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Over the last year, Sam Altman led OpenAI to the adult table of the technology industry. Thanks to its hugely popular ChatGPT chatbot, the San Francisco start-up was at the center of an artificial intelligence boom, and Mr. Altman, OpenAI’s chief executive, had become one of the most recognizable people in tech.

But that success raised tensions inside the company. Ilya Sutskever, a respected A.I. researcher who co-founded OpenAI with Mr. Altman and nine other people, was increasingly worried that OpenAI’s technology could be dangerous and that Mr. Altman was not paying enough attention to that risk, according to three people familiar with his thinking. Mr. Sutskever, a member of the company’s board of directors, also objected to what he saw as his diminished role inside the company, according to two of the people.

That conflict between fast growth and A.I. safety came into focus on Friday afternoon, when Mr. Altman was pushed out of his job by four of OpenAI’s six board members, led by Mr. Sutskever. The move shocked OpenAI employees and the rest of the tech industry, including Microsoft, which has invested $13 billion in the company. Some industry insiders were saying the split was as significant as when Steve Jobs was forced out of Apple in 1985.

The ouster of Mr. Altman, 38, drew attention to a longtime rift in the A.I. community between people who believe A.I. is the biggest business opportunity in a generation and others who worry that moving too fast could be dangerous. And the ouster showed how a philosophical movement devoted to the fear of A.I. had become an unavoidable part of tech culture.

Since ChatGPT was released almost a year ago, artificial intelligence has captured the public’s imagination, with hopes that it could be used for important work like drug research or to help teach children. But some A.I. scientists and political leaders worry about its risks, such as jobs getting automated out of existence or autonomous warfare that grows beyond human control.

Fears that A.I. researchers were building a dangerous thing have been a fundamental part of OpenAI’s culture. Its founders believed that because they understood those risks, they were the right people to build it.

OpenAI’s board has not offered a specific reason for why it pushed out Mr. Atman, other than to say in a blog post that it did not believe he was communicating honestly with them. OpenAI employees were told on Saturday morning that his removal had nothing to do with “malfeasance or anything related to our financial, business, safety or security/privacy practice,” according to a message viewed by The New York Times.

Greg Brockman, another co-founder and the company’s president, quit in protest on Friday night. So did OpenAI’s director of research. By Saturday morning, the company was in chaos, according to a half dozen current and former employees, and its roughly 700 employees were struggling to understand why the board made its move.

“I’m sure you all are feeling confusion, sadness, and perhaps some fear,” Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s chief operating officer, said in a memo to OpenAI employees. “We are fully focused on handling this, pushing toward resolution and clarity, and getting back to work.”

Mr. Altman was asked to join a board meeting via video at noon in San Francisco on Friday. There, Mr. Sutskever, 37, read from a script that closely resembled the blog post the company published minutes later, according to a person familiar with the matter. The post said that Mr. Altman “was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.”

But in the hours that followed, OpenAI employees and others focused not only on what Mr. Altman may have done, but on the way the San Francisco start-up is structured and the extreme views on the dangers of A.I. embedded in the company’s work since it was created in 2015.

Mr. Sutskever and Mr. Altman could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

In recent weeks, Jakub Pachocki, who helped oversee GPT-4, the technology at the heart of ChatGPT, was promoted to director of research at the company. After previously occupying a position below Mr. Sutskever, he was elevated to a position alongside Mr. Sutskever, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Pachocki quit the company late on Friday, the people said, soon after Mr. Brockman. Earlier in the day, OpenAI said Mr. Brockman had been removed as chairman of the board and would report to the new interim chief executive, Mira Murati. Other allies of Mr. Altman — including two senior researchers, Szymon Sidor and Aleksander Madry — have also left the company.

Mr. Brockman said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that even though he was the chairman of the board, he was not part of the board meeting where Mr. Altman was ousted. That left Mr. Sutskever and three other board members: Adam D’Angelo, chief executive of the question-and-answer site Quora; Tasha McCauley, an adjunct senior management scientist at the RAND Corporation; and Helen Toner, director of strategy and foundational research grants at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology.

They could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

Ms. McCauley and Ms. Toner have ties to the Rationalist and Effective Altruist movements, a community that is deeply concerned that A.I. could one day destroy humanity. Today’s A.I. technology cannot destroy humanity. But this community believes that as the technology grows increasingly powerful, these dangers will arise.

In 2021, a researcher named Dario Amodei, who also has ties to this community, and about 15 other OpenAI employees left the company to form a new A.I. company called Anthropic.

Mr. Sutskever was increasingly aligned with those beliefs. Born in the Soviet Union, he spent his formative years in Israel and emigrated to Canada as a teenager. As an undergraduate at the University of Toronto, he helped create a breakthrough in an A.I. technology called neural networks.

In 2015, Mr. Sutskever left a job at Google and helped found OpenAI alongside Mr. Altman, Mr. Brockman and Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk. They built the lab as a nonprofit, saying that unlike Google and other companies, it would not be driven by commercial incentives. They vowed to build what is called artificial general intelligence, or A.G.I., a machine that can do anything the brain can do.

Mr. Altman transformed OpenAI into a for-profit company in 2018 and negotiated a $1 billion investment from Microsoft. Such enormous sums of money are essential to building technologies like GPT-4, which was released earlier this year. Since its initial investment, Microsoft has put another $12 billion into the company.

The company was still governed by the nonprofit board. Investors like Microsoft do receive profits from OpenAI, but their profits are capped. Any money over the cap is funneled back into the nonprofit.

As he saw the power of GPT-4, Mr. Sutskever helped create a new Super Alignment team inside the company that would explore ways of ensuring that future versions of the technology would not do harm.

Mr. Altman was open to those concerns, but he also wanted OpenAI to stay ahead of its much larger competitors. In late September, Mr. Altman flew to the Middle East for a meeting with investors, according to two people familiar with the matter. He sought as much as $1 billion in funding from SoftBank, the Japanese technology investor led by Masayoshi Son, for a potential OpenAI venture that would build a hardware device for running A.I. technologies like ChatGPT.

OpenAI is also in talks for “tender offer” funding that would allow employees to cash out shares in the company. That deal would value OpenAI at more than $80 billion, nearly triple its worth about six months ago.

But the company’s success appears to have only heightened concerns that something could go wrong with A.I.

“It doesn’t seem at all implausible that we will have computers — data centers — that are much smarter than people,” Mr. Sutskever said on a podcast on Nov. 2. “What would such A.I.s do? I don’t know.”

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Sofutsu Co., based in Tokyo's Chuo Ward, conducted an online fact-finding survey on telephone operations between Aug. 4 and 7, targeting 562 people aged 20 or older who work at offices with landline phones.

When asked whether they felt uncomfortable talking on the phone, 57.8% of all respondents answered either "very much" or "somewhat." The percentage increased when the respondents were narrowed down to those in their 20s and 30s (268 people in total), with 72.7% in this group saying they weren't comfortable with telephones.

The company said, "The number of young people suffering from 'phone phobia' may be increasing due to the spread of social media messaging functions that have reduced opportunities to talk on the phone."

In addition, 44.8% of all respondents felt displeasure when the landline phone rang at work. The most common reason for this, chosen by 50.8%, was "I have to stop what I'm doing to answer it, which breaks my concentration." Other responses included, "I get worried if I can answer correctly with my knowledge," and, "When the person in charge is not available, I'm worried if I'll be able to properly catch what the caller is saying."

The average number of phone calls people answered at work per day was 7.4, and by age bracket, those in their 50s picked up the phone most frequently, at an average of 12.7 times per day. The average time spent per call was 3.1 minutes. Based on the average of 245 business days per year, this means that company employees spend an average of about 93 hours per year on the phone.

A Sofutsu representative commented, "This survey highlighted the current reality where many company employees spend a great deal of time and money on the phone in the workplace. As workstyles have become increasingly diverse in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, it is probably necessary to adjust the use of the phone, social media messaging functions and other means of communication accordingly to improve work efficiency."

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Sam Altman, the tech entrepreneur who was removed as chief executive of OpenAI on Friday by its board of directors, is in the process of pitching a new artificial intelligence start-up to investors, according to three people familiar with his plans.

Mr. Altman plans to launch the initiative with his longtime partner and co-founder Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s former president who stepped down in solidarity with Mr. Altman on Friday, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plans for the new company are not yet public.

Details on the potential company are scarce, because Mr. Altman and Mr. Brockman are still working through what it will be. Plans could change quickly, as the pair are keeping a wide range of options open, the sources said.

OpenAI’s board of directors shocked the tech industry on Friday when it abruptly fired Mr. Altman from his position as chief executive. By Friday night, the two men were already working on their plans to pitch investors on their next venture. The Information first reported on their plans for a new initiative.

Mr. Altman could not be reached for comment. Mr. Brockman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. OpenAI declined to comment.

Mr. Altman and Mr. Brockman spent Friday evening sketching out the new company, said one of the sources, and they considered which OpenAI employees would join them. At least three other OpenAI employees have resigned over the last day, according to three people familiar with the matter who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak about it.

Mr. Altman took a break to poke at OpenAI’s board on social media, with a joke threatening to start “going off,” or speaking candidly, about the situation.

Prominent tech investors have rushed to show their support for Mr. Altman and hinted that they would back his next venture.

Alfred Lin, an investor at Sequoia Capital, a firm that invested in OpenAI and Mr. Altman’s first start-up, Loopt, posted on X, formerly called Twitter, that he looked forward to “the next world-changing company” that Mr. Altman and Mr. Brockman would build. Eric Schmidt, former chief executive of Google, posted, “I can’t wait to see what he does next.”

OpenAI set off an A.I. boom late last year when it released ChatGPT, and Silicon venture capital firms raced to invest in start-ups developing similar technologies.

Mr. Altman has pitched a number of ideas for new projects to investors and other outsiders in recent months. During a fund-raising trip last month where he met with potential investors from the Middle East, Mr. Altman spoke about A.I.-related projects, including a plan to develop custom chips for A.I. that would compete with Nvidia, according to four people familiar with his travel who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the matter.

He also spoke with Masayoshi Son, the chief executive and billionaire founder of the tech conglomerate SoftBank, about investing in an effort to build an A.I. device with Jony Ive, the former chief design officer at Apple.

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A day after OpenAI’s board of directors fired former CEO Sam Altman in a shock development, investors in the company are plotting how to restore him in what would amount to an even more surprising counter-coup.

Venture capital firms holding positions in OpenAI’s for-profit entity have discussed working with Microsoft and senior employees at the company to bring back Altman, even as he has signaled to some that he intends to launch a new startup, four sources told Forbes.

Whether the companies would be able to exert enough pressure to pull off such a move — and do it fast enough to keep Altman interested — is unclear.

The playbook, a source told Forbes would be straightforward: make OpenAI’s new management, under acting CEO Mira Murati and the remaining board, accept that their situation was untenable through a combination of mass revolt by senior researchers, withheld cloud computing credits from Microsoft, and a potential lawsuit from investors. Facing such a combination, the thinking is that management would have to accept Altman back, likely leading to the subsequent departure of those believed to have pushed for Altman’s removal, including cofounder Ilya Sutskever and board director Adam D’Angelo, the CEO of Quora.

Should such an effort not come together in time, Altman and OpenAI ex-president Greg Brockman were set to raise capital for a new startup, two sources said. “If they don’t figure it out asap, they’d just go ahead with Newco,” one source added.

OpenAI had not responded to a request for comment at publication time. Microsoft declined to comment.

Earlier on Saturday, The Information reported that Altman was already meeting with investors to raise funds for such a project. One source close to Altman said that both options remained possible. “I think he truly wants the best outcome,” said the person. “He doesn’t want to see lives destroyed.”

A key player in any attempted reinstatement would be Microsoft, OpenAI’s key partner that has poured $10 billion into the company. CEO Satya Nadella was left surprised and “furious” by the ouster, Bloomberg reported. Microsoft has sent only a fraction of that stated dollar amount to OpenAI, per a Semafor report. A source close to Microsoft’ thinking said the company would prefer to see stability at a key partner.

The Verge reported on Saturday that OpenAI’s board was in discussions to bring back Altman. It was unclear if such discussions were the immediate result of the investor pressure.

On Friday, Forbes reported how investors had been left blindsided by Altman’s firing by OpenAI’s board of directors, an unusual group for a large, high-valued technology company.

Developing ...

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The OpenAI board is in discussions with Sam Altman to return to CEO, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. One of them said Altman, who was suddenly fired by the board on Friday with no notice, is “ambivalent” about coming back and would want significant governance changes.

Altman holding talks with the company just a day after he was ousted indicates that OpenAI is in a state of free-fall without him. Hours after he was axed, Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president and former board chairman, resigned, and the two have been talking to friends and investors about starting another company. A string of senior researchers also resigned on Friday, and people close to OpenAI say more departures are in the works.

OpenAI’s largest investor, Microsoft, said in a statement shortly after Altman’s firing that the company “remains committed” to its partnership with the AI firm. However, OpenAI’s investors weren’t given advance warning or opportunity to weigh in on the board’s decision to remove Altman. As the face of the company and the most prominent voice in AI, his removal throws the future of OpenAI into uncertainty at a time when rivals are racing to catch up with the unprecedented rise of ChatGPT.

A spokesperson for OpenAI didn’t respond to a request for comment about Altman discussing a return with the board. A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment.

OpenAI’s current board consists of chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, former GeoSim Systems CEO Tasha McCauley, and Helen Toner, the director of strategy at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology. Unlike traditional companies, the board isn’t tasked with maximizing shareholder value, and none of them hold equity in OpenAI. Instead, their stated mission is to ensure the creation of “broadly beneficial” artificial general intelligence, or AGI.

Sutskever, who also co-founded OpenAI and leads its researchers, was instrumental in the ousting of Altman this week, according to multiple sources. His role in the coup suggests a power struggle between the research and product sides of the company, the sources say.

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The award-winning story will remain unchanged for this remaster, but Naughty Dog has upgraded the visuals and accessibility options for PlayStation 5 players who are jumping in. This includes "4K output in Fidelity Mode, 1440p upscaled to 4K in Performance Mode, an Unlocked Framerate option for TVs that support VRR, increased texture resolution, increased Level-of-Detail distances, improved shadow quality, animation sampling rate, and more."

As for new modes, No Return is a rogue-like survival mode offering a combat-focused experience hosting randomized enemies and unlockable characters with unique traits. Meanwhile, Guitar Free Play makes the popular mini-game an experience of its own featuring FX pedals, different instruments, and various in-game moods to vibe to.

The other major features of the remaster include looks at several unfinished levels (with developer commentary) that were cut from the main experience, as well as director commentary across all campaign cutscenes featuring the voices of director Neil Druckmann, narrative lead Halley Gross, and actors Troy Baker, Ashley Johnson, and Laura Bailey.

"We’re so excited to natively bring The Last of Us Part II to the PlayStation 5 as the definitive way to experience the sequel and everything it has to offer, while also offering fans new and returning deeper levels of appreciation for the work that went into it," adds Naughty Dog.

The Last of Us Part II Remastered is coming out exclusively on PlayStation 5 on January 19 with pre-orders going live on December 5. While its standalone price has not been announced just yet, Sony will be offering a $10 upgrade option for players who already own the original digital version on PlayStation 4.

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However, way back in 1994, Microsoft decided to launch a space-based sim game that was made (sort of) to be a spin-off of its successful Microsoft Flight Simulator titles. It was called, naturally, Microsoft Space Simulator, and it still has a number of fans today.

This game would be highly ambitious even if was released today. In fact, it could be considered to be two games. One half is the "simulator" part of this title. You could fly ship like the US space shuttle, the Russian Soyus spacecraft, and more in the game's virtual solar system. You could even go back in time and pilot ships like the Apollo Lunar Module, or go into the future and fly more advanced ships.

A ton of attention was put into the game's physics. If you really wanted, you could pilot a ship to Earth's moon in the exact time it would take to actually get there. The same goes for traveling to the other planets and moons in the solar system, which could take months or years. It helps that the graphics in the game were extremely good for the time with detailed looks at the planets in the solar system.

The second half of Microsoft Space Simulator was all about blending fun with education. You could get rid of the real universe physics and travel fast to not only the planets and moons in our solar system but to the many, many, many planets and moons orbiting the stars of our Milky Way galaxy.

It's hard to believe that all that was crammed into a few floppy disks and released for MS-DOS a year before Windows 95 launched. The game itself was developed by BAO, which stood for Bruce Artwick Organization. Artwick created the first Flight Simulator game way back in 1979 at Sublogic for the Apple II and that company later developed versions of the game for Microsoft to publish. Artwick left Sublogic in 1998 to form BAO and continued to make the Microsoft Flight Simulator games at that studio.

The main designer for Microsoft Space Simulator was another former Sublogic employee, Charles Guy, who also joined BAO. The Digital Antiquarian has an interesting look at the history of the game's development that we won't repeat here but we encourage you to check it out.

Unfortunately, the game, which got solid reviews from critics at the time, was not a commercial success. Looking back on it today, it's very possible that it was well ahead of its time. There might not have been a huge market for a game in 1994 that basically was a huge galaxy-sized sandbox.

However, we think the success of more recent games like Starfield, No Man's Sky, and others, along with the success of the new Microsoft Flight Simulator game, with its nearly photo-realistic graphics, shows that there is indeed a market for a revamp of Microsoft Space Simulator. Combine all of that with a renewed interest in space exploration by the general public, and we believe that, if developed correctly, a new Microsoft Space Simulator game could be a huge success. Phil Spencer, are you listening?

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More details of Sam Altman’s sudden ousting as CEO of OpenAI have emerged, with several senior researchers quitting the company, and executives and investors from across the industry expressing shock and confusion at what is increasingly being perceived as a board coup.

Hours after Sam Altman was booted from the company by its board, Greg Brockman, another OpenAI cofounder and the company’s chairman, quit in protest. Brockman later posted details of Altman’s removal suggesting that the company’s chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, had orchestrated the effort to remove the CEO.

Brockman’s post claimed that Altman was told he was being fired by Sutskever, the company’s chief scientist and a member of its board. Several accounts from inside the company suggest that a disagreement between Sutskever and Altman centered around the company’s direction, and specifically its ability to build more capable AI technology safety.

“This was the board doing its duty to the mission of the nonprofit, which is to make sure that OpenAI builds AGI that benefits all of humanity,” Sutskever told employees at an emergency all-hands on Friday afternoon, according to a report in The Information.

Jakub Pachocki, a lead research on OpenAI’s groundbreaking language model GPT-4; Aleksander Madry, a professor at MIT recruited by Altman to work on AI safety; and Szymon Sidor, a researcher who has worked on a branch of AI known as reinforcement learning, all reportedly quit as the crisis deepened.

The fallout from Sam Alman’s firing as CEO of OpenAI has shaken the tech industry, and threatens to turn into a backlash against the remaining board.

Executives at Microsoft, which has invested a reported $13 billion in OpenAI, were said to be “blindsided” by news of Altman’s exit, and Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, was furious, Bloomberg reports.

OpenAI declined to provide further comment on the situation. Neither Altman, Brockman, nor Sutskever responded to requests for comment. Inquiries sent to the three researchers who quit also went unanswered.

Altman had led OpenAI on an incredible run of success starting with the launch of ChatGPT less than a year ago. He quickly became a figurehead for the generative AI boom, and he was courted by world leaders keen to learn about the remarkable potential—and the potential dangers—of more advanced AI.

Earlier this month, Altman hosted OpenAI’s first developer conference and announced a plan to create an app store for AI agents built on top of its technology. Altman was also courting Middle East sovereign wealth funding for the development of AI chips that would compete with Nvidia’s, according to Bloomberg. The Information has previously reported that Altman was exploring the possibility of developing AI-oriented hardware in collaboration with the ex-Apple designer Jony Ive with funding from Softbank.

Disagreements over the issue of prioritizing safe development of AI previously led several prominent OpenAI researchers to leave the company and found competitor Anthropic.

The development of OpenAI’s most powerful large language model, GPT-4, has sparked unprecedented debate around the potential for AI to advance beyond human control. In July, Sutskever became the colead of a “superalignment group” at OpenAI, dedicated to producing “technical breakthroughs to steer and control AI systems much smarter than us.”

Speaking at the APEC CEO summit in San Francisco last week, Altman indicated that the company had been making progress on developing a more powerful successor to GPT-4. “Four times now in the history of OpenAI—the most recent time was just in the last couple of weeks—I’ve gotten to be in the room when we push the veil of ignorance back and the frontier of discovery forward,” he said.

Many within the tech industry have spoken out to support Altman, or criticize OpenAI’s board for its actions.

“What happened at OpenAI today is a board coup that we have not seen the likes of since 1985 when the then-Apple board pushed out Steve Jobs,” Angel investor Ron Conway wrote on X. “It is shocking; it is irresponsible; and it does not do right by Sam & Greg or all the builders in OpenAI.”

“Sam Altman is a hero of mine,” Eric Schmidt, the ex-CEO of Google posted. “He built a company from nothing to $90 Billion in value, and changed our collective world forever. I can’t wait to see what he does next.”

OpenAI announced that Altman would be replaced by Mira Murati, previously OpenAI’s CTO, who is serving as temporary CEO while the company searches for a permanent replacement.

Some employees at OpenAI seemed to suggest that Murati had been serving as de facto leader of the company for some time.

“In the craziness of ChatGPT forming, @miramurati was the one making final decisions in daily standups” Evan Morikawa, an engineering manager at OpenAI, wrote on X. “She’s been leading this company for years and will continue to do an amazing job here.”

Altman, who has little financial stake in OpenAI, took to X in the hours following his ousting to suggest that he might reveal more about the circumstances of his departure. “If I start going off, the OpenAI board should go after me for the full value of my shares,” he wrote.

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Apple's OLED iPad roadmap leaked

Apple was rumored to announce some new iPads in October, but in reality it launched a new Apple Pencil with a USB-C port. The tech giant has been said to have been developing ways to transition from LCD screens to OLED displays for its tablets. A report by ET News (in Korean) says that Apple is working on 4 new iPad models which will be launched over the next 3 years.

The first of these is a new 11-inch iPad Pro and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the Cupertino company is expected to release its new iPads in March 2024. These could be the 11-inch and 12.9-inch tablets, both devices are expected to support ProMotion display with 120Hz refresh rates similar to the displays on iPhone Pro models.

The next-gen iPad Pro is said to be powered by an M3 chip. Apple recently announced some new iMac and MacBooks with the new SoC, so it is very much possible that the top of the line tablet could be equipped with a similar chip. Rumors suggest that the upcoming device will come with a redesigned Magic Keyboard, that will have a larger trackpad. It could offer an experience that is similar to a laptop's keyboard.

Apple's current-gen iPad Mini sports an 8.3-inches display. The company plans to increase the screen size of the iPad Mini by 0.4-inches, i.e. to an 8.7-inch OLED in 2026. As 9to5Mac notes, one common complaint among iPad Mini users is the jittery scrolling experience, aka jelly scrolling on the LCD panels. Apple will likely address this problem by improving the LCD hardware on its upcoming model, along with a performance upgrade, i.e. a. new chip, which should provide a much better experience than the current model.

Apple is also working on a new 10.9-inch iPad Air with an OLED screen, and it could be announced in 2026. Surprisingly, there is a larger version of the iPad Air in development, with a 12.9-inch display. The bigger device could be announced in 2027. Unlike the iPad Pro models, the other devices will feature an LTPS panel, so the refresh rate could remain limited to 60Hz. It remains to be seen how the screen upgrade could affect the prices of the tablets, but I think it is safe to assume that the OLED iPads could be more expensive than their LCD counterparts.

Apple to release OLED MacBooks in 2025

Apple will also equip its laptops with OLED screens in the near future. The first device to get the new panel will be the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which is expected to be launched in 2025. The company will also bring the high-end screen to its MacBook Air series with the 13-inch and 15-inch models in 2026, and for the 14-inch MacBook Pro in the same year.

Considering that these rumors talk about long term plans, I'd advise taking them with a pinch of salt, as things could change drastically as technology and the market evolves.

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Moreover, anyone can now claim a copy of Half-Life and add it permanently to their Steam library. The promotion is slated to run through the weekend, giving everyone a chance to give Gordon Freeman's first adventure a try.

"We are very proud of what we built back then and we remain extremely grateful for the community of players who have been enjoying it ever since," says Valve regarding the update. "The game hasn't received as much attention in recent years as many other titles in our catalog, so we thought this milestone was a great opportunity to spruce up the player experience and add some fun new ways to play the game."

Content from the CD exclusives Half-Life Uplink and Half-Life: Further Data, four new multiplayer maps, UI scaling for high resolution displays, native controller and Steam networking support, and even Steam Deck support is now included in the game. The alpha protagonists before Gordon took the role, Ivan the Space Biker and Proto-Barney are also in the game now as multiplayer skins.

After putting in fixes and enhancements, Half-Life is now Steam Deck Verified as well. Valve also described the updated graphics settings as these:

• Widescreen field of view!
• Option to disable texture smoothing on the GL renderer!
• Lighting fixes including the long-lost GL Overbright support!
• Software rendering on Linux! Crisp colours, animated water, and unfiltered textures!

Find the complete list of features, changes, and bug fixes on the Half-Life 25th Anniversary web page from Valve here. The company has also released a documentary that focuses on the original development team's experiences as they worked on their debut game at Valve. Watch it below.

Released in 1998 as Valve Corporation's debut product, it was developed using a modified version of the id Software's Quake engine dubbed GoldSrc. The title famously revolutionized the first-person shooter genre with its release thanks to its unique scripted sequences, combat, puzzles, and exploration elements. It is considered to be one of the greatest games ever made.

The update and giveaway is for the base game, but the title also received two expansions back in the day by Gearbox Software: Opposing Force (1999) and Blue Shift (2001), which featured perspectives of new protagonists. Valve continued Gordon Freeman's crowbar-wielding storyline with Half-Life 2 in 2004, followed by two sequels (Episode One and Two). The highly-anticipated sequel Half-Life 3 has eluded a launch still, but Half-Life: Alyx provided a prequel storyline as a virtual reality experience in 2020.

While no news has appeared regarding a sequel since then, Valve has expressed a desire to keep making more games in the franchise. Those looking for a more modern take on the title can also play Crowbar Collective's Black Mesa. Originally released as a mod, it's a complete remake of Half-Life made in the Source engine. Made with Valve approval, the title launched in 2020 as a full product.

Half-Life is now free to claim on Steam, with only a free account needed to add the title to a library. It can be played on Windows, macOS, and Linux. The giveaway is slated to end on November 20.

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Should you be looking for various parts to build a PC with, or to upgrade a specific component, you may have come across a term on your travels: TDP. 

But what exactly is TDP, and why should you even care about the value provided by a manufacturer? We break everything down for you.

So, what is TDP?

(Image credit: Windows Central)

TDP stands for Thermal Design Power and is used to measure the amount of heat a component is expected to output when under load. For example, a CPU may have a TDP of 90W and therefore is expected to output 90W worth of heat when in use. It can cause confusion when shopping around for new hardware, as some may take the TDP value and design a PC build around that, taking note of the watt usage. But this isn't entirely accurate, nor is it completely wrong.

Our 90W TDP CPU example doesn't mean the processor will need 90W of power from the power supply, even though thermal design power is actually measured in watts. Instead of showcasing what the component will require as raw input, manufacturers use TDP as a nominal value for cooling systems to be designed around. It's also extremely rare you will ever hit the TDP of a CPU or GPU unless you rely on intensive applications and processes.

The higher the TDP, the more cooling will be required, be it in passive technologies, fan-based coolers, or liquid platforms. You'll not be able to keep a 220W AMD FX-9590 chilled with a laptop CPU cooler, for example.

Is TDP the same as power draw?

The RTX 4090 has one of the highest TDPs at 450 W. (Image credit: NVIDIA)

Not quite, no. TDP doesn't equate to how much power will be drawn by the component in question, but that doesn't mean you can't use the value provided as an estimation. The reading itself is based on power so it can actually prove useful when looking at what you will need to provide enough juice. Generally, a component with a lower TDP will need to draw less electricity from your power supply.

Actual readings listed by manufacturers can vary as well, depending on their own findings. So while the value of TDP may not exactly reflect how much power a part will draw in a system, it does provide solid grounds to design a cooling system around it, as well as a rough idea as to how much output a power supply (PSU) will need to have. To be safe, we usually recommend a quality brand PSU of 500W for a PC with a single GPU.

Why is TDP important when picking PC parts?

(Image credit: Future)

If that still has you flabbergasted with TDP, it's essentially a reading that helps determine the power efficiency and performance of a component. Using a CPU as an example, one with a higher TDP measurement will usually provide more in terms of performance but will draw more electricity from the PSU. TDP is not — however — a direct measure of how much power a component will draw, but it can be a good indicator.

You can see in our Intel Core i7-14700K review and the NVIDIA RTX 4090 review, that these powerhouses give off a lot of heat. Be sure the available cooling you have at hand is more than enough to keep components cool, especially when it comes to the GPU and CPU.

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By adopting RCS, Apple will be able to provide an enhanced messaging experience between iOS and Android users. With RCS support, iPhone-Android conversations will include features such as read receipts, typing indicators, high-quality photos and videos, location sharing, and messaging over WiFi or cellular data instead of SMS.

Apple said it will work with GSMA, the mobile industry's standards body, to further improve RCS security and features over time. On the oher hand, the company was quick to point out that iMessage will remain the primary messaging service for Apple users. RCS will exist separately as an enhanced replacement for SMS/MMS.

Apple emphasizes that iMessage offers even more advanced and secure features with end-to-end encryption and will continue to evolve independently.

An Apple spokesperson said (via 9to5Mac);

Later next year, we will be adding support for RCS Universal Profile, the standard as currently published by the GSM Association. We believe RCS Universal Profile will offer a better interoperability experience when compared to SMS or MMS. This will work alongside iMessage, which will continue to be the best and most secure messaging experience for Apple users.

The move comes after accusations from Google and Samsung that Apple's refusal to support RCS contributes to the "green bubble" effect. The Android maker also released an ad titled "Meet iPager," mocking the fact that iPhones still rely on SMS and MMS instead of RCS to chat with Android users.

Meanwhile, the EU is considering designating Apple as a gatekeeper, which could force the integration of competing standards such as RCS if Apple gains too large a share of the messaging market in Europe.

Source: 9to5Mac

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Developer Larian Studios decided to also publish their D&D themed RPG Baldur's Gate 3, but as a digital release only. It has launched on the PC, and later for the Mac and PlayStation 5, and will also launch for the Xbox Series S and X consoles sometime in December.

Today, Larian announced that physical copies of the game will be sold for the Xbox and PlayStation platforms, along with a PC version. The physical disk versions will be sold as part of an elaborate Deluxe Edition of Baldur's Gate 3 for launch sometime in the first quarter of 2024.

Larian is offering more than just the game on disk in the Deluxe Edition. They will also have some physical extras as well. They will include a 3-disk CD release of the game's original soundtrack, 32 stickers, two patches, a world map, and a poster of the game's Mind Flayer creature. All of that will be inside a box made to look like a very thick book

In addition, there will also be some exclusive in-game digital content and digital bonus features as well:

• Divinity Item Pack - Equip your party with an array of items inspired by the world and characters of Divinity.
• Bard Song Pack - Astound audiences by performing this special set of new songs – or have them covering their ears if you lack proficiency.
• Exclusive Dice Skin - Fail checks with style, or succeed with a new air of confidence.
• Paintings from Rivellon - Discover a new collection of paintings across the Forgotten Realms, inspired by Divinity: Original Sin 2.
• Adventurer's Pouch - Receive a collection of camp supplies and potions to help get your journey started.
• Digital OST - Enjoy the music of Baldur's Gate 3 from composer Borislav Slavov. Crack this soundtrack out in your D&D session, and get the feel and mood of Baldur's Gate 3!
• Digital Artbook - Explore the art and design of Baldur's Gate 3 in this comprehensive digital artbook, written by Larian.
• Digital Character Sheets - Peruse and print a set of four-page D&D character sheets for each Baldur's Gate 3 Origin character.

The PS5 Deluxe Editon will come with two disks, while the Xbox Series X|S will have three disks. Both will let gamers play Baldur's Gate 3 on those disks. Larian will also release a PC version of the Deluxe Edition, but in this case, that game's disk will have an installer and a code.

The Deluxe Edition of Baldur's Gate 3 will cost $79.99, and preorders are live now on the game's official site.

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From advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing to innovations in productivity and collaboration tools, Microsoft Ignite 2023 announcements provided a glimpse into the transformative power of technology.

See the full Day 1 Microsoft Ignite 2023 announcements in the YouTube video below.

Keynotes from the Microsoft Ignite 2023 announcements

As the world enters an era where AI is rapidly transforming industries and redefining human-computer interaction, Microsoft Ignite 2023 placed a strong emphasis on AI advancements.

The company unveiled new AI capabilities across its products and services, including the introduction of OpenAI's GPT-4 Turbo with Vision (GPT-4V), a large language model that can generate text, translate languages, write different kinds of creative content, and answer your questions in an informative way.

GPT-4V, which is integrated with Azure AI Vision, will enhance experiences by allowing the inclusion of images or videos along with text for generating text output.

Flying to the clouds

As for cloud computing, Microsoft Ignite 2023 announcements witnessed the introduction of new Azure cloud services and enhancements designed to empower businesses to innovate and scale.

Azure Arc, a hybrid and multi-cloud management platform, received significant updates, enabling organizations to manage their infrastructure and applications across different cloud environments seamlessly.

Additionally, Microsoft announced the general availability of Azure Synapse Analytics, a unified data platform that brings together data warehousing, big data processing, and machine learning capabilities.

Windows App, on the other hand, offers an interface where you can easily access every Windows device you frequently use remotely.

Work-life redefined

Microsoft Ignite 2023 announcements also shed light on the company's dedication to enhancing productivity and collaboration tools. The introduction of Copilot for Microsoft 365, a new AI-powered companion that provides contextual suggestions and actions across Microsoft 365 applications, aims to streamline workflows and boost productivity.

Additionally, Microsoft Teams, the company's popular collaboration platform, received new features such as live translation and background replacement, further enhancing its capabilities as a hub for remote and hybrid work.

Microsoft Loop, which is also seen as the strongest Notion competitor, was released as an all-in-one workplace platform that combines almost every important issue highlighted in Microsoft Ignite 2023 announcements.

Jensen Huang has taken the stage

In Microsoft Ignite 2023 announcements, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang painted a bold vision for the future of artificial intelligence (AI), declaring it to be the "single most significant platform transition in computing history".

Huang emphasized the transformative power of AI, asserting that it will have a greater impact than the personal computer, mobile computing, and even the internet.

Jensen Huang's keynote centered on Nvidia's partnership with Microsoft, highlighting their collaborative efforts to advance AI innovation. He showcased a range of joint projects, such as the launch of the NVIDIA H200 super-GPU, the development of new AI-powered tools for enterprise customers, and the integration of Nvidia's AI capabilities into Microsoft's Azure cloud platform.

One of the key themes of Huang's address was the rise of generative AI, a branch of AI that focuses on creating new content, such as images, text, and code. He characterized generative AI as a revolutionary technology that will have a profound impact on various industries, including healthcare, manufacturing, and entertainment.

Huang's confidence in the transformative power of AI stems from Nvidia's remarkable success in the AI domain. The company's graphics processing units (GPUs) have become the de facto standard for AI workloads, and Nvidia has enjoyed significant financial gains as a result. In the first half of 2023 alone, Nvidia reported $6 billion in pure profit, largely driven by its AI business.

Featured image credit: Microsoft.

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The software giant announced two custom-made chips for AI workloads during its annual Microsoft Ignite conference. The Microsoft Azure Maia AI Accelerator for artificial intelligence tasks and generative AI and the Microsoft Azure Cobalt, an ARM processor for general-purpose compute workloads on the Microsoft Cloud.

The idea behind the project is to tailor "everything from silicon to service" to meet modern demand for artificial intelligence. Besides creating in-house chips, Microsoft ensured everything else was optimized for AI workloads, such as software, server racks, and cooling systems.

Microsoft is building the infrastructure to support AI innovation, and we are reimagining every aspect of our datacenters to meet the needs of our customers. At the scale we operate, it's important for us to optimize and integrate every layer of the infrastructure stack to maximize performance, diversify our supply chain and give customers infrastructure choice.

Microsoft says the Azur Maia AI Accelerator is designed specifically for the Azure hardware stack, achieving the "absolute maximum utilization of the hardware." As for the Azure Cobalt, it is an energy-efficient ARM chip for cloud-native offerings with an optimized performance-per-watt ratio in data centers.

To accommodate the new chips in the existing data center infrastructure, Microsoft redesigned server racks (new processors require wider boards) and implemented liquid cooling solutions. The company will roll out its new AI-focused processors to data centers early next year, initially powering Microsoft Copilot and Azure OpenAI Service.

Besides launching dedicated silicon for artificial intelligence, Microsoft is expanding partnerships with other manufacturers to give customers more options. Microsoft launched a preview of new virtual machines powered by NVIDIA's H100 Tensor Core GPUs. In addition, the software giant plans to adopt the NVIDIA H200 Tensor Core and AMD's MI300X. Those additions will bring performance, reliability, and efficiency for mid-range and high-range training and generative AI.

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Announced today by the developer, the tools will utilize the same REDengine 3 editor that was used to build The Witcher 3, letting players customize their experience to their liking and share creations with others.

"We're thrilled to announce that we're working on a mod editor for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, said CD Projekt RED today in a forum post. "It will allow you to create your own experiences in the game by making something completely new or editing existing quests and content."

"The editor will be available for free for all owners of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on PC," the studio added. As for when can fans expect to gain access to these reworked dev tools, CD Projekt RED says it is "planning to make it happen in 2024."

While the RPG has had a small but dedicated modding scene, this has been accomplished using a variety of unofficial tools made by the community. This has also mostly been limited to changes like texture replacements, tweaking in-game settings (like removing inventory limits), and new shaders. With the upcoming official tools though, we could see completely new questlines, enemies, and perhaps even new regions for Geralt — or someone else entirely — to explore.

The news drops at an interesting time. CD Projekt RED has already announced it is leaving behind REDengine completely for its future projects. This includes a new trilogy set in The Witcher universe, a remake of the first game in the fantasy series, as well as a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, with all of them using Epic Games' Unreal Engine 5.

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About more than a year and half ago, AMD surprised the world with the release of the AMD Ryzen 5800X3D.

The 5800X3D was a unique processor. That’s because AMD stacked an additional 64MB of cache on top of an existing 32MB L3 cache, totaling to 96MB of L3 cache. This was something which was unheard in consumer CPUs before.

AMD called this stacking of cache on top of another as 3D V-Cache technology. This is denoted with the X3D that is added behind the CPU name.

The Ryzen 7 5800X3D proved to be a game changer, literally. As reviews after reviews showed that the 5800X3D processor was beating all its rivals. This included the top offerings from Intel, in gaming performance.

The 5800X3D processor wasn’t only fast in gaming, but it also was cheaper and used less power. This ensured that the AMD Ryzen 5800X3D became a top seller in many places.

AMD decided to use the same strategy in the Ryzen 7000 series. Where it released not one, not two, but three CPUs with 3D V-Cache. This included the flagship Ryzen 9 7950X3D and Ryzen 7 7800X3D. The latter has gone on to become one of the top-selling CPU and continues to rule the charts along with 5800X3D even now.

Seeing the success of the X3D processors, AMD decided to release another processor in the Ryzen 5000 series, named 5600X3D with 6 cores instead of 8 cores found in the 5800X3D.

However, to everyone’s disappointment, the 5600X3D was available only at Micro Center and wasn’t available worldwide.

It looks like AMD wants to release even more X3D processors in the Ryzen 5000 series.

AMD Preparing 5700X3D & 5500X3D CPUs

Well known Twitter based leaker chi11eddog has leaked (via VideoCardz and Tom’s Hardware) something which might surprise many.

In the tweet, chi11eddog suggest that AMD is preparing two new X3D processors in the Ryzen 5000 series with AM4 socket.

The two new CPUs are:

• AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D with 8 cores, 16 threads, 4.1GHz boost and 3.0GHz base clock and 96MB Cache.
• AMD Ryzen 5 5500X3D with 6 cores, 12 threads, 4.0GHz boost and 3.0GHz base clock and 96MB Cache.

What is interesting is that 5700X3D seems to have the same specs as 5800X3D, except with lower clocks. The same is with the 5500X3D, which is seems to be the same as 5600X3D with lower clocks. Not to forget, all these rumored processors have the same 96MB total L3 cache.

This suggests that AMD seems to have a lot of leftover chips from the Ryzen 5000 series and wants to utilize them. What better way then to sell them as X3D chips.

But making X3D chips isn’t easy or cheap, so we don’t know if these are bad binned leftover X3D chips (common in CPU world) or leftover normal Ryzen 5000 chips with X3D layers later added to them.

Table And Conclusion

We decided to make a simple table with a complete list of X3D processors from AMD for the readers to understand it better.

As one can see from above, 5700X3D seems nothing but an underclocked 5800X3D and 5500X3D seems nothing but an underclocked 5600X3D.

However, what matters is the price and availability of these processors. We expect the Ryzen 5700X3D to be priced around $280-300 and Ryzen 5500X3D to be priced around $180.

However, a big question remains. Does AMD have a sufficient amount of leftover CPU chips that it can release these new processors worldwide, or will it be a limited release just like the Ryzen 5600X3D.

These X3D processors provide a massive boost in gaming, provided that the games make a proper use of the extra cache. This means that the CPUs like 5500X3D can be excellent or even outstanding for budget gaming builds, as the Ryzen 5000 platform is very cheap to make.

So if AMD does release them worldwide, it will be something which would be highly welcomed by everyone.

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The biggest user-created video service remains Google's YouTube. Today, the company announced that over the coming months, it plans to help its billions of users find out if a video they are viewing was made with generative AI tools.

In a blog post, Google stated:

Specifically, we’ll require creators to disclose when they've created altered or synthetic content that is realistic, including using AI tools. When creators upload content, we will have new options for them to select to indicate that it contains realistic altered or synthetic material. For example, this could be an AI-generated video that realistically depicts an event that never happened, or content showing someone saying or doing something they didn't actually do.

The new labels will be added to a video's description panel. If such a video deals with what Google feels are "sensitive topics", a similar label will be added directly to the video player. That will include content made with YouTube’s own generative AI products.

YouTube content creators will be given some time to learn more about these generative AI video labeling requirements before they are rolled out. Creators who don't place these labels when required on their videos could have the clips removed, or their accounts suspended. If the videos violate YouTube's Community Guidelines they will be removed even if they are properly labeled as being made by generative AI.

Google will also add a way for people to request an AI-made video that "simulates an identifiable individual" be removed from YouTube. That will also be made available for people who find music on the service that replicates an artist's voice.

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Some manufacturers, retailers and companies may alter product reviews to increase the popularity of their products. The same techniques are sometimes also used to drop the popularity of competing products on shopping sites. Fakespot uses algorithms to detect these fake reviews.

Fakespot Chat is an AI-powered shopping helper. While it sounds similarly to Microsoft's Copilot Shopping Assistant, it is an entirely different product.

Mozilla's creation is designed to answer questions that shoppers may have about certain products. Lets say you check out Apple AirPods and have a few questions. Do they work on Android? What is the average battery life of the product. How does it compare to other wireless earbuds?

Some shopping sites list frequently asked questions and some questions may also be answered by user reviews. With Fakespot Chat, answers are right at a user's fingertips. Ask the AI the questions and you get an answer, which hopefully is correct and not an hallucination.

Fakespot Chat worked well for the most part during tests. You can check it out on the Fakespot website by pasting the URL of a product into the URL field on the Analyze page. Installing the Chromium extension makes this a bit more comfortable, but you have both options at your disposal.

The AI chat interface opens directly on the product page. Here you may ask your questions. For games, you may ask about the difficulty level, age rating or even if it is similar to another game. For tech, you may ask about technical details, supported formats, battery life, resolution and anything else that you may have questions about.

It is still recommended to crosscheck the answers to make sure that they are correct. When asked about the age requirement of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Fakespot Chat returned that gamers needed to be at least 67 years of age. When asked again, it returned that there is no specific age requirement. The second answer is correct for the United States, as the game's rating is Everyone there. In the UK, the game has a PEGI rating of 3, which makes it suitable for ages 3 and above. Considering that the review URL was from the Amazon.com store version, the second answer was correct.

One issue that users may have is that the answers may differ each time the same question is asked. This can be a problem, especially if the answers contradict each other.

Closing Words

In closing, it is clear that services such as Fakespot Chat or Copilot for Microsoft Shopping have a long way to go before they become the trustworthy shopping assistant that they want to be. Clearly, it is necessary to double-check anything that the AI's return. This necessity reduces the usefulness of them significantly. After all, you could check the answers directly in the first place using traditional means.

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Anytime one types a domain name in the search bar, like google.com or ourdigitech.com, the browser connects to a DNS server to ask for the domain or the site’s IP address.

Simply put, every device connected to the internet has an IP address dedicated to it. That IP address is required for the computer to understand which computer or a device is situated in which location and how to reach there.

That information is provided by the Domain Name System, that is, DNS in short. Today, the DNS forms the most important part of the internet. It’s like an address book of the internet. Without this address book, one wouldn’t be able to access the internet.

The even easier way to understand is – take a house. Your computer don’t know how to reach that house. You just know its name – not its location. It’s the DNS server which tells your computer which house is situated in which country, state, city, location and street.

This alone, makes DNS among the biggest pillar of the internet. But DNS didn’t exist when the internet (its predecessor, to be precise) was invented. So how exactly was it invented. Let us know.

History Of The Internet

Decades ago, the internet as we know it wasn’t available worldwide. It was preceded by something called Advanced Research Projects Agency Network – ARPANET in short.

ARPANET was developed in the later parts of the 1960s by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. It was used by the military and also by the universities for academic and research purposes.

As more and more computers joined the network, communicating through the computers with each other wasn’t easy.

To make it easy for computers to communicate with each other, The Stanford Research Institute used to manually maintain a file a text file named HOSTS.TXT. This name HOSTS.TXT might strike a bell to many who know a thing or two about it.

This HOSTS file back in the day used to contain numerical addresses and hostnames of all the computers in the network. This HOSTS file used to get distributed all over the network.

As more and more computers joined the network, maintaining this file was getting harder and harder. Additionally, by 1980s the accessing this file was getting slower and slower too.

If that wasn’t enough, getting a new computer added to the network wasn’t easy. One had to manually call the network operators to ask them to add the computer to the network, that too was possible only during work hours and working days. All had to be added manually by a limited number of humans operating the network.

Invention Of The DNS

An automated solution to this problem was becoming a need of the hour. This is when a certain computer scientist named Paul Mockapetris was asked to make improvements to the network.

Mockapetris was given five different proposals to improve the internet and find a middle ground between them. However, he designed something entirely of his own.

Paul Mockapetris designed a system where the naming duties were spread across a large number of servers located at the different parts of the network. While all the servers contained the same database, the responsibilities were divided between them. If one server went down, others were still accessible.

This system, was finalized in 1983. It was documented this month about 40 years ago, under RFC 882 and RFC 883 – both the files contain the original ideas in depth, authored by Paul Mockapetris.

However, the word DNS seems to have best implemented in the RFC 1034 and RFC 1035 memo authored four years later by Paul Mockapetris. It superseded the 1983 specifications.

By the 1980s, the internet was invented and DNS played an important role in the success of it. Without which, internet as we know it wouldn’t exist.

Modern Day Legacy Of The DNS

About a decade ago, Paul Mockapetris was added to The Internet Hall of Fame by Internet Society for the invention of the DNS. However, despite making such a significant and historic invention, many might not know his name. That’s why it’s also important to celebrate his contribution to the internet.

The modern day internet too seems to have changed when it comes to the DNS. Previously, many might not know much about DNS – their internet providers used to auto-set the DNS server of their liking and people used to access the internet using that, without knowing much about it.

Now, as internet access is getting more and more important, the role of the DNS is getting more important too. It’s not just about any DNS, the DNS of modern times needs to have quick response time and offer features and security.

There are many free and paid DNS server options available to the common users now. They can use Google Public DNS. They can also use Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 – something which we had covered in an article more than a year ago.

Then there’s also NextDNS, which provides a huge amount of features. But unlike Google and Cloudflare, it isn’t entirely free – it still allows 300,000 free queries per month, which is fine for casual users.

So yes. DNS was invented 40 years ago. Internet as we know it exists and runs due to it. It has evolved throughout the years. It remains and will continue to remain the most essential part of the internet.

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Started almost 9 years ago, The Game Awards ceremony has become among the most famous video game awards on the internet. It is founded, managed and hosted by the famous video game journalist Geoff Keighley.

There are many reasons behind why the awards ceremony is very famous. First is, it’s managed very well. Second, it’s streamed live worldwide. Third, everyone can vote to choose the winners.

The nominees for the 2023 edition of The Game Awards has been announced. Available via a YouTube video or through the official site.

Game Of The Year 2023

This year, six games have been nominated for the Game Of The Year. They are:

1. Alan Wake 2 – Remedy Entertainment / Epic Games Publishing (PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox X|S).
2. Baldur’s Gate 3 – Larian Studios (PC and PlayStation 5).
3. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – Insomniac Games / SIE (PlayStation 5).
4. Resident Evil 4 – Capcom (PC, PlayStation 5 / 4 and Xbox X|S).
5. Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo EPD / Nintendo (Nintendo Switch).
6. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Nintendo EPD / Nintendo (Nintendo Switch).

In total. There are 31 categories in the 2023 game awards. All of them can be checked through their official site.

As per a tweet by Geoff Keighley, the games which have been nominated for the 2023 edition of The Game Awards are selected by a global jury of over 120 media outlets.

Interestingly, with the nominations of both Super Mario Bros. Wonder and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom together, it’s after years that two Nintendo first party games have been nominated for the Game Of The Year award in a single edition.

Another interesting thing is that both Alan Wake 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3 have 8 nominations each in each of the respective categories – the highest among all the games. The second in the list is the Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 with 7 nominations across the different categories.

How To Vote And Watch The Game Awards

It’s very simple to vote on The Game Awards. Open the official site. Sign in by clicking the sign-in button on the top right. Start voting starting with The Game Of The Year.

Just a reminder. Horizon Zero Dawn too was nominated for The Game Of The Year in 2017. We had reviewed Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition’s PC version a few days ago.

As for watching the game awards, the official site explains it perfectly:

THE GAME AWARDS AIRS LIVE AND FREE ON Thursday, December 7 at 7:30PM ET / 4:30PM PT / 12:30a+1 GMT. THE SHOW AIRS ACROSS ALL MAJOR DIGITAL, SOCIAL AND GAMING PLATFORMS AROUND THE WORLD.

One can open the watch page of the official site to see the full list of services which will stream The Game Awards live. It has a big list of partners and co-streaming services which are going to stream The Game Awards live.

So start voting for your favorite games.

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