April 2026

For years I have used an Ender 3 to print. For years I have had to relevel the bed, deal with random stringing of prints, filament snapping, and plenty of other issues. I thought this was just how 3d printing was, so I dealt with it. I know how to fix the issues, I was just tired of dealing with them. Kris got us the Bambu Lab P2S and let me just tell you, it’s been a game changer. I have had it for a few weeks now and haven’t had a failed print at all. I have been printing basically everyday since setting it up.

It feels like a completely different hobby. I have printed complex things with different color filament. I used to have to choose a color and then paint it, now I can print it in the colors I want it to be. It’s not perfect, but for a lot of things, it doesn’t need to be. The most complicated thing I printed with my Ender 3 was probably a shotgun, but with the P2S, I have printed a drawer, a Minecraft lantern, and a lot of other things.

I have put in a lot of upgrades, from the extruder, to the hot end. I added a new motherboard and upgraded the firmware. I even added OctoPi and a BL Touch. Everything I added to the Ender 3 comes standard in my new printer, but even after the upgrades, the quality still doesn’t come close to that of the Bambu Labs one. Admittedly some of my issues probably weren’t with the printer itself.

The Software problem

For almost the entire time I was using the Ender 3 exclusively, I was using Cura. At some point I lost the ability to have tree supports. Sometimes it would just fail with no warning, then I’d need to change something to fix it. It’d be one thing if the change was significant, but sometimes even just moving it slightly on the build plate made it work. Toward the end I did start using Bambu Studio though. Bambu Studio is much different than Cura, so there is a learning curve and I am still getting used to it. Bambu Studio vs Cura is like a professional software vs an open source alternative that does the same things, just not as good.

At some point I might put up an actual review of the P2S, there’s a lot of features that I haven’t fully explored yet. I have only been using PLA, it’s all I have ever used. I want to try different filaments as well as recording timelapses before I can fully commit to writing a full on review. I will say that if you are on the fence and going back and forth between an Ender 3 and a Bambu Lab printer, I would say it’s like cars. Some people like fixing cars, some people like driving cars, and some people like both. Ender 3 is for those that like fixing and working on them, but to just start printing, Bambu Lab seems like that’s the way to go.

2026 is the 25th anniversary of Xbox. In honor of their 25th year, Xbox and Microsoft are doing big things. The biggest thing they’ve done so far is replace the CEO, Phil Spencer, with a new one, Asha Sharma. In the short time that she’s been CEO, they have announced a new console, overhauled Achievements, and had a partner preview, showing upcoming games from their partners. Their next showcase was thought to be their annual June one, but that may not be the case. In a new rumor from Nate The Hate, there may be another showcase this Thursday, April 16th. It’s rumored to be showing off a new Metro game, the long rumored Metro 2039. Metro is a post-apocalyptic franchise that spans across video games and novels.

What Happens in June?

If this does happen and it’s not just an announcement, this would be Xbox’s third showcase of the year, including one last month and one in January. With it being their 25th anniversary, it makes sense why they are pushing out so much, but that makes me question what will they show in June? June is usually their biggest showcase of the year, so if they are showing off all the new stuff now, what do they have planned for June? Could they be showing off more of Project Helix? Will their be longer game trailers with less games? Will they focus more on services than they have in the past few years? One thing is clear, Xbox is determined to make a big comeback.

After years of mixed messaging, losing exclusives, and bad ad campaigns, Xbox is trying to steer the ship. Asha Sharma may be new to the games industry, but from the outside, it looks like she is listening to fans and trying to give them what they’ve been asking for. Will there be more exclusives, like many have been asking for? We will have to wait and see. It’s very possible that they will have timed exclusives like they did with Indiana Jones. It’s also possible, since Project Helix will play PC games, they won’t need first party exclusives. There have been thousands if not millions of games released exclusively on PC. Project Helix could make those games playable, for the first time, on a console.

Either way, we will need to wait and see what happens, both on Thursday and on June 7th when they have their annual showcase.

I finished up my playthrough of the Prototype games today and it has me curious about why they are not on Game Pass. Even though they were released initially on the Xbox 360, they were remastered for the Xbox One. The 360 versions are not currently backward compatible though and maybe that is one reason why they aren’t. That probably will change soon though. At GDC 2026, Xbox confirmed that its Xbox Backwards Compatibility program is going to return this year to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Xbox. It would strange if they didn’t add their own games to play on their newer systems.

There’s a rumor that says they are working on a remake for Prototype. It would be strange to have all 3 be added to Game Pass at the same time, but anything’s possible right now, with Xbox’s CEO recently changing. Asha Sharma, the new CEO of Xbox, appears to be making some changes at Xbox after prioritizing fan feedback. So far she has overhauled the Achievement system and ended the “This is an Xbox” campaign.

No matter what they do with Prototype, there is a good possibility that we will be hearing about it on June 7th when they do their annual June showcase. 2026 is the 25th anniversary of Xbox, so showcasing their long list of IPs and bringing back some dead ones could be a priority for them. They’ve had a rough few years with declining hardware sales and fans being mad at them for putting their games on Playstation. Having plans for older IPs could get a strong positive reaction from gamers.

So far we know of plans for two of their most popular IPs. Halo has a remake of Combat Evolved called Campaign Evolved coming this summer. Gears of War on the other hand has E-Day coming this year. They are going to be doing a deep dive on June 7th after their showcase. Their June showcases started as being part of E3. Now that that’s no longer a thing, they’re part of Summer Game Fest, which has a few showcases planned during the month.

Would you play a Prototype remake? Did you play the originals? What did you think of them?