A month ago, Sony increased its PlayStation 5 home console prices for EMEA and ANZ regions—affecting customers in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. At the time, industry experts surmised that company leadership was considering a similar strategy for a primary market: North America. Instead of freshly implemented 25% upward hikes for certain products/packages, reports suggested a 30% climb—for the North American market. Weeks later, company leadership has discussed this hot topic. During yesterday's (projected) earnings call with investors, top brass confirmed their consideration of "passing along" additional costs to consumers—in response to a reported/anticipated 100 billion yen (~$680 million) impact from US tariffs. They outlined a stockpile of PS5 consoles; enough units have been accumulated for roughly three months of supply—unaffected by adjusted conditions, in the States.

Despite this provision, Hiroki Totoki—Sony's president/CEO—is open to exploring alternative production avenues, in the face of looming extra charges. When asked about this matter, he replied with: "hardware can of course be produced locally, I think that would be an efficient strategy. PS5 is being manufactured in many areas, whether it is going to be manufactured in the US or not—it needs to be considered going forward." In efforts to navigate a trying situation, Nintendo has juggled its geographic manufacturing footprint—recent-ish developments have shifted away from a complete reliance on Chinese facilities. Industry insiders reckon that the bulk of US-bound Switch 2 units will be Vietnamese-made. Like Sony, Nintendo's executive team has publicly disclosed thoughts about future price hikes—maybe following the launch of its much-anticipated "next-gen" hybrid console. Earlier this month, Microsoft upped modern Xbox portfolio price tags—affecting customers across the world.

In an exclusive report, Windows Central has claimed that Microsoft is collaborating with an unnamed "PC gaming OEM" on an Xbox handheld console. Jez Corden has heard from several insiders; they reckon that a "later in 2025" launch is possible, if development goes smoothly enough. A leak from Winter 2024 indicated that Microsoft's gaming division was "targeting a handheld gaming experience," but Phil Spencer has freely disclosed his ambitions for his team's portable project. Last November, he confirmed that something was in pipeline—with a view to take on very visible competition: Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go. The latest Windows Central investigative piece divulges some unprecedented details about: "codename 'Keenan,' this gaming handheld will look unmistakably 'Xbox' we're told, complete with an official Xbox guide button, and Xbox design sensibilities. Given that this is a partner device, similar to Lenovo's SteamOS partnership with Valve, I expect this handheld to be more PC-oriented. Keenan is almost definitely running full Windows, putting the Microsoft Store and PC Game Pass front and center, alongside the ability to install things like Steam."

Based on inside track knowledge, Corden anticipates operating system innovations: "I expect the handheld will test new Windows 11 'device aware' capabilities, while reducing third-party OEM bloatware that are typical of devices like the Lenovo Legion Go and ASUS ROG Ally. I expect Microsoft will leverage widgets on the Xbox Game Bar on PC for controlling things like TDP and fan speed, while hopefully having a more streamlined OS experience for controller use. Of course, existing PC gaming OEMs will benefit from these efforts as well—but the research will also help with Microsoft's further-out plans." Almost a month and a half ago, Spencer outlined a sort of wishlist for "innovative" future Xbox hardware—given that Sony is rumored to be devising a "standalone PlayStation handheld," he was likely envisioning next-gen home consoles. Windows Central's sources have provided additional insights into potential Xbox Series X|S successors.

Nintendo fans will be looking forward to the release of Switch Part Deux in the coming months, but a certain subset prefer to look back into the past with great fondness. Retro gaming connoisseurs have a soft spot for often unsung older hardware—the Nintendo GameCube home console is a prime example. Hardcore collectors have spent countless hours in search of special editions, unusual color variants, developer kits and prototypes. Donny Fillerup—founder and owner of Consolevariations—hit the jackpot around mid-2023; he managed to track down an extremely rare demonstration model. "Space World" units are highly-coveted—only a handful still exist—due to unique origins. Nintendo officially introduced its GameCube console at Space World 2000—a first-party-oriented annual trade show (defunct since 2001).

Vintage console curators believe that Nintendo repurposed many of its initial batch of "Space World" prototypes, but a few examples have escaped into the wild. Fillerup's ownership of a "one-of-a-kind legendary" indigo sample is seemingly coming to an end—mid-week, gaming press outlets received tip-offs regarding an eBay auction (de-listed at the time of writing). The Consolevariations boss is engaged in fundraising endeavors—according to the item's description, he wants to turn his hobby into: "a foundation business. A Gaming place where the entire family can enjoy, people can meet other people, talk with people who feel uncomfortable with other people, and make the visitors feel young again." Fillerup's asking price was $100,000, with a required $1 fee for economy-class shipping. His prized-possession sports some "battle damage" and is completely non-functional—a Consolevariations blog entry does an effective job of showcasing the "ins and outs" of this "First Announcement Model." The eBay listing did not mention any bundling-in of a matching Space World-era controller, another treasured rarity.

The Xbox Insider program has outlined a major upcoming feature upgrade for their home console lineup—Tuesday's Alpha Skip-Ahead Ring (2502.250120-2200) release notes reveal newly implemented support for larger capacity external hard drives. Naturally, inside program members get to play around with this early build—we presume that support will eventually trickle down to public level in the near future. The major announcement stated: "we are enabling support for external USB drives larger than 16 TB, so you can be sure your favorite games are always ready to play! Newly formatted drives that are larger than 16 TB will be formatted with multiple partitions to utilize all available space for games and apps. These will appear as multiple devices in the storage devices list."

Xbox-licensed external storage devices are only available with a maximum capacity of 12 TB—Western Digital's WD_BLACK D10 model wears the crown here. Console gaming enthusiasts—with a penchant for storing a huge library of titles on hard disk drives (HDD)—are best served by not selecting official Xbox-branded storage devices. Manufacturers do offer products with 18 TB to 28 TB capacities, but potential buyers will be greeted by hefty asking prices. There are a couple of caveats—for owners of 16+ TB drives—as noted in the Alpha Skip-Ahead Ring notes: "drives greater than 16 TB that have already been formatted will be unaffected by this change and would need to be reformatted to take advantage of the updated support for larger drives. Please be aware that we have identified an issue with formatting drives larger than 16 TB, and we're working on a fix." Interestingly, the notes do not disclose information regarding a new upper limit for compatible storage devices.

Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson believes that Sony PlayStation leadership will tighten up development conditions, following recent leaks pertaining to the technological underpinnings of the heavily rumored "PS5 Pro" home console. An IGN report and another Henderson-authored article posit that last week's revelations are "legit," according to their respective networks of industry moles. Apparently top secret information was extracted from a technical document—reports suggest that Sony sent this paper to its third-party development partners, alongside a new batch of development kits.

Industry experts think that (slated) repercussions could affect smaller development houses—Henderson tweeted: "as expected, Sony has launched an internal investigation into the leaked documents on Trinity as it leaked during a third-party rollout...Not sure on the implications yet as I don't think they can catch one individual, but Sony could reduce its third-party developer pool for new tech as a result." Rumors of a "mid-gen hardware refresh" have been swirling for almost a year and a half, but PlayStation bosses seem to be rattled into action (this week). Microsoft maintained a cool exterior following the leak of next-gen Xbox details, but that information emerged from unredacted court documents. Phil Spencer and his colleagues claim that future Xbox product roadmaps are in constant flux.

Nintendo has published its quarterly financial results for the period ending March 31 (2024)—the numbers indicate that their trusty Switch hybrid console has continued to sell surprisingly well, despite industry watchdogs anticipating a sharp decline in late 2023. A Bloomberg Japan report has extracted crucial information from an important corporate investor call—Shuntaro Furukawa, the current company president, announced another sales milestone. The Switch has reached 139.36 million units sold (as of 31st December 2023) since its original rollout back in March 2017—it has the potential to outsell Sony's classic PlayStation 2 home console. Nintendo's CEO adhered to his company's strict script and did not address the big red elephant in the (conference) room—the highly anticipated Switch successor is an industry open secret—instead focusing on the current iteration being their "main business" going into FY2024-2025.

Despite recent "better than expected" financial figures, the Nintendo Switch is on a sales decline (going back several years)—the gaming community expected improved hardware to arrive at some point before 2024, but the House of Mario is in no rush to take on current generation Sony and Microsoft home console models. Furukawa-san stated that Nintendo will discuss its plans for the financial future during a May earnings briefing—this is largely in line with past declarations, the "Switch 2" is not arriving before Spring 2024. The latest reports suggest that the next Nintendo Direct presentation is scheduled for next week—perhaps February 15. Microsoft's Phil Spencer has teased a major Xbox "business update" announcement within the same timeframe.

LG Electronics announces the newest addition to its LG MAGNIT lineup of premium Micro LED displays. The new model (LSAL006) provides immersive home entertainment experiences via an expansive 118-inch, 4K (3,840 x 2,160) resolution screen featuring LG's Micro LED technology and a miniscule 0.68-millimeter pixel pitch. Possessing the elegance and scale befitting a super-luxury residence, the impressive display offers a seamless user experience with webOS, a wealth of content services, and convenient streaming from a wide range of devices.

Delivering unparalleled picture quality through the brilliance of Micro LED technology, the new LG MAGNIT allows customers to enjoy complete viewing immersion in the comfort of their own homes. The cutting-edge display's micro-scale pixels and the integration of LG's Surface Treatment technology ensure excellent image reproduction with vivid colors and outstanding contrast.

The fighting game genre has many notable franchises. One of the earliest to earn iconic status is Mortal Kombat. It punched its way onto the arcade scene in 1992 and quickly found its way to the home console market, wowing players with at-the-time realistic visuals and controversial over-the-top gore. That controversial content ushered in the now-industry standard ratings system, but Mortal Kombat's legacy has been defined by much more than that. For over 11 mainline installments, the series built gameplay innovations and an ever-growing roster atop its core 1-on-1 fighting system.

Ahead of the series returning to-and recreating-its "roots" with Mortal Kombat 1, now is an amazing time to look at how it evolved through the eras.

Nintendo hardware enthusiasts have been scouring the internet for more than two decades in search of special prototype Nintendo GameCube consoles - the Space World 2000 expo model has long been sought after by hardcore collectors. Nintendo revealed (at the time) its upcoming home console as well as the Game Boy Advance handheld system at their annual video game trade show held near Tokyo, or the company's hometown of Kyoto, Japan. Space World 2000 (Makuhari Messe, Chiba) would end up being the penultimate show, with Nintendo choosing to not continue with their regular consumer event post-2001.

Consolevariations, a gaming hardware database, this week reported via a blog post that an interesting GameCube prototype was up for sale, following a tip received on Discord, and it quickly became apparent that this slightly bashed and chipped example was indeed one of the very first models revealed to the public at Nintendo's Space World 2000 expo. Several preview units were also demoed on the showroom floor at the August 2001 event, but experts think that these were sourced from the previous year's batch.