Technologies

I Played Hours of Mario Kart World and Used GameChat on the Switch 2. I’m Hooked

From the chaos of 24-player races to the fun of group chats to the shrug that is Welcome Tour, the Switch 2 holds a lot of potential. But is it enough to buy right now?

Mario Kart World on the Switch 2 is a lot more interesting when you can see your friend’s face floating over the kart you’re trying to beat. I’m sitting with some folks from CNET’s sister site IGN and someone from Nintendo as I’m desperately trying to hang in a Knockout Tour competition, and we’re playing with the Switch 2 Camera connected and tracking our faces. Each of our four faces ends up broadcast into the game, floating over our respective vehicles. It’s live video, too: You can stick out your tongue or roll your eyes. Or, as one person did, zoom in on just your ear.

Nintendo is trying its best to show off how its new console is better than the first-gen Switch models. After a full day playing the Switch 2 a couple of months ago, I recently got a second full-day dive ahead of its June 5 launch — more time with Mario Kart World and Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, Nintendo’s only exclusive first-party Switch 2 games at launch. And I finally used GameChat, the console’s new multiperson audio/video chat feature.

I don’t have a Switch 2 to review yet, so I can’t really nail down my feelings about the full experience just yet. But in these early looks, I’m getting a sense that the Switch 2 is a console that, while showing promise, is something you can also easily wait on. That said, GameChat’s a welcome new feature; camera-connected play is surprisingly addictive (and sort of magical), and Mario Kart World is a blast, especially in wild multiplayer matches. After trying 24-player multiplayer, I don’t know if I can go back.

GameChat: Nintendo’s audio-video hangout zone

My 12-year-old tends to play games by starting a FaceTime chat with his friends, and then playing games while keeping his chat on. Sometimes they’re playing together, sometimes they’re not. I kept thinking about that when getting a brief chance to try Switch 2 GameChat at a Nintendo demo event, which basically aspires to do the same thing.

GameChat, which you start by pressing the right Joy-Con’s new C button, connects up to 12 players via audio (or four with video) into a little group. Friends have to be preinvited to GameChat via your own friends list on the Switch 2, making it a deliberate process that’s parent-friendly but not that spontaneous-feeling. Once that’s done, though, chats are fast to start up.

You can control turning your microphone, camera feed or game feed on and off while in chat. You can also hide your menu screens and just show your game once you’re playing it. You’re either just hearing friends, or seeing split-screen views of up to three others showing their faces, or the games they’re playing, or both.

The $55 Switch 2 Camera is sold separately, and it adds your face. There are a few clever modes that can either show your whole background in a picture-in-picture, cut out your face and body to overlay onto the game footage or zoom in to frame your face (or another part of your face/body you want to track) in a circle.

Video quality for both your face and game footage isn’t great, but it’s enough to feel connected to see what your friends are doing (and emoting). No one has to be playing the same game together, so it’s more of a way to just share what you’re up to at the same time. It’s really more of a hangout room where you can chat and maybe also play games together.

I got a second demo of camera-connected multiplayer in Mario Kart World, which we did in the same room, but it shows the possibilities of GameChat and multiplayer in other ways. Cleverly, the camera could track and zoom in on all four of our faces at the same time, displaying them separately on-screen as overlays on our karts. It almost felt like augmented reality magic, and reminded me of some of the other tricks I saw in Mario Party Jamboree, which is getting a camera-focused update over the summer.

Mario Kart World: Multiplayer is a blast, so is wandering

I still don’t know if any new Mario Kart game can truly top Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s 96 courses (including DLC), but Mario Kart World is a lot of fun… and something I can’t wait to explore more.

I spent some time with Nintendo’s big Switch 2 launch game in April, but got hours more to dive into wandering around, trying out all the modes, and playing online with 23 others. I got hooked.

Mario Kart World’s best feature is its wandering style: Everything is spread across a huge land, and you can just tool around and discover secrets or suddenly end up on other courses, or parts of courses. In its Free Roam mode, I just kind of tried to find things, mainly P-Switch challenges, which start up little timed events to earn awards, similar to challenges in Super Mario 3D games.

The courses I tried looked to be unique from lap to lap, unfolding over territory that eventually can lead to other courses if you’re playing in Versus or Knockout Tour modes. Once a race is done, your trip to the other course is still part of the race. It adds variety and changes up how some races even feel, depending on which one you’re heading to next, but also feels like it’s a departure from the more static lap-based courses from older Karts. It’s a lot more like Forza Horizon games in style, which I actually love.

Multiplayer in 24-player modes is total chaos. Many of the courses are wider than previous Mario Kart games to accommodate all those karts, and it can get pretty Mad Max. It also makes surviving feel even more victorious. Knockout Tour is the star of the show. This new mode, which I tried in April, is a survival race that eliminates a certain percentage of players every course. It feels like a 99-player-type survival game, but I like this even better. I once made it to sixth place among a bunch of game journalists, which was enough of a win for me.

Also, the characters? I love them. I played as a cow. I played as a dolphin. I played as a crab. There are so many weird options. It’s lovely.

I also tried Battle Mode, where 24 of us zoomed around pretty large course maps to either collect coins as fast as we could, or try to pop each others’ balloons. It was fun too, but felt more random, less purposeful than the races.

I mostly played in TV-docked mode, which showed off the Switch 2’s graphics quality: clearly better than Switch 1, but not shockingly so. I also tried handheld mode, and I’m impressed by the quality of the Switch 2’s LCD 1080p display, even if it isn’t OLED.

As good as it all is, though, I don’t think it’s enough on its own to justify a Switch 2 purchase. Not yet. Still, if you’re getting a Switch 2, this game is obviously your must-get, and it feels like it earns that label.

Switch 2 Welcome Tour: It should’ve been free

I spent more time in the weirdly charming Welcome Tour (about an hour and a half), and still can’t tell how much content this «game» has in it. Welcome Tour is literally a walk-through of the Switch 2’s features, accompanied by quizzes, demos and some minigames to try. It clearly should’ve been included on the Switch 2, much like Astro’s Playroom on the PS5. Instead, Nintendo is charging $10 for it — that’s absurd.

Then again, I’d be tempted to get it at launch just to have some things to play with that show off the Switch 2 extras, like mouse mode. Welcome Tour also has lots of weird facts about the Switch 2’s construction and design, like how its speakers are designed and housed. Lots of deep, nerdy stuff, and why is this presented in an app like this? I don’t know, and I wish Nintendo had just made a weird collection of mini-games like 1-2 Switch instead.

I unlocked some of the areas in the game, finished some quizzes, tested Joy-Con haptics, looked at frame-rate and HDR demos, and did some arcade-ish minigames using the Joy-Con as a mouse. I want to play it more, but I can’t justify the existence of this as a standalone paid game at all. Neither should Nintendo. There’s still time to change course and make this a free download.

Switch 2 still seems great, but not necessary yet

One final note: I walked away from my day of play feeling like I’d be happy to carry around a Switch 2, but unable to justify to friends why they should get one now. It doesn’t feel like a console that demands to be bought yet, and it’s too much of an «enhanced Switch» type of experience at the moment. That will certainly change once more exclusive and enhanced games emerge, but that could take another year. I’ll have more thoughts when I review the Switch 2 soon, but I do see more potential in GameChat and the connected camera than I expected.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, Feb. 20

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Feb. 20.

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.

Today’s Mini Crossword expects you to know a little bit about everything — from old political parties to architecture to video games. 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: Political party that competed with Democrats during the 1830s-’50s
Answer: WHIGS

6A clue: Four Seasons, e.g.
Answer: HOTEL

7A clue: Dinosaur in the Mario games
Answer: YOSHI

8A clue: Blizzard or hurricane
Answer: STORM

9A clue: We all look up to it
Answer: SKY

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: «Oh yeah, ___ that?»
Answer: WHYS

2D clue: Says «who»?
Answer: HOOTS

3D clue: «No worries»
Answer: ITSOK

4D clue: Postmodern architect Frank
Answer: GEHRY

5D clue: Narrow
Answer: SLIM

Technologies

PlayStation 6 Rumors: Potential 2029 Release, Specs, Pricing and More

While the PS6’s release is still years away, here’s what we know so far about the next-gen console from Sony.

The PlayStation 5 will turn six years old this year. For a game console, that means it’s coming into its twilight years. So, it’s understandable that gamers are starting to wonder what’s next. There’s is nothing official so far from Sony on when the PlayStation 6 might arrive, though.

Still, reports and rumors are circulating about Sony’s next-gen game console. While Sony has a sizable market lead over Microsoft’s Xbox, it now has different competition coming from the new powered-up Nintendo Switch 2 and the upcoming Steam Machine home console from Valve. Both devices offer different challenges for Sony in terms of portability, library of games and pricing.

Here’s what we know about the PS6 so far.

When will the PS6 come out?

Sony, for obvious reasons, hasn’t provided a window for when the PS6 will come out. Speculation puts the console’s release in 2027, which would be seven years after the release of the PS5, and consoles have generally been on a seven-year cycle.

Sony could push the release to 2028, according to a report from David Gibson, senior analyst at MST Financial. He believes the new PlayStation will likely be delayed as the company is expanding the lifecycle of the PS5, according to VideoGame Chronicles. However, a new report from Bloomberg says the release date could be pushed back to 2029, thanks to the current RAM shortage.

Will the PS6 be a handheld?

It does appear that Sony might be developing both a console and a handheld. Rumors were circulating that Sony was creating a handheld on par with the Nintendo Switch to complement the console.

The speculation is that this handheld will be able to play new PS6 games, as well as PS5 and PS4 games. While this seems unlikely from a handheld, it’s possible the device would have enough power to run PS5 games and, in turn, PS4 titles, while PS6 games would be playable at a lower visual quality.

The YouTube channel Moore’s Law Is Dead reported in December that this PS6 handheld is already being tested by developers but that its lower-power mode reportedly doesn’t play PS5 games well, as it lowers the frames of the game when in use.

Sony’s strategy for this generation could be about keeping players in the PlayStation ecosystem at home and on the go, so they won’t be tempted by competitor handhelds such as the Xbox ROG Ally or Steam Deck.

How much will the PS6 cost?

Figuring out the potential pricing for this upcoming generation of consoles is tricky. There are so many unknown factors that complicate the answer.

Current tariffs, for example, have caused Sony, like Microsoft and Nintendo, to raise console prices, making it hard to predict what will happen in the coming years. The tariffs could go away, but if they continue, Sony may have to move its console production to another country that has a minimal tariff or hope that the countries that manufacture its hardware — Vietnam and China — strike a deal with the US.

Another issue is the RAM shortage and the resulting skyrocketing prices. Brought on by the demands of data centers across the globe being built out to handle the growth in AI usage, memory prices have already jumped. Those increases are leading to more expensive desktops, laptops and, really, anything that uses RAM, like tablets, phones and gaming devices.

The sweet spot for any console release would be $500, but that seems more like a pipe dream at this point. What could be used as a marker for hardware prices is Valve’s upcoming Steam Machine later this year, which is speculated to stay in the $600 to $700 range.

As for the handheld portion, the pricing could be more aggressive than the offering of the current handheld market. A video from August, from the YouTube channel Moore’s Law Is Dead, says the pricing for the PS6 portable could be in the range of $400 to $500. This could mean that to get the full PS6 experience, gamers will have to drop at least $1,000.

What are the PS6 specs?

Like other gaming hardware makers, Sony is working closely with AMD for its components. Back in October, the lead architect for the PS5, Mark Cerny, hosted a video with Jack Huynh, SVP and GM of AMD’s computing and graphics group. The video was uploaded to the PlayStation YouTube channel.

While the talk between the two didn’t confirm what technology will power the PS6, they hinted a bit about what’s next with a collaboration between the two companies, called Project Amethyst.

Huynh introduced Radiance Cores, which are AMD’s new technology for ray tracing and path tracing. Another technology, introduced to handle the GPU demands of AMD’s Fidelity Super Resolution and PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution upscaling, is Neural Arrays. And AMD’s Universal Compression can help relieve bottlenecks with the GPU memory bandwidth limitations.

While there are few verifiable details about the chips powering the PS6, Sony will work with AMD to create customized hardware for its PS6, just like Nintendo did with the Switch 2 and Microsoft is doing with the next Xbox.

The PS6 is likely to have at least 16GB of RAM and a 1TB solid-state drive for storage. It will also likely have the latest standards for wireless technology, such as Wi-Fi 7, and the newest media interface, HDMI 2.2.

Sony will also develop some other PlayStation-focused features in the same fashion as the adaptive triggers on the DualSense PS5 controller and more functionality with cloud gaming for PS Plus subscribers.

Many questions are still left to be answered about the PS6, with the ultimate question on whether the 10th generation of game consoles will, in fact, be the last.

Technologies

Google Rolls Out Latest AI Model, Gemini 3.1 Pro

Starting Thursday, Gemini 3.1 Pro can be accessed via the AI app, NotebookLM and more.

Google took the wraps off its latest AI model, Gemini 3.1 Pro, on Thursday, calling it a «step forward in core reasoning.» The software giant says its latest model is smarter and more capable for complex problem-solving.

Google shared a series of bookmarks and examples of the latest model’s capabilities, and is rolling out Gemini 3.1 to a series of products for consumers, enterprise and developers.

The overall AI model landscape seems to change weekly. Google’s release comes just a few days after Anthropic dropped the latest version of Claude, Sonnet 4.6, which can operate a computer at a human baseline level.

Benchmarks of Gemini 3.1

Google shared some details about AI model benchmarks for Gemini 3.1 Pro.

The announcement blog post highlights that the Gemini 3.1 Pro benchmark for the ARC-AGI-2 test for solving abstract reasoning puzzles sits at 77.1%. This is noticeably higher than Gemini 3 Pro’s 31.1% score for the same test.

The ARC-AGI-2 benchmark is one of multiple improvements coming from Gemini 3.1 Pro, Google says.

3.1 Pro enhancements

With better benchmarks nearly across the board, Google highlighted some of the ways that translate in general use:

Code-based animations: The latest Gemini model can easily create animated SVG images that are scalable without quality loss and ready to be added to websites with a text prompt.

Creative coding: Gemini 3.1 Pro generated an entire website based on a character from Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights, if she were a landscape photographer showing off her portfolio.

Interactive design: 3.1 Pro was used to create a 3D interactive starling murmuration that allows the flock to be controlled in an assortment of ways, all while a soundscape is generated that changes with the movement of the birds.

Availability

As of Thursday, Gemini 3.1 Pro is rolling out in the Gemini app for those with the AI Pro or Ultra plans. NotebookLM users subscribed to one of those plans will also be able to take advantage of the new model.

Both developers and enterprises can also access the new model via the Gemini API through a range of products, including AI Studio, Gemini Enterprise, Antigravity and Android Studio.