Microsoft news – Page 93

Posted on August 19, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

New data shows how pandemic is accelerating transformation of cybersecurity

The importance of cybersecurity in facilitating productive remote work was a significant catalyst for the two years-worth of digital transformation we observed in the first two months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this era of ubiquitous computing, security solutions don’t just sniff out threats, they serve as control planes for improving productivity and collaboration by giving end-users easier access to more corporate resources. Microsoft recently concluded a survey of nearly 800 business leaders of companies of more than 500 employees in India (IN), Germany (DE), the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) to better understand their views of the pandemic threat landscape, implications for budgets and staffing, and how they feel the pandemic could reshape the cyber-security long-term.

Among the key insights are data showing that an alarming number of businesses are still impacted by phishing scams, security budgets, and hiring increased in response to COVID-19, and cloud-based technologies and architectures like Zero Trust are significant areas of investment moving forward.

Improving Productivity & Mitigating Threats

Security and IT teams have been working overtime to meet business goals while simultaneously staying ahead of new threats and scams. “Providing secure remote access to resources, apps, and data” is the #1 challenge reported by security leaders. For many businesses, the limits of the trust model they had been using, which leaned heavily on company-managed devices, physical access to buildings, and limited remote access to select line-of-business apps, got exposed early on in the pandemic. This paradigm shift has been most acute in the limitations of basic username/password authentication. As a result, when asked to identify the top security investment made during the pandemic the top response was Multi-factor authentication (MFA).

In other ways, pandemic security risks feel all too familiar. Asked to identify their best pre-pandemic security investment, most identified anti-phishing technology. Microsoft Threat Intelligence teams reported a spike in COVID-19 attacks in early March as cybercriminals applied pandemic themed lures to known scams and malware. Business leaders reported phishing threats as the biggest risk to security in that same timeframe, with 90% of indicating that phishing attacks have impacted their organization. More than half said clicking on phishing emails was the highest risk behavior they observed and a full 28% admitted that attackers had successfully phished their users. Notably, successful phishing attacks were reported in significantly higher numbers from organizations that described their resources as mostly on-premises (36%) as opposed to being more cloud-based.

Security Impacting Budgets and Staffing

The role of security in remote work is having a direct impact on security budgets and staffing in 2020 as businesses scale existing solutions, enabling critical new capabilities like MFA, and implement a Zero Trust strategy. In order to adapt to the many business implications of the pandemic, a majority of business leaders reported budget increases for security (58%) and compliance (65%). At the same time, 81% also report feeling pressure to lower overall security costs. Business leaders from organizations with resources mostly on-premises are especially likely to feel budget pressure, with roughly 1/3rd feeling ‘very pressured.’

To rein in expenses in the short-term, leaders say they are working to improve integrated threat protection to reduce the risk of costly breaches and acquire security solutions with self-help options for users to drive efficiency. In the longer-term, nearly 40% of businesses say they are prioritizing investments in Cloud Security (Cloud Access Security Broker, Cloud Workload Protection Platform, Cloud Security Posture Management), followed by Data & Information Security (28%) and anti-phishing tools (26%).

Technology alone cannot keep pace with the threats and demands facing businesses and their largely remote workforces. Human security expertise is at a premium with more than 80% of companies adding security professionals in response to COVID-19.

5 Ways the Pandemic is Changing Cybersecurity long-term

The pandemic has accelerated digital transformation is several ways that are likely to change the security paradigm for the foreseeable future.

1. Security has proven to be the foundation for digital empathy in a remote workforce during the pandemic. When billions of people formed the largest remote workforce in history, overnight, teams learned much more than how to scale Virtual Private Networks. Companies were reminded that security technology is fundamentally about improving productivity and collaboration through inclusive end-user experiences. Improving end-user experience and productivity while working remotely is the top priority of security business leaders (41%), with “extend security to more apps for remote work” identified as the most positively received action by users. Not surprisingly, then, “providing secure remote access to resources, apps, and data” is the biggest challenge. For many businesses, the journey begins with MFA adoption.

2. Everyone is on a Zero Trust journey. Zero Trust shifted from an option to a business priority in the early days of the pandemic. In light of the growth in remote work, 51% of business leaders are speeding up the deployment of Zero Trust capabilities. The Zero Trust architecture will eventually become the industry standard, which means everyone is on a Zero Trust journey. That reality is reflected in the numbers like 94% of companies report that they are in the process of deploying new Zero Trust capabilities to some extent.

3. Diverse data sets mean better Threat Intelligence. The pandemic illustrated the power and scale of the cloud as Microsoft tracked more than 8 trillion daily threat signals from a diverse set of products, services, and feeds around the globe. A blend of automated tools and human insights helped to identify new COVID-19 themed threats before they reached customers – sometimes in a fraction of a second. In other cases, cloud-based filters and detections alert security teams to suspicious behavior. Not surprisingly, 54% of security leaders reported an increase in phishing attacks since the beginning of the pandemic.

4. Cyber resilience is fundamental to business operations. Cybersecurity provides the underpinning to operationally resiliency as more organizations enable secure remote work options. To maintain cyber resilience, businesses need to regularly evaluate their risk threshold and ability to execute cyber resilience processes through a combination of human efforts and technology products and services. The cloud makes developing a comprehensive Cyber Resilience strategy and preparing for a wide range of contingencies simpler.

More than half of cloud forward and hybrid companies report having cyber-resilience strategy for most risk scenarios compared to 40% of primarily on-premises organization. 19% of companies relying primarily upon on-premises technology do not expect to maintain a documented cyber-resilience plan.

5. The cloud is a security imperative. Where people often thought about security as a solution to deploy on top of existing infrastructure, events like Covid-19 showcase the need for truly integrated security for companies of all sizes. As a result, integrated security solutions are now seen as imperative.

These insights from security leaders echo many of the best practices that Microsoft has been sharing with customers and working around the clock to help them implement. The bottom line is that the pandemic is clearly accelerating the digital transformation of cyber-security. Microsoft is here to help. If any of the insights we’ve shared today resonate with you and your teams, here are a few things you should consider

Listen to employees and take steps to build digital empathy. Enabling self-help options is a win-win for end-users and IT.
Hire diverse security talent and empower them with great threat intelligence and tools.
Embrace the reality that remote work is having a lasting impact on the security paradigm. Lean into the power of the cloud for built-in security spanning endpoints to the cloud.

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.

Posted on August 19, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Find out more about the new Xbox experience

At team Xbox, we’re building a unique set of experiences for the next generation of gaming – an ecosystem of hardware and software working to meet gamers wherever they choose to engage. From Xbox Series X, which will set a new bar for power, speed and compatibility; to the carefully curated game library included with Xbox Game Pass; to immersive and interactive games for gamers and their friends to play across Xbox, PC and mobile devices.

We Believe in Gamer Choice

A critical part of growing any ecosystem is ensuring that it works as players expect in every situation; on Xbox, that means the way you manage your hardware and games, the way you find what you want to play next, and the way you communicate and share with friends. Whichever device you use, we aspire to deliver an amazing Xbox experience – one that keeps you connected to games and friends throughout your day. Your feedback has been invaluable in pursuit of this vision, and today we’re sharing a glimpse of how everything will fit together this holiday. In addition to this blog, check out the video we created, which goes more in-depth on what’s to come.

Feel Instantly Welcome, However You Choose to Play

All the ways you experience Xbox should feel inviting and familiar, whether you’re on the couch playing on your console, rallying a group of friends together from your PC, or sneaking in a quick session on your Android device via cloud gaming. The new Xbox look and feel is designed to be faster to use, more approachable and visually appealing. This holiday it will be shared across all Xbox mobile apps, Xbox Game Pass on PC, and of course Xbox One and Xbox Series X consoles. Text is more readable, elements on screen are easier to understand at a glance, and accomplishing your tasks is faster than ever. This includes tile shape, fonts, an updated illustration style, and more. The overall layout of most of the console pages remains familiar, just faster and more focused.

We’re also there to support your gaming questions, no matter the place or time.From Xbox Assist on your console, to Xbox Support on the web, to Xbox Game Pass on your phone or PC, you can get any help you need and be back to gaming as quickly as possible.

Xbox is Ready to Go When You Are

Xbox Series X will set a new bar for speed when it launches this November, and we’re taking the same approach to accelerate experiences across Xbox. The Xbox Velocity Architecture and Quick Resume technology make games quicker to launch, and we knew we also wanted to make them faster to discover, talk about, and download – even while you’re away from your console. Your phone, PC, or console – all working together. Any time you have available to spend gaming is valuable, and we wanted to ensure it was time spent playing, not waiting. The Home screen will load more than 50 percent faster when you boot your Xbox, and is almost 30 percent faster to load when you’re returning from a game. Furthermore, these improvements use 40 percent less memory than what was previously required.

Earlier this month we unveiled the new Microsoft Store on the console, rebuilt with your feedback in mind – and it’s fast! We’ve cut the app launch time to about two seconds, and updated navigation makes it quicker and easier to find what you’re looking for. It’s easy to understand at a glance what’s included or discounted with any memberships you have, like Xbox Game Pass.

A United Platform for Communities to Gather

We’ve got a new Xbox mobile app in the works, and we’re better integrating your phone into the social experiences on Xbox, letting you share and connect with your existing network of friends more easily.For example, when you choose to share an update or game clip from your console, it will also automatically be sent to your Xbox mobile app, so you can share it on the social networks of your choice.

Using the new mobile app, Xbox friends can quickly send messages or launch parties to keep conversations going even when they’re on the go. We’ve also consolidated notifications, which will reflect activity across mobile, PC, and console. We combined related activities like Parties and Chats into a single tab in the Xbox console Guide, so it’s easier to know what’s going on with your friends and communities.

If some of these updates look familiar, it’s because you helped us build them over the past year through our Xbox Insider program, or when you noticed them hidden in plain sight (like when the new illustration style found its way into the Game Bar welcome screen, or a light theme was tested in the Family Settings App preview). We’ll begin to roll them out in the coming weeks, and come November we’ll celebrate a milestone in our user experience journey alongside the launch of Xbox Series X.

The work won’t stop there, though. We’ll continue to listen to your feedback and build together with you. Our vision is that, even though you’ll have more choice than ever in where to play, when to play and who to play with – you’ll know you’re on Xbox.

Posted on August 18, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Jurassic World roars into Minecraft

The Jurassic World DLC for Minecraft introduces a special kind of luxury resort: one that features some of your favorite dinosaurs from the films. And you’re the Park manager!

Not only can you craft and train dinosaurs, build exhibits, and solve problems, but you can also go on expeditions to discover dinosaur DNA! Use vehicles and your team of NPCs to solve disasters and earn a high score! And if you think that sounds awesome, just wait until you see it in action:

Posted on August 18, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Sky show: Microsoft Flight Simulator now available

Today pilots, aviation enthusiasts, simmers, and explorers can take to the skies in Microsoft Flight Simulator, now available on Xbox Game Pass for PC (Beta), Windows 10 PC, and Steam. In celebration of the return of the beloved franchise, all players will be able to claim a free “Aviators Club” livery set as a special thank you for being one of the first to take flight from now through September 30, 2020. The livery set will be available starting on Wednesday, August 19 for this limited time in the in-sim marketplace and includes Microsoft Flight Simulator-inspired liveries for all aircraft available in the Standard, Deluxe, and Premium Deluxe Editions.

It’s an exciting day for everyone at Asobo Studio and Microsoft. This all began as a demo of Machu Picchu in augmented reality for the Microsoft HoloLens and now we’re here, re-launching the franchise after 38 years. The dream to make another Microsoft Flight Simulator has always been alive, but what we really needed was the right combination of elements – a convergence of our collaboration with Azure AI’s cloud technology and Bing Maps to stream more than 2PB of data and – to be able to reach a new level of realism, accuracy and authenticity (as mentioned in Protocol).

Sharing on behalf of the entire crew at Microsoft and Asobo Studio, it has been an amazing and humbling experience to add to the legacy of Microsoft’s longest running product franchise with Microsoft Flight Simulator. Almost everyone on the team has a personal story or connection to flight simulation, but hearing from numerous pilots, engineers and simulation fans about the impact the Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise made in their lives has been incredibly inspiring.

It was immediately apparent that while we all share the same love for aviation and aircraft, the vast wealth of knowledge and experience from the community was going to be critical to success. We made it our mission from day one to gather feedback from the various aviation and simulation communities, and to do our best to learn from the past. We read thousands of threads on the various message boards, worked directly with pilots and engineers from different aircraft manufacturers, and created an alpha program to get direct input from fans.

What impressed us the most was how this community continued to grow and thrive in the absence of updated software. The community rallied together to continue development and support for Microsoft Flight Simulator, and created a robust ecosystem for additional aircraft, airports, sceneries, and features. From free mods, to career modes, to incredibly complex “study level” aircraft, it was clear that we needed to support the community’s passion for creating, building and modding. From the very beginning, we treated the new Microsoft Flight Simulator as a platform, and not just as a product. We worked directly with hundreds of third party developers to ensure the SDK, which is available to everyone for free at launch, has the features and tools needed to continue to deliver amazing addons, and we will continue this partnership well into the future.

In addition to all of the insightful feedback we received, we also wanted to add our own mark on the franchise. We wanted to make a fundamental leap forward in the genre and redefine what it means to be Flight Simulator. We had access to amazing technology and vast data in Azure and Bing Maps, and it showed us that for the first time, the entire world could be flyable in VFR (visual flight rules) in a simulator. Having the entire world in 3D was only the first step, and so a fully redesigned weather and lighting system was needed to truly simulate the world. With all of this terrain and weather data, we can accurately simulate the forces that would impact an aircraft in flight, so we created an all new, fully redesigned aerodynamics model for our aircraft to take advantage of that data.

These three key areas (world, weather and aerodynamics) created the foundation for Microsoft Flight Simulator’s platform. We’ve added 30 diverse aircraft (in the Premium Deluxe Edition) ranging from single engine piston aircraft, to long range turbo props, business jets and airliners. We’ve created a multiplayer system that allows friends from all over the world to fly together. We’ve made improvements to almost every system in Microsoft Flight Simulator and have plans to continue to expand and enhance the sim post launch (VR coming later this year, for example). We see this as just the first step in a larger journey, and with the community’s help, we’ll continue to grow Microsoft Flight Simulator for years to come.

This is just the beginning. We will continue to update our development roadmap with simulator updates including free world updates, themed DLC bundles, VR and more including all the great content that 3^rd party developers have begun to announce will be coming to Microsoft Flight Simulator.

We built a sim for simmers, but the invitation is here for anyone who’s ever dreamt of flying, exploring the world, or visiting your favorite destinations. We’ll see you at 30,000 feet.

Posted on August 17, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Get your first look at the achievements available to unlock in Battletoads

Summary

Get your first look at the achievements available to unlock in the brand new Battletoads.
Five secret achievements remain for players to discover for themselves.
Look forward to the first new Battletoads game in 26 years, launching on August 20!

On August 20, players will be able to dive into an all-new Battletoads adventure when the game launches with Xbox Game Pass and on Xbox One, Windows 10 and Steam. Zitz, Rash and Pimple will be brawling, shooting and quipping their way through multi-genre gameplay that challenges them to overcome everything from street fights to space battles, all enjoyable with up to three players thanks to drop-in couch co-op.

Tying all of those varied moments together are, of course, the enemy encounters that put the battle in Battletoads. If you’re eager to get to grips with the distinct play style of each member of the trio and the morph attacks you’ll be unleashing as you smash your way to victory, we recommend checking out our recent ‘Brawling Battletoads’ video:

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Alongside the riotous fisticuffs and cartoon-style comedy there’ll also be plenty of fun achievements to earn, one or two of which demand skills worthy of the ’Toads themselves! We’re excited to unveil a pre-launch list today here on Xbox Wire – there are a few secret achievements we’re keeping a lid on for now, but here’s the amphibian’s share of what’s in store:

Achievement Name	Achievement Description	Points
Toads in a Hole	Complete Feed the Fantasy.	10
Road Rash	Complete To the Queen.	10
Parks & Recreational Violence	Complete At the Carn-Evil.	10
Enough Toying Around	Complete So That’s How That Works.	10
Should Get the Pants First	Complete Time for Plan B.	30
Came, Sawed, Conquered	Complete Stumped.	15
Logged Out	Complete A Hard Axe to Follow.	15
A Test of Medal	Complete The Trials of Pummel Horse.	15
Jeff of a Sleighsman	Complete Mis-treatied.	30
We Were Provoked	Complete Spacebrawls.	15
Learning the Ropes	Complete We Go High.	15
STREET JUSTICE!	Complete Street Justice!	15
Hiking With Friends	Complete Bigger Than It Looks.	15
Galaxy’s Most Wanted	Complete Most Unwanted.	15
A Mountain Sense of Unease	Complete Reaching the Peak.	15
With Friends Like These…	Complete A Rock and a Hard Place.	20
Rebooting Battletoads	Complete Emergency Stations.	40
Into the Third Dimension	Use your tongue to reach a new plane.	5
B-B-B-BLOCK BREAKER!!	Smash through 50 enemy block attempts.	15
You’re Dead, You Ding-Dongs!	Surrender to your arch-enemies.	20
Season Two When?	Complete the story on any difficulty.	20
Battlemaniacs	Defeat 100 enemies.	20
Special Effects	Use 200 ’Toad abilities.	20
Mighty Morphing	Finish off 200 enemies with morph attacks.	20
Thoroughly Tested	Destroy 50 enemies in space combat.	20
It Begins…	Get your first collectable.	5
Scratching an Itch	Get all collectables in a level.	10
Making Progress	Get a total of 25 collectables.	15
I’ve Started So I’ll Finish	Get a total of 75 collectables.	30
Did You Use a Walkthrough?	Get every collectable in the game!	60
Three Is the Magic Number	In 3P Co-Op, all three ’Toads attack the same enemy.	10
Reviving a Classic	Revive another ’Toad during Co-Op play.	10
Not All Toads Are Equal	Earn a participation award in Co-Op.	10
Jeffortless	In 3P Co-Op, all ‘Toads grind a rail at the same time.	10
Hack-Door Shenanigans	Hack a door in Co-Op.	10
Live and Let Drive	In 3P Co-Op, stay alive on bikes together – for 300 seconds!	20
Can’t Touch This	In Co-Op, complete Time for Plan B without taking a hit.	20
To Me, To You	In Co-Op, build up a 100-Hit combo.	20
Toad Cuddle!	Finish the game on ‘Battletoads’ difficulty.	30
Brawling… With Style!	Earn your first ‘S’ Rank from an encounter.	15
Straight-A Student	Earn 20 ‘A’ Ranks from encounters.	15
Dodgebrawl Champion	Finish a fight without taking damage.	5
Hey, This Is a Rental!	Score 75 near-misses while riding a rented turbo bike.	15
Photobombed	Take an enemy’s photo when it’s in warning distance.	15
Be Tight	Deal with your friends without any restarts.	20
Take This, Axeman!	Find a way to keep a Champion’s weapon stuck.	5
Toad It Off & On Again	Repair your ship without any reboots.	10
The Purge	Escape from a Topian in less than 4 minutes.	20
Mementoads	Prop up the Jercurian tourism industry.	5
Warped Sense of Humor	Find the ‘Warp Wall’ while riding a turbo bike.	10
Dealt a Lucky Hand	Get a flawless victory in Toadshambo.	5
Not Just for the Holidays	Land a streak of 15 hits while destroying a totem.	15
The Dlala Code	Enter the Dlala Code. What could it be…?	5
Blink and You’ll Miss It	Defeat 25 pink eyeballs during Time for Plan B.	10
Hit the Drop	Freefall more than 10 meters while escaping a Topian.	10
Extra Credit	Watch the credits! You know you want to.	5

To get an idea of what kinds of tricks, traps and turbo bike terrors stand between you and 1000 delicious gamerscore, stay tuned to Rare on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as we’ll have more gameplay to share ahead of the game’s launch on August 20. Until then, check out the Battletoads Microsoft Store page or wishlist the game on Steam, and get ready to take cover – the Battletoads are back!

Posted on August 17, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Build resilient applications with Kubernetes on Azure

Welcome to KubeCon EU 2020, the virtual edition. While we won’t be able to see each other in person at KubeCon EU this year, we’re excited that this new virtual format of KubeCon will make the conference more accessible than ever, with more people from the amazing Kubernetes community able to join and participate from around the world without leaving their homes.

With everything that has been happening, the last year has been an up and down experience, but through it all I’m incredibly proud of the focus and dedication from the Azure Kubernetes team. They have continued to iterate and improve our Kubernetes on Azure that provides enterprise-grade experience for our customers.

Kubernetes on Azure (and indeed anywhere) delivers an open and portable ecosystem for cloud-native development. In addition to this core promise, we also deliver a unique enterprise-grade experience that ensures the reliability and security your workloads demand, while also enabling the agility and efficiency that business today desires. You can securely deploy any workload to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) to drive cost-savings at scale across your business. Today, we’re going to tell you about even more capabilities that can help you along on your cloud-native journey to Kubernetes on Azure.

Improving latency and operational efficiency

One of the key drivers of cloud adoption is reducing latency. It used to be that it took days to get physical computers and set them up in a cluster. Today, you can deploy a Kubernetes cluster on Azure in less than five minutes. These improvements benefit the agility of our customers. For customers who want to scale and provision faster, we are announcing a preview of ephemeral OS disk support which makes responding to new compute demands on your cluster even faster.

Latency isn’t just about the length of time to create a cluster. It’s also about how fast you can detect and respond to operational problems. To help enterprises improve their operational efficiency, we’re announcing preview integration with Azure Resource Health which can alert you if your cluster is unhealthy for any reason. We’re also announcing the general availability of node image updates which allow you to upgrade the underlying operating system to respond to bugs or vulnerabilities in your cluster while staying on the same Kubernetes version for stability.

Finally, though Kubernetes has always enabled enterprises to drive cost savings through containerization, the new economic realities of the world during a pandemic mean that achieving cost efficiency for your business is more important than ever. We’ve got a great exercise that can help you learn how to optimize your costs using containers and the Azure Kubernetes Service.

Secure by design with Kubernetes on Azure

One of the key pillars of any enterprise computing platform is security. With market-leading features like policy integration and Azure Active Directory identity for Pods and cloud-native security have always been an important part of the Azure Kubernetes Service. I’m excited about some new features we’ve added recently to further enhance the security of your workloads running on Kubernetes.

Though Kubernetes has built-in support for secrets, most enterprise environments require a more secure and more compliant implementation. In the Azure Kubernetes Service, being enterprise-grade means providing integration between Azure Key Vault and the Azure Kubernetes service. Using Key Vault with Kubernetes enables you to securely store your credentials, certificates, and other secrets in state of the art, compliant secret store, and easily use them with your applications in an Azure Kubernetes cluster.

It’s even more exciting that this integration is built on the back of an open Container Storage Interface (CSI) driver that the Azure team built and open sourced for the entire Kubernetes community. Giving back to open source is an important part of what it means to be a community steward, and it was exciting to see our approach get validated as it was picked up and used by the HashiCorp Vault team for their secrets integration. Our open source team has been hard at work on improving many other parts of the security ecosystem. We’ve enhanced the CSI driver for Windows, and worked on cgroups v2 and containerd. If you want to learn more about how to secure your cloud-native workloads and make sure that your enterprise is following Microsoft’s best practices, check out our guide to Kubernetes best practices. They will teach you how to integrate firewalls, policy, and more to ensure you have both security and agility in your cloud-native development.

Next steps and KubeCon EU

I hope that you have an awesome KubeCon EU. As you go through the conference and learn more about Kubernetes, you can also learn more about Kubernetes on Azure with all of the great information online and in our virtual booth. If you’re new to KubeCon and Kubernetes and wondering how you can adopt Kubernetes for workloads from hobbyist to enterprise, we’ve got a great Kubernetes adoption guide for you.

Posted on August 14, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

A quick history of indie games on Xbox as games shipped via ID@Xbox top 2,000

Summary

More than 2,000 games from independent developers have released through the ID@Xbox program.
ID@Xbox has paid out more than $1.5 billion in royalties to independent developers since the program’s inception.
There are over 2,000 titles in development from independent developers on Xbox.

We’re reaching a fascinating point in the world of indie games. We have amazing new creators coming on to the scene now for whom the start of the indie game movement is actually history, not a lived experience. So as we’re getting ready to make the leap to the next generation of consoles with Xbox Series X, it seems like a good time to take a look back at the birth of the modern indie game – especially Microsoft’s role in helping shape that scene and how the ID@Xbox Program has grown since.

With the launch of Swimsanity from our friends at Decoy Games last week, we’ve seen more than 2,000 games from independent developers launch on Xbox One and PC! Since the start of the ID@Xbox program, we’ve also paid out more than $1.5 billion in royalties to independent developers. It took independent developers only two years to reach this new milestone for the program, almost half the time it took for 1,000 games to be launched via ID@Xbox! From MMOs like Black Desertto fast action multiplayer games like Warframe to cozy slime-ranching games like Slime Rancher to amazing puzzlers like Human Fall Flat, or next-level platformers like Celeste – sometimes it seems like the only thing these games have in common is their diversity, but there’s another hook too. They represent amazing clarity of vision and the fruits of creative freedom that only independent games can deliver.

There have always been indie games – heck, they pre-date non-indie games! The tales of lone creators making games for the Apple ][, the Commodore 64, the Sinclair and many other 8-bit micros are legendary. These games would be “packaged” in ziplock bags with mimeographed instructions (sometimes!) and sold at the local computer shops. As the shift to a digitalized world continued to come into its own, Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) made one of the first major steps to bringing these independent games to a major publishing platform in the waning days of the OG Xbox and ultimately taking off on Xbox 360.

The original founders of XBLA really saw it as an arcade – a place to play vintage arcade games and casual games on a core gamer system. A funny thing happened though. Some of those independent developers who were still making games on PC – folks like Jonathan Blow and the team at The Behemoth – saw those downloadable games and started to get some ideas. And pretty soon, with the encouragement and excitement of the folks at Microsoft at the time, new games, original games, games from independent developers started to appear on XBLA. Digital distribution freed console developers from having to make “disc-sized” games and freed them to explore any game type imaginable.

These were games that might never pass muster to get a disc release from a traditional publisher. They were smaller (the original maximum file size for XBLA games was 40MB!), they used genres – like 2D platformers – that hadn’t been in the mainstream for years. And yet… they were magical. Without needing to chase a full disc, or a list of bullet points on the back of a box, these pioneering developers were able to simply chase their creative visions and deliver games, like Castle Crashers, Limbo, and Super Meat Boy that we’re still talking about and that still feel fresh today, 10 and 12 years after they came out.

Flash forward and as we moved into the Xbox One generation, we saw incredible growth in the independent scene, as devs were creating ever more ambitious and innovative projects. And soon the world was seeing them too, with indie games taking center stage at the Xbox Media Briefing – games like Inside and We Happy Few(before Compulsion Games joined Xbox Game Studios) burst onto the scene at E3, and Cuphead, conceived and created by a family with no previous game dev experience, made its debut at E3 back in 2014.

Today, these games have become so woven into the fabric of videogames that it’s impossible to conceive of our world of play without them. Traditional publishers are still here, of course, making unbelievable epic games, but independent creators stand shoulder to shoulder with them. An Xbox show wouldn’t be an Xbox show without getting to see the latest new independent games, and our bespoke indie events like Game Fest have become destination events for players. And every day, millions of players are exposed to some of the most amazing games ever created thanks to independent developers’ robust support and participation with Xbox Game Pass.

So, what’s next? Well, first, and crucially, thousands of the games players enjoy on Xbox One today are coming with them to Xbox Series X, thanks to our day one backward compatibility features. This means we get to take our games with us to the next generation, where they will play best, and developers get to have a huge audience to reach with their games.

And of course, independent developers will be an essential part of the mix on Xbox Series X with over 2,000 games already in the process of being optimized or developed for our next generation console. Hundreds of developers have their Xbox Series X dev kits, and we send more out every day. Given the creativity we’ve seen so far, we’re sure there are things in development that we can’t even imagine. We’ve had a few glimpses, and we hope to show you some hints soon!

A few words from some of our friends:

“For Cuphead, the ID@Xbox program was quite literally a game changer. Whether it was the excitement and passion they showed us when the game was in its earliest stages, the support and guidance they offered as we grew the team, their expertise helping us navigate our first-ever launch, or the continued passion they have for Cuphead today, they’ve been there every step the way on our journey. The team at ID is filled with people that truly love video games, and care deeply about bringing memorable experiences to players everywhere. If you’re just starting out on your own development journey, I’d be hard pressed to think of a better group of people to have in your corner.” – Maja Moldenhauer, Studio MDHR

“Night School has been a part of the ID@Xbox family since our inception, when we launched Oxenfree in 2016. I think the most freeing, supportive part about working with the ID team has been the total support of our creative vision. When we were making a game about possessed teenagers, the feedback was basically just, “keep doing what you do, and let us know how we can help.” When we made Afterparty, a game about dead friends in Hell out-drinking Satan, the feedback was refreshingly the same. The ID team understands what makes a development team tick creatively, and just wants to amplify and help bring that vision to the broadest audience. It doesn’t hurt that they’re all just nice, cool peeps. Happy 2,000!” – Sean Krankel, Night School Studios

“Working with ID@Xbox has been an amazing experience. It is really refreshing to know you have a full team of individuals working together with the sole purpose of supporting indies. There have been several occasions during gaming events where members of the ID@Xbox team would come by and greet us just to check on how the team is doing, and for a start up indie that means everything. We are excited to continue the partnership!” – Khalil Abdullah, Decoy Games

It’s humbling to see so many developers making videogame history on Xbox, and we’re happy at Xbox and ID@Xbox to have been a small part of the evolution of the industry, and so many developers’ journey to success. We can’t wait to see where they take us next.

Posted on August 14, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Microsoft Translator adds text translation in Odia, spoken by 35M in India and across the world

Image: Konark Sun Temple in the state of Orissa near Bhubaneshwar city.

Today, we are happy to announce that we have added Odia text translation to Microsoft Translator. Odia is available now, or will be available soon, in the Microsoft Translator app, Office, Translator for Bing, and through the Azure Cognitive Services Translator for businesses and developers.

Odia is spoken by 35 million people in India and across the world. It joins Bangla, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and English as the 12th commonly used language of the Indian subcontinent to be available in Microsoft Translator.

The Odia language (ଓଡ଼ିଆ)

Odia (pronounced oṛiā) is an Indo-European language native to Eastern India. It is the official language of the Indian state of Odisha and is also spoken in the nearby states of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh.

Odia is one of six languages of India to be granted to the status of a “Classical Language” by the Indian government, and has a history of literature stretching back over 1000 years.

Here are some (more modern) words and phrases in the Odia language.

English	Odia (ଓଡ଼ିଆ)	Pronunciation
Hello	ନମସ୍କାର	Namascāra
My name is…	ମୋର ନାମ …	Mora nāma …
Do you speak Odia?	ଆପଣ ଓଡ଼ିଆ କୁହନ୍ତି କି?	Āpaṇa ōṛiā kuhanti ki?

Learn more about Odia on Bing.

What you can do with Microsoft Translator

At home

Translate real-time conversations, menus and street signs, websites, documents, and more using the Microsoft Translator app for Windows, iOS, Android, and the web. Learn more

At work

Globalize your business and customer interactions with text and speech translation powered by Translator and Microsoft Speech service, both members of the Azure Cognitive Services family. Learn more

In the classroom

Create a more inclusive classroom for both students and parents with live captioning and cross-language understanding. Learn more

For more information on Microsoft Translator please visit microsoft.com/translator.

Posted on August 14, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Microsoft’s accessibility guideposts, from A to Z

A is for the Autism @ Work Playbook. This resource was developed for employers who are interested in beginning or expanding their inclusive hiring journey. You can download it here.

B is for Louis Braille, the 12-year-old boy who invented a way for people who are blind to read. Watch Microsoft President Brad Smith explore how Braille’s spirit is still alive today with the innovators focusing on accessibility.

C is for captions and subtitles, supporting people with disabilities to follow along in meetings and PowerPoint presentations. Live captioning is one of the accessibility features the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk can help set up.

D is for the Disability Answer Desk Playbook. Click here to find out Microsoft’s top learnings on setting up a Disability Answer Desk.

E is for ease of access, and how you can make Windows 10 work better for you. Whether it’s increasing font size or adjusting the color contrast, there is a range of ease-of-access settings you can personalize.

F is for font size, which can be adjusted for readability across a range of our products. It’s one of a number of tweaks available to help people who are blind or have low vision.

G is for grantees. Microsoft funds projects and research around the world that use AI-powered technology to help make the world more inclusive. Check out some of our AI for Accessibility projects here.

H is for hiring, inclusive hiring and how Microsoft ensures opportunities for everyone through employment programs focused on the untapped talent of people with disabilities.

I is for inclusive design, and ensuring accessibility and inclusion is at the core of products. It’s about drawing on the full range of human diversity, and reflecting different perspectives in what we create.

J is for Jenny Lay-Flurrie, our Chief Accessibility Officer. She unites us all as accessibility advocates, making sure accessibility and inclusion are implemented throughout the company’s culture and within the product development process.

K is for keyboard-only users, making a straightforward user experience for people not using a computer mouse. Microsoft products include a range of options and shortcuts to customize your keyboard and make navigation quick and easy.

L is for learning tools. Our free features enables students to improve reading, writing and comprehension, whatever their level, such as Immersive Reader, designed to help people with learning disabilities build confidence and ability.

M is for Moovit, the urban mobility app that has been optimized for accessibility. Now, accessible routes can be plotted around unfamiliar cities, and people who are blind or with low vision can use screen readers to navigate.

N is for Narrator, the free screen reader built within Windows 10. Our new and improved screen reader has a comprehensive walkthrough guide, so you can start using Narrator on apps, for browsing the web and more.

O is for Outlook Accessibility. It is crucial to be inclusive through daily email, and Outlook makes accessibility easy with features like the Accessibility Checker and Alt Text. Find out how you can create accessible email content here.

P is for PowerPoint and AI-powered automatic live captions. Real-time captions and subtitles mean everyone can follow and participate in presentations, and they may be particularly useful for people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, as well as non-native speakers.

Q is for questions. Our Disability Answer Desk provides support on all our assistive technology and allows customers to give direct feedback to drive greater accessibility across our products and services.

R is for Research Enable Group and the ongoing work on new accessibility products. These include the Hands-Free Sound Machine, which allows people to create compositions with their eyes, and eye-controlled wheelchairs.

S is for Seeing AI, a free app that narrates the world around you. Available in multiple languages, it describes everything from text and products, to people, scenes and currency.

T is for text alternatives – descriptions of images on websites and applications for screen readers to translate for customers. They need to accurately describe what is being shown, without too much information.

U is for user interface automation (UIA), allowing assistive technologies to let customers know everything they need to about your UI. This means everyone can access the full functionality and enjoy a high-quality experience.

V is for vision. Here’s our best practice guide for interviewing candidates who are blind or with low vision.

W is for webinar. We’ve launched a series of accessibility webinars for customers and businesses who want to learn more about accessibility features such as Narrator and Magnifier. Check out the demos from our engineering teams here.

X is for the Xbox Adaptive Controller, a groundbreaking controller that connects devices to help make gaming more accessible and inclusive so that everyone can play.

Y is for you … the person at the center of it all. We build with inclusion in mind and work with the direct involvement of the disability community – “Nothing about us without us.”

Z is … hoping that the number of people who feel like they don’t have access to free assistive technology tools to complete everyday tasks is zero. Today, only one in 10 people have access to assistive products.

For more on Microsoft accessibility tools, visit AI for accessibility. And follow @MSFTIssues on Twitter.

Posted on August 12, 2020 by sick skills — Leave a comment

Available for preorder today, Surface Duo is purpose-built for mobile productivity

Surface Duo is purpose-built for mobile productivity

As we look ahead to the next wave of mobile productivity and creativity, we see an opportunity to create something new with Surface Duo – not to reinvent the phone, but to inspire people to rethink how they want to use the device in their pocket. Available for preorder in the U.S. starting today, Surface Duo brings together the power of Microsoft 365 experiences and the full ecosystem of Android mobile apps into one device, with two screens that you can take anywhere.