Microsoft news, features, events, and press materials
Ignacio Davila, a member of the Hispanic and Latinx community at Microsoft, explores how his personal challenges inspired him to drive innovations in the medical space, so that others can experience the same support that he did from his Microsoft coworkers and peers.
Why should you care about the behavioral risk of your employees?
Eighty-two percent of breaches include (and often start with) user behavior.1 Not all are phishing, but a majority of them are just that. Phishing is, and has been for many years, the cheapest and most reliable way for an attacker of any motivation (nation-state actors down to simple script-kiddie scammers) to establish a toehold in an organization. Social engineering and phishing are used for initial breach tactics, lateral movement, and elevation of privilege, and, in many cases, they directly lead to data exfiltration.
Worse, breaches cost companies a lot of time and money. Several security research companies have determined that the average data breach costs a company about USD4 million per incident.2 Averting even a handful of breach events in any given year can save you millions of dollars and thousands of hours of valuable security operators’ time.
So, how does behavior play into this? Doesn’t my company spend a bunch of money every year on technical solutions to prevent those phishing attacks from making it through? Don’t we have detection and response capabilities that find and fix those breaches quickly? Any organization that cares about its data certainly should invest in exactly those capabilities, but the strategy is incomplete for a few reasons:
With that in mind, in partnership with Microsoft, Terranova created the Gone Phishing Tournament, an online phishing initiative that uses real-world simulations to establish accurate phishing clickthrough rates and additional benchmarking statistics for user behaviors. With this opportunity, you will be able to drive effective behavior change and build a strong security-aware organizational culture with free, in-depth phishing simulation benchmarking data.
Given this context, why should an organization care about user behavior? One reason is that even small changes in behavior can result in significant reductions in risk and every breach you avoid saves you literal millions of dollars. Admittedly, behavior change is hard. The security awareness business has been working to help educate users for decades now, and the human behavior risk portion of the overall risk pie remains large. We think the capabilities that modern solutions are bringing to bear are the beginning of a major shift in the industry. Some key capabilities to consider:
Every major organization on earth is in the same boat. User behavior risk is high, difficult to change, and exploited every day by attackers. Take the time to learn from each other. Participate in conferences. Make connections with people at other companies that are doing the same role. Engage with the solutions that you leverage and give those product teams feedback about what is and is not working.
Knowledge is power when it comes to being cybersmart, and there are many ways to prepare yourself and your organization to be safer online and fight cyber threats. October will be Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and you will be able to take advantage of Microsoft’s expertise with several resources that will be made available by Microsoft Security.
Stay tuned for Microsoft’s best practices on Cybersecurity Awareness Month and don’t forget to register for Terranova Security Gone Phishing Tournament. Let’s #BeCyberSmart together!
To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions, visit our website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us at @MSFTSecurity for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.
12022 Data Breach Investigations Report, Verizon. 2022.
2How Much Does a Data Breach Cost?, Embroker. September 2, 2022.
14 September 2022; Cairo, Egypt: Today, Microsoft, together with Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced its role as Strategic Technology Partner and Principal Sponsor of the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP27). The United Nations conference, to be hosted in Sharm-El Sheikh on November 6-18, 2022, provides a platform for world leaders, businesses, and citizens to come together to discuss their role in mitigating the climate crisis.
Through the partnership, Microsoft aims to help people and organizations better understand the transformative potential for technology to help solve many of today’s complex climate challenges.
During the signing ceremony held at The Ministry of Foreign Affairs offices in Cairo, Microsoft Egypt General Manager, Mirna Arif, commented: “We believe in the transformative power of the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties and are proud to again play a key role in this year’s event. We applaud the efforts of the Egyptian government, under President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, in prioritizing climate change as part of Egypt Vision 2030. Technology will provide answers to many of today’s most pressing climate challenges, and COP27 is an opportunity for the public and private sectors to collaborate on climate solutions to accelerate progress in Egypt and across the wider region.”
Microsoft Vice Chair and President, Brad Smith, added, “The world needs to move faster and COP27 will provide an important forum to move from pledges to progress. We are proud to partner with the Egyptian government and support this urgent effort.”
H.E COP27 President-Designate, Sameh Shoukry, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt pointed out that the Egyptian presidency is actively engaging with leading companies like Microsoft and other stakeholders to speed up climate action. Egypt’s government believes in the innovative power of the private sector to tackle climate challenges and in their ability to influence their immediate stakeholders, including suppliers, investors, employers, and partners to make an outsized impact on climate change.
Ambassador Ashraf Ibrahim, General Coordinator for organizational and financial aspects of the conference welcomed Microsoft as a Principal Partner of COP27. He emphasized the important role played by the international private sector in promoting sustainable business models and supporting the agreed climate goals. Ambassador Ashraf Ibrahim highlighted the contributions provided by Microsoft on the road to the conference in Sharm-El-Sheikh and looked forward to the continuation of this support leading up to an impactful COP.
Microsoft is accelerating progress toward a more sustainable future by reducing its environmental footprint, advancing research, helping its customers build sustainable solutions, and advocating for policies that benefit the environment.
In 2020, Microsoft announced an ambitious commitment and detailed plan to be carbon negative by 2030 and to remove from the environment all the carbon the company emitted since its founding by 2050. The company has built on this pledge by adding commitments to be water positive by 2030, zero waste by 2030, and to protect ecosystems by developing a Planetary Computer.
Today, we are happy to announce that language interpretation is Generally Available (GA) for Microsoft Teams Meetings! Here at Microsoft, we serve a diverse set of global customers, including governmental institutions that hold parliament meetings in multiple languages, multinational and multilingual corporations, businesses that work with vendors around the world, and many more. This feature was built to support customers and users who need to communicate in the virtual world across languages.
Our language interpretation feature will allow professional interpreters to convert the speaker’s message into another language without disrupting the speaker’s original flow or delivery. This simultaneous interpretation will lead to more inclusive meetings, where participants who speak different languages can fully collaborate with each other.
Language interpretation will allow users to:
Organizers can invite interpreters to a meeting from Meeting options once the meeting is scheduled/saved. Organizers can also promote a participant to interpreter during a meeting.
Interpreters can start interpreting immediately after joining a meeting.
When participants join a meeting with language interpretation enabled, they can select a language channel to listen to during the meeting. They should then be able to hear the interpreter’s translation at a louder volume than the main speaker.
You can read more about this feature here
Meeting Option to enable language interpretation.
In-meeting roster promotion of a participant to an interpreter
Attendee selection of language channel to listen to
Today’s announcement is yet another effort in our journey to break communication and language barriers. More to come.
I grew up in a small town by the sea on the eastern side of Cuba. It was a simple, yet fulfilling childhood, where I spent my free time making jewelry from old buttons, tending to my cactus collection, and exploring the sand and waves. I attended the University of Havana, but it wasn’t until I moved to the U.S. and started my career in the tech industry as a web producer in Miami, Florida in the late 90s that I realized I had become part of a larger and more diverse community.
My role back then was to create original content and build digital experiences for Latin America and the Hispanic audience in the U.S. As I developed meaningful relationships with other Latino people and those in the United States with Latin American heritage, my social circle became far more diverse, representing a wide range of rich cultures. Five years later, I moved to Redmond, Washington when I was hired by Microsoft to launch and lead MSN Latino, the Spanish version of MSN for the U.S. Once again, my personal identity expanded, and I was able to experience the difference in the Hispanic demographic between the West and East Coast. Over time, my accent changed. My vocabulary changed. Despite the differences, I developed a deeper appreciation for what Hispanic people have in common: our shared family values, our strong work ethic, our traditions, and our sense of responsibility. Today, I identify not only as Cuban, but Latina and Hispanic American.
In 2012, I joined Xbox as the Director of Programming for the Latin American region. My team was responsible for curating and publishing localized content for our passionate Xbox audience. The first console release I was part of was the Xbox One. It was a thrilling experience to travel across Latin America and directly connect with gamers just after the console’s release. Currently, I lead a multidisciplinary team as the General Manager for Customer Experience with Microsoft Gaming. Next year, I’ll celebrate 20 years with Microsoft.
I am proud to represent Latinas and women in leadership. Paving the way as a foreign-born woman in a male-dominated industry has been no easy task, but gratefully Microsoft has given me the opportunity to work with leaders who value diverse perspectives and who see my potential. I am proud to be a part of Xbox’s evolution from being a console-centric business to a player-centric business which has allowed us to bring the joy and community of gaming to many more players and communities around the world outside of the traditional console markets. I’m also proud of that little girl, exploring the warm shore in Cuba, who dared to dream big dreams.
I am honored to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with Xbox. For me, this time is about celebrating our rich culture as Hispanic and Latino people in America, whose identity has changed and expanded to include not only our countries of origin, but the identities of other Latin American cultures and American culture as we are woven together in a tapestry. It’s about raising awareness and recognizing the positive impact our community has made to the development and success of this country. It’s about empowering content creators to encourage authentic representation by including Hispanic contributors in their teams and getting feedback from the community early in the process. Lastly, it’s a great opportunity to show the world how proud we are to be part of this amazing community.
Here are a few ways that Team Xbox will be supporting Hispanic and Latino communities and celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month:
Microsoft Rewards members in the United States can show their support for Hispanic communities with Xbox by earning and donating rewards points. The organizations below will be featured on console:
Xbox gamers can earn Microsoft Rewards points in various ways, such as playing or purchasing games after downloading the Microsoft Rewards app on Xbox. Earn points and redeem them for real rewards. Join us today and give with Xbox.
For Hispanic Heritage Month, the Xbox Ambassadors team asked Hispanic and Latino Ambassadors about the importance of seeing themselves represented in games and how it impacts their own experience as members of the gaming community.
Albert X (He/Him)
Puerto Rican
Undoubtedly, Hispanic characters have made a mark in my gaming trajectory. I will never forget Dominic Santiago and Kait Diaz from the Gears franchise. Most recently it gave me great pride to see Mexico featured in the most recent Forza Horizon 5. Additionally, I really enjoyed the Far Cry 6 soundtrack where many artists from Puerto Rico are featured and the lead character even sings along to the songs while operating vehicles.
I founded Xbox Live Puerto Rico in 2010. 12 years later we are still going strong with a great team of Xbox Ambassadors administrators giving our local community great information, event coverage, and assistance when needed. Our main goal right now is to get Puerto Rico included in the Xbox Rewards Program so our community members can enjoy their points and perks.
The US Xbox Marketing team is partnering with students from the Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory in Los Angeles to create a series of videos showcasing and celebrating Hispanic and Latino art, food, fashion, community, and esports. The aspiring BHAC students will participate in the production and storytelling of local creatives including Chef Wes Avila, President of the Gamers of Color Club, Nyah Serrano, artist/muralist, Downtown Daniel, and fashion/graphic designer, Francisco Reyes, Jr (aka Never Made) and will launch in early October.
Games provide a unique form of storytelling and it’s powerful to see and celebrate the contributions, achievements, and experiences that the Hispanic and Latino communities bring to gaming. Now, more than ever, members of the Hispanic and Latino communities in the tech industry are able to express their own personal stories through games. We will highlight the voices that bring a rich and vibrant history to life through authentic storytelling and inspired creativity.
For Hispanic Heritage Month, we want to highlight Hispanic and Latino creators, lead characters, and games inspired by the culture and locations of the Hispanic and Latino communities around the world. This collection is available on Xbox, Windows, Mobile, and the Cloud year-round as part of our ongoing work to create more inclusive gaming ecosystems and elevate content that resonates with communities while increasing awareness of their unique perspectives and artistry.
A few highlights from the full Game Pass collection on Xbox and the full Game Pass collection on Windows include:
Moonglow Bay (Available with Xbox Game Pass) – Moonglow Bay is beautifully art directed by Lu Nascimento, the co-founder of indie studio Bunnyhug Games, who identifies as a queer Brazilian. This cutesy game allows you to take on the role of a fisher and unravel a heartfelt story in a LGBTQIA+ friendly town.
Grim Fandango Remastered (Available with Xbox Game Pass) – Inspired by the Mexican tradition of Día de los Muertos and Aztec folklore, this story centers around protagonist Manny Calavera’s adventures in the Land of the Dead. This adventure game also features voice talent and dialogue input from Latino actors, Tony Plana and Maria Canals-Barrera.
Spacelines from the Far Out (Available with Xbox Game Pass) – Spacelines from the Far Out is a creative co-op game about managing airlines in space. This game was developed by Coffeenauts, an up-and-coming game design studio in Brazil driven by a passion for creating captivating games and a love of caffeine.
Dandy Ace (Available with Xbox Game Pass) – From Brazilian developer Mad Mimic, comes the tale of a flamboyant magician named Dandy Ace in a fast-paced roguelike adventure. Dandy Ace uses his magical cards to fight and loot his way out of imprisonment within a cursed mirror.
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier (Available with Xbox Game Pass and Rated M) – Face the apocalypse as Javier “Javi” García, a former baseball player on a mission to find his Cuban-American family. Decide how the story should play out in this narrative adventure as Javi teams up with Clementine in an attempt to survive long enough to rescue their respective families.
View this collection on the Microsoft Store on Xbox and the Microsoft Store on Windows in the United States. Visitors can find this collection at any time by searching within the Stores for “Hispanic,” “Latino,” and related terms.
In partnership with Hispanic and Latino communities at Xbox, we’re introducing a new gamerpic, profile themes, and avatar items! The gamerpic and profile theme will be available on console and the Xbox PC app. Get your avatar items here.
Minecraft Education partnered with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation on a new Minecraft learning experience to inspire and equip students to become changemakers. LatinExplorers: A Hispanic Heritage Journey will build actionable leadership and social emotional skills with guidance by impactful real-life Hispanic leaders through three powerful narratives about climate, care, creativity, and community. Young learners explore how to connect personal passions with careers and workforce opportunities in the future digital economy. This content is available now in 29 languages in Minecraft: Education Edition and Bedrock via the Minecraft Marketplace.
Do you enjoy snapping in-game photos? Do you like creating unique livery designs for your virtual car collection? The Forza team invites you to share your creations that celebrate the environment and culture of the Horizon Festival in Mexico, honoring the real-world Mexican landmarks, nature, buildings, and art that can be explored in-game. These weekly photo and livery contests have specific sub-themes to inspire your creations:
Sept. 9 – Nature
Sept. 16 – Architecture
Sept. 23 – Art & Textiles
Sept. 30 – Horizon Stories
We’ll feature our favorite community creations on the official Forza Horizon accounts, and award in-game items to the winners of each weekly contest as well as to any and all participants who submit eligible creations! Here’s more information on how to participate.
In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, Xbox Plays will be dedicating much of our livestreaming content in September and October to Hispanic communities, featuring streamers/content creators! Follow us on the Xbox Twitch Channel and don’t miss any of the action!
Today, we presented our Tokyo Game Show Xbox 2022 stream for fans in Japan, across Asia, and around the world. We shared updates on 22 games from Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks, and our developer partners. This included 13 games from developers in Japan, as well as two games developed in China. We are thrilled to announce that DEATHLOOP will be coming to Xbox and will be available for fans across the world with Xbox Game Pass next week (September 20) and that from today, Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch; Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony Anniversary Edition; Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey; and Fuga: Melodies of Steel are all playable with Xbox Game Pass.
This year we have welcomed more new players to the Xbox community in Asia than ever before and we are incredibly thankful for everyone who has chosen to play with us. We are committed to the Japanese market and to bringing a diverse collection of stories and franchises from developers across Asia. Over the next 12 months we will bring even more titles by Japanese and creators across Asia to Xbox fans with Xbox Game Pass including Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, a number of games from the Persona franchise, and more
[email protected], our industry leading program for independent developers, has been instrumental to Japanese creators bringing amazing and innovative experiences to Xbox fans around the world. We now have more than 250 Japanese creators developing games for Xbox. These teams have already released more than 150 games on Xbox and introduced fans to games like Palworld and Fuga: Melodies of Steel, which were featured in our stream today.
Since we launched Xbox Game Pass in Japan in 2020 and PC Game Pass in Southeast Asia earlier this year, the subscription service keeps evolving and getting even better. Members can play together with friends across console, PC, and cloud and we’re continuing to regularly add great games across genres, including new Xbox Game Studios titles coming to Xbox Game Pass the same day they launch. With so many creatively diverse titles joining Xbox Game Pass, we hope our community is excited to connect with friends and family through the power of play.
We look forward to what’s next and hope each year to continue to bring the joy and community of gaming to players in Japan, the Asia region, and around the world.
You can watch a recap of the stream featuring all the most exciting announcements including all the titles just mentioned here, or re-watch the whole show here. Please find below a recap of all our news.
Play Assassin’s Creed Odyssey today with Xbox Game Pass
Available now with Xbox Game Pass, delve into Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and live epic adventures in a world where every choice matters. From an outcast Spartan mercenary to a legendary Greek hero, embark on a breathtaking journey to uncover the secrets of your past and change the fate of Ancient Greece, a war-torn world shaped by gods and men, where mountains and sea collide. Experience seamless naval exploration, and brand-new ways to fight. Meet Ancient Greece’s famous figures and interact with them during a pivotal point in history that shaped western civilization.
Play Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony today!
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is out now on Xbox and Windows PC! This is the newest mainline entry in the Danganronpa series known for its high-speed deduction action class trials used in uncovering murder culprits. This entry revitalizes the series’ setting and characters with a “psycho-cool” theme in visuals and presentation that brings excitement to an all-new story unfolding in an all-new academy.
Kiriko dashes into Overwatch 2 on October 4
Let the kitsune guide you! Kiriko joins Overwatch 2 as the newest Support hero. Teleport through walls to protect teammates with a healing ofuda or dash towards enemies to take them out with your kunai. Overwatch’s newest hero joins the fight at the launch of Overwatch 2 on October 4. Watch Kiriko’s gameplay trailer now and follow @PlayOverwatch on social for the latest Overwatch updates.
Ni no Kuni Wrath of the White Witch Remastered from Level-5
Available for the first time on Xbox and with Game Pass, Ni no Kuni Wrath of the White Witch Remastered will let players explore the world of Ni no Kuni as if they were inside a Studio Ghibli film themselves! With music from Joe Hisaishi, players will immerse themselves in a variety of beautiful environments throughout the story and visit vast and endless fields, streets filled with lush greenery and water, and a dungeon with a peculiarly enticing atmosphere. To celebrate the beginning of TGS 2022, Ni no Kuni Wrath of the White Witch Remastered is available now on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC. The second installment, Nino Kuni II Revenant Kingdom, will launch on Xbox in 2023.
A Brand-New Trailer from Persona 5 Royal is Incoming! Remastered Versions of Persona 5 Royal, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 3 Portable Are on Their Way to Xbox and Windows
Three masterpieces from Atlus’ Persona franchise — Persona 5 Royal, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 3 Portable — announced their debut on Xbox and Windows. Kickstarting this, Persona 5 RoyaI will be available on October 21! Student by day, thief at night, the protagonist, one day transferring to a high school in Tokyo, will maneuver through the shadows to steal the distorted desires from the rotten adults. Our newest trailer will introduce you to the protagonist and his unique team’s awakening of their Persona. Don’t miss this dramatic reveal of their true selves!
Guilty Gear –Strive– coming to Xbox Game Pass
The latest entry in the Guilty Gear series, Guilty Gear -Strive-, is now coming to Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows PC! With revolutionary graphics, an intense story mode, online multiplayer pitting players from all over the world against each other, and more, Guilty Gear -Strive- provides the cutting edge of the fighting game experience. The highly acclaimed game, after receiving such awards as The Game Awards 2021 Best Fighting Game and 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Fighting Game of the Year, is now coming to Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows. The day you’ll face the strongest the world has to offer is on the horizon!
BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle Special Edition coming to Xbox Game Pass
BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle Special Edition, complete with all DLC included, is now coming to Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows PC! BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle lets you create your own cross-over dream team with the beloved characters from a total of 8 titles! Fight with your favorite characters from the popular titles BlazBlue, Persona 4 Arena, Under Night In-Birth, RWBY, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, Arcana Heart 3 LOVEMAX SIXSTARS!!!!!! XTEND, Senran Kagura: Estival Versus, and Akatsuki Blitzkampf. Get ready for a dream tag battle crossing series lines!
Updates on Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, the highest backed Kickstarter game of 2020, will be featured at Tokyo Games Show with an all-new gameplay trailer featuring dialogue from some of the Japanese voice actors who will be featured in the game. Stay tuned to Tokyo Game Show for an exclusive Xbox Eiyuden Chronicle interview and exciting surprises featured during the 505 Games live stream. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes launches in 2023 on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox Game Pass.
Palworld coming to Xbox
From PocketPair, the creators of Craftopia, Palworld is a brand-new, multiplayer, open-world survival crafting game where you can befriend and collect mysterious creatures called “Pal” in a vast world! Make your Pals fight, build, farm, and work in factories.
Fuga: Melodies of Steel available now with Game Pass!
From CyberConnect2 and available starting today with Xbox Game Pass, Fuga: Melodies of Steel is an RPG where you place children, each with their own unique characteristics and skills, at different gun turrets in a tank to fight against the enemy. CyberConnect2 also showed off a brand-new trailer for Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2.
Harness the power of the stars in Dyson Sphere Program with PC Game Pass
Build the most efficient intergalactic factory in space simulation strategy game Dyson Sphere Program! Harness the power of stars, collect resources, plan and design production lines, and develop your interstellar factory from a small space workshop to a galaxy-wide industrial empire. Dyson Sphere Program launches October 13 with PC Game Pass.
Take On Prehistoric Hordes in Exoprimal!
Suit up, Exofighters! Sudden dinosaur outbreaks have engulfed the globe, and the only thing between them and humanity’s extinction is you! Wield cutting-edge, customizable Exosuit technology in a 5-vs-5 team-based action game as your squad fights through unrelenting swarms of ravenous dinosaurs and other players in a variety of dynamic PvE and PvP missions assigned by the mysterious, all-powerful AI “Leviathan”. The wargame begins when Exoprimal releases in 2023. Coming to Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One.
Exciting updates for Naraka: Bladepoint
Naraka: Bladepoint, the unchained action battle royale for 60 players, had an exciting August! The team expanded the world of Naraka with the new map Holoroth, added a new hero to the roster, and released the first chapter of a new PvE campaign mode called Showdown. During TGS we shared the second chapter of Showdown will be available to players in October, and Yushan Ruins, a new area on the Holoroth map, will soon be unveiled. Already available on Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC with Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, Naraka: Bladepoint will be released on Xbox One on Dec. 22.
A Deeper Dive into Wo Long Fallen Dynasty
Fumijiko Yasuda (Nioh Franchise Director) and Masaaki Yamagiwa (Bloodborne Producer) joined us during TGS to discuss the latest ‘masocore’ action-RPG from Team Ninja, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty. Coming to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and on Windows PC with Game Pass on day one in early 2023, learn more from the creators about the game’s combat system, demo and inspiration behind the title and location for the game.
DEATHLOOP comes to Xbox
DEATHLOOP is Arkane Lyon’s take on an assassination experience, seamlessly blending single player gameplay with multiplayer drama. The winner of more than 300 “Best Of” awards, DEATHLOOP pits two rival assassins in an endless battle for the future. The Xbox release of DEATHLOOP comes with all updates released for the game since its launch, so players can look forward to photomode, additional accessibility options, cross-play matchmaking, and a host of quality-of-life fixes. In addition, Arkane Lyon is also releasing the GOLDENLOOP Update to the game, which brings a new weapon, a powerful new ability, new enemy types, an extended ending, and more! DEATHLOOP is available for pre-order on Xbox Series X|S or pre-install with Xbox Game Pass now ahead of its release on September 20, 2022.
Forza Horizon celebrates its 10th Anniversary
Xbox Game Studios’ Playground Games are kicking off the celebrations for the 10-year anniversary of Forza Horizon in October, sharing an all-new trailer showcasing the Horizon Festival’s incredible journey travelling across Colorado, France, Italy, Australia, Britain and Mexico. The studio will be sharing more details around Forza Horizon’s 10th Anniversary next month.
Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass game titles, number, features, and availability vary over time, by region and platform. Learn more at https://www.xbox.com/regions.
Announcing updates to Azure Space, as we work with our growing ecosystem of partners to provide low latency access to the cloud from anywhere.
Today, we are experiencing waves of breakthroughs in computing that are transforming just about every aspect of our lives. Artificial intelligence is changing the way we develop and create. Human language technologies are revolutionizing the workflows of healthcare professionals. Deep learning is accelerating our ability to understand and predict natural phenomena, from atomic to galactic scales. Meanwhile, the foundations of cloud computing are undergoing a reinvention from the atoms up.
Realizing the benefits of these new breakthroughs demands that we come together in new ways across the global research community. The vibrancy of invention and innovation increasingly lies at the intersections among traditional research disciplines, from the highly theoretical and to the immediately applicable. Ensuring that the continuing advancement of technology is beneficial to all requires communication, collaboration and co-innovation across the communities that create new technologies and those that aim to use them to improve their lives.
That’s why I’m excited to invite you to join us for this year’s Microsoft Research Summit, which will take place on October 18-20, 2022. This virtual event is where the global research community convenes to explore how emerging research might best address societal challenges and have significant impact on our lives in the coming years. This year’s event will feature over 120 speakers, including researchers and leaders from across the research community at Microsoft, alongside partners and collaborators from industry, academia and government who are advancing the frontiers of research in computing and across the sciences.
Each of our three days will begin with a plenary session during which we’ll explore the potential impact of deep learning on scientific discovery, the opportunity to use technology to make healthcare more precise and accessible, and the re-invention of foundational technologies to enable the cloud of the future. These plenaries will lead into tracks that dive deeper into research that spans from more efficient and adaptable AI, to technologies that amplify human creativity and help foster a more sustainable society.
For further details – and to register to attend – check out the Microsoft Research Summit website.
We hope you will join us.
Finding scalable solutions for today’s global challenges requires forward-thinking, transformative tools. As environmental, economic, and public health concerns mount, Microsoft Azure is addressing these challenges head on with high-performance computing (HPC), AI, and machine learning. The behind-the-scenes power for everything from MRI scans to energy management and financial services, these technologies are equipping customers and developers with innovative solutions that break through the boundaries of what’s possible in data and compute, paving the way for growth opportunities that span industries and applications around the world.
Microsoft Azure is committed to unlocking these new opportunities for our customers, providing the broadest range of NVIDIA GPUs at the edge, on-premises, in the cloud, and for hybrid environments.
At NVIDIA GTC we will demonstrate this commitment by showing how Azure’s advanced HPC capabilities, and AI/machine learning in the cloud are driving transformation and making an impact together with NVIDIA’s latest technology.
Microsoft Azure’s collaboration with NVIDIA was developed with our customers in mind and focused on opening new doors to innovation with graphics processing unit (GPU) acceleration in the cloud.
Learn more by registering today for NVIDIA GTC, a free, online event running September 19 to 22, 2022.
In both of our sessions you have a chance to win a SWAG box complete with a HPC t-shirt and mug or a Jetson Nano. Attend these sessions and don’t forget to look for the special link to enter!
The new SDK and CLI in Azure Machine Learning.
Bala Venkataraman, Principal Program Manager, Microsoft.
Video on demand
Azure Machine Learning is committed to simplifying the adoption of its platform for training and production. In 2022, we announced the general availability of Azure Machine Learning CLI v2 and the preview of Azure Machine Learning Python SDK v2. Both launches demonstrate our continued focus on making workflows easier and managing their entire lifecycle starting from training single jobs to pipelines and model deployments. In this session, learn about the key improvements in usability and productivity, and the new features that come with the command-line interpreter (CLI) and software development kit (SDK) v2 of Azure Machine Learning.
Operationalize large model training on Azure Machine Learning using multi-node NVIDIA A100 GPUs.
Sharmeelee Bijlani, Program Manager Azure Machine Learning, Microsoft; Razvan Tanase, Principal Engineering Manager Azure Machine Learning, Microsoft.
Wednesday, September 21, 10:00 to 10:50 AM PDT (1:00 to 1:50 PM EDT, 7:00 to 7:50 AM CEST)
In recent years, deep learning models have grown exponentially in size, demonstrating an acute need for customers to train and fine-tune them using large-scale data infrastructure, advanced GPUs, and an immense amount of memory. Fortunately, developers can now use simple training pipelines on Azure Machine Learning to train large models running on the latest multi-node NVIDIA GPUs. This session will describe these software innovations to customers through Azure Machine Learning (including a fully optimized PyTorch environment) that offers great performance and an easy-to-use interface for large-scale training. We’ll also highlight the power of Azure Machine Learning through experiments using 1,024 A100 Tensor Core GPUs to scale the training of a two-trillion parameter model with a streamlined user experience at 1,000 plus GPU scale.
Watch Party #1: Operationalize large-model training on Azure Machine Learning using multi-node NVIDIA A100 GPUs.
Mary Howell, NVIDIA.
Wednesday, Sep 21st, 3:00 – 3:30 PM PDT
In this GTC Watch Party, we will be replaying our Operationalize Large-Model Training on Azure Machine Learning using Multi-Node NVIDIA A100 GPUs session. Participants will be joined by experts from across Microsoft and NVIDIA who bring fresh insights and experiences to the table, taking the session to a whole new level of understanding. Interaction is core to our GTC Watch Parties, and we encourage you to join the discussion with any comments or questions.
Watch Party #2: Operationalize large-model training on Azure Machine Learning using multi-node NVIDIA A100 GPUs.
Gabrielle Davelaar, AI Technical Specialist, Microsoft; Maxim Salnikov, Senior Azure GTM Manager, Microsoft; Henk Boelman, Senior Cloud Advocate–AI and Machine Learning, Microsoft; Alexander Young, Technical Marketing Engineer, NVIDIA; Ulrich Knechtel, Microsoft Partner Manager (EMEA), NVIDIA.
Thursday, September 22, 2:00 to 3:30 PM CEST (5:00 to 6:30 AM PDT, 8:00 to 9:30 AM EDT)
In this GTC Watch Party, we will be replaying our Operationalize Large-Model Training on Azure Machine Learning using Multi-Node NVIDIA A100 GPUs session. Participants will be joined by experts from across Microsoft and NVIDIA who bring fresh insights and experiences to the table, taking the session to a whole new level of understanding. Interaction is core to our GTC Watch Parties, and we encourage you to join the discussion with any comments or questions.
Nuance developed an AI-based clinical solution that automatically turns doctor-patient conversations into accurate medical notes. Built with Azure and PyTorch, this solution saves doctors transcription time, reducing administrative burdens and helping them conduct more focused, higher-quality interactions with their patients.
Elva looked to build a secure, cloud-first DevOps platform that could meet Norway’s data residency and compliance requirements, delivering automated services that would help develop network grid technology. Using Azure DDoS Protection, Azure Web Application Firewall, and Azure Kubernetes Service, Elva realized its goal, enhancing its in-house development and data integration capabilities.
The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) partnered with Microsoft to create a privacy-preserving multi-party data sharing platform built on Azure confidential computing. Called VCR, this solution enables RBC to personalize offerings and protect privacy at the same time, creating exceptional digital experiences that clients can trust.
At Microsoft, our NC series virtual machines allow customers access to almost limitless AI hardware infrastructure so they can be productive quickly. Last summer, we leveled up, announcing the general availability of Azure NC A100 v4 series virtual machines. Powered by NVIDIA A100 80GB PCle Tensor Core GPUs and 3rd Gen AMD EPYC™ processors, these virtual machines help our customers gain insights faster, innovate with speed, do more with less, and are the most performant and cost-competitive NC series offering for a diverse set of workloads.
Azure Machine Learning uses large fleets of the latest NVIDIA GPUs powered by NVIDIA Quantum InfiniBand interconnects to tackle large-scale AI training and tuning. Last July, we announced a breakthrough in our software stack, using DeepSpeed and 1,024 NVIDIA A100 GPUs to scale the training of a two trillion parameter model with a streamlined user experience at 1,000 plus GPU scale. We are bringing these software innovations to you through Azure Machine Learning (including a fully optimized PyTorch environment) that offers great performance and an easy-to-use interface for large-scale training.
Traditionally, graphics-heavy visualization workloads that run in the cloud require virtual machines with full GPUs that are both costly and inflexible. To combat this, we introduced the first GPU-partitioned (GPU-P) virtual machine offering in the cloud, and just last July, we announced the general availability of NVads A10 v5 GPU accelerated virtual machines. Azure is the first public cloud to offer GPU partitioning on NVIDIA GPUs, and our new NVads A10 v5 virtual machines are designed to offer the right choice for any workload and provide optimum configurations for both single-user and multi-session environments. Dig into our latest virtual machine innovation.
Microsoft is pleased to announce that the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin SoM is now powering Azure Certified edge devices from industry-leading device builders including AAEON, Advantech, and AVerMedia, along with the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin developer kit.
Developers and solution builders can now leverage powerful NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin devkits and production modules with Microsoft Azure to create, deploy, and operate powerful AI solutions at the edge, accelerating product development and deployment at scale. The NVIDIA Orin Nano modules have set a new baseline for entry-level edge AI and robotics, building on the momentum behind the Jetson Orin platform worldwide. Stay tuned for new Jetson Orin NX and Orin Nano partner products launching to meet customer needs in AI solution development.
We’re proud to host NVIDIA deep learning institute (DLI) training at NVIDIA GTC again this year, with instructor-led workshops around accelerated computing, accelerated data science, and deep learning. Hosted on Microsoft Azure, these sessions enable and empower you to leverage NVIDIA GPUs on the Microsoft Azure platform to solve the world’s most interesting and relevant problems. Register for a DLI workshop today.
In collaboration with NVIDIA, Microsoft delivers purpose-built AI, machine learning, and HPC solutions in the cloud to meet even the most demanding real-world applications at scale. Join us at NVIDIA GTC September 19 to 22, to see how every enterprise can leverage the power of GPUs at the edge, on-premises, in the cloud, and for hybrid solutions.
We are pleased to announce a fun new spin on that old familiar tune. Starting today, a remix version of the Microsoft Teams ringtone is available.
The sound of an incoming Teams Call has become ubiquitous with the feeling of productivity. Getting work done starts with those first few notes of that jingle and it can be good to bring in a fresh spin to a classic melody.
There have been incredible remixes created by Teams enthusiasts and community members over the years and it is finally time to bring that energy to the Teams platform in musical form.
Calum Newton, who goes by CandyMoore.mp3 on social media, created an incredible remix of the ringtone, so we reached out and asked him to create a version that we could share with you. His remix is now available for users to customize their Teams experience, and it hits hard enough to make you want to dance.
Users have always had the ability to change their Teams ringtone from the Settings menu, under the Calls tab. Starting today, a new ringtone (“Remix”) should automatically appear in the dropdown menu. If the new ringtone does not appear in the dropdown, go to “Menu” and click on “check for updates.” The Teams ringtone can be changed on both the desktop and web apps. The Teams’ mobile app settings are streamlined, so when they are changed in the desktop or web apps it will automatically change across all your endpoints, including mobile.
Go into your Teams settings. Click on Calls, and then Ringtones.
Happy Calling!
