Good morning!

Nintendo’s out here charging $90 for a Mario game and locking buttons behind paywalls like it’s 2077, and no, it’s not satire. Meanwhile, IGN fumbled exclusive gameplay footage of The Outer Worlds 2 so hard it gave me a migraine, and Ubisoft accidentally pantsed Far Cry 4... a decade later.

In this edition, we’ve got:

• Nintendo defending their greed like it's a personality trait

• Far Cry 4’s weird new modesty patch

• IGN butchers a huge Outer Worlds 2 exclusive

Here’s everything you need to know this week in the world of gaming.

TOP STORY

Nintendo just tried to defend their greed...

So, Nintendo decided to reveal the Switch 2 and somehow managed to turn what could’ve been a clean W into a masterclass in tone-deaf corporate greed.

The presentation? Solid. 

Surprise FromSoft exclusive? Nice. 

But the price? Oh buddy.

They dropped a $450 price tag without saying it upfront, let it leak out hours later like a bad fart, and then followed it up with $80 digital games and $90 physical copies. Oh, and that tech demo that should’ve been free? That’s $10 now. Yeah. Even the tutorial costs money.

But wait… it gets dumber.

• They monetized a controller button.
  Yep. The “C” button on the Joy-Con literally does nothing unless you pay for Nintendo Switch Online. Press it without paying? You get an ad. Incredible.

• Executives tried defending it. Badly.
  One said Mario Kart World is “worth” $80 because it’s big. Another said if you can't afford the Switch 2, just go buy an old Switch. Basically: "Sounds like a you problem, broke boy."

This feels like Xbox One 2013 energy all over again. Remember always-online DRM and "just buy a 360"? Yeah, that level of nonsense.

Nintendo had a clean shot, but they chose violence. If the Switch 2 tanks at launch, it won’t be because the console sucks, it’ll be because they treated us like wallets with eyeballs.

Moral of the story?
Don’t milk your fans dry, then act surprised when they moo back.

Want my full rant in glorious detail?

Watch the video below – it's everything Nintendo doesn't want you to see. 👇

LATEST NEWS

TOP STORIES

• Nintendo's got a budget Switch 2 for Japan at $330, but it's region-locked tighter than your old iPod. Want English? Cool, that'll be $467, thanks. Just another classic Nintendo move: "Localization? Nah, pay up." (via VideoGamesChronicle)

• Ubisoft just gave Far Cry 4 a surprise modesty patch… ten years late. Ajay got a loincloth, the ladies got bras, and fans got confused. Turns out they accidentally pushed the Japanese version worldwide… but hey, at least mod support broke too. Classic Ubisoft. (via PowerUpGaming)

QUICK LINKS

• Star Citizen crowdfunding passes $800 million, raising $100 million every year since 2022.

• Japanese Gaming Companies’ Shares Tank Due to US Tariffs

• YouTube has started age restricting Balatro videos for alleged gambling-related content.

• Minecraft Earns $301M Globally, Biggest Video Game Movie Opening of All-Time.

• The Netflix bump is working its magic once again, sending Devil May Cry rocketing up the Steam top sellers in a $20 franchise bundle.

• Ubisoft holds firm in The Crew lawsuit: You don’t own your video games.

• New Deus Ex Game Pitched By Eidos-Montreal

LATEST VIDEO

🪐 The Outer Worlds 2 Gameplay Just Dropped

Surprise! Xbox announced that The Outer Worlds 2 is getting the big boy treatment this year, its own post-showcase deep dive, like Starfield before it.

Translation? Microsoft’s betting big on this one.

IGN got the first 11 minutes of exclusive gameplay... and promptly showed us how not to present a game. We're talking screen tearing so bad it looks like the fabric of space-time collapsed. No VSync, no fixes, just raw visual chaos. 19 million subs and they can’t hit a settings menu?

That said, the game itself? Looking spicy:

• Visual upgrade across the board, lighting’s tighter, UI’s cleaner.

• Companion AI is… chatty. Like “I ❤️ homicide” levels of quirky, and not in a good way.

• Combat’s flashy, and yes, there’s acid damage, because that’s how you know it’s a proper RPG.

Still, I break it all down, rant included, in the video. If you want to see why I was ready to throw hands over VSync and whether Outer Worlds 2 is shaping up to be a true glow-up or just more cosmic cringe…

👇 Watch the full video here.

WHAT’S TRENDING?
^{via SullyGnome}

MOST POPULAR:

The Twitch throne is still held by Just Chatting, even with a 📉 1.0% dip this week. The usual suspects are holding their ground—but some of them took a beating.

🥇 Just Chatting – 59.1M hours watched (📉 -1.0%)
🥈 League of Legends – 18.6M hours watched (📈 +7.7%)
🥉 Grand Theft Auto V – 17.1M hours watched (📉 -14.7%)
🎯 Counter-Strike – 14.9M hours watched (📉 -16.2%)
💥 Call of Duty: Warzone – 14.8M hours watched (📈 +111.4%) – Warzone exploded this week.

TRENDING:

These titles popped off on Twitch this week. If you're hunting for what's hot, here's where the fire’s at:

🔥 Path of Exile 2 – 11.1M more hours watched (📈 +625.7%)
🎯 Call of Duty: Warzone – 9.9M more hours watched (📈 +111.4%)
🧠 Teamfight Tactics – 3.3M more hours watched (📈 +68.6%)
🦖 Monster Hunter Wilds – 1.9M more hours watched (📈 +131.9%)
👑 League of Legends – 1.5M more hours watched (📈 +7.7%)

Twitch never sleeps, and clearly neither do ARPG fans or Call of Duty sweatlords.