Technologies

We Now Know the Price for Nintendo’s Controversial Switch 3 Welcome Tour

Fans aren’t thrilled that the $450 console doesn’t simply include a free copy of the tutorial game.

We now know a price for the Switch 2 Welcome Tour, which acts as a user tutorial for the various new features of the Nintendo Switch 2. According to IGN, the game will cost $10. A representative for Nintendo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The console’s specs were mostly unveiled during a Nintendo Treehouse event on April 3. That event also featured the announcement of a new game called Switch 2 Welcome Tour, which acts as a user tutorial for the various new features of the Switch 2. It quickly became controversial, with fans posting online that they thought the game should be free and included with the new console.

Per Nintendo, the game will feature «tech demos, minigames, and quizzes» for players to complete. The primary subject matter is the various new features on the Switch 2, like using the controller as a mouse and the upgraded HD Rumble feature. The game shows off some of the design elements of the Joy-Con controllers. For example, the upgraded HD Rumble feature puts the vibration motors «close to where your hands are holding the controllers» to intensify the vibrations. The minigames award medals, which are then used to access new parts of the game until the player has completed everything.

Read more: The 17 Best Nintendo Switch Games Right Now

Nintendo of America’s Vice President of Product and Player Experience, Bill Trinen, told IGN that there’s enough content in the Welcome Tour to justify the $10 price.

«I think it’s going to be a great product,» he said. It’s really for people that want more information about the system rather than necessarily a quick intro to everything it does. And for that reason and just the amount of care and work that the team put into it, I think it was decided that, ‘Yeah, this feels like $9.99 is not an exorbitant price. It feels like a good value for what you’re getting out of the product.’ «

Should a tutorial game cost money?

Fans have already been criticizing the gaming giant for the prices of its release titles. Mario Kart World is set to go on sale for $80 around the same time the Switch 2 is launched, making it one of the most expensive games Nintendo has ever released.

The fact that the tutorial game doesn’t come included with the console — as was the case with Astro’s Playroom on the PlayStation 5 — displeased many Nintendo fans, who had something to say about it.

«That’s definitely a…choice? Not sure I understand the idea of making it paid when it should be a built-in app in every system,» Reddit user Rudy69 said.

«The audacity to make a game that helps you learn about the Nintendo Switch 2 and make it PAID,» argued X user CanadianZar. «No one is buying this game. Hell… Astro’s Playroom walks all over this and IT WAS FREE.»

Other people expressed interest in learning about the new controls but don’t want to shell out for the tutorial. Instead, their plan is to wait for gaming YouTubers to post Let’s Play videos about the game and watch it from there.

Read more: I Played the Nintendo Switch 2: Is It Worth It?

Just because people complain doesn’t mean that the game won’t sell well. Per Guide Strats, Breath of the Wild had a huge number of complaints on social media. The game would go on to outsell its own console when it and the original Nintendo Switch launched together in March 2017.

The game is set to launch on June 5, the same day as the Nintendo Switch 2 console. Preorders for the console have been delayed due to the new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, but the launch date is unchanged.

Technologies

You Can Now Watch Mini Dramas on TikTok’s Standalone ‘PineDrama’ App

Single Dad Hunt, Cohabitating Romance and other bite-size sugar fixes have earned their own app.

TikTok looks like it’s doubling down on the «pine» in its mini dramas with the new PineDrama app, now available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play. It’s free, likely until the company has amassed a large enough content library worth paying for.

At the moment, everything looks like romantic potboilers, but since microdramas are popular and getting more so even as I type, that’s bound to change. You’ve probably seen microdramas and the various apps with which you watch them in your social media ads — they’re short movies or TV shows that last one or two minutes per episode.

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The PineDrama app is fairly basic. There’s a central Home screen with your feed and trending videos, along with access to your history and all videos. Discover offers just slightly larger thumbnails for browsing all or trending videos. Inbox is for system and new follower notifications, and a Profile view shows you your favorites, how many people you’re following, and your followers and likes.

Though a standalone app, PineDrama uses the main TikTok sign-in system, so you still need a TikTok account to access it. Given that the content looks a little like what’s available in the TikTok app, anyone who wants to use PineDrama probably has an account anyway.

Personally, I’m not a fan of miniseries. I’ve never been able to read comics until they’ve been collected into volumes, and can’t stream shows until an entire season — sometimes every season — is out. (None of which makes sense, given I’ve got the attention span of a cat in a room full of laser pointers.)

But sometimes you need a dopamine hit, and PineDrama lets you watch every single episode sequentially. And viewing just the first frame of each is kind of mesmerizing: From kiss to post-coital to packing a suitcase in just three swipes.

We reached out to TikTok for comment, but didn’t immediately hear back.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, Jan. 17

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Jan. 17.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? You’ll have to know your regional food specialties in order to solve 8-Across. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: «It’s just so-so»
Answer: MEH

4A clue: «Impression, Sunrise» painter
Answer: MONET

6A clue: Ca on the periodic table
Answer: CALCIUM

8A clue: City that’s famous for its lemon pepper wings
Answer: ATLANTA

9A clue: Reality show episode in which cast members gather again to bicker
Answer: REUNION

10A clue: Common wall coverings in a dorm room
Answer: POSTERS

11A clue: Boxing bout enders, for short
Answer: KOS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Snail, clam or squid
Answer: MOLLUSK

2D clue: 2021 Disney movie with the hit song «We Don’t Talk About Bruno»
Answer: ENCANTO

3D clue: Tushes
Answer: HEINIES

4D clue: San ___, city between San Francisco and Palo Alto
Answer: MATEO

5D clue: Private teacher
Answer: TUTOR

6D clue: Complain
Answer: CARP

7D clue: «Dogs are a ___ best friend»
Answer: MANS

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Technologies

ChatGPT Ads Coming Soon for Free and New $8 Go Tier Users

OpenAI says that it won’t serve ads based on sensitive topics like mental health or politics.

OpenAI has announced that it’s testing ads for its free tier and new $8-per-month Go memberships, and the ads will be based on a user’s current conversation.

OpenAI says the ads will be clearly marked and appear at the bottom of ChatGPT answers «when there’s a relevant sponsored product or service based on your current conversation.»

Meanwhile, the company says the new Go tier enables 10 times as many messages, file uploads, and image creations as the free tier, and also remembers more details about you over time. The new $8 Go tier joins ChatGPT Plus at $ 20 per month and ChatGPT Pro at $ 200 per month.

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The company says it won’t show ads on «sensitive or regulated topics like health, mental health or politics.» It also said it won’t show ads to users who tell the chatbot they are under 18 or to users the system predicts are minors. Furthermore, the company says it will keep individual conversations private from advertisers and never sell user data to advertisers.

The company also says that users can turn off personalization and can clear the data used for ads at any time.

Last week, OpenAI announced a new ChatGPT Health service, which enables users to upload their health data. However, privacy experts warned that the company wasn’t covered by a health provider’s privacy protections.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)