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Read about the latest Gaming news and announcements. The official blog of Activision, publishers of Call of Duty, Sekiro, Crash Bandicoot, Skylanders, and more.

Finally, a new controller that solves the Switch 2's "flat Joy-Con" problem

When I reviewed the Switch 2 back in June, I noted that the lack of any sort of extended grip on the extremely thin Joy-Con 2 controllers made them relatively awkward to hold, both when connected to the system and when cradled in separate hands. At the time, I said that "my Switch 2 will probably need something like the Nyxi Hyperion Pro, which I’ve come to rely on to make portable play on the original Switch much more comfortable."

Over half a year later, Nyxi is once again addressing my Switch controller-related comfort concerns with the Hyperion 3, which was made available for preorder earlier this week ahead of planned March 1 shipments. Unfortunately, it looks like players will have to pay a relatively high price for a potentially more ergonomic Switch 2 experience.

While there are plenty of third-party controllers for the Switch 2, none of the current options mimic the official Joy-Cons' ability to connect magnetically to the console tablet itself (controllers designed to slide into the grooves on the original Switch tablet also can't hook to the successor console). The Hyperion 3 is the first Switch 2 controller to offer this magnetic connection, making it uniquely suited for handheld play on the system.

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Why adding modern controls to 1996's Tomb Raider simply doesn't work

For a lot of the games I've written about in the C:\ArsGames series, I've come to the conclusion that the games hold up pretty well, despite their age—Master of Orion II, Jill of the Jungle, and Wing Commander Privateer, for example. Each of those have flaws that show now more than ever, but I still had a blast revisiting each of them.

This time I'd like to write about one that I think doesn't hold up quite as well for me: For the first time in almost 30 years, I revisited the original Tomb Raider via 2024's Tomb Raider I-III Remastered collection.

You might be thinking this is going to be a dunk on the work done on the remaster, but that's not the case, because the core issue with playing 1996's Tomb Raider in 2026 is actually unsolvable, no matter how much care is put into a remaster.

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The first new Marathon game in decades will launch on March 5

It's been nearly three years now since Destiny maker (and Sony subsidiary) Bungie formally announced a revival of the storied Marathon FPS franchise. And it has been about seven months since the game's original announced release date of September 23, 2025 was pushed back indefinitely after a reportedly poor response to the game's first Alpha test.

But today, in a post on the PlayStation Blog, Bungie revealed that the new Marathon would finally be hitting PS5, Windows, and Xbox Series X|S on March 5, narrowing down the month-long March release window announced back in December.

Today's pre-rder trailer revealing the Marathon release date.

Unlike Destiny 2, which transitioned to a free-to-play model in 2019, the new Marathon sells for $40 in a Standard Edition or a $60 Deluxe Edition that includes some digital rewards and cosmetics. That mirrors the pricing of the somewhat similar Arc Raiders, which recently hit 12 million sales in less than 12 weeks.

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Reports of ad-supported Xbox game streams show Microsoft's lack of imagination

Currently, Microsoft's long-running Cloud Gaming service is limited to players that have a Microsoft's Game Pass subscription. Now, new reporting suggests Microsoft is planning to offer non-subscribers access to game streams paid for by advertising in the near future, but only in extremely limited circumstances.

The latest wave of rumors was set off late last week when The Verge's Tom Warren shared an Xbox Cloud Gaming loading screen with a message mentioning "1 hour of ad supported playtime per session." That leaked message comes after Windows Central reported last summer that Microsoft has been "exploring video ads for free games for quite some time," à la the two-minute sponsorships that appear before free-tier game streams on Nvidia's GeForce Now service.

Don't get your hopes up for easy, free, ad-supported access to the entire Xbox Cloud Gaming library, though. Windows Central now reports that Microsoft will be using ads merely to slightly expand access to its "Stream your own game" program. That program currently offers subscribers to the Xbox Game Pass Essentials tier (or higher) the privilege of streaming versions of some of the Xbox games they've already purchased digitally. Windows Central's unnamed sources suggest a "session-based ad-supported access tier" to stream those purchased games will be offered to non-subscribers as soon as "this year."

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10 things I learned from burning myself out with AI coding agents

If you've ever used a 3D printer, you may recall the wondrous feeling when you first printed something you could have never sculpted or built yourself. Download a model file, load some plastic filament, push a button, and almost like magic, a three-dimensional object appears. But the result isn't polished and ready for mass production, and creating a novel shape requires more skills than just pushing a button. Interestingly, today's AI coding agents feel much the same way.

Since November, I have used Claude Code and Claude Opus 4.5 through a personal Claude Max account to extensively experiment with AI-assisted software development (I have also used OpenAI's Codex in a similar way, though not as frequently). Fifty projects later, I'll be frank: I have not had this much fun with a computer since I learned BASIC on my Apple II Plus when I was 9 years old. This opinion comes not as an endorsement but as personal experience: I voluntarily undertook this project, and I paid out of pocket for both OpenAI and Anthropic's premium AI plans.

Throughout my life, I have dabbled in programming as a utilitarian coder, writing small tools or scripts when needed. In my web development career, I wrote some small tools from scratch, but I primarily modified other people's code for my needs. Since 1990, I've programmed in BASIC, C, Visual Basic, PHP, ASP, Perl, Python, Ruby, MUSHcode, and some others. I am not an expert in any of these languages—I learned just enough to get the job done. I have developed my own hobby games over the years using BASIC, Torque Game Engine, and Godot, so I have some idea of what makes a good architecture for a modular program that can be expanded over time.

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Meta’s layoffs leave Supernatural fitness users in mourning

Tencia Benavidez, a Supernatural user who lives in New Mexico, started her VR workouts during the Covid pandemic. She has been a regular user in the five years since, calling the ability to work out in VR ideal, given that she lives in a rural area where it’s hard to get to a gym or work out outside during a brutal winter. She stuck with Supernatural because of the community and the eagerness of Supernatural’s coaches.

“They seem like really authentic individuals that were not talking down to you,” Benavidez says. “There's just something really special about those coaches.”

Meta bought Supernatural in 2022, folding it into its then-heavily-invested-in metaverse efforts. The purchase was not a smooth process, as it triggered a lengthy legal battle in which the US Federal Trade Commission tried to block Meta from purchasing the service due to antitrust concerns about Meta “trying to buy its way to the top” of the VR market. Meta ultimately prevailed. At the time, some Supernatural users were cautiously optimistic, hoping that big bag of Zuckerbucks could keep its workout juggernaut afloat.

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Bully Online mod taken down abruptly one month after launch

A PC mod that added online gameplay to Rockstar's 2006 school-exploration title Bully was abruptly taken down on Wednesday, roughly a month after it was first made available. While the specific reason for the "Bully Online" takedown hasn't been publicly discussed, a message posted by the developers to the project's now-defunct Discord server clarifies that "this was not something we wanted."

The Bully Online mod was spearheaded by Swegta, a Rockstar-focused YouTuber who formally announced the project in October as a mod that "allows you and your friends to play minigames, role-play, compete in racing, fend off against NPCs, and much more."

At the time of the announcement, Swegta said the mod was "a project me and my team have been working on for a very long time" and that early access in December would be limited to those who contributed at least $8 to a Ko-Fi account. When December actually rolled around, though, a message on Swegta.com (archived) suggested that the mod was being released freely as an open source project, with a registration page (archived) offering new accounts to anyone.

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I can’t stop shooting Oddcore’s endless waves of weird little guys

Since the days of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, the humble first-person shooter has flourished in myriad and complex directions. The genre has expanded in narrative and gameplay terms to include everything from sprawling sci-fi epics to dense objectivist allegories to multiplayer-focused military free-for-alls and practically everything in between.

Sometimes, though, you just want an excuse to shoot a bunch of weird little guys in weird little spaces.

Don't get too close, now... they do bite. Credit: Oddcorp

For those times, there is Oddcore, a new Early Access, roguelike boomer shooter that is a stark contrast to the more sprawling self-serious shooters out there. The game's combination of frenetic, quick-moving action, semi-randomized scenarios, and well-balanced risk/reward upgrade system makes for a pick-up-and-play shooter that I find myself struggling not to pick up and play for a few more quick-hit sessions even as I write this.

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Civilization VII is headed to iPhone and iPad with “Arcade Edition”

Civilization VII is coming to the iPhone and iPad, Apple and publisher 2K announced today.

Formally titled Sid Meier's Civilization VII Arcade Edition, it is developed by Behaviour Interactive with input from original developer Firaxis Games.

Neither announcement makes any mention of a non-Arcade version, so this appears to be exclusively part of the subscription.

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Is this the beginning of the end for GameStop?

Six and a half years ago—after a failed corporate sale attempt, massive financial losses, and the departure/layoff of many key staff—I wrote about what seemed at the time like the "imminent demise" of GameStop. Now, after five years of meme stock mania that helped prop up the company's finances a bit, I'll admit the video game and Funko Pop retailer has lasted much longer as a relevant entity than I anticipated.

GameStop's surprisingly extended run may be coming to an end, though, with Polygon reporting late last week that GameStop has abruptly shut down 400 stores across the US, with even more closures expected before the end of the month. That comes on top of 590 US stores that were shuttered in fiscal 2024 (which ended in January 2025) and stated plans to close hundreds of remaining international stores across Canada, Australia, and Europe in the coming months, per SEC filings.

GameStop still had just over 3,200 stores worldwide as of February 1, 2025, so even hundreds of new and planned store closures don't literally mean the immediate end of the company as a going concern. But when you consider that there were still nearly 6,000 GameStop locations worldwide as of 2019—nearly 4,000 of which were in the US—the long-term trend is clear.

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Seasonal Switch 2 sales show significant slowing as annual cycle sunsets

Nintendo's Switch 2 was an unmitigated market success for Nintendo following its launch last June, selling a record-setting 3.5 million units worldwide in its first four days and reaching over 10 million shipments in just under four months. But a new report from The Game Business suggests that frenzied initial sales pace may have slowed significantly in many markets during the system's crucial first holiday season.

The report suggests that US Switch 2 sales were down about 35 percent during November and December compared to sales of the original Switch in the same period in 2017. In the UK, Switch 2 sales were down 16 percent compared to the original Switch during the last eight weeks of the year. And in France, comparative Switch 2 sales were down 30 percent relative to the Switch for the same period, reflecting what The Game Business says is "a slowdown in Switch 2 sales momentum over the Christmas sales window" across "all major European markets."

The Switch 2's relative performance was a little better in Japan, where sales for the holiday period declined just 5.5 percent compared to the original Switch. For the full launch year, though, Japanese Switch 2 sales were up 11 percent compared to the Switch launch, thanks perhaps in part to a cheaper Japan-only version of the console that isn't subject to the vagaries of international currency valuations.

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SteamOS continues its slow spread across the PC gaming landscape

SteamOS's slow march across the Windows-dominated PC gaming landscape is continuing to creep along. At CES this week, Lenovo announced it will launch a version of last year's high-priced, high-powered Legion Go 2 handheld with Valve's gaming-focused, Linux-based OS pre-installed starting in June. And there are some intriguing signs from Valve that SteamOS could come to non-AMD devices in the not-too-distant future as well.

A new SteamOS-powered Legion Go 2 isn't exactly shocking news given how things have been going in the world of PC gaming handhelds. Lenovo became the first non-Valve hardware maker to embrace the Windows alternative when it announced a SteamOS-compatible version of the lower-end Legion Go S almost exactly a year ago. When that version hit the market last spring, Ars testing found it actually performed better than the Windows-based version of the same hardware on many popular games.

Valve has also been working behind the scenes to expand SteamOS's footprint beyond its own hardware. After rolling out the SteamOS Compatible software label last May, SteamOS version 3.7 offered support for manual installation on AMD-powered handhelds like the ROG Ally and the original Legion Go.

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With GeForce Super GPUs missing in action, Nvidia focuses on software upgrades

For the first time in years, Nvidia declined to introduce new GeForce graphics card models at CES. CEO Jensen Huang's characteristically sprawling and under-rehearsed 90-minute keynote focused almost entirely on the company's dominant AI business, relegating the company's gaming-related announcements to a separate video posted later in the evening.

Instead, the company focused on software improvements for its existing hardware. The biggest announcement in this vein is DLSS 4.5, which adds a handful of new features to Nvidia's basket of upscaling and frame generation technologies.

DLSS upscaling is being improved by a new "second-generation transformer model" that Nvidia says has been "trained on an expanded data set" to improve its predictions when generating new pixels. According to Nvidia's Bryan Catanzaro, this is particularly beneficial for image quality in the Performance and Ultra Performance modes, where the upscaler has to do more guessing because it's working from a lower-resolution source image.

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Nvidia’s new G-Sync Pulsar monitors target motion blur at the human retina level

It's been almost exactly two years since Nvidia announced G-Sync Pulsar, its new backlight strobing technology designed to limit display motion blur caused by old images persisting on the viewer's retina. At the time, Nvidia said that technology would debut on Asus' ROG Swift PG27 Series monitors by the end of 2024. Nvidia now says the first four G-Sync Pulsar-powered monitors will be available at select retailers starting Wednesday.

Those first Pulsar-equipped monitors will be:

Making 360 Hz seem like more

All four of the fresh Pulsar-enabled IPS monitors come in at 27 inches with 1440p resolution and up to 360 Hz refresh rates. But Nvidia says the integrated G-Sync Pulsar technology means each display has the "effective motion clarity of a theoretical 1,000 Hz monitor."

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AMD reheats last year’s Ryzen AI and X3D CPUs for 2026’s laptops and desktops

Intel, AMD, Nvidia, and other chip companies usually have some kind of news to announce at CES to kick off the year, but some of those announcements are more interesting than others. Sometimes you see new chips with significant speed boosts and other new technologies, and sometimes you get rebranded versions of old silicon meant to fill out a lineup or make an existing architecture seem newer and more exciting than it is.

AMD's Ryzen CPU announcements this year fall firmly into the latter camp—these are all gently tweaked variants of chips that launched in 2024 and 2025.

"New," for certain values of "new"

These Ryzen AI 400-series chips are slightly faster than, but otherwise functionally identical to, the Ryzen AI 300 series. Credit: AMD
Slightly higher CPU clock speeds, NPU speeds, and supported RAM speeds will separate Ryzen AI 400 from Ryzen AI 300. Credit: AMD
Core specs for the new-ish chips. Credit: AMD
The corresponding Ryzen Pro chips for business PCs. Credit: AMD

Let's start with the Ryzen AI 400 series. Officially the follow-up to the Ryzen AI 300 chips announced in June 2024, these processors offer some modest clock speed improvements and faster memory support. The new Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 has a peak boost clock speed of 5.2 GHz and support for LPDDR5x-8533, for example, up from 5.1 GHz and LPDDR5x-8000 for the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, and its built-in neural processing unit (NPU) is capable of 60 trillion operations per second (TOPS) rather than 50 TOPS.

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