Xbox delivered and Windows scrambles to secure Recall

Microsoft delivered the best Xbox showcase I’ve seen in years. Layoffs, studio closures, and Xbox exclusives coming to PS5 had fans worried about the future of the platform, but Sunday’s showcase put many of those fears to rest.

Xbox chief Phil Spencer kicked off the show with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 — cementing that Xbox is now the home of Call of Duty — before moving on to new reveals and gameplay. Three titles stood out for me personally: Perfect Dark; Fable; and Gears of War: E-Day.

Last week, I revealed most of the games that would be part of this showcase, but one I didn’t name was Perfect Dark. Reports had suggested it was in “rough shape.” I hadn’t heard about a potential release window, so I wasn’t sure exactly what would be presented during the showcase. The surprise three-minute Perfect Dark trailer didn’t hold back on gameplay, showing movement and visuals that looked super polished and far from rough. Sure, it was just a trailer, and we still don’t have a release date or a release window after nearly four years. But it certainly looks like the game is shaping up well.

In last week’s Notepad, I also said I was expecting to see more of Fable and a 2025 release window, and Microsoft delivered exactly that. The latest Fable trailer included Matt King, more widely recognized as Super Hans from one of the best British comedy shows of all time: Peep Show. King plays the hero Humphry, who will be forced out of retirement to take on a mysterious enemy.

King’s appearance had me smiling from the start, alongside the subtle sarcasm and British humor throughout. Fable’s developer, Playground Games, is best known for the Forza Horizon series that always pushes the visual limits of the Xbox hardware, and it looks like it’s going to do the same here. Sources tell me Microsoft is currently targeting Fable to release between October and December 2025, so it could still be another 18 months away.

Microsoft ended the show with The Coalition’s Gears of War: E-Day, the new Gears game I first discussed in April. Built on Unreal Engine 5, Gears of War: E-Day is set 14 years before the first Gears game and once again stars Marcus Fenix for what is being billed as an origin story. The Coalition is another studio at Microsoft that knows how to push the limits of Xbox consoles, but the last Gears game was released before the Xbox Series S / X consoles even launched. Blizzard employee Jamir Blanco posted on X (in a now-deleted post) to reveal that the Gears of War: E-Day trailer uses real-time models, textures, and environments. While it wasn’t gameplay, it’s still using in-game assets and ray-traced lighting in the engine that will power the game.

Microsoft didn’t put a date or release window on Gears of War: E-Day, but a few months back, I’d heard it was targeting a release in 2025 — ahead of even Fable. That may have changed by now, so the lack of a release window gives The Coalition some breathing room here. Either way, I don’t think we’ll have to wait too long to see how Gears can really push the Xbox Series S / X consoles.

As expected, Microsoft didn’t mention that Doom: The Dark Ages is coming to PS5 during its main Xbox showcase. That’s part of the Project Latitude line of games that I wrote about in Notepad last week, and Spencer confirmed after the showcase that “you are going to see more of our games on more platforms.” I’m still not expecting every single Xbox game to go multiplatform, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more games announced for multiple platforms using the same method as Doom, with no direct mention of a PS5 release in an Xbox show.

While I was hoping for an Xbox handheld teaser in the main show, Spencer all but confirmed the device is on the way in an IGN interview after the show. He also hinted the Xbox handheld would play games locally, not stream them like the PlayStation Portal. I still hear that Microsoft continues to be more focused on bridging the gap between Xbox and PC for the next generation, and I’ll have more thoughts on what that could mean in a future Notepad issue.

The only hardware we got in the main Xbox showcase was a new discless Xbox Series X console in white and a 2TB “Galaxy Black” version with a disc drive. There’s also a 1TB Xbox Series S on the way in white. The $599.99 pricing of the Galaxy Black Xbox Series X puts it at $150 more than the all-digital Xbox Series X, and given Xbox hardware sales haven’t been going well this generation, I’m not sure these will make much of a difference.

The all-new design for the Xbox Series X that leaked from FTC v. Microsoft documents looked a lot more exciting. Spencer did say last year that “so much has changed,” so it looks like we won’t be seeing an Xbox Series X console refresh after all. A new Sebile controller was supposed to accompany this refresh, too, and given it uses an updated Xbox Wireless 2 protocol, I think Microsoft will hold onto this for the next-gen Xbox console instead.

Microsoft now has a strong slate of games due later this year and some exciting releases in 2025. It feels like Xbox is on the edge of shipping the big games that it has been promising for years. It’s delivered great trailers and an impressive showcase here. Now, Xbox needs to deliver great gameplay inside polished games that fans have been waiting years to see.

I sent out an emergency Notepad issue on Friday to let you all know that Microsoft is adjusting its controversial Windows Recall feature that screenshots everything you do on your PC. After security researchers and privacy advocates raised the alarm about potential cybersecurity issues, Microsoft had to respond.

The Windows team is now scrambling to push out updates for Recall in time for the June 18th launch of Microsoft’s Copilot Plus PCs. The updates include making Recall an opt-in experience instead of on by default, encrypting the database, and authenticating through Windows Hello.

These changes, which you can read about here, all look like the right thing to do, but I’m still puzzled that Microsoft didn’t see this coming given its renewed commitment to security. Regardless, the Windows team was caught off guard when people started enabling Recall on existing devices, sources tell me. The Windows 11 24H2 update includes part of the Recall experience, but only officially for supported hardware. The on-device models are delivered separately and haven’t been published on Windows Update, but they’ve been leaked online early.

You need the 24H2 update to enable Recall and these leaked AI components, but Microsoft pulled the 24H2 release from Windows Update over the weekend in a clear response to the Recall leaks. I understand Microsoft had already been considering some Recall changes ahead of the launch when things suddenly blew up. Now, Windows engineers are scrambling to get additional changes tested and ready for the release of Copilot Plus PCs next week.

Part of the reason Microsoft didn’t see the issues with Recall coming is because the feature was created before its security overhaul with the Secure Future Initiative. Recall was developed in secret at Microsoft, and it wasn’t even tested publicly with Windows Insiders. Microsoft subsequently identified some of the security issues with Recall and started to develop and test changes to the experience in recent months. Now, it’s pushing those changes as soon as it can to address the concerns that have been raised.There’s certainly a lot to say about the Recall feature, but I’m going to spend time testing the final experience once I get my hands on a Copilot Plus PC for review. The controversy around Recall has also overshadowed some of the other on-device AI features that are coming to Windows, some of which are similar to what Apple announced for iOS 18 this week. I’ll dig into my initial thoughts on these features and on Copilot Plus PCs in next week’s Notepad issue.

I’ll be reviewing the new Arm-powered Surface Laptop soon. What do you want to know about it the most, and what should I focus on for Notepad? You can reach me via email at [email protected] to let me know.

If you’ve heard about any secret project Microsoft is working on, you can also reach me confidentially on the Signal messaging app. I’m tomwarren.01 there. I’m also tomwarren on Telegram if you’d prefer to chat there.