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Google Pixel Watch 4 hands-on: big ideas for the AI wearable future
Product Reviews

Google Pixel Watch 4 hands-on: big ideas for the AI wearable future

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The original Pixel Watch was late to the game. For years, there had been rumors of a Google smartwatch that never materialized. Then, when it finally arrived, it was a quintessential first-gen device, with thicc bezels, dismal battery life, and a host of quirks that needed ironing out. My DMs were full of people wondering when the watch would be unceremoniously dumped into Google’s infamous product graveyard. A part of me wondered if Google was going to spend the next decade playing catch-up.

Fast forward to 2025, and I’m holding the Pixel Watch 4 at Google’s office in New York City. On the surface (and my wrist), it doesn’t look like much has changed. But after fiddling with a few menus, watching some demos, and talking over the updates, it’s evident that Google has a clear vision about where smartwatches are going.

“The overall lens through which we see our mission as a team is ‘essential companion,’” says Sandeep Waraich, Google’s product lead for Pixel wearables. That “essential companion,” Waraich says, should be a wearable and continuous presence on your body that’s intelligent, helps coach you to better health, and also acts as a “guardian.”

Viewed that way, the bevy of Pixel Watch 4 updates starts to look like a roadmap.

The Pixel Watch 4’s new display has thinner bezels, 10 percent more screen area, and a 50 percent increase in brightness.

Starting with hardware, the Pixel Watch 4 has a new domed “Actua 360” display — as in, the display itself, not just the glass, is also domed. What this translates to is about 10 percent more visible screen space, 15 percent thinner bezels, and a 50 percent increase in maximum brightness to 3,000 nits. On a table, there’s a lineup of the Pixel Watch 2, 3, and 4 with the flashlight app turned on. Side-by-side, the improvements are striking.

Material 3 Expressive in Wear OS 6 also helps emphasize the Pixel Watch’s roundness. (No squircles here, folks.) The widgets have more rounded edges, and each screen has been redesigned to be more glanceable, fitting more complications. It’s not Liquid Glass, but there are subtle animations when flitting through menus that call your attention to the Pixel Watch’s rain droplet-inspired design. Altogether, it’s a design tweak that makes sense and is aesthetically pleasing.

Google also says battery life has improved. The 41mm watch gets an estimated 30 hours on a single charge, while the 45mm gets 40 hours. That can stretch up to two days in battery saver mode for the smaller watch and three days for the larger one. I couldn’t test that at a hands-on, but I did get to see the improved fast charging in action. At 1:30PM ET, I stuck a 45mm Pixel Watch 4 with 50 percent battery on the watch’s new side-mounted charger. By 1:48PM, it was at 94 percent. Google says this translates to about 25 percent faster charging, taking only 15 minutes to go from zero to 50 percent.

Look! Tiny screws! According to Waraich, the inside of the Pixel Watch 4 resembles a “bento box” for better serviceability.

I was prepared to hate the new side-mounted charger, which sees the charging pins moved onto the edge opposite the crown. Three proprietary chargers in four years feels wasteful. But while I don’t love e-waste, I do like the change. For one, it turns your watch into a little desk or nightstand display. It also makes it so that it doesn’t matter what kind of strap you use. With more traditional charging pucks, a loop-type band without a clasp tends to flop over. My colleague Allison Johnson pointed out that it kind of looks like the Pixel Watch is resting its tired little head on a pillow. That’s kind of cute.

Another thing that caught my eye: if you remove the straps and peer into the lugs, you now see two teeny tiny screws — because starting this year, the Pixel Watch 4’s display and battery will be replaceable and repairable. The screws aren’t proprietary either, and according to Waraich, the idea is to make the devices as durable and long-lasting as possible. He also says this will be true of every Pixel Watch going forward.

That’s huge. Smartwatches are notoriously hard to repair, and the Pixel Watch’s screen design makes it particularly prone to damage. (The Verge should know; we unintentionally cracked the displays of two Pixel Watches.) Repairability has specifically been a pain point for the Pixel Watches, so seeing Google take that feedback to heart is encouraging.

Put together, these hardware updates really zero in on Google’s attempt to build a glanceable device that lasts a long time. As for the personalized companion part, well, of course that’s referring to AI.

The new charger looks like a little pillow for a sleepy smartwatch.

As with the Galaxy Watch 8, Gemini has a big presence on the Pixel Watch 4. It replaces Google Assistant and is capable of more complex queries — even if none have been able to blow my mind yet. But, in a bid to make interacting with Gemini as smooth as possible, the speaker and haptic engines have also been updated so you can hear and interact more easily. There’s also a new raise-to-talk gesture that lets you speak to Gemini without having to use the wake word. The processor has been upgraded to the Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 to enable more on-device AI features, as well, like smart replies. On the Pixel Watch 4, you’ll get more smart reply options to texts that refer to the content of your conversations. They’re not confined to the default Messages app, either.

But the major AI update this time around is a Gemini-powered health coach that’s slated to arrive alongside a revamped Fitbit app in October. So far, I’ve been skeptical about AI fitness features, but I’m cautiously curious about what I’ve seen from Google. The gist is the health coach will act more like a personal trainer than a Captain Obvious summary generator. If you sleep poorly, it’ll adjust workout suggestions. (This is also why Google is also introducing an improved sleep algorithm.) You can tell it that you’ve been injured, and that too will be taken into consideration when generating weekly fitness plans. I did a deeper dive on the health coach demo, but to keep things brief, this is the first time that I’ve felt remotely intrigued by any AI health coaching feature.

Another big first is the Satellite SOS mode. If you’re without your phone and in a remote area with no signal, you can still call emergency services. (So long as you have the LTE version of the watch.) The big thing here is that there’s no extra subscription cost. The watch will also feature more accurate dual-frequency GPS — a nice update given that I’ve had issues with the Pixel Watch’s GPS maps in the past.

It only looks like last year’s Pixel Watches. These updates are incredibly substantive.

When you look back at the original Pixel Watch, this is a substantial amount of progress. There’s a healthy mix of sensible and experimental ideas. As far as AI smartwatch assistants, Google has beaten Apple to the punch. (Technically, Samsung got Gemini on a smartwatch first, but Gemini is Google’s baby.) Satellite SOS on a smartwatch is also an industry first, and Google is making a statement here with repairability. We’ll have to see how that AI coach fares in testing, but here, too, Google is barreling forward.

I’m not saying every update or idea presented here is a good one. But you can at least see the shape of Google’s plans: a sleek, all-day, and personalized companion that lets you bring AI where your phone can’t easily go. There are rough edges. Some would argue glasses are a much better form factor for this concept. But, given how many wearable makers have felt stuck in a loop of iterative updates, it’s refreshing to see that Google has a bold, wearable thesis that it’s working toward. Whether it can truly execute on delivering the ultimate “essential companion” is up for debate. But right now? Dare I say it, I think Google has the wearable juice.
Photos by Allison Johnson / The Verge

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The Xbox ROG Ally X finally has a release date - and we went hands-on at Gamescom
Game Updates

The Xbox ROG Ally X finally has a release date – and we went hands-on at Gamescom

by admin


Months after they were first revealed, Microsoft and Asus are letting the paying public have a chance to test out their new Xbox ROG Ally and Xbox ROG Ally X handhelds here at Gamescom. The two firms are also marking the show by finally announcing an “on shelf” retail release date: October 16th.

To be clear, these aren’t proper handheld Xboxes that will play any Xbox title, despite the “this is an Xbox” branding, but they’re still capable handheld gaming machines that can play PC games natively, or stream Xbox titles from an Xbox console or Microsoft’s cloud streaming service. Compared to the old Ally devices, the new Xbox models have been spruced up with new AMD processors and a streamlined Windows operating system. That should translate into better performance and a huge step forward in usability, and could make these the best Steam Deck competitors so far.

We went hands-on with both devices at Gamescom, with a software-focused outing at the Microsoft booth and a more hardware-focused extended play session in the Asus area, with Microsoft and Asus representatives providing some interesting extra details that we hadn’t yet heard.

Xbox Ally (in white) and Xbox Ally X (in black). | Image credit: Reece Bithrey/Eurogamer

Let’s start with the basics: the white Xbox Ally and black Xbox Ally X look identical in size and shape, which reportedly simplifies the production process, but the vanilla Xbox Ally is lighter by ~45g, as a consequence of lacking the upgraded Z2 Extreme processor and Impact triggers of the top-end machine. Both models are well-balanced and don’t feel too thick, despite their chonkier frames versus the original Ally devices. The impact of the Ally X’s impulse triggers is hard to judge, especially as relatively few games support them on PC, but might result in more fine-grained force feedback in some Xbox titles. Inside, the higher-end Ally X sports a larger 80Wh battery, has a more capable Micro SD card slot and a fancier higher-bandwidth USB 4 port alongside another USB 3.2 Gen 2 USB-C port.

Similarly, performance on the X with the Z2 Extreme chip is a bit of a mystery, with Asus reps unwilling to comment and relatively sparse reports online suggesting a small overall improvement – perhaps around 15 percent. However, that online reporting also suggests that larger gains are possible at lower power settings, hinting towards a boost to efficiency and potentially battery life – despite the matched 80Wh unit in the Xbox Ally X and regular Ally X. Meanwhile, the Z2 A chip in the regular Xbox Ally ought to perform very similarly to that of the Steam Deck, as it’s based on the same architecture and even has the same speed 6400MT/s RAM as the Steam Deck OLED.

The screens here feel well-chosen, with LCD used instead of OLED, but otherwise everything you’d want: a seven-inch 1920×1080 display rated up to 120Hz with VRR. We’ll take a colourimeter to them later to find out more about their colour reproduction and other performance figures, but the display here feels superior to that of the Switch 2 and a shade behind that of the Steam Deck OLED.

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The software experience is the biggest change here, with a design that includes both an upgraded Xbox app, used as a unified games launcher and general home screen, and the Armoury Crate software that Asus developed for the original Ally devices. The main idea is moving as much as possible onto the gamepad controls and into the Game Bar overlay. Ideally, you don’t need to connect a mouse and keyboard or even use the touchscreen to enter your PIN at login, go through Windows updates, make settings changes and launch games. Long-pressing on the Xbox button brings up a quick switcher, letting you move between different full-screen apps like games and Discord, and there are also iOS-style navigation gestures on the touch screen. Games from most major game storefronts will be automatically pulled into the Xbox launcher, so you shouldn’t need to venture into full-fat Windows to boot up most titles.

Perhaps even more importantly, the Xbox Ally devices boot up into a customised version of Windows built around the Xbox launcher, so services like the desktop window manager that normally run at startup are disabled. You’re able to pop into a full Windows instance, which prompts those missing services to start, and after this you can choose to move immediately back into the Xbox gaming mode – with the proviso that those background tasks will sap some performance – or reboot the device to get back to a fresh slate and full performance.

Microsoft engineers told me that nothing has been removed from Windows here, so in theory you’d be able to use the Xbox Ally or Xbox Ally X as your only computer, perhaps hooked up to a dock with a monitor, keyboard and mouse. There also wouldn’t be anything to prevent you from installing an alternate OS if you chose, though at present it would be a bit silly to buy the first Xbox-branded Windows gaming PC and then take that unique software off.

Model
ROG Xbox Ally X
ROG Xbox Ally

Chipset
AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme (8 Zen 5/5c cores, 16 RDNA 3.5 GPU cores, 50 XDNA2 AI TOPS)
AMD Ryzen Z2 A (4 Zen 2 cores, 8 RDNA 2 GPU cores)

Memory
24GB LPDDR5X-8000
16GB LPDDR5X-6400

Storage
1TB 2280 NVMe SSD
512GB 2280 NVMe SSD

Screen
7-inch 1080p 120Hz VRR display

I/O
1x USB 4 Type-C, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, UHS-2 Micro SD card reader w/ UHS-1 DDR200 mode, 3.5mm
2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, UHS-2 Micro SD card reader, 3.5mm

Dimensions
291x122x51mm

Design
715g, L/R Xbox Impulse triggers
670g, L/R Hall Effect triggers

Battery
80Wh
60Wh

Price
£££££
£££

The demo units available at Gamescom did have some software glitches at this stage, with the Xbox Ally I tested constantly entering the pause menu in Forza Horizon 5 and behaving erratically when using the touch gestures from inside the game. These aren’t likely to be running the most recent software, due to the nature of these demos, but it does suggest that the software side may need a bit more time in the oven. Similarly, features like adding custom games to the launcher are also expected to come post-launch.

That could explain why we’re only just hearing about the October 16th release date right now, rather than prices and a firm timeline for when pre-orders begin… though the general state of the world (gestures broadly) might also impact proceedings. Regardless, there’s not too much longer to wait, and Asus reps were keen to assure us that pre-orders and pricing information would follow “soon”. (In fact, some retailers have already started listing the device in their virtual shelves, which we’ve begun cataloguing in our Xbox Ally buying guide).

Disclosure: Asus provided flights and accommodation to Cologne for Gamescom.



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Anno 117: Pax Romana hands-on preview
Esports

Anno 117: Pax Romana hands-on preview

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Recently we sat down with the team at Ubisoft Mainz (Ubisoft Blue Byte) to check out their upcoming realtime strategy entry, Anno 117: Pax Romana, followed by an extensive hands-on look at the game in motion.  Shortly after you read this you’ll get your own more brief look at the game thanks to a fresh new demo, but our extended time with the game showcased a massive uplift over the previous title back in 2019.  Whether you’re a fan of the ANNO series, or a newcomer to Ubisoft’s city builder, there’s a lot to like here.  Improvements are nearly everywhere you look, and on top of a gorgeous new look.  Settle in as we head back to the past – welcome to Anno 117: Pax Romana.

The phrase Pax Romana is Latin for “Roman Peace” and represented a real-world nearly 200 year “golden age” where the Roman Empire expanded dramatically, establishing itself as the most prosperous and powerful entities the ancient world had ever known.  This expansion occurred under a grouping of what is colloquially known as the “Five Good Emperors” – rulers who, from the years 96 to 180 CE, ushered in an era of relative peace, prosperity, and a nearly unbreakable hegemonic power.  It’s during this time that the newest Anno takes place.  

The game begins on a humble island known as Latium, the heart of the Pax Empire.  This backdrop represents the earliest setting for an Anno title thus far, as well as the perfect backdrop to create your legacy – your empire.  

It’s immediately obvious that the Blue Byte team has been working hard to be more than another Anno game in a new setting.  Right from the start, the improvements are everywhere you look.  Some small, some large, all of these represent a shot in the arm that fans like me should appreciate. 

The first major change I noticed was a greater emphasis on choices.  While I was learning about how to rebuild my fledgling island from its ruinous state, I was presented with an ever-expanding list of choices, many times opening up decisions that would change the course of my city’s growth as either an economic powerhouse or through military might.  Before these expanded greatly, however, I was faced with simple challenges to learn how to play the game.  It’s here that it became readily apparent that the team is working hard on new player onboarding, something that arguably had been lacking in previous titles.  

In any good builder, the first thing you’ll learn is how to place things like homes for your citizens.  You can now place items at an angle, allowing you to deviate from the giant blocks so often seen in games like this.  I was also happy to see that you can flip their orientation, or even select them and move them entirely instead of having to tear them down.  It makes redistricting a breeze.  Similarly, you can now multi-select areas, or even select all of one type of building for upgrade or downgrade.  These sorts of tool improvements are pervasive throughout.  

With homes built and citizens moving in, they’ll be ready to toil for the empire.  Giving them work is easy enough, but a new system for building production chains is also here.  If you are, for example, making clothes for your citizens – a requirement needed to move from a basic shanty to something more stately, you’ll need two inputs. You’ll need flax to create the cloth, and a field of dye plants. That meant not only constructing a farm, but also the fields to help it produce the necessary materials.  

While we didn’t get to play with it yet, there’s a second side to this coin – the province of Albion.  While Latium will follow the traditional path laid forth by the Empire, Albion has a different choice, literally.  Rather than following the gradual “Romanization” of the Empire, you can instead allow your citizens to choose.  Your populace can choose the Roman way, or they could also choose the local way instead.  Both are valid choices, with vastly different visual styles, but also requiring completely different inputs to achieve.  Where the Roman path might require more hardened clay tiles, and thus clay burners and water-side extraction, the local path might have more focus on locally-harvested limestone and all that entails.  These are more than mere cosmetic choices, instead affecting gameplay and ensuring that no two cities, even ones built by you, will ever look or operate the same.  Using the same example as above, instead of using flax for your cloth you could instead set up a sheep farm, or perhaps what you need will require you set up a trade route with a neighbor.  Solving these logistical problems should be a lot of what makes Anno 117 fun.  

Logistics also sees a new feature that blends two new elements.  You’ll now have a great deal more variety in terrain.  Rocky mountainsides, forests, marshes, verdant waterways, and sea ports all offer opportunity for not only commerce, but mining, fishing, forestry, and more.  Where you place things like sawmills have a direct impact on the efficacy of the logging industry connected to it.  How close related buildings and infrastructure are located can have a similar impact.  

Adjusting neighborhood layouts is often an issue that eventually plagues every city builder.  Wincing, you’d have to destroy large swaths of structures to improve your layout.  That’s no longer the case in Anno 117.  Here, you can pick up a building, rotate it, place it elsewhere, adjust the roads (which are a lot more intelligent now, wrapping around corners and interconnecting where it makes sense), and otherwise restructure a neighborhood easily.  There has to be friction in games to make them fun, but the team has worked hard to make sure that the friction of the interface isn’t one of them.  

There is so much more I could cover, as the first 90 minutes with the game felt like it flew by while also being so densely packed that I’m frankly spoiled for choice for what to talk about.  I could go over the side missions to ferry would-be travellers to a nearby island to interact with their peers or others in the leading caste.  I could also talk about a gnawing feeling of whether I should expand my military and apply a great deal more pressure and control over my society rather than let their freedom guide my burgeoning economic power.  This push and pull lurked in the background as I began to worry about how anything I’ve achieved could be taken at a whim.  Do I spend my time building trade boats or triremes?  The choices were ultimately mine, and that’s the heart of what Anno 117: Pax Romana has to offer this time around – far more choice.  Expanded terrain, expanded economic engines, and expanded options for how the moment-to-moment gameplay can unfold.  The Anno series has always looked gorgeous and played well, but Anno 117 is a whole different animal.  It has a great deal of new fundamental options that look to great something far more than its predecessors.  More than an iteration, Anno 117: Pax Romana might be the best Anno the team has ever made.  We won’t have to wait too long to find out as the game ships on November 13th 2025 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.  

Stay tuned for more on Anno 117: Pax Romana right here at GamingTrend.com – I suspect this one is going to be something special.  


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Hands-on with Sony’s five new PC gaming peripherals for 2025
Product Reviews

Hands-on with Sony’s five new PC gaming peripherals for 2025

by admin


Sony is finally ready to take on the likes of SteelSeries, Razer, and Logitech with its InZone brand of PC gaming accessories. While InZone started with monitors and headsets in 2022, with a few new products since then (including its great InZone Buds and the sleek but pricey M10S OLED), Sony is making a concerted effort to take over your desk. It just launched two new headsets, a gaming keyboard, a wireless mouse, and even a couple of mousepads, all developed alongside esports organization Fnatic, and all available for preorder today.

As you might expect, Sony’s not aiming for the bargain bin here. Each of these peripherals is made for competitive play, and they come with high prices that don’t always feel justified.

To test them all out at once, I swapped out each of my regular PC peripherals for the new InZone gadgets, which made me feel like I was on a Sony Pictures movie set with intense product placement.

The headband size adjusters are one of my favorite new features in the H9 II. It’s the small stuff, right? Image: Sony.

The InZone H9 II gaming headset is the successor to the bulkier H9 from 2022, with a refined finish, a handful of improvements, and a gen-to-gen price hike from $299.99 to $349.99. The headset is slimmer and lighter (273g versus 330g), and it features a clever “pinch-to-adjust” button on each side of its headband to let you easily find the right fit. The suspended headband design feels lightweight on my head, rivaling the most comfortable models I’ve used, like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless.

The new model has the same 30mm speaker drivers as Sony’s latest WH-1000XM6 flagship headphones. Even though they’re 10mm smaller than those in the previous-gen model, they sound just as phenomenal for music as they do for games. You’re also getting fantastic active noise cancellation, with the option to turn on a transparency mode that, notably, doesn’t affect the audio quality. You can customize the H9 II’s more granular settings within the company’s InZone Hub on PC or via Bluetooth in Sony’s Sound Connect mobile app — the same one used for several of its consumer headphone models.

This headset has several features every wireless model should have. The ear cups are on swiveling hinges, giving you the option to let them rest on your chest between matches, or if you need to remove them to talk in person. You can now listen to audio via a 3.5mm cable, even when the headset is out of battery. Wired mode will override any wireless connections. If you’d prefer to go wireless, it can maintain simultaneous connections over Bluetooth and its compact 2.4GHz USB-C transmitter, which has a toggle for PC and “other” platforms.

The headset works just fine with the PS5 and Switch 2, letting me listen to podcasts from my phone as I play. This model adds Bluetooth LE Audio support, allowing them to last longer per charge with better sound — love that, especially since I’m likely to keep them paired to two devices. Another new feature for this generation is a feature that several other headsets have: a removable boom microphone, in case you’d rather use a desktop mic or if you’re heading outdoors.

The $149.99 InZone E9 wired in-ear monitors are small and lightweight, with good noise isolation. They’re simple to use, either connecting via 3.5mm jack or its included 3.5mm-to-USB-C dongle, which is required to personalize the audio in the InZone Hub app. Unlike normal earbuds, these and all other in-ear monitors have hooks that route the cables on top of your ear cartilage and down the back of your ears, so as to stay out of your face. It all ships in a nice case that springs open when unzipped, exposing several ear tip size options.

The E9 in-ear monitors are tuned for FPS games out of the box. The default equalizer setting gives a flat, reference-style sound that pursues accuracy over bombast — the better to locate footsteps and gunshots in game. It’s effective, but outside of gaming, I found the E9s boring to listen to compared to the full-bodied, warm sound of the Linsoul KZ ZSX in-ear monitors that I bought on Amazon for about $60. That Linsoul model is the best-sounding set of headphones that I own — with detachable cables, no less — and I never expected to pay so little for something so good. Perhaps you’ll be as inspired as I was by our 2019 piece on great Chinese hi-fi to find other options that are significantly cheaper, yet better-sounding than Sony’s new IEMs, at least for non-gaming needs.

The InZone E9 comes in black or white. Image: Sony

Sony is one of the only major companies making gaming in-ear monitors, along with Razer, which makes the Moray (those have detachable cables and are $20 cheaper) but I hope it aims higher, and future models sound better than the cheaper competition.

To type all of this, I’ve been using Sony’s InZone KBD-H75, a name so clunky that I’m just going to refer to it as the InZone keyboard. This wired milled-aluminum board took the place of my split ergo gaming keyboard made by Kinesis Gaming, which I use to manage wrist strain during and after work. So, this wasn’t a swap that I was exactly looking forward to for ergonomic reasons. However — forgetting my wrists for a moment — it feels nice to type on, once I got used to the 75 percent layout that omits several navigation keys I commonly use.

The KBD-H75 uses Hall effect magnetic switches that actuate faster and more accurately than mechanical switches. I’m accustomed to clicky Cherry MX Blue switches, and I found the InZone keyboard doesn’t have quite enough resistance for my taste. In fact, they’re so easy to press that I kept accidentally actuating keys in chat apps, making it look like I fell asleep at my desk. This can be rectified by customizing the actuation point of each key, between 0.1mm and 3.4mm. It’s a feature that’s common among its competitors. And thankfully, you won’t need to install the InZone Hub app to make adjustments; Sony took a page from other keyboard makers by building a web version of its app that can be accessed from any PC this keyboard is plugged into — perfect for tournaments or LAN tournaments.

Thanks to the milled-aluminum case and gasket-mounted switchplate, I couldn’t sense vibrations as I pounded out articles and messages. Tapping each key results in a quiet yet satisfying sound, and I know my partner wishes my split ergo was this quiet. But, again, I prefer switches that have a little bit more resistance. I’m sure if I were a professional gamer, I’d be happier with these.

Ask most people who are into keyboards and they’ll probably tell you a handful of alternatives with similar features to the InZone keyboard that cost less than the $299.99 Sony’s asking for. At this price, most gamers expect wireless support and hot-swappable switches. The $169.99 LemoKey P1 HE has hot-swappable Hall effect switches, plus 1000Hz polling over 2.4GHz wireless. Unless Sony’s design and its promise of 8,000Hz polling rate are really doing it for you, there are many good options out there that cost less.

The top and sides of the keyboard are aluminum but the bottom is plastic. Image: Sony

I’m dubious of this keyboard’s 8,000Hz polling rate, which is one of its selling points (as well as one of the mouse below). Instead of being limited to 1,000Hz, which means it can register your input once per millisecond, 8,000Hz increases the rate to register movement and clicks once every 0.125ms. Sony’s definitely not the first company to advertise 8,000Hz polling in a gaming peripheral, but its utility is just as questionable here as it is in other products. As it turns out, human reaction time is pretty slow, so, maybe you shouldn’t pay more for this feature.

I’ve been radicalized by Rocket Jump Ninja’s video on YouTube, which demonstrates that 1,000Hz is more than enough speed for most people; in the video, it shows that even fast human reaction times are still over 150ms, or approximately 6.67Hz. So, unless you have superhuman reflexes, this feature just isn’t necessary. Plus, trawling through Reddit shows that some gamers have had issues with an 8,000Hz polling rate affecting game performance.

Lastly, there’s the InZone Mouse-A — Sony’s first wireless gaming mouse. It costs $149.99, and at 48 grams, it’s the lightest mouse that I’ve ever used. This right-handed mouse is light on flourishes and excess buttons, with just a left and right click, two thumb buttons, the scroll wheel, and a profile-switching button on the bottom. As someone who typically uses the Glorious Model I, I quickly warmed up to its soft, matte-textured arch, though I wish it had a thumb rest. It feels pretty similar to the Logitech G Pro X Superlight in terms of ergonomics. I have an average-sized hand, though small-handed gamers will also likely find this to be a comfortable pick. The click is swift and relatively quiet, and it has optical switches (as many gaming mice do at this point), letting inputs register faster than they would with mechanical switches.

The purple PCB viewable through the covered honeycomb pattern looks pretty slick. Image: Sony

To complement its new mouse, Sony has launched two cloth mousepads, both of which are 18.89 x 15.7 inches in size. The Mat-F is thicker at 6mm (versus 4mm), with a surface that’s meant to create some drag to prevent the mouse from moving any more than you want it to. It’s designed for tactical first-person shooters that don’t emphasize twitchy movement. It costs $59.99. The $34.99 Mat-D, is for those who want speed, and the ability to make quick flicks of the mouse to pull off headshots and other commands. I don’t typically use any kind of mousepad, just a mat that my keyboard, mouse, and drink sit on. Sony only sent the Mat-D for me to test, and while it’s step up from my desk mat, I think it’d prefer the Mat-F for its higher friction.

Of all of Sony’s InZone gear, the product that I’ll miss the most is the H9 II headset. Despite its $349.99 price, you’re getting great audio quality for the money. And, thanks to its removable mic, using it as a set of headphones away from your desk won’t make you look as ridiculous as the first-gen model does. Each of the new products has redeeming qualities, but a lack of novelty and high prices across the board make them tough to broadly recommend.

Sony is a household name, but not so much in esports. It’s going up against companies that have been making similar products — often with lower prices — and have years of goodwill attached to their names. But I suppose every company has to start somewhere. High prices aside, this isn’t a bad place to begin.

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Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree Hands-on Preview at Summer Game Fest
Esports

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree Hands-on Preview at Summer Game Fest

by admin


At Summer Game Fest 2025, Bandai Namco revealed Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree, a new Japanese folklore-inspired roguelike that wears its inspirations on its sleeve.  We went hands-on with the game for a quick look at what Towa will have to offer us when it arrives this September.  Here’s a quick peek at what we picked from our time with it.  

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is set in a world steeped in ancient Japanese mythology. The game’s premise revolves around guardians tasked with protecting the Sacred Tree, a mystical force not unlike the World Tree in other mythologies. We only got a passing look at the storyline, so that’s about all I can impart on that topic.  

One thing I can comment on is the absolutely gorgeous visuals.  A blend of watercolor painting and anime-style Japanese art, the game is overflowing with green grasses, forests, shimmering lakes and more.  Even these screenshots don’t tell the whole story – this is one you’ve got to see in motion.  I suspect we’ll see more dour environments as we get closer to whatever big bad lies at the core of the game, but what we saw so far was beautiful to behold.

At its core, the game is a roguelike experience, where each run is unique, and the environment constantly shifts. The parallels to games like Hades and its sequel are immediately apparent, though this game has a few elements that make Towa unique.  At the beginning of the demo I could choose one of two guardians (though there is nothing preventing the team from having more – the team weren’t saying one way or the other).  One guardian takes on the role of primary attacker, armed with close-range weapons or magic, and the other will take a support role with ranged abilities, area-of-effect attacks, or healing spells. It sounds like such a minor thing, but in practice it makes for a completely different type of gameplay.

 As you tackle foes, you’ll hammer on them with your weapon.  As you do so, you’ll get some visual and auditory clues that your weapon is wearing out.  When it’s no longer sharp, you’re expected to let it recharge a meter, or better still, switch to your secondary character and make them primary for a few.  On paper, the weapons degradation system sounds like it’d be a nuisance, but in practice swapping between weapons and characters pushed me to be more thoughtful about my approach and timing.  If you know an enemy is more susceptible to melee attacks, timing your meters so you have those at your fingertips is wise, meaning thinking ahead instead of just dodging and hammering away is key. Each guardian has its own health, abilities, and weapons to manage, so you’ll also be apparently upgrading them as you go, leaning into the roguelike elements of the game.

Each run in Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is designed to last about 30 to 45 minutes – precisely the amount of time we had for our demo.  If you want a quick roguelike hit, Towa is aiming to deliver exactly that.  Given that all of the levels and foes are procedurally generated or placed, no two runs should ever be exactly alike. As you progress, the difficulty ramps up, with new enemies and more complex obstacles introduced, as you’d expect. To help you cope with that, you’ll get drops.  These drops are similar to what you’ve seen in other games, offering a bump to attack damage, environmental effects, or other similar augments.  

The other major departure from the norm is the addition of cooperative play.  While our demo was single player, the full game will have the ability to team up with your friends, meaning you’ll be able to bring a total of four guardians into the field.  It seems like that would create some awesome synergies but we’ll have to wait to try those out.  

We won’t have to wait long to get our hands on this fast-paced gorgeous roguelike.  Coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on September 19th, 2025, this looks like it’ll be something special.  

Stay tuned right here at GamingTrend.com for more on Towa and the Guardian of the Sacred Tree as well as everything else we saw at Summer Game Fest 2025!


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Pragmata is a fascinating genre mash-up, and Capcom at its experimental best - hands-on
Game Reviews

Pragmata is a fascinating genre mash-up, and Capcom at its experimental best – hands-on

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I love it when Capcom experiments. It’s true that with a staple of franchises and characters like those it has, there isn’t all that much pressure on Capcom to experiment. It has most of what it needs to make that corporate profit line go up, in truth. But every now and then the company nevertheless experiments with something new – and usually, backed up by those successful franchises, the company can strike gold.

Pragmata

  • Developer: Capcom
  • Publisher: Capcom
  • Availability: Releases in 2026 on PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.

My favourite Capcom experiment of all time is undoubtedly Dead Rising. We shouldn’t take that Dead Rising came to exist for granted – with one successful zombie IP, Capcom had little call to create another. But it did, and in differentiating itself from Resident Evil we ended up with a mechanically glorious offering. Pragmata, I think, could very well be that sort of Capcom experiment. More Dead Rising than Exoprimal, so to speak.

After years in what certainly looked like development limbo, Pragmata has emerged as a third-person sci-fi shooter where a bloke in a spacesuit (Hugh) stomps around smashing up androids and solving the odd environmental puzzle to progress. Fun enough, but certainly like a hundred other video games out there. There must therefore be a twist – and Pragmata’s is delightful.

Watch on YouTube

Basically, it’s a puzzle game. The enemy robots I encounter in a 20-minute hands-on demo all have some sort of shielding that renders bullets useless. That’s where Pragmata’s little girl sidekick Diana – who is actually (of course) an android herself – comes in.

Squeeze the left trigger to aim down sights at the robot and a little sliding block puzzle appears on the right hand side of the screen. You must use the controller face buttons to move through a maze quickly to deactivate the robot’s shields. Sometimes you just have to move an icon from point A to point B, while other times bonus objectives lay along the way, where if you navigate to the end of the hack while also hitting key points along the way you might unlock a damage bonus for when you start shooting.

Crucially, combat does not pause or slow while you’re hacking – it happens in real time, meaning you might need to dodge mid-hack, or cancel a hack midway if the combat positioning situation deteriorates. The challenge of doing both things at once is the point.

The hacking portion of Pragmata’s gameplay was brilliant in the short demo, but it’ll need to remain engaging over the whole game. | Image credit: Capcom

With the shields down, you’re free to blast the robot to bits. So a flow emerges – hack while backing off from attacks, then get in there and blast away.

I often tire of hacking mini games in RPGs or shooters and the like, and so that is where Pragmata is most impressive – I enjoyed hacking, and found it intuitive and challenging to do while juggling the other requirements of third-person combat. When you end up in encounters with two or three enemies players have to do some quick thinking and make tough choices – which hack should they do first? Should you hack all of the foes and only then start blasting, or should you pick them off one at a time?

It’s multitasking: the game, with players asked to juggle two characters each with unique skill sets at once. I find it fascinating, and honestly I can see why Pragmata took so long to emerge in a playable state – I can easily imagine it took a heck of a lot of iteration to get the basic controls to a point where hacking and shooting, controlling both Hugh and Diana at once, feels natural and intuitive. In the section I played, it does.

How big the game world is and what there is to explore remains to be seen. | Image credit: Capcom

The vibes are myriad. I get a little bit of God of War, or The Last of Us, or one of those other Sad Dad games, from the pairing of Hugh and Diana. Some of the visuals give me Lost Planet vibes. The experimental gameplay systems design certainly echo Dead Rising, even if it’s mechanically something very different. The concept of hacking robots to expose their weak points even made me briefly think that this has the vibes of a realistic Mega Man reboot. Which is a strange but welcome thought.

As you likely appreciate, I really think it’s rather good. Though it’s also true that a 20-minute demo against a limited range of enemies doesn’t stretch the concept very far – and the system could easily wear thin and take on the status of a gimmick. Capcom will need to show us more to prove that this system can work writ-large, then – but as a concept, it’s already got me very excited to see how far this design can be taken. We’ll find out when Pragmata releases in 2026.



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Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds might be the most mechanically rich kart racer ever made - hands-on
Game Updates

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds might be the most mechanically rich kart racer ever made – hands-on

by admin


When I saw that the hands-on demo for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds at Summer Games Fest was a full hour long, I was sort of taken aback. An hour? For a kart racer? Our time is pretty limited at these events, and in the interest of trying to squeeze as much in as possible one always tries not to spend more time with a game than is strictly necessary to get a broad idea of what it’s trying to do and how it’s coming together.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

A few minutes into the hands-on, I understood. Sonic’s latest racing outing appears to land in that unique category of game that is first and foremost designed for children but nevertheless has an adult depth and complexity should you wish to fully engage. It’s that Pokémon sauce; you can play this like a super simple adventure for kids, or you can get into the weeds on properly competitive nonsense.

“We have a Sonic development team working together with a Sega arcade racing development team,” explains Takashi Iizuka, the long-time Sonic producer who in the last decade has been elevated from the lead on a floundering mascot franchise to the beloved steward of one of Hollywood’s latest faves.

“They’re combined into this one big team. The arcade racing team has tons of experience making arcade racers, making sure they’re balanced, making sure there’s that tight competition – but also making sure it’s a fair and balanced race,” he adds.

Watch on YouTube

Basically, it aims to be the best of both worlds. It fits with the theme of the game: worlds colliding. That might be represented by Sonic and friends being joined by characters from Minecraft. Equally, though, it’s represented by Sonic developers who have honed their skills making games for kids being joined by arcade racing sickos who have worked on stuff like Initial D or Daytona.

The result is a bit bonkers, honestly. The racing is tight and smooth, and that makes sense. Iizuka-san tells me that the core racing is built first, without any of the other nonsense on top. The logic, Iizuka says, is that if you want to race perfect lines practically like this is a simulation, you can – but it’s still a kart racer at heart. Then they started to layer additional things on top. I imagine the team asking Iizuka: ‘how many mechanics do you want, boss?’ and him smirking back: ‘Yes.’ Chances are if you fondly remember a system from a past Sonic racer, it’s present here – and some.

You pick a character, you pick a kart. But the vehicles run the gamut greatly, and can be adjusted, tweaked, and adapted in the menus to give you exactly the sort of ride you want. These customizations can be cosmetic or of the type that’ll impact speed and handling. Beyond customizing vehicles, a special perk-style system allows you to slot special bonuses into a card that can then be equipped before you race. This allows you to tailor your experience.

If you’re a racing fiend, you might want perks that do things like increase the power of your drifting boost or how quickly it charges. Meanwhile, a player who wants to feed the chaos might instead pick bonuses that increase how many items they might get when they hit an item box, or make the act of hitting other racers actually beneficial.

SEGA’s arcade racing pedigree shines through. | Image credit: Eurogamer / SEGA

Before I even hit a race I can see why they gave us an hour, then. With the options available – which is surely a fraction of what’ll be in the final game – I could’ve spent thirty minutes just tabbing through the menus to optimize my racer. Kids might ignore a lot of this – but obsessives and competitive types could get great joy out of this depth. High-level online should be a blast.

The big gimmick in races is how the concept of laps essentially dissolves thanks to the titular world-crossing mechanic. Essentially, a grand prix will consist of four races, each with a ‘hero’ track. Lap one is a tour of the advertised track for that race, but at the end of that the player in pole position will be given a choice between two portals. Whichever they drive through determines which track you will seamlessly be transported to for your second lap. The third lap then returns to the original track for the finale.

It’s a clever idea, and ties in with all sorts of other mechanics. If you’re in a vehicle that does well on water for instance, you could get a major boon by deliberately picking a portal to a track you know well with lots of water. It also mixes things up massively – you could play the same Grand Prix repeatedly and not see the exact same track configuration twice for a while. I also love how this mechanic is utilized for the fourth and final race of a GP, which becomes a victory tour of the three flagship tracks for that GP, each getting a single lap with you teleporting between them.

There’s a sense of chaos to how it works, and the traditional lap structure sublimates into the madness. You have to adapt to whatever happens on lap two, even if you’re the racer up front making the track choice. It’s a curious and amusing parallel to Mario Kart World too. My feeling is that both developers decided they wanted to move away from traditional lap-based racing. For Mario, Nintendo decided on that world tour, road-tripping aspect. Sonic is still entirely track-based but instead has you dynamically teleporting from one track to another mid-race. Both are interesting solutions.

This is going to be one for kids to enjoy and for ‘experts’ to be competitive with. | Image credit: Eurogamer / SEGA

But whereas Mario Kart World keeps its most chaotic moments to the mind-boggling Knockout Tour mode, Sonic is at full throttle all the time. It’s the kart racing equivalent of an extremely excited child after a whole lot of sugar. Items fly, rings are constantly being spewed out and picked back up, you’re drafting, drifting, and tricking for boosts, obstacles shatter and scatter, characters trade quips, my car is a plane now, then a boat, and oh god here comes the second world crossing– it’s mad. The screen is an explosion of stuff going on, and between races a deep layer of customization awaits those who seek it.

It’s a lot. In fact, playing the game I can see why when it had a closed beta test scuttlebutt that some players found it too intense. Maybe it’s been toned down for this build from that time, as I did find it manageable, if a sensory onslaught. But the chaos very much seems the point of the design – and it’s a great contrast to the more calm vibes of Mario Kart World, especially its free roam.

The joy here is without doubt in that pure racing, though – the carefully-crafted cake that oodles and oodles of technicolor over-the-top icing has been put atop of. This is a Sega Arcade racer, with the mechanical depth and tightened controls you’d expect from that lineage. If you can turn off the items and such, which is a pretty standard option in these sorts of games, you may even choose to play it that way. It’s also a mad party game to boot.

I’ll finish on a comparative thought. I’m definitely now newly excited for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. That one-hour hands-on worked for me. But my excitement has been increased, not tempered, by the direct comparison between my hour with CrossWorlds and my four hours with Mario Kart World on the flight over to Summer Game Fest. I like World well enough, but despite its new design ideas I somehow felt it a little safe, a little calm, at least outside of Knockout Tour. It may be that Sega might once again do what Nintendon’t – and CrossWorlds might scratch that chaotic casual multiplayer itch instead.



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MacOS Tahoe 26 hands-on: Spotlight changes and Liquid Glass everywhere
Product Reviews

MacOS Tahoe 26 hands-on: Spotlight changes and Liquid Glass everywhere

by admin


At WWDC, Apple announced its new Liquid Glass design language, which is coming to all of its devices, including Macs. I’ve been tinkering with the macOS Tahoe 26 developer beta on the M4 MacBook Air for about a day. So far, the aesthetic changes range from slick to slightly overwrought, but the new Spotlight search features are nifty and useful.

There are new touches of glassy transparency all over macOS 26, including the Dock, Finder, widgets, and built-in apps. It’s more subtle than on the iPhone, mostly because the Mac’s much larger screen real estate makes the Liquid Glass elements more like accents than whatever this mess is supposed to be. I’m not very fond of it just yet, but maybe it will grow on me, like UI changes tend to.

The see-through dock can distort and refract what’s visible behind it. Screenshot: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

The Dock now has a frosted background that’s more translucent than Sequoia’s flatter design. The hazy, frozen glass aesthetic also extends to widgets, like the calendar and weather, and drop-down menus — though the latter have much higher opacity. The pop-ups for volume and brightness now use this distorted glass look as well, though they’ve moved to the top-right corner of the screen instead of being centered above the dock. Frankly, they’re ugly, and I find their new elongated horizontal look strange and out of place.

Surprisingly, the Menu Bar at the top of the screen is now invisible, so it no longer masks the screen’s notch cutout with a dark gray bar. At first I found this slightly jarring, but I adjusted to it quickly, just as I did the first time I saw a notched MacBook. It became mostly innocuous with even a bright wallpaper showing its borders. (If you really hate it you can enable “Reduce transparency” in the accessibility menu, bringing back the filled-in Menu Bar and killing pretty much all of Tahoe’s other transparent effects.) The one cool thing the invisible Menu Bar enables is a new animation: when you three-finger swipe up for Mission Control, a glass pane descends from the top and distorts the view of the wallpaper underneath. It’s a kitschy flourish, but it’s one of the few effects in Tahoe that tickles me.

1/3The way this top pane in Mission Control distorts the wallpaper as it slides in is fun, I’ll give it that. Screenshot: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

Widgets now live on the desktop instead of requiring a swipe-over of the Notification Center, allowing you to populate your desktop with lots of glanceable info like an iPad home screen if you choose. Open a Finder window and you see more of Tahoe’s rounded design, with the sidebar now looking like its own tall, oval-ish nested window. Dark mode and light mode show some differences here, with light mode flattening the Finder windows quite a bit more than its darker version, which looks more glassy to me.

The theme controls that launched with iOS 18 are now in macOS. Opening the Appearance menu lets you change Tahoe’s overall looks (light, dark, and auto), highlight colors, and icon and widget styles. The right (or wrong) combination of these settings can dramatically change macOS’s looks, from minimalist to garish.

1/5Open a Finder window and you see more of Tahoe’s rounded design, with the sidebar now looking like its own tall, oval-ish nested window. Screenshot: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

More exciting for power users are the changes to Spotlight that make it much easier to operate your Mac by keyboard alone. Spotlight search now gives you shortcuts to finding files, launching apps, performing actions, and accessing clipboard history. Pressing Command and Space calls up Spotlight as it always has, but now if you hover over the search bar with the mouse you’re shown four icons for those new functions, with each offering a handy keyboard shortcut.

Now this is spotlighting: by pressing Command and either number 1, 2, 3, or 4 keys you can get quick access to Apps, Files, Shortcuts, and Clipboard. Then, you can type out whatever you’re searching for or trying to do. The Apps drawer can act as a mini categorized launcher. Files puts suggestions and recents at the top. Shortcuts allows you to type out functions you’d like your Mac to do via compatible apps. Clipboard is a reverse chronological history of the most recent stuff you copied.

Typing actions into Spotlight. You can see some of the quick keys I set up are suggested right at the top. Screenshot: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

I really like the ability to set custom quick key commands. For example, I set “M” to be the quick key for a message, and “TM” to set a timer. Each of those actions requires typing out some part of the prompt, like the number of minutes in your timer or the contents of a message and the recipient. But if you like to use lots of hotkeys and navigating around an app with the Tab and Alt keys you’re likely to feel right at home.

Several readers were quick to comment that this is Apple “sherlocking” Raycast. Raycast is a much more customizable and expansive Spotlight alternative. It can do math and unit conversions, set timers, has its own appendable clipboard history, and a bunch more, and it also supports third-party extensions. While the changes in macOS Tahoe let Spotlight encroach on some of the things Raycast can do, it’s not quite as expansive. At least, not yet. Raycast is a power-user tool, and it could take Apple some time and a lot more development to win over those users.

I’ve been using the first Tahoe developer beta for about a day. There will be plenty more to learn about macOS Tahoe as developers continue using it in its current beta form and Apple delivers more updates. The public beta isn’t coming until sometime next month, and it’s possible that Apple will push out some sizable changes and UI tweaks even before then.





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NFT Gaming

SuiPlay0X1 Hands-On Preview: A Steam Deck Rival That Supports Crypto Games

by admin



In brief

  • Shipping this summer, the SuiPlay0X1 is looks to rival the Steam Deck by offering crypto integrations.
  • We played with the device at Token2049, going hands-on and discussing its key features.
  • Elden Ring plays smoothly on the device without sacrificing graphical quality, and the screen is sharp.

The SuiPlay0X1 is a crypto-fueled handheld console set to ship this summer, attempting to rival the Steam Deck by supporting not only traditional PC games but also blockchain experiences.

At Token2049 in Dubai, we got our hands on the portable console for a brief preview of the soon-to-launch device. Purely as a gaming device, it appears solidly crafted with great specs and an impressive screen—but where it really sets itself apart is, of course, by using crypto.

When you first pick up the device, the display quality immediately jumps out. While OLED panels have become the premium pick for many handheld devices, this 7-inch LCD panel shines, with the bold, no-bezel touchscreen showing excellent color accuracy.

While playing Elden Ring for a short period of time, the SuiPlay0X1 did not struggle to solidly hold 30 frames per second, and felt smooth without needing to sacrifice on graphics. Due to its capacity to play the game at high graphical settings, the screen’s performance really popped with notably vibrant colors and good black levels—experiencing little-to-no backlight bleed.

This smoothness is possible due to its impressive specs, packing an AMD Ryzen 7 7840U CPU, AMD Ryzen 780M graphics card, and 512GB of SSD storage. 



The SuiPlay0X1 is touted as a high-end handheld PC at a price point of $599, although pre-orders for the device are sold out. That’s why some may be disappointed by the LCD screen, especially considering that at a lower price point the Steam Deck offers an OLED.

But Adeniyi Abiodun, co-founder and CPO of Mysten Labs, co-creators of the SuiPlay0x1 alongside Playtron, told Decrypt that it is “one of the highest-end LCD screens that you can get.” And as noted, it certainly looked sharp during our time with it.

That said, the device didn’t immediately feel as ergonomic as some rivals. With a mostly flat back, it’s easy to imagine it may cause your hand to cramp if gaming for an extended period of time—such as while traveling. This is especially noticeable when comparing it to the Steam Deck, which fills your hand more naturally. But we’ll need to spend more time with the SuiPlay0X1 to get a better sense of long-term impact.

The console has the range of controls that you should expect from a console like this with two joysticks, a d-pad, four triggers, and four PlayStation-style buttons—as well as some basic function buttons to take you back to the main menu, etc. For the most part, these felt like quality inputs, with the joysticks being a highlight due to their nice grip.

Its main selling point is the Linux-based Playtron operating system, which Abiodun claims can be downloaded on a computer, mobile phone, or other soon-to-be released devices. 

“We firmly believe that gaming needs a new operating system,” he told Decrypt. “The idea of being locked into one platform, one app, one console is not going to be forever, and people are calling for more open systems. This is the open system.”

As such, Mysten Labs has created the SuiPlay0X1 as a high-end representation of what the operating system is capable of. In fact, the company wants other developers to use the Playtron OS in their devices to compete with the SuiPlay0X1—either with better specs or ergonomics, or at a cheaper price point.

PlaytronOS is optimized to allow gamers to play titles from the Steam, Epic Games, and GOG stores, as well as games that utilize the Sui network. Abiodun believes this is a major differentiating factor, due to sector leader the Steam Deck requiring an awkward workaround to play non-Steam titles—not to mention Valve’s banning of crypto titles from the platform.

On launch day, the SuiPlay0X1 will natively support seven crypto games, including Xociety, Warped Universe, Panzerdogs, and ONE Fight Arena, all of which are Sui titles.

The device abstracts Sui crypto elements away from the user, only requiring a traditional Web2 login. Once logged on, Mysten Labs said, users are able to engage with crypto-centric games seamlessly via the SuiPlay0X1 Wallet that’s created on the backend. However, Decrypt did not get to playtest a crypto game or related features, due to connectivity issues at the event.

The SuiPlay0X1 Wallet is, as the name suggests, based on the Sui blockchain and is confirmed to support the SUI token as well as the recently announced Game Dollar stablecoin. However, Mysten Labs confirmed that games from other networks will also be available to play on the device, if they’re available in supported storefronts.

At its core, that crypto gaming functionality is its unique selling point. While there are handheld consoles that are optimized to play video games across the Steam and Epic Games Store, there has yet to be a device that nails crypto integrations and has the power for serious gaming.

Other crypto games like Avalanche shooter Off the Grid will be compatible thanks to the title being on the Epic Games Store, which has become a go-to app for crypto gaming. But something like the Ronin-based Axie Infinity, which isn’t on Epic Games, won’t be playable on the device from the outset.

The Solana Saga mobile phone can play Android games and a relatively small number of Solana-connected titles, but doesn’t have the specs to play powerful PC games. And simpler devices like the Game Boy-style BitBoy One and PSG1 are designed to play casual and retro games, lacking the power to hang with PC-level handhelds.

If the SuiPlay0X1’s crypto integrations are as seamless as promised and cross-chain compatibility is introduced, then the device may carve out its own lane in the industry. But will mainstream gamers take notice, especially during a lull in broader crypto gaming momentum? We’ll find out this summer when the SuiPlay0X1 starts to hit the market.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

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All The Big News As Fans Go Hands-On
Game Updates

All The Big News As Fans Go Hands-On

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A bunch of Switch 2s swirl in a circle.Nearly a decade after the original Switch came out, and following years of fans’ pining for a major upgrade to Nintendo’s wildly popular portable gaming platform, the Switch 2 is here. It’s already June 5—the console’s official launch date—in some parts of the world, and a day-one update with “important features and updates” is now live. People are finally starting to go hands-on with games like Mario Kart World, while others prepare for midnight launch parties in their respective time zones.

Nintendo Switch 2 Could Launch With Almost No Reviews

We’ll be updating this story throughout the day so be sure to scroll to the end and check back for more news on what players are finding as Nintendo’s most anticipated console launch ever finally gets underway.

Unlike all of Nintendo’s previous consoles, the Switch 2 arrives without any reviews or extensive testing from media or content creators. With the exception of two preview events, the highly anticipated console is going out into the world fresh for everyone. Officially, Nintendo blamed that outcome on the need for a last-minute day-one update, VGC reported yesterday. That had kept even leakers who got the hardware ahead of launch from being able to actually play any games on it, including older Switch 1 cartridges.

With the update now live, people have been able to start installing firmware version 20.1.1. It unlocks some of the Switch 2’s most important features, including GameChat and access to the Nintendo eShop, Switch Online, virtual game cards, and the controversial game key cards that don’t actually contain the game. As a result, early players in New Zealand and other places have started sharing pictures online of the Switch 2 downloading new games like Mario Kart World while everyone else patiently waits for the clock to strike midnight in their region.

The eShop runs great on Switch 2

Here’s what the new eShop looks like, for example. After years of stuttering on the old console, it actually seems to run smoothly (for now):

Mario Kart World 1.1.0 update makes more characters playable at the start

A day-one patch is also live for the open-world racing sequel launch title. Mario Kart World 1.1.0 adds support for Camera Play, online multiplayer, and the ability to upload and download time trial ghosts. More importantly, it looks like Nintendo made some last-minute tuning adjustments as well. “We’ve increased the number of characters that can be selected from the start,” reads one of the patch notes. “The time limit for deciding on a course has been removed when playing Locally or LAN,” reads another.

One big question on players’ minds: will blue shells actually be easier to dodge this time around than in past games?

Here’s what the inside of a Switch 2 looks like

For those interested in what’s actually going on inside the Switch 2, someone’s already uploaded a complete teardown of the new hardware. ProModding’s surgery on the console has already raised some important questions, like why is Nintendo hiding so many screws underneath hard-to-replace stickers on the side of the console?

For anyone who doesn’t already have the console, Switch 2’s launch day could be a lot rockier. While many secured pre-orders months ago, some stores in the U.S. have promised limited day-one inventory for people who show up at the midnight launch. The Switch 2 is expected to sell out at launch, but there’s a big question around just how hard it will be to get and for how long. Walmart has already begun cancelling some fans’ early pre-orders, and “out of stock” signs have been sent out to many stores.

Switch 2 launch day stock is available at some stores but not for long

Another big question is when all of those online pre-orders will finally get delivered. My bundle from Target currently isn’t slated to arrive until June 11, so I’m heading to GameStop today to join the masses to try to score a launch-day unit. My local store said they’d have about 10 for people showing up without pre-orders. For now though, backroom inventory is at long last going out on store shelves. Hopefully, there aren’t too many horror stories of people failing to get theirs.

Plus we’ll have to see how Nintendo’s servers hold up once the console is out across the globe and millions of players are trying to download games and day-one updates simultaneously. It’ll certainly put the Switch 2’s allegedly improved Wi-Fi speeds to the test.

Switch 2 can store more than double the number of screenshots

Update 6/4/2025 11:02 a.m. ET: The original Switch limited players to 10,000 screenshots no matter how much extra room on an SD expansion card they had (via NintendoSoup). The Switch 2 not only increases that limit to 15,000 for the console itself, it also lets you store another 15,000 screenshots on the auxiliary microSD Express card. It might be enough to document every square inch of Mario Kart World. At the very least, no more sorting through what screenshots to delete in the short term anyway.

Bowser’s Fury loads in 8 seconds

Update 6/4/2025 12:51 p.m. ET: Nintendo’s open world Mario side-project loads lightning fast on Switch 2. Bowser’s Fury, an add-on for Mario Bros. 3D World on the original Switch, takes place in a big, seamless map. I just booted it up on the old hardware using the cartridge version, which is already known to be a couple seconds slower than the digital version, and it took 41 seconds. Footage of the game running on Switch 2 by VGC shows it loading in just 8 seconds. It’s one of many Nintendo games that received free updates for the new console but doesn’t have a paid Switch 2 upgrade.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour can’t be completed without a 4K TV

Update 6/4/2025 1:48 p.m. ET: Welcome Tour seemed like the perfect pack-in for Nintendo’s new console: a series of neat mini-games teaching player show the machine works. Instead it’s a $10 download AND players have discovered you need a bunch of extra accessories to technically reach 100 percent completion (something the game tracks). Those additional peripherals include a webcam, a controller with GL/GR buttons, and a 4K TV or monitor display. Which diehard fans will buy a Piranha Plant cam just to hit that achievement?

The Switch 2 setup music is a cozy little banger

Update 6/4/2025 3:45 p.m. ET: It’s a shame the Nintendo Switch 2 won’t have eShop music, but at least when you first set up the console, you get to hear a nice song. This has been floating around for a few days now, thanks to leaks, but now we have some higher-quality versions of it. Kyle Orland over at Ars Technica has a great recording of it. And here’s a (quiet) recording of it via YouTube.

Someone has made Mario Kart’s famous cow eat beef

Update 6/4/2025 3:48 p.m. ET: Breaking news! Tom Marks, the executive reviews editor at IGN, has released video of the beloved and popular cow from Mario Kart World eating what appears to be a beef burger.

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