Late last week, several specialist Nintendo coverage websites cottoned onto an update on the company's UK support pages - the offer to repair faulty Joy-Con units, affected by the notorious drifting problem, for free. Customers who possess long out of warranty controllers will not be charged for fixes, as long as it is apparent that drifting is occurring. The blurb on the official website outlines a pattern of diagnosis: "Joy-Con Control Sticks Are Not Responding or Respond Incorrectly (responsiveness syndrome or so-called "drifting")."

Nintendo has already offered free lifetime repairs to its customers in North America, way back in 2019. Latin America and France received similar treatment shortly thereafter. According to its updated documentation the company is now extending the same service to folks spread across the European Union (and adjacent to): "Until further notice, Nintendo will not charge you in the European Economic Area (EEA), UK and Switzerland for the repair of the responsiveness syndrome irrespective of whether this is caused by a defect or by wear and tear."

Nintendo is ramping up publicity efforts for its upcoming sequel to Breath of the Wild, which was a ratings and sales smash upon launching in Spring 2017 for the Japanese company. Tears of the Kingdom is the latest addition in the long running Legend of Zelda series and is set for release on May 12. In a newly released video that clocks in at a generous 13 and a bit minutes in length, the game's producer Eiji Aonuma demonstrates multiple aspects of gameplay - including Link's new abilities, refined combat systems, weapon crafting, vehicle building via puzzle mechanics and the transition from sky to land areas.

Aonuma-san starts off the video presentation by announcing that the development cycle for Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has been completed (reached gold status in industry terms). The game is due to launch internationally in mid-May, so it is encouraging that the development team is, allegedly, not tinkering under the hood until the very last minute. Tears of the Kingdom has been delayed since it was first teased at E3 2019 - development began in 2017 following the completion of its predecessor, Breath of the Wild. Nintendo initially announced an estimated release window in 2022, but presumably due to world changing events, the game was pushed back to Q2 2023.

The Nintendo Switch - OLED Model - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Edition system, featuring a special design from the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom game, will launch on April 28!* Available at a suggested retail price of $359.99, this sleek new edition bears a design which appears in the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom game, including the familiar Hylian Crest from the Legend of Zelda series on the front of the dock.

Plus, two accessories - a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller (MSRP $74.99) and a Nintendo Switch carrying case (MSRP $24.99), both with designs from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - will release separately on May 12, the day the game launches. The new hardware and these legendary new accessories were announced in a new presentation featuring series producer Eiji Aonuma demonstrating new gameplay from the upcoming title, which can be viewed here. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom game, the new hardware and the two themed accessories are all now available for pre-order. Please check with your local retailer for further details.

Today, 2K and the LEGO Group announced LEGO 2K Drive, the ultimate AAA driving adventure game, available worldwide on May 19, 2023. Developed by Visual Concepts, LEGO 2K Drive evolves the iconic LEGO play experience with a vast, open world where players can build any vehicle, drive anywhere and become a LEGO racing legend.

LEGO 2K Drive will be the first release in a multi-title partnership between 2K and the LEGO Group to develop AAA LEGO games. With 2K's proven expertise in creating high quality and engaging interactive entertainment properties and the LEGO Group's unprecedented cultural impact, the partnership will evolve the iconic LEGO games experience fans know and love in exciting new ways.

The homebrew and modification community has delved deeper into the recent bout of bricked Nintendo Wii U consoles, unlucky owners are seeing their systems throwing up error codes that indicate an internal memory failure. As covered on TPU almost two weeks ago, it was speculated that leaving a Wii U in a long-term state of unuse was a root cause of the problem. It is now theorized that a simple choice of memory chip is the real issue behind the corruptions, and not a case of leaving your unplugged Wii U stashed in a box somewhere.

An online database has been established on hackmd.io, and a member is collecting hard data from Wii U owners across various online communities and sources. Early indications show that consoles fitted with a Hynix eMMC are leading the pack in terms of number of system failures, Samsung-equipped models are placed in a distant second place, and the Toshiba variant is reported as having zero problems.

In the space of two days, Microsoft has announced long term partnerships with two different cloud gaming services. It is posited that the technology giant is rolling out a wide-ranging strategy to make good with regulators, who hold the keys to the clearance of an Activison Blizzard acquisition worth a reported $68.7 billion. Microsoft is facing significant push back from numerous international regulatory bodies, due to fears of anti-competitive impacts from a possible Activison Blizzard purchase.

Xbox Gaming CEO Phil Spencer today tweeted about the deal with the Taiwan-based company Ubitus K.K: "A leading cloud gaming provider, have signed a 10-year partnership to stream Xbox PC Games as well as Activision Blizzard titles after the acquisition closes. Our commitment is to give more players, more choice."

Nintendo of America CEO Doug Bowser granted a rare interview to Associated Press, presumably as part of promotional duties prior to the February 17 opening of its Super Nintendo World theme park at Universal Studios Hollywood. In an article published on March 13, AP News journalist Greg Keller threw in a surprise query about the $70 asking price for Nintendo's upcoming sequel to 2017's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Fan backlash to Nintendo of America's price hiking reached fever pitch earlier in 2023, and the company has not been very communicative with reasons for increasing the pricing of certain flagship Switch titles, until now.

Bowser's response was suitably neutral, but plenty can be read into it: "We look at what the game has to offer. I think fans will find this is an incredibly full, deeply immersive experience. The price point reflects the type of experience that fans can expect when it comes to playing this particular game. This isn't a price point that we'll necessarily have on all our titles. It's actually a fairly common pricing model either here or in Europe or other parts of the world, where the pricing may vary depending on the game itself." It is clear that he thinks that Tears of the Kingdom presents good value for money, given the standard of content being offered to the prospective player. It is possible that he is hinting that upcoming remakes of legacy Legend of Zelda games will be offered at sub-$70 prices. The recently released Metroid Prime Remastered debuted digitally at $39.99 on the Nintendo eShop, and physical copies have been sold for less at retailers.

It has been reported by multiple users across several online communities that their Wii U consoles are no longer functioning properly. The error codes 160-0103 and 160-2155 are the dreaded indicators of memory corruption. It has been discovered that the NAND Flash within the Wii U's internal eMMC is prone to failure. According to details gleaned from teardowns of the console's hardware, Nintendo has implemented either Toshiba or Samsung flash storage boards for the various revisions of the console. There has been an uptick in the rate of bricked Wii U consoles across recent months, but the problems seem to have occurred as far back as 2015, according to archived posts on the GBA Temp forum. It is speculated that leaving the Wii U inactive for long periods of time can lead to the memory corruption issues.

On Tuesday, Microsoft and NVIDIA announced the companies have agreed to a 10-year partnership to bring Xbox PC games to the NVIDIA GeForce NOW cloud gaming service, which has more than 25 million members in over 100 countries. The agreement will enable gamers to stream Xbox PC titles from GeForce NOW to PCs, macOS, Chromebooks, smartphones and other devices. It will also enable Activision Blizzard PC titles, such as Call of Duty, to be streamed on GeForce NOW after Microsoft's acquisition of Activision closes.

"Xbox remains committed to giving people more choice and finding ways to expand how people play," said Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer. "This partnership will help grow NVIDIA's catalog of titles to include games like Call of Duty, while giving developers more ways to offer streaming games. We are excited to offer gamers more ways to play the games they love."

According to IGN, the first physical in-person E3 2023 show in four years will not be accompanied by the biggest names in the gaming industry—Sony, Xbox, and Nintendo. Historically, gaming shows like E3 have been the primary source of news and hype machines that allowed gaming publishers to showcase their latest work and partnerships with other companies/brands alike. However, as IGN's sources note, this year's E3 will lack the presence of the biggest names in the industry, like Sony, Xbox, and Nintendo. With the first physical E3 event in four years, it is only logical that companies look forward to participating and showing their upcoming work to generate interest. But, the leading console makers will not do so.

It means that the latest E3 show will be a bit different and that the rest of the gaming industry has to adapt. IGN has contacted Sony, Xbox, Nintendo, and Entertainment Software Association (ESA) representatives, with no response at the time of writing. ReedPop, E3's parent company, has issued a statement that notes that there have been some changes to E3's format, which we are yet to see in June once the Los Angeles event starts. You can read the statement for IGN below.

A new operating system for Nintendo Switch? Yes, please! Download nOS new Operating System today and join the revolution! Explore the various options nOS has to offer, including some not yet seen on this console, from writing texts to your day planning. Have fun, customize the platform, and make it your very own.

nOS new Operating System will allow you to transform your favorite console into an amazing, and surprisingly small personal computer. Enjoy every awesome feature of the nOS. Draw, write, calculate, organize your day, and play around at your convenience. Brighten up your day and customize the nOS to suit your every need. Find your favorite setup and create the fantastic user experience you deserve.

Redemption Reapers, the dark fantasy tactical RPG developed by Adglobe and published by Binary Haze Interactive (ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights,), sneaks into striking distance and prepares for launch on Steam for Windows PC, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in February 2023. Redemption Reapers is being brought to life by industry luminaries, including tactical RPG veteran Masayuki Horikawa (Fire Emblem series director and scenario/level designer; Kingdom Hearts III planning), as well as a star-studded voice cast featuring Kyle McCarley (13 Sentinels: Aegis of Ruin, NieR: Automata), Allegra Clark (Apex Legends, Dragon Age: Inquisition), David Lodge (Persona 5, Final Fantasy XV), and Lucien Dodge (Fire Emblem: Three Houses, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel series).

Hope fades across the land following the sudden appearance of the ruthless Mort armies. Efficient as they are brutal, the macabre forces descend upon civilizations, leaving destruction in the wake of their nightly raids. As entire nations fall to the Mort onslaught, the Ashen Hawk Brigade, a contingent of mercenaries specializing in surprise tactics, band together to fight back against the invading legions.

Global video game publisher Good Shepherd Entertainment has revealed a new partnership to adapt series creator Mike Mignola's Hellboy franchise, published by Dark Horse Comics. Developed by Upstream Arcade, Hellboy Web of Wyrd is an upcoming roguelite action-adventure game in development for all major gaming consoles and PC. It features an original storyline crafted in collaboration with Mignola, as well as the renowned voice talents of Lance Reddick as Hellboy himself. Mignola has also designed the game's unique key art.

"Adapting the Hellboy comics to a game is a dream project for all of us. The opportunity to create something authentic—that's something we take very seriously," said Amanda Kruse, Publishing Director at Good Shepherd Entertainment. "Our partnership with Mike Mignola and the creative team at Dark Horse has been inspiring. The support and trust they've given us has allowed Upstream Arcade to bring their vision to life. Hellboy Web of Wyrd is a bold new work we are excited to share with fans of the comics and action-adventure games alike."

SQUARE ENIX today released HARVESTELLA, a brand-new life simulation RPG, for Nintendo Switch and STEAM. Featuring concept art by Isamu Kamikokuryo (FINAL FANTASY XII) and music by Go Shiina (Tales series), in HARVESTELLA, players will experience a beautiful world that changes with the flow of the seasons and enjoy a variety of gameplay, including tending to crops, befriending townspeople and adventuring into challenging dungeons.

HARVESTELLA is set in a vibrant and colourful world where four giant crystals called "Seaslight" create a stable change between the four seasons. The adventure begins as abnormalities in the Seaslight begin to appear, creating the "Quietus," a season of death that takes place between the naturally occurring four seasons. During the Quietus the crops wither and people cannot venture outside, and troublingly, these seasons are mysteriously growing longer with each year.

SOEDESCO launches first-person horror mystery game Charon's Staircase on Steam, Epic Games Store, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. In order to announce the news, SOEDESCO and Indigo Studios released an exciting launch trailer, available in multiple languages.

Uncover the dark secrets that lie beneath Oack Grove
In Charon's Staircase, you set out to bury the horrible past of an institution called "The Ministry" by retrieving and destroying classified documents. Venture through nightmarish landscapes, solve puzzles, decipher codes, and avoid dangers to unravel the macabre events that took place years ago in the experimental facility of Oack Grove. Charon's Staircase is a story filled with mystery while telling a dark and dramatic narrative through its ominous environments, chilling details and fully-voiced narration. Will you discover the terrifying truth and find your way out?

Indie publisher Digerati is delighted to announce it's teaming up with developer Charge Games to bring clone sacrificing puzzle-platformer, Overloop, to PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. Overloop will launch first on PC, arriving 26th August on Steam, Epic, GOG, Humble, and other storefronts. The console versions will follow in Q4 2022 (exact release date TBC). Created by Charge Games - a development duo of George Kobyakov (programmer, game design, artist) and Charles Bardin (narrative design, sound design) - Overloop is a light-hearted adventure set in a dark future where big brain scientists create a cloning gun - the Quantum Matter Replication Device - and their profit-hungry paymasters sell it to the masses, with disastrous consequences.

"We are a small team, but we are huge game fanatics. We're especially crazy about fun gameplay, atmosphere, and humor. And story. And music," explains Kobyakov. "Our goal was to successfully combine all these elements into a game, and we think we've achieved that with Overloop. It's the game we've always wanted to create and we can't wait to share it with the world!"

Nintendo could release its next-generation handheld game console, a successor to the crazy-popular Switch, by 2024. This could be powered by an NVIDIA-sourced SoC. NVIDIA recently put up a job listing for a "Game Console Developer Tools Engineer," looking for talent designing the software development applications for the next-generation console. Nintendo is a long-standing customer of NVIDIA chips for its handheld consoles. The next-gen SoC could implement an NVIDIA-designed Arm CPU, and a highly efficient GPU based on the NVIDIA graphics architecture of the time.

The Nintendo Switch has without a doubt been a huge success for the company, but the portable gaming console has been missing a key feature, namely Bluetooth audio support. This has finally been addressed by Nintendo, courtesy of a software update that was in a software update that was released today.

However, it's not exactly what everyone was waiting for, as for some reason Nintendo only added support for audio output. This means that if you want to use voice chat, you'll still have to use a wired headset or a third party Bluetooth dongle, which seems to slightly defeat the purpose of this update. Another oddity is that wireless headsets/headphones can't be used at the same time as you play local wireless games, as they would be automatically disconnected in such a scenario. Up to 10 Bluetooth devices can be remembered by the Switch, but only one can be used at a time.

The Nintendo Switch family of systems is about to gain a new member. On Oct. 8, Nintendo Switch (OLED model) will launch at a suggested retail price of $349.99, giving people another option for how they want to play the vast library of games on Nintendo Switch. Click here to view the video announcing the new system.

Nintendo Switch (OLED model) has a similar overall size to the Nintendo Switch system, but with a larger, vibrant 7-inch OLED screen with vivid colors and crisp contrast. Nintendo Switch (OLED model) also features a wide adjustable stand for tabletop mode, a new dock with a wired LAN port, 64 GB of internal storage, and enhanced audio for handheld and tabletop play. Just like Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch (OLED model) allows players to play on the TV and share the detachable Joy-Con controllers for right-out-of-the-box multiplayer fun. And just like both Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite, with Nintendo Switch (OLED model), the system can be taken on the go to enjoy its play-anywhere versatility. A carrying case and screen protector set for Nintendo Switch (OLED model) will also be available.

The upcoming Nintendo Switch Pro is rumored to launch in September or October according to a recent report which claimed production of the new device would begin in July. The Nintendo Switch Pro is expected to feature an upgraded 7" 1280x720 OLED screen with a new NVIDIA processor and graphics based on the Ada Lovelace architecture. Nintendo and its partners are confident in their supply chain and their ability to meet demand including the new NVIDIA SoC which may enable 4K video output when docked by utilizing DLSS technology. Nintendo plans to price the Switch Pro at the same 299 USD MSRP the original Nintendo Switch was launched for and may announce the device before E3 2021 which starts June 12th.

Nintendo Switch is one of the most successful gaming console launches in the past few years. It has seen massive consumer adoption, and Nintendo is even expanding its production. The only logical thing for other companies watching this would be to step in the game and launch their console. That is exactly was the latest rumor suggests about Apple. According to a rumor coming from the South Korean forum, Apple could be preparing a Switch-like design, just with its custom Apple ecosystem surrounding it. As the rumors suggest, the fruit company could get into the console gaming market by launching a product based on custom hardware. Rumors suggest that Apple could use a custom processor to power the console, which wouldn't be like M or A versions the company currently uses. Of course, this is just a rumor and it should be treated as such.

Nintendo has recently posted its FY2021 results which show extremely impressive sales and profit figures for their flagship Nintendo Switch console. The Nintendo Switch has now sold 84.59 million units over its lifetime which places it above the Game Boy Advance and puts it closer to reaching the Wii at 101.63 million units sold. In FY2021 28.84 million units were sold representing a 37% increase from FY2020, these impressive sales numbers resulted in hardware profits of 8.2 billion USD which accounted for 57.2% of total gaming earnings. The Nintendo Switch is unique in this regard as it is the only major console to have profitable hardware sales whereas the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 are all sold at a loss. Nintendo intends to maintain this momentum with forecasted sales of 25.50 million units in FY2022 which would make the Nintendo Switch the second best-selling Nintendo console of all time only behind the original Game Boy at 118 million units.

It's "Game On." for E3, as The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) officially unveils plans for a reimagined, all-virtual E3 2021 that will engage video game fans everywhere. With early commitments from Nintendo, Xbox, Capcom, Konami, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive, Warner Bros. Games, Koch Media, and more to come, E3 2021 will take place June 12 through June 15.

Developers will be showcasing their latest news and games directly to fans around the world. The ESA will be working with media partners globally to help amplify and make this content available to everyone for free. While maintaining E3's longstanding position as a central destination for industry networking — where new partnerships and connections between video game publishers, developers and media are made — the digital format for E3 2021 means more people than ever can participate. The ESA looks forward to coming back together to celebrate E3 2022 in person, in the meantime see you online this June!

Nintendo's Game Boy handheld console was launched in 1989, making it 32 years old. Being widely regarded as the icon of handheld gaming, it was sold in millions and has been copied countless times. However, with some spare time and a crazy mind, the console has been modified to mine Bitcoin cryptocurrency. Yes, you are reading that right. An 8-bit console is mining the biggest and the most valuable cryptocurrency. An electronics enthusiast named "stacksmashing" has set himself a difficult task - to prove that the console can mine some Bitcoin, at any possible rate. And he has managed to prove it is possible, although with some modifications.

Given that the console lacks any connectivity options to the outside world due to its age, the modder had to use SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) to connect the Game Boy with the Raspberry Pi, which had the task of connecting the Game Boy to the internet to mine some Bitcoin. Using the custom 8-bit Sharp LR35902 processor running at 4.19 MHz, the console is naturally not very powerful. Thus, it can not do any meaningful mining and to compare it to modern mining ASICs is just silly. However, it is interesting to see proof of concept and get to see some engineering fun. For more information, please check out the YouTube video here.

Nintendo's Switch console is one of the most successful consoles ever made by the Japanese company. It has sold in millions of units and has received great feedback from the gaming community. However, as the hardware inside the console becomes outdated, the company is thinking about launching a new revision of the console, with the latest hardware and technologies. Today, we got ahold of information about the graphics side of things in Nintendo's upcoming console. Powered by NVIDIA Tegra SoC, it will incorporate unknown Arm-based CPU cores. The latest rumors suggest that the CPU will be accommodated with NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace GPU architecture. According to @kopite7kimi, a known hardware leaker, who simply replied to VideoCardz's tweet with "Ada", we are going to see the appearance of Ada Lovelace GPU architecture in the new SoC. Additionally, the new Switch SoC will have hardware accelerated NVIDIA Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) and 4K output.