Enlarge / "Link gets an ancient-tech ATV/combine/dragster" was not in most people's list of likely content in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. (credit: Nintendo)

Today's Nintendo Direct livestream gave those with sky-high but long-deferred Zelda hopes just enough to stay excited: ominous tones, real gameplay footage, a tease at a playable Zelda, and a definitive May 12 release date and preorder offer. And, not for nothing, a $70 price tag.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was announced in mid-2019, given a May 2023 release date, and had most of its details held back until today. At the end of Nintendo's regular showcase, Nintendo loosened the leash a bit on the Breath of the Wild sequel. Speaking over footage of dark, misty, eternally beset Hyrule, arch-villain Ganon speaks in his best after-school-cartoon-villain mode: "Rise, rise, my servants. Sweep over Hyrule. Eliminate this kingdom and her allies. Leave no survivors!"

In the quick-cut moments that follow, you can see familiar elements, like Sheikah technology, the blood moon, hang-gliding, and horse-riding. But there's also rail-riding, blimp-floating, a four-wheeler, a quad copter-like glider, the Hyrule equivalent of a rocket launcher, a high-tech glove, and, again, a real release date. Toward the end, Zelda's voice says, "Link, lend me your power," offering a loose but still real hint that the princess could be playable in this title.

Enlarge / Nintendo's promotional key art for the launch of GoldenEye 007 on Switch. (credit: Nintendo)

Today marks the long-awaited rerelease of the Nintendo 64 classic GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo Switch. As was announced before the launch, the game supports widescreen. When I learned that, my first thought wasn't "Oh, nice!" Rather, it was "OK, but what about the rest of the library?"

To be clear, there's no easy way to make old 4:3 games fill up a modern 16:9 aspect ratio, and that's not something I would recommend in this case. But the solution used by the rest of the library of old games running within the Nintendo Switch Online service—enclosing every game in horribly distracting and potentially destructive gray borders—is, well, awful.

So as Nintendo finally adds one of the most beloved Nintendo 64 games to Switch Online, allow me a moment to vent some frustration on behalf of many players.