At Xbox, we strive to create games that inspire, entertain, and connect players from around the world. As a publisher and platform we are committed to meeting players where they are, by bringing more games, to more people, and on more devices. And at the heart of all we do are our players, and the vibrant communities that they build around the games they love.

Today we are announcing that four fan-favorite Xbox games will be coming to Nintendo Switch and Sony platforms this spring. The studios that built these celebrated games have drawn on their multi-platform experience to open the worlds they created to even more players and communities.

Last year, Arm introduced its Neoverse Compute Subsystem (CSS) for the N2 and V2 series of data center processors, providing a reference platform for the development of efficient Arm-based chips. Major cloud service providers like AWS with Graviton 4 and Trainuium 2, Microsoft with Cobalt 100 and Maia 100, and even NVIDIA with Grace CPU and Bluefield DPUs are already utilizing custom Arm server CPU and accelerator designs based on the CSS foundation in their data centers. The CSS allows hyperscalers to optimize Arm processor designs specifically for their workloads, focusing on efficiency rather than outright performance. Today, Arm has unveiled the next generation CSS N3 and V3 for even greater efficiency and AI inferencing capabilities. The N3 design provides up to 32 high-efficiency cores per die with improved branch prediction and larger caches to boost AI performance by 196%, while the V3 design scales up to 64 cores and is 50% faster overall than previous generations.

Both the N3 and V3 leverage advanced features like DDR5, PCIe 5.0, CXL 3.0, and chiplet architecture, continuing Arm's push to make chiplets the standard for data center and cloud architectures. The chiplet approach enables customers to connect their own accelerators and other chiplets to the Arm cores via UCIe interfaces, reducing costs and time-to-market. Looking ahead, Arm has a clear roadmap for its Neoverse platform. The upcoming CSS V4 "Adonis" and N4 "Dionysus" designs will build on the improvements in the N3 and V3, advancing Arm's goal of greater efficiency and performance using optimized chiplet architectures. As more major data center operators introduce custom Arm-based designs, the Neoverse CSS aims to provide a flexible, efficient foundation to power the next generation of cloud computing.

Windows 11 version 23H2 started rolling out last October, but many users of Microsoft's flagship operating system opted out of an upgrade, thanks to a handy "optional" toggle. News outlets have latched onto a freshly published (February 20) Windows 11 "Release Health" notice—the official Microsoft dashboard alert states that Windows 11 2023 Update: "is now entering a new rollout phase." Fastidious users will not be happy to discover that "eligible Windows 11 devices" are now subject to an automatic bump up to version 23H2. Very passive-aggressive tactics have been utilized in the past—Microsoft is seemingly eager to get it audience upgraded onto its latest and greatest feature-rich experience.

According to NeoWin, an official announcement from last week alerted users to an "impending end of optional preview updates on Windows 11 22H2." Yesterday's "23H2" dashboard confessional provided a little bit more context—unsurprisingly involving artificial intelligence: "This automatic update targets Windows 11 devices that have reached or are approaching end of servicing, and it follows the machine learning-based (ML) training we have utilized so far. We will continue to train our intelligent ML model to safely roll out this new Windows version in phases to deliver a smooth update experience."

For the second half of February, we have some surprise games, some not-so-surprise games, Perks, and a DLC—plenty to get you gaming now and to prime your pre-install buttons! Whether you boot up Bluey: The Videogame to play with the family, jump into Madden NFL 24 to try and recreate the big game how you would have played it, or just want to play Maneater to see what it'd be like to be an absolute menace as a shark, we have you covered. Let's get to the games!

Available Today:
Return to Grace (Cloud, Console, and PC)
A daring space archaeologist has just unearthed the ancient resting place of a long lost A.I. god known as Grace. Adventure with various fractured A.I. personalities as you uncover the great mystery of why she was shut down all those years ago in this first-person narrative adventure set in a visually stunning '60s retro sci-fi world.

AMD's first generation XDNA-based Neural Processing Unit (NPU) arrived last year, as an onboard aspect of their "Phoenix" Ryzen 7040 mobile processor series, followed many months later by Intel's similarly NPU-laden Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" generation. It was recently revealed that a Windows 11 DirectML preview grants preliminary support for Core Ultra NPUs—Microsoft's software engineering department seems to be prioritizing Intel AI tech. Team Red has already released XDNA on desktop platforms—with its Ryzen 8000G APU family—and the "Hawk Point" 8040 series is nearing a retail launch, but these processors (plus 7040) remain unsupported by Microsoft's DirectML API. An interesting AMD community blog entry was posted two weeks—news outlets have been slow to pick up on its relevance.

Intel NPU activity can be monitored in Windows Task Manager (see screenshot below), and an upcoming update will add competing AMD parts to the mix. Joel Hruska's Team Red community blog post reveals that NPU monitoring for Ryzen 8040 series processors is due soon: " As AI PCs become more popular, there's a growing need for system monitoring tools that can track the performance of the new NPUs (Neural Processing Units) available on select Ryzen 8040 Series mobile processors. A neural processing unit - also sometimes referred to an integrated or on-die AI engine -- can improve battery life by offloading AI tasks that would otherwise be performed on the CPU or GPU. AMD has been working with Microsoft to enable MCDM (Microsoft Compute Driver Model) infrastructure on the AMD NPU (Neural Processing Unit)-enabled Ryzen 8040 Series of mobile processors. MCDM is a derivative of Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) that is targeting non-GPU, compute devices, such as the NPU. MCDM enables NPUs to make use of the existing GPU device management infrastructure, including scheduling, power management, memory management, and performance debugging with tools such as the Task Manager. MCDM serves as a fundamental layer, ensuring the smooth execution of AI workloads on NPU devices."

Yesterday, during a special edition of the Official Xbox Podcast, we shared an update on plans to continue to bring more games to more people around the world, with the exciting news that the first Activision Blizzard game on Xbox Game Pass will be Diablo IV, beginning March 28. Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, and Matt Booty also shared the vision on game exclusivity, the future of Xbox hardware, and the overall Xbox promise. There's a lot to talk about, so we encourage you to watch the full episode (see below).

With the combined creativity across Team Xbox, players can expect an incredible 2024 with the likes of Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Avowed, Ara: History Untold, Towerborne and more coming your way, alongside continued updates for our blockbuster franchises Call of Duty, Minecraft, Forza, The Elder Scrolls Online and Microsoft Flight Simulator.

A Windows 11 Insider build for the upcoming "24H2" release of Windows exposes a new graphics setting called "automatic super resolution," or ASR as Microsoft intends to call it. Its caption reads "use AI to make supported games play more smoothly with enhanced details." The toggle is designed to work not just with games, but also Windows UWP apps. PhantomOfEarth reports that the feature is Microsoft's own super resolution model that's different from DLSS, FSR, or XeSS. It is exposed as a feature on machines with an NPU or AI accelerator compatible with Microsoft's APIs. Apparently, the upscaler component of ASR leverages AI to reconstruct details. Since the caption reads "supported games," ASR may not work universally. It remains to be seen how its image quality compares to that of DLSS, FSR, or XeSS.

Besides games, ASR is being designed to mainly enhance the quality of video captured by webcams for collaboration apps such as Teams, Skype, and Camera—all three of which are UWP apps. Windows 11 23H2 already leverages AI on PCs with NPUs to offer several webcam filters, background manipulation, audio noise filtering, and other enhancements. ASR would attempt to enhance the resolutions. 720p remains the mainstream webcam resolution, with some premium notebooks integrating 1080p.

As many of you know, two weeks ago, there were a series of changes made to the Overwatch team, as well as other teams across Blizzard. Writing a public blog is difficult in the wake of these events. I want to express gratitude for the absolutely amazing people who worked on our game that are no longer on our team. I want the community to feel informed, and I want to convey our excitement about what is to come in Season 9. To be honest, it's a lot to balance—but one of the things we've been most proud of is how we've kept lines of communication open between the team and our community, and we intend to continue that.

In that spirit, yesterday, we shared the exciting changes you are going to experience with Competitive starting in Season 9. I'd like to give a bit more insight into why we are making these changes. In our previous Director's Take, we talked about improving the game's core PvP experience. There are different ways that we look at improving the game, but one of the biggest is listening to your feedback. Season 9 starts in less than a week, and the two biggest and best changes coming to the season and a lot of it is driven by feedback from you - our players along with our team's vision to make the game more fun and challenging for everyone.

Chad Pralle, Principle Technical Program Manager at Microsoft's Windows AI NPU division has introduced the DirectML 1.13.1 and ONNX Runtime 1.17 APIs—this appears to be a collaborative effort—Samsung was roped in to some degree, according to Microsoft's announcement and a recent Team Blue blog entry. Pralle and his team are suitably proud of this joint effort that involved open source models: "we are excited to announce developer preview support for NPU acceleration in DirectML, the machine learning platform API for Windows. This developer preview enables support for a subset of models on new Windows 11 devices with Intel Core Ultra processors with Intel AI boost."

Further on in Microsoft's introductory piece, Samsung Electronics is announced as a key launch partner—Hwang-Yoon Shim, VP and Head of New Computing H/W R&D Group stated that: "NPUs are emerging as a critical resource for broadly delivering efficient machine learning experiences to users, and Windows DirectML is one of the most efficient ways for Samsung's developers to make those experiences for Windows." Microsoft notes that NPU support in DirectML is still "a work in progress," but Pralle and his colleagues are eager to receive user feedback from the testing community. It is currently "only compatible with a subset of machine learning models, some models may not run at all or may have high latency or low accuracy." They hope to implement improvements in the near future. The release is limited to modern Team Blue hardware, so NPU-onboard AMD devices are excluded at this point in time, naturally.

This week in its earnings call, Samsung announced that its foundry business has received a significant order for a two nanometer AI chips, marking a major win for its advanced fabrication technology. The unnamed customer has contracted Samsung to produce AI accelerators using its upcoming 2 nm process node, which promises significant gains in performance and efficiency over today's leading-edge chips. Along with the AI chips, the deal includes supporting HBM and advanced packaging - indicating a large-scale and complex project. Industry sources speculate the order may be from a major hyperscaler like Google, Microsoft, or Alibaba, who are aggressively expanding their AI capabilities. Competition for AI chip contracts has heated up as the field becomes crucial for data centers, autonomous vehicles, and other emerging applications. Samsung said demand recovery in 2023 across smartphones, PCs and enterprise hardware will fuel growth for its broader foundry business. It's forging ahead with 3 nm production while eyeing 2 nm for launch around 2025.

Compared to its 3 nm process, 2 nm aims to increase power efficiency by 25% and boost performance by 12% while reducing chip area by 5%. The new order provides validation for Samsung's billion-dollar investments in next-generation manufacturing. It also bolsters Samsung's position against Taiwan-based TSMC, which holds a large portion of the foundry market share. TSMC landed Apple as its first 2 nm customer, while Intel announced 5G infrastructure chip orders from Ericsson and Faraday Technology using its "Intel 18A" node. With rivals securing major customers, Samsung is aggressively pricing 2 nm to attract clients. Reports indicate Qualcomm may shift some flagship mobile chips to Samsung's foundry at the 2 nm node, so if the yields are good, the node has a great potential to attract customers.

Intel is reportedly pitching Microsoft to work on an "all American" semi-custom SoC for Microsoft's next Xbox generation that succeeds the Series X/S. The company's main pitch to Microsoft is the fact that the chip would be made entirely in the US, including its silicon fabrication and packaging. Microsoft currently relies on AMD for its SoC, which combines an AMD "Zen 2" CPU with a powerful RDNA2 iGPU that meets DirectX 12 Ultimate requirements.

Intel's semi-custom chip could be functionally the same, albeit based on its next generation CPU and graphics microarchitectures. Strengthening Intel's case is the fact that it now has a contemporary high performance gaming graphics architecture in Xe "Alchemist," and is on course to launch its successor, the Xe² "Battlemage," later this year. The company also made huge strides with chiplet-based SoCs as demonstrated with "Meteor Lake." Intel's semi-custom SoC for Microsoft could combine any of its upcoming CPU microarchitectures, such as "Lunar Lake," or "Panther Lake," and an iGPU based on "Battlemage" or Xe³ "Celestial." This chip could also integrate a next generation NPU if the platform calls for one. This wouldn't be Intel's first rodeo with powering a console; in fact the very first Microsoft Xbox was powered by a Pentium 3 "Coppermine" CPU, paired with a discrete GeForce 3 GPU supplied by NVIDIA.

Hi, your local game slinger here (Megan Spurr, Community Lead), back to add more to your "to be played" collection! Maybe you want to simulate some football before the big game; simulate running from horrors, or simulate moving things a little to the left without having to actually organize your things… we have some games for you. Claim your Perks, check out some updates, and get ready to pre-install some games!

Available Today:
Anuchard (Cloud, Console, and PC)—The kingdom of Anuchard has fallen. Generations after the collapse, its surviving descendants have chosen you to become The Bellwielder of the magical Audros Bell. Go forth, battle monsters, solve puzzles, and restore Anuchard to its former skyward glory!

In 2024, the tech industry remains steadfastly focused on AI, with the continued rollout of advanced AI chips leading to significant enhancements in processing speeds. TrendForce posits that this advancement is set to drive growth in both DRAM and NAND Flash across various AI applications, including smartphones, servers, and notebooks. The server sector is expected to see the most significant growth, with content per box for server DRAM projected to rise by 17.3% annually, while enterprise SSDs are forecast to increase by 13.2%. The market penetration rate for AI smartphones and AI PCs is expected to experience noticeable growth in 2025 and is anticipated to further drive the average content per box upward.

Looking first at smartphones, despite chipmakers focusing on improving processing performance, the absence of new AI functionalities has somewhat constrained the impact of AI. Memory prices plummeted in 2023 due to oversupply, making lower-priced options attractive and leading to a 17.5% increase in average DRAM capacity and a 19.2% increase in NAND Flash capacity per smartphone. However, with no new applications expected in 2024, the growth rate in content per box for both DRAM and NAND Flash in smartphones is set to slow down, estimated at 14.1% and 9.3%, respectively.

Intel, Microsoft, and a fabless semiconductor company making analog, mixed-signal, and audio DSP, Cirrus Logic, have collaborated on a new reference laptop design to showcase the upcoming Lunar Lake mobile CPUs. The goal is to enable "cool, quiet, and high-performance" laptops that push the boundaries of efficiency, thickness, and acoustics. The reference design incorporates three key components from Cirrus Logic - the CP9314 power converter chip, CS42L43 audio codec, and CS35L56 amplifier. The CP9314 is the most critical element, using advanced power conversion technology to improve Lunar Lake's power efficiency significantly. This enables thinner and quieter laptops with longer battery life. The codec and amplifier chips also play a role, providing high-quality audio with next-generation features like spatial audio support.

Together, these Cirrus Logic components aim to highlight Lunar Lake's capabilities for efficiency, performance, and immersive experiences in a thin and light form factor. While details remain scarce on the Lunar Lake CPUs themselves, they are expected to arrive later this year, likely in the second half. If the reference laptops live up to their promises, Lunar Lake could help Intel regain leadership in mobile computing efficiency, which has been lacking since the introduction of Apple's M series SoCs, which have superior battery life. With expert collaboration from Microsoft and Cirrus Logic on the peripheral hardware and software, Lunar Lake may usher in a new generation of cool, quiet, and powerful laptops.

It's a new year and a time to reset, reflect and think about what the next few months has in store. Here on the Age of Empires team, we've got a LOT lined up for 2024. Instead of trying to summarize it in a lengthy blog post, we decided to make a show of it! We're excited to announce the "New Year, New Age" livestream on February 23rd at 10:00 am PT (1:00 pm ET / 18:00 UTC).

With so much to come in 2024, we want to show our players around the world what to expect from the Age of Empires franchise this year. We'll be revealing more information on some of our most anticipated titles for 2024 - so expect to see a sneak peek of Age of Mythology: Retold and a first look at Age of Empires Mobile. If you're eager to know what's next for our games already in your library, don't worry, we'll have updates for those titles too.

Microsoft quietly added WordPad to its "Deprecated features for Windows client" list last September—a short message stated that the popular bundled-in word processing application will: "no longer be updated and will be removed in a future release of Windows. We recommend Microsoft Word for rich text documents like.doc and.rtf and Windows Notepad for plain text documents like.txt." The aforementioned "future" version of their mainstream operating system appears to be the recently issued Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26040 (through Canary Channel). Microsoft is pushing an AI feature enriched user experience—last week's Insider blog reveals that Voice Clarity is escaping its Surface family confines; the application no longer relies on NPU hardware.

According to Preview 26040's accompanying notes: "Starting with this build, the WordPad and People apps will no longer be installed after doing a clean install of the OS. In a future flight, WordPad will be removed in an upgrade. WordPad will not be reinstallable. WordPad is a deprecated Windows feature." Many journalists have pointed out that protest efforts could save WordPad from its deprecated fate—enough fuss was generated over Microsoft's proposed axing of MS Paint, to warrant a reversal and eventual AI-enrichment. A segment of the Windows userbase will welcome the upcoming dismissal of Cortana (already effective in the latest W11 preview)—their older personal productivity assistant is being pushed aside in favor of Windows Copilot.

Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson has managed to glean information from a recent Sledgehammer Games "Town Hall" meeting—his source(s) allege that the Activision subsidiary is set for some major restructuring. Last week, Microsoft announced widespread cuts across its Xbox and Activision Blizzard departments—according to Henderson's investigations: "30% of Sledgehammer Games staff have lost their jobs." An earlier version of his report outlines a return to a "Work From Home" model for the rest of 2024, given that the studio is allegedly vacating their current space (located in Foster City, California). He suggested that this is a temporary measure: "until a new office is found near its current location. It's expected that employees will be working from home until the end of 2024."

Insider Gaming claims that it sources have leaked Activision's future plans for their highly prized Call of Duty franchise—despite layoffs and adjusted work conditions, the company's top brass are sticking with a regular release schedule: It's a move that comes at an interesting time for Sledgehammer Games, as it it was also announced during the Town Hall that the studio would be the main developer for Activision's 2027 Call of Duty title. Infinity Ward will be heading Call of Duty 2026, understood to be in the Modern Warfare universe. Call of Duty 2025 is currently planned to be a semi-futuristic Black Ops 2 sequel under the codename Saturn."

Today, the following email was delivered to all Blizzard employees by Johanna Faries, the new President of Blizzard Entertainment: "Dear Blizzard, though my official first day with you all is February 5, I want to let you know immediately that it is an honor to join you next week in this new capacity. I do so humbly and in awe of all that Blizzard has stood for and delivered to the world for over thirty years. Today also brings some mixed emotions. The loss of talented teammates in recent days is hard to hold side-by-side with the immense excitement I feel about joining Blizzard - and building on the momentum you've created for Blizzard's next chapter.

I want to thank Matt (Booty) for the introduction, bring some further clarity to today's announcement, and share more about how I see our future together at Blizzard. I understand this is a lot to take in. The news of my appointment may no doubt bring up a range of reactions, questions, even concerns. Activision, Blizzard, and King are decidedly different companies with distinct games, cultures, and communities. It is important to note that Call of Duty's way of waking up in the morning to deliver for players can often differ from the stunning games in Blizzard's realm: each with different gameplay experiences, communities that surround them, and requisite models of success. I've discussed this with the Blizzard leadership team and I'm walking into this role with sensitivity to those dynamics, and deep respect for Blizzard, as we begin to explore taking our universes to even higher heights."

The Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26040 was made available via the Canary Channel last Friday—Microsoft's introductory blog explores a wide range of improvements and fixes—including a new Task Manager icon, support for USB 80 Gbps (AKA USB 4 Version 2), Colemak and Hebrew keyboard layouts and many more. The most significant change arrives with a wider deployment of Voice Clarity—this change has received plenty of press attention over the past weekend. The AI-powered feature was first released publicly back in 2022, but its rollout was product limited to compatible Surface devices. Microsoft's January 26 Insider Blog entry has an extensive escape plan—support is extending to "x64 and Arm64 CPUs" without any need for "extra hardware."

The relevant section stated: "We are expanding Voice Clarity which has been available on Surface devices and making it available to more people. Voice Clarity is a feature that enhances your audio experience on Windows with state-of-the-art AI technology. Powered by low complexity AI models, Voice Clarity cancels echo, suppresses background noise, and reduces reverberation in real-time. This feature is enabled by default and can be utilized by applications using Communications Signal Processing Mode, such as Phone Link and WhatsApp." Previously, this feature was only available on Surface devices that sported a Neural Processing Unit (NPU), so it is interesting to see Voice Clarity becoming less reliant on AI-tailored hardware.

We are delighted to announce our support for the National AI Research Resource (NAIRR) pilot, a vital initiative highlighted in the President's Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence. This initiative aligns with our commitment to broaden AI research and spur innovation by providing greater computing resources to AI researchers and engineers in academia and non-profit sectors. We look forward to contributing to the pilot and sharing insights that can help inform the envisioned full-scale NAIRR.

The NAIRR's objective is to democratize access to the computational tools essential for advancing AI in critical areas such as safety, reliability, security, privacy, environmental challenges, infrastructure, health care, and education. Advocating for such a resource has been a longstanding goal of ours, one that promises to equalize the field of AI research and stimulate innovation across diverse sectors. As a commissioner on the National Security Commission on AI (NSCAI), I worked with colleagues on the committee to propose an early conception of the NAIRR, underlining our nation's need for this resource as detailed in the NSCAI Final Report. Concurrently, we enthusiastically supported a university-led initiative pursuing a national computing resource. It's rewarding to see these early ideas and endeavors now materialize into a tangible entity.

The Federal Trade Commission announced today that it issued orders to five companies requiring them to provide information regarding recent investments and partnerships involving generative AI companies and major cloud service providers. The agency's 6(b) inquiry will scrutinize corporate partnerships and investments with AI providers to build a better internal understanding of these relationships and their impact on the competitive landscape. The compulsory orders were sent to Alphabet, Inc., Amazon.com, Inc., Anthropic PBC, Microsoft Corp., and OpenAI, Inc.

"History shows that new technologies can create new markets and healthy competition. As companies race to develop and monetize AI, we must guard against tactics that foreclose this opportunity, "said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. "Our study will shed light on whether investments and partnerships pursued by dominant companies risk distorting innovation and undermining fair competition."

The Verge has obtained an internal Microsoft memo that outlines a comprehensive reduction of headcounts across a number of Xbox Game Studios departments. Microsoft's gaming division has fought tooth and nail to complete their takeover of the highly prized (~$69 billion) Activision Blizzard + King group, yet this freshly acquired operation is set suffer the most. Microsoft Gaming CEO—Phil Spencer—was tasked with delivering some unfortunate news to an unlucky 8% of the current workforce: "It's been a little over three months since the Activision, Blizzard, and King teams joined Microsoft. As we move forward in 2024, the leadership of Microsoft Gaming and Activision Blizzard is committed to aligning on a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will support the whole of our growing business. Together, we've set priorities, identified areas of overlap, and ensured that we're all aligned on the best opportunities for growth."

He continued: "As part of this process, we have made the painful decision to reduce the size of our gaming workforce by approximately 1900 roles out of the 22,000 people on our team. The Gaming Leadership Team and I are committed to navigating this process as thoughtfully as possible. The people who are directly impacted by these reductions have all played an important part in the success of Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax and the Xbox teams, and they should be proud of everything they've accomplished here. We are grateful for all of the creativity, passion and dedication they have brought to our games, our players and our colleagues. We will provide our full support to those who are impacted during the transition, including severance benefits informed by local employment laws. Those whose roles will be impacted will be notified, and we ask that you please treat your departing colleagues with the respect and compassion that is consistent with our values."

It's going to be a good year for Xbox players. At this week's Developer_Direct show, we provided deep-dives into five new games launching across Xbox Series X|S, PC, Game Pass and/or cloud—all of which will arrive later in 2024. Development teams at Xbox, Bethesda, and even one of our third-party partners invited you into their studios to showcase extended gameplay, reveal key information, and more. Members of each development team gave us a look into their creation, with new information, and offered a tantalizing glimpse of what's to come this year. All four of these games will arrive on day one with Game Pass, and will contribute to what's going to be another huge year for members, delivering incredible games throughout 2024.

Avowed—Launching Fall 2024
Avowed Game Director Carrie Patel gave us a first deep-dive into the gameplay in Obsidian's upcoming fantasy action RPG, from its dynamic combat, to its thoughtful reactivity, to its "colorful, vibrant, strange" world set in the Living Lands. Avowed continues Obsidian's signature style of creating games with deep themes and player choice at the forefront. Not only will you make narrative decisions that can impact changes in the game down the line, but Avowed is also looking to offer choice in combat. Gameplay Director Gabe Paramo discussed not only how varied your weaponry will be - with melee weapons, ranged guns and bows, and magic-based wands (even dual-wielded wands!) to name a few—but how flexible combat can be, allowing you to quickly change loadouts for enemy encounters. Swappable loadouts mean you can approach combat however feels right to you.

According to the report by Windows Central, Microsoft is preparing a major update for Windows 11, codenamed Hudson Valley, which is expected to be released later this year as "version 24H2" or the 2024 Update. This update is anticipated to be a substantial upgrade from last year's version 23H2, featuring performance, security, quality-of-life updates, and new features. The star of the 24H2 update is going to be the focus of next-generation AI experiences, a concept Microsoft has hinted at over the past year. Rumors suggest the introduction of an advanced Copilot that will leverage AI and machine learning to enhance the Windows user experience for improved productivity across apps, search, and more. According to sources, Microsoft is aiming for a September release window for version 24H2, with plans to finalize the update over the summer. Despite speculation that this update might be called "Windows 12" due to its alignment with next-gen AI PCs and experiences, sources indicate that it will likely remain a significant Windows 11 update, especially following the departure of ex-Windows chief Panos Panay.

Microsoft is currently testing some of the features of this next release in the Insider Canary Channel, providing a glimpse into the new features. The update will enhance Snap Layouts with machine learning, suggesting commonly snapped apps for a more streamlined user experience. File Explorer will now support the creation of 7zip and TAR compressed archive files, and PNG files will support viewing and editing metadata. The Quick Settings panel will be updated, allowing users to scroll through all available settings and include a new refresh button for the Wi-Fi list. Phone Link will also see improvements, including using a linked phone as a webcam. A new "Energy Saver" mode will be introduced, reducing system performance and saving energy on battery-powered and plugged-in PCs. General improvements include a new "Install drivers" button during the Wi-Fi setup page, the removal of several built-in Windows apps from the OS image, and a new "Windows protected print mode" for Mopria-certified printers.

Be it a big fancy car, a Brotato, a big ole boss, or a turnip (I couldn't find a way to make that one start with a "B") we've got characters for you to check out. Let's get ready to nail that pre-install button and get to the games!

Available Today
Those Who Remain (Cloud, Console, and PC)—As the lights go out, the embers of darkness are stoked in the sleepy town of Dormont. Confront uncomfortable horrors, keep your sanity in check, and survive the night in this story-driven, first-person psychological-thriller.