Console Reviews | The Verge

The sold-out Nex Playground made my kids laugh and cry

2025-12-20T18:23:32-05:00

If you told me last year the Nex Playground would outsell Microsoft's Xbox, even for two weeks, I would have laughed my way out of the room.

It's a three-inch cube of a game console that's likely less powerful than your phone, one which uses a single camera to track your body. It only plays curated, certified kid-safe games. Though frequently compared to the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Kinect, the Nex Playground is worse than either at tracking motion.

Nor is it cheap: $250 upfront plus $89-a-year or $49-a-quarter subscription to get more than a basic sampler. If you like a game, you can't buy it separately. Many are little better than sho …

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The Analogue 3D is the perfect console for N64 collectors

2025-11-18T11:05:51-05:00

I've developed a sixth sense for old video game cartridges. I can spot them at flea markets and thrift stores, spy them hidden behind stacks in used book stores. It happened after I first bought an Analogue Pocket, when the hunt for new and interesting Game Boy games became as important as actually playing them. Now my attention has turned to the Nintendo 64. Analogue's long-delayed take on the console - dubbed the Analogue 3D - might just be the most premium way there is to play N64 games, making it ideal for collectors.

After playing with the Analogue 3D over the last week, I've found a new appreciation for Nintendo's oft-neglected consol …

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Xbox Ally and Ally X review: this is not an Xbox

2025-10-15T15:15:30-04:00

What does "Xbox" mean? Some might say it can only refer to a box-shaped Microsoft game machine. Others will argue it's a collection of Xbox-native titles like Halo, Gears, Forza, and Fable. I think most would probably agree it's a game console experience, a way to kick back and easily play the latest games without thinking too much. Press the power button, play, press it again to pause.

The 7-inch Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X gaming handhelds, on sale tomorrow, don't meet that bar. The cheaper one doesn't even come close.

They run Windows 11, and they never let you forget it - not during their lengthy setup process, not when you're trying to …

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Lego’s Nintendo Game Boy is a brick masterpiece just shy of perfection

2025-11-28T19:00:22-05:00

Am I embarrassed I put the top tile on the cartridge wrong? Yes, yes I am.

Is there a word that describes the feeling of "I want something to be just a bit better because it's already so good it only needs one last kick in the pants"?

Because that's how I feel about the $60 Lego Nintendo Game Boy. It's better than the fan-made Lego Game Boy that I asked Nintendo to make. It's even better than I hoped when Lego officially revealed the set. This isn't just a statue that looks like my original 1989 Game Boy; it's a joy to build and feels fantastic in the hands. You can press every button, spin every dial, roll the D-pad, and throw a satisfyingly snappy power switch.

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A …

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MSI Claw 8 AI Plus review: from zero to hero

2025-09-06T10:26:45-04:00

I wrote that no one should buy MSI and Intel's original handheld gaming PC. I literally called it an embarrassment, and the company blacklisted me after that. MSI stopped pitching me news, and stopped answering my emails, even after the company began to write off its dud of a handheld.

So you can imagine my surprise to find: MSI and Intel have gone from worst to nearly first. In many games, it's twice as fast as the original Claw. And with new drivers that bump its performance up to 30 percent higher since launch - I tested - the newer $1,000 MSI Claw 8 AI Plus might just be the best Windows handheld you can buy.

The Claw 8 has become a …

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Lenovo Legion Go S review part two: you were the chosen one!

2025-07-17T11:09:29-04:00

SteamOS rescues the Lenovo Legion Go S from utter failure. But is that enough? | Photo: Sean Hollister / The Verge

Valve's Steam Deck has dominated the handheld gaming PC space since its 2022 debut. But even as more powerful Windows handhelds arrived to keep up with more demanding games, none have beaten the Steam Deck's combination of ease-of-use, ergonomics, power, and battery life at an affordable price.

That still hasn't changed. The Lenovo Legion Go S with SteamOS is not the Steam Deck killer that some headlines would have you believe.

This was supposed to be a moment for handhelds. When the Legion Go S was revealed as the first authorized third-party handheld to run SteamOS, with a $499 starting price, it looked like a true Steam Deck competitor …

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Nintendo Switch 2 review: exactly good enough

2025-06-13T14:54:17-04:00

The first Switch was such a hit that Nintendo decided not to mess with a good thing. Instead of releasing a successor that feels like a generational leap or a pivot in a new direction, it's following up the hugely successful original with the Switch 2 - a welcome upgrade that largely sticks to the formula. It looks about the same, works about the same, and plays most of the same games. It's the Switch, just better.

Nintendo's bet is that it doesn't have to wow people all over again, and so it made a sequel that's only as good as it needs to be. After spending a week with the new console, I've realized that good enough is exactly what the Sw …

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Lenovo Legion Go S review (Z2 Go, Windows): feels good, plays bad

2025-09-04T23:56:54-04:00

The Lenovo Legion Go S was supposed to change things. It was poised to show Valve isn't the only one that can build an affordable, portable, potent handheld gaming PC - you just need the right design and the right OS.

I was intrigued when Valve's own Steam Deck designers told me this Windows handheld would double as the first authorized third-party SteamOS handheld this May. When I heard Lenovo had procured an exclusive AMD chip that would help that SteamOS version hit $499, I got excited for a true Steam Deck competitor.

But I'm afraid that chip ain't it.

Update, July 2025: Read our Legion Go S review with SteamOS.

I've spent weeks l …

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Sony’s new ‘slim’ PlayStation 5 is smaller but also weirder

2023-11-10T09:15:00-05:00

From some angles, it really feels like an ugly competition.

I've always had a soft spot for Sony's refreshed, slimmed-down consoles ever since the adorable PS One. All the Sony consoles I've owned were launch versions that are bigger and goofier-looking than their eventual redesigns - giving me massive FOMO - but I think my love affair for "slim" PlayStations is now at an end with the new PlayStation 5.

If there's ever been a PlayStation in need of a glow-up, it's the PS5. Sony's white-and-black obelisk is a gargantuan console with a design that you learn to live with more than you grow to love. The thought of course-correcting the PS5 design like Sony did with the George Foreman grill-style PlaySta …

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Steam Deck review: it’s not ready

2022-02-28T10:03:35-05:00

In February 2022, the Steam Deck shipped unfinished, broken, buggy - and full of potential. I said it wasn't ready. I called it a "glorious mess."

But while I don't regret a single word of my original review, or the original video above, the Steam Deck I reviewed in 2022 simply isn't the device you'll buy today. Valve has shipped over 100 updates that have made it dramatically more reliable and responsive, made countless games run and run better, and added new features that help put the handheld Linux gaming PC in a league of its own. I know, because I made the Steam Deck my daily driver, and you can read my new long-term review for much, m …

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