Negotiator101
Member
Different good or different bad?
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Windows Central - Sarah Bond has set up a new team dedicated to game preservation and forward compatibility
- Thread starter HeisenbergFX4
- Start date
Topher
Identifies as young
That's because the vast majority bought the game on battle.net or consoles. The game had 12 million players by August of last year. Wasn't added to Steam until October.
ChuckeRearmed
Member
A lot of ABK players are on Battle Net.
Elginer
Member
Me too. Soo many PS3 games lost. I’d kill for Warhawk!
kiphalfton
Member
Puh-lease. Xbox's backwards compatibility has been half ass since Xbox 360. Don't even support all games. At least with the PS3 and PS5, there was like 99% backwards compatibility.
Mortisfacio
Member
Yah I'm aware of that, which was the point of my post: I'm more amused it even got to 28k.
Topher
Identifies as young
PS3 had BC in its initial model, but that was quickly phased out. PS5 is BC with PS4, but that's it. Xbox One/Series BC is superior to PS4/5 BC. What is that 99% BC based on again?
Ah....I follow now. There are some Steam purists out there. lol
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kiphalfton
Member
Nah.
How exactly would they have been playing on GP when it hit its all time peak 6/9 months ago?
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adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
But it is though, outside of some emulated PS2 games, PS5's BC is relegated to cloud streaming PS3 blades tied to a subscription.
You can play like 700 or so X360 games locally / natively on Series / XBO, and a bunch OG Xbox games too.
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bitbydeath
Gold Member
Helldivers 2 while different in approach has that sort of freedom feeling you get while playing where no two matches are the same, which is rare for an MP game IMO.
Topher
Identifies as young
Explain how it isn't.
HeisenbergFX4
Gold Member
Being 100% transparent I haven't talked to anyone in awhile about stuff but last I did nothing seems to have changed on things I said 6 months agoDifferent good or different bad?
So for someone like me who likes Xbox hardware and wants a beast around the time GTA6 launches its a different good, very good.
Sarah seems to reinforce the big console is coming just curious if my timing I said back early Aug still stands
Celcius
°Temp. member
She's gotta be better than Phil
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
Sounds good to me!
GG Sarah! Preserve my purchases!
GG Sarah! Preserve my purchases!
Topher
Identifies as young
She is certainly bringing the hype. Hope she can back it up because her feet are going to be held to the fire on this "biggest technological leap ever in a generation" claim. And rightfully so.
HeisenbergFX4
Gold Member
The question is how is she being told they measured that?
Sounds like a statement Greenberg would have made without anything factual
Topher
Identifies as young
And that's my biggest concern.
HeisenbergFX4
Gold Member
The numbers floating out there says Xbox looked at a machine thats roughly 2x the power (TF wise) of the PS5 Pro so I guess if you are just counting TFs (which Xbox likes to do) it could be
Topher
Identifies as young
Geez....not teraflops again. First we have to know if they are talking about that dual-issue stuff or not. We've been that road already with the Pro. First it was 34 TF and then it was 17 TF. But even if it is truly 2X Pro in TF, there's got to be more to it to justify that claim. Folks will be looking at "generational leaps" in the context of the introduction of 3D to consoles and such. That's a bit more massive than going from a 6800 to a 7800 in GPU specs. We are literally talking about a rez bump that still needs upscaling to get to 4k/60 in many cases.
Time will tell, but I don't think Sarah Bond is doing herself any favors with this massive hype bit. She can go from hero to zero very quickly.
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Ashamam
Member
I cant really get my head around a premium console perhaps with a handheld option. The bulk of the market is just not going to buy in at the top end. If the hype is correct then it will have to be an expensive box. So the only way I see Xbox heading in this direction if they basically PC'ify the Xbox market. Maybe then Xbox builds the top box and licenses out for $500 box options. Idk, feels complicated and kind of counter to the whole point of fixed hardware targets that consoles offer. It was bad enough with two SKU hardware profiles this time around, imagine if it was 5, or 10! All with slightly (or fundamentally) different hardware profiles. What a mess that would be.
Then there is the possibility that "biggest technological leap" is an enormous stretch based on a focus change to NPU's with a switch to ARM to improve perf/watt. It just won't live up to the hype. After all it would kind of be a 1st generation hardware type scenario, you usually have to wait a few generations for full potential to be realised. Then there is the "paradigm shift" to take into account. So if you take that at face value its a major shift, whatever they are planning. But they are still constrained by available technology at the design lock, which if they are shooting for 2026, is basically now. Be very interesting to see how it comes together, my first expectation is that it won't be 2026, 2027 is more realistic for an in house generational release.
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adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
2X the power of PS5 Pro releasing in late 2025 or 2026. That would be a pretty significant move.
But outside of first party, it'll have the same 'issue' as the current gen where the game will be developed-first around running on the more popular brand, so many games will end up not using its strengths.
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Topher
Identifies as young
I don't have a good feeling about the boasting at all. They are making this out to be a revolutionary pivot in console gaming. I know they are big on AI these days, but I certainly hope they are not using that to make grandiose claims and then they turn out to be just another iterative step forward when the pixels hit the screen.
As far as PC'ifying Xbox, I think it would be brilliant if Microsoft could somehow merge PC gaming and Xbox gaming into a single box that still allows the freedom PC gamers must have but with a gamer friendly Windows UI. That's a tall order, but if MS wants to be successful in the hardware business, I think it would take that sort of shift.
Ashamam
Member
I was talking about the market though. As in opening up the hardware whilst keeping the software stack a closed garden.
But I agree that a hybrid machine could be more attractive than a stand alone high end Xbox. You could justify the expense for the extra functionality then. Especially if they beefed up remote streaming given its likely you would want the box in your living room. So you could imagine lower spec laptops in a house using the living room XboxPC as the the gaming source. Its still pretty niche though, likely attractive to people here, but not so much your average low tech console gamer.
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thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Member
I don't really see how Xbox systems made by companies other than Microsoft pans out financially, unless it's something between the following:
-Simple "Xbox" license for 3P OEMs (why would OEMs pay for a license to slap on a PC device, particularly a brand that's been on the decline?)
-"Xbox" license paired with some Xbox UI console-like frontend running on a custom/lightweight Windows environment (non-essential utilities, services etc. turned off)
-"Xbox" license paired with a Windows license and the console-like frontend OEMs can customize to their own tastes (like if SEGA licensed one, they could customize their version of the frontend to mimic the Dreamcast or Saturn's UIs)
-"Xbox" license paired w/ Windows license, console-style frontend (customizable), & standardized hardware spec/blueprint (with some other incentive like Microsoft handling wafer orders and fabbing with Intel on Intel foundries). Like some multi-package licensing deal.
The first option would be the cheapest & easiest, but also quite worthless to pursue, and come off like a cash-grab. The last option would require the most effort (outside of Microsoft making hardware devices themselves, which would also be possible), but offer the best results. Could also result in something like a Big Picture consolized gaming mode for Windows based on the Xbox UI.
Personally I don't think they're just referring to power here, especially just things like TF or that ilk. "Biggest leap yet" could be alluding to other things outside of just the power narrative (even though, naturally, there should be a substantial gain for the next hardware vs. Series X in those typical metrics).
Which, well, hasn't even panned out for Xbox the past ten years. Some Ws' with One X aside, tho a lot of that is because of how undercooked the XBO was.
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Mortisfacio
Member
I think you misunderstood my post. To this point, everyone I know that's played the game or still playing it didn't buy it on Steam. I don't know a single person who owns it on Steam, which is why I'm more surprised it even hit 28k and even factoring in current numbers. My Dad, for example, is playing it on Game Pass.
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Yes. It's called Playstation.
Hudo
Member
Would be pretty cool, tbh.
TropicanaTwista
Member
1) I don't think that is necessarily true. RE4 is probably in my top 10 games ever. I tried to play it in 2018 (so wayyyy before it was remade) and it was unplayable to me. Probably put 90 mins into and had to uninstall due to the dated controls. I will never forget the memories of playing it for the first time in the mid to late 2000s and how awesome that game was. But today, in 2024, it's a bad game (again the original, haven't played the remake yet).
2) It's not like I'm against it per say, it's just this is overboard. They have a freaking team. Thats a shit ton of time, resources and money for a feature that barely gets used. I get Gaf is a video game enthusiast board so a lot here will disagree but people aren't buying consoles to just play old games.
King Dazzar
Member
Yeah, got to be careful with some of these statements from MS. For all we know, the team will be spending time ensuring current BC works on some yet to be announced new hardware. Rather than us all assuming its to work on further preserving very old historic games. Or, the team is made up of staff focused primarily on other projects, who attend a BC meeting once a month and dont do anything unless they need to.
DeltaPolarBear
Member
The Microsoft Enterprise side of the business had always been maintaining backwards compatibility. It doesn't always work well, but it works well enough.
The way I read it, there will be an Xbox Mode in the future. Basically a built-in Xbox emulator, in Windows. That would allow it to run legacy Xbox software. Software only though; doubt they would bother to let you run discs. I interpret their claim about working on forward compatibility, is to convert as many disc-only games to software mode as they find viable. And then just let people rescue most of their library of Xbox games as they could on PC.
I don't expect Third Party Xbox labelled PC boxes to be popular. But since it is third party made, Microsoft wouldn't really CARE if it fails.
The existence of this semi-PC Xbox is to pretend next gen Xbox will still come out. It is all about minimizing customer backlash while letting them down gently.
The way I read it, there will be an Xbox Mode in the future. Basically a built-in Xbox emulator, in Windows. That would allow it to run legacy Xbox software. Software only though; doubt they would bother to let you run discs. I interpret their claim about working on forward compatibility, is to convert as many disc-only games to software mode as they find viable. And then just let people rescue most of their library of Xbox games as they could on PC.
I don't expect Third Party Xbox labelled PC boxes to be popular. But since it is third party made, Microsoft wouldn't really CARE if it fails.
The existence of this semi-PC Xbox is to pretend next gen Xbox will still come out. It is all about minimizing customer backlash while letting them down gently.
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sendit
Member
It also sounds like they realized Series S was a mistake that anchored the Series X. Cut our losses now and move forward to next gen.
- In the emails, Sarah Bond reiterated Microsoft's plans to build new Xbox hardware focused on delivering "the biggest technical leap ever in a generation."
it sound like an early release of the new Xbox
We Will see
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II_JumPeR_I
Member
Just cant stand her fakeness.
The always same cringe PR lines and tweets from her...
The always same cringe PR lines and tweets from her...
Feel Like I'm On 42
Member
FINALLY MS does something GOOD!
Now if they would just reinstate the BC program and get back to the great work they were doing with that. They could make a lot of Xbox owners very happy if they started patching some of the Xbox One exclusives that never got updated for higher resolution and fps! Just patching like Sunset Overdrive, Forza Horizon 3, Ryse, Dead Rising 3, Quantum Break etc would bring excitement and good will back to Xbox!
Now if they would just reinstate the BC program and get back to the great work they were doing with that. They could make a lot of Xbox owners very happy if they started patching some of the Xbox One exclusives that never got updated for higher resolution and fps! Just patching like Sunset Overdrive, Forza Horizon 3, Ryse, Dead Rising 3, Quantum Break etc would bring excitement and good will back to Xbox!
Bumblebeetuna
Member
Bumblebeetuna
Member
Yep, especially since this gen has been so underwhelming imho.
Kacho
Gold Member
ChorizoPicozo
Member
I finally listened to jizz Corden and extrapolated with what a dev said about Xbox on the GDC: "directionless".
that assessment seems correct.
that assessment seems correct.
DeltaPolarBear
Member
When it is no longer Microsoft's responsibility to sell the hardware, they have no reason to care when next gen is.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Its too bad XBLIG games were never BC on Xbox systems. Some of those $1 games were rock solid. Much better than the typical $10-15 XBLA game. But poof. All gone unless you got an old 360 lying around.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Even if it's being made by an external vendor, as long as it is Xbox branded and licensed, it's up to them when it comes out.
YEET
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Takes a special level of confusion to assume the next Xbox console won’t be R&D’d , designed and made by Xbox, even if there’s really an option for third party OEMs to make versions built around the same baseline spec.
How is a leaked, internal email detailing a factual metric in one paragraph ‘xbox pr bulllshit’?
Even if it's being made by an external vendor, as long as it is Xbox branded and licensed, it's up to them when it comes out.
You read some stuff here and you just have to wonder at the thought process behind them
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Ashamam
Member
Because this is how MS does their marketing. Internal emails intended for external consumption as much as internal.