Engadget Podcast: Nintendo Switch 2 hands-on and the Cowboy Bebop creator chats about Lazarus
Engadget has been testing and reviewing consumer tech since 2004. Our stories may include affiliate links; if you buy something through a link, we may earn a commission. Read more about how we evaluate products.
After Nintendo revealed the full details around the Switch 2 this week, Engadget's Sam Rutherford got some hands-on time with the new console. In this episode, he talks about the major improvements in the new hardware (especially that 1080p, 120 fps screen) and why he doesn't really miss the older Switch OLED. Also, Sam discusses his time with Mario Kart World, the new semi-open world version of Nintendo's classic racer.
In other news, we dive into the latest updates around the TIkTok ban, and we discuss how the Trump administration's tariff push will affect everything in the technology world and beyond. Stay tuned to the end of the show for our chat with Shinichiro Watanabe, the creator of Cowboy Bebop, about his new anime series Lazarus.
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Switch 2 details are finally here, Sam Rutherford got hands-on time with it – 1:47
U.S.'s broad new tariffs on China and beyond could make everything from keyboards to cars more expensive – 49:32
TikTok's divest-or-ban deadline is April 5, here are the possible buyers – 54:57
xAI buys X, but how much does that matter? – 58:24
Working on – 1:00:59
Pop culture picks – 1:02:31
Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Sam RutherfordProducer: Ben EllmanMusic: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien
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Digital Trends
34 minutes ago
- Digital Trends
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is a solid first RPG for Nintendo Switch 2
Sometimes you need to put a game down in order to appreciate it. That's exactly what happened to me while playing Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. For its first six hours of the RPG, I was thoroughly unimpressed. I enjoyed its town-building and farming systems enough, but a dull story left me feeling like the niche series simply wasn't for me. I put it down and switched to the next game on my queue, Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time. It was far more similar to Rune Factory than I expected, using the same action RPG meets life sim hook. I sank a good seven hours into it before a surprising thought crossed my mind: I missed Rune Factory. Recommended Videos That anecdote speaks to the ultimate power of Guardians of Azuma. What starts as another run-of-the-mill farming game soon blossoms into an obsession thanks as its sticky hooks reveal themselves one at a time. Even with a bland story and thin combat, there's an engrossing adventure here that will give Nintendo Switch 2 owners their first meaty RPG to sink their teeth into. Learning to love Rune Factory Like previous entries in the long-running Rune Factory series, Guardians of Azuma is an RPG that's just as much about slashing enemies as it is tending crops. This entry follows a (surprise) amnesiac hero looking to heal a world thrown into chaos by an event known as the Celestial Collapse. There's a whole lot of story here, and that's consistently the weakest part of the package. While there's some thrill in battling dragons and uncovering the Gods of the world, flat writing and long bouts of dialogue can feel like more of a chore than, well, the actual chores. While that turned me away initially, the fact that I came back is a testament to what Guardians of Azuma does so well. More central than the high stakes story is the farming and town-building hook surrounding it. 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In the countless games I've played like it, my constant input is needed to keep the world running. I need to water the flowers, to harvest the crops, and to bargain with merchants. Here, I feel more like the mayor of four towns that can run themselves so long as I'm willing to invest in the right infrastructure. If I build houses, I can court more capable workers. If I construct businesses, they'll make money for the town. If I lay down soil, my farmers will take care of the rest. My job becomes more that of a financier who is setting these towns' economy in motion. There is a sense that the world moves even when I'm not there, and that's a very rare feeling for a video game to truly nail. Of course, there's plenty of work for me to do even when I'm not creating functional towns. The action side of the story has me flying to floating islands and slashing my way through dungeons full of orcs and tanuki. 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Tom's Guide
an hour ago
- Tom's Guide
‘Color walking' is trending — here's everything you need to know
The walking trends are coming in thick and fast now that summer is approaching, and TikTok — as TikTok does — is sending each one stratospheric. If you haven't heard about it yet, put down your "hot girl walk," "silent walking," or the "Japanese walking method" for just a moment and join me in the latest TikTok fitness craze — "color walking." I use up way more of my journalistic time than I'd like slamming and damning the misleading (and sometimes downright nonsensical) wellness trends I see on TikTok. It can often feel like a relentless game of Whack-A-Mole — just when you think one has finally gone, another one springs up from nowhere. But color walking? I'm actually totally sold, to be honest. Here's what I learned from the TikTok color walking trend — and why you may benefit from trying it, too. 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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
TikTok's ad push as app ban looms
TikTok is pushing the app's benefits for teens into as many faces as it can as the under-16 social media ban looms at the end of this year. The social media giant took out sprawling ads in the Australian Financial Review last week, covering 4½ full pages with marketing, promoting the platform's utility for getting teens to read, engage with education and even cast a lure. The newspaper ads, along with a big spend on billboards and bus shelters, comes as the under-16 social media ban is just six months away. Advertisements in the May 26 edition of the AFR claim TikTok serves up 10 million videos in its science, technology, engineering, and maths feed. Another of the full-page ads extols the benefits of the massively popular 'bookTok' – TikTok's literary community. The third subject-specific ad claims Australian teenagers are 'getting outside', inspired by the platform's fishing content. A TikTok Australia spokesman said the company had also invested in billboard and bus shelter ads recently but was unable to provide numbers or details. In six months', any Australian under the age of 16 will be banned from all social media; YouTube has been granted an exemption on educational grounds, drawing the ire of the other platforms. How the social media ban will work is still up in the air. The federal government has been sitting on a report since January concerning Australians' attitudes toward age assurance technologies. A British company has been tasked with trialling which technologies could be used to implement the world first, under-16 ban. On Friday, that UK firm revealed a report on its findings had been pushed back to July.
