Pictonico! means Nintendo is making mobile games again. Why?

Switchboard is Polygon’s weekly newsletter for all things Nintendo, sent on Thursdays and published on the site on Saturdays. You can subscribe here. A new Nintendo game is out… on smartphones. Pictonico! is a WarioWare-style microgame compilation that pulls from your photo library to add your friends’ and family’s faces to the games. The pitch…

Traffic to DuckDuckGo’s proudly ‘No AI’ search page has tripled since latest Google AI search update

Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo has announced that its opt-in, generative AI-limiting “No AI” search page has received three times as much traffic since Google’s latest round of updates and PR for AI mode search. In addition to user privacy, DuckDuckGo is positioning itself as a destination for user choice—one that’s still keeping its options open…

Researchers Put Grok AI In Charge Of A World Simulation And It Ended With ‘183 Crimes Committed’ And Humanity’s Total ‘Extinction’

If, for some reason, you’ve ever wondered what would happen if you put Grok in charge of sustaining a population’s wellbeing, then luckily you now have your answer; chaos, murder, arson and total extinction of all living beings within the space of four days. This question that nobody asked was answered by the team at…

Amnesty International reports unprecedented AI data theft and VPNs are more popular than ever

A new report from Amnesty International exposes the extent to which generative AI programs are stealing private data from people across the internet. OpenAI, Google Gemini, and Midjourney are all named as businesses that are specifically taking part in this “unlawful” data scraping. It’s no wonder more people are looking for a VPN now than…

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World Has Been Rated For Switch 1 & 2

Image: Square Enix Earlier this week, Square Enix lifted the lid on Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World as part of its 40th anniversary celebrations for the legendary series. The only mention about the game’s release was that it was “coming soon” to all platforms, with creator Yuji Horii also noting how the team was…

Fable Delayed To February 2027

Xbox has delayed Fable to February 2027. It revealed this in a post on X, explaining that it is delaying Playground Games’ upcoming reboot of the storied Xbox franchise to give it “the dedicated moment it deserves” amid a packed rest of the year.  Playground just launched its latest racer, Forza Horizon 6, earlier this…

El Tigre Creator Backs Away From AI Generated Amazon Cartoon

Earlier this week, El Tigre creator Jorge R. Gutierrez announced Punky Duck, one of a trio of new AI generated animated series being launched by Amazon. While a rude duck with ‘tude may seek to ruffle feathers, the outrage that did generate was not the kind Gutierrez wanted. Two days following the announcement, Gutierrez is…

Minecraft reveals another beautiful new biome, and its next game drop promises exploration and adventure

Minecraft Live has just wrapped up, and Mojang’s latest showcase from Twitchcon Rotterdam has delivered plenty of juicy new details about what’s coming to the sandbox game in the next few months. The developer is just about ready to put a bow on Chaos Cubed, which launches very soon, and that means it’s time to…

Popular 2025 PS5 RPG 60% Off on PS Store, DLC Included

One of 2025’s best PS5 RPGs is over half-off on the PS Store in a limited-time deal that ends soon. The hit Warhorse Studios title Kingdom Come: Deliverance II‘s Royal Edition is now 60% off. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Royal Edition limited-time PS Store deal offers excellent value for money Right now, the Royal Edition of Kingdom…

Paralives is home to the kind of architectural creative freedom I haven’t felt from a life sim since The Sims 2

Once upon a time I was a creator of Sims. A moulder of virtual people. Pushing and pulling at sliders to contort pixels like putty, perfectly preening them with makeup and hairstyles and outfits that would compliment the personalities I had invented for them. As I grew older, something shifted. An internalised domestication that suddenly…