Amazon has a big sale on Razer gaming peripherals and accessories

Several Razer peripherals are on sale on Amazon, including the Kishi gaming controller for iOS and Android. The Android version is $50 off at $40. It’s best to make sure the “for Android” option is selected — the Xbox-branded variant is also on sale, but it’s $55. The iOS model has been discounted as well, but the savings are much more modest. The price has dropped from $100 to $80.

Buy Razer Gaming Inputs and Accessories at Amazon

The Razer Kishi is a great option for playing games on the go without having to resort to touch controls or a Bluetooth controller. It works with many games that run natively on your device as well as cloud gaming services like Google Stadia, NVIDIA GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming. The controller plugs into your phone’s USB-C or Lightning port and holds it in place. There’s passthrough charging support, so you can keep your device’s battery topped up while you play.

Elsewhere, Razer’s BlackWidow V3 mechanical keyboard is on sale. At $60, it’s $40 off the regular price. The peripheral has Razer’s clicky green switches and fully programmable keys, but since it’s a tenkeyless model, it doesn’t have a number pad at the side.

You can also save on the Razer Viper Ultimate, which is currently $70, almost half off the usual price of $130. The ambidextrous wireless mouse has a battery life of up to 70 hours, low-latency HyperSpeed tech, a 20,000+ DPI optical sensor, Razer’s optical switches and eight programmable buttons. We picked it as our favorite gaming mouse for everyday use.

Buy Razer Gaming Inputs and Accessories at Amazon

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The Nintendo Wii and DSi stores have been down for days with no explanation

Nintendo stopped selling DSi and Wii games in 2017 and 2019 respectively, but it has continued to allow users to download games they already own. Now, both stores have gone completely offline with no explanation from the company, Eurogamer has reported. If you try to select the Wii Shop channel, you’ll just see a blank white screen and error code — a situation that has persisted for around four days.

When it initially shuttered those stores, Nintendo said that you’d still be able to download purchased games for an unspecified period of time. However, it warned that the servers would eventually be shut down completely, meaning folks wouldn’t be able to download or transfer purchased games using the Wii System Transfer Tool.

Nintendo has kept these stores running for a long time (since 2006 in the case of the Wii), but folks would rightfully be upset if Nintendo shut off access with no heads up whatsoever. Many would no doubt have liked at least a few months notice so they could download or transfer their games. The servers do appear to still be up, though, as some folks have found they can use third-party tools like NUSDownloader to access games. 

Sony was recently forced to backtrack on a decision to close the PS3 and Vita stores after a consumer backlash. The situation isn’t quite same for Nintendo, but it should probably provide some kind of explanation if the stores don’t come back online soon. 

PlayStation will stream a ‘Hogwarts Legacy’ State of Play on March 17th

You’ll soon get more than just a cursory look at Hogwarts Legacy. Sony and WB Games Avalanche have announced a State of Play stream on March 17th devoted solely to the open-world Harry Potter RPG. The 20-minute presentation will finally share more details for the title, including 14 minutes of PlayStation 5 gameplay. The stream starts at 5PM Eastern on PlayStation’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

Hogwarts Legacy was originally slated to arrive in 2021 before the developers pushed the release to sometime this year. The game has you create a wizard who perfects spells, tames beasts (of the fantastic variety, of course) and otherwise explores Hogwarts in the 1800s, long before Harry and many other well-known characters rose to prominence. The game will also be available for PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC.

The single-game focus isn’t a shock. Avalanche is keen to note people have viewed the Hogwarts Legacy debut trailer over 28 million times — there’s clearly a lot of demand between Harry Potter fans and the gaming community at large. The State of Play could help Sony tap into that demand and spur more PlayStation sales.

Sony halts PlayStation hardware and software sales in Russia

Sony is joining Microsoft in stopping Russian sales following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. CNBCreports Sony has halted all PlayStation hardware and software sales in Russia, and has cut access to the digital PlayStation Store. The company called for “peace in Ukraine” and said it would donate $2 million to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees as well as Save the Children.

The decision comes a week after Ukraine Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov called on Microsoft and Sony to block Russian players, and a few days after Microsoft stopped all sales in the country. Nintendo put its Russian eShop in “maintenance mode,” but that may have been due to a payment service freezing processing for purchases made using rubles.

Numerous Western game developers have stopped selling their work in Russia, including Ubisoft, Take-Two, CD Projekt Red, EA, Activision Blizzard and Epic. However, Sony’s move might be the most damaging yet. Russian gamers will have a much harder time expanding their game libraries, and they can forget about buying the already-elusive PlayStation 5. Sony may feel the sting when it dominates Russian console sales (according to IDC data), but there might not be much practical choice when there’s so much industry pressure to take a stand on the Ukraine war.

Xbox Series X/S users can now pin games to resume quickly

The March Xbox update is rolling out, and it brings a few useful features to Microsoft’s consoles. Xbox Series X/S players can now pin two games to the Quick Resume group.

That could be useful if you’re the type of person who, say, likes to play a quick round of Halo Infinite multiplayer or enjoy a Forza Horizon 5 race if you need a break from an Elden Ring boss. Pin a couple games to Quick Resume (by pressing the menu button when you highlight a game tile) and it should be easier to hop between them.

Games you pin to the group will stay there unless you remove them manually or they have a required update. If you already have two pinned and want to add another, the console will ask which one you want to replace.

The Xbox dashboard, showing the Groups section. The Quick Resume group includes two tiles with a pin icon.
Xbox

If you don’t tend to use the Share button often, you might get more out of it if you change its function. You can reassign a different action to the button, such as muting the volume, opening your friends list or achievements or bringing up the search menu. Microsoft says there are more actions available for Elite Series 2 Controllers, Xbox Adaptive Controllers and other devices too via the Xbox Accessories app. There’s also a Xbox controller firmware update, which should improve performance on Xbox One controllers with Bluetooth support, among other things.

Elsewhere, there’s a new audio setup wizard for Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. You’ll find it under the “volume and audio output” area of the general settings. It should help you find the optimal settings for your speaker setup.