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Microsoft's latest performance metrics clearly illustrate that it has successfully expanded onto multiple platforms and devices.

Xbox isn't just a console any more. Microsoft's gaming brand is now an ecosystem of services and content delivered over all kinds of devices including consoles, Windows PCs, mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and games can even be delivered directly to smart TVs via the cloud. Microsoft has a vision to grow Xbox's reach to every digital platform to transform everyday consumers into gamers.

Microsoft's latest Q2 FY2023 report has confirmed this plan is working well. Very well, in fact. In the earnings call, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed an incredibly important bit of data to investors regarding the Xbox brand. The Xbox ecosystem now has 120 million monthly active users, which means this many people are engaged with the Xbox ecosystem across the myriad devices where it is available. Xbox is finally beating PlayStation MAUs...but there's some critical context needed with this info.

The explosion of artificial intelligence systems can be traced back to a few different AI projects, but one, in particular, is certainly leading the charge for the next evolution of technology, and that is OpenAI's ChatGPT.

In a new interview with Fortune, executives at OpenAI revealed the AI chatbot is much more popular than they initially anticipated. For context, ChatGPT managed to gain more than a million users just within the first five days of it being available to the public. The AI chatbot even has sometimes to force newly joined users to wait in a queue as the site is at capacity. This, of course, depends on the time of day its being accessed.

OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman spoke to Fortune and admitted that he didn't even know if ChatGPT was going to work. OpenAI's chief technology officer, Mira Murati, told the magazine that "this was definitely surprising." Notably, the decision to release ChatGPT to the public was one that was made to overcome hurdles in its development. Brockman said that artificial intelligence was released to the public because the company's initial effort into creating chatbots that are experts in specific areas didn't work out.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has defended his 2018 tweets in court about having secured funding for taking Tesla private.

Tesla shareholders filed a lawsuit against Musk over his 2018 tweet where he wrote he was considering taking Tesla private at $420, followed by the now-infamous text "funding secured". Additionally, Musk replied to the initial tweet by writing that Tesla shareholders could either sell at $420 or hold shares and go private. These tweets caused extreme volatility in Tesla's share prices, which was followed by a lawsuit from Tesla shareholders that believe Musk should be held accountable for any damages caused by the tweets.

Now, Musk is appearing in a San Francisco courtroom to defend his tweets and provide the reasoning behind them. The Tesla CEO explained the tweets weren't a gag or a joke, as he had received verbal confirmation that Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia's Private Investment Fund, backed the idea. Additionally, Musk claimed that Al-Rumayyan also spoke to then-Tesla Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sam Teller and said that Saudi investors were "committed" and would do "whatever it took" to take Tesla private.

NASA has confirmed that the world's most powerful space telescope has experienced a glitch that caused an instrument to time out.

The space agency took to its blog to announce that the James Webb Space Telescope's Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) experienced a communications delay that resulted in flight software engaging a safety time out. For those that don't know, Webb was launched in December 2021 after lengthy development that was plagued with delays and increasing expenditure. However, the next-generation space telescope made it to its destination at Lagrange point 2, where it began scientific operations in July 2022.

The space telescope is already making waves in the scientific community and beyond with its images of the cosmos and planetary inspection capabilities. As for the NIRISS instrument, NASA writes that since the glitch was detected, the instrument has been put out of operation, but there is no indication of any damage to any of the hardware. Furthermore, NASA writes that the observatory as a whole and any other instruments onboard are in good health.

NASA's Perseverance rover has been tracking the changes in Mars' atmosphere for the past 250 sols, or Martian days. The acquired data has been released in the rovers first detailed weather report.

Perseverance is equipped with several sensors, cameras and sensitive instruments which are all designed to gather to most accurate details about the conditions of the Red Planet. NASA's rover has been exploring Mars since it landed in the Jezero Crater in early 2021. Since then the rover has taken several samples of martian rock which will eventually be transported back to Earth for further analysis.

Many researchers are excited about the coming samples as they are set to undoubtedly unlock more in-depth knowledge about the geology of our red neighbor. This information will then be used to reduce the overall risk humans will endure when we begin our colonization. Perseverance for the past 250 sols, which are about 40 minutes longer than one 24-hour Earth day, has been collecting data on the pressure and temperature of Mars.

Californian carmaker Rezvani has unveiled the Rezvani Vengeance, and the Batmobile-like SUV comes with a military package that is truly shocking.

The Rezvani Vengeance is not your typical SUV as this vehicle is truly equipped for an apocalyptic event with the inclusion of bulletproof glass, blinding strobe lights, electrified door handles, smoke screen, thermal night vision, EMP protection, gas masks, and even a pepper spray dispenser. Looking at the Rezvani website, the company states that "vengeance is yours," and if you decide to get the military package, all of the aforementioned features are yours.

Notably, these features and the vehicle by itself don't come cheap. The Rezvani Vengeance base model, without the bells and pepper sprayers, comes in at $285,000. Those that decide the military package is a necessary upgrade will have to pay a whopping $499,000. It should be noted that tactical weaponry equipped to the Rezvani Vengeance isn't marketed towards the US military personnel but to everyday Americans.

One of the most famous games to release on the Nintendo 64 is heading over to the Nintendo Switch and Xbox.

Rare has taken to its official YouTube channel to announce that GoldenEye 007 is coming to the Xbox Game pass on January 27. The Xbox version of the classic Nintendo 64 title is a HD remaster of the game that was originally released in 1997. The remastered version of GoldenEye 007 features support for 4K resolution, faster frame rates, and split-screen local multiplayer.

As for the Nintendo Switch version, which will also be released on January 27, Switch users will experience the original game with no improvements besides general game support. Notably, Nintendo is releasing GoldenEye 007 as part of its Nintendo Switch Online service, which comes with several Nintendo 64 titles. The inclusion of Nintendo 64 titles in Nintendo's online service began in 2021 and features several golden-age games such as Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Yoshi's Story, and more.

As far as video encoding goes, AV1 represents a big leap forward over H.264 - a video technology that is remarkably almost two decades old. With the release of the GeForce RTX 40 Series, NVIDIA beefed up the video capabilities of its new GPU range with the addition of dual AV1 encoders. Not only something that brings massive improvements to encoding times for content creators but improves quality for streaming.

When NVIDIA announced the GeForce RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 last year, it showcased the difference AV1 brings using Fortnite gameplay in a Twitch-like setting. As per the video above, it's a massive improvement, with NVENC AV1 delivering noticeably crisper and smoother video at 1080p60 than H.264 using the same bitrate. Bitrate is critical, as spotty video compression can be detrimental to live streams and broadcasts.

With AV1 added to the popular streaming app OBS Studio for recording, its addition to Discord this week is excellent news for gamers and the future of streaming. Discord is widely used as a social platform for specific games, groups, and friends, and being able to jump into a chat or share screens means it's a streaming platform too.

Micron's new 1.5TB microSD card is the world's largest in terms of storage capacity, but it's pricey at around USD 400. Still, seeing a microSD card with a 1.5TB capacity is a little crazy - but before we wondered how Micron managed to fit that amount of data onto something the size of a sim card, we began thinking about its potential usage.

And sure, for photographers and videographers, it's a potential game-changer, but we were thinking something a little more literally game-changing. Pairing this with the Steam Deck or the Nintendo Switch would mean being able to install just about every game you can think of without having to worry about running out of storage.

The Switch features only 32GB of internal storage, and the Steam Deck starts at 64GB (256GB and 512GB are also available), so expanding that with an additional 1.5TB is the dream. And sure, 1TB microSD cards are a lot cheaper, but going all the way to 1.5TB would no doubt be worthwhile in an era when game install sizes keep growing.

It's no secret that high-end CPUs and GPUs perform better in colder temperatures, especially when overclocking enters the picture. It's the reason why LN2 or liquid nitrogen is used to cool hardware pushing insane speeds - as opposed to, say, lava.

Thanks to a Chinese content creator by the name of "苏打baka," we've now got confirmation that a powerful gaming PC rocking an Intel Core i9-13900K CPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 will have no problem functioning during the next Ice Age.

Some regions of China are experiencing some of the coldest temperatures they've seen for decades right now, so she decided to take her gaming rig to see how it holds up in a sub-zero -53C climate. And apparently, no hardware was damaged in the creation of the video.

AMD has released Adrenalin 23.1.2 drivers for its Radeon GPUs, except that the update is exclusive to the Radeon RX 7900 Series of graphics cards that launched late last year. Alongside support for the new game Forspoken it expands Vulkan API support, though what's missing is support for older AMD GPUs - specifically the Radeon RX 6000 Series. And with Forspoken being an AMD-sponsored title on PC, having no day-one support for the RX 6000 Series is baffling.

This means no optimized support for those playing Forspoken on a Radeon RX 6950 XT, and it's been 48 days since AMD released a driver covering its full line-up of GPU offerings. That driver update arrived on December 8, 2022, so this is the third Radeon RX 7000 Series exclusive driver from AMD in a row. Perhaps AMD is currently focused on optimizing the new RDNA 3 architecture and fixing bugs related to power-draw and performance, outlined by the "Known Issues" section of the AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition update.

And even though the new drivers are limited to the Radeon RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX GPUs, the download package is still a sizable 590 MB.

With crypto mining using off-the-shelf gaming GPUs now a thing of the past (or maybe it's just hibernating until the next boom), miners are now looking to offload graphics cards onto the used market. And really, if you're looking at buying a used GPU in 2023 - especially something from the Ampere or RDNA 2 generation - there's a good chance it might have been used to mine a cryptocurrency like Ethereum.

And with that stigma based on crypto mining pushing GPU memory and VRAM, it's not surprising that some mining cards are being sold as brand-new. A new investigation from YouTuber Iskandar Souza and computer technician Paulo Gomes looking at the Chinese market has discovered some new tricks people employ to make their GPUs appear brand-new. And it involves painting memory chips to make them look new because the easiest way to spot a used GPU comes from a yellow tint visible on the GPU and memory.

The video showcases the various degradation stages, which are made more prominent on mining cards based on the high temps and memory clock speeds. Resoldering valuable components onto new boards are common, too, even to salvage high-end materials to be re-used. Using paint to make a GPU look fresh is a new one - and you can see the paint being scraped off in the video to reveal the actual component color.

It's the end of an era as Electronic Gaming Monthly shuts down for good.

Remember video game magazines? They've gone the way of the dinosaur thanks to the infinitely-cheaper delivery of news blogs and social media micro-blasts, but back in the day these mags were a primary way to get new info on games. Electronic Gaming Monthly was a godsend to nerds like me who grew up in the 90s.

Sadly, EGM has closed down. The news was confirmed by former EGM associate editor Michael Goroff on Twitter: "I received word on Monday that EGM NOW has shut down, which means I've been laid off. The last five years have been a rollercoaster ride of the highest and lowest moments of my career, but my editors Josh Harmon and Mollie Patterson were constant professionals through it all."

Redfall's official Xbox store page confirms the game will feature in-app purchases, possibly hinting at a microtransaction store page.

Redfall might have some sort of monetization after all. The Xbox store page specifically confirms as much, but we don't know the exact scope of what's included. Redfall presumably lets gamers upgrade to the Bite Back version of the game that includes a Hero Pass with two extra heroes that will be added over time. This upgrade and/or the Hero Pass itself would technically count as an in-app purchase.

From what we've seen before, it could also mean the game has microtransactions of some sort. And they're likely to be cosmetic-only if they're included at all.

With current economic market conditions squeezing consumer wallets, now is not a great time to make unsafe bets in the gaming world...and there's nothing riskier than a live game.

Live service games are the riskiest video games to make. They're also the most lucrative. As the world navigates an extremely volatile economy with constant shifts in exchange rates, rising costs across the board, and job insecurity, modern consumers are adjusting to the "new normal." This typically means consumers are spending less of their disposable time and money on leisure activities like video games.

Gaming and tech in general saw a record boom during COVID-19 lockdowns, leading to mass expansion in many tech firms. Rising costs have forced companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Twitter to lay off tens of thousands of workers combined. This displacement of workers has also affected gaming, with layoffs happening at Xbox.

U.S. Republicans say that Xbox is "going woke," but the console is just making it easier for consumers to save money.

Gaming is often used as a crude blunt instrument in political battles. We've seen legislators try to blame real-world violence on video games for decades now despite the fact that only recently gun violence has reached an all-time historical peak in the United States. Manufactured controversies are nothing new for politics, and now Republicans are trying to pull Xbox video games consoles into a war of woke-ism.

In what I can only assume is an absurd quest for ratings and constant pressure to drum up drama, U.S. Republicans and Fox News are stretching the limits of willful ignorance to peddle new ridiculous claims. It all has to do with Xbox's new power-saving mode.

Arkane's latest game Redfall is like if Stephen King worked on a Destiny game...and that makes it extremely compelling.

Game developer Arkane is known for creating amazing worlds. Prey 2017 was one of the best games I've ever played because of the Talos-I ship, which was basically a world in itself. The studio's next game, Redfall, continues this tradition and really tests the style and skill of Arkane's teams.

Today's Xbox stream delivered some dazzling visuals of Redfall, showing a haunted coastal town with promising eldritch adventuring and compelling environmental storytelling. The island town is full of cultists and ghastly ghouls set in an atmosphere that looks and feels like something Stephen King would think up.

Justin Roiland, the brainchild behind the hit cartoon show Rick and Morty, has been dropped by Adult Swim, the owners of the TV show.

The decision to sever ties with Roiland was announced on Wednesday when Adult Swim and the Rick and Morty social media channels said: "Adult Swim has ended its association with Justin Roiland. Rick and Morty will continue. The talented and dedicated staff are hard at work on season 7." The announcement of Roiland's departure from the show is amid domestic battery, corporal injury, and false imprisonment by menace, fraud, violence, or deceit against his former girlfriend at the time.

Roiland has pleaded not guilty to the charges laid against him, and the Rick and Morty creator's lawyer, T Edward Welbourn, has issued a statement, "Not only is Justin innocent but we also have every expectation that this matter is on course to be dismissed once the district attorney's office has completed its methodical review of the evidence." It should be noted that Roiland served as the co-creator of Rick and Morty as well as an executive producer. Furthermore, Roiland also voices both the mad scientist Rick and his grandson Morty.

An astronomer discovered an asteroid on January 21, 2023, and found that it's going to be making a very close approach to Earth in the coming days.

The asteroid called 2023 BU was discovered by astronomers Gennadiy Borisov at the MARGO Observatory in Crimea. The asteroid was identified, and calculations were performed that estimated the small space rock will make its closest approach to Earth on January 26 at an altitude of just 2,178 miles above the surface of the Earth.

For perspective, geostationary orbit is at an altitude of approximately 22,000 miles. This level of orbit is commonly used by satellites that are locked into a circular synchronized orbit around Earth, in which the satellite's orbital period is the same as Earth's rotation period of 23 hours and 56 minutes (1 day). Researchers estimate that 2023 BU has a diameter between 12 and 28 feet, and since it's relatively small, it will be difficult to spot without a powerful telescope and a skilled operator.

The world's most powerful observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope, has used its instrument to make a breakthrough discovery.

NASA has taken to its blog on its official website to announce that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), operated by an international team of astronomers, has discovered an inventory of the deepest, coldest ices measured to date. The space agency explains that knowledge of interstellar ice is very valuable as ices will be a crucial ingredient for building a habitable planet off Earth.

These ices contain vital elements such as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur. Notably, these elements are key ingredients for a viable planetary atmosphere and molecules such as sugars, alcohols, and simple amino acids vital for life. Webb's sensitive instruments were pointed at the Chameleon I cloud located in the southern constellation of Chameleon, some 500 light-years away from Earth.