If you’ve spent any time following gaming news in early 2026, you might think the end of Xbox is right around the corner. Between reports of a 32% year-over-year drop in hardware revenue, the sudden departure of longtime Xbox boss Phil Spencer, and wild speculation that Microsoft might pivot the entire gaming division toward AI, the internet has been flooded with dramatic takes about the “death of Xbox.”
Official Xbox Podcast
But the eulogies are premature. Despite the noise, Xbox still sits on one of the most powerful portfolios in gaming, including Halo, Forza, Gears of War, Call of Duty, Minecraft, and more. Microsoft also has the financial backing, infrastructure, and studio network to remain a major player for decades. The real issue isn’t survival, but identity.
You see, for several years, Xbox leadership pushed an ambitious idea that “every screen is an Xbox.” The strategy expanded the brand through cloud gaming, PC integration, and Game Pass across multiple platforms. While that approach broadened reach, it also created confusion about what Xbox actually is. Now, under the new leadership of Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma, the company appears to be acknowledging that confusion and attempting a course correction.
Sharma recently confirmed Project Helix, the codename for Xbox’s next-generation hardware, promising a device that will “lead in performance and play your Xbox and PC games.” That announcement alone signals a shift in direction. Xbox isn’t ending, but it is entering a critical rebuilding phase. And if the company wants to return to its former glory, experts and players alike largely agree that three major changes are essential.
1. Nail the execution of Project Helix
One of the biggest challenges Xbox faces today is simple: many players aren’t sure why they should buy an Xbox console anymore.
If the same games appear on PC, and sometimes even on rival platforms, what makes the Xbox console special? That’s where Project Helix could become the most important product Microsoft has released in years. Rumored for a 2027 launch, Helix is expected to be a hybrid system, essentially a powerful AMD-powered console running a “console-ized” version of Windows. The promise is compelling: the simplicity of a traditional console combined with the flexibility of a gaming PC.
Imagine a device that boots straight into a controller-friendly interface but also lets players access platforms like Steam or Epic from the living room. If done right, Helix could blur the line between PC and console in a way no competitor currently offers. But execution will determine everything. Helix must never feel like a desktop computer awkwardly connected to a TV. Instead, it needs to launch into a seamless controller-first experience, as the “Xbox Full Screen Experience” we saw on the ROG Xbox Ally, preserving the plug-and-play simplicity that console players expect.
If Microsoft can successfully merge the PC and console ecosystems without sacrificing ease of use, Helix won’t just save Xbox hardware, but it could redefine what a console is. Yes, it’s likely going to be expensive, with rumors suggesting a price tag that could cross the $1,000 mark. But Xbox could still justify that premium if it delivers on the other two pillars that matter just as much.
2. Let the studios deliver the games
The second major fix is both obvious and unavoidable: Xbox needs more great games, more consistently.
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Over the past decade, Microsoft has spent nearly $100 billion acquiring studios, including Bethesda and Activision Blizzard. On paper, that gives Xbox one of the strongest first-party lineups in gaming history. Yet the results have been uneven. Franchises like Halo, Gears of War, and Forza, once the backbone of the platform, have seen long development gaps. Meanwhile, studio closures, layoffs, and shifting corporate priorities have created uncertainty inside Microsoft’s gaming division.
Halo
To further add to the injury, when Sharma took over, some players worried that her background in AI-driven tech companies might push Xbox toward algorithm-generated content. Thankfully, she has quickly pushed back on that idea, stating that Microsoft will not “chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop.” Now the company needs to prove it.
Xbox
Microsoft now owns some of the most talented developers in the world. What they need most is stability. Fewer shifting mandates, fewer corporate interruptions, and enough time to create the kind of system-defining games that drive entire console generations. Because ultimately, subscriptions and hardware don’t sell themselves. Great games do. The upcoming Forza Horizon 6 is already generating plenty of buzz and appears well on track to be a major success. However, Microsoft will need a steady stream of titles, especially strong exclusives, if it hopes to match the kind of consistent first-party momentum Sony has built on the PlayStation side.
3. Rebuild the culture around Xbox
Finally, there’s one part of the Xbox experience that often gets overlooked: the community culture. For many fans, the Xbox 360 era still feels like the golden age of the platform. Profiles felt personal, avatars actually mattered, and the dashboard felt like a social space where gamers could hang out. It wasn’t just a storefront pushing subscriptions and ads.
Xbox 360
Over time, much of that personality has disappeared. Today, the Xbox dashboard is often criticized for feeling cluttered with Game Pass promotions and advertisements. Across communities like Reddit, ResetEra, and Xbox Insider forums, the message from players is clear: bring back the personality. Fans want things like dynamic themes, meaningful achievement rewards, deeper avatar integration, and more ways to personalize the UI so the console feels like their space again.
Billy Freeman / Unsplash
Players are also asking Xbox to double down on something it once did better than anyone else: game preservation. The Backward Compatibility program was hugely popular, and with Activision Blizzard now under Microsoft’s umbrella, fans want to see classic titles return. If Xbox can become the place where decades of gaming history remain playable on modern hardware, it could turn preservation into one of its biggest strengths.
The road back
Long story short, Xbox isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The brand still holds enormous influence in the gaming industry, backed by Microsoft’s resources and a massive network of studios and services. However, the platform is at a turning point.
For Xbox to truly thrive again, the solution isn’t chasing every new trend. It’s about focusing on the basics: delivering great games consistently, launching a strong next-generation hardware platform, and reconnecting with the community that built the brand. If Microsoft gets these fundamentals right, the “Xbox is dying” narrative could quickly fade, and the next chapter of Xbox might end up being its most exciting yet.
Netflix’s library of streamable party games is expanding today with a custom version of Overcooked! All You Can Eat. Netflix launched its cloud gaming program with games like Lego Party and Tetris Time Warp, but Overcooked feels a bit unique because it features a roster of Netflix-affiliated characters from KPop Demon Hunters and Stranger Things.
For the uninitiated, Overcooked plays like a more manic version of Diner Dash, where teams attempt to prepare food together in increasingly elaborate kitchens filled with obstacles. The original version of Overcooked! All You Can Eat was released in 2020, and includes DLC and stages from previous versions of the game. Netflix’s version bundles in the same content, and “10 Netflix celebrity chefs” including “Dustin, Eleven, Lucas, and the Demogorgon from Stranger Things,” and “half-dozen faces from KPop Demon Hunters,” like “Mira, Rumi, Zoey, Jinu, Derpy and Sussie.” Like Netflix’s other streaming games, playing Overcooked also requires you to use a connected smartphone as a controller.
As part of a Year in Review blog detailing changes Valve made to Steam in 2025, the company shared a minor update on its hardware plans that doesn’t sound good for anyone hoping to buy a Steam Machine, Steam Controller or Steam Frame in 2026. Specifically, the company is now opening up the possibility its new hardware won’t ship this year at all.
In February, when Valve acknowledged the ongoing memory and storage shortage had delayed the launch of its hardware and could lead to higher prices, the company was still committing to a (fairly wide) window of when its hardware would ship:
“Our goal of shipping all three products in the first half of the year has not changed. But we have work to do to land on concrete pricing and launch dates that we can confidently announce, being mindful of how quickly the circumstances around both of those things can change.”
As of the company’s latest post, however, things somehow sound even less certain. “We hope to ship in 2026, but as we shared recently, memory and storage shortages have created challenges for us,” Valve wrote in its Year in Review post. “We’ll share updates publicly when we finalize our plans!”
While Valve’s air of secrecy can make it easy to read too much into the limited information the company does share, moving from “the first half of the year” to “[hoping] to ship in 2026” certainly gives it wiggle room to not release new hardware this year. And considering the difficulties other companies are facing sourcing memory and storage, it wouldn’t be all that surprising.
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HP said in February that RAM accounts for a third of its PC costs, and industry analysts expect the RAM shortage could radically alter the PC landscape as companies are forced to raise prices. Valve’s already struggling to keep the Steam Deck in stock due to its issues securing RAM, it stands to reason sourcing components for even more devices wouldn’t make that process any easier. Then again, the company hasn’t updated its launch timing FAQ, so there’s still reason to hope the Steam Machine ships in 2026.
When thinking of humanity’s ability to harness wind energy, many people will conjure images of windmills from places like The Netherlands or Persia. But people have been using wind energy for far longer than that in the form of sailing ships. Using the wind for transportation goes back another four thousand years or so, but despite our vast experience navigating the seas with wind alone there is still some room for improvement. Many modern sailboats use a number of different pulleys to manage all of the rigging, but this new, open-source pulley can replace many of them.
The pulley, or “block” as they are sometimes called, is built with a polymer roller made out of a type of nylon, which has the benefit of being extremely durable and self-lubricating but is a bit expensive. Durability and lack of squeakiness is important in sailing applications, though. The body is made from CNC-machined aluminum and is composed of two parts, which pivot around the pulley’s axis to allow various ropes (or “lines”) to be inserted without freeing one end of the rope. In testing, this design outperformed some proprietary stainless steel pulleys of similar size.
Another perk of this design is that it can be set up to work in many different applications on a sailboat, whether that’s for hoisting a mainsail or pulling in a jib or any other task a pulley could be used for. It can also be stacked with others in many different configurations to build custom pulleys of almost any type, and can support up to 14 mm lines. For a sailor this could be extremely valuable, because as it stands each pulley on a ship tends to be used in only certain applications, and might also be proprietary from a specific company. This pulley is being released into the open-source world, allowing anyone to create them who wants one.
Seagate introduced the Mozaic 3+ platform in 2024, turning the heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) dream into a real product for customers in need of massive storage capacities. The HDD maker is now introducing the next-generation Mozaic 4+ drives, which offer capacities up to 44TB. Read Entire Article Source link
Apple has made it pretty clear that it wants to siphon off Android and Windows users, and it’s doing it by adopting an aggressive, “budget-friendlier” model across nearly its entire ecosystem.
Apple is using $599 devices to grow its ecosystem
When I first entered the Apple ecosystem, it was when I bought an iPhone 4 in 2011 — I got it right after the 4s made its debut. I don’t remember exactly what I paid, but I know it was less than the initial $199 price tag. And back then, I thought that was a completely asinine amount of money to pay for a phone. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, I had more money in my pocket than brains in my head, so I bought it just the same. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
Anthropic confirmed it has been designated a ‘supply chain risk’ by the US administration, and said it has no choice but to challenge in the courts.
Despite ongoing talks between Anthropic and the US Department of Defense, Anthropic confirmed last night it had received a letter from defense secretary Pete Hegseth confirming the ‘supply chain risk’ designation that had been threatened.
“Yesterday (March 4) Anthropic received a letter from the Department of [Defense] confirming that we have been designated as a supply chain risk to America’s national security,” wrote co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei last night in an official statement. “We do not believe this action is legally sound, and we see no choice but to challenge it in court.”
Amodei was quick to point out that “even supposing it was legally sound”, the limited application of the designation means the “vast majority” of its customers will be unaffected by the move. He said the restriction clearly only applied to the use of Claude by customers as a direct part of contracts with the US defense department, “not all use of Claude by customers who have such contracts”.
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“The Department’s letter has a narrow scope, and this is because the relevant statute is narrow, too,” wrote Amodei. “It exists to protect the government rather than to punish a supplier.”
As with previous statements, Amodei strikes a conciliatory tone, saying Anthropic is committed to US national security and will offer continuing support from its engineers to ensure a smooth transition from Claude “for as long as we are permitted to do so”.
Anthropic drew the ire of the US administration after a standoff with the Pentagon, where Anthropic refused to change its safeguards related to using its AI for fully autonomous weapons, or for mass surveillance of US citizens.
With many in Silicon Valley supporting its relatively principled stand, and general users sending it to the top of the US Apple charts in recent days for free downloads – beating OpenAI’s ChatGPT for the first time – its flagship Claude.ai and Claude Code apps went down for around three hours on 2 March due to “unprecedented demand”.
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Claude Cowork in particular was already becoming the darling of AI enthusiasts in the professional world, and Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Anthropic was on track to generate annual revenue of almost $20bn, more than double its run rate from late 2025, signalling the rapid growth at the AI company which is today valued at around $380bn.
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According to the plaintiff, Tinder charged users aged 29 and older more for premium subscriptions such as Tinder Plus and Tinder Gold, while offering cheaper rates for the same services to users in their teens and 20s. The lawsuit claimed the tiered pricing model violated multiple California laws, including the… Read Entire Article Source link
TriZetto Provider Solutions, a healthcare IT company that develops software and services used by health insurers and healthcare providers, has suffered a data breach that exposed the sensitive information of over 3.4 million people.
The firm, which has been operating under the Cognizant umbrella since 2014, disclosed that it detected suspicious activity on a web portal on October 2, 2025, and launched an investigation with the help of external cybersecurity experts.
The investigation revealed that unauthorized access began nearly a year before, on November 19, 2024.
During the exposure period, the threat actors accessed records relating to insurance eligibility verification transactions, which are part of the process providers use to confirm a patient’s insurance coverage before treatment.
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The types of data that have been exposed vary per individual, and may include one or more of the following:
Full names
Physical address
Date of birth
Social Security number
Health insurance member number
Medicare beneficiary identifier
Provider name
Health insurer name
Demographic, health, and insurance information
Affected providers were alerted on December 9, 2025, but customer notification started in early February 2026. According to a filing Maine’s Attorney General submitted today, the number of exposed individuals is 3,433,965.
TriZetto says that payment card, bank account, or other financial information was not exposed in this incident.
Also, the company is not aware of any cases where cybercriminals have attempted to misuse this information.
TriZetto says it has taken steps to strengthen cybersecurity on its systems and informed law enforcement authorities of the incident.
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Notification recipients are offered free 12-month coverage of credit monitoring and identity protection services from Kroll to help mitigate risks arising from compromised data.
BleepingComputer has contacted TriZetto to learn more about the nature of the security breach and why the firm delayed notifications to consumers for several months, but we have not received a response by publication time.
No ransomware groups have taken responsibility for the attack yet, and no data leaks linked to TriZetto have appeared on underground forums.
Cognizant itself was rumored to have suffered a Maze ransomware breach in 2020. In June 2025, Clorox sued the IT firm for gross negligence after it allegedly let Scattered Spider operatives into its network following a social engineering attack in September 2023.
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Malware is getting smarter. The Red Report 2026 reveals how new threats use math to detect sandboxes and hide in plain sight.
Download our analysis of 1.1 million malicious samples to uncover the top 10 techniques and see if your security stack is blinded.
Ubisoft has finally confirmed what Assassin’s Creed fans have suspected for years: a remake of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is officially in the works.
The company revealed the project, titled Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced, in a new blog post outlining the future of the long-running series.
We don’t know much about the game yet, but initial reports suggest that Resynced will be a full remake rather than a simple remaster, with upgraded visuals and gameplay improvements, bringing one of the best AC games into the modern age.
It’s also suggested that new story content will be added to flesh out the world around Edward Kenway’s life – at the expense of the modern day gameplay, which has apparently been removed from the remake altogether. It’ll be interesting to see how this all works, given how the original game weaved parts of both storylines into the ending.
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We’ve known for quite some time that Ubisoft has been thinking about breathing life into the 2013 game, but this was more or less confirmed when the name surfaced on a European ratings board listing late last year.
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We don’t yet have a release date for the game, but we know that an unannounced game was due to arrive before the end of the current financial year. Of course, Ubisoft delayed seven games earlier this year – and Black Flag is expected to be one of them.
Whether or not we see the game before the end of 2026 remains to be seen, but for now we’ll keep our “spyglass on the horizon”.
Grayson Shor, far right, at a recent Pacific Northwest Battery Collaborative meet up at a Seattle brewery on Capitol Hill. Shor launched the organization to help the sector build connections. (PNWBC Photo)
The collaborative’s launch in October 2024 was so popular it ran out of chairs and the group now caps RSVPs because venues keep maxing out. The nonprofit has hosted 1,400 attendees at 17 different events in Washington, Oregon and online. Shor’s latest project is helping create a battery-focused mini-series he describes as a hybrid between Anthony Bourdain’s “Parts Unknown” and “Cosmos.”
Who knew that energy storage devices could generate so much enthusiasm?
“Batteries are sexy right now,” Shor said.
Batteries are making electric vehicle adoption more attractive as they’ve become increasingly powerful and quicker to recharge. They’re ubiquitous given the pervasive use of phones and consumer electronics. And as electricity demand is spiking thanks to data centers and other energy users, they’re a relatively quick, affordable way to add more power to the grid.
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“We are installing more grid batteries in 2025 than the total amount that existed globally just two years ago,” Shor said. “This isn’t just growth, it’s a total reimagining of how our economy is powered.”
A battery ecosystem emerges
Part of the crowd at the Pacific Northwest Battery Collaborative launch party, with founder Grayson Shor in the front row in a tie. (PNWBC Photo)
Shor has spent nearly a decade working on sustainability, circular economy and battery-related issues for organizations ranging from the U.S. Department of State to Amazon to startups. When the former diplomat landed in Seattle from the other Washington more than two years ago, he was impressed by the region’s battery sector.
That included startups in electric aviation, alternative chemistries such as sodium batteries, and next-generation silicon battery materials, plus R&D resources and support at the University of Washington’s Clean Energy Institute.
But he realized the industry lacked the connections to bring together companies, academics, entrepreneurs and investors, and set out to address it. The sector welcomes his efforts.
“I’ve paid attention to folks trying to knit together community, and for the Northwest battery innovation and application ecosystem, Grayson Shor has been an unrelenting force seeking to build and amplify our unique strengths,” said Dan Schwartz, founding director of the Clean Energy Institute.
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Tom Gurski, founder of the plug-in hybrid vehicle startup Blue Dot Motorworks, has attended the group’s functions. “In a region famous for introverted personalities their events and happy hours are invaluable for breaking down silos and getting people to connect,” Gurski said.
Beyond building community, Shor is lobbying for support for local and state policies that promote the industry and get more batteries deployed in the state. The energy storage devices have important societal benefits, he said, including better electrical grid performance and helping meet power needs during peak demand.
‘The Battery Life’
Shor speaking at a Pacific Northwest Battery Collaborative event in Seattle during 2025 PNW Climate Week. (PNBC Photo)
Shor is also the co-founder and chief product officer for Buckstop, an “urban mining” startup helping recover critical minerals from waste electronics. He also volunteers as the policy and government affairs director for the Volta Foundation, the world’s largest battery industry association.
And there’s the TV series, called “The Battery Life.” Crews recently spent three days in the Seattle area filming the first episode, visiting the battery materials company Group14 Technologies and interviewing startups at the UW’s Clean Energy Test Beds.
“We’re doing walks through factories. We’re meeting with the CEOs and the inventors, diving deep into their technology,” Shor said. But the series also has “the ‘Carl Sagan vibe,’” he added, explaining “how does this technology actually impact humanity, and why does it matter to the average person?”
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Additional episodes will be shot in Portland and Vancouver, B.C. The plan is to air the series later this year at energy events in Oregon and Las Vegas, plus other area venues.
Future Pacific Northwest Battery Collaborative plans include a job fair and fundraising gala. Shor also envisions a convention where the entrepreneurs and innovators could set up booths to show off their technologies. The ideas keep coming.
“This is playing my little role in trying to tackle climate change, to try to advance the energy transition,” he said. “It helps with equity, it helps with economic opportunity …. It makes me happy.”
