Fewer exclusives, more Xbox
Microsoft will really do anything but release a green Series X to appease its forefathers, huh? It’s at least heading back to the roots of the Xbox 360 by releasing a new all-white, all-digital Xbox Series X complete with… the industry standard 1TB of storage? Hey, at least it’ll fit Black Ops 6‘s absurd 309.8GB file size and then some.
Also joining the line-up is a 2TB Xbox Series X (finally) — complete with a disc drive — and the new ‘Galaxy Black’ colourway which only somewhat appeases our wishes thanks to a couple of green specks on the fridge-like body and accompanying controller. It’s no surprise that it’s getting a bump in price too, now costing $600 in the US.
Finally, there’s the new ‘robot-white’ Xbox Series S with 1TB storage that’s seemingly replacing the original black 1TB Series X (with disc drive) that’ll stick around shelves “while supplies last” — meaning your only options for picking up an Xbox console are the ones we’ve listed today — when they become available, at least.
Microsoft will release these new Xbox models later this year, though official dates for both the US and South Africa have yet to be announced.
Netflix wants to redesign its home page for the first time in 10 years
It’s been more than a decade since Netflix altered what has functionally become the face of the streaming industry. It’s clearly worked in Netflix’s favour, so why mess with something that isn’t, for lack of a better word, broken? We’re not sure, but it’s doing it anyway. That’s according to The Verge, which spoke with the streamer about the coming changes.
The biggest change involves how the TV app shoves previews in users’ faces. Rather than lodge all the information about a show or movie at the top of the screen when hovering over its tile, it’s expanding the tile to take up more real estate on your screen and sticking all the information right underneath. It’ll even play a snippet of the show or movie right in the tile — kinda how YouTube currently handles things.
“We often see members doing gymnastics with their eyes as they’re scanning the home experience,” Netflix’s senior director of product, told The Verge. “We really wanted members to have an easier time figuring out if a title is right for them.”
The change also moves the left sidebar to the top of the screen, whittling out some of the lesser-used tabs such as “Categories”, “New & Popular” and “My List.” It’s simplified things to show ‘Home’, ‘Shows’, ‘Movies’, and a new tab called ‘My Netflix’ that’s been available to the mobile app since 2023. The tab consolidates all of its users’ recommendations or recently watched titles into one place so as not to infect the homepage.
“If this goes well, which we are enthusiastic and hope that it will, then we would love to share this with most of the member base in the coming months and quarters,” Flemming continued.
One of Microsoft’s biggest AI features will be turned off by default
If you’re one of the many left with security concerns in light of Microsoft’s new Copilot+ AI PCs and, more specifically, its Recall feature, you’re not alone. Cybersecurity experts have since expressed their distaste for the feature’s existence, which works by recording everything its user does — so that it can later be ‘recalled’ in an instant with the help of AI.
Microsoft obviously has no qualms about shipping those Copilot PCs with the feature turned on and ready to head to work. Others… do. Many reckon it could make these PCs an even more attractive target for hackers. In a bid to prove exactly that, many have attempted to bypass Microsoft’s security to access another user’s Recall records, with one person managing to do just that, exposing the feature’s rather lax security.
Ahead of Recall’s public debut, Microsoft announced that Recall will be turned off by default to appease those too anxious to pick up a new Copilot+ PC. “If you don’t proactively choose to turn it on, it will be off by default,” the OS giant said in a blog post. Microsoft also noted new security changes, including “additional layers of data protection [so] Recall snapshots will only be decrypted and accessible when the user authenticates.”
Xbox exclusives are pretty much dead as more games go multiplatform
The idea of the Xbox exclusive is essentially dead barring a few big-name titles (and even they may not be safe). During an interview at IGN Live over the weekend of the Summer Game Fest, Xbox head Phil Spencer confirmed that more of its previously exclusive titles would be bridging the gap towards PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.
“Our commitment to our Xbox customers is you’re going to get the opportunity to buy or subscribe to the game, and we’re going to support the game on other screens,” said Spencer. “You are going to see more of our games on more platforms, and we just see that as a benefit to the franchises that we’re building, and we see that from players, and the players love to be able to play.”
This isn’t exactly breaking news. Xbox confirmed that it was delivering some of its smaller-scale exclusives to ‘new screens’ earlier this year — which saw games like Hi-Fi Rush and Grounded get more love than they initially did when chained to Xbox’s hardware. Spencer hasn’t said what games those are yet, but we expect at least a couple of those titles shown off at the Xbox Showcase will make the cut.