Nintendo has announced a June 5 launch date for its latest gaming console, the Switch 2, which will introduce interactive chat and screenshare functions to connect gamers. Pre-orders in the U.S., however,

Namely, the two most notable games I played were Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong: Bananza. The latter isn't a launch game, but they both made strong first impressions – not only as games themselves, but also as demonstrations of what the Switch 2 can do. Let's dig in.

The new video game console will still be released in June, the Japanese company said. Its price was unveiled as $450 this week.

The $450 price tag is for the Switch 2 console alone, but Nintendo said it will also offer a bundle with the Switch 2 and a copy of the new Mario Kart World game, a Switch 2 exclusive, for $500. There's some fine-print attached to pre-ordering directly from Nintendo.