(Credit: René Ramos; Nintendo; Sora)The Best Games on Every Platform Animal Crossing: New Horizons Animal Crossing: New Horizons (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent No game may end up defining 2020 more than Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Nintendo’s adorable life simulator has always had its fans. However, with the real world under lockdown, countless players have flocked to their own virtual islands to find community. Paying a mortgage to a raccoon is a small price to pay for the freedom to relax in your own social life again. Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re-Boot Camp 4.0 Excellent Fire Emblem isn't Nintendo's only awesome strategy series. If you prefer soldiers and tanks over knights and horses, check out Advance Wars and its terrific turn-based tactics. This remake includes campaigns from the first two Game Boy Advance games, offering hours upon hours of brilliantly designed missions. You can also design your own maps and play against friends online. Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re-Boot Camp review ARMS ARMS (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent ARMS is Nintendo's newest take on the fighting game genre. It combines cartoonish aesthetics, sci-fi weapons, and arm-stretching boxing into an accessible, offbeat fighter with a lot of variety. It's a polished, fun, competitive game that bears more than a passing visual similarity to Splatoon. Though time will tell if ARMS gains any momentum within the esports scene, the game offers plenty of opportunity to swing fists at your friends. Bayonetta 2 Bayonetta 2 (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Bayonetta 2 is another fantastic game that launched on the wrong system. Years later its initial release, Bayo 2 still stands as one of the best action games out there, and now that it's been ported from the Wii U to the Switch it can get the attention and devotion it deserves. Tight controls, robust challenge, and plenty of style make this stand out as a pinnacle of action games. Bayonetta 3 Bayonetta 3 (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Just when you thought Bayonetta couldn’t get any more bewitching, PlatinumGames delivers an absolute master class on video game action with Bayonetta 3. Besides Bayonetta’s familiar punches, kicks, and guns, you can further expand her combat options by summoning giant demons and directing their attacks. Meanwhile, the multiversal story is ridiculous, even by Bayonetta standards. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent If Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night's story of a demonic castle and a lone savior sounds incredibly familiar, it should: the game was spearheaded by Koji Igarashi, the big brain behind many revered Castlevania games. Bloodstained is an excellent Castlevania game in everything but name, hitting the same beats Symphony of the Night, Aria of Sorrow, and Order of Ecclesia did. If you're thirsty for a new, enjoyable Castlevania-like game that calls back to before Lords of Shadow rebooted the series and Mirror of Fate completely failed to capture any of its luster, this is the game for you. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon 4.0 Excellent Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon isn’t a hard-hitting, nonstop action game like the main Bayonetta trilogy. Instead, this is a relatively relaxed adventure game full of puzzles and gorgeous storybook visuals. Young witch Cereza teams up with a young demon, Cheshire, to tackle challenges neither could complete alone. Although the combat isn’t quite as complex as in the mainline Bayo games, there’s still plenty of flair to the faerie fights. Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon review Bravely Default II Bravely Default II (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Modern Final Fantasy games have become their own beasts, but games like Bravely Default II remind us why we fell in love with those classic Square Enix JRPGs. In battle, you can either perform multiple actions at once (Brave) or wait to save up for later turns (Default), which opens up many strategic possibilities. On Switch, the diorama world looks more beautiful and nostalgic than ever. Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Crypt of the NecroDancer was a surprise indie hit in 2015, catching gamers' eyes and ears with its combination of roguelike randomized dungeon exploration with rhythm game beat-keeping. It hit the Nintendo Switch in 2018, and now it's back in a new and much more Nintendo-specific form: Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer, a title that injects rhythm game mechanics into The Legend of Zelda. This Switch game seamlessly combines Zelda and Crypt of the NecroDancer, creating a surprisingly accessible and thoroughly enjoyable experience played to the beat of Zelda's classic and music. Cassette Beasts 4.0 Excellent Pokémon doesn't have a monopoly on monster catching. Cassette Beasts is a stylish, indie RPG that puts its own spin on collecting creatures and pitting them against each other in combat. The open world has many quests, the fighting mechanics have the extra depth that experienced players crave, and the story veers off in cool, surreal directions. Most importantly, there are some great monster designs, like ghostly sheep and living bullets. Cassette Beasts review Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Forget fancy new video games. Sometimes you just want to play chess, solitaire, or one of the other virtual vintage games that make up this classic compilation. Not only is this a convenient way to play some of history’s most enduring games with friends, but Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics does a great job educating you on that history, including the fascinating early Hanafuda history of Nintendo itself. Game Builder Garage Game Builder Garage (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent If you thought Super Mario Maker was a great way to learn about game development, give Game Builder Garage a spin. This incredibly powerful 3D game creation tool lets you make anything from platformers to racing games to puzzle mysteries. Thorough, friendly tutorials explain the robust “Nodon” coding language, so even novices can create hitboxes and manipulate the Z-axis like pros. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent The Switch has gotten a reputation as a machine for game ports, and there's nothing wrong with that. The Wii U wasn't the massive hit the Wii was, but it still had several excellent games that went underappreciated in their time. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is one of them, a sequel to Donkey Kong Country Returns with even more challenge and variety. The Switch version of this game adds Funky Kong Mode, an easier setting and new playable character (Funky Kong himself) that makes the surprisingly brutal platforming feel a little less punishing. Hades Hades (for Nintendo Switch) Hades takes the punishing and divisive roguelike genre and masterfully twists it into one of the year's most addictive games. Fighting your way out of the Greek underworld with randomly changing skills and weapons feels incredible. The family drama at the game’s core gives you that extra narrative push to keep going. Plus, everyone is smoking hot. Indivisible Indivisible (for Nintendo Switch) While many role-playing games draw their influences from Western folklore, even RPGs made in Japan, Indivisible carves out a unique identity with a fresh Southeast Asian flavor. The 2D animation is exquisite, as we would expect from the developer of Skullgirls. Gameplay is a mix of nonlinear spaces to explore and enemies to defeat in tactical battles. Of the two types of play, the exploration sections impress us more. In these bits you find your way forward by using an axe to fling yourself up walls or by shooting arrows to blind sentries. That's just more satisfying than the frantic messes the fights, caught awkwardly between turn-based and real-time combat, can turn into.   Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Kirby’s Return to Dreamland is a traditional, side-scrolling adventure compared to Kirby’s more radical outings. Still, it’s an excellent showcase of what makes even a normal Kirby game irresistible. This Deluxe version enhances the Wii co-op classic with a sweet, new art style; extra powers; and an original epilogue. Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe (for Nintendo Switch) review Kirby and the Forgotten Land Kirby and the Forgotten Land (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Kirby and the Forgotten Land finally gives the pink puffball the epic 3D adventure that Mario, Link, and Samus got years ago. Float through the skies in creative levels bursting with secrets. Upgrade familiar powers, such as hammers and swords, into formidable new forms. Or just sit back and marvel at how Nintendo made the post-apocalypse look so cute. Kirby Star Allies Kirby Star Allies (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Kirby games are always fun. Whether they're the simple platformers like Kirby's Adventure or weirdly gimmicky experiences like Kirby's Dream Course, every first-party experience with Nintendo's pink puff ball has been enjoyable. Kirby Star Allies is no different, with a lighthearted campaign filled with colorful friends and abilities, surprisingly challenging extra modes to unlock, and support for up to four players at once. Get on the Friend Train! The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Hyrule is in danger again, and Link must save it. That's been the theme for nearly every Legend of Zelda game, and it's still the case in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The series' basic premise and Link/Zelda/Ganon dynamic are present, but nearly everything else is different. The classic Zelda dungeon-exploration structure is replaced by a huge open world that's filled with destructible weapons, monsters, puzzles, and quests. Breath of the Wild's scope is one previously unseen in the Zelda series, and Nintendo executes the adventure-filled world with aplomb. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom - Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch – OLED Model, Nintendo Switch Lite 4.5 Excellent The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom turns Nintendo's epic franchise on its head in more ways than one. Instead of the swordsman, Link, you play as Princess Zelda. Likewise, you don't directly attack enemies; you summon useful items and foes to aid you on the mission. The game takes the creative, improv spirit of Breath of the Wild and applies it to a classic 2D top-down Zelda adventure with delightful results. Plus, it just looks adorable. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom - Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch – OLED Model, Nintendo Switch Lite review The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD (for Nintendo Switch) 3.5 Good No Zelda games are terrible, but no game polarizes the fan base quite like Skyward Sword. Fortunately, this HD remaster speeds up the pacing, enhances the graphics, and offers a button-based control scheme if you don’t care for motion controls. The structure feels especially linear in a post-Breath of the Wild world, but Zelda’s origin story is still worth experiencing. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch (OLED Model), Nintendo Switch Lite 5.0 Outstanding At launch, it was tough to imagine the Switch ever getting another game as good as Breath of the Wild. But years later, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom delivers everything we could have possibly wanted and more in this direct sequel to one of the greatest games ever made. Exploring the skies and underground caves makes Hyrule more vast than ever. New powers let you break the world apart and rebuild it as you see fit. Tears of the Kingdom is an irresistible, hypnotic adventure, and an absolute must-play for all RPG fans. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch (OLED Model), Nintendo Switch Lite review Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Who knows what the future holds for Star Wars, but Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga provides a terrific toybox take on Episodes I-IX. The Lego recreations of all nine movies gives you plenty to experience as you blast baddies and solve Force puzzles. But what really makes this game so special is how it turns the entire Star Wars galaxy into an open world to explore, whether it’s on colorful planets or through the vastness of outer space in your trusty starfighter. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (for Nintendo Switch) review Luigi's Mansion 3 Luigi's Mansion 3 - Nintendo Switch Standard Edition What started as a weirdly specific parody of Ghostbusters and Resident Evil has become of one the finest Mario spin-off adventures. Luigi’s spooky journey throughout a haunted hotel is arguably the most visually stunning game on the Nintendo Switch. Along with sucking up ghosts, you can now slam them (back) to death and shoot plungers to pull apart the scenery. Your greatest, and grossest, tool has to be Gooigi. This slimy green doppelgänger expands your puzzle-solving powers and provides an easy option for younger co-op partners. Lumines Remastered Lumines Remastered (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Puyo Puyo Tetris is great for classic, competitive block-dropping, but it's a bit overly perky and anime-ish to really relax to. Lumines Remastered is the ultimate chill-out block-dropper, syncing the mesmerizing pattern matching to dozens of hypnotic electronic and trance tracks. Load it on your Switch, put on your favorite headphones, and space out while you build huge combos. Mario & Luigi: Brothership Mario & Luigi: Brothership - Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch – OLED Model, Nintendo Switch Lite 4.0 Excellent Mario & Luigi: Brothership revives a Mario RPG subseries as a grand nautical adventure. The plumbers sail the seas, reconnecting scattered islands and battling foes with familiar, frenetic turn-based combat. On Nintendo Switch, the visuals and animations turn Mario and Luigi into cartoon-like characters. Mario & Luigi: Brothership - Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch – OLED Model, Nintendo Switch Lite review Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Before Minions, there were Rabbids, Ubisoft's manic, sublingual, noseless horde spawned from Rayman: Raving Rabbids. Then the weird, bug-eyed, rabbit-like creatures caused havoc in their own game series. Now, they're running around Mario's stomping grounds in Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. This strategy-RPG combines two cartoonish worlds with satisfyingly deep, XCOM-like gameplay for a very fun and strange experience. It's a combination of styles that work much, much better than you'd expect. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle proved that these two mascots could come together for excellent, approachable tactics gameplay. Sparks of Hope is more of the same, but even better. Equipping Sparks lets you further customize your squad’s strategic abilities. Wide open levels provide entertaining exploration between the skirmishes. Mario Golf: Super Rush Mario Golf: Super Rush (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Leave it to Mario to find a way to make golf games feel fresh again. Mario Golf: Super Rush’s standout gimmick has golfers teeing off all at once, and then physically running across the course to take their next shot. You still have to plan smart strokes, but you also need to keep an eye on the clock. The lengthy, single-player adventure teaches you the ropes before you head online to face real challengers on the green. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Mario Kart 8 stood out as the best-looking Mario Kart game yet when it came out on the Nintendo Wii U. Instead of making a new Mario Kart for the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo brought Mario Kart 8 to its new game system. In the process, Nintendo threw in both previously released DLC packs and made some few welcome changes to its multiplayer options, justifying the game's full retail price. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the most robust game in the series so far, and with the optional portability of the Switch, it ranks as a must-own title. Mario Strikers: Battle League Mario Strikers: Battle League (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Mario has played many sports throughout the years, but Mario Strikers: Battle League gives us the arcade soccer chaos fans have craved for more than a decade. It features fast-paced action, while allowing for depth and skill should you choose to push yourself. Customize your characters with stat-changing gear. Join online clubs to compete in ongoing seasons. And no one animates the Mario universe with as much style and attitude as the developers at Next Level Games. Mario Strikers: Battle League (for Nintendo Switch) review Mario Tennis Aces Mario Tennis Aces (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent You don't need to be a sports fan to enjoy Nintendo sports games. If a sport has "Mario" in front of it, it's probably going to be a fun, very unrealistic romp instead of a serious simulation. Mario Tennis Aces is an exciting tennis game not because of any realistic physics, but because of fast, responsive gameplay and strategic mechanics that make matches feel more like rounds in a fighting game than tennis sets. Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics - Nintendo Switch 4.0 Excellent Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics lets you finally relive six legendary 2D fighters starring Marvel superheroes and Capcom icons. From the humble X-Men: Children of the Atom to the over-the-top Marvel vs. Capcom 2, this is vital fighting game history. An art gallery, modern control options, rollback netcode, and the underrated Punisher beat 'em up sweeten the deal. Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics - Nintendo Switch review Metal Slug Tactics Metal Slug Tactics (for Nintendo Switch) Metal Slug Tactics trades the mainline series' fast-paced running and gunning for methodical, turn-based strategy gameplay. Still, it's just as action-packed as ever. Line up your units for devastating sync attacks. Enjoy the beautiful old-school sprite work. Plan your turns, hop into a giant tank, and obliterate foes. Metroid Dread Metroid Dread (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent After nearly 20 years, Metroid Dread brings Samus Aran back to her 2D, bounty hunting roots for the true Metroid 5. In it, you explore a dense, dangerous new planet full of powers to pick up and enemies to eliminate. From uncompromising boss battles to terrifying chases, Dread more than lives up to its subtitle. If there's anyone strong enough to take down the terror, it's Nintendo's leading lady. Metroid Prime Remastered 5.0 Outstanding Metroid Prime is one of the best games ever made. It takes Super Metroid’s brilliant exploratory action and perfectly translates it to 3D with immaculate level design and immersive first-person shooting. This remaster, which ventures into the remake territory, includes everything that worked in the original, and ups the presentation to modern, beautiful standards. Plus, you can now play with dual-stick controls. Bring on Metroid Prime 4. Metroid Prime Remastered review Miitopia Miitopia (for Nintendo Switch) 3.5 Good Miis can do more than just play Wii Sports. In Miitopia, you use Nintendo’s cartoon caricatures to cast yourself, friends, and family as heroes and villains in a fast-paced, whimsical role-playing game. Turn yourself into a brave knight, while your buddy supports you as a pop star. The joke can’t quite sustain the whole runtime, but Miitopia is wildly entertaining.   Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent If traditional Monster Hunter is just too intense for you, Monster Hunter Stories 2 lets you experience this cutthroat world as a turn-based JRPG. Befriend monsters and take them into battle. Hatch eggs to expand your menagerie. Strategic battles draw upon familiar Monster Hunter concepts. And, of course, Rathalos is here. New Pokemon Snap New Pokemon Snap (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent The beloved Nintendo 64 spin-off finally gets the update it deserves. Instead of capturing Pokemon and forcing them to battle, New Pokemon Snap asks you to take beautiful photos of Pikachu and friends in their natural surroundings. The on-rails gameplay feels like a nonviolent version of a light gun game. The gorgeous graphics will inspire you to share your best pics online for the world to see. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Imagine Super Smash Bros., but instead of playing as video game mascots, you control beloved cartoon characters beating each other senseless. That's Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. From SpongeBob SquarePants to Ren and Stimpy to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the roster covers all eras of Nicktoon nostalgia. Beyond the ironic meme potential, "Nick Smash" features genuinely fantastic gameplay made by a team clearly passionate about this particular form of "platform fighting" games. Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl (for Nintendo Switch) review Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 01 Variety Kit Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 01 Variety Kit (for Nintendo Switch) 5.0 Outstanding Labo is a weirder concept than the Switch itself. It's based around building cardboard "Toy-Cons" in which you place the Switch's components to let you do new things with them. It's also surprisingly functional, entertaining, and educational. The Nintendo Labo Variety Kit has all of the parts you need to build several different Toy-Cons like a piano and motorcycle handlebars, and walks you through every step of the process. Just building the Toy-Cons is fascinating, but the Toy-Con Garage mode adds surprisingly robust programming options to let you create your own remote-controlled creations. Nintendo Labo: VR Kit 4.5 Excellent It took over 20 years, but Nintendo finally got over its fear of virtual reality after the disastrous Virtual Boy. The Labo VR Kit lets you build your own VR headset that uses the Nintendo Switch and a set of lenses to create a stereoscopic image, and then insert that headset into different Toy-Con controllers to play a variety of games. That's already a ton of fun for $79.99 (or $39.99 for a starter set that only includes one Toy-Con to build instead of five). Add a programming environment on top that lets you create your own 3D games, and you have an impressive package. No More Heroes III No More Heroes III (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent No More Heroes III, like the other games in Suda51’s hack-and-slash trilogy, is a punk art game. Sure, some parts may be “bad,” like the technical jank or empty open worlds. But it’s all in service of larger commentary on everything from schlocky movies to wrestling fandom to the video game industry itself. Plus, cutting aliens down to size feels legitimately fantastic, and really that’s what matters.  Penny's Big Breakaway 4.0 Excellent The creators of Sonic Mania deliver a new indie 3D platformer that feels like a forgotten Sega classic. Use your trusty yo-yo to swing and roll through colorful, tightly designed levels that test your momentum control. Bosses and other enemies are sometimes more annoying than fun, but the movement mechanics are a joy to master. Penny's Big Breakaway review Pikmin 3 Deluxe Pikmin 3 Deluxe (for Nintendo Switch) 3.5 Good Pikmin isn’t the most recognizable Nintendo franchise, but the approachable real-time strategy game carries as much magic as Mario and Zelda. This Wii U port offers more missions and ways to control your army of cute plant creatures. The campaign's local, co-op play opens all kinds of new strategies, too. Veterans of previous Pikmin wars may have seen most of this content before, but Pikmin newcomers should absolutely jump into this tiny, tactical, and tactile world. Pikmin 4 Pikmin 4 (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Pikmin has always been good, but the quirky real-time strategy game has never broken out of its cult status over the past 20 years. Hopefully, that all changes with Pikmin 4. The biggest and best Pikmin game yet, Pikmin 4 gives you new Pikmin to command, a cute and customizable dog companion, and many gorgeous areas to strategically explore whether above ground or in countless caves. The multiplayer could be better, but Pikmin 4 is a top-tier Nintendo game everyone should play. Pikmin 4 (for Nintendo Switch) review Pizza Tower Pizza Tower feels like a fever dream of 1990s cartoons, internet memes, and retro Wario Land games. Don’t let his pudgy exterior fool you. Protagonist Peppino Spaghetti has many incredibly fast and fluid platforming tools, including dashing and wall-running. You’ll need to master those tools to beat levels as fast as possible, without losing your mind. Pokemon Legends: Arceus Pokemon Legends: Arceus (for Nintendo Switch) 3.5 Good Pokemon Legends: Arceus finally gives the Pokemon franchise a long-awaited refresh. Taking place in the distant past of Diamond and Pearl’s Sinnoh region, Arceus lets you capture and study wild Pokemon in a world where humans still fear the creatures. Vast open fields, revamped battle mechanics, and an utterly addictive approach to exploration create the most immersive Pokemon experience yet. Pokemon Let's Go, Pikachu/Eevee! Pokemon: Let's Go, Eevee! 4.0 Excellent If the traditional Pokemon RPGs are still just a bit too complex for you, consider the casual adventures Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee. This duo remakes the first-generation Pokemon Yellow, with bright, colorful, HD graphics, and a new capture mechanic based on Pokemon Go. In addition, there are trainer battles and turn-based combat for people who dig classic Pokemon. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Pokémon Scarlet - Nintendo Switch 4.0 Excellent Pokemon Sword and Shield and Pokemon Legends: Arceus experimented with expansive zones, but Pokémon Scarlet and Violet finally turns the monster-catching game into an open-world RPG. As we always suspected, the addictive Pokémon formula works brilliantly when you can go wherever you want, exploring towns and catching whatever monsters you encounter. Lingering technical issues keep it from reaching its full potential, but this is Pokémon's shining future. Pokemon Sword/Shield Pokemon Sword (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee were a nice warmup, but Pokemon Sword and Shield are the real home console Pokemon games we’ve been looking forward to playing. Travel across big, open landscapes to capture even bigger Pokemon. New expansions packs in 2020 give trainers even more regions to explore and more Pokemon to battle without having to buy a third version. The Pokedex will be complete before you know it.  Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown 4.5 Excellent Prince of Persia returns to its 2D roots with The Lost Crown, a standout entry in the crowded modern Metroidvania market. Everything just clicks. The massive map is a joy to explore. Clever puzzles make the most of inventive abilities. Deep combat systems allow satisfying expression. Challenging DLC further expands the adventure. And the presentation combines Persian flair with anime exuberance. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown review Pokemon Unite Pokemon Unite (for Nintendo Switch) 3.5 Good If you’re curious about the MOBA genre, but scared of esports heavy-hitters like Dota 2 and League of Legends, then Pokemon Unite is the perfect place to get started. Two teams of five Pokemon battle each other in real-time to score goals across the map. This free-to-play game is also coming soon to mobile, so you’ll find plenty of aspiring Pokemon masters to challenge. Puyo Puyo Tetris Puyo Puyo Tetris (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Practically everyone in North America has heard of Tetris. Far fewer have heard of Puyo Puyo. Both are block-dropping puzzle games, but while Tetris has been Tetris for decades, Puyo Puyo has had many different tweaks and name changes in attempts to appeal to the west. It came out first as Puyo Pop, then received different licensed incarnations, such as Puzzle Fighter and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. Now, Puyo Puyo is making its mark here, thanks to Sega and a double-billing with Tetris. The pairing results in a title that's plump with game modes, unlockables, and solo and multiplayer options. Red Dead Redemption Red Dead Redemption (for Nintendo Switch) Grand Theft Auto put Rockstar Games on the map, but for many the team's true masterpiece is the epic, open-world Western saga known as Red Dead Redemption. John Marston's cowboy odyssey has the scathing tone you'd expect from the developer, but it also has heart and a sense of tragedy. The Nintendo Switch version perfectly maintains the original gameplay experience, from stylish shootouts to riding your horse across the empty desert. It also includes the Undead Nightmare DLC. Finally, a version of Red Dead you can play in a tent under the stars. Rebel Galaxy Outlaw Rebel Galaxy Outlaw (for Nintendo Switch) Rebel Galaxy Outlaw has enough action-packed, visually dazzling spaceship dogfights to excite any Star Fox fan. The real joy, however, is in the quieter moments, when you act out your galactic trucker fantasies by carrying cargo from space stations named after Texas towns. Improving your ship is a bit of a grind, but it’s a rewarding one. If you get bored, you can always shoot down pirates—or become one yourself. Rocket League Rocket League (for Nintendo Switch) Rocket League is soccer, with remote controlled cars and funny hats. It's amazing how compelling a game can be when the entire point of it is to use a car to knock a ball into a goal, but Rocket League nails it. Wild physics, colorful visuals, and simple game types you can keep coming back to while challenging friends and strangers make this one of the best pseudo-sports games on the Switch. Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (for Nintendo Switch) Platforming excellence comes to the Nintendo Switch courtesy of Yacht Club Games' Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. This downloadable package includes the original Shovel Knight, one of 2014's top titles, as well as all the previously released DLC including the Plague of Shadows and Specter of Torment campaigns. If you long for some retro, 2D action, Treasure Trove a a game that you should not miss. Splatoon 3 Splatoon 3 (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Splatoon 3 isn't much different than Splatoon 2 (which in turn wasn't much different from Splatoon 1). However, no other online team-based shooter delivers an experience quite like this. Inking the ground, splatting opponents, and transforming from squid to kid never felt this good. The wealth of solo, cooperative, and competitive modes will keep you busy. Keep the party going with the excellent, roguelike DLC Side Order. Splatoon 3 (for Nintendo Switch) review Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection (for Nintendo Switch) Street Fighter has been the biggest name in fighting games for decades, and Capcom is proud of that fact. While it really got going with Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection lets you play the original Street Fighter in all of its genre-building glory. And, after you realize how bad that first attempt was, you can play the much better sequels like Super Street Fighter II, Street Fighter Alpha 3, and Street Fighter III: Third Strike. You're looking at a dozen games in this collection, with loads of extra content like soundtracks and sprite data. Streets of Rage 4 Streets of Rage 4 (for Nintendo Switch) Streets of Rage 4 pounds life back into the dead sidescrolling beat ‘em up genre. The gameplay may not have progressed that much since Sega’s trilogy in the 1990s, but taking down hordes of goons with your fists has never looked better thanks to a thoroughly modern illustrated art style. A risky new mechanic that burns health to power special moves, unless you avoid getting hit, adds some fighting-game flair.  Super Bomberman R Super Bomberman R (for Nintendo Switch) 3.5 Good Bomberman's return to console gaming was one of the most surprising moments in the Nintendo's January 2017 Switch game showcase. Considering that the little guy's now the property of Konami, a company that's more known for killing P.T. and warring with Metal Gear maestro Hideo Kojima than making video games, it was shocking to see Super Bomberman R announced as a Nintendo Switch launch title. Thankfully, this newest entry in the beloved, bomb-tossing franchise keeps the series' simple and addicting core gameplay intact, and adds tons of modes, collectible items, and characters to keep things fresh. Super Mario 3D All-Stars Super Mario 3D All-Stars (for Nintendo Switch) 3.5 Good This classic Mario collection combines Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy. They may not have received the radical visual overhaul of the original Super Mario All-Stars, but these are still three of the finest 3D platformers ever made—now playable in HD and on the go. Nintendo says this collection is a limited release, so get it while you can. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Super Mario 3D World seamlessly blends the free-roaming, open-ended platforming of Mario 3D’s adventures with the concentrated multiplayer mayhem of his latest 2D romps. It was great on Wii U, and now it's even better on Nintendo Switch. However, this package’s real star is Bowser’s Fury, an ambitious spin-off that reimagines what an open-world Mario game can be. Super Mario Bros. Wonder Super Mario Bros. Wonder - Nintendo Switch 4.5 Excellent In the beginning, all Super Mario games were wonderful 2D sidescrollers that dazzled us with their sheer imagination. But as Mario set his sights on 3D heights, the New Super Mario Bros. series turned 2D Mario into a safe and bland nostalgia franchise. No more! Super Mario Bros. Wonder fills 2D Mario to the brim with whimsy, creativity, and joyful confusion. Turn levels into psychedelic dreamscapes! Customize your abilities! Compete against friends online! Transform into an elephant! You can do all of this and more in Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Super Mario Bros. Wonder - Nintendo Switch review Super Mario Maker 2 Super Mario Maker 2 (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Super Mario Maker 2 is a welcome update to the original Super Mario Maker. It adds a new skin, new themes, and plenty of new tools for making more creative and challenging Mario levels. You can create levels based on the graphics and mechanics of Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and New Super Mario Bros., just like in the previous Super Mario Maker. These levels can use one of 10 different themes: Ground, Sky, Underground, Forest, Underwater, Ghost House, Desert, Airship, Snow, and Castle. Sky, Forest, Desert, and Snow are new to Super Mario Maker 2. For more variety, you can toggle each theme to its nighttime variant, which adds unique twists to the gameplay. And, of course, you can share your creations online. Super Mario Odyssey Super Mario Odyssey (for Nintendo Switch) 5.0 Outstanding In Super Mario Odyssey, the heroic plumber returns to open-world game design for the first time since the incredible Super Mario 64. Though Odyssey isn't as technically groundbreaking as its predecessor, the action-platformer is packed to the brim with hat-tossing combat. Yes, hat tossing. This time around, Mario has a new friend, Cappy, who lets Mario dispatch enemies with the flick of the wrist. And, even better, Mario can assume the identity of an enemy, gaining its abilities, by plopping Cappy on the foe's head. Super Mario RPG Super Mario RPG - Nintendo Switch (OLED Model), Nintendo Switch Lite, Nintendo Switch 4.0 Excellent Forget Paper Mario or Mario and Luigi. The original Super Mario RPG, a collaboration between Nintendo and Square Enix, first showed us that Mario’s charms could translate to a Final Fantasy-style adventure. This faithful remake offers gorgeous new graphics and increased accessibility. At last, find out who Geno is. Super Mario RPG - Nintendo Switch (OLED Model), Nintendo Switch Lite, Nintendo Switch review Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent Only video games can capture the simple pleasures that come from racing monkeys inside balls. Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania remasters hundreds of classic stages from Sega’s obstacle course series in a single, cool package. Don’t let the bright colors and friendly monkey faces fool you. Rolling your monkey to the goal demands an expert understanding of the game’s unforgiving physics. If you get too frustrated, take a break with Banana Mania's wacky, multiplayer mini-games. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (for Nintendo Switch) 4.5 Excellent Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has everything a fan of Nintendo’s crossover mascot fighting game could want. A faster pace better for competitive play. Every single character who has ever appeared in the series, including third-party icons such as Banjo-Kazooie, Cloud Strife, and Solid Snake. There's a new single-player mode chock-full of even more fan service. The theme song even has lyrics now.  Tactics Ogre: Reborn Tactics Ogre Reborn (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent The original Tactics Ogre enthralled fans in 1995 thanks to its deep strategy and strong narrative. If you missed out the first time, Tactics Ogre: Reborn gives you another chance to check out this lost classic, the prelude to Final Fantasy Tactics. Just don’t expect hugely revamped graphics. Telling Lies Telling Lies (for Nintendo Switch) Her Story was a test for the kind of interactive story game developer Sam Barlow could pull off with just FMV clips and a fake computer interface. Telling Lies is the Aliens to Her Story’s Alien. Instead of just investigating one woman’s interviews, you follow four different characters. Tracing a nonlinear mystery across so many different threads can get overwhelming. Fortunately, Hollywood actors Logan Marshall-Green, Alexandra Shipp, Kerry Bishé, and Angela Sarafyan make the clips compelling watches in their own right. Besides, we’re all pretty used at communicating through video chat these days.  Triangle Strategy Triangle Strategy (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent A tactical follow-up to the gorgeous Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy is a luxurious strategy role-playing game that rewards your patience. Soak in the atmosphere on the land. Become invested in the characters and political intrigue. Methodically think through every option during turn-based battles and feel like an absolute strategic genius.  Trombone Champ Trombone Champ (for Nintendo Switch) Rhythm games usually make you feel like an ultra-cool rock god. Not Trombone Champ. This zany title embraces the goofy charm of its titular instrument, delivering an experience that is both awesome and awkward. The purposefully bumbling controls make each song sound like a confused elephant putting on a concert, an effect that's multiplied in local multiplayer. A light progression system unlocks famous trombone players like baseball cards while trying to solve a sinister riddle. The game is also available on PC, but the Switch version deserves props for its hilarious motion controls that take the trombone simulation to the next level. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore (for Nintendo Switch) 3.5 Good While you wait for Persona 5 to come to the Nintendo Switch, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, a late Wii U port, is the next best thing. This bewildering crossover between Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei has players entering the entertainment industry of Japan’s stylish Shibuya and Harajuku districts. Of course, you also do battle against demons by summoning Fire Emblem characters through the power of song. A streamlined battle system and pop music tone should delight players who don’t even care about anime RPGs.  Unicorn Overlord 4.5 Excellent As a Vanillaware game, we’re not surprised that Unicorn Overlord has an unbelievably beautiful illustrated aesthetic. However, the game backs up its looks with deeply strategic role-playing gameplay that requires tactical thinking. Ogre Battle fans, this one’s for you. Unicorn Overlord review Void Bastards Roguelikes can be a polarizing genre as their repetitive nature, random elements, and punishing difficulty threaten to make the entire experience a waste of time. Void Bastards avoids this trap with a core gameplay loop that’s a joy to repeat and an addictive sense of progression stringing you along the whole time.Each new spaceship you raid is basically a tiny comic book-styled System Shock level with spooky enemies to shoot, machinery to hack, character traits to manage, and equipment to salvage. Use that equipment to construct permanent new weapons and perks that make you eager to start another raid. Our journey across the galaxy stretched on for hours because it’s so easy to say “just one more piece of loot.”Note that Void Bastards is published by Humble Bundle, which is owned by PCMag’s parent company, Ziff Davis. WarioWare: Get It Together WarioWare: Get It Together (for Nintendo Switch) 4.0 Excellent WarioWare is one of Nintendo’s best and most shockingly self-aware franchises. It’s about Mario’s gross, evil doppelganger starting a shady game company to get rich. Fortunately for you, these “microgames” remain a pure blast of weird and wonderful bite-sized entertainment. The new gimmick here lets you and a friend tackle challenges with different characters whose unique move sets make you rethink your approach on the fly. Hurry up! Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition 4.0 Excellent This late-period Wii U gem finally returns to close out the Nintendo Switch era. A standalone entry of the Xenoblade saga, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition takes place on a lush open-world planet teeming with friendly and hostile creatures. Explore on foot or, eventually, by flying a giant mech. The dynamic RPG combat rewards smart timing and synchronizing party members. Along with improved visuals, this definitive edition adds a new epilogue story. Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition review

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Our smartphones have transformed the way we take photos and videos and our relationship to these digital memories. Most of us will snap at least some pictures and clips every day with the gadget that’s always close at hand. If you want to get more creative with photos on your phone, you can. Sometimes you’re going to want to take a picture remotely, without your phone in your hand and your finger over the shutter button—maybe you’re taking a wide shot of a large group, or you want to capture a lot of your surroundings. Not only is this possible, there are multiple ways to go about it, no matter which flavor of phone you own. You can pick the one that you find the easiest to use, or switch between them as you need. Use your smartwatch If you’ve got an Apple Watch, it comes with a Camera app. Image: Raagesh C/Unsplash If you’ve got a smartwatch to match your smartphone, you can use it to take photos remotely, as long as you’re within about 33 feet (10 meters) of the phone. Get your handset in position first, then load up the relevant app on your watch—though you can then go back and readjust the phone if needed. With the Apple Watch and an iPhone, the app you want on your wrist is the Camera Remote app, which comes preinstalled. A viewfinder screen from your iPhone will appear: Use the digital crown to zoom, and the shutter button (in the middle) to take a shot. By default, a three-second timer is used, but you can change this by tapping the button with the three dots (lower right). For those of you with an Android phone and a Wear OS smartwatch, you can use Google’s default Camera app, which you should find preinstalled on your watch. Launch it from your wrist, and the Camera app should open on your connected phone: You can zoom using the slider on the right, and take a photo (with a three-second delay) by tapping the shutter button with a 3 on it. To change this delay, tap the three lines at the top. Use your voice Settings for Voice Control on iOS. Screenshot: Apple No matter what phone you have, it’ll come with support for voice commands—and one of those commands will let you take photos. This will only work where your phone is close enough to hear you, and where you’re happy to talk to it, but it can be useful in certain situations for remote controlling the camera app. On the iPhone, Siri can open the Camera app but won’t actually take a photo. To enable voice controlled capture, open Settings and choose Accessibility > Voice Control, then turn the feature on. The same page has a Commands menu where you can set up your custom voice command for taking photos, which will work from the viewfinder screen. On Android, it’s even easier: Just say “hey Google, take a photo”—you can even add a number of seconds for a timer countdown. Gemini is now the default assistant for this task: To make sure it responds to voice commands, open the app, tap your profile picture (top right), then choose Settings > “Hey Google ” & Voice Match. Use the timer Configuring the timer on a Pixel phone. Screenshot: Google This is a really straightforward one, and you don’t need any extra apps or devices to get it set up. Your phone’s camera app comes with a timer control, so you can position the shot, set the timer, and then get in the frame. There’s a bit of guesswork involved, especially if you’re using your phone’s rear camera (as you won’t be able to see yourself), but it’s a simple option. On the iPhone, you can tap the arrow near the top of the Camera app screen to reveal extra camera options at the bottom. Scroll through the icons until you reach the one that looks like a stopwatch. Tap this, and you can choose between a 3-second, 5-second, and 10-second delay when you press the shutter button. On Pixel phones, tap the gear icon (lower left in portrait mode) to find the timer control: As on the iPhone, the delay options are 3 seconds, 5 seconds, or 10 seconds. If you’re using the Camera app on a Galaxy phone, tap the four dots (to the right in portrait mode), then the timer icon (which looks like a stopwatch), and you get the same delay options. Use another method The latest Pixel phones have a Connected Cameras feature too. Screenshot: Google You’ve got yet more options for this if you need them. One is to use a simple Bluetooth clicker as a remote control: There are a whole host to choose from, such as this CamKix model that will cost you a mere $5.49. They work across iOS and Android and are easy to connect to your camera app. If you have two Pixel 9 phones, you can also use a special feature called Connected Cameras. You can find it from Settings by tapping Connected devices > Connection preferences > Connected Cameras: You get a brief explanation of what the feature does, and you can turn it on via the Use Connected Cameras toggle switch. This is a niche use case, as it only works with two handsets from the Pixel 9 series (at least for now). But if those are the phones you and your family have, you can use one to take photos through the camera of the other; head to the official guide from Google for more details on how it works.

Last year, China saw a boom in foundation models, the do-everything large language models that underpin the AI revolution. This year, the focus has shifted to AI agents—systems that are less about responding to users’ queries and more about autonomously accomplishing things for them.  There are now a host of Chinese startups building these general-purpose digital tools, which can answer emails, browse the internet to plan vacations, and even design an interactive website. Many of these have emerged in just the last two months, following in the footsteps of Manus—a general AI agent that sparked weeks of social media frenzy for invite codes after its limited-release launch in early March.  These emerging AI agents aren’t large language models themselves. Instead, they’re built on top of them, using a workflow-based structure designed to get things done. A lot of these systems also introduce a different way of interacting with AI. Rather than just chatting back and forth with users, they are optimized for managing and executing multistep tasks—booking flights, managing schedules, conducting research—by using external tools and remembering instructions.  China could take the lead on building these kinds of agents. The country’s tightly integrated app ecosystems, rapid product cycles, and digitally fluent user base could provide a favorable environment for embedding AI into daily life.  For now, its leading AI agent startups are focusing their attention on the global market, because the best Western models don’t operate inside China’s firewalls. But that could change soon: Tech giants like ByteDance and Tencent are preparing their own AI agents that could bake automation directly into their native super-apps, pulling data from their vast ecosystem of programs that dominate many aspects of daily life in the country.  As the race to define what a useful AI agent looks like unfolds, a mix of ambitious startups and entrenched tech giants are now testing how these tools might actually work in practice—and for whom. Set the standard It’s been a whirlwind few months for Manus, which was developed by the Wuhan-based startup Butterfly Effect. The company raised $75 million in a funding round led by the US venture capital firm Benchmark, took the product on an ambitious global roadshow, and hired dozens of new employees.  Even before registration opened to the public in May, Manus had become a reference point for what a broad, consumer‑oriented AI agent should accomplish. Rather than handling narrow chores for businesses, this “general” agent is designed to be able to help with everyday tasks like trip planning, stock comparison, or your kid’s school project.  Unlike previous AI agents, Manus uses a browser-based sandbox that lets users supervise the agent like an intern, watching in real time as it scrolls through web pages, reads articles, or codes actions. It also proactively asks clarifying questions, supports long-term memory that would serve as context for future tasks. “Manus represents a promising product experience for AI agents,” says Ang Li, cofounder and CEO of Simular, a startup based in Palo Alto, California, that’s building computer use agents, AI agents that control a virtual computer. “I believe Chinese startups have a huge advantage when it comes to designing consumer products, thanks to cutthroat domestic competition that leads to fast execution and greater attention to product details.” In the case of Manus, the competition is moving fast. Two of the most buzzy follow‑ups, Genspark and Flowith, for example, are already boasting benchmark scores that match or edge past Manus’s.  Genspark, led by former Baidu executives Eric Jing and Kay Zhu, links many small “super agents” through what it calls multi‑component prompting. The agent can switch among several large language models, accepts both images and text, and carries out tasks from making slide decks to placing phone calls. Whereas Manus relies heavily on Browser Use, a popular open-source product that lets agents operate a web browser in a virtual window like a human, Genspark directly integrates with a wide array of tools and APIs. Launched in April, the company says that it already has over 5 million users and over $36 million in yearly revenue. Flowith, the work of a young team that first grabbed public attention in April 2025 at a developer event hosted by the popular social media app Xiaohongshu, takes a different tack. Marketed as an “infinite agent,” it opens on a blank canvas where each question becomes a node on a branching map. Users can backtrack, take new branches, and store results in personal or sharable “knowledge gardens”—a design that feels more like project management software (think Notion) than a typical chat interface. Every inquiry or task builds its own mind-map-like graph, encouraging a more nonlinear and creative interaction with AI. Flowith’s core agent, NEO, runs in the cloud and can perform scheduled tasks like sending emails and compiling files. The founders want the app to be a “knowledge marketbase”, and aims to tap into the social aspect of AI with the aspiration of becoming “the OnlyFans of AI knowledge creators”. What they also share with Manus is the global ambition. Both Genspark and Flowith have stated that their primary focus is the international market. A global address Startups like Manus, Genspark, and Flowith—though founded by Chinese entrepreneurs—could blend seamlessly into the global tech scene and compete effectively abroad. Founders, investors, and analysts that MIT Technology Review has spoken to believe Chinese companies are moving fast, executing well, and quickly coming up with new products.  Money reinforces the pull to launch overseas. Customers there pay more, and there are plenty to go around. “You can price in USD, and with the exchange rate that’s a sevenfold multiplier,” Manus cofounder Xiao Hong quipped on a podcast. “Even if we’re only operating at 10% power because of cultural differences overseas, we’ll still make more than in China.” But creating the same functionality in China is a challenge. Major US AI companies including OpenAI and Anthropic have opted out of mainland China because of geopolitical risks and challenges with regulatory compliance. Their absence initially created a black market as users resorted to VPNs and third-party mirrors to access tools like ChatGPT and Claude. That vacuum has since been filled by a new wave of Chinese chatbots—DeepSeek, Doubao, Kimi—but the appetite for foreign models hasn’t gone away.  Manus, for example, uses Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet—widely considered the top model for agentic tasks. Manus cofounder Zhang Tao has repeatedly praised Claude’s ability to juggle tools, remember contexts, and hold multi‑round conversations—all crucial for turning chatty software into an effective executive assistant. But the company’s use of Sonnet has made its agent functionally unusable inside China without a VPN. If you open Manus from a mainland IP address, you’ll see a notice explaining that the team is “working on integrating Qwen’s model,” a special local version that is built on top of Alibaba’s open-source model.  An engineer overseeing ByteDance’s work on developing an agent, who spoke to MIT Technology Review anonymously to avoid sanction, said that the absence of Claude Sonnet models “limits everything we do in China.” DeepSeek’s open models, he added, still hallucinate too often and lack training on real‑world workflows. Developers we spoke with rank Alibaba’s Qwen series as the best domestic alternative, yet most say that switching to Qwen knocks performance down a notch. Jiaxin Pei, a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford’s Institute for Human‑Centered AI, thinks that gap will close: “Building agentic capabilities in base LLMs has become a key focus for many LLM builders, and once people realize the value of this, it will only be a matter of time.” For now, Manus is doubling down on audiences it can already serve. In a written response, the company said its “primary focus is overseas expansion,” noting that new offices in San Francisco, Singapore, and Tokyo have opened in the past month. A super‑app approach Although the concept of AI agents is still relatively new, the consumer-facing AI app market in China is already crowded with major tech players. DeepSeek remains the most widely used, while ByteDance’s Doubao and Moonshot’s Kimi have also become household names. However, most of these apps are still optimized for chat and entertainment rather than task execution. This gap in the local market has pushed China’s big tech firms to roll out their own user-facing agents, though early versions remain uneven in quality and rough around the edges.  ByteDance is testing Coze Space, an AI agent based on its own Doubao model family that lets users toggle between “plan” and “execute” modes, so they can either directly guide the agent’s actions or step back and watch it work autonomously. It connects up to 14 popular apps, including GitHub, Notion, and the company’s own Lark office suite. Early reviews say the tool can feel clunky and has a high failure rate, but it clearly aims to match what Manus offers. Meanwhile, Zhipu AI has released a free agent called AutoGLM Rumination, built on its proprietary ChatGLM models. Shanghai‑based Minimax has launched Minimax Agent. Both products look almost identical to Manus and demo basic tasks such as building a simple website, planning a trip, making a small Flash game, or running quick data analysis. Despite the limited usability of most general AI agents launched within China, big companies have plans to change that. During a May 15 earnings call, Tencent president Liu Zhiping teased an agent that would weave automation directly into China’s most ubiquitous app, WeChat.  Considered the original super-app, WeChat already handles messaging, mobile payments, news, and millions of mini‑programs that act like embedded apps. These programs give Tencent, its developer, access to data from millions of services that pervade everyday life in China, an advantage most competitors can only envy. Historically, China’s consumer internet has splintered into competing walled gardens—share a Taobao link in WeChat and it resolves as plaintext, not a preview card. Unlike the more interoperable Western internet, China’s tech giants have long resisted integration with one another, choosing to wage platform war at the expense of a seamless user experience. But the use of mini‑programs has given WeChat unprecedented reach across services that once resisted interoperability, from gym bookings to grocery orders. An agent able to roam that ecosystem could bypass the integration headaches dogging independent startups. Alibaba, the e-commerce giant behind the Qwen model series, has been a front-runner in China’s AI race but has been slower to release consumer-facing products. Even though Qwen was the most downloaded open-source model on Hugging Face in 2024, it didn’t power a dedicated chatbot app until early 2025. In March, Alibaba rebranded its cloud storage and search app Quark into an all-in-one AI search tool. By June, Quark had introduced DeepResearch—a new mode that marks its most agent-like effort to date.  ByteDance and Alibaba did not reply to MIT Technology Review’s request for comments. “Historically, Chinese tech products tend to pursue the all-in-one, super-app approach, and the latest Chinese AI agents reflect just that,” says Li of Simular, who previously worked at Google DeepMind on AI-enabled work automation. “In contrast, AI agents in the US are more focused on serving specific verticals.” Pei, the researcher at Stanford, says that existing tech giants could have a huge advantage in bringing the vision of general AI agents to life—especially those with built-in integration across services. “The customer-facing AI agent market is still very early, with tons of problems like authentication and liability,” he says. “But companies that already operate across a wide range of services have a natural advantage in deploying agents at scale.”

Unreal Engine 5.6 Released / News / June 4, 2025 / Release, Unreal Announced yesterday at the State of Unreal Unreal Engine has now been released. Released in preview back in the middle of May UE 5.6 adds a ton of new features to the popular game engine, with the highlight of this release being MetaHumans being integrated directly into the engine. In addition the terms of use for MetaHumans have been updated so that it is permissible to use characters in all game engines, not just Unreal. There are also several bundles running right now for Unreal Engine developers, linked below in the Key Links category. Highlights of the Unreal Engine 5.6 release include: Powerful, high-fidelity 60 FPS open worlds: Enhanced capabilities for creating large, detailed game worlds that run smoothly at 60 frames per second. Lots of focus on rendering optimizations to cut down on some of the performance issues plaguing Unreal lately. Accelerated animation authoring: Tools and workflows that speed up the process of creating and implementing animations. A large number of modelling and animation tools are being brought into Unreal and soon may not require an external DCC for many actions. In-engine MetaHuman creation: The ability to create and customize realistic digital humans directly within the Unreal Engine editor. As mentioned earlier licensing terms have also been updated so MetaHumans can be used in other game engines. Simplified UX/UI experience: Improvements to the user interface and user experience, making the engine easier and more intuitive to use. These changes can be toggled off if you prefer the earlier UI. Improved developer iteration: Faster build times and streamlined processes to help developers see their changes and test their projects more quickly. Faster worldbuilding with procedural tools: Advanced procedural content generation tools that enable quicker creation of complex game environments. This includes static geometry streaming as well as Nanite foliage support. Enhanced cinematic & performance capture workflows: Upgrades to the tools used for creating cinematics and capturing performances, leading to higher quality results. Key Links Unreal Engine 5.6 Blog Unreal Engine 5.6 Release Notes Space Nova Unreal Bundle (Use code SN70) Star Nova Unreal Bundle (Use Code SN40) Big Bang Unreal & Unity Humble Bundle You can learn more about the Unreal Engine 5.6 release in the video below. Using the links above to purchase bundles helps support GFS (and thanks so much if you do!)

Notepad keeps getting more features, and Microsoft’s latest move to add lightweight formatting options is divisive, shall we say.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 now shows you microtransaction ads when you swap weapons "Actively witnessing Call of Duty become the Krusty Krab." Image credit: Eurogamer / Activision / u/whambampl News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on June 1, 2025 Eagle-eyed Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 players have spotted a new feature on the weapon selection menu. Right at the top there now sits advertisements promoting premium weapons and skins, so players get exposed to ads for microtransactions in-game. As some players point out, it's not an advert in the classic sense, and no one's trying to flog you a cheeseburger or a pair of jeans every time you swap a weapon. Nonetheless, it's a new and insidious addition that we haven't seen in Call of Duty games before. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Opening Scene and Gameplay (4K).Watch on YouTube "One of the unwelcome changes I’ve noticed with Season 4 is that they’ve now inserted a new ad spot at the top of the list of your weapon specifics builds," wrote one player. "So now every time you toggle between weapon builds you get to stare at ads for $20-$30 skins. I’m sure the Activision developer who suggested this terrible feature is very proud of themselves. "This change is especially unneeded because you could already toggle from Builds to Shop on any given weapon and apparently not being thrown directly in our faces didn’t make them enough money. Many of us payed [sic] $60-$100 for a feature game and don’t want to be bombarded with additional ads." "Actively witnessing Call of Duty become [SpongeBob SquarePants'] the Krusty Krab," replied another. Season 4 brings new ad spot in game for weapons byu/whambampl inblackops6 To see this content please enable targeting cookies. "Well guys looks like COD can suck a fat one," replied someone else. "This ad mess is ridiculous. They make huge bank already for them to even do this should be illegal. I've never been done with a COD this fast ever. But she's getting deleted. You can't scrounge people for money and not have a decent game. I'm not asking for a great game, just not a buggy game." In a separate thread that's been upvoted almost a thousand times, one player opined: "I wouldn't even be mad if this was just in warzone, a free game, but putting it in a pay-to-play premium title, with how expensive they're getting?" "Agree 100%, it really feels like one of those free cell phone games from a tiny indie studio begging you for money at every turn. Pathetic for a full price, stand alone game from a huge developer," replied another. Earlier this year, in a update shared on social media, developer Treyarch said it recognised cheaters "are frustrating and severely impact the experience for our community" but insisted it was addressing the issue, and will continue to do so "throughout 2025". At the same time, it confirmed 136,000 ranked play accounts were banned for cheating across both Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone.

The dock, an iconic Mac feature, is used to launch apps, switch between them, and as a hub for displaying key apps and minimized windows while they're open. By default, the dock has a clean look and features a few apps that your computer thinks you might want to use. However, you can get a lot out of customizing your dock, like removing the icons for default Apple apps you don't use. You can also change its placement and its look. Here's what you need to know to do just that, plus a bit extra.Remove apps you're not going to use Credit: Pranay Parab You should start your dock tweaks by removing apps you're never going to use. To remove an app from your dock, right-click it and select Options > Remove from Dock. You can also ensure apps that are only in the dock temporarily (which appear on the right side of the dock, next to a separator) stay there by right-clicking them and selecting Options > Keep in Dock. Move apps around to make them easy to accessYour next step should be to reorder your Dock's apps, which is as simple dragging their icons where you want them. Note, though, that if you accidentally drop an icon outside of the dock, it'll be removed from your dock and you'll have to add it again.Change the size of the dockYou can also adjust your dock's size. Hover your mouse cursor over any of your dock's separators (those vertical dividing lines). The cursor will change to an arrow that points up and down. Drag it towards the top of the screen to make the dock larger or drag it downwards to make it smaller.Alternatively, you can adjust the dock’s size by clicking the Apple logo in the top-left corner of your Mac's screen and going to System Settings > Desktop & Dock and moving the Size slider.  Change the dock’s positionThe dock can be moved to either side of your screen, saving you precious real estate. To change this, right-click any vacant area in the dock and select Position on Screen. Pick Left or Right to align your dock vertically to your selected position. Center will place it back in the default spot.This option is also available in System Settings > Desktop & Dock > Position on screen.Automatically hide and show the dock Credit: Pranay Parab Some of us prefer to have a clean workspace, and if that's you, you can auto-hide the dock when it's not in use. It won't be gone entirely, but it'll only make itself visible when you move the cursor towards its location. This is also a good feature for those with limited screen space. Enable this feature by going to System Settings > Desktop & Dock > Automatically hide & show the dock. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut Command-Option-D to toggle this setting on and off.Remove recently opened apps from the dockThe right side of your dock will show your most recently opened apps. If this annoys you, you can disable the setting by going to System Settings > Desktop & Dock and disabling Show suggested and recent apps in Dock. I prefer this feature on, to help me navigate commonly used apps, but if you're short on screen space, it could be useful.Move minimized windows into the app iconWhenever you minimize apps on your Mac, each window appears as a separate icon on the dock. This can cause the dock to fill up fast, automatically making it smaller. If you’d rather avoid this, macOS allows you to minimize windows directly into the appropriate app icon instead. Just go to System Settings > Desktop & Dock and select Minimize windows into application icon. To access a window that's been minimized into an app icon, right-click it.Hide indicators for open apps Credit: Pranay Parab If an app is open on your Mac, a small dot will appear near its icon on the dock. You can remove these open app indicators if you'd like. Go to System Settings > Desktop & Dock and disable Show indicators for open applications.Customize magnification of iconsWhen you move your cursor near any app icon on your Mac’s dock, it’ll automatically enlarge. You can change the level of this magnification effect, or disable it altogether by going to System Settings > Desktop & Dock.To enable or disable enlarging icons, use the slider below Magnification. Moving the slider all the way to the left switches off magnification, while moving it elsewhere will adjust magnification size. Fun tip: If you have this feature disabled, you can temporarily activate it on command by holding Shift + Control.Add folders to the dock Credit: Pranay Parab You can add browsable folders to your Mac’s dock, as long as the folder is in the Favorites bar in Finder. Open Finder and locate the folder you want to add and drag it to the Favorites bar in the left pane. Right-click any folder in the Favorites bar and select Add to Dock. Here's the fun part: you can use this trick to group a bunch of apps into a single dock icon, which is great when you have a few apps that you want to keep in the dock, but you don't need them every single day. The trick is to go to the Applications folder in Finder and move the apps to a new folder. Just give the folder a name, move it to the Favorites Bar, and add it to the dock. You're all set!Add spacers to the dockYou can go a little beyond the options macOS gives you and add a few spacers, or blank spaces, to your dock to help organize it. You can use these blank spaces for aesthetics or to group similar apps. To do this, you'll need to use your Mac's Terminal. Press Command-Space, search for Terminal, and open the app. Then, paste and run the following command to add a full-size spacer in the dock.defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add '{tile-data={}; tile-type="spacer-tile";}' && killall DockIf you want a smaller spacer, use this command instead.defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add '{"tile-type"="small-spacer-tile";}' && killall DockFor more than one spacer, simply re-run your chosen command. The good news is that this is the only time you'll need the Terminal. Once you have your spacer, simply drag it around to change its position in the dock, or drop it outside the dock to remove it.Change app icons to make the dock more visually pleasingYou can also customize the dock by simply changing various app icons. This can make it look more pleasant or help it fit a particular theme. The best way to do this is to open your favorite apps and see if they let you change their app icons. If not, check out my guide on replacing macOS app icons, which highlights both a built-in method and one third-party app that makes it easier to change app icons. For alternative icons, a good resource is macOSicons.com.Use third-party apps to access hidden dock settings Credit: Pranay Parab Your Mac doesn't always make it easy to find everything you can do with it. Sometimes, you need to run a few Terminal commands to access hidden features (such as the spacers I just highlighted), and even then, some features aren't user-accessible at all. For more control, consider trying Mac apps that unlock these hidden features for you, such as TinkerTool (free) or Supercharge ($11). I've written about TinkerTool before, and my colleague Khamosh Pathak has covered Supercharge. Both apps have a few useful options for tweaking your dock, such as the ability to remove the delay before macOS reveals your hidden dock, or dimming the icons of hidden apps. TinkerTool also makes it easier to add spacers to the dock, and it even allows you to lock the dock, so that the positions of icons and spacers can't be changed. Supercharge, meanwhile, has a feature that directly opens dock folders in Finder, instead of showing their contents right in the dock. Use a dedicated dock customization appIf your goal is only to tweak the dock and nothing else, you may be better-served by a dedicated dock customization app. This type of an app will allow you to make cosmetic and functional changes to the dock, but won't be useful if you want other systemwide tweaks. Two good examples are DockFlow ($5.60) and uBar ($30). DockFlow lets you create presets for your dock. You can think of it like creating various profiles such as work, gaming, education, social media, etc. For each of these presets, you can drop a few apps into them and quickly switch between them as needed. uBar, meanwhile, focuses on making the dock look like the Windows taskbar, which could be useful if you're moving operating systems. 

Even if you don't want to dive in and create AI videos using the latest Veo 3 model released by Google, you can sit back and marvel at (or be petrified by) the work of others: Flow TV is a new lean-back experience that lets you click through a seemingly endless carousel of AI-generated clips.Unlike the Flow video creator that is needed to create these videos, you don't need to pay Google a subscription fee to use Flow TV, and you don't even need to be signed into a Google account. It's a showcase for the best AI clips produced by Veo, though for now, it's limited to the older Veo 2 model rather than Veo 3.Google hasn't said much about the creators behind the videos in Flow TV, but it is described as an "ever-growing showcase" of videos, so presumably there are new clips being added regularly behind the scenes—and eventually we might see Veo 3 clips mixed in, the kind of clips that have already been fooling people online.Ready to take a break from content made by flesh and blood humans and see what AI is currently cooking up? Point your browser towards the Flow TV channel list.Channel hopping Flow TV gives you multiple channels to choose from. Credit: Lifehacker The channel list gives you some idea of what's available on Flow TV: We've got channels like Window Seat (views from train carriages), Unnatural (nature with an AI twist), and Zoo Break (animal adventures). Some of these play to the strengths of AI video, including It's All Yarn (self-explanatory) and Dream Factory (general weirdness).And do expect to be freaked out pretty regularly, by the way: Flow TV is not ideal if you're easily unsettled or unnerved, because these clips move quickly, and feature content that goes way beyond the norm. I didn't come across anything really shocking or disturbing, but this is AI—and Flow TV doesn't particularly focus on realism.There's also a Shuffle All option in addition to the individual channels, and whichever route you pick through the clips, there's a lot to watch—I wasn't able to get to the end of it all. You can also switch to the Short Films tab at the top of the channel list to see three longer pieces of work made by acknowledged creators.Whichever route you take through this content, you get playback controls underneath the current clip: Controls for pausing playback, jumping forwards and backwards between clips, looping videos, and switching to full screen mode. What you can't do, however, is skip forwards or backwards through a clip, YouTube-style.To the right of the control panel you can switch between seeing one video at a time, and seeing a whole grid of options, and further to the right you've got a channel switcher. Click the TV icon to the left of the control panel to see all the available channels again, and the Flow TV button in the top-left corner to jump to something random. There's also a search box up at the top to help you look for something specific.Prompt engineering Expect the unexpected from AI video. Credit: Lifehacker While you're watching the videos, you'll see a Show Prompt toggle switch underneath each clip. Turn this switch on to see the prompt used to make the video you're watching, together with the AI model deployed (which is always Veo 2, at least for now). It's an interesting look behind the scenes at how each clip was made.Here's an example one: "First person view. Follow me into through this secret door into my magic world. Documentary. Soft natural light. 90s." As you can see, Veo just lets you throw in whatever ideas or camera directions or style guidelines come to mind, without worrying too much about formal structure (or grammar).Revealing the prompts lets you see what the AI got right and what it didn't, and how the models interpret different instructions. Of course, it always makes the most generic picks from prompts, based on whatever dominates its training data: Generic swans, generic buses, generic cars, generic people, generic camera angles and movements. If you need something out of the ordinary from AI video, you need to ask for it specifically.Look closer, and the usual telltale signs of AI generation are here, from the way most clips use a similar pacing, scene length, and shot construction, to the weird physics that are constantly confusing (and are sometimes deliberately used for effect). AI video is getting better fast, but it's a much more difficult challenge than text or images represent.For now, Flow TV is a diverting demo gallery of where AI video is at: what it does well and where it still falls short. On this occasion, I'll leave aside the issues of how much energy was used to generate all of these clips, or what kinds of videos the Veo models might have been trained on, but it might be worth bookmarking the Flow TV channel directory if you want to stay up to speed with the state of AI filmmaking.

It's not easy to maintain your privacy when using technology today. That's largely the fault of companies who prioritize data collection over the integrity of their users. But even though I'm quite used to the lack of respect most companies pay towards my privacy and security, I have to admit, I'm a bit taken aback by T-Mobile's latest decision. T-Life, T-Mobile's tech support app, has a rather unconventional and unnerving feature. For some users, it appears T-Life can record your screen whenever you have the app open. This setting is quite hidden, and worse, enabled by default. Who signed off on this?How T-Life's screen recording worksThankfully, the privacy and security implications aren't quite as bad as the headlines make it seem. T-Mobile says the feature is strictly for T-Life tech support—not for spying. As a T-Mobile spokesperson told CNET, "To help us give customers who use T-Life a smoother experience, we are rolling out a new tool in the app that will help us quickly troubleshoot reported or detected issues. This tool records activities within the app only and does not see or access any personal information."Still, this explanation doesn't excuse quietly enabling in-app screen recording for customers without their knowledge. I have no issue with a company like T-Mobile offering tools that aid tech support when all parties are willing and able, but as CNET points out, the app already has such a feature called "Screen Share" under Help & support. Seems redundant to have a separate "screen recording" setting that serves a similar purpose—especially when it appears the company wasn't planning on telling people about it before the news broke. When you do take a look at the setting in the T-Life app, you'll see the following description: "We use a tool to record how customers use the app to analyze and improve your experience. Only T-Mobile will review and analyze your info. If you turn this toggle on or magenta, we will record your screen while you use the app. If you turn this toggle off or gray, we will not record your screen." Yikes. How to disable T-Life's screen recordingTo disable the feature, open T-Life, then head to Settings > Preferences. Here, you'll see Screen recording tool, where you can disable the setting. (You'll know it's off if it turns gray.) If you don't see the setting, you might not be affected. T-Life hasn't rolled out this feature to all users yet, so it is possible the app isn't screen recording for you at this time. Reports say T-Mobile has rolled this out to iPhone and Android users alike, so don't assume you're safe because you use one platform or the other.

After the Nintendo Switch, the Steam Deck might be the most impressive gaming handheld of the last decade. It brings Steam games—most of which were initially designed to run on Windows PCs—to a remarkably designed portable device. The only problem? Battery life can be rough on some games. If you're struggling to stay charged, here are some tips to help you out.When it comes to your Steam Deck's battery life, you're going to notice a lot of variability, even from one game to another. AAA games that rely on high-end GPUs will typically guzzle power. On laptops or desktops, that's usually not as much of a concern, but on the Steam Deck—when those games run at all—they can burn through the battery quickly.So, while we have plenty of tips to get the best battery life, it's important to keep in mind some games will simply burn through your power no matter what. Fortunately, SteamOS is already pretty power efficient (at least compared to other operating systems), and there are several handy tools to help.First, learn what, exactly, is draining your batteryThere are a few common culprits for battery drain in games, and it's helpful to understand them before diving into solutions. This is because what works for one game with minimal performance impact, could make another game unplayable. With that in mind, here are a few key things that drain your battery:Your hardware settings. The display on your Steam Deck is always a pretty big battery drain, and turning down the brightness can help. Wireless radios like wifi or Bluetooth are always sipping power, even if you're not using them, so you can sometimes turn these off if you don't need them.Your refresh rate and FPS. Your Steam Deck has to update the screen dozens of times every second, and for some games it might be way more than necessary. 60 to 90 frames per second might be necessary for a fast-paced game like Doom Eternal, but it's overkill for Stardew Valley.Your processor's TDP. Thermal Design Power (or TDP) is a complicated metric, but it serves as a shorthand for how much power your processor is using. On the Steam Deck, you can limit this directly, which is a blunt way of saving battery, but it can help sometimes.The most useful tool to help you diagnose your biggest battery drains is the Performance Overlay. Press the three-dot menu button while in a game and navigate to the Performance section and you'll see an option to enable this overlay. There are several levels of detail, ranging from a simple frame rate counter, to real-time power consumption and temperature readouts. The Performance tab is also where you'll find several useful features we'll discuss (under Advanced View), so it's good to make friends with this tab.Dive into your game's display settingsWhile the Steam Deck has a lot of useful features for managing battery life, you're still going to find some of your best options in your game's settings. Most games have presets to lower graphics settings with one quick toggle—like switching from Ultra to Medium—and some have even more advanced settings.This is particularly important to keep in mind if you play Steam games on multiple devices. Some games will try to sync settings between them, which can lead to your game rendering at a higher resolution or frame rate than the Steam Deck is even capable of displaying.In general, here are a few settings you should take a look at:Resolution: The Steam Deck has a 1280x800 resolution, so unless you're using an external monitor, there's no reason to set your game to a higher resolution. Most games won't let you go higher anyway, but it's worth it to double check. You can also go lower for some games, if you don't need as much detail.Frame rate: Many games offer the ability to cap how many frames the game generates, even if your display is capable of showing more. This can have a substantial impact on your battery life, especially for games that need to perform a lot of complex calculations (like graphics-heavy shooters) for every new frame.Graphical presets: If your game has a preset slider, try starting on the lowest preset and working your way up to see how the game performs. The Performance Overlay can be a huge help here, to see how much power your system is drawing on different presets. If your eye can't tell the difference, but your battery can, drop the settings.You can play around to find the right balance for you, and it will vary greatly by game. In some games, you might want more graphical detail, but fewer frames per second, while others would benefit from the exact opposite. Try a few options to see what works best.Adjust your refresh rate and FPS in tandem with the Frame Limit sliderAs mentioned above, the number of times your game updates the screen per second can be a huge factor in battery drain. This is affected by both the screen's refresh rate (how many times the display physically updates the pixel you see) and your game's frames per second (or FPS, the number of times the GPU generates a new frame per second). To complicate matters further, your refresh rate can have an effect on your input latency, meaning it's important to strike a delicate balance.To simplify this, the Steam Deck has a slider called Frame Limit that can impose a limit on how many frames your game displays and strike that balance for you. It automatically adjusts your refresh rate to be evenly divisible by the FPS limit, avoiding unnecessary (and asynchronous) refreshes, while still maintaining the highest refresh rate possible to reduce input lag.It's a workaround that's placed somewhat late in the pipeline, and it's sometimes better to adjust your game's settings directly, but it simplifies a complicated process. If you'd rather adjust your display's refresh rate directly, you can toggle Disable Frame Limit and adjust the refresh rate from 45Hz to 90Hz directly. Keep in mind, though, you might still need to adjust some game settings to avoid generating frames your display will just throw out.Put a cap on your Thermal Design Power (TDP), if you mustTweaking your game's graphics settings can adjust your power consumption with scalpel-like precision. By comparison, the TDP limit is a hammer. But even hammers have their uses. By design, the TDP slider on the Steam Deck will put a hard limit on how much power the CPU/GPU can draw from the battery. You can't get much more direct battery savings than that.The problem is that games typically, you know, need power. And even games with really fine-grain settings don't generally ask the user to decide how much electricity to draw. For some, especially graphics-heavy games, putting a hard limit on TDP can cause massive performance drops or even game crashes.Less demanding games, though, can benefit from playing with this setting. A useful rule of thumb is that if the game you're playing is already struggling to maintain a consistent frame rate, try something else before touching TDP. But for games like Stardew Valley, where you're never really concerned with frame rate, you can experiment with lowering the TDP limit to 10W or even 5W to see how well the game performs.Of course, setting a TDP limit only matters if it's below what your game was using in the first place. This is another area where the performance overlay comes in handy. You can get a sense of how much power your system is drawing during your games, and use that to gauge how low you want your TDP limit to be.Don't forget per-game battery setting profilesOn top of all these settings, you can also set game-specific profiles to change your battery settings automatically based on the title you're playing. I can't recommend this feature enough, especially if you tend to play games with very different power demands. Few things are more annoying than forgetting you set a low TDP limit for a simple game, then launching a more demanding game that strains against that limit.To use this, it's one simple toggle on the Performance tab. Enable "Use per-game profile" and the Steam Deck will automatically create a profile for every game you use. You can disable this toggle to switch back to the default, if you ever decide you prefer one consistent profile.Keep in mind the profiles only account for the Steam Deck's settings itself, not any game-specific settings. But it's still a handy tool. It can be overwhelming to keep track of all the different buttons and knobs you can fiddle with to get extra battery life, but the Steam Deck manages to balance a ton of customization options with the simplicity of straight-forward, user-friendly tools so you can game longer.