Samuel Axon
@samuelaxon.bsky.social
Editor covering AI, gaming, and software development at Ars Technica by day. Hobbyist game dev by night. Literally writing the book on No Man's Sky! I try to keep things positive.
“AI appears useful for a subset of tasks performed within occupations, but they do not currently appear to be comprehensively used for performing the work currently done by humans.” arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/d...
Despite AI hype, Google's data shows workers aren't automating themselves away
Analysis of 15 million real AI interactions finds most tasks at most jobs are unaffected.
arstechnica.com
I'm going to SIGGRAPH to meet folks and talk about world models and physical AI, as well as generative AI in filmmaking and game development, for future Ars coverage. I've got a few times open for meetings still, so if we haven't connected and you want to meet up, reach out!
I spoke with expert practitioners at MIT, World Labs, and Runway ML about both the promise and unsolved challenges of video-based world models. We talk the tradeoffs of approaches centered on explicit 3D, the bitter lesson, representation, and much more. arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/s...
Simulating everything, sort of: The promise and limits of world models
Experts explain how they work, what they can do, and what's still unsettled.
arstechnica.com
I like Civilization VII. It's not my favorite in the series, but I appreciate its willingness to try new things. Clearly, many folks did not agree. I spoke with the creative director and executive producer about the controversy and planned changes. arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/...
Why Civilization VII is the way it is, and how its devs plan to win critics back
Firaxis' Ed Beach and Dennis Shirk talk major overhauls in "Test of Time" update.
arstechnica.com
playing Wipeout Pulse and saying hell yeah at every new screen it shows me
I was already doing this sort of stuff with MCP, mostly just for fun. This makes that much more accessible (apart from the pricey plan limitation, of course) but I'm concerned most knowledge workers don't know the risks. They'll find out I guess! arstechnica.com/ai/2026/01/a...
Anthropic launches Cowork, a Claude Code-like for general computing
Users can give Claude access to a folder and tell it what to do for them.
arstechnica.com
When reading Torvalds' past comments on AI coding tools, I admit I was pretty surprised at such a nuanced stance from someone known for being pretty outspoken. But most of the time, Torvalds has pretty smart takes—even if his communication style can be brash. arstechnica.com/ai/2026/01/h...
Even Linus Torvalds is trying his hand at vibe coding (but just a little)
But then I cut out the middle man—me."
arstechnica.com
Hotel Infinity will launch on November 13, 2025 for #PSVR2 and #MetaQuest It's a roomscale #VR game with impossible geometry, where you explore a hotel by actually walking Here's a behind the scenes look at how we made the game: blog.playstation.com/2025/10/22/a... Website: hotelinfinityvr.com
What’s wrong with AAA games? The development of the next Battlefield has answers. arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/...
What’s wrong with AAA games? The development of the next Battlefield has answers.
EA insiders describe stress and setbacks in a project that’s too big to fail.
arstechnica.com
Indies - now is a *very* good time to put your Switch 1 game on sale. The Switch 2 eShop loads for the first time with a very visible button saying how many of your wishlist games are on sale. eShop visibility is much better. Benefit from SW2 launch even without a native port!
Shadows is the most polished Assassin's Creed game in a long time. It's OK to delay games! arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/...
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the dad rock of video games, and I love it
It also proves AAA publishers should be more willing to delay their games.
arstechnica.com
If and when the US TikTok ban goes through, I’m pretty sure it will be the among the largest-scale destructions of art in human history, and maybe the biggest single-event loss of income for creative people ever. So, whatever you think of the other issues at play, that really sucks.
OK, I quit Twitter without replacing it and honestly felt that improved my life. But with the recent influx at Bluesky, I’m trying this one more time. If my feed devolves into people screaming into the void about politics again I’ll unplug it again though. Hoping things’ll stay positive and healthy!
Is anyone else’s comforting doomscrolling alternative tapping “Random Pick” on HomeOfTheUnderdogs.net? Just me! Come on, MS-DOS, those were the days!
I don't like New York. Everyone knows I'm an LA guy. I feel like just about everything New York does, LA or Chicago does better, and with less trash and presumption. But I will say this: it's 3 AM, you just closed out a bar, you're standing on the street in the East Village...
I'm looking for experienced freelancers to write features about gaming and tech for Ars Technica. Extra emphasis on 80s/90s retro tech, open source, software dev, PC gaming, and geek culture for Gen X and older millennials, etc. @ me if you're interested or know someone, or share if you might!
Huge news for ink users and those interested in trying it out! UK developers the Chinese Room have just open sourced their Unreal Engine integration of the ink engine, that allows ink to be used in Blueprints.
The Chinese Room
The Chinese Room has 2 repositories available. Follow their code on GitHub.
github.com
deep space 9 is incredible because it’s about what if a shitty strip mall was an ancient religious site and also the pentagon
💫Allison Cassandra Ashtear🏳️⚧️🔞@jayeallisonashtear.bsky.social · 3y agoMy body is not a temple its a deep space station occupying both a strategically pivotal location and also near an actual (celestial) temple.
hey sorry I missed your text, I am processing a non-stop 24/7 onslaught of information with a brain designed to eat berries in a cave
Ok, here’s what I’ve learned about UI design from learning to play the guitar: Guitar on a guitar stand in the living room: practice almost every day Guitar *in a case* on the same stand: never practice
I was today years old when I learned gamers were also today years old when they learned that almost all games just put a rain box around the player character or the camera. (That’s one of those things I knew long before I ever got into development, I’m a bit surprised it’s new info to so many. 😆)
So sane, so measured, so insightful, so accurate... does this non-sensational and clear-eyed take on Baldur's Gate 3-Gate even belong on the internet? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ youtu.be/kpeicp7AvUI
Welcome to AAA Larian! (Baldur's Gate 3)
Join this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmQy_HWuQC5MB2AXgkWr-dw/joinIf you prefer Patreon: https://patreon.com/MarkDarrahTh...
youtu.be
Well, it only took 20 years but I got there in my own damn time!
The Hello Kitty Animal Crossing-like on Apple Arcade is way better than you’d expect it to be! Well done, Sunblink team!
I quit Twitter about a year ago and while I missed having a window into the cool creative things people were doing, there was too much toxicity and performance and ego and it just was not a good force in my life after a point. I’m hopeful these reboots will have a better culture! Let’s find out…
