Microsoft will hold a Windows and Surface event on October 7, 2026. We've known about the event for weeks, but Microsoft has now shared details about how to watch it live.

Microsoft posted a YouTube event titled "Something new is coming from Windows | October 7" recently. That means you can click the "Notify me" button to get pinged when the event starts.

The Surface Laptop Ultra and the NVIDIA RTX Spark are expected to be the focus of the event. The Surface RTX Spark Dev Box may also make an appearance.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Surface Chief Pavan Davuluri, and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang will all be in attendance.

Microsoft has been tight-lipped about the event. We weren't even sure if it would be live-streamed until recently. The description of the live stream is similarly scarce on details:

"Join us live October 7th at 10:00 am PT for a look at what's next from Windows, Surface, and NVIDIA. See the latest, including RTX Spark and new experiences designed to unlock more possibilities for developers and builders."

Microsoft already announced the Surface Laptop Ultra and discussed RTX Spark, so seeing those on stage would hardly be shocking. Windows 11 just received an update, so there are few surprises about what's shipping to PCs this year. But Microsoft's description talks about "what's next," so the tech giant could tease future updates or discuss changes to how it makes its flagship software or hardware.

Based on our recent poll, Windows Central readers are excited about the Surface Laptop Ultra. So even if the device has already been announced, many people will appreciate details about the laptop.

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Microsoft's official X account was compromised this week in what appears to have been an attempt to promote a cryptocurrency token. The account followed another account and reposted a message asking how many likes would be needed to bring back Clippy.

An emphatic request to bring back Clippy is nothing new on social media, but the post by the since-suspended @clippymsftcto account was not a genuine plea to bring back the iconic assistant.

Normally, a story involving Clippy is lighthearted. Microsoft has playfully referenced the mascot over the years. Sadly, that's not the case here. On top of Microsoft being hacked, which is an issue in itself, the hack was apparently used to promote cryptocurrency.

Microsoft has since deleted its post on the situation, but the company apologized for the post about bringing Clippy back and emphasized that it does not endorse cryptocurrency. The Verge captured a screenshot of the post before it was removed.

The deleted post concludes with a somewhat ironic piece of advice to "rely only on Microsoft's official channels for information regarding our brands, products, securities, and intellectual properties."

Microsoft has deleted its post about the situation, but the tech giant confirmed that its account had been compromised. "We have confirmed unauthorized access to our account on X including posts that did not come from Microsoft," said a Microsoft spokesperson to The Verge. "The account has been secured and the unauthorized posts have been removed, and we are continuing to investigate the circumstances."

Microsoft should bring back Clippy

Obviously a hack done to promote a cryptocurrency scam is an issue. Microsoft's first priority should be to secure its accounts. Somewhere down the line, the company's leaders should ask if bringing back Clippy is a good idea.

Clippy has an interesting history, but people's views about the assistant have trended positively over the years. The favorable view of Clippy is likely due to a combination of irony and nostalgia, but people often are excited to see official mentions of the paperclip.

Microsoft's public perception has taken a hit, and having a bit of fun with Clippy could lighten the mood. Imagine Microsoft teasing major news about Windows on stage at its event next month and then revealing Clippy Copilot.

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2025 saw the long-awaited return of official NASCAR video games, after years in the wilderness that came after some lacklustre efforts under a previous publisher.

NASCAR's video game is now handled by iRacing, a team that knows how to do things right. It's not a simple rip of the NASCAR aspect of the iRacing sim; it's a tailored, dedicated experience, built to be enjoyable on console and PC, and importantly, with a controller.

NASCAR 26 is the second attempt by iRacing, and as you would certainly hope, it's an improvement. The core remains, but with some new features that make the package that bit better.

The short version is that I wish all console racing games had what makes NASCAR 26 good. It combines the licensing with a healthy dose of NASCAR razzle-dazzle, real-world personalities, and the incredible iRacing tech underneath that gives it its realistic feel.

Even if you're not a particularly big NASCAR fan but you like good racing games, you should definitely give this one a try.

This review was produced using a copy of NASCAR 26 Gold Edition on Xbox Series X provided by iRacing. Nobody from the company had any input in nor saw the contents of this review prior to publication.

NASCAR 26 looks as spectacular as the real thing

I am a big NASCAR fan. Watching it live from the UK takes serious commitment, but through hell or high water, I'm there (almost) every weekend in the small hours.

As much fun as I've had in past NASCAR games and on iRacing, it takes a complete package like NASCAR 26 to bring everything together. And it starts with the presentation.

For starters, you've got real-world NASCAR personalities playing a part in the game. When you fire up your first career mode season, you've got Dale Jr. securing you a contract. Former crew chief turned broadcaster Steve Letarte makes plenty of appearances, Jamie McMurray will help you learn the ropes, and TJ Majors is in your ear as the all-important spotter.

That real-world crossover applies to the cars and their drivers and all the circuits you'll visit behind the wheel. I've only one point of comparison I can make myself, that being Charlotte Motor Speedway, but that looks just as spectacular in-game.

NASCAR 26 does such a good job at capturing the atmosphere of the race tracks, as well as how good the cars look (until they inevitably get banged up).

Part of this is the new dynamic lighting, which for night races especially really does make it feel like you're racing at night. Not some kind of fake interpretation of night.

The NASCAR 26 career mode doesn't have any surprises, but it's thorough

I don't want to dwell too much on the career mode, because for the most part if you played NASCAR 25, it'll feel very familiar.

The trajectory is predictable; you start at the bottom and make your way up to the NASCAR Cup Series in hopes of winning the big prize. As in NASCAR 25, and a change from some older games, the ARCA series is where you begin, not on dirt.

You're responsible for performing well on the track, earning reputation, and getting points that will help your team's workshop keep ticking over. Prize money is important, too, as without it you can't hire better staff. It's straightforward enough. Build a better team, become a better driver, hire better people, and get more lucrative sponsorships.

If you prefer a shorter experience, you can jump into The Chase, a mode that mimics the returning format for the final 10 races of the real-world season. Even running short races and doing a complete career mode (and then enough seasons to unlock the achievements if you're going after that new Mythic unlock) will take a serious investment of time.

NASCAR 26 feels like a 'lite' sim racer you can actually play with a controller

Beyond just trust in iRacing to look after the NASCAR brand, the reason I was always most excited for the new games was the tech that would be underneath.

iRacing employs actual race engineers. It laser scans tracks. While NASCAR 26, as with its predecessor, isn't a simple copy and paste of the PC sim, I genuinely think that it has the best physics of any console racer. Compared to, say, Forza Motorsport, it just feels so good.

Cars behave how you'd expect them to behave. They bounce around and wobble at speed. When you leave pit road on cold tires, the rear will just snap around on you if you try and accelerate too quickly. Changes you make to the setup feel meaningful. If you dial in some changes because you're too tight, you'll feel it. You'll also feel it if you go too far in the wrong direction.

Drafting is essential at Daytona, Talladega, and Atlanta. As in the real thing, if you lose the draft, you're going nowhere. And on other ovals, you're rewarded for finding your own fastest line. Road courses are a riot, too, because a NASCAR racer is big and heavy, and it doesn't like turning on a dime. I can fly around Watkins Glen in other games, but in NASCAR 26, it suddenly feels challenging.

New for this year, too, is the fact that tracks will change. Through the course of a race, rubber will lay down on the surface, and just as in reality, that affects where you can go and how fast you can go when you're there. It's not just a visual change designed to make it look more realistic. Combined with tire degradation and fuel consumption, it provides a realistic experience, but the track changes still feel very subtle.

The AI drivers are also, mostly, some of the best I've come across in a track racing game. There are moments when it just descends into chaos, and sometimes the back of the pack behaves irregularly as you come to lap them. But when you're up front battling, it feels like you're actually battling.

Beating and banging is fair game; there's no iRacing-esque safety rating to worry about, but I'm amazed at how easy it is to actually race properly against the AI drivers and how much of a challenge it can be to get round them. In the old days of NASCAR Heat, you could pretty much just weave in and out and go from the back to the front in any race. You can't do that here.

I've had so much fun chasing down the AI drivers, having to experiment with different lines, sometimes even just fully sending it, and hoping I get clear. You're able to tweak the AI strength quite substantially, too, so as you get better, you can make the challenge harder.

All of this is perfectly achievable using a controller, too. The best experience will always be with a wheel, but NASCAR 26 doesn't feel overly twitchy or fake when using a controller, and the settings in the game allow you to customize your inputs to get it feeling just right for you.

The spotter also deserves highlighting. It's pretty good, which is useful because if you're driving in cockpit view, it is essential. Calls are clear and informative, and most of all, accurate. If he says you're three wide, you can believe it. If he calls a car inside but you can't see any hint of it, oh, it's there.

Other quick hits

• You have full crossplay in NASCAR 26. You can choose to just be console-only, full crossplay, or turn it off and only play on the same platform.
• Multiplayer is a mixed bag, but that's not necessarily the fault of the game. People race like clowns, and you're just going to have to deal with that. It would be nice to have online series and leaderboards to play as well.
• While the level of customization for your setup and your input devices is welcome, it can also be overwhelming.
• The career mode may be extensive, but outside of it there's not a whole lot to do if you're not a multiplayer fan. You can run endless quick races, but over time it gets repetitive. I'd like to see future incarnations of the NASCAR game think a little outside the box, perhaps with regular special challenges. I'm not suggesting full live service, but something fresh on a regular basis to keep us engaged.

NASCAR 26 is an iteration, but a good one, and a strong racer

I don't think any of us expected anything drastically different, and NASCAR 26 is a definite iteration. But it does make some meaningful improvements that are small in their own right but add up to a better overall package.

But the core experience is still one of the best track racers out there, whether you're a NASCAR fan or not. Cars feel alive and fun to drive, and when the AI works, it produces some of the most fun racing you can get.

I'd like to see more non-career mode content, and honestly, I'd like to see future games drop earlier in a season. We're a handful of races out from the 2026 NASCAR season ending, having spent most of it on last year's game with last year's cars.

Open-world racers like Forza Horizon 6 get most of the attention these days, but iRacing continues to prove that when done right, there's still room for good track action. NASCAR 26 is one of the best out there right now, and it certainly bodes well for next year's Indycar game.

NASCAR 26 launched on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC via Steam on September 18, 2026.

One of my favorite things about the Xbox ecosystem has historically also been one of its most frustrating. Why? Primarily due to a "lack" of adoption.

Xbox Play Anywhere is by far and away my favorite thing about being an Xbox owner. As a heavy (figuratively and literally) Xbox gamer with hundreds upon hundreds of owned games, I'm always excited to see when one of my games supports Xbox Play Anywhere — a feature that allows me to take my game to Xbox Cloud Gaming or Windows PCs or gaming handhelds on the same license, with the same save file.

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However, in years past, adoption was pretty anemic. Xbox's first-party titles (mostly) came to the service, but third-party games generally turned their nose up at it. What's worse, the idea of older games getting support was almost unheard of. That changed in a big way in 2026.

Games both old and new are getting Xbox Play Anywhere support out of the blue

I will remember 2026 as the year Xbox Play Anywhere really saw a watershed moment.

Previously, it felt like AAA developers simply didn't care or want to work with Xbox Play Anywhere. I wrote an opinion piece complaining about Xbox Play Anywhere adoption back in January, but almost a year later, things have done an almost total 180.

Before, it felt like to expect Xbox Play Anywhere, Microsoft had to drop an Xbox Game Pass deal on the game in order to acquire the rights and convince the developers to play nice. But this year, we've seen a steady cadence of games both large and small hitting Xbox Play Anywhere without any form of Game Pass integration.

Yes, many AAA games still aren't arriving as part of Xbox Play Anywhere (notably ones from the "bigger" publishers like EA and Ubisoft), but it seems even they are coming around to the idea. A few weeks ago, Ubisoft began offering some of its games on Xbox PC "for free" if you own the Xbox console version, making them Xbox Play Anywhere in all but name. Now if we could just get Star Wars Zero Company too ... if you're listening, EA.

Other publishers have been sporadic. Capcom brought Onimusha: Way of the Sword to Xbox Play Anywhere, but not Resident Evil 9 or Pragmata, for example. Others have been fully on board, with Square-Enix pledging virtually every new release, including re-releases like the upcoming Kingdom Hearts remasters and Final Fantasy Resonance.

Indeed, one of the bigger issues with Xbox Play Anywhere revolves around gaps in the overall content line-up. It reminded me a bit of the Windows Phone app gap ... wherein developers didn't see enough users to justify the port, and users didn't see enough content to justify using the store. But somehow, Xbox seems to have overcome this issue with Xbox Play Anywhere.

Witcher 3 recently got retroactively updated with Xbox Play Anywhere support, for example. Today, Metro 2033 and Last Light were announced with HD refreshes, complete with Xbox Play Anywhere support. Baldur's Gate 3 too, also grabbed Xbox Play Anywhere support, with Larian remarking that it's just "a cool part of the ecosystem." Even some of the more obscure games like Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon, a game I was secretly hoping would grab Xbox Play Anywhere, just randomly got certified today. I also had no idea other viral indie hits like TCG Card Shop Simulator were Xbox Play Anywhere until I checked what was available today.

What's going on here?!

There's been a huge, generalized sprint of solid Xbox Play Anywhere support recently. Blood of Dawnwalker, Control Resonant, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, Aliens Fireteam Elite 2, Beast of Reincarnation, Dispatch, 007: First Light, Subnautica 2, Vampire Crawlers, RuneScape: Dragonwilds, Replaced, Monster Hunter Stories 3, Deep Dish Dungeon, Clive Barker's Hellraiser Revival, Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons, and many more — have all hit the service in recent months, or will in the near future.

There are tons more as well, on top of first-party titles which are all but guaranteed to hit Xbox Play Anywhere by default. Crucially, all of the games play incredibly well natively on Xbox Ally X, optimized for handhelds out of the box in most cases.

Microsoft hasn't been shy about its intentions to improve the Xbox back-end systems to facilitate these kinds of features. But I'm curious what is driving this increased adoption of late ... could it be the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X effect? Is it simply a no-brainer if you're also moving copies via Xbox Cloud Gaming? Is the Xbox PC store seeing more rapid adoption than people think?

Whatever the cause is, as an Xbox Ally X gamer, I'm loving it.

Now if you don't mind, I'm going to rock up with some more Deep Dish Dungeon for a bit while the WoW: Forever servers are in maintenance ...

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Gears of War: E-Day has finally launched on Xbox Series X|S and PC via early access for players who pre-ordered the Premium Edition.

While the rest of the world waits for its public release on October 6, 2026, players can look up whether Gears of War: E-Day is up their alley by checking the mountain of critic reviews now available online.

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Sure enough, critics are absolutely adoring this epic prequel to the iconic Gears of War series, as it's scoring high ratings of 88 on Metacritic and 87 on OpenCritic.

Here's what some of the top reviews had to say about this new entry in Xbox's flagship shooter franchise.

Note that all these reviews only cover the single-player campaign, as the multiplayer modes were unavailable to test during the review period.

Gears of War: E-Day Reviews

• IGN (9/10): "E-Day pulls off the tightrope act of giving us a heartfelt prequel with strong characters even when we know how it ends. On a more mechanical level, it also evolves the enemies, weapons, and combat you’d expect to deliver a Gears of War campaign that stands toe-to-toe with any of the others."
• GameSpot (7/10): "For better or worse, E-Day is distinctly Gears, and I had a good time with it, even if the story is disappointing and the open areas are fairly dull. But that’s all it is: a good game, propped up by combat that hasn’t changed all that much over the past 20 years. That’s enough to skate by, but I wish Gears of War would dig deeper."
• VGC (4/5): "Gears of War E-Day's campaign offers balls-to-the-wall action and rarely lets up, but that means the story takes more of a back seat than I'd like. It's good that time is given to the backstories of new protagonists Mags and Lucas, but given that the game is literally the playable Marcus and Dom backstory fans have been waiting decades to see, more time could have been spent on their relationship. In terms of pure gunplay, however, very little beats it this year."
• GamingBolt (9/10): "It stumbles sometimes with its story, but thanks to new and improved movement mechanics, Gears of War: E-Day ends up delivering some of the tightest combat and one of the series’ most excellently paced campaigns in a long, long time."
• Voxel (90/100): "Gears of War: E-Day hits the mark by getting the basics right: embracing its identity as a Gears of War game and elevating the strengths inherent to the series. The game doesn't revolutionize the genre, but it delivers a fun gameplay experience featuring a cinematic narrative and local multiplayer support."

Gears of War: E-Day returns to the series' roots while having some odd, out-of-place open-world elements.

Overall, it seems the general sentiment around Gears of War: E-Day is that it doesn't try to reinvent the wheel, but returns to the series' roots with a solid, harrowing war story while refining the core gameplay loop that made Gears of War the household name it is today to great effect.

However, our own Jez Corden was more critical in his review-in-progress article on Gears of War: E-Day. While Jez praised the game's gorgeous visuals, stunning performance, and solid gunplay, he felt like let down by the game's poorly designed open-world-lite elements that break the game's pacing and uninteresting, damage-spongy boss fights.

The real make-or-break point for Gears of War: E-Day, to me, will be its PvP Versus Modes and its much-anticipated PvE Horde Siege mode, where you will be pitted against dozens of Locust enemies and boss monsters at once with 12 players.

If The Coalition can nail the gameplay of its multiplayer modes and its post-launch content, people will be sticking around for Gears of War: E-Day long after they beat the campaign. I know I'll be playing Gears of War: E-Day's Horde Siege mode over Grand Theft Auto 6 any day.

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Last month, Windows Central exclusively covered a Signal65 report that showed Qualcomm's flagship Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme outperforming Intel and AMD in a premium laptop showdown.

Now, a new follow-up study by Signal65 just published suggests the more important story may involve the version most people are likely to buy (Qualcomm’s Extreme chip is basically in one laptop, albeit an awesome one).

The independent testing firm's latest research examined the standard 18-core Snapdragon X2 Elite X2E-88-100 in Lenovo's Slim 7x, comparing it against Intel's Core Ultra X7 358H inside Dell's banger XPS 14 and AMD's Ryzen AI 7 445 in Lenovo's Yoga 7a 14.

This time, the focus shifted from large 16-inch flagship laptops to the increasingly important premium 14-inch category, where thermal constraints, battery life, and efficiency matter just as much as peak performance.

Luckily for Qualcomm, which commissioned the study, the results largely mirror the earlier Extreme-chip study. Qualcomm's platform led in CPU performance, AI workloads, productivity, and most battery-focused tests while also coming in significantly below the price of the Intel system evaluated.

However, that does not mean Qualcomm won everything. Intel continues to hold meaningful advantages in graphics performance (exemplified to perfection in MSI’s latest handheld gaming PC), and the XPS 14 remains one of the most premium Windows laptops available today. Still, the latest findings strengthen the argument that Snapdragon's lead is no longer limited to a halo product, nor a quirk of its Extreme chip.

Let's dive into the numbers, and then break down what it really means, as there is some nuance here.

Strong CPU results, even without the flagship chip

In Geekbench 7, the Snapdragon-powered Lenovo Slim 7x posted a multi-core score of 24,016, compared to 18,360 for the Intel-powered XPS 14. Single-core performance also favored Qualcomm, with a score of 3,237 against Intel's 2,602.

According to Signal65, that translates into leads of 31% and 24%, respectively, favoring Qualcomm.

Those numbers are especially notable because they are not solely the result of having more CPU cores. While Qualcomm's 18-core design certainly helps in heavily threaded workloads, the single-core advantage points to meaningful architectural gains from the second-generation Oryon design as well.

The company also maintained substantial leads in Cinebench 2026 rendering tests and across Microsoft's Office applications as measured by UL Procyon. In the productivity benchmark, Snapdragon led Intel by 10% in Best Performance mode and retained a smaller advantage in the default Balanced profile.

For buyers who spend most of their day in Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Edge, and Teams, those productivity-oriented results may matter more than synthetic benchmark scores.

Qualcomm's AI advantage continues

AI remains one of Qualcomm's strongest categories.

In UL Procyon AI Computer Vision, the Snapdragon system scored 4,360 compared to Intel's 2,302. Even in the newer AI CV 2.0 WinML benchmark, which routes through Microsoft's Windows ML framework rather than a vendor-specific path, Qualcomm maintained a lead of roughly 31% over Intel.

That distinction is important because it better reflects the way many Windows AI experiences are expected to work going forward. Basically, a benchmark that favors proprietary software optimizations is useful, but a benchmark that preserves the advantage through a common Windows layer is arguably more relevant.

Battery performance remains a major story

One of the headline findings from the earlier Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme study was that Qualcomm gave up remarkably little performance when running unplugged. Qualcomm has been touting this advantage since the first gen of Snapdragon X.

The trend continues here.

Across six benchmarks, the Snapdragon system retained an average of 97% of its plugged-in Balanced-mode performance. Intel retained 95%, while the AMD system retained 74%. According to Signal65, the Snapdragon-powered laptop led every CPU, productivity, and AI benchmark tested on battery.

Critically, we must remember that OEMs, especially on Intel and AMD systems, have leverage on AC/DC performance choices, meaning a company like Lenovo could have its AMD system perform worse on battery ... in order to get better battery life. Companies do this to find what they think is a balance for their intended customer, even if the explanation is opaque.

I wrote about this AMD-throttling issue back in 2021, because I found it frustrating, deceptive, and disappointing. Not much has changed in 2026, apparently.

The battery life data was also favorable for Qualcomm, particularly because the three laptops used nearly identical battery capacities.

The Slim 7x (Qualcomm) lasted 16.1 hours in local video playback compared to 14.4 hours for the XPS 14 (Intel). In a Chrome browsing rundown, the Snapdragon laptop reached 11.2 hours versus 8.6 hours for Intel's machine.

There was one significant exception. Intel won the sustained Procyon Office battery test, posting 17.4 hours compared to Qualcomm's 14.3 hours. Signal65 argues that Snapdragon completed more work during that test, making the outcome more nuanced than a simple battery-life loss, but the result remains one of Intel's clearest victories in the report.

The XPS 14 deserves context

This is where I think the conversation becomes more interesting than benchmark charts.

The Snapdragon machine tested was a $1,999 Lenovo Slim 7x. The Intel competitor was a $2,749 Dell XPS 14. That $750 difference looms over nearly every chart in the report.

At the same time, it is difficult to discuss the XPS 14 purely as a processor comparison.

Dell's laptop is widely regarded as one of the most premium Windows notebooks on the market, with exceptional build quality, materials, industrial design, and one of the best displays available in the category. The Signal65 report acknowledges that these are comparisons of complete retail systems rather than isolated silicon measurements.

That matters because buyers are not choosing between just processors. They are choosing between laptops, aka the full package.

The display difference is particularly worth mentioning. Signal65 did not evaluate screen quality, but Dell's OLED-equipped XPS 14 has generally been considered one of the standout displays in the Windows ecosystem. Some buyers may reasonably decide that premium construction, display quality, and graphics performance justify paying more.

Others may look at a $750 premium and conclude that Intel's advantages are simply not large enough, which is fair, too. After all, we reviewed the Yoga Slim 7x back in May and gave it very high marks.

It's also worth pointing out that Dell's display is a VRR 120Hz at 2880 x 1800, while the Slim 7x is just 1920 x 1200 at 60Hz (both are OLED). Anyone worth their salt in comparing laptops and battery life knows the display is, by far, the number one draw on power, so while I do believe Qualcomm's chip here is better, a pinch of salt is needed for battery life results.

Intel still has a meaningful win: GPU

The strongest argument for Intel remains graphics, something the company has been working very hard at in recent years.

In 3DMark Steel Nomad Light, Intel's Arc B390 outperformed Qualcomm's Adreno X2-90 GPU by roughly 23% in both DirectX 12 and Vulkan testing. That's the same GPU powering the beastly MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ gaming handheld, which crushes AMD in the same space.

For users who prioritize integrated graphics performance, gaming, or creative workloads that benefit from stronger GPU hardware, Intel still has a compelling case.

That advantage becomes harder to defend when price enters the discussion, which is why Signal65 ultimately concludes that Snapdragon delivers better performance per dollar across the tested systems. According to the study, Qualcomm's laptop delivered roughly 2.15 times Intel's value when normalized across selected CPU, rendering, and AI benchmarks.

Final thoughts

As with the previous report, this study was commissioned by Qualcomm, a fact readers should keep in mind. Signal65 remains an independent testing organization, but commissioned research naturally benefits from additional scrutiny.

Even with that caveat, the broader pattern is becoming difficult to ignore. I also trust the results.

The earlier Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme report established that Qualcomm's flagship laptop chip could outperform competing Intel and AMD systems. This latest study suggests those advantages extend well beyond the top, hard-to-find SKU.

That may be the more consequential finding.

Flagship products are important for headlines, but the laptops that shape a market tend to be the mainstream premium systems people actually purchase. If Qualcomm can deliver strong CPU performance, class-leading AI results, competitive battery life, and lower pricing with a standard 18-core Snapdragon X2 Elite, the company has moved beyond proving a point and started building a sustainable competitive position in the Windows laptop market.

From my experience with both systems, I prefer Qualcomm since they usually run cooler and quieter, and my overall Windows 11 experience feels faster and smoother. That said, I have to admit Intel’s Core Ultra 3 series has really closed the gap — they’re genuinely impressive chips.

If anything, the bigger subtext with this story is just how far AMD has fallen out of this space. We recently covered how no modern Surface PCs opt for AMD, and it's not because of "not enough product" as Microsoft claims. It's because Microsoft knows they're not as good as what Intel and Qualcomm offer, full stop.

The bigger takeaway from these results is not that Qualcomm won another benchmark comparison. It's that Qualcomm appears to have successfully scaled its advantages beyond a halo product. Intel now faces a more difficult reality: competing not only against Snapdragon's fastest chip, but against the one that is likely to ship in far more laptops.

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Today's the day: Gears of War: E-Day, the most anticipated Xbox exclusive in years, has launched in early access for players who pre-ordered the Premium Edition of the game. Earlier, Jez Corden called it "gorgeous but undeniably messy" in our review-in-progress, looking forward to future content additions.

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Still, to celebrate this momentous occasion, Gears of War: E-Day's developers, The Coalition, have released an extensive blog post detailing their plans for updating the game's multiplayer content, balance changes, and more.

Here's what you can expect from Gears of War: E-Day's post-launch updates.

Gears of War: E-Day Season 1

First off, The Coalition states that Season 1 of Gears of War: E-Day's multiplayer content, titled Season 1: Emergence, will be running from today all the way up to December 1, 2026.

Season 1 will include all the game's launch maps, games, cosmetics, and three limited-time events called Halloween, 20 Years of Gears, and Thanksgibbing. Each event will last for two weeks and will feature a Versus Event mode, a Horde Siege Event mission, and exclusive, limited-time rewards.

Additionally, Season 1 will include:

• Ranked: Versus Ranked will officially launch one week after launch on October 13, giving players crucial time to get up-to-speed with all our maps, modes and sandbox before jumping into competitive.  
• Weekly Challenges: The weekly challenges Premium Edition owners receive on October 1 are the same challenges all players will receive at launch on October 6, weekly challenges will then refresh on October 13.
• Shop: Shop offers will rotate every Tuesday. Be sure to check every week for free featured gifts.
• Never Fight Alone Charity Bundle: 100% of net revenue of the Never Fight Alone Year 5 bundle, which includes an exclusive skin and weapon skin set, and the Never Fight Alone Legacy set, goes to our partner Crisis Text Line in our mission to prevent suicide.
• Promotional Items: Cosmetic items available exclusively through limited time partnerships will become available in the Barracks for Coins and Iron after the partnership exclusivity term lapses. 
• Gears of War: Reloaded Rewards: To celebrate the release of the original Gears of War 20 years ago, we’re offering exclusive rewards to commemorate players’ engagement with Gears of War: Reloaded. 
• Fire and Fenix Pose: Complete the “Prison Breakout” XBOX Achievement in Gears of War: Reloaded.
• Old Guard Medal & “Locked n’ Reloaded” Title: Complete the “Re-Up” XBOX Achievement in Gears of War: Reloaded.

Gears of War: E-Day Season 2 and beyond

Season 2: Legacy will begin at a later date after Season 1 and will feature content themed around the Gears of War franchise's 20th anniversary. The Coalition has also prepared a birthday gift for players to open on November 7, the day when the original Gears of War launched two decades ago.

Additionally, The Coalition has announced that Season 2 will include a Dead Serious Achievement. Any players who obtain it will be rewarded with exclusive cosmetics like a Medal, a Player Title, a Banner, an Emblem, an Icon, and a Legendary Character skin.

Lastly, Gears of War: E-Day has been confirmed to receive at least five post-launch seasons. The names of future seasons after Season 2 are:

• Season 3: Infiltration
• Season 4: Pendulum
• Season 5: Devotion

Gears of War: E-Day Multiplayer Balance changes

Moving on from seasonal content, The Coalition then lays out its plan for updating Gears of War: E-Day's gameplay based on feedback from the multiplayer betas.

Their first move is to change the Gnasher, Gears of War's iconic shotgun that is regarded as one of the best weapons to use in PvP and PvE content throughout the whole franchise.

The developers noticed that during Gears 2 to 5, firing the Gnasher from the hip has often resulted in some shots missing when they clearly should've hit the target. So, The Coalition has decided to finally fix that by introducing a new hybrid muzzle and camera-oriented shooting mechanic.

This means that when you fire the Gnasher, the game will check both the camera and muzzle shots and apply whichever angle is better suited for the shot, which should (hopefully) result in more accurate hits.

Next up, The Coalition states that iconic gameplay features from past Gears of War titles, like Meat Shields, Chainsaw Duels, select fan-favorite weapons, Private Lobbies, and Leaderboards, are being considered to be added to Gears of War: E-Day in post-launch updates or the next game.

Right now, the developers are focusing on making sure Gears of War: E-Day has the most stable launch experience possible.

Finally, The Coalition has laid out a series of patch notes for Gears of War: E-Day's early access launch, which include bug fixes, balance adjustments, Quality-of-life improvements, and more:

• Tuning:
  • Weapon Tuning: 
    • Adjusted Prototype Lancer damage to a value in-between Beta weekend 1 and 2
    • Reduced Lancer Mk1 damage
    • Reduced Vulcan damage
    • Increased Hammerburst damage 
    • Increased damage of the Gnasher while ADS at range
    • Improved Gnasher hipfire consistency
    • Reduced rate of fire for the Snub
    • Reduced the Gut-Puncher spare ammo amount
  • Movement & Cover Tuning: 
    • Improved strafe movement responsiveness
    • Adjustments to cover enter speed and distance of cover-enter cancel
    • Reduced Cover Slip speed
    • Reduced Slide distance
  • Horde Siege Tuning:
    • Adjustment of brightness and opacity of Energy icons
    • Adjusted the difficulty of Repair objectives 
    • Decreased the health threshold at which a Boomer, Flayer, or Grinder can be executed with a Prototype Lancer
    • Reduced Weapon Part Rewards for participation in invasions
    • Reduced Weapon Part Rewards for Weapon Part Stockpiles
    • Increased the difficulty of all Invasions
    • Increased the difficulty of Commander and Allfather difficulties
    • Adjusted the Medic’s stim duration
    • Increased equipment costs
    • Reduced the impact of some Squad Perks
    • Increased the Energy cost of Squad Perks
  • Versus Tuning: 
    • Reduced the wave respawn time
    • Reduced frequency of trading to feel more fair and consistent
    • Adjusted Scoring in Demolition 
    • Adjusted Scoring in Crucible
• Bug Fixes: 
  • Across PC, XBOX and handhelds, we made numerous improvements to stability, performance and optimization across applicable hardware configurations
  • On PC, we addressed a bug causing graphics settings to reset between launches
  • Made adjustments to prevent macro abuse of semi-automatic weapons
  • On PC, we addressed an issue causing missing VFX on explosions when set to Low quality settings
  • On “Legacy” control settings, fixed an issue causing an inconsistent Sprint release delay
  • On PC, fixed an issue causing additional input delay when playing on mouse and keyboard
  • On PC, fixed an issue causing mouse & keyboard lighting effects to not display properly
  • In Horde Siege, fixed an issue causing Tickers not to be properly flung when kicked
  • In Horde Siege, fixed an issue causing blast charges delivered during the Corpser Invasion Event to not register
  • Fixed an issue allowing players to shoot enemies not in front of their barrel when aiming down sights
  • Fixed an issue causing versus ranked or social players to get stuck at the “Waiting for Other Players” screen
  • Fixed an issue causing destructible assets to ‘stick’ to players
  • Fixed an issue where Marksman UAV visual effect might persist
  • Improved the reliability of starting objectives in Horde Siege
  • Improved the reliability of switching which squadmate you are spectating when cog tagged in Horde Siege
  • Fixed an issue where Tickers were immune to Gorehooks
  • Fixed an issue allowing more than four squad members in Versus
  • Fixed an issue where abandoned turrets could not be interacted with
  • Fixed visual issues with ranking up from Onyx 3
  • Fixed an issue where boss health bars and locators could scale incorrectly
  • Fixed multiple issues where specific enemies may not be able to path at certain objectives
  • Fixed multiple issues that would prevent objectives from completing in Horde Siege
  • Fixed multiple inconsistencies and interaction errors in the Horde Siege lobby and Barracks
  • Fixed multiple scoring inconsistencies and errors
  • Fixed multiple matchmaking errors and timeouts
  • Fixed an issue where Mortar strike vfx could appear without cause
  • Fixed an issue where TDM matches would end too early
• QoL & Feedback: 
  • On all platforms, we added an FOV slider 
  • On all platforms, we improved HDR calibration, made UI paper-white adjustment independent
  • On all platforms, we added the ability to disable Chromatic Aberration
  • On all platforms, we added the ability to disable Film Grain 
  • On PC, Max FPS can be set to 30, 60, 90, 120, 144, 240, or Unlimited 
  • On PC, setting Max FPS to “Unlimited” will not cap your framerate
  • On PC, multi frame generation is now optionally supported
  • On PC, we added a setting to allow players to enable or disable Lamp device support for mouse and keyboard lighting  
  • On XBOX, “The Lucky Ones Died on E-Day” achievement has been removed in order to support the upcoming Mythic Achievements feature. Players will still earn the “I AM A GEAR” Player Title upon completing all other achievements and the achievement remains on Steam
  • In multiplayer, adjusted Player XP to better align the rate of progression across Horde Siege and Versus
  • Made improvement to Backfill AI bot behavior 
• Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD): 
  • On PC, Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD) is a new feature that significantly reduces the time spent compiling shaders across different PC hardware configurations. It benefits Gears of War: E-Day and other supported games across the Xbox PC app
  • For launch, ASD will be supported on AMD hardware, with NVIDIA support coming later in October
  • Playing E-Day outside the Xbox PC app? You may still benefit from ASD if the Xbox PC app is installed on your Windows 11 PC, allowing the required shaders to be pre-installed
• LAUNCH KNOWN ISSUES:
  • Playing through the entire length of the game without reloading checkpoints or restarting may cause memory issues. Please reload a checkpoint if you get blocked at an encounter or objective
  • Performance Overlay in Benchmark mode does not include generated frames, and can report a lower than accurate FPS 
  • Game process may continue to run after closing, can be viewed and shut down from task manager 
  • New clients joining a lobby working through an existing save will receive all prior secondary objective and hardcase progress in the War Journal and all relevant Forge rewards 
  • On PC, offline play is unavailable until October 6

Are you ready for Gears of War: E-Day?

If you're a fan of Gears of War or third-person shooters, then you won't want to miss out on Gears of War: E-Day when it leaves early access and launches for the general public on October 6, 2026, for Xbox Series X|S and PC.

It's turning out to be one of the best games in the series just from the campaign alone, and judging from these long-term plans for its exciting multiplayer modes, Gears of War: E-Day is going to satiate your craving for video game violence for a long time.

Before heading off to buy a copy, I'd recommend upgrading your Xbox Series X's storage to fit Gears of War: E-Day, as the base game's 115GB install requirement is going to take a huge chunk out of it long before its post-launch updates arrive.

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As I write this, I just wrapped up my run-through of Gears of War: E-Day, start to finish. Although, I have yet to experience the full actual game.

For the review build, Gears of War: E-Day's new siege mode is disabled, as is versus multiplayer. It felt odd to me to score a game I haven't fully played yet; as such, this will be a review-in-progress pending the launch state of versus and siege mode, which I presume goes live with the game itself on October 6, 2026.

Gears of War: E-Day is something of an important game for Xbox. It carries the flag for Microsoft's return to exclusive Xbox Series X|S games, and likely has some oversized pressure upon it to deliver. We're not here to review that aspect of the product, though — only what is here sitting in front of me.

And my feelings are a bit mixed.

Gears of War: E-Day has some of the most stunning visuals I've ever seen committed to the medium, with absolutely immaculate lighting treatment, immense and meticulous city detailing, and gorgeous character work. The gunplay is also fantastic, smoothing off some of the series' rough edges with boosted mobility, without sacrificing the Gears feel.

But the overall gameplay structure does the overall game a pretty sizeable disservice in my view, preventing it from reaching its full potential.

Gears of War: E-Day review — Story, Art, and Tech

Gears of War: E-Day takes place over a decade before Gears of War 1, offering us a front-row seat to the brutal and genocidal opening to the Locust's attack on humanity.

The city of Kalona serves as ground zero for that invasion. Kalona is known as a city of science and technological progress, and was instrumental in developing the COG's weapons tech and industrial war economy during the civil war against the UIR. E-Day takes place six weeks after the UIR surrenders, and Dominic Santiago and Marcus Fenix are picking up the pieces and mourning lost friends and family.

The character work on offer in E-Day is absolutely top-shelf. The trauma of loss and the shock of the Locust invasion comes through incredibly well in every single aspect of the game's delivery. The cityscape is immaculately detailed, with interiors fully rendered with a lived-in feel, complemented by some of the best lighting I've ever seen in a video game. Well and truly, Gears of War: E-Day is at the absolute apex of Unreal Engine technological prowess, and the game deserves awards on that basis alone, most likely.

Rendering the city in so much detail really helps serve the story. Gears of War's more recent games take place in a ruined world, where the Locust have effectively already won and decimated humanity and most of its cities. For E-Day, The Coalition had to show a city that was still thriving and populated, and the horrors therein.

From the very first cutscene, The Coalition pulls no punches: this is a horror story, a war story, and a tale of survival and desperation. The COG army is decimated and blindsided, besieged by an unknown threat that they immediately underestimate as monsters without a plan, only to discover later just how smart and organized the Locust actually are.

Civilian NPCs litter the city, sometimes fleeing, sometimes in dismembered puddles on the ground. The reactions from the characters and their development throughout the game really help to elevate that sense of loss and fear — they're not the battle-hardened survivors of the original Gears trilogy. They're young, war-weary from fighting the UIR, and in some cases wholly traumatized already.

I don't want to give too much away about the story, but this very much felt like the first game in a new planned trilogy ... there were aspects of the delivery that suffered as a result. Some plot threads felt designed to be resolved in future games (or DLC?), leaving me wanting somewhat. But the fact that I am eager to learn more about this Emergence Day story arc is probably a plus. It would be far worse if I didn't care, and I find myself caring a lot about the new characters, their struggles, their past lives, and what will ultimately end up happening to them ... given that some clearly aren't present in future installments.

Gears of War: E-Day's setting, visuals, and story delivery represent its best aspects. The game's performance on Xbox Series X is top-tier, with slowdown only occurring during some particularly heavy sequences towards the end. I didn't experience a single crash, and it's great to see a modern game offer split-screen co-op in the modern age as an option.

The new characters are interesting and engaging, and finding out new layers of existing characters is also rewarding as a long-time fan. I think Gears of War: E-Day could've benefitted from leaning more into civilian-oriented side stories potentially ... but as I'm going to explain in the gameplay section, Gears of War: E-Day is let down a fair bit by its gameplay structure all up.

Gears of War: E-Day review — Campaign Gameplay

Let's get the good stuff out of the way first: this is still very much Gears of War. Everything you've loved previously about Gears is still here, and in most cases, elevated to the 11th degree.

E-Day boosts the player character's mobility by a huge amount. Sprint is now more instantaneous and on the left stick like a standard modern shooter. Cover is far more dynamic than it was previously, with the ability to take cover in lower spaces than before, making environments feel more varied and natural. You can now also climb and vault, allowing The Coalition to build on the game's verticality. Given that Kalona is a city-state with large buildings and urban environments, having these features serves the game incredibly well.

The gunplay is also very polished. Chainsaw-ing dudes in half is more rewarding than ever, with almost embarrassingly satisfying sound treatment and chunky gore physics. Watching a severed torso flip onto the floor never gets old.

There's a variety of new weapons which are also instant classics. The Locust have been scavenging the battlefields of the Pendulum wars, adapting old UIR guns with horrifyingly inhumane enhancements. As such, that satisfying M1 Garand "ping" returns from the UIR Markza, repurposed into the axe-hilted Locust Breechshot rifle, for example.

The gunplay lets itself down a bit when it comes to fighting some of the game's bigger enemies, though. Drones, wretches, and some of the earlier enemies are by far the most satisfying to fight, reacting to your bullets and even having destructible armor that makes combat feel more dynamic and modern. I'm not sure why The Coalition didn't extend this gameplay style to some of its bigger enemies, which is where I would argue it'd be far more crucial.

Indeed, in Act 1, Gears of War: E-Day starts so strongly, and I was sitting there wondering if this was going to end up being the best game Xbox ever shipped, but over time, that feeling began to unravel.

Reavers, Brumaks, and other larger enemies barely react at all to gunfire, making them feel like robots or bullet sponges — something Gears 4 was heavily criticized for. You end up just watching the enemy's health bar in some cases for at least some semblance of reactivity, instead of the visuals The Coalition's art team painstakingly worked towards. Towards the end of the game, these types of enemies become more common too, robbing the game of some of its dynamism.

Another irritating aspect of Gears of War: E-Day pertains to its open-but-not-actually-open world design, which to me smacks of rushed or changing game design priorities throughout development.

Kalona is a fully realized 3D city, with a huge variety of urban exterior and interior locations. It's a great canvas that The Coalition can build upon when designing future content, potentially both for Siege and Versus mode. The problem is, it doesn't lend itself particularly well to the campaign mode.

Gears of War: E-Day starts incredibly strongly, with a linear cinematic segment that really sets the tone for the game. Then, it opens up into this odd semi-open world structure that seemed interesting in previews, but in practice, it doesn't really reach further than the glimpses we got over the summer.

There's a map that offers the illusion of large explorable spaces, but in practice, all the segments are very linear. Even the side objectives take place in a structured way, undermining the need or desire to really explore. It felt like The Coalition tried to shoehorn in more reasons to explore by spreading weapon mods and collectibles around, but I just found this aspect of the game to be irritating and pace-breaking.

There's dozens upon dozens of weapon mods to find in the field, but half the time it'll be for weapons you don't really want to use. The game pings you with an annoying pop-up every few seconds saying "hardcase nearby," which just served as a distraction given that the reward was mostly just junk items. Even the collectibles were annoying to find, given that you had to jump through several menus then go manually searching for the item you just found from a huge list. There were more mods to find than there was gameplay canvas upon which to place them ... E-Day really would've benefitted from some kind of vendor system instead here, allowing you to buy mods at your leisure, rather than feeling forced into boring hide-and-seek gameplay every 3 minutes.

These might seem like minor gripes, but given that there's not much else "new" here on offer across the general Gears formula, they stand out a bit like a sore thumb.

It doesn't help that, as a result of the game's structure, you end up revisiting the same locations multiple times as part of the story, which felt anticlimactic and choring, particularly towards the end of the game.

The campaign does have some incredibly epic, cinematic, and deeply emotional moments — don't get me wrong. There are some fantastic sequences spread throughout the game, showcasing Emergence in all of its reptilian, subterranean horror. I just wish they'd doubled up on these moments instead of trying this odd "open" world experiment, which seems ill-conceived and poorly executed, with features that detract rather than elevate the overall experience.

Gears of War: E-Day review — Conclusion (so far)

I thoroughly enjoyed Gears of War: E-Day overall, and am already enjoying my second playthrough on a higher difficulty, but I would be lying if I said the game didn't have large issues — particularly given how easily avoided many of them could've been.

Kalona is an immaculate canvas ripe for telling epic stories. The new, horror-laden tone is absolutely the right direction for Gears of War: E-Day. The existential dread oozes throughout every character delivery, and the city design is among the best the medium has ever seen.

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The gameplay structure placed on top of it becomes the problem, that could've used a lot more iteration and forethought. It felt a bit like E-Day was originally intended to be some form of open-world, but at some point, they retreated, leaving it feeling disjointed. The "open world" exploration aspects are unrewarding and more often than not simply frustrating, and a lot more work could've gone into making boss-level enemies more dynamic and interesting to fight.

If I were to score the game based on the campaign alone, I'd probably give it an 8/10 overall — it's still incredibly fun, and the downsides are frustrating but not game-breaking. In any case, we haven't experienced the full package Gears of War: E-Day represents. We still have Siege and Versus to talk about, and it remains to be seen how fun or even functional those will be at launch. Stay tuned.

Gears of War: E-Day launches October 6, 2026, exclusively on Xbox Series X|S on console with Xbox Play Anywhere for PC, it's also coming to Steam and Xbox Game Pass.

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September 29, 2026, saw the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered; to say it was met with a glowing reception would be an understatement.

It broke its lifetime concurrent Steam record with over 119,000 people playing at launch, and critics have been loving the changes the Remastered Edition made to the original game (including our own Jennifer Young giving it a perfect review score of 5/5 stars).

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Unfortunately, while everyone was too excited to replay the classic RPG, trouble was brewing for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, especially on PC.

Players have started noticing massive technical problems, including game-breaking glitches, DLSS not functioning with Xbox Play Anywhere on PC, not being able to save their game progress, and more.

CD Projekt Red has been made aware of this situation and has just rolled out a quick hotfix for the Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC versions of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered to address some of these issues.

According to CD Projekt Red, this hotfix titled 'Patch 5.00b' has made the following changes:

• Fixed an issue where DLSS was unavailable in the Xbox Play Anywhere version of the game on PC.
• Made various lighting adjustments, including fixing some interiors that appeared too dark.
• Made various other adjustments to ensure parity with the PC version.

Additionally, CD Projekt Red is planning to add a hotfix to address the issue that's preventing people from saving their game files. If you have encountered any glitches or technical issues while playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, you can submit them to CD Projekt Red's Technical Support portal, and they'll work to fix them.

Casual reminder to never buy AAA games at launch before hotfixes settle in

Now, I like CD Projekt Red's games, but there's one uncomfortable fact I've come to accept about them: they've repeatedly been riddled with game-breaking bugs and issues at launch.

Cyberpunk 2077's infamous 2020 launch is the one most people remember, but I recall when I first tried The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt back in the 2010s on the Xbox One and got frustrated with non-stop crashes and glitches that wouldn't be addressed until the Hearts of Stone expansion came out.

Thankfully, CD Projekt Red isn't sitting idly by to fix the issues in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, so we won't have to wait long before this exceptional remaster is playable at its very best, before the Songs of the Past expansion releases in 2027.

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The death of 343 Industries and Halo Studios, whether you view it as the right call or not, has brought an enormous amount of drama with it. We aren't going to dive into that mess today. Instead, I want to highlight something that has been somewhat buried in the noise: a community-driven effort has ported the original Halo: Combat Evolved to a host of devices.

We are talking about your web browser, Android, Linux, and yes, even the PS4 and PS5. All of these ports support full multiplayer and campaign modes. For the PlayStation crowd, you will of course need a jailbroken device, which has become a relatively straightforward process.

Beyond the basic ports, we are seeing other Halo mods emerge, a new Halo 3 port on PC, and new modes for Halo: CE that support up to 128 players. Is this effectively making Halo x Battlefield a reality? Maybe.

Of course, these projects are largely driven by AI-powered tools, or at least most are anyway. With Claude recently releasing Opus 5.5, the barrier to entry for this kind of work has dropped significantly, so make of that what you will.

Regarding Halo, Combat Evolved was also recently decompiled, again thanks to AI, which is also likely why we're seeing a surge in mods for the game.

The scope is genuinely wild. We even have Halo: CE running on a Nintendo 3DS, and unrelated to Halo, there's even a project showcasing Minecraft inside Elden Ring. Yes, that exists, and it is pretty crazy to see.

Personally, I am somewhat indifferent about these things. I find it rather cool that the community is pushing the boundaries of what is possible, but I do worry about the long-term implications of AI being able to transform games to this extent. It raises some interesting questions about what it might mean for multiplayer titles in the future, especially if AI can start reverse engineering games.

With all that said, do let me know your thoughts in the comments. Whether you agree with where I sit on this matter or disagree, both opinions are welcome!

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The long awaited Xbox x IKEA YXSTABY collection has officially hit stores today, so you can either head to your local branch or order the pieces online.

It's part of Xbox's 25th Anniversary celebrations this year (who knew they could do marketing) and is actually an impressive bunch of furniture and accessories combining Scandanavian minimilism and some more of the subtle Xbox branding that would work in most living rooms. I like that the collection doesn't look like it belongs in a teenagers bedroom like many other gaming adjecent furniture collections.

Here's the list of everything you can get and prices.

Everything in the Xbox x IKEA YXSTABY gaming collection

You can grab everything on the US Site later today, and for my UK friends, the collection is available right now.

Seating & Furniture

• YXSTABY Gaming Lounge Chair: $119.99 / £89
• YXSTABY Thumbstick Stool (Green or Black): $49.99 / £35
• YXSTABY Gaming TV Stand on Castors (White or Black): $149.99 / £99
• YXSTABY Gaming Side Table on Castors: $179.99 / £115

Desk Setup & Accessories

• YXSTABY Monitor Stand: $39.99 / £25
• YXSTABY Laptop Support with Storage: $34.99 / £19
• YXSTABY Controller Display Box (White or Black): $29.99 / £15
• YXSTABY D-Pad Cushion: $17.99 / £12
• YXSTABY Stainless Steel D-Pad Platter: $17.99 / £12

For those eyeing the YXSTABY Gaming Lounge Chair, I got to sit in it at Gamescom, and it's ridiculously comfortable despite its minimal look. One in the Xbox business booth saved my legs many a time!

It's an upgraded version of an IKEA chair I've owned before, but Xbox has improved this new iteration by adding handy built-in pockets perfect for stashing your controller or handheld.

The controller display boxes are probably my second favorite thing in the collection and I'm considering a couple for above my desk area to display those controllers that are just too pretty for me to actually use.

Everything is live on IKEA's site and in physical stores now. Are you planning to grab any of the thumbstick stools or storage pieces for your gaming corner?

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Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV, the long-awaited sequel to Warhammer 40,000's beloved real-time strategy series, has released a new trailer to whet players' appetites before its December 3, 2026 release on PC.

This cinematic showcases an epic battle between two playable factions of the game: the superhuman Space Marines and the mechanical, alien horrors known as Necrons.

Space Marines come in a variety of different armies called Chapters, and the one you play as in this game is the Blood Ravens, the mascots of the Dawn of War series.

In this trailer, the Blood Ravens, despite being genetically engineered super soldiers, are getting annihilated by the Necrons' never-ending armies of undying robot monsters and advanced technology.

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Then, when all hope seemed lost, the Blood Ravens get rescued by the Dark Angels, an iconic Space Marine chapter from the tabletop version of Warhammer 40,000, who are heavily themed after medieval knights.

The Dark Angels will be a playable sub-faction of the Space Marine with their unique units, strategies, and heroes separate from the Blood Ravens, including the video game debut of Lion El'Jonson, the Primarch of the Dark Angels.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV continues to march towards its release date

As a longtime fan of Warhammer, I have a special place in my heart for the Blood Ravens Chapter, as they were the first Space Marines I ever met when I played the original Dawn of War back in the early 2000s, so I can't wait to play as them again.

As for the Dark Angels, I will admit I'm not quite as familiar with these guys other than their knightly aesthetics, their obsession with interrogations and paranoia, and being playable in 2016's Space Hulk: Deathwing game.

So it will be interesting getting to know them as I play through the story campaign and see how they get along with the Blood Ravens.

But what about you? Are you excited to play as the Space Marines in Dawn of War IV, or are you planning to play one of the factions like the Orks, Necrons, or Adeptus Mechanicus?

If you have any thoughts on the matter, let us know in the comments section, poll, or on our Reddit page.

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For many years, people have wondered what it would be like if World of Warcraft, one of the most iconic MMORPGs in history, became playable on both PC and home consoles, like its biggest rival, Final Fantasy XIV.

Recently, those pipe dreams may have the potential to come true if the latest rumors surrounding the upcoming World of Warcraft: Forever turn out to be true.

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On September 29, 2026, Reddit user 'Rychillie' discovered that on the website for Brazil's Ministry of Justice, it stated that World of Warcraft: Forever was being classified for use on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Mac.

However, another Redditor 'birizinho' in the comments did a quick check on the gov.br listing and discovered that these console classifications had been quickly taken down within a few hours.

Could WoW finally be coming to consoles?

Now, as with any rumor, this should be taken with a huge grain of salt. This is especially apparent considering this console classification list for World of Warcraft: Forever has the PlayStation 3 on it, a console that Sony is trying to kill off by closing down the PS3/PSVita PSN store and discontinuing future physical PlayStation games.

Plus, since World of Warcraft: Forever has only been confirmed for PC, it is 99% likely this was just a typing mistake on the Brazilian Ministry of Justice website's part.

However, there is a very unlikely chance that a console port of World of Warcraft: Forever could become real sometime in the far distant future, as this game features full Xbox controller support.

Personally, even if any version of World of Warcraft came to consoles, I'd stick with playing it on PC with my dedicated MMO mouse and keyboard combo, as that control scheme feels the most natural way for me to play MMORPGs.

I can't imagine how cumbersome it would be to target players and mobs during hardcore raid dungeons and boss fights, especially for healer classes.

But then again, if players are able to clear the hardest Raid content in Final Fantasy XIV (that being Ultimate Raids) using controllers, then I'm guessing the same could be possible for World of Warcraft players using controllers, provided they get enough practice and set up the right keybinds and macros.

Either way, we'll have to wait to see what the future holds after World of Warcraft: Forever releases on November 4, 2026, and if it can survive releasing in the same month as Grand Theft Auto 6.

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Gears of War: E Day arrives today on Xbox and PC if you are lucky enough to have Early Access. To celebrate the launch, 8BitDo has expanded its Xbox partnership accessory line to include this incredibly sexy limited-edition mechanical keyboard and mouse set.

Dripping with rugged Gears visual flair, this red-and-black set will be a must-have for Gears fans jumping into the campaign on PC. Unfortunately, it won't ship until October 30th, but pre-orders went live today at $119.99 for the keyboard and $59.99 for the mouse.

8BitDo has been really killing it with the Xbox accessories recently

I'm always impressed by 8BitDo's unusual and creative approach to designing Xbox-themed accessories.

Just last year they dropped the Xbox green translucent keyboard and mouse, which I'm actually the proud owner of (and really need to get my butt moving on the review, but it's fantastic).

The build quality and typing experience of their keyboards is some of the best on the market, and they are pretty reasonably priced when you compare to similar products from other brands.

The Retro, chunky aesthetic also pleases my aging millennial hands, and I've been enjoying the larger mouse a lot more than I expected.

This new E-Day run of the range has the exact same rock-solid engineering tailored specifically for Gears fans. I actually must prefer the design of these to the Xbox Gears Controller, which is a little "busy" looking for my tastes.

If you're gearing up (hehe) to play E-Day on PC, 8BitDo has knocked it out of the park yet again.

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The last couple of Xbox events I've attended, including BlizzCon, I noticed I was getting the same question from industry figures and fans alike: is Microsoft gearing up to sell Xbox?

Microsoft's vast layoffs across the summer have hit Xbox in their thousands, with studios like Ninja Theory on the path to being closed, and others like Double Fine being divested completely. Microsoft has effectively shut down Halo Studios itself and handed off the franchise to Call of Duty showrunners instead, as Xbox aggressively seeks to restructure for its next decade.

A decade that might not arrive, that is, if these "sell off" rumors turned out to be true. Many analysts and industry figures have opined that the cuts are designed to make Xbox "leaner" and more attractive to a potential buyer. When you dig down into it, these commentaries don't make a lot of sense; why would Xbox keep smaller franchises like Age of Empires even at a reduced clip, or try to rebuild Halo at all if it was indeed looking to sell?

Regardless, even senior industry figures like Shawn Layden of PlayStation fame described Xbox as being in its "Dreamcast phase" recently, referring to the time Sega exited the hardware business. A lot of these comments tend to emerge from industry figures who seem particularly aggrieved by Xbox, though, regardless of actually being a customer or not.

Indeed, actual Xbox customers have been generally optimistic about the way Xbox has been heading. Nobody (sane) revels in layoffs, but purely mathematically speaking, it was unclear how some of Xbox's 'niche' kind of games like Keeper, Kiln, or Hellblade 2 were going to be self-sustainable for the studios that produced them. There's a lot of valid criticism to be levied at the leadership figures that allowed for projects that were quite obviously going to be unsustainable.

Sharma has promised deeper investment in the very-long-dormant Fallout franchise, promised to restructure and rebuild Halo, and continues to promise Xbox Helix, the long-awaited next-gen console. Sharma has declared intent to invest in Xbox's biggest brands, leveraging TV shows, movies, and other transmedia opportunities to find new users. Despite this, there still runs the idea that Xbox could end up being divested from Microsoft itself, owing to a report from The Information earlier in the summer that Microsoft was exploring the idea.

The NYT interviewed (paywall) Sharma recently covering the Xbox layoffs generally. The outlet said that Asha "did not stall" in declaring Xbox not-for-sale.

"Xbox is not for sale. [...] We will do whatever it takes to set the company up for success, and we will look at the right partnerships, the right operating model and everything needed to achieve that. [...] We’ve got a long way to go with Microsoft and we’re going to take the long-term view."

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is to blame for the lack of faith in the Xbox business from mainstream figures

The NYT quite patronizingly called the comment a "bob and weave" seemingly unwilling to let go of the idea of divestiture. It's great shareholder bait; Xbox has long been an aspirational type of product, and it has been a loss leader in some regards. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has remarked in the past about how, despite the fact Xbox isn't a huge profit generator, fandom of the brand has led to lucrative deals for Azure on the business side of things. Yet, shareholders would love nothing more than for Microsoft to quit the difficult and risky game industry to dive all-in on AI psychosis products instead.

Indeed, under Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the company has seen a near total retreat from consumers in general. Surface is on its death bed, Windows Phone was killed off, all consumer hardware products were effectively shelved. Microsoft's retail stores were closed, customer support is anaemic to non-existent, and Windows itself has seen huge declines in popularity and trust. Even Microsoft Copilot has undergone a work-focused update, ditching their (admittedly terrible) consumer-oriented features.

Nadella is absolutely not consumer-savvy in general. Nadella's Microsoft strategy paints the Xbox business as a sore thumb on a very boring, cold, sad, and business-oriented IBM-style Microsoft — a Microsoft chasing cultural irrelevancy.

RELATED: To save Xbox, Asha Sharma needs to defeat Microsoft itself

It's no wonder that mainstream media can't understand why Xbox could exist in this current incarnation of Microsoft, and it's through no fault of previous Xbox leaders, Asha Sharma or Xbox in general.

The one saving grace here is that Nadella has, for some reason, continued to allow Xbox to exist — likely against the wishes of shareholders and his generalized anti-consumer and anti-customer instincts. Nadella claimed in an internal meeting that Microsoft will "always" be in gaming, and will take a "long view" on its future. But it's really, really easy to understand why the trust isn't there. We wouldn't even have this commentary from Nadella if I hadn't literally leaked the meeting's audio myself.

The NYT noted that Nadella declined to participate in the interview. He really should have participated in my opinion, because this generalized lack of faith comes from his strategies and public-facing comments.

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Logitech just announced a pair of headphones that I'm sure will make my wife jealous. The new Zone Vibe Pro headphones promise all-day battery life, clear audio powered by AI voice isolation, and Adaptive Noise Cancellation. But what makes me wish I had a pair is the repairable nature of the headphones.

The Zone Vibe Pro headphones are far from the first headphones to have replaceable parts. But they caught my eye because the earpads of my wife's primary headphones just fell off the other day, and battery life is not what it used to be. Official earpads are available, but those are the only parts that can be replaced.

In contrast, Logitech will sell replacement earpads, head straps, and batteries for the Zone Vibe Pro through its Spare Parts Store.

While writing this article, I briefly mentioned to my wife how Logitech sells spare parts and she emphatically asked why we couldn't get parts the same way for our other accessories.

The most expensive parts of electronic devices are rarely the first parts to wear out. Wires, woofers, and most of the vital components are encased in plastic, metal, or some fancy material depending on what gadget you're dealing with. Considering the current economy and the way prices are trending, I'd rather spend a few dollars on replacement parts than buy a new device altogether.

The Zone Vibe Pro costs $259.99. That price is in line with similar headphones, but it's still quite a bit of money to invest. Being able to replace a worn-out part for a fraction of the total price of the headphones will help future-proof them.

The Zone Vibe Pro headphones have a boomless design that differentiates them from the less premium Zone Vibe (non-pro). Logitech says the headphones get up to 30 hours of listening or 18 hours of call time when ANC is enabled.

When the battery does run out, you can charge the headphones for five minutes to get an additional hour of call time.

If you are a business user, you can get the Zone Vibe Pro for Business which are certified for meeting apps like Microsoft Teams and support IT fleet management through Logitech Sync.

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I've reviewed a lot of chairs in my day, but as I've gotten older and more decrepit, demands on my fragile bones have only grown.

There was a time I could rock a gaming chair and gun for maximum style and recline, but as I spend more and more time at my desk hunched over and typing rather than reclined back and gaming, my needs have evolved.

Recently, a friend with similar back issues to me recommended this chair from FlexiSpot, dubbed the Heavy Duty C3 Ergonomic Chair to be precise. It's currently on sale for £199, down £50 from the typical asking price. I've reviewed chairs running all the way up to $700, so my expectations for this "cheaper" chair were pretty low.

How wrong I was. Well and truly, this is by far the best chair I've ever used at home, and a chair so nice I'm going to buy it twice for when I'm visiting family out of the country. It's that good.

Sometimes, basic is better

Forgive my photographs, it's hard to get a good angle in my tiny office/bedroom, but as you can see it's a pretty simple and unassuming set up here.

This is a seat designed for heavy and tall individuals but also just generally heavy use. It has an incredibly thick cushioned seat with an ergonomic W shape, which has become a popular seating configuration in recent years. I've often seen ads for seat cushions with this shape, the C3 built it right into the product.

It has a mesh back rest which offers maximum breathability for those heatwave months we had this year, and a wide base with very tall arm rests to align your elbows against your desk. The seat tilt also aligns with the back rest, which FlexiSpot research says promotes better posture health than separate tilt mechanisms.

Despite being on the "cheaper" side, every aspect of this seat feels premium to me. The materials and metals are incredibly thick with high quality welding. The whole frame is made from iron and certified for 227kg, meaning that the vast majority of users won't even come close to delivering wear and tear here.

The arm rests have 4D movement and positioning, and have a smooth-feel leatherette finish, complete with buttons and levers where you'd expect to find them for locking in your adjustments, both on the seat tilt and the gas-powered lift itself. There's also a lumbar rest at the base of the backrest, adjustable for different heights.

If you were looking for a chair with a headrest and upper back rest for maximum coziness and rest, this chair might not be for you. But, if you are like me who spends a lot of time at a desk, I would argue that ditching the upper back rest promotes better posture. It forces you to position your head and neck more naturally, which I will attest has directly alleviated a long run of general lower back pain.

I ditched a gaming chair for a similar mesh office chair at my partner's place for when I'm staying there recently, and found it to be a huge improvement on my general back health. This FlexiSpot chair is cheaper and better than the other one I purchased by a mile, and I think it's really the seat cushion that is the x-factor. This is just a fantastic, pleasant product.

Should you buy it?

You should definitely consider buying this chair if you have a gaming chair presently and find yourself in or approaching middle age-adjacent back problems. I spend more time at my PC than most, so having a high quality and ergonomic seating arrangement is absolutely crucial.

I long thought that it was just general bad health and lifestyle giving me back pain (and that is no doubt a factor here), but having a good chair that matches the height of my desk and eyeline of my monitor has given me a huge boost. Having reduced back issues has made me more active in general too, and it's hard to put a price on that.

Unless you want something with headrest and recline features you can get truly cozy in, the FlexiSpot C3 is by a mile the best chair I've ever used for desk-based work and play.

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Microsoft's moves over Xbox Cloud Gaming in recent months have painted a picture of a company that isn't entirely sure of its long-term viability.

At one point, it seemed like Microsoft was all-in with Xbox Cloud Gaming, building up marketing campaigns like "This is an Xbox" that actively told consumers that Xbox consoles were stupid, and that in fact, devices like the Samsung Smart Fridge was a far better option for gaming instead. The landscape looks very different in 2026.

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Thanks to the RAMpocalypse and the apparent "demand" for data center space for AI tokens, it seems Microsoft has soured on cloud gaming in general as a viable option.

Microsoft has an Xbox Cloud Gaming controller in production according to leaks, and the next-gen Xbox controllers were also supposed to have direct-to-WiFi support to reduce latency. Microsoft has also put thousands upon thousands of games onto Xbox Cloud Gaming, allowing you to stream them to a variety of devices like phones, tablets, low-power PCs, and even smart TVs.

At the same time, Microsoft has also opted to limit Xbox Cloud Gaming to 15-hours a month at the highest tier, down from unlimited, with piecemeal hourly passes to be sold separately. And today, Microsoft announced quietly to some users that Xbox Cloud Gaming will vanish entirely from some devices.

In an email sent to myself earlier today, Microsoft says its first batch of third-party supported devices, 2020 Samsung Smart TVs, will lose access to Xbox Cloud Gaming from November 3rd.

Microsoft claims that its due to a compatibility issue, but I don't see how that's really possible given that it's literally a web app and a video feed. It would be like Netflix or Prime TV retiring on those Samsung smart televisions, which is obviously not going to happen any time soon.

Color me cynical as a 2020 Samsung TV owner, but it's hard not to wonder if it is in fact these devices that see the highest use out of all the third-party screens attaching to Xbox Cloud Gaming. Perhaps Microsoft has discovered a way to quickly and easily save bandwidth by screwing over thousands of existing users in the name of "compatibility," given that Xbox Cloud Gaming is reportedly simply unable to make money in the current business model.

RELATED: Xbox Cloud Gaming grabs hourly limits from November 3

For a while, the conspiracy theory was that Microsoft and other companies wanted to shift us all over to cloud gaming services to deprive us of any form of ownership. But ironically, it seems that providing these services in the RAMpocalypse era is too for Microsoft and NVIDIA to even run. Both Xbox Cloud Gaming and NVIDIA GeForce Now have pretty stringent restrictions upon them, and both platforms are exploring ads as a way to try and boost revenue.

First it was upgrade your console, now it's upgrade your TV? Maybe it's just going to end up being smarter to unsubscribe to Xbox Game Pass instead ...

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Panasonic's TOUGHBOOK lineup turns 30 this year (see my earlier coverage of the new TOUGHBOOK 55), and after attending the company's product briefing in a very rainy New York City, I'm convinced the future of rugged computing isn't just about surviving drops, rain, and extreme temperatures.

It's about becoming the intelligent edge computer that sits at the center of everything.

That might sound like marketing fluff until you see the demos. One station showed a military drone feeding reconnaissance data back to a TOUGHBOOK for local analysis. Another demonstrated how police fleets can connect vehicle diagnostics directly into a TOUGHBOOK-based management system, allowing departments to track everything from VINs and odometer readings to fuel levels, fault codes, and maintenance schedules.

In other words, Panasonic's new TOUGHBOOK 34 and TOUGHBOOK G3 are increasingly becoming mission-critical data hubs for the people who protect, rescue, repair, and support the rest of us.

And yes, they're still absurdly rugged.

Thirty years later, the mission remains the same

One theme came up repeatedly throughout Panasonic's presentation: purpose-built computing.

As Panasonic executives noted, their customers aren't buying laptops to answer email from a coffee shop. These systems are deployed in police cruisers, ambulances, utility trucks, military vehicles, warehouses, disaster zones, and industrial sites where failure is not an option.

As Panasonic put it during the briefing, "our devices are purpose-built," adding that workers are often operating in "extreme heat, extreme cold, vibration, water, dust" and environments where "lives are on the line."

That philosophy has helped TOUGHBOOK carve out a niche that practically nobody else occupies.

While consumer laptops compete over OLED displays and thinness, Panasonic spends its time figuring out how to keep a device communicating over private 5G networks during storm response operations.

Meet the TOUGHBOOK 34 and TOUGHBOOK G3

This launch introduces two new fully rugged 2-in-1 systems.

The TOUGHBOOK 34 serves as the successor to the long-running TOUGHBOOK 33 that I've reviewed, while the TOUGHBOOK G3 replaces the TOUGHBOOK G2 that I also previously reviewed and described as one of the most modular and rugged PCs on the market.

According to Mike Smola, Senior Director of Product Management at Panasonic Connect North America:

"No two workers, no two vehicles, and no two workflows are exactly alike. Some jobs call for a larger product with more workspace and more versatility."

That's really the story here.

The TOUGHBOOK 34 features a larger 12.4-inch display and is designed for users who spend significant time in vehicles, command centers, or managing information-dense workflows. The G3 uses a more compact 10.1-inch form factor that's easier to carry into the field.

As one Panasonic executive explained during the public safety discussion:

"Fire and EMS leverage both sizes: the larger TOUGHBOOK 34 for in-vehicle CAD and command control, and the compact G3 in the back of ambulances for patient care."

The biggest upgrade is AI

The headline feature across both devices is the move to Intel's latest Core Ultra platform.

Both systems now offer Intel Core Ultra 5 335H and Ultra X7 368H processors complete with onboard NPUs and AI acceleration capabilities. Panasonic is increasingly positioning these devices as AI-ready edge computers capable of processing information locally without relying on cloud connectivity.

That matters more than you might think.

During the federal customer panel, Panasonic highlighted a scenario that's becoming increasingly common in military and government environments.

As Panasonic's federal team explained:

"Deployed military personnel aboard ships or in tactical environments often operate without network connectivity due to operational security." AI-capable processing on TOUGHBOOK devices allows personnel to perform tactical, medical, and technical searches without depending on a remote connection."

For most consumers, AI means generating images or summarizing documents. But for military users, it can mean analyzing information locally while disconnected from networks entirely.

That's a very different use case.

From military drones to local AI analysis

The most interesting demonstration I saw involved a tactical drone setup.

Panasonic demonstrated how rugged computing platforms can work alongside systems such as the Teledyne FLIR ION-series tactical reconnaissance drones that are commonly used by military, government, and emergency-response organizations.

While separate physical controls handle flight operations, the TOUGHBOOK effectively becomes the intelligence terminal. Drone imagery and reconnaissance data can be brought onto the device, recorded, analyzed, and processed locally using onboard computing resources.

I didn't watch the drone take flight during the event, but seeing Panasonic position the TOUGHBOOK as the AI-capable analysis point for tactical aerial systems offered a very real glimpse into how these machines are used beyond traditional laptop duties.

That use case also aligns with Panasonic's announcement that both devices support unmanned systems control and UAV ground-control applications in federal environments

TOUGHBOOKs are becoming smarter police tools, too

The police vehicle demonstration may have been even more compelling.

Rather than focusing on dispatch software alone, Panasonic showed how TOUGHBOOK systems can act as fleet intelligence platforms.

Through Panasonic's TOUGHCommand ecosystem, agencies can connect vehicle systems and pull operational data directly into the computer. Information such as vehicle identification, odometer readings, fuel levels, speed data, maintenance information, and diagnostic information can all be surfaced through a centralized dashboard.

The really interesting layer sits on top of that data.

Panasonic's new Command Intelligence features allow IT teams and fleet managers to query those systems using AI and natural-language questions rather than digging through massive databases manually.

That turns the TOUGHBOOK into something closer to a command-and-control platform, instead of just a rugged laptop.

For organizations managing hundreds or thousands of vehicles, that could be a substantial value-add beyond the hardware itself.

The modularity advantage nobody else offers

Having reviewed the G2 and covered Panasonic's rugged lineup for years, the thing that continues to impress me isn't the drop testing or waterproofing.

It's the modularity.

The TOUGHBOOK 34 and G3 both feature Panasonic's xPAK ecosystem, allowing users to swap hardware modules as needs change. Options include barcode scanners, additional USB ports, serial ports, smart card readers, fingerprint readers, networking hardware, and more.

Panasonic's goal is simple: one device should adapt to many jobs.

A warehouse worker can add scanning capabilities. A utility technician can prioritize GPS and connectivity. An automotive technician can add legacy ports for vehicle diagnostics.

Instead of replacing the entire computer when requirements evolve, customers can reconfigure it. More importantly, this can be done locally without sending out the TOUGHBOOK back to Panasonic to be reconfigured. Not only is that time-consuming, but if the PC is used by the government and it has sensitive data on the drives, it limits who can even touch that laptop.

That's a surprisingly rare concept in modern computing.

Better displays, stronger connectivity, longer life

The hardware itself receives meaningful updates, too.

For the TOUGHBOOK 34, Panasonic increased the screen size from 12 inches to 12.4 inches while moving to a 3:2 aspect ratio that's better suited to productivity work. Executives noted that the revised resolution and scaling choices allow users to view more information with less scrolling.

The G3 retains its 10.1-inch format but benefits from updated display tuning, 2-to-1000-nit brightness control, and improved readability for outdoor work.

Panasonic also highlighted a new glove and rain touch experience on the TOUGHBOOK 34.

As the company explained:

"You don't want the end user to take off gloves to touch the screen." Users can switch between glove and standard touch modes using programmable controls.

I actually tried this myself, and while it's still a bit clunky to operate a touchscreen with heavy gloves on, it can be done through this technology.

Connectivity receives substantial improvements as well.

Compared to the older G2 generation, the G3 moves from 4G LTE options to modern 5G support, upgrades Wi‑Fi 6 to Wi‑Fi 7, and advances Bluetooth 5.1 to Bluetooth 5.4 while adding broader support for private cellular deployments.

For the people actually relying on these systems, those upgrades matter far more than benchmark scores.

A reminder that some PCs have jobs to do

The most fascinating thing about Panasonic's new TOUGHBOOKs isn't that they're rugged. We already knew that, but what's changing is their role.

Thirty years after the first TOUGHBOOK arrived, Panasonic increasingly views these systems as secure, connected, AI-capable edge computers that happen to survive conditions most laptops would never tolerate.

Whether they're helping analyze drone feeds, supporting first responders through FirstNet and private 5G networks, managing vehicle fleets, or keeping utility workers connected during outages, the TOUGHBOOK 34 and G3 demonstrate that laptops can still be specialized tools built for serious missions.

And after an afternoon spent getting hands-on with Panasonic's latest hardware, that may be the most interesting thing about them. Panasonic is building the computers that many of the people protecting, rescuing, and serving the rest of us depend on every day, and I still find that inspiring.

You can find out more about these devices from the Panasonic TOUGHBOOK website.

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Microsoft is yet to confirm plans for Windows 11 version 27H2, but that doesn't mean we don't yet know anything about it. Thanks to information supplied by Microsoft about Windows 11 version 26H1 and 26H2, we can read the tea leaves and begin to decipher what Microsoft's plans are for its OS in 2027.

First up, we must set the stage for Windows 11 currently. For the first time ever, Microsoft has split the Windows userbase in two. Most Windows 11 users will continue to receive OS updates that are based on the Germanium platform release, which powers version 24H2, version 25H2, and the new version 26H2.

Germanium has been in the market since 2024, and is what the majority of Windows 11 users are running today. That will no longer be the case with version 26H1, which is the first version of Windows 11 since 2024 to ship on a new version of the Windows platform. This new version is codenamed Bromine, and exists exclusively for Snapdragon X2 and RTX Spark devices.

That means version 26H1 and the newer Bromine platform release will not be made available to the existing Windows 11 userbase this year. Microsoft doesn't say why, but my sources tell me this is because Bromine only really exists because of timing convenience. These new Arm chips required extra kernel level work, and it was easier for Microsoft to build those into a new platform release than it was to retroactively fit the Germanium platform release with these additions.

Because of this, Microsoft hasn't made any optimizations to the Bromine platform release for existing PCs. While you can run Bromine on existing hardware if you want, there is no benefit in doing so. As a result, Microsoft chose to keep the majority of Windows users in the platform release that has been shipping since 2024, and split off the new Snapdragon X2 and RTX Spark PCs with their own platform release.

That does mean there's going to be some awkward fragmentation between version 26H1 and version 26H2 throughout 2026 and into 2027, however. Microsoft has confirmed that because version 26H1 is based on a newer platform release than version 26H2, those running 26H1 are not eligible for the version 26H2 release.

The company does say that this won't be the case forever, and that Windows 11 users running version 26H1 will be updated to something newer in the future. According to my sources, that will be version 27H2 in 2027, which will be the first platform release since 25H2 to be offered to the entire Windows 11 userbase.

Release date

As is almost always the case, Microsoft tends to ship new versions of Windows in the second half of the year. I anticipate this will remain the case for version 27H2, which will likely target a September or October release window.

Because version 27H2 is likely to introduce a new platform release, Microsoft will use a measured and phased rollout approach to its general availability. That means not all users will see the update right away once it's made available, as Microsoft will choose to roll it out in waves to ensure the update is installing as intended.

It will also be a full blown OS upgrade release, and not just an enablement package. That means it will replace the entire OS with a new version, while maintaining all your apps, files and settings. This takes a little longer than an enablement package release, which only updates a few OS files to enable the new version.

Windows 11 version 22H2 was a fill blown OS upgrade release over 21H2, as was version 24H2 over 23H2. So this wouldn't be the first time this has happened.

Platform changes

We know that the version 27H2 release will need to be based on a newer platform release than Germanium to support upgrading both 26H2 and 26H1 users. What we don't yet know is what platform release this will be. It's possible that Microsoft could use the Bromine platform release for 27H2, though I think this is unlikely.

I think Microsoft will issue a platform release that's newer than Bromine. Given the timing, I suspect it may be the Windows Strontium platform release, which is expected to be finalized sometime in the first half of 2027. This would align with Microsoft's previous development schedules.

For example, Germanium was finalized in the first half of 2024, and ended up shipping as version 24H2 in the second half of that year. With Strontium expected to be finalized in the first half of 2027, I would wager the same will happen then for version 27H2.

Microsoft has announced that the next version of Windows will drop support for the Snapdragon 850 SoC. While not confirmation on its own, it's a strong hint that version 27H2 will be powered by a newer platform release than Bromine, given the Snapdragon 850 can still run Bromine-based builds.

New features?

Because of Microsoft's "Continuous Innovation" effort, the company no longer ties new features to version updates. These days, Windows 11 receives new features whenever the company deems them ready to ship, meaning there's no features in active development that are expected to be exclusive to version 27H2 currently, though that could change in the future.

In fact, most mainline feature development still takes places on the Germanium codebase, then is forward integrated into newer codebases when ready. This is why new features often arrive on version 25H2 and 26H2 first, and then come to 26H1 later, as 26H1 is built on a newer Windows platform.

Windows 12?

Of course, the age old question is whether or not the next version of Windows will be dubbed Windows 12. The answer is we don't know, and likely won't know until much closer to the time.

Even if Microsoft does debut Windows 12 next year, that doesn't mean Windows 11 version 27H2 wouldn't also exist. When Windows 11 version 21H2 debuted, Windows 10 still received its own 21H2 version that same year.

With all that in mind, I don't think we're going to see Windows 12 in 2026. Given the current versions of Windows 11 are split between two platform releases, it would be irresponsible and complex from a support perspective to leave the userbase in that state.

It would make the upgrade path from Windows 11 to Windows 12 more complex, and Microsoft would need to account for multiple in-market platform releases and versions. I would think it's better to get everyone back onto the same platform version under Windows 11 first, before trying to push forward with Windows 12.

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