Sottile discusses New Age movements, women carving out influence, and the intersection in event promoting second novel

Apr. 3—Leah Sottile is no stranger to conspiracy theories, extremist beliefs and fringe views.
It's the arena where she's made her bread and butter as a freelance journalist and the focus of her latest endeavor, "Blazing Eye Sees All: Love Has Won, False Prophets and the Fever Dream of the American New Age."
Inland Northwest residents packed the rooftop event center of the Steam Plant on Wednesday when Sottile discussed her second book delving into the world of New Age ideologies, folklore and personalities with reporter Emma Epperly as part of The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages series.
"You hear that saying, 'If you go far enough to the right or far enough to the left, the ideas start to meet each other,' " Sottile said. "So as I keep talking about this book, it's like, this is the intersection point. This is where people who may present as really politically different find the shared ideas."
The event was a reunion in more ways than one. For Sottile, it was a reunion with the Lilac City, where she began her journalism career at Gonzaga University and then the Inlander. For Epperly, it was a reunion with the newspaper where she covered public safety before joining Idaho Education News last fall.
It was also a reunion between the pair, who last spoke in a public forum shortly after the publication of Sottile's first book, "When the Moon Turns to Blood: Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and a Story of Murder, Wild Faith, and End Times." The thoroughly reported novel examines the extreme religious beliefs held by the couple and how they fit into the landscape of extremism in the West, and served as a jumping-off point for the topic of discussion Wednesday, Sottile said.
After writing her first book, Sottile said she decided she was ready for a break from reporting on extremism and wanted to write about trends that interested her. A Portland resident, Sottile said the markers of the New Age movement's popularity were evidenced in her walks around her hometown, which seems to feature "a crystal shop on every corner."
"You can kind of get this vibe that this New Age thing is a really big deal, and so I started looking into it," Sottile said. "I'd heard a bit about this group called 'Love has Won' in Colorado, and before I knew it, I was writing another book about extremism."
The new religious group Love Has Won, formerly called the Galactic Federation of Light, serves as a throughline for readers as Sottile explores the ideologies, people and trends that fall under the wide umbrella of the New Age movement.
Sottile said it was hard to approach such a "loosey-goosey thing," with her usual approach rooted in concrete facts and figures, but she found herself gravitating toward exploring certain figures and questions, like the late Love Has Won leader Amy Carlson, and "how women find a place of standing for themselves in spirituality."
Women tend to be more drawn to the movements than their counterparts, and Sottile said exploring female power tends to be a mainstay of her deep dives. She attributes it to her upbringing in the Catholic church where she admired the female saints, but at an older age realized women were not given much agency or power.
"That kind of gave me some characters to concentrate on, and so I started to try to find what their shared ideas were," Sottile said. "You have people who believe in the lost civilization of Lemuria, you have people who use tarot cards and believe in aliens and that they're ascended God-like beings."
Carlson was one of the former. She claimed to be a 27,000-year-old refugee from a long-lost land called Lemuria who was later reincarnated as several prominent figures like Joan of Arc and Marilyn Monroe. She's one of a number of New Age leaders Sottile explored dating back hundreds of years, claiming ties to mythological lost places like Atlantis or Lemuria.
Sottile does not approach Carlson's story, or the many others contained in the book, as some may, with a chiding snicker or dismissive tone. Instead, she explores where New Age movements and leaders begin to cross the line into causing real harm, like any religious movement.
One of Sottile's strengths is approaching topics with care and sincerity instead of the more dismissive reactions other reporters may have, she said. With coverage of the New Age movement, a lot has been surface level, or paints it more as "a joke, and less trying to understand why so many people are interested."
"That's what I was trying to do, is try to understand people really believe this, and people really have believed this for a long time," Sottile said. "That's interesting to me. I think that that says something about spirituality. I think it says something about power. It says something about what people are seeking."

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Los Angeles Times

6 days ago

• Los Angeles Times

How TV tapped the power of the ‘oner'

It used to be that a 'one shot,' or 'oner,' was only associated with movies. But the combination of prestige television and advanced technology has made it more common for the small screen to showcase the ballet of direction, cinematography, acting and more required to make it feel like an episode or scene is filmed in one continuous take. The shootout gone awry in the first season of HBO's 'True Detective' garnered Emmys for cinematographer Adam Arkapaw and director Cary Joji Fukunaga and is still talked about in cinephile circles with a hushed reverence. The technique is also what made the long-winded 'walk-and-talk' scenes of NBC's 'The West Wing' so memorable, and what kept the adrenaline flowing for 'Review,' the Season 1 episode of Hulu's 'The Bear' that garnered Emmys for director Christopher Storer and the show's sound mixing and editing team members. This season, though, Emmy contenders are taking it up a notch. Oners are omnipresent, used for grueling fight scenes (HBO's 'House of the Dragon' and Disney+'s 'Daredevil: Born Again'); trippy mind warps (Apple TV+'s 'Severance'); documentary-style realism (Max's 'The Pitt') and brutal examinations of crime and its repercussions (Netflix's 'Adolescence' and 'Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story'). In comedies, Apple TV+'s 'The Studio' is filled with oners, including an episode-length example about a film production's quest to achieve a perfect one shot at sunset. (The episode is, of course, called 'The Oner.') 'We call it a dance with the actors,' 'The Pitt's' director of photography, Johanna Coelho, says of the series' immersive style. 'We have two camera operators, and they both really learn to know how the actors move. But the actors learn to see how they move with the camera.' The series' camera crew is in the actors' faces so much that they have to wear medical scrubs, lest they get caught in a background shot. And Coelho says production designer Nina Ruscio tested about 50 shades of white paint for the set's hospital walls to find one that would balance everyone's skin tones because the scenes flow so automatically into each other that the lighting couldn't always be adjusted. The increasing use of oners also reflects rapid technological transformation. 'Adolescence' director Philip Barantini says he would have struggled to film his four-part limited series in episode-length one shots as recently as three years ago. The crew shot with a Ronin 4D, an affordable and lightweight camera that could easily be handed to different operators. (Director of photography Matt Lewis became such a fan that he bought one for himself.) The key to using the oner successfully — and avoiding accusations of gimmickry — is to ensure the style doesn't outshine the story, says Barantini, who also used the technique for his restaurant drama 'Boiling Point.' Indeed, though the oner is frequently associated with a fast pace, it also can slow things down, making it hard for audiences to look away. For instance, 'The Hurt Man,' the fifth episode of 'Monsters,' is the shortest of the season at just 36 minutes. But director Michael Uppendahl uses that entire time to zoom methodically in on actor Cooper Koch's Erik Menendez as he details horrifying stories about his family. Working with showrunners Ian Brennan, who wrote the episode, and Ryan Murphy, as well as cinematographer Jason McCormick, Uppendahl brought in a large crane that could push the camera in so slowly that audiences wouldn't immediately notice. It also could tilt the camera and recalibrate if speed or sound were off. 'It does take a certain kind of actor to be able to maintain that kind of stillness without constricting performance,' Uppendahl says of Koch, adding, 'He's a young performer, and I didn't know if he was able to do that.' They got the scene in 10 takes. 'The Studio' co-creator Evan Goldberg, who also co-directed every episode with series star Seth Rogen, notes the technique dictates that the plot can follow only a single storyline. Once they decided to film episodes this way, he says, 'We had to rewrite every single scene of every single episode to accommodate it. 'We knew we were going to film it that way before we wrote it,' Goldberg explains. 'But then once we hit the ground on production and actually looked at the scripts, we realized that we had to make the jokes end when they leave a room and … if there's someone upstairs and downstairs yelling at each other, are we actually gonna be able to do that?' A filming error also means a much bigger scene reset than a normal shot. 'Daredevil' director Aaron Moorhead has what he calls the Filmmaker's Prayer: 'May the camera, the script and the actors all want to do the same thing. Amen.' Moorhead and directing partner Justin Benson filmed three episodes of the action drama's first season, including the premiere episode, which features a oner of a fight scene down a narrow hallway. This helped establish the camera's language for the show and how it would move. He says it's 'not exactly harder' to film a oner; 'it's just a very different skill set.' 'Almost every time we've ever tried a oner it succeeds,' Moorhead says, adding, 'The thing that's the most challenging about it is you have to commit to everything.'

Digital Trends

10-06-2025

• Digital Trends

Nintendo Switch 2 review: exactly the upgrade we needed, with a few catches

Nintendo Switch 2 MSRP $450.00 Score Details 'Even with some kinks to work out, the Nintendo Switch 2 is the exact follow up it needed to be.' Pros More premium design 120 Hz display is a big upgrade A major power boost Mouse mode is ingenious Social features are truly innovative Cons Disappointing UI Battery is a downgrade Poor screen sharing 'Why you can trust Digital Trends – We have a 20-year history of testing, reviewing, and rating products, services and apps to help you make a sound buying decision. Find out more about how we test and score products.' How do you follow up a console as beloved as the Nintendo Switch? It's a question Nintendo has been blessed, or perhaps cursed, to answer for decades now. Every hardware success story comes with the burden of a follow-up and the pressure to wow people with the next big thing. Recommended Videos Nintendo has tried to live up to that challenge time and time again, attempting — and sometimes failing — to innovate at all costs. For the first time in decades, the Nintendo Switch 2 finally shows a company that knows when it's finally time to zag. Nintendo's latest console is perhaps its most straightforward hardware release since the Game Boy Advance. It asks a simple question that fans have proposed for eight years: What if the Nintendo Switch was better? That's exactly what you get with its successor. That streamlined ambition pays off in the form of a handheld-console hybrid that addresses every issue with its predecessor and more. Increased power, an excellent display, and more technical flexibility make the Switch 2 feel like Nintendo's first true 'next-gen' console. That's not to say that there aren't some good zigs along the way, as the system's impressive mouse controls feel like they're destined to rise above gimmick status. But the Nintendo Switch 2 very much feels like the second coming of the Super Nintendo rather than a repeat of the Wii U. It's very safe by modern Nintendo standards, and it has a lot of battles in its future as it launches amid a rapidly evolving portable landscape, but it's exactly what a Switch follow up likely needed to be — even if it won't set the world on fire. Switch 2 specs Size 116mm x 272mm x 13.9mm (4.5 inches x 10.7 x .55 inches) with Joy-Con 2 attached Weight 401g / 534g with Joy-Con 2 attached Screen 7.9-inch LCD, 1080p, HDR10, VRR up to 120Hz CPU/GPU Nvidia 8x ARM Cortex A78C 998MHz (docked), 1101MHz (handheld), Max 1.6GHz/ Ampere GPU architecture 1007MHz (docked), 561MHz (handheld) Max 1.4GHz Memory bandwidth of 102GB/s (docked), or 68GB/s (handheld), with 3GB (9GB for games) reserved for system memory Storage 256GB Wireless Yes Video output 4K docked, 1080p handheld Audio output 3D audio Speakers Stereo USB connector 2 USB Type-C ports Headphone/mic jack Built-in mic with noise-cancelling tech, but audio jack included in the new Pro Controller Game card slot Nintendo Switch game cards microSD card slot Supports microSD Express Internal battery Lithium-ion battery/522mAh or ~20Whr Battery life 2 – 6.5 hours Charging time TBD Availability On sale from June 5, 2025 Switch 2 design and comfort Rather than going back to the drawing board for its next console, the Switch 2's design is very much a touch up of what came before. The Switch's core pillars remain the same: This is a hybrid handheld/home console with detachable controls. There's a touch display sandwiched between two Joy-cons, a kickstand for tabletop support, and a dock that seamlessly hooks it all up to a TV. It looks almost exactly the same from a distance, but the details add up here. The Switch 2 has a more premium sheen to it all around. It's a sleek, dense tablet that feels more like an iPad than a plastic toy. That's the first signal that this is Nintendo trying to finally make a console that's keeping pace with its peers. The key difference is that it's significantly larger than the original Switch. That size primarily benefits the system's 7.9 inch LCD display, which looks enormous even compared to the Nintendo Switch OLED. The system is much heavier for that change too, with over 100g of new weight over the original Switch model. I do feel a bit more strain when I'm playing in handheld mode, though it's still manageable compared to something like the Lenovo Legion Go S. If the Switch already felt heavy for you, though, this might be a workout on your wrists. The system at least accounts for the added weight in a few ways. For one, the new Joy-con controllers are made from a slick black plastic that's smooth in the hands. They have also been rounded in a way that feels more natural in my palms, even if the lack of controller grips still makes for some odd ergonomics. If that's still not enough for you, the Switch 2 sees some significant improvements for tabletop mode. The newly designed kickstand is far sturdier than the original model's and easier to maneuver than the Switch OLED. Its range of viewing angles mean that it can almost stand up vertically and lay down fairly flat at around a 20 degree angle. I set it up at an acute angle on a tray table during a flight and it was not moved by a patch of light turbulence. Other improvements are of the no brainer variety. There's a USB-C port on the top as well as the bottom, which means that players can now charge it while in tabletop mode. Then there's the system's one big magic trick: magnets. How do they work? Well, the Joy-cons can simply be attached to the console by lightly slotting them into the sides of the display, where they tightly snap into place. If that has you nervous, don't be; they feel more secure when inserted than they do on the old Switch. My Joy-cons frequently pop out on my OLED at this point. That seems far less likely to happen on Switch 2, as they stay locked in place unless I hold down release buttons behind each trigger. They pop off with just a small bit of force, but there's still enough pressure required in the button press to ensure kids won't pull them off by accident. They're easy to pull off from the new dock too, as its rounded edges are built to make them easy to reach. I don't know how it will hold up to wear and tear over the years, but it's an impressive bit of engineering that makes the original Switch feel rudimentary in retrospect. Switch 2 UI: Menus, eShop, and more If I have one complaint about the system's safe design ethos, it's the UI. I've long been less than thrilled with the original Switch's full interface, full of plain white menus with no customization options. I had hoped that a new Nintendo console would bring a total redesign, but that's not the case. The Switch 2's menus look identical to that of its predecessors. Even new features like GameChat have been built with those minimal white menus in mind. It successfully gets across the idea that the ecosystem is consistent, but it's a bit of a letdown compared to other consoles on the market. The differences are minimal in most cases. My game library now has a tab where I can group games together as I please. I now have the option to set a button remapping shortcut to my pop-out home menu. There's better integration into the Switch mobile app, as I can instantly transfer screenshots and video there just as I can on the PlayStation app. These are largely additions that could have been added to the original Switch with a routine free update. The only noticeable improvement is in the eShop, which has received a much-needed overhaul. The entire app now loads significantly faster now, allowing me to continuously scroll a tab while game thumbnails load in an instant. There are some new discoverability tools built in too, like a recommendation feature that will take you to a random game page based on your play history. It's far less of a pain to use than the original Switch eShop, so I'll take that small victory. Switch 2 display and performance: HDR, VRR, and more I was a little worried at first when Nintendo announced that the Switch 2 would use an LCD panel rather than sticking with OLED, but those fears have been calmed. Though the 7.9-inch screen isn't exactly up to par with the OLED, it's close enough that most casual fans won't notice the difference. It will also be an enormous upgrade for anyone still using the washed-out base Switch. Colors are vivid, as evidenced by the bright and bubbly Mario Kart World, and HDR helps keep the display light. I've yet to pick up any kind of noticeable haze while in handheld mode. Even more impressive is the fact that it's a 1080p display capable of outputting up to 120 frames per second, something that I never would have imagined from a Nintendo system. I've gotten to toy around with exactly what VRR can do in Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, which shows its frame rate potential in action. We won't really get to see just how powerful it is until more games go all out, but my early testing has yielded very smooth frame rates across the board. Mario Kart World impresses at 60fps, even when flying over an open-world where I can see very far off in the distance. An improved display isn't much without power that takes advantage of it, though. That's where the Switch 2 comes in clutch thanks to its very capable custom Nvidia chipset. You can see its power in games like Cyberpunk 2077 that bring the Switch 2 in line with the Steam Deck, but the upgrade is most noticeable when looking at some of the original Switch's ugliest games. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom was a bit of a tech nightmare when it launched, with a stuttering frame rate and jagged lines everywhere. It is a completely different experience on Switch 2 running at 60 frames per second with clean edges. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is the other showpiece that's sure to turn heads. That game hardly functioned on Switch, but it comes alive here. I couldn't believe how it looked when I started dashing around the world at 60fps with more monsters popping up on screen at a time. That's not to say that everything is magically fixed. There's still plenty of pop-in and ugly textures, but that has more to do with the game built on spaghetti. The fact that the Switch 2 can salvage it at all is impressive. The real test will be how brand-new games made to run on PS5 and Xbox Series X hold up. More testing will come in time, but we at least have some samples that give us an idea of what to expect long term. Split Fiction, for instance, works on the system only with some noticeable cutbacks to resolution and frame rate. It's still an impressive feat when looking at its underpowered predecessor, but you have to keep in mind that we're at the start of what will likely be an eight-year life cycle, one that probably cuts through another console generation. There's no doubt in my mind that this tech will start to feel old in four years' time, or even less if Valve moves to make a new Steam Deck. Nintendo has caught up here, but it's still playing from behind. DLSS support will help bridge the gap, but don't be surprised if the features that impress you today have you yearning for an upgrade tomorrow. It's great to see 4K support finally available on a Nintendo console too. Mario Kart World shines on my display, and that makes me more eager to dock my system. All of these bells and whistles do come at a significant cost, though. My system got surprisingly hot the first day I put it through its paces, which explains the dock's need for a cooling fan. The power is a major drain on battery life too, which is the big problem with Switch 2. Despite the fact that the 5,220 mAh battery is a massive leap over its predecessor, it depletes far quicker than I'm used to coming off the OLED. Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour feels like a relatively modest game, but even that drained my battery in around three hours. Games like Mario Kart World can get down to around two and a half hours, and even that number is variable when you factor in features like GameChat. I'd say that battery life is about on par with what the original Switch's was at launch — maybe even a bit worse — but at least you're getting a significantly better image during that time. That makes it all a bit easier to swallow, but it's still the system's one major weakness. Switch 2 games: first party, third-party, and upgrades Like any Nintendo console, the Switch 2 will live and die by its games. We won't have a full picture of how robust its library is for a few years, but the system is off to a good enough start with some promising things on the horizon. On the first-party front, the main attraction is Mario Kart World. That's the system's Breath of the Wild equivalent, meant to be a launch day blockbuster that survives the system's lifespan. It's undoubtedly fun and an obvious must-have for anyone looking to use the console socially, but like the Switch 2 itself, it's a safe start. It's a reliable kart racer whose wow factor rests solely on a novel, but somewhat sparse open-world. It's not Zelda caliber, but it's a good showpiece for features like GameChat and camera integration. Aside from that, Nintendo's first-party efforts are a waiting game that will reward anyone who decides to wait for the holidays to grab the system. Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is a neat idea for a tech demo, but it only teases what the system can do. Donkey Kong Bananza, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Pokémon Legends Z-A, and Kirby Air Riders will all have to prove that the system's success doesn't rest solely on Zelda or a new 3D Mario game. Based on what we've demoed, it seems like at least some of those games will deliver. To help fill the gaps, Nintendo will release several Switch 2 Editions of the Switch's greatest hits. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom look better than ever on the new device, but titles like Pokémon Scarlet and Violet really do feel like new experiences to some extent. These updates aren't a good enough reason to fully replay a game, but they do help broaden what's available out the gate for those who have some gaps in their Switch library. The most important difference between this console launch and Nintendo's previous ones is how third-party developers are playing a role. The launch line up has already given us some big games from Cyberpunk 2077 to Sonic X Shadow Generations. Some games are a better fit than others. While Split Fiction loses some of its visual luster on Switch 2, Civilization 7's mouse control support makes it a better fit here than on PS5 or Xbox Series X. All that really matters here is that third-party partners seem to be all-in on the system, which puts the Switch 2 in a much healthier software position from the jump. Switch 2 controls: new Joy-cons, mouse mode For its controls, the Switch 2 comes with a new iteration on the Joy-cons. If you simply hated the feel of those controls on Switch, the new versions won't do much to change your mind. The joysticks are a little bigger, but they're otherwise the same in terms of feel. I'm the rare sicko who loved using the original Joy-cons in a grip, but that's less viable here. The newly redesigned grip is a big misfire, as its side grips aren't rounded on top. The space where you'd usually rest your palms is flat, which leaves your hands awkwardly hovering in negative space. If you hate using the Joy-cons, you'll really want to grab a traditional Pro Controller (the new version for Switch 2 is a small, but great upgrade thanks to added back buttons). You do at least get some slight tweaks here that were much needed. The joysticks are bigger, as are the shoulder buttons on the detached Joy-cons. I would have loved to see some extra ergonomic considerations here, but the small improvement is on brand for the console's grand theme: It's the Switch, but just a little better. The new Joy-cons get rid of the Switch's rarely used IR sensors, which aren't missed. It does keep HD Rumble, a feature that never really did much to differentiate itself from regular old rumble. It still feels a little plain next to the Dualsense's full haptic feedback, but it does come with a surprising trick or two. As Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour will teach you, the vibration can get so fast that the controllers can actually simulate sounds like a 1-Up in Mario. I don't know if that will amount to anything more than a fun party fact, but it's something. The truly new feature is the Joy-cons' mouse functionality, and that's the big area where the Switch 2 really feels innovative in terms of what it does for play. Both controllers can be placed on a flat surface and moved around like a mouse, both to control supported games and to navigate the Switch's menus like a desktop. It's a goofy idea on paper that works remarkably well in practice. Based on my testing, the mice are pinpoint accurate even when I'm using my jeans as a mousepad instead of a table. Using them to place buildings in Civilization 7 or play high-speed minigames in Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour feels natural, like using a PC mouse. The Joy-con triggers just so happen to be in the perfect spot to function as clickers too. It all seems strange at first, but I've adapted to it incredibly well and am quietly hoping this is the one feature that competitors take from this generation. I will note that during my initial testing, I was able to accidentally trigger the mouse cursor on screen while just holding the Joy-cons normally. I have not been able to reproduce that since, but it does seem as though the sensors can be a bit sensitive. Thankfully, you can disable the functionality in the settings menu if you're worried about it screwing you up at the worst moment possible. It's not just that the Switch 2 has a mouse; it's that it has two that can be used simultaneously. That's where the console gets more into gimmick territory, but there's some potential waiting to be unlocked here. You can use two controllers simultaneously as mice, which opens the door for some original experiences. In Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster, for instance, I can play a minigame where I steer a ship's wheel and control a cockpit full of controls around it. Another rhythm minigame tasks me with catching beats in a line formed between my Joy-cons. Those controls can seamlessly pair with motion support too, allowing players to pick up their Joy-con to shoot a basket in Drag X Drive and then place it back down to keep driving. Inventive ideas like that leave lots of rooms for designers to experiment. But realistically, I don't think that will happen very much. The two-mouse setup very much feels like the kind of feature Nintendo will play with in first party games, but is minimally used elsewhere. Even Mario Kart World doesn't try to use the feature, and that's the console's big launch game. The real future for mouse controls feels like it's in first person shooters, strategy games, and other PC friendly genres that rarely adapt well to controllers. That's less exciting than the idea of inventing entirely new games, but it's a practical truth that'll likely limit a good idea. Switch 2 social features: GameChat, game sharing, camera support While mouse controls are a strong innovation, they aren't the Switch 2's real tentpole feature. That would be the system's surprisingly impressive social functionality. GameChat allows players to essentially set up a Zoom call within their system on the fly with the press of the new C button. Up to four players can enter a chat at once, using USB-connected cameras to share their video. I've been using Nintendo's official 1080p camera during testing, but I've also plugged in a random Logitech cam and that worked with no friction. Video comes in fairly clear and the face tracking tech always keeps my head in frame even when I'm using a transparent background. Transparency mode works fairly well, though it does occasionally pick up some visual noise in the tapestry behind my couch. While a microphone can be plugged in, the console itself has one built in that can work even when docked. My early tests with it have been shockingly positive. I figured that it wouldn't pick me up clearly when sitting far away from my dock, but I was coming in loud and clear according to the people I've chatted with. The microphone knows whether you're using the console docked or in handheld mode and seems to regulate the volume based on that quite well. More impressive is how well it handles background noise. My dock is directly in front of my TV, so game audio was pushing straight into it during my tests. The noise reduction seemed to cut that out entirely, only bringing my voice through. That's not the only magic trick either. GameChat features a speech-to-text option that will transcribe all chat audio live with surprising accuracy. It even splits that transcription up based on whoever is speaking. There's even a text-to-speech option that's just as impressive. By opening the GameChat menu, I can pull up an on-screen keyboard, type something in, and have it read out loud. What's better is that I was able to plug a keyboard into my dock through its USB port and start typing in that box instantly, no settings change required. While not every USB accessory works quite as seamlessly (my XR glasses don't connect, and plugging in a mouse doesn't seem to work for menus, though the option seems to be supported in some games), it's a big step for a Nintendo console. As great as GameChat can be, there are some big catches. Players can all screen share while in a chat, but the video comes through at the kind of frame rate that you see when you try to put a video in a PowerPoint slide. It's not a very viable way to actually watch someone play a game, which is a shame considering that there's a lot of potential there. I couldn't make out much at all when I expanded a friend's window and tried to watch his choppy, low resolution Mario Kart World gameplay. More successful is Game Share, the second piece of the system's social offerings. Players are able to share select games with friends either locally or while in GameChat. Doing so instantly lets a player jump into that game without downloading it. During a test, a friend invited me to join him in Super Mario Odyssey while we were chatting. A feed of Odyssey popped up on my screen and I was instantly controlling Cappy. The resolution and frame rate can be rough during dips, but the feed looks a lot better than screen shared games do. Lag seems to be quite minimal too based on my testing, as I was able to jump my pal over a river with accuracy. The feature only works for supported games, but it does genuinely feel like the console's most revolutionary idea so far. If you were to isolate any small upgrade that I've discussed in this review, the Switch 2 might sound like a modest upgrade. The more I've tested, though, the more I'm finding secret depth to it all. The power boost is significant, mouse controls are a great addition, and GameChat has exceeded my expectations so far. The design and UI still do leave me feeling like I'm using the same console, but everything starts to add up as I get more into a day-to-day groove with it. I have years of testing ahead of me, and we intended to treat this review as a work in progress just as we do with all console reviews, but we're starting from a high point. The games will decide whether we go up or down from here. How we tested the Switch 2 Our initial Nintendo Switch 2 review was largely based on hands-on time with our review unit, but we also incorporated some testing we did pre-launch. That included a bit of our first hands-on session with Nintendo Switch 2 in April, but we cross-referenced any findings there with our review unit to verify that information was still accurate. We also incorporated impressions based on a full day of testing the week before the console came out, as we had a chance to test some camera and GameChat features in depth and felt comfortable having those inform some of our final impressions. Once we got our hands on the system, we tested it extensively in a variety of use cases. We tested it on a 4K TV, a cruddy hotel screen, handheld mode, tabletop mode. We took it on the subway and used mouse controls on an airplane tray table. We tested a large variety of games including Mario Kart World, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster, Rune Factory: Legends of Azuma and more. We tested several Nintendo Switch games on Switch 2, including games that got official updates and ones that did not. We used Balatro to test the touch screen, Fitness Boxing 3 to put the Joy-con 2 gyroscopes to the test, and Lumines Remastered to test latency on TV. Many more were tested alongside those examples. We tested GameChat extensively with other members of the press, stress testing it as best as possible. That included Game Share testing, as well as seeing how well the connection held up on hotel wi-fi. We used Nintendo's camera when testing GameChat, but we also tested other webcams, as well as third-party devices like USB keyboards and mice. Other peripherals tested included the Nintendo Switch Pro controller and the Joy-con wheel. While we feel comfortable enough to put out a scored review, we will continue to test the system post-launch and update this review with any relevant findings throughout the system's lifespan.

Hamilton Spectator

09-06-2025

• Hamilton Spectator

Book Review: Jess Walter's 'So Far Gone' sets a redemption story in fractured, modern America

When the history of the United States in 2025 is written, perhaps one of the best things that will be said is: 'Well, it made for some great art.' Consider 'So Far Gone,' the new novel by Jess Walter. Set in present day America, it opens with two kids wearing backpacks knocking on a cabin door. 'What are you fine young capitalists selling?' asks Rhys Kinnick, before realizing the kids are his grandchildren. They carry with them a note from Kinnick's daughter, describing dad as a 'recluse who cut off contact with our family and now lives in squalor in a cabin north of Spokane.' It's a great hook that draws you in and doesn't really let up for the next 256 pages. We learn why Kinnick pulled a Thoreau and went to the woods seven years ago (Hint: It has a lot to do with the intolerance exhibited by no small percentage of Americans and embodied by a certain occupant of the White House), as well as the whereabouts of Kinnick's daughter, Bethany, and why her messy marriage to a guy named Shane led to Kinnick's grandchildren being dropped off at his cabin. In a neat narrative gimmick, the chapters are entitled 'What Happened to ___' and fill in the main strokes of each character's backstory, as well as what happens to them in the present timeline. Told with an omniscient third-person sense of humor, the book's themes are nonetheless serious. On the demise of journalism in the chapter 'What Happened to Lucy,' one of Kinnick's old flames and colleagues at the Spokesman-Review: She 'hated that reporters were expected to constantly post on social media… before knowing what their stories even meant.' Or Kinnick's thoughts as he holds a .22 Glock given to him just in case by a retired police officer who is helping him get his grandkids back from the local militia: 'The shiver that went through his arm! The power!… The weight of this gun was the exact weight of his anger and his fear and his sense of displacement… That's where its incredible balance lay.' As Kinnick links up with various characters and drives across the Northwest in search of his daughter and grandchildren, the plot unfolds quickly. Most readers won't need more than a day or two to reach the final page, which satisfies the Thoreau quote Walter uses in the story's preface: 'Not till we are lost… 'till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves.' ___ AP book reviews: