To be fair, Microsoft still isn?t sharing very much about Xbox-Windows 8 connectivity, so this is speculation?take it with a grain of salt. But I believe that the tech company has tipped just enough of its hand for us to figure out what comes next: that Xbox games will soon be playable on Windows 8 tablets, laptops, and probably even phones.
The Entertainment Hub
Last fall we got a great early look at Windows 8?s new Metro interface, the UI that Microsoft hopes will unify its product line. But we really hadn?t seen any sort of Xbox integration whatsoever. This week, though, we learned that an integral part of the OS will be the Xbox Companion, a chunk of Windows 8 designed not by the Windows team, but the Xbox team.
You?ll be able to see your Xbox Live avatar and purchase Xbox games, movies, and music that you can play back on your Xbox without ever picking up a controller. And, by using a Windows 8 tablet, you?ll be able to stream media that?s stored locally on your Xbox?s hard drive to your tablet or PC. This may seem like a trivial detail, but it?s not. It?s the first time that Microsoft has reversed the flow of media from its console. Before, you could only stream from a PC to an Xbox. Now you can stream from an Xbox to a PC (or any other Win 8 device).
Though a lot of the details aren?t finalized, this flip in philosophy would suggest the Xbox will serve as the entertainment hub of the Windows household, which makes sense: With the rise of tablets and other portable devices, the Xbox may be the only big, wired box left in a lot of homes, cementing its potential as a sort of home theater PC backed by cloud services. And even people who don?t own an Xbox will find that, if they want to buy movies and music through Windows 8, they?ll be visiting the Xbox Companion to do so. Every Windows user will become an Xbox customer.
Xbox on the Go?
With so much media now coming from the cloud, this all might seem like media-streaming hairsplitting. Who cares if your Xbox is the entertainment hub when your movies are really coming from Netflix, or Microsoft?s servers?
Well, there was one more small detail Microsoft revealed that I believe completes the picture: from the Xbox Companion in Windows 8, you can launch a game on your Xbox 360. Any game, even DVDs in the drive?say, Mass Effect 2?will load at your command from any connected Win 8 device.
It?s not as though this is a huge timesaver compared with activating your Xbox the current way. So why would Microsoft enable this feature? Again, this is only speculation, but I think Microsoft?s intent is obvious: It is building Windows 8 to stream Xbox games to any connected device in real time.
Want to play Halo on your Windows 8 tablet? Fine. Maybe you?d prefer to use your laptop? That?s fine too. As we?ve seen with Nintendo?s approach to its upcoming Wii U, a screen is a screen?there?s no reason console gaming needs to stay married to only the TV. Wi-Fi connections are more than fast enough to stream real-time video across a home network. (If Nintendo can do it, Microsoft, with a few decades of building networks under its belt, can undoubtedly do it better.) The bigger question is: Will Microsoft enable Xbox on the go, maybe through a cloud service or something like PlayStation?s Remote Play?
This would present Microsoft with a design problem: It won?t be easy to translate Xbox 360 games, which require a large controller chock-full of buttons, to a touchscreen. So we?ll have to see whether Microsoft would force developers to make touchscreen versions of Xbox games, or simply force you to use an Xbox controller. But business-wise, Microsoft has huge incentive to make it work.
For one, it endears Windows OS to Xbox lovers. When you consider Apple?s recent rise to prominence, you realize that a whole generation of young people has known Microsoft not as a computing platform but as a console manufacturer, just as they may not be old enough to remember that movie star Will Smith was once a rapper. Microsoft has an opportunity to enlist their existing gamers as the next wave of Windows laptop and tablet users.
It also gives Microsoft a powerful entry into the mobile gaming world, where Apple has encouraged the casual-game software market to undercut itself (and console-makers) with $1 and free-to-play apps. If users could stream Xbox games to tablets and phones, Microsoft would have a way to stretch the $50?$60, big-budget titles for which they get a hefty licensing fee. Not only would that approach be profitable, it would also mean that games on Windows 8 tablets could perform with graphics and physics generations beyond any iOS device?or any portable, period.
When I asked Microsoft, flat-out, if Windows 8 would allow the entire Xbox gaming experience to stream to a second screen, Jose Pinero, senior director of interactive entertainment, said, "We are working with our partners on compelling gaming experiences that work across platforms, and will have more to share at a future date."
Direct confirmation of my theory it is not. But then again, it?s a far cry from a denial or side step.
Certainly, it is possible that for reasons we can?t anticipate, the Xbox 360 has critical shortcomings to stream games in real time to Windows 8 devices, and so perhaps this "Xbox everywhere" future is a little further off than I anticipate. But consider the product life cycles: Even if the Xbox 360 won?t share games with Windows 8, the Xbox 720 is right around the corner.
tyler bray tyler bray san antonio weather austin box austin box the academy is the academy is
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.