fans That Can’t Afford Switch 2 Will Have Other Switch Platforms Available – Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser also spoke about how he believes that the Nintendo Switch 2 has been appropriately price for the f... Nintendo Switch 2’s Game-Key Cards Won’t be Tied to Specific Nintendo Consoles or Accounts The Game-Key Cards will work like any other physical release of a Switch 2 game, which players can share or ev... Death Stranding Movie Finds its Director Michael Sarnoski, who directed 2024's horror prequel A Quiet Place: Day One, will direct the upcoming A24-prod... Nintendo Switch 2 Won’t Have Achievements, Surprising No One Just like its predecessor, the upcoming next-gen console won't have its own version of Trophies or Achievement... The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remake Will Launch Imminently – Rumour The relentlessly rumoured Virtuos-developed remake will allegedly shadow drop "at any moment this month," a jo... Nintendo Switch 2 – Every Single Detail You Need to Know Before You Buy Get all the crucial details you need on Nintendo's next-gen console.View More

The Nintendo Switch 2 will obviously not be able to offer the same visual quality as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, but so far, it's been shown that it is doing a pretty good job of turning in PS4-level visuals with some select enhancements. During the latest episode of their weekly podcasts, the tech experts at Digital Foundry compared the gameplay footage of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, Hogwarts Legacy, and Elden Ring running on Nintendo Switch shown during last week's Direct with PlayStation 4 footage, highlighting some interesting findings. Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade on Nintendo Switch 2 is comparable to the PlayStation 4 version in terms of resolution and general image quality, but the game benefits from the lighting changes introduced in the Intergrade version, which is not available on Sony's previous-generation console, resulting in much better visuals in some scenarios. Hogwarts Legacy's case is even more interesting, as the game looks somewhat better on Nintendo Switch 2 than on PlayStation 4 with a much sharper and less aliased image despite the lower resolution, 720p vs 1080 upscaled with AMD FSR 1, which suggests that the Switch 2 version may be using a different temporal upscaling solution that returns better image quality. Of the three games, Elden Ring on Nintendo Switch 2 is the game that looks the closest to the PlayStation 4 version, sporting a similar resolution and only slightly higher shadow drawing distance, although the comparison was limited by the bad quality footage available and the difficulty of recreating similar shots. These early comparisons not only highlight how the upcoming console can deliver PS4-level visuals but also how it can deliver better ones, not only because of more modern hardware but also because late ports give the developers the chance to make different choices that can lead to better results, as the Alien Isolation Switch port highlighted a while back by sporting a different image treatment with TAA over the other console versions which delivered better image quality. Additionally, the Nintendo Switch 2 could deliver significantly better experiences in multiplatform ports than base PlayStation 4 thanks to the console's 120 Hz screen. Up until now, 40 FPS modes and HDR support have been considered as some sort of "bonus" modes since 120 Hz panels with HDR support are not standardized, but the Nintendo Switch 2 screen does, meaning that it's very likely we will see 40 FPS modes and HDR support frequently in games. With the console potentially being used more in handheld mode, the 120 Hz is a massive boon, as more advanced ports will have a hard time hitting 60 FPS at 1080p resolution, making a 720p resolution game running at 40 FPS in handheld mode a much better experience than running at 30 FPS. The Nintendo Switch 2 launches worldwide on June 5th. Deal of the Day

لم تكشف OnePlus حتى الآن عن سعر أو موعد إطلاق هاتفها الرائد المدمج القادم، OnePlus 13T، ولكن رئيس الشركة، Louis Lee، بدأ بالفعل بمشاركة تفاصيل عديدة حول تصميم الهاتف.في أحدث تصريحاته، أكد Lee أن OnePlus 13T لن يأتي بمفتاح “شريط التمرير” الشهير الذي ميّز هواتف OnePlus السابقة. وبدلًا من ذلك، سيضم الهاتف مفتاح اختصار جديد، يبدو من خلال التشويقات الأخيرة أنه سيؤدي وظيفة مشابهة لزر “الإجراء” الموجود في طرازات iPhone الحديثة.كما أشار Lee إلى جانب آخر مهم في تصميم الهاتف، حيث قارن شاشة OnePlus 13T مع شاشة iPhone 16 Pro، موضحًا أن الهاتف الجديد سيأتي بحواف فائقة النحافة تضاهي تلك الموجودة في هاتف آبل الرائد.وركّز في حديثه على “التحكم الممتاز في الإطار” الذي يوفره التصميم، بالإضافة إلى الزوايا المستديرة التي تُسهم في تحسين راحة الاستخدام.ومع ذلك، لم تُظهر صورة المقارنة الحافة السفلية للهاتف، ما يفتح احتمال أن تكون أكثر سُمكًا من باقي الحواف. ورغم عدم كشف Lee عن مواصفات الشاشة بالتفصيل، إلا أن التسريبات السابقة تشير إلى أن الهاتف سيأتي بشاشة OLED مسطّحة مقاس 6.3 بوصة بدقة 1.5K.تشير التقارير كذلك إلى أن OnePlus 13T سيأتي بمستشعر بصمة بصري قصير المدى، وهيكل معدني أنيق. وعلى مستوى الأداء، أكدت منصة Antutu أن الهاتف سيعمل بمعالج Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 Elite، إلى جانب 16 جيجابايت من الذاكرة العشوائية و512 جيجابايت من تخزين UFS 4.0 فائق السرعة.من المتوقع أيضًا أن يحمل الهاتف كاميرا خلفية أساسية بدقة 50 ميجابكسل، مع مستشعر تليفوتو بتكبير بصري 2x، بالإضافة إلى بطارية ضخمة بسعة 6200 مللي أمبير، تدعم الشحن السريع بقوة 80 واط.وبحسب المعلومات المتوفرة حتى الآن، من المنتظر إطلاق OnePlus 13T رسميًا في وقت ما من أبريل 2025.المصدر

With just under two months until the Switch 2 launches on June 5, Nintendo is preparing to meet demand for the console, which means inventory has already started shipping out across the world. That's right--the Switch 2 has already landed in the US.In an interview with CNBC, Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser discussed preorders and meeting launch demand. "It remains to be seen," he answered when asked if Nintendo will be able to keep up with demand on launch, "but that certainly is our goal.""We've had some time to build up inventories on a global basis so we really do hope we can meet that demand," Bowser said. "They've even landed already in some of the United States."Continue Reading at GameSpot

Fortnite players now have the ability to purchase Reboot Cards from Reboot Vans for the price of 500 gold in the popular battle royale. As Chapter 6 Season 2 of Fortnite nears its conclusion, rumors are swirling around the internet about the possibility of a full Star Wars season launching in time for May 4.

A long-hidden piece of film history trivia has finally been uncovered. On April 5, New York Times visual investigator Aric Toler announced on Bluesky that he and British academic Alasdair Spark found the original photo that was doctored for the ending of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Despite the fact that this photo is one of the most famous images from any horror movie, its actual origins, and the real-world location where it was taken, were technically unknown for years, which made tracking it down a particularly intriguing project. As Toler explained on Bluesky, the earliest success the pair of investigators found was a suggestion that the original photo, before Jack Nicholson’s head was pasted onto it, was thought to come from the Warner Brothers archives. The only problem is, that archive doesn’t actually exist. This led them (and several Reddit users) to start digging through other archives instead. According to a quote from Toler posted on the Getty Archive Instagram account, facial recognition software was used at some point in the process to identify UK dance instructor Santos Casani in the photograph, which helped the team narrow their search down to photo archives in London specifically. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Getty Images Archive (@gettyarchive) Eventually, their quest led them to the BBC Hulton Archive, now owned by Getty Images, thanks to the advice of Murray Close, a photographer who actually worked on The Shining. After a long search, Toler says that the Vice President of the London archive, Matt Butson, finally located the photo and discovered it was taken at The Empress Ballroom in the Royal Palace Hotel in London, during a Valentine’s Day dance held on Feb. 15, 1921. While Toler’s thread does an excellent job giving a brief overview of the project, he suggests that anyone who’s interested should check out Spark’s recounting of the journey through his Reddit posts as well. Of course, this being The Shining, there’s always another mystery to be uncovered. In this case, Toler asked his Bluesky followers to let him know if anyone can find any other photos of the Royal Palace Hotel’s Empress Ballroom at the time — which it turns out are pretty hard to come by. Correction: A previous version of this story erroneously included an image of a doctored version of the scene in question from The Shining. We’ve replaced the image with the correct reference screenshot.

Moving beyond the feature factory—building better, not just fasterWhy focusing on user impact and sustainable practices trumps endless output in the long run.Photo by Israel Andrade on UnsplashWe’ve all been there. The pressure to deliver, to ship, to do. It’s a familiar hum in the world of design and development. But in the rush, it’s easy to fall into a few common traps that ultimately hinder our progress and the quality of what we create.It’s a topic I’ve explored before in a couple of previous articles, but I wanted to bring my thinking together in a single post to paint a clearer picture of how I view the topic and how we can work more effectively in the long run.It’s a trap!One of the biggest pitfalls is what is known as the “build trap.” We can get so caught up in the act of building, pushing to get something new to the market, that we forget to ask the fundamental question: Are we solving the right problem?After all, it’s tempting to jump straight into solutions, addressing the perceived problem rather than digging deeper to understand the actual user need. Especially when you’ve a stakeholder breathing down your neck reminding you, “We’ve got a hard deadline that we can’t miss or push”, “We’re only releasing this feature to a small number of users so we can come back later and address the quality issues”, and the list of excuses goes on.”In the Build Trap, the focus is on shipping features instead of solving customer problems. This leads to products that are overcomplicated, unused, or poorly received by users.”— Melissa Perri, Escaping the build trapWhen we begin to prioritise output over outcome, measuring the number of designs produced and features shipped (output), valuing these higher than the benefits to internal and external users (outcome) we’ve started down a slippery slope that lead to a lot of wasted effort and be way more costly to correct in the long run. Martin Fowler explains this in more detail, and a lot better than I can within the tradable quality hypothesis, but if your focus shifts to output, then you should be asking: “Are we truly moving the needle and achieving a specific, valuable result, or are we just churning out features?”Why do we value output over outcome?We like to be able to put a number or value to something so it can be quantified, and of the two output is often the one that is more easily quantified and gives the most immediate results compared to outcome, which will often take days, if not weeks, before showing the results of our actions.“We love intensity for the simple reason it’s easy to measure, …We like things that are fixed in time and easily measured.”- Simon Sinek lectureBecause of this, we often face resistance when championing a shift away from outputs, especially from executive teams and leadership if they’re used to counting success by the number of releases published, features pushed, and screens designed. These are not great metrics for showing the value teams are bringing to users.When too much emphasis is placed upon these metrics, it leads to a focus on shipping, which causes corners to be cut, quality to be dropped, team morale to be lowered, and user-focused metrics like retention and activations to be harmed. Thus, we’ve ended up in the “build trap”.How do we escape the build trap?It’s usually at this point that comments around consistency and adding more bodies to teams will automatically solve the problem begin to surface. And while that might seem intuitive on the surface, it usually does more harm than good. Think about it: onboarding new team members, getting everyone aligned on the goals, and ensuring clear communication takes time and effort.Now, that’s not to say it can’t work. It’s an investment, and while it can pay off in the long run, it’s crucial to acknowledge the initial dip in speed. However, this can also start a new problem, which is more work being funnelled into the team as they have more resources and more often than not, this puts you back to square one.So, what do we do? Well, if we’re willing to invest in solving the problem, we should consider building habits of consistency. Create processes, elements, pages, and anything that can be reused. Like building any habit, it takes time at first, but the benefits will quickly follow.Think of consistency as if you’re building a habit. It’s the accumulation of small habits that, when repeated consistently, compound to create significant results. It takes time, sure, but we need to concentrate on creating the processes and routines that lead to results rather than focusing solely on goals.Ultimately, the goal isn’t just to produce more; it’s to produce better. It’s about understanding the problem we’re trying to solve, building a solid and consistent foundation, and focusing on the outcomes we want. By balancing the need for speed with the critical importance of quality and consistency and investing in systems that promote efficiency in the long run, we can build products delivered quickly, effectively, user-friendly, and built to last.Try this…You don’t have to overhaul your entire process in one foul swoop; it’s possible to do this in stages. And you can start as big or as small as you like. Here are three ways in which you can start making a change:Build a culture of ownership.Cultivating a genuine culture of ownership, where teams feel responsible for their features and have their contributions valued, makes a tangible difference. By empowering them to build something they own, rather than just executing a vision, you tap into their intrinsic motivation and trust in their professionalism to deliver quality work, provided clear expectations are set.Build quality into your estimates.Since your team cares about their work, allow them sufficient time to ensure its quality. This means including time for not just development and reviews, but also thorough testing and design evaluations. Prioritizing quality over arbitrary deadlines is essential; as Gabe Newell wisely put it, ‘Late is just for a little while. Suck is forever.’Build a design system.While the idea of a design system might seem daunting for a small startup, consider starting with a foundational set of consistently reused components. This doesn’t need to be a fully tokenized and rigid system, but rather a collection of core elements like inputs or modals that form the building blocks of your product. You don’t need to build everything from scratch; leveraging existing systems like Material or Tailwind can provide a valuable starting point that you can then adapt to your specific needs over time.Here are my previous articles on this topic: Finding the balance: Speed vs Quality and Building Consistency: Why It Matters. Hopefully, I’ve refined the message a bit above now that I’ve had some time to reflect, but I’d love to hear your take on the topic. Share your experiences below, or if you want to continue the conversation, feel free to contact me here, on Substack or on LinkedIn.Moving beyond the feature factory-building better, not just faster was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.I’m frequently asked for recommendations on what robot vacuum to get. While I’ve got favorites, I usually respond with a list of features I’d look for. Each year, robots get so much more advanced that these features change. But if I were buying a robot vacuum tomorrow (or in the next big sale), here’s what I’d look for. Unless you’ve got wall-to-wall carpet, get a vacuum/mop comboGenerally, people shy away from combo products because each new functionality is an additional feature that can break. There’s also a belief that one of the features won’t be as good as the other. For a while, expecting the vacuum and mop to be equally great on robot vacuums was unreasonable, but that’s not true anymore. Furthermore, starting in 2024, robots had AI added to their little robot brains that stopped toggling between vacuuming and mopping—instead, it identifies dirt/detritus, and uses whatever tools it has to fix the problem. The mops have become leagues better than they were,too. One favorite in this regard is the Dreame X50.  Dreame X50 Ultra Robot Vacuum and Mop $1,359.99 at Amazon $1,699.99 Save $340.00 Shop Now Shop Now $1,359.99 at Amazon $1,699.99 Save $340.00 Robots that only vacuum aren’t even cheaper most of the time. For every vacuum, there’s a vacuum/mop combo in the same price range. Unless you’re only working with carpet in your home, get the robot equipped with the most tools for handling your floors, which means a combo. Get a robot that can reach Eureka J15 Ultra reaching sweep and mop pads Credit: Amanda Blum Robot vacuums are generally 11- to 14-inch pancakes of various shapes that surf your floor. In a big open space, they work well, floating over floor debris and stains and cleaning them. But a few years ago, robots were struggling to get up close to the wall and/or to other objects on the floor. This left a band of debris there, so new robots started coming out with sweeps and mops on arms that can reach out from under the robot and get closer to areas the robot can’t. Over the last two years, the reach has become long and more accurate, so in most cases, modern robots can get up close to walls, but their arms can reach into areas the robot can’t reach. Even the Dyson 360 Vis Nav, which I didn’t particularly like, had a very effective side extension that got up to the wall. Robots like the Roborock Saros 10R and the Eureka J15 Ultra have very effective extending arms.  Roborock Saros 10R $1,599.99 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $1,599.99 at Amazon Eureka J15 Pro Ultra Robot Vacuum and Mop $999.99 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $999.99 at Amazon Dyson 360 Vis Nav Vacuum $999.99 at Best Buy Shop Now Shop Now $999.99 at Best Buy SEE 0 MORE The dock matters as much as the robotMuch attention is paid to the robots themselves: their suction power, their mop pads, how low to the ground they are, if they can climb stairs. However, the dock is an equal partner in how well your vacuum works. To keep your robot functioning at peak performance and to keep your life easier, you want to look for specific features. I recommend docks that have removable trays in the base, so you can pull them out entirely to clean, rather than getting on the floor and trying to shove your hand into the back of the dock to try and clean it, as you had to on pre-2024 models. All modern Roborock models have this, as did the Eureka J15. But not all vacuums do. These days I also look for docks with a receptacle for cleaning fluid. This will auto-inject the cleanser into each batch of fresh water, so you don’t have to manually add it. In the best case scenario, this is a container you can refill with cleanser of your choice (like the Eureka J15), instead of a disposable, proprietary cleanser cartridge from the company (as with the Dreame models).  Lastly, I cannot stress enough how important it is to check the water capacity of the dock. On both Narwal models, the Freo Z and the Freo X, I had to replace the water after every single run of the robot, making it much less autonomous. The roller design translates to how autonomous your robot will be Split roller design on Saros 10 Credit: Amanda Blum Underneath all robots are the rollers, which are either singular or double, and are what sweeps debris off the floor and into the robot itself, aided by the suction power of the robot. The rollers are also where hair gets caught, debris gets stuck, and paper clogs the robot. The design of these rollers has changed dramatically over the years, but the most effective rollers I’ve seen recently were the Roborock split design, where two rollers did not meet in the middle, giving debris an easier passage into the robot. I saw this design on the Saros 10 and the Saros 10R.While the roller on the Dyson 360 Vis Nav was also great since it featured big fluffy brushes on the roller, the robot sat so low to the ground that a lot of debris could not be accessed by the roller, and was pushed around instead. Rollers with silicone fins—which most older models (and all Roombas) sport—are easily sliced through by human and dog hair, meaning they need to be replaced often.  A lifting chassis will make the mop more effective Dreame x50 lifting chassis Credit: Amanda Blum Much emphasis is placed on robots that can “climb,” which will hopefully become robots that can climb stairs.  The closest we’ve come so far is the Saros 10 and the Dreame X50, both of which can surmount a threshold of a few inches (the Dreame did a far more competent job of this).  More important than climbing, the technology robots use to lift themselves, where the front of the robot chassis is lifted, exerts pressure on the backend of the robot, where the mop is. This has a much needed effect of helping the mop pads dig into the grime on the floor, allowing for more contact and pressure. While most robot mops glide over floors, and can get up surface stains, particularly wet ones, they struggle with grime. But robots like the Saros 10 and Dreame X50 did a better job than other mops because of the pressure put upon the mop pads.

Anyone else feel like half the time their phone rings these days it's spam? Sometimes there's an alert before you even pick up, but other times it takes being in the call to know. Well, Google is now making it easier to do the latter, adding in-call scam detection to the Pixel Watch.  The new AI-powered feature gives a loud beep at the start of the call and every couple minutes afterward. It will give a notification, beep and vibration in cases where a scam is very likely. You can dismiss the notification from the watch if you know it's not a scam. Try it out by turning on scam detection in settings.  There's a few caveats, as the in-call scam detection works only on the Pixel watch 2 or 3. They also need to be connected by Bluetooth to a Pixel 9 or newer phone. It's also only available right now in the US and for English-language calls.  Google first introduced the feature to select phones in beta last November. It's now available on the Pixel 9 and newer devices, but this addition lets you see the notification without ever taking out your phone. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/google-brings-in-call-scam-notifications-to-pixel-watches-120008825.html?src=rss

Google fixed more than 60 flaws including a few critical ones.