Microsoft acquire ZeniMax Media. Sounds like everything will be exclusive to Game Pass platforms.

All comes down to the executives of the moment, innit.

The difference is staggering. Also, anyone who seriously argued about Gamepass being the best subscription service (and they were in here about a month ago along with the patented concern trolling "how can they keep this up ") now has that 'argument' made completely void.

KK wrote:

Wedgie wrote:Sony can’t afford Rockstar.

They could buy a percentage stake in the company, or any really, if such an opportunity presented itself.

Saint of Killers wrote:Thinking outside of the box by looking inwards... they could work closer with Sony Music Entertainment and make even better use of their Fate Grand Order games. (Which is hugely insulting to say when you look at revenues it generated as of JAN 2020 )

This way quite a way back (2000s) but I remember someone from Sony saying the gaming division and Sony Music don’t get on whatsoever, which was kind of amusing.

You'd think they'd look beyond to make more money.

Yeah, they hit the ground running with the 360 but then from the middle of that generation to the launch of the next, they lost it. They started getting back on track last gen and we're really seeing the improvements now with the Series X.

Saint of Killers wrote:

KK wrote:

Wedgie wrote:Sony can’t afford Rockstar.

They could buy a percentage stake in the company, or any really, if such an opportunity presented itself.

Saint of Killers wrote:Thinking outside of the box by looking inwards... they could work closer with Sony Music Entertainment and make even better use of their Fate Grand Order games. (Which is hugely insulting to say when you look at revenues it generated as of JAN 2020 )

This way quite a way back (2000s) but I remember someone from Sony saying the gaming division and Sony Music don’t get on whatsoever, which was kind of amusing.

You'd think they'd look beyond to make more money.

It apparently got to the point soundtracks for some Sony games were being released by a different third-party label instead of through Sony Music. I imagine Sony Music thought videogames were beneath them.

KK wrote:

Saint of Killers wrote:

KK wrote:

Wedgie wrote:Sony can’t afford Rockstar.

They could buy a percentage stake in the company, or any really, if such an opportunity presented itself.

Saint of Killers wrote:Thinking outside of the box by looking inwards... they could work closer with Sony Music Entertainment and make even better use of their Fate Grand Order games. (Which is hugely insulting to say when you look at revenues it generated as of JAN 2020 )

This way quite a way back (2000s) but I remember someone from Sony saying the gaming division and Sony Music don’t get on whatsoever, which was kind of amusing.

You'd think they'd look beyond to make more money.

It apparently got to the point soundtracks for some Sony games were being released by a different third-party label instead of through Sony Music. I imagine Sony Music thought videogames were beneath them.

Thinking about it, it doesn't surprise they can be so petty when even PlayStation US and Europe handled one another's exclusive releases so shabbily a gen ago or so. Hopefully, with the recent restructuring, they've put that small thinking behind them. Friendly rivalry is fine - but trying to hobble people on your own team? Pure psychopathy.

Saint of Killers wrote:

KK wrote:

Saint of Killers wrote:

KK wrote:

Wedgie wrote:Sony can’t afford Rockstar.

They could buy a percentage stake in the company, or any really, if such an opportunity presented itself.

Saint of Killers wrote:Thinking outside of the box by looking inwards... they could work closer with Sony Music Entertainment and make even better use of their Fate Grand Order games. (Which is hugely insulting to say when you look at revenues it generated as of JAN 2020 )

This way quite a way back (2000s) but I remember someone from Sony saying the gaming division and Sony Music don’t get on whatsoever, which was kind of amusing.

You'd think they'd look beyond to make more money.

It apparently got to the point soundtracks for some Sony games were being released by a different third-party label instead of through Sony Music. I imagine Sony Music thought videogames were beneath them.

Thinking about it, it doesn't surprise they can be so petty when even PlayStation US and Europe handled one another's exclusive releases so shabbily a gen ago or so. Hopefully, with the recent restructuring, they've put that small thinking behind them. Friendly rivalry is fine - but trying to hobble people on your own team? Pure psychopathy.

*Sega has entered the chat*

DarkRula wrote:Remember, when the Xbox PC app gets Game Streaming, it won't matter what type of PC you have as long as it can run the app. Anything on Game Pass is golden for everyone to play on just an internet connection, and that is what Microsoft is counting on the most.

Do we have any idea when this is coming? Had a quick search, but all the top results are about streaming to android devices.

That would be a great feature to have, and would basically remove any desire I had to get a new Xbox as a stopgap before getting my PC upgraded.

Tomous wrote:

Saint of Killers wrote:

KK wrote:

Saint of Killers wrote:

KK wrote:

Wedgie wrote:Sony can’t afford Rockstar.

They could buy a percentage stake in the company, or any really, if such an opportunity presented itself.

Saint of Killers wrote:Thinking outside of the box by looking inwards... they could work closer with Sony Music Entertainment and make even better use of their Fate Grand Order games. (Which is hugely insulting to say when you look at revenues it generated as of JAN 2020 )

This way quite a way back (2000s) but I remember someone from Sony saying the gaming division and Sony Music don’t get on whatsoever, which was kind of amusing.

You'd think they'd look beyond to make more money.

It apparently got to the point soundtracks for some Sony games were being released by a different third-party label instead of through Sony Music. I imagine Sony Music thought videogames were beneath them.

Thinking about it, it doesn't surprise they can be so petty when even PlayStation US and Europe handled one another's exclusive releases so shabbily a gen ago or so. Hopefully, with the recent restructuring, they've put that small thinking behind them. Friendly rivalry is fine - but trying to hobble people on your own team? Pure psychopathy.

*Sega has entered the chat*

Saint of Killers wrote:Thinking about it, it doesn't surprise they can be so petty when even PlayStation US and Europe handled one another's exclusive releases so shabbily a gen ago or so. Hopefully, with the recent restructuring, they've put that small thinking behind them. Friendly rivalry is fine - but trying to hobble people on your own team? Pure psychopathy.

Sony have always struggled with synergy and collaboration between their different divisions. Even now, you look at their audio. Best noise cancelling headset on the market, zero link-up and marketing with PlayStation. In fact it may not even be compatible. I don't know if it's a Japanese culture thing or not, but when you have Videogames, Movies, Music and Tech all under your ultimate control, why aren't you all working together.

You only have to look at the official Sony website and see how PlayStation is rarely promoted (the banner at the top sends you over to PlayStation.com). Head to Microsoft. What's front and centre? Xbox. Very first thing you see.

Knoyleo wrote:

DarkRula wrote:Remember, when the Xbox PC app gets Game Streaming, it won't matter what type of PC you have as long as it can run the app. Anything on Game Pass is golden for everyone to play on just an internet connection, and that is what Microsoft is counting on the most.

Do we have any idea when this is coming? Had a quick search, but all the top results are about streaming to android devices.

That would be a great feature to have, and would basically remove any desire I had to get a new Xbox as a stopgap before getting my PC upgraded.

They've been testing it internally since early this year - https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/20/2118 ... ce-preview

MS are putting in their Series X servers in xCloud to replace the current XB1S servers next year so sometime after that it'll come to PC.

Tomous wrote:Yeah, they hit the ground running with the 360 but then from the middle of that generation to the launch of the next, they lost it. They started getting back on track last gen and we're really seeing the improvements now with the Series X.

So basically things went to gooseberry fool when Don Mattrick took over, and started getting better again when Phil Spencer took over?

Knoyleo wrote:

DarkRula wrote:Remember, when the Xbox PC app gets Game Streaming, it won't matter what type of PC you have as long as it can run the app. Anything on Game Pass is golden for everyone to play on just an internet connection, and that is what Microsoft is counting on the most.

Do we have any idea when this is coming? Had a quick search, but all the top results are about streaming to android devices.

That would be a great feature to have, and would basically remove any desire I had to get a new Xbox as a stopgap before getting my PC upgraded.

Still in closed beta testing in-house and won't be available until after they upgrade the server blades that run the cloud gaming stuff to the Series X variant, which isn't happening until next year. Once those upgrades have been made, I'm sure it'd be less than a year before the cloud streaming for PC is available to the public.

Currently, streaming only goes to 720p, so for PC they'd want to give players the best possible graphics. Should you have a fast enough internet, no doubt you'd at least get 1440p easily. Possibly even 4K.

DarkRula wrote:

Knoyleo wrote:

DarkRula wrote:Remember, when the Xbox PC app gets Game Streaming, it won't matter what type of PC you have as long as it can run the app. Anything on Game Pass is golden for everyone to play on just an internet connection, and that is what Microsoft is counting on the most.

Do we have any idea when this is coming? Had a quick search, but all the top results are about streaming to android devices.

That would be a great feature to have, and would basically remove any desire I had to get a new Xbox as a stopgap before getting my PC upgraded.

Still in closed beta testing in-house and won't be available until after they upgrade the server blades that run the cloud gaming stuff to the Series X variant, which isn't happening until next year. Once those upgrades have been made, I'm sure it'd be less than a year before the cloud streaming for PC is available to the public.

Currently, streaming only goes to 720p, so for PC they'd want to give players the best possible graphics. Should you have a fast enough internet, no doubt you'd at least get 1440p easily. Possibly even 4K.

Ah right, not soon then.

Somebody Else's Problem wrote:

Tomous wrote:Yeah, they hit the ground running with the 360 but then from the middle of that generation to the launch of the next, they lost it. They started getting back on track last gen and we're really seeing the improvements now with the Series X.

So basically things went to gooseberry fool when Don Mattrick took over, and started getting better again when Phil Spencer took over?

Quite blatantly really.

Tomous wrote:

Somebody Else's Problem wrote:

Tomous wrote:Yeah, they hit the ground running with the 360 but then from the middle of that generation to the launch of the next, they lost it. They started getting back on track last gen and we're really seeing the improvements now with the Series X.

So basically things went to gooseberry fool when Don Mattrick took over, and started getting better again when Phil Spencer took over?

Quite blatantly really.

But again, we had folk on here arguing that Phil hasn't changed anything...

As someone that never got an Xbox One and never paid much attention to what they are doing, I've been so impressed now I've spent a couple of months really looking into it. The way they handle backwards compatibility bodes very well for scaling games between the S and X. All that is being done with the same code, that was written before the 360 existed, let alone the Xbox One and One X.

Knoyleo wrote:

DarkRula wrote:

Knoyleo wrote:

DarkRula wrote:Remember, when the Xbox PC app gets Game Streaming, it won't matter what type of PC you have as long as it can run the app. Anything on Game Pass is golden for everyone to play on just an internet connection, and that is what Microsoft is counting on the most.

Do we have any idea when this is coming? Had a quick search, but all the top results are about streaming to android devices.

That would be a great feature to have, and would basically remove any desire I had to get a new Xbox as a stopgap before getting my PC upgraded.

Still in closed beta testing in-house and won't be available until after they upgrade the server blades that run the cloud gaming stuff to the Series X variant, which isn't happening until next year. Once those upgrades have been made, I'm sure it'd be less than a year before the cloud streaming for PC is available to the public.

Currently, streaming only goes to 720p, so for PC they'd want to give players the best possible graphics. Should you have a fast enough internet, no doubt you'd at least get 1440p easily. Possibly even 4K.

Ah right, not soon then.

I've not actually tried it myself but wondering if it is possible to use an Android emulator on PC to run the current game streaming app that way? I'm sure the results would be less than what the native PC streaming app will eventually achieve but it might be an interesting experiment in the meanwhile!

GrinWithoutaKat wrote:As someone that never got an Xbox One and never paid much attention to what they are doing, I've been so impressed now I've spent a couple of months really looking into it. The way they handle backwards compatibility bodes very well for scaling games between the S and X. All that is being done with the same code, that was written before the 360 existed, let alone the Xbox One and One X.

They are a software company after all so yeah, the software approach to emulation has worked out very well.

Jenuall wrote:

Knoyleo wrote:

DarkRula wrote:

Knoyleo wrote:

DarkRula wrote:Remember, when the Xbox PC app gets Game Streaming, it won't matter what type of PC you have as long as it can run the app. Anything on Game Pass is golden for everyone to play on just an internet connection, and that is what Microsoft is counting on the most.

Do we have any idea when this is coming? Had a quick search, but all the top results are about streaming to android devices.

That would be a great feature to have, and would basically remove any desire I had to get a new Xbox as a stopgap before getting my PC upgraded.

Still in closed beta testing in-house and won't be available until after they upgrade the server blades that run the cloud gaming stuff to the Series X variant, which isn't happening until next year. Once those upgrades have been made, I'm sure it'd be less than a year before the cloud streaming for PC is available to the public.

Currently, streaming only goes to 720p, so for PC they'd want to give players the best possible graphics. Should you have a fast enough internet, no doubt you'd at least get 1440p easily. Possibly even 4K.

Ah right, not soon then.

I've not actually tried it myself but wondering if it is possible to use an Android emulator on PC to run the current game streaming app that way? I'm sure the results would be less than what the native PC streaming app will eventually achieve but it might be an interesting experiment in the meanwhile!

That's a shout, I've got a program installed that mirrors the screen of an android device via USB, so might be worth a go. That would mean having to go and get myself another controller though, to Bluetooth to the device, rather than my wired 360 pad.