Kaitlyn Dever joins the cast of HBO's The Last of Us for its upcoming season season, playing the role of Abby. Season 2 is wrapped up and set for debut on April 13, and Dever was recently asked to discuss what her last day on set was like. She can't remember, however.She told The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet for the SAG Awards that she "genuinely can't remember" the last day on set, stressing that's the honest truth and that HBO has not forbade her from discussing Season 2."It was like a really crazy time. I feel like I was floating through set, truly, so my memory on it is a bit lost," she said (via Bleeding Cool).Continue Reading at GameSpot

Mecha BREAK is Amazing Seasun games' answer to the problem mecha fansincluding its development teamhave grappled with for decades: there simply aren't many competitive mecha games that deliver a sense of speed, power fantasy, and mechanized violence to a satisfying degree. If anything can be said about Mecha BREAK, it's that the game ticks all three boxes with extreme prejudice. Aside from Armored Core by which Mecha BREAK is heavily influenced, the most popular mecha games are also limited by how preexisting franchise mecha must be adapted to fill a gameplay role. With a distinctly hero shooter-feeling collection of Strikers, Mecha BREAK benefits from its freedom to tailor each design to a specific, unique playstyle suitable for equally specific tastes.

For shoppers who've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to grab a high-quality 4K TV for their entertainment center, the Sony Bravia K-75S30 75-inch 4K TV is now available at a lower price than ever before. This model, packed with smart features and optimized for streaming and gaming, is currently listed at $848, which is 23% less than its regular, fairly competitive $1,099.99 price. With 4K resolution, Dolby Vision HDR, advanced image processing, and PlayStation 5-exclusive features, there isn't much that this Sony TV doesn't provide. It's imperative, though, that you act quickly if you want to secure the deal.

So theres this silly new co-op game you have to check out. You and your friends play as a bunch of little guys wearing oversized helmets. You have to rescue a princess. By the way, its 2008, this game is called Castle Crashers, and life is good. #yolo!Wait, Im so sorry, I have some of those details wrong Its actually 2025, this game is called Big Helmet Heroes, and life is [Ed note: adjective redacted]. Were not saying yolo anymore, are we?Youll hopefully understand my mistake. Big Helmet Heroes, released last month for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X, is functionally a high-fidelity spin on Castle Crashers, a popular 2008 beat-em-up by developer The Behemoth that helped pave the way for an indie game revolution in the late 2000s and early 2010s.This comparison is not an exaggeration, by the way, nor is it a put-down. But the similarities are undeniable. Its not just the princess-saving or the medieval vibes or the whimsically anachronistic music. Even the first major boss crashes through a gate in the same manner as Castle Crashers first boss.That said, there are a handful of aspects that could count as differences on a technicality. Big Helmet Heroes eschews the cartoonish look of Castle Crashers for an art style that resembles, or at least aims for, photorealism. In Castle Crashers, you could level up heroes individually, and they each wielded unique weapons. Big Helmet Heroes stars 29 characters, and while they all wear comically oversized helmets, you cant level them up. They all neatly fall into one of four weapon archetypes: sword, staff, daggers, or giant hammer.To unlock additional characters beyond your starting roster, you need to scour hidden corners in each of the games levels. These other unlockable characters arent too varied, although each one comes with a different special ability. And some of these abilities are game-changers: One freezes all nearby enemies, while another creates a localized zone of bullet time, while yet another immerses all nearby enemies in bubbles, as they flail helplessly while floating off screen. (Others are less helpful: One ability floods the screen with sheep.)As such, much of the fun in Big Helmet Heroes comes not just from beating levels but from exploring each one to look for new little guys (with big helmets). But the best part? You can play the entire game with a friend while and this is the most important sitting next to that friend. Such is the state of the games industry where, if a game has couch co-op, Im gonna check it out for at least a little bit.Its no secret that couch co-op has slipped from a welcome feature to one thats barely present in the biggest games. And in the rare cases where it does exist, it feels tacked on. Save for some Nintendo games, getting a local lobby in Call of Duty or Gears of War or whatever practically requires a user manual. Even the Halo series, which pretty much minted the Mountain Dew-fueled pastime of sitting on the couch with your friends and shooting make-believe aliens, forwent local campaign co-op a decade ago. (You can still play competitive multiplayer locally.)Yet Big Helmet Heroes carries the flame, and further heralds a strong year for couch co-op games. The shooters Revenge of the Savage Planet and Borderlands 4 will include local co-op when they launch in May and September respectively. The hack-and-slash Towerborne will support up to four players locally when it exits early access and lands on Xbox later this year. Just next month, Split Fiction, the next game from It Takes Two developer Hazelight Studios, launches with multi-genre-verse gameplay that not only supports but actively encourages playing side by side with a friend, though youll also be able play with that friend online.No, a Castle Crashers spiritual successor isnt the hero (with big helmets) that we deserve. Its the one we needed.Big Helmet Heroeswas released Feb. 6 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed on Xbox Series X using a download code provided by Exalted Studio. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can findadditional information about Polygons ethics policy here.

The third and final volume in The Art of Destiny series published by Bungie is now available from the Bungie Store for $49.99. The 272-page, hardcover, coffee table book features an expansive collection of concept art for weapons, characters, environments, and enemies from the live-service shooter with accompanying commentary from the development team. Regardless of how you feel about the current state of Destiny 2 and its increasingly unhinged crossovers, you cant deny that it has some outstanding visual design. While the book is already available from the Bungie Store, if you can handle waiting until April 15, you also have the option to pre-order from Amazon.Below weve provided an exclusive preview of some of the excellent art you can expect from the third volume.If youd like to complete this series of visual companion guides for Destiny, Volumes 1 and 2 are currently available from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. The first volume encompasses the earliest days of the original Destiny, while the second volume prominently features visual designs from the sequel that debuted in 2017. Bungie has also published a volume specifically for all the gun nuts out there with Destiny: The Exotic Collection Volume One, which includes a 179-page book featuring renders and accompanying lore for every Destiny 2 exotic weapon featured up to the Season of the Lost.

Nestled in the Pedrezuela municipality of Madrid, Spain, Oak House by MUKA Arquitectura is shows how architecture can integrate seamlessly with its natural surroundings. The design takes cues from the sites defining features a pair of majestic oak trees, a reflective water surface, and the expansive horizon to shape a home that both responds to and respects the environment.The orientation and form of the house are dictated by its context. The southern entrance, a subtle and continuous curve, creates a gentle transition into the dwelling. Meanwhile, the northern facade, featuring a striking double-height glass wall, embraces the landscape while subtly bending to accommodate an existing oak tree. These deliberate gestures highlight the structures deference to nature, capturing the essence of what existed before and what has been introduced.A key design element is the interplay of views and topography. The north-facing facade capitalizes on the sloping terrain, positioning interior spaces in a diagonal sequence that enhances both spatial flow and daylight penetration. This cascading arrangement ensures that every level is bathed in natural light while maintaining a strong connection to the outdoors.Structurally, the house is a study in material efficiency and coherence. Concrete serves as both the primary structural element and the defining aesthetic feature. Its adaptability allows for the creation of floating platforms that form a continuous, upward-moving spatial experience. This ascending path traversing from the communal zones at the base to the secluded, private spaces at the upper levels establishes a gradient of intimacy and function.Notice the floating concrete bathtub attached to the shower in the cylindrical column? The occupants can soak while taking in the surrounding views framed by the wall of windows.The construction technique employs a dual-layered concrete shell with integrated insulation, blurring the line between inside and out. This monolithic approach ensures that the material fulfills multiple roles, from enclosure and support to housing essential systems within its very fabric. The result is a structure that embodies rawness and restraint, standing as a timeless expression of architectural purity.Despite its heavy concrete construction, the interior feels open and airy thanks to the large windows and floating platforms that allow light to pass through. Wooden elements, like the window frames, kitchen cabinets, and curved wooden edge framing the upstairs mezzanine, add warmth to the typically cold feeling of most concrete homes.The non-public spaces are formed through a series of floating levels that hover above the ground floor at different heights. The areas feel open while also having an element of privacy appreciated in a bedroom.For more information on the Oak House or MUKA Arquitectura, visit mukaarquitectura.com.Photography by Adri Goula.

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.Whether you're shopping for your very first security camera or already have a system at home you're looking to grow, you might find something worthwhile in Amazon's sale section on Ring and Blink cameras. As Amanda Blum, our smart-home tech reviewer at Lifehacker, mentioned in her review, the Blink Outdoor 4 is a worthwhile entry-level wireless security cameraand right now, you can get bundles for up to 50% off, with the five-camera bundle for $199.99 (originally $399.99). This is the lowest price I have seen for this particular bundle, after checking price-tracking tools. Wireless smart security camera, two-year battery, 1080p HD day and infrared night live view, two-way Blink Outdoor 4 $99.99 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $99.99 at Amazon Wireless smart security camera, two-year battery, 1080p HD day and infrared night live view, two-way Blink Outdoor 4 (2-Pack) $119.99 at Amazon $179.99 Save $60.00 Get Deal Get Deal $119.99 at Amazon $179.99 Save $60.00 Wireless smart security camera, two-year battery, 1080p HD day and infrared night live view, two-way Blink Outdoor 4 (3-Pack) $155.99 at Amazon $259.99 Save $104.00 Get Deal Get Deal $155.99 at Amazon $259.99 Save $104.00 Wire-free smart security camera, two-year battery life, two-way audio, HD live view, enhanced motion Blink Outdoor 4 (4-Pack) $203.99 at Amazon $339.99 Save $136.00 Get Deal Get Deal $203.99 at Amazon $339.99 Save $136.00 Wire-free smart security camera, two-year battery life, two-way audio, HD live view, enhanced motion Blink Outdoor 4 (5-Pack) $199.99 at Amazon $399.99 Save $200.00 Get Deal Get Deal $199.99 at Amazon $399.99 Save $200.00 Wire-free smart security camera, two-year battery life, two-way audio, HD live view, enhanced motion Blink Outdoor 4 (6-Pack) $239.99 at Amazon $479.99 Save $240.00 Get Deal Get Deal $239.99 at Amazon $479.99 Save $240.00 Wire-free smart security camera, two-year battery life, two-way audio, HD live view, enhanced motion Blink Outdoor 4 (8-Pack) $314.99 at Amazon $629.99 Save $315.00 Get Deal Get Deal $314.99 at Amazon $629.99 Save $315.00 SEE 4 MORE The Blink Outdoor 4 is a wireless camera, meaning you'll be using 2 AA lithium batteries, which last for up to two years. The camera is also weather-resistant, has motion-activation alerts, a live-view mode (up to five minutes without a Blink subscription plan), shoots in 1080p, has two-way audio, and works great with the Alexa ecosystem. (Unfortunately, it is not compatible with Google or Apple Home Kit.) You'll get a Sync Module 2 with your order, which gives you local storage for your videos with a USB stick for up to 10 cameras, meaning you don't need to get the Blink subscription if you don't want to. The camera offers a 143-degree diagonal view wherever you set it up, and an optional person-detection feature if you get the Blink subscription plan.Keep in mind you will need a Blink subscription to use all of its features. The Blink subscription starts at $30 a year for the Blink Basic Plan. You can also get the Blink Plus Plan, which costs $100 a year and has more features, the most important of which is having an unlimited number of devices hooked up to your account.

As egg prices skyrocket, you too may be considering if it would be cheaper going straight to the source and raising your own flock. As the steward of four sweet but dimwitted backyard chickens, I'll caution that it's more expensive than you thinkbut with prices spiking as high as $1 per egg in some areas, it may be worth considering.Each day, I reliably pull three or four gorgeously colored eggs out of my backyard chicken coop. They're free! I think to myself. But these eggs are only free if one ignores the costs of feeding, sheltering, protecting, and entertaining a flock of tiny, feathered dinosaurs. Now, most people with backyard birds arent going the cheap route. You can definitely spend a lot raising fancy chickens that lay fancifully colored eggs, residing in Pinterest-worthy chicken coops and feasting on organic feed. By those standards, its definitely cheaper to buy your eggs. But is it possible to save money raising chickens by going the cheap route, and populating a merely serviceable coop with a few hardy egg layers? Whether or not you can save money farming your own eggs turns out to be a question of scaleand no matter how high egg prices go, its likely going to be cheaper to buy them in the store. Credit: Amanda Blum Chickens arent expensive, but the accessories can beLets start with the chickens themselves. You can purchase chickens as chicks just a few days old, and they are deceptively cheap. Your local farm store will likely have them in the spring and into the summer for $3 to $6 each, depending on the breed. These will be the pedestrian breeds of the birdsRhode Island Reds, Brahmas, and White Leghornswhich is fine if your priority is a bird that will produce a lot of eggs and be weather-resilient. More exclusive breeds can go for as much as $25 per chick.Older birds cost moreYou dont have to start with chicks. Some places will sell you pouletschickens that are at least 15 weeks old. While the purchase price is higher (depending on breed, they can go for $30 to $60), these chickens can go straight into a backyard coop and will begin laying within a month or two.Paying $30 for a chicken might seem expensive when you can get a chick for $a tenth of that, but there are some financial benefits to skipping the early stages of chicken rearing. You wont have to buy a brooder, heater, chick waterer or feeder, (which will save you between $100 and $150, all told), and you wont need to shelter the chicken inside. You can also skip out on buying chick food and chick grit. At 15 weeks, your chickens can eat layer (adult) feed, which isnt cheaper, but at least none of it will go to waste when your chicks outgrow their chick feed.But skipping the chick phase means you miss the opportunity to bond with your chickens. Raising my chicks inside and exposing my dog to them while they were small led to them being able to cohabitate once the chickens were grown. If Id dropped poulets into the backyard, I doubt Id have a relationship with them, and Im pretty sure my dog would have viewed them as mobile chicken nuggets.You can get lucky and find someone on Craigslist or in a neighborhood faming group who needs to rehome their chickens. Those chickens are often fully grown layersand, even better, available for free.Your coop will be your biggest expenseAdult chickens start laying eggs around six months old, but before that, you'll face a lot of one-time expenses, biggest among them a chicken coop. You can build a very simple coop yourself, but that's a risk. Your birds will face backyard aggressors (racoons, dogs, cats, vermin, and other wildlife) and your coop needs to keep them out, and a basic DIY coop might not be up to the task. Your coop's design will also impact how easy it is to tend to your flock. It needs to be tall enough to walk into so you can collect eggs and clean the coop out without having to stoop. How you design your laying boxes can determine how clean and easy it is to pull your eggs every day. The coop will need winter insulation, even if you have hardy chickens. So even if you build a coop, at minimum its still going to cost you a few hundred dollars in wood, construction fabric, wire, and other materials. Pre-built coops, meanwhile run from hundreds of dollars to thousands.Your adult birds will need a waterer as well as a feeder. Youll also likely want to buy them some toys like a swing or mirror, because even though they are dumb, they need mental stimulation too. You'll even need to buy fake eggs so these bird brains know where to lay. All of that is going to cost you another $100 or so.Monthly costs can add upRemember, chickens dont start laying eggs for about six months, so you'll spend at least that long paying out to support freeloading chickens. But once youve dispensed with the startup costs, youve got recurring monthly costs to deal with toothough at least the chickens should be producing eggs by that point.Each month, youll need to budget for food, grit, and oyster shells or another source of calcium. Youll also need treats of some kind. On top of that, youll need material for the bedding in the coop, like pine shavings, hemp, or sand. A grown chicken eats about 1.5 lbs of food a week. Theyll grab grit as they need it, and chickens only need a quarter pound of it a month, but it adds up as your flock grows. Hens will eat as much calcium as they need, which means that if there isnt enough calcium in your laying feed or treats, youll need a lot of crushed oyster shells.Don't forget the "soft costs" of chicken raisingOne of the reasons egg prices have skyrocketed is that the cost of all the inputs (from feed to grit) have gone up. The other reason is bird flu, which is now raging in every state in America. Your backyard flock is no less at risk than commercial birds, and ensuring your birds' safety is going to take work. Recommended biosecurity measures include keeping wild birds out of the shared yard, keeping one pair of shoes exclusively for when you're walking into a space you share with your birds, and ensuring that you watch for signs of sickness in your flock. If youve got cats, you may want to think twice about a backyard flock bird flu can be transmitted to cats, and is almost always fatal. All of the extra work to keep your birds safe comes at a cost of your time, and unlike a commercial egg production house, you wont be routinely testing your eggs for bird flu, so youll need to make sure you always cook them thoroughly.Will your backyard flock save you money? (Probably not.)So even if you keep things very lean, you're looking at $500 to $800 of startup costs for your chickens. (For my own flock of four, I spent almost $2,200 for an insulated coop, some basic toys, and all their chick gear.) On a monthly basis, I spend $40 for food, another $65 on grubs, $15 on pine shavings, and $9 on oyster shells and grit. Thats $130 a month, which yields 90 to 120 eggs (chickens dont always lay an egg every day, and are only active layers for a few years). You don't have to be a math whiz to see that at this scale scale, and considering the monthly expenses, you'll never save money over buying from the storeeven if you actually were buying 120 eggs a month at $1 each.Do the "chicken math"This is why chicken math exists. This term describes the tendency of chicken owners to add more birds, with the idea that the more chickens they have, the cheaper their eggs will become. Once youve got the startup costs covered, going from four to 10 chickens isnt that much more expensive, and taking care of 10 chickens isnt fundamentally different from taking care for four. I realize that you likely dont need the eggs of 10 chickens (unless you do need 300 eggs a month?) but your per-egg production costs will go down as you scale up, which is why most backyard flock owners end up selling some of their eggs back to the farm store or to neighbors.Depending on your personal startup costs, your egg needs, and your willingness to set up shop as an egg salesperson, there is a break-even point here somewhere, but it's unlikely you'll reach it without significant effort.Chickens are fun to raise even if they don't save you moneyBut "free" eggs arent the only reason to start a backyard flock. Despite the mess my chickens cause in my yard, or the fact that they peck and scream at my bedroom window first thing in the morning, demanding grubs, I love the stupid birds. They have become my companions, and I enjoy the tasks of caring for them. Theyve even taken to watching TV with me while perched on the rosebush outside the living room windowall four fuzzy butts lined up on the branch. Every time I get annoyed with them, I remember they do pay rent, after a fashion: Four pastel colored eggs, every day.

My dream of a Sayonara Wild Heartssequel might never be fulfilled, but the sudden arrival of an enhanced version for PS5 just filled my heart on a dreary Monday. Publisher Annapurna Interactive announced the upgrade for the 2019 rhythm action game during its latest showcase.The PS5 edition includes support for 4K visuals, 120 fps gameplay and haptic feedback via the DualSense controller. There's also a new unlockable mode called Remix Arcade that's only available on this PS5 version. Here, you'll try to nail high scores across random chunks of levels with no loading time between each. Developer Simogo notes that the mode will get progressively faster to add to the challenge.Simogo had some downtime while figuring out its next big project after Lorelai and the Laser Eyesand the opportunity came up to bring Sayonara Wild Hearts to PS5. The PS4 version already works on the console and the team wasn't really interested in only upgrading the fidelity.However, the studio "thought about the hardware and what type of experience that would only be possible on it and remembered that PlayStation 5 has a very fast SSD, which would allow for the type of quick loading we needed for our long lost Infinite Shuffle mode." Along with adding some new art and sound assets, the renamed Remix Arcade has "a random element that [will] sometimes mirror the level visually to keep players on their toes," the studio said.Best of all, the enhanced edition for PS5 is a free upgrade from the PS4 version. Sayonara Wild Hearts is also available in the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog. Otherwise, it costs $13.Sayonara Wild Hearts is one of my favorite games of all time, so I'm more than happy to have an excuse to play through its riotously fun, heart-mending story yet again. I'm tempted to plug my PS VR2 headset back in to let the stylized art and signature neon purple wash over my eyes as the dreamy pop soundtrack fills my ears.Here's hoping Annapurna brings the game back to iOS as well it left Apple Arcade a few months ago. I need to have Sayonara Wild Hearts available at all times. It's not enough to have it on PS5, Steam Deck, Switch and PC (can you tell I like this game a whole lot?).This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/an-enhanced-version-of-sayonara-wild-hearts-for-ps5-is-out-now-174752837.html?src=rss

As the world turns, so do the console generations. The Nintendo Switch is over seven years old, so its due for a refresh. Nintendo Switch 2 rumors have been swirling for years, but now we have some signs of life. The company officially revealed the sequel to its most successful home console ever in a brief trailer on January 16.The Switch 2 looks functionally very similar to the original system, albeit with a larger display, magnetic Joy-Cons and a sleeker design. The company also reaffirmed that the upcoming console will be backwards compatible with Switch games.While the reveal did confirm some rumors and have a few interesting details for those who were paying close attention, Nintendo is still largely keeping its cards close to its chest. We'll have to wait until a special Nintendo Direct at 9AM ET on April 2 for all the juicy information. Annoyingly, that date is a Wednesday and not a Two-sday.The Nintendo Switch 2 was announced on January 16The rumor mill had heavily suggested that Nintendo would pull back the curtain on the Switch 2 on January 16, and that turned out to be the case.The company hasn't changed the core form factor. It's a portable console with detachable Joy-Cons. The Switch 2 can be placed in a dock for big-screen gaming. There are some significant differences from the original console, however.The most obvious one is that the next-gen Joy-Cons will no longer slide into place mechanically. Instead, they'll attach to the main unit magnetically. There is a small connector that's likely used to charge the controllers and perhaps remove the need to link them via Bluetooth. It's unclear at this point if Joy-Cons from the original system will be compatible with the Switch 2.One other big (and very welcome) change is the addition of a second USB-C port on the top of the device. That should make it much easier to plug in accessories while the Switch 2 is docked. It's great to see that Nintendo has kept the headphone jack as well. Let's just hope that Bluetooth headphone support is live from the jump this time and Nintendo doesn't leave everyone waiting four yearsfor that feature.The kickstand is getting an upgrade as well. As with the Switch OLED, it spans the length of the console. But, according to the trailer, this one looks fully adjustable, so you can tweak the viewing angle to one that works for you.However, there are still a great many unknowns regarding the upcoming console. We don't really know the specs yet, or what type of display it uses. We also don't know anything about battery life, the UI or launch games. We'll likely learn a whole lot on April 2.When will the Nintendo Switch 2 come out?2025. That's all we know for sure at this point.It's highly unlikely that Nintendo will release the console before the dedicated Direct on April 2, and not only because that's at the start of Nintendo's next financial year. However, accessory manufacturer Genki, which has been a major source of leaks in recent months, claims the console will be released in April. Other reports have put the release window sometime in June.In any case, we should learn the release date during the April 2 Direct if we haven't already by then.When can I try the Nintendo Switch 2?Nintendo is planning a worldwide roadshow to let gamers go hands-on with the console. These events start in New York and Paris on April 3-6, with others taking place throughout the following two months. That lends credence to some suggestions that Nintendo will release the Switch 2 in June.Ticket registration for the Switch 2 Experience events in the US (in New York, Los Angeles and Paris) starts on January 17 at 3PM ET and will remain open until January 26. A Nintendo Account is required to sign up. Nintendo will randomly select the recipients of the free tickets.The full list of Nintendo Switch 2 Experience events is as follows:North America:New York, April 4-6, 2025Los Angeles, April 11-13, 2025Dallas, April 25-27, 2025Toronto, April 25-27, 2025Europe:Paris, April 4-6, 2025London, April 11-13, 2025Milan, April 25-27, 2025Berlin, April 25-27, 2025Madrid, May 9-11, 2025Amsterdam, May 9-11, 2025Oceania:Melbourne, May 10-11, 2025Asia:Tokyo (Makuhari), April 26-27, 2025Seoul, May 31-June 1, 2025Hong Kong, To be announcedTaipei, To be announcedWill the Nintendo Switch 2 have some weirdness?Everything we've seen and so far about this console has been fairly, well, traditional. It looks like the original Switch, but better. That's awesome, but will there be any of that unpredictable Nintendo magic? Maybe! There are two puzzling additions that folks can't make hide nor hair of.Genki, the accessories manufacturer, just published a landing page for their Nintendo Switch 2 accessories. This landing page features a video that includes a very detailed look at a Switch 2 mockup. pic.twitter.com/Db7RSk4YlQ Bob Wulff (@BobWulff) January 8, 2025 Keen eyes will have noticed a new button on the bottom of the right Joy-Con. It it not yet clear what this does. Could it initiate voice chat during gameplay? Could it calibrate the controllers? Could it create a room-sized hologram of Bowser in your living room? We'll have to wait and see.Now onto the updated Joy-Cons. There appears to be a new sensor on the connecting side of each controller. It looks a whole lot like an optical sensor, which is what a computer mouse uses. This has led to speculation that players will be able to flip the Joy-Con over and use it like a mouse. Of note: the trailer shows the Joy-Cons moving along a flat surface, connector side down and looking suspiciously like a mouse.But why would anyone even want this? I can think of three words. New Mario Paint.Genki reveal isnt a mockup, its straight up just the Switch 2, optical sensor is literally flashing in this shot @Stealth40k #Switch2 pic.twitter.com/COeLsonqMd Ash (@Ashinarii) January 8, 2025 Mouse control isnt the only too strange for any company but Nintendo rumor floating around. A patent filed by the company suggests you can swap the Switch 2s Joy-Cons, snapping them onto either side of the console. That would align with the magnetic Joy-Con attachment scheme.But much like the weird mouse rumors, it doesnt necessarily align with, well, any logical reason for why youd want to do that. The patent suggests it could allow for more user choice in where the headphone jack is. But since its Nintendo, the company that brought us Labo cardboard peripherals and the Game Boy Advance e-reader attachment, we have to wonder if there are quirkier designs at hand.Is the Nintendo Switch 2 backwards compatible?The company confirmed in November 2024 that the Nintendo Switch 2 will be backwards compatible. It will also feature access to Nintendo Online, so users will be able to play all of those old retro titles.In the initial Nintendo Switch 2 press release, Nintendo reiterated that physical and digital Switch games will work on the new system. However, it noted that "certain Nintendo Switch games may not be supported on or fully compatible with Nintendo Switch 2." More details about which games those are will be revealed later.Will old games be enhanced in any way?The original Switch has, to put it mildly, struggled to run some of the late-generation software that's come down the pike. Could these games be enhanced to take advantage of the increased horsepower of the Switch 2? We have no idea. We also don't know if any of these releases will receive graphical upgrades, perhaps taking advantage of upscaling tech.What will the cartridges taste like?You may remember that the original Switch cartridges taste absolutely awful. This was on purpose, to discourage folks from putting the games in their mouth. Will the successor follow suit and continue to dip cartridges in a foul-tasting bitter coating? Only time will tell.What about specs?The rumors regarding specs are all over the place, so its tough to pin down. We know one thing for sure: Itll be more powerful than the ancient Switch hardware, which was already antiquated back in 2017. One analyst allegedly got a hold of a spec sheet from the Korean United Daily News that said the Switch 2 would boast an eight-core Cortex-A78AE processor, 8GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal eMMC storage. This tracks for me, as these specs are about as underpowered in 2024 as the original Switch was in 2017. However, some reports do indicate that the console will include 12GB of RAM.Another source suggests that the eight-core CPU will be packaged inside an NVIDIA-produced Tegra239 SoC (system on a chip). Given the current Switch runs on an NVIDIA chip, that makes a lot of sense. The CPU will be more powerful, but it's the Switch 2's new GPU that will be a major differentiator. It's all-but-confirmed that the Switch 2 will support DLSS, NVIDIA's "deep learning supersampling" upscaling tech, which would allow the console to render games at a low resolution internally while outputting a high-resolution image. (Fun fact: We actually wrote about how perfect DLSS was for the Nintendo Switch 2 when the technology was announced alongside the RTX 20 series back in 2018.)There are still questions about the Switch 2 and DLSS: Will the system support newer DLSS features like frame generation? Will existing games be automatically tidied up by NVIDIA's algorithm? Regardless of the exact implementation, DLSS upscaling will be a huge leap over the rudimentary techniques available to Nintendo Switch developers.As for the display, there are many conflicting rumors. Early reports from solid sources suggested the Switch 2 would have an 8-inch display LCD display. The Switch 2's display certainly looks larger than that of the original Switch in a side-by-side comparison in the reveal trailer. Some folks have worried that the Switch follow-up may actually be too big, especially for kids.Certain analysts have suggested this would be an OLED screen, while others have said it would be a Mini-LED display. A Mini-LED display is basically an LCD display that has a backlight made of (surprise!) mini-LEDs rather than edge lighting. This allows for local dimming, making the blacks more black. Im hedging my bets here. I think itll be a standard LCD, to cut costs, with an OLED or Mini-LED model coming later down the line. However, Mini-LED screens are slightly cheaper than OLED displays, so thats certainly a possibility at launch.As for resolution, recent reporting suggests that the console will output 1080p in handheld and 4K when docked. That's much better than the OG Switch.More tenuous leaks have intimated that the Switch 2 could also support a faster microSD card standard known as microSD Express. This allows for significantly faster transfer rates than the common UHS-I cards supported by the Switch today. Its technically been around for several years, but weve only recently started to see microSD cards that take advantage of the spec hit the market.We actually tested one of them from SanDisk for our microSD card buying guide and found it could reach sequential read speeds up to around 900 MB/s. With the current Switch, microSD transfer speeds top out closer to 100 MB/s.So, in theory, all of this could bring a sizable boost in load times and general storage performance for the Switch 2 (though its still not likely to be on par with the SSDs in the PS5 or Xbox Series X/S). But again, these rumors are far from concrete. Its also worth noting that microSD Express cards cost significantly more than what we usually see today the SanDisk card we tested, for instance, starts at $45 for just 128GB of storage.How much will the Nintendo Switch 2 cost?We don't have too much information regarding price but we do have plenty of history to work with. The original Nintendo Switch launched at $300, which is pretty much the "magic number" when it comes to Nintendo console releases in recent years. The Wii U also came in at $300.However, there are plenty of rumors circulating that Nintendo could be upping the asking price for the Switch 2. Numerous outlets have reported it'll be $400, or potentially even more expensive. However, the same analysts who say the console will be $400 were also fairly certain it would be out by the end of 2024 and, well, that didn't happen.Dipping back into history, there is some precedence for a price uptick. The GameCube was $200 and the Wii was $250. The Wii U and Switch increased to $300 and, well, numbers like to go up. A $400 price tag would make it nearly as expensive as a PS5 and Xbox Series X. That would also put it at the same price as the 256GB LCD Steam Deck.Again, we should get confirmation of the price during the April 2 Nintendo Direct.Do we know about any launch games?Not so much. The reveal trailer offered a peek at a new Mario Kart game. Nintendo released Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U over a decade ago and it's been milking that cash cow ever since, having sold more than 64 million copies of the game across that console and the Switch. It's definitely time for a new entry!It's certainly been a long time since weve gotten a proper 3D Mario adventure as well, so a new one could be a launch title. That would be one heck of a system seller. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine. Past as prologue, we can expect something from Ubisoft and an off-the-wall title like 1-2-Switch.If theres a gimmick or hook involved with the console, well also get a game that takes advantage of that. A dual release of Metroid Prime 4, just like Breath of the Wild and Twilight Princess before that, is also a possibility.It's all but nailed on that we'll learn much more about the Switch 2 launch lineup during the April 2 Nintendo Direct, which starts at 9AM ET. You'll definitely want to set your Alarmo for that one.That's everything we know about the Nintendo Switch 2 today. We'll update this article with rumors we trust and with information we gather directly from sources. Any changes made to the article after its initial publishing will be listed below.Update, February 24, 2025, 12:30 PM ET: This story has been updated to include speculation about storage and information about the new microSD Express standard.Update, January 24, 2025, 12:36 PM ET: This story has been updated to include speculation about price, potential game enhancements and the taste of cartridges.Update, February 5, 2025, 9:30AM ET: This story has been updated to note the time when the April 2 Nintendo Direct starts.Jeff Dunn contributed to this report.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-switch-2-is-launching-soon-heres-everything-we-know-so-far-153308958.html?src=rss