Key Note Gaming

When a new console launches, the majority of the conversation is defined by its specs. “Does it hit 60 frame-rates per second?” “How much RAM does it have?” “What’s its resolution?” But, as we’ve seen since the release of the Nintendo Switch 2, the hardware is only as good as the worlds it invites you to inhabit. The Nintendo Switch 2 launched with Mario Kart World, selling 17.37 million units worldwide , per Nintendo’s latest fiscal report. It was the best-selling console of 2025 in the U.S., both in unit sales and dollar sales, selling a total of 4.4 million units, and selling faster than the original Nintendo Switch over the same period. As we move into 2026, a surprising game has become the definitive system seller of the year: Pokémon Pokopia . If you’ve been watching your friends play in the Withered Wastelands like that SpongeBob meme, there is a perfect entry point. Nintendo has released a dedicated console bundle deal in the UK, specifically for Pokémon Pokopia. In thi...

When I reviewed MLB The Show 20 , I praised it as the best baseball simulation around while dinging it for playing too safe, recycling visuals, and leaning on marginal improvements instead of taking real swings. Six years later, I’m getting deja vu. Despite giving MLB The Show 21 a standing ovation for finally starting to mix up the formula in its jump to next-gen (at the time) consoles, I’m now sitting here with MLB The Show 26 struggling to articulate what's meaningfully different from the last few years. The iterative additions are better than usual this year — especially in Franchise mode — but the foundation hasn't moved an inch, and I can’t help but feel like MLB The Show 26 is little more than another full-priced update for the same live service game we’ve been playing since the 2010s. To its credit, MLB The Show 26 still plays excl o jellent baseball. The core simulation remains the most convincing recreation of the sport in any video game, and developer San Diego S...

Whether it’s Snake’s elevator ascent to the rainy cliffs of Shadow Moses or the climactic battle between student and mentor in the final moments of Snake Eater, Hideo Kojima and Konami’s epic spy thriller franchise, Metal Gear, is home to some of gaming’s most iconic moments. Telling a story that spanned multiple console generations and pushed the creative capabilities of video games to their limits, Solid Snake and Big Boss’ adventures are legendary, so much so that many claim they’re among the most important releases the medium has ever produced. Back in 2015, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain seemingly ended the franchise for good, with Kojima leaving Konami and the Metal Gear Solid IP behind to form his own studio. However, Konami has started resurrecting the series through re-releases and remakes, like Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater coming out later this year. With so many new players experiencing this world of undercover espionage, shady government conspiracy and gruf...

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Bungie has been teasing the fourth map in its recently released extraction shooter, Marathon – but it's not just another open region for looting gear, getting into fights, and extracting. Cryo Archive will be players' first taste of a raid-like instance in Marathon (and actually exploring the UESC Marathon ship), which will contain gameplay mechanics similar to ones seen in Destiny raids such as puzzles, in-match events, and evolving sequences of objectives. Bungie outlined everything you need to know about Cryo Archive in a recent blog post ahead of it going live on Friday, March 20 (and only available on weekends). The team also just dropped a teaser trailer that shows gameplay in Cryo Archive, which looks to be a cold and hostile section of the ship filled with rogue UESC bots that are sure to mess you up. You can watch the trailer below and listen to the dulcet tones of one Ben Starr (Verso in Clair Obscur, Clive in Final Fantasy XVI), presumably voicing the omnipresen...

Nvidia revealed DLSS 5 earlier this week, working neural rendering into its AI technology suite for graphics cards. The company claimed that game developers were on board, despite some of the drastic changes it seems to make to the game's aesthetic – especially Resident Evil 5. Both Assassins Creed Shadows and Resident Evil Requiem were used to show off the new technology, but it seems like the art teams for Ubisoft and Capcom, respectively, didn't know about it until the trailer debuted, with a developer from the former telling Insider Gaming, "we found out at the same time as the public." Capcom's art team was particularly shocked and worried by Resident Evil's trailer, given the company's anti-AI stance with previous Resident Evil games. The Capcom art team definitely wasn't alone in its reaction to the technology. Animator Mike York, who has worked on wide variety of games, including Death Stranding 2 , streamed a reaction to Digital Found...

From its gorgeous landscapes, gripping acting, and historically inspired combat animations, 1348 Ex Voto makes a strong first impression in its opening moments, seeming to promise something bold is about to follow. It doesn’t live up to that promise at all, however, quickly abandoning the interesting bits of its story and leaning most of its gameplay on shallow and shoddy combat and mission structures. Even it’s beauty is compromised by bugs and glitches that make playing through it a burdensome vow to keep. The story of Aeta, the knight errant we pilot through this blood-soaked Black Plague-era hack-and-slash, and her charge Bianca is a bit of a mess. On the whole, it's pretty straightforward: Bianca is meant to be shipped off to a convent because her low-born parents can’t afford to raise her anymore – but before that happens, their village is sacked, Bianca is kidnapped, and Aeta pursues the bandits to get her back. It’s played like a standard damsel-saving endeavor for most ...

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Vice Studios could soon help Chains, Dallas, Hoxton, and Wolf break into the movie and TV business after acquiring the film and television rights to the Payday franchise. The company behind Gangs of London announced it was laying the groundwork to bring the popular video game franchise to a new medium as part of a partnership with Starbreeze Entertainment today. No details regarding how the pair will translate co-op heist gameplay for new audiences were revealed, suggesting it will be a while before plans materialize. “PAYDAY has a world that is bigger than the game itself,” president of Vice Amy Powell said in a statement. “There’s mythology behind the masks and a crew of characters with real history that is incredibly exciting to explore. Partnering with Starbreeze Entertainment, we’re excited to build that universe and see how far it can go on screen.” Payday got an explosive start when its first game, Payday: The Heist, launched for PlayStation 3 and PC in 2011. Set around f...

Avatar: The Last Airbender might not be the newest Universes Beyond release anymore after the recent release of TMNT , but it’s still one of the more interesting crossovers Magic has pulled off in recent memory, and right now, it’s a lot easier to recommend at such a low price point. The set’s Beginner Box has dropped to its lowest price ever online, dropping to just $18.99 at Amazon-owned retailer, Woot , giving anyone who missed it the first time a much cheaper way to jump in. That's an even better deal than Amazon , even below current market pricing at TCGplayer as well. If you want to check it out at such a low price point, I'd snap it up ASAP. The deal will expire in under five days' time, but I'd highly suspect it will sell out way before that. Most Magic deals at Woot tend to go fast, especially when they're such great deals like this one (such as the nifty MTG x Warhammer 40K precon bundle deal that's already sold out as well). And I'd hi...

If you've been playing Pokémon Pokopia regularly since launch, by now you've probably at least seen Rocky Ridges, the game's second or third area (depending on the order you choose to visit them in). The region is themed around mountains, mines, and an active volcano, and if you've been to Rocky Ridges, you've almost certainly been faced with the deep, nigh-unbearable urge to clear up every single block of Volcanic Ash on the map. Well, it's okay. Don't bother. Other people have already taken care of it for us. Rocky Ridges is a mountainous area that, unlike the other zones you visit, has very little clear room to build when you first arrive. That's because it's largely taken up by enormous mountains, and those mountains are covered in Volcanic Ash lingering from past volcanic eruptions. The ash is super easy to clear out, vanishing at a single punch from Ditto's Rock Smash move. But there's just so much of it that clearing all of it is...

Subnautica 2 is entering early access at last. IGN can exclusively reveal that both developer Unknown Worlds and publisher Krafton have agreed the game is ready for its early access release in May on Xbox and PC, though an exact date hasn't been provided just yet. Unknown Worlds head Steve Papoutsis shared the following message with the Subnautica 2 team today: Team, We want to take a moment to sincerely thank every member of the Unknown Worlds team and our partners. Over the past nine months, you have worked incredibly hard to bring Subnautica 2 close to the finish line. That effort has resulted in a game we are truly proud of, one that each of us and our partners at KRAFTON unanimously determined is ready for Early Access release in May. Thanks to your dedication and talent, we've added more story chapters, built new creatures, and created new biomes along with many other features. With this significant progress, we have passed KRAFTON's milestone review last week ...

Magic: The Gathering has kicked off its newest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set , but Lorwyn Eclipsed isn't quite out of sight or out of mind yet - it's still standard legal and, just as importantly, it's great. As the Turtles have arrived, though, Amazon has slashed the price of a Lorwyn Eclipsed Play Booster Box to $119.95 - that’s a 27% discount on the current set, netting you 30 packs for even less than they were a few weeks ago. That brings the price of a pack down from $5.49 at the list price of the box to just $3.99, and it’s a great set, too. While you’re much more likely (almost infinitely more) to find the set’s most valuable cards in Collector Boosters, there are some fantastic creature synergies in there . Also still discounted are the Commander decks from the set. Blight Curse is helmed by Auntie Ool, Cursewretch (or The Reaper, King No More), uses a -1/-1 counters archetype that’s fairly uncommon. It’s a fantastic deck and now has a few bucks kno...

Magic: The Gathering’s Universes Beyond lineup of crossovers is becoming more prevalent in 2026, but Final Fantasy remains arguably the best example of what it looks like when done right. The set was the most popular in Magic’s long history when it launched last year, and since then, new Chocobo Track Foil cards have shaken up its most valuable chase cards. These are the priciest Final Fantasy cards you can buy right now, thanks to data from TCGPlayer , including those that have been recently added. The Most Valuable MTG Final Fantasy Cards Right Now Clive, Ifrit’s Dominant (Borderless - Surge Foil) - $76 The market value of Final Fantasy 16 protagonist Clive, Ifrit’s Dominant (Borderless - Surge Foil) , and the flip-side’s Ifrit, Warden of Inferno, is under $80. Some sellers have it closer to $70. Tifa Lockhart (Borderless - Surge Foil) - $91 Fan-favorite Tifa’s Chocobo Track Foil is sitting at around $90. It’s a great card, too, powering up as land enters (at least ...

For all of you Honkai Star Rail superfans, there's a custom PC built just for you. iBuypower released a powerful GeForce RTX 5080 prebuilt gaming PC that's housed in Hyte's limited edition Honkai Star Rail Firefly Y70 computer case . The configuration is priced at $3,599, but you can save $200 off with coupon code " DUNK ". It's admittedly more expensive than other similarly equipped gaming PCs on the market, but nowhere else you can source an officially licensed Honkai-themed gaming PC outside of getting it from iBuypower or building your own using Hyte's chassis. Now Available: Hyte Y70 Honkai Star Rail Themed Case What's really special about this case is the custom themed artwork. The system is housed in a gorgeous Hyte Y70 computer chassis adorned with artwork inspired by Honkai Star Rail's 5-star character Firefly. The artwork is professionally UV printed onto all three glass panels; they don't peel off like vinyl stickers and they...