Following weeks of leaks and rumors, Nintendo officially revealed its next console: the Nintendo Switch 2.
Nintendo unveiled the system in a brief, two minute long video this morning, which focused on the Switch successor’s hardware. Anyone who has been closely following recent leaks, like those out of CES 2025, won’t be too surprised by any of the information: It exactly matches the rumored design we’ve seen recently.
Like its predecessor, the Switch 2 is a handheld console that can be hooked up to a TV via a new dock with rounded edges. It features a redesigned kickstand for tabletop play, one that features the flexibility of that of the Nintendo Switch OLED.
The system’s design is nearly identical to the original Switch. It features detachable Joy-con controllers that have the same basic button layout and design. The main difference is that they attach to the central display via magnetic rails. They can be easily popped off with release buttons near each Joy-con’s triggers.
The newly redesigned controllers come with a few extra tricks. The clip shows the controllers sliding on a flat surface. That seemingly confirms that each controller has an optical sensor, allowing players to use them like a PC mouse. The right Joy-con also has a new button underneath its Home button, but Nintendo did not reveal its purpose.
The system will be backwards compatible with both physical and digital Nintendo Switch games, though Nintendo notes that some games won’t be fully compatible. While there wasn’t a focus on software here, we did see a brief clip of what appears to be Mario Kart 9 in action.
No release date or price was revealed, but it doesn’t seem like the Switch 2 is coming too soon. For now, Nintendo is just saying “20205.” It will hold a Nintendo Switch Direct on April 2, which will give more details on the system and its games. A website is also live now which shows off the system.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.