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Microsoft Flight Simulator head on 40th anniversary celebrations, streaming and preservation

Did you know that Microsoft Flight Simulator is actually Microsoft’s longest-running product line?

With its introduction in 1982 for the IBM PC, it actually predates Windows by three years, Office by eight and the Xbox gaming brand by a whopping 19. It’s pretty wild to think about, especially considering Microsoft is undoubtedly best known software company.

To celebrate Flight Simulator‘s 40th anniversary, Microsoft is releasing the appropriately titled 40th Anniversary Edition update on November 11th. Naturally, for such a momentous occasion, you want to go big, and that’s exactly what Microsoft has done with the expansion.

“We were sort of constructing this box of chocolate,” says Jorg Neumann, head of Microsoft Flight Simulator, about the approach to the update, which was created with the help of 10 studios around the world. So what, exactly, went into this box of sweets?

Helicopters and gliders and airliners, oh my!

According to Neumann, Microsoft’s tracker for most requested community content additions helped steer them in the right

jorg neumann

Jorg Neumann

direction.

At the top of the list were helicopters and gliders, which haven’t been in the series since 2006’s Microsoft Flight Simulator X (FSX). But as Neumann points out, the piloting systems for these vehicles are “totally different” from anything that’s featured in the current Flight Sim. That’s to say nothing of the fact that quite a lot has changed since 2006.

“If you think about FSX back in the day, we always look at the physics system, and the physics system was ‘a plane was a box.’ And it had one control point. And on that control point, you had to do all the physics operations. So it wasn’t exactly the most accurate thing ever,” he says with a smile.

This meant that Flight Sim co-developer Asobo had to write a whole new system and add a variety of features. “The ground effect is different with less water drag when you get close to the ground. We did things like translational lift, which is basically from ‘hover’ to ‘fly forward’ and how that really works, and the vortices that are happening,” says Neumann. He adds that a solution to “dissymmetry of lift” — the unequal amount of lift on opposite sides of the rotor disc — called “flapping” had to be coded from scratch.

The other piece of the puzzle was working with a French company called Helicoptres Guimbal, who provided helicopters and test pilots for reference. With their help, the Flight Sim team would use new recording devices to get the telemetry of the real helicopters and compare them to what they have in the game. In the end, all that work has seemed to pay off.

“I think the best news for us was when we brought it back to the test pilots and they tested it, they actually said, ‘man, you guys got close,” says Neumann. “And they gave us more feedback, and that went on a number of months. And now they’re saying it’s really, really good — to the point that they’d like to use it like for training purposes and such. So that’s always the best validation.”

Microsoft Flight Simulator helicopters

Another highly requested feature was the addition of a true-to-life airliner: the sophisticated Airbus A-310. To design it, the Flight Sim team partnered with global software company Inibuilds, who Neumann says have “a lot of direct access” to airline pilots. This was essential, he says, because the pilot handbooks for such aircraft are “thousands upon thousands of pages” long.

Given that, he admits he’s not an airliner expert, but from what he’s heard from the true savants is that Inibuilds’ work on the airliner “is really outstanding.” Moreover, he says it helped improve the game as a whole.

“It pushed us, frankly. I think there were things in Flight Sim when we launched that weren’t as deep as far as systems are concerned — like the weather radar was more limited and stuff. And I think a lot of what Inibuilds did was pushing the platform to get really great, which is a a net benefit to all the other third parties that make airliners.”

Honouring the past — including Canada’s

One of the other notable elements of the update is the set of seven famous historical aircraft: the 1903 Wright Flyer, the 1915 Curtiss JN-4 Jenny, the 1927 Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis, the 1935 Douglas DC-3, the beautiful 1937 Grumman G-21 Goose, the 1947 Havilland DHC-2 Beaver and the 1947 Hughes H-4 Hercules.

The Spruce Goose.

That last plane, also known as the ‘Spruce Goose,’ is perhaps the most notable of the bunch — the largest seaplane and largest wooden plane ever made. Its creator? A lesser-known business magnate, pilot and engineer by the name of Howard Hughes, who also happened to be the only person to ever fly it. This begs the question: how do you simulate a plane that was only ever flown once?

“Howard Hughes was an interesting guy, right? So he kept actually building on that plane. He flew that one time back in 1947. But that’s just one configuration — he kept changing the thing to make it better,’” explains Neumann. “And we saw all the pictures over the ages and we needed to figure out like, ‘what is this lever do here in the central console?’ And then they [the Evergreen Museum who houses the Spruce Goose] went in and actually gave us the engineering specs and where the electrical lines actually go. And we discovered some stuff that I think nobody really knows about like it’s two APUs, power units, and they’re in the cockpit. This thing must have been crazy loud, when it flew, sitting in the cockpit!”

And if the recent Canada-themed update wasn’t enough, Canucks will also have something unique to enjoy in 40th Anniversary Edition: the 1947 Havilland DHC-2 Beaver. Shortly after World War II, Canadian aviation company De Havilland shifted focus to civilian operators — in this case, a single-engined high-wing propeller-driven short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft. On top of that, Canadian 3D model and animation company Blackbird Simulations (formerly Milviz) actually handled the Beaver. “Because they’re from Canada, they were like ‘the Beaver — we need to do the Beaver!” Neumann says with a laugh, noting that some of the team flew for Canadian Air Patrol. “It’s a great group of people.”

Microsoft Flight Simulator Beaver

In general, he says it’s “most important that people really love the plane that they work on,” and that’s especially been apparent with Blackbird. “The lead engineer on [Blackbird], his name is Jim. And he sends me builds, ‘hey, check it out!’ And you see all the needles through this little jitter. I’m like, ‘what is happening?’ And he’s like, ‘Oh, it’s this power unit up here!’ And it does this vibration thing. And it’s a super authentic version of what the Beaver really feels like. And I think Flight Simmers really enjoy that. It’s not just the shape — it floats and it can go into lakes. It really feels the part, and it sounds the part. They’re so proud of the sound recordings because it’s all custom recordings done for specific planes up in Canada. It was cool.”

Reaching new audiences for years to come

When I last spoke to Neumann, it was to preview the launch of the Xbox Series X/S versions of Flight Sim — the first time the series had ever come to consoles. Of course, that brought in a whole new wave of players who had never experienced the series, and the team took great care into creating tutorials and other guiding missions to ease them in.

Fast forward over a year and Neumann says he’s happy to see how this new audience has received the game. “It was great. The audience is huge — we doubled the audience.” And that was just with the native Series X and S versions. This past March, Microsoft added Xbox Cloud Gaming support to the game, letting players stream it to the last-gen Xbox One and, even, mobile devices.

“It’s a fascinating thing — I actually test a bunch on iPhone 12 because it’s so fast to fire up the SIM,” he admits with a laugh. But his biggest takeaway is just how much these two expansions reached people.

“It added people all around the world — more so than what I expected. Because there’s a traditional PC audience and a traditional Xbox audience, and this one literally liberates it from any country on Earth now. For example, just a tidbit: Turkey, somehow, is now the number six most popular place where people fly Flight Simulator. I would have never thought that because the country doesn’t have a deep history of aviation. But clearly people like it — it’s a big country, it has [85] million people. So I think we’re reaching new people and innocent people.”

To that point, he mentions how he sees the Flight Sim add-on developer community has a lot of new teams with people who are 20-years-old or younger. His conversations with aircraft manufacturers have also indicated that interest in aviation is going up.

“I’m not saying it’s all because of us or anything, but I do think we’re contributing to sort of a resurgence, where people say, ‘planes are cool, let’s get into this.’ And the emails that always make me the happiest are from like eight to ten year olds writing me saying, ‘hey, I’m flying Flight Sim every day,’ and then they ask me something about their hometown or whatnot and it feels awesome. That’s when it feels that you’re doing something meaningful.”

Microsoft Flight Simulator Airbus

The other side of the equation, he says, is that Flight Sim can play a role in the preservation of aircrafts.

“I go to a bunch of museums and I talk to those people. And they are kindred spirits, just of a different ilk. They are spending their life — all their passion goes into preserving these amazing machines. And they look at me like sort of almost like a savior, because they know that machines, at some point or another, physical things erode over time. For example, the Spirit of St. Louis — the cloth is going away and they can’t do anything about it. Like nobody can touch the plane — nobody has been on the ceiling for decades. It’s just the tools of time. And they look at what we can do in the digital space, which is not the same, but but it has a certain element of the preservation, so they pour their hearts into helping us.”

Taking that one step further, he says he’s had conversations with museums to preserve them, too, in a digital space. “It’s not perfect or anything, but it keeps getting better, and people want to be part of that. And we’re doing some prototypes right now that could lead us to some fascinating places.”

Ultimately, he says these sorts of efforts can appeal even to those who aren’t interested in aviation.

“I was thinking about the photogrammetry cities that we have — some of them are from 2013, and we’re getting new ones now. And I was projecting forward, 40 years of Flight Sim… what’s the world going to look like 40 years from now? That’s the kind of the mental game I play. You know, we will have cities from 50 years ago. And people can look back in time and say, ‘Hey, this is what the city looked like.’ And we are really making this ‘history of Earth thing,’ a little bit. Not just planes, but the world itself, and I think that that has lots of fascinating things going for it.”


This interview has been edited for language and clarity.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary Edition will be available as a free update to all Flight Sim players, including those on Xbox Game Pass.

Image credit: Xbox


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Microsoft Surface Pro 9 with 5G Review: More of the same

Microsoft’s new Surface devices, including the new Surface Pro 9 2-in-1 and Surface Laptop 5, became available in Canada on October 25th. Shortly after, I got my hands on the Surface Pro 9 with 5G for testing (I also have a Surface Laptop 5, so stay tuned for that review coming soon).

However, as is often the story with Microsoft’s Surface line, there’s very little that’s new with the Surface Pro 9. There are a few minor improvements, such as 5G compared to the LTE available in previous cellular Surface Pro models, but overall, the Surface Pro 9 is more of the same. Depending on your perspective, that could be good or bad.

On the one hand, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The Surface Pro 2-in-1 form factor has worked well for Microsoft and, even if it’s not my preferred PC hardware, it’s still admittedly really versatile. I’ll also give Microsoft credit for not adding gimmicky new features to try and score a hardware upgrade – the best reason to get a Surface Pro 9 is that your old Surface Pro finally gave up the ghost. On the other hand, it’s tough to get excited about such an iterative update (but maybe we’d be better off spending less time getting hyped about new tech gadgets anyway).

Most of what’s new with the Surface Pro 9 comes down to the chip inside. Customers have two paths to pick from, the Intel-powered Pro 9 with 12th-gen i5 or i7 options, or the Pro 9 with 5G sporting the Microsoft-Qualcomm SQ3 chip. I reviewed the latter since I was interested to see how the SQ chip has improved since the Surface Pro X (2020) – plus I’ll have the luxury of gauging Intel performance when I put the Laptop 5 through testing.

In short, the SQ3 chip in the Surface Pro 9 with 5G is better, and Windows on ARM has improved since I last used it, but it’s still not on par with x86 chips like those from Intel or AMD. Stick with me below the specs to learn more.

Specs

  • Display: 13” PixelSense Flow Display, 2880 X 1920 (267 PPI), Dynamic refresh rate up to 120Hz
  • Processor: Microsoft SQ3 (Intel variants include 12th Gen i5-1235U or i7-1255U)
  • Memory: 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB options (32GB limited to Intel chips)
  • Storage: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB SSD (1TB limited to Intel chips)
  • Dimensions: 287 x 209 x 9.3mm
  • Weight: 878g (Intel variant is 879g)
  • Camera: Front-facing 1080p camera with Windows Hello face authentication, rear 10-megapixel camera with 1080p and 4K video recording
  • Operating System: Windows 11
  • Battery: SQ3: Up to 19 hours of ‘typical device usage’ | Intel: Up to 15.5 hours of ‘typical device usage’
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1, 5G (SQ3 only)
  • Sensors: Accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, ambient colour sensor
  • Ports: 2x USB-C (USB 3.2 on SQ3, Thunderbolt 4 on Intel), 1x Surface Connect
  • Graphics: Microsoft SQ3 Adreno 8CX Gen 3  or Intel Xe

You can view a full spec list here.

ARM race

Microsoft’s Surface Pro X and now Pro 9 with 5G have been the staple Windows on ARM devices for years. They aren’t the only Windows PCs running on ARM chips, but they’re arguably the most high-profile. Much the same way that Google uses its Pixel line to steer the Android ship, Microsoft tries to guide PC manufacturers with Surface. As such, ARM-based Surface devices should be an example for manufacturers to follow – unfortunately, they aren’t.

ARM PCs suffer on two counts; software optimization and raw hardware performance. These issues remain the biggest problems for the Surface Pro 9 with 5G, even with improvements in both areas. While Apple’s M-series chips have shown just what ARM can accomplish, Microsoft and other PC makers are still playing catch up.

With the SQ3 and the Pro 9 with 5G, I found, with some surprise, that I was actually able to use it for my day-to-day job with minimal issues. My typical workflow involves running way too many Firefox tabs (as I write this, I have 20 tabs open), along with other apps like Slack, Tweeten (an excellent Tweetdeck client for Windows) and Photoshop. I did have some performance issues with Firefox that turned out to be related to a bug with the browser, but after installing an update, I haven’t had an issue. I eventually gave up using Slack in its dedicated app since it often froze up when I swapped to it, but it may have been related to the same bug affecting Firefox. As for Photoshop, it worked fine if I was running the beta version, which includes support for ARM.

While this was much better overall than my experience with the SQ1 and SQ2, the SQ3 still left me wanting more.

Better performance on paper only goes so far

The SQ3 chip did boast better performance numbers in benchmarks than previous SQ chips and, in some tests, even had comparable numbers to last year’s Intel-powered Surface Pro 8. But as I often say, benchmarks hardly tell the whole story, and that’s as true for the SQ3 Pro 9 as any other device.

As I said above, I was able to use the Pro 9 with 5G to do my typical workload. It wasn’t a smooth experience.

There’s a distinct slowness with Pro 9 that isn’t apparent on similarly-specced Intel or AMD PCs. For example, when working on larger stories with multiple research tabs open across multiple Firefox windows, there were palpable pauses when switching between windows and tabs. Even while writing this review on the Pro 9, I often paused to wait for the text appearing on screen to catch up to my fingers (and I don’t consider myself a particularly fast typist).

Some might chalk it up to Firefox, but these issues persisted in other places, with Windows Explorer, Edge, Settings and more all being a little slower than I’m used to.

To be fair, none of these performance issues made the Pro 9 with 5G unusable. I just felt less efficient while working on it than on other laptops. Moreover, most people would likely do fine with the Pro 9, especially if they play to its strengths (which, admittedly, I don’t).

One strength of the SQ3 I will note is that it offers decent battery life. It was able to last through almost a full workday with heavy use, and virtually no performance hit when running on battery, unlike Intel and AMD chips which perform much better in my experience when the device is plugged in.

Tried-and-true design

There’s not much to say about the Surface Pro 9 with 5G’s design since it has hardly changed. Microsoft did introduce some fancy new colours this year, which look great, but sadly aren’t available for the Pro 9 with 5G – it only comes in ‘Platinum,’ while the Intel variant ships in ‘Sapphire,’ ‘Forest,’ and ‘Graphite’ too.

Microsoft did move the buttons and ports around, marking one of the few changes to the exterior. Both power and volume buttons reside in the top-left corner, while the two USB-C 3.2 ports hang out on the left side (on the Intel version, these are USB-C 4.0/Thunderbolt 4 ports) and the Surface Connect port occupies the right side. There’s also no 3.5mm headphone jack on the Pro 9 with 5G. The Intel variant sports the same port and button layout.

One difference between the Pro 9 with 5G and the Intel Pro 9 is the former has several antenna bands for 5G connectivity. I don’t mind the antenna bands, but some people may find them unsightly. Thankfully if you don’t need 5G, there’s no strong argument to get the SQ3 Pro 9 over the Intel variant.

The Surface Pro 9 with 5G display also remains excellent, if nearly identical to the Surface Pro 8. Both sport a 13-inch PixelSense Flow display with a 3:2 aspect ratio, 2880 X 1920 pixel resolution, and 120Hz refresh rate. The Pro 9 with 5G does offer a dynamic refresh rate option that flips between 60Hz and 120Hz if you prefer (my Pro 9 had 120Hz on by default). I also didn’t experience the auto-brightness issue I had with the Surface Pro 8.

All about 5G

Ultimately, the biggest selling point of the Pro 9 with 5G is – you guessed it – 5G. Although it’s not the first Surface to boast cellular connectivity, it’s the first to support 5G. One of the common selling points of 5G is that it’ll be a great option for working on-the-go, providing fast internet access wherever you have 5G signal.

It’s worth noting that you may need to tell the Pro 9 how you want to connect before you can start using this. The PC supports either physical SIM or eSIM – by default, my Pro 9 was set to physical SIM and wouldn’t let me view any providers from the included ‘Mobile Plans’ app until I switched it to eSIM (you can do that in Settings > Network & internet > Cellular).

Unfortunately for Canadians, almost everything about the 5G experience will suck. The only supported Canadian provider is Bell, and I knew things were off to a bad start when I got a Bell ad on the Pro 9 within minutes of setting the device up for the first time. I went through the set-up flow to add a Bell plan to the Surface Pro 9 – there’s only one plan option, and frankly, it's abysmal.

Bell's plan for connected laptops.

Bell’s only plan is a $10/mo ‘Connected Laptop Flex’ plan. At first, that doesn’t sound too bad. But that $10 gets you 100MB of data, which is basically nothing. If you use more than 100MB, you get bumped up to $25, which covers you up to 2GB. Then it’s $50 from 2GB to 5GB, and $80 from 5GB to 10GB. Bell oh so generously offers a $10/mo discount for the first three months, but then there’s also a $10 connection fee when you sign up.

Since I already overpay Bell for my smartphone (a bill that just went up after adding a cellular Pixel Watch to my account), I opted not to set up another expensive add-on for 5G on the Surface Pro 9.

There were other options besides Bell, however: GigSky and Ubigi. GigSky’s pricing is a little better with $39.99/5GB and $74.99/10GB options for 30 days (there are smaller data buckets for fewer days too). However, it’s still not great (plus, the GigSky website doesn’t specify if it offers 5G connectivity). Ubigi, on the other hand, does support 5G but not in Canada, and every plan I looked at (even ones that say Canada) included text saying, “These data plans cannot be used by Canadian users in Canada.”

Suffice it to say that unless you plan on paying Bell a bunch of money (or getting a physical SIM for the Pro 9 from another carrier), the benefit of 5G is mostly moot.

Paying extra for must-have accessories

I’ve raised this issue a few times before, so I’ll keep it brief this time – the Surface Pro accessory system feels like a scam. At the time of writing, if you pick identical configurations of the Surface Pro 9 and Laptop 5, the Pro 9 costs more. Worse, that’s before you add in the extra $349.99 you’ll pay for the Pro 9’s keyboard and stylus.

I based this off the 12th-gen Intel Evo Core i5 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD, the cheapest configuration option available on both the 13.5-inch Laptop 5 and the Surface Pro 9 (moreover, I went with the 13.5-inch Laptop 5 since the Pro 9 features a 13-inch display).

The Surface Pro 9 with that configuration costs $1,399 (and $1,749.98 with the arguably must-have keyboard accessory), while the Surface Laptop 5 with that configuration costs $1,299.99 with no need to pay for extra accessories. However, there is a cheaper non-Evo Core i5 Surface Pro 9 option that starts at $1,279.99 – there isn’t a Laptop 5 variant of this configuration.

If you want the 5G-capable SQ3 variant, it starts at $1,649.99 for 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD (I tested the 16GB RAM variant with a 256GB SSD, which starts at $2,039.99). Again, that’s all before you factor in the accessories, which cost $349 for the keyboard and Slim Pen 2, or $229.99 if you only want the keyboard.

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What’s new on Xbox Game Pass on console, PC and mobile in early November 2022

Every month, Xbox brings new titles to its Xbox Game Pass subscription service.

Normally, these come in two waves and now, the company has revealed what’s coming to Game Pass in the second half of October. Note: ‘Cloud’ refers to a game that can be streamed via Xbox Cloud Gaming to a variety of devices, including Android and iOS.

Highlights include Obsidian’s Pentiment and Terrible Toybox’s Return to Monkey Island. Here’s the full list:

  • The Legend of Tianding (Cloud, Console and PC) — November 1st
  • The Walking Dead: A New Frontier – The Complete Season (PC) — November 1st
  • The Walking Dead: Michonne – The Complete Season (PC) — November 1st
  • Ghost Song (Cloud, Console and PC) — November 3rd
  • Football Manager 2023 (PC) — November 8th
  • Football Manager 2023 Console (Cloud, Console and PC) — November 8th
  • Return to Monkey Island (Cloud, Console and PC) — November 8th
  • Vampire Survivors (Console) — November 10th
  • Pentiment (Cloud, Console and PC) — November 15th
  • Somerville (Console and PC) — November 15th

It’s also worth noting that Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary Edition, which adds new content like gliders and helicopters to the popular game, is launching as a free update to all players, including those on Game Pass, on November 11th.

Finally, here’s what’s leaving Game Pass on:

November 8th

  • Football Manager 2022 (PC)
  • Football Manager 2022 Xbox Edition (Cloud, Console and PC)

November 15th

  • Art of Rally (Cloud, Console and PC)
  • Fae Tactics (Cloud, Console and PC)
  • Next Space Rebel (Cloud, Console and PC)
  • One Step from Eden (Cloud, Console and PC)
  • Supraland (Cloud, Console and PC)

As always, Game Pass subscribers can take advantage of an exclusive 20 percent discount to purchase any game on the service and keep playing even after it leaves the catalogue.

Xbox Game Pass and Game Pass for PC each cost $11.99 CAD/month, while Game Pass Ultimate, which includes both versions of Game Pass, Xbox Cloud Gaming, EA Play and Xbox Live Gold, is priced at $16.99/month.

Find out what came to Xbox Game Pass last month here.

Image credit: Devolver Digital

Source: Xbox

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Microsoft’s ‘Instant Hotspot’ feature can turn on your Samsung phone’s hotspot

The long-running battle to deeply integrate smartphones with Windows PCs has heated up in recent months, with Intel debuting its Unison software to take on other software like Microsoft’s Phone Link app. Meanwhile, Microsoft is working on a way to automatically connect Windows PCs to the hotspot on Samsung Galaxy smartphones through Phone Link.

Android Police spotted the feature, which is mentioned in Microsoft’s announcement blog post for the latest Windows 11 Preview Build, version 25231. According to that blog post, Phone Link enables an “instant hotspot” feature that lets you “securely start and connect to your phone’s Wi-Fi network without touching your phone.” Microsoft goes on to describe how it works:

“When your phone is within range it will appear in the Wi-Fi network list on your PC where a single click turns on the phone’s hotspot and connects to it. No more remembering and typing passwords or searching for hotspot settings on the phone. This provides an easier and faster way to repeatedly connect to your hotspot when you are on the go.”

To try out the feature, you’ll need a few things:

  • A Samsung device running One UI 4.1.1 or higher
  • A PC with both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
  • SIM card with a hotspot-capable plan
  • Windows 11 version 22H2 Build 22621 or higher
  • Phone Link desktop app in version v1.22082.111.0 or greater
    Link To Windows phone app (pre-installed on Samsung devices) in version v1.22082.142.0 or higher

Microsoft notes that users should see a ‘What’s New’ dialogue on their PC, which they can use to set up the new Phone Link feature. Alternatively, open the Phone Link app and head to settings > Features > Instant Hotspot.

This feature will be particularly useful for those with Windows 11 PCs that don’t have built-in cellular (like the new Surface Pro 9). Of course, it won’t be available for everyone yet, in part because it’s still in preview, and in part because it’s limited to Samsung devices for the time being.

Source: Microsoft Via: Android Police

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Xbox shelved streaming stick to partner with Samsung on cloud gaming

Contrary to popular belief, Xbox has no plans to release a streaming stick anytime soon.

Speaking during The Wall Street Journal‘s Tech Live 2022 conference, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer revealed that the company had been incubating the long-rumoured device, but opted earlier this year to partner with Samsung on cloud gaming instead.

This resulted in the Xbox Cloud Gaming app coming to 2022 Samsung TVs and monitors in June, with the potential for “other TV partnerships” down the line.

It’s a notable move from the company, as Spencer has been publicly tossing around the idea of a streaming stick going back at least two years. This past May, Windows Central reported on the latest iteration of this dongle, codenamed Keystone, which Microsoft corroborated in a statement. We even seemingly saw a prototype of Keystone when Spencer tweeted about Fallout‘s 25th anniversary earlier this month.

At Tech Live 2022, Spencer acknowledged that the device in question was indeed Keystone, adding that the idea behind it is to give consumers more choice about where they play games. To that point, Spencer didn’t shut down the possibility of eventually releasing something like Keystone, although he noted it’s likely a ways off.

“Will we do a streaming device at some point? I suspect we will, but I think it’s years away,” said Spencer.

Via: Tom Warren

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Over 20 million people have used Xbox Cloud Gaming: Microsoft

Microsoft says more than 20 million people have used its Xbox Cloud Gaming service.

Satya Nadella, the company’s CEO, revealed the figure during an October 25th earnings call. For context, Xbox Cloud Gaming is available on a variety of devices, including Xbox consoles, PC and mobile.

In late April, Microsoft said over 10 million people had streamed games through the service. Since then, the company has teamed up with Epic to bring Fortnite to Xbox Cloud Gaming — a particularly notable move since it’s the only game in the catalogue that can be streamed for free. Everything else offered through Xbox Cloud Gaming requires a $16.99/month Game Pass Ultimate subscription.

That said, it’s unclear exactly how much Fortnite has contributed to the service’s growth. Moreover, Microsoft simply saying 20 million people have used the service doesn’t tell us how many are actively streaming. We don’t even know how many people are subscribed to Game Pass, as Microsoft last revealed such data (25 million members) in January.

On the whole, gaming companies have been mum about their cloud offerings. Google never disclosed how many people have been using its Stadia service, though it clearly wasn’t that many since it’s being shuttered in January. Likewise, we don’t know how well Nvidia’s GeForce Now or Amazon’s U.S.-only Luna have been performing.

Nonetheless, there’s clearly an interest in continuing to invest in cloud gaming. Earlier this month, reputable analytics firm Newzoo published a report outlining how the games industry is set to generate approximately $2.4 billion USD (about $3.25 billion CAD) in cloud revenue this year. That’s a 74 percent increase year-over-year and works out to roughly 31.7 million consumers paying for cloud gaming.

Microsoft, in particular, has big plans in this regard, as it looks to bring Xbox Cloud Gaming to more TVs, a dedicated streaming stick and even VR. Meanwhile, PlayStation provides streaming alternatives for a variety of games, especially PS3 titles, while the Nintendo offers cloud versions of games on Switch that would otherwise be too technically demanding. Most recently, Netflix also floated the possibility of expanding its nascent Games platform into the cloud.

Via: The Verge

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Microsoft’s new Surface devices are now available in Canada

Microsoft’s recent fall Surface event was full of heavy hitting reveals, including the Surface Pro 9, the Surface Laptop 5, the Surface Studio 2+, alongside accessories like an Audio Dock, Presenter+ remote and more.

All of the devices announced at the event (except the Presenter+) are available now on the Microsoft store, while retailers like Best Buy have all the new releases, too (except the accessories).

Below is the pricing for all of Microsoft’s new Surface devices:

Microsoft Surface Pro 9: Starts at $1,279.99 at Microsoft and Best Buy

Microsoft Surface Laptop 5: Starts at $1,299.99 at Microsoft and Best Buy

Microsoft Surface Studio 2+: Starts at $5,959.99 at Microsoft and “Coming Soon” on Best Buy

Microsoft Audio Dock: Available for $324.99 at Microsoft

Microsoft Adaptive Mouse: Available for $58.50 at Microsoft

Microsoft Adaptive Mouse Tail and Thumb Support: Available for $19.50 at Microsoft

Microsoft Adaptive Hub: Available for $77.99 at Microsoft

The Microsoft Presenter+ appears to be “Coming Soon” to the Microsoft Store. We aren’t sure how much the accessory would cost once listed.

Some of our coverage of the products listed above can be found below:

MobileSyrup utilizes affiliate partnerships. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content, though we may earn a commission on purchases made via these links that helps fund the journalism provided free on our website.

Image credit: Microsoft

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Microsoft is bringing the Age of Empires series to mobile again

During Age of Empires’ (AoE) 25th anniversary broadcast, Microsoft and World’s Edge announced that the long-running real-time strategy (RTS) franchise is coming to iOS and Android.

Little is known about this latest attempt to bring the series to mobile, but the brief trailer hints at a desire to stay faithful to the AoE series’ roots. Microsoft has tried to make Age of Empires happen on mobile in the past — first with 2014’s Age of Empires: Castle Seige, a tower defence title, and then also with Age of Empires: World Domination.

Both games shut down shortly after their release.

There’s a possibility touch controls could work great with the AoE series, but I also hope it retains its RTS gameplay and isn’t full of microtransactions and timed-based gating like Clash of Clans. Hopefully, we see gameplay of the upcoming mobile title soon.

During the presentation, the tech giant also confirmed that Age of Empires II and Age of Empires IV are coming to Xbox consoles in 2023.

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Mobile Syrup

Microsoft testing PC Manager app that can clean up your storage

Microsoft is building a tool to boost computer performance by cleaning out old junk.

Dubbed ‘PC Manager,’ The Verge found a web page for the app’s public beta in China. The app appears to offer ways to clean up storage and end tasks, as well as control which apps start up with Windows.

It’s worth noting that there are plenty of third-party options that promise similar performance-boosting tools, like CCleaner, but those often have sketchy reputations. Having an option provided by Microsoft may be better for some, at least from the perspective that it will be more trustworthy.

Moreover, much of the app’s functionality already exists in Windows. The PC Manager app just pulls these tools into one convenient location.

The storage manager portion includes a tool for managing and removing apps that are rarely used. There’s also a cleanup scan that can highlight large files on your drives, and a process management feature that appears to be a simplified version of the Task Manager for killing off processes eating too much RAM.

The PC Manager app has a ‘boost’ button that users can click to clear temporary files and free up memory. There’s even a browser protection tool that includes an option to pick a default browser that’s easier than Windows’ existing default browser picker.

Considering the PC Manager app is available from an official Microsoft website in China, it’s possible the app is intended for a specific market. The Verge says the app seems designed for low-spec laptops and PCs. The website notes it supports Windows 10 and up.

You can check it out for yourself here.

Source: Microsoft Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Microsoft laying off people hundreds of staff in various departments

Tech giant Microsoft is laying off hundreds of employees.

According to Axios, one of the multiple news organizations that confirmed the layoffs, the figure sits under 1,000.

Business Insider states the layoffs impact a variety of departments, including Xbox and government tech.

“Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly. We will continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the year ahead,” Microsoft told Axios.

Microsoft follows in the footsteps of various other tech companies that announced similar staffing cuts, including Snap and Shopify.

Source: Axios, Business Insider