Backward compatibility has been a staple on Nintendo systems dating back to the Game Boy Color’s support for original Game Boy games, but with the rumored proprietary cartridge-based design of the upcoming NX console, it would appear that native, physical media-based backward compatibility is out of the question. But what about emulation via the Virtual Console? For Wii and GameCube games, Eurogamer’s Digital Foundry thinks it’s very possible.
Unlike past Nintendo platforms, which iterated on more powerful iterations of IBM’s PowerPC technology, the rumored design for the portable/home console hybrid includes Nvidia’s Tegra X1, the processor used in the mobile Nvidia Shield. This means that any games played through backward compatibility would have to be emulated, similar to the situation Microsoft found itself in when it first launched backward compatibility on the Xbox One.
Using an Nvidia Shield running the GameCube and Wii emulator Dolphin, Digital Foundry tested some of the systems’ biggest games and were left with results that suggest the NX will indeed be able to play the older consoles’ games, albeit with some technical concessions. In both its native resolution and at an upscaled 1080p, the GameCube’s Super Mario Sunshine holds at a fairly steady 30 frames per second, with drops of between one and 10 frames on the Nvidia Shield.
Mario Kart: Double Dash was less lucky, dropping from 60 frames per second to only 30 when upscaled to 1080p. This also contributes to slowdown, which could affect your enjoyment far more than the lower framerate.
It’s unlikely that Nintendo would drop backward compatibility with the NX given its history with both the Wii U and 3DS Virtual Consoles, but it will be interesting to see just how far the company will take it on the new machine. Given that it’s not intended as a complete replacement for the 3DS or the Wii U, perhaps full support for GameCube and Wii games on the system isn’t a necessity.
The Call of Duty franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since I played my first Black Ops game back in 2010. That game's campaign was something else, with twists and turns that culminated in a mind-blowing finale. We can all admit that compared to those older campaigns, the recent CODs have been lackluster at best, and a complete and utter disappointment at worst. The reboot of Modern Warfare did give me some hope, as the first two installments were actually quite good, but the third game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from Modern Warfare 4.
After recently finishing the campaign, I can say that this installment is nothing like the recent releases and instead feels closer to the franchise’s roots. For the first time in a long while, the campaign comes across as well-crafted rather than rushed to hit a release date. It arrives three years after MW3, and you can see exactly where all that time went. It seems the studio finally made listening to player feedback a priority.
Epic Games has just announced the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which is looking to see how much game development can be squeezed into a very short window. This is running from November 12 through November 15.
Participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people, build in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and bring along “as many AI agents as you want.” Epic explicitly encourages coding agents, AI-generated assets, audio tools, writing tools, and other AI systems. The official event page literally says "Vibe your way to $50k.”
It’s turning into a pretty good time to be a Monster Hunter fan who plays on a phone. Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter Outlanders will launch on Android and iOS on October 29, giving the series a new mobile-first game just as Monster Hunter Rise is also preparing to make the jump to smartphones through Netflix.
Outlanders is being developed by Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group under license and supervision from Capcom. Unlike Rise, which appears to be the full console and PC game adapted for mobile, Outlanders is a free-to-play survival hunting game made specifically for phones.