After months of teasing, cast announcements, and costume reveals, Netflix's television adaption of Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher novels has received its first trailer, giving fans the best indication yet of what to expect from the finished article.

As you'd imagine, the new trailer - rather modestly described as a "teaser", despite being almost two minutes long - offers a decent slice of The Witcher's principal characters in action, meaning the internet will no doubt soon be alive with debate on whether Henry Cavill (as Geralt of Rivia), Anya Chalotra (as Yennefer) and Freya Allan (as Ciri) are up to the task.

As someone with only limited experience of the characters in either their game or book forms, I couldn't possibly speak to the authenticity of their portrayals, but the atmospheric trailer certainly looks the part, sporting the kind of lavish production you'd expect from Netflix - and would certainly want in order to do justice to The Witcher's epic fantasy spectacle.

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What fine rump Henry Cavill has - a super bottom, you could say - so why not slap it on the poster for Netflix's new Witcher TV show?

Exactly. Which is why Cavill, turned away from camera, decked out in full Witcher garb, is the lead image for the show. And it's a clever shot, because bum aside, it's how you see Geralt (the character Cavill is playing) for hours and hours when you play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt video game. It's familiar. It's saying, "This is the character you know."

Oh, and his carrying only one sword in place of the two you're used to seeing him with in the games? As people have pointed out in the comments below: Geralt carries one sword in the books, leaving the other with his horse Roach for when he needs it. And the show, remember, is based on the books, not the games.

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On the face of it, the notion of Nintendo Switch hosting a conversion of CD Projekt RED's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt seems almost ridiculous. The original release pushed the current-gen consoles hard and the notion of the game transitioning across to a significantly less powerful mobile-orientated platform almost beggars belief. And yet, the rumours surrounding a Switch port are gathering pace: Chinese retailers have shown packaging and even a special edition console, and when Eurogamer approached CDPR about the game, the firm declined to comment when erroneous rumours could have been categorically ruled out. Nothing is confirmed, but the possibility remains open - and I couldn't help but wonder how such an ambitious port could be achieved.

Of course, the Switch itself has played host to a number of impressive technological showcases, and it has done so since launch with the arrival of Fast RMX - a hugely impressive work-out for the Tegra X1. But the notion of challenging current-gen fare receiving viable Switch ports really kicked off with the arrival of Doom 2016, translated across to the mobile chipset by the brilliant Panic Button, who've since impressed us still further with conversions of Wolfenstein: The New Colossus and Warframe. Other developers have pushed Switch hard too, with QLOC's impressive Hellblade port and Shiver's Mortal Kombat 11 bringing current-gen console experiences into the palm of your hand.

The Witcher 3 though? The scale of this project is a class apart: we'd be looking at the conversion of a massive game that challenges hardware on many levels. First of all, there's the concept of bringing a current-gen open world across from systems with significantly more CPU power and a lot more memory. Then there's the density of the visuals - The Witcher 3 delivers a very rich sandbox within which to play. And finally, there's the issue of memory bandwidth: the PC version of the game (likely the major donor towards a potential Switch port) really does like bandwidth, and Switch is somewhat limited there.

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Ray tracing is the hot new thing in video game graphics - so hot in fact that Sony's already announced the PlayStation 5 will be capable of it. So we're starting to see existing games with the tech enabled - with impressive results.

Digital Foundry has already reported on Half-Life 2, Minecraft and Crysis with ray tracing enabled. But I wanted to point to a couple of videos that show what Grand Theft Auto 5 and The Witcher 3 look like with ray tracing.

First up we have Grand Theft Auto 5 with ray tracing. You can really see the improvement in lighting in Rockstar's open world epic, particularly with the car parked under the freeway. I also love what it does to the house interior - the tables look fantastic!

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Netflix has confirmed that its Witcher television adaptation will air toward the end of this year, putting it a little ahead of its originally anticipated 2020 release date.

The news comes via a Netflix investor call, as reported by Deadline, in which chief content officer Ted Sarandso revealed that the fantasy drama would arrive in Q4, narrowing its launch down to some time in the last three months of 2019.

Netflix's series, if you're unfamiliar, is explicitly based on Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher novels, rather than CD Projeckt's video game adaptation, with Sapkowski serving as creative consultant. Showrunning and writing duties are being handled by Lauren Hissrich.

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Earlier today, I drove to a place in North Dublin called Tower Bay, which is about five minutes from my house in Donabate - a small seaside town in Ireland.

Breathtaking cliffs leave you mesmerised as you walk down the path that has been carved into the cliff-face. It terminates at a gorgeous sandy beach. Along the way, you can view thundering waves lapping and locking, crashing together and falling apart, over and over again. Rocks jut upwards from unseeable depths, around which white foam shimmers. This is the landscape the archipelago of The Witcher 3's Skellige was based upon.

Skellige, named after real-life Irish islands Sceilg Mhic l and Sceilg Bheag - collectively known as the Skellig Islands - depicts a wild beauty that is truly Irish. From the familial clans to the rain-soaked hills painted a striking green, the rugged and treacherous landscape recalls the otherworldly presence of places like Connemara, the Cliffs of Moher and of course, the Skellig Islands themselves. In fact, Skellige has its own pair of Skellig Islands in The Witcher 3: Ard Skellig and An Skellig. The former means High Skellig in Irish, whereas the latter simply means The Skellig, resembling the Greater and Lesser Skelligs in reality.

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UPDATE 4PM GMT: Netflix has also confirmed a number of the other actors joining The Witcher cast, including the actress who'll play iconic sorceress Triss Merigold. Taking the role is Anna Shaffer, according to the Hollywood Reporter, who you may remember as Romilda Vane from Harry Potter - the girl who gave Harry a love potion. Shaffer also played Ruby Button in British soap opera Hollyoaks.

Other actors joining the cast include: Eamon Farren (The ABC Murders, Twin Peaks) as Cahir, Joey Batey (Knightfall, Strike) as Jaskier, Lars Mikkelsen (House of Cards, Sherlock) as Stregobor, Royce Pierreson (Wanderlust, Judy) as Istredd, Maciej Musiał (1983) as Sir Lazlo, Wilson Radjou-Pujalte (Jamillah & Aladdin, Dickensian).

ORIGINAL STORY 3PM GMT: Netflix has given the world its first look at Superman actor Henry Cavill made up for his new role as mutant monster hunter Geralt, in the upcoming The Witcher television series.

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Netflix's highly anticipated television adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher series of novels has now found its Ciri and Yennefer.

Last month, Netflix confirmed that Superman star Henry Cavill would be donning beard and greying locks as series protagonist Geralt of Rivia; it's now been revealed that Freya Allan and Anya Chalotra will be starring alongside Cavill as Ciri and Yennefer respectively. Allan's most recent work includes TV shows The War of the Worlds and Into the Badlands, while Chalotra can be seen in The ABC Murders and Wanderlust.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news, over 50 roles have now been cast for Netflix's series. These include Jodhi May as Queen Calanthe, Bjorn Hlynur Haraldsson as her husband Eist, Adam Levy as the druid Mousesack, and MyAnna Buring as Tissaia, head of the Aretuza magical academy. Additionally, Mimi Ndiweni and Therica Wilson-Read will star as novice sorcerers, and Millie Brady takes on the role of Princess Renfri.

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"Come on. Lighten up. Have a whiff."

It's late into Cyberpunk 2077's demo when Dum-Dum extends a claw toward V, offering a hit from a skull-adorned inhaler. Perhaps sensing the veiled hostility behind the supposed peace pipe being thrust under her nose, she obliges. Arachnid eye implants shine through a red haze. Dum-Dum takes his own hit, and flared nerves settle. Between all the talk of cred chips and bots, the tension that fuels this choice stems from a ritual as old as time. Breaking bread. Chinking cups. Passing the proverbial Dutchie to the left.

Adult games, as a medium, are often enamoured with their own portrayal of taboo subjects, but there's a streak of silently judgemental conservatism dulling the libertine sheen. By confining their use to grim settings, these stories condemn altered states of consciousness as the territory of society's dregs. At the same time, they're perfectly happy to hijack their aesthetics when it suits. Unexamined praise can be as useless as uninformed panic, of course, but let's be clear here: games are, for the most part, shit at doing drugs properly. Here's a brief history of drug use in games.

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UPDATE 15TH NOVEMBER: There was a minor update to this story during a call discussing CD Projekt's Q3 2018 earnings. Joint-CEO Adam Kiciński referred to the issue as "an open one", intimating no decision either way had been made.

"Until we have reached a significant milestone we intend to withhold comments," Kiciński told investors. "The issue is an open one, and when we feel we have information which can be shared with the world - in terms of specific outcomes - you will hear from us. For now, we will refrain from comments."

ORIGINAL STORY 2ND OCTOBER: Remember when Andrzej Sapkowski, creator of The Witcher fiction, told me he'd been "stupid" rejecting a percentage of the profits while selling the video game rights to CD Projekt Red all those years ago?

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