Newscast: Behind the headlines of GDC, a cautious sense of hope

25 years ago, Nintendo began to promote an action-adventure game called Riqa, but that game quickly disappeared from the public eye and vanished into obscurity. But now, the game is back and playable thanks to one of the original devs at the defunct UK developer Bits Studios.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has won the award for best game at the 2024 BAFTA Awards.

Earlier this week, the servers supporting online services for all 3DS and Wii U games met their end. Although it's a sad time for anyone who has a place in their heart for the games affected, the community efforts that have followed since are so wholesome that it almost makes the whole thing worth it. Tributes have been flooding in to honor the fallen online modes, and a dedicated subsection of fans are somehow still holding on as the last survivors of the official servers.

While the final days of the Nintendo 3DS might have been a long time coming, that doesn’t take away the sting that comes with the final step of ending a generation of consoles.

The Nintendo Wii U and 3DS stores have recently closed just earlier this week. It was a sad day for many as these consoles were the beginning of an amazing era of video gaming and now it is time to let it go and we begin a new. With the Nintendo Switch, it is one of the biggest and most popular consoles from Nintendo, which has led the company to so many cool things, it is still sad to watch older consoles die.

Genius Pokemon players have somehow uncovered an RNG exploit in Scarlet and Violet that allows you to generate infinite rare items – including Master Balls – just by changing the date and time on your Nintendo Switch. 

It’s not often that we see Nintendo Switch deals on the OLED model but Woot has bucked that trend with the Nintendo Switch OLED currently available for $30 off the regular price. That means instead of paying $350, you pay $320 which is a great price for a consistently sought-after game console. The deal only lasts for the next 10 days or until it sells out with the latter extremely likely to happen soon. Here’s what you need to know before you miss out.

It's truly the end of an era for Nintendo fans, as online services for 3DS and Wii U have finally shut down. With it, we say goodbye to online multiplayer for the likes of Splatoon, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Pokemon X and Y, and Xenoblade Chronicles X, with everything shutting off for good at 5pm PT/8pm ET yesterday (or 1am GMT this morning for UK folks). 

Nintendo shut down its Wii U eShop in March 2023 and will shut down the console’s online functionality today, April 8. Originally released in 2012, Nintendo’s Switch predecessor is officially being powered off. Yes, Wii U owners can still play games offline — and participate in the active Wii U modding scene — but Nintendo will finally be wiping its hands clean of its worst-selling console ever. (Nintendo sold just over 13 million Wii U consoles, at least one of which was purchased last year.)

If you want a solid but small portable game console to play as you travel around (or comfortably sit in bed), then you're in luck as our pick for best handheld gaming console for commuting is currently on sale. The Nintendo Switch Lite is discounted to $179, down from $200 — and it comes with Animal Crossing: New Horizons. This sale at Walmart brings the bundle to a record-low price.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf players are working together to do everything they need to before Nintendo shuts down the life sim's online servers. 

A recently discovered Roku patent suggests that the streaming company is looking into ways to display ads on its smart TVs during periods of inactivity. This would include when a game has been paused for a certain amount of time.