The next Steam Deck might not be that far away but nothing’s for certain in the current RAM crunch. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie‘s box office performance sets a record despite bad reviews. And the political satire of The Boys‘ fifth and final season has already been outflanked by reality and it’s not even out yet. Welcome to Morning Checkpoint for April 2, 2026 where I am hung over from too many Icees during the Mario Galaxy Movie.
Read managing editor Carolyn Petit’s review if you haven’t already. Since I saw it with my two kids, one of whom had never been in a movie theater before, I’ll do the obligatory “critics be damned, they loved it!” But it definitely didn’t have the juice of the first movie. It did succeed, however, at getting me extra hyped for the new Yoshi game next month. In the meantime, the recent Super Mario Wonder DLC is proving to be an unexpectedly nice little aperitif.
A possible Steam Deck 2 in 2028?
That’s the latest rumor from apparent hardware insider KeplerL2. “They were targeting 2028 AFAIK, but the whole RAM/NAND situation could delay it,” they wrote on NeoGAF. “Also since they don’t have a semi-custom SoC, unlike the PS6/Xbox if it gets delayed it could end up with better specs.”
Valve previously said it was taking its time looking for the right chip and didn’t want to rush out an upgrade that didn’t feel significant. “We really do want to wait for a generational leap in compute without sacrificing battery life before we ship the real second generation of Steam Deck,” the company said back in 2024.
Valve is testing a Steam home page refresh
The overhauled layout will display more games and more information about why they’re being shared with a particular user. There’s also a much more prominent Wishlist section. “There is now more detailed information highlighting the reason a game is being recommended to you; plus a user review round-up,” the company writes. “When hovering over a game’s cover art, the game’s micro-trailer will play for a quick peek at the action. We also added a sneak-peek of the adjacent games in the carousel.”
Blizzard is hiring for a “AAA open-world shooter”
A new job posting seeks a “Lead Designer, Innovation” who has experience working in Unreal Engine. All of the company’s previous games outside of Hearthstone were made with proprietary in-house tools, PC Gamer notes. This adds more fuel to the rumors that Blizzard is working on a possible shooter spin-off of StarCraft. Even if that’s the case, however, it’s probably still many years away from release.
The Boys showrunner was bummed they finished the season 5 script so early
When #TheBoys’ writing gets too real… #TheBoysS5 #TheBoysSeason5 pic.twitter.com/1HtYOmz2k5
— TV Guide (@TVGuide) April 1, 2026
“I’m totally bummed out to say we wrote it before the election,” showrunner Eric Kripke told TV Guide this week. “It sounds super naive now, but I swear the plan was, ‘Let’s write a 1984 version of what creeping authoritarianism looks like in America,’ and maybe everyone will be like, ‘Whew, we really dodged a bullet.’ But instead, we got hit with the bullet.
“And a lot of things that were far-fetched for us, we’re like — ‘That’s crazy!’ — have come to pass in a way that’s really really fucking troubling,” he continued, later adding, “There’s a line — I won’t give it away — but there’s a line in Episode 7 that Homelander says that was the craziest line we could think of, and it’s already happened.”
All Pokémon Center events have been canceled in Japan for a month
All normal Pokémon Greetings with mascots and TCG meetups are on hiatus for April, reports GameWatch (via Automaton). That’s due to “unforeseen circumstances,” an apparent reference to the fatal stabbing of a Pokémon Center employee last week. Competitive events will move forward but without any spectators able to attend.
Mario Galaxy Movie beats the first one’s opening-day box office
Deadline reports that the movie’s day-one haul was $34 million, a stronger opening than the first film’s $31.7 million as well as Project Hail Mary‘s $33 million, making it the the highest April opening on record. That’s impressive given the terrible early reviews, though the first-week haul is already predicted to be slightly behind that of the first movie.
ICYMI:
Watch this:
世界の皆さんがロックマンをとても大好きだということが良く分かったけど「ゼルダの伝説」は海外でも人気なのかな？
意外にもこの曲はギターがとっても合うんだよ🎸 pic.twitter.com/oB1k7tp3l0— STUDIO KENT（ゲーム音楽ギタリスト） (@studiokent1) March 31, 2026
