A couple of years ago, Intel wasn’t the silicon superpower it once was. Giving up dominance to the likes of AMD, Apple, and even Qualcomm in recent years, the major computing company made big changes, laying off thousands of workers and changing its CEO. Under the stewardship of Lip-Bu Tan, Intel’s fortunes appear to have changed.
While Tan’s keynote at Computex 2026 didn’t reveal much in the way of new announcements, it served as a highlight reel of what the company has done recently. Its Panther Lake Core Ultra Series 3 chips have made huge performance gains, perhaps the most this decade, to power a new range of graphically powerful premium laptops.
When Apple launched the $899 MacBook Neo earlier in the year, Windows-based computer brands scrambled to offer something at a similar level of quality at a comparable price. Intel’s answer was its Core Series 3 chips, also known by its ‘Wildcat Lake’ codename. Designed to provide all-day battery life and more power at a lower price point, the general vibe among PC manufacturers was that people would no longer tolerate ‘cheap’ equalling ‘nasty.
According to Tan, since launching the Wildcat Lake system on a chip (SoC) in April, more than 70 different laptop designs have already adopted the technology. This includes Dell’s dramatically cheaper XPS 13 laptop, aggressively chasing a US$699 price point.
Then, there’s also Intel’s big gaming push. With the new Intel Arc G3 handheld gaming SoCs, it hopes to topple what has largely been AMD’s domain thus far.
Of course, AI was a big focus for Intel at Computex 2026
Predictably, much of Intel’s Computex keynote focused on AI, data centres, and the partnerships it’s working on to achieve its AI vision. Much of this is driven by the new Xeon 6+ processors, CPU-heavy chips made for servers to handle agentic AI workloads.
While data centres aren’t that sexy for everyday consumers, Intel went to great lengths to explain how they impact everyday life. They power mobile phone networks, banking servers, and anything associated with digital life.
In the shadows of Nvidia’s RTX Spark announcement, Tan didn’t see it as a threat. Rather, he saw it as an opportunity to lift the standards of PCs for everyone. At a press Q&A session, he also affirmed that he’s not concerned with quarter-by-quarter performance, setting sights on a long-term vision to see Intel reinstated as an engineering company known for its silicon.
Chris attended Computex 2026 in Taipei as a guest of Intel.
It’s apt that Ubisoft refers to the Rayman Legends remake as ‘Retold’. Like any retelling of a story, details change, and emphasis differs based on who’s doing the telling. Some plotlines change entirely, while the technology of the chosen medium can drastically change the tone. Rayman Legends Retold drastically reimagines the look and feel of a fantastic platformer, which has my head spinning faster than its lead protagonist’s ears.
Of all the Rayman games to remake, I wouldn’t have expected Legends to rate a mention. Its charmingly expressive 2D hand-drawn animation style hasn’t aged a day, and the platforming is incredibly tight. Yet that’s what Ubisoft has gone for with Rayman Legends Retold, giving the platformer a 3D makeover.
Giving 2D Rayman the 3D treatment
To be clear, Retold still largely takes place on a 2D plane, it’s just that Rayman, his buddies, and all the environments are now rendered in 3D. It provides more capacity for ‘2.5D’ sections — where the characters move in a 3D-like space without adding a fully 360-degree scope of movement — like the recent Donkey Kong Country games used to great impact. Fully voice-acted cinematic cutscenes punctuate the moments between levels, including Billy West as Murphy, that freak of a flying frog with the Cheshire Cat-like grin.
Rather than a collection of disparate levels, Rayman Legends Retold attempts to add narrative cohesion to its frolicking throughout lush locales. There’s a broader overworld map, adding a sense of geography to the Glade of Dreams that the series hasn’t been known for. Nor have many other platformers, for that matter. A thin veneer of plot justification never got in the way of Mario’s adventures consistently wowing audiences.
Rayman actually talks in full sentences now. Image: Ubisoft.
With this higher-fidelity presentation, Rayman Legends Retold looks pretty. However, it loses the distinct visual identity of the original game. Beautifully realistic lighting effects and strikingly detailed character models catch the eye (although I’m not sure anyone needed to see such detail applied to Rayman’s teeth), but the cartoony vibe of the original Legends made it stand out.
Now, Legends Retold adopts a similar ‘cinematic’ aesthetic to several other great platformers, including the Ori series or Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. It looks undeniably great, but what sets it apart?
Helicopter platforming
In a several-hour hands-on session before the game’s announcement, I played through the first couple of realms, which included some of the newly added content. It took me a while to adjust to Rayman’s new look. While eye-catching, I still caught myself mentally overlaying the old 2D style on top, trying to spot the differences.
Rayman’s movement, however, took the longest adjustment period. The limbless hero felt quite heavy and slow, quite the departure from what my mind expected to play out on screen. Holding down the right trigger to sprint added a bit more speed, but Rayman still moved with a noticeable heft I wasn’t expecting.
Image: Ubisoft.
Playing an early build of Legends Retold, it was tough to discern how much of Rayman’s more considered movement was deliberate versus a byproduct of its in-development status. Activating the helicopter ears (how they don’t get tangled is a question that keeps me up at night) took a moment longer than expected, making it trickier to judge distances between platforms and when to jump for those pesky flying Lums.
I’m still a big fan of Legends’ secret-laden levels that haven’t diminished one iota. Between wall jumps, bopping gangly-looking foes with a big ol’ wind-up punch, and obstacles aplenty to avoid, Rayman’s platforming tricks still hold up. As all good platformers should, optional challenges reward your skill with additional rewards. Although I’d say the real reward is the inherent satisfaction of beating a tough section.
Ride the dragon (literally)
New to Retold are dragon ride levels, of which I tried a couple. Acting as a transition between realms, these on-rail sections play a bit more with the 3D space, seeing you shoot fireballs at enemies and obstacles blocking your way, everything whizzing past you all the while. It’s pretty tough to fail dragon levels; every time you get hit, one of the Teensies holding on for dear life plummets to their doom. So, the challenge lies in getting through the level unscathed.
Image: Ubisoft.
Most importantly, there’s a dedicated fart button. Does it have any functional purpose? Not at all. Pressing the button makes your dragon toot, along with a cloud of flatulence trailing behind. With two players riding dragons at the same time, gas clouds spreading around the screen, it quickly gets hilariously hectic, especially when your dragon bounces another’s directly into an obstacle. It’s this sort of whimsy and silliness that draws me into Rayman games in the first place, so I’m glad Legends Retold holds onto the series’ childlike sense of joy.
There’s also a bit more exploration between levels, breadcrumbing a few extra Lums here and there to unlock additional challenge levels. It’s not too in-depth, mind you, but just enough to make the world feel a bit more lived in.
What do I think of Rayman Legends Retold so far?
What Ubisoft ultimately showed was very much a work-in-progress. On top of the slightly off movement physics, there were missing audio cues, and some animations that didn’t trigger as intended. Pretty standard stuff for a game nearly six months out from release.
Still, I’m waiting for Rayman Legends Retold to unequivocally justify its existence. Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced project makes perfect sense; it drastically refreshes the visuals of a game that tried to look as realistic as possible with the technology available at the time. Conversely, the original Rayman Legends looks timeless, with a style that looks as good today as it did over a decade ago.
With some fine-tuning, perhaps Retold will become the launchpad for future Rayman games it hopes to be. We’ll find out soon when it launches on all major platforms on 1 October.
Chris Button attended a hands-on session in Sydney as a guest of Ubisoft.
Lego wasn’t messing around when it said it had big plans for its new Smart Brick ecosystem that the toy company debuted at CES this year. Star Wars was the first major franchise to get the electronic Lego treatment, replete with fun sound effects and interactions between compatible Lego sets. Now, it’s Pokémon’s turn, with 12 Lego Smart Play sets on the way this August.
Naturally, Pikachu gets another look in. This time, the electric mouse gets more interactive using Lego’s Smart Brick technology. Pikachu responds to being fed a sandwich that comes with the set, while the Charizard in another set reacts to being tickled. Not by setting you on fire, as Ash’s Charizard in the anime often did.
Many of the new Pokémon sets look downright adorable. Squirtle, Mew, and Bidoof look just like their cute in-game depictions. Others look a bit goofy, like the wide-eyed Jigglypuff, and the black-eyed Funko Pop-like design of Pikachu’s house.
Jigglypuff auditions for the role in the next Face/Off movie. Image: Lego.
Lego Pokémon Smart Play price and release date
The pricing isn’t too bad, with the cheapest set, the Jigglypuff concert, costing $24.99 in Australia. At the upper end, the most expensive set comes in at just under $200 for the Charizard vs. Jolteon Ultimate Battle. It’s a far cry from the $999 Lego Pokémon set from earlier this year. Granted, that was aimed at adult builders, but the price still melted plenty of minds.
Starting with the two all-in-one sets, which include everything needed for the core Lego Smart Play experience (like a Smart Brick, charger, and Smart Tags), here are the local prices:
Training House with Pikachu (72164): $129.99
Charizard vs. Jolteon Ultimate Battle (72167): $199.99
And here are the Lego Pokémon Smart Play Compatible sets, which are described as “including at least one or more Lego Smart Tags, but not a Smart Brick”:
Berry Bash with Bulbasaur and Bidoof (72155): $34.99
Trainer’s Buggy Adventure with Squirtle (72156): $54.99
Charmander and Geodude’s Cavern Clash (72157): $34.99
Sprigatito, Fuecoco and Quaxly Battle (72158): $59.99
Jigglypuff Concert (72159): $24.99
Drone Search for Mythical Mew (72161): $99.99
Eevee and Lapras’s Treasure Hunt (72162): $109.99
Mewtwo’s Lab Break (72163): $119.99
Umbreon vs. Garchomp Championship Battle (72165): $139.99
Cubone and Gengar’s Spooky Showdown (72166): $159.99
Surely, I wasn’t the only one to raise an eyebrow at Fox McCloud and his crew’s new look. Looking something like the Fantastic Mr Fox thrown in a tumble dryer, Fox’s frizzy rebrand took me by surprise, especially after his highly stylised turn in the recent Super Mario Galaxy Movie. But sometime during my hour playing Star Fox, the Switch 2 remake of Lylat Wars (or Star Fox 64, its much less cool name in the US), I saw the furry light.
Fox’s more animalistic appearance leans further into the absurdity of a wild beast piloting a sci-fi jet fighter on a galaxy-saving mission against a mad monkey scientist. As melodramatic as Star Fox frames itself, with new cinematic cutscenes fleshing out the conflicts between characters, it is still a deeply unserious game, and it’s all the more fun for it.
Star Fox looks snazzy, which is to be expected; it’s running on beefier hardware with a new lease on life. It also feels smoother, barrel rolling towards a more modern vibe than its comparatively rudimentary predecessors.
Why we’re getting yet another remake of a series that has never quite taken off is beyond me, but the brief preview of the Switch 2 version hints at one of Fox’s stronger adventures. (Speaking of adventures, I’m there the second Star Fox Adventures appears on Nintendo Switch Online).
Do that roly-poly manoeuvre
To say that this is the best a Star Fox game has ever looked would be stating the bleeding obvious. Most of your time is spent viewed from behind the famous Arwing spaceship. And what a view it is. How does that saying go again? Hate to see you go, but love to watch you fly away in a fictional space vessel? It needs work, but you get the gist.
What I mean to say is that everything looks spectacular. Lasers shoot through the sky with more dazzle, explosions hit hard, and the smouldering death spin of an enemy ship as it plummets to its fiery doom is oh-so-satisfying.
Star Fox doesn’t go for extreme realism, though. It still shows a strong sense of style and vibrancy, not reducing everything to a flat yellow-tinged colour grade. There’s more interplay between light and darkness, like how the bright Corneria draws you in with its lush greens and choppy waters, while the contrast of Meteo’s dark vastness of space makes the dogfights really pop.
But, in exchange for fidelity, readability takes a hit. In Meteo, the boss’ glowing weak points aren’t as prominent, making it tricky to tell where you should aim. As a returning player, muscle memory kicked in, but newer players noticeably struggled, firing haphazardly at impervious points.
It may look obvious in a screenshot, but in motion, being hounded by projectiles, enemy weak points aren’t as obvious. Image: Nintendo.
The handful of cutscenes I saw looked slick. It’s nice seeing the Star Fox case interact more in these sections, as opposed to little chat boxes during missions.
Non-interactive story sections also show a changing of the guard at Nintendo. Shigeru Miyamoto was infamously against injecting too much story into the company’s early games, but times have changed.
Star Fox depicts a bit more dramatic tension, albeit playing to familiar story beats. I’m not expecting Fox to openly explore the complex trauma of losing his father to the antagonist he seeks to overthrow, but I’m open to being surprised. I don’t expect Nintendo to portray the furry protagonist hitting the bottle to cope, let’s put it that way.
Taking to the skies in Star Fox multiplayer
I played a lot of Lylat Wars multiplayer back in the day. Probably more than I played the single-player mode, now that I think of it. The perks of living in a cul-de-sac neighboured by similar-aged kids who loved gaming!
With Star Fox, multiplayer has a bit more variety than the standard deathmatch fare. Battle Mode adds a bit more structure, providing objectives in four-versus-four matches that combine cooperation and competitiveness. As part of the preview, I only played a couple of rounds in Corneria, which saw teams face off to end rounds with the highest score.
Shooting down bot-controlled minions accrued some points, while taking down other players netted a higher score. Most of the points came from capturing objectives that would appear several times a match.
Image: Nintendo.
Taking the form of a tight circle, these objectives quickly became hotspots of laser fire and explosions as both teams attempted to claim the area for a huge chunk of points. Like the dying stages of a Battle Royale game, it was a hectic convergence of players vying for a small bit of territory.
Eliminations were important, but not nearly as much as controlling portions of the map. The moments between capturing points still counted and could prove the difference in close matches. However, like trading jabs in the boxing ring, it’s mainly to soften up your foes for the knockout blow when a circle appears.
Levelling the playing field
Skill is important, as was evident in the gap between series veterans and newcomers. But strategy comes in handy, too. Power-ups littered around the map can equalise a lop-sided encounter. Ranging from bombs to homing missiles, these pick-ups shred through Arwings like wet paper when used well.
Yes, the GameChat functionality was as deliriously fun as I imagined. Image: Nintendo.
After getting shot down several times in quick succession, I lucked upon a power-up that conjured a massive laser with the destructive power of the Death Star. Unwieldy and slow to aim, the laser’s overwhelming force made up for any trickiness. After a brief moment of panic, I steered it towards an oncoming pilot; within seconds, they were ash. Two more fighters followed them, cursing the dickhead wielding the giant energy beam of death.
I’ll happily admit: it felt pretty good — I won MVP of the match in a losing effort, after all. If The Grade Cricketer has taught me anything over the years, it’s that the ultimate feat in competition is starring with the bat when your team loses badly.
Image: Cat Jahne.
As much as I think I’ll enjoy revisiting the single-player when Star Fox launches on 25 June, it’s these multiplayer moments I’m most looking forward to. It made me feel like a kid again, gleefully shooting down my friends while playing as funny anthropomorphic mavericks.
Chris Button attended a preview event in Melbourne as a guest of Nintendo.
Just before Computex 2026 kicked off, Intel announced a new chip that could drastically shake up the handheld gaming landscape. Dubbed the Intel Arc G3 series, the combined CPU and GPU system-on-a-chip (SoC) builds on the brand’s Panther Lake laptop chips in a bid to topple AMD’s ubiquitous presence in the most popular portable gaming devices.
Separated into two variants, the Arc G3 and the Arc G3 Extreme, Intel claims the SoCs power up to 42 per cent more frames on average across many of the biggest games than AMD’s Ryzen Z2 Extreme chipset, which is found in devices like the ROG Xbox Ally X. That comparison specifically applies to the latest MSI Claw 8 handheld running an Arc G3 Extreme at 35W, playing games in 1080p with upscaling enabled.
Handheld gaming PCs will start showing this logo. Image: Intel.
Intel Arc G3 focuses on power efficiency
But one of the biggest frustrations among handheld gamers is limited battery life. When cranking the wattage up to play more demanding games, you’d be lucky to get two hours before needing a power outlet.
Intel reckons it has power efficiency figured out. The company’s internal data suggests that devices running an Arc G3 only require half the power of a Ryzen Z2 chip to produce roughly the same, if not higher, performance levels. With the help of upscaling, Intel claims that handhelds using its gaming SoC can run smoothly at 17W, whereas competing systems need 35W.
It’s worth noting that AMD’s Ryzen Z2 chips are more than a year old now. Still, Intel’s latest foray into gaming proves how much can change in the space of 12 months. As is often the case with processors, pushing top-end performance is a focus, but doing more with less power demand is usually the top priority with chip makers.
3D games, like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, won’t need to draw as much power to produce the same performance. Image: Chris Button.
Many of these efficiencies come from how Intel’s new SoC handles power, with less fluctuation between the CPU and GPU demands. With Intel’s ‘Endurance Gaming’ mode enabled, which reduces power consumption and sets frame limits, Forza Horizon 6 could run on a handheld for nearly six hours at 30fps, the company claimed. Older, less demanding games, like Team Fortress 2, could last up to nearly 12 hours.
Other gains stem from improved software as part of Intel’s XeSS 3 platform. This includes standard upscaling, which renders an image at a lower quality before using AI to bring it up to the target resolution. Then there’s also what Intel calls ‘Multi-Frame Generation’, which produces additional frames to create a smoother look. It’s more of an acquired taste, as it can create some visual artifacts, but it’s not as noticeable on the smaller screen of a handheld device.
Is Intel ready to make a bigger gaming push?
While AMD has dominated the handheld gaming PC market so far, Intel already has some supporters on board. Among the first devices to use Arc G3 chips are the Acer Predator Atlas 8, MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, and OneXPlayer.
I played each of the upcoming handhelds during a pre-Computex briefing, and Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight looked a treat. It looked sharp, ran smoothly, and I could have easily passed a few hours had my schedule permitted.
If I could’ve spent the whole afternoon playing Lego Batman, I would’ve. Image: Chris Button.
But I was keen to quiz Intel about what the Arc G3 meant for its future in gaming. Traditionally, AMD has had a stranglehold on console processors, including those found in PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch 2 runs on a custom Nvidia chip.
Tom Peterson, an Intel Fellow in the company’s architecture, graphics and software division, agreed that Intel was interested in being more active in the gaming space.
“The market is starting to mature, and it’s becoming more and more interesting,” Peterson said. “While this generation we think is going to be somewhat constrained because of DRAM pricing primarily, over time, this is a fruitful area for us to expand.”
As for why it’s taken Intel a while to dip its toe into making dedicated gaming chips, he explained that developing the technology isn’t an overnight process.
Image: Chris Button.
“It takes almost, I don’t want to say decades, but it takes a long time to build a new platform,” Peterson said. “And in this case, it’s mostly about the software, the thermal design, and making all that beautiful, so we’re building technologies over time that make it a really tractable product.”
Peterson acknowledged there was “some hesitation” among brands over the current high prices of handheld gaming PCs, largely caused by the global memory shortage, but was confident that the form factor would stick around in the long run.
“I think there’s also broad interest because we all sort of recognise this as a viable platform, and you don’t want to miss out,” he said. “So maybe moderate investments in the first couple of generations while you wait for things to sort of normalise on pricing.”
Chris attended Computex 2026 in Taipei as a guest of Intel.
Looking back on its 20-year history, Asus’ Republic of Gamers brand celebrated the anniversary with an avalanche of limited-edition devices, including its first OLED handheld gaming PC: the ROG Xbox Ally X20.
Announced at a flashy Taiwan event alongside Grand Theft Auto V star Ned Luke, the ROG Xbox Ally X20 comes as part of a bundle with the brand’s XREAL R1 Edition 20 AR glasses, which provide the equivalent of a 171-inch screen.
Judging by the audience’s reaction, the revamped Xbox Ally was the star of the show. Made with a transparent black casing with gold highlights, it’s a striking design. But the handheld’s upgrade wasn’t a mere cosmetic refresh.
Kris Huang reveals the ROG Xbox Ally X20 (left), while Ned Luke, Huang, Jonney Shih, and Whitson Gordon with the Edition 20 range (right). Images: Chris Button.
A beefed-up version of last year’s ROG Xbox Ally X, the X20 edition expands the display from seven inches to 7.4 inches. Along with the bigger size, it uses ROG’s Nebula HDR OLED technology, instead of the IPS used by previous models.
Its internals remain largely the same, including the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, but ROG tweaked the cooling system to accommodate the OLED technology. On the outside, the D-pad can swivel to support four-directional and eight-directional inputs for different kinds of games.
ROG also equipped the Xbox Ally X20 with new TMR joysticks, which it claims are more precise than Hall effect technology. These new sticks are meant to be more durable, smoother, and remove the dreaded dilemma of stick drift over time.
ROG didn’t confirm any pricing or how limited the Xbox Ally X20’s supply will be. Judging by the Xbox Ally X’s recent price increase, which costs $1,799 in Australia, the special edition OLED model won’t be cheap.
ROG Xbox Ally X20 is just the tip of the iceberg
When the ROG Xbox Ally launched late last year, it impressed as a powerful bit of portable gaming kit. One of the most powerful handheld gaming devices on the market, its main weakness was the slightly disjointed Windows 11 software integration. Since then, multiple updates have vastly improved the user experience, particularly when docked to an external display.
There were a lot of 20th anniversary devices announced at ROG’s press event overnight. Denoted by the ‘Edition 20’ branding, the limited edition range included all manner of PC peripherals, like mice, keyboards, and even an RTX 5090 GPU with an OLED display that curves around its edges.
Extremely extra, but extremely cool, the 20th anniversary motherboard turned heads. Image: Chris Button.
Arguably the coolest Edition 20 drop was the ROG Crosshair X870E motherboard. Designed to pay homage to the first device made under the ROG banner 20 years ago, it brandishes copper heatsinks, up to nine M.2 slots, and a dual 6.67-inch AMOLED screen that pairs with ROG’s Edition 20 RTX 5090.
Where it all began: the original ROG Crosshair motherboard. Image: Chris Button.
A lot of what ROG showed highlighted a ‘because we can’ approach to product design. The Edition 20 range isn’t for the masses, but goodness, it all looked incredibly stylish.
Chris attended Computex 2026 in Taipei as a guest of Intel.
Aside from powering AI data centres and gaming hardware around the world, Nvidia is about to enter the world of PC chips with the RTX Spark.
Announced by the company’s leather jacket-laden CEO Jensen Huang at Computex 2026, the RTX Spark is a new Arm-based system-on-a-chip (SoC) that will power a series of upcoming Windows laptop and desktop PCs. Described by Nvidia as a “superchip”, the SoC comes up against silicon from the likes of Intel, AMD, Apple, and Qualcomm.
Equipped with a 20-core Nvidia Grace CPU made in collaboration with MediaTek, and an Nvidia Blackwell RTX GPU with 6,144 CUDA cores and the company’s fifth-gen Tensor Cores, the RTX Spark comes with some big claims.
According to Mark Aevermann, Nvidia’s senior director of product management, it’s “the most efficient PC chip ever built”. Nvidia hasn’t provided any benchmarks or comparison data yet, but is confident that PCs running Spark will outpace competing devices when the first wave of PCs launches in spring.
Via its integrated GPU, the RTX Spark reportedly reaches similar graphics performance to an RTX 5070 laptop graphics card. Nvidia claims it can play big-budget games at 1440p running at “over 100 frames per second” when paired with other technologies, including the upscaling DLSS.
But, with Nvidia being heavily in the AI business, it says the new chipset is built to be a “personal AI computer”. Supporting up to 128GB of unified memory, PCs running on RTX Spark are meant to power the latest local AI models and technologies. Already, over 100 Windows apps with AI integrations are on board, including Adobe, Blender, and CapCut.
What desktop and laptop PCs will use RTX Spark?
Most of the major PC brands have committed support for Nvidia’s chipset. Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, MSI, and Microsoft already have devices on the way, with Acer and Gigabyte also waiting in the wings.
To begin with, RTX Spark laptops will come in 14-inch and 16-inch variants, along with designs as slim as 14mm featuring OLED displays. Nvidia hasn’t confirmed other specs, including battery life, instead choosing to focus on its lofty aim of shaking up the PC market.
Considering Nvidia’s astronomical value as a company, selling the hardware that powers many of the world’s AI data centres, it seems well-positioned to sidestep into consumer PCs. Whether it succeeds will likely depend on how much its laptops cost, and how well they compete with existing silicon heavy-hitters.
Chris attended Computex 2026 in Taipei as a guest of Intel.
