Sure, Blue Prince has the most name recognition among the indie games that had a surprise debut on Nintendo Switch 2 today. However, I implore you not to overlook two other wonderful indies that hit Nintendo’s consoles in the wake of this morning’s Indie World showcase.
Minishoot’ Adventures — from SoulGame Studio and co-publisher IndieArk — is a game I absolutely loved when it first emerged on Steam in 2024. It’s an RPG that adopts the format of top-down Legend of Zelda games. At the same time, it’s a twin-stick bullet-hell shooter. The two-person team at SoulGame blended those genres to great effect.
Here, you play as a ship. Exploration is key, as you’ll need to find upgrades for your ship in order to access new areas. SoulGame injected a ton of personality into Minishoot’ Adventures as well. Errant apostrophe in the name aside, it’s a real gem.
I’m perplexed as to why Nintendo only showcased Öoo in the Japanese version of the Indie World stream. It’s utterly brilliant and by far the best new game I played in 2025. It’s so exquisitely designed by Nama Takahashi (ElecHead) that a 20-second trailer is all that’s needed to show how this puzzle platformer works.
You play as a caterpillar who has a bomb — and later a second one — that can be used to blow stuff up. The bombs are also used to hold down buttons and to propel the caterpillar upwards or sideways.
There are no instructions here. Takahashi (who made the game with the help of Tiny Cactus Studio and Tsuyomi) helps you figure out what to do solely through intelligent level design. The puzzles aren’t overly difficult, but they got my brain matter working just enough that I smiled whenever I found a solution. The visuals, music and sound design are supremely charming too.
This is a truly wonderful game. It doesn’t outstay its welcome either, as it can be completed within a couple of hours.
Öoo is available now on Switch for $11. It’s coming to PS5 on March 11 and Xbox Series X/S later this month.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/two-fantastic-indie-games-not-named-blue-prince-also-just-arrived-on-switch-182648197.html?src=rss
Let’s deal with the bad news first: Apple is reverting a price cut from last year. It dropped the M4-powered MBA’s starting price down to $999, but for the M5-equipped model, you’ll need to shell out at least $1,099.
The company claimed the M5 MacBook Air will be able to deliver four times faster performance in AI tasks than the M4 MBA. Compared with the M1 MacBook Air, you’ll get up to 9.5 times faster performance, the company said.
Along with swapping in a more powerful chip, Apple has upgraded the starting storage by doubling it from 256GB to 512GB. The company says the SSD has “2x faster read/write performance compared to the previous generation.” You can kit out the MacBook Air with 4TB of internal storage if you have the will and the means.
You’ll also get 16GB of RAM for starters. The memory has 153GB/s of bandwidth, which Apple said is a 28 percent improvement over the M4 MBA. The latest MacBook Air can be equipped with up to 32GB of memory.
Just like it did with the latest iPad Air, Apple has upgraded the connectivity hardware. Thanks to the inclusion of the company’s N1 wireless chip, the M5 MacBook Air supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.
As you’d imagine, the M5 MacBook Air runs on macOS Tahoe and it supports Apple Intelligence features. It has a Liquid Retina display, 12MP Center Stage camera, a sound system with Spatial Audio support and a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports, which allows the laptop to support up to two external displays. Apple claims the M5 MacBook Air will run for up 18 hours on a single charge.
The M5 MacBook Air is available in 13-inch and 15-inch models, with the latter starting at $1,299. It’s available in sky blue, midnight, starlight and silver. Pre-orders start on March 4 at 9:15AM ET. The laptops will be available in stores in 33 countries and regions on March 11.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/the-macbook-air-m5-starts-at-1099-up-100-from-the-m4-141612909.html?src=rss
Apple had promised a “big week” for the company as rumors swirled that it had a number of product announcements lined up. True enough, it unveiled a half-dozen new and refreshed devices over the last few days, along with more powerful chips for MacBook Pros.
In addition, ahead of the official announcement, Apple leaked news of a cheaper MacBook called the MacBook Neo. Whoops! The company confirmed the existence of that system on Wednesday. It starts at $599, making it Apple’s most affordable laptop to date.
Here’s our recap of everything Apple announced this week:
iPhone 17e
Apple
Apple has spruced up this year’s entry-level iPhone with some pretty solid upgrades, though it's keeping the starting price at $599. The iPhone 17e has double the base storage of the iPhone 16e at 256GB. It also has MagSafe support with Qi2 wireless charging speeds of up to 15W, double that of the iPhone 16e.
Design-wise, Apple hasn't exactly rocked the boat. The iPhone 17e looks pretty much identical to its predecessor. It appears that Apple is sticking with the same 48MP Fusion camera system as it used in the iPhone 16e too.
That said, the 6.1-inch Super Retina display has Ceramic Shield 2. According to Apple, this provides “3x better scratch resistance than the previous generation and reduced glare.” The company slotted its C1X cellular modem into the iPhone 17e as well. It says this is up to two times faster than the C1 that was in the iPhone 16e. The device has the same A19 chip as the iPhone 17, so it supports Apple Intelligence AI tools, and it runs iOS 26.
In addition, the iPhone 17e has an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance, as well as the promise of "all-day battery life." It also supports satellite-powered features including Emergency SOS, Roadside Assistance, Messages and Find My.
Pre-orders for the iPhone 17e are now open. It’s available in black, white and soft pink. The device will hit shelves in more than 70 countries and regions on March 11.
iPad Air M4
Apple
The latest iPad Air boasts Apple’s M4 chip. That means the mid-range iPad is effectively remaining a year behind the iPad Pro. The M4 is almost two years old at this point, while the top-end model has the newer M5 chip. Still, if you only use an iPad for casual tasks like watching shows, web browsing, email and so on, the M4 will be more than powerful enough. It will be more adept at handling resource-intensive tasks like video editing than previous iPad Air models too.
Apple has also bumped up the RAM from 8GB from the last-gen model to 12GB. Given the sharp increase in RAM prices in recent months, it’s slightly surprising that Apple is sticking to the same prices for the iPad Air. The 11-inch M4 iPad Air starts at $599 while the 13-inch version starts at $799, each with 128GB of storage. There's a $50 discount for those buying it for educational use.
Apple claims the M4 delivers up to 2.3 times faster performance compared with the M1 iPad Air and "over 4x faster 3D pro rendering with ray tracing performance." Of course, the new iPad Air runs iPadOS 26.
Apple gave the iPad Air other internal upgrades by including its N1 and C1X connectivity chips. As such, this is the first iPad Air with Wi-Fi 7 support. As you might expect, 5G cellular connectivity is available as well.
The design of the M4 iPad Air doesn't seem to have changed, as it appears to have the same LCD display Apple used in the last two iterations of the tablet. The company has stuck with the same rear-facing camera and dual-speaker setup as well.
Pre-orders for the M4 iPad Air are now open. The tablet will hit retailers in 35 countries and regions on March 11. It will be available in blue, purple, starlight and space gray.
Apple MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and Max
Apple
Apple’s most powerful laptop line finally got the chip upgrades that we’d long been expecting. Along with announcing the M5 Pro and M5 Max, the company is offering versions of the MacBook Pro with those chipsets. However, there are price increases to go along with the upgrades.
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 Pro chipset (with 15 CPU cores and 16 GPU cores), 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage starts at $2,199. That's a $200 increase compared with the base M4 Pro-powered system from late 2024, though Apple has doubled the base storage, which is a welcome touch. If you prefer, you can have a 14-inch MBP with a more powerful M5 Pro (with up to 18 CPU cores and 20 GPU cores) or M5 Max (with 18 CPU cores and 32 or 40 GPU cores). You can double the RAM to 48GB as well.
The 16-inch MacBook Pro has an M5 Pro chipset with 18 CPU cores and 20 GPU cores as standard. Of course, you can swap that out for an M5 Max if you'd rather. The 16-inch model starts at $2,699, a $200 increase from the base M4-powered system. It also starts with 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. For what it’s worth, Apple says both the memory and SSD are faster than in previous models.
Apple hasn’t changed the Liquid Retina XDR display and 12MP Center Stage front-facing camera for these models. However, the company has installed its N1 chip to power Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 connectivity.
Pre-orders are now open, with general availability to follow on March 11.
Apple said the M5 Pro and M5 Max are built using new “Fusion Architecture” that “combines two dies into a single system on a chip (SoC).” As ever, the goal is to deliver more power and efficiency. We’ll find out for ourselves whether Apple’s performance claims hold up when we’re able to test the chips.
Meanwhile, the base 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 chipset also got a $100 price increase to $1,699. To take the sting out of that a bit, Apple doubled the base storage of that model to 1TB as well. Given that Apple usually charges a premium for storage increases, that’s not a terrible tradeoff.
M5 MacBook Air
Apple
A year after Apple upgraded the MacBook Air with an M4 chipset, the company pulled the same trick by swapping in an M5 chip. The company also boosted the base storage from 256GB to 512GB, with an SSD that it claimed can provide “2x faster read/write performance compared to the previous generation.”
While the MBA still has 16GB or RAM as standard, Apple also upgraded the memory to have 153GB/s of bandwidth — the company said that’s a 28 percent improvement over what the M4 MBA offered. Meanwhile, Apple has slapped in the N1 chip to deliver Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 connectivity.
Alas, with those upgrades comes a tradeoff. Apple has bumped the starting price of the latest MacBook Air back up to $1,099 after cutting it to $999 for the M4 model. That’s for the 13-inch variant. The 15-inch M5 MacBook Air starts at $1,299.
The latest MacBook Air is available in sky blue, midnight, starlight and silver. You can pre-order one now. It will hit stores in 33 countries and regions on March 11.
MacBook Neo
Apple expanded its laptop lineup even further on Wednesday with the announcement of the MacBook Neo. This is a new entry-level model that starts well below the latest $1,099 MacBook Air at a very reasonable $599 ($499 for educational use). It’s Apple’s least expensive laptop to date, and a clear attempt by the company to wade into a market that’s saturated with cheap Windows laptops and Chromebooks.
As expected, the laptop runs on an A18 Pro chip, which first appeared in the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. The chipset has a 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine, along with 8GB of unified memory. That’s enough for the MacBook Neo to power Apple Intelligence features (of course, it’s a macOS Tahoe machine). Apple also said that the MacBook Neo will run for up to 16 hours on a single charge.
The MacBook Neo has a 13-inch Liquid Retina Display (with 500 nits of brightness and support for 1 billion colors), one USB-C 3 port, a USB-C 2 port and a headphone jack, but no MagSafe connector. There’s a 1080p front-facing FaceTime HD camera, dual mics and side-firing speakers that support Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos.
The system has a Magic Keyboard with a multi-touch trackpad. However, if you want a TouchID sensor, you’ll need to pay $100 more for it. Ponying up the extra cash will also double the storage from 256GB to 512GB.
Apple claimed that the MacBook Neo is up to 50 percent faster at everyday tasks than “the bestselling PC with the latest shipping Intel Core Ultra 5” with 8GB or RAM and a 256GB SSD. The company also contended that its new laptop is up to three times faster than that Windows system “when running on-device AI workloads like applying advanced effects to photos.”
The MacBook Neo is available in four colors: silver, blush (a light pink), citrus (light yellow) and indigo. It was previously reported that Apple would offer the budget-friendly laptop in some lively iMac-esque colorways. Moreover, Apple says the laptop is “made with a durable recycled aluminum enclosure that helps it reach 60 percent recycled content by weight,” which is said to be the most of any Apple device.
As with the rest of the new devices, pre-orders are open now and the MacBook Neo will be available in stores in 30 countries and regions on March 11.
We’ve already had a chance to go hands-on with the MacBook Neo. Engadget senior editor Devindra Hardawar had generally positive first impressions of the laptop, but felt that the keyboard and touchpad didn’t feel quite as sturdy as those on Apple’s higher-end systems.
Studio Display and Studio Display XDR
I don’t think many people had Studio Displays on their Apple announcements bingo card for this week, but here they are. The Studio Display XDR is completely new.
This is a 27-inch monitor with a 5K Retina XDR screen. It has a mini-LED display with more than 2,000 dimming zones and peak HDR brightness of 2,000 nuts, along with a wider color gamut. The Studio Display XDR boasts a 120Hz refresh rate (an improvement over the 60Hz that previous models were limited to) and a tilt- and height-adjustable stand as standard.
The monitor also has a 12MP Center Stage camera with support for Desk View, a feature that — weirdly enough — lets you show both your face and what's on your desk. Thunderbolt 5 connectivity allows you to hook up more displays by daisy chaining them. The Studio Display XDR is also a Thunderbolt hub with support for up to 140W of charging power. As such, you'll be able to fast charge a 16-inch MacBook Pro using the included Thunderbolt 5 Pro cable.
The Studio Display XDR starts at $3,299. A version with nano-texture glass, which is said to further reduce reflectivity, costs $3,599.
Meanwhile, the refreshed Studio Display has an upgraded 12MP Center Stage camera with Desk View. There's also a "studio-quality" three-microphone array and six-speaker sound system with Spatial Audio. The latest model has Thunderbolt 5 support with the option to daisy-chain displays. The Studio Display can deliver 96W charging as well.
The base monitor is $1,599. It still has a 27-inch 5K Retina display with up to 600 nits of brightness and P3 wide color. It comes with standard glass or, for an extra $300, nano-texture glass. The Studio Display has a tilt-adjustable stand as standard. If you'd prefer to have one that's height adjustable as well, you'll need to shell out another $400.
Again, pre-orders for the displays are now open ahead of broader availability on March 11.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/everything-apple-announced-this-week-macbook-neo-iphone-17e-and-more-155617129.html?src=rss
Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. It's Steam Next Fest week, with literally thousands of demos for upcoming games for us to dive into. I'm trying to check out as many as I can before the event wraps up on Monday. However, I made a near-critical error in my planning: I opted to try the Raccoin demo first. I could and would have happily played that all week.
This is a coin-pushing roguelike deckbuilder that adopts the format of Balatro. To progress, you need to earn a certain number of points and the target increases each round. Every three rounds there's a sort-of boss — a few coins that negatively impact your game until you can get rid of them. After every round, you’ll go to a shop to buy and sell special coins and other upgrades. As you might expect with this type of game, finding ways to boost the points you can score from each coin is how to win.
On my first successful run, I found a way to electrify the coins (which boosts their score) by charging them and use passive abilities and special coins to spread and amplify the effect. Then I was able to replicate a special coin that pulls all other nearby coins into a cyclone — having the water-based coins in there helped to spread the electrical effect between other coins. There were a few rounds in which I didn't even have to do anything. The cyclones just dumped enough coins over the edge for me.
This was only the first way I've figured out how to break the game. Six hours in, I'm eager to find many more.
Raccoin — from Doraccoon and Balatro publisher Playstack — will hit Steam on March 31. The demo is currently still available.
I've had The Eternal Life of Goldman on my wishlist since we first learned about it a couple of years ago. I'm very glad that was one of the demos I've tried. This is an utterly gorgeous platform adventure with hand-drawn art. As Goldman, an elderly gentleman, you'll swap parts of your cane on the fly so you can hook onto floating rings or pogo off springs.
The platforming is challenging enough that I had to focus to get through the demo, which lasts about 75-90 minutes. There's almost always something going on in the background or foreground too. This game from Weappy Studio is shaping up to be quite something. I can't wait to play the full thing when The Eternal Life of Goldman hits PC, Nintendo Switch, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, hopefully later this year.
Of course I had to check out the Next Fest demo for Vampire Crawlers, which is also available on Xbox. The latest game from Poncle is a turn-based deckbuilder roguelite. Oh, and it's also a Vampire Survivors spin-off. Instead of passively firing your weapons at surrounding enemies, you have a bit more control here.
It plays a bit like those first-person maze games from the '90s. You'll walk around each level with the help of a map that shows where enemies, chests and bosses are located. When you encounter enemies, you'll play cards in a certain order to deal damage or boost your stats for that particular battle. You can play all your available cards in one go, but you might want to rearrange them first so that you, for instance, use a card that boosts your damage before firing any weapons. Each card has a mana point value — you can only play a full hand if you have enough mana. And yes, there are weapon evolutions.
Turn-based games usually aren't my bag, but sometimes they just hit right. The Vampire Crawlers demo hits right. I can already tell I'm going to spend dozens of hours with the full game, which is coming to Steam, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android this year.
I tried a few other demos so far, including one for John Carpenter's Toxic Commando, a co-op shooter in the vein of Left 4 Dead. It's a little rough around the edges right now, but it seems enjoyable enough.
There are a bunch of other Next Fest demos I'm hoping to try over the weekend, including precision platformer Croak, PvE pirate game Windrose, cyberpunk platformer Replaced, record store sim Wax Heads, match-three/tower-defense game Titanium Court and Dragon Care Tarot. I read that you can pet dragons in the latter, so I'm sold.
New releases
If you can't get enough of The Witcher and are impatiently waiting for CD Projekt Red to unleash The Witcher IV, here's one way to keep your thumbs busy in the meantime. Reigns: The Witcher is the latest installment of the Reigns series from Nerial and Devolver Digital for Steam, Android and iOS ($6).
You still play as Geralt of Rivia. However, this is a narrative-focused game in which you make choices by swiping. It's something a little different for Witcher fans. It might just pull some long-time Reigns players into that fantasy universe for the first time too.
Bread and Fred is the cutest thing. The co-op platformer from SandCastles Studio has been available on PC (Steam, GOG and Epic Games Store) and Nintendo Switch for a while, and this week it landed on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4 and PS5. It normally costs $15 and there's a 20 percent launch discount on those consoles. You'll need to be a PS Plus subscriber to get those savings on PlayStation, though.
You and a friend take control of a pair of adorable penguins that are tethered together. The aim is to ascend a mountain, sometimes by swinging each other to get to hard-to-reach places. But if you miss a jump, you can plummet back down and erase a chunk of your progress. There is a single-player mode in which one of the penguins is replaced by a rock. The pixel art aesthetic here is super charming.
Here's another co-op game. This one is a side‑scrolling RPG brawler. After several months in early access/game preview, the full version of Stoic's Towerborne arrived on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox on PC, Steam and PS5. It costs $25, though there's a 20 percent launch discount on Xbox. It’s on Game Pass Ultimate and Premium as well.
After the 1.0 update, the game has a full campaign that you can play offline by yourself or online with friends. Stoic has added fresh biomes, enemies and bosses, and there are said to be hundreds of missions, side quests and bounties. I really dig the fluidity of the animations in the trailer, though the action is a bit hard to parse at first glance. Still, I'm curious enough to try out Towerborne.
I’ve been a little too occupied with other Next Fest demos (plus Overwatch challenges, I’ll admit it) to play Dice A Millionyet, but this roguelike deckbuilder looks pretty interesting. The aim is to find the right combination of dice and rings (i.e. passive abilities) to roll a million points in one go. As with the likes of Balatro, it's all about figuring out powerful synergies between dice and rings to break the game and rack up ridiculous scores. I did quite enjoy a line on the Steam page that reads, "Cutting edge next-gen graphics (not really, I drew all of them on paint)."
Dice A Million — from Countlessnights and publisher 2 Left Thumbs — is also available on Itch and Xbox on PC. It's on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. Otherwise, it costs $13, but there's a 20 percent discount on Steam until March 11. There's a demo available on Steam too.
Let's start this section with a news roundup. Mouse: P.I. for Hire continues to look rad, but unfortunately we'll have to wait a little longer to play it. Fumi Games and publisher PlaySide have delayed it by a few weeks until April 16 to polish the game up.
I do love voxel-based heist game Teardown, so I'm jazzed for the online multiplayer update. Tuxedo Labs revealed it will go live on Steam on March 12.
It will add a co-op campaign option (for up to 12 players!). There'll be hundreds of other multiplayer modes created by the studio and the community, including prop hunt, battle royale and floor-is-lava modes. There's going to be so much carnage. The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of Teardown will get the multiplayer update later this year.
ConcernedApe (aka Eric Barrone) marked the 10-year anniversary of Stardew Valleyby showing off some very early gameplay footage, some stories from his time of working on his all-time-great indie game and revealing the two additional characters that players will be able to marry when the 1.7 update goes live. Sandy's cool, so it'll be nice to have her as an option, but Clint? That guy sucks. Here's hoping Barrone will finally focus more of his attention on Haunted Chocolatieronce this Stardew update is done and dusted.
Also as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations, it was revealed this week that an orchestra will deliver a one-night-only performance of music from Stardew Valley at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado on October 25. I missed my chance to see the Symphony of Seasons tour in person when it stopped near me, because I don't always make the wisest decisions in life. At least we can now watch an official recording of a previous concert.
Minimap, a social platform for gamers, ran its first indie game showcase this week. Among the highlights:
Thrifty Business (Spellgarden Games), a cozy thrift-store management sim that's coming to Steam this year. A demo's available now.
Another look at Please, Watch The Artwork, an anomaly-spotting game — without jump scares or monsters — from Please, Touch The Artwork developer Thomas Waterzooi.
Lily’s World XD, a psychological horror game from SonderingEmily in which you'll investigate a teenage girl's laptop in the early 2000s. The trailer brings to mind screenlife films like Searching and Unfriended.
Coming-of-age adventure Ikuma - The Frozen Compass from Mooneye Studios. You'll play as both cabin boy Sam and husky Ellie (or have a friend take control of one of them) as you try to make your way home from the Arctic. This should hit Steam later this year.
Tombwater was originally supposed to arrive in November, but Moth Atlas and publisher Midwest Games delayed it for further refinement. It's now set to arrive on Steam on March 31.A Next Fest demo is available now.
This is a 2D Soulslike with a Western setting and 2D pixel art that's inspired by Bloodborne and early Legend of Zelda games. You'll face off against horrific eldritch creatures as you search for a missing friend. You'll have seven playable classes to choose from and the ability to wield more than 50 firearms and melee weapons, and more than 20 spells. Tombwater is said to have around 20 hours of gameplay.
There's no release date for Solarpunk as yet, but I found this trailer quite soothing. It offers a first look at co-op gameplay for this base-building and exploration game from the two-person team at Cyberwave and publisher rokaplay.
Up to four players will be able to explore floating islands, gather resources and build out a homestead together. As the title suggests, there's a technology-driven element to Solarpunk. You can use renewable energy sources to power tools that can automate things like resource harvesting and watering plants. The airships you use to travel between islands look cool too.
Solarpunk is set to hit Steam later this year. A demo is available now.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/steam-next-fest-a-different-flavor-of-the-witcher-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-120000900.html?src=rss
The Pokémon leakers were right: the Gen 10 games are called Pokémon Wind and Pokémon Waves. The Pokémon Company confirmed the titles during a 30th anniversary stream on Pokémon Day. The games are set to hit Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027. (A Game Freak leak last October suggested Wind and Waves would be out this year with DLC to follow in 2027.)
According to the Pokémon account on X, in Wind and Waves, “you’ll travel across beautiful windswept islands and a vast ocean with glittering waves that ebb and flow. You’ll also team up with Pokémon to overcome challenges and even the forces of nature!” They’ll be playable in 11 languages, including Brazilian Portuguese.
A trailer for the two games revealed the three new starter Pokémon: Browt, Pombon and Gecqua. As suggested by their colors and environments they’re shown in, they are grass, fire and water types, respectively. Other Pokémon that were featured include Pikachu (sporting fetching beachwear) and Oddish. The trailer, which reveals a new region for the series, ends by taking us into the ocean to gawk at an number of water Pokémon.
The Pokémon Presents stream on Friday included updates for many other games in the franchise, including the battle-focused Pokémon Champions (a modern spin on the likes of Pokémon Stadium). That will debut on Nintendo Switch in April before arriving on iOS and Android later this year. Cross-play will be available between the three platforms. It was also confirmed that Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness will hit the GameCube library on Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack on Switch 2 in March.
Pokémon Day marks the 30th anniversary of the series’ debut with the 1996 release of Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green (later released as Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue in the West) on Game Boy in Japan. The games were remade for GameBoy Advance in 2004 as Pokémon FireRed Version and Pokémon LeafGreen Version. Starting today, those are available on Switch and Switch 2 for $20 each. Meanwhile, Pokémon Pokopia, a cozy life sim spin-off, will hit Switch 2 on March 5.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/pokemon-winds-and-waves-are-coming-to-switch-2-in-2027-152248895.html?src=rss
Apple CEO Tim Cook has teased “a big week ahead" for Apple, starting on the morning of Monday, March 2. The company had already announced an in-person event for media and creators on March 4, while rumors had pointed toward Apple revealing at least five products over three days next week, so it looks like the stars are aligning for that to actually be the case.
Cook all but confirmed that Apple is about to reveal its newest MacBooks in the coming days. His tweet features a short video of someone shaping an Apple logo on a surface that appears to have the company’s classic space gray colorway.
We’re expecting to see a new MacBook Air next week, along with updated 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros. It's believed that the M5 Pro and M5 Max will debut in the higher-end devices. Apple may also be cooking up an entry-level MacBook that'll be available in an iMac-style array of bright colorways. New iPads and the iPhone 17e could well be in the hopper too.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/tim-cook-confirms-a-week-of-apple-product-reveals-144758464.html?src=rss
Mobile World Congress is right around the corner, but Samsung got out ahead of many rivals that will be showing off new handsets at that event by running the latest edition of Unpacked on Wednesday. At its event in San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, the company revealed the Galaxy S26 lineup, which includes the base S26, the S26+ and the S26 Ultra. We've got some hands-on time with all three handsets as well, and you can read about our in-person experience with the Galaxy S26 Ultra, as well as our S26 and S26+ impressions in those articles.
In addition to those, Samsung announced the Galaxy Buds 4 along with (you guessed it) some AI updates. All the devices unveiled today are already available for pre-order, should you already be dying to get your hands on them. Here's a look at everything Samsung announced at the latest Unpacked:
Galaxy S26 and S26+
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
New-ish year, new Samsung phones. Let's deal with the out-and-out bad news first. The S26 and S26+ are each $100 more expensive than their predecessors (the RAM shortage isn't exactly helping to keep prices down). They start at $900 and $1,100, respectively, for variants with 256GB of storage.
Samsung has tweaked the design a bit this time by rounding the corners to align them more with the S26 Ultra's look. The base model has a slightly larger display than the S25 at 6.3 inches, though the S26+ still has a 6.7-inch screen (albeit with a higher resolution than the S26 can handle). The S26 has a larger battery capacity than the S25 too at 4,300mAh.
In North America, China and Japan, Samsung is sticking with Qualcomm chips rather than using its own Exynos 2600. If you pick up an S26 or S26+ in those markets, it will run on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset.
The camera modules are the same as last year, but Samsung is aiming to supercharge them with upgrades elsewhere, such as ProScaler image upscaling and an MDNIe chip that's said to greatly improve color precision. There's also a video stabilization feature that tries to keep the horizon level while you're following a moving person or pet, which sounds useful for action shots. The new Object Aware Engine is said to better render skin tones and hair textures to make your selfies look better. Samsung has reworked some AI features too, such as making Now Brief and Auto Eraser compatible with more apps.
Pre-orders for the S26 and S26+ are open today, and they'll be available on March 11. The phones will be available in purple, blue, black, white, silver and rose gold, though the latter two are online exclusives.
Galaxy S26 Ultra
The Galaxy S26 Ultra will be available in the same colorways and on the same date as its smaller siblings. It starts at $1,300, so there’s no price increase from the S25 Ultra. Preorders open today.
The S26 Ultra has a 6.9-inch AMOLED display with a QHD+ resolution of 3120 x 1440 and a 120Hz refresh rate. That's all well and good, but the display is hiding (that being the key word) what's perhaps the Galaxy S26 Ultra's most interesting feature.
The device has a Privacy Display that’s said to be the first of its kind on a smartphone. The idea here is to prevent people around from seeing what’s on the screen from acute angles. There's a small decrease in brightness when Privacy Display is active, and there are lots of customization options.
You can set up Privacy Display to activate when you're asked for a password or PIN, or when you get a notification or open certain apps. So if (for instance) you tend to look at your banking apps when you’re on public transit and don’t want other passengers to see how much moolah you have, Privacy Display seems like a very handy feature.
Elsewhere, the S26 Ultra runs on the same chipset as its smaller siblings. It comes with 12 or 16GB of RAM and 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage. The battery is larger than the ones in the other S26 models, as the Ultra has a 5,000 mAh capacity. There's support for Super Fast Charging 3.0 as well. Alas, Samsung still hasn't seen fit to offer built-in Qi2 charging magnets in the S26 lineup, which seems like a wild oversight in the year 2026.
The selfie camera is the same as on the S26 and S26+. The S26 Ultra has 50MP ultrawide and 200MP wide lenses, along with dual 10MP 3x and 50MP 5x telephoto sensors. The resolutions of those cameras are the same as on the S25 Ultra, but the main 200M and 5x telephoto sensors now have wider apertures to let in more light. The S26 Ultra of course has the camera software features (and other AI features) found in the S26 and S26+.
While the S26 phones are more iterative updates this year, Samsung has given its Galaxy Buds a proper refresh. It revamped the design and shape of the Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro to do away with the angular look of the stems and remove the lights from them.
The earbuds have a "more refined, computationally designed fit" too, according to Samsung. The company claims the latest earbuds have smaller earbud heads that allow for a better, more secure fit and a more "comfortable experience during all-day wear." The Galaxy Buds 4 remain in an open-fit format while the Buds Pro 4 have a canal-fit design.
The latest earbuds are said to offer improved audio quality and active noise cancellation (ANC), with an ambient sound mode, adaptive EQ and adaptive ANC. On Buds 4 Pro, there's a siren detection feature that enables ambient sound to let you hear things like alarms or emergency vehicle warnings.
The Buds 4 Pro have a wide woofer that increases the effective speaker area by nearly 20 percent compared with the previous gen earbuds, Samsung said. They support 24-bit/96kHz audio.
If you're using Galaxy Buds 4 or Buds 4 Pro with a Galaxy device, you'll be able to use Bixby, Google Gemini and Perplexity with hands-free voice controls (though the "hey, Plex" command for the latter might be a tad confusing for folks who use a certain media server app). The Buds 4 Pro support head gesture controls for managing calls and Bixby interactions as well.
As with the S26 phones, pre-orders for the earbuds open today and they'll hit shelves on March 11. The Galaxy Buds 4 cost $180 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro will run you $250. Both models are available in white and black with a matte finish. There's an online-exclusive pink option for Buds 4 Pro as well.
Android AI features
Ahead of Unpacked, Samsung confirmed that it would offer Perplexity as an AI agent option in Galaxy AI on the S26 lineup. As part of that update, it shared that the S26 series would respond to the “Hey Plex” wake phrase, and that Perplexity’s features would also be embedded in the Samsung Browser app. The company also recently updated Bixby to make its own virtual assistant more conversational.
On top of that news, Google had announcements of its own to make at Unpacked regarding new Android AI features, which will of course be available on S26 devices. On those handsets and the Pixel 10 lineup, the Gemini app will soon have a feature (in beta) that enables you to offload multi-step tasks, such as booking a ride or putting a grocery order together, to AI. It sure sounds like an attempt to build out agentic AI features on mobile devices.
Launching soon as a beta feature in the Gemini app for #Pixel10, Pixel 10 Pro, and Samsung Galaxy S26 series, you can offload multi-step tasks directly to Gemini.
Starting this week on Pixel 10 devices (and soon on S26 phones), Circle to Search will offer the ability to find details about multiple objects at once, such as entire outfits instead of single pieces. Moreover, Gemini-powered, on-device Scam Detection for phone calls will be available for S26 devices in English in the US.
Try Galaxy relaunches for the S26 series
The day after Unpacked, Samsung shared a press release on its newsroom that encouraged users to check out its Try Galaxy experience on their devices. By scanning a QR code, users can launch the Galaxy UI and check out apps, photo editing tools, AI features and more. Managing editor Cherlynn Low checked it out on her iPhone 17 Pro and found the whole setup trippy but fascinating. You can also use Try Galaxy to check out the company’s foldable phones’ software on your main device. As our editor in chief Aaron Souppouris pointed out, this isn’t the first time Samsung has made it possible to emulate a Galaxy phone on your own handset, but the new iteration for Galaxy S26 certainly is new this year.
Update, February 25 2026, 4:35PM ET: This story has been updated to include more details on the Perplexity AI integration, as well as include mentions in the intro of our hands-on and pre-order articles.
Update, February 26 2026, 12:49PM ET: This story has been updated to include the new Try Galaxy experience that Samsung announced today.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/everything-announced-at-samsung-unpacked-the-galaxy-s26-ultra-galaxy-buds-4-and-more-180000530.html?src=rss
As spicy as the PlayStation State of Play that took place a couple of weeks ago was overall, there was one major first-party game that was notably absent from the showcase: Marvel’s Wolverine. Insomniac Games’ latest superhero blockbuster was already slated for a fall release and now the studio has revealed exactly when you’ll be able to get your claws on it. Marvel’s Wolverine is coming to PS5 on September 15.
That’s it. That’s the announcement. There’s no new trailer to accompany the news, other than a six-second release date reveal video that popped up on YouTube. Insomniac previously said it would reveal more details about Marvel’s Wolverine this spring.
Technically, this release date means that Marvel’s Wolverine will debut in the last week of summer rather than in the fall. Still, it’s one of the relatively few blockbuster games you can expect in the tail end of this year because many major developers and publishers will be staying well clear of GTA VI.
Insomniac’s game will have a couple of months of breathing room before GTA VI soaks up all of the air in the gaming world when it arrives on November 19 — assuming Rockstar doesn’t announce another delay. However, parent company Take-Two plans to rev up its marketing machine for the game this summer, so it’s looking like GTA VI’s release date will hold this time.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/marvels-wolverine-will-hit-ps5-on-september-15-175500927.html?src=rss
Netflix, Disney+, Amazon's Prime Video and other major video on-demand (VOD) streaming services are set to face stricter regulation in the UK. Platforms with a monthly average of more than 500,000 UK viewers will be deemed “Tier 1" services that are subject to similar oversight as broadcasters like the BBC and ITV under the eye of media watchdog Ofcom.
Streaming services run by public broadcasters like ITVX and Channel 4 will have to abide by the new rules as well. BBC services such as iPlayer are exempt for now as they’re regulated under the Broadcasting Code, which broadcasters have to adhere to. That said, the UK government plans to update the BBC Framework Agreement so that iPlayer is regulated in the same way as Netflix et al.
The government said the new rules will reflect changes in how people are watching TV. It claimed that 85 percent of people use an on-demand service every month while 67 percent watch live TV. It added that two-thirds of UK households subscribe to at least one of Netflix, Prime Video and Disney.
According to Variety, the rules will not apply to video-sharing platforms such as YouTube, since those are regulated under the Online Safety Act. However, individual channels on such platforms could be subject to the VOD standards code.
Tier 1 platforms will have to adhere to regulations regarding accuracy and impartiality, while ensuring they shield audiences from “harmful or offensive" material. Ofcom will be able to accept viewer complaints over apparent breaches of such rules and carry out investigations. The watchdog will then be able to take action if it determines that there's been a breach of the VOD standards code. That includes fines of up to £250,000 ($337,000) or five percent of "qualifying revenue" per breach.
A public consultation will help shape the VOD standards code. The public and streaming services will have the chance to weigh in on what the rules should be. The standards code will then come into force a year after Ofcom publishes it. The government says "more than 20" platforms will be subject to the code as things stand.
Separately, a VOD accessibility code will be established to bring streaming services further into line with broadcasters. Tier 1 streaming platforms will have to ensure that at least 80 percent of their total catalogues are subtitled, 10 percent have audio descriptions and five percent is signed. They'll have four years to meet the requirements of the accessibility code.
"With UK audiences increasingly favoring on-demand platforms over live TV, we want to ensure that no one is left behind, and that everyone can enjoy the huge range of content available on video-on-demand services," Media Minister Ian Murray said in a statement. "Implementing a new Ofcom-regulated accessibility code for our largest video-on-demand services will give people with disabilities impacting their sight or hearing peace of mind that they’ll be able to stream all their favorite films and TV shows long into the future."
The UK government is implementing these rules for streaming services under the Media Act 2024. Currently, platforms including Prime Video, Disney+, Paramount+, Discovery+, Hayu and ITVX are subject to statutory rules that Ofcom enforces. However, the watchdog has no oversight of Netflix as things stand. That platform's European base is in the Netherlands. As such, the Dutch media regulator oversees Netflix instead.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/netflix-disney-and-other-major-streaming-services-face-stricter-uk-oversight-160121268.html?src=rss
Ball x Pit, a delightful roguelite that was one of our favorite games of last year, is on the way to mobile devices. The chaotic brick-breaking action is coming to iOS and Android on March 12. There will be a free trial with no ads, and you can unlock the full game with an in-app purchase. This is Ball x Pit “for your pants pocket,” according to the latest trailer.
For the uninitiated, Ball x Pit is sort of a mix of Breakout and Vampire Survivors with some base building (and elements of many other genres) blended in. It’s all about finding powerful synergies between the character(s) you select, passive abilities and the balls you use to take out enemies before they get too close to damage you. These balls are regular ones that deal damage on impact (aka baby balls) or special balls that are infused with a range of effects and powers, such as Lightning, Ghost and Poison. These special balls can be fused to combine their effects or evolved into more powerful versions.
BALL x PIT is going MOBILE! 📱🏐
🗓️ Launching on iOS & Android March 12
💸 Try-before-you-buy: try it for free, no ads! Love it? Unlock the full game with a single in-app purchase and keep BALLing forever!
On each run, you’ll collect blueprints and resources that you’ll use to reconstruct a fallen town. Buildings unlock new characters and abilities that can aid you on your next run. Everything synergizes beautifully in Ball x Pit.
Ball x Pit should work well with touch controls on mobile. You can set the balls to fire automatically, so all you really need to worry about is moving your character and aiming, as well as choosing your next upgrade when you earn enough experience gems.
The first of three planned updates for this year arrived in January. I’m still waiting for developer Kenny Sun to add cross-progression since I’ve already plowed dozens of hours into this game on PS5, PC and Xbox — it’s available on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 as well. Ball x Pit is also currently on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ball-x-pit-will-land-on-ios-and-android-on-march-12-175159137.html?src=rss
