Windows 10 and Xbox One

[Dark Drakan]

Last night Microsoft hosted the Windows 10 media briefing and there was some very interesting features and news for PC gamers and Xbox One owners alike.
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• The Xbox App. Whether you only game on the PC, the console or both, the Xbox app brings together the most important aspects of your gaming life: Games, Friends, Messages, Activity Feed, your gaming legacy with Achievements, and much more.
• Xbox Live and multiplayer across devices. Xbox Live is social, interactive, and seamlessly integrated directly into Windows 10, bringing gamers the experiences they love across devices, like multiplayer gaming on Windows 10 against players on an Xbox One, and messaging and chat with friends. And developers will get full access to the Xbox Live API, making it easier to create more powerful gaming scenarios across devices.
• Game Streaming. Thanks to the deep integration of Xbox on Windows 10, games on Xbox One can be streamed through your home network to your Windows 10 PC or tablet, anywhere in your house. Xbox One gamers will now be able to play many of their favorite console games on their PC. And many Xbox One accessories will work interchangeably on the console and PC (with more on the way), so you can customize your experience in whatever way you see fit.
• DirectX 12. We’ve enhanced our graphics technology to squeeze every ounce of performance out of your supported hardware and open up a new wave of innovation for high-end graphics. Delivering greater complexity and detail on your current PC, games authored or updated for DirectX 12 are able to run faster and have richer visuals. And this technology is already in the hands of developers today. The engines used to power hundreds of games are implementing DirectX 12, including Unreal Engine 4 from Epic and, as we announced today, Unity.
• Game DVR. On Xbox One, one of the most popular features used by gamers is Game DVR, which gives simple access to recording, editing, and sharing out your most epic gaming moments. It’s not easy or consistent to do that for PC games today. We’re bringing this beloved feature to Windows 10, now accessible by simply pressing Windows+G. With the games you love playing – whether on Xbox Live, Steam, or other services – you can record, edit, and share game clips with all your social networks.
• Fable Legends. Today we announced that we are bringing Fable Legends to Windows 10 PCs, day-and-date with the Xbox One version in 2015. This means Fable fans running Windows 10 will be able to play against their fellow gamers on Xbox One. It’s the same game, in the same world, on the same map. Fable Legends is just the first of the major game franchises from Microsoft Studios coming to Windows 10 and we will have more to share in the coming months.

In the next week, anyone will be able to download the Windows 10 Tech Preview to begin interacting with an early version of the Xbox app. We’ll post a video walkthrough of the app in the coming weeks so you can have a closer look at the initial features available to gamers.

Now, while Xbox is coming to Windows, Windows 10 is also coming to Xbox One. As you know, Xbox One runs on Windows today for its app environment. Later this year we’ll update to Windows 10 to enable seamless interaction with PC gamers and to give developers who want to extend their applications to the television an easy path to do so.

Today marks a new era in gaming for Microsoft, and we’re looking forward to sharing more about what Windows 10 means to Xbox One at Game Developers Conference in March.


Phil Spencer Unveils New Experiences for Xbox One and Windows 10 Gamers

Microsoft have also demoed Steam on the update too meaning you can access your library from the app also as well as a new 'holographic' headset & interface...

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[xMobilemux]

Era of headaches is near.

 

[Innsmouth]

the more I read the more I get feeling Xbone is about to fall out of relevance and just turn into gaming PC

 

[Dark Drakan]

the more I read the more I get feeling Xbone is about to fall out of relevance and just turn into gaming PC

I think its great and consoles are heading towards gaming PC's at the moment (though way behind in specs) the features that are now coming to consoles have been on PC for some time. Nice to see more of the social gaming features and apps now appearing on consoles too and being able to merge accounts and stream from both for example will help lots of people.

It makes perfect sense to blend the lines between platforms and being able to game seamlessly on Xbox One and PC and merge accounts is great for me personally as they are going to be my main 2 platforms. Being able to stream my Xbox One onto my PC will help too as my XB1 is upstairs and PC will be downstairs, means I dont have to move to play both and can access Steam via XB1 and vice versa.

PC's are becoming smaller too and with Steam Machines and the Alienware ranges trying to appeal to console gamers (though price is far too high) it seems they are all heading in the same direction for once and that is positive news for gamers. Cross platform play intrigues me too and as would love to be able to play with XB1 friends from PC and vice versa. Would love there to be a time when all platforms could cross play with each other (though doubt it would happen) but I want all gamers to be united.

PC gamers have been asking Microsoft to concentrate on PC gaming again for years and now they are bringing the benefits of the Xbox to PC and vice versa so I think both sets of fans should be happy with these announcements. With each console getting closer and closer to PC features it makes me wonder how far Microsoft will take this and if they might end up at some point down the road taking the SteamBox etc route and merging Xbox with PC and releasing an Xbox that resembles a PC even closer and further merging it with the PC market and PC gaming plaforms. I mean years ago Microsoft wouldnt have even acknowledged Steam but now they are using it to showcase new features, shows how far they have come in the last 10 years.

Era of headaches is near.

I think the concept is fantastic but not really something im interested in for gaming. However I think the engineering sector as well as other sectors like medical could really benefit from this sort of tech.

 

[Innsmouth]

I think its great and consoles are heading towards gaming PC's at the moment (though way behind in specs) the features that are now coming to consoles have been on PC for some time. Nice to see more of the social gaming features now appearing on consoles too. It makes sense to blend the lines between platforms and being able to game seamlessly on Xbox One and PC and merge accounts is great for me personally as they are going to be my main 2 platforms. Being able to stream my Xbox One onto my PC will help too as my XB1 is upstairs and PC will be downstairs, means I dont have to move to play both and can access Steam via XB1 and vice versa.

PC's are becoming smaller too and with Steam Machines and the Alienware ranges trying to appeal to console gamers (though price is far too high) it seems they are all heading in the same direction for once and that is positive news for gamers. Cross platform play intrigues me too and as would love to be able to play with XB1 friends from PC and vice versa. Would love there to be a time when all platforms could cross play with each other (though doubt it would happen) but I want all gamers to be united.

Oh, well from mp stand point of view it makes sense....But as somebody who interested in sp exclusives, I feel Xbox is really doesn't serves it purpose anymore for me, since all exclusives coming to pc as well

 

[Dark Drakan]

Oh, well from mp stand point of view it makes sense....But as somebody who interested in sp exclusives, I feel Xbox is really doesn't serves it purpose anymore for me, since all exclusives coming to pc as well

Plenty of exclusives im interested in still coming to XB1 and justifying having both platforms, though I am happy more games are coming to PC too as that will be my other gaming platform. I will likely buy decent amount of SP only games on my PC (far cheaper) and then multiplayer will depend on how many friends I have who play it online on both platforms. Will be good to be able to play online between platforms so I dont have to choose one group of friends on one platform over the other.

But yeah most who ONLY game on PC will have less reasons to buy a console for its exclusives with more coming to PC too, however with the features of both blending together it might encourage more people to stream from XB1 and use its social features over the PC as they are more streamlined on consoles and easier to use. With ability to further edit content between platforms it will help Youtubers, streamers and those who like to edit footage and walkthroughs of titles without having to convert footage and transfer from one to another before editing. Im happy I will be able to access my Steam library on my XB1 and my XB1 games from my PC. Im also happy more PC exclusives are coming to consoles than ever too, I want as many people to be able to play certain games as possible.

 

[Innsmouth]

Plenty of exclusives im interested in still coming to XB1 and justifying having both platforms, though I am happy more games are coming to PC too as that will be my other gaming platform. I will likely buy decent amount of SP only games on my PC (far cheaper) and then multiplayer will depend on how many friends I have who play it online on both platforms. Will be good to be able to play online between platforms so I dont have to choose one group of friends on one platform over the other.

Well I only interested in Dead Rising 3 (already on PC) and Scalebound (if it hits I'm fine without xbox). So maybe that's the reason

 

[The Final Offer]

Wont be long before PS4 and X1 announce that they are willing to let us play online together.

 

[Dark Drakan]

Wont be long before PS4 and X1 announce that they are willing to let us play online together.

I wish it would happen but would need them both to start using the same network infrastructure and dont know if they would ever do that. Happy with PC owners and XB1 owners being able to play together however and I believe PS4 will be using cross play with PC more also. Microsoft are said to be looking at a way to stream PC games to XB1 in the same manner that we can now stream our XB1 games to devices with Windows 10. As a gamer I am happy to see more platforms being able to be integrated into each others systems and sharing features etc.

 

[The Final Offer]

I wish it would happen but would need them both to start using the same network infrastructure and dont know if they would ever do that. Happy with PC owners and XB1 owners being able to play together however and I believe PS4 will be using cross play with PC more also.

Yup, beforehand it was revealed that Street Fighter 5 is going to allow PS4 owners to play with PC owners.

From the looks of it, im thinking Hellblade will be multiplayer with this option in mind.

 

[Dark Drakan]

Yup, beforehand it was revealed that Street Fighter 5 is going to allow PS4 owners to play with PC owners.

Microsoft said they wont force developers to include this feature so will be down to the developers if they want to allow this, so I imagine the same thing will be happening on PS4 too. Hopefully we shall see more and more cross platform play games starting to pop up in the future on both.

 

[Super90sgamer]

Is Phil Spencer teasing Battletoads at windows 10 event?

 

[Dark Drakan]

Is Phil Spencer teasing Battletoads at windows 10 event?

He likes to wear shirts of games he is a fan of so wouldnt read too much into his attire, but he was known for wearing a State of Decay shirt at another event and it was announced for XB1 recently.

 

[Dark Drakan]

The New Xbox One Experience Started Rolling Out To Preview Members Sept 18th.

A redesigned Home to help you truly jump in. While keeping the main section concentrated on your task at hand (say, getting back to playing Gears of War: Ultimate Edition), we’re introducing vertical scrolling and a rearranged interface to provide faster and easier access to your most-recently accessed games and apps. You can also easily share your achievements and clips with the Xbox Live community, see whether your friends are playing the same games, and enjoy one-click access to Game Hubs to get news and updates from the publishers themselves. Engaging socially on Xbox One just got a lot quicker.

Quickly jump to Pins and My Games and Apps. At the bottom of Home, you’ll have quick access to the games and apps that you have pinned. You can quickly jump between your pins and most recently played game by using the triggers on your controller. Right trigger will take you straight to your pins. A pull of the left trigger will take you back to your most recently played game or app.

A new guide for fast access to essentials. A new Guide lets you quickly access essentials with just one button press, and without leaving your game, to save time spent weaving in and out of apps. You can access the Guide from Home by pressing left or double tap the Xbox button on your controller to instantly overlay the Guide.
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  • Friends and Parties – See which of your friends are online, join their parties, or click a button to instantly start a party and then add friends to it.
  • Notifications – Instead of having to go back to Home to launch the Notifications Center full screen, new notifications will show up directly in the Guide and be grouped to make them quicker and easier to navigate.
  • Messages – Just like notifications, multiple messages from a given friend will be both quickly accessible from the guide and neatly grouped.
  • Settings – Frequently-accessed settings like headset volume will be up-leveled in the settings section of the guide to make them quicker to get to in the guide while you are playing a game.
  • Snap – You now access your snap apps from the guide. In addition, apps snap to the left instead of the right.

OneGuide is your single destination for TV, movies, and video apps. Anchored to the right of Home, OneGuide is the place to quickly and easily see what’s trending on live TV and what’s new to stream across your favorite apps. With the new OneGuide, you’ll spend less time browsing and more time watching.
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  • Live TV – Keeping with our focus on speed, OneGuide’s TV listings come up instantly and in full-screen, showing more channels at once. We also added picture-in-picture mode for TV, so you can browse OneGuide without missing what’s happening in your show.
  • Movies and TV shows – Explore more movies and TV shows with dedicated galleries, highlighting the best that Xbox has to offer from live TV and apps.
  • App channels – Discover new things to watch through curated channels of streaming video from apps like Hulu and FOX NOW. Accessible from the dashboard and throughout OneGuide, app channels help you find what to watch faster.

A new, easier to navigate Store. To the right of OneGuide, the new and improved Store features:
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  • Four easy to access areas – Games, Movies and TV, Apps, and Music will have more real estate on the main Store page dedicated to surfacing top content to you.
  • New vertical gallery view – Using Games as an example, the all-new vertical gallery view within each area affords more listings to be showcased at a glance and the listings themselves are optimized for easier browsing with intuitive categories like Featured Staff Picks, New Releases, Top Played, Top Rated, Coming Soon and Recommendations.

With the New Xbox One Experience, we’re optimizing our design and layouts for speed, which means changes to the existing UI and features. Inspired by fan feedback and usage data, we’ve made your experience more intuitive by reducing button-presses, jumps and load times. A few examples of how we’re doing this are:
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  • Game Hubs – With more entry points throughout the new experience, the new Game Hubs provide similar content as the current Game Hubs but by changing the design we have improved discoverability and speed.
  • Game DVR – You’ll now go to the Game DVR app, instead of the Upload app, to manage your clips and screenshots.
  • Achievements – Your game progress can be viewed on your profile and you’ll find achievements in the Game Hub for each game. If you want to track achievement progress in real time while you are playing, you can do that by snapping the Achievement Tracker app.

This first preview wave is just the beginning of delivering the New Xbox One Experience and Xbox One Backward Compatibility this fall. Between now and November, we look forward to taking Xbox One preview program members along the journey with us, rolling out new builds to preview and soliciting your feedback with the end goal of releasing the New Xbox One experience that you’ve been asking for. We’ll have more to share in the coming weeks, so please stay tuned and keep the feedback coming!​

 

[Dark Drakan]

Microsoft Edge now available to users testing Xbox One's Windows 10 update

According to many users Microsoft Edge is recording much faster load times than Internet Explorer and offers a much better browsing experience on the console.

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[ROCKMAN X]

• Xbox Live and multiplayer across devices. Xbox Live is social, interactive, and seamlessly integrated directly into Windows 10.
• Game Streaming. Xbox One can be streamed through your home network to your Windows 10 PC or tablet, anywhere in your house. .
• Game DVR. On Xbox One, one of the most popular features used by gamers is Game DVR, which gives simple access to recording, editing, and sharing out your most epic gaming moments. It’s not easy or consistent to do that for PC games today. We’re bringing this beloved feature to Windows 10, now accessible by simply pressing Windows+G. With the games you love playing – whether on Xbox Live, Steam, or other services – you can record, edit, and share game clips with all your social networks.
  
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The hell? why buy the Console when you can practically just do the same with a PC?​

 

[Dark Drakan]

The hell? why buy the Console when you can practically just do the same with a PC?​

I have a PC & an XB1 and they work great together. Loads of games I have on my XB1 that friends don't have on PC or they aren't on PC (still need the console to play them) & I know FAR more people who game on consoles than PC. I have also been streaming my XB1 to my PC so I don't have to go upstairs to play it & can alt and tab onto the forums in between. Also when wife steals the TV to watch something I send it to my PC monitor and carry on playing. I think it's great to have them both seamlessly work together and saves a lot of hassle with streaming & replying to messages between platforms.

Why only utilise the strengths of one platform when you can merge the strengths of both and get the best of both worlds?