As we await body-melting temperatures across the UK this week, let's take a moment to think of our poor overheating tech!

After my colleague described his PlayStation 5 Pro as "sounding like a dying asthmatic cat," it got me thinking about how I can save my console from also getting cooked.

Part of that will come down to cleaning your PlayStation – dust is your biggest enemy, which builds up en masse – but I've also just learnt about various cooling accessories for Sony's console.

So the UK heatwave can be damned, as I'm going to bag one of these beauties to keep my console running. As I also use it for apps on the big screen, including YouTube, it's not just to the benefit of my gaming.

I am, however, keeping in mind that Amazon Prime Day does begin on Tuesday 23 June, which presents a strong change of greater discounts.

Indeed, when looking over the price history – one of my top tips, per 7 Mistakes Everyone Makes With Amazon Prime Day – there are typically discounts, so I may wait one day longer to see if that shifts.

Beyond the Kiwihome option there are plenty of other solutions out there, too, as you can see an example of below:

Again, pricing has fluctuated in the recent past. Indeed, mere days ago this product was a little less – so I'd be inclined to await Amazon Prime Day kicking off proper first of all.

I'd best add some factor 50 sunscreen to my basket whilst I'm at it, as this week's heatwave is going to be an absolute scorcher – so also a good excuse to catch some rays.

We've waited 13 years for a new Grand Theft Auto game and will have to wait a few months more, but the game is nearing its final stretch. Pre-orders for GTA VI will start on Thursday, 25 June 2026, with the chance to secure both the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S editions.

Although there's no confirmation as yet, we expect that to be for the physical and digital versions of the game, from multiple retailers and the PlayStation and Xbox stores respectively. And we also expect it to be a busy time, as even the 30 second pre-order date announcement and cover art video has been watched over 10 million times on YouTube alone.

As well as the chance to order the hottest game on the planet, we'll also find out the price, at last. And hopefully we'll also have final confirmation that there will be no more release delays.

So here's everything you need to know about the Grand Theft Auto VI pre-order launch – including rumoured pricing and possible stockists.

Grand Theft Auto VI release date – when can I play it?

GTA 6 will be available from 19 November 2026 for PS5, PS5 Pro, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. Pre-orders, as we've mentioned above, start on Thursday 25 June 2026.

There's currently no time mentioned on when the stores will start to accept pre-orders, but traditionally PlayStation and Xbox's digital storefronts work on US West Coast timing – so you might have to wait until later in the day if you are in the UK or Europe, for example.

Grand Theft Auto VI pricing details – how much will it cost?

Although we are yet to have official confirmation on the price of GTA 6, there have been a number of rumours over the last year. Some analysts have suggested that it could retail for as high as $100 for the standard game.

That would be considerably higher than most AAA games today, which generally retail for $59.99 to $69.99. And, if you take into account the like for like pricing structure of Sony and Microsoft, with top-tier games costing £59.99 to £69.99 in the UK, £100 sounds even more expensive.

However, some have suggested that while millions of gamers would pay anything for a new GTA, that figure might be a little exaggerated. At worst, we're expecting the standard disc or digital copy to retail for $79.99 / £79.99.

Grand Theft Auto VI on Xbox Game Pass and PS Plus – will it be free to subscribers?

As far as we know, there are no plans to launch Grand Theft Auto VI on either Xbox Game Pass or PS Plus, for any members.

GTA V has appeared on both services over the years – as have other Rockstar games – but only after they've been available to buy for a considerable period.

If you do want to play GTA 6 at launch – and likely the year or so after – you'll have to buy it.

Grand Theft Auto VI pre-order stores – where can I order it?

It's hard to specifically nail down Rockstar Games and Take Two's plans for the game's rollout – after all, Grand Theft Auto V first launched in 2013 for the PS3 and Xbox 360, and so physical media was the dominant format.

And while there is still a healthy market for disc copies, it is likely the vast majority of pre-orders will be made on the PlayStation Store or Xbox Store. Indeed, you can wishlist the game on each already.

We also fully expect the major retailers to stock the game – such as Amazon, Game, and GameStop in the US.

We'll update you when we have more details and locations.

What we don't expect to be quite as popular as prior GTA releases is pre-ordering in a physical store, although that will likely be an option too.

Grand Theft Auto VI formats – will there be a PC or Nintendo Switch 2 version?

Rockstar Games has given no indication on whether it plans to release a Nintendo Switch 2 version of GTA 6 somewhere down the line. However, it would be highly unusual if it didn't introduce the game for PC eventually.

There's no date or announcement as yet, but the studio generally adds a Windows edition a year or two after its console releases. We therefore fully expect an enhanced, PC Grand Theft Auto VI at the tail end of 2027.

Grand Theft Auto VI – the hidden trailer

One last thing, although the cover art trailer didn't include any gameplay or cutscene footage, there is a new clip sneakily hidden on the Rockstar Games website.

You can see it on the page if you scroll down, with the mouse scroll wheel making an animated vista move. Here you can see a brief pan backwards through Vice City as the sun is setting.

This has lead to Digital Foundry suggesting that ray tracing support seems to be in the game. There's little more than that for now, but maybe we'll be treated with a more extensive trailer on pre-order day.

If you've ever played a great racing game, whether it's more welcoming like Forza Horizon 6 or a more simulation-style title, you've probably wondered if you'd have more fun with a proper racing wheel. It's definitely one of the biggest and most immediate upgrades you can add to your gaming setup, if you're willing to spend the extra money compared to a simple controller.

You'll get way more control over what you're doing in-game, but also a lot more immersion to go with that – it can take your lap times to the next level, but also make it more fun and challenging, if you like.

The downside is normally that good racing wheels are quite expensive, but Prime Day starts tomorrow, and there's an excellent set of discounts live on Logitech gear right now, including the racing wheel and pedals combo that you'll find below.

The best part of this set of deals is that it's on the very latest version of Logitech's racing wheel, which has looked the same over the years but has been given some small and telling upgrades. The G923 is the newest, and it adds better force feedback to make it quite something in the hands when you're driving.

You'll get feedback that really reacts to the road you're racing on, and it'll help you control things even more accurately, making this the version to buy rather than the older G29.

Don't be surprised if this goes out of stock fairly soon, too – it'll be popular, so if you want a great Prime Day deal, you might want to jump on it.

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, I've found one unbelievable deal in the UK already that you don't even need to wait for.

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 pre-Prime Day deal is a no-brainer.

Last week, we revealed a couple of reasons why Valve could finally announce its pre-order phase for the Steam Machine in the coming days. And we also understand that it could even be as soon as today.

One of those was because we received a heads-up from accessory maker Dbrand about its first, dedicated Steam Machine case. Launched today, Monday 22 June, the Companion Cube resembles the in-game block from Valve's Portal and is a natural fit for the cubed Steam Machine console.

You basically pop your Steam Machine inside it and it does the same as its popular inspiration – pretty much nothing, except sit there. If you do happen to have a pressure switch in your home, you could use it to activate something, but other than that, it's purely aesthetic.

It does come with a removable front, though, and a strip where you can see the Steam Machine's LED lightbar. It also allows for air to flow through, to passively keep your console cool.

Each Dbrand Companion Cube also comes with a Test Chamber-themed skin for the Steam Controller, and a Super Button stand that doesn't actually do anything but looks good.

The bundle costs $129.95 (just shy of £100), which includes a themed "collector's" box, but if you want to save some cash, a "Poverty Cube" version is also available to order which arrives in a plain cardboard box instead.

As Dbrand says it's for those "who truly broke the bank on their Steam Machine purchase", suggesting we'll soon find out the true cost of the new console.

The Steam Machine Companion Cube will ship from July with pre-orders being taken now. The Poverty Cube edition will ship from October, priced at $99.95.

As for the Steam Machine itself, considering the accessories are now starting to appear (and Dbrand's own announcement is now public), it is only a matter of time before Valve reveals all about its own pre-orders, shipping dates, and perhaps most importantly, price.

We'll update you the moment we find out more.

Capcom is on a generational run right now, something that was evident even back when Monster Hunter Wilds came out, let alone Resident Evil Requiem or Pragmata. It can't seem to release a bad game, but it seems it's not just new releases that are showcasing its strengths at the moment.

This week, it's adding another excellent port to its ever-expanding Switch 2 lineup, in the form of Devil May Cry 5: Devil Hunter Edition, a complete collection of Devil May Cry 5 with its various additional content slices, costumes and customisation options. It's one heck of a package, and it gets ahead even further by coming in at just £34.99 in the UK and $39.99. Some early deals are bringing that down further if you're a quick buyer, too.

That's a compelling price (or perhaps it's more that it would just be quite frustrating to charge more for a game that's now pretty old), but the clincher for Capcom is that the game performs really well. I've had access to it for a few days now, and while I can't claim to have played through the entire story again, I've tested enough to be really impressed by the port.

Not having checked out much about it pre-release, I wasn't sure what to expect in performance terms, but there's no way around the fact that this sort of hack-and-slash classic is really only to be played at 60fps or better. Dropping down below that would immediately compromise the action, so the good news is that Capcom has managed to bring 60fps to both docked and portable play.

This means that whether you're on a train or your sofa you can play it without it feeling like a major compromise compared to the versions that have been out on other platforms for years. Plus, while the visual downgrade can't really be argued with compared to the PS5 version, for instance, it's still not as harsh as I worried it might be.

In fact, the comparison I couldn't stop making in my head was to Bayonetta 3, which I played on the original Switch when it came out in 2022. Putting art styles and direction aside, when you put the visual fidelity of that game, even with the newer boost mode making it sharper, it looks terrible compared to this version of DMC 5.

That shows how far we've come in terms of power, and really makes me curious to see what could be cooked up for Bayonetta 4, but also for the next Devil May Cry game, getting back to Capcom. It's already demonstrated a commitment to Switch 2 releases that still feel great to play, even if they're not as pretty as on other consoles or PC.

So, when this series eventually gets the blockbuster new entry that it surely deserves at this point, I'd say we're highly likely to get a great port on Switch 2 at release. Whether that game can also manage 60fps will be potentially more curious, but on this evidence it looks like Capcom knows what it has to do to make a genuinely compelling portable version.

In the gaming headset stakes, Turtle Beach is an established name. It's one of the longest-standing brands in the market, and particularly in the US there was a time when it felt like basically anyone with a third-party headset had a Turtle Beach one.

That's changed a lot, though, and the best gaming headsets now come from a more diverse pool of brands. Still, Turtle Beach is clearly trying to move with the times, and the Stealth Pro II demonstrates that with a spiffy new design and premium price.

I've been using one for a couple of weeks to see if Turtle Beach's flagship can live up to the billing. Here's what I make of it – the good and the bad.

Price and Availability

The Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II is available now in most regions and comes with an undeniably punchy price tag attached. In the UK, it's £299.99, in the USA that's $349.99, while in Australia it's AU$549.95. No matter how you spin it, that's pricey.

For only a little more money you could have my top recommendation in this device category, the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni, which boasts very similar features – so Turtle Beach is undercutting that slightly, while clearly trying to fight for the same ground.

One important note – like many others, there are two versions of the Stealth Pro II on sale. One is seemingly standard and works on PC, Switch consoles and PlayStation. The other has Xbox in the name and adds compatibility with Microsoft's consoles at no extra cost. So, if you're going to buy one, make sure it's the Xbox one for maximum compatibility and no downsides.

Design and Features

I've tested Turtle Beach headsets for well over half a decade at this point, and I've consistently marked them down for mediocre designs and ergonomics. They've often been very sensibly priced, but generally felt plasticky and cheap, which is something the Stealth Pro II completely fixes.

It has a sleek new design that's way more futuristic than past generations, and has a really lovely look, whether you pick it up in the white version or black. Each earcup is really big and spacious, and on the outside it has a metallic plate with the Turtle Beach logo.

One of these earcups can be pried off to reveal the replaceable battery pack, but the other is fixed. On the left earcup, you'll find a button to swap between audio modes, a dial for master volume, another for game/chat balance, a USB-C charging port as a backup, and a power button.

The microphone comes out of the same left earcup and is removable if you don't want to use it. It can flip up out of your way when not in use, too. The right earcup, meanwhile, holds a microphone gain dial, a device-switching button, and a Bluetooth pairing button.

Each earcup is secured to a slim metal arm that joins up to the headband, and each can telescope for adjustment. The headband itself is sturdy plastic, with a section of woven stretchy mesh at the top. This is clearly intended to soften how the headset sits on your head, but I didn't find that it worked too well.

Wearing the headset for a few hours, I found that the top of my head did ache a little, which isn't a great sign, especially since its weight of 393g isn't all that substantial. My gold standard comfort-wise remains SteelSeries' suspended headband system, and this falls quite a way short of that, even if it looks really slick.

The Stealth Pro II comes with a base station that holds a battery on standby to swap out when your headset runs low. Swapping them is fairly easy, and you get around 40 hours from each. It's a great system, cribbed shamelessly from SteelSeries, and means you never really need to think about charging.

That base station connects to your console or PC by a USB cable, but curiously, this is where Turtle Beach takes a new approach. Rather than having multiple wired inputs that you can swap between to manage more than one device, you instead get another, traditional and small USB dongle in the box. This adds a second device to the headset's connection options, and you can swap between devices on the headset itself.

I'll be honest, this system is a mixed bag. In some ways, it can look really flexible since you can have devices that aren't next to each other paired to the same headset. In practice, though, most of my gaming happens at my desk, and this just became a more inconvenient way to swap devices, and with more dongles coming in at £30 / $25, I'm not convinced this is great for most people.

If it would suit your setup, though, it could be a boon instead of a detriment – that's going to be a personal situation. What's more universally solid is the audio suite on offer here. The headset uses 60mm drivers to provide its sound, and comes with active noise-cancelling (ANC) to help cocoon you too.

Finally, the headset comes with a hard case for storage and packing, although it's worth knowing that this case is massive. It's flat and has slots for the transmitter, headset, microphone and cables, and that makes it a beast, albeit one that I'm still glad comes at no extra cost.

Sound and Performance

The blend of features that Turtle Beach has stuffed into the Stealth Pro II is quite an interesting one, then, and its redesign is better visually than in comfort terms, but how does the headset perform from a sound and connectivity standpoint?

Well, in terms of gaming immersion and clarity it does very well. I've used the Stealth Pro II in a range of games, from Forza Horizon 6 to Battlefield 6, and have found it an adaptable and reliable performer in all of them. In shooters I've been able to locate footsteps and gunshots easily, while single-player games have been immersive and three-dimensional.

The headset is a little quieter than I'd expected, so you might find yourself dialling it up a bit, but that's not something that matters given its loudness ceiling goes really high. I've also been extremely impressed by its microphone, which is really clear and doesn't suffer from much muffling or fuzziness – an otherwise typical bugbear in the headset world.

Its ANC is also very solid, with a clear difference made if there's background noise (whether it's a washing machine, a roommate, or traffic noise). Similarly, connectivity has been rock-solid, and when I've been connected to the main transmitter it's been exemplary, with a range that can easily stretch to a few rooms' distance if you need.

That said, the nature of the connection system that Turtle Beach has designed does mean that it's less immediately flexible than something like the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Omni, but it's similarly easy to customise the Stealth Pro II. On PC the Swarm 2 software is slick and simple, while console gamers can use a mobile app when connected to their phone by Bluetooth.

Verdict

The Stealth Pro 2 is a great step forward for Turtle Beach, showing that the brand can compete in design terms and make sleeker, more modern headsets.

That makes it all the more painful that its design also brings a flaw that holds it back – a headband that I found uncomfortable to wear for more than a couple of hours.

That'll be partly down to my head shape, and I can't know whether others will find it more comfortable, but it makes me feel people should try the headset on if they can before buying it.

Aside from that, though, the sound quality on offer is excellent, the ANC is better than before, and connectivity could be perfect for some disparate gaming setups. That makes the Turtle Beach flagship feel like a winner in many areas.

Also consider

My favourite gaming headset has already got a couple of mentions in this review, and it's the clear upgrade on the Stealth Pro II at the moment – the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni. It has all the same features, but I prefer how it handles multi-device swapping, and it's incomparably more comfortable.

Another more comfortable alternative with fewer features but equally excellent sound is the Sony Inzone H9 II. It's almost unbelievably light and has great precision, while stripping things back for a simpler experience.

The Nintendo Switch 2 has just celebrated its first birthday, and the console has already amassed an eclectic library of must-play games.

But what’s next? Last week, Nintendo put out a near hour-long Nintendo Direct presentation that was designed to tell us just that. Mario is still conspicuously absent, but there’s plenty to get excited about while we wait for the plumber’s triumphant return.

My Switch 2 wishlist is growing all the time, but here are three standouts on the upcoming release slate.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

This really should have been the mother of all surprise reveals. A rare internet-breaker. Sadly though, it was leaked several months ago so everyone and their grandma already knew it was coming.

Still, to see Nintendo itself actually confirm that a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is not only coming to Switch 2, but coming this year, was a bit of a thrill.

Unfortunately, the Japanese gaming giant confirmed little else. We heard some familiar Zelda motifs and watched an admittedly charming patchwork setup of the seminal N64 game’s story.

We also got a very brief glimpse at the fairyless child Link sleeping on a bed of straw. But that’s it. After several months of speculation and hype, Nintendo opted not to give us even a millisecond of gameplay, meaning we don’t yet know exactly what kind of remake this is.

Ocarina of Time has of course been remade before, for the 3DS in 2011, which is now widely accepted to be the definitive version of the game. So why do it again?

The Switch 2 version could just be a 1:1 remake of the original with much shinier graphics and improved gameplay. But in a post-Breath of the Wild world, would Nintendo go back to the old style of 3D Zelda games without modernising the experience in some way?

We don’t yet know the answers to these questions, and as annoying as that is, it is quite fun to wonder for a bit longer.

Star Fox

The Star Fox series is one of Nintendo’s IP misfits. Unlike Mario, Zelda and Kirby, which have all had countless entries, Star Fox tends to go years – in this latest case a decade – without new entries. And most of the games it does have are just remakes of Star Fox 64, the only near universally beloved one.

Hilariously, the upcoming Switch 2 game, just called Star Fox, is also a remake of the N64 entry. It's a now incredibly old-fashioned rail shooter about an anthropomorphic fox pilot on a mission to save the Lylat System with his mercenary animal friends.

You can blast through the campaign in less than an hour, and the whole point is that you play it again and again to discover new routes and improve your score.

How well this decidedly arcade-inspired experience will go down with a new audience in 2026 remains to be seen, but here’s the thing: Star Fox 64 remains a fantastic game, maybe the best of its kind, and the Switch 2 remake looks like the ultimate version of it.

We’re going to see the game in high definition for the first time, with much higher production values and new cutscenes. And after Fox McCloud’s cameo in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, we might be about to enter a golden era for the franchise.

If it begins by re-experiencing his best adventure with shiny new graphics and glorious 4K fur, then so be it.

Nintendo Switch Sports Resort

I’ve had a soft spot for Nintendo’s motion-controlled sports games ever since I took a fiver off my dad for beating him at Wii Sports golf one Christmas. Good times.

The series is making its Switch 2 debut later this year in Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, a collection of 12 new and returning sports to thrash your relatives at.

Taking us back to Wuhu Island, the iconic setting from 2009’s Wii Sports Resort, Nintendo Switch Sports Resort looks like more of the same, but that’s no bad thing.

Thanks to their built-in sensors, your detached Joy-Con controllers once again become rackets, boxing gloves and golf clubs in accessible sporting contests you can play solo or against others.

Classic sports like tennis and bowling are enduring crowd-pleasers, but it’s new additions like skateboarding and thumb wrestling that have caught my eye. Nintendo seems to be particularly excited about the latter, if the amount of time it reserved for demonstrating it during the game’s reveal is anything to go by.

My only gripe with Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is that we have to wait until late October to play it, with Wuhu Island being the perfect virtual summer getaway.

There have been several recent rumours suggesting Grand Theft Auto VI would be delayed again, but yesterday Rockstar and Take Two responded in the best way possible.

Still scheduled for release on 19 November 2026, we have also got a date for when GTA 6 pre-orders open.

You will be able to place your order for the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S game on 25 June 2026 – just under a week away.

There's still no word on a PC or Steam version, but the pre-order reveal suggests that everything is on track for consoles in November.

The date was also accompanied by the cover art – revealed in a YouTube video for the first time.

There are no further glimpses at gameplay or cutscenes – the most current trailer was posted a year ago – but that will surely come soon, too. Maybe we'll see something new as ordering starts (as if the hype machine wasn't already at a frenzy).

Importantly, we'll also find out the price of GTA 6. Many have expected it to be one of the most expensive game releases of all time, with rumours suggesting it could be anywhere between $80 and $100 (up to £75) for the standard edition.

It's highly likely that there will be special edition and/or collectable versions too, and they'll cost more. However, that's not exactly new for the games industry today, and many games already ask steep prices for extra DLC skins and content.

Either way, this is a vital step in the release for a sequel 13 years in the making.

We'll update you when we find out any further details, but until then mark next Thursday in your diary.

Video game showcase season has been and gone, and we now have a pretty good idea about what we’re going to be playing for the (ominously stacked) rest of 2026 and beyond.

The recent Xbox Games Showcase was a mix of big-hitting first-party titles we already knew about and some fun surprises, and with this year marking 25 years of the Xbox brand, Microsoft had to deliver.

It’s fair to say Game Pass subscribers are going to be very busy in the next 12 months or so, and the three games I’m most looking forward to playing on my Xbox Series X will all be on the service from day one.

Fable

A recent delay into early 2027 hasn’t dampened my enthusiasm for our long-awaited return to Albion.

This reboot of the cult favourite Xbox RPG series is being developed by Playground Games, the team behind the excellent Forza Horizon series, which has already proved that it knows how to build amazing open-world environments.

A fantasy RPG is obviously a big departure from racing shiny supercars around real-world locations, but everything we’ve seen so far suggests this uniquely British series is in good hands with the Leamington Spa-based studio.

In last week’s Xbox showcase we saw some new gameplay footage, and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning’s Hayley Atwell was the latest cast reveal. She brings to life Isabel, the Hero of Wraithmarsh, and joins the likes of Matt King, Richard Ayoade and Natasia Demetriou in a game that looks certain to delight sitcom fans.

The trailer also teased the return of Jack of Blades, the iconic villain of the original Fable, whose role Playground is keeping quiet about for now. I’ve seen more than enough of the game’s combat and faithfully foul-mouthed language to know I will be playing it on day one next year.

Gears of War: E-Day

Microsoft appears to have done a bit of a 180 on its feelings towards exclusivity recently. This time last year, you might have been planning to wait for the inevitable PS5 Pro version of Gears of War: E-Day to see the game running at its gloriest, goriest best, but it sounds like Xbox is going to be the only place you can play it on console now.

Luckily, having seen the game in action, I’m more than happy to fire up my Series X for this one.

As someone who hasn’t really kept up with the Gears of War series since the Xbox 360 days, I’m happy that E-Day is a prequel. Set 14 years before the events of the first game, it won’t require me to play through every entry to date to know what’s going on, and I like the idea of experiencing Emergence Day, which is when the Locust Horde first emerged from the ground and launched its attack on humanity.

We play as a younger Marcus Fenix, with the game setting up his bond with Dominic Santiago that plays such a key role in later entries.

As you’d expect from a Gears game, it’s brutal and bloody stuff, and Unreal Engine 5 should make the series’ trademark cover-based shooting – now with added mobility – feel fresh again.

Vivarium

Xbox showcases are typically dominated by headshots and explosions, and as you can see from my previous pick, I’m all for that. But I’m also always looking for something to balance out all the uber-violence, and Vivarium fills that slot perfectly.

It’s a non-linear slice-of-life adventure in which you play as a child named Jenny who lives in a small town inside a terrarium.

There seems to be some sort of mystery surrounding this idyllic “pocket world” and you will apparently unravel it through the choices you make in the game. That is, if you can drag yourself away from tending to your garden and expanding your enviable vinyl collection.

There’s also an Animal Crossing-style real-life calendar system at play, so in-game days only end when yours do.

I’ve got two paragraphs in without even mentioning the most striking aspect of Vivarium, which is undoubtedly its stunning 90s anime-inspired visuals. Entirely hand-drawn (without, we’ve already been assured by its developer, any assistance from AI), it really does look like a lovingly crafted playable Ghibli cartoon, and I can’t wait to jump into the terrarium in 2027.

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 you've got a PS5 Pro to call on at any time, but also a Nintendo Switch 2 and a gaming PC that just so happens to have a 5070 Ti inside it, knowing what platform to choose for a game isn't always that straightforward. A lot of the time, I'll base my decision on what hardware I think will be most interesting to evaluate, and in the case of Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, I found myself drawn to the PS5 Pro for reasons I can't fully explain.

I've been playing the Lego games since the very earliest incarnations – the mid-2000s were a great time to be a kid with an Xbox 360, and I played some of the Lego Star Wars games to death. I've given them a bit more space recently, being a full-on adult and all, but the buzz around Legacy of the Dark Knight made me think I should check it out.

I wasn't wrong – this screams out that it's a great place to get back into the franchise if you haven't played one in a few years, not least because it's basically a hybrid between a Lego game and a sequel to the superb Arkham series that has been so badly missed in recent years.

I've played half a dozen hours of Legacy of the Dark Knight and enjoyed every minute, crunching through the prequel scenes that establish Bruce Wayne as Batman, and fairly quickly acquiring the core gadgets to make moving around this brick-built version of Gotham City super fun.

What's been most interesting in that time has been how the game approaches the PS5 Pro's beefier hardware. Principally, unless it has something going on behind the scenes, there's actually no Pro setting here in the menus, meaning you get the same choice between "performance" and "fidelity" modes as those on the normal PS5.

The performance mode targets 60fps, while fidelity aims for 30fps, and the visual difference is actually quite obvious. Fidelity is a good chunk sharper, but also has more accurate and vivid reflections and lighting, while the performance setting obviously strips things back a bit.

Normally, I gravitate straight to performance options for smoothness, but I've actually been playing the game on fidelity mode to get the most of it visually, because this is a surprisingly lush-looking game at times. Its nighttime cityscapes can be really pretty, and the detail in its Lego constructions is really fun, especially when they're at a sharper resolution.

That said, there's no getting around the fact that I'm surprised there's no "Pro" mode here, or at least that the in-menu information could be clearer about whether the PS5 Pro has any boosts to offer. The game looks great, but it's still quite surprising to find a Lego game limited to 30fps if you want the best visual performance, especially when you think about the modes on offer in something like Assassin's Creed Shadows, for instance.

I'm hopeful that we'll get a patch down the line to improve things, even if it is just a matter of clearer communication, but I'll still be having fun with Legacy of the Dark Knight regardless. I didn't expect it to pull me away from 007 First Light on my PC, but it's done a good job of offering a low-stakes palate cleanser, and there's a reason it's been met with the reviews and word-of-mouth that it has.

Thanks to Summer Game Fest stepping in and taking the place of E3 (RIP), June remains the big month in the year for video game announcements and news – and 2026 is no different.

PlayStation put out a near hour-long State of Play presentation at the beginning of the month, mapping out the big PS5 games on the horizon, some of which we already knew about and others we didn’t.

As a lucky owner of the PS5 Pro, I’m always waiting for a game that can blow me away, and while I’m sure these games will also look amazing on the regular PS5, too, I’m particularly excited to see them running on the Pro, especially now the console’s PSSR upscaler is really starting to mature.

Marvel's Wolverine

Insomniac’s Logan-themed diversion from its excellent Spider-Man series is the big PS5 game for the second half of 2026, and we finally got an extended look at gameplay in the State of Play.

Interestingly, the development team have decided to set their game in a world where X-Men aren’t a thing (even if Jean Grey does make an appearance), so this is a purely Wolverine-focused single-player experience with brutal, bloody combat.

Unlike Spidey, Logan can’t dance around enemies for fun, but he can tear through them with those Adamantium claws. Insomniac has really nailed the visceral violence.

Marvel’s Wolverine isn’t an open-world game, with Insomniac instead wanting to focus on building the most cinematic Logan simulator yet, and it looks like the right approach. We got to see Wolvie riding a motorbike in one set piece, so it isn’t all about melee combat, and if Insomniac can blend varied gameplay with a compelling original story, this could be another superhero classic from the studio.

Luckily, we don’t have to wait too long to find out.

Until Dawn 2

Supermassive Games’ Until Dawn became an instant survival horror classic when it first released on PS4 back in 2015. Essentially an interactive popcorn slasher movie about a group of teenage friends stranded in a remote mansion with a murderer on the loose, it left it up to you to keep as many of them alive as possible over the course of one in-game night. It’s also possible for the whole lot to die, depending on your choices.

It’s a stupidly entertaining premise, and now we get to do it all again in the recently announced sequel – this time from the developer of Horizon: Call of the Mountain, Firesprite. It swaps the classic scary house setting for a sun-kissed haunted island, but expect similar scares and gore.

The first game famously starred the likes of Hayden Panettiere and Rami Malek, taking advantage of what was at the time pretty groundbreaking motion capture and facial animation tech. In the debut trailer for its sequel I immediately spotted Dacre Montgomery, best known for his incredible performance as Billy Hargrove in Stranger Things. Bring it on.

God of War Laufey

With Naughty Dog absent from this month’s State of Play, it was up to Sony’s Santa Monica Studio to grab all the headlines with its reveal of the next God of War game.

God of War Laufey looks almost like a spin-off at first glance – you won’t be playing as Kratos for starters. Instead, you'll be taking on the role of his late wife and the mother of Atreus, in what seems to be a story that runs parallel to the events in the last two God of Wars.

And so, after waking up in what appears to be a mysterious afterlife for the gods, Laufey soon discovers that being dead doesn’t mean putting your feet up. Before she knows it she’s being lobbed into a cell by a guy whose head is on fire and befriending a talking gelatinous cube. It’s a lot to take in.

As you’d expect, Sony Santa Monica appears to be doing the cinematic one-shot thing again with God of War Laufey, and it looks very impressive even at this stage of development (we didn’t get a release date so don’t expect to be loading this one up for a while).

Combat looks very different to what we’ve come to expect from Kratos, with Laufey being a lot lighter on her feet and immediately handy with a sword. She can perform aerial combos and even jump, all abilities the fallen warrior is going to need to survive the Everywhen.

We don’t yet know what this game means for future Kratos-starring entries, but I can’t wait to find out.

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.

Secretlab has seen an incredible trajectory in its nearly 12 years of operation. Started as a passion project by two professional gamers in Singapore, it has grown to be a billion-dollar company and the authority in gaming chairs and desks. Through the global pandemic, it saw a huge rise in demand by those looking to kit out their home office, and since then, it has refined its offering and brought in new solutions to bolster its range.

Today, Secretlab still has a very select line of products, but is about to launch what could be its boldest move yet. The Atlas is a chair aimed directly at the home office market, for users who want the comfort of a gaming chair, in a smaller, more manageable form. I sat down with co-founder and CEO Ian Ang in his Singapore headquarters to discuss the gaming roots, product development and aesthetic evolution of the company he and Alaric Choo have built

One thing that struck me about the Secretlab team was how many of them come from a serious gaming background, and having that passion in the team must impact the way they work. Ang explains that it’s especially important that his product developers and engineers are using their products. “We need to know what the users want, and I guess it's a loop as well, because if we start out as a gaming company, of course, more gamers will join.”

But Secretlab doesn’t just appeal to gamers these days, and while Ang admits they have tried to broaden the audience, it has mostly happened naturally. “I guess if the chairs are good enough for gamers to sit for 16 hours a day, then it should be good enough for an office user who uses it less so, says Ang. “Especially when the pandemic came around, and people were looking for a good chair to work from home.”

Gaming remains the company’s core audience, though, and Ang knows how important it is to keep that in mind. “They are the people that we understand the best,” he adds. “I think a lot of companies forget that and get too greedy.” In many ways, it was Secretlab’s true gaming credentials that gave it wider appeal.

Growing with its audience

While some Secretlab chairs do have a louder gaming look, part of their charm has been that they are often more reserved in styling than the competition, making them more suited to use outside of a gaming environment. This hasn’t just come from the audience’s tastes. “Part of it is our own taste as well,” says Ang. “It's been 11 years. All of us are millennials. So, as we grew up, it probably contributed.”

Success for Secretlab has often come, not from saying yes to things, but from saying no. While there is always a temptation to chase new markets, its slim product line is a purposeful choice and one that has allowed the company to stay focused. “There's only so much attention we have in the company, especially amongst the management team,” says Ang. “We've got to spend it purposefully.”

For the company to enter a new area, it has to believe it can do things better than what’s currently on offer, not just copy what is currently in the market. So Secretlab focuses on the areas it has expertise in, innovating and leading the sector rather than branching out into areas it doesn’t – but that doesn’t mean everything is off the cards. “There are other categories that we are actively thinking about,” says Ang. We'll always start by looking at the market, and then we see if there's a problem that we can solve.”

Most of Secretlab’s sales are still made direct to the customer, via its website, rather than via a retailer. Something Ang says allows them to not only keep costs down but also maintain that direct feedback with their users. “Any time somebody complains about a chair or has an issue, it goes directly to one of the desks [here],” says Ang. “That feedback goes directly to us, and we feel very responsible for it.”

Since the early days, Secretlab has had partnerships with big brands in the gaming space, providing special edition chairs, chair covers and desk toppers. “At the start, this was more of a passion thing,” says Ang. “A lot of these brands are ones that we grew up with.” One of the biggest was the Game of Thrones partnership that came at the height of the show’s success. Today, the list includes DC, Harry Potter, and luxury car brands such as McLaren and Lamborghini.

“We try to find more meaningful crossovers,” says Ang. It helps that our product is of good quality.” The team goes the extra mile in creating each piece, pulling in staff who are fans of the brand to help direct the project, from the product design to the marketing.

The office chair

So is the new Atlas office chair a departure for Secretlab or a natural progression for a brand with more than 10 years in furniture design? “This is our take on what we think the modern task chair should be, based on our understanding of ergonomics. And we've had 10 years to learn,” says Ang. Pulling in research it has worked on with prestigious universities around the world, and from its own advisory board, it was well placed to have an opinion on the market.

The premise is that a chair should provide not only support for a focused position, but also for you to rest in between – something gaming chairs are especially good at. “Many so-called ergonomic task chairs don't account for the rest part, says Ang. “When users stop sitting upright, they're going to end up sitting very wrongly because your chair is meant to accommodate them sitting upright. It's fitting a square peg in a round hole.”

Keeping to that signature Secretlab style rather than a traditional mesh design is also likely to appeal to existing users, or maybe those who want something to fit a more lifestyle feel. “Something that we hear quite often is that people love Secretlab as a brand, but the chairs don't fit in their office or workspace,” says Ang. “So we are hoping that this will fill the gap better.”

“There's another potential use case,” says Ang. “In my house, I have a gaming area, and then I have a small office area to free myself from the gaming distractions. So some users, now they're older millennials, might go for something like this.”

With the Atlas, Secretlab wants to create a chair for 2026, something modern. After all, even its flagship chair is now four years old, and the NanoGen edition, which launched two years ago, keeps to the same design. “We wanted to see Secretlab at the forefront of modern setups,” says Ang. “You have brands that have been around for like decades, and some of their most popular products might be from the eighties.”

To achieve this, it has created a new modern silhouette with a gently curved back – something that gave the designers looking to cover it with a single piece of fabric a real headache. They then introduced a new colour – the Dune model, which is a sandy beige – and colour-matched the parts on the upgraded Plus model for a more premium look.

It wasn’t a short process, though. The Atlas has been in the works now for four years. “We try not to rush the products too much,” says Ang. “That's also the beauty of having a founder-led company. We can choose what we think is right for the user and right for the company in the long run."

A material strategy

The two main fabrics used for the Atlas mirror that of the current Titan Evo – a softweave and a leatherette, in this case, the new NanoGen that delivers a real leather alternative. Though Secretlab has previously offered a premium Nappa leather option for its flagship chair, this hasn’t been carried forward here.

“The NanoGen leather we developed is just so superior, and the maintenance is so easy compared to genuine leather, says Ang. “We're not saying completely no to [leather]. It's more that if we go for a non-leatherette, there have to be actual benefits, and it has to be better.”

Leathers are associated with premium products, but also with an older, conservative audience, which is maybe not in keeping with this modern interpretation of an office chair. “With the NanoGen, performance-wise, the softness and the smoothness should be pretty similar. But the Nappa leather would be more expensive and more difficult to maintain,” says Ang.

A choice of chairs

Some might be surprised that the Atlas isn’t significantly cheaper than the Titan Evo. In fact, the starting price is within one hundred dollars/pounds of the Titan. According to Ang, that’s because it’s not designed to be a budget option. “When it comes to Atlas versus the Titan Evo, it's honestly more of a personal preference. But, if you talk about the Titan Evo versus the previous Titan or the previous Omega, it's a superior chair,” says Ang.

The budget market isn’t an area Secretlab is keen to enter, having carved its niche as a premium chair manufacturer. “A common question we get asked is, 'Will we make a mass market chair or desk?' Like a $200 or $300 chair,” says Ang. “We're just not set up that way. When you make a chair at that price point, there is honestly very little innovation. It's more about looking at your current chair and then seeing what you can strip down or make cheaper. We could do it, but that's not what the team's strengths are, and of course, from a branding perspective, we wouldn’t want to be positioned this way.”

The premium market has allowed Secretlab’s designers the freedom to come up with new, innovative ideas. Something that a budget product wouldn’t allow. “The Atlas backrest design would have been out of the window if we were a budget brand, because to modify the manufacturing and the base materials requires the cost per unit to go up,” says Ang. “And the engineering required to get it done, you have to invest in that as well.”

It’s difficult to know what Secretlab will look like in another 10 years, but if the Atlas is the success it has the potential to be, the trajectory is only upwards. While there continues to be a solid market for premium home gaming chairs and desks, and no sign of the remote or hybrid working policies reversing on a global scale, Secretlab is in safe hands.

With the 24 Hours of Le Mans just a few days away, Aston Martin and Curv Racing Simulator have revealed a new high-end sim rig modelled on the Valkyrie race car.

Marking the second year of Aston Martin competing in the Hypercar class with its duo of Valkyries, the AMR-C01-R Hypercar Edition is a limited-edition racing simulator featuring a carbon fibre monocoque.

Available in #007 and #009 liveries inspired by the entry numbers of Aston’s endurance racers, the simulator is finished in Aston’s own Podium Green. There’s contrasting red or yellow accent colours, and a bespoke, customisable steering wheel just like that of the Valkyrie.

Developed by Aston Martin’s high-performance test driver and three-time Le Mans class winner Darren Turner, the simulator mirrors the driving position of the Valkyrie. It features a curved, 49-inch Samsung Odyssey G95C display with a 240 Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time and support for HDR10+ gaming.

The computer features an Nvidia RTX 50 Series graphics card, 32GB of DDR5 memory, 2TB of SSd storage and a custom-engineered chassis with enhancing cooling and airflow. Racing simulator Assetto Corsa is included, and of course the system is also compatible with other PC-based racing sim software.

Hand-built to order, the simulator also features a signature Aston Martin grille at the front, while the Valkyrie-inspired steering wheel is made from aluminium and carbon fibre, and features an integrated 5-inch display, magnetic paddle shifters with dual clutch paddles, silicone grips, and adjustable button and rotary dial lighting.

There’s also an electronically-adjustable sliding pedal box with 200mm of adjustment to help drivers of different heights get comfortable, plus embedded speakers and a Sennheiser headset for a more immersive experience.

Turner said of the sim: “When we started developing the Hypercar Edition, the focus was on the driving position, steering feel and racing experience. Those details are what make a simulator believable. We wanted it to feel as close as possible to sitting in the Valkyrie Hypercar.”

Available to order now and limited to 24 examples, the AMR-C01-R Hypercar Edition is priced at £58,750 plus taxes.

Ever since E3 proved a victim of the pandemic, Summer Game Fest has risen in its place to be the annual celebration of all things gaming each June.

Starting as a small affair, it has become a major event – tying together a number of gaming showcases from different brands and publishers, and hosting a boutique convention, of sorts, where international press can gather to play some of the games coming later in the year and beyond.

Summer Game Fest 2026: what's happened so far?

It kicked off last week – on 1 June – and has so far included several indie games showcases, the biggest PlayStation State of Play of the year, the Xbox Games Showcase, and the live Summer Game Fest show from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

We've had a host of major announcements, including a new God of War, extended gameplay footage of Marvel's Wolverine and Gears of War: E-Day, and even a new Xbox console coming later in 2026.

Here then are our highlights of what's happened so far. We'll also be posting updates along the way in our live timeline below, so come back to find out the biggest news from Summer Game Fest this week.

Oh, and you can watch the Summer Game Fest opening show below, too.

Our favourite Summer Game Fest announcements

• New God of War, Tomb Raider and Wolverine impressed during PlayStation's State of Play, but something else piqued my interest more
• Summer Game Fest continued with the Future Games Show Summer Showcase – watch it here
• Valve just gave everyone the best Steam Machine news – prepare for launch
• New Xbox console announced during the Games Showcase after all

PlayStation sets the stall for Summer Game Fest

One of the first showcase events to tie into Summer Game Fest, the most impressive PlayStation State of Play of the year really set the stall for what was to come.

Trailers and gameplay demos for the new Tomb Raider, God of War, Wolverine, and Until Dawn 2 were particular highlights, but it was Rayman Legends Retold that arguably ticked my boxes more.

Coming on 1 October and available for preorder now, it completely reworks one of the best 2D platformers ever made and even includes a remastered version of Rayman Origins, its immediate predecessor.

Valve quietly reminds everyone it exists

While not part of Summer Game Fest itself, Valve surreptitiously dropped arguably the best gaming news of last week.

Its Steam Machine (and the Steam Frame mixed reality headset) are still on course for summer releases. There were question marks on each, thanks to the ongoing RAM crisis, but a post about the Steam Verified program confirmed the release window.

How much and exactly when are still up in the air, but if you've been holding off for a Steam Machine (rather than opting to build your own, as I did), there should be further announcements soon.

A return to exclusives by Xbox

The Xbox Games Showcase was a jam-packed affair, and as expected many of the titles did show the PS5 logo at the end of each trailer. However, it was also clear that the new, refreshed Xbox strategy will see a return to platform exclusives.

Indeed, CEO Asha Sharma appeared in the showcase herself to confirm that Gears of War: E-Day will be an Xbox exclusive for its console release – a swerve from previous plans. You'll still get a Windows version, of course, but the first-party game will not be available on PlayStation. Nor will the interesting looking Clockwork Revolution by another Xbox studio, InXile Entertainment.

The reworking of Halo: Combat Evolved – Campaign Evolved – will be available on PS5 as well, though. Considering it will release on 28 July, it was far too late in the schedule to change intentions.

New Star Wars – oh yes!

It probably went under the radar a bit, in comparison with the bigger game announcements, but Star Wars Zero Company caught my eye.

A single-player turn-based strategy game, Zero Company is set as the Clone Wars are coming to an end and features an original story with a new cast of operatives.

We also see the reveal of a returning character at the end of the trailer, so make sure you check that out.

Xbox goes back to its roots for special edition console

There's a new Xbox Series X model coming later this year that pays homage to the best colourway for the original Xbox.

The Xbox Series X25 Limited Edition will have a translucent green case and will be released as part of the brand's 25th anniversary celebrations. There will be a matching Xbox Wireless Controller too.

It might not have been the Project Helix tease we'd all hoped for during the showcase, but anyone of a certain age will appreciate this design nod.

Future Games Show rolled out the weird and wonderful

The Future Games Show: Summer Showcase from T3's parent company aired on Saturday and was a packed show, running for more than two hours. Hosted by Troy Baker (The Last of Us) and the new Lara Croft, Alix Wilton Regan, it featured a great selection of off-the-beaten track titles.

If you're into your horror games, it's particularly worth checking out the section on Clive Barker's Hellraiser Revival (around 1hr 15mins in). Oh, and check out Alix herself introducing new footage of Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis.

How about Nintendo?

Although Nintendo hasn't shown its face during Summer Game Fest yet, it will host its own major summer showcase.

A new Nintendo Direct will be shown online tomorrow, 9 June at 15:00 BST (07:00 PDT). It'll last for around 50 minutes and feature games coming to both the Nintendo Switch 2 and older Switch models later this year.

You can watch it above or on YouTube or via the official Nintendo Direct website.

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.

Anyone who games a lot will probably know that it's a fairly rare experience to play a whole game through in one sitting. There are a bunch of reasons for that, too – not least because few games are short enough to make it remotely possible. That said, even a short game still needs to be compelling enough to make you stick with it for a few hours.

Compelling is exactly the word I'd use to describe Mixtape, which launched a few weeks ago to really strong reviews, and caused a stir among internet weirdos who somehow disbelieved those scores. I played the game through in one go a couple of weeks ago on a holiday, and after a busy Computex 2026 in Taipei I'm only just getting around to reflecting on it.

Even before its content, Mixtape showcases a great deal about gaming in 2026, because while it came out on PC and the PS5 and Xbox, I played it on the Switch 2. We're back in an era where every console can get releases on the same day if developers and publishers so choose, which is really nice.

While I'm sure Mixtape looks marginally sharper on other platforms, I thought it looked great on the Switch 2, and I played the whole thing in handheld mode without any issues or complaints. The game sees you take control of the ringleader of a trio of teenage friends in the 1990s as they prepare for their last ever high school party.

They're about to enter the next stage of life, bidding goodbye to each other in some ways, and the game is structured as a series of needle drops, arrange by the protagonist Stacey Rockford, who's music obsessed. As these tracks play, you control a bunch of small experimental-feeling gameplay segments.

Those segments range from downhill skate sessions to dreamy sprints across meadows, and they're interspersed with moments of downtime as you explore locations that have been meaningful for the trio of friends. As their last afternoon together unfolds, you'll learn more about what's bonded them, and what's eating away at that bond.

The story beats are far from innovative, but they're sincere and nicely wrought. If you can get your head around the idea that Stacey might not be a flawless narrator, you'll have a much better time, and I liked the neat little story the game told.

That said, its visuals were the standout for me. The game employs a lovely, almost cel-shaded look that has some painterly touches, and when it gets more out-there with its gameplay (like a soaring night-time flight sequence, or player-controlled fireworks display) it really can be gorgeous.

Its animations are super characterful, too, as is the voice acting, and the roughly three-and-a-half hours it took for me to play Mixtape through was a really pleasant time. I'm not even American, so some of its nostalgia was more perceived than lived for me, but it still hit home nicely enough.

At £16 in the UK and $20 in the US, this is a lovely little bit of interactive fiction, and if you're in the market for something that won't take up your whole life for weeks, I can vouch for it. More short games, please – and on Switch 2, too.

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 its acrimonious split from EA Sports, FIFA claimed that it would go it alone with future football games – a move that many expected would result in a new partnership with Konami and its PES / eFootball franchise.

However, it came as a bit of a shock to learn that a few years later, Netflix would be picking up the slack instead. Now we can see exactly what it had in mind.

It has unveiled that the long-awaited new FIFA game will be released on 11 June, to coincide with the launch ceremony and first match of the World Cup in North America. And perhaps the most surprising news is that it will be completely free to play.

FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition will be available to all Netflix subscribers no matter the tier, and it can be played using a mobile phone as the controller. As it runs through the Netflix app, you'll be able to play it on pretty much any smart TV or via a streaming device, and up to four players can join in.

We've not tested it ourselves yet, but the gameplay looks similar to FIFA games of yore (and the EA Sports FC series). Netflix does point out though that this is a "streamlined football simulation game", so don't expect it to compete with Ultimate Team or eFootball for hardcore footy game action.

It's been developed by Delphi Interactive, which is a fairly new studio that's only previously collaborated on 007 First Light with IO Interactive. But it is fully licensed, has the real-life World Cup stadiums, teams and player names, and is, again, completely free to play.

Also, considering this is called the "Launch Edition", it suggests that a more feature-rich game might be in the pipeline too. So we'll see if that comes to fruition once the World Cup is done and dusted.

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

Whenever I sprint around the exhibit halls at a massive event like Computex in Taipei, it can be easy to get numbed to the sky-high prices attached to the niche tech products being announced left, right and centre. In 2026, perhaps more than ever before, it's tempting to gloss over pricing as just an inevitably bitter pill.

So, I was hugely impressed when I stopped by Dell's closed-door area to check out the XPS 13 (which is a certified banger), and got a bonus in the form of some Alienware launches that do really interesting things. Crucially, they do those things at estimated, unconfirmed target prices that make them super enticing.

The big headliner this year from Alienware is the (brace yourself) Alienware 39 5K OLED Gaming Monitor (AW3926QW). That absolute mouthful is a 39-inch 5K monitor that marries the gorgeous blacks of OLED to the immersive fun of an ultrawide.

Fascinatingly, it uses an LG panel, but unlike LG's own UltraGear monitor of the same size, it drops things down to just standard OLED rather than WOLED. Dell's spokesperson said this was because it's happy to trade the brightness ceiling down a little, but get more vivid colours as a result, and the monitor certainly delivers on that front.

It's beautiful to look at, and while a maximum refresh rate of 165Hz at maximum resolution might make it unsuitable for competitive gaming, I'm convinced that you're not buying this to play Counter-Strike 2 anyway. Plus, it has a 330Hz (1080p) mode for those who do need it.

A lovely stand makes it easy to adjust, and its 1500R curve isn't pronounced enough to feel awkward. It's gorgeous, but most importantly of all, I was told that it's currently targeting a launch price of $1,099. That's simply superb value for a screen of this quality, and could make it a genuine disruptor when it arrives later this month (in Asia first, with more regions later in the year).

A "cut-price" option that excels, too

For those who don't have £1,000 to drop on a gaming monitor, I was actually even more impressed by the other big launch Alienware showed off: deep breath, it was the Alienware 34 280Hz QD-OLED Gaming Monitor (AW3426DW).

This is a QD-OLED, a panel that Alienware said has been hugely popular since it launched it in 2022, and upgrades things really nicely. At 34 inches, it's a little more manageable for normal-sized desks (even if it's still entirely extra), and running 007 First Light, I was seriously impressed by how it performed in a brief demo session.

Compared to Alienware's last model, the refresh rate has gone from 240Hz to 280Hz, with peak brightness also up from 1,000nits to 1,300nits. Perhaps most consequential of all is a new anti-reflective coating that really impressed me – subtle enough not to change the picture, but diffusing enough light to make it gorgeous to look at.

Here's the crucial bit – this one's apparently targeting a price of $799. Again, that's not exactly bargain-bin stuff, but for the tech on offer, it's hugely competitive, and if Dell can actually bring it to market at that level, it again should genuinely unnerve some of the competition (meaning LG, most likely).

A background strategy shift

A couple of weeks before Computex, Alienware announced its latest laptop, the Alienware 15 (finally, a doable name). That launch might not have attracted huge amounts of attention, but checking out the 15 at the same time as these high-end monitors underscored something in my eyes.

Dell might not be saying that it's changing the Alienware brand in wholesale terms, but it's clearly trying to swim against the tide in computing and offer prices that people can actually afford.

In the case of this laptop, it's more true than for either of those monitors – it'll start from $1,299.99 with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050, and is deliberately geared to offer a huge number of customisation options. In some regions, I was told that even 30-series cards might be available, to keep that price even further down.

When I posited that the laptop chassis might become Alienware's Swiss Army Knife, suitable for a wide range of markets and situations, I got agreement back from Dell's spokesperson, and that adds to the sense that there's a new approach at play.

Alienware, like XPS, has long managed to stay really premium despite also being mainstream and having great brand recognition. At a time when handhelds are spiking in price, GPUs are becoming scarce, and even RAM is basically a hard currency, taking their brand to the people with fairer pricing is a refreshing angle.

Whether it can stick the landing with those monitors' final prices remains to be seen, but from what I've seen in Taipei, I'm pretty excited by the influence the launches could exert on the market. Time will tell, ultimately.

Summer Game Fest kicks off this Friday with Geoff Keighley's annual presentation taking place this Friday 5 June at 14:00 PDT (22:00 BST), but that's only the beginning of a week-load of major announcements and events.

You certainly want to mark Saturday in your diary, as that's when the annual Future Games Show Summer Showcase from T3's parent company will stream online. And this year it's got a couple of incredible hosts that anyone who's played a game in the last decade will be very familiar with.

Not only has Alix Wilton Regan appeared in the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 and Dragon Age: Inquisition, she's the new voice of Lara Croft for the upcoming Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis. And surely Troy Baker needs no introduction, he's starred as some of gaming's biggest characters, including in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Death Stranding and, of course, The Last of Us.

They'll be presenting the two-hour event, which starts at 12:00 PDT (20:00 BST) and will feature more than 40 new games, including interviews and trailers, plus a stream from FSG Live in Los Angeles.

Games to have been confirmed to feature so far include Halloween: The Game, Wardogs, The Pines, and Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival.

There will also be an extended gameplay reveal for Exodus – the new action-adventure RPG from Archetype Entertainment and Wizards of the Coast. It will follow immediately after the main show.

You'll be able to watch the showcase as it happens via the video feed further up this page. Alternatively, it will also stream on Ginx TV in the UK, plus Twitch, YouTube, Steam, X, Facebook, TikTok and a host of other sites and social media platforms.

T3 will also be following along, and also with the rest of the streams and events during Summer Game Fest to bring you all the juiciest announcements across the week. Come back often to find out more.

Although not officially part of Summer Game Fest – which kicks off this coming Friday – Sony whetted our appetites for a week and a bit of games announcements with a superb State of Play presentation last night.

Focusing entirely on games coming to PS5 and PS5 Pro later this year and beyond, the show kicked off is gloriously gory style with Marvel's Wolverine, and wrapped up with a surprising 20 minute gameplay demo of God of War: Laufey.

We were also treated to new footage of Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, a new Until Dawn sequel, and several other interesting debuts. However, there was one other game trailer that actually excited me most – yep, even more than a new God of War.

I've been a Rayman fan since his first outing in the mid-90s, and particularly of the 2D platformers in the series. I still play Rayman Origins and Legends regularly today, so to see the latter being completely reworked for a new release had me whooping in my seat.

Rayman Legends Retold will release on 1 October on PS5 and PS5 Pro, but also Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC.

It's no mere remaster of the 2013 original. The graphics have been overhauled and modernised, with 3D models. There's a new story, and all the characters are now voiced.

It can also be experienced in couch co-op, with up to four players taking control of the different heroes in the game. And there are all-new gameplay elements, such as dragon rides through 3D levels, and new musical stages.

I cannot wait.

"Rayman Legends Retold is our way of revisiting what makes Rayman so special, and re‑telling that experience for a new generation of players," said the game's brand producer, Loïc Gounon.

"We wanted to preserve everything fans love, and Legends gave us the perfect foundation to expand Rayman's lore, its world logic, and how everything connects together."

Perhaps even more excitingly, Ubisoft is keeping the price down for the final release – it'll be just £39.99 in the UK for the standard edition. And those who pre-order will receive extra costumes and other in-game goodies.

On top of this, Ubisoft has also confirmed Rayman Origins: Enhance Edition – a more conventional remaster of the 2011 classic, with 4K visuals and 60 frames per second gameplay. And it'll be available as a free extra with the standard and deluxe editions of Retold. Nice.

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.

Last month, after an unexpected turn of events, I found myself out in London town with a bunch of colleagues. At a certain point our attention turned to the gaming arcade down the road (shout out to NQ64, which I didn't even know existed until that moment).

Turns out that arcades aren't totally dead, although this establishment is as much about pouring pints as it is about gamers pouring over others aiming for that Mortal Kombat high score. I never was one for beat-'em-ups, but to my delight I did stumble upon an all-time classic that I just had to play.

Bomberman, which I was first introduced to back in the mid-1990s – via a Blockbuster Video rental to play on my brother's SNES console, no less – was there in full-size arcade form, so I just had to grab some tokens to play. And the memories came flooding back in – it was like being a 10-year-old kid all over again.

Super Bomberman was released by Konami in 1993 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (or SNES, as most people in the UK called it – myself included) and was an instant hit. It sold half a million copies in its native Japan, which was a big deal. So sequels came in abundance, but only a handful of which I got to try.

I never got to play them all, though, as obtaining SNES cartridges was a pricey business – especially for a school kid. That's why the Blockbuster route of £3.49 (from memory – assume $5) rentals for three days was such a benefit back then. Otherwise games were either saved up for with pocket money, or the fortune of a birthday or Christmas present.

Fortunately, though, there's Bomberman Collection, which I've duly just downloaded from the Nintendo eStore on my Switch 2. It contains the aforementioned 1993 title, plus Super Bomberman 2 (1994), Super Bomberman 3 (1995), Super Bomberman 4 (1996) and Super Bomberman 5 (1997) – you can see the year-on-year creative titles in full effect right there, eh!

Now, you can purchase this game bundle for other formats, such as PlayStation 5, but I find the portable nature of Nintendo's console to be just that much more preferable. It's not as though the graphics are much to shout about – much as the Switch 2 version curiously boasts a "4K graphics" 'upgrade' – as they convert exactly as they were at launch. There's even a 'fake' CRT monitor overlay, rounded edges and all.

My all-time favourite version of Bomberman, however, is even more of a rarity. Released in 1997 for the Sega Saturn, Saturn Bomberman was unlike any of the other games. Crisper in appearance, able to run 10 players in tandem multi-player battle mode – if you had two multi-taps and enough controllers – playing the older 1993 title got me reminiscing about this game in particular.

Saturn Bomberman is seriously hard to obtain, though, and certainly isn't available for Switch. Even today, if you find a copy on eBay or at a CEX store then it'll set you back around £/$100 for the privilege. And that's without possessing a Sega Saturn console (and its inevitable CR2032 battery for on-board memory storage – the most stupid aspect of console design in recent history), which are also costly.

This retro gaming business can therefore be quite an expensive hobby. But it has increasingly got me thinking about going all-in, finding a Sega Saturn again, and digging for some others classics. Titles such as Guardian Heroes also springs to mind as Saturn special. And I never got to play Panzer Dragoon Saga nor Burning Rangers – both heralded as classics that never had the chance to find their audience, owed to the Saturn's low sales and untimely demise.

Right now, though, I've got half a dozen Super Bomberman games to dig back into to whet my retro gaming appetite. Playing the first one has really taken me back to my childhood home, sat on my brother's bed, playing with a controller each in participation. We had silly names for the various power-ups that've stuck in memory to this day.

There's even more on the download, too, with the original Japanese Famicom games Bomberman (1985) and Bomberman II (1991). That was for the NES console equivalent, but those games weren't released in Europe or North America at the time. Now's as good a time as ever to explore them – although the nostalgia there is a moot point, as I wouldn't have been cognitive enough to play them back at the original release date.

Retro gaming is clearly seeing a big comeback. My T3 colleague recently wrote about a NES-lookalike console that's capable of playing AAA PC games alongside the classics, for example, while a "re-launch" of the Nintendo 64, under the guise of Analogue 3D, went on sale recently (and can still be purchased now – it'll run your old N64 carts!). I, however, am gleefully sticking with Bomberman to 'live in the nostalgia' for the time being.

We often harp on about the latest and greatest games coming to Xbox Game Pass each month, but what if you don't subscribe? Do you get any free games too?

Well, the answer to that is "yes" – yes, you do. Xbox regularly makes some of its biggest games available to play for free. There are some caveats, but you can savour several titles each week without needing Xbox Game Pass membership. And that often includes owners of Xbox Series X or Series S consoles, or even a PC.

Xbox's Free Play Days promotion is a weekly affair, giving you a handful of games to play over the weekend for free, with many of them available to all Xbox gamers, not just those with Game Pass.

Some weeks can be rather hit or miss, but this weekend you can check out Gears of War: Reloaded – the remastered version of the first Gears game released almost 20 years ago.

It brings the graphics and gameplay up-to-date, and includes all the additional content released after the original launch.

You also get cross-platform play, so you can take on friends even if they own the game on PS5. And frame rates have been boosted to a maximum of 120Hz.

It's truly the best version of the original Gears adventure, and you can play it to your heart's content at no cost until midnight on Sunday 31 May.

Also available to play for free this weekend is High on Life 2. You get a 5-hour timed trial of the crazy, extremely funny shoot-em-up sequel and a discount on the full price if you fancy continuing your journey.

Xbox Game Pass members can play Formula Legends and Dying Light: Definitive Edition at no extra cost, too.

And don't forget, a whole load of extra games have recently been added to the Game Pass library, with Jurassic World Evolution 3 coming in just a matter of days.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate now costs £16.99 / $22.99 per month after a recent price drop. That's a saving of £6 / $7 per month over the previous fee, although you will no longer get the latest Call of Duty games – including the freshly-announced Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 – on day one.

We might have to wait until October to get our hands on it, but Activision has announced the new Call of Duty – and what's more, it'll be the first COD available on launch day for the Nintendo Switch 2.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will also be skipping Xbox Game Pass Ultimate at launch – marking the first time in a while that an Xbox-owned property is not getting a day one release on the platform.

That's because new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma recently decided to reduce the price of Ultimate membership, with COD's exclusion a necessary caveat. It will instead arrive on the platform further down the line, but Xbox Series X/S owners who want to play it on release (and for months after) will have to purchase it, along with PS5, PC and Switch 2 owners.

The new chapter will be the fourth in the rebooted Modern Warfare series, and will once again feature fan favourite Captain Price in the main campaign. However, players will step into the boots of new character Private Park – a South Korean soldier fighting North Korean invaders along the country's border.

Cue James Bond-style world threatening shenanigans and a whole lot of shooting your way through the enemy.

As well as Korea, the action will see you head to New York, Paris and Mumbai, while multiplayer will be equally important, of course. There will be 12 core multiplayer maps available at launch, with Activision saying that the combat will feature the "most authentic" gunplay yet.

DMZ is also returning to the franchise with the release of Modern Warfare 4.

The game is being developed by COD stalwart Infinity Ward, alongside Beenox, and its gameplay will be tuned especially for PC players.

That said, it will also be available from 5 October 2026 on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PS5 Pro and Switch 2. We expect more to be revealed in the build up, including during the Xbox Games Showcase on 7 June.

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.

I remember when Grounded first arrived in preview form for Xbox consoles – the multiplayer survival game was something unique, putting you in the shoes of a miniaturised child lost in the grass of your own garden. And considering it was from the Xbox-owned Obsidian Entertainment, it seemed a quaint and unusual exclusive.

But as with many Xbox Studios' releases over the last few years, it was also released for rival platforms, including the PS5 and PS4. It looks like that strategy might change in future – returning us to the age of brand-specific exclusives – but PlayStation owners can still savour Grounded in the meantime.

And for free, as it turns out.

All PS Plus subscribers will be able to download the fully formed final version of the game – the Grounded Fully Yoked Edition – as part of the June lineup for Essential, Extra and Premium. It'll be available at no extra cost for PS5 and PS4 from Tuesday 2 June 2026.

The Fully Yoked Edition includes pretty much all the content released for the original game during its run. We've since had Grounded 2 (also in early access first), but before you play it, I thoroughly advise you give this first one a go.

It's great fun when playing with friends, but you can also play solo. And as it'll be available as a free download (with any PS Plus tier) you might as well check it out.

Also coming on 2 June are a couple of additional multiplayer games – Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 and Warhammer 40,000: Darktide.

The latter is of particular note as it's one of the best Warhammer 40K games out there.

And, as an added bonus, EA Sports FC 26 will continue to be available to all PS Plus members until the end of play 16 June (five days into the World Cup). Monthly game drops normally expire when the next batch arrives, but this one is lingering a little longer.

You will have to redeem Wuchang: Fallen Feathers and Nine Sols before the switch over though, so keep a note of that.

How much does PlayStation Plus cost?

There are three PS Plus tiers available in most places around the world – Essential, Extra and Premium. All are required if you want to play the vast amount of games online, on your PS5, PS5 Pro or PS4.

They all also give you access to the free monthly games (as above).

Here's how much they usually cost and what you get. However, it's also worth noting that, during Sony's Days of Play event which runs until midnight on 10 June, you can also get 33% off yearly membership plans, or the same amount of an upgrade for new members. Find out more here.

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.

It's not always that easy to work out what type of lighting makes a game look cinematic – because it's not always about ray-tracing and unbelievably photorealistic approaches. The best-looking games, and the ones that seem to have something about them that suggests real artistry, often use a stylised approach to get a more memorable result.

That's how I'd describe 007 First Light, which uses its lighting so effectively in the first few missions that I found myself stopping to take screenshots every few minutes. It creates a look that doesn't seem initially to be anything other than realistic, but has just enough verve to be a little hyperreal and frankly beautiful.

I've been playing the game a little early on my gaming PC, complete with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, and it arrives as one of those titles that Nvidia has clearly collaborated on from a settings perspective. All the newest toys are here in style, including the option to go with dynamic multi-frame generation if you have a compatible GPU, right from the get-go.

The game also features the setting that I've been raving about in the last couple of years – global illumination, letting ray-traced lighting upgrade not just the reflections that you see in mirrors and on surfaces, but also the entire character of the light in a level. This is what powers the baked, arid sunshine of a training base in Malta, or the clear purity of Slovakian mountain air – plus the dank smokiness of a popping club night under the arches in London.

You only have to play the first few missions to get a sense of the variety that IO Interactive has cooked up for its Bond game, and I've been hugely impressed. The fact that I played for about five hours yesterday, during a 33-degree day with my gaming PC basically acting as a giant hot-air blower, is a testament to how fun the game feels.

It's basically exactly what IOI promised, in that the game can feel like Hitman at times, while you case out a level and sneak past guards while following trails and clues, but it's so much more directed and ambitious in its storytelling. While Hitman lets you follow scripted events from a distance and set them up, First Light puts you right in their centre with seamless cutscenes and action sequences.

It's also richly detailed, with so many side conversations and little subplots to check out in each level if you have the time and patience. From running into rich parents going through a drama with their kid applying for college in one level, to exploring the camp and silly tech being developed in Q branch between missions, the amount of dialogue squeezed in is genuinely crazy.

The tone of the game also seems spot on from my point of view. Bond has only recently been a character with a more serious core, and while First Light doesn't take things to proper Moonraker levels of silliness, it's still a little more winking than the likes of Skyfall.

This Bond is younger and fresher, and full of a pumped-up sense of his own importance, and his ego is actually pretty fun to play with as you make small dialogue choices and get yourself into spying scrapes. The stealth system is extremely familiar from Hitman, but the combat is much more free-flowing. One of my only complaints so far has been some camera wonkiness during close-quarter fights, but the simple melee system opts for more satisfaction and less mechanical complexity, which feels about right.

Gunplay is also miles smoother than in Hitman, which was a needed upgrade, and the whole thing feels incredibly slick. It might be overhyping it to say that it feels on the same level as an Uncharted game, but it really is refreshing to see a licensed game like this arrive with such a sheen of polish and detail.

Playing it on a 5070 Ti, I've experimented with all the Nvidia bells and whistles, too. At 1440p with everything maxed out, I've been getting a playable 60fps, roughly, so sticking 2X frame-gen on has got me feeling really smooth at more like 80-90fps. Using dynamic frame-gen, though, I've been able to stay up at 160fps, my monitor's refresh rate, even at 4K – so if you don't mind a little ghosting and sometimes a tipple of latency, you can get crazy performance gains from the system.

I've been keeping it on a lower setting, but knowing that there's headroom out there is pretty major, and means the game feels like it's already in a great place on arrival. I'll be very curious to see how it performs on a PS5 Pro, meanwhile, to compare the two.

In the meantime, any Bond fan with a console or gaming PC should be checking out 007 First Light. I'm gutted that some work travel means I won't be able to play it much more this week, which is always a sign that a game has its hooks into me decently.

Apple now offers legendary game Fortnite on its App Store once again, after it had gone unavailable following legal issues.

The online multiplayer game's maker, Epic Games, announced that the game was back on the App Store worldwide via a post on its website.

The game was previously not available via Apple after legal issues surrounding the company's "junk fees" which developers were being forced to pay, Epic said.

Until recently companies like Epic Games were required to pay commissions to Apple on sales made through third-party payment systems.

Apple now knows that the U.S. federal court will force the company to be transparent around what it charges as part of its App Store fees.

Epic Games says it will return to the App Store with Fortnite as it is "confident that once Apple is forced to show its costs, governments around the world will not allow Apple junk fees to stand."

Epic Games posted that it "will continue to challenge Apple’s anticompetitive App Store practices of banning alternative app stores and competition in payments."

This stand has seen support worldwide with laws being passed to address these practices. Some areas to support developers in the battle to avoid this "Apple tax" include the UK, Japan and European Union.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said on X: "This is a critical moment in the battle against the App Store empire to win freedom for all developers and consumers, and we’ll continue the fight in every jurisdiction worldwide until competition is restored to digital stores and payment markets everywhere."

Will Apple stop App Store tax?

According to Sweeney: "For years, Apple has fragmented iOS features and fees by territory, taking regulatory negotiating positions in secret, and intentionally delaying the pursuit of justice."

On this recent shift he says, "We see this as the beginning of the end of the Apple Tax worldwide."

The company has not returned to the Australia App Store -despite winning its court case there - as Apple is "unlawfully" not meeting legal requirements and Epic can't join there, it claims.

So while many get to play Fornite on their iPhones once again, the backdrop is a battle of Epic proportions that even a Fortnite scale battle would struggle to compare to.

LG has taken its competitive gaming monitor offering to a new level with its latest creation that promises to offer a blistering fast refresh rate.

According to the Korean company, this is the "world's first Full HD gaming monitor with a native 1,000Hz refresh rate". That should mean this offers the fastest possible delivery of visuals to ensure gamers can respond quickest – ideal for competitive gaming.

The LG UltraGear 25G590B is a 24.5-inch monitor with Full HD 1,920 x 1,080 resolution that sits in a compact design and is optimized for high-level gaming.

This is specifically designed and built to work with FPS games, with the ultra-fast visual updates needed for enhanced smoothness and motion clarity, that lead to faster reaction times.

The key here is that this is a native 1,000Hz monitor. Other options may have required you to adjust screen size or resolution settings to hit that level of speed. This monitor comes with that level of speed, and FHD resolution, as standard.

LG has also enhanced this with its own software smarts including Motion Blur Reduction Pro. This should make fast moving objects sharper and more easy to track.

The IPS screen can deliver rich colours, while it's covered in a low-reflection film, to ensure there is minimal glare for the best possible visibility and immersion.

AI Scene Optimization is another feature which allows the monitor to adapt output based on the scene being displayed, to get you the best depth and realism. While the AI Sound ensures spatial audio is offered with super clear in-game communications.

The monitor emblem itself also features lighting, allowing you to customise this for ambient illumination.

When is the LG UltraGear 1000Hz monitor released?

LG says the UltraGear 25G590B will become available to buy in the second half of 2026. It says this will be available in "select markets" with availability on a wider scale rolling out later in the year.

Usually LG launches in Korea the US and Europe first, so they are likely to be the first places to get access to the blistering refresh rates of this new class of LG gaming monitor.

It's been three years since we first wrote about plans for a new Xbox Game Pass subscription designed to cut costs for families, it was even available across multiple countries, including Ireland, during a preview test period. But now it has been officially cancelled.

The Xbox Game Pass Family Plan would have enabled access to Game Pass games and benefits across multiple systems throughout a home, with different accounts able to share membership for one lower fee.

However, that won't be happening. But according to one renowned expert, it's not entirely Xbox's fault.

"I was told EA, who is a long-term contractee within the Xbox Game Pass ecosystem, fully hated the idea," wrote Jez Corden on T3's sister site, Windows Central.

"It sucks because EA does the absolute bare minimum with its Game Pass involvement, refusing to put Xbox PC native versions with Play Anywhere or Xbox achievements out."

Is cutting EA Play from Xbox Game Pass the answer?

The decision to ditch it was seemingly made before the new CEO, Asha Sharma, took over Xbox. Worse is that instead of releasing the cheaper, cost cutting measure, the company decided to double the price of Game Pass Ultimate.

Thankfully, Sharma has enforced a price cut again, making Ultimate much better value (even without new Call of Duty games on release). But that might come as little compensation for families who still need multiple subscriptions to play Game Pass games across different household accounts.

Corden goes on to say that he'd like to see EA Play removed from Game Pass in favour of the Family Plan and I can't help but agree. EA releases very few games per year these days, which take ages to hit Xbox Game Pass anyway. I'm sure families would prefer potential savings in favour of the latest Madden or NHL.

And let's face it, what's happened to EA Sports FC over the last couple of years? That needs a proper overhaul before it's worth the sacrifice.

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).

Xbox Game Pass Premium, Ultimate and PC Game Pass members have had a bumper bundle of games this month, with the latter tiers also getting the superb Forza Horizon 6 for free.

But it's another game that's just been announced that I have my beady eyes on – something I popped on my wishlist a while ago, in case it went on sale.

Now I don't even have to wait for a deal – Jurassic World Evolution 3 will soon be available to Premium, Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers at no extra cost. And it will be playable through Xbox Cloud Gaming, too.

The third in Frontier Developments' park management series, Evolution 3 is the largest iteration yet. Not only does it look stunning, with new graphical effects and lighting, it gives you much more control over the kind of dinosaur park (or world) you want to build.

In many ways, it combines the formula started with Jurassic World Evolution and adds elements of Planet Zoo and Planet Coaster – two of Frontier's other sim franchises.

The latest game is also arguably easier to get into, getting more complex as you progress and understand the mechanics.

I've been waiting to get my hands on it for sure (having loved the previous two – and the movies) and now I can. It'll be added to Game Pass on 2 June.

Also coming on the same day is Final Fantasy VI, while the additional games to be added in May include Luna Abyss, Escape Simulator, Echo Generation 2, The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition, Crashout Crew, and Kabuto Park.

Most are available to Xbox Game Pass Premium members as well as Ultimate and PC Game Pass, but not all.

Today (20 May) also saw the addition of Dead Static Drive (now on Premium), My Friend Peppa Pig, Pigeon Simulator, Remnant II, and Winter Burrow.

Sadly, both Metaphor: ReFantazio and Persona 4 Golden are among the games leaving Game Pass on 31 May. Both are superb RPGs so do take the opportunity to give them a play before they are removed.

There's always been something (or someone?) of an underdog in the Mario games. And, no, I'm not talking about Luigi. It's Yoshi who's largely been the sidelined character, despite the dino being the protagonist in a number of stellar Nintendo exclusives.

Well, 2026 might see all that change completely. For Yoshi And The Mysterious Book has just launched for the Nintendo Switch 2 – and it's a surprisingly under-the-radar exclusive for the console that I've been playing with increasing obsession for the past fortnight.

Many of the most famous Mario titles are three-dimensional adventures, but the history of the franchise (as many superfans will know) is built upon classic side-scrolling platformers. It's this genre in which Yoshi titles have so lovingly re-invested on repeat – see Crafted World and Woolly World, of course – but The Mysterious Book delivers in an altogether new and refreshing way.

I write this feature on my birthday, turning 42 years of age. It's pretty clear that Yoshi's latest escapade isn't explicitly aimed at someone of my age. But while it'll definitely pique kids' interest who are decades younger, it's a deeper and more complex tale that warrants attention from, well, everyone.

That's the magic of Nintendo, really. Somehow this Japanese games company is able to deliver time and again, without the formula becoming too formulaic. And in The Mysterious Book, Nintendo has managed to create a non-linear and explorative platform-style game that will keep you chipping away with invested interest.

That's ultimately this Yoshi title's point of distinction. In it, you find a mysterious talking book (hence the title), whose pages you must explore to investigate new discoveries. Different creatures with multiple facets of interest are to be explored and noted in "Mr. E"'s very pages (I read his name as a teen raver of the 90s more than an innocent child of today might).

It's got the typical simplistic play-style that makes Nintendo platform games so easy to pick up, yet somewhat hard to master – hence it not being "just for kids". You can command Yoshi to run and jump and, but of course, eat his foes with that long tongue.

But many levels require sequence and logic to solve. Others require you to find a special item to open a new path. You'll go flying. You'll go fishing. Even fly-fishing, eh? It's as much puzzler as it is platformer.

Even when you're done with a level, you're very often not. Yet-to-complete tasks appear among Mr E's pages, providing reflection on what you've missed and how you might contemplate resolving it for 100% completion.

Let's also not forget that the Switch 2's roster of exclusives has been relatively mild since launch day. To receive such a massive Mario-world-aligned first-party title in the middle of 2026 is major. That it's so versatile for such a wide audience is, yet again, confirmation of Nintendo's ongoing and worthy success.

Initially I wasn't sure about The Mysterious Book's premise. But the more I sat back and let it guide me along, the more I felt as though I'd embarked upon a virtual Yoshi safari. There's a lot of joy in that process – and it's always like a welcome escape from the typical AAA games of today.

Now a few dozen hours in – and I'm about to delve in again, aboard a long-haul flight from London to Hong Kong – the more I explore Yoshi's latest adventure's pages, the more I want to keep returning. It might not be the most conventional, but I can only applaud Nintendo for that – and in staying so relevant.

So if you've got a Nintendo Switch 2 and have been awaiting exclusive new titles then here's your next one. It might not have all the fanfare of "bigger" games, but this glorious art-style and unconventional play-style warrant it every bit as much worth as the next Mario game. So dig in, you won't regret it – whatever your age!

I've been hugely impressed by the PS5 Pro since the PSSR 2.0 patch arrived in February – not least thanks to its implementation in games like Cyberpunk 2077, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Crimson Desert and Pragmata.

These truly feel next-gen with higher frame rates, technologies like ray-tracing, and 4K resolutions all running at the same time. PC gamers will just shrug and say they've had that pleasure for years, but Sony's console is catching up.

The results have been so positive that the imminent need for a PS6 or Xbox Project Helix has been diminished. Even with its price rocketing in recent times, the PS5 Pro is holding the fort admirably.

That's evidenced once more with its handling of Saros, Sony and Housemarque's latest PlayStation exclusive. As a fan of Returnal, I've been looking forward to this latest bullet ballet roguelite for some time, but little did I expect its visuals to be my favourite bit.

Developer Housemarque truly takes the "roguelite" tag to heart – coming back time and again with familiar game concepts, but powered up in some way. And that is the case with Saros.

Built with love

Built using Unreal Engine 5, but with the studio's proprietary particle systems (Graphite VFX) layered on top, the game has a unique look in combat. Like Returnal, enemies bombard you with glowing, neon-like fire patterns, but there's a greater emphasis on voxel explosions and disintegrations, to the extent where the best battles result in spectacular light shows.

The planet on which you find yourself trapped (this time with a few colleagues in tow) – Carcosa – is more muted and devoid of much colour, which makes the bright effects all the more impressive. And sometimes it's easy to just stop and admire the Geiger-esque landscape as it's lit up in multiple hues, just before you get blasted into oblivion again.

Making life easier

Thankfully, Saros is even more forgiving than Returnal in that there is a traditional skill tree and weapon upgrade system – including while on a run. That makes it technically easier to play – although mastering it is another matter.

It is also more interesting in story terms, with the stunning graphics also elevating character models. That includes your lead, Arjun Devraj, who is superbly portrayed by English actor Rahul Kohli (of The Fall of the House of Usher and We Were Liars fame).

The cutscenes provide a welcome respite from the action too, while also helping to unravel the mystery of why the colonists first sent to Carcosa have disappeared. This story feels more involving than we've had from other Housemarque games and it helps drive you on, even when the going is getting much tougher.

Just the one graphics option – but oh, what an option

Surprisingly for a modern game, Saros only comes with one graphics option on PS5 Pro (and PS5). The game plays in 4K using PSSR 2.0 and at an almost consistently locked 60 frames-per-second.

You can't tweak the settings, that's your lot. However, what you get is so good and stable, why would you?

The Pro version is also so much sharper and better defined than on a standard PS5. It is a great advert for upgrading, for sure. And thankfully, as many retailers have opted not to adopt Sony's own hikes, you can still do so at roughly the original launch price – even less in some cases.

It's certainly worth it, with Saros now sitting loud and proud on the rapidly expanding list of enhanced games that take advantage of the latest tech. Long may it continue to grow. At least until PS6 arrives, anyway.

While Phil Spencer will rightly be remembered and honoured by Xbox gamers for his numerous achievements, his successor as Xbox boss, Asha Sharma, has really hit the ground running.

She's already rolled back the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate price hike, unveiled a new logo, ditched the Microsoft name from the gaming division, teased Project Helix as the next Xbox console, and promised a return to a hardware-led approach.

And it's this latter initiative that is already paying dividends, it seems.

A series of leaked photos have emerged that show several new Xbox hardware devices – new controllers, in fact, that could even be available before Helix arrives.

The main leak is of an Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 3 – an upgraded pro gamepad that looks to be coming with several new features.

Posted by Technoblog (via The Verge), the images reveal a slightly more rounded version of the current Elite Series 2 with a few additional elements. The D-pad has gained bumps to give you a better understanding of the direction without needing to look down, while the bottom now seems to include scroll wheels.

The paddles on the rear also seem to have shifted down a touch.

The Verge also notes that there will be a new pair button that can switch between local and cloud modes. This is so the controller can also be used directly with Xbox Cloud Gaming, connecting directly to your home Wi-Fi network rather than going through a device first. This should reduce latency when playing cloud games.

All of these details have reportedly been unearthed in a filing with a Brazilian regulator, which also suggests the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 3 is imminent.

The same is true with another controller found by Technoblog – from the same source.

An all-new Xbox Cloud Gaming controller

A smaller, less familiar gamepad has popped up in images, too, in both black and white. It's a lot smaller than a regular Xbox controller, but can also connect directly to the internet for low latency Xbox Cloud Gaming, it's claimed.

The size also makes it more suitable to be used with third-party products, such as an Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K or Samsung / LG Smart TV. Even for play on mobile.

According to The Verge, it supports dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and even comes with Bluetooth 5.3 as well, so you can connect it to your phone when there's no other wireless internet signal.

It seems to use USB-C for charging, and there's a pairing button on the top.

Again, the timing of these images appearing in a regulator's listing suggests they are far along in the development process, so it wouldn't be surprising to seem them announced soon.

As for Project Helix itself, there's a slim possibility more could be unveiled during the annual Xbox Games Showcase on 7 June. We'll continue to bring you everything on the build up and beyond.