Conservative politicians and commentators in the US are complaining that Xbox gaming consoles are now “waking up” after announcing earlier this month that Xbox Series X/S devices would be updated with an “Energy Saver” mode that reduces their power consumption (opens in new tab) when activated.
This particular descent into partisan madness began on January 11, when Microsoft announced that the Xbox would be “the first gaming console to offer carbon-conscious game downloads and updates.” Put simply, this means Xbox consoles will be able to schedule updates for times when the power grid is consuming lower-carbon energy sources.
It’s a smart idea – Microsoft said the new setting cuts power consumption by up to 20x compared to normal sleep mode – and it’s actually not new: the “carbon conscious” feature was introduced for Windows 11 last year .
Of course, that didn’t stop right-wing commentators and their political trailblazers from hailing the update as the next major breach of liberty and a new front in the Kulturkampf that followed sources of excitement as idiotic as it did M&M’s (opens in new tab) and gas ovens (opens in new tab). Retweeting a story about the update posted on right-wing website Blaze News (opens in new tab)Republican Senator Ted Cruz wrote, “First your gas stove, then your coffee, now they’re shooting at your Xbox.”
The tweet was so misleading that Twitter added additional “context” underneath it.
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Conservative youth organization Young America’s Foundation shared the same article, saying, “Lol now the Woke Brigade is after video games, all in the name of climate change.”
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Talk show host John Ziegler also felt compelled to comment, tweeting: “Could this finally get some young people to see the negative effects of the real world #climatefraud?!”
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Republican Congressman Troy Nehls was perhaps the most well-known of the group, who equated Xbox consoles with guns.
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Conservative flagship talk show Fox and Friends also felt the need to get involved, taking a break from lamenting the loss of a conventionally sexy icing-coated peanut to complain about Microsoft “coming after the kids.”
“You’re trying to get your kids involved in climate politics at an earlier age,” Fox Across America host Jimmy Failla said. “Make them climate conscious now.”
Fox News is MAD that Xbox has “woken up” its power saving mode Earhardt: “Xbox also announced they are being woken up because of climate change” “E: “They’re after the kids” pic.twitter.com/8Vvd5j02SAJanuary 24, 2023
Climate awareness doesn’t seem like the worst thing in the world to encourage in children to me, although Failla has predictably overlooked the fact that the vast majority of players are actually adults. But fact and rationality hold little sway over high-tension political shenanigans, as evidenced by the fact that so much of this performative outrage rests on a simple lie: The Blaze report claims the update “will force gamers to shut down their Xbox consoles to combating climate change,” but that’s not the case at all. Microsoft said the update has become the default setting for newly deployed consoles, but “the performance, gameplay, or your console’s ability to receive overnight system, game, or Getting apps isn’t affected.” And if you don’t want to use it, that’s okay too: “You can always adjust your settings and choose what works best for you.”
But even if you don’t care about climate change – which, for the record, is very real – there are simple, practical reasons to embrace this update. We found out a few years ago that PC gaming can burn through tons of electricity (opens in new tab), and the same goes for game consoles. All the juice isn’t free, so you’ll save some money too by limiting consumption. I don’t see how even the angriest anti-Wokester could find fault with that.
Microsoft declined to comment on the backlash to the update.
