Reading List

The most recent articles from a list of feeds I subscribe to.

Iran's state media says Iran targeted Amazon's Bahrain data center on March 1 because of the company's support of "US military and intelligence activities" (Annie Palmer/CNBC)

Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Iran's state media says Iran targeted Amazon's Bahrain data center on March 1 because of the company's support of “US military and intelligence activities”  —  Amazon's data center in Bahrain was targeted by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for the company's support of the U.S. military …

MindsEye studio lays off more staff, CEO blames 'criminal activity' for game's failure

MindsEye studio head continues to allege that criminal conspirators were behind the failure of the bug-ridden and dull game.

Sources: US officials propose expanding AI chip export controls globally, requiring Commerce Department approval for Nvidia and AMD shipments for each country (Mackenzie Hawkins/Bloomberg)

Mackenzie Hawkins / Bloomberg:
Sources: US officials propose expanding AI chip export controls globally, requiring Commerce Department approval for Nvidia and AMD shipments for each country  —  Nvidia Corp. has long been the world's AI kingmaker.  Now, the Trump administration is considering taking a formal role …

Hoppers confirms fandom's Unified Pixar Theory in a terrific Easter egg

Watch carefully, and you'll see a quick Easter egg in Hoppers that directly links the movie with Up, Lightyear, and WALL-E in a single universe.

New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma Discusses Next Gen Console Codenamed Project Helix

Game Informer

After taking over as CEO of Xbox following the surprise departures of former heads Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond two weeks ago, new leader Asha Sharma has publicly revealed the codename of the next-generation Xbox. 

In an X post, Sharma shared she’d met with Team Xbox this morning to discuss Project Helix, the codename for the next-generation Xbox. According to Sharma, Project Helix “will lead in performance and play your Xbox and PC games” as part of her promised commitment to “the return of Xbox.” Sharma doesn’t provide any more details other than sharing the Project Helix logo, but confirms she’ll be attending the Game Developers Conference (GDC) next week to discuss the upcoming console with partners and developers.

Game Informer

@asha_shar

Great start to the morning with Team Xbox, where we talked about our commitment to the return of Xbox including Project Helix, the code name for our next generation console.

Project Helix will lead in performance and play your Xbox and PC games. Looking forward to chatting about this more with partners and studios at my first GDC next week!

Despite enduring a rocky console generation, we’ve known that Xbox was committed to releasing a successor to the Xbox Series X/S dating back to 2024, when former Xbox head Phil Spencer told employees the company had no plan to stop making Xbox consoles. Xbox also announced last June that AMD will power its next-generation consoles as part of a multi-year partnership with the tech giant.

Today’s news comes after Xbox’s colossal leadership shake-up that saw Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer retire and Xbox president Sarah Bond resign on February 20. Asha Sharma, previously the president of Microsoft’s CoreAI, was appointed to Spencer’s former position, with long-time Xbox executive Matt Booty promoted to Chief Content Officer to work alongside her.

Although Sharma has no prior experience working in video games, she stated in an email to employees that she intends to “understand what makes this work and protect it.” She has also responded to fears of AI integration in future Xbox games (stemming from her former position) by saying, “Games are and always will be art, crafted by humans, and created with the most innovative technology provided by us.”

For more on Xbox, you can check out these stories for its 2026 slate of games, such as Halo: Campaign Evolved, Playground Games' Forza Horizon 6 and Fable, and Double Fine's Kiln. Subscribers can read our latest magazine preview for Gears of War: E-Day