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Up to 75% off hundreds of Switch favourites, indies and more.

Hot off last night’s Nintendo Direct where we were thrilled/disappointed (delete as appropriate) to hear that The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is coming to Switch later this year, the Nintendo eShop has just kicked off a new round of Digital Deals. In it, there are savings of up to 75 per cent to be had on hundreds of games.

Put under the spotlight by the folks at Nintendo include Among Us for £2.72, Diablo 3 Eternal Collection for £24.99 and Sonic Mania for £11.19.

Digging a bit further, though, and there are some terrific bargains to be found amongst the full list of offers. There’s a whopping 66 pages of savings to sift through, so no doubt I’ve missed something here. Nevertheless, these ones immediately jump out to me.

• Mario & Rabbids Kingdom Battle for £11.09
• Overcooked 2 for £9.99
• Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition for £14.69
• I Am Dead for £10.49
• Torchlight 3 for £17.99
• We. The Revolution for £4.40
• 2064: Read Only Memories for £2.36
• Jenny LeClue – Detectivu for £3.99
• Gris for £5.79
• Not Tonight: Take Back Control Edition for £1.94

Definitely take a look at We. The Revolution, 2064 and Gris if you haven’t got around to them yet.

Meanwhile, in the physical world, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury is £39.99 at Amazon UK. The re-release of the Wii U platformer and its brand new expansion has been out for less than a week, so £10 off the price already it a mighty fine saving.

Considering that Martin called it ‘Mario at its most madcap and inventive‘ then that early price cut might be enough to tempt you to pick it up. It’s certainly weakening my will a little.

Nevertheless, if there’s nothing there that takes your fancy, you can always keep an eye on our page dedicated to the best Nintendo Switch deals or the one for when the Skyward Sword Joy-Cons go up for order. You can also take a trip over to Jelly Deals for the latest offers across gaming, tech and more!

For years, Razer has made some of the best gaming laptops on the market. They’re not uniquely famous for their high performance (Blades are powerful machines but not the fastest out there) or their prices (which are high). They’re famous for their high-quality build and their premium design. In short, Razer makes the best-looking gaming laptops on the market.

Razer has decided this year that this aesthetic shouldn’t be limited to gaming laptops. In its first notebook designed for productivity instead of gaming, Razer has combined its signature look and feel with a 60Hz 16:10 touchscreen and a lower-power processor with integrated graphics. The Razer Book aims to be a Razer Blade on the outside and a Dell XPS 13 on the inside — and it mostly succeeds. Razer has made an excellent laptop with performance rivaling that of the top Windows clamshells on the market. That said, it’s pricey for what it offers, and it has a few drawbacks that mean it won’t be the right choice for everyone.

On the outside, the Razer Book 13 borrows many of the Blade Stealth 13’s signature features. Razer’s three-headed snake adorns the lid. You may also recognize the customizable per-key RGB keyboard with speaker grilles on each side. (Unlike what you’ll see on some more garish gaming rigs, the lighting on these keys looks professional and adds to the sophisticated vibe.) The chassis is CNC-machined aluminum, with a smooth metallic finish. This is a fancy way of saying it’s quite nice; the MacBook Pro is made of the same material, as are many of the best Windows laptops including the XPS 13 and HP’s Spectre x360 14.

But some subtle differences make clear that this laptop is for the office, not for gaming. It’s slightly lighter than the Blade Stealth, at 0.6 inches thick and 3.09 pounds. The port selection is also better than that of the Stealth: there are two Thunderbolt 4 ports, one USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, one HDMI 2.0, one microSD slot, and one combo audio jack. This is also a big advantage the Razer Book has over the XPS 13 and MacBook Pro, both of which have comparably limited selections.

The biggest change, though, is the 16:10 touch display. This makes the screen taller than the 16:9 panels you’ll find on the Blade (and on almost all dedicated gaming laptops). It lends you plenty of extra room for multitasking, with less scrolling and zooming necessary to see everything you need to. Aspect ratio aside, the 1920 x 1200 display on our review unit was quite bright, maxing out at 494 nits in my testing. It’s quite vibrant as well, with sharp and bright colors. While the panel has a glossy texture, it kicks back little to no glare in bright settings.

Miscellaneous laptop stuff: the glass touchpad is roomy and quite smooth — definitely one of my recent favorites. The speakers sound great, with strong percussion, though I did hear some distortion at higher volumes. And I almost never get to say this, but the webcam isn’t that bad; it delivers a decent and fairly accurate picture, though there’s no privacy shutter or kill switch.

In a vacuum, I have very few complaints about the Razer Book’s chassis. I will point out that I find it slightly worse than the XPS 13 in a few (subjective) areas. Not only is it thicker and heavier than Dell’s flagship, but it just looks and feels clunkier, lacking the XPS’s sleek portability. And while Razer’s keyboard and touchpad are both fine, they’re not as exceptional as either on the XPS; Dell’s keyboard has more travel and a more satisfying click, and its touchpad is a bit more comfortable. Most frustratingly to me, Razer provides less storage for the price. You only get 256GB of storage in the base and midrange models and can only get 512GB in the top-end $1,999 configuration — 512GB XPS models come as low as $1,399, and the $1,599 XPS has 512GB of storage while the $1,599 Razer Book has just 256GB (their specs are identical otherwise).

There’s one area where the Razer Book solidly beats the XPS, and that’s performance. All Razer Book models are Evo-verified, meaning Intel vouches for them as top performers. And our test model includes a high-clocked (up to 28W) version of one of the chipmaker’s top ultrabook processors, Intel’s Core i7-1165G7.

This system flew through the demanding tasks we threw at it. It took nine minutes and 21 seconds to complete our Premiere Pro media test, which involves exporting a 5-minute, 33-second 4K video. That’s the fastest time I’ve ever gotten from a system with the quad-core 1165G7 (which powers many of the best ultraportables on the market). The XPS 13 took 10 minutes and 43 seconds to complete the same task; the more powerful XPS 13 2-in-1 took 10 minutes and five seconds.

Razer still hasn’t quite caught Apple’s M1 systems, though. The most recent MacBook Pro finished the test in seven minutes and 39 seconds. And of course, integrated graphics can’t hold a candle to a midrange GPU, even in a thin and light chassis. The Blade Stealth 13 with a GTX 1650 Ti knocked out the export in just five minutes and 50 seconds.

In real-world performance, the Razer Book also shines. The laptop handled my fairly demanding load of Chrome tabs, Zoom calls, and other apps with no issue. It boots up from standby almost instantly and very quickly from the powered-off state as well. Of course, the XPS 13 is also quite good in these scenarios.

While the Book 13 is decidedly not a gaming laptop, it is a Razer-branded product, so some might wonder how it games. The answer is it delivers some of the best integrated graphics performance I’ve seen from a Windows clamshell. It solidly beats the XPS 13 clamshell and is about on par with the more powerful 2-in-1. In practice, it’s most suitable for lighter gaming and heavier titles at lower settings.

The Razer Book averaged 142fps on Rocket League’s maximum setting without dipping below 125; the XPS put up 111fps with a minimum of 100. Razer also wins on League of Legends, averaging 219fps to the Dell’s 205fps. Of course, since both machines have a 60Hz screen, you won’t observe a difference in the quality of these games — but these numbers should give you a sense of the Razer Book’s power.

Graphic performance will make something of a difference on heavier titles. The Razer Book beat the XPS on the more demanding Overwatch at Ultra settings, averaging 65fps to the XPS’s 48fps. It also averaged 32fps on Shadow of the Tomb Raider at its lowest settings, where the XPS averaged 22fps. That’s significant because it means you could feasibly play Tomb Raider in 1080p on the Razer Book, which would be unpleasant to do on the XPS.

That result also makes clear that — to reiterate — despite aesthetic similarity, this laptop is not a Blade. The Stealth 13 averaged 45fps on Tomb Raider’s highest settings. If you want to game with this form factor, buy the Blade. You’ll also get way more storage for the price.

When it comes to cooling, the Razer Book has chops. It did a significantly better job of keeping its CPU cool than the XPS did in my testing. During the Adobe export, the 1165G7 stayed comfortably in the mid-60s to mid-70s (Celsius) with occasional spikes as high as the low 90s. It largely remained in the high 50s during the Tomb Raider benchmark, with spikes up to the mid-70s. All in all, I didn’t see any throttling or slowdown, and the keyboard never got uncomfortably hot under load.

But you’re making a trade-off for all this power: battery life. It’s not terrible, but it’s nothing to write home about. I got an average of six hours and 45 minutes while using the Book 13 for standard office work with occasional Zoom calls and streaming at 200 nits of brightness. (This was in the Battery Saver profile, which you can toggle in Razer’s Synapse software.) That means I can’t go a full day without charging, though your mileage will vary based on your tasks and settings. I’ve gotten over nine hours putting plenty of machines through that same workload, including the XPS 13.

The Razer Book 13 has a lot of things going for it, especially for Razer fans. It’s certainly one of the best ultraportable laptops you can buy — but whether it’s the best is a complicated question to answer.

In some areas (keyboard, touchpad, portability), the Razer Book is slightly worse than the XPS 13. In others (display quality and build quality) it’s about on par. And it brings a few nifty features (the port selection and the RGB keyboard) that Dell’s clamshell doesn’t have — but I doubt those are making or breaking the purchasing decision for most people. On net, I think Razer comes out slightly worse on the chassis front.

But that’s not where the Razer Book makes its case. That category is performance. Compared to other Windows clamshells I’ve tested in the past year, the Razer Book is top of the class. It stands out in productivity and media work as well as gaming. On the other hand, you’re making some sacrifices for that power, in addition to the hefty price tag it carries. You can get a few hours more battery life from a number of laptops in the Razer Book’s class (including the XPS 13) and significantly more storage as well. For folks in the Book’s intended audience (users looking for a portable work or entertainment driver) those trade-offs are probably worth considering.

Ultimately, the Razer Book 13 is an impressive new laptop from Razer with a lot to like, and I’m sure many customers will be happy with it. But those trade-offs mean I can’t quite call it the best product for most people.

The next major update to Windows 10, version 21H1, will be delivered in the first half of 2021 and focuses on improving remote work scenarios. Microsoft traditionally delivers two major Windows updates per year, with most of the bigger features dropping in the spring and a smaller update in the fall. While IT admins are used to this approach, Microsoft appears to be reversing this cadence for 2021.

“Windows 10, version 21H1 will have a scoped set of features improving security, remote access and quality,” explains John Cable, Microsoft’s head of Windows Servicing and Delivery. “The features we are releasing in this update are focused on the core experiences that customers have told us they’re relying on most right now.” These improvements will include:

• Windows Hello multicamera support to set the default as the external camera when both external and internal Windows Hello cameras are present.
• Windows Defender Application Guard performance improvements including optimizing document opening scenario times.
• Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Group Policy Service (GPSVC) updating performance improvement to support remote work scenarios.

Image: Logitech

The Windows camera changes mean you’ll soon be able to plug in an external Windows Hello camera and get the benefits of facial detection on a laptop that already has a Windows Hello camera built in. Currently, Windows doesn’t support this scenario well, and it means cameras like Logitech’s Brio do not work correctly with devices like Microsoft’s Surface range that also have Windows Hello cameras.

Microsoft’s other improvements for this 21H1 version are clearly designed for IT admins to improve support for remote working. This includes improving document opening times for Microsoft’s built-in anti-virus software, and performance improvements for the management and configuration side of Windows.

This 21H1 update will also install very quickly, much like a monthly cumulative updates to Windows. Microsoft has started testing this 21H1 update with beta testers today, and it’s planning to make it available to all Windows 10 users “later in the first half of this calendar year.”

Microsoft is also expected to deliver a larger Windows 10 update later in 2021. The company is planning a “sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows,” which is codenamed Sun Valley. Microsoft is planning to detail its next big changes to Windows at a special event in the coming months.

Super Mario 3D World launched last week, so what’s next for Switch owners? A lot. On Wednesday Nintendo announced a roadmap for the next six months of Switch, a blizzard of new game announcements with two headlining reveals. First, a remastered Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword will hit the Switch on July 15. Second, Splatoon 3 was announced — but unlike everything else at Wednesday’s Nintendo Direct, it’ll be released next year. The show wasn’t absent of Mario either. Mario Golf Super Rush, the iconic plumber’s third golfing jaunt, comes out on June 25. 

You can rewatch the entire 50-minute Nintendo Direct on YouTube here. Scroll down to see all of the big trailers from the keynote.

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD

Skyward Sword was originally released on the Wii in 2011 and in July will come to the Switch with modified Joy-Con motion controls in which the controllers become a sword and a shield. Fret not: You can just play the old fashioned way, with buttons. 

Splatoon 3 

A gruff-looking Splatoon 3 is coming to Switch next year. It was the final announcement of the presentation and the only game shown that’ll come out next year. 

Mario Golf Super Rush

Mario’s third sporting adventure on the Switch, following tennis and the Olympics with Sonic, is Mario Golf Super Rush. It’ll launch in June. 

Xenoblade Chronicles characters join Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Star Wars Hunters

Project Triangle Strategy, a new Square Enix RPG

No More Heroes 3

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity expansion pass

DC Super Girls: Teen Power

Miitopia

Animal Crossing x Super Mario Bros.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout

For the first time in over a year, Nintendo hosted a full-fledged Direct presentation. The latest presentation was focused mostly on games slated to hit Nintendo’s hybrid gaming console, the Switch, sometime during the first half of 2021, though there were a few announcements for games that will hit later than that.

The nearly hour-long event included a slew of titles slated to hit the Switch before the year is half over, including ports for indie games such as Fall Guys and Outer Wilds and new installments in franchises like No More Heroes and Splatoon. Here are the biggest news announcements and trailers from today’s Nintendo Direct.

Splatoon 3 inks its way onto Nintendo Switch in 2022

The third installment in the Splatoon franchise is slated to launch in 2022. Not much is known about the game, aside from a new desert locale, but game appears to feature the same paint-shooting action from previous entries.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD slashes onto Nintendo Switch July 16th

Nintendo announced The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, a re-release of the 2011 Wii U exclusive. The game will launch alongside a new pair of Zelda-themed Joy-Cons. Nintendo also said it would share more information about the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild later this year.

Mario Golf Super Rush is the latest installment in the Mario Golf Series and it arrives June 25th

Mario Golf Super Rush is the first Mario Golf title for Nintendo’s hybrid console. The game will feature motion controls, new modes, and a story campaign.

First look at the Super Mario-themed items coming to Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Several Mario-themed items and furniture will be purchasable via the Nook Shop in Animal Crossing: New Horizons beginning March 1st. Nintendo also confirmed that a free update will arrive on February 25th.

Fall Guys Ultimate Knockout is getting ported to Nintendo Switch

Mediatonic’s goofy platformer battle royale title Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout will receive a Nintendo Switch port. No release date was announced, but the game is targeting a summer launch window.

Pyra and Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles are joining the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster

Both characters are set to be playable beginning in March, but Nintendo promises to share more details closer to release. The pair will count as a single character, making them both the fourth DLC character available in the second Fighters Pass for Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is getting an expansion pass

The expansion pass will include two “waves” of content, with the first one launching this June and the other coming sometime in November. It costs $20 and preorders are now available.

Indie darling Outer Wilds is coming to Switch

The 2019 action-adventure game by Mobius Digital will arrive on the Switch sometime this summer, according to Nintendo.

Famicom Detective Club is coming to North America on May 14th

Two old-school murder-mystery games are getting the remake treatment for the Nintendo Switch and will be localized in English. The two detective games originally released on the Famicom Disk System in the late ‘80s and task players with solving mysteries. Both games will receive modern graphics, gameplay, and voice acting, yet retain the same mysteries that were found in the originals.

No More Heroes 3 will launch on August 27th

The third title in the No More Heroes Trilogy will arrive in late August exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.

Monster Hunter Rise launches March 26th

The latest trailer for Monster Hunter Rise focuses on new story details and the monsters you’ll encounter in the game. A Monster Hunter-themed Nintendo Switch will also release the same day as the console.

Stubbs the Zombie is getting a remaster for modern consoles

Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse is a third-person action game where players take control of a zombie and devour brains and wreak havoc in a city. Asypr Media, who previously remastered Star Wars Episode 1: Racer to modern consoles, is developing the game.

Neon White is a first-person action platformer developed by the creator of Donut County

Donut County creator Ben Esposito is working on a new project. Neon White will task players with killing demons in Heaven. Based on the art style and first trailer, the new game is a far cry from Esposito’s previous work.

Plants vs. Zombies: Battle For Neighborville Complete Edition launches March 19th on Switch

Originally released back in 2019 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville Complete Edition is a third-person shooter and includes all characters and content from previous versions of the game.

Project Triangle Strategy is a brand new tactical RPG by Square Enix

The game has a similar art design to the 2019 RPG Octopath Traveler. Not much is known of the game yet, but according to today’s direct, the game will launch in 2022.

Star Wars Hunters is a competitive free to play online shooter from the makers of FarmVille

Zynga, the studio best known for developing games like FarmVille and Words with Friends, is making a new Star Wars shooter. The game will be squad-based and is set between the events of Star Wars Episode VI and Episode VII.

Knockout City is a new online-based dodgeball game from the creators of Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit

Knockout City is the latest project from Velan Studios, the same developer that worked on the mixed-reality racer Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. The game releases on May 21st on Switch and other platforms.

World’s End Club arrives on Nintendo Switch May 28th

From the creators of Danganropa and Zero Escape, World End’s Club is currently being developed by Too Kyo Games in partnership with Grounding Inc. The first part of the game was previously released on Apple Arcade.

Hades is getting a physical release on March 19th

One of 2020’s most popular games will receive a physical release on the Nintendo Switch on March 19th. In addition to a cartridge, a physical copy will also include a book containing game art and a download code of the soundtrack.

Ninja Gaiden Master Collection is a remastered compilation of Team Ninja’s most notable titles

The package will include Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge. It launches on the Nintendo Switch on June 10th and it includes all post-launch downloadable content previously released for these games at no additional cost.

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Shares of QuantumScape jumped as much as 18% on Wednesday to $59.80 a share after the electric vehicle battery maker reported clearing a key hurdle in the development of its technology.

The company is attempting to develop solid-state lithium-metal batteries for electric vehicles, a feat several EV startups are currently working towards. In its first quarterly financial report, QuantumScape said it was able to produce multi layer battery cells, a crucial step of progress towards the final product.

“While there is still a lot of work to be done and we could encounter new challenges as we increase our layer count, this is an incredibly important result, and we are excited to have this so early in the year,” CEO Jagdeep Singh said in a letter to investors that was part of the company’s first quarterly financial report.

The next step in developing the solid-state batteries will be to increase the number of layers in the multilayer cells while increasing the size of the layers. 

QuantumScape said that achieving these milestones in 2021 will enable the company to deliver the multilayer battery cells next year. To further scale-up production QuantumScape will be building a facility in San Jose, California. The EV battery-maker still needs to secure a long-term lease for the building, but says it expects the facility to be producing cells by 2023. 

Volkswagen has committed to using QuantumScape’s battery technology in its electric vehicle. QuantumScape said that the new facility will allow it to provide early battery cells to Volkswagen.

Nintendo will showcase 50 minutes of video game news on Wednesday in the company’s first Nintendo Direct of 2021. On Wednesday, Feb. 17 at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET, the Nintendo Direct will dive into titles and upcoming releases for the first half of 2021.

We can likely expect to see the next Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fighter, as the last one to be released was Sephiroth in December. As for what else we might hear about, there are tons of other Nintendo titles in the works, like Metroid Prime 4 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, which we haven’t heard much about since their initial announcements. There have also been murmurs surrounding a new version of the Nintendo Switch, so there could be a hardware announcement, too.

While there were Pokémon streams and Nintendo Directs focused on indie games and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate last year, it’s been a long time since we’ve gotten a full stream from Nintendo showcasing new titles. The stream will be available to watch via Nintendo’s Twitch and YouTube channels.