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[Teneb]

It's like they're trying to punish you for not buying an Xbox.

Trying? That's exactly the case.

[nenjin]

I don't think platform exclusives have ever truly driven platform adoption. Ubi, EA, all the rest? They've all had to open doors to their walled gardens in the name of profit eventually. I expect MS and their partners will end up in the same boat.

That, and I can't remember the last platform exclusive game that was really worth it.

[Jopax]

Thing is, they're competing with Steam now. And while they can take some punches in the process, how many devs/publishers will be? Because if they pay any attention they'l realise that an exclusive like that will fuck them over in terms of sales, both because they'd be missing out on a market like Steam and because people would be wary of trying the whole windows store thing.

Now imagine if Steam, or any of the big publishers decided to push back because they didn't want to bend over for MS just so that it can push for monopoly again. What do they do then?

[Shadowlord]

Valve already preemptively started - that's the whole point behind steamos etc.

[Sensei]

Hey, in case you weren't mad at something today, more news!


-More on Quantum Break: You can install the cinemas on Xbox, but they MUST be streamed on PC, forcing you to be online
From this article:

Quantum Break [official site] features full live-action episodes telling half of the game’s story... And, er, to see those episodes you’ll need to be online to stream the videos. It’s baffling.
...
It’d end up too big for an Xbox One disc, basically. But the puzzling bit is that while the Xbox One will have an option to download all the episode videos in advance and skip streaming, the Windows 10 version won’t. That’s the opposite of what I’d expect. Louden explained to Game Informer that the PC version will support 2160p-resolution videos, which would be hefty files but… PCs are not typically short of storage space. Baffling.

If I had to speculate on a motive for this, it'd be anti-piracy. I mean, the option 2160p videos are no doubt huge, but I can't imagine any other reason why they wouldn't have the option to download 1080p video, just like the Xbox which has a 500GB or 1TB hard drive. Most likely Microsoft is deliberately crippling the PC version of the game because PC users are just damn, dirty pirates and the only way to keep them in line is to force them to be online. Okay, I'm getting salty, but can anyone think of a better reason?

-Windows store doesn't adequately separate PC and non-PC games
It looks like nothing stops you from accidentally buying Gears of War Ultimate on your tablet, only to find out that tablets can't run it. I don't blame consumers at all for assuming that their tablet could run Gears, since it's a 9 year old game, but of course they only sell the beefed up DX12 version.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I expect that Microsoft can and will quickly address the fact that their store sells Universal Windows Apps that aren't actually universal with some kind of warning or install restriction soon, but part of the point of this thread is to observe whether or not Microsoft is fixing obvious problems, so I'll try to keep an eye on this.

[nenjin]

What a confusing mess.

[Ghills]

I'll just jump back in to say that Shadow has more or less unintentionally clarified what I think. I used GFWL. I liked it. My only problem with it was the fact that I couldn't play GFWL games and use my account on an xbox at the same time, but that was a relatively minor complaint.

Essentially I just see this as a good thing. Reading the link more thoroughly (I admittedly only skimmed through it before) shows it to be pretty undeserving of this reaction as well. From experience with the XBone, MS is actually really good with addressing customer concerns, and I trust that the 'notable' issues will be fixed in due time.

Also, "atrocious", really? Reaally?

There were a lot of people who had very serious technical problems with GFWL. Not to mention the really awkward usability / menus.  You got lucky, but that doesn't mean other's problems weren't real.

Part of the backlash is that the ethos of the MS store is against what a lot of people love about PC gaming - portability, customization, having options and control.  MS is clearly moving away from that to a more Apple-like model, and many users are very unhappy about that.  The Windows app store is the first time a lot of gamers are realizing that they aren't immune to the same forces that have already been impacting other areas of IT.

[Ghills]

Just gonna drive more people toward piracy. Let's hope TPP doesn't pass so all those nascent pirates don't face a firing squad.

Write your Congresscritter/whatever your national version is.  That's the only way they can know what their constituents' positions are.

[Ghills]

Valve already preemptively started - that's the whole point behind steamos etc.

MS started this with Windows 8, and Valve was smart enough to see what was coming.  SteamOS was a reaction to that, a way to give Steam customers a (barely) viable alternative once MS brings its near-monopoly of desktops to bear on the PC gaming market.

[Aklyon]

I'm kind of annoyed that Microsoft seems to insist on releasing gimped games on the PC. It's like they're trying to punish you for not buying an Xbox.

Well of course they are. They can't make windows into a console, people will just stay on older superior windows or linux. But they already can control everything on the xbox, and would rather you forgot that gaming works plenty fine on pc and buy their highly priced large electronic tv-based device instead, where exclusivity deals actually matter somewhat and piracy (allegedly) doesn't exist.

[BigD145]

I'm kind of annoyed that Microsoft seems to insist on releasing gimped games on the PC. It's like they're trying to punish you for not buying an Xbox.

Well of course they are. They can't make windows into a console, people will just stay on older superior windows or linux. But they already can control everything on the xbox, and would rather you forgot that gaming works plenty fine on pc and buy their highly priced large electronic tv-based device instead, where exclusivity deals actually matter somewhat and piracy (allegedly) doesn't exist.

The Xbox basically is a PC. Recent announcements are likely to yield a single OS across all hardware with MS's label on it. There won't be much hardware to speak of and you won't be able to change the specs at all without buying it from MS. Surface, Xbtwo, phone, the end. There's all your platforms.

[Aklyon]

So They want to compete with Steam and Apple at the same time. Great idea, clearly won't run into big problems or anything.

[BigD145]

So They want to compete with Steam and Apple at the same time. Great idea, clearly won't run into big problems or anything.

Windows is on most computers. It's not a stretch to nail down all that hardware.

[Aklyon]

Unless they go out and literally copy apple's 'You aren't using our special unicorn-blessed hardware spec, therefore you are doing things illegally even if you bought the device legally you evil criminal bastard', there is still going to be computers built out of whatever.

Do you have a link to the announcements?

[Ghills]

At least with Vulkan or whatever it's called, the OpenGL redesign releasing as a competitor to DX12, going full Linux is becoming more and more of a reality.

People thought that about OpenGL too.  Open source has downsides in terms of testing and design that just make it unlikely to take over enough of the computing world to make a dent in AAA gaming.  MS's strength really is dev tools and making living inside their ecosystem easy on content creators.  The only real chance Vulkan has, I think, is if the Windows store flops among dedicated gamers and major publishers take note of the rising Mac numbers. Linux is not going to be on the radar for anyone but indies.  We'll need a perfect storm to move way from DirectX.