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Xbox players are taking a stand against Microsoft's layoffs in a place where their voices may be heard the loudest: an official fan feedback website.

As spotted by Kotaku , Witt Yao, a fan of Xbox, took to the Xbox Player Voice forum to pose a general request. The poster asked that Microsoft end the cycle of layoffs and studio closures, as it's creating an abundance of pain and friction with both fans and developers alike.

"The layoff of 3,200 workers at Xbox (across Activision, Bethesda/ZeniMax, Blizzard, King, Mojang, Obsidian, id Software, and Xbox Game Studios) is unacceptable," said Yao. "This continues a pattern that has led to 10,000+ layoffs at Xbox in as little as two years. Multiple studios have been closed or had their futures jeopardized (Compulsion Games, Double Fine, Undead Labs, Ninja Theory, Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Studios) and numerous games have been cancelled. The developers and players agree that this cannot continue."

Yao called for Microsoft to stop announcing games they don't intend to release themselves, as we saw with State of Decay 3 and Senua in June . Additionally, Yao doesn't want to see Microsoft executives get bonuses after layoffs and asked that Microsoft slow down its pursuit of profit growth so that developers can have a chance to make games without studios being shut down.

The post has become a trending topic on the forum and prompted other users to support it. With over 3,000 votes, many are expressing their frustrations with Xbox's decision making.

"Making fewer games and focusing on sequels and existing IP is a slow death," said one user. "Growth means taking risks and letting creative people try new ideas."

Another user honed in on the lack of accountability from Xbox leadership: "I especially agree that layoffs are a failure of leadership. These are talented developers. If you cannot figure out how to make money with their skill, the failure is with the leadership."

Although this is a place where fans are supposed to be heard, it's on Microsoft to actually take action. These calls echo many other industry-wide frustrations; Microsoft laid off thousands of people last week and is planning for more layoffs over the next 12 months, also offloading first-party studios like Double Fine , Undead Labs , and Ninja Theory, all of which were acquried within the last ten years.

Microsoft's long term future in gaming remains extremely unclear, but hopefully it can get things back on track and keep Xbox alive.

Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.

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Penn State researchers built a monolithic 3D chip that runs entirely off ambient light without leveraging a battery

The chip stacks silicon photovoltaics, MoS₂/WSe₂ complementary logic, and graphene chemical sensors within ~50 nm of each other

The development also opens the door for larger 2D circuits that incorporate some of the same design philosophy in the future

Research at Penn State university has come up with an interesting breakthrough in engineering, building out a compact integrated circuit that runs entirely off solar power.

The IC, which skips batteries altogether aims to run calculations and be able to sense chemicals in its vicinity by harvesting solar power available to it aims to do so by stacking everything monolithically versus splitting things up across different dies.

The move comes as engineers continue to grapple with the need for long-lasting and versatile IoT and edge computing systems, many of which are deployed in remote or hard to access locations, making changing batteries a hard, if not impossible proposition at times.

A vertically-stacked solution that centers around solar

Battery-free electronics that rely on renewable power are in greater focus as engineers, stakeholders, and consumers seek such devices to meet growing market demand.

What makes the research team at Penn State's development so unique is that it has attempted to address what conventional electronics have failed to do so far: cutting losses by investing in a structure that effectively skips a significant part of the board area requirements, wiring losses in terms of power and latency that are in play for such devices.

The chip does so by leveraging two types of semiconducting materials (MoS₂ and WSe₂), a silicon photovoltaic module, and graphene-based sensors, and stacking all three layers vertically.

The graphene-based sensors at the top respond to liquids placed on them, sending electrical signals that are processed in the middle logic layer, where the semiconductor layer lies, while the silicon photovoltaic module at the bottom generates power by converting ambient light into electricity.

"We showed that heterogeneous materials—silicon, graphene, MoS 2 and WSe 2 —can be integrated monolithically in three dimensions to create a self-powered sensing and computing system. This is different from simply placing separate chips next to each other or connecting them externally. We show that sensing, computation, and energy harvesting can be brought into nanoscale proximity, which can reduce footprint, interconnect length, and energy loss," said Saptarshi Das, one of the authors of the paper documenting this approach .

While the move itself documents a small purpose-built chip, it has interesting ramifications for the future, where larger circuits could use the design as a building block for IoT needs, especially in remote settings where batteries might be difficult to replace even as efficiency takes center stage for lower-powered, nanoscale circuits.

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Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 4. House of the Dragon has never been afraid to change the source material, much to the frustration of some fans and the book's author, George R. R. Martin . In part, this is due to Fire & Blood 's format as a collection of historical records that occasionally contradict each other. However, that isn't always the case, as seen in the HBO series' treatment of Maelor , the youngest son of Helaena ( Phia Saban ) and Aegon ( Tom Glynn-Carney ), who has not appeared in the show, at least not yet . Since Season 2, fans have been asking where Maelor is because, although he's a child throughout the series' events, he has a notable role, especially when Blood ( Sam C. Wilson ) and Cheese ( Mark Stobbart ) attack the royal children.

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The Volkswagen Group could kill at least ten models to save money.

A number of crossover coupes could die including the Q5 Sportback.

Porsche might drop the Taycan as well as plans for ICE-powered 718s.

Volkswagen is going on a killing spree as part of a larger effort to cut costs and become more competitive. While the company has been tight-lipped about what models will get the axe, a new report claims a handful of slow-sellers could be dropped.

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Starting with Volkswagen, Bild suggests the Jetta and Taos won’t live to see another generation. The death of the Jetta wouldn’t be terribly surprising as sedans have fallen by the wayside as consumers have embraced crossovers. This shift has already resulted in the brand killing the Passat in America.

More: VW Group Is Killing Half Its Cars By 2030, And Some Big Names Are At Risk

Through the first half of the year, Volkswagen only sold 15,949 Jettas in the United States. That’s an increase of 9.7%, but it pales in comparison to the 132,440 Civics, 131,403 Corollas, 79,839 Elantras, and 73,579 K4s sold in the same period.

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While crossovers are generally hot, the Taos is not. That might come as a bit of a surprise considering it’s the brand’s entry-level crossover in America, but first-half sales only totaled 7,794 units. That was a 43.9% drop from a year ago, and even then, sales weren’t very impressive.

The report also claims the Fabia is living on borrowed time. That’s interesting as the model is relatively popular and found 119,139 buyers last year. This put it well ahead of the Scala and Superb.

The Cupra Raval is also rumored to be a one and done, which is surprising as the model just debuted a few months ago. However, the Volkswagen Group has an assortment of similar EVs from other brands.

On the luxury side of the equation, Audi could kill off a number of crossover coupes. In particular, the Q5 Sportback and Q6 E-tron Sportback could have a date with the undertaker. The four-ring brand doesn’t break down sales by variant, but it’s believed the coupes are far less popular than their more traditional counterparts.

Similar cuts are rumored at Porsche, where the gas-powered Cayenne Coupe could soon become a distant memory. Speaking of petrol-power, Porsche could flip-flop once again and kill plans for ICE versions of the 718 Boxster and Cayman.

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The models were intended to be electric-only, but the company got cold feet and announced there would be a handful of gas variants . However, those might not live to see the light of day.

Lastly, the Taycan could also be toast. Sales dropped 22% last year to 16,339 units and the company blamed a “slowdown in the adoption of electromobility.”

Bild suggests axing these models could save the automaker as much as €6.5 ($7.4) billion by 2031. However, the list is said to be preliminary and we wouldn’t be surprised if additional models – such as the Audi e-tron GT – also get the axe. That being said, Volkswagen’s Product Communications Director Stefan Voswinkel wouldn’t confirm anything and told Motor1 , “We do not comment on speculation regarding future models or decisions regarding the product cycle plan.”

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