Intel have announced a handful of new gaming CPUs, the Core Ultra 200S Plus series, to release next month. After 2024’s original Core Ultra 200S family went for efficiency gains at the cost of frame-punching game power, these 200S Plus chips are once again tuned more for straight performance, which sounds good to me. I like lower electricity bills and heat generation as much as the next hardware editor, and was fairly optimistic about that initial batch of Core Ultras at first, but they ended up so slow and dull it essentially put me off writing about CPUs for a year and a half.
Say hello, then, to the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Core Ultra 250K Plus, which’ll be out on March 26th 2026 at $299 and $199 respectively. There’ll also be slightly cheaper KF variants, without integrated graphics, for each. Intel VP Robert Hallock says these will be the “fastest desktop gaming processors Intel has ever built,” which they’ll need to be – while the blue team have been fiddling with efficiency, AMD’s 3D V-Cache tech has ran away with the gaming advantage, especially on the outstandingly quick Ryzen 7 9800X3D.
The perceived success of Pokémon Pokopia has led to a surge in Nintendo’s stock price, which has slumped so far this year.
As noted by Bloomberg, this week’s 10.5% spike in Nintendo shares is the steepest climb seen by the company since April 2025, back during the height of Switch 2 pre-launch anticipation.
Recent months have seen Nintendo’s share price steadily fall, with a drop-off in December followed by a notable dip last month — something experienced by various video game companies amid investor fears over the use of AI to replace traditional development, and the technology’s spiralling impact on computer memory costs.
How much of a success has Pokémon Pokopia been? So far, Nintendo itself has not released any sales figures, and unless The Pokémon Company makes its own announcement, we’ll likely have to wait until Nintendo’s next financial results in May for more detail.
Early signs are promising, however, with reports of physical copies sold out in various countries, and Amazon upping the game’s price to $80 after seeing high demand. It’s these early signs, seemingly, that investors have now acted upon — even if its success seemed likely.
Analysts quoted by Bloomberg describe the game as a “viral hit” and a “dark horse”, something which has amused fans who have long seen the likelihood of success in a game that blends the billion dollar Pokémon series with elements of Minecraft and Animal Crossing — another pair of rather popular franchises.
IGN’s Pokémon Pokopia review returned a 9/10 score, and dubbed the game as “an enjoyable building and town simulator that capitalizes on the charming personalities of its monsters in a way that appeals to both the creative and collector alike.”
Save the World, Fortnite’s original PVE survival mode, is finally going free-to-play after almost nine years.
From April 16, all Fortnite players will be able to access Save the World without having to purchase access — as long as they play via a supported platform. To date, the mode is unavailable on Nintendo Switch, Switch 2 and smartphones. On April 16, however, Switch 2 players will also gain access for the first time.
Back in the bygone days of summer 2017, Fortnite only existed as its Save the World portion. A mix of zombie shooting and base building, it made a modest impact — but is now far more famous as being the precursor to Fortnite’s hugely popular battle royale.
In the time since, and despite an initial plan to make Save the World free to all players years ago, developer Epic Games has kept its PVE offering paywalled off, accessed via a rotating selection of add-on packs. Updates to the mode have been sporadic, though continue to bring occasional drops of new content or gameplay tweaks.
Now, however, all of that is going away — so if you want to give Save the World a go, you’ll soon be able to. A website with a community goal to drive interest ahead of April 16 has also now been launched, with a smattering of free rewards if you register there.
Never’s End is the new strategy RPG from a former Destiny developer in which you lead a party of possessed villagers against a ravening (yet cuddly) tide of undead. At a glance, it’s an elegantly muted Final Fantasy Tactics, with doll-sized characters on a spinnable grid-based map. In the hands, it’s surprisingly reminiscent of Larian’s Divinity: Original Sin games, with a nerdy application of thermodynamics that lets you transform each map into a vortex of mist, flame and increasingly naked skeletons.
“It’s been an honor voicing Mega Man in Mega Man 11”.
After what’s felt like a lifetime, Capcom finally confirmed Mega Man: Dual Override, the latest entry in the iconic side-scrolling action series. Scheduled to launch on Switch and Switch 2 in 2027, there’s not a whole lot we know about the game at this early stage, but what we do now know is that Mega Man 11 voice actor Ben Diskin won’t be returning to voice the Blue Bomber.
Speaking in a thread on Bluesky, Diskin confirmed that he was asked to come back for the upcoming title, but Capcom was unwilling to provide a union contract. Despite offering assurances that Diskin’s voice wouldn’t be for AI development in the future, Diskin felt that due to the volatile state of the industry right now, he couldn’t take the risk.
Two million people have already downloaded the demo for Capcom’s upcoming sci-fi game, Pragmata.
Pragmata Sketchbook — the free slice of the game that offers players across all platforms (PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S) — gives players a taste of the “tactile combat system that fully engages both sides of your brain,” as well as what it’s like to explore the lunar research station, including its hacking gameplay.
“Hugh, look — I can’t believe millions of people are excited for our game!” protagonist Diana tells her companion on social media. “Pragmata has reached two million wishlists, and two million demo downloads. Thank you so much for all your support.”
“Hugh, look – I can’t believe millions of people are excited for our game!”
PRAGMATA has reached 2 million wishlists, and 2 million demo downloads. Thank you so much for all your support. 💙#PRAGMATApic.twitter.com/kqtB2rESuh
If you’ve yet to give it a go, there’s still time. In fact, Capcom teases that even though some contents of the demo will differ in the final version of the game, it’s worth replaying the demo, as “you might discover new things,” and Diana will have an illustration for you upon completion.
Pragmata is an all-new sci-fi action adventure with its own unique hacking twist. Set in the near future, protagonists Hugh and Diana must work together as they make their way through the cold lunar research station.
Capcom kicked off last week’s Capcom Spotlight presentation by sharing a brand-new look at Pragmata, confirming it was “undelaying” the game and moved the release date up from April 24 to April 17, and gave us another look at Pragmata’s Deluxe Edition, which includes the Shelter Variety Pack.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Capcom’s new IP Pragmata got a demo not long ago and it seems the word about it is spreading. Following the downloads for this ‘Sketchbook’ trial reaching one million combined downloads across all platforms last month, we’ve now got an update.
[Editor’s Note: Minishoot’ Adventures was first released on PC in 2024, but we did not review it at that time, so we have taken its recent port to Nintendo Switch 2 as an opportunity to do so now.]
Minishoot’ Adventures answers a question I never would have thought to ask in a thousand years: What if you mixed classic Zelda with a twin-stick shooter? Developer SoulGame Studio’s take on that combination is an absolute delight. Between the silky smooth controls, your spaceship-shaped hero’s growing repertoire of abilities, and a top-down world that opens up at a satisfying pace, I loved all 10 hours it took me to roll credits. That felt like a perfect length, even though I would’ve gladly kept playing if it had offered more.
SoulGame Studio makes absolutely no effort to hide Minishoot’ Adventures’ Hyrulean inspiration. Just like Zelda, the overworld is populated with enemies, caves, trees, waterways, and areas you can see but can’t reach until you unlock a new ability. Your health is displayed as a row of hearts in the upper corner of the screen, and you can add more by finding heart pieces hidden around the world. If that’s not proof enough, just travel one screen down from your home base and you’ll find an exact replica of the starting screen from The Legend of Zelda on NES. While an uncharitable interpretation might consider this stealing from Nintendo, it all comes off as a loving homage. The developers have used familiar ingredients to create a new, twin-stick shooting-infused dish that’s different enough to stand on its own.
Instead of an elfin boy, you play as Minishoot’, a small beige ship that exhibits a surprising amount of personality thanks to the cartoonish art and animation. That odd apostrophe in the ship’s name is actually to abbreviate “Minimalist Shooter Adventure,” and that minimalism extends to the story, which gets maybe a minute of total screen time. Basically, you and your fellow sentient ships are enjoying your lives together when an invading force comes in with guns blazing to break up the party, flinging ships to all corners of the map and encasing them in crystals. Your job, once you break free of your own gemstone prison, is to find your Shipling friends and “restore balance to the Great Crystal,” whatever that means. It’s not Shakespeare, but it sets you off on a fun adventure.
If you’ve played top-down Zelda games before, then you know exactly what to expect here: You’ll poke around the overworld, delving into caves, fighting enemies, and solving light puzzles. This is all extremely pleasant, thanks in no small part to the controls. Minishoot’ glides along so smoothly that simply moving across the screen feels satisfying.
You glide so smoothly that simply moving across the screen feels satisfying.
Some areas are blocked off by obstacles like pits and water, but you can explore these regions later, once you obtain the right equipment. For instance, you unlock a surf ability that lets you glide over water, and a boost that lets you use ramps to leap over pits. These upgrades are a joy, both because the controls are so good and because they let you explore further into the map. This is a tried-and-true formula, and it works particularly great in Minishoot’ because of how frequently the upgrades are handed out during the adventure. The pacing feels just right, so I never felt like my progress had stalled.
The only major aspect that’s not inspired by Zelda is the twin-stick combat, which (if you’re using a gamepad, as is highly recommended) has you move around with the left stick while firing bullets in any direction with the right. This addition is incorporated so seamlessly into the otherwise recognizable framework that you might wonder if Link should’ve been a little ship all along.
Your starting weapon is as weak as a peashooter, but as you take down enemies and blast through gemstones scattered throughout the world, you level up, earning points you can feed into 11 different enhancements — things like fire rate, damage, range, and bullet speed. Each of these enhancements can be upgraded numerous times, making any single upgrade feel a little too incremental, which is somewhat disappointing. Worse, the cost of the upgrades increases as your enhancements become stronger. That means, for instance, you need to spend three levels’ worth of currency to gain the second damage upgrade.
Thankfully, you’re also picking up new abilities as you bolster your damage output, so I always felt like I was making progress regardless. And your attack upgrades do eventually add up; by the time I confronted the final boss, I could unleash a bullet hell barrage of my own.
Unlike Zelda, the enemy designs are largely forgettable in Minishoot’ Adventures, at least when it comes to their looks. Like the Shipling protagonists, the bad guys you’re blowing up are all mechanical constructs. Most are beige ships that come in different geometric shapes – this one’s a circle! Here’s a triangle! Lynels and moblins these are not.
Enemies don’t look too interesting, but they have a nice variety of attack styles.
On the other hand, these enemies do have a nice variety of attack styles, and they’re strategically placed around the environment to pose different kinds of challenges, making them far more interesting to fight than they are to look at. For instance, stationary turrets might snipe at you from a distance while a cluster of small enemies swarms your way, giving you plenty to consider as you try to kill the cluster while avoiding the incoming bullets. Many rooms lock you inside while spawning increasingly difficult waves of enemies. (There are even a handful of races for you to compete in, complete with a starting block and finish line.)
Bosses are also mechanically interesting, big and challenging battles divided into phases – and it’s here that this twin-stick shooter veers into bullet hell territory. You usually have to thread your way through a maze of projectiles, all while directing your own stream of bullets at the boss. It’s a blast. I died a lot in these fights, but just like in top-down Zelda games, the dungeons are designed to give you a short route back to the boss room from your respawn point, so I was always excited to try again rather than getting frustrated.
Every inch of Minishoot’ Adventures is packed with smart little details, like hidden paths hinted at by gentle indents in the walls, or how enemies gradually turn redder as they take damage so you can tell when they’re about to die. There are plenty of collectables to seek out, from red coins and heart pieces to chunks of the overworld map. As you progress, various symbols start to appear in unexplored regions to point you toward new areas of interest, so I never felt aimless or lost.
It’s all set to a charming and engrossing electronic soundtrack. The sound effects are full of little bloops and plooks and ASMR-friendly tinkles, as well. Combine that soundscape with surprisingly cute animations (an especially impressive feat for a game about faceless ships) and you get a cozy vibe, even when you’re sweating through an onslaught of bullets.
