Technologies

Nintendo’s Mario Party Upgrades for Switch 2 Feel Like Unnecessary Gimmicks

The new camera and mouse modes don’t bring anything essential to the party.

Maybe, some day, Nintendo will make games that are just focused on using the new camera and mouse-control features on the Switch 2. In the meantime, there’s the update to Super Mario Party Jamboree that hits this week.

Nintendo’s already delivered a killer one-two punch with Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza for Switch 2 but the upgrade for Jamboree, while charming at times, doesn’t exactly live up to expectations.

The $20 upgrade, with the unwieldy title Super Mario Party Jamboree Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV, hints at how the new modes are glommed onto the already full-featured Jamboree game. While I generally appreciate the upgrades, it makes the game harder to navigate — it’s almost like a subworld in an already-crowded-with-stuff game. I was originally super-excited about the potential of the plug-in camera support on Switch 2 but the camera features here impressed me less at home than in my April demos.

While a lot of the new mini-games seem to aim for the whimsy and weirdness of older Nintendo games like 1-2 Switch, this bonus pack feels like not enough of the new and too much of a half-measure. It’s a taste of some ideas but also shows the limits of some of Nintendo’s latest Switch 2 features like camera and mouse mode.

Buying the upgrade for Switch 2 does get you better-looking higher-res graphics, and the Jamboree TV mode has several new ways to play. An upgraded Mario Party game board and minigame browser have new games that use the Joy-Con 2 mouse mode in some fun ways. Still, it feels like a slim set of extras with a bunch of awkward aspects, too.

Mouse mode mods

Mouse mode can be rewarding with air hockey where you slam your puck around, or as a way to slide fast and click on parts of the screen. In another new mode, a sort of roller coaster where you use the mouse to aim and shoot at targets like a theme park ride, it almost reminds me of some VR experiences minus a headset.

Mouse mode works on tables, sofas, even your own leg — pretty much any surface you can glide the Joy-Con 2 over. The only thing is, a lot of these new modes in mouse mode feel like they could also have been done with motion controls, which the Joy-Cons are also capable of. An ice cream scooping minigame, as cute as it is, feels like a prime example of something that motion controls could have handled, too. But there are only 14 new mouse-mode games added here.

Camera games (and camera) optional

Camera connectivity is optional because, for Switch 2 owners, having a camera is optional, too. Should you have one, there are some fun motion-based games that have you moving your body with camera-based tracking, similar to older camera-connected games from the Xbox Kinect/PlayStation Eye era.

The camera makes your face and body seem like they’re sometimes beamed right into the Mario Party universe. You pop up from pipes, appearing on stage as Toad MCs guide you through each challenge. It’s fun, silly and doesn’t actually require you to use yourself. My 12-year-old son, for example, just had the camera focus on a painting on the wall instead of his face … so that was weird.

A Bowser showdown mode gives you a couple of camera-based mini-games that you use your body to play. One involves jumping to hit a coin block, something I did for real in Epic Universe at Super Nintendo World. The effect is cute but also can be «cheated» by using your hand instead of your head.

Another mini-game makes it look like you’re wearing a Mario or Luigi hat as you play Simon Says to stand or crouch. The game lost tracking for my son and me, and our hats vanished midway.

The camera mode doesn’t automatically track your body wherever you go. Instead, you’re asked to stand in a particular place to play. The same’s true for how the Switch 2 camera focuses on your face. While you can frame your face and then mirror it on your TV, if you move to the left or right (or stand or sit), you’ll end up falling out of frame. Adjusting the wide-angle camera can fix the problem but it became a fiddly process in our living room. My son preferred playing regular Mario Party modes where we weren’t trying to fit ourselves onscreen.

And so, for $20, Mario Party Jamboree’s Switch 2 mode doesn’t feel like anything essential. Jamboree is a great Mario Party game already, and the improvements — including being able to Game Share to other local Switches for multi-screen multiplayer — might be fun to try. Then again, much like the $10 Welcome Tour game released with the Switch 2 in June, this feels like Nintendo forcing old gameplay onto the mouse mode and camera rather than making the most out of the new hardware. I’m looking forward to the truly new ideas for mouse and camera that could come next but I’m also a bit worried that the camera might be more of a gimmick than I first thought.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Jan. 28

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Jan. 28.

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? 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: Remove from a position of power
Answer: OUST

5A clue: Not cool
Answer: UNHIP

7A clue: «Fine, see if ___!»
Answer: ICARE

8A clue: Kind of bored
Answer: JADED

9A clue: Primatologist’s subjects
Answer: APES

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Kind of board
Answer: OUIJA

2D clue: Prepare to use, as a pen
Answer: UNCAP

3D clue: Desirable place to sit on a hot day
Answer: SHADE

4D clue: Pair on a bicycle
Answer: TIRES

6D clue: ___ Xing (street sign)
Answer: PED

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Jan. 28, #492

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Jan. 28, No. 492.

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

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Stats about an athlete.

Green group hint: Where to watch games.

Blue group hint: There used to be a ballpark.

Purple group hint: Names are hidden in these words.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Player bio information.

Green group: Sports streamers.

Blue group: Former MLB ballparks.

Purple group: Ends in a Hall of Fame QB.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is player bio information. The four answers are alma mater, height, number and position.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is sports streamers. The four answers are Netflix, Paramount, Peacock and Prime.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is former MLB ballparks. The four answers are Ebbets, Kingdome, Three Rivers and Tiger.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ends in a Hall of Fame QB. The four answers are forewarner, Harbaugh, honeymoon and outmanning.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Technologies

Google Rolls Out Expanded Theft Protection Features for Android Devices

The latest Android security update makes it harder for thieves to break into stolen phones, with stronger biometric requirements and smarter lockouts.

Google on Tuesday announced a significant update to its Android theft-protection arsenal, introducing new tools and settings aimed at making stolen smartphones harder for criminals to access and exploit. The updates, detailed on Google’s official security blog, build on Android’s existing protections and add both stronger defenses and more flexible user controls.

Smartphones carry your most sensitive data, from banking apps to personal photos, and losing your device to theft can quickly escalate into identity and financial fraud. To counter that threat, Google is layering multiple protective features that work before, during and after a theft.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

At the center of the update is a revamped Failed Authentication Lock. Previously introduced in Android 15, this feature now gets its own toggle in Android 16 settings, letting you decide whether your phone should automatically lock itself after repeated incorrect PIN or biometric attempts. This gives you more control over how aggressively your phone defends against brute-force guessing without weakening security.

Google is also beefing up biometric security across the platform. A feature called Identity Check, originally rolled out in earlier Android versions, has been broadened to apply to all apps and services that use Android’s Biometric Prompt — the pop-up that asks for your fingerprint or face to confirm it’s really you — including third-party banking apps and password managers. This means that even if a thief somehow bypasses your lock screen, they’ll face an additional biometric barrier before accessing sensitive apps.

On the recovery side, Google improved Remote Lock, a tool that allows you to lock a lost or stolen device from a web browser by entering a verified phone number. The company added an optional security challenge to ensure only the legitimate owner can initiate a remote lock, an important safeguard against misuse.

And finally, in a notable regional rollout, Google said it is now enabling both Theft Detection Lock and Remote Lock by default on new Android device activations in Brazil, a market where phone theft rates are comparatively high. Theft Detection Lock uses on-device AI to detect sudden movements consistent with a snatch-and-run theft, automatically locking the screen to block immediate access to data.

With stolen phones often used to access bank accounts and personal data, Google says these updates are meant to keep a single theft from turning into a much bigger problem.