Welcome to Video Games Weekly on Engadget. Anticipate a brand new story each Monday or Tuesday (or Thursday?), damaged into two elements. The primary is an area for brief essays and ramblings about online game traits and associated matters from me, Jess Conditt, a reporter who’s coated the trade for greater than 13 years. The second accommodates the online game tales from the previous week that it is advisable find out about, together with some headlines from exterior of Engadget.

Please take pleasure in — and I am going to see you subsequent week.

I’ve been enjoying the Swap 2 alongside since Nintendo’s new console got here out on June 5, and I’m having a wonderful time. Though to be completely clear, a overwhelming majority of my play has been devoted to Mario Kart World, a sport I’ve been trying ahead to for months and that completely scratches the I’ve been which means to ask my physician about. Mario Kart World is colourful, brilliant and infinitely replayable, and one function that’s getting so much of consideration is its elevated ability ceiling. This installment introduces new mechanics like wall driving and rail grinds, which considerably alter how the sport is performed at its highest ranges, the place shortcuts and strategic pathing are a should. There’s an excessive amount of variability in Mario Kart for it to be a professionally aggressive franchise, however that doesn’t cease folks from getting , and gamers are already attempting to exploit the most milliseconds out of the new strikes in Mario Kart World. It’s going to take some time, since these mechanics are surprisingly complicated, and I’m excited to see what secrets and techniques the neighborhood uncovers in the close to future.

Whereas that’s taking place, I’d like to spotlight one thing on the opposite aspect of the ability spectrum. Mario Kart World is far much less irritating in moment-to-moment gameplay than Mario Kart 8, and I feel this is one of its best strengths. I don’t have empirical knowledge right here, but it surely’s a definite feeling I’ve each time I play: Getting hit with shells, working over banana peels and bouncing into obstacles is extra forgiving than ever. These moments are much less jarring than they have been in Mario Kart 8 particularly, and it takes noticeably much less time to get well and get again into the race after taking a pink shell to the behind. Both the stun time is shorter, the post-collision acceleration is sooner or there’s some witchy mixture of these components taking place, however no matter the trigger, I deeply recognize the impact.

Mario Kart World is flow-friendly and accessible, and these refined tweaks diminish some of the sequence’ most annoying elements, like resetting after a barrage of explosive bullshit will get hurled into your bumper. The one merchandise in Mario Kart World that appears like a real exhausting cease is the lightning bolt, however at the least that one impacts each character round you with the identical momentum-jamming pressure.

In the meantime, the tracks in Mario Kart World are so very, very fairly — taking a look at you, Starview Peak and Rainbow Highway — the character roster is stacked with tremendous lovely contemporary faces, bikes are extra steady than earlier video games, and the 24-player Knockout Tour is a enjoyable check of ability. With the potential for 23 objects to be aimed toward your again, it is sensible that Nintendo would attempt to make restoration extra seamless this time, and I simply needed to say that I discover it and recognize it.

Now, to determine this wall driving factor.

The information

Xbox president Sarah Bond introduced that the firm’s subsequent era of {hardware} will probably be powered by AMD, identical to the Xbox Sequence X/S and the coming handhelds. That’s cool, but it surely additionally gives some clues about the future of Microsoft’s gaming division, and issues are trying extra decentralized with every new morsel. Xbox seems to be positioning itself as a platform-agnostic software program supplier, leaning into PC and handheld play, and working an all-inclusive storefront that follows you throughout gadgets. It actually feels like the subsequent Xbox may very well be extra of a PC that lives below your TV, relatively than a devoted, closed-system online game machine. Ouya was simply , it appears.

Did you hear that sonorous, well-articulated sigh of reduction? SAG-AFTRA suspended its strike in opposition to 10 main online game studios, following of negotiations over AI use and actor compensation. The union and the studios signed a deal that features wage will increase for greater than 24 % of performers and protections round the deployment of AI and digital replicas.

Perhaps this is for the greatest. Bungie has indefinitely delayed Marathon, citing a have to overhaul the sport because it presently stands. The delay follows a slew of dangerous information out of Bungie, beginning in July 2024, when the studio , or 17 % of its workforce. In Might 2025, Bungie was in the Marathon alpha and a number of other former workers accused the studio of . Whether or not Marathon actually requires a revamp or Bungie simply wants a second to breathe, a delay appears like the proper transfer.

It would price $70.

It’s official — is remaking the authentic Silent Hill for Konami. The venture follows Bloober’s extremely profitable reimagining of Silent Hill 2, which landed in October 2024 and garnered oodles of acclaim from critics and gamers alike. There’s no phrase on a launch date for the new remake, but it surely’s becoming a member of a trio of in the Silent Hill universe: Silent Hill Townfall from Annapurna Interactive and No Code, Silent Hill: Ascension from Unhealthy Robotic and Genvid, and from writer Ryūkishi07.

Senior evaluations author Sam Rutherford is a beast for gathering all of his ideas on the Swap 2 so shortly and with such fabulous perception, and it’d be a disgrace if you happen to didn’t get to soak up all of that scrumptious information for your self. This has been my overview of Sam’s overview of the Swap 2 — a console that is additionally fairly incredible, by the manner.

Summer time Recreation Fest by no means ends

formally wrapped up on June 9, however the embargoed tales, interviews and our hands-on impressions from the present simply carry on coming. Since we final spoke, Engadget’s SGF 2025 crew has printed articles about , , , , , and .

Cool video games out now: FBC: Firebreak, Tron: Catalyst, Playdate and the Kris listing

Each Saturday morning on Engadget, contributing reporter Kris Holt publishes a roundup of fantastic-sounding and freshly out there indie video games, so make sure you test for that commonly. , the Kris listing options The Alters, Dune: Awakening and Instants, amongst different shout-outs. In associated new-game information, Treatment’s extraction shooter and Bithell Games’ isometric motion expertise are additionally out there now. And eventually, Playdate Season Two, which has already offered a firehose of oddball experiences — all lovingly parsed by way of by Engadget weekend editor Cheyenne Macdonald.