Microsoft press conference
- Thread starter Titanio
- Start date
RobertR1 said:
Well, Sony already integrated PC and Console worlds with FF online. Do they get credit for being the first from you? I guess not. MS shows off some token PR claims and all of a sudden you're claiming some revolutionary new feature which has little to do with MS and everything to do with the game itself.
There's no reason why, for example, a Half Life 2 port to the XBOX360 can't play against a PC or a PS3 version, none whatsoever, except that developers may choose to partition the players and alter the server protocol and simulation scheme for each.
a688 said:
Exactly (it is developer that is responsible for it, not operating system vendor)
And? That's exactly the point. Every XBOX360 game won't be integrated with PC players on the internet. It will be hit and miss, piecemeal, and there is nothing in Vista that enables it.
scooby_dooby
Legend
DemoCoder said:
Isn't the idea that MS is building this service into their Live! infrastructure which should make this relatively painless for Developers, greatly increasing the likelihood it will get implemented?
Sure it won't be 100%, but they are pushing the technology, they are dedicating resources to making it easier for developers to implement. I don't think it's a very big deal, but hey, they deserve some credit for forward thinking.
Game network code is highly game specific. You don't delegate it to Microsoft. Unreal Engine 3's network layer and packet protocols are purely engine specific, not part of any MS API.
All MS can give you is login services, billing, game matching directory services, etc. These are all trivial and have little to do with whether two game ports can communicate.
Anyway, it will be lovely when it happens, because then I'll have fun OWNING all the console n00bs who think they can stand toe to toe in an FPS against a mouse wielding PC player. It will be GRIEFER time, and sooner or later, I think we'll be back to gaming Apartheid.
All MS can give you is login services, billing, game matching directory services, etc. These are all trivial and have little to do with whether two game ports can communicate.
Anyway, it will be lovely when it happens, because then I'll have fun OWNING all the console n00bs who think they can stand toe to toe in an FPS against a mouse wielding PC player. It will be GRIEFER time, and sooner or later, I think we'll be back to gaming Apartheid.
DemoCoder said:
I have some friends who're ridiculously good with the controller at FPS. I have NO idea how because I feel like a kid with downs when I try it but they're amazing. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. I do like the idea of integration though. The simpler, the better.
I don't see what's so unified about it tho. Games will still need to be ported. The only thing that would be unified is online game directory/lobby/login and content distribution. But EA, Vivendi, and others don't like this loss of control, essentially handling the customer relationship over to Microsoft. EA forced MS to backdown during the XBL Xbox1 days, remember? Remember EA games online access for PS/2 first before XBL because of this.
DemoCoder said:
From an end user perspective, all of these things are quite welcomed. Say Game A comes out for the PC and xbox 360 but lil Timmy only has xbox 360 while his friend Johnny ended up upgrading his PC instead of getting the xbox 360 and got the game for the PC.
They no longer have to worry about this. They can still play together. Timmy also does not need to call Johnny or check his schedule. They can see if the other is online and send a quick invite to play without ever having to use another method of communication except for the live interface. For MS, more importantly, they now have an extra customer on their Xbox Live service which they wouldn't have had before. So now they've shifted from selling not just hardware but also making money off users by offering them a service of convenience even if they do not purchase the hardware. It's a very good business plan. Still waiting to see how well it will be executed though. For the end user, it's not a bad deal at all.
DemoCoder said:
That is when Xbox has zero user base. Soon, MS will have marketing mechanisms to convince/sell all its MSN and XBLive consumers to buy DirectX games (whatever it's branded to the consumer). Beyond that, there will also be additional content to sell, and legitimate mechanisms for publishers to keep in touch with these consumers. These will bring values to the business folks.
scooby_dooby
Legend
DemoCoder said:
Unless they give us a lil' autoaim to balance it out, then all I gotta say is BOOM!....headshot!
RancidLunchmeat
Veteran
Do they even have to do that with their match making service?
If all M/Kb users are going to be so vastly superior because of the accuracy of their interface, they should ultimately have higher scores and wind-up in higher 'brackets' so the users would essentially be segregated anyway. Unless, of course, you actually wanted to play somebody who was playing on the PC.
And really, that's all MS has promised so far. Not that the playing fields would be level, and not that the two user groups would necessarily be intermingled. But only that players would be given the choice.
If all M/Kb users are going to be so vastly superior because of the accuracy of their interface, they should ultimately have higher scores and wind-up in higher 'brackets' so the users would essentially be segregated anyway. Unless, of course, you actually wanted to play somebody who was playing on the PC.
And really, that's all MS has promised so far. Not that the playing fields would be level, and not that the two user groups would necessarily be intermingled. But only that players would be given the choice.
scooby_dooby said:
In as much as linux, mac and windows players have been playing against each other on the same servers for a long time in the PC world (for free), this is not anything new. Nor was it something that depended on a common interface by one single provider (e.g. live!).
As DemoCoder says, for a developer it is "simply" provision of a common network code between platforms, and of servers that will be platform agnostic simply by the common network code. This is game specific protocol that a controlling provider (e.g. Microsoft) will not be able to anticipate, or help in any meaningful way.
Joe DeFuria
Legend
onanie said:
Please let me know when Sony says anything definitive about their own on-line service, thanks.
