Microsoft Weekly: X019 recap, joint patches, and the Edge of ARM

Along with Patch Tuesday, this was a pretty big week for Microsoft in terms of gaming, as its X019 event kicked off in London with a special episode of Inside Xbox. It was filled with new game reveals, updates for existing ones, and a slew of games being added to Xbox Game Pass over the coming weeks. You can find that – as well as the usual little bit extra – below, in your Microsoft digest for the week of November 9-15.

X019 recap

Microsoft’s Xbox-centric X019 event took place this past week, and proceedings were started via a 90 minute live streamed episode of Inside Xbox on the first day. During said episode, a lot of things were announced, from first-party and third-party studios, as well as more details about Project xCloud, upcoming Game Pass games, and more. To make it easier to digest, this main section will be split into three: first-party, third-party, as well as Project xCloud, Game Pass and related announcements. Let’s get started.

The main show opened with Everwild, a brand new IP from Rare. The title is being taken care of by a separate team inside Rare, headed by studio veteran Louise O’Connor. Everwild looks to be an adventure game with very colorful environments (reminiscent of Ori and the Blind Forest), offering folks the ability to play it in co-op. No other info is known currently, other than it’ll be heading to Windows 10, Xbox One, and Xbox Game Pass on launch.

Speaking of Rare, Sea of Thieves will still be updated, with its next content drop being scheduled for November 20. Dubbed the Seabound Soul, it features a brand new Tall Tale, the ability to use new explosive ammo called firebombs, and more. If you log into the game between now and November 22, you’ll receive some Gears-themed cosmetic items.

Moving on to Age of Empires, the Definitive Edition of the second game is now available to purchase via the Microsoft Store, Steam, or to play via Game Pass on PC.

During the event itself, we got our first look at Age of Empires IV, specifically the English and Mongol civilizations. Set in the medieval era, the game is being developed by Relic Entertainment, in collaboration with the now-named AoE-centric studio, World’s Edge. Headed by Shannon Loftis, the latter will be taking care of the series as a whole going forward. One thing that was emphasized was that civilizations will play very differently from each other in AoE IV.

Moving on to Halo, there was an accidental listing on the Microsoft Store which set the Master Chief Collection release date as November 14, with Halo: Reach for PC being listed as December 3. As it turns out, Halo: Reach’s remastered variant will launch for Xbox One and PC on December 3, as part of the Master Chief Collection. It’s priced on either platform at $9.99. And yes, it’s available via Steam too.

Afterwards we got to see the brand new IP from Obsidian, which recently launched its quirky RPG The Outer Worlds. Called Grounded, it’s a first-person co-op survival game in which the protagonist is shrunken down to the size on an ant. The game is made by a separate team inside Obsidian, headed by Pillars of Eternity II executive producer Adam Brennicke. It’ll come out in Spring 2020, heading first to the Xbox Insider Program, then Game Preview, and finally Game Pass. It’ll be out on Xbox One, Microsoft Store, and Steam.

There’s also Bleeding Edge, Ninja Theory’s four vs. four competitive title, which at long last has a release date of March 24, 2020, and is priced at $29.99. Before release, the game will have two closed betas, one on February 14, and another on March 13.

The Flight Simulator reboot headed for release next year was also present with a brand new gameplay trailer, as well as the announcement of the first wave of aircraft partners including Airbus, Boeing, and ICON.

Minecraft Dungeons, the dungeon crawler spinoff to the blocky sandbox game was showed off as well, giving folks a reasonably lengthy look at gameplay. It’s coming out in April of next year on Windows 10, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and of course, via Xbox Game Pass at launch.

Closing out the show was Wasteland 3, InXile’s isometric X-COM-like co-op RPG. A much darker trailer than the E3 one was also shown, revealing at the end a release date of May 19, 2020. It’ll come to Windows, macOS, Linux, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and will be included with Game Pass at launch. Pre-orders are already available on Steam and the Microsoft Store.

As was the case with Microsoft’s E3 showcase, there was a strong third-party presence during Inside Xbox’s X019 episode, with several titles announcing availability dates of betas or full releases.

First there was Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – which was released on November 15 -, a title for which Respawn provided yet another gameplay trailer.

Then there was West of Dead, an indie shooter developed by Upstream Arcade and published by Raw Fury, starring Ron Perlman. You’ll perhaps know him best as the narrator in the majority of the Fallout games.

Following it was RUST from Facepunch Studios. The survival title is coming to Xbox One in 2020. Also set for next year is KartRider: Drift, which had its closed beta announced for December 5. Another 2020 game joining the pack is The Artful Escape, published by Annapurna Interactive.

Following these was Planet Coaster: Console Edition, which is headed for release on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in the summer of 2020. In the same time frame, folks will also see the release of Tell Me Why by Dontnod – developers of Life is Strange -, with all episodes being made available at once.

Drake Hollow from The Molases Flood and CrossfireX from Smilegate and Remedy Entertainment were also showcased, both set for release next year as well.

The final third-party game showcased outside of montages was Last Stop, which is from the developers of Virginia. The game does not have a release date currently.

And now we get to everything game subscription, streaming, and giveaway-related, as we tackle Game Pass, xCloud, ID@Xbox, Games with Gold, and more.

First up is Xbox Game Pass, which now includes one month of EA Access, six months of Spotify Premium, and as previously reported, three months of Discord Nitro. EA Access is available to new subscribers, but not available in Russia, Nitro is also available to new subscribers but only those in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico, the UK, and the U.S. Finally, Spotify Premium can only be redeemed by new users in the U.S. and UK. The good news is that the three months for $1 offer is available to new users in all supported Xbox Live territories.

While we’re on the subject of Game Pass, it’s worth noting that Microsoft has announced over 50 games that are either already available or coming throughout Holiday 2019 and into 2020. Among these were surprising entries like Yakuza 0, Kiwami, and Kiwami 2, a large assortment of classic Final Fantasy games, as well as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Darksiders III, RAGE 2, and more.

Moving on to Project xCloud, the company revealed that the service now has over 50 games, with folks being able to play all of their already owned games next year. Furthermore, xCloud is also coming to Windows 10 in 2020, even though right now it’s exclusive to Android devices. Game streaming will be made available for Game Pass next year too, and the preview of xCloud will be expanded to new territories including Canada, Western Europe, India, and Japan. The company has even confirmed that it’s adding more controller support, including for Sony’s Dual Shock peripheral.

Finally, there was an ID@Xbox montage that featured a number of games, all of which you can see in the table below:

There were some noteworthy things outside the event too. For example, The Final Station and Joy Ride Turbo are now free to claim if you have an active Xbox Live Gold subscription. In addition, the November 2019 Xbox One Update is now available, bringing Google Assistant support to the console, and Xbox Insiders in the Skip Ahead ring have been treated to a new build. Said build allows Insiders to reorganize the dashboard in a new way, as well as recommending which games to play next via a new Surprise Me button.

Joint patches

The second Tuesday of the month rolled around this past week, so Microsoft released its usual round of patches. Patches for versions 1903 and 1909 are reported together, because they’re essentially the same version. Here’s what you need to be on the lookout for if you’re running various Windows 10 flavors:

• May 2019 Update and November 2019 Update (1903 and 1909): KB4524570, build 18362.476/18363.476 – contains updates that improve security when using IE or Edge.

  • Known issues: During the OOBE (Out of Box Experience) while setting up a new Windows device, you may be unable to create a local account when using the Input Method Editor (IME). Affected IMEs are those for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean languages. This does not happen while using a Microsoft Account during OOBE.

• October 2018 Update (1809): KB4523205, build 17763.864 – contains updates that improve security while browsing via IE or Edge; improves security of external devices like controllers, printers, and input devices like mice, keyboards and styluses; improves the security of Office products.

  • Known issues: Operations like rename, that are performed on files or folders on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with error “STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)”, which occurs when the operation is performed on a CSV owner node from a process without admin privileges; After installing KB4493509, some Asian language packs may receive error “0x800f0982 – PSFX_E_MATCHING_COMPONENT_NOT_FOUND”; During the OOBE (Out of Box Experience) while setting up a new Windows device, you may be unable to create a local account when using the Input Method Editor (IME). Affected IMEs are those for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean languages. This does not happen while using a Microsoft Account during OOBE.

• April 2018 Update (1803): KB4525237, build 17134.1130 - contains updates that improve security while browsing via IE or Edge; improves security of external devices like controllers, printers, and input devices like mice, keyboards and styluses; improves the security of Office products.

  • Known issues: Operations like rename, that are performed on files or folders on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with error “STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)”, which occurs when the operation is performed on a CSV owner node from a process without admin privileges; During the OOBE (Out of Box Experience) while setting up a new Windows device, you may be unable to create a local account when using the Input Method Editor (IME). Affected IMEs are those for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean languages. This does not happen while using a Microsoft Account during OOBE.

• Fall Creators Update (1709) Enterprise, Education: KB4525241, build 16299.1508 - contains updates that improve security while browsing via IE or Edge; improves security of external devices like controllers, printers, and input devices like mice, keyboards and styluses; improves the security of Office products.

  • Known issues: Operations like rename, that are performed on files or folders on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with error “STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)”, which occurs when the operation is performed on a CSV owner node from a process without admin privileges; During the OOBE (Out of Box Experience) while setting up a new Windows device, you may be unable to create a local account when using the Input Method Editor (IME). Affected IMEs are those for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean languages. This does not happen while using a Microsoft Account during OOBE.

• Creators Update (1709) for Surface Hub: KB4525245, build 15063.2172 - contains updates that improve security while browsing via IE or Edge; improves security of external devices like controllers, printers, and input devices like mice, keyboards and styluses; improves the security of Office products.

• Anniversary Update (1607) LTSC, Server 2016: KB4525236, build 14393.3326 - contains updates that improve security while browsing via IE or Edge; improves security of external devices like controllers, printers, and input devices like mice, keyboards and styluses; improves the security of Office products.

  • Known issues: After installing KB4467684, the cluster service may fail to start with error “2245 (NERR_PasswordTooShort)” if the group policy “Minimum Password Length” is configured with more than 14 characters; Operations like rename, that are performed on files or folders on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with error “STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)”, which occurs when the operation is performed on a CSV owner node from a process without admin privileges.

• Windows 10 RTM LTSC (1507): KB4525232, build 10240,18395 - contains updates that improve security while browsing via IE or Edge; improves security of external devices like controllers, printers, and input devices like mice, keyboards and styluses; improves the security of Office products.

  • Known issues: Operations like rename, that are performed on files or folders on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with error “STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)”, which occurs when the operation is performed on a CSV owner node from a process without admin privileges.

Of course, Windows 7 and 8.1 are still supported, so here’s what folks running those operating systems need to watch out for:

• Windows 8.1, Server 2012 R2 – KB4425243, KB4525250 (security-only) – addresses an issue that prevents a 16-bit Visual Basic 3 (VB3) application or other VB3 applications from running; addresses an issue that causes only one Bluetooth Basic Rate device to function properly after installing the August 13, 2019 update; addresses the issue that causes error 0x7E when you connect Bluetooth devices after installing the June 11, 2019 update; provides protections for CVE-2018-12207 and CVE-2019-11135), as well as security updates for the Microsoft Scripting Engine, IE, Input and Composition, Cryptography, and more.

  • Known issues: Operations like rename, that are performed on files or folders on a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) may fail with error “STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)”, which occurs when the operation is performed on a CSV owner node from a process without admin privileges.

• Windows 7 SP1, Server 2008 R2 SP1 – KB4525235, KB4525233 (security-only) - addresses an issue that prevents a 16-bit Visual Basic 3 (VB3) application or other VB3 applications from running; provides protections for CVE-2018-12207 and CVE-2019-11135), as well as security updates for the Microsoft Scripting Engine, IE, Input and Composition, Cryptography, and more.

Outside of normal Patch Tuesday news, a 20H1 build made its way to the Slow ring for the first time, specifically build 19013. It was initially released to the Fast ring about a fortnight ago, and then serviced later that same week. The build pushed out to Slow ring users is the serviced one.

In other 20H1 news, the Fast ring got not one but two builds this week. The first one, 19023, brought in a modest set of fixes including for bugs related to installation of new builds. This was quickly followed by build 19025, which fixed a bug that prevented Sandbox and Windows Defender Application Guard from working properly.

Finally, build 19018 of the SDK Preview was also pushed out to folks this past week. Among others, it provides updates to tools like the Message Compiler, Windows Trace Preprocessor and more, while also removing api-ms-win-net-isolation-l1-1-0.lib, IRPROPS.LIB, WUAPICommon.H, and WUAPICommon.IDL.

The Edge of ARM

It’s worth also talking about Microsoft’s Chromium-based Edge, as there have been some interesting developments related to it this week.

For one, the tabs you kept for later using Spartan Edge’s set tabs aside feature will be imported to the new browser as favorites. These will be in their own dedicated folder, with each set of tabs set aside occupying a different sub-folder. It’s not ideal, but most likely a stopgap solution until this feature’s return.

Something else that should be mentioned is 64-bit Intel app emulation for Windows on ARM, which we exclusively reported that Microsoft is working on. The feature could make its way to the public in 21H1 (so in the first half of 2021), meaning Insiders will be able to get their hands on it starting next year.

It’s just as well that the company has set its sites on 64-bit app emulation, since it released an Edge Canary build this week that at long last is available for ARM64 PCs. This is a native implementation, something that Firefox and old Edge have had for a while, but it’s a welcome development nonetheless. New Edge is the first Chromium-based browser with a native ARM64 version, since Chrome proper is most likely coming next year.

And last but not least, build 80.0.328.4 of Edge Dev was pushed out this week as well, with a number of reliability fixes and a long list of behavioral changes,and known issues. This build does not yet include ARM64 support, as that’s currently limited to the Canary channel.

The Fast ring

• Microsoft is discontinuing the Skype Translator bot, and replacing it with a Translated Conversations feature.

• The Redmond firm has shared its vision for the customer data platform (CDP), which is offered via the Dynamics 365 Customer Insights.

• Office Insiders on Windows and Android have gotten an assortment of new features including the replacement of Upload Center with Files Needing Attention, and more.

• Power BI Desktop’s November update ushers in a more modern ribbon, a slew of AI functions, and much more.

• After 23 years, Harry Shum is leaving Microsoft. He will be replaced by Kevin Scott as head of AI & Research.

• Windows Community Toolkit version 6 is now out.

• Reserved capacity offerings have been announced for six Azure services including Data Lake Storage Gen2.

• Salesforce will be using Azure to power its Marketing Cloud.

• A Microsoft scientist has obtained the coveted Hamburg Prize for Theoretical Physics.

Hot corner

Hot corner is a section of The Fast ring dedicated to highlighting five Microsoft-related stories that haven’t been covered over here, but might be of interest.

• As part of a company-wide initiative, Microsoft will stop accepting Azure Data Explorer requests made using Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.1, instead requiring 1.2 going forward.

• Report—only mode for Conditional Access is now in public preview.

• Microsoft Cloud App Security and Azure Advanced Threat Protection are now available for US Government GCC High customers.

• Database compatibility level 150 is now default in Azure SQL Database, thanks to the launch of SQL Server 2019 last week.

• The reworked Azure AD Identity Protection is now generally available.

Logging off

While the various patches were detailed in the second main section above, it’s worth ending the column with a bit of news concerning end of support and deprecated features.

First up is version 1803, or the April 2018 Update, which has reached end of support for Home and Pro SKUs. If you’re on an Enterprise or Education SKU, these are supported for one more year. While the consumer-targeted 1803 SKUs did get a round of patches on Tuesday, it was their last, so it’s best to upgrade to a newer version of Windows 10.

Speaking of newer versions, the November 2019 Update (or 19H2, or version 1909, however you like to call it) has been made available to seekers. What this means is that it’s offered for download to those who opt to install it. Unlike the May 2019 Update, this should install rather quickly, because it contains an enablement package. The actual features have already been downloaded over the course of previous Windows updates, but they just need to be switched on. You should see your build number go up from 18362 to 18363.

As is usually the case, there are a few features being removed or deprecated in version 1909, including roaming of taskbar settings, the My People option in the Windows shell, Package State Roaming, and more.

Missed any of the previous columns? Be sure to have a look right here.