Avowed dev Obsidian didn't expect everyone to hate one of the Xbox RPG's biggest systems
Xbox Crafting upgrades was very important in Xbox's Avowed, and many players hated that. Developer Obsidian, notably, was very "surprised" by the feedback.
Features
Black Ops 7 is on a roll and the latest content is the best from Call of Duty in ages
Opinion It might be the in thing to rip on Call of Duty on the internet, but they're cooking with Black Ops 7. The most recent content is some of the best in a long time.
Two of the most legendary games of all time get new content this week
Gaming For veteran gamers who have been at it for decades, this week's new content for Age of Empires 2 and Diablo 2 feels like time travel. Kudos to Microsoft for preserving these games the right way.
The AI Tax — Why you're paying for tech you don't use
AI The "AI Tax" is hitting consumers through electricity price hikes and hardware delays. Even if you don't use AI, you're still paying the bill.
I'm replacing Task Manager on all my PCs with this free app
Windows 11 I decided to test out a new monitoring app for Windows called AppControl, and after only a few days of use, I've sworn off Task Manager. Best part? AppControl is completely free.
Windows & Software
Microsoft caught using "amateuristic" AI slop to plagiarize graphics
AI Microsoft is under fire for using AI to plagiarize a well-known technical diagram, resulting in a typo-ridden version labeled as AI slop.
Save yourself from a bad Windows 11 update with these recovery tips
Windows 11 Protect your computer and files from bad updates on Windows 11 with restore points, recovery tools, update control, and backups to avoid data loss.
14 simple Windows 11 tweaks that instantly boost your privacy
Privacy On Windows 11, you can use these 14 privacy tweaks to take control of your device by disabling telemetry, Copilot, Recall, OneDrive, Edge tracking, and cloud sync.
PC Hardware
I compare two of the lightest, thinnest laptops launching in 2026
Laptops Here's how the new Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition and ASUS Zenbook A14 for 2026 compare.
Western Digital shifts supply to AI, leaving consumers short
News AI infrastructure demand is reshaping the storage market, as Western Digital confirms firm orders through 2026 and long-term agreements stretching into 2028.
Acer and ASUS PC sales halted in Germany over a codec spat with Nokia
Hardware Acer and ASUS pause PC sales in the European country after a court ruled in favor of Nokia in a HEVC legal battle.
The best Windows laptops out of 70+ recent reviews
Laptops The Windows Central team has tested and reviewed more than 70 Windows laptops in the past year, and I've curated this list with the 9 best options as well as several honorable mentions.
Deals
This $30 Hall Effect controller deal is actually ludicrous
Deals I've spent hundreds of hours with the GameSir Super Nova. At $29.99, this Hall Effect controller is a steal you shouldn't pass up before tonight's deal deadline.
This highly rated mini PC drops below $600 for an easy recommendation
Deals The Geekom IT13 mini PC, with 16GB of RAM, a max CPU clock speed of 4.8 GHz in its Core i5 CPU, is now on a 29% discount exclusively on Amazon.
Xbox Ally is defying the "Rampocalypse" price hikes with this 18% discount
Deals The Xbox Ally is a powerful gaming handheld with performance rates and resolutions equal to those of the vaunted Steam Deck, and it's enjoying an 18% discount across various retailers.
This highly effective MMO mouse and near-perfect keyboard are on a Presidents' Day sale
Deals Presidents' Day has given Best Buy a chance to sell off a couple of vital discounted PC gaming accessories for players looking to conquer World of Warcraft's upcoming Midnight expansion.
Handheld Gaming PCs
Valve confirms RAM shortages affecting Steam Deck
Handhelds Valve has acknowledged that Steam Deck OLED stock shortages are due to memory and storage supply issues, raising questions about pricing and how this will affect the Steam Machine.
Gaming
I played Microsoft Flight Sim with this joystick disguised as a controller, and I love it
Review Honeycomb's excellent Echo is a mashup of traditional flight sim hardware and casual joypads, built for convenient PC gaming.
World of Warcraft's latest short film is proof it deserves an animated TV show
Gaming World of Warcraft: Midnight is drawing near. So Blizzard has decided to give fans a look at the backstory for one of its central characters, Liadrin, in a new gorgeously animated short film.
What's next for Xbox's Starfield? It's not "Starfield 2.0," but more is "coming soon"
Xbox Bethesda's Todd Howard says the studio will soon show what it's been working on for Xbox's Starfield RPG, but notes it's not "Starfield 2.0."
Artificial Intelligence
Copilot 365 Chat has been summarizing confidential emails, Microsoft notices
AI Microsoft has identified a bug in 365 Copilot that allows the service to access and summarize confidential emails without user consent.
Microsoft AI CEO warns white-collar jobs face AI automation in 18 months
AI Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman predicts most white-collar tasks will be automated within 18 months, potentially reshaping the future of work as we know it.
Microsoft AI chief confirms plan to ditch OpenAI
AI Google Deepmind co-founder and Microsoft AI lead Mustafa Suleyman suggests that the big tech firm is moving away from OpenAI reliance, as the latter's financials look increasingly dire.
How OpenAI pushed a key researcher to resign — the implications are dire
AI OpenAI researcher sounds the alarm over ChatGPT's ads, which could exploit users' psychology and most intimate secrets to bombard them with turbo-manipulative ads.
Microsoft
Glass‑based storage sounds sci‑fi, but Microsoft just made it real
Microsoft Microsoft’s latest Project Silica breakthrough shows how borosilicate glass can preserve data for 10,000 years.
Teams will bug you to pick a default mobile browser — take a guess
Teams Microsoft Teams is about to introduce a mobile browser selector, but it might be just another way to push Edge as the default.
Microsoft Azure usage by ICE triples — but is it mass surveillance?
Microsoft Leaked files show ICE tripled its data on Microsoft Azure to 1,400TB. As AI usage climbs, Microsoft faces fresh scrutiny over its "mass surveillance" pledge.
Microsoft secretly increases Xbox Rewards costs for gift card points
Xbox Microsoft has quietly increased the Microsoft Rewards points cost for Xbox gift cards in the US and UK by roughly 5%.
Peripherals & Accessories
X / Twitter knocked offline as major outage impacts service
X A major outage has taken X offline for millions of users, with people reporting they are unable to access the website or the app.
