Lattepunk Switch 2
Lattepunk
It’s all video game!
While I was busy making a website, a bit of gaming news has happened. Nintendo officially showed off the Nintendo Switch 2 after a bit of teasing. You can watch the whole presentation here. I’ll run you through what interested me.
Opening things up, Nintendo shows off a brand new Mario Kart game:
What is there to say about this? It’s Mario Kart! Of course it’s going to be great! Early hands from the few news outlets I follow seem to confirm this. What really stands out about this game isn’t anything in the game itself. It’s the cost. This game, digitally, will cost $80! If you want the physical cartridge, that’s an extra $10. I’m not going to sit here and argue if Mario Kart is worth the money, of course it is. That doesn’t matter though, that sticker shock is going to hit hard at the checkout screen. I follow this stuff and I wasn’t ready for that. Grand Theft Auto 6 really might cost $120, SMH! That’s just the price of one specific game, we’ll talk the Switch price later.
The Switch 2 is just a bigger, stronger, better version of the first Switch. Nothing wrong with that. Straight up better console than the first. Does all the same things, docks, handheld, controllers come off, all that. All those hardware bumps help it a lot. A bunch of games that you would never even bother dreaming of running on your Switch will be playable on the Switch 2. Cyberpunk 2077, Street Fighter 6, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Hogwart’s Legacy, the upcoming Borderlands 4, Civ 7, Elden Ring, Star Wars Outlaw. They even have upgraded versions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom if you want to venture back into those games! It’s sick that you can get these huge, graphics intensive games on the go with the Switch 2.
All that power does come at a cost though. Battery life seems to be worse than the OG Switch. Sacrifices must be made.
Opting not to go strictly digital with all those games, Nintendo still offers cartridges. But…some don’t actually have the game on it. Instead, the game just downloads when you put the cartridge into console. Why have a cartridge then? It does make it a bit easier to “share” your digital game. But if you gift someone a game, they still may have to download it before they can actually play it. This isn’t the end of the world for me, but just seems like a waste of plastic.
Between showing off a bunch of games, IO Interactive just drops a wild tease for a brand new 007 game. They even showed off some Silksong! I’ve had that game on my wishlist since December 31st, 2020!!! As big of a deal that is, that’s not what actually wowed me. Toward the end, they show off a brand new game by FromSoftware!
A Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive!!! WTF!?
But wait! There’s more!
What’s wild is they didn’t even end the show on that game. They decided to give my boy a spot back in the limelight by dropping this trailer:
YES!!! DONKEY KONG IS BACK!!! Like Mario Kart, hands on previews are saying it’s fun and feels right. But giving a Donkey Kong a fully 3D game as one of the leading games for a new console is huge! The character that usually stars in that is some guy name Mario. Game looks fun!
So, Nintendo is coming out soon. When? June 5th 2025. But the real question is: How much is this thing going to cost? $450 here in the United States. Yeah…fans weren’t happy. And you could preorder if you want, which is cool cause…oh…wait…umm…apparently you can’t preorder anymore. Huh? I wonder why? Oh yeah! Tariffs! So while we make America great again, hopefully Nintendo doesn’t decide they have to up the price even more!
If you’re in the market for a Switch 2, good luck and let me try it when you get it!
in more gaming news
The Triple I Initiative had their 2025 showcase. Where the big names usually make triple A games, these games tend to be from bigger indie studios. A lot of creative here. You can watch the whole showcase here. Here are three trailers that got me hot and bothered:
there’s more!?!?
Bungie, who made games you may have heard of like Halo and Destiny, showed off their new game. It’s called Marathon. You can watch the whole presentation here (as if I haven’t given you enough to watch).
It’s a PvP extraction shooter. To break this down quickly, 15 players broken up into teams of 3 drop into a map. When dropping into the map, you decide what gear to bring. Simple enough right? The extraction part is what makes this game unique. If you die, whether that be from the CPU enemies or other human players, you lose everything you came with. That sick shiny rare gun you had? Gone! If you want to keep your stuff, you need to actually exit with it. Here’s the quick gameplay trailer:
It’s a pretty niche category of game, one where there’s really only two games dominating (this one and this one). So it’s interesting to see such a big name enter this genre of shooter. Early hands on seem promising and I’m not going to lie reader, I’m excited to try it.
But really, I want you to watch this cinematic trailer. This thing is sick just from an art point of view:
RIGHT!? September 23rd for that one.
Lastly, If the sentence “XCOM style Star Wars Game” means anything to you, it got announced. Presentation is April 19th.
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