While it may be the most wonderful time of the year for some, the servers at Nintendo are having some troubles as Christmas Day has, once again, brought with it a wave of new and old Switch consoles trying to purchase new games and play online.

Some of those who have unwrapped a brand-new Switch for the Holidays are being greeted by an error message from Nintendo when trying to purchase a game, browse the eShop, or even redeem a gift card.

"We are currently experiencing difficulties with our network services," Nintendo's Network Maintenance Information / Operational Status page says. "Please try again later. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

This outage appears to not only be impacting those using a Nintendo Switch, but also those still playing Wii U or 3DS.

Earlier this week, Nintendo warned that it was expecting its servers to be overloaded over the Christmas weekend, and encouraged those who were purchasing a Switch for a loved one to set it up in advance - which is always good advice for any new console.

However, Nintendo's warning only mentioned Nintendo Account creation and didn't mention purchasing games or otherwise. This issue is not a new one, as a similar outage affected many around the world during last year's Christmas weekend.

Hopefully these issues are resolved shortly and all the new Switch owners can soon enjoy their new system to its fullest potential. We will keep this article updated with the latest news and let our readers know when services are fully restored.

While you wait, be sure to check out our list of the Top 10 Nintendo Switch Exclusives, the best overall Nintendo Switch games, and our Nintendo Holiday Gift Guide for some last-minute ideas.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

While it may be the most wonderful time of the year for some, the servers at Nintendo are having some troubles as Christmas Day has, once again, brought with it a wave of new and old Switch consoles trying to purchase new games and play online.

Some of those who have unwrapped a brand-new Switch for the Holidays are being greeted by an error message from Nintendo when trying to purchase a game, browse the eShop, or even redeem a gift card.

"We are currently experiencing difficulties with our network services," Nintendo's Network Maintenance Information / Operational Status page says. "Please try again later. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

This outage appears to not only be impacting those using a Nintendo Switch, but also those still playing Wii U or 3DS.

Earlier this week, Nintendo warned that it was expecting its servers to be overloaded over the Christmas weekend, and encouraged those who were purchasing a Switch for a loved one to set it up in advance - which is always good advice for any new console.

However, Nintendo's warning only mentioned Nintendo Account creation and didn't mention purchasing games or otherwise. This issue is not a new one, as a similar outage affected many around the world during last year's Christmas weekend.

Hopefully these issues are resolved shortly and all the new Switch owners can soon enjoy their new system to its fullest potential. We will keep this article updated with the latest news and let our readers know when services are fully restored.

While you wait, be sure to check out our list of the Top 10 Nintendo Switch Exclusives, the best overall Nintendo Switch games, and our Nintendo Holiday Gift Guide for some last-minute ideas.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW for Marvel's Hawkeye's Season 1 Finale!!!

Vincent D'Onofrio, the actor who surprised fans when his villainous character Kingpin appeared in Hawkeye, has confirmed that his character is the same one that was first introduced in Netflix and Marvel's Daredevil series.

Speaking to Screen Rant, D'Onofrio shared not only that he was playing the same character - with slight differences - in both Daredevil and Hawkeye, but also how Marvel was able to connect the dots between the two to make it happen.

"I think from my point of view, like a lot of the Avengers stuff, a lot of the MCU stuff, they tried to connect as many dots to the original canon as they can, and some dots are just not possible to connect," D'Onofrio said. "And that's what we've done with connecting to Daredevil and vice versa. There's some dots [that] are connected.

"Like in the Hawkeye show, Fisk is obviously physically stronger and can take more physical abuse. But the key to his being an interesting character, in my mind, will always be the fact that he has this emotional life that grounds him, that makes everything work, as far as I'm concerned."

D'Onofrio continued to discuss how they were able to "sell that character" to the wider MCU audience and how it was all due to keeping "him based in that emotional life."

"We can sell that character in so many facets," D'Onofrio said. "Story-wise we can sell it, if we keep him based in that emotional life. And I know that the writers, and the producers, and me, and everybody involved in the Hawkeye show, we were all on the same page about that.

"I have to say that they're very collaborative people and – not only to mention awesome people, very nice – but the producers, like I said, the writers and the directors were all just thrilled to work with so we kept along those lines. And I think that's what will continue to make the character interesting if there's anything next for me to do."

His last line is very interesting as the end of Hawkeye's first season saw Alaqua Cox's May Lopez/Echo seemingly shooting Kingpin and ending his reign of terror. However, we don't see him actually being shot as it cuts away, and that definitely leaves room for something beyond the obvious to have happened.

For those familiar with the comics, a certain storyline that we won't spoil here gives one possible option for the future of Kingpin and a way for D'Onofrio to continue playing the beloved character.

In an interview with Deadline, D'Onofrio makes it seem that even he doesn't know the true fate of Kingpin.

"I hope he didn’t die,” D’Onofrio said. “I’m with the fans, I want to keep playing this part. My hope is that we continue.”

In the same interview, D'Onofrio also opened up about getting the unexpected call from Marvel boss Kevin Feige to return to Kingpin and his shock that Daredevil ended when it did.

"I didn’t know that Daredevil was going to end when it did, I thought it was going to continue for a few more years,” D’Onofrio said. “There was a lot to explore there, there were many facets of my character to explore.”

Lastly, he was asked about Laura Barton's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Rolex watch and what it meant for the overall story. Unfortunately, he's "in the same boat" as all of us at the moment.

"I’m trying to figure it out like everyone else,” D'Onofrio admitted. “I’m in the same boat: I really need more information.”

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW for Marvel's Hawkeye's Season 1 Finale!!!

Vincent D'Onofrio, the actor who surprised fans when his villainous character Kingpin appeared in Hawkeye, has confirmed that his character is the same one that was first introduced in Netflix and Marvel's Daredevil series.

Speaking to Screen Rant, D'Onofrio shared not only that he was playing the same character - with slight differences - in both Daredevil and Hawkeye, but also how Marvel was able to connect the dots between the two to make it happen.

"I think from my point of view, like a lot of the Avengers stuff, a lot of the MCU stuff, they tried to connect as many dots to the original canon as they can, and some dots are just not possible to connect," D'Onofrio said. "And that's what we've done with connecting to Daredevil and vice versa. There's some dots [that] are connected.

"Like in the Hawkeye show, Fisk is obviously physically stronger and can take more physical abuse. But the key to his being an interesting character, in my mind, will always be the fact that he has this emotional life that grounds him, that makes everything work, as far as I'm concerned."

D'Onofrio continued to discuss how they were able to "sell that character" to the wider MCU audience and how it was all due to keeping "him based in that emotional life."

"We can sell that character in so many facets," D'Onofrio said. "Story-wise we can sell it, if we keep him based in that emotional life. And I know that the writers, and the producers, and me, and everybody involved in the Hawkeye show, we were all on the same page about that.

"I have to say that they're very collaborative people and – not only to mention awesome people, very nice – but the producers, like I said, the writers and the directors were all just thrilled to work with so we kept along those lines. And I think that's what will continue to make the character interesting if there's anything next for me to do."

His last line is very interesting as the end of Hawkeye's first season saw Alaqua Cox's May Lopez/Echo seemingly shooting Kingpin and ending his reign of terror. However, we don't see him actually being shot as it cuts away, and that definitely leaves room for something beyond the obvious to have happened.

For those familiar with the comics, a certain storyline that we won't spoil here gives one possible option for the future of Kingpin and a way for D'Onofrio to continue playing the beloved character.

In an interview with Deadline, D'Onofrio makes it seem that even he doesn't know the true fate of Kingpin.

"I hope he didn’t die,” D’Onofrio said. “I’m with the fans, I want to keep playing this part. My hope is that we continue.”

In the same interview, D'Onofrio also opened up about getting the unexpected call from Marvel boss Kevin Feige to return to Kingpin and his shock that Daredevil ended when it did.

"I didn’t know that Daredevil was going to end when it did, I thought it was going to continue for a few more years,” D’Onofrio said. “There was a lot to explore there, there were many facets of my character to explore.”

Lastly, he was asked about Laura Barton's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Rolex watch and what it meant for the overall story. Unfortunately, he's "in the same boat" as all of us at the moment.

"I’m trying to figure it out like everyone else,” D'Onofrio admitted. “I’m in the same boat: I really need more information.”

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Someone forced a bot to look at every Pokémon ever created – then told it to generate its own.

It sounds like the start of another one of those memes where someone makes an absurdist parody script so out-there only a robot could have conceived it, and then claims a bot wrote it. But BuzzFeed data scientist Max Woolf actually made a robot generate Pokémon, and the results are...kind of cool?

I forced a bot to look at every Pokémon and told it to generate its own. Here are the results.

(this isn't a joke, that's actually how I made these) pic.twitter.com/MfJUWJHZoB

— Max Woolf (@minimaxir) December 15, 2021

In a Twitter thread over the last few weeks, Woolf has been sharing the results of his robot's efforts. Some of them are admittedly a little out there -- there's something that looks like a green bird with an ocarina for a head, a greyish-pink thing that just looks like a mutated pig nose, and plenty of upsetting creatures with no discernable faces, or limbs where they shouldn't be.

Bonus batch! pic.twitter.com/qdr7SoesUj

— Max Woolf (@minimaxir) December 15, 2021

But others are pretty cool. I'm personally a fan of the little dude that looks like a taiko drum with eyes on the second page of the above bonus batch, but there are plenty of other cuties that seem reasonable enough as monsters I might encounter in the Pokémon universe somewhere.

Of course, if you're a fan of the weirder stuff, may I recommend Woolf's AI-generated batch that was only based on the 1995-era Ken Sugimori art of the original 151 Pokémon? All of the creatures that came out are very clearly Sugimori-inspired, but uh, boy, there's something delightfully off here:

By popular demand: here's more AI-generated Pokémon, but this time the model is trained on *only* Gen 1 Pokémon (the 1995-era Sugimori art of the original 151).

Those who thought this would make the generated Pokémon less bizarre were very wrong. pic.twitter.com/FS5GIweKUc

— Max Woolf (@minimaxir) December 17, 2021

Woolf's robot Pokémon generation became popular enough on social media that he open-sourced the image preprocessing code he used to create the dataset that led to AI spitting out weird Pokémon, so if you're savvy enough with telling robots to do things, you can probably try it yourself.

He has also, delightfully, done a similar AI-generation with Genshin Impact playable characters. And if you like both of these, the Twitter account @ai_curio has Pokémon, Fire Emblem characters, Animal Crossing characters, and more all generated by bots if you can get through a lot of haunting bot-generated images of hallways to find them.

Or you can just look at real Pokémon in, say, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, which we thought were solid remakes that leaned heavily on their origins.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Someone forced a bot to look at every Pokémon ever created – then told it to generate its own.

It sounds like the start of another one of those memes where someone makes an absurdist parody script so out-there only a robot could have conceived it, and then claims a bot wrote it. But BuzzFeed data scientist Max Woolf actually made a robot generate Pokémon, and the results are...kind of cool?

I forced a bot to look at every Pokémon and told it to generate its own. Here are the results.

(this isn't a joke, that's actually how I made these) pic.twitter.com/MfJUWJHZoB

— Max Woolf (@minimaxir) December 15, 2021

In a Twitter thread over the last few weeks, Woolf has been sharing the results of his robot's efforts. Some of them are admittedly a little out there -- there's something that looks like a green bird with an ocarina for a head, a greyish-pink thing that just looks like a mutated pig nose, and plenty of upsetting creatures with no discernable faces, or limbs where they shouldn't be.

Bonus batch! pic.twitter.com/qdr7SoesUj

— Max Woolf (@minimaxir) December 15, 2021

But others are pretty cool. I'm personally a fan of the little dude that looks like a taiko drum with eyes on the second page of the above bonus batch, but there are plenty of other cuties that seem reasonable enough as monsters I might encounter in the Pokémon universe somewhere.

Of course, if you're a fan of the weirder stuff, may I recommend Woolf's AI-generated batch that was only based on the 1995-era Ken Sugimori art of the original 151 Pokémon? All of the creatures that came out are very clearly Sugimori-inspired, but uh, boy, there's something delightfully off here:

By popular demand: here's more AI-generated Pokémon, but this time the model is trained on *only* Gen 1 Pokémon (the 1995-era Sugimori art of the original 151).

Those who thought this would make the generated Pokémon less bizarre were very wrong. pic.twitter.com/FS5GIweKUc

— Max Woolf (@minimaxir) December 17, 2021

Woolf's robot Pokémon generation became popular enough on social media that he open-sourced the image preprocessing code he used to create the dataset that led to AI spitting out weird Pokémon, so if you're savvy enough with telling robots to do things, you can probably try it yourself.

He has also, delightfully, done a similar AI-generation with Genshin Impact playable characters. And if you like both of these, the Twitter account @ai_curio has Pokémon, Fire Emblem characters, Animal Crossing characters, and more all generated by bots if you can get through a lot of haunting bot-generated images of hallways to find them.

Or you can just look at real Pokémon in, say, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, which we thought were solid remakes that leaned heavily on their origins.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Three companies have signed agreements with NASA to design space stations that could eventually replace the International Space Station. Blue Origin, Nanoracks LLC, and Northrop Grumman will receive over $400 million in government funding, according to NASA’s announcement early this month.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in the announcement that NASA is, “partnering with U.S. companies to develop the space destinations where people can visit, live, and work, enabling NASA to continue forging a path in space for the benefit of humanity while fostering commercial activity in space.”

The funding is part of a plan to transition away from the ISS and toward commercial space stations. The ISS is currently set to remain operational through at least 2024, but it's several decades old and is costly to keep running. NASA wants to save money by becoming a customer of private stations, allowing the agency to focus on other projects like its Artemis missions.

Blue Origin, which is receiving $130 million, is partnering with Sierra Space to work on its Orbital Reef station, a “mixed-use space business park” nearly as large as the ISS that the company announced plans for in October. Blue Origin claims Orbital Reef will be ready for operation in the second half of this decade.

Nanoracks LLC, awarded $160 million, is working on a Starlab station in collaboration with Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin. Designed for four astronauts, Starlab is slated to have labs for biology, plant habitation, and physical science and materials research. In October, the three companies announced they plan to launch Starlab in 2027.

Northrop Grumman, receiving $125.6 million, is working with Dynetics and other unannounced partners to develop a modular space station. Northrup currently manufactures the Cygnus spacecraft, which carries cargo to the ISS.

The plans for each station include various interfaces, like multiple docking ports, that could enable future expansion and possibly tourism. NASA says the funding agreements are part of its efforts, "to enable a robust, American-led commercial economy in low-Earth orbit."

For more of the latest news from NASA, check out our piece about astronauts aboard the ISS making tacos, and read our article on all the NASA easter eggs we could find on the past rovers.

Main image credit: Northrop Grumman

Kait Sanchez is a freelance writer for IGN. Find them on Twitter @crisp_red.

Three companies have signed agreements with NASA to design space stations that could eventually replace the International Space Station. Blue Origin, Nanoracks LLC, and Northrop Grumman will receive over $400 million in government funding, according to NASA’s announcement early this month.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in the announcement that NASA is, “partnering with U.S. companies to develop the space destinations where people can visit, live, and work, enabling NASA to continue forging a path in space for the benefit of humanity while fostering commercial activity in space.”

The funding is part of a plan to transition away from the ISS and toward commercial space stations. The ISS is currently set to remain operational through at least 2024, but it's several decades old and is costly to keep running. NASA wants to save money by becoming a customer of private stations, allowing the agency to focus on other projects like its Artemis missions.

Blue Origin, which is receiving $130 million, is partnering with Sierra Space to work on its Orbital Reef station, a “mixed-use space business park” nearly as large as the ISS that the company announced plans for in October. Blue Origin claims Orbital Reef will be ready for operation in the second half of this decade.

Nanoracks LLC, awarded $160 million, is working on a Starlab station in collaboration with Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin. Designed for four astronauts, Starlab is slated to have labs for biology, plant habitation, and physical science and materials research. In October, the three companies announced they plan to launch Starlab in 2027.

Northrop Grumman, receiving $125.6 million, is working with Dynetics and other unannounced partners to develop a modular space station. Northrup currently manufactures the Cygnus spacecraft, which carries cargo to the ISS.

The plans for each station include various interfaces, like multiple docking ports, that could enable future expansion and possibly tourism. NASA says the funding agreements are part of its efforts, "to enable a robust, American-led commercial economy in low-Earth orbit."

For more of the latest news from NASA, check out our piece about astronauts aboard the ISS making tacos, and read our article on all the NASA easter eggs we could find on the past rovers.

Main image credit: Northrop Grumman

Kait Sanchez is a freelance writer for IGN. Find them on Twitter @crisp_red.

There are plenty of gaming chairs. There are very few gaming chaise lounges. In fact, as far as I can tell, Hendrick's Gin is the only company to try and make the latter.

Priced at a mere £2999.99 (just under $4,000 USD), the gaming chaise is designed specifically for tabletop gaming – although Hendrick's freely admits that it's "the world's longest, least technical and most inconvenient gaming chair."

Aside from looking extremely comfortable, the gaming chaise comes with some more unique features, including a "fully analogue" speaking horn to let you bellow at those not lucky enough to be in your seat, retractable arms to hold cocktails, concealed compartments to hold games, and "subtle anti-racing stripes".

"Although we enjoy video games as much as any iconoclastic gin distilled in a tiny seaside village in rural Scotland, it seems to us that current trends in gaming furniture have resulted in chairs lacking in worldly sophistication," says the Hendrick's description of the chaise. "We’ve chosen to remedy the situation with our very own gaming chaise, designed to accentuate the pleasures of a range of leisurely diversions, from card playing to chess, backgammon and other board games — not to mention the pursuit of human conversation (over cocktails of course) with all its feints and complexities."

Sadly, if you're really into the idea of a comfy but functionally confusing bit of gaming seating, ballots to buy the extremely limited item have now closed. We can only hope that this sparks a revolution in the extremely quiet gaming chaise space. But it probably won't.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

There are plenty of gaming chairs. There are very few gaming chaise lounges. In fact, as far as I can tell, Hendrick's Gin is the only company to try and make the latter.

Priced at a mere £2999.99 (just under $4,000 USD), the gaming chaise is designed specifically for tabletop gaming – although Hendrick's freely admits that it's "the world's longest, least technical and most inconvenient gaming chair."

Aside from looking extremely comfortable, the gaming chaise comes with some more unique features, including a "fully analogue" speaking horn to let you bellow at those not lucky enough to be in your seat, retractable arms to hold cocktails, concealed compartments to hold games, and "subtle anti-racing stripes".

"Although we enjoy video games as much as any iconoclastic gin distilled in a tiny seaside village in rural Scotland, it seems to us that current trends in gaming furniture have resulted in chairs lacking in worldly sophistication," says the Hendrick's description of the chaise. "We’ve chosen to remedy the situation with our very own gaming chaise, designed to accentuate the pleasures of a range of leisurely diversions, from card playing to chess, backgammon and other board games — not to mention the pursuit of human conversation (over cocktails of course) with all its feints and complexities."

Sadly, if you're really into the idea of a comfy but functionally confusing bit of gaming seating, ballots to buy the extremely limited item have now closed. We can only hope that this sparks a revolution in the extremely quiet gaming chaise space. But it probably won't.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.