Smash Bros creator Masahiro Sakurai is surprised the Switch 2 Direct is an hour long, and no, he doesn't know what's coming, even if "people are going to suspect no matter what"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.
Today's the big day – the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct will air in a few short hours. Ahead of the stream, Nintendo confirmed that we can expect it to be "approximately 60 minutes long," making for a lengthy broadcast that'll be about the same length as the January 2017 Switch 1 presentation, something that even Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai seems pretty shocked about.
In a tweet posted a few hours ago (translated by Automaton), Sakurai calls the length of the Switch 2 presentation "a surprise," but quickly clarifies that "I do not know the contents of the announcement (besides, I don't belong to Nintendo)."
Despite his disclaimer, he acknowledges that "people are going to suspect no matter what I say," and he knows this from experience. As Automaton points out, it was only last week that the Smash Ultimate director's short, simple response to Nintendo announcing its March Direct prompted fans to speculate whether he was teasing an announcement of his own. Needless to say, he wasn't and remarked that he can't tweet "carelessly."
To be fair, fans do have reason to anticipate an announcement from Sakurai at some point. Last October, he confirmed that in July 2021, he "received a request to write a game proposal" and was "given the OK to move forward with production" in October 2021. He apologized that he wasn't able to "share more about this project," but added: "Assuming that we're able to get it made, it should be announced sooner or later."
He's remained quiet on this since – we still don't have any idea what the game is or when we can expect it to surface. It's certainly one to look forward to, but it sounds like the developer knows better than to give away any clues on Twitter.
In the meantime, we'll just have to get ready for whatever Nintendo has up its sleeve today – Sakurai says he's "looking forward to it," and he's definitely not the only one.
You can keep up with all the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct news in our live blog – here's hoping we get some news about upcoming Switch 2 games.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Blast through common work problems with these 11 ChatGPT prompts
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. ChatGPT is only as good as the prompt you give it. Which is why there's so much advice online promising to teach you how to write better prompts for better results. If you're new to ChatGPT and AI tools generally, prompts are just how you tell it what you want. They can be short and simple, long and detailed, or somewhere in between. The problem is, a lot of prompt advice for work still feels formal and a bit too corporate. Which absolutely works in some contexts. But not if you just want to follow up casually, write a breezy blog post, or get a second opinion on an email. We've already shared tips on how to move beyond the more robotic-sounding ones in our better prompts to use with ChatGPT and how to prompt ChatGPT to inspire your creativity guides. But here we're focusing on practical, beginner-friendly prompts for everyday work challenges. The kind of support we think ChatGPT is best for. When it's a helpful sidekick that gets you through the trickier bits of your day, from managing burnout to getting you started when you're staring down a blank page, here are some of the best ChatGPT prompts for real work problems and how to make the most of them. Prompt: 'Can you summarize this [email/report/article] in under 300 words?' If you're overwhelmed by long documents or need to quickly share the key points, this prompt is a lifesaver. Just paste in the text and ask for a summary. You can also request bullet points or a particular tone if you need it. It goes without saying here, and throughout the rest of this guide, you need to fact-check and proof the results before using them in external communication. We know that ChatGPT can still get things wrong. Use this one more for your own understanding or prep than for copy and pasting what it gives you directly into presentations or documents. Prompt: 'Can you help me write a follow-up email that's polite but firm?' If you're stuck drafting a reply, especially one where tone really matters, this can help you find the right words. You can add the initial email, provide more detail about what you're trying to say, or even include your rough draft and ask for feedback or refinement. Don't think of this as handing over all of your communications to AI, just getting a tone check when you're second-guessing yourself. Prompt: 'I have too much to do and I'm overwhelmed. Can you help me turn this into a prioritized to-do list?' This one is great for getting your thoughts in order. List all of your tasks into the chat and ask ChatGPT to sort them by urgency or energy level. It's not perfect, and you'll likely need to answer a bunch of additional questions to get helpful results, but it is a quick way to calm the chaos and start somewhere. Prompt: 'I'm panicking about [insert issue]. Can you walk me through a simple breathing exercise, one step at a time?' Let's be clear, ChatGPT isn't a therapist and shouldn't replace real support. But if you're spiralling and just need a moment of calm, it can talk you through breathing or grounding techniques. The key here is to be as specific as you can and to ask it to go slowly. ChatGPT often dumps too much info at once, so request a step-by-step approach. Prompt: 'I need help explaining [complex topic] to someone new. Can you simplify it without losing the key points?' This one is perfect for onboarding materials, training sessions or writing documentation. Especially if it's a topic you know really well and can't quite shift back into a beginner's mindset. You can also ask it to rephrase something you've already written to make it clearer or more beginner-friendly. Prompt: 'Can we role-play a salary negotiation? Pretend you're my manager and I'm asking for a pay rise.' One of ChatGPT's underrated strengths is being a rehearsal partner. Practicing conversations like this can help you feel more confident and spot any obvious gaps in your reasoning. As always, take its advice with a pinch of salt. But use it to clarify your points and prepare for different responses you may not have considered. Prompt: 'I'm running a meeting about [topic]. Can you help me write an agenda and some discussion points?' Whether it's a brainstorm, strategy session, or weekly team check-in, this prompt gives you a solid structure fast. You can also ask for time estimates, ways to encourage participation, or follow-up actions. Like many of these prompts, the more follow-up information you provide, the better. But it should be a good starting point. Prompt: 'Suggest an outline for a blog post about [topic], for [audience], in a [tone] tone.' Again, the more detail here, the better. But even this basic structure gets you started. You can also follow up with: 'What else do you need to know to help me?' This one is especially useful when you're intimidated by a blank page and just need a nudge in the right direction, rather than ChatGPT to write it all for you. Prompt: 'Rewrite this paragraph to make it clearer and easier to read." This one is ideal for reports, emails, presentations, or even social media posts. You can also follow up with: 'Now make it more casual/confident/conversational.' It's like trying on different outfits for your writing and a quick way to explore tone and clarity if you're stuck in a rut. Prompt: 'I need a name for this [project/report/initiative]. Can you give me 10 creative but relevant options?' Naming things can be hard. Especially when you're stuck in a cycle of thinking and can't come up with anything fresh. Now, ChatGPT won't always land the perfect solution, but it will push your thinking in new directions, which is often all many of us need. Try asking it to combine words, use metaphors, or reflect specific themes. Prompt: 'I'm working on [task/project]. What questions should I be asking to make sure I've covered everything?' This is one of the most underrated prompts out there. If you're not sure what you're missing, ask ChatGPT to help surface any blind spots. It can help you double-check your approach, identify missing steps, or think more strategically. These prompts aren't magic, but many of them are powerful because they're helpful starting points. As we always say, the goal here isn't to let ChatGPT do your job for you; it's to let it support you when things feel messy, slow, or uncertain. Use it as a brainstorming partner, a second pair of eyes, or a calm voice when yours feels frazzled. And remember, the best prompts don't have to be complicated. They just have to be clear, kind, and specific enough to guide the tool and better support you. I tried a ChatGPT prompt that 'unlocks 4o's full power', and I don't know why I didn't try it sooner I found this ChatGPT life hack, and it might just be the productivity prompt you've been looking for iPad just won WWDC 2025 – here's why the iPadOS upgrades just made me cry tears of joy
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
Wind Waker on Nintendo Switch 2 made two tiny changes that break it wide open for Zelda speedrunners – a strategy so hard "only a few people in the whole world can do it" is suddenly a lot easier
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The launch of Switch 2 has finally seen the arrival of GameCube games as part of the Nintendo Switch Online service, and speedrunners of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker might just be feasting better than any of us. While this emulated version is nearly identical to the GameCube original, there are two tiny changes that have busted the speedrunning scene wide open. As explained in a new video from speedrunner Linkus7, Wind Waker has a glitch that lets you reach out-of-bounds portions of the game's dungeons. The out-of-bounds areas don't actually load any collision data, so you'll just fall endlessly - unless you land on a chest, which for some reason does remain loaded as a solid, but invisible object. This glitch is present in the original game and has been known about for years, but there's never been any real way to make use of it, because there's no way to force the rest of the level to load in after you've landed on the chest. Playing the Song of Passing, which changes the time of day, should be able to force the stage to load, but instead, it simply crashes the game. But on Switch 2, the devs have simply disabled that crash. You can now do the out-of-bounds glitch, land on the chest, play the Song of Passing, and continue playing the level as normal. This is specifically helpful in the Earth Temple, which Linkus7 estimates can now be completed in about two minutes. The other change is even more basic: it's the GameCube emulator's built-in controller remapping. Wind Waker speedrunning relies on a trick where you rapidly swim back and forth. Do it fast enough, and Link starts building up absurd levels of negative speed - so much that you can launch yourself away from the starting island without the aid of a boat. But this trick is no joke, requiring you to "basically pause buffer the game, frame-perfectly, for about three [or] four minutes," Linkus7 explains. There's another way to do the trick, though: simply "flick the analog stick 20 times per second." That, of course, is "ridiculously hard and only a few people in the whole world can do it." With the official GameCube emulator's built-in controller remapping options, however, you can simply map one of the analog stick directions to a button, hold a direction, and rapidly tap the button to shimmy back and forth and easily build up that negative speed. Linkus7 says this trick is now something "even you could do at home, trust me." And I can pretty much confirm that - it's still not easy to do if you're unpractised, but I did manage to knock out one brief super swim in just a few minutes of trying. For proper speedrunners, who can now perform the trick throughout the game, with trivial ease? It's a complete game-changer. For now, the Wind Waker speedrunning community is splitting runs into GameCube and Switch 2 categories in an effort to encourage players to compete on the new console, build new routes, and enjoy essentially free world records. Once the exact details of the Switch 2 routes of have been worked out, the categories may be reintegrated. The Switch 2 version of Wind Waker still isn't a perfect place to speedrun, as it's missing support for the GBA link through the Tingle Tuner, which was key to the old GameCube routes, and the fairly substantial input lag in Nintendo's GameCube emulator is likely to throw off some runners. But even with those caveats in mind, it looks like we're about to enter a whole new era of Wind Waker speedrunning. Many of the best Zelda games of all time are playable on Switch 2.
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ex PlayStation boss thinks Nintendo's cheaper Japan-exclusive Switch 2 is an "amazing business decision," but doesn't think "PlayStation would emulate what they did"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida has called the Japan-exclusive edition of the Nintendo Switch 2 an "amazing business decision." Worlds collided recently as former PlayStation head Shuhei Yoshida joined forces with Nintendo of America's former marketing leads Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang on an episode of their podcast. They spoke about their time working at the respective companies, with the topic of the rivalry between the DS and the PSP naturally coming up during the conversation. Despite being a player for the other team, Yoshida was extremely positive about the Switch 2, especially the Japanese-only edition that costs $110 less than the worldwide edition, with the caveat that you'll only be able to play Japanese region Nintendo games on it. Yoshida said the direction from Nintendo was "mind boggling," but an "amazing business decision." "I do not necessarily think other companies like PlayStation would emulate what they did," he added. "It doesn't make sense to me, you know, selling the same thing for such a different price for other consumers." Yoshida notes "it's clearly showing they want to keep the strong hold in Japan that they already have… that's an amazing decision they have made." Handhelds are an extremely strong market in Japan, and pretty much always have been. It's the reason Monster Hunter was pretty much a handheld-exclusive series for so long before the series took off worldwide. So Nintendo offering a cheaper way to get more handheld systems out to Japanese consumers is arguably a good plan, even if selling a console at a significant regional discount at launch is, as Yoshida said, "mind boggling." Wind Waker on Nintendo Switch 2 made two tiny changes that break it wide open for Zelda speedrunners – a strategy so hard "only a few people in the whole world can do it" is suddenly a lot easier.
