New Xbox & AI CEO announced via Twitter ( not calling it x) the new “hybrid” console that will play Xbox and PC games.
In other words you know just a PC. Thus far it seems the system will use the exact same Xbox desktop experience as the “rog ally”.
While we all saw it coming and there isn’t much surprise. This to me says Xbox is dead as a platform.
It’s going to be expensive, it’s going to have Windows. It’s going to have co-pilot it’s going to have the same pop ups.
At least we get an Ally ROG desktop at most a Surface Gaming Desktop. Either honestly is a terrible idea. There will be most affordable options not tied to windows there will be mode powerful options at the same price. Even if you like the idea of going all in PC gaming this won’t be your best option.
If you want to stay a console gamer you’re going to have to switch teams …
RIP Xbox.
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Steam Machine, Steam Deck, Steam Frame. Pick your level of console.
Steam EVA Unit is my pick.
Only if it’s Gabe shaped
I need the gaben Eva to vore me
If you pilot from the stomach area you would have extra padding
… Thanks, I’ve discovered an entirely new form of hatred, thanks to that comment.
List of things I buy the instant they will take my money. Also, grapheneos phone.
Steam desktop + moonlight is sick as fk and doesn’t need new hardware.
If your going Pc pre built route to me Valve built is the answer.
But to me this more lies with concerns with a true blue console experience.
Most people believe Microsoft will have little no success with this strategy either. Outside of hopes to “disrupt” steam machines market share I can’t see this going anywhere.
No matter how you slice it , I think it’s over.
Is anything in the tech world interesting or good any more? I remember being excited 20 years ago for new inventions. Now its slop, slop, slop, authoritarian surveillance fascism, slop slop slop
Foss projects and indie games are about the only interesting thing now.
I’ll go back to 2005 soon as someone invents a Foss time machine !
Imagine a non-FOSS time machine
We’ve successfully transferred your right foot to 2005! Please subscribe to our Premium plan to unlock full-body transfers.
So the pick me finally shows her hand.
I actually think it’s a great idea. The problem is that Microslop is behind it.
Yeah it can be , and Steam already did it and better. But it’s still not a console experience. It’s closer but it’s not equivalent. And for what Xbox has represented this isn’t it …
I think it’s “console enough” that it could still work. Current consoles are really just locked-down PCs anyways.
It’d be no different than the OtherOS functionality on first-run PS3 consoles that allowed them to boot into Linux. Perhaps simpler than that even, given that current consoles already use standard PC hardware and not the Cell architecture the PS3 ran on.
You know, I’m okay with this. If it makes PC gaming more accessible, and if it offers meaningful competition for the Steam Machine, it’s good to have options. Sure it’s Windows, but if it’s just a PC running an Xbox UX, I’m sure you could change the OS to whatever else if you want.
If anything, it does make the PS6 a less appealing choice, because why pick a dedicated console when you can get an (assuming) comparably strong, comparably priced gaming PC?
To me there is some value in having a true console experience. Put a disc in you know it works. Download a game and it plays as good as you can.
Even with Steam Deck you can download games that won’t work or won’t work well.
A lot of people don’t have the patience for that. And so long as consoles can stay under the PC equivalent price I think there will be value.
That doesn’t exist anymore. Can’t even play Nintendo without it asking for updates to the system and MarioKart.
The issue is most games nowadays don’t work on day one, and you’ll probably have to download patches for it. The main selling point of plug and play for consoles is almost irrelevant with current publisher (and possible development) practices in the industry.
Thats why i just bought a dreamcast again after I had one 20 years ago. Awesome community and so many games, many of which never got popular but are so good. Consoles have few issues and are super easy to repair.
Consoles died when they ushered in “avatars” and constant internet connectivity bullshit. Xbox 360 was the start of the trash.
Dreamcast even has a nice little online gaming community now!
Here’s hoping it still has that functionality, I don’t see a reason why it couldn’t.
PC gaming has come a long way that most games nowadays just work, even on Linux. I’m surprised at how many games work without even forcing Proton and no bugs at all, except those that also exist for Windows. That and my controller is seamless. Even VR is working better now.
On the other side, it seems console gaming is more complex than it needed to be and we’ve seen how consoles actually hold back gaming, as a whole, like the situation with the Xbox Series S that has forced developers to either cut content or remove features to make it compatible as that is Microsoft’s requirement when developing a game to be released for their consoles. I don’t remember hearing it, but I’m sure the same is true for the PlayStation side too with the lower end model. Whereas that doesn’t happen for PC exclusive releases. If your PC won’t run it, it’s probably because it’s outdated and that’s a you problem, not something everyone else needs to suffer for because a company like Microsoft is forcing devs to make it compatible with outdated/lower end hardware.
I can’t remember trying a game on my Steam Deck and it didn’t work. Unless you mean setting up a Proton version, then I’ve had that, but the game eventually runs in 9 out of 10 cases. That is exclusive to non-Windows OSes and it could be solved by automating based on the db and make the setting easier to find and change for users, maybe even prompt the user to try another Proton version kind of like Windows’ troubleshooter when it detects a program didn’t install or run correctly. Or when devs make their games natively work with Linux/macOS like they do for Windows which is why games just work there. And if the game doesn’t run well, you just lower the settings which I’ve done for many games with no trouble. Even console games now have the same settings to lower quality to get better performance.
Microsoft Xbox hardware wasn’t going to be competitive in sales with Sony or Nintendo. Maybe now they can be competitive with ASUS ROG and Lenovo Legion and Dell Alienware
EDIT: As @[email protected] has pointed out, that Windows 12 article has been debunked, not just by outside sources, but by PCWorld itself at this point. The article itself has a large disclaimer on it now, and they have a breakdown on how the story got published in the first place:
Original Comment:
This actually tracks completely with the news about an incoming Windows 12 announcement and in particular the claim about Windows 12 being modular. The description has claimed that it will make certain aspects of Windows able to be added or removed at will. Meaning options like a “minimal” desktop installation that has very few options, no PowerShell, no Terminal, no access to a majority of common Windows features, and very little control of the OS other than changing the desktop background.
In other words, this new “Project Helix” or whatever will be a stripped-down version of Windows 12 with everything non-gaming-related removed, including access to half the system settings I’m sure.
Windows central is reporting that the windows 12 rumor is bs. I think they went so far as to call it an AI slop fabricated story.
AI slop
They definitely didn’t use that terminology though, with how hard they’re pushing back against the “Microslop” term. Thanks for the update, however.
Windows Central? They’re not affiliated with MS, unless they also don’t like the nickname.
More importantly, it looks like PCWorld is retracting the article and has issued a post mortem on how it got published.
This is reminding me of how Ars Technica recently metaphorically stepped in it in regards to AI BS in a story less than a month ago. What an information nightmare we’re wading into
Microsoft has no interest in scaling back windows especially for the sake of user experience. The want Ai in your face they want ads for you to upgrade to office 365.
So while they could do all of this even with a modified version of Windows 11 , they won’t.
I mean, I would argue that having to pay for access to different parts of Windows, like say access to PowerShell or access to more advanced features and settings has been part of the way they make money for a long time. That’s why their used to be “Home,” “Pro,” and “Enterprise” versions all with various levels of capability. So while it looks like the original article has been debunked, I would think that offering stripped-down versions of Windows would just serve as a way to push upgrades to more full featured versions the same way they press you to upgrade to Office 365.
They can gate it , and still have you install it. Doesn’t mean they have to modulate it out. If sub === home disable things
For sure, but that always gives advanced users the option to ungate it through the registry. The benefit to them of having it be “modular” would to be able to completely restrict even power users from being able to free their OS to use how they actually want to.
Once again, the original article was debunked, so we’re talking hypotheticals here anyway, a modular version isn’t coming.
The thing that bothers me about switch to “it’s just a branded PC now” is the loss of the Xbox as a low-end performance target.
That’s one advantage of being a console gamer: Your games may never look the best, but new AAA games will come out and run acceptably well on your system, long after low-spec PCs are left for dead by publishers.
When the Steam Machine appears, it may take over that role.
I’m intrigued by the Project Helix, but, then I remembered it’s made by Microslop…Do not trust the thing, as like you said it will come will all the nastiness of Coslop, and probably be used to peddle all their online shit. I’ll be waiting for the Steam Machine instead of dropping a ton of money on this Microslop creation. As I kept telling myself that the Xbox Series S in my living room is the last Microslop made hardware that will exist in my household.
If I can get my Xbox game library and saved progress onto the PC, great. Sucks I’ve double bought some titles but whatever I guess.
The PC cannot currently play non-ported Xbox games at this time, though. I get why you’re saying “just a PC” but that’s a distinction worth noting. I hope the PC platform in general will gain the ability to play all Xbox games and not just Xbox branded hardware. I also hope PCs gain the ability to use some of the features that are nice about Xbox (mainly Quick Resume).
Could be that they add that functionality into Windows. There’s nothing special about newer games that run on Xbox, they’re all x86 applications. Microsoft could just release the Xbox middleware as its own app and allow Xbox games to work on whatever PC it’s installed on, which is basically all that an Xbox is right now.
For older games (360 and OG Xbox), just do the same thing with the emulator that they currently run through.
Yeah, I’m hoping they don’t wall that stuff off from the general PC space for business reasons.
No matter how you slice it, it’s going to be emulation. And people will and already can emulate without Microsoft’s “experience”. I doubt it will even have an optical drive!
In fact I’d argue there is no reason to wait for their hardware. Buy or build something now. You can play all the same games. Get an emulator and do the same …
Their emulation work is one of the few bright spots of the Xbox platform on the past decade. Things like FPS boost and Auto HDR are nice for improving older games. I’m not sure if any third party emulators can do the same, admittedly.
Independent emulation teams trying to keep older games alive are true heroes, but there is certainly something to be said for the quality of a competent team of first-party engineers who have access to all of the original code and architecture documentation. Truly some magic they were able to pull off.
I never upgraded from the Xbox One X and haven’t once felt like I’ve missed anything this entire generation.
My next console will be either a steam deck or just a living room PC running Linux.
It’s not in the budget right now though, so it depends what’s available when I decide to pull the trigger
Quick resume is pretty much the only thing about the Series X that has stood out for me. It’s nice being able to hop into multiple games without waiting for loads and being right back where you left off. It’s by no means a must have though. It’s way better than the PS5’s equivalent.
While not quite the same thing: sleeping in the middle of a game is something that every platform other than Windows can do. Linux, including the Steam Deck, can just go to sleep in the middle of the game and bring you right back to where you were before putting it to sleep.
If this new Xbox is Windows-based, they are going to lose not only the sleep ability, but also the quick resume you point out.
What they’re describing isn’t just going to sleep, but putting a game on pause, doing whatever else you want (such as playing a different game) and then resuming exactly where you left off.
It’s basically just dumping the RAM to a file and loading it later, same as an emulator save state.
If you want to stay a console gamer you’re going to have to switch teams …
Heh
This doesn’t really say much that they haven’t said before at this point. Hopefully Steam Machines win out in the long run.
The writing was on the wall a long time ago when they were making cuts and seeking partnerships with Sony to stay afloat.
