Windows 10 and Xbox

I recently read an interesting piece of gaming news.

With the launch of Windows 10, Microsoft has repeatedly stated that they're committed to gaming. Well, companies have made statements and promises before that hold about as much water as the average politicians promises. But now things are getting interesting.

Microsoft is blurring the lines between PC and Xbox. It's already possible to stream games from your Xbox via your PC, but the lines are getting even blurrier. The plan is to start selling triple A games on the Windows store much like Steam or GOG, but for both PC and Xbox. So far there aren't more than a small handful of games there but that will no doubt change soon.

Case in point: Quantum Break.

This games was originally an Xbox exclusive, but it will also be released on PC. This is a good thing. I have always hated exclusives. It's wasteful and does nothing but foster resentment between the user of the different platforms.

Example: Bloodborne. I would love to play this game, but it's a PS4 exclusive and I'm not buying a Playstation to play one game. No way. There is, or rather was, a petition to bring Bloodborne to the PC. It got 49,708 signatures. Likewise there was a petition to stop this and keep Bloodborne a PS4 exclusive. It got 819 signatures. Why? Because of the “I'm a special snowflake” syndrome that some people get when they have tied something like a console or a car to their identity, and need to defend it.

Now, we could argue the merits and flaws of exclusivity until the cows come home, and yes I get why companies do it, but I still hate it. If Microsoft's plan works, there won't be any real differences between PC and Xbox games anymore. It'll only be a question of how you like to play games. On the couch in front of the TV or at your desk with keyboard and mouse? When a game is released on one platform it also comes out on the other. That only leaves the Playstation on it's own. And technically Nintendo, but they have always done their own thing regardless of the other industry giants, so they don't really count here.

This might make Sony even more defensive and isolationist, but it may also force them to open the gates and exclusivity will be but a distant memory. And frankly gamers shouldn't have to choose “sides”. You should be able to play any game you want, with the people you want (or alone), on the platform of your choosing. The platform wars are ridiculous, juvenile and only serve the companies, never the consumers.

Microsoft has admitted that there will be “growing pains” with this Universal Windows Platform, or UWP. An example of this is Rise of the Tomb Raider. If you buy it from the Windows Store you are force to play it in borderless full-screen mode and you can't turn off SLI. The same game on Steam allows you to change these things. Or so I'm told. And the game costs the same in both shops. Sure, I'm willing to give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt and time will tell. Either way there is a slim chance that this will allow gamers to have an even wider choice of games to play, and that is a good thing.

Here is some further reading:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2972866/software-games/how-the-xbox-one-and-windows-10-come-together-and-where-they-fall-apart.html

http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/gaming/649991/Windows-10-gaming-Xbox-One-update-Phil-Spencer-UWP

If that doesn't sate your appetite, Google 'Windows 10 gaming'. That should do it, and that does it for me. Until next time, have a great week!