TechCapsules

Joel Franey earned a Bachelors in Creative Writing and Games Design from Brunel University in 2017 and a Masters in Creative and Critical Writing from Sussex University. He freelanced in gaming roles—design, PR, reviews—before joining USgamer and ReedPop’s guides team in 2019. Franey has written for Gfinity Esports, Eurogamer, VG247, Dicebreaker, RPS, Jelly Deals, and GamesRadar+, covering single‑player, narrative, and multiplayer titles. He also publishes fiction and co‑hosts the comedy podcast “Margaret Thatcher, Templar Spy.” [...]

Saturday Night Live’s recent sketch lampooned the close release dates of “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” and “GTA 6,” marking a rare nod to video games. The bit featured Elon Musk in a Wario costume, echoing his 2021 appearance. Former Nintendo marketing leads Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang criticized the segment, noting it lacked any real Nintendo tie‑in and was poorly received by fans. They argued the sketch felt forced and uncomfortable, failing to resonate with [...]

After a troubled start, 1666: Amsterdam, a witch‑powered action game, has entered Steam Early Access in August. Lead developer Patrice Désilets, former Assassin’s Creed creator, reports the team produces 15–20 builds daily, prioritizing progress over perfection. The title faced backlash over AI‑generated assets, which the studio pledged to remove. Désilets estimates a year to complete the game, with regular major updates. Early access has already seen two updates, the second fixing over 200 bugs.

The CEO Summit at SEMICON West, themed “Transform Tomorrow,” convened top semiconductor executives, policymakers, and technology leaders to discuss the industry’s trajectory beyond its $1 trillion milestone. Over three days, sessions covered current market dynamics, AI‑driven design, advanced packaging, and large‑scale manufacturing investments. Keynotes highlighted sustainability, advanced materials, workforce development, and infrastructure needs. The event featured a champagne toast celebrating the milestone and included speakers from AMD, Intel, NVIDIA, Micron, and city officials.

Microsoft announced its largest investment in proprietary silicon, unveiling the Maia 300 and Maia 200 chips designed to power AI workloads across its product suite. The company claims the Maia 300 delivers 40% more tokens per watt than leading GPU systems, while the Maia 200 achieves a 1.7× improvement in Teams and Copilot. The move aims to reduce inference costs and unlock new AI use cases that are currently uneconomical, positioning Microsoft to maintain a competitive edge

Microsoft unveiled the Surface Laptop Ultra, a 15‑inch notebook powered by an Nvidia RTX Spark N1X, targeting the 14‑inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro. Priced at $2,599, it offers a 3,270×2,180 PixelSense Ultra display, up to 128 GB RAM, and a 92‑Wh battery, compared to the MacBook’s 3,024×1,964 Liquid Retina XDR, 64 GB RAM, and 72.4‑Wh battery. The Ultra weighs 4.41 lb versus the MacBook’s 3.54 lb, and Microsoft promotes a $1,000 trade‑in for eligible MacBooks.

SEALSQ Corp announced VaultIC409, a secure element built on its QS7001 platform, enabling post‑quantum cryptography (PQC) without hardware redesign. The device supports ML‑KEM (FIPS 203), ML‑DSA (FIPS 204), RSA, and ECC, featuring a hardware Root of Trust, dedicated cryptographic acceleration, and SPI connectivity. SEALSQ will demo VaultIC409 in a TLS 1.3 application at Electronica (Nov 10–13, 2026) and plans engineering samples for Q2 2027. The QS7001 platform is undergoing Common Criteria EAL5+ certification, positioning the product for smart‑energy, industrial, and IoT markets. [...]

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 opens October 13 at Moscone West, drawing over 10,000 founders, investors, and tech leaders for three days of sessions, roundtables, and a Startup Battlefield competition. Attendees can secure ticket savings of up to $100 in the final 24 hours, with a 50% discount on a second pass and additional community pass discounts for groups of four or more. A $75 Expo+ Pass is available for those recently laid off. The event features 300+ startups,