Windows 10 & Xbox One – It’s Time for Microsoft to Get Serious

This week PC and Xbox One gamers watched Microsoft’s Windows 10 announcements with interest to see just what Microsoft was going to do to make this version of their operating system an important one for gamers.  Watching it though I noticed that although there was a move to bring Xbox One and PC functionality closer together there still seemed to be a reluctance to make that small extra step to bring the two into a convincing partnership, but why is this?

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Looking back into the “retro” years of the nineties I can’t help but think back to the Amstrad Mega PC, which was a failed attempt to bring a gaming console and a PC together.  The problem was at this time the PC was not really a machine for gaming, and to make the console work you had to actually switch between the PC and the console.  Interesting idea but not really that popular in practice.

With the new Xbox app there will be the ability to record gameplay just like on the Xbox One, but more importantly the ability to stream games from the Xbox One to your PC.  This is going to be very interesting for PC gamers who want to play Xbox One exclusives and there is also the possibility to stream PC games to the Xbox One.  This all is a very positive move for gamers, but it still feels like there is a space between the console and the PC which needs to be filled.  The question is why should Microsoft be so protective about keeping the two gaming platforms separate?

Gamers can be protective over the platforms they have chosen to play their games on, we know this already.  I’m sure there are some bitching already that they don’t want the PC to have Xbox One exclusives, the very notion of the exclusive is that other gamers shouldn’t be able to play them, but that argument should be null and void because Windows 10 should not be seen as being “PC” but “Microsoft”.

Now I know I am touching on dangerous ground here, especially when it touches on the war zone that is not only the console ways but also the “PC Master Race” and I only use that name as a joke, so don’t get too worked up.  The fact is though I don’t really to the notion of being so restricted on what I can play games on.  This is probably why in my opinion Xbox One and the PC (running Windows 10) should be built to be even closer together.  They both use the same architecture, though the Xbox One is more finely tuned and altered to perform better as a game console and they both use the same Kernel.

What I’m not arguing for is that all Xbox One games should work on the PC, this would be a minefield for the developers in functionality and restrictions (I assume).  The PC is designed in a way that gives little control over what hardware is in the machine.  People play games on systems that could be years old, they have different bottlenecks in performance between the CPU, GPU, discs and memory…the Xbox One at least gives the developer a stable platform to build their game.  To expect all Xbox One games to fully function on a PC and have to adapt is probably something that just won’t fit into the development process (yet at least).

When looking at what the PC and Xbox One can do together though could be just as interesting.  If Microsoft have an “exclusive” why not move them onto the PC too? This has been done with Ryse: Son of Rome and Dead Rising 3 of course so it is already happening.  I would argue for this to be a quicker move though, and cross-platform multi player should also be a priority between the PC and Xbox One.  Why do I argue for this? Well if Windows 10 is so “unified” this is a perfect place to show it, is it not?

I’m probably writing things that gamers don’t want, protectionism is something that will always come into play, but as a gamer this is something that interests me.  In gaming world where Microsoft are picking up pace the connection between PC gamers and Xbox One gamers is an interesting weapon that can be used, and with the slowness in the production of the Steam platforms, why not make a move to make Windows 10 an early competitor to that? The future for gaming is an interesting world, and for Microsoft the future may be good, but it is the same for Sony and Nintendo too…so let’s make the most of what the future holds and use the potential that is there to get the most out of what we play.

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