Bill Smith

LGR Fires Up Hasbro’s 1999 Easy-Bake Kitchen Keyboard Playset

By Bill Smith September 11, 2026

Storage still coughs up late-90s leftovers for Clint Basinger of LGR, and the latest one is a molded kitchen that sits on a PC keyboard and pretends to bake. Easy-Bake Kitchen, sold by Hasbro Interactive in fall 1999 for about $40, arrived as a CD-ROM plus a strap-on playset aimed at ages three and up. Box copy promised to turn a Windows 95 or 98 machine into a kitchen full of fun with no waiting and no mess. LGR found his copy years after a viewer named Ryan Kitty mailed it in, then pulled it back out after a hurricane soaked the downstairs collection room in what he calls storm juice. A scrub later, the plastic was ready for another shift.

PowerA Enhanced Wireless Controller Puts Rear Buttons and 30 Hours on a Licensed Switch Pad

By Bill Smith September 10, 2026

Nintendo’s official Pro Controller is still somewhat expensive for a full-size wireless pad. PowerA’s Enhanced Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch, priced at $35 (was $70) answers that with an officially licensed Bluetooth gamepad that keeps the familiar button layout, adds two programmable buttons on the back, and runs for up to 30 hours on a built-in 900mAh battery.

Wave Race 64 Recompiled 0.4.0 Lets 1996’s Waves Fill a Modern Screen

By Bill Smith September 10, 2026

Wave Race 64: Recompiled is out as a native Windows and Apple Silicon build, and it treats Nintendo’s 1996 jet-ski racer with unusual care. You still supply a legal dump of Wave Race 64 USA Rev A, also called v1.1. The project never ships the ROM. Once that file is accepted by the launcher, the game’s own MIPS code runs as a compiled C program instead of through a full console emulator. Championship, Time Trial, and two-player races all boot, save records to emulated EEPROM, and play at speed.

Red Bull on Rails, Vettel’s Title-Winning RB8 F1 Car Rides the Madrid Metro

By Bill Smith September 10, 2026

Oracle Red Bull Racing put Sebastian Vettel’s 2012 championship RB8 onto Madrid Metro rails this week and drove it through closed tunnels as if a subway line had suddenly become a racetrack. Heritage Team staff and Spanish engineering collective Andtonic did the work at Metro de Madrid’s Canillejas workshops, racing a two-week deadline to finish custom metal wheels before the Spanish Grand Prix weekend at the new Madring circuit.

Apple Watch Ultra 4 Lasts Fifty Hours and Still Has Room for a Race

By Bill Smith September 9, 2026

Apple kept the familiar 49-millimeter Grade 5 titanium case for Watch Ultra 4, offered in natural or black, and built that shell with 100 percent recycled titanium. Dimensions stay 49 by 44 by 12 millimeters. Weight ticks up a gram or so to about 63 grams. Sapphire covers the same Always-On LTPO3 wide-angle OLED, 422 by 514 pixels, peaking at 3,000 nits and dimming to 1 nit. Action button, Digital Crown, and side button remain where they were. Dual speakers still push an 86-decibel siren. A three-microphone array handles wind and conversation. Water resistance holds at 100 meters with recreational scuba to 40 meters, IP6X dust rating, and MIL-STD-810H testing. Oceanic+ and similar apps still turn the watch into a dive computer with depth, water temperature, and entry-exit GPS marks.

Anker Prime 26K 300W Puts Two Fast Laptop Charges on One Carry-On Battery

By Bill Smith September 9, 2026

Anker Prime 26K 300W, priced at $179.98 (was $230), arrives at a useful moment. New iPhones (18 Pro, 18 Pro Max, Duo, etc.) want faster wired charging, and plenty of laptops still expect a wall brick that can push 100W or more. This pack tries to cover both without forcing you to haul a second charger.

Nintendo Reveals Metroid Ravenous, a 2D Platformer Where Samus Must Eat to Leave This Moon Alive

By Bill Smith September 9, 2026

Nintendo revealed Metroid Ravenous in its September Direct and set a firm date of January 28, 2027, exclusive to Switch 2. Samus Aran is already hurt when the story starts. Unknown attackers drain her energy on an alien moon, then send her tumbling into desert sand. She has to claw her way back to the surface first. Getting off the moon comes second, and the odds look thin.

Gold Triforce, Green Joy-Cons, Nintendo’s Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2 Console Arrives October 29

By Bill Smith September 8, 2026

Nintendo used this morning’s Direct to give Switch 2 its first real collector finish, timed to forty years of The Legend of Zelda. Officially called Nintendo Switch 2 – The Legend of Zelda – 40th Anniversary Edition, the system arrives October 29, one week before the Ocarina of Time remake on November 5.

Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Artificial’ Opens Pandora’s Box on Christmas Day

By Bill Smith September 8, 2026

Neon put the first official teaser for Artificial in front of viewers this morning, and Andrew Garfield already looks settled into Sam Altman’s skin. Luca Guadagnino directed the 140-minute film from a screenplay by Simon Rich. It covers the five days in November 2023 when OpenAI’s board removed Altman as chief executive and then brought him back while the company sat at the center of a race to control the technology that would soon sit on every phone and laptop.

Ocarina of Time Remake Hands Link a Jump Button and Lets You Hum the Songs on November 5

By Bill Smith September 8, 2026

Nintendo used its Zelda 40th anniversary Direct today to show the first real gameplay of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, confirming a November 5 launch exclusively on Switch 2. Eiji Aonuma walked through the opening hours in Kokiri Forest, presenting the project as a faithful interpretation built with modern tools rather than a loose retelling.