Nintendo Switch 2 officially revealed

Plus, a special issue on how cultural differences change media

Our top pick of the week: Nintendo Switch 2 officially revealed Where there's smoke there's fire. On Thursday, Nintendo made it official and formally announced its next game console: Nintendo Switch 2.   As expected, the new machine follows in the footsteps of Switch, with a similar concept and form factor, but a larger screen, wider kickstand, and what look like magnetic controllers that also seem to be able to slide around on a table like computer mice.   The new console will play original Switch games as well as Switch 2 games, though Nintendo's press release cautions that the unit may not be 100% backwards compatible with every last original Switch game.   At the end of Nintendo's reveal trailer, it also showed about six seconds of what appears to be the next Mario Kart game, which many have speculated will be a Switch 2 launch game, given the popularity of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the original Switch.   Nintendo says it will release more Switch 2 news in April, and the system will release in 2025. Nintendo Switch 2 has been announced Behold the mysterious new button on the Nintendo Switch 2 Nintendo Switch 2 reveal teases new Mario Kart game You can try out the Nintendo Switch 2 in April — here's how All Nintendo Switch 2 games confirmed so far The best thing the Switch 2 can be is weird Polygon's Shopkeeper is a weekly newsletter that collects the best deals on games, gaming accessories, Blu-rays, books, and other fine wares. Subscribe here. This week on YouTube | Nobody understands playing cards — not even the experts | Playing cards have been around for hundreds of years, but we still don't really understand how they work. Modern games like Balatro give us a glimpse of the limitless possibility of cards — but that's not the card game Polygon's Simone de Rochefort is hooked on right now. 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