The Steam Controller’s “drop-in” charger almost started a fire for this owner
Keep the charging puck’s exposed pins far away from anything metal.
Kyle Orland
–
|
91
Kyle Orland
Senior Gaming Editor
kyle.orland@arstechnica.com
Kyle Orland has been the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica since 2012, covering topics ranging from retro games to new gaming hardware, business and legal developments in the industry, fan communities, gaming mods and hacks, virtual reality, and much more. More recently, he has also been helping to cover the rise of generative AI and other artificial intelligence topics for Ars.
Based in the Washington DC area, Kyle got his start writing about games back in 1997 when he set up fan site Super Mario Bros. HQ on his parents’ America Online subscription. Since then, Kyle has gone on to obtain journalism and computer science degrees from the University of Maryland and write for dozens of outlets ranging from NPR and MSNBC to Electronic Gaming Monthly and Paste Magazine.
Kyle is the author of Minesweeper from Boss Fight Books as well as two collections of contemporary journalism—The Game Beat and Save Point. You can find his irregular musings on BlueSky: @kyleor.land.
Recent stories by
Kyle Orland
AI put “synthetic quotes” in his book. But this author wants to keep using it.
Steven Rosenbaum explains how inaccurate quotes got into his book The Future of Truth.
Kyle Orland
–
|
193
The era of 1,000 Hz gaming monitors has arrived, but why?
LG’s latest hits one frame per millisecond at a full 1080p resolution.
Kyle Orland
–
|
151
Bill to block publishers from killing online games advances in California
Publishers would have to offer “independent” play patch or refunds after server shutdowns.
Kyle Orland
–
|
143
Your doctor’s AI notetaker may be making things up, Ontario audit finds
Made-up therapy referrals, incorrect prescriptions among the common mistakes.
Kyle Orland
–
|
145
Anthropic blames dystopian sci-fi for training AI models to act “evil”
But training on “synthetic stories” that model good AI behavior can help.
Kyle Orland
–
|
190
Pirates are already playing Forza Horizon 6 days before its launch
Crackers take advantage of unencrypted files that briefly appeared on Steam.
Kyle Orland
–
|
79
Sony says “efficient” AI tools will lead to even more games flooding the market
But human artists still “must remain at the center,” PlayStation maker says.
Kyle Orland
–
|
80
Most Read
The Nintendo Switch 2 is getting more expensive later this year
“Changes in market conditions” lead to $50 price bump on Sept. 1.
Kyle Orland
–
|
67
Google DeepMind partners with EVE Online for AI model testing
Move comes as CCP Games spends $120M to go independent, rebrands as Fenris Creations.
Kyle Orland
–
|
60
AMD is adding HDMI 2.1 support for Linux. That’s good news for the Steam Machine.
Fixed Rate Link being added now; Display Stream Compression coming soon.
Kyle Orland
–
|
79
Study: AI models that consider users’ feelings are more likely to make errors
Overtuning can cause models to “prioritize user satisfaction over truthfulness.”
Kyle Orland
–
|
72
GPT-5.5 matches heavily hyped Mythos Preview in new cybersecurity tests
New results suggest Mythos’ cyber threat isn’t “a breakthrough specific to one model.”
Kyle Orland
–
|
163
OpenAI Codex system prompt includes explicit directive to “never talk about goblins”
Directions also include system instructions to act like “you have a vivid inner life.”
Kyle Orland
–
|
182
GitHub will start charging Copilot users based on their actual AI usage
GitHub says it can no longer absorb “escalating inference cost” from it heaviest AI users.
Kyle Orland
–
|
203
OpenAI ends its exclusive partnership with Microsoft
Amended agreement clears the way for OpenAI models to run on Amazon Bedrock.
Kyle Orland
–
|
53
Steam Controller: The Ars Technica review
Valve’s new hardware is solid but might not justify its $99 price.
Kyle Orland
–
|
185
Meet the players who lost big money on Peter Molyneux’s failed Legacy
After millions in NFT sales, the hyped “play to earn” game was effectively dead in weeks.
Kyle Orland
–
|
212
Mozilla: Anthropic’s Mythos found 271 security vulnerabilities in Firefox 150
CTO says new AI model is “every bit as capable” as world’s best security researchers.
Kyle Orland
–
|
212
Report: Meta will train AI agents by tracking employees’ mouse, keyboard use
Move highlights the difficulty of finding high-quality interactive training data.
Kyle Orland
–
|
79
Microsoft removes Call of Duty from Game Pass, lowers subscription pricing
New Xbox CEO says subscription “has become too expensive for too many players.”
Kyle Orland
–
|
79
Meta’s AI spending spree is helping make its Quest headsets more expensive
Prices for “critical components” are surging because of massive data center investments.
Kyle Orland
–
|
66
Mozilla launches Thunderbolt AI client with focus on self-hosted infrastructure
New tool builds on deepset’s Haystack toward a “decentralized open source AI ecosystem.”
Kyle Orland
–
|
50
The Ukraine war’s deep impact on Metro 2039’s development, story
Upcoming sequel wants to capture a “uniquely Ukrainian perspective” on the post-apocalypse.
Kyle Orland
–
|
36
Allbirds abandons clothes, pivots to “AI compute infrastructure”
Desperate stock-boosting move recalls 2017’s “Long Island Blockchain” frenzy.
Kyle Orland
–
|
116
UK gov’s Mythos AI tests help separate cybersecurity threat from hype
New model is the first AI system to complete a difficult multistep infiltration challenge.
Kyle Orland
–
|
54
Retro Rewind re-creates the glorious drudgery of working a ’90s video store
What the nostalgic throwback lacks in complexity it makes up for in repetitive charm.
Kyle Orland
–
|
61
What leaked “SteamGPT” files could mean for the PC gaming platform’s use of AI
AI tools could help moderators sift through mountains of suspicious incidents
Kyle Orland
–
|
52
Meta’s Superintelligence Lab unveils its first public model, Muse Spark
Meta touts strong benchmarks but admits “performance gaps” in agentic and coding systems.
Kyle Orland
–
|
44
Steam client files point to “framerate estimator” feature in the works
JSON text strings suggest performance charts based on “framerates of other Steam users.”
Kyle Orland
–
|
26
Bluesky users are mastering the fine art of blaming everything on “vibe coding”
Use of AI coding tools has become a convenient boogeyman for any tech issues.
Kyle Orland
–
|
219
From folding boxes to fixing vacuums, GEN-1 robotics model hits 99% reliability
New model can respond to disruptions and figure out moves it wasn’t trained for.
Kyle Orland
–
|
125
“Cognitive surrender” leads AI users to abandon logical thinking, research finds
Experiments show large majorities uncritically accepting “faulty” AI answers.
Kyle Orland
–
|
286
Anthropic says its leak-focused DMCA effort unintentionally hit legit GitHub forks
But the effort to stop the spread of leaked Claude Code client code is an uphill battle.
Kyle Orland
–
|
61
Nvidia rolls out its fix for PC gaming’s “compiling shaders” wait times
Microsoft, Intel are also working on their own solutions for the issue.
Kyle Orland
–
|
88
Here’s what that Claude Code source leak reveals about Anthropic’s plans
A persistent agent, stealth “Undercover” mode, and… a virtual assistant named Buddy?
Kyle Orland
–
|
97