Last week, The Verge's Ash Parrish got to play with the new Nintendo Switch 2. We got over our outrageous jealousy long enough to ask her all about it: what it's like to hold, how the screen looks, whether the mouse-control is any good, and much more. Ash gives us the good news, and the bad news, on everything we now know about the Switch 2. (We do talk about the price, but we recorded before the Trump administration launched its massive new tariff push — so you can consider the price even worse news than we thought.) After that, The Verge's Tom Warren joins the show to talk about Microsoft's 50th anniversary celebration, how the company has stayed so resilient for so long, and whether AI is really the next five-decade project for one of the world's biggest companies. Finally, we answer a question on the Vergecast Hotline (866-VERGE11, or email vergecast@theverge.com!) about how you should change your shopping habits in a tariff-filled world. It's hard to know where we'll be in a few months, but it sure doesn't look like gadgets are getting any cheaper.

Further reading:

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Nintendo Switch 2 hands-on: it’s all in the games

All of the Nintendo Switch 2 news, hands-ons, and trailers

Donkey Kong Bananza was best in show at the Switch 2 hands-on

I’m not sold on the Switch 2’s mouse-like controls

Microsoft turns 50

Why I’ve covered Microsoft for 25 years

How Microsoft made it through 50 years

Trump’s tariffs mean you’ll pay more for all gadgets

Trump’s tariffs put the iPhone in a tough spot

From The Wall Street Journal: Here’s the iPhone. Here’s the iPhone With Tariffs.


New Star GP, the game

The General Magic documentary


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Switch 2: the good news and bad news