Microsoft unifying PC/XB1 platforms, Phil implies Xbox moving to incremental upgrades

Malcolm9 said:
Having more options isn't always a good thing you know, sometimes less is better.

In this case the latter is definitely more appealing. If people want a bigger range of options buy a PC.
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That's why there should only be one Xbox. The current. You don't have to worry about anything else. It will play all previous games and new games.
 
tiebreaker said:
Most of the exclusives are also coming to Windows 10... At this point, why would anyone buy a PC with subscriptions fee to play online over a PC with free online??
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Convenience and marketing. As you saw, not everyone rushed to build pcs when the 360 and ps3 were chugging at 20 fps and the new consoles release with paid onlines and a somewhat lacking launch. If MS markets and sells these windows 10 boxes as consoles with madden, fifa, and cod, they will sell especially if they keep the prices tiered. Not to mention all the BC of a pc coupled with apps like office, world etc for productivity. Mention that you can keep up with pcs graphics if you wish by upgrading say a video card and plenty of people will like that as MS would likely streamline the process.

In short the box would also be compact like those mini atx pcs or smaller possibly with the full backing of MS to ensure all games run on it. Some enjoy the xbox type games and simply don't want to build a pc or set it up but want the 60 fps and cutting edge graphics over time.
 
It's not as if this will erase the existence of the Xbox One. It will still be there riding out it's usual life-cycle with the same games the newer hardware is getting. Eventually its time will end and games will stop supporting it just as with every other console.
 
Complicated said:
It's not as if this will erase the existence of the Xbox One. It will still be there riding out it's usual life-cycle with the same games the newer hardware is getting. Eventually its time will end and games will stop supporting it just as with every other console.
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Yes.
 
Ninja Scooter said:
Me? Maybe. The general public who all just bought a shit ton of ps4s over the last year and a half? Hell fucking no. What logical sense would it make for Sony to even introduce a revision when their current console is selling so well?
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I guess just don't see the stretch in consumer logic asking (but not really asking if the backwards compatibility is legit) people to re-up on a new console every 3 years instead of 6-7. The current paradigm is dated as all hell and IMO only holds back the industry from making the types of technological advancements it can make.
 
gamz said:
But I don't want the hassle. I like plug and play and a OS that is centered around gaming.

Why is less options a good thing?
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Nobody is saying that less options is good. That's a weak strawman. But there are realistic and reasonable limits in terms of discussions like this. Yes, me, as an individual, would it be great if I could walk into Walmart and see hundreds of different xboxes so that I could get the exact one I want? I want a red and white swirl Xbox with 10 USB ports and an hd-dvd drive and a 5 terabyte hard drive. If that exact model of Xbox existed, fantastic for guys like me. But is it reasonable or realistic to expect it?
 
Ol No Bones said:
Will a mod please do me a favor and just go ahead and Permaban me? Too many people go way out of their way to make news seem negative and I think it will be better for me to just not be a member. Thanks.
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Instead of complaining that people make the egregious mistake of disagreeing with you why don't you reply to my post instead explaining to you how this makes these pre-built PCs pointless? It's right here:

No need to be rude especially when people have explained this to you multiple times itt. You think that a PC using the same hardware as PS4 will display the same graphics quality as the console? Have you ever wondered why that can't happen?

Because developers on consoles focus ONLY on one hardware version and optimizing it perfectly. It was the biggest advantage of consoles, you bought hardware that was guaranteed to be the focus of developers for years. That will not happen anymore with yearly updates.
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Read this too:

OK, let me make the problem clear because either some of you don't understand it or you're purposely ignoring it. Most developers, especially AAA ones, focus on the newer hardware and how to make their games look best on it.

There's a reason why 4 year old consoles still look relevant compared to PCs (not on par but still preeetty good) even though the hardware is ancient: The developers are focusing on that specific hardware and optimize it to perfection to make it look as good as possible. The specific hardware is the sole focus of these developers.

Yearly versions of a prebuilt PC with the Xbox brand on it will have the same results as in PCs where 4 year old hardware makes games look like ass compared to newer hardware so the biggest most important feature of consoles, the fact that you pay 400$ and there's guaranteed focus on the specific hardware for years, is gone.

So what's left? An inferior to Steam online service that isn't even free? A closed environment that doesn't support mods? It certainly isn't exclusives because you can play those on the PC too.
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I wonder how far off these plans are at the moment. Is late this year a possibility? Meh, why am I a even asking. Nobody can know this.

But man, I didn't expect to hear this, so out of the blue. Especially with the Xbox One doing so well.
 
Do people really think MS will care that much how the launch Xbox's work when they are on upgrade 4? Won't it end up like Apple devices that work like shit?
 
When this model fails and Microsoft pulls completely out of consoles, they'll simply use the carcass of the Xbox console brand to prop up their new, unified Windows store. Microsoft loyalists will still defend it but this signals the end for Microsoft's dedicated (read: dedicated!) involvement with the console market.

Yes, it is possible that maybe this will work out to benefit console owners, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Sounds like they're gracefully pulling out of consoles and slathering it in PR so that Xbox One can still sell for the next few years until Phase 2.
 
NullPointer said:
If that was the way it was going to move I'd ditch consoles and go back to PC gaming.
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Seems like that is what they want.

Hey, did you hear about our PC product in Windows Store with DX12 integration? All the simplicity and lack of features PC users have been accustomed to since forever. Jump in!
 
kingocfs said:
I guess just don't see the stretch in consumer logic asking (but not really asking if the backwards compatibility is legit) people to re-up on a new console every 3 years instead of 6-7. The current paradigm is dated as all hell and IMO only holds back the industry from making the types of technological advancements it can make.
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I guess it would make sense if hardware and software sales started to crater after year 3 or so, but it doesn't look like that's going to be the case. And on top of that, we are coming off of a generation that lasted like 8 years and yeah, sales fell off a cliff once new hardware was introduced, but for the most part those consoles (360 and PS3) sold consistently well through their market life. I don't think you can just brute force that kind of change into the general consumer mindset.
 
Well, they can either sit on their hands having every cross platform title look and run better on PS4 or they can try and come up with a solution. If they offer an improved console that runs all the same games, but any new games will comfortably play in 1080p60 then I think that could be an easy sell. Like the Slim revision of the 360, but actually with better hardware this time.

It's a bit of extra work for devs, but certainly not insurmountable. They basically stipulate that every game must run on both, but on the Xbox One S, you've got a bit of extra grunt to play with to offer a smoother and/or higher-resolution experience.

This already happens on iOS.

I think so long as there is never a game that simply won't play on the vanilla Xbox One then this could be a great idea. I'd buy a beefed up Xbox One in a heartbeat.
 
2+2=5 said:
If well made it could be awesome, maybe this was the plan since the beginning hence the xbox one name.
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Xbox One. All-in-one entertainment device. That is absolutely the opposite of what they are proposing here.
Which One do you buy? There's more than one One!
 
Beefy said:
Do people really think MS will care that much how the launch Xbox's work when they are on upgrade 4? Won't it end up like Apple devices that work like shit?
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Well either that or just have discontinued support, but the alternative is an XBox 2000 hitting by that point where devs have to lurch all their efforts onto making games for that instead. Do you think they'll be making XBO games in 2022 otherwise?
 
Beefy said:
Do people really think MS will care that much how the launch Xbox's work when they are on upgrade 4? Won't it end up like Apple devices that work like shit?
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Well, yeah, that's like any device. Tech moves forward and eventually the said device is obsolete..
 
DeepEnigma said:
Seems like that is what they want.

Hey, did you hear about our PC product in Windows Store with DX12 integration? All the simplicity and lack of features PC users have been accustomed to since forever. Jump in!
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Well the hypothetical is for the PS4, so I'm not sure thats something Sony would want that to happen.
 
Shin-Ra said:
This reads like astroturfing.
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I thought I posted in the 2 different, but similar threads.

Anyway, this does actually sound really cool.
The biggest and worst problem of console gaming is that as you buy a new console, the old games become obsolete.

A place where all games work across the board on your brand of choice with an "upgrade when you want to" plan sounds like a world I want to live in.
 
NullPointer said:
If that was the way it was going to move I'd ditch consoles and go back to PC gaming.
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Sure, but most won't. Most never have.

Plus if MS is serious about playing the game this way will the differences between the two be really that significant anymore? Would opening up your case and putting in the latest $400 card be give you better results than buying the next $400 Xbox? It'll be interesting to see.
 
Shadders said:
Well, they can either sit on their hands having every cross platform title look and run better on PS4 or they can try and come up with a solution. If they offer an improved console that runs all the same games, but any new games will comfortably play in 1080p60 then I think that could be an easy sell. Like the Slim revision of the 360, but actually with better hardware this time.

It's a bit of extra work for devs, but certainly not insurmountable. They basically stipulate that every game must run on both, but on the Xbox One S, you've got a bit of extra grunt to play with to offer a smoother and/or higher-resolution experience.

This already happens on iOS.

I think so long as there is never a game that simply won't play on the vanilla Xbox One then this could be a great idea. I'd buy a beefed up Xbox One in a heartbeat.
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Releasing a revision that's more powerful than the PS4 isn't going to make them outsell or catch up to Sony.
 
I'm curious as to how they're going to make this work. So, all Xbox One games will become UWA, and new Xbox games will also be UWA, right?

And the UWA games will be able to run on Xbox One, PC, and new Xbox hardware at different level of performance (fps, resolution, AA, etc.)?

I guess that's the end goal, but I'm not sure how they're going to make this work. I thought Xbox One games were coded to the metal, so not sure how they could become UWA all of a sudden...
 
I seriously doubt it will be as often as every year, but this makes sense, and I would be surprised if Nintendo and Sony aren't trying to do the same thing.

Instead of bringing some exotic architecture every new console generation, they can now keep building with AMD CPU/GPU/APUs, ensuring backwards compatibility while improving power efficiency and performance as years go. I'm sure this would also mean updating existing SDK's instead of building new ones from the ground up, and easy scaling of game settings depending on console version (build your game on the latest console's SDK, decrease settings to easy and cheaply bring it to the previous gen, no porting required anymore). This will benefit developers, allowing them to reach wider audiences without the need for ridiculously large budgets, learning new tools, or rebuilding workflows.

People believe upgraded consoles mean customers will be required to buy new hardware every year, but if maximum compatibility is ensured all the time, games should perfectly work between different generations/versions of consoles from the same company without much effort (maybe even between different companies, if they all keep using AMD hardware).

This will only work if they all do it right, but this has a lot of potential.
 
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