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In 2002, Microsoft launched Xbox Live with built-in voice chat as one of the main selling points of the then new service. Now, nearly 25 years later, Nintendo is finally giving its fans an easy way to talk to their friends online over a friendly match of Mario Kart World. Considering some of the solutions Nintendo has offered in the past, GameChat is surprisingly elegant. A tap of the Switch 2's new C button, conveniently located below the Home button on the right Joy-Con, brings up a dedicated interface that allows you to quickly start screensharing, mute and unmute your mic and, if you decide to buy the optional Switch 2 Camera, enable video. What's more, the Switch 2 has a built-in mic. We'll need to test the handheld to see how well the microphone performs in a noisy environment; Nintendo touted its noise-reduction features in today's introduction. But if nothing else, kudos to Nintendo for realizing it couldn't release a new console in 2025 without voice chat built-in and making that feature standard on all models. However, if the demo Nintendo showed off today is any indication of the final product, the company has some work to do. Voice chat looks like it works well enough, with users allowed to invite up to 11 other people to join their conversation. That said, screen sharing and video chat look very rough. When everyone in the video started streaming their gameplay, it looked like the games were running at less than 30 frames per second, making it difficult to see how it would be possible to use the feature to guide a friend through a tricky section, like Nintendo suggested in the demo. Video chat was equally janky, with the footage from the Switch 2 Camera looking like something captured by a webcam from the mid-aughts. Moreover, if you want to see your friend's screen, there's an additional tradeoff. Nintendo showed off three different interface options, with two of them devoting a fair amount of screen space to tiles for your friends. I imagine this won't be a problem if you're playing on a TV, but even on the Switch 2's large 7.9-inch screen, the interface looks like it could get cramped fast. To Nintendo's credit, the company has thought a lot about parental controls, with features that allow parents and guardians to decide who their kids can chat with online and if they can join a session with video. But the thing is none of GameChats capabilities are new. They've existed in apps like Discord for years, which begs the question why some of them look so rough this close to launch. Nintendo has time between now and June 5 to polish GameChat, but in 2025, making a technically competent chat app shouldn't be so hard. Of course, I imagine most of the Switch 2's audience won't care if some of GameChat's features are half-baked. For the rest of us, the company plans to offer the feature for free until the end of March 2026. One would hope that's enough time for the company to catch up on two decades worth of progress in online gaming.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/gamechat-is-decades-late-and-looks-pretty-janky-202309823.html?src=rss
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Sonos has given two of its audio products price cuts. The Era 100 smart speaker and Ray soundbar now retail for $199. The change offers new customers a $50 savings for the Era 100 and $80 on the Ray. Both speakers would frequently show up on sale, but Sonos has confirmed that this is a permanent pricing change for the products. These items have been available for a few years, so the price drop might signal that a refresh is in store for both. When it debuted in 2023, the Era 100 was an upgrade on the Sonos One, bringing overhauled touch controls and even better audio quality to the same cylindrical form factor. At $200, it's now selling for what the Sonos One cost, making it a solid choice for a home speaker. The Ray came out in 2022, offering a solid home theater performance without the most high-end audio or accompanying high-end price tag. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/sonos-cut-retail-prices-for-its-era-100-speaker-and-ray-soundbar-201049055.html?src=rss
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It seems fitting that Nintendo didnt reveal the Switch 2s $450 price during its Direct stream this morning it would have just bummed everyone out. After spending an hour hearing about how the Switch 2 practically fixes almost every problem we had with the original console, and seeing teasers for exciting games like Mario Kart World, why spoil the good vibes with the harsh reality of market economics? Instead, Nintendo revealed the consoles price in the lowliest of media communications: A simple press release. My first reaction was shock. $450 for a mostly portable console? Thats the same retail price as the PlayStation 5, a system thats also currently on sale for $400 together with Astro-Bot. Sure, the Switch 2 is vastly superior to the original Switch, but it likely doesnt have PS5-level hardware. The price jump is also surprising since the original Switch launched at $300 in 2017. Can you imagine we thought the $350 Switch OLED was too high-priced? Unfortunately, its not 2017. NVIDIA now has mid-range GPUs selling for upwards of $600, the cost of almost every product has gone up, and massive companies like Nintendo are bracing for the potential impact of the Trump administrations long-threatened tariffs. A $450 Switch 2 is expensive, Im not denying that. But in the current economic landscape, I would hesitate to call it too expensive. Nintendo Consider this: The Switch 2 is just $50 more than the cheapest Steam Deck, a portable PC gaming handheld with significantly slower hardware, a smaller and lower quality (7-inch, 1280 by 800, 60Hz) screen, and a much bulkier frame. The Switch 2, meanwhile, is just as thin as the original model, it has a 7.9-inch 1080p screen that can run up to 120fps with HDR, and its powerful enough to play games at up to 4K/60fps while docked. Based on the games weve seen so far, the Switch 2 seems surprisingly powerful for its size. The Switch 2 also improves on its controls with the Joy-Con 2, which now magnetically attach to the consoles, feature larger analog sticks and can also work as mice across a variety of services. You wont be removing the Steam Decks controls without the use of a small saw. And Ive yet to see a handheld PC maker deliver removable controls that are as comfortable and easy to use as the original Switch (that means you, Lenovo). Nintendos original Joy-Con were far from perfect, but they did the job, and Id wager the company has learned enough to make the Joy-Con 2f even better. Nintendo And while you can technically dock other PC gaming handhelds, they wont see the performance upgrade Nintendo is claiming with the Switch 2. The company says its new console can reach up to 4K/60fps for some titles, thanks to an additional fan in the dock. We dont know exactly whats powering the Switch 2 yet, so Nintendo could be drastically overselling its capabilities. But given how seamless docking worked on the first Switch (where it also delivered a bit of a performance upgrade, sans an additional fan), its also something I think Nintendo has optimized more than PC companies, who are only just now dipping their toes into portable gaming. Maybe Im just trying to justify my own purchases (I just realized Ill probably need a second Switch 2 for my kid), but I just cant get too angry about a $450 Switch 2. If we see many more $80 games like Mario Kart World, though, we should absolutely riot in the streets.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/is-the-450-nintendo-switch-2-too-expensive-195750206.html?src=rss
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