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Nintendo Announces Switch 2 Repair Price Hike For Japan

by Ralph on October 16, 2026 0

Nintendo is raising the cost of hardware repairs in Japan. The change takes effect on 16th November 2026 and will apply to both the Switch 2 and the original Switch. The announcement comes from Nintendo’s Japanese site, and it follows a year in which both consoles have already seen price increases around the world. Repair pricing is a separate matter from the cost of buying a console, but the two tend to move in the same direction when the pressures on manufacturing and logistics persist. For owners, the practical effect is straightforward: fixing a damaged console in Japan will cost more after the middle of November than it does now. Anyone with a repair already planned has a window of about a month to act before the new fees apply, though the details of how the adjustment is calculated have not been spelled out in the announcement. It is worth separating the regional picture...

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Zelda: Ocarina Of Time Switch 2 “Replica N64 Box” Revealed

by Ralph on October 16, 2026 0

A replica N64 box is being offered as a reward in France, tied to the upcoming Switch 2 release of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It is the latest in a growing line of retailer incentives surrounding the game. The item is a piece of packaging rather than the game itself, which is exactly why it has attracted attention. Replica boxes appeal to the part of the audience that remembers the original shelf presence of N64 releases, and they sit comfortably alongside the trend of collector-focused extras that have become common for high-profile re-releases. France is not alone in seeing this kind of promotion. As the launch approaches, merchants around the world have been revealing midnight openings and exclusive bonuses, each trying to secure pre-orders with something the others do not have. The result is a patchwork of offers that varies by country and, often, by retailer. That patchwork is worth understanding before ordering. A...

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Preview: ‘Eternal Anima’ Returns To The Past To Create A Modern JRPG

by Ralph on October 16, 2026 0

Eternal Anima has been a long time coming. The project was first disclosed in 2023 under the working title Project Life is RPG, and at the time Marvelous kept the details deliberately vague. What the publisher did say was that it was building a new IP intended to honour the classic titles of the genre, supported by concept art that suggested a strong sense of place. That combination, a veteran Japanese publisher with a nostalgic brief and a willingness to show artwork before gameplay, set expectations without pinning down what the game would actually be. Previews now offer a clearer view. The idea of returning to the past to build something modern is a familiar one in role-playing games, and it is easy to see why developers are drawn to it. The genre’s foundations are well understood: a party, a journey, a system of combat that rewards planning, and a world that opens up...

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DayZ creator Dean Hall says “our industry is rotting from its core” because of big-company “greed”, aiming shots at Epic’s Unreal and Unity

by Ralph on October 16, 2026 0

The creator of DayZ, Dean Hall, has delivered a blunt assessment of the games business: in his view, the industry is “rotting from its core.” The cause, as he frames it, is greed among the biggest companies rather than any single genre, platform or business model. The immediate targets of his criticism are Epic’s Unreal engine and Unity, the two technology platforms that underpin a huge portion of modern game development. Both are used by studios of every size, from small teams building a first project to large publishers shipping annual franchises, which is why criticism of them carries weight. An engine is not a neutral choice. Once a team commits to one, its tools, hiring, workflows and long-term support all tend to follow, and switching later is expensive. When a handful of companies control those foundations, the terms they set ripple outward through the whole industry, affecting budgets and schedules far beyond their...

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Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse review

by Ralph on October 16, 2026 0

Few names in games carry as much accumulated history as Castlevania. The series has been associated for decades with gothic horror, the Belmont clan and a whip swung at Dracula and the inhabitants of his castle, and any new entry inherits that weight. Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse is the latest game to carry the name, and a full review has now been published. For anyone weighing it up, the useful question is not simply whether it is good, but whether it understands what made the series endure in the first place. The ingredients are well known. A sprawling castle, rooms that reward a second look, enemies placed with intent, and a difficulty curve that asks the player to learn rather than simply endure. Later entries added exploration and character progression, but the core remained action, timing and a certain grim atmosphere. Sound and presentation matter as much as mechanics here. Castlevania has long been known...

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Grand Theft Auto 6 launch trailer suddenly drops, showing a saucy shower scene, a tense police chase, and high-flying heists

by Ralph on October 16, 2026 0

Rockstar Games has released a trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6, and it arrives with the release date of 19th November now firmly in view. The publisher has kept details close for years, so any new footage is treated as an event by a fanbase that has waited a very long time. The trailer leans into the series’ familiar mix of crime, spectacle and dark humour. A shower scene, a tense police chase and high-flying heists all feature, each one a reminder that Grand Theft Auto has always been as interested in tone and provocation as it is in shooting and driving. Heists in particular have become one of the franchise’s signatures, elaborate set pieces that turn planning into tension and then into chaos. A good heist mission is a small story with a beginning, a complication and a getaway, and the brief glimpses here suggest that formula remains central. The police chase is...

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Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave gets its first wave of DLC today, and an expansion pass to include it

by Ralph on October 16, 2026 0

Nintendo and Intelligent Systems have launched an expansion pass for Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave. The package brings a series of downloadable additions to the tactical RPG, beginning today and continuing with further content stretching into 2027. Fire Emblem has always been a series about consequences. Units die permanently in the classic mode, maps punish careless positioning, and every deployment decision carries weight. That structure makes additional content particularly appealing, because more maps and more characters mean more of the thing fans come for. Expansion passes have become a common way to support a game after launch, and they suit a strategy title well. A campaign can be extended without asking players to start over, and new scenarios can explore corners of the world that the main story rushed past. The staggered schedule is worth noting. Spreading releases across a long period keeps a game in the conversation, gives players a reason to return, and...

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GTA 6 squeaks into eligibility for The Game Awards 2026 by the smallest of margins

by Ralph on October 16, 2026 0

Grand Theft Auto 6 will be eligible for The Game Awards 2026 by a single day. That narrow margin is the kind of detail only awards season produces, and it turns a release date into a small piece of strategy, with the game landing just inside the window rather than just outside it. Eligibility usually depends on when a game becomes available to the public, not when it was announced or previewed. A title that misses the cut-off by a day is treated as a 2027 release, no matter how close it came, which is why publishers pay attention to these calendars. The distinction matters more for a game of this size than for most. Grand Theft Auto 6 is the sort of release that shapes the conversation around it, and being part of a given ceremony changes the shape of that year’s field. It also means the game will be discussed alongside everything...

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