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If you’ve been waiting for the perfect time to build a gaming PC, the Amazon Spring Sale is delivering the goods. Whether you’re working with a tight budget or planning to max out performance, there are fantastic deals across every core component, from CPUs to SSDs and graphics cards. We’ve put together two builds to cover both ends of the spectrum: a value-packed budget build, and a no-compromises high-end monster.
The Switch’s final bow… we think.
Gosh, you wait nine months for a first-party Nintendo Direct showcase and then two come along within a week of each other!
Yes, the rumours were true (mostly), a Nintendo Direct is happening today. The event is set to last for 30 minutes and will feature “upcoming games for Nintendo Switch”. Importantly, this will not include news of Nintendo Switch 2 — you’ll have to wait until 2nd April for that — so, what’s on the cards?
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
The power of Xbox is now in your hands—anywhere, anytime. The new Designed for Xbox: Backbone One Xbox Edition transforms your phone into the ultimate companion for gaming on mobile.
Enjoy your games with an enhanced D-pad for precise control and magnetic adapters that secure your phone in place, even with your phone case on. Quickly access your Xbox dashboard with a single press of the Xbox button and jump straight into games like Halo Infinite and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. All this, with a look that captures the classic Xbox design, featuring a stunning translucent green inspired by the original Xbox.
Stream with cloud gaming and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, play natively, or use remote play from your Xbox console or PC—wherever you are. Designed for low-latency and responsive controls, Backbone One Xbox Edition keeps you in the game.
The Backbone app unifies your gaming experience, connecting your favorite titles, streaming services, and social features into one intuitive hub. And to kickstart your adventure, each purchase includes one month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate at no cost (for new members only), unlocking hundreds of games ready to play on the go.
Backbone One Xbox Edition is available now for $109.99 USD through Backbone in the U.S. and coming to additional markets in April 2024. The device is compatible with iPhone models with USB-C (15 and up) and Android devices running Android 6.0+.
Take control. Push limits. Play anywhere.
The post Play Anywhere with the New Backbone One Xbox Edition Mobile Controller appeared first on Xbox Wire.
One of the biggest barriers to jumping into the current generation for PlayStation players has been the rising cost of living, squeezing wallets so tight that there’s sadly been no room for a PS5 in the budget.
In 2025, however, PlayStation has three new ways that get a new PS5 for less: an almost £110-saving Astro Bot Bundle, an added £50 bonus when trading in a PS4, or a hassle-free leasing option with low monthly payments. Scoring a PS5, my friend, is easier than ever right now.
Editor’s Note: Brought to you in partnership with PlayStation.
For those almost ready to pull the trigger on buying a PlayStation 5, but have been waiting for a price drop, buying the Astro Bot bundle is the best way to get on board in more ways than one.
The bundle comes in two forms: you can either buy a PS5 Slim (with disc drive) & Astro Bot for £429.99 or purchase a Digital Edition PS5 Slim with Astro Bot for £339.99.
Whichever you go for, those prices are £109.99 lower than if you bought each console and the game individually, which you can put towards more games, another DualSense controller, or leave nestled safely in your savings account.
The delightfully beloved platformer that won Game of the Year at the Game Awards 2024, Astro Bot is arguably one of the best titles to have bundled with a new console if you haven’t had the chance to play it yet.
Since it’s a PEGI 7-rated celebration of PlayStation’s history & a fun adventure in its own right, it’s one of the finest for any gaming household, whether to play yourself or with the children in your family.
Although trading in your PS4 to put towards a PS5 or PS5 Pro has been an option already, PlayStation is offering an extra £50 on top of what you would normally get for your old console, going as high as £150.
At PlayStation’s Trade-In hub page, you can quickly get your PS4 evaluated, ship your console over free of charge, and receive an added £50 voucher along with what you would get for the trade-in as standard.
For example, you could get £100 for a PS4 Pro in good condition and £50 with the trade-up voucher, totalling £150 off a £339.99 PS5 Digital Console & Astro Bot bundle, leaving you with only £189.99 left to pay for your shiny new PlayStation 5 console and added game to get you started.
If you already have a PS5, but your old PS4 has since been going unused and gathering dust, you can still send in your PlayStation 4 in and put your boosted trade-in money towards a PS VR2 headset—so you can jump into exclusive games like Horizon Call of the Mountain for a more affordable price.
For you who want to dive into the PS5 ecosystem but don’t have the immediate funds to do so, PlayStation Flex is the console-maker’s new interesting way to add a PS5 to your home for as low as a mere £10.99 a month.
This is thanks to PlayStation UK’s new partnership with Raylo, a top tech leasing service that has been on the service and earning high Trustpilot reviews since 2019.
Through the new PlayStation Flex page powered by Raylo, you can effectively set up a rental agreement and have a PS5 Pro, PS5 Slim, or PS5 Digital Edition delivered to your door. Including those consoles, you can also lease a PSVR 2 and some accessories too:
You can choose a 36-, 24-, 12- or rolling monthly lease with payments being lower the longer you sign up for. No matter which way, PlayStation Flex can make for a quick and easy barrier to entry to start your PS5 journey.
Ben Williams – IGN freelance contributor with over 10 years of experience covering gaming, tech, film, TV, and anime. Follow him on Twitter/X @BenLevelTen.
MicroProse or whatever currently prospers under the decades-old MicroProse banner have announced that they’re publishing Strategos, a real-time tactics wargame set in classical antiquity. I hadn’t heard of the game before, and my first reaction to the above screenshot was “oh hey, Total War: Rome”. Then I veni, vidi, vickied on over to the Steam page, and it turns out that might be a flawed comparison, not least because Strategos is the creation of a single designer and programmer with artists working on contract. Here’s a trailer.
Ahead of the hotly anticipated Switch 2 Nintendo Direct, two former employees of the company have expressed concern about Mario Kart 9’s ability to convince people to upgrade to Switch 2.
Nintendo revealed the Switch 2 with a brief look at the new Mario Kart game, which gave us an idea of what to expect from what is likely a launch title.
There’s a huge deal of excitement around Mario Kart 9 and the Switch 2, but in a video published to their YouTube channel, former Nintendo PR managers Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang questioned Nintendo’s ability to out-d the all-conquering Mario Kart 8.
“Everybody has the expectation, ‘oh my gosh Mario Kart it’s a slam dunk, it’s a system seller, this is definitely the right game to put in front of this new system,’ but I think you’re right because if you look at the situation of Mario Kart up to this point, it’s a little bit different than what has been in the past and I’m not sure that transition for Nintendo or for the people who have been playing Mario Kart, I’m not sure that’s the slam dunk that people think it is.”
Ellis and Yang’s point here is that Mario Kart 8 and the Switch version, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, have been so successful for so long, that Nintendo faces an uphill battle convincing the mainstream Nintendo audience to upgrade, especially if they’re having to hand over at least $400 on a Switch 2 to do so.
Nintendo is, they believe, a victim of its own success here. Mario Kart 8 has sold an incredible 67.35 million copies on Nintendo Switch, which itself is the second best-selling console of all time with 150.86 units shifted. Pretty much everyone with a Switch has Mario Kart 8 at this point, and while it isn’t part of the video game zeitgeist, it is about as perfect a Mario Kart game as can be expected.
How does Nintendo top Mario Kart 8 and 67 million sales, then? Ellis and Yang believe Nintendo may struggle to do so, which is bad news for a company that always wants to see the numbers go up.
“It’s a bit unconventional to have a game coming out that’s probably going to be the premier launch title for your new console to have this kind of history,” Yang said.
“This is very unlike Nintendo. Usually when they have a launch title, like Breath of the Wild for example, it’s like this new game-breaking, genre-bending thing that’s never been seen before, and that’s what’s going to make you want to buy the new hardware.
“But we’re kind of in a bit of a different situation with Mario Kart and honestly it’s because of how successful Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has been for Nintendo.”
The question now is whether Nintendo has done enough with Mario Kart 9 to convince existing Switch owners to upgrade. While there are plenty of familiar vehicles and faces in the Mario Kart 9 footage we’ve seen so far, there’s also a new track and some interesting details that suggest a new twist on the established formula. The most prominent theory posed by the community so far is that this may be the Mario Kart entry that finally takes the series open world.
Undoubtedly, the pressure is on Nintendo to deliver. “How is Nintendo going to convince me that I want to get the new Mario Kart?” Yang wondered. “That I need a Switch 2 to get the new Mario Kart?”
Ellis added: “I do think there are going to be some people who ask themselves, ‘I’m pretty happy with the Mario Kart I’ve been playing,’ and… Mom: ‘hey kids, we have Mario Kart at home…’ like, looking at this box and be like, ‘hmm, I’m not sure we need this Timmy.’
“I have no doubt this is going to be an incredible game. I have no doubt that every Mario Kart sells well. But in terms of the hill that this one in particular has to get over… This is Nintendo’s goal. This is always their goal: ‘we have to do better than the last one.’
“It’s like, well are you really going to do better than 75 million? And it’s the same question with the Switch 2. It’s like, ‘oh you just did the best-selling console ever.’ It’s just these goals that they have for themselves are going to be incredibly hard to match.”
Ellis said that because of how extensive Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is already with the sheer number of tracks and characters already available, Nintendo can’t use the same messaging with Mario Kart 9 that it did with Mario Kart 8. Nintendo needs, according to Ellis, find a new angle to differentiate Mario Kart this time around.
The pair also called into question Mario Kart 9’s visuals as being significantly improved on Mario Kart 8, saying that in graphics terms “it’s not really blowing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe away.”
“I could probably play that for another 10 years and still think it looks okay,” Ellis said of Mario Kart 8.
“Its positives is also its downfall,” Yang added.
We’ll find out hat Nintendo has up its sleeve for Mario Kart 9 soon enough, of course, during the Nintendo Direct on April 2. In the shorter term, Nintendo is set to host a Nintendo Direct focused entirely on the existing Nintendo Switch today, March 27.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
“Finally, I can play the new Assassin’s Creed”.
We Nintendo fans felt a bit like that Squidward looking out the window meme when Assassin’s Creed Shadows launched on PC, Xbox and PS5 last week. Sure, a game the size of Ubisoft’s latest was never going to end up on Switch, but that doesn’t mean we have to rule out all Nintendo consoles.
Yes, the mighty 3DS has struck once again. After we saw it tackling ATLUS’ Metaphor: ReFantazio last year, we knew it would only be a matter of time before it took on another big hitter, and it’s done exactly that. We never thought we’d see an Assassin’s Creed game running on our beloved clamshell, but here we are (thanks for the heads up, GamesRadar).
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Pillars Of Eternity turns 10 years old this week, and developers Obsidian are celebrating with a patch that “addresses a wide range of fixes and improvements across visuals, combat, quests, and more”. Oh, and they’ve also announced plans to give the real-time-with-pausing RPG a turn-based combat mode.
What did you get for your 10th birthday? If it wasn’t a turn-based combat mode, then your parents officially love you less than Obsidian does Pillars Of Eternity. You might want to bring that up at the next family gathering. I’m already texting my dad.
Mario Kart 8 has established itself as a “juggernaut”.
Mario Kart 9 looks set to be Nintendo’s premier launch title for the Switch 2 but will it be enough to convince millions of existing Switch owners around the world they absolutely need this new hybrid system right away? Former Nintendo employees Kit and Krysta, who now run their own YouTube channel, aren’t so sure.
In a new video titled “The problem with the new Mario game on Switch 2“, the Nintendo of America alumni discussed how this next iteration of Mario Kart could end up being a tough sell at first after the evergreen success of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe throughout the Switch generation.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Pre-orders are “coming soon”.
Sega surprised fans in February with the official reveal of Shinobi: Art of Vengeance for the Switch and multiple other platforms. It’s already locked in a release date of 29th August 2025 and in an update today we’ve now got news of a physical release.
This hard copy version will be distributed by Limited Run Games. Pre-orders for this physical release are “coming soon” with a collector’s edition also confirmed. Here’s a look:
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
