Xbox Wants an Hourly Fee to Stream Games You Already Bought
Xbox is testing paid cloud playtime for players without Game Pass: 10 hours for $4, 25 for $8, 50 for $12, to stream games they already own.
#gaming
FSR 4.1 Is Coming to Xbox Series X|S and the Ally Handhelds, With No Date Yet
AMD's machine-learning upscaler is coming to Xbox Series X|S and the Ally handhelds, with no date and no game list yet. More options are welcome, if they stay optional.
Buy Pikmin 4 for $40 Now and Pay $10 Later, Not $70 in November
Pikmin 4 is $39.88 at Walmart and the Switch 2 upgrade pack is $9.99, against $69.99 for the full Switch 2 Edition on 12 November. The maths is the story.
Analogue's $220 Retro Consoles Are Worth It, and I Will Still Be Playing With a Cable
The Mega Sg+ and Super Nt+ run original cartridges on a modern TV for $219.99 each. Worth it if the carts are already in the house.
The PS5's Free AI Upscaling Is Real, and There Is Almost Nowhere to Use It
Sony's QSSR brings AI upscaling to the base PS5 for free. The image gets better, it costs frame time, and seventeen days on only two games have it.
League Classic Is Closing After About Six Months, and That Is a Normal Ending
Riot will close League Classic in early January 2027 after Season 3, saying interest faded. For a niche mode in a huge game, that is a normal ending.
Xbox's $50 Nano Controller Is Small, Cheap and Completely Untested
Xbox's $50 Nano Controller is small, cheap and untested. For a child's hands it may be the right pad rather than the small one.
The Biggest Switch 2 Controller Is Also $20 Cheaper Than Nintendo's
GuliKit's TT Max is the heftiest Switch 2 controller around and costs $70, under the 85% of the official Pro Controller price that I would accept from a third-party pad.
Forza on PlayStation Ends an Argument I Lost Fifteen Years Ago
Forza is coming to PS5, and choosing a console for its exclusives only makes sense if day one matters to you. Otherwise you are choosing an ecosystem.
A Nintendo Game on Sale Is News. Whether You Play It Is a Different Question
A Nintendo game on sale is rare enough to report. Whether you play it is the question the deal post never asks, and a Steam library full of unplayed bargains is the evidence.
A $49 Switch 2 Case That Clips Into a Mounting System You Do Not Own Yet
A $49 Switch 2 case clips into a mount system you may never buy. Paying today for future compatibility is paying for an intention.
$500 Over List for a PS5 Pro Is Not a Shop Being Greedy. It Is the Hobby Pricing People Out
A $500 markup on a PS5 Pro is a symptom, not a scandal: the entrance fee to gaming keeps rising, and the people priced out move to phones and smaller games.
No Man's Sky Reaches the iPhone Ten Years After It Earned the Right To
No Man's Sky reaches the iPhone a decade after a launch that deserved the backlash. Arriving late to it is not patience as a virtue, it is patience as a discount.
Anbernic Got the 3DS Screen Ratio Right, and That Is Not Why You Would Buy It
Anbernic's new handheld gets the 3DS screen ratio right. Size and brightness decide whether you keep playing; the ratio is a bonus.
A New Atari 800XL With 25 Games Has a Harder Rival Than Nostalgia
Atari's 800XL reissue plugs into a TV with 25 games. Its real rival is a cheap Chinese handheld with thousands, and the better reason to keep old machines is preservation.
GTA 6 Will Make the PS5 Pro Shortage Worse, and That Is Not the Reason to Buy One
PS5 Pro shortages run into 2027 and GTA 6 is about to add demand. Buy the Pro if it is the better console, not as an accessory for one game.
The Steam Frame Is Repairable Enough. The Part Most Likely to Fail Is Not.
iFixit's teardown finds Valve's $1,059 Steam Frame easy to open, except for the fan buried behind the optics, a tab-less battery and soldered thumbsticks.
AMD Promises FSR 4 for Handheld PCs by the End of 2026, With Details Still Missing
AMD says FSR 4 upscaling will reach handheld gaming PCs before the end of 2026. No device list or performance numbers have been published.
Razer's Basilisk V4 Pro Claims 275 Hours of Battery, and the Fine Print Matters
Razer's $170 Basilisk V4 Pro advertises up to 275 hours, but that figure is for Bluetooth. Its faster wireless mode is rated at 200 hours.
You Do Not Need the $90 Switch 2 Pro Controller, and the Reason Is Who Is Holding It
Nintendo's Pro Controller costs $90 and two unbranded pads cost half that. The right choice depends on who ends up holding it, not on the spec sheet.