We've got a Nintendo Switch 2 console - here's when to expect our review
Nintendo Switch 2 consoles are just now arriving with press but it's going to be a long time before there are any full reviews.
The Nintendo Switch 2 is out on Thursday, June 5 but as you'll have noticed, nowhere on the internet has any reviews of either the games or the console itself. We have new hands-on previews of Mario Kart World and Welcome Tour but those are based on preview events from a couple of weeks ago. Nevertheless, we now finally have an actual Switch 2 console of our own, so we'll be able to work on some actual reviews.
The console turned up this afternoon, as you can see below, along with the official camera, the new pro controller, and a physical copy of Mario Kart World. That's all that was in the parcel that arrived, but Nintendo has promised to send download codes for Welcome Tour and the Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild and Tears Of The Kingdom on Thursday.
There's no point asking why it's being done like this, because it's Nintendo, but they've clearly told third party publishers to follow the same pattern, as we're not getting those download codes until later today or Thursday. As far as we know this is the same situation for all outlets, so that's going to have a big impact on when reviews start to appear.
The wider problem here is that it's not-E3 week. To what degree Nintendo was aware of that before they picked the launch date it's hard to say, but they themselves have not yet announced a Nintendo Direct, even though they've always previously had one in early or mid-June. They are an official partner of Summer Game Fest on Friday though, so they can't pretend they didn't know about that.
But it's not just Summer Game Fest. Tonight there's Sony's new State of Play, IO Interactive has an event at 2am on Saturday revealing their new James Bond game, and then there's the Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday evening.
Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning.
And that's just the big ones, there's also Day of the Devs and Devolver Digital on Friday, Future Games Show Summer Showcase on Saturday, PC Gaming Show on Sunday, and literally many more. All the smaller events must surely know they'll get little to no coverage, especially this week, but that's the situation.
We'll do everything we can to give equal coverage to everything (we hear on the grapevine that there are some major announcements coming for Summer Game Fest and the State of Play) and that is going to further impact our Switch 2 coverage.
One of us will do an all-nighter tonight, to try and get a review in progress ready for Mario Kart World on Thursday, but it's going to be next week until there's a scored review for anything, or any kind of formal review of the console itself. More Trending
As we said on Tuesday, we don't think Nintendo is purposefully trying to hide anything with all this. Instead, it seems to be an unfortunate mix of bad timing and Nintendo's usual overcautiousness, in this regarding day one patches (which we assume relate to online play, when it comes to Mario Kart).
That said, there certainly are some puzzling aspects to Mario Kart World, in regard to the lack of integration between the open world and the rest of the game, that perhaps Nintendo were keen not to have discussed until the last moment.
Ultimately, this all comes down to the publishers' longstanding inability to use a calendar sensibly (never mind release dates, why was the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct the same day Trump's tariffs were announced?) or to accept that they are not the only company in the games industry. Although we've rarely seen those deficiencies cause such turmoil as this before.
On Thursday, ordinary people will be receiving their Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders and the internet will be awash with first impressions and, no doubt, false information. Just be cautious and recognise that no one at the moment has spent any significant amount of time with the Switch 2 and so it's far too early to draw a definitive conclusion about it or its games.
Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.
To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.
MORE: TwitchCon 2025: European streamers time to shine
MORE: Mario Kart World doesn't have 200cc but it is easier to dodge blue shells now
MORE: New God Of War game is 'smaller scale' 2D Metroidvania claim insiders
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Metro
9 hours ago
- Metro
Games Inbox: When is the next State of Play for PS5?
The Wednesday letters page is shocked at how old Football Manager is, as one reader is very impressed with the money he saved on PS Plus. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@ PlayStation Direct There's so much chatter about a new Nintendo Direct that I can only assume it will happen this week but since I haven't got a Switch 2 I'm only casually interested. What I am interested in though is when are we going to get a new State of Play? I know no-one knows but it feels like we haven't any proper ones this whole year, given none have had any really big announcements. The June not-E3 one was especially bad, to the point where I really don't know why they even bothered. It seems to be about four months between each one, so I guess we're looking at around September or October for the next? The yea will be almost over by then, especially in terms of video game releases, and then we'll just be relying on The Game Awards to announce new stuff… which Sony doesn't tend to use. At some point they're going to have to announce the PlayStation 6 too, so are they going to try and turn on the charm then or just make the reveal another boring blog? Korbie New name I think the big mistake for Call Of Duty this year is making it another Black Ops. I assume this is because all their studios are out of alignment still, because they're still not taking turns in the same order they used to, but I really think that the same thing twice in a row is just going to emphasise that these are the same games again and again. I guess the logic was that Black Ops is set in lots of different time periods and it'll seem different that way but then why not give it a different name? Make it seem more different even if it isn't really. I'm not even sure what the last original one was. The WW2 game I guess but that barely counts, after that it's… Infinite Warfare? That was a long time ago. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. If Battlefield 6 puts up more competition than usual, then I think that will be for the best for both series. EA needed to make a real effort with Battlefield and Activision needs a wake-up call to stop letting everything stagnate. Wooshi Battlefield magic RE: Lotto's email on 28th July. I fully agree that I am looking forward to Battlefield 6. I really enjoyed the series up to Battlefield 4 but didn't gel with any of the settings or ideas after that. Call Of Duty can be fun but it's just a bit too arcadey for me. I find Battlefield has a deeper, strategic side which rewards tactics over just reflexes. I also enjoy it being less gimmicky than Call Of Duty, which has ridiculous skins and weapon effects. Not to mention I am looking forward to a game which won't be out of favour 12 months after launching. When you spend so much on a game, knowing that it will be 'old' in a year or less really puts me off. Fingers crossed Battlefield 6 recaptures some of the old magic! Brando Email your comments to: gamecentral@ Too obvious HD Rumble was an incredible addition to the Switch. The marble-counting minigame in 1-2-Switch was incredible, but unfortunately, barely any games truly took advantage of this function, not even Nintendo themselves. I get the feeling the same is going to happen with the mouse controls for Switch 2. But maybe (hard to predict Nintendo, of course) they're going to release a new Super Mario Maker and possibly Zelda Dungeon Maker (expand the one in Link's Awakening?) to showcase the benefits of mouse controls. Mario Paint just dropped on the Switch Online catalogue, so there is hope! ttfp saylow (gamertag) Now playing: Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom GC: We agree that a Super Mario Maker seems a no-brainer, but then again Nintendo rarely does the obvious thing. 80s management I'm going to be honest, I had no idea that Football Manager went back so far. 1982 is crazy for any franchise to still be going today. I can think of a couple of arcade games (including Mario/Donkey Kong) and that's about it. I got curious about it all though, after reading your story, and after a quick search on YouTube came up with this video of Kevin Toms playing the game in the modern day. Fascinating stuff to me as a 32-year-old, as the original game both looks impossibly prehistoric and also strangely similar to the current version. It is still football at the end of the day, I suppose, but still crazy that the concept is that old. DrEd Only in America I actually would've liked to have seen a Horizon spin-off set in China, which seems to have been original idea of this Tencent clone game. I really am sick of playing games set in the US and there are a whole bunch of franchises, like Fallout and GTA that are always set there, for no reason other than that's where the most customers are. Except that probably wouldn't be the case if publishers were more willing to reach out and feature other countries. We've seen how things like Black Myth: Wukong have done on Steam, purely because of China, but do you think GTA 6 is going to do that well over there? Or whatever Fallout game finally comes out next. Europe may be used to putting up with games set in America, because they won't set ones here, but China and India and other emerging markets won't. They'll either make their own games or just ignore the whole concept. It's a shame because everyone would benefit from more variety in settings. I'd much rather the next Fallout was set somewhere else than the US, because it being in the US really isn't important, even though you could make that argument for GTA. But even then a change would be far better than a rest, especially as there already is a GTA game set in London. Mork Retro immersion I really like that Nintendo has released Mario Paint for Switch 2 but I really wish they'd get rid of those ugly borders for their emulated stuff, it is so unnecessary and completely ruins the retro immersion as far as I'm concerned. I'm sure people have been complaining about that for years but Nintendo never listens, which is for good and bad. Mostly good though, so I won't whine too much. I really hope they accelerate their GameCube plans though, because at this rate – and based on how they've been previous generations – the Switch 3 will be knocking on the door an they'll only have got round to the very basics. Scolom Cheap thrills So, I got a PlayStation 5 not long after launch, not owning a PlayStation since the PlayStation 2 I knew there were a few games I'd missed out on but honestly, after I played the excellent God Of War reboot it gathered dust really, as I had an Xbox Series X and was mainly using that until God Of War Ragnarök came out and my dad passed away, which left me a little time off to enjoy that amazing game. Then I sold the PlayStation 5 and my Xbox Series X, as I found out I had a funeral to pay for. I picked up a cheap second-hand Xbox Series S for around £150 and that kept me busy. Then last month my TV broke. So I decided to upgrade to a lovey 65' 120Hz TV which almost looked sad when I plugged the Xbox Series S in. Then I walked past Cash Converters and they had a PlayStation 5 slim disk version for £280, so I put a deposit down and got it about 10 days ago. I have to say, with a £10 subscription to PS Plus, I have blitzed thorough God Of War again, The Last Of Us Part 1, Astro Bot, and started off on Ragnarök, Cyberpunk 2077, and Ghost Of Tsushima. All I can say is how impressed I have been. Had I had a PlayStation 4, maybe I wouldn't be so impressed but with all those under my belt, plus anything I can get through in the next 20 days, I have to admit for £290 I've been absolutely spoilt rotten. And I still have a huge list of games to get through. So thank you Xbox, for making such a mess of this generation and convincing me to jump ship. I have more than enough to keep me busy until the next generation, which I will not be joining early. And people say gaming is expensive! Phil Inbox also-rans Lewis Hamilton was a skin in Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare?! That was nine years ago! People complaining about unrealistic skins need to realise this stuff has been going on for a lot longer than they realise. Kepler Who says Nintendo games never get good sales? Look at this bargain and it was only released a week ago. Mark Matthews Email your comments to: gamecentral@ More Trending The small print New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers' letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content. You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader's Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot. You can also leave your comments below and don't forget to follow us on Twitter. MORE: Games Inbox: Is there a secret Nintendo Switch 2 Christmas game? MORE: Games Inbox: Are gamers too entitled about video games? MORE: Games Inbox: Why has the Nintendo Switch 2 been so successful?
The Guardian
12 hours ago
- The Guardian
My Best Friend's Wedding 2: Celine Song to write sequel to hit comedy
A sequel to 1997 comedy My Best Friend's Wedding is in the works with Celine Song tapped to write the screenplay. According to Collider, the playwright turned writer-director, who broke out with Oscar-nominated drama Past Lives, has reportedly been hired by Sony as the film enters early development. News of the film recently circulated when one of its stars Dermot Mulroney teased that there is 'talk of a sequel' and that 'lawyers were talking' while promoting Netflix drama series The Hunting Wives. The original film starred Julia Roberts as a meddling food critic who decides to break up her best friend's wedding because of her feelings for him. It also starred Cameron Diaz and Rupert Everett and made just under $300m at the global box office. Roberts has previously expressed interest in reprising the role. The actor was last seen on the big screen in romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise and this year will lead Luca Guadagnino's provocative thriller After the Hunt. She will then be seen in paranoid thriller Panic Carefully with Elizabeth Olsen. Song scored a best original screenplay Oscar nomination for Past Lives and recently followed it up with Materialists, a romantic comedy drama starring Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans. The Guardian's Adrian Horton called it 'as beguiling as it is frustrating' in a three-star review. She has also been attached to a HBO series about the world of e-sports. The sequel joins a number of other follow-ups to films from the 1990s. This month saw both the release of underperforming slasher reboot I Know What You Did Last Summer in cinemas and Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore 2 on Netflix, next month sees the launch of comedy sequel Freakier Friday, a TV series extension of Clueless is currently in development at Peacock and a seventh Scream film hits the big screen next year.
Metro
16 hours ago
- Metro
PlayStation sues Tencent over Horizon ‘clone' Light Of Motiram
A lawsuit by Sony claims Tencent is ripping off Horizon Zero Dawn, after the company originally wanted to make its own game set in Asia. Last November, Chinese conglomerate Tencent announced a brand new survival game for PC called Light Of Motiram; one that you can play with friends as you explore a post-apocalyptic world populated by animal-like machines. The game's announcement quickly went viral, not because it looked any good, but because it looked an awful lot like Sony's Horizon Zero Dawn and its sequel. Even the woman depicted in the key art shared many similarities with Horizon protagonist Aloy. At the time, some wondered if Sony would take umbrage with Light Of Motiram. Turns out the answer to that is yes, as the company has formally filed a lawsuit against Tencent, accusing it of copyright and trademark infringement. According to Reuters the lawsuit explicitly describes Light Of Motiram as a 'slavish clone of Sony Interactive Entertainment's immensely popular, award-winning Horizon series of video games.' Sony even cites the initial public response and comments from gaming news websites as evidence of Tencent copying Horizon developer Guerrilla Games' homework. Interestingly, Sony also mentions that representatives of Tencent and one of its internal developers, Aurora Studios, previously approached the company to pitch a new Horizon game – one that would retain the established open world setting but feature 'Eastern aesthetics', survival mechanics, and multiplayer options (so presumably it would've been set in Asia, rather than the US). Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. They went so far as to share a photo of Aurora Studios' team members playing one of the Horizon games at work alongside screenshots of their PlayStation trophy lists to demonstrate how they were 'diehard fans' of the series. Sony rejected the pitch and is convinced that Tencent has repurposed the idea as Light Of Motiram, except they ditched the planned Eastern aesthetic and instead copied Horizon wholesale. 'The Light Of Motiram Promotional Material reflects that even though Sony Interactive Entertainment rejected Tencent's pitch to create a licensed Horizon Franchise game, Tencent continued to produce a game that makes unauthorized use of Sony Interactive Entertainment's rights in the Horizon Franchise intellectual property,' reads the lawsuit. 'In doing so, Tencent misappropriates many of the most distinctive and recognisable protected elements of the Horizon Franchise, including the franchise's overall tone and feel, setting, narrative, characters, and visual expression, leading to confusion as to source, affiliation, and sponsorship of the Light Of Motiram game.' Elsewhere, Sony also gives away that the Horizons series has sold a collective 38 million units in total. According to the PlayStation Blog, 32.7 million units had been sold as of April 2023, meaning roughly six million more have been sold since then. As a reminder, the only Horizon games to have come out in that time were a PlayStation 5 remaster of the first game and the multiplatform Lego Horizon Adventures spin-off. You can read the whole lawsuit in full for yourself, but ultimately Sony is seeking to block Light Of Motiram from ever been released, plus $150,000 'for each separate work in the Horizon Franchise infringed' in damages and for Tencent to hand over any and all marketing materials so Sony can destroy them. At the time of writing, Tencent has yet to issue any sort of response, so it's unclear if it will comply or if it feels it can win the court case. More Trending This situation is reminiscent of the still ongoing Nintendo/Palworld legal battle. As a reminder, Palworld quickly gained infamy for its obvious similarities to Pokémon, to the point where some suspected developer Pocketpair of using AI to copy multiple pokémon designs for its catchable cartoon animals. Nintendo's lawsuit, however, is based on Pocketpair allegedly infringing on Nintendo's patents for certain game mechanics. Since then, Palworld has had some of its mechanics changed. For instance, Pals are no longer summoned by throwing the equivalent of a pokéball, they just appear next to you. All that said, a report by IP consultant Florian Mueller for GamesFray earlier this month argues that Nintendo isn't guaranteed a clean win. In fact, the company has had one of its patents modified which Mueller believes is a Hail Mary to try and obfuscate the issue. The Light Of Motiram situation is different, though, since Sony isn't accusing Tencent of copying Horizon's mechanics but the entire concept and aesthetic, thus potentially confusing people into thinking it's an official Horizon game. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Horizon Forbidden West review – robosaurs wrecks MORE: Horizon Call Of The Mountain review – the summit of PSVR2 achievements MORE: Ubisoft lands itself a Tencent bail out worth £1,000,000,000
