• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Microsoft unifying PC/XB1 platforms, Phil implies Xbox moving to incremental upgrades

D

dancrane212

Member
Update - New Interview

jbug617 said:
Phil is on the Major Nelson podcast. Starts around 35 minute mark. He specifically talks about the hardware question around the 50min mark.
https://soundcloud.com/xbox/mnr-564-phil-spencer-the-1
Click to expand...

Phil Spencer interview with Engadget on the PC/Xbox.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsOTYqDKGUI

Still early so I may have missed/misinterpreted something but here are the main points I picked out.

Doesn't have a goal of making Xbox and Windows identical - wants "gamers to decide where they want to play their games". Talks about the distinction between playing on a couch with a controller vs a desk and keyboard.

No specific announcement for Halo on PC but they are looking at all their biggest franchise that would work well on PC and console and making them available to both audiences.

Look at what is going on in the PC/Phones (specifically mentions 2 years for phones) ecosystem in terms of visuals and screen technology improving over time as an idea of an iterative console. Making a cheaper and smaller console overtime is "important"* but wants to make sure taking your games with you and games improving is important.

Makes a point that backwards/forwards compatibility is incredibly important. Phil says Microsoft wants that to be a driving force for the platform.

Not a fan of staggered PC releases (can happen due to development though).

Makes a "ton of sense" for a user to buy a game and have it accessible on "multiple Xbox platforms". It would still be something that would be a publisher driven decision on where the games are available.

Battletoads shirt was for Rare Replay and KI not just a tease that he wore a shirt.
Click to expand...

*I wonder if the redesigned XB1 is going to have those technical improvements. Not a coexisting hardware update ala iPad 1/2 but one that actively replaces the previous iteration like we are used to with console redesigns.

---

XBOX_EVENT_0447.0.JPG
Click to expand...

http://www.polygon.com/2016/3/1/11121666/xbox-one-hardware-upgrades-phil-spencer-microsoft

In a speech to reporters, he said that the Xbox One could see a future in which it is upgraded, rather than replaced by new consoles. Spencer was talking about how Microsoft has sought to align its Windows 10 and Xbox One development activities under the internal "Universal Windows Platform" while offering backwards compatibility for many Xbox 360 games, now playable on Xbox One. He was addressing the concerns of some Xbox One owners that the exclusives destined for that console are appearing on PC, thus eroding the value of owning a console.

..."When you look at the console space, I believe we will see more hardware innovation in the console space than we've ever seen. You'll actually see us come out with new hardware capability during a generation allowing the same games to run backward and forward compatible because we have a Universal Windows Application running on top of the Universal Windows Platform that allows us to focus more and more on hardware innovation without invalidating the games that run on that platform."
Click to expand...

Things are certainly getting interesting.

---

http://www.theguardian.com/technolo...x-one-platforms-ending-fixed-console-hardware

“In other [consumer technology] ecosystems you get more continuous innovation in hardware that you rarely see in consoles because consoles lock the hardware and software platforms together at the beginning and they ride the generation out for seven or so,” said Spencer. “We’re allowing ourselves to decouple our software platform from the hardware platform on which it runs.”

What this could mean is that the Xbox One becomes more like a PC, with Microsoft releasing updated versions every year or so with more powerful processors and graphics hardware. And, in theory, because games will be written as UWAs, older titles will remain compatible with the new machines.
Click to expand...
 
T

TheLegendOfMart

Banned
Xbox One
Xbox One Plus

Xbox One S
Xbox One S Plus

Xbox One SE which is just the original Xbox One repackaged.

This is going to cause headaches for developers having to support multiple SKUs as well as future games being held back graphics wise like cross-gen. They are just doubling down on all the stupid decisions they have made this gen.
 
F

Femto.

Member
Not with the name Xbox One.

I don't mind the idea though. I'd see it as the way I do with phone upgrades or GPU upgrades that release far more often than new consoles.
 
N

Ninja Sharingan

Banned
Please do this!

If they encoorperate this it will mean that everything is future compatible. We need to lost "generations" and adopt a forward and backward compatible platform.

Sony should do the same
 
G

Goldenroad

Member
madmackem said:
Never ever has it worked.
Click to expand...

PC?

Why can't Microsoft just release their own versions of "steam machines", or whatever, but could call them "Xbox's", which will give people different entry levels at different prices, but since they are all running windows 10 and DX12 or whatever, they all have some baseline that they are starting at? So basically you buy stuff through the XBOX store and it will play on any "Xbox Ready" PC?

I don't know how impossible any of this is. I know zip about PC's in general, but PC's have certainly always worked as an upgradable platform.
 
JetBlackPanda

JetBlackPanda

Member
Could be OK for the right gamer. These days I want to spend ~$400 once and let my little machine play most games that gen. Otherwise I would just get a PC.
 
I

iMax

Member
I don't really understand why they can't do this. PC games cater for different configs, why can't console games cater for like one or two additional configurations?
 
ViolentP

ViolentP

Member
DoctorWho said:
I tell myself that... but.

I feel like I would get burned though.
Click to expand...

If they currently had a good library I would have more confidence in the upgrade. As it stands, all it will do is fissure the client base and introduce more issues. Something that is not in Microsoft's best interest to introduce at this juncture.
 
RowdyReverb

RowdyReverb

Member
Certain HW upgrades wouldn't be so hard for devs to leverage though, right? Like a SATA 3 HDD or something. Would higher clock speeds on the same architecture make things tricky?
 
X

Xone9

Banned
I would love to own a laptop that could play my XB1 games, so I don't have to lug around my XB1, make it happen Surface Xbook
 
D

darkinstinct

...lacks reading comprehension.
It makes sense given their current methods. They are basically taking the Steam Machine idea and doing it for Windows. Have the current Xbox One as the entry level, better SKUs for higher levels. They could run the same games with lower fidelity on the entry spec and up to 4k/60 on the high end spec.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Microsoft’s gaming chief hints that Xbox could get PC stores like Epic Games one day
Rumor 2 3 4 5
231
9K
Pedro Motta replied
Microsoft teases ultrapowerful next-gen Xbox — and maybe a handheld
News 3 4 5 6 7
308
20K
MarkMe2525 replied
A handheld Xbox? Microsoft’s gaming chief can’t stop thinking about it
2 3
113
4K
Reallink replied
  • Locked
Phillip W. Spencer III”Phil Spencer on Helldivers 2 Not Being on Xbox: 'I'm Not Exactly Sure Who It Helps'”
News
0
5K
gokurho replied
Phil Spencer Has Now Been Head of Xbox for 10 Years; We Look Back at His First Decade
4
480
Oppoi replied
Top Bottom