The PlayStation 5 Pro is expensive. Like, really bloody expensive. But, hot on the heels of Rockstar Games announcing Grand Theft Auto 6, I'm going to take the tumble and actually buy one. Gulp.

Sure, I don't need one, as I already own an original PS5 console. And, to be fair, I use that aplenty thanks to its disc drive – my 4K Blu-ray Club wouldn't have an output source otherwise. So I'll need to buy that pesky separate Sony disc drive, too. And probably a dedicated 4K Blu-ray player.

So, why now? The PS5 Pro launched back in November 2024, so it's kinda getting old already. But we've already seen a price increase since that date – and not a small one, either, as it was a £90 / $100 hike back in April. That's not down to inflation, it's down to market conditions.

When that happened I was further put off rather than thinking "I'd better get in line to buy one". But now, just two months on from that rise, I think yet more bad news could be imminent. Nothing's official yet, mind.

The Xbox impact

Take, as a key example, the recent Xbox boss's comments in revealing significant price rises for Microsoft's console across the board. That's not an isolated issue, it's down to significant memory price increases that affect the whole PC and games industries – and beyond, quite frankly.

So, in my mind, it's not a case of if Sony will be forced to follow suit, but rather when. Currently PS5 Pro sales have significantly dropped – but that's no surprise, as many rushed to buy in April, with a 50% sales drop thereafter being a direct consumer response to the price rise.

But here's what I believe will happen next. As someone who's just ordered GTA VI, which arrives this November, there's now a 'countdown clock' ticking away for the next five months. The game's release is undoubtedly going to be huge – and people are going to want to play it in the best way possible.

The GTA VI effect

Right now, even Sony is leveraging that GTA VI "plays best on PS5". In that official blog post, a number of reasons are given – but a key one, for me, is that the game "leverages the PS5’s ultra-high speed SSD, enabling you to experience ... near-instant load times."

The step up from PS5 to PS5 Pro is sizeable. Current rumours suggest that you'll get a locked frame rate on the Pro version. So it'll "play even better on PS5 Pro" (my words, not Sony's – yet, anyway). And people, myself included, are going to want a slice of that pie.

I think that's eventually going to cause a sudden rush of PS5 Pro purchases. Not right this second, granted, as people need to brush the April price rise off their shoulders and have ample time to forget it ever happened. But once they do and more Pro units continue to sell, the stock dwindles, the production line needs to source more components – and, you guessed it, those will cost more.

Result? The increased production is pushed onto you and I, the consumers. So I cannot see how the PS5 Pro won't be more expensive by the time GTA VI launches this November. I'm sure an official bundled box set will be arranged prior to the holiday period to really capitalise on the game's launch.

The offer of good credit

As it stands, however, promotional bundles are already available. Indeed, EE is currently selling one in the UK market for £808. I can't even find a Pro console on Amazon – which seems to me like a precursor to what's incoming.

Therefore EE's deal above is tempting. In particular as the offer of 9 months interest-free credit is an option, at £89.78 per month to cover the full purchase (longer payment plans are available – but the APR is high, so you'd pay over the odds).

I could hit the 'payday f-it button' right now, have a PS5 Pro in my lounge by next week, and have everything – GTA VI included – paid off and fully my own by next March. There's not going to be a PlayStation 6 to worry about in 2027, so assume an earliest 2028 launch for that – and I'm sure my Pro as a trade-in option will provide a decent discount as and when.

I know, it's bonkers to drop almost £800 / $900 on Sony's best current console. But with Valve's Steam Machine showing where prices are heading and, get this, the Xbox Series S (not X!) now set to cost more than a Switch 2, prices surely aren't going anywhere but up. And I want to be ahead of that curve – even if I'm a little late to the party already.

It's been a rough year for gaming hardware, with prices that just keep on rising, but Xbox's latest round of hikes is arguably the most shocking yet. That isn't because they're unexpected (they're very much not), but rather because they push pretty much all of Xbox's current-generation hardware into territory where you'd be hard-pressed to recommend that anyone at all should buy them.

The announcement was made in typically low-key fashion, in the form of a blog post on Xbox Wire, and there's no sugar-coating it. The post confirmed that on 1 August 2026, Xbox's 512GB consoles will get a $100 rise, while 1TB versions will go up by $150.

The damage that this set of price rises will do is perhaps underlined by the fact that Xbox didn't then do the math for its readers, but here's what the hikes actually look like in practice:

• Xbox Series S (512GB): Up from $399.99 to $499.99
• Xbox Series S (1TB): Up from $449.99 to $599.99
• Xbox Series X Digital (1TB): Up from $599.99 to $749.99
• Xbox Series X (1TB): Up from $649.99 to $799.99y

Those are prices that are almost impossible to swallow, in all honesty, and they're particularly terrible where the Xbox Series S is concerned. Once Nintendo's price rises come into force in September, the Series S will be the same price as the Switch 2, and there's no planet where I'd recommend the former over the latter.

Meanwhile, $750 for an Xbox Series X also looks fairly laughable when compared to the PS5 Pro for $100 more, and again, there's no way I'd point anyone towards Xbox's console when the comparison is made. If you bring the standard PS5 into play at $599 (for now), there's just no competition whatsoever.

Xbox's blog post is full of explanations for the hikes, with the biggest being the rise in memory component costs, as we all know by now – although in this case, Microsoft itself is obviously a big driver of the AI boom that's fuelling the crisis, something that isn't acknowledged.

Perhaps the most important part of the post, though, is the second half of this line: "Unfortunately, console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x, and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027."

That's right, folks – this is far from the end of things, and if that doubling comes to pass in the next 12 months, we might get to the point where once mainstream consoles are priced at genuinely luxury levels. People have been speculating about $1,000 PS6s, but at this rate, the Xbox Series X might get to that point well before a new generation of consoles is ready.

That should worry basically anyone interested in console gaming – the market wasn't built up around consoles priced this prohibitively, and there's no way the impacts of unaffordable hardware don't ripple out over time. Xbox is already bleeding badly from a console war that was honestly already lost midway through the Xbox One era, but this could be another dismal turn.

With a scattergun approach to exclusive titles now leading to unpredictability about its biggest franchises, and layoffs happening left, right and centre in studios that it owns, Xbox is in full-blown crisis, whatever it's projecting in press releases.

It probably does need the reset that it claims to be going through, but it's hard to know what'll come out of that process. The Xbox Series S was intended to be a cheap entry point to get people hooked on Game Pass, but when it's $500, and Game Pass is no longer the top priority, where does that leave things?

We might know more in a year or so, as its plans for the next generation continue to leak and be reported on, but right now, there's only really one thing I can say – buying an Xbox just went from an interesting choice to a downright bad idea.

Ever since I bought my Lenovo Legion Go S (SteamOS) during the Black Friday sales last year, I've used it on a daily basis. More powerful that the Steam Deck and with a larger, 8-inch display, it is a superb PC gaming handheld that can play just about everything I chuck at it.

And, with the Steam Summer Sale underway, even the games are very affordable.

Now you get another change to experience it for yourself, as the 1TB Z2 Go version is available at a rock-bottom price. John Lewis is selling the Lenovo Legion Go S (SteamOS) for just £449.99 – almost £50 off.

If you consider that the Steam Deck starts at £649 for half the storage and a lower-spec'ed processor, it's a no-brainer really.

The 8-inch touchscreen display on the Lenovo Legion Go S also features a 120Hz refresh rate and supports variable refresh rate (VRR) technology. That means it games will run smoothly even if the frame rate jumps around a bit.

And, just like the Steam Deck, the Legion Go S runs on SteamOS, so it works exactly the same way as Valve's own handheld. You get the same experience and can buy games from the Steam Store in the same way.

I bought the step-up model running on the Z1 Extreme CPU myself, which also comes with increased RAM. And while that Black Friday price is not available this time around, Very.co.uk is offering the variant with a very decent £100 off.

That puts it in the same ballpark as the 1TB OLED Steam Deck, but with a vastly superior processor, screen resolution, refresh rate and RAM. Also, that version of the Steam Deck is hard to find in stock.

Whichever model piques your interest, you can be assured you're in for a whole lot of mobile PC gaming fun. I've certainly not looked back since.

It's been a busy week in the world of PC gaming, which is always going to be the case when Valve has a big announcement to make. It chose this week to finally confirm the pricing for its long-awaited Steam Machine, and to start collecting registrations for its randomised pre-order system.

With the most affordable version (sans Steam Controller) coming in at £879 / $1,049, there's no way to sugarcoat it – the Machine looks pretty overpriced relative to the raw performance on offer. In fact, I'm not the only person questioning it – our news editor Rik is wondering whether he needs to cancel his pre-order registration already.

If you want a flexible PC gaming machine right now, though, there's actually good news. Thanks to Prime Day, there's a really nice saving on the excellent Asus ROG Xbox Ally, which is relatively recently-launched and offers far more bang for your buck if you're happy playing on the go.

The state of the gaming market means that deals like this are likely to be looked back on in 12 months with pure nostalgia – the price rises we've all been seeing seem to be inevitable and have no real counter, so brace yourself for far crazier prices in a few months' time.

For now, though, this deal will get you a really handy gaming machine for portable use. It can also be docked to connect to an external display, although you probably shouldn't expect the world from it in performance terms. On its own two feet, though, it's a great bit of kit, and with support from Xbox it's actually more user-friendly than many pure Windows alternatives.

If you're looking for something a bit more old-school, though, we've also rounded up the best retro gaming deals this Prime Day – check them out here.

As I predicted at the end of last week (and reiterated yesterday) Valve finally launched its Steam Machine yesterday, announcing pricing, full specifications, and the pre-order process.

And as with many others, I expect, the moment the page went live I jumped at the chance to register my interest in purchasing one. Now though, I'm not so sure.

The price is obviously a barrier. Starting at £879 / $1,049 for the 512GB model without a Steam Controller makes it considerably more expensive than the more powerful PS5 Pro. And if I needed a Steam Controller too (I already have one), that'd be £938 / $1,128.

Then there's the 2TB version at a whopping £1,149 / $1,349 or £1,208 / $1,428 with the controller, putting it in the desktop gaming PC category.

However, I was still willing to take a punt on the 512GB version. I have a spare 1TB SSD card lying around that I could upgrade it with, so storage wasn't my concern. And while still expensive, I appreciate the market conditions and challenges presented by the ongoing components crisis.

But then I discovered something else – a decision Valve has made that affects performance and one I'm not sure I'll be able to live with.

Steam Machine specs issue

There are some red flags when it comes to the Steam Machine's specifications, which don't really match the original promise of 4K 60fps gaming. But according to several online reviews that have appeared already (such as from Digital Foundry) it's still possible to eke decent 1440p performance out of the PC console in AAA games.

The "semi-custom" AMD Zen 4 6-core / 12-teraflop CPU and AMD RDNA 3 GPU with 28 compute units seem decent enough, even though the latter is effectively a cut back version of the three year-old Radeon 7600 graphics card with 8GB of VRAM.

Where it gets more concerning is when you consider the on-board RAM. While it sports 16GB of DDR5 RAM, Valve has opted for a single stick solution, rather than dual. This is something I've seen a lot during RAMageddon, especially from mini PC manufacturers and it truly throttles performance.

For example, I built my own Steam Machine alternative months ago, from a Geekom A7 Max mini PC with 16GB of internal RAM. That too shipped with a single stick of DDR5 (5600MHz) and it struggled. I ended up adding an extra stick, increasing the graphics rendering performance by up to 80%.

But even when I tested it with two 8GB sticks instead, I was getting anywhere up to 20% more performance from the same amount and type of RAM.

It seems Steam Machine reviewers are seeing this in tests. It is underperforming in comparison with equivalent machines running the Radeon 7600 GPU.

One solution is to split or add to the RAM, which is something I might end up doing as I do have spares, but it's hardly the plug and play experience a console is designed for. And if I'm tearing it apart to add my own SSD and RAM, why not build my own Steam Machine (again).

After all, while I've been using the third-party Linux alternative Bazzite on my Geekom and AceMagic mini PC builds, Valve will soon launch Steam OS for all PC types so you can do it on your own.

It's certainly food for thought.

Steam Machine alternatives

That being said, I do love the design of the Steam Machine, and once FSR 4 arrives on it, higher performance will be possible.

I've also recently converted a Geekom A9 Max to a Steam Machine-alike, with its more powerful, AI-supported internal processing and GPU and am getting 1440p gaming out of it, but it isn't quite the same. Oh, and it's also well over £1K.

You could build a small form factor PC from scratch, of course, and even with component shortages, you might manage it for less than the 2TB Steam Machine, but that's hardly the point. In that respect, the Steam Machine isn't for you.

It's a games console, not a gaming PC replacement. It's designed to sit under a TV, not a monitor. It's really a PC for those who don't like PCs. And that's why I might hold onto my slot in Valve's lottery, after all.

Either that or just switch on my PS5 Pro and enjoy that instead.

This year is proving to be challenging when it comes to retro gaming and, in particular, new handhelds. The ongoing RAM crisis has hit the industry hard, leading to fewer new devices, stock shortages, and higher prices.

However, Amazon Prime Day has always been good for snagging retro gaming deals and I fully expect this week's event to carry on that trend. In fact, Take this unbelievable UK deal, for example.

Regular T3 readers might know that I'm somewhat a collector of retro games handhelds, with around 20-30 of them and ever growing. And so I'm always on the hunt for a good deal.

And the R36S for less than £30 is particularly good, especially with many thousands of games included. Indeed, if you tot it up and exclude the console itself, you're getting each game for around 0.0013 pence.

I own two of them already (in different colours) and the Rockchip RK3326 processor the R36S runs on is capable of emulation up to original PlayStation. That means you'll be absolutely fine playing the 8-bit and 16-bit games of yesteryear (NES, SNES, Master System and Mega Drive/Genesis). You'll also be able to play a fair few later 3D games.

And unlike many other handhelds in its category, the R36S comes with two thumbsticks, so you have bit more of an option on how you play.

Its 3.5-inch IPS screen is decent too – especially for the price – with a 640 x 480 pixel resolution and 4:3 aspect ratio. That's great for most of the older systems, while the likes of Game Boy and Game Boy Color look decent on it, too.

I'll also be looking for more retro gaming deals across this Prime Day week, and will continue to share what I find. So come back to T3 often.

But if you are looking for a cheap as chips retro gaming handheld you can just pick up and play, this deal is a no-brainer.

The Steam Machine hoves into view – we've been waiting months now for Valve to get into gear and announce both the release date and pricing for its highly-anticipated Steam mini-machine, and rumours are now swirling that everything will become clearer next week.

Depending on which leaker or report you pick, you might end up being told confidently that pre-orders will open on 22 June, next Monday, or that they might go live any time that week, but everyone seems to agree that we'll get some proper news in that window.

That's got us thinking once again about what we want from the Steam Machine, and what it has to do to really make a proper impact on the market – so here are three things we want to see from it.

1. Decent value, if not the steal of the century

If Valve had managed to get the Steam Machine ready a few years ago, it might have been too early to the market for the demand to have built up, but it probably would also have been able to build a proper little bargain of a machine for people. It's fairly clear at this stage that such a thing might be too difficult a demand in the year 2026, with the memory crisis continuing to wreak havoc.

Pricing is a huge variable for the Steam Machine, in case that wasn't obvious, and rumours about what it'll cost go from £999 here in the UK (which would be no disaster) to options closer to £1500 (which would indeed be fairly dire).

Where the machine lands is going to be massive for its long-term fortunes, and we can only hope that it ends up being around that £999 mark to give it a chance of looking like fair value. At this point we're no longer expecting a stunning deal, but something that looks solid enough might just be doable.

A decent amount of stock

Valve has been making popular hardware for a good few years now, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't had plenty of brushes with stock shortages. Even the new Steam Controller's launch has been noteworthy for how scarce it's been, albeit not to the levels of a launch PS5 back in the back old days.

So we're very much hoping that Valve has calculated the interest levels properly for the Steam Machine – it would be a real shame if it sold out instantly upong becoming available. Of course, it almost certainly will, but we're moreso hoping that Valve has plans in place for further waves of stock.

It should probably launch with an immediate reservation system much like the one now in place for the Steam Controller, but it's fairly hard to know whether that'll happen straight away. We hope it does, to cut down on pre-order chaos when things go live.

Some proper power

The last big question for the Steam Machine is how it'll run the latest games – meaning how much power it'll have at its disposal. Valve has already said that its machine should be able to run many modern releases at 4K resolution at 60fps, but there's still a lot of grey area there.

With FSR upscaling at play to sharpen things up, that means it sounds like there's quite good headroom in the Machine's capabilities, but it's still hard to know what that looks like until we get actual benchmarks out.

If we crank Cyberpunk 2077 up to its maximum settings, how will things fare? How will the Machine's ray-tracing capabilities stack up? And how will it do with even more recent releases like 007 First Light and Forza Horizon 6, both of which tie in really well with Nvidia GPUs, with less active partnership on the AMD side?

These are all unknowns until Valve goes deeper into the technical side of what it's offering, so all we can do right now is hope that the power on offer is enough to make this a proper living room option, something that can compete with the PS5 Pro but with more versatility and compatibility.

There's been a lot of talk about the Steam Machine this year – mainly in a "Will it? Won't it?" kind of way. The ongoing RAM crisis (lovingly called "RAMageddon") has had an impact right across consumer technology, and Valve is far from immune.

However, after confirming that it was still on course for a summer release, it looks like the console might only be days from launching – from preorders being accepted, anyway. Two clues have dropped into our laps that give us hope that we'll hear more very soon.

For starters, import listings have been found that suggest Valve has received tons of new product units in the last week. Posted on X by EOZ VR's Brad Lynch it claims that the company has taken in tonnes of "Game Consoles".

It has also received a huge selection of "Virtual Reality Devices", thought to be the Steam Frame.

On top of this, T3 has heard through the grapevine – not from Valve directly, though – that we could get an announcement early next week.

It might even be that we hear more this week about an imminent registration phase, in preparation.

It is already assumed Valve will adopt a similar preorder format to the recent Steam Controller sale period. Only existing Steam account holders who have bought items over the years will be allowed to order one, and even then it's like a ticketing system where you register your interest and will be invited to purchase later.

This was introduced to reduce the likelihood that they'd all end up in the hands of scalpers. It worked for me, as I got my Steam Controller about a week or so after I successfully registered my interest.

The big difference will be price, of course. While we still have no official confirmation, the current speculation is that the Steam Machine could be around $950 (around £707 at today's exchange rate). And while that might seem steep, it's around the same as a PS5 Pro, so it's all relative.

If Valve has managed to keep component costs down enough to hit $950, while RAM and storage is two to three times more expensive today, I'll be pleasantly surprised, in fact.

After all, the Steam Machine is targeting AAA PC gaming at 4K 60fps, while my current Steam Machine-like build using a Geekom A7 Max can only safely handle 1080p 60fps – although that has recently been slashed in price.

Thankfully, it doesn't look like we'll have too much longer to find out either way.

When the Switch 2 was first unveiled, I didn't realise that one of its biggest upgrades over the previous generation would involve older games. It was easy to be caught up in the hype around Mario Kart World and later exclusives like Donkey Kong Bananza without thinking about one of the biggest time-sinks on my old Switch 1, but now that I've had the console for a year, I've been unable to avoid it.

I used my Switch 1 to play a bunch of games I missed from previous generations, since it became a home to thousands of ports and remasters. While plenty of these were from eras long enough ago that they ran like butter, many others were limited to 30fps modes that didn't feel amazing to play.

Now, I'm playing a newly-released Switch 2 Edition that underlines just how much better the Switch 2 is for this sort of long-delayed play-through of a big game. Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition is a beast of an RPG that I've wanted to check out for ages, and its newly upgraded version makes it totally different to play on Switch 2.

The biggest change is an obvious one – the game's previous 30fps limit is now raised to 60fps, and that makes it wildly smoother to play. Frankly, the 60fps performance isn't even the most stable in the world, with some relatively obvious drops in places, but it's still way nicer than 30fps in my book.

The game's also miles sharper, with 4K resolution in docked mode (which is how I've been playing it over the weekend), and while you can still tell that it's an upgraded older game, it's still remarkable to compare it to something like Pokémon Violet and Scarlet, even with those games' Switch 2 patches.

In short, it's a really good-looking game, and so far I'm really enjoying its storytelling and battle system, having previously only played Xenoblade Chronicles 3, a later title that has a bit more involved of a combat setup. This one's more stripped-back since it kicked the series off, and I'm enjoying it a lot.

With a game of this size, the question is always whether I'll actually make it through the whole thing, and while I can't be sure on that front, it's still great to have the best possible version of it available on Switch 2 now. With the series' next game (Xenoblade Genesis) now unveiled and coming out in 2027, it's a fun time for the franchise.

The fact that there are two more Switch 2 upgrades coming later this year, too, for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and 3, means that those who like a good JRPG but haven't yet dipped their toe in this series could queue up an absolute mountain of content for themselves if they're so inclined. That might be too much of one series even for me, but I'm having a great time for now.

It again raises the question of what I'll end up using my Switch 2 for the most over the next half-decade or more, and I think there's a really good chance that ports make up a huge part of that playtime. After all, being able to play things on the go and while travelling frees up loads of time for extra gaming, and that gives it a sustained advantage over my PS5 Pro and PC.

When the Nintendo Switch 2 was first unveiled, there were plenty of parts of its specs sheet that drew attention, but the inclusion of a 120Hz display was surely one of the most eye-catching inclusions. This means that games on the Switch 2 with some headroom in terms of performance can enjoy ultra-smooth performance, whether in handheld mode or when connected to a compatible display.

The reality, though, is that the there haven't been all that many games in the year since the Switch 2 arrived that have taken advantage of the feature. While the Switch 2 is drastically more powerful than its predecessor, it's also far from the power of a PS5 Pro, for instance, so only less graphically demanding games have a shot at utilising 120Hz mode properly.

It's been a little while since I've played a game that offers it, frankly, so I was really pleasantly surprised by its inclusion in Mina the Hollower, an indie game released last week that deserves the praise it's been getting (and some more sales, too). The game was actually announced with its 120fps mode as a flagship offering, so it's great to now get my hands on it to see how it fares.

The short answer is, "smoothly". The difference between 120fps and 60fps isn't always that obvious, but when you play both extensively you'll start to feel the extra smoothness offered by the higher refresh rate option, and it really does help with a game that's as fluid and responsive as Mina.

The whole game's built from the ground up to mimic the best titles from the Game Boy era, as a love letter to that time. That said, it expands on the sort of experience you could get on that old handheld, not least with a widescreen presentation and freer movement thanks to analogue sticks replacing D-pads.

The game sees you take on the role of Mina herself, a small mouse whose big plans have gone awry when a series of generators she designed malfunction due to evil influences. You then have to journey around an island fixing them, with a structure that's very Zelda-like, including some freedom to tackle things outside of the suggested order.

While doing so you'll juggle weapons and sidearms in a way that recalls the Castlevania series to mind, while a mechanic that sees your XP put at risk when you die is also quite Dark Souls. That's a heady blend of influential titles, but from the same developers that made the excellent Shovel Knight, it all knits together really nicely.

Tying things together is the extremely fluid action that makes it really fun to take on new areas and platforming challenges, as well as surprisingly crunchy and difficult combat. Impressively, the game's pause menu hides a wide array of modifiers and difficulty settings that you can tweak if you're finding it too frustrating, an approach which really should be copied by more game developers.

A couple of hours in, I'm still grinding away without activating any of them, but I make no promises about sticking to that, given that having fun is the whole point of gaming. Still, it's that 120fps smoothness that I've been enjoying most of all. If you pick up the game, be sure to head to the settings menu to turn it on, as it'll default to 60fps at first.

It was only recently that Valve confirmed its Steam Machine console is still on track for a summer launch. But it now seems that it could be even closer than many thought.

Public regulatory documents have been found that suggest it could, in fact, be released in the next few weeks – even before June is out.

Redditor wayTooManyBugs claims to have found some interesting dates contained within files associated with the Steam Machine.

All products that utilise wireless communications technology must be approved by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) before being allowed on sale in the States. It posts the filings on its website, but often with some documents redacted or embargoed.

That's the case with FCC ID 2AES4-1016 – Valve's "Video Game Machine". While some of the reports and technical documents are viewable (and have been since the end of 2025) a selection are still locked.

These include the user manual and internal photos of the test unit, which are not yet available to click on – presumably because they reveal information that Valve doesn't want to reveal to the public yet.

However, as found by the Redditor, they will become available on 29 June 2029 – less than three weeks from the time of writing. And that has sparked speculation on a potential release date for the console.

WayTooManyBugs suggests that the filing for the Steam Controller – which is now available – successfully hinted at its release. The manual and photos were made public on 20 May 2026 – a few weeks after initial orders of the controller started to ship.

If the same pattern is followed with the Steam Machine, it could actually be formally launched any day now.

There is a mighty caveat to all of this. Valve didn't exactly expect to release its Steam Controller ahead of the Steam Machine, but market conditions and the ongoing RAM crisis forced its hand.

In addition, the FCC filing was submitted at the tail end of last year, which is when the 29 June embargo may have been set. It might be that the Steam Machine was planned for release by the end of June, but the components issues in the interim have caused delays.

Still, looking on the positive side, we shouldn't have too long to wait until we find out more, either way. And, at the very least, we'll be able to get a look at the user manual and internal photos.

While we haven't had any news about Project Helix during Sunday's Xbox Games Showcase, there was one new console announcement.

Created to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the original Xbox, it pays homage to the coolest colourway of Microsoft's first console. And having owned a transparent green edition myself at the time, I think the new model us one of the best I've seen from the brand.

The new hardware is an Xbox Series X, but with the same see-through green built as that original machine.

Called the Xbox Series X25 Limited Edition, it comes with 1TB of storage and, unlike the existing Series X models, has an Xbox logo power button that lights up in green. This matches the new logo that was revealed recently and is taking the company into the next-generation.

Accompanying the new version will be an Xbox Wireless Controller X25 Special Edition, which also comes in the translucent OG green. It too has a green glowing logo button, plus the ABXY buttons in their original colours.

The new console variant will be available in November. Pricing and preorder dates are yet to be announced.

What else was announced during the Xbox Games Showcase 2026?

We'll be writing about some of the other announcements made during the Summer Game Fest presentation elsewhere, but perhaps the other big reveal is that Gears of War: E-Day will see Xbox return to the era of console exclusives.

While many games have been announced as coming to PS5 too, CEO Asha Sharma appeared in the showcase herself to make it clear that the new Gears will be Xbox only. It will also be a day one release on Xbox Game Pass.

It will be released on 6 October 2026.

The Lenovo G02 caused an all-mighty storm after it was spotted for sale on AliExpress a few weeks ago. Some thought it must be a rip-off or scam, using the Lenovo name illegally. Others expected it to be a rehash of a cheap Chinese device, such as the R36S.

As it happens, it turned out to be genuine. It's not made by Lenovo itself, but a third-party manufacturer officially licensed the brand for the device.

The tricky bit is that it was never meant to be sold on AliExpress or shipped abroad – it was licensed for sale in China only. But resellers got hold of it and offered it across the retail site for global purchases.

That wouldn't have normally been an issue, it happens all the time, but as with many retro gaming handhelds from multiple brands, the resellers also added their own microSD cards containing thousands of illegally sourced roms (games). And therein lied a major problem for Lenovo.

It was happy to lend its name to the affordable handheld, but didn't want to be associated with piracy – especially when it comes to Nintendo games (of which there were many included). Nintendo is rightly sensitive about its IP and titles, even its oldest releases.

And so the Lenovo G02 was withdrawn from sale on AliExpress or any other global online retail site. You can't even buy it without the "free" roms.

As it happens though, I managed to snag mine before the chaos ensued and it arrived about a week or so later. So, what are you missing out on, and is the Lenovo G02 worthy of all the fuss? Or can you buy something similar for around same price or even lower? Here are my 10 pennies worth (well, around 60 quid's worth).

Lenovo G02: cheap as chips

My first impressions of the Lenovo G02 is that you get what you pay for. Over the last couple of years I've amassed quite a collection of retro gaming handhelds in different shapes and sizes – and at different price points.

My current collection comprises devices that cost less than £50 all the way up to the Odin 2 Portal which set me back £100s. The Lenovo G02 was definitely at the lower end of the scale, around £60 with no games included.

As it happens, I had no interest in any of the controversial microSD cards containing roms as I have a curated library of my own. That kept the price down and also stayed clear of the choppier waters.

As soon as I got it out of the official Lenovo box and packaging, it was clear that this was far from premium and not normally what you'd expect from the brand. I own a Lenovo Legion Go S (SteamOS edition), and this is a far cry from that in build quality.

The body isn't bad – it's a cheap plastic but has a matte, textured grip to it that feels comfortable and sturdy in the hand. I also like the gradated red-black colourway I chose (additional black and white models were also available).

However, the buttons feel like they are made from cheap plastic, especially the triggers on the rear. Then again, what should we expect for the price point?

Funny enough though, the solitary thumbstick feels more expensive than on many equivalent devices – with a great range of movement and a comfortable rubber cap. There's also a nice click to all of the buttons, without being too noisy, so that's a bonus.

Strangely the biggest button on the face has just one function – to change the RGB lighting around the stick (or turn it off). It's a shame it couldn't do other things, but Chinese handhelds often come with their odd peccadillos.

Lenovo G02: the display

But what really stands out on the G02 is its IPS display.

At 4.5-inches it is much larger than most with similar pricing. It is also has a 1024 x 768 pixel resolution and 4:3 aspect ration, which is very decent for pretty much every retro system you can comfortably play on it.

Playing any 4:3 system (or close), such as Sega Mega Drive / Genesis, SNES, and original PlayStation looks great on this screen. It's big, bold and a darn sight better than most of the rivals I've used in the last few years.

It can run fairly bright too, while colour representation is decent. Even 16:9 games are playable on the display without the black bars being too obstructive – thanks to the sheer size. That being said, you're not really likely to as the the hardware inside will limit the systems you can safely enjoy.

Lenovo G02: the chipset and compatibility

The Lenovo G02 runs on the same Rockchip RK3326 CPU that has powered budget handhelds for half a decade. It's capable but maxes out around the original PlayStation. You can play some Dreamcast and N64 games, but don't expect miracles (or super smooth frame rates).

There's just the 1GB of RAM inside too, so that will also play its part. And, as this is a fairly unknown device running on Linux, you are unlikely to ever get a decent third-party front-end released for it.

That means you're restricted to using the stock EmuELEC system that comes preinstalled, and Retroarch for all the emulation support. That's decent enough and adjustable for the games that'll work best on the G02, but don't expect much more.

You can add your own roms, of course, via the microSD card slot on the side. It'll allow up to 1TB of external storage, although you'll never really need that much if you stick to the files that are most compatible.

I also had to tweak the Retroarch settings a fair bit after finding out that all systems were output at 4:3 by default, so stretched to fill the screen. I just went with core-specific aspect ratios and that did the job. You can also add scalers and effects if you want.

It's also worth mentioning the battery. There's a 4,000mAh cell inside that can last up to six hours on less intensive games – such as NES or Game Boy. And the solitary mono speaker is housed on the front (bottom-right) – it's a bit weak but does the job.

Lenovo G02: is it worth buying?

All things said, the Lenovo G02 isn't that bad. In some areas, it's actually very decent – especially that 1024 x 768 4.5-inch screen.

However, whether it's worth waiting for, to see if Lenovo allows it to go back on sale sans SD card, is another matter.

Even at £60 (around $80 for those in the States) it's a bit on the pricey side for the chipset and capabilities. You can get cheaper devices using the same internal hardware.

Admittedly, they tend to be 3.5-inch handhelds, so not quite as impressive in that sense. But they can play the exact same games (often with included rom sets).

Take the R36 Max 2, for example. It has a similar 4.5-inch IPS display with the same resolution. I'd put money on it being the exact same display, in fact.

And it looks similar too, but with an additional right thumbstick (and a really odd, football-themed customisable button). I'd even wager that it is made by the same manufacturer, based on the common denominators.

Where it gets interesting is that the R36 Max 2 is currently available on AliExpress for around £40 with free shipping – £20 cheaper than the Lenovo G02 – and in multiple colours. What's more, that price includes the (albeit dodgy) games.

If you're willing to pay a little bit more, but want faster, reliable delivery and a decent returns policy, it's even available on Amazon for just over £50.

So, with all that considered, it's hard to say you're missing out on much with the Lenovo G02 being withdrawn. Still, it was quite the talking point at the time.

After reports of delays amid the ongoing RAM crisis, Valve has confirmed that the Steam Machine – and its forthcoming Steam Frame XR headset – will be released in the next couple of months.

On a post about the Steam Verified program – which guarantees games will run on the Steam Deck and the new hardware – Valve stated that both new devices "are shipping this summer".

Valve recently released its second-generation Steam Controller, which was manufactured and shipped ahead of the Steam Machine. And while the initial batch sold out almost instantly, a second round of sales started with a new registrations system. It is likely this will be used for the Steam Machine and Steam Frame, too.

As an attempt to beat the scalpers, Steam users with existing purchase history were invited to register for the second batch of Steam Controller stock (one per person) early in May. The time of each registration was logged in a kind-of ticketing process and orders were sent out about a week or two later.

I received my Steam Controller in the last few days, in fact.

How much with Valve's Steam Machine cost?

Of course, the Steam Machine will be considerably more expensive than the Steam Controller – although we don't have a price as yet – so the clamour for ownership might not be as frenzied. But anything that keeps them out of the hands of scalpers is good in my book.

If I was to guess, initial pricing plans for the new PC-based console have had to be ripped up, thanks to elevated component costs. You only need to look at the recent Steam Deck OLED price hike to see the impact of RAMageddon. Launched at £479 in the UK, the 512GB model is now £649.

So with that taken into account, plus the fact that Valve wants to ensure the Steam Machine is capable of 4K 60fps gaming, I'd be surprised if it releases at anything under £999 (around $1,300).

It wouldn't be that shocking to learn it's around the £1,200 mark, in fact.

Indeed, I'm currently testing the Geekom A9 Max mini PC (the 2026 model) and while that's not designed as a games machine per se, it is really only capable of up to 1440p gaming – 1080p for most AAA titles. And that's priced at £1,500 with discounts.

Still, we shouldn't have too long to wait until we find out for sure. And then we can all decide whether we'll need to sell a kidney or not.

I'll likely see you in the queue at Doctor Dave's Organ Emporium come July.

Nintendo is set to replace the Switch 2 with an upgraded model, but only in certain regions.

It has confirmed that an updated Nintendo Switch 2 model will be released in EU member countries, to comply with new European Commission regulations.

The EU will enforce new rules from 18 February 2027 designed to reduce e-waste across Europe. They demand that all new portable electronics that rely on internal batteries must make those batteries easily replaceable by users.

As iFixit found after the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, its battery is far from easy to repair. It's possible, but there are 63 steps on the iFixit guide, is described as "moderate" in difficulty, and requires dedicated tools and thermal putty.

However, Nintendo has stated that it will "comply with these requirements" by "preparing versions of products to meet the regulation" (via The Verge). This could include the Joy-Cons too.

There are no specific details on the renewed hardware as yet, nor whether the upgraded Switch 2 will be available outside of the EU as well. It's doubtful that the performance or design of the console will be any different.

Indeed, the only way you might be able to tell whether you buy a new, battery-replaceable Switch 2 or an older model is via the model number. Nintendo has revealed that the new variants will have "unique model numbers" and an additional "OSM" code visible on the packaging.

This won't just affect Nintendo, of course. Many phone and other portable device manufacturers are already adjusting their product designs to incorporate removable batteries. Some have already ensured compliance, within new electronics rolling out globally, not just in the EU.

When you attend a huge show like Computex, there's a background challenge facing most tech journalists in my bracket – can you figure out the biggest industry trend affecting your readers? While this year's conference might have been chock full of the expected AI chatter (okay, more like AI cacophony), that's not really something that'll impact most regular people.

If you're any sort of gamer, though, then the wave of gaming handhelds on display at the show is much more likely to cut through. I knew we'd see at least some, based on Intel's teasing about its handheld chip, but I saw no less than four stunning bits of hardware in a couple of days.

Of course, there were plenty of others that aren't worth your time, so I've filtered things down to just the four highlights that you should know about, in no particular order. Check them out below.

MSI Claw 8 EX AI+

The MSI Claw 8 was a superpowered bit of hardware, but as one of three handhelds I tested with Intel's new Arc G3 Extreme chip in it the Claw 8 EX is going to outstrip it in most meaningful ways.

It has a new design with more of a chin and far more comfortable grips than before, replacing an old look that I really didn't care for. It's probably not for nothing that it was Intel's reference machine when it ran me through the G3 Extreme's performance, and after a good 20 minutes playing with it I came away deeply impressed.

The huge downside? It looks like MSI's targeting a price of around $1,500 for the machine, which basically confirms in one fell swoop that PC gaming handhelds might be in for an even rougher ride over the next year or so.

• Read more about the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ here

Acer Predator Atlas 8

If the Claw suffers from a heavily rumoured price that damages its affordability massively, then Acer has probably been smart to keep very quiet about what the Predator Atlas 8 might end up costing.

This is Acer returning to handheld PC gaming with a bit more commitment – it's previously announced devices that never quite made it to a wide market, but the Atlas 8 looks like a safe bet to do just that. Playing with it for a good little while on two occasions made me think it's a really strong new contender.

Again, it has the Intel G3 Extreme, and again that means superb performance and the capacity to run at much lower power wattage than some existing competitors. Acer has also played it safe on the design side, which means it's really comfortable and ticks all the expected boxes.

• Read more about the Acer Predator Atlas 8 here

Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20

Asus came to Computex with what's (on a literal level) the most unsurprising handheld of the lot, but that doesn't mean it isn't impressive. I was one of many reviewers to point out that the high-end Xbox Ally X should have had an OLED panel for the price at launch, and now it has a follow-up version that includes just that.

The screen is also a little bigger, the analogue sticks are upgraded to TMR tech, the D-pad is adjustable and – get this – the Xbox logo now glows. Those are all nice little touches, but the display upgrade is the key here. That OLED panel looks phenomenal, and will mark this handheld out as having one of the best displays in any handheld.

That said, it is running on a chip that's now no longer the newest, and there's no Intel Arc G3 Extreme here, sticking with AMD instead. That doesn't make it a poor performer (far from it), but it does mean that this doesn't have quite as much of the "new car smell" about it.

• Read more about the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 here

OneXPlayer 3

I'm ending this round-up with the handheld that most caught me off-guard. When Intel announced its new chip, it confirmed a few "hero devices" that would immediately feature the silicon, and OneXPlayer was the smallest name on that list.

It's actually got multiple types of handheld coming with the chip, and I tried a few of them, but the standard OneXPlayer 3 was the one that stood out. It has a gorgeous 8.8-inch AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate, which boasts both VRR and HDR, which basically knocks every other handheld here out of the battle.

That makes the handheld a bit of a beast in size terms, but I found it worth the tradeoff in an admittedly brief demo session. Since OneXPlayer also plans to offer a keyboard attachment, this thing is almost a little 2-in-1 with grips on it, from a certain point of view, making it potentially quite adaptable.

It might end up being the most expensive of all these handhelds (in fact, that's the most likely outcome), but for a niche audience that wants the best of the best, OneXPlayer grabbed my attention at Computex in an impressive manner.

• Read more about the OneXPlayer 3 here

Despite some pretty big traditional computing launches from Qualcomm (with the affordable Snapdragon C) and Nvidia (with the very much unaffordable RTX Spark chipset), it's actually been gaming handhelds that have stolen the show at Computex in Taipei this year.

I've been roaming the halls in snatched bursts between wall-to-wall hands-on sessions, and everywhere you look, there are PC gaming handhelds that go at least slightly and sometimes far beyond what their predecessors managed. Asus has perhaps gone for the most incremental approach out of those I've tested, but that doesn't really undermine the quality of the ROG Xbox Ally X20.

With its name nodding to the 20th anniversary of the ROG brand this year, this refreshed and upgraded version of the ROG Xbox Ally X brings one big change to the table – an OLED display. I wasn't the only reviewer to point out that this felt like an omission at the older device's lofty price point, after all.

The real impact of that anniversary is on the handheld's design, which has a smoky, transparent black look that is really quite lovely in person. I found the first Xbox Ally X a little underwhelming in design terms, between its solid black colour and those unavoidable protruding grips. I'm almost a little confused by how just changing the finish results in such a surge in my appreciation, but the new version really is a success.

It also incorporates some other nice tweaks, including an Xbox logo that now glows green (a certified Nice Touch™), face buttons that are a little easier to activate and slide between, and slightly (subtly) better joysticks. Those are now TMR for even more precision and impressive drift resistance. Finally, the D-pad is changeable – you lift it and twist to change it between four and eight-direction modes, a slick system that works nicely.

Let's be real, though – this machine is all about that new screen, and the good news is that it's a great success. It's not just that it's an OLED – it's also a bit bigger, at 7.4 inches instead of simply seven on the dot. That might not sound like much, but one of the other small flaws with the last handheld was that its screen looked a little small for the device's size, so every little helps.

The change to OLED, meanwhile, is a clear and obvious improvement. The last display was great for an IPS panel, but missed out on HDR and didn't have the inkiness that you get with OLED. Now both of those benefits are present, and the showreel that ASUS was running at its booth underlined the difference they make..

Colours are super punchy, contrast is excellent, with motion clarity to match. 1,400 nits of peak brightness also means that it's great in bright situations – like a crowded showfloor.

It's a huge improvement, all in all, although the constantly shifting sands of the PC handheld market mean that it's a little scary to estimate what sort of price bump it'll carry with it. Given the Xbox Ally X launched last year at £799 / €899 / $999, I'd say there's no way this version comes in at less than £1,000.

That, in turn, comes with another caveat – there's no processor upgrade here, so you're still getting an AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme. Don't get me wrong: that chip is a banger, and until this week, it looked like the most powerful portable gaming experience you could realistically hope for.

Now, though, the Intel Arc G3 series is here, and it looks like it'll power some jaw-dropping machines coming to the market imminently. With power consumption stats in particular that really seem to hit AMD where it hurts, the future-proofing side of things might be a little complicated for the ROG Xbox Ally X20.

That all adds up to a fairly fascinating launch, even before you consider the fact that Asus is currently pushing people towards an "anniversary bundle" that will include plug-and-play Xreal R1 Edition 20 AR glasses – a curious choice given they're a display replacement for a device with a shiny new display.

I'll leave those glasses to another article, but taking the ROG Xbox Ally X20 on its own, it's almost impossible to get a sense of how it'll fare without knowing its price. It feels like a good summary of where the PC gaming handheld market is at more widely – some amazing stuff is afoot, but the wider question of affordability undermines things to a critical degree.

The proof might be in the pudding closer to the ROG Xbox Ally X20's release. I'll hopefully be able to test it in more detail when it's ready to hit the market, so keep your eyes on T3 ahead of that point.

Gaming handhelds are clearly one of the big stories at this year's Computex – I've been roving around the showfloor and digesting keynotes all week, and all the big gaming brands seem to have arrived with a handheld up their sleeve. In plenty of cases, they aren't brand new, but rather revisions of what's come before.

That's MSI's approach for the Claw 8 EX AI+, with that "EX" basically nodding to the fact that this is an upgrade on the Claw 8 AI+ that I reviewed last year. I liked the power that handheld brought to the table, but didn't fancy the blocky design, and that's one thing that's obviously changed with the EX version.

The Claw 8 EX AI+ can be easily told apart from its sibling because it has more of a chin – the display now extends a little bit on a shelf at the bottom of the handheld, pointing to the fact that the grips to either side of it are now more ergonomic and shaped. I think that chin looks a little odd since it's so small, but I'm nonetheless confident after about 20 minutes of playtime that the EX is the more comfortable machine to hold.

Still, though, that display is also still an LCD, which is a bit of a shame – an OLED upgrade would have been a lovely bit of extra generosity. I say "generosity", but while MSI wasn't willing to say anything about pricing, other sources have indicated to me that it might land around the $1500 mark, which could make it a staggeringly expensive new option (and one that definitely merits an OLED panel).

That's completely unconfirmed for now, though, so back to my actual impressions, eh? The really big inclusion in the Claw 8 EX AI+ is Intel's new handheld chip, one that Intel itself says is more like a GPU with a CPU attached than the traditional other way around.

The Intel Arc G3 Extreme is a bit like if you took a Panther Lake chip and stripped it down to fit a smaller device, taking out some IO capabilities and reducing its CPU capacity, but leaving the Arc B390 GPU untouched. That makes it a beast by current market standards, and the performance offered by the Claw 8 EX AI+ will be untouchable by handhelds from even a year or two ago.

I played a bunch of Forza Horizon 6 on the machine, along with the surprisingly taxing Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, and both ran super smoothly, taking advantage of XeSS compatibility to offer both sharpening and multi-frame generation if you want it for more smoothness.

At 1900x1200, the screen can be super sharp for its 8-inch size, and it on a High preset in Forza I was getting a very steady 60-70fps with the game looking gorgeous. Where things really get impressive, though, is when you turn away from raw FPS and look at power stats.

The superpower of the Arc G3 series might just be the fact that it can throttle its own performance at a toggle, using an "endurance mode". You can customise what this entails but it'll generally mean a lower framerate cap is enforced (like 30fps or 60fps depending on the game). This will drastically lower the power consumption of the handheld, and Intel told me that using the endurance mode it got nearly 12 hours of playtime in Team Fortress 2.

Sure, that's a very old shooter at this point with unremarkable graphics – but over 11 hours of playtime from a top-end PC gaming handheld is the stuff dreams are made of. Extrapolate that out to less visually-demanding indie games and the Claw 8 EX AI+ starts to look like it has a crucial advantage compared to most of the competition.

Intel says the Arc G3 Extreme can match the performance of AMD's previously class-leading Z2 Extreme chip, but at half the power draw, which is a simply massive difference. That unknown pricing is a huge caveat, of course, and we also don't have a release date, so there's plenty still to be confirmed.

The fact is, though, that this might be the new high-water mark in PC gaming handhelds. You get a 80Wh battery with the most efficient chip to go with it, a big high 120Hz VRR screen, Hall Effect joysticks, all in a more comfortable design. It might be eventually priced at a wince-inducing level, but for now this is looking like a nearly perfect step up for PC gaming handhelds.

Almost exactly one year ago came the major announcement: that a 'handheld Xbox console' would be launching – in the guise of the ROG Xbox Ally (and more powerful ROG Xbox Ally X).

I got to see those consoles in person at Gamescom a couple of months later and was impressed – although the lack of an OLED screen was part of general feedback and something that was high on many people's wishlists.

Well, your prayers have now been answered, for Asus has just revealed the all-new ROG Xbox Ally X20 – a 20th anniversary celebration of Republic Of Gamers, which features a 7.4-inch OLED panel as a key component of its build. That's slightly larger than the 7-inch panel in the original handhelds.

This display is what Asus calls a "brand-new Nebula HDR Display" that's never featured in a product before. The 'HDR' part of that tells you this is destined for high dynamic range output, so expect brightness (to 1400 nits) in addition to 120Hz fast refresh and the typical perfect contrast offered by OLED.

The console also looks different, with a translucent black chassis that features gold highlights, revealing aspects of its internal structure. It's subtle rather than too transparent, fortunately, presenting a distinctive aesthetic.

Another upgrade is the TMR joysticks. That's 'tunnelling magnetoresistance', for those unfamiliar, which use wear-resistant magnetic sensors to banish stick drift, while offering precision, faster input compared to conventional joysticks.

Internally, the ROG Xbox Ally X20 features the same core hardware as the ROG Xbox Ally X – AMD's Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor being the key takeaway. There's also 24GB RAM (the high-speed LPDDR5X variety), again as per the Ally X. However, a redesigned thermal system, taking in consideration the new OLED panel, is said to perform even better.

That's not all, though. There's also the reveal of ROG XReal R1 Edition 20 Gaming AR Glasses, which you can buy as part of this Xbox Ally bundle. These glasses can be plugged into the console and worn to give you the impression of a giant-scale screen – up to 171-inches! – instead of using the console's display.

There's no word on the bundle price, nor release date. But I suspect these will be highly sought after by gaming collectors – and are likely to disappear in double-quick time as and when the on-sale date arrives.

It's almost a matter of inclination now as to whether you think the PC gaming handheld market is in a boom or bust phase. Devices can't stop seeming to sell out, but at the same time, they're almost all spiking in price thanks to the ongoing memory crisis, giving the industry a frankly terrible vibe from a consumer point of view.

Still, while some brands like Asus, MSI and Lenovo have been here for ages, Acer's had a more mixed time with the concept of a gaming handheld, announcing a few down the years but not really making one properly until now. The Predator Atlas 8 has made a splash at Computex 2026 by arriving in tangible form with Intel's latest handheld chip, the G3 Extreme, powering its mobile gaming.

I got to use the Atlas 8 for a good few minutes at an Acer event today in Taipei, and it left me feeling fairly confident that we're about to get another top-class option for PC gaming on the go, albeit one that will likely have an eye-watering price tag when it's eventually confirmed.

The Atlas 8 is a super familiar device, of course, with a design that simply can't be called drastically different to its competition on the market. It's a chunky handheld built around an eight-inch display, with grips on either side housing its console-like buttons, and some hefty venting on the top and back of the machine to aid air flow.

Around each analogue stick, there's some RGB lighting (again, not a unique touch), while the back of the machine hides some extra grip buttons and toggles to shorten the triggers' travel distance. In the hand, this is a comfortable enough console to hold, and it isn't as big as some others I've tried (like the Lenovo Legion Go 2). That said, I can't really comment yet on how it'll feel in the hand after an hour or more.

What I can comment on, though, is how the machine performs, and it's a really positive outlook for my first hands-on with Intel's new platform. With Panther Lake chips blowing my socks off in laptops all year, it's not a big surprise that the G3 is similarly impressive at first glance.

I played Forza Horizon 6 on the handheld, with its graphical settings mostly set to High, at 1900x1200 resolution (arguably sharper than needed on a screen this big), and the game was running at a very stable 55-60fps in most situations, with a few drops into the high 40s when I crashed through forests in more rural locations.

That might not sound like the most flawless performance outlook, but with plenty of headroom in the settings to tweak it, and the ever-present option of resolution drops, there's almost certainly a seriously brilliant portable version of this game to be had on the Predator Atlas 8. The unit didn't even have Intel XeSS activated, so I turned that on for some added sharpness.

More testing is needed here, obviously, and I can't really put my weight behind those benchmarks done on the fly, but goodness me, it looks like we've got another big competitor in the form of the G3 chipset. I can't wait to see how the non-Extreme version performs, too.

All of this happened while the handheld stayed nice and cool, so its fans are clearly doing good work (with Acer claiming they're the result of some smart new internal design touches). Plus, crucially, the display looks like a very solid pick. It's a 120Hz VRR panel, and while it's not OLED, I had no complaints about its colour or vividness at first viewing, in fairly harsh lighting.

That lofty resolution, meanwhile, means this could be one of the sharpest portable displays you'll find, and again gives plenty of options for tweaking resolution game-by-game. With the whole thing running Windows 11 in the background, and Xbox's new handheld UI as a skin over it, you'll get the slick and relatively reliable interface that graced the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X, too, although that also will likely mean the same infrequent but annoying bugs and hitches.

With Acer saying that the Atlast 8 should be on its way later in the year, and October looking like a likely window, the big question is what it'll cost, and it's almost certainly going to cause an "oof" when confirmed. We're through the looking glass on handheld prices now, and in a world where the Steam Deck OLED now costs £649, brace yourself for the Predator Atlas 8 to outstrip that by hundreds of pounds (and indeed dollars).

Based on my first hands-on experience, though, it looks like Acer's done the work to ensure that its console still tempts players even at a steep price, and I'll be extremely keen to test it further once it gets closer to release.

The Lenovo G02 may have only released quite recently, but it's already been discussed more often than most retro game handheld models in their multi-year lifetimes.

First, it was thought to be a scam – a cheap Chinese device with the Lenovo name slapped on in highly unauthorised fashion. Then, once Lenovo had confirmed its validity, many mainstream news outlets rounded on it for being sold on AliExpress packed with illegal copies of games.

And it's this latter fact that not only saw Lenovo release a further statement, but also pull it from sale. After all, it was never meant to be shipped to buyers outside China anyway – and certainly not with 1,000s of roms on a microSD card.

Lenovo's communications director, Jeff Witt, contacted T3 to say that any preloaded games were not authorised by the brand: "Devices officially distributed by Lenovo or its authorised licensees in the China market do not include memory cards or preloaded games," he explained.

"Any software or content found on devices sold outside of authorised channels may have been added by third parties without Lenovo’s knowledge or approval. Any content installed by the user – and any issues that may arise – are the sole responsibility of the user of the device, as explicitly stated in its instruction manual."

The company was also keen to stress that it does not "condone or authorise the installation or distribution of any unauthorised or infringing content on its devices".

And that has resulted in resellers having to pull Lenovo G02 units from the likes of AliExpress and Temu. Many were sold beforehand, of course – after all, this was an officially-licensed Lenovo product for around £60 / $80 and seems decent at that price point.

But considering it was never meant for distribution outside of China anyway made it easy for Lenovo to put its foot down.

As I wrote in my original piece, I always buy my retro gaming handhelds and devices without pre-installed games or microSD cards packed with roms. I add my own. However, save for those from one or two manufacturers, most equivalent handhelds can be bought with rom sets featuring 10s of thousands of games.

Even on Amazon today, you can easily find similar devices offering 18,000 games or more – and for around £40 at that, such as one of my favourite, albeit odd handhelds, the R36T.

Peril for the retro gaming community?

The Lenovo infamy may have therefore opened a can of worms that could decimate the retro gaming market – more even than the ongoing RAM crisis and Trump's tarriffs.

More eyes and attention has been drawn to the illegal rom debate than I can remember, all thanks to the G02. And considering some of the biggest manufacturers in the business turn a blind eye to including roms as part of the package (even do it themselves), they might suddenly find themselves under greater scrutiny.

China has very different copyright laws to the western world, so the most likely outcome is we'll see additional devices pulled from international sale. Or at least, they'll ship without the games. And considering many buyers aren't retro gaming nuts like myself, they are far less likely to know how to source and add their own collections.

Some will say that's a positive step, and it might even trim the fat when it comes to cheap and nasty handhelds. But, if the retro gaming community ends up being the only market for new devices, the market will shrink and there will be far fewer new devices.

That's not Lenovo's fault, of course. It just licensed out its name to a budget gaming handheld – a seemingly innocuous act. But it might just have lasting ramifications for those who just so happen to enjoy a game of Aero The Acro-bat on the Tube.

Computex this year promises perhaps more than the average share of interesting twists in the worlds of laptops and PCs, with gaming bubbling up as a major subplot. Intel's just announced a huge addition to the market, the Arc G3, which promises to add a whole new wrinkle to the gaming handheld world.

Every time I've used a laptop with Intel's new Panther Lake chips this year, but especially when testing those with the Arc B390 iGPU, it's been unbelievably striking to see how their gaming performance has blown previous expectations out of the water.

So, it makes perfect sense that Intel's been working on a handheld version of some of the same technologies, now announced after a few months of teasing, and it's not just a theoretical chip. Instead, we already have at least one flagship product confirmed from Acer: the Predator Atlas 8.

The handheld looks much like what you'd expect, with a chunky build and some serious venting, plus an eight-inch 120Hz VRR screen to ensure you get plenty of display real estate for gaming on the go.

The most interesting factor, though, is that it'll use the Arc G3 Extreme, the highest-end version of Intel's new chip, and should therefore offer fairly bleeding-edge performance. It'll also offer the Intel XeSS 3 sharpening system that I've seen work impressively when supported by developers.

As Intel puts it, the G3 Extreme basically has that same B390 GPU in its architecture, meaning we could see performance roughly on a par with the laptops I've tested. The standard G3, meanwhile, downgrades this to an Arc B370 – although in truth it's hard to predict how each will perform given the smaller display and design constraints.

Acer says the Predator Atlas 8 will ship sometime in October this year, so it's a fair few months off, and that leaves one huge unknown – what it'll cost. Given Valve just had to whack Steam Deck prices up by a huge margin, this could be a bit of a bitter pill, but there's no easy way to predict pricing for a new device like this.

I'm hoping to get some more inside information on the Intel Arc G3 during my time in Taipei for Computex next week, so if you're a PC gaming handheld fan you might want to keep your eyes on T3 for the next few days.

AceMagic has carved a name for itself in the world of Mini PCs and laptops – thanks to a portfolio that spans affordable gaming laptops and premium mini towers. But its the AceMagic Retro X5 that most caught my eye when it was first announced earlier this year.

As the name suggests, its design pays homage to 1985 and, most notably, the Nintendo Entertainment System. However, it also just happens to be one of the most capable mini PCs on the market today.

The case couldn't be more old school Nintendo if it tried – right down to the two-tone grey plastic case and black strip on the side. It even has a similar ribbed effect in that side zone, albeit running up and down the top rather than horizontally.

Design and specs

There are also many more connections and ports, of course, with a single USB-C on the front and two USB-A, plus a 3.5mm audio input for headphones or mic. It's rounded off with a bright red power button, which wasn't on the original NES but still seems fitting.

On the rear you get two additional USB-A ports, another USB-C, two 2.5-gigabit LAN ports, a HDMI 2.1 output, a DisplayPort 2.0, and a power input. There's also Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 on board, so it's a bit of a step-up in comparison with its inspiration.

It's also worth noting that one of the USB-C ports is USB4, so can support 4K 60Hz video out and up to 40Gbps data speeds. The other is USB3.2, so still capable of 4K 60Hz video but with a maximum of 10Gbps data transfer.

Inside the Retro X5 you'll find the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 chip, with 12 cores and 24 threads. This is coupled with AMD Radeon 890M integrated graphics, so among the best found in mini PCs today, but not primarily designed for AAA gaming.

That's not to say it can't play some of the best PC games around today, but do be prepared for lower resolutions (around 1080p is the sweet spot) and graphics settings.

I'll come to that in a bit, but basically the fact that this looks like an NES but does surprisingly well with many modern games makes it a super all-rounder. And if you're looking for a cool-looking desktop PC that also saves space and can munch through AI image generation and video editing, well you can't go far wrong there either.

The stock model comes with a 1TB M.2 2280 NVMe SSD and there's a slot for another – with a maximum of 4TB allowed across them. There's 32GB of DDR5 RAM (5600MHz) installed across two 16GB cards, and you can also upgrade those up to a total of 128GB (if and when RAM finally drops in price again).

This all makes for a speedy, fast-booting experience regardless of its use. The HX 370 chip is designed with AI operations in mind, so that's a boost, but I'll be honest, from first glance, this just wanted to be used for gaming – retro and otherwise.

Software support – Windows or something else?

I went through a whole lot of options during my test, including gaming through the Windows 11 Pro build it comes shipped with, to dual booting into Bazzite and ChimeraOS on separate SSD installations. Performance was better in Windows, to be honest, but the console-like SteamOS experience both of the others offer was more tempting.

I also tested the AceMagic Retro X5 with the latest version Batocera and if retro gaming is all you plan to use it for, this is a superb option as it's the fastest, most complete retro front-end available today. However, it seemed a waste with so much power under the hood.

While still using Windows, I ran some 3DMark tests to see how the mini PC performed and the results were similar to other HX 370 models – which don't usually come in such pretty clothing.

Having switched the PC into "Performance" mode in bios and dedicated 8GB to the GPU, I also then used AMD Software: Adrenaline Edition to boost that further to 12GB (it's not an option in the bios itself). The results therefore reflected that.

I also ran a Cinebench GPU test which gave me a score of 5,728. In comparison, while an M2 MacBook comes out higher, it's not by much.

Gaming performance

The upshot of all this becomes apparent while gaming. Older AAA titles, like Rise of the Tomb Raider and Batman: Arkham Origins run in up to 60 frames-per-second at 1080p and with medium settings.

You can even massage the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 and Dead Island 2 to run at 40fps or higher, albeit without ray tracing switched on. And I've particularly enjoyed catching up with Shadow of the Tomb Raider with ray-traced shadows, in medium settings at around 50fps.

Strangely, the latter ran better in Windows and on ChimeraOS than through Bazzite, but most other games were roughly the same in performance terms.

The likes of Hades II and Hollow Knight: Silksong run as well as on anything. Indeed, I was only limited by my Philips OLED maxing out at 60Hz in 4K. Both ran well at 1080p 120Hz.

And then it comes to retro gaming and, as expected, the AceMagic Retro X5 can just about do it all – no matter your choice of operating system.

Peak retro gaming

I tend to use Retrobat on Windows and Emudeck on any SteamOS equivalent. Both allow you to play anything up to Nintendo Switch, including PS3 comfortably. There are emulators for PS4 and Xbox 360 these days, but they are still in their infancy and game compatibility is an issue, so I tend to ignore them at present.

Needless to say, the Retro X5 handles everything else without a stutter or cough. That includes Switch games in docked mode – 1080p 60fps.

There's a fair amount of work to get everything up and running (I advise starting out with Retrobat on Windows, which comes with all the emulators built in and set-up already), but once you do it's a joy to play NES, SNES, Dreamcast, GameCube and pretty much every other old console or arcade unit you can think of.

The power and RAM in the AceMagic is more than capable with any system you can throw at it, and so it makes for the ultimate retro console. There's just one thing – the price.

Price and availability

While I'd love to use this as solely a retro games console – it's easily the most proficient I've ever encountered – the original retail price of £1,299 / $1,299 is too prohibitive for just the one, niche purpose. For that money, you'll want to use it for so much more.

Thankfully though, decent 1080p PC gaming boosts the value, while the ability to use the Retro X5 for creativity applications makes it more worthwhile still.

In addition, should you want to save some money on a purchase, T3 has a couple of discount codes you can use – which softens the blow somewhat.

The AceMagic Retro X5 is largely sold out in both the UK and US, but you can still find it on Amazon in regions like Italy, France, Germany and Spain.

They should all ship to the UK or other regions (with varying shipping costs) and you can get 28% off in Italy and France, 32% off in Germany and Spain.

Just use the code RETROX5T3 at checkout on the different Amazon sites.

Note though, the deals expire on 31 May 2026.

Final thoughts

In all honesty, the AceMagic Retro X5 is similar in operation to other mini PCs running the AMD Ryzen 9 AI HX 370 chipset – especially those also with 32GB of RAM across two sticks. But that's not really the point.

AceMagic has made every effort to make it a memorable experience – from the NES-style casing, to an easily removable cover in order to make your own upgrades.

And all along the way there are Easter eggs and messages to celebrate the retro mentality. It quite simply looks much better sat next to a PS5 or Xbox Series X – or even original Nintendo hardware – than your average mini PC. And it runs almost silently too, even during intensive tasks.

The one issue I did encounter is that for the life of me, I couldn't get Bazzite or ChimeraOS to output 5.1 audio through the HDMI card. It works with Dolby Atmos in Windows 11 Pro once you download the Atmos software and update the AMD drivers, but both of the Linux builds are meant to have driver support built in. It just didn't work.

Still, there are others that might be able to figure out a solution, or don't plan to install either system anyway. For those, this is a real treat.

One industry that has been decimated by the ongoing RAM crisis is retro gaming – where we were being inundated with new handhelds in multiple form factors, we're now largely devoid of decent announcements and products.

Anbernic has bucked the trend with its RG Rotate – an Android hybrid device that's sort of a cross between an iPod nano and a Game Boy – but there's little else of real note. That's why the "Is it? Isn't it?" scandal of the Lenovo G02 has become such a big thing.

Appearing first on AliExpress (although now also on other import sites, like Shein and Temu), the Lenovo G02 was originally blasted by the community as a scam. Its price from around £60 / $80 seemed too good to be true for it to be a legitimate Lenovo device.

The name also looked shady considering Lenovo already makes the vastly more premium Legion Go 2.

Indeed, if you search for the Lenovo G02 on Google its AI-powered suggestions are that it's a fake product. But it turns out, that's not true – it's actually real.

The company has responded to a query from renowned retro gaming website Retro Dodo, saying that the product is in fact a genuine Lenovo gaming handheld: "The G02 device is produced through a regional brand licensing agreement meant for the China market only and is not part of Lenovo’s official global product portfolio," it replied.

"As such, products developed through these agreements may differ from Lenovo products sold through authorised channels."

So while it is a bona fide Lenovo release, with the brand's stamp of approval, it's not technically made by the manufacturer. And it's not technically meant to be sold outside of China.

However, one things for certain, if you do buy one from AliExpress or the likes, you're not getting a fake or scam device (unlike the R36S, which is seemingly cloned all over).

I've even placed an order for one myself, in fact. I'll let you know what I think when it arrives.

So should you buy the legitimate Lenovo G02 retro gaming handheld?

It's worth noting that, while the Lenovo G02 is legit, the roms you'll find on any included microSD card are not – they are pirated en masse. If possible, I always order my own retro gaming handhelds (of which I have many) without a card and I add my own legitimately sourced games.

That's entirely up to you and your conscience though. As for the device, it seems decent enough for the money, especially during RAMageddon.

You get a 4.5-inch IPS display with a 1024 x 768 resolution. It's 4:3, so best suited to the likes of NES, SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Boy and up to PSOne games. That's also pretty much the most you can get from it, as it apparently runs on the Rockchip RK3326 processor – common to Linux-based handhelds at this price point.

Where it differs from many of the other cheap handhelds around £50-60 is an solitary thumbstick – many don't include a stick at all. This could come in handy if you fancy trying out PSP games (some of which may run) and other games that work best with analogue controls.

It's also worth noting that you only get 1GB of RAM, so again, that might hamper performance on anything higher than original PlayStation.

There's a 4,000mAh battery though, so at least you should get plenty of playtime out of it.

Like I said, I've ordered my own Lenovo G02 (in red) and will let you know what I think once it arrives (in about a week or so).

An Xbox executive has revealed that there will be "more to share" on Project Helix "later this year", although some think new details could arrive even sooner. After all, the annual Xbox Games Showcase event will be streamed on 7 June.

Already confirmed for the stream is Gears of War: E-Day, with a deep dive into the Gears sequel scheduled for after the main showcase event. That's likely to be the biggest focus for Xbox itself. It would be odd if there isn't a single mention of Helix in the main show, though.

After all, previous Xbox consoles have launched or been teased during summer showcase events over the years. Xbox One was unveiled during the showcase prior to E3 2013, while "Project Scarlett" – the codename for Xbox Series X/S – was announced in the event preceding E3 2019.

E3 has since disappeared, having been superseded by Summer Game Fest (of sorts), but the Xbox Games Showcase has largely remained in the same slot each year. The latest will take place at 10am PDT (6pm BST) on Sunday 7 June 2026 and it would make sense that also plays host to a new console reveal.

One thing's for certain, we didn't really learn any more from the Xbox Game Dev Update made available yesterday. This was simply a recap of the GDC presentation held in March.

Jason Ronald, the vice president of "Next Generation" at Xbox shared as much on X.

Of course, we might have to wait longer that June's showcase to find out the full details, but it would be a massive surprise if there wasn't even a tease. Don't expect a release date though – it's more than likely that the final console won't be coming until 2027 at the earliest, maybe even 2028.

The ongoing RAM crisis – dubbed RAMageddon – has affected all new tech this year, not least PCs and games machines. And considering the continual advancements in AI, it's unlikely to end any time soon.

Still, I'll be glued to the screen on 7 June, just in case.

Nintendo has done exactly what was being widely predicted and announced price hikes for the Switch 2 (and original Switch) in a bunch of territories around the world, but there's immediate good news for the UK – it's not on the list.

While Japan is getting small hikes across basically the range of Nintendo consoles and services, and the Switch 2 is becoming more expensive in the US, Europe and Canada, the UK is absent from Nintendo's announcement, meaning its prices are staying the same for now.

This is no guarantee that the UK's prices will remain static forever, of course, but given that the non-Japanese price changes don't happen until 1 September 2026, it looks like the UK does have a stay of execution of at least a few months. That is, unless Nintendo UK has a separate announcement planned for some reason.

That manes it's still a sensible time to buy the console, though, since it seems all but guaranteed to get more expensive at some poin, and can currently be had for less than £400 through Amazon UK.

If you're curious about those global price hikes, though, they're worth diving into. Where the Switch 2 is concerned, they go as follows:

• USA: New price of $499.99, up from $449.99
• Europe: New price of €499.99, up from €469.99
• Canada: New price of $679.99, up from $629.99
• Japan (Japanese-Language System): New price of ¥59,980, up from ¥49,980

From a percentage point of view that means Japan is being hit hardest, although its Japanese-only system was previously probably the most advantageous Switch 2 deal. It's also getting price rises for the Switch, Switch OLED and Switch Lite, each of around ¥10,000 (or around £45), and it'll be interesting to see if those hikes also end up spreading around the world.

With Japan also getting a wave of much smaller price rises for the various ways to access Nintendo Switch Online memberships, this all looks like a cautious first step from Nintendo, but one that likely foreshadows a tougher time for gamers.

Nintendo's clearly worried about sentiment, and is therefore trying to take this slowly and give people plenty of notice, but there's no getting around the fact that its console will be a worse deal on 1 September compared to before.

If you're interested in a Switch 2 and have the means to do so, then you're definitely going to want to buy one before then. If you're in the UK, meanwhile, you have a bit more time to save up and work out your budget, which feels like a rarity, and a pleasant one at that.

It is largely believed that, in the grander console wars, Sony won this generation. The PS5 sold considerably more units than Xbox Series X and Series S combined. And its mid-range refresh – the PS5 Pro – is undoubtedly the most-powerful games console we've had to date.

However, it could also be that Sony has looked longingly at something Xbox has been doing better for a fair while – something that could be important for the future of PlayStation and, in the short term, the PS6.

It is claimed that when a next-generation PlayStation arrives, it will be accompanied by a next-gen cloud gaming service.

While PS Plus Premium members have access to games via Sony's own cloud gaming platform, on both PS5 and the PlayStation Portal, the technology and scope is seen as inferior to Xbox Cloud Gaming.

Sony reportedly has plans to address that.

According to MP1st, upgrades could be coming to make the service more competitive – to improve its infrastructure and, potentially, lower latency. It is claimed that it will enhance the technology at server level, with once change touted being the adoption of PCIe Gen5 NVMe storage that's considerably faster than what's currently employed.

By reducing load and access times, this could have an impact on play for the consumer. At the very least, it should dramatically reduce the queuing time it takes for a game to start up.

PCIe Gen5 NVMe storage almost doubles the speed of access over Gen4. It's also suggested that this will be found in the PS6 console too – with the built-in SSD potentially capable of up to 14,900 MB/s read speeds.

Developers could have a field day with their games if they could live load assets at those speeds.

This is just a rumour for now, of course, but it wouldn't be a far stretch to believe that Sony would want to improve its cloud gaming service. After all, it's become the heart of the PlayStation Portal and with regularly leaked plans to bring a PS6 handheld to market, it could be important to that device too.

Valve released its all-new Steam Controller yesterday and it sold out in minutes – reaffirming the interest in its next-generation hardware. Hopefully, new stock will be available soon, but there's some extra news in the meantime that could be of interest.

It is claimed that the company has received a considerable shipment of "game consoles", leading to speculation that we could soon find out a release date and pricing for its Steam Machine.

According to The Verge, Valve has taken delivery of around 50 tonnes of what is described as "game consoles" on leaked import documents. And it suggests that the containers are filled with Steam Machine models or Steam Frame VR headsets, not renewed stock of the Steam Deck.

It is claimed that each container has a different weight signature than those used for Steam Deck shipments in the past. However, before we all get too excited, it's worth noting that Steam Machines and their included Steam Controllers and parts would weigh considerably more that Steam Decks, and therefore 50 tonnes of them would actually result in around 20,000 units.

That's not a lot for a global release.

Hopefully, there will be more making their way to Valve in the coming weeks, and we don't have a situation where the new PC-based console sells out as quickly as the controller. And scalpers don't end up ruining yet another new console launch.

Time will tell, but for now it's a positive indication that Valve could make good on its promise to get the Steam Machine out this year – maybe this summer. And considering the ongoing spectre of the RAM crisis, with AI centres still gobbling up every chip like its candy, that's better than we could realistically expect.

Personally, I've built my own Steam Machine from a Mini PC, which runs on Bazzite and gives me 1080p gaming at decent frame rates. I'm just hoping more stock of the Steam Controller arrives soon to enhance it.

The Valve Steam Deck 2 is officially on its way after the company's own Pierre-Loup Griffais said: "We’re hard at work on it."

Usefully, he did point out that the first iteration was limited in its availability and that this time around they're working on the regions where it will be available.

So, in terms of what I want to see, the top of the list has to be a release of the Valve Steam Deck 2 in my region. But that's just the start.

There's a bit of a wait, which may continue, as RAM shortages mean Valve is holding on, to ensure the end result is the best it can be. If you're going to upgrade, it's going to need to be a significant jump forward, right?

So, that means hope can be held out for a Steam Deck 2 which offers even more power than the likes of the Xbox Ally X and Lenovo Legion Go 2.

So, while in the now we have to wait – as all the big companies snap up every last bit of RAM for AI data centres – this demand may let up soon. It's also possible to hope that this RAM demand means production will be even more efficient, so we can get more power for a more affordable price in the future.

All that means I'm daring to hope for a significant jump up in performance for the Steam Deck 2, as it could get a juicy RAM boost over the original model. Here's hoping that means the price can be kept low too.

I'm also holding out hope that Valve keeps the touchpads, maybe even enhancing sensitivity. The screen either stays the same or gets a slight resolution boost – but only enough not to put pressure on the hardware or battery performance, of course.

When is the Steam Deck 2 released?

Valve has said that it is currently focused on getting its Steam Machine out the door this year. That suggests that the Steam Deck 2 won't arrive until after that time, meaning we should be able to hope for a release at some point in 2027.

Regular T3 readers will know that I'm a big fan of retro gaming and, in particular, retro gaming handhelds. Obsessed, in fact.

I own 20 or so handhelds already, sporting Linux or Android, plus several originals (including a prized Galaxy Invader 1000 that I've had since it first released). I have also recently built my own retro games console from a Mini PC and have several bar top arcade units.

However, the retro gaming market has taken a significant knock this year, with manufacturers having to scale back plans for new devices thanks to the ongoing RAM crisis. And it's even sent existing handhelds soaring in price. Where's my next fix coming from?

Well, the maker of HyperMegaTech and Evercade hardware, Blaze, and Retro Games Ltd have stepped up to the plate with a couple of devices to boost my collection and then some – hopefully yours too, as they're now available to pre-order for an October release.

The Spectrum Handheld and The C64 Handheld are recreations of the most renowned 80s computers but in flip form. Each like a Nintendo DSi, but without the bottom screen.

The clamshell consoles feature 25 classic games apiece, taken from their respective libraries, a 4:3 IPS screen (800 x 480) for pixel perfect play, and mappable controls and buttons.

There are stereo speakers too, plus a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD card slot to add your own game ROMs.

A rechargeable 2,000mAh powers each unit, with an estimated playtime of more than three hours.

Each of the devices is styled on its inspiration, with The Spectrum Handheld having trademark rubber keys as its buttons, for example.

Built-in games for The Spectrum Handheld include many you'll also find on the all-white edition of the full-sized Spectrum reissue that released recently – Manic Miner, Skool Daze, and Head Over Heels are particularly notable.

The C64 Handheld lineup includes Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe, Paradroid, Bruce Lee (renamed Lee for legal reasons), and Boulder Dash.

Both consoles can be pre-ordered now for £109.99 / $129.99 / €129.99 each. There are also collector's editions, at £129.99 / $149.99 / €149.99. These also give you a hardshell carry case and a copy of a respective magazine – Crash for The Spectrum, Zzap! for The C64.

Valve is "hard at work" building the Steam Deck 2, but there are currently no release plans.

Currently crippled by the RAM crisis, Valve is struggling to get existing Steam Deck models back into stock, let alone launch a replacement. But one of its programmers has confirmed that the device is in development.

"We’re hard at work on it," said Pierre-Loup Griffais in an interview with IGN (via VGC).

"If you look at our hardware projects over the years, you can draw a straight line from the original Steam Controller and Steam Machines to the Steam Deck and to everything that we’re announcing and shipping this year.

"We expect Steam Deck 2 will be a lot of the same, where a lot of what we're doing here will be learnings building up to it."

There were no further details given, but previous reports have suggested that Valve is waiting on significantly improved architecture before it can justify an upgrade. It is likely to be more powerful than the Z2 Extreme chip in the Xbox Ally X and Lenovo Legion Go 2, for example.

Valve is also a relatively small company in comparison with the likes of Lenovo, Asus/Xbox and other gaming handheld manufacturers, so will have been hit by RAMageddon even harder than many peers. It will be focused on ensuring the Steam Machine is released this year before turning its attention to a new Steam Deck.

Still, it's great to think that there is something new on the horizon. And while I'm very pleased with my Lenovo Legion Go S (SteamOS) as things stand, by the time Big Tech stops snaffling up every RAM chip for their AI centres and Valve is ready for an unveiling, I'll likely be ready for an upgrade too.

Anbernic is a major brand in retro gaming handhelds, having been amongst the most prolific and innovative over the years, and its next big release could be its most out-there concept yet.

A cross between an iPod-like digital music player and a Game Boy, the forthcoming Android device has a rotating display that hides the controls when not in use. Twist it, however, and you get to play a wide selection of classic systems and games on its 1:1 square screen.

Called (unsurprisingly) the Anbernic RG Rotate, the device is designed to be compact and portable, much like the flip handhelds the company has dabbled in before. However, because the display is still accessible when closed, you can use it for multiple functions.

That includes music playback, as long as you have Bluetooth headphones or a wired pair that use USB-C. That's because there's no 3.5mm port, although you could always invest in a 3.5mm to USB-C adapter – they are remarkably inexpensive.

Also, because it runs on Android, you can watch videos on the display too, although you'll have to do so with fairly chonky black bars top and bottom if it's a 16:9 clip, or at the sides if vertical.

That 3.5-inch square screen comes into its own with Game Boy and Game Boy Color gaming, though. As both the Game Boy and its colourised follow-up sported a 10:9 aspect ration, its games look great on a 1:1 display. I have an Anbernic RG CubeXX which also have a square screen and they look superb on there too.

And, with a pixel count of 720 x 720, you should get pin sharp visuals.

Of course, while we don't yet know what processor it'll run on, it's likely to be able to play all manner of 16:9 systems, but they won't look as good. Much of the screen's real estate will be unused and it'll result in a tiny, letterboxed experience. But 4:3 consoles, like NES, SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis, original PlayStation and Dreamcast should look fine.

We're still awaiting additional details on the RG Rotate, including price and availability, so we'll update in the coming weeks. However, it's good to see Anbernic continuing to try new form factors in an overcrowded market (mainly saturated with its other handhelds).

It must also be applauded for launching a new product when others are backing off due to the RAM crisis. Even if this latest gaming machine turns out to be too niche for most.

Phil Spencer might have guided Xbox through some of its toughest times, pivoting the brand into a cloud gaming giant and publisher as console sales dwindled, but it looks like his successor is looking to turn back the clock.

Asha Sharma has already proved she's ready to make big decisions as the latest CEO of Microsoft's gaming division – including scrapping Microsoft's gaming division.

Strictly speaking, it's not scrapped, but there is a suggestion that Microsoft Gaming as a department is gone – rebranded just Xbox. And on top of that, the brand gets a new logo that harks back to the glory days of the original Xbox console and its hugely successful follow-up, the Xbox 360.

Yep, Xbox has gone green once more.

According to The Verge, this follows an internal town hall meeting in which Sharma told employees, "Xbox needs to be our identity". It is part of her driver to reestablish the brand and "return to Xbox" both inside Microsoft and out.

Project Helix is part of that – a major push to be the company's main focus, rather than just another platform to sell Xbox Cloud Gaming and Game Pass subscriptions. And it seems like it will be adorned with a green logo to represent its heritage.

The Verge also claims that internal Project Helix materials have sported the new logo for a while.

Who knows, maybe the whole console will be green? That sounds mad, yeah, but as an owner of an original translucent green Xbox, I'd be all up for that.

Admittedly, the new logo isn't a million miles away from the white version that was introduced during Spencer's tenure. But I personally welcome the return of the colour – after all, Xbox has always been green, PlayStation blue and Nintendo red. It reinforces battle lines and aids magazine designers everywhere.

We'll hopefully see more coming from the Xbox CEO and her team in the coming weeks – after all, its hosting it's annual showcase event at the start of June.

With this and the recent price drop for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Asha Sharma is certainly making a good impression already.

As a dyed-in-the-wool retro gamer, who has been writing about games since the 80s, I've always had a soft spot for the ZX Spectrum. My first professionally published review was of a Spectrum game, and it was the computer that essentially kickstarted my passion and career in the first place.

I was thrilled therefore when Retro Games Ltd brought it back with a modern-day remake in the form of The Spectrum a few years ago. While I own a boxed original, I snapped one up and have been enjoying replaying classics ever since. However, now there's something even more special that's a must for my collection.

The all-white ZX Spectrum is legendary. Made as a one-off for Sir Clive Sinclair himself, to celebrate the home computer's one millionth sale, it is undoubtedly the Holy Grail for collectors. Heaven only knows how much it'd cost at auction.

Thankfully though, Retro Games Ltd has released the next best thing – a special edition version of its The Spectrum remake in white.

For all intents and purposes, The Spectrum White Edition is identical to the standard, black version already available. It has HDMI out, USB support to add your own games, USB-C power, and 48 built-in games, including essentials like Manic Miner, Head Over Heels, Skool Daze, and The Hobbit.

As mentioned, you can also add your own ROMs to play, with support for all the major file formats.

It works with Basic too, much like the original computer, so you can use it (and its rubber keyboard) for simple coding, just as I did back in the day. Oh how we laughed when our Speccy screen was filled with "Willies" ad infinitum.

You also get Retro Games' reworking of the original Kempston joystick, this time with USB, a few extra buttons, and also in white. And there's a USB stick included too, for good measure.

The Spectrum White Edition is now available priced at £129.99 from multiple retailers, including Amazon, Very and Argos. We have seen it selling out in some places though, so you'll need to get your order in quick.

Alternatively, if you're not too bothered by the white colour but still want the old school Speccy experience, the black version is still available too – at just £89.99.

UK PlayStation owners will have until the start of June 2026 to comply with a mandatory requirement, or face being unable to use certain features on their consoles.

Sony has started to inform PS4, PS5 and PS5 Pro players that age verification is needed to allow specific functionality – such as chats, messaging and live streaming. It is necessary for the brand to comply with the UK's Online Safety Act, and all users are affected, no matter their age.

Players will have to use Yoti's verification tools to confirm that they are the right age to use social features online. It's simple to perform, using either a mobile number, face scan (through your phone or using a webcam) or an approved ID. You can simply scan the QR code on a PlayStation support page and follow the instructions.

Once your age is verified, your PlayStation account will be permanently approved.

Other gaming firms will need to do the same soon, to operate certain services in the UK. Xbox started its age verification process late last year, which is also mandatory to access social features on its consoles.

It's likely others will follow suit in the coming weeks.

Why do you need to verify your age on PlayStation and Xbox?

The UK's Online Safety Act was passed into law in 2023, although companies were given time to enforce its rules and guidelines. This includes age verification to allow access to online content that could be deemed harmful to children.

In terms of the video games industry, that specifically applies to the social aspects of online play – as it is hard for games publishers and console manufacturers to ensure underage players don't hear or read inappropriate language.

The rules do not apply to other countries, although some have their own guidelines and laws.

There have been plenty of rumours on Sony's return to handheld gaming before, but the latest is of particular interest to those looking for the ultimate retro device. That's because it is tipped to be able to emulate systems even the latest PC handhelds cannot.

As an owner of multiple handhelds, including Android, Linux and the SteamOS-powered Lenovo Legion Go S, I can just about play games from every era of console. However, there are two in particular that remain out of reach. And that's where the PS6 Portable could come in.

According to YouTuber Moore's Law is Dead (via NotebookCheck), the PS6 Portable will be able to play PS5 and PS4 games natively.

There is an emulator for the latter available for PC, Linux and Mac (ShadPS4) but it's very early in development and it'll only run a handful of PlayStation 4 games. And even then with caveats.

A handheld system that will run PS4, PS5 and PS6 games could be the holy grail for retro gamers, therefore, especially with some PS4 titles never getting decent remasters or PC releases.

Add the ability to play older classic PlayStation 1, 2 and 3 games through PS Plus Premium – likely through streaming – and you're onto a winner.

Of course, to be the ultimate retro gaming handheld you'd really need it to also play other classic systems, but I'm a believer in having multiple devices for different use cases. For example, I play 4:3 systems on my Ayaneo Pocket Air Mini, Game Boy and Game Boy Color on my TrimUI Brick Hammer, and 16:9 games on my Legion Go S or Odin 2 Portal.

Adding a PlayStation powerhouse that can play a vast library of otherwise difficult to emulate games seems a shoo-in to me.

There is one thing to note though, according to Moore's Law is Dead – who claims to have gleaned his information from a leaked Sony internal document – you will have to own the digital versions of games you play on the handheld. There is currently no way to assign disc copies to your account.

So all those physical games you've been collecting will be exempt, as things stand.

That said, the main PS6 console could be different – let's just hope it includes a disc drive, unlike the PS5 Pro.

The Switch 2 is a little marvel of a system, especially if you don't feel the need for all the technical wizardry of the PS5 Pro or a high-end PC, and its long trail of Nintendo exclusives is a big part of that quality. Still, perhaps the most interesting thing about it right now is that it seems to be the most likely Nintendo console ever to get sustained support from third-party publishers.

It has the power, after all, to play new games if they're given settings or builds that play nicely with its reduced bandwidth, and we've already had a handful of ports and same-day releases to underline this. Probably the most noteworthy was Resident Evil Requiem, from Capcom, and now that same publisher has followed up with another showpiece title for the console.

Pragmata is a totally new franchise from Capcom, and it's rightly received strong reviews across the board. I played the whole game through in a few days on my PC and loved the whole thing, not least because of its stunning path-traced lighting and visual design, so revisiting it on Switch 2 wasn't taxing at all – and it was a really interesting experience.

For those in the dark, Pragmata sees you stranded on a moon base full of robots, teaming up with an android in the shape of a young girl who can help you by hacking said robots to make them vulnerable to your attacks. You have to juggle executing those hacks while running and gunning, and the gameplay combination that results is undeniably brilliant.

Part of what makes the game such a rip-roaring success is its tight focus, but also its excellent visual design. On PC it's a proper looker, and it clears that same bar on PS5 Pro, but the Switch 2 has way less power to play with. That makes it doubly impressive that the game still plays just as you'd expect it to on this powered-down hardware.

I would not have been surprised in the least if Pragmata had arrived on Switch 2 with a 30fps cap and some choppiness, but instead it has a 60fps target and does feel pretty smooth for the most part. Sure, it has more drops than the PS5 Pro, but that's forgivable and the crucial fact is that this really is a full game experience.

It looks blurrier than on any other platform, and I do think that this game benefits from ray-tracing more than many I've tried, but it's still pretty phenomenal to get a day-one release for Nintendo hardware that really isn't compromised in gameplay terms. Clearly, Capcom's internal mastery of its RE Engine has it in a terrific spot right now, and I can only hope that continues.

Pragmata is the latest game to underline this, and it's a great title if you only have a Switch 2 to play it on. It's funny that we're in a situation where this version can be both technically the worst way to play it and yet also still a great experience, but I'm glad Capcom's support for the Switch 2 seems so consistent.

What's harder to know is how that support will fare over the half-decade to come, as the Switch 2 starts to fall further behind in the console race, with the PS6 and next-gen Xbox now in the works. If Capcom's engine scales this well at the moment, it's still not guaranteed to do so forever, so we might have to make hay while the sun shines.

If the last decade has proven anything in the gaming world, it's that retro gaming is alive and kicking. At a time when the latest generation of consoles can't stop going up in price, and when building a top-end gaming PC can be extremely expensive, people seem to have a never-ending capacity for nostalgia.

That's something that Plaion and SNK hope to tap into with its latest announcement, the NeoGeo AES+, which is one of the most straightforward revivals of old gaming hardware we've ever seen.

The console's being brought back with modern TV and monitor compatibility, but otherwise seems to be basically a reissue of the NeoGeo, since it'll work with old cartridges and new ones alike, and features no emulation layer, according to Plaion. If that proves accurate, it'll be a big thing for collectors and those who enjoy revisiting older games.

In fact, the commitment to retro play seems genuine from an output perspective, since the NeoGeo AES+ will include standard old-fashioned AV Out options for those who have a CRT they like to use for gaming. This will be paired with an HDMI port, though, for the rest of us, with up to 1080p output.

The console will also have BIOS and DIP Switches on its body to let you swap language regions, display modes and even some overclocking options. Plaion says the AES+ will have a low-power mode and the option to permanently save your High Score saves for each game.

Of course, you're going to want games to pair with the console, unless you happen to already have a big collection to fall back on. Launching alongside the AES+ will be the following games:

• Metal Slug
• The King of Fighters 2002
• Garou: Mark of the Wolves
• Big Tournament Golf
• Shock Troopers
• Samurai Shodown V Special
• Pulstar
• Twinkle Star Sprites
• Magician Lord
• Over Top

The console launches on 12 November 2026, but pre-orders should be open imminently through Plaion, and there will also be some accessories if you want them. The AES+ will come with one Arcade Stick controller, but you can pick up an extra if desired, as well as a Memory Card and GamePad for those who want the most authentic look for their console.

The crucial question of pricing is worth covering, of course. The console will set you back £179.99 (€199.99), which probably feels pretty fair for what it is. What's more surprising is that each game cartridge will cost £69.99 (€79.99) individually, which is a massive ask, and we can only assume there are big manufacturing costs involved to excuse what seems like a crazy per-game price.

Still, aside from that potential alarm bell, the console looks like one of the most interesting revamps we've seen, since it doesn't bother with any mini-console shrinkage or emulation wizardry. NeoGeo fans will presumably be drooling, so we'll see how it lands once it starts to get to people in November.

We were as excited as anyone when Valve announced its new Steam Machine at the end of last year, and even more when we learned that it would arrive in 2026. Since then though, a global shortage of RAM chips – dubbed RAMageddon – has cast doubt over its release.

Not only were there rumours of a delay, the unannounced price seemed to go up and up every time speculation appeared online. Through no fault of Valve's, it couldn't have picked a worse time to re-enter the home console market.

However, there are some signs that we might see the Steam Machine this year after all, with reports of hardware arriving in the US. Okay, it's not the console itself, but Valve is said to have taken a large delivery of the new Steam Controller it'll ship with (via The Independent). And some suggest it might decide to release at least that element soon.

That'd be great for those, like myself, who have built their own Steam Machines while they wait. I used a Geekom A7 Max Mini PC personally, which runs on Bazzite and plays a very healthy amount of games at 1080p 60fps (even 1440p with some titles) – including Cyberpunk 2077.

I currently use an 8BitDo Ultimate 2 controller with my setup, but would jump at the opportunity to add an official Steam Controller. It would go someway to making my custom Steam Machine feel more like the real thing, giving me touchpads to play with too. And it'd set me up for when Valve finally manages to remove the barriers for its own console's release.

Hopefully, that'll still be in 2026, with Valve itself saying in February that it still planned to ship the Steam Machine, Steam Controller and Steam Frame VR headset in the first half of the year.

Admittedly, that was before the RAM shortages worsened a touch, leading to the brand also running out of Steam Deck stock. But hey, we can but hope.

By releasing the Steam Controller in the coming weeks, at least we can get a hint of what to expect when the full package arrives. And considering the prices of Mini PCs are going down, you might even consider building your own too.

It feels like an age has passed since Sony announced that its prices would be rising pretty much globally across pretty much all the main hardware associated with the PlayStation 5, from the PS5 and PS5 Digital to the PS5 Pro and even the PlayStation Portal.

Tech news progresses at such a pace that there have been plenty of stories since then, but few are bigger than the chunk $100 and £90 price hikes Sony's bringing in with slightly less than a week's notice across its whole lineup. I've already written about how this is objectively terrible news for gamers right now, but there's no escaping the fact that it could also make for a pretty terrible situation for the next console generation.

After all, the PS5 is already five years old, and that normally means it would be time to start wondering when the PS6 might be unveiled. The PS4 lasted for seven years before the PS5 hit the market, and if the PS6 followed that same window, then we'd only be around 18 months away from seeing the console unveiled.

Normally, that would be exciting, and there's no doubt that the hype would build on my side if Sony did drop the news that an unveiling was coming, but there'd be one element that would spell real worry – pricing.

After all, we're now in a situation where the PS5 Pro is going to cost a massive £780 or $900, a nearly unthinkable price just a few years ago, and there's basically no argument that the reason for that price is market forces. Sony isn't willing to sell the console at a loss, and components are now so expensive that it's passing the cost on to customers, rightly or wrongly.

The table of price rises that we've used a few times is still useful for underlining just how big the hikes are around the world:

So, that leads us to a game that's always played in the run-up to any big gaming launch – what will it cost? The PS6 is now likely to launch years into a period of rampant pricing inflation in tech, and it's anyone's guess whether the current demand for memory will have faded away and corrected itself or not.

If it did go back to normal, then you'd assume that Sony would be looking to launch for no more than the £500 mark, one that's traditionally been seen as quite a hard barrier in the minds of most consumers. Now that the PS5 will cost £570 for the foreseeable future, though, it might be more like a £600 mark in reality.

So, if £600 is a more reasonable and likely prediction right now, how does that look to most people in the market? The PS5 was already a somewhat tough sell at launch thanks to a lot of re-releases and cross-generation games, and it would seem the PS6 could well be in for a similar fate.

We've all seen the way graphical leaps have plateaued in the last half-decade, so it would be fascinating to see whether people are willing to countenance that sort of price if they've got a PS5, albeit one that has technically appreciated in value (ridiculously).

My role in tech journalism means I'll always be an early adopter when a new PlayStation rolls around, but £600 would be a steep ask for many of my gaming friends, albeit without knowing at this stage how big the leap in power might be.

Until that's clearer, we'll have to brace ourselves for doom-saying rumours for the next, I'd wager. People smell a story, and the chances of the PS6 having a truly off-putting price clearly just went up quite steeply.

If you're a big fan of retro gaming, and I'm pretty sure a hefty chunk of T3's readership does tick that box, then you've probably already heard of Evercade, which has been making old games accessible in a hardware-first way for years now. Its cartridges are some of the most authentic ways to enjoy classic titles without needing to subscribe to services or jump through extra hoops.

Now it's unveiled its latest handheld, a new way to play its cartridges that looks like clearly its slickest yet – the Evercade Nexus. The device has a pretty familiar design for anyone who's used a gaming handheld in recent years, but with its all-important retro focus and a very reasonable price.

The Nexus is built around a 5.98-inch IPS screen, the biggest in any Evercade handheld yet, but that's actually not the biggest addition this time around. Rather, those laurels go to the twin analogue sticks, which open up a huge world of new games that the system could be great for controlling, since previous Evercade hardware has all been D-pad only.

To honour the new hardware, Evercade is also bringing out a new cartridge that will come bundled with the Nexus, one holding two beloved platformers: Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie. These fantastic Rare-developed games have influenced countless titles since their release, so they're a fairly high-profile addition to the Evercade cabinet of games.

The console should last around five hours on a charge, according to its marketing materials, and also features Wi-Fi 6 for faster downloads of game updates and firmware. It has support for wireless headphones, presumably by Bluetooth, but the good news is that a 3.5mm headphone jack is still there, too.

Pre-orders for the system opened today, and it's priced at £169.99, $199.99 or €199.99 depending on your region, which really isn't too bitter a pill to swallow at a time when the PS5's getting massive price hikes for current-gen gaming. That said, it'll be quite a wait before you can use the Evercade Nexus – it won't ship until October 2026, so you've got some six months to wait.

If you're keen to dive into some childhood favourites or to explore the best that retro gaming has to offer, you can pre-order the Nexus from Funstock right here. The Evercade website can also help you find a regional vendor for the system, if that's easier where you are.

I was in a cafe in the centre of London when I saw Sony's blog post about raising the PS5's price across all models last week. Sometimes a day off coincides with some big news, and there's just nothing you can do about it – but that didn't stop me from basically ignoring a conversation for a few minutes to read the whole post.

Sony's explanations do hold water, to a degree; its arguments about the "continued pressures" in the market, particularly in terms of the steeply rising costs of various components, including all types of memory, are fair enough and are being made by plenty of other tech giants, too.

Still, there's no way this can be spun into anything remotely resembling a positive story – it's a disaster for the console generation, and means that the PS5 will be cemented as the console era in which waiting to buy a console when it's cheaper stopped being something you could even do.

The hikes aren't even negligible from a percentage point of view, adding £90 or $100 basically across the board (ignoring the cheaper Portal as its own separate case). That's huge money, and it's striking that these are the sorts of margins that PlayStation consoles' prices used to fall by once they'd been on the market for half a decade.

It seems like those days are gone, or at least don't seem like they're coming back anytime soon, and it's not too hard to work out the broadest reason for all this happening. Whatever moniker you want to give it, from RAMageddon to the RAMpocalypse, the fact is that we're now a long way into the memory price spikes caused by AI companies driving demand for components.

Sony's not the only corporation to have raised prices on its consoles, and it must be remembered that this isn't even the first PS5 price hike it's brought in. We're years into this process, and it doesn't feel good at all.

At a time when gaming studios seem more fragile than ever, and where big games need to sell millions of copies to stand a chance of breaking even, or attract millions of players to last longer than a few weeks before being shuttered, it underlines the fact that the vibes in gaming aren't so great right now.

Some people might try to spin this as not the worst thing in the world for actual gamers, who can skate above the industry turmoil and just play the games that survive, but it all speaks to a really precipitous situation – and "industry crash" is the sort of phrase getting bandied about more and more in development circles.

Sure, titans like GTA 6 will still come and do genuinely incredible numbers every so often, but with the amount of turmoil going around, and now these price hikes, the actual ceiling of players out there feels like it may start to plateau or stagnate.

None of that worry makes it Sony's fault that the PS5's getting hiked – the blame lies more with the AI bubble and the investors pushing it. Still, it makes 2026 feel like a pretty challenging year for gaming and gamers. Needless to say, if you can buy a PS5 of any description before 2 April, I'd do that.

Sony appears to be working on a new PS5 DualSense controller add-on that lets you use your smartphone as the PS5 console itself.

The idea, in patent concept at least, is to clip a phone to a DualSense controller which interacts with the device to play full-on PS5 games.

This would use a good network connection and stream games, while also allowing developers to use all the phone's hardware as part of the game interaction experience.

If you recognise this, that's because Sony already did it. Yup, this little clip to attach a phone to the controller was introduced back in 2014. The problem then was that even on a Wi-Fi network, streaming didn't work so well. As such it was quietly ignored.

Now, with 5G and enhanced WiFi, plus plenty of experience streaming games, the chance for this to work has returned.

The patent filed shows Sony is looking into using a phone to play games but rather than just mirror, to also let developers use all the touchscreen, motion sensor and hardware features of the handset as part of the gameplay.

Sony already offers the PS Portal, an 8-inch 1080p LCD toting handheld to stream PS5 games over WiFi. Imagine that getting upgraded to any internet connection and using your phone, all you'd need is your controller to continue full-on gaming wherever you are.

Sony files a lot of patents, that never amount to much. But this feels different, grounded in a tested reality and really not that far from becoming a real offering soon.

These are interesting times for OnePlus. Subject to speculation about its future in recent times, it seems the brand is coming out fighting – maybe even pivoting to try something new.

It is claimed that it could soon capitalise on the rapid rise in gaming handhelds by introducing its own. And while it will reportedly run on Android – like the Odin 2 Portal, Retroid Pocket 6 and several other devices – it might also bring something new to the party.

According to renowned leaker Digital Chat Station (via Android Authority), it has been confirmed that a "mobile phone manufacturer" is making an Android handheld with controls designed specifically for first-person shooters.

There will be "multi-finger touch responsiveness," they reveal. And it's a "bit of a Frankenstein's monster". However, the device is also said to feature ultra-high refresh rates.

The manufacturer isn't mentioned, but commenters under the Weibo post claim that it's OnePlus.

There's little else to go on for now – we don't know what will power the device or the screen size, for example – but there's much competition out there already that offers a top notch experience. The AYN Odin 3 runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite, for example, and is capable of very high quality Android and retro gaming up to Switch.

Maybe that's why the control method on this alleged new handheld will be different, to offer a more niche product for specific types of gamers.

Either way, I'm up for OnePlus trying something new, to complement its OnePlus Nord 6 and 15T smartphones coming soon.

It might even find a place in my ever-growing collection. After all, I already have a selection of peculiar devices that I use for specific reasons – what's one more between friends?

Valve has released SteamOS 3.8.0, which introduces a great lineup of new features for handhelds running the Linux-based operating system. It also includes groundwork for the upcoming Steam Machine.

There are some fixes and features that Lenovo Legion Go S owners will particularly welcome, as well as plenty of extras for Steam Deck, of course.

Although I've yet to test the new build myself, I'm hoping that some of the fixes and enhancements (as per the patch notes) should address minor niggles I've had with my own Legion Go S. For starters, I've had a problem outputting 5.1 audio through my Denon amp when docked.

Even in desktop mode, it's not been possible to get 5.1 audio working. However, Valve says that the new software will "detect HDMI channel count and expose surround configuration if available".

There are also graphics driver updates, improved VRR frame pacing, and support for machines running on AMD Z2E architecture. That paves the way for the imminent launch of the Lenovo Legion Go 2 SteamOS edition, as well as other powerful handhelds designed to run on Valve's platform.

SD card reliability has been improved for third-party handhelds, too. While additional support for the Legion Go 2's controllers and LED functionality has been added.

SteamOS is, in my opinion, the best platform for handheld gaming, centring on the games first and foremost. It also runs quicker than Windows 11 equivalents, including the Xbox mode on the Xbox Ally X and Ally.

I even built my own Steam Machine-alike console recently, using Bazzite – a third-party fork of SteamOS – on a mini PC to great effect. You can read all about how I got on here.

I'll also be checking out the new build of SteamOS on my Legion Go S Z1E later, with hope that it'll tweak a few of the small problems I've had.

To get the build ahead of its full release, you need to sign up to the Preview channel, which you can do here: Settings > System > System Update Channel.

SteamOS 3.8.0 is currently a Preview version only, although it shouldn't take long before the full release arrives as well.

When Nintendo worked on the Nintendo Switch 2’s design, it likely expected to settle on one version that it could sell around the world for a few years. At the same time, though, it almost certainly had its eye on the EU, which has been slowly but surely pushing through pro-consumer measures in its market.

We’re all using USB-C iPhones now because of its laws, and the next big step-change is likely to be around batteries, which are going to have to be user-replaceable in the next few years. As a result, Japanese outlet Nikkei is reporting that Nintendo is working on a new battery-replaceable variant of the Switch 2 that it’ll sell in the EU from February 2027, when the legislation requires the change to have been put in place.

This is a big change, of course; while plenty of us (this writer included) grew up with phones that had backs you could pop off, or Game Boys that used AA batteries, there are now probably a couple of generations out there who don’t own any electronic devices that have easily replaceable batteries.

The big question for many of us has been whether this legislation will bring in changes worldwide, or just in the EU, and from the sounds of it, Nintendo is possibly going with the latter option at first. Whereas Apple decided to bring in USB-C for its iPhones worldwide rather than just in the EU, this demonstrates that there are two roads open to big companies.

That said, Nikkei includes in its report the possibility that Nintendo would bring the same battery-replaceable version to Japan, America and other markets (like the UK) if consumer awareness of the possibility starts to rise and makes it worthwhile.

Following that logic through, it basically acknowledges that Nintendo, like Apple, might find itself in a situation where it has to sell a battery-replaceable Switch 2 everywhere, because only selling it in the EU would leave consumers elsewhere fuming that they're being short-changed.

Speaking only for myself, this seems like one of those changes with basically no downside from a user's point of view, and I'd love to get my hands on a more future-proofed Switch 2 with the feature. If the Switch 2's price is unaffected, we're likely just talking about the addition of a few small screws on the back of the console to let you access the battery to replace it.

The big question would be how much a replacement battery pack would cost, but there's every chance that the third-party market on this front could drive prices down nicely, unless Nintendo tries to ensure you need to use only its own replacements.

That's a reminder that there are plenty of unknowns in this story, including when the new variant of the Switch 2 might launch. While the cutoff point is indeed in early 2027, for all we know, Nintendo might want to get in position earlier – meaning the next year should be very interesting for Switch 2 hardware news.

Let's face it, with Xbox already starting to talk about its next-gen console – codenamed Project Helix – we can all be forgiven for thinking it's given up on the Xbox Series X (and Series S, for that matter). But that couldn't be further from the truth.

Indeed, we might have a couple more years to wait before the next machine arrives, so there's plenty more to eke out of the current hardware.

That includes the user experience, which is getting one of its most significant upgrades in more than a year. New Home customisation options have already arrived for Xbox Insiders, and that means they'll be coming to your console soon, too.

One of the big new features is the ability to add more Groups, allowing you to group together selections of games and apps so they're easier for you to find. The method of managing them has also improved, with the reordering of games now working as it does on the home page.

And it's now easier to pin groups to Home in My Games & Apps.

Changing the look of the UI and your homescreen has been made easier too, with the ability to customise the colour scheme. You could previously choose preset colours, buy a colour picker now gives you every hue and shade to select.

Additional Xbox UI changes coming soon

One of the best features added with the current generation consoles was Quick Resume, but sometimes you want to just load a game from scratch – especially if you haven't played it for a while.

That's why Xbox is adding the ability to disable Quick Resume on a game-by-game basis.

And those who collect Profile Badges will be pleased to learn that you see your own or other players' top five Profile Badges when viewing a profile in the Guide.

There's no word yet on when the new system software will get a wider rollout, but if you want to check them out for yourself, you should enrol to be an Xbox Insider and see if the option to trial them is available.

The PlayStation Portal has come on leaps and bounds since its launch in 2023. No longer just a streaming companion to the PS5 (and PS5 Pro), it can stream games in its own right as long as you are a PS Plus Premium member.

Now a new update has landed and it makes it better still. That stunning display can finally be used at its max, with higher resolution streaming now available.

From today, 18 March, an system software update is rolling out globally that adds a new 1080p High Quality mode for remote play (streaming from your own PS5) and cloud streaming via PS Plus Premium.

This gives you a higher bitrate to make games look better when you have a stronger wireless connection.

The Portal has always been capable of 1080p streaming, but with some picture compromises to keep the performance stable. This new mode improves the video quality at the cost of using more data.

It's available as an option, so should you need to use mobile data or find yourself on shonky hotel Wi-Fi, for example, you can drop the resolution mode. You still get access to 1080p Standard and even 720p to ensure games run smoothly.

However, if you have a half decent connection, the 1080p High Quality mode is there to switch things back up again.

You can find the new setting in Quick Menu > Max Resolution. Just restart your streaming session after swapping the mode and away you go.

Wait, there's more?

In addition to 1080p High Quality, the new PS Portal update adds improved product detail pages to game bundles, better notifications for game invites, enhanced Trophy notifications, and an improved search screen.

It's also easier for new Portal owners to set up their account and device, with a new onboarding system.

The PlayStation Portal has really improved in the last few months and has become an essential accessory for PS5 and PS5 Pro owners. Its streaming is almost latency free, especially when playing on your home Wi-Fi, and the list of games available to stream over the cloud is growing rapidly.

There are now more than 3,000 games available to access via cloud streaming, either from your own digital library or via the PS Plus catalogue.

Sony has never really had ambitions to take on the likes of Xbox Cloud Gaming or Nvidia GeForce Now, but its service for PlayStation Portal owners is at an all time high.

Having recently built my dream retro games console from a mini PC, I decided to up my ambitions somewhat for the next project and tackle something else I'd planned for a month or so.

Considering the rumours of Valve's Steam Machine being delayed due to the ongoing RAM and storage shortages – and a possible hike in price – I had decided to build my own Steam Machine-alike console. Keeping it as affordable as possible in the process.

I wanted a neat, home console to complement the Lenovo Legion Go S Z1 Extreme I bought last Black Friday. A HDMI dock works fine with the SteamOS version of the handheld, but it's not particularly elegant for a living room experience.

I've also been having issues getting 5.1 sound out of the Lenovo through a dock (which is something others have struggled with too), so I thought a separate solution could work better.

And, because both the handheld and console would run on SteamOS, I could share save files between them (via Steam's cloud saves). That way, no matter where I was, I would be able to pick up and play my games from where I left off.

That's partly why I decided a regular Windows PC wouldn't do as a dedicated home console, that and the faff of waiting for Windows to boot before loading into Steam Big Picture. Oh, and don't get me started on having to input my PIN each time I switched the machine on.

All I needed then was a highly capable mini PC, and a reasonably priced one at that.

Choosing the Geekom A7 Max

That's where the Geekom A7 Max came in. It's a Ryzen 9 PC in a small aluminium case, with decent cooling and a cheap enough price point (under £600 in recent sales). I had been sent one for review (which this is, of sorts) and while I was a little concerned that its 16GB of DDR5 (5600MHz) RAM was a single-stick solution, it ticked the rest of the right boxes.

Admittedly, it comes with Windows 11 Pro from the box and is primarily designed for creativity and productivity, as a Mac mini alternative, but with a powerful AMD chipset, it is perfectly compatible with Bazzite, too.

That's a third-party Linux fork of SteamOS that enables desktop computers to work like a Steam Deck (or Legion Go S), and is therefore the perfect operating system for this build.

It might not be everyone's cup of tea, as it effectively eliminates any chance of using the A7 Max with Photoshop or Premiere (both of which run superbly as is), but it does make the mini PC a games-focused Steam Machine alternative.

The only additional thing I decided – after running some initial 3D benchmark tests on Windows – is to up the amount of RAM to 32GB. By including an additional 16GB of DDR5 (5600MHz), which cost me around £160 extra, I could ensure games ran better.

While the single stick performed capably with everyday and creative tasks, it just wasn't going to give me the results I needed for games. Indeed, in tests before I added the extra RAM, I could just about play the beefier titles at around 1080p at 30 frames per second, or I'd have to radically drop the resolution to 720p or even lower.

By adding the additional 16GB though, there was a significant jump in the A7 Max's gaming performance without having to alter the integrated graphics or CPU – by around 70 - 80%, in fact. That's a massive leap.

The upgrade doesn't matter as much if you'll mostly play lighter indie games, such as Megabonk and Dave the Diver. Or if you plan to use the Geekom A7 Max as a desktop workhorse, more than a gaming-centric device. But, to get the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 and Dead Island 2 in anything like a playable frame rate at 1080p, you'll need that extra stick of RAM for sure.

Tweaking the Geekom A7 Max

It's also worth noting at this stage that upgrading the Geekom A7 Max is a little tricky. That's thanks to the Wi-Fi 6E antenna(s) being housed on the bottom casing and connected to the motherboard via a couple of thin cables. They can easily work loose if you're not extra careful. But even though I knew this might be fiddly, I still banjaxed myself by accidentally detaching them.

Adding the extra RAM itself was a doddle – it slid straight into the spare slot – but reattaching those darn cables took a while (and a lot of swearing).

It was very much worth it though, considering the boost in performance. And if you manage to keep the cables attached during the process (unlike me), it won't even take that long.

You just have to unscrew the four screws – one under each of the rubber feet – and that's about it. Just be very gentle when you remove the bottom.

One reconstructed, I decided to take additional 3DMark bench tests while I was still running Windows 11 Pro (3DMark doesn't yet support SteamOS), and then it was onto installing Bazzite.

Why choose Bazzite?

There is currently no dedicated build of SteamOS available for desktop PCs, but Bazzite is a perfect alternative. It provides the full Big Picture experience and plenty of wriggle room for adapting the back end.

You can also install a wide variety of apps and other tools to improve the UI – including EmuDeck to help integrate all of your emulators and classic games, and Heroic Games Launcher to add your GOG, Epic Games Store, and Amazon Prime libraries.

It will wipe the Windows 11 Pro installation from your internal SSD, so it's best to back up the machine first, but the benefit is a more console-like experience that boots straight into Big Picture and gets you up and running with your games much more quickly.

You can install it on an external drive instead, then change bios to boot from there, but it's not really recommended. It doesn't work well from a HDD, and even an external SSD could slow down the process.

I found it was better to install Bazzite on the internal SSD (1TB in this case) and leave the rest of the storage for Steam games (or from your other PC libraries). I then added an external HDD which I used for a selection of classics to emulate.

Thankfully, it's very simple to install and get up and running. You just need to flash the software to a spare USB drive using a PC or Mac, then boot from it on the mini PC. It will guide you through everything else.

For me, the benefits of using Bazzite are ease-of-use and speed. I also believe many games run better, even though the majority are operating through a Linux compatibility layer (generally Proton). For example, I spent a while tweaking Cyberpunk 2077 when running it through Windows on the Geekom A7 Max, but found I got a more stable performance using the Steam front-end.

In terms of capability, with the two sticks of DDR5 RAM running, I managed to get impressive results out of many games – but mostly when playing them at 1080p., maybe even a little lower.

For example, I managed to play the aforementioned Cyberpunk 2077 at 900p with ray traced shadows turned on and with "medium" graphics at around 65 fps. That's with AMD FSR4 set to balanced and FSR frame generation switched on.

It provided a comparable experience to playing it on an Xbox Series X, albeit with the bonus of a higher frame rate and ray traced shadows at the same time.

The resolution takes a hit (in comparison with the Xbox or a PS5), but I'd rather have the smoother play and some ray tracing support. Ditch ray tracing and you can get more fidelity and even higher fps still.

Also, considering the game was a PC killer just a few years ago, it's a miracle it runs on a mini PC with integrated graphics anyway, let alone well.

I didn't have many other modern AAA titles to test, but some older big name titles looked stunning. It's probably a given that many of my indie favourites did too, like Hades II and Hollow Knight: Silksong.

Each played at a solid 120 frames per second, although one caveat is that the TV I was using – an older 65-inch Philips OLED – was only capable of 120Hz at 1080p (and 60Hz at 4K). They could have run with even higher frame rates on a gaming monitor, I expect.

I also tested all manner of retro ROMs through the Bazzite build with EmuDeck installed, including PS3 and Nintendo Switch. And most were more than happy to run in 60fps, including Infamous and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Even trickier titles, like Bayonetta 3, ran well.

Basically, if you're happy to make some graphical concessions and max out at 1080p, the Geekom A7 Max can be a very capable games machine. But only if you add that additional RAM.

Plenty of connections

Also handy were the swathe of connections on offer. The Geekom A7 Max offers a suite of in/outputs, including five USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports on the front, two USB-C 4.0 ports, a USB-A 2.0, two HDMI 2.0 outs, a 3.5mm headphone jack, two 2.5Gbps Ethernet ports, and an SD card slot. There's also a Kensington Lock for security.

There's Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth on board too.

It's an impressive array for a relatively small device, although there is one caveat to its form factor – the internal fan can get a little overenthusiastic at times.

The A7 Max has a base TDP of 356W but is actually capable of raising to 54W when it needs. It'll adapt automatically (there's no obvious way of setting it manually in bios), so you will often hear the fan whirring around while playing a game. In fact, most tasks are met by some fan noise – but it does get louder with some of the more intensive titles.

This can't really be helped considering the compact size of the mini PC and in all honesty it doesn't sound that bad when you get used to it. Just don't expect PS5 or Xbox Series X levels, more PS4 Pro.

Other than that, with Bazzite fully up and running (and tweaked through app add-ons), and my favourite PC controller wirelessly connected via its dock (the 8BitDo Ultimate 2) I can honestly say I achieved the goal I set myself. And the Geekom rose to the challenge.

In conclusion

Of course, although we're not yet sure of the final specifications for Valve's official Steam Machine, it's highly likely that it'll be more powerful than the one I built. And I might not have actually saved much money either, considering I added the extra 16GB of RAM at a time when prices are at an all-time high.

But the big advantage of this project is that it proves the convenience of a Steam Machine is already possible. And a living room-friendly mini PC makes for an ideal 1080p games console.

There are even beefier models out there with extra graphical prowess if you want to spend a bit more. But for me, the Geekom A7 Max – with a little additional coaxing – proved an ideal gaming option.

So much so, in fact, that I've barely even played on my PS5 Pro since completing the build. I've been too busy catching up with my Steam library on the big screen. Well, until I think of another project I can get my teeth into, anyway.

From the moment the Switch 2 was announced, we knew that it would have full backward compatibility with almost every Switch 1 game – the only exception being some with peripherals that wouldn't work. That made me instantly predict it would be the best games console ever, with an unparalleled library, and a new surprise software update from Nintendo just made me feel even better about that label.

In the latest firmware update for the Switch 2 (version 22.0.0), Nintendo added a surprise new toggle in the Switch 2's settings, called Handheld Mode Boost. Put simply, this forces every Switch 1 game that you run on the Switch 2 in handheld mode to use the same settings the game would have used on a Switch 1 when docked.

In hundreds of cases, that means a boost to the game's performance, since most Switch 1 games ran better or got sharper when run in docked mode compared to handheld mode, unthrottling the hardware.

So, for example, games like Nier: Automata ran at 720p on the Switch 1 in handheld mode, but at 1080p in docked mode. Now, when you play them in handheld mode on the Switch 2, they'll default to the latter, sharper mode, and since the Switch 2 is significantly more powerful, there shouldn't be any performance downside.

That's massive, and I don't think it can really be overstated. While it's still probably optimal if a developer can release a proper Switch 2 patch to really unlock its games on the newer console, Nintendo's basically just given us all the option of giving brute-forced Switch 2 patches for every game on the Switch 1.

Even some of its own games will benefit hugely – Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a great example, and it'll be way sharper visually with the new toggle. If you've got any Switch 1 games in your backlog waiting, then you just got a very good reason to check them out anew.

If you're curious, here's how Nintendo says you can enable the new setting once you have the latest software update downloaded and applied:

• Select System Settings on the HOME Menu.
• Scroll down through the System Settings menu and select System.
• Scroll down on the right and select Nintendo Switch Software Handling.
• Select Handheld Mode Boost to enable or disable this setting.

There are also a couple of small caveats from Nintendo that I think are worth highlighting:

• Because this option forces TV mode operation, some instructions may be incorrect or fail to operate correctly.
• Handheld Mode Boost may prevent Nintendo Switch software from using the system's touch screen, and will cause attached Joy-Con 2 controllers to be treated as a Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller.

Those are both worth knowing about, but don't change the fact that this is a massive surprise upgrade for the Switch 2's backward compatibility, and a bit of a dream scenario for those of us who've upgraded.