Technologies
The Witcher 3, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 Bring the Heat to Xbox Game Pass
Two amazing games will be available soon for Xbox Game Pass subscribers.
The second half of February and early March could be considered one of the best stretches in recent memory for Xbox Game Pass subscribers. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, widely regarded as one of the best games of the past decade, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 headline a lineup that leans heavily into sprawling, choice-driven adventures but does throw in some football to mix things up a bit.
Xbox Game Pass offers hundreds of games you can play on your Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Amazon Fire TV, smart TV, PC or mobile device, with prices starting at $10 a month. While all Game Pass tiers offer you a library of games, Game Pass Ultimate ($30 a month) gives you access to the most games, as well as Day 1 games, meaning they hit Game Pass the day they go on sale.
Here are all the latest games subscribers can play on Game Pass. You can also check out other games the company added to the service in early February, including Madden NFL 26.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition
Available on Feb. 19 for Game Pass Ultimate and Premium Game Pass subscribers.
The Witcher 3 came out 10 years ago, and it’s still being praised as one of the best games ever made. To celebrate, developer CD Projekt Red is bringing over The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition to Xbox Game Pass. Subscribers will be able to play The Witcher 3 and its expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. Players once more take on the role of monster-slayer Geralt, who goes on an epic search for his daughter, Ciri. As he pieces together what happened to her, he comes across vicious monsters, devious spirits, and the most evil of humans who seek to end his quest.
Death Howl
Available on Feb. 19 for Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium and PC Game Pass subscribers.
Death Howl is a dark fantasy tactical roguelike that blends turn-based grid combat with deck-building mechanics. Players move across compact battlefield maps, weighing positioning and card synergies to survive increasingly difficult encounters. Progression comes through incremental upgrades that reshape each run. Battles reward careful planning, as overextending or mismanaging your hand can quickly end a run.
EA Sports College Football 26
Available on Feb. 19 for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.
EA Sports College Football 26 delivers a new take on college football gameplay with enhanced offensive and defensive mechanics, smarter AI and dynamic play-calling that reflects real strategic football systems. Featuring over 2,800 plays and more than 300 real-world coaches with distinct schemes, it offers expanded Dynasty and Road to Glory modes where team building and personnel decisions matter. On the field, dynamic substitutions, improved blocking and coverage logic make matches feel more fluid and tactical.
Dice A Million
Available on Feb. 25 for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers.
Dice A Million centers on rolling and managing dice to build toward increasingly higher scores. Each round asks players to weigh risk against reward, deciding when to bank points and when to push for bigger combinations. Progression introduces modifiers and new rules that subtly shift probabilities, making runs feel distinct while keeping the core loop focused on calculated gambling.
Towerborne
Available on Feb. 26 for Game Pass Ultimate, PC, and Premium Game Pass subscribers.
After months in preview, Towerborne will get its full release on Xbox Game Pass. The fast-paced action game blends procedural dungeons and light RPG progression, with players fighting through waves of enemies. You’ll unlock permanent upgrades between runs and equip weapons, spells and talents that change how combat feels each time. The core loop pushes risk versus reward as you dive deeper into tougher floors, adapting builds on the fly, and mastering movement and timing to survive increasingly chaotic battles.
Final Fantasy 3
Available on March 3 for Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and PC Game Pass subscribers.
Another Final Fantasy game is coming to Xbox Game Pass. This time, it’s Final Fantasy 3, originally released on the Famicom (the Japanese version of the NES) back in 1990. Since then, Final Fantasy 3 has been ported to a slew of devices and operating systems, including the Nintendo Wii, iOS and Android. Now, you’ll be able to play on your Xbox or PC with a Game Pass subscription. A new group of heroes is once again tasked with saving the world before it’s covered in darkness. Four orphans from the village of Ur find a Crystal of Light in a secret cave, which tasks them as the new Warriors of Light. They’ll have to stop Xande, an evil wizard looking to use the power of darkness to become immortal.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Available on March 3 for Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and PC Game Pass subscribers.
Last year was stacked with amazing games, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 was one of the best. Developer Warhorse Studios’ RPG series takes place in the real medieval kingdom of Bohemia, which is now the Czech Republic, and tasks players with a somewhat realistic gaming experience where you have to use the weapons, armor and items from those times. The sequel picks up right after the first game (also on Xbox Game Pass) as Henry of Skalitz is attacked by bandits, which starts a series of events that disrupts the entire country.
Games leaving Game Pass in February
For February, Microsoft is removing four games. If you’re still playing them, now’s a good time to finish up what you can before they’re gone for good on Feb. 28.
For more on Xbox, discover other games available on Game Pass now, and check out our hands-on review of the gaming service. You can also learn about recent changes to Game Pass.
Technologies
Harvard Business Review Study Finds ‘AI Brain Fry’ Is Leaving Workers Mentally Fatigued
Study participants reported increased mental fatigue while using AI tools, but less burnout overall.
Workers who excessively use AI agents and tools at work are at increased risk of mental fatigue, according to a recent Harvard Business Review study. In certain industries, more than 25% of hired professionals report increased mental strain due to their role in AI oversight — though these professionals also generally experienced less burnout than peers who aren’t using AI.
This phenomenon — which the researchers refer to as «AI brain fry» — is described as a «‘buzzing’ feeling or a mental fog» that caused study participants to develop headaches and difficulty focusing and making decisions. Individuals pointed to being overwhelmed by large amounts of information and to frequent task switching as the reasons for these feelings.
Studied individuals experienced more brain fry when they utilized AI agents to manage a workload beyond their own cognitive capacity. When participants used AI to replace mundane, repetitive tasks, managing the growing number of tools led to increased mental fatigue.
Crucially, the study found that fewer individuals who used these AI agents reported workplace burnout.
The researchers predict that this is because burnout testing assesses emotional and physical distress. In contrast, they report, acute mental fatigue «is caused by marshalling attention, working memory and executive control beyond the limited capacity of these systems.»
These are the processes that are taxed when study participants use multiple AI tools in their workflow, according to the researchers.
The Harvard study identifies several business costs incurred by workers suffering from AI brain fry. The foremost consequence is that these individuals may end up making lower-quality decisions. «Workers in [the] study who endorsed AI brain fry experience 33% more decision fatigue than those who did not,» the study reports. Workers who report AI brain fry were also more likely to self-report making both minor and major errors at their jobs.
Another recent Harvard Business Review study similarly found that employees who use AI tools «worked at a faster pace, took on a broader scope of tasks and extended work into more hours of the day,» but warned that «workload creep can in turn lead to cognitive fatigue, burnout and weakened decision-making.»
Technologies
Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for March 11, #1004
Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for March 11, No. 1,004.
Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.
Once I spotted «ice cream» and «traffic» in today’s NYT Connections puzzle, I had the blue category all but filled in. But that purple category was even more bizarre than usual. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.
The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.
Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time
Hints for today’s Connections groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Bring that back!
Green group hint: Fancy ____.
Blue group hint: Think of a certain shape.
Purple group hint: Sounds like…
Answers for today’s Connections groups
Yellow group: Steal.
Green group: Make nicer, with «up.»
Blue group: Kinds of cones.
Purple group: Pronoun homophones.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections answers?
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is steal. The four answers are lift, palm, pinch and pocket.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is make nicer, with «up.» The four answers are dress, jazz, spiff and spruce.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is kinds of cones. The four answers are ice cream, pine, snow and traffic.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is pronoun homophones. The four answers are hee, mi, oui and yew.
Technologies
Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for March 11, #534
Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle No. 534 for Wednesday, March 11.
Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition features a real mix of categories, but the yellow one came easily to this Seahawks fan. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.
Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.
Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta
Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Super Bowl champs’ division.
Green group hint: Baseball stats.
Blue group hint: Stars on ice.
Purple group hint: You wear it around your waist.
Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Yellow group: NFC West teams.
Green group: «WHIP» in baseball.
Blue group: Hockey Hall of Famers.
Purple group: ____ belt.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is NFC West teams. The four answers are Arizona, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is «WHIP» in baseball. The four answers are hits, inning, pitched and walks.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is Hockey Hall of Famers. The four answers are Bossy, Iginla, Orr and St. Louis.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is ____ belt. The four answers are black, Brandon, sun and title.
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