Nintendo sure are treating us to a cavalcade of double-subtitled games at the moment, though slapping Switch 2 Edition on the end of many of them is more descriptive than thematic. The latest addition to this long-winded club is Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition – Switch 2 Edition, taking the beloved JRPG and sprinkling it with a bit of high-def fairy dust and a few new features to warrant charging people more money for it.

Let’s get this out of the way: the Switch 2 Edition of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition is the best that this game has ever looked. That’s even more evident if you’ve played your way through the Wii original, possibly with a detour to the New 3DS version on your way to the now six-year-old Definitive Edition on the original Switch. The strength of the game hasn’t always been the visuals, but here, with a draw distance that stretches away into the background, and some lovely crisp textures, this is now the best looking version of the game by a long way.

That’s tied to the 60fps refresh rate and an upscaled 4K resolution. The Definitive Edition was a much stronger performer than the earlier Switch entry Xenoblade Chronicles 2, but it still suffered from some dropped frames from its 30fps target and slowdown out in the open world areas. There’s still a small amount of that here, though its effect has been much lessened, and the new 60fps frame rate feels much, much smoother.

Definitive Edition was also quite a blurry-looking game on Switch, with resolutions below native output and coming out a couple years before temporal upscaling was added to the game engine for Xenoblade Chronicles 3. But this release has come in the wake of the Switch 2 version of Xenoblade Chronicles X, with the upscaling added to that game by Monolith Soft able to make the graphics feel smeary and unstable – something they haven’t even tried to fix with a patch, by the way. Thankfully, this Switch 2 upgrade comes across much better with much better image quality both docked and handheld.

Unlike the Xenoblade Chronicles X upgrade, there is more here than just a resolution bump, and comes with a bump in price from £4.19 to £8 as well. Perhaps the most obvious addition is the Ether Jet, a vehicle that allows you to whizz across Chronicles’ landscapes with ease. There’s a new quest to complete to unlock it, with a new character lurking at the Bionis’ Leg Refugee Camp who’ll give you the lowdown at Chapter 4. If you’re past this point, it’s an easy fast-travel hop back here, and the Ether Jet is well worth hopping on board, since it speeds up getting around Xenoblade Chronicles’ massive open areas.

The Nopon Engineer is hanging around just outside the refugee camp, up the rise on the way out, and they’ll give you the spiel about coming up with an excellent new method of transportation that they don’t have a power supply for. Guess who’s got to go fetch them one? That’s right, Shulk and co. have to venture back to Tephra Cave to procure some Ether Cylinders – I don’t know why it feels like Luke Skywalker having to go to Tashi Station to pick up some power converters, but that’s all I hear now in my brain.

Thanks to the wonder of fast travel, it’s not much of a time sink – just head for the Rear Entrance to Tephra Cave and then head back outside, rather than into the cave. This was also a great way to get a look at Colony 9 from way up on the mountainside, emphasising just how clear the upgraded visuals are in the Switch 2 version – it really does look stunning. There is a short battle to grab your cylinders, but if you’re above Level 15 it’s going to be an absolute walk in the park – or a brisk stroll in the Bionsis.

Once you’ve got the Ether Jet – ignoring its inventor’s muttering that it’s a total death trap – you also unlock the Nopon Grand Prix, which turns Xenoblade Chronicles into a kart racer, with a touch of Fast RMX/Kirby Air Ride about it. There’s Score Attack and Battle Race modes, both of which have a bunch of prizes available if you do well, including the brand new gear that’s mentioned in the Switch 2 edition’s blurb. Each character has their own racing stats, and it actually feels a lot more fully featured than I was expecting.

I’m not sure whether I like the look of the new gear, but there’s more to it than just its appearance. As you progress through the story, you’ll unlock more tracks too, which is a nice little addition of its own, and enough to keep you coming back. The only weird thing is how you access the Nopon Grand Prix, which is to head into the menu and press Y, a fact that isn’t obviously mentioned.

Monolith Soft have actually put some thought and effort into Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition – Switch 2 Edition. After the disappointment of Chronicles X Definitive Edition, this sets a good benchmark for the other two Xenoblade Chronicles upgrades as they arrive later this year. At £7.99 it feels like a reasonable asking price, and it’s now the best way to experience this JRPG classic.

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Look for the light… and then your wallets, as the PC version of The Last of Us’ Firefly Edition is now available to pre-order for just shy of £100.

For £99.99, to be precise, this edition includes a Steam key for the first part of Joel and Ellie’s story and its prequel DLC Left Behind, a limited edition SteelBook display case (no game disc is included), plus The Last of Us: American Dreams comics (reprinted with new cover art) and a selection of early in-game unlocks.

These earlier unlocks include:

• Increased crafting speed skill
• Increased healing speed skill
• 9mm reload speed increase upgrade
• Rifle clip capacity increase upgrade
• Explosive arrows gameplay modifier
• Dither punk filter
• Speedrun mode
• Six weapon skins: Black gold 9mm pistol, filigree 9mm pistol, sculpted oak shotgun, rubber tactical shotgun, Ellie’s bow in arctic white, Ellie’s bow in carbon black

You can pre-order now by following this link.

If you are looking for a cheaper option, you can also pre-purchase the Digital Deluxe Edition for PC through both Steam and the Epic Game Store.

This edition costs £59.99, and comes with the base game, the Left Behind DLC and the same early unlocks as above.

You will be missing out on the American Dream comics and the display case (although, between you and me, the comics are currently available on Amazon with their former covers at a more reasonable price).

Meanwhile, for those keeping track, the asking price for the PC version of the Firefly Edition is the same as it was for PlayStation 5. This PS5 edition is currently unavailable, and Sony has said that “due to high demand” those looking to snap up a PC copy will be limited to one copy per order.

Just as a reminder, The Last of Us Part 1 will arrive on PC a little later than expected, with Naughty Dog recently announcing a new 28th March release date to ensure the game arrives “in the best possible shape”.

“The Naughty Dog team appreciates your support and enthusiasm,” the studio wrote. “We look forward to sharing more about The Last of Us Part 1 PC version soon”.

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Gaming PCs have become increasingly powerful over the years, but genuinely memorable designs are harder to come by. To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Asus’ Republic of Gamers (ROG) is trying to change that with the new Edition 20 lineup — and at least on looks alone, it has succeeded.

Leading the charge is the ROG G1000 Edition 20, a limited-edition prebuilt desktop that swaps the usual black-and-RGB gaming aesthetic for a striking gold-accented design. It feels less like a collector’s item built for enthusiasts who want their PC to be the centerpiece of the room. Every unit ships with its own serial number, reinforcing the idea that this is a celebration piece rather than just another high-end gaming desktop.

A gaming PC that wants attention

The biggest talking point is the spectacle. ROG has equipped the G1000 Edition 20 with what it calls AniMe Holo, a holographic fan system that transforms spinning fans into floating displays capable of showing animations, images, and personalized graphics. It’s like an RGB lighting taken to its logical — and considerably flashier — conclusion.

The golden theme runs throughout the chassis, from illuminated accents to anniversary branding, creating a design that feels more premium. While many gaming PCs still resemble futuristic battle tanks, the G1000 Edition 20 leans into a more luxurious identity. The customization options are equally extensive. Users can sync animations, display GIFs, and coordinate lighting effects across compatible peripherals, turning the entire setup into one giant light show.

The specs are as outrageous as design

Thankfully, the hardware isn’t just there to support the visuals. The G1000 Edition 20 packs some of the most powerful components available today, including AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X3D processor and Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card. Support for up to 128GB of DDR5 memory and up to 4TB of SSD storage ensures it has the horsepower for everything from competitive gaming to content creation.

ROG is also making a big deal about cooling. The desktop features a tri-zone airflow design that isolates major components into separate thermal zones, alongside what Asus claims is the first 420mm all-in-one liquid cooler ever fitted in a prebuilt gaming PC. Whether you need that much cooling is another question. But then again, practicality isn’t really the point here. The ROG G1000 Edition 20 feels like a victory lap for one of gaming’s most recognizable brands — an unapologetically extravagant machine designed to celebrate 20 years of ROG while giving PC enthusiasts something genuinely different to stare at.

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Mass Effect’s Legendary Edition is a brilliant remaster of BioWare’s sci-fi original trilogy, perfect in almost every way.

But for hardcore fans, a few niggles remain. There’s the unfortunate loss of Mass Effect 1’s Pinnacle Station DLC – sadly gone forever, as its original development code became corrupted – and also the lack of Mass Effect 2’s Cerberus Daily News.

For the uninitiated, Cerberus Daily News snippets originally appeared on Mass Effect 2’s main menu screen as short in-universe news reports, fleshing out the game’s wider galaxy with ongoing stories and further detail.

Access to the ongoing Cerberus Daily News stories, as well as various pieces of ME2 DLC, was part of the game’s $10 Online Pass (remember those?) which EA included with new copies of the game at the time in a bid to keep people playing, and dissuade second-hand sales.

Now, a fan mod has collated and edited these reports into in-game emails which Shepard can read at their computer, with new reports sent between priority missions (thanks, PC Gamer). It’s a neat way of getting the best of these storylines in-game, without the faff of scrolling through the Mass Effect 2 main menu.

My favourite Cerberus Daily News storyline involved the introduction of the raloi, an unseen avian race new to the galactic scene. News updates chronicled how intrigued shuttles first visited the raloi’s homeworld, while a subsequent update detailed a raloi delegation’s tentative first arrival on the galaxy’s Citadel.

As a Mass Effect fan, I loved hearing about another new race – especially at their own moment of first contact, something unique for the original trilogy.

(In Mass Effect 3, a Spectre report notes that the raloi subsequently deserted the Citadel to return home and destroy all their high-tech equipment in orbit in a bid at self-preservation, hoping the Reapers would see them as too primative to yet destroy.)

As for that other niggle? Fans have created a mod which brings back a version of the game’s Pinnacle Station DLC, too.

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