Kalakshar US

For better or worse, Fortnite will let creators make NPCs that ditch the script and go freestyle. A new tool in the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) will allow developers to create their own generative AI-powered NPCs. Their voice types, delivery styles and personality traits are all customizable.

Epic demoed the tech on Tuesday during its “State of Unreal” keynote. The company said the NPC generated its responses in real-time during the presentation. It was created using “about 20 lines” of prompt text.

The demoed character, Mr. Buttons, was created solely to persuade the player to press a large red button in a room. After the presenter asked about the signs in the environment warning against pressing the button, the AI bot persisted. “Signs, you say? Mere suggestions from those who lack imagination. After all, rules are made to be gently nudged aside. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Impressive as it was, the demo also showed the tech’s current limitations. First, it’s a turn-taking AI chat, not a live one with interruptions and overlapping. In addition, the presenter could only speak when holding a button to activate the microphone. After each question, Mr. Buttons would pause for a few moments to process. It tried to mask this with vocal fillers like “Hmmm,” “Ahhhh,” and “Ummm.”

The tech builds on Darth Vader’s appearance last month in Fortnite: Galactic Battle. Gemini 2.0 Flash generated the Sith Lord’s dialogue, which was made to sound like James Earl Jones’ voice using ElevenLabs AI tech. (His estate approved it.)

How did it go? Well, AI Vader went viral for… probably not the reasons Epic hoped. On the bright side, it didn’t quite devolve into AI Seinfeld levels of offensiveness. But a widely shared video showed Darth dropping an F-bomb. In response to a streamer using “freaking” and “fucking” in a voice prompt, Vader repeated the words. (Ironically, he then scolded the player for using harsh language.) Epic pushed a hotfix and promised it wouldn’t happen again.

Fortnite creators will be able to make the NPCs in the UEFN Editor later this year. You can check out the Mr. Buttons demo below.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/fortnite-is-about-to-unleash-ai-powered-npcs-172728548.html?src=rss 

Spoilers for “The Reality War.”

The BBC and Disney chose not to share screeners ahead of “The Reality War” to preserve its numerous twists. There isn’t time to review it in the usual style, but I felt I’d be remiss not to cap off this run of reviews by talking about the finale. And it’s not as if I’ve nothing to say about what the hell happened on Saturday.

“It’s the end… but the moment has been ‘prepared for.’”

I refuse to believe that “The Reality War” was planned and written as the execution of this run of Doctor Who. I’m well aware the BBC, Bad Wolf and Ncuti Gatwa claimed the intention from the start was for him to bow out after two short seasons. I’m not buying it.

On one hand, the rumors of disharmony behind the scenes, last minute reshoots and Disney’s reported displeasure are hard to ignore. But there’s far better evidence, which is to just watch the damn episode and try to think about what happened for more than a heartbeat.

Everything after the Doctor’s triumphant return to UNIT HQ feels like it was hastily assembled and tacked on. In fact, there are times in which it feels like all of the main actors are reading from different scripts, and not interacting with one another.

Spot the join

I’ve seen some people grousing about the simple way the Omega storyline was resolved, but I think it was always planned that way. Russell T. Davies’ has always ended the big dramatic plots of his finales early to make more room to show the aftermath for the characters.

Take last year’s “Empire of Death,” which dumps off Sutekh two thirds of the way in to spend the rest of the episode showing Ruby meeting her birth mother. For Davies, the big CGI space monsters are always the means through which he can spend moments with his characters.

And yet the character moments here are weird if not totally incoherent — the one highlight being the moment that Poppy disappears. The shot of the Doctor and Belinda absentmindedly handing her coat back and forth as it turns into an ever-smaller piece of cloth is sublime.

But when Ruby’s protestations are finally taken seriously, the Doctor’s decision to just hand Belinda a child comes totally out of left field. Not only does it not agree with anything that we’ve come to know about her over the last eight weeks, it’s also totally pretty outrageous.

Which is why it’s far more plausible that Davies, faced with no commission for a third season and with a lead actor looking to quit, just wrote a few pages of nonsense to justify the change.

“One day, I shall come back.”

Naturally, the rumors suggest the original ending would have seen Susan appear as a lead-in to the next season. Again, this isn’t so much a hint as something the last two years have been very clearly laying the foundations for. The Doctor openly discussed that he has a child living in London (in “The Devil’s Chord”) and the Susan Twist saga was designed to play up to that. Going to the trouble of hiring the 84-year-old Carole Ann Ford and putting her in brief cameos in the last two episodes — plus dropping references to that in “Lux” — was clearly part of the plan. Now, after the extensive, patient buildup of that storyline, it appears that we’ll not get the chance to see what Davies had intended.

Going back to the point about the BBC and Gatwa’s claim that this was always meant to be a two-season deal, it’s likely the show’s original ending will be swept under the rug. And given Ford’s age, it’s likely that we’ll never get the chance to give the actress the sendoff she really deserved in 1964.

“Davies has never been that sort of writer.”

A large amount of fan speculation this year was focused on the various structural and thematic coincidences. Each episode of this run could more or less map onto the previous one and went over similar ground. But, as far back as “Lux,” I said that Russell T. Davies wasn’t that sort of writer, building a mystery box that would resolve perfectly by its conclusion. His writing is a little more like a kid pulling toys out of a toybox and smashing them together at speed.

“The Reality War” is a great example of this approach, since while there were plenty of elements that came back, none of them were as vital to the plot’s conclusion as they could have been. Anita was a convenient way of getting the Doctor out of the cliffhanger, but did nothing else for the rest of the episode. Hell, it’s hard to take the suggestion seriously that she’d fallen in love with the Doctor but not realized he was, at least in this incarnation, more interested in men. Joy, too, from “Joy to the World” gets a mention but with little emotional attachment given the events of that episode. And on the subject of its treatment of women…

“I was this really brilliant woman”

Doctor Who has spent much of its recent years trying to address its own blind spots around representation. This era has continued this tradition, broadening out the series’ supporting cast, especially the team known by fans as the “UNIT Family.” In “The Reality War,” every one of the Doctor’s allies, barring Colonel Ibrahim, is either a woman or non-binary. And yet, the sheer number of cast members means each one is almost aggressively underserved.

“The Reality War,” after all, is focused on unpacking a false reality called into existence by an ultra-conservative YouTuber who ignores and erases disabled and queer people. But the show’s treatment of these characters both during the action-packed finale, and afterward, is rough. When the team starts working together, the legion of people around the Doctor get little to nothing of note to actually do.

Anita is quite literally reduced to the role of a human doorstop (she holds the door to the Time Hotel open to counteract Conrad’s wish). Kate orders Shirley to fire the lasers. Susan (Triad) builds the zero room. Mel does quite literally nothing once she’s sneered at the Rani. And then there’s Rose.

Rose’s brief inclusion would have been extraordinarily poignant if she’d helped defeat Conrad once she’s been pulled out of oblivion. Instead, she’s just there so the Doctor can point out she was erased because Conrad hates (and/or ignores) nonbinary transfem people. And after that moment, Yasmin Finney essentially disappears from the episode once again, making her less a character and more a prop.

It gets worse with the treatment of Ruby and Belinda — the former marginalized and almost aggressively ignored by the characters to the point that I assumed their rejection of her claims was a sign the reality hadn’t actually been fixed. But the latter goes from not having a child, to having a fictional child in Conrad’s world, to forgetting she exists when Conrad’s wish is undone. When the timeline resets and she no longer has any memory of a child, the Doctor then opts to sacrifice his life in order to bring that child back into existence. I mean, what? Given Davies’ politics, and the (ostensibly) pro-abortion subtext of “Space Babies,” the Doctor suddenly re-writes the universe to force his companion — without her consent — into motherhood.

“It’s funny, but is it going to get them off their tractors?”

I’m a Brit, reviewing a uniquely British show for a predominantly American audience, and so try to view the series through that lens. Doctor Who has been a fixture in the US since the ‘70s and was a mainstay on PBS through the ‘80s and so it’s not an unknown property. The revival series may not have been an instant hit, but quickly built a respectable audience on BBC America. But while in the UK the series is a mainstream hit, its US demographic can be roughly broken down into genre nerds and anglophiles.

Consequently, there was a degree of nervousness about how the revitalized series would be received by the far broader audience on Disney+. Davies’ had spoken about the need for the series to recruit new fans, downplaying the series’ six-decades-long backstory. But despite that aim, it never felt that the series was making many concessions to its potential audience. Don’t forget, the Ncuti Gatwa series is playing out in the shadow of specific events from its 2021 series and the second and third of its three 2023 specials. And yet, rather than starting from a clean(-ish) slate, the series threw itself headlong into a multi-year story about its broken reality.

“In the ‘70s or ‘80s depending on the dating protocol…”

The Two Ranis / Two Ronnies gag was great, but did anyone over the age of 30 get it?

And on that subject, I don’t think we really needed to see the Rani or Omega again, especially as Conrad was a compelling enough villain on his own. I’m the sort of Doctor Who fan who bleeds TARDIS Blue if you were to cut me (but don’t do that). But I’m also sufficiently interested in new experiences that I’d rather the show avoid relitigating and revisiting the same coterie of classic series villains.

Omega wasn’t a mainstay anyway, and his second appearance (in “Arc of Infinity”) was tedious enough that his absence wasn’t missed. Similarly, while the Rani offers a different spin on the homegrown foe trope, it’s hard not to just write her as a female Master. And, let’s be honest, as much as I’m trying not to invoke Steven Moffat here, Missy was so well done we didn’t need to go back to that well ever again.

Similarly, I can’t help but wonder how many folks who persisted with the series until this point bailed out. The late Craig Hinton coined the term “Fanwank” as a catch-all term for the sort of self-indulgent storytelling that exists to satisfy the author’s own obsessions. You know, fan fiction that makes Captain Kirk the father of Jean-Luc Picard or that Han Solo and Luke Skywalker were secretly friends in childhood. Having the Rani bi-generate to rebuild a new Gallifrey with Omega as its progenitor is the sort of self-indulgence most people grow out of.

Doctor Who isn’t Star Trek

Several times this season, we’ve seen Doctor Who smash its face into the limits of its own storytelling. Its premise is far more elastic than many others, but there are themes it simply cannot meaningfully engage with. “Lux,” “Lucky Day” and “The Interstellar Song Contest” all gestured toward big real-world topics (structural racism, abuse and radicalization, genocide and reputation laundering) that are simply beyond the capacity of a science fantasy show about a quasi-immortal clown solving problems. And here we’re learning another big fact about Doctor Who: It’s not Star Trek.

The battle between UNIT and the big dinosaur skeletons was shot and edited as if we were watching the crew of the Enterprise. Now, I’m not watching Doctor Who for the gritty realism but there’s a moment when you can go through silly fun and into ridiculousness. And when the UNIT tower, consciously modeled on the Avengers’ Stark Tower, starts spinning around to shoot its lasers, you have to wonder how many people had to sign off on that image thinking it was okay.

Eating its own tail

Doctor Who’s critical and popular success has always waxed and waned, and that’s nothing to be worried about. There was, however, a sense during Chis Chibnall’s era that he wanted to recapture the glories of Davies’ era. After all, David Tennant’s initial tenure saw the show become the biggest thing on British TV with ratings often passing the 10 million mark. I suppose it comes as no surprise, then, that Davies would repay the compliment by giving Jodie Whittaker’s 13th Doctor a cameo. It’s a shame that it’s as equally incoherent as the rest of the episode’s finale, but it does a far better job of addressing the #Thasmin plot — the implied romance between the Doctor and her companion Yaz – than Chibnall’s own era does.

Naturally, Davies was better able to capitalize upon this nostalgia, recruiting the stars of his own era — David Tennant and Catherine Tate — to come back for the 60th anniversary specials. That was a nice piece throwback to help get the series back on track ahead of its rejuvenation with Ncuti Gatwa at the helm. Obviously, while hiring one of the stars of the series’ most recent heyday for a short tenure for the anniversary was a nice treat, the series now needs to strike out on its own. Or, at least, that was the thinking until Ncuti Gatwa regenerated into Billie Piper.

Billie Piper

I was 20 when Doctor Who came back and was as sneery as the rest of the country when Billie Piper was announced as the show’s companion. Piper was a teenage singer — the youngest UK Number One act — and while not a one-hit wonder, her music career stalled. Aged 18, she married the 35-year-old radio DJ and TV presenter Chris Evans and became tabloid fodder. Naturally, the whole country had to eat crow when it turned out she wasn’t just a fantastic actor but a true powerhouse and star. Her return for “The Day of the Doctor,” as the psychic interface of Gallifreyan superweapon The Moment, was a joyous one. And while the leaks had revealed Piper would be replacing Gatwa, it was still nice to see her appear on screen.

Given Piper was not credited as “And introducing Billie Piper as the Doctor” it’s clear that her inclusion is another hedge. If nothing else, she can take the role for the revival series’ 20th anniversary and hopefully pull in more eyes to whoever replaces her. But as desperate as the move seems, I’d be happy to see her remain in the role for an extended period of time — she’s brilliant, clearly has plenty of affection for the show, and has enough star power to carry the series on her back. So, if Piper is back, let her be back for a long time and let her bask in all of the adoration she so rightly deserves.

“There are worlds out there…”

At the risk of armchair psychologizing, I suspect all Doctor Who fans of a certain age carry the wound of 1989 very deeply. The show had entered a creative renaissance thanks to the work of Andrew Cartmel that had invigorated long-serving producer John Nathan-Turner. Just as it had found its feet and started to produce era-defining work in a model that could have sustained it through the 1990s, the plug was pulled. There have been many (many!) post mortems as to the causes but James Cooray-Smith’s recent essay on the subject is probably the most concise. In short, a combination of executive snobbery, personal enmity (John Nathan-Turner was not well-liked by his bosses) and budgetary issues caused the show’s demise.

1989 to 2005 was beset by false dawns, the BBC’s self-sabotage and fans essentially taking ownership of the property. Virgin Publishing had the license to publish tie-in novels that evolved into the New Adventures line. In the gap, the need for new Doctor Who was filled by writers: some professional, some fans who would go on to become professionals with a monthly book series. And then, in 1999, a production company called Big Finish secured the rights to produce new audio adventures featuring classic Doctors. But aside from the abortive (and mostly awful) 1996 TV movie that served as a pilot for a US version of the show, Doctor Who was dead.

It wouldn’t be until the second series of the reboot, when David Tennant took the role and it became the biggest thing on TV, that the worry the show would go away again started to fade even as ratings and public enthusiasm declined with Steven Moffat at the helm. But those fears have returned in the last decade, especially given the lukewarm critical and audience reception to Jodie Whittaker’s tenure. And with Disney pulling back and the BBC’s own budget crisis, the risk to Doctor Who’s future — with no new series confirmed to be in the works — is grave.

On one hand, the BBC has said we may see the situation change in a year, but then it said that in 1989 as well. I’m going to hold off writing an obituary, however, because if Doctor Who is to go back on the shelf, it’s going to be taken very good care of. After all, many of the fans who kept the flame alive during the first wilderness years would go on to make the series proper. And I’m sure the next generation of fans are ready to cut their teeth on their own projects that’ll one day grow into whatever Doctor Who becomes in a decade or more.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/12-thoughts-about-that-doctor-who-finale-150032038.html?src=rss 

A next-gen Nintendo only comes around once a decade, which makes the Switch 2’s launch feel like a birthday, graduation and Christmas (or your holiday of choice) all rolled into one. However, like many gift-giving celebrations, obtaining the Switch 2 comes with several implications for your wallet and how it will fit into your life. So after getting the chance to play the Switch 2 for nearly 15 hours across two different sessions, I wanted to put together one last preview about Nintendo’s next console and if you should (or should not) try to snag one when it officially goes on sale on June 5.

Note: Another big reason for this second preview/hands-on is because unlike in years past, members of the media won’t be getting review units prior to launch. So this story features as much info as we have right now before open sales begin later this week.

Design

Nintendo hasn’t deviated too much from the original Switch’s template for its successor. You still get what is essentially a small tablet with two detachable Joy-Con, a built-in kickstand and a dock for hooking it up to your TV. That said, it feels like Nintendo has upgraded almost every component in some way.

The Switch 2’s screen is significantly larger at 7.9 inches across (up from 6.2 inches), while also having a higher resolution (1,920 x 1,080 vs 1,280 x 720). And while it’s not an OLED panel, LCD tech has really come a long way to the point where it’s honestly hard to tell (especially if you’re in a well-lit room). You also get support for HDR and variable refresh rates at up to 120Hz on its native display.

You can see HDR support for the Switch 2’s built-in display on things like the reflections coming from the truck’s bumper.

The Joy-Con, while retaining a familiar shape, have also basically been redesigned from the ground up. Not only are they a bit larger, they also feature a new magnetic attachment system with a larger button that makes snapping them on and off a breeze. Haptic feedback has also been enhanced with HD Rumble 2, which provides a stronger and wider range of vibrations.

But that’s not all because there’s even a new C button for Nintendo’s Game Chat feature (more on that later), along with what may be one of the biggest hardware surprises on the entire console. Thanks to small cameras built into the edge of each Joy-Con, when tilted on their side, they can turn into mice. This functionality is something I was skeptical about at first, but it quickly grew on me to the point where using the right Joy-Con as a mouse and the left as a traditional controller became my favorite way to play shooters like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.

You can activate mouse mode for the Switch 2’s Joy-Con simply by turning them on their side in supported games.

As a mouse, the Joy-Con work surprisingly well even when you don’t have a flat surface in front of you. I tried using them on the arm of a couch and my pants rather successfully. That said, if you’re a true mouse and keyboard aficionado, there’s still a gap in accuracy and responsiveness between Nintendo’s Joy-Con and a traditional desktop mouse, though part of this is because when rotated sideways, the narrow controllers sometimes tilt over a bit too easily.

Sadly, the big question I can’t answer yet is whether these new Joy-Con will suffer from drift similar to what many people experienced with the original Switch. Nintendo says it’s using a new setup inside that should be significantly more robust, but only time and lots of mashing on those analog sticks will tell us for sure.

Performance

While the Switch 2 is significantly more powerful than its predecessors, to what exact degree we may not know for some time. Its core specs include a custom chip made by NVIDIA that features support for real-time ray tracing, G-Sync, DLSS and what the company says is 10 times the graphics performance of the Switch 1. It also has 12GB of RAM and 256GB of built-in UFS storage (of which 232GB is available out of the box). There’s also a microSD Express card slot for expandable storage, a 3.5mm audio jack, Wi-Fi 6 and not one but two USB-C ports (though only the bottom jack supports video out).

But what might be the biggest indicator of the Switch 2’s improved horsepower is the sheer number of third-party ports that will be available at launch (or at least its first month on sale). This includes titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut, Hitman World of Assassination and others, which are all games that developers didn’t even really try to bring to the Switch 1 due to its more limited performance.

Battery life

Featuring a 5,220mAh battery, Nintendo’s official longevity estimate for the Switch 2 ranges from 2 to 6.5 hours, depending on the exact game you’re playing. For a more real-world evaluation, during my second preview, I played Mario Kart World in handheld mode with the Switch 2’s screen set to max brightness (with ambient lighting disabled) starting from 100 percent battery. After 30 minutes, the console had 81 percent left, so if you do some rough back-of-the-napkin math, that translates to a total runtime of around two and a half hours.

That number might seem a bit low, but in many respects, this represents a worst-case scenario, as the device was connected to Wi-Fi and its screen was on full power. Furthermore, while I can’t say for sure the Switch 2 is like this, some gadgets discharge power slightly faster when their battery is at or close to max capacity. In short, I wouldn’t be surprised that by tweaking its settings a bit, it would be possible to boost that time up to three hours or more. And of course, if you’re playing a less demanding game (particularly an older Switch 1 title), I think Nintendo’s upper limit of six and a half hours is very plausible.

Nintendo’s launch titles and third-party games

It’s important to note that the Switch 2 bundle with Mario Kart World comes with a digital download instead of a physical game cartridge.

Over time, the original Switch sort of became the system you whipped out when you wanted to play first-party Nintendo games or smaller indie titles as the console simply didn’t have the horsepower to keep up with the latest Xbox or PlayStation. And while there are a number of third-party games like Elden Ring, Borderlands 4 and more that are planned to arrive on the Switch 2, the number of brand new games from Nintendo for the Switch 2’s launch is rather thin: it’s just Mario Kart World and the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour.

Granted, by the end of 2025, that list will look a lot better with Donkey Kong Bananza, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Kirby Air Riders slated to arrive later this year. The Switch 2 is also backwards compatible with games designed for the Switch 1, which gives it a rather large library out of the gate. But for anyone without a huge backlog, the lack of fresh launch titles is one of the biggest reasons that people shouldn’t feel like they are missing out if they can’t get their hands on a Switch 2 at launch.

The Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome tour generally consists of tutorials and quizzes about the console along with mini games like this one which requires you to use mouse mode to help the UFO dodge spiky balls.

Furthermore, while I’ve warmed up to Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour as it’s a great way to learn about the console’s capabilities. I still feel like it should have been a free pack-in that comes with the system instead of an additional $10 purchase. It’s not nearly as fun or endearing as Astro’s Playroom was for the PS5 and I would say it’s only a must-buy for the most die-hard Nintendo completionists.

On the flipside, Mario Kart World is everything you want from a new installment in one of Nintendo’s most iconic franchises and then some. According to Nintendo itself, this game has been in development since 2017 and it really shows. Between the interconnected tracks and free roam mode, Mario Kart World’s map feels absolutely massive. The full roster and list of vehicles is also immense and there’s a fun new mechanic that allows you to generate boosts without needing to drift or jump up onto ledges, railings and walls to do tricks. I’ve even heard that you can use this skill to dodge blue shells, though I haven’t been able to nail the timing myself just yet.

Cheep cheep might be my favorite new character in Mario Kart World. Seeing a fish drive a car and throw bananas will never not be funny.

At its core, the game has the same polished driving and item slinging that people adore. Just one word of warning: With the game now supporting up to 24 players in a single race, being in the middle of the pack is even more chaotic than before. You’re basically asking to get constantly bombarded. Regardless, buying a Switch 2 without Mario Kart World feels like a mistake. That said, anyone planning on purchasing the bundle with both the console and game included should know that Mario Kart World comes as a digital download instead of a physical cartridge, which is a small bummer because otherwise the package essentially knocks $30 off the normal $80 price tag for the game.

Important add-ons and accessories

In addition to your usual assortment of cases, screen protectors and portable battery packs, there are two types of Nintendo Switch accessories you’re going to want to give some extra special consideration. The first is a microSD Express card, because while the Switch 2 comes with much more onboard storage than its predecessor (256GB, up from 32GB), with games like Mario Kart World featuring a file size of 23.4GB, depending on how big your digital library is, you might run out of space faster than you think.

Furthermore, you won’t be able to use the same basic microSD cards used by the OG Switch, as the Switch 2 is only compatible with the newer microSD Express format. The good news is that this memory is significantly faster than before (potentially up to four times speedier), which should provide quicker file transfers and loading speeds in games. The bad news is that microSD Express cards cost more than your garden-variety expandable storage with 256GB options costing around $60 or closer to $200 for larger 1TB models. For a more in-depth rundown, please check out our full guide on the best microSD Express cards for the Switch 2.

The other accessory you’ll want to think about is a camera, as you need one if you want to use the Switch 2’s new video chatting capabilities. On top of that, there are some features in titles like Mario Kart World and the updated version of Super Mario Party Jamboree that use the camera to superimpose you or your friends’ faces inside the game to add some extra personalization to the fun. Thankfully, Nintendo’s official camera is relatively affordable at $50, though there are some intriguing third-party options like this adorable Piranha Plant-themed one from Hori.

The importance of Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack

There are two different tiers for Nintendo Switch Online. The basic $20 per year plan includes support for online play and Game Chat along with access to select classic titles from the NES, SNES and Game Boy. You also need it if you want cloud saves or the ability to transfer saved data between your original Switch and a Switch 2.

While not strictly necessary, the Switch 2’s Pro Controller is pretty much a must-buy for people who primarily play the console while docked to their TV.

That said, Nintendo makes a strong case for upgrading the more expensive NSO + Expansion Pack plan ($50 a year) which adds in games from the N64, Sega Genesis and Gamecube. But perhaps more importantly, this premium tier also gives you access to upgrade packs for original Switch games including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and more. The updates not only make these games run smooth, they also include some extra features like the Zelda Notes app and even support for HDR for select titles. So if you’re worried about not having enough games to play on the Switch 2 at launch, NSO + Expansion Pack feels like a great way to instantly flesh that out.

Game Chat

One of the biggest additions to the Switch 2 is Nintendo’s Game Chat feature (which includes a dedicated chat button). I admit, it’s easy to write it off as Nintendo simply copying Discord and including similar functionality natively, but based on my experience with Game Chat so far, I’ve been impressed with how simple and convenient it is to use.

You can host your own chat room or join another (with people sourced from your friends list) and from there you can select between several sharing layouts and other options. There’s a voice-only mode along with small and expanded views that show what your friends are playing in dedicated windows along the bottom of the screen. Up to four video streams can be open at the same time and a total of 12 people can be in the same group simultaneously. There’s even a setting to turn on speech-to-text (or text-to-speech if you want to read what others are saying) with support for multiple languages as well.

Parents also don’t need to be worried about who might pop into their children’s rooms because they can manually approve who is allowed to participate in chat rooms with their kids via Nintendo’s Parental Control app.

My only gripe is that some video features are a bit low-res, which results in some aliasing (aka jaggies) when you activate the face cutout mode or turn on the setting that removes your background.

TV compatibility

One potential complication you don’t really need to think about with the Switch 2 is if your TV can take full advantage of the console’s capabilities. As long as it can handle 4K (3,840 x 2,160) at 60 fps or 1440p at 120 fps, you’re pretty much set. That’s because while the Switch 2 technically supports VRR at up to 120 fps, that spec only applies to the console’s built-in display.

That may be a bit of a bummer for some, though depending on the title, the Switch 2 may be able to send out 120 fps content at 1440p, which isn’t quite as good as what you get from some games running on the PS5 or Xbox Series X. But considering the OG Switch couldn’t do 4K at all, I’ll take what I can get.

Budget considerations

Priced at $450 (or $500 for the bundle with Mario Kart World), the Switch 2 carries with it a bit of sticker shock compared to the $300 launch price of the original Switch. Now I’m not here to tell you if that’s too much or simply too expensive in this economy. However, I think it’s important to point out that when adjusted for inflation, $300 in 2017 is worth about $400 in today’s money and that’s before you factor in things like tariffs and taxes.

Furthermore, you’ll want to consider your total spend, which may include the price of NSO, any games or accessories, or if you’re lucky enough to buy multiple units, the cost to get more than one Switch 2.

Future outlook

When I got my original launch Switch back in 2017, I had no idea it would hold me down over the last eight years as well as it has. Personally, I’m planning to put my own money down on what looks to be a very thorough upgrade over its predecessor. And it’s a similar situation for anyone lucky enough to snag a pre-order, as your mind is probably already made up.

The Switch 2 retains almost everything people love about its predecessor while adding extra polish and performance across the board. Yes, simply by the numbers, it’s a lot more expensive than the original, but I’d argue that its upgraded specs and the ability to serve as both a home console and a portable game player puts it on equal footing when compared to similarly priced rivals from Microsoft and Sony.

I do wish Nintendo’s first-party software lineup was a bit deeper at launch, but I think the Switch 2’s backwards compatibility and much stronger third-party support are doing a lot to fill in the gaps until DK Bananza and Metroid Prime 4 arrive later this year.

That said, not being able to obtain a model at launch shouldn’t be a major downer. Mario Kart World is the only major new first-party Nintendo game out of the gate and while it’s so good that I’m certain everyone will be playing it for the next decade, those who can’t won’t be left in the dust. I feel like the real goal for serious gamers is to simply get (or save up for) one by the end of the year when more flagship titles become available. After all, as good as the Switch 2 has been during my previews, it becomes so much better when you can play it with friends and it’s going to take time for supply to catch up to demand.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-switch-2-the-final-preview-faq-140055895.html?src=rss