The Nintendo Switch will launch next month in Japan with its first touchscreen-only game, revealing mere days before the console’s worldwide launch that some Switch games will not be playable on user TVs.
Japanese indie developer Flyhigh Works will be the first studio to attempt a portable-only Switch release with VOEZ, a rhythm game that requires players to tap the device’s touchscreen in time to a backing music beat.
Revealed late last year, the Nintendo Switch is a hybrid gaming device that attempts to bridge the gap between gaming portables and dedicated home consoles. The platform serves as a typical gaming console when connected to an HDTV via an included docking peripheral, and at any point, players can remove its touchscreen in order to take their games on the go while keeping their progress intact.
Few details regarding the platform’s capabilities and online features were revealed in the months leading up to launch, and until this week, pre-order customers were given no indication that some Switch games are not playable on connected TVs. In the upcoming VOEZ, for example, input is mapped to the Switch’s touchscreen, requiring players to remove the Switch from its dock before playing.
While it’s currently unknown whether VOEZ will eventually make its way stateside, its developer warns that controller input is not an option, making it the first officially licensed Switch game that requires the console to be in portable mode when playing.
Nintendo itself has not revealed any upcoming Switch games that require touchscreen input exclusively, though the North American launch title 1, 2, Switch largely focuses on the capabilities of the platform’s bundled Joy-Con accessories, making on-screen action a secondary concern. Neither Nintendo nor its third-party licensees have revealed any additional games that require the platform to be removed from its dock during gameplay.
VOEZ will launch digitally for the Nintendo Switch in Japan on March 3. A North American release has not been announced.
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.