People were hoping for a new batch of Xbox backward-compatible games after months of teasing.. and here's what Microsoft has to offer.

Xbox's backward compatibility program is one of the top innovations Microsoft has put out for its ecosystem. Hundreds of OG and Xbox 360 games were brought forward natively to modern consoles, helping game preservation and making Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S the only place you can play many classics. Microsoft has been expanding that program even further.

Last summer, Microsoft unveiled a handful of OG Xbox games ported and emulated to Windows 11 via the Xbox PC app, leading to hopes Microsoft was about to reinvigorate the program in general. Today, we're getting a few more, as well as full Xbox achievement support for select classic titles.

"XBOX is expanding its backward compatibility offering on PC with 21 additional original XBOX games, bringing the total to 25," Microsoft wrote on Xbox Wire. "The expanded lineup includes classics such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. XBOX is also adding achievements to more original XBOX titles, including Knights of the Old Republic, giving players new ways to revisit and celebrate classic games."

Xbox makes the exact game listing crystal clear, saying, "The 21 additional games available to players in supported countries starting today are:"

• Armed and Dangerous
• Disney's Chicken Little
• The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (also available with XBOX Game Pass)
• Grabbed by the Ghoulies (also available with XBOX Game Pass)
• Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb
• Red Faction II
• Secret Weapons Over Normandy
• Star Wars Battlefront
• Star Wars Battlefront II
• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
• Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
• Star Wars Jedi Knight II Jedi Outcast
• Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords
• Star Wars: Republic Commando
• Star Wars: Starfighter – Special Edition
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars
• Thrillville
• TimeSplitters 2
• TimeSplitters: Future Perfect

It continues, "These join the four games already available on PC: "

• BLiNX: The Time Sweeper (also available with XBOX Game Pass)
• Conker: Live and Reloaded (also available with XBOX Game Pass)
• Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (also available with XBOX Game Pass)
• Fuzion Frenzy (also available with XBOX Game Pass)

Many have been hoping games like Singularity and Skylanders would hit full back-compat, given that Microsoft now owns these properties via Activision. The Xbox Game Preservation website has tens of thousands of votes for games; alas, that's sadly not what we're getting this week. Still, being able to access some OG games and land their Xbox Mythic achievements is something I personally never saw happening, given that these games are no longer anywhere near in active development.

It's a little bittersweet given that EA just killed BioWare. Knights of the Old Republic is one of the best RPGs ever made, with twists that few games have managed to top to this day. I'm hopeful that Microsoft will address some outstanding Xbox 360 games for backward compatibility too, particularly Skylanders, which, given the Spyro remake, has an opportunity to find a new audience in 2026, in my view.

Xbox's 25th anniversary will continue through the week, with a variety of small announcements, including the nostalgia-driven Playback feature. I'm not expecting anything huge like an Xbox Helix reveal, but could we finally see the Xbox Elite Controller Series 3? Time will tell.

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Microsoft's biggest services are all facing major outages right now. Outlook, Teams, Copilot, OneDrive, and Azure all appear to be affected.

According to DownDetector, tens of thousands of users are affected by the outage for each Microsoft service. The full impact is likely much broader, meaning we could be in for a long afternoon or evening depending on your time zone.

While reports of issues have spiked recently, there are still some users who will be able to use Microsoft services throughout the outage. We've had mixed results in our testing.

This is an ongoing story, and we will update it as more information becomes available.

It appears that other popular services are facing issues as well, including services from Google, Steam, and AWS. Many users are also reporting issues with Cloudflare.

When this many services experience outages simultaneously, there is likely a common underlying cause, but we're still awaiting confirmation of what's behind the issues.

The Microsoft 365 Status account on X is providing updated information on the outages.

It's still too early to know how long the outage will last or whether it stems from a broader infrastructure issue.

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Halo: Campaign Evolved came and went, didn’t it? It’s a fairly solid remake, but plenty of fans, myself included, felt it was missing that special something. And that special something was multiplayer.

I was okay with the decision to skip a full multiplayer component, given that I wanted the campaign to be the absolute best it could be. However, adding a mode like Firefight would have definitely gone a long way toward boosting replayability.

In fact, I covered news recently suggesting that Halo: Campaign Evolved might get one final update, despite the franchise being handed off to Activision. In that piece, I detailed reports that the game would receive both Firefight and Theater mode. While I can’t speak to the status of Theater mode, Xbox announced that Firefight is definitely heading to Halo: Campaign Evolved.

When can we play Firefight?

Fans attending Xbox FanFest in Seattle today (November 12, 2026) will be the first to play, with additional details set to be revealed next month at Halo Fest, taking place between December 12 and December 13, 2026. It's all part of an ongoing celebration of Xbox's 25th anniversary, which includes Halo as its launch title.

Not much is known yet, but we have been told that Firefight will arrive as a free update this winter. It will feature new maps, new weapons, and four-player co-op. For those unfamiliar, Firefight is a wave-based PvE mode that pits you against escalating waves of enemies, usually with modifiers coming into play.

I think this is pretty great. I was absolutely gutted that we didn’t get any real form of replayability for Campaign Evolved at launch, so it’s nice to see what remains of Halo Studios pull together and get something for fans to enjoy out the door.

I will definitely be jumping in to try Firefight when it releases. Part of me is hoping we’ll see a new batch of achievements, too, but I think that’s just wishful thinking on my part since I’ve already 100%’d the game. Until then, we can look back on our gaming history with Microsoft's Spotify Wrapped-style nostalgia feature: Xbox Playback.

Let me know your thoughts on this winter update for Halo: Campaign Evolved in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll below:

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The engine that powers Copilot Chat in Visual Studio just got an upgrade. Microsoft says the new experience can complete more coding tasks despite using the same AI models as before. The updated Copilot experience now uses the same technology that powers GitHub Copilot CLI, the GitHub Copilot app, and VS Code.

Microsoft tested the new and old Copilot experiences by having each perform 157 coding tasks. The new engine resolved up to 21 more tasks, completing 124 tasks compared to 103 for the older experience.

Tests were performed on C# projects across .NET Framework and .NET Core, Azure and Aspire, and WinForms and desktop apps. Microsoft also tested the new engine on C++, Python, and other languages.

Generally, developers don't judge AI by whether it can answer a question. They judge it by whether it actually saves time. If Copilot can fix a bug, review code, find an issue, or complete a task in fewer attempts, it provides real value to developers. Microsoft says that's exactly what's happening.

Developers often spend as much time verifying AI-generated code as they do writing it. If Copilot can complete more tasks correctly on the first attempt, it can save quite a bit of time.

If you've ever used ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, or another AI tool, you've likely run into the same problem. AI tools have a habit of sending users down the wrong path. The difference between a useful AI response and an almost useful AI response is often several minutes spent rewriting prompts, correcting mistakes, or double-checking information.

The new Copilot Chat has several new capabilities, such as allowing you to type a new instruction while it is in the middle of a task. Copilot will also show the results of actions it takes rather than simply listing attempted steps.

If a task is handled by a subagent, Copilot will show a dedicated card that lists every step taken as it occurs.

Microsoft argues the updated Copilot experience makes developers more productive by providing shorter, more focused responses and completing more tasks successfully. The company also says the new experience handles larger and more complex jobs more effectively, which could mean less time spent cleaning up AI output before a project is ready.

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It's Xbox's 25th anniversary this month, and Microsoft is announcing a variety of new "stuff" over the course of the week.

First up, we have a shiny new feature I know some of you have been passionate about, dubbed Xbox Playback.

Last year, it felt like almost every brand on Earth did some form of "Spotify Wrapped," which showcased what music and podcasting habits you had throughout the year. Even my banking app had a "Wrapped" last year, but Xbox was conspicuously absent from the festivities. I wrote back then that it was because they were working on something bigger, something that would be future-proofed, and it seems we now know what it is.

Announced today on Xbox Wire, Xbox Playback is a "personalized experience" that mimics previous anniversary data collections Xbox has done, although, from what I've heard, it will be available annually too moving forward.

To see your Xbox Playback, head over here and sign in with your account, or head to your Playback Archive to explore more of your history.

"XBOX is introducing XBOX Playback, a new personalized experience that lets players revisit their gaming history across 25 years of XBOX," Microsoft said. "Players can discover their first XBOX game, most-played titles, total playtime, achievements, longest gaming streaks and other milestones. Playback will be accessible on console and the web, with personalized videos and shareable cards, rolling out gradually throughout the day in 15 countries." (..)

"Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, Spain, UK and US. Requires at least 1 XBOX Gamerscore, 1 achievement, and 1 minute of qualifying gameplay linked to your Xbox profile; access on console requires at least 1 minute of qualifying gameplay on console. Based on available data; some data may be incomplete or delayed."

It's a bit of a shame it's only available in 15 countries and not the total scope of Xbox's user base.. I'm pretty sure things like Spotify Wrapped are available to all customers. To speculate, Microsoft is pretty meticulous when it comes to regional data laws owing to its enterprise cloud division, and national rules it has to observe therein. I'll try and find out exactly why it's so limited in scope.

In any case, you can expect more Xbox 25th anniversary celebratory announcements throughout the day. I'm not expecting anything on the scale of an Xbox Helix reveal or Elder Scrolls 6 gameplay trailer, but could we finally see the Xbox Elite Controller Series 3? Here's hoping.

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The Xbox Series S has found itself in the crosshairs once again this week after former Tekken director told a panel at the Console Game Developers Conference in South Korea, that he wished hardware like the Series S had never been released. Going as far as to call it "extra work for a slightly weaker child."

Reported and translated by Inven Global, apparently Katsuhiro Harada complained about the console's lower memory, and joked that he hoped Microsoft isn't planning a "Helix S" for next gen. The comments have now fired up the Xbox Series S's most passionate detractors, who are using these quotes as definitive proof that the Series S is holding the entire industry back and, frankly, I'm tired, boss.

The argument is inherently anti-consumer, elitist and completely ignores the benefits of game optimization for everyone and every console, not just Xbox Series S. More importantly, it ignores the current state of the market and what consumers can actually afford right now and for the foreseeable future.

Optimization is a feature, not a bug

On the same panel, CD Projekt Red associate game director Paweł Sasko had a counterpoint to Harada's comments. Laughing them off and said that the Series S is valuable precisely because developing within its constraints makes studios optimise their code more cleanly, work that ends up making the game significantly better on all platforms.

It's not the first time we've heard this sentiment. Of course, Larian wrestled with the Xbox Series S over Baldur's Gate 3 so much it ultimately delayed the launch of the game on the Xbox ecosystem, but the memory optimizations they engineered to make split-screen work on the S directly resulted in massive RAM and VRAM improvements across the PS5 and PC versions of the game.

Meanwhile, I can't help but notice the glaring double standard again here when lower-spec hardware comes up in industry discourse. Hardware like the Steam Deck and the Nintendo Switch 2 don't receive the same vitriol. Nobody claims Valve's hardware is "ruining PC gaming" when developers have to tweak settings to get a Verified badge. As Harada himself admitted on the panel, developers gladly shift their mindset for the Nintendo Switch 2 because it's viewed as its own distinct platform. Yet Xbox offering an entry-level piece of hardware for current gen, using similar architecture is treated as some kind of unforgivable burden on the industry.

It's important to note though that Harada has since clarified that his comments were simply made to "liven up the room." That hasn't stopped the onslaught of told-you-so-themed posts around the Series S, however.

Consumers are going to be priced out of the next-gen arms race

The loudest critics of the Xbox Series S, demanding developers should abandon lower-spec hardware, are frankly out of touch with the economic reality facing the gaming industry right now and the near future.

We are right now witnessing a brutal hardware price crisis, driven by bloated compontent and RAM costs. God only knows what eye watering prices we can expect for early adopters of the Xbox Helix and PlayStation 6, but all signs right now point to price tags that will keep early adoption out of reach for the average consumer, normal families. Us peasants aren't going to be in a position to drop $1000 on brand new hardware. I want what I already have to work for me for as long as possible before I have to choose financial ruin or giving up gaming all together.

A dramatic and hyperbolic statement perhaps, but this is close to the reality for many gamers my age with a family, the days of me buying a new console day one are long gone. My Xbox Series S is going to be a family heirloom.

In this environment, we should be pushing studios and developers harder than ever to optimize games for the systems we actually own right now. Even Harada had to acknowledge this on stage. There are more Series S users than Series X in the United States currently, developers can't simply ignore this player base because optimizing memory budgets is an inconvenience.

FSR 4.1 is also changing the narrative

Thankfully, newer industry advancements are making the whole "Xbox Series S is holding gaming back" argument feel more lame as the years go by.

Earlier this month, Microsoft and AMD officially rolled out FSR 4.1 to Xbox Series X|S developers. I won't pretend to understand the intricacies, so if you want the full breakdown of how it works, our team has covered the technical side in detail, but the short version is that it uses clever AI upscaling to make games look sharper and run smoother without needing beefier hardware. We've already seen it work wonders on handhelds like the Xbox Ally X, effectively acting like a free mid-gen upgrade.

For something lower powered like the trusty Series S this is a lifeline. Instead of expecting normal people to shell out hundreds of pounds or dollars for a brand-new box every few years, tools like FSR 4.1 let developers get far better results out of the hardware sitting under our TVs right now.

Xbox Series S is our cheapest ticket to Grand Theft Auto 6

While I've touched on the current economic mess of modern-day hardware, the Xbox Series S isn't immune to this. It originally launched at an incredibly accessible price of $299, but Microsoft's 'budget" console has been hit with it's own steep price hikes, placing a 512GB model at $499 nowadays.

It's no longer as accessible, but the reality is that even at $499 the Xbox Series S is the cheapest possible way to play GTA 6 at launch. GTA 6 is the biggest entertainment release of the decade, hands down, and having a lower barrier to entry for such a release isn't a flaw in Xbox's strategy. Though I will say, I am praying for some kind of discounts on the console heading in to Black Friday to bring it back down closer to those golden day prices.

Even better, dataminers snooping through the Xbox GTA 6 preload files have spotted libraries matching Microsoft's FSR 4.1 GDK sample. While Rockstar hasn't confirmed whether FSR 4.1 will be active at launch or patched in post-release, the groundwork is clearly there, and any rendering boost will go an especially long way on the Series S.

Hardware prices continue to spiral and move next-gen upgrades further from reach for the average consumer, and as this continues, the narrative around the Series S is going to age terribly (and in my opinion, it already has.)

Sooner or later, the industry will give this consumer-friendly little white box its flowers for forcing developers to optimize better, and I will be first in line.

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It's official: NVIDIA's co-founder Jensen Huang has resigned as CEO this morning in the wake of personal scandals involving adultery and alleged espionage. Huang was NVIDIA's only CEO in the company's history, which began in 1993.

NVIDIA CFO Colette Kress is taking over the company as interim CEO while the board searches for a full-time replacement.

Yes, it's an interim position, but seeing a finance executive come in at a time when NVIDIA is already edging out its GeForce consumers is a tad worrisome.

The gaming share of NVIDIA's revenue has been on the decline for years, and data centers now make up the bulk. For example, NVIDIA's latest Q2 results showed $89 billion from data centers and just $7.2 billion from edge computing. That's not even close.

Will an interim CEO change anything? Probably not. Kress, after all, has been with NVIDIA since 2013, before any of the major AI rush came about. But what comes next after Huang and his interim replacement? Someone else who cares less about GeForce and more about AI?

It's hard to say. Plenty of people are already wondering the same thing: "Jensen was one of three of Nvidia's founders. Him leaving is kind of catastrophic for the leadership structure, since he never had an heir apparent for the position (allegedly intentional on his part)."

While we're all waiting to see what NVIDIA does next — New CEO? Canceled CES 2027 keynote? — I want to know how my Windows Central readers are feeling about the situation.

Do you think NVIDIA's consumer focus will narrow even more without Huang at the helm? What about the opposite? Do you think there's a lot more to this story that we're not yet hearing?

Let me know in the comments section below!

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If you have an Outlook, Hotmail, Live, or MSN email address, don't assume every missing email ended up in your spam folder. A recent issue caused some messages sent to those types of email addresses to be rejected and bounced back to senders instead of reaching recipients.

It might seem like a nice break to not get emails for a few days, missing important messages can cause issues. The underlying cause was a mistake related to spam enforcement rules. Microsoft has rolled back the update that included the problem, so normal functionality should be restored.

"Some users may intermittently be unable to send email messages to Outlook.com, Hotmail.com, or Live.com email addresses," explained Microsoft in an incident report highlighted by the website lazyadmin.

While the issue was related to spam enforcement rules, affected messages did not simply end up in recipients' spam folders. Microsoft's mail servers rejected the emails and bounced them back to senders instead.

That's an important distinction because recipients have no way to find emails that were never delivered. If you were expecting an important message over the last few days and it never arrived, it may be worth following up with the sender rather than digging through your spam folder.

The issue may also have gone unnoticed in some cases. If someone claims they emailed you recently but nothing ever arrived in your inbox, there's a chance the message was affected by the bug and returned to the sender before reaching your account.

Senders may be able to determine if they were affected by checking for non-delivery reports, sometimes called bounce messages. Errors mentioning Outlook.com, Hotmail.com, Live.com, MSN.com, or codes such as "550 5.7.1" and "AS9031519" could indicate that a message was rejected during the incident.

A successful resend also does not necessarily mean there was never a problem. Reports from affected users suggested the issue was intermittent, with some messages bouncing initially before being delivered successfully when sent again later.

I occasionally need to check my spam filter to find messages that were mistakenly flagged as spam. This happens more when work emails are involved, but Outlook can be overly aggressive with personal emails as well.

But this bug was different. Instead of being delivered to a spam folder, some messages never reached recipients at all.

The issue was primarily related to mail destined for consumer Microsoft email accounts, including Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live, and MSN addresses. Microsoft 365 business mailboxes were not the focus of the reported delivery failures.

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If one thing has become clear to me over the years, it's that most PC gamers are not using the latest hardware. Steam's most recent monthly hardware survey, for example, has NVIDIA's RTX 3060 as the most popular option, with the RTX 3050 only four places behind.

Heck, even 2019's GTX 1650 is still holding strong in the top ten most used cards, despite it not supporting the industry-leading DLSS upscaling. For those who (understandably) haven't upgraded to the latest hardware, there's a new hope on the horizon.

Apex Compute recently took to X to show off its Apex Neural Rendering (ANR) tech, which the company promises can deliver "up to 2.4x faster performance and higher quality rendering than NVIDIA DLSS."

That's a massive claim, and I'll get to it in a moment.

What's most exciting is that Apex has designed ANR to be practically GPU-agnostic. Apex says ANR runs on the NVIDIA RTX 20, 30, 40, and 50 series, with the added bonus of GTX 16-series cards.

Support for AMD Radeon cards includes RX 5000, 6000, 7000, and 9000, plus it works on the Steam Deck's custom AMD chip. And even Intel hasn't been left behind, with support for Arc A- and B-series cards.

Digging into Apex Compute's Apex Neural Rendering tech

ANR is being billed as a three-pronged approach to upscaling, including frame generation, super resolution, and ray reconstruction. It's a project that's still in progress, and only frame generation is currently available. The other two features are "coming soon."

What we have so far from Apex indeed looks very promising. It claims that, when tested on an RTX 5090 at a 4K resolution, ANR can deliver frames faster and use less memory than DLSS.

According to Apex's testing, at 2X frame gen, ANR can pump out extra frames at 1.01ms, while DLSS takes 1.26ms. At 4X frame gen, ANR takes 0.61ms while DLSS takes 0.82ms. Overall memory usage falls from 562MB in DLSS to 214MB in ANR.

Why I'm a bit skeptical about ANR's abilities

I'm not entirely sure if Apex's claims of 2.4x faster performance compared to DLSS actually line up.

I haven't tested it yet on my own gaming PC, and Apex Compute's own data on its site doesn't quite line up. Perhaps the 2.4x claim is for one of the features arriving later.

There's also the matter of the NVIDIA tests being performed on an RTX 5090, a GPU that you can't buy anymore and that is reserved for a small group of enthusiasts and specialists. It would be a lot more impressive to see how ANR runs on, say, an RTX 3060.

What I can say is that the comparison samples for ANR vs. DLSS available on Apex Compute's site are impressive.

Sure, there might be some cherry-picking going on to create the sliding comparisons, but what's shown certainly suggests that ANR is delivering higher-quality results than DLSS. I see less ghosting, added sharpness, and overall more clarity.

Competition from Apex Compute's ANR is only a good thing

Apex Compute's ANR is available to download for free from GitHub. That means we'll probably soon see a lot of third-party tests of its actual abilities.

I'll be keeping an eye on how ANR performs on older hardware, how well it works with a wider range of games, and whether the upcoming ray reconstruction and super resolution features actually work as intended.

In any case, competition for the industry-leading DLSS is always nice to have, especially considering how NVIDIA likes to keep it walled off for its own hardware. The fact that it's coming to old GPUs at a time when no one wants to buy new hardware is also huge.

ANR looks very promising. Is it a DLSS killer? Maybe not, especially with how quickly NVIDIA is evolving the tech. But if you're still using an older GPU that doesn't natively get these features, ANR is definitely worth a look.

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Xbox's 25th anniversary is nearly here, and the famed gaming peripheral manufacturer Hyperkin is celebrating the occasion by revealing a new "Blue Rock" variant of its Xbox DuchesS Controller.

It's currently available for pre-order at Hyperkinstore.com and Amazon for $49.99 and is expected to release on December 2, 2026.

What's different about this variant of the Xbox DuchesS controller?

This "Blue Rock" variant, spec-wise, is the same as the regular Xbox DuchesS controller. It modernizes the original Xbox Controller S design for current consoles, with Hall Effect sticks and triggers for improved control responsiveness and Dynamic Impulse Triggers for enhanced tactile feedback while shooting in FPS games.

The only difference it has over its traditional Black shell or translucent green shell counterparts is its deep blue translucent design, and I personally adore it as someone whose favorite color happens to be blue (which I know is heretical to say as an Xbox player since blue is more associated with PlayStation).

So I can't wait to buy this bad boy for Christmas when the "Blue Rock" variant of the Xbox DuchesS Controller launches on December 2, 2026.

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Microsoft has released a new browser extension for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge that gives users the ability to disable AI overviews and chat features in Bing search results.

"When it comes to AI, we believe Bing users should have a choice in how they search," Microsoft says in a new blog post. "That's why Bing offers both AI-powered and traditional search experiences, including a browser extension that lets people easily turn off AI features in Bing."

The new browser extension adds a toggle to your web browser that allows you to turn on or off the AI features in Bing at any time. Microsoft admits that "research shows users want to have the option to choose whether or not AI is involved in every session."

The extension is available to download now for both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, but be warned: The extensions will set your default search provider to Bing, which makes sense given it only works on Bing search results.

• Download Microsoft Bing AI Search Choice for Edge
• Download Microsoft Bing AI Search Choice for Chrome

It's unclear why Microsoft opted to deliver this functionality as an extension, and not as a toggle within the Bing website itself. The good news is the browser extension isn't entirely required.

If you don't want to deal with a browser extension, Microsoft has also added an "operator" tag that you can add to the end of search queries to disable AI features manually. Just add -ai to the end of a search term and that will disable all the AI features in Bing for that search query, no extension required.

The downside to the operator is that you need to remember to apply it to every search query, every time you go to search for something. The browser extension ensures the AI features are disabled automatically every time.

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We're nearly halfway into November, and retailers are ramping up their discounts before Black Friday begins in earnest. With this in mind, I've been scouring the internet for early Black Friday deals on affordable laptops for work and managed to find one for the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i.

This very capable but normally expensive laptop, which can handle multitasking productivity tasks with no slowdown while having a crisp 2K display and 18 hours of battery life, can now be yours for $599.99 at Best Buy (was $1,299.99).

Why should you buy this laptop?

Normally, we wouldn't recommend this laptop, as its specs and build are a bitter pill to swallow for an MSRP of $1,299.99, especially when compared to the likes of the Dell XPS series, whose advanced specs justify their high costs (well, before the RAM Crisis worsened the prices on all things tech).

However, with this early Black Friday 54% discount, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i at $599.99 is much more palatable. That way, you will be able to enjoy its rich features built for tackling digital paperwork, streaming, web browsing, and other productivity tasks simultaneously, with no performance drops thanks to its Intel Core 7 350 2026 CPU coupled with an Intel Integrated Graphics Card, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage space.

Other useful features include a 15.3-inch 2K display with a 120Hz refresh rate for smoother scrolling and a 16:10 aspect ratio to provide more vertical space when reading websites or documents (thus preventing eye strain), an ultra-thin design that makes it easy to carry, and an 18-hour battery on a single charge to get you through your whole working shift before needing a recharge.

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The Logitech MX Master 4 Developer Edition just started shipping, and I have one on my desk to try out. The mouse is an ode to developers covered with Easter eggs and nods to programming.

This mouse is one of the first to support Windows 11 haptics, which lets you feel Windows 11 through subtle physical feedback. That functionality is not exclusive to the developer edition, so you can take advantage of haptics if you prefer to grab the black or white versions of the Logitech MX Master 4.

I've only had the Logitech MX Master 4 Developer Edition for a bit, so I can't judge it fully. So far, the mouse has impressed me throughout full work days.

But one thing has stood out to me so far: this mouse is basically a fidget spinner. Its vertical scroll wheel can toggle between ratchet or smooth scrolling. You can even set the mouse to switch between those modes depending on force.

Your thumb rests just below a horizontal scroll wheel when using the mouse. That is also fun to spin when I'm bored. It also scrolls horizontally, but that's a feature I only use occasionally.

Add in a haptic side panel that buzzes when pressed and displays a ring of shortcuts, and you have a surprisingly great fidget tool for your desk.

Early impressions

This mouse is the first device I've used that supports Windows 11 haptics. That feature, which provides physical bumps when you perform certain actions, has been fun to play with.

I've used a Logitech MX mouse for years, but it's been the Logitech MX Vertical on my desk. That mouse is excellent, and I still recommend it to those who want an ergonomic mouse, but having used the Logitech MX Master 4, there are features I'd love to see Logitech bring over to its ergonomic line.

I've been surprised by how much I use the horizontal scroll wheel of the Logitech MX Master 4. I usually just hold Shift and use the vertical scroll wheel to navigate horizontally. But the horizontal scroll wheel is perfectly placed on the Logitech MX Master 4, making them easier to use and more comfortable.

The Logitech MX Master 4 has a bit more of a thunk than a click, which I prefer. I also like the matte plastic finish of the Logitech MX Master 4.

None of this is surprising since the Logitech MX Master 4 earned a near-perfect score from our friends at Tom's Guide. The version of the mouse I have is identical in terms of features and overall design. What makes it stand out are its Easter eggs, such as syntax annotations and markup tags that are laser-etched onto the mouse.

I've often said I can't go back to using a flat mouse since relying on the Logitech MX Vertical. I still prefer the vertical design of that mouse over the flatter layout of the Logitech MX Master 4, but I prefer the features and build of the latter. My perfect mouse would be a combination of the two.

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We're just over one week from the release of GTA VI. After years of delays and rumors, Rockstar's iconic franchise is back. Some analysts suspect there will be a record number of sick days in mid-November on the day GTA VI launches, but employees at Logitech won't be part of that wave.

According to Fortune, a new initiative by Logitech called "Logi Game Day" allows employees to take a day off work to play a game.

Logi Game Day is not actually a specific day. It's also not set aside exclusively for GTA VI. Logitech employees can take off any individual day over the next year to play the game of their choosing.

It's unlikely that the timing of the initiative is a coincidence. At least one expert estimates that the launch of GTA VI will cost $1 billion in productivity in the United States.

Rather than trying to squeeze productivity out of distracted employees eager to go home and play GTA VI, Logitech leaned into the skid and gave people the green light to take off work.

"It’s time to retire the stereotype that gaming is a waste of time,” said Hanneke Faber, Logitech’s chief executive officer. “As a company designing products for work and play, we see every day how engagement in one sphere supports performance in the other."

Times are definitely changing, and I'd argue it's for the better. When I grew up, it was common knowledge that little got done during the NCAA basketball tournament, but people would have scoffed at similar dips in productivity caused by a video game launch.

Of course, we don't all work for Logitech and may have to work on GTA VI launch day.

While most of us won't be getting a dedicated gaming holiday from our employer, there are still ways to squeeze in some GTA VI during a lunch break or while away from your console. GTA VI will not be playable through Xbox Cloud Gaming, but it will support Xbox Remote Play. That means you could squeeze in some playtime on a PC or mobile device by streaming from an Xbox or PlayStation console.

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Dataminers have been busy at work snooping through the Xbox's Grand Theft Auto 6 preload files, and two recent discoveries are grounds for a bit of performance optimism.

Library files named amd_fidelityfx_loader_xbox.dll and amd_fidelityfx_upscaler_xbox.dll are both present in the package snooped by Tex2, who posted their findings on X.

These names match the terms found in Microsoft's FSR 4.1 GDK sample that was published last week, as pointed out by blue nugroho and Y1ng.

While this certainly doesn't mean that AMD's FSR 4.1 is a lock for GTA 6 when it launches — or thereafter — it's good to know that there's at least the possibility of having the latest upscaling tech on board.

What is AMD FSR 4.1?

FSR 4 was a major update that moved AMD's upscaling tech from manual to machine learning. Instead of using spatial and temporal algorithms, it now uses neural networks.

The results? A clearer image with less ghosting, shimmering, and artifacts at the cost of a small amount of GPU overhead.

Microsoft and AMD sent out FSR 4.1 for Xbox developers on November 5, roughly two weeks after it kicked off with beta drivers for the Xbox Ally handhelds.

Compared to competing methods like NVIDIA DLSS and Intel XeSS, AMD FSR is quickly catching up. I think most people hold DLSS as the benchmark for what can be done with AI upscaling, but AMD's broad compatibility can't be forgotten.

And for consoles, FSR is the only option there is, with the 4.1 version representing a significant upgrade over the FSR predecessors.

Why FSR 4.1 might not be in Xbox's GTA VI at launch

I won't be so bold as to claim that FSR 4.1 will be in GTA 6 at launch. The datamined FSR 4.1 files make it a possibility, but their inclusion doesn't guarantee implementation.

Developer Rockstar has not said anything about it. And you'd think that Xbox would be quick to make an announcement to counter the recent PS5's PSSR upscaling news.

Timing is the biggest issue. Unless Rockstar had advance access to FSR 4.1 during development, configuring the upscaler for a game that's days away from a November 19 launch just doesn't seem realistic.

Will FSR 4.1 come to Grand Theft Auto 6 after launch?

I'm leaning more towards a post-launch FSR 4.1 integration for GTA 6 on Xbox. The groundwork seems to already be in place, and Rockstar surely has a strong incentive to make the game as playable as possible on aging hardware.

That's especially true for the Xbox Series S, where any help with rendering will go a long way. Waiting until after launch would mean less risk to the release build, and in this case, late is certainly better than never.

Bottom line? Don't panic if GTA 6 on Xbox doesn't get FSR 4.1 at launch. It was never a guarantee. It'll likely be a post-launch addition. After all, it's hard to imagine that a generational game like this wouldn't be the best place to show off the tech.

I'll be playing the game through Xbox Cloud Gaming and a dusty Xbox One at launch, and I'll make the switch to PC as soon as it arrives. Let me know in the comments below how you plan to play!

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Microsoft has officially announced that Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR) is leaving preview and is now available on ROG Xbox Ally X and X20 handhelds, extending to playing on battery power, as well as select Copilot+ PC laptops powered by AMD's compatible Ryzen processors.

Auto SR is Microsoft's own AI-powered upscaling technology, with similar goals to NVIDIA's DLSS and AMD's FSR that are designed to boost frame rates and improve image quality. It previously came to Ally X handhelds in docked mode, but this update enables it in handheld mode without requiring an AC adapter and expands its support to games running natively at 1080p.

The handheld 1080p feature is available now, while support for Auto HDR and a new Auto SR 'Performance Mode' designed for up to 120 FPS are "rolling out with Windows updates, so they may take a little time to reach your device". However, Microsoft warns players that "using 1080p in handheld mode (internal screen), performance may not be as optimal as other configurations, but you’ll still see visual quality improvements especially in older games".

Will you be using Microsoft's own upscaler on ROG Xbox Ally X handhelds, or will you stick to using the recently added beta drivers for AMD FSR 4.1 (which we have seen deliver significant improvements on Xbox Ally X hardware)? Let us know in the comments, on Reddit, or in the poll.

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Halo's iconic Pelican dropship was just added to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, as Xbox Game Studios and its developers at Asobo Studio celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first game in the series. Of course, Halo was a launch title, so this all lines up with the ongoing Xbox 25th anniversary celebrations surrounding the original console.

Sim enthusiasts on PC, Xbox Series X|S, or PlayStation 5 can fly the D77-TC Pelican for free during a week-long trial period running from November 10 to November 17, 2026. The official announcement stayed firmly in character, describing it as "a highly adaptable, multi-role vehicle," which is all part of the fun. I installed it for myself, and it's incredibly easy to get started.

How to claim the free Pelican trial

From the main menu of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, select 'Marketplace' at the bottom, and you should be greeted with a full-width banner advertisement for the 'D77-TC Pelican (free trial)'. If not, use the 'Search Full Catalog' bar at the top of the marketplace and look for keywords like 'Pelican'; you're looking for the 'Microsoft/Asobo' listing.

On its listing, a wide, green 'Get for Free' button rests on the left, and that's what you'll need to press while the week-long trial is active. Once you've claimed the Pelican, you'll find it in the game's aircraft selection menu with a yellow 'New' tag on its frame, named 'Misriah Armory D77-TC Pelican'. Select it, and you can take it to the skies wherever you'd like.

Naturally, this is quite different from taking a tiny Cessna or a giant Airbus out on the virtual runways, but it's actually quite easy to fly the Pelican. On an Xbox controller, you can ignore the parking brake, hold the A button to fire up the engines, and the ship will take off vertically. From there, hold forward on the left stick, and the Pelican will fly ahead, while the triggers handle turning.

What happens when the trial expires?

If you want to keep the Pelican in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 after November 17, you'll need to pay $9.99 in the in-game marketplace for a permanent add-on license. It isn't egregiously expensive, but this Pelican isn't particularly new, either. I saw the same iconic Halo ship appear in MSFS 2020, and now it's back again.

That price tag will depend on how strong your nostalgia for the Halo series is, and whether you think you'll use it regularly. Would I pay $10 for it? No, probably not. It's fun, but it feels more like a toy than a proper simulation addition; albeit a well-crafted toy with serious attention to detail. Still, I fully recommend taking it for a spin during this week's celebration.

I've seen Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 improve dramatically since launch, and its inclusion in Xbox Cloud Gaming makes it extremely approachable for practically anyone tempted to fly around a virtual Earth. If you're considering playing MSFS 2024 just for fun, then the Pelican is a fast (and cool) way to do it. Fly over your own house; it's more satisfying than you think.

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