The future of Gaming

After watching Ms E3, and the introduction of two gaming consoles, well lets be honest one of them was not shown and just people talking about what they hope to have next year, nothing official yet, they used words to insure it was not official like we hope to achieve 6 teraflops, and achieve 4k and vr gaming. It made me think about the conference as a whole, and what MS were doing, as a n xbox and playstation owner i love the fact playstation was all about games. However something struck me and that MS played their cards right and actually made more sense.

The main focus of that show was all about cross play, buy a game on one console and play it on pc. Strange, but the dust has settled and i thought it, and its a great thing and smart. How many times have people wished they could play someone on another console at the same game, how many times have peoples friends be unable to play each other because their on separate devices?, MS basically ended that debate, and now developers no longer need to worry about downgrading pc ports to consoles and being restricted to consoles power, if the data rumoured to be for the xbox scorpio is true then it can run basically the same power as a middle tear pc gaming machine. which will help developers great games on bigger scales they can even add 4k into the game settings so you won't need to buy separated disc version.

That brings me onto the idea of scorpio and the xbox one slim. I think its what people need, following the same path as apple and samsung, having multiple devices that run under the same system and aimed at different users. Take for example the macbook laptops, there is the macbook, macbook air, macbook pro all aimed at different people with different price tags, and they don't get refreshed every year, maybe every 2 years, even then its only minor tweaks inside no one notices, however what gets refreshed and tweaked is the operating system on a yearly basis, and microsft have said they are following suit on this idea for windows, it helps add new things to keep the product fresh with what is needed in modern life, things that have now become so popular and easy to use you forget that it was never in that system a year ago, think back to when everyone first got the smartphones, no one knew it was going to be so popular and many people thought it was a gimmick, and now ever device is a smart device. Youtube is another example, people take that for granted now because its used everyday. But the best example is the internet its self, when internet came out you had to put into your phone socket to connect and you was restricted by your phone company, it charged and was only free after a certain times, can you imagine doing that now and what that was only say less than 16/17 years ago, Back to the xbox using the same idea the past 3 years we have seen this with the xbox live system for console , getting feedback from people and adding things, like a faster dash board, easier way to shop , 360 games, 3d support, indicators for battery life on your console ( which i still laugh about to this day that the controller didn't tell you when you was running out of juice, when xbox one first came out ), even this year more updates to a successful platform such as music coming , support for lasagnes, more helpful stuff around gaming like sharing videos, meeting friends, finding competitions. ... yet one thing is missing, the updates don't seem to be universal ... until this year, xbox live now updates on pc tablets, mobiles and consoles, all features are to become available so no one gets left out. so where does that leave xbox as a console ... the answer is simple, the consoles become like the base models with a high end version in scorpio ( my guess is it will be called simply xbox or xbox pro ), and you get the causal user experience in xbox one and xbox s if you fancy some 4k content.

Xbox in a way is re branding itself , its stretching out what was already a large scale community and letting all devices talk with one another under one banner the xbox live. when scorpio is out , it won't be a new system where you have to xbox scorpio games to work on it, it will be one game than runs on any devices you have, and the higher the specs the better use you get out of the game.

Phill said the scorpio would only benefit those with 4k Tvs, that is true if the game developer uses 4k in their games, some developers don't even for pc gaming. What the benefits are here is the high end console will allow more developers to get more creative and allow better physics, and worlds and textures, without being restricted to consoles. which is why the xbox one slim may be the model that gets refreshed every 2 years to add a littler more power, minor tweaks like a new graphics card, but you don't need to buy it as your game will still work on the old machines, apple upgrade their models every 2 years with only minor tweaks, TVs update ever 2 years with either small tweaks or major.

If you look at the competition out with the gaming market, samsung and apple are streaks ahead, and even nintendo have started to catch onto this idea , they have started to plain there console around tablets and mobile and handheld, if the rumours are true the NX will connect them all under a brand new nintendo network

So after taking all that i came to the conclusion that Microsoft E3 was about its brand and the future, and the brand is not xbox one, or xbox one s, or xbox 360, the brand is xbox live and it stretches far beyond a games machine for casual gammers. The goal is to give players the choice on how to play, no restrictions. No more forcing Kinect down our throats, or touch screen controllers like nintendo. or waving around controllers .. you want to play the way you want, Mouse, keyboard ( which is coming to the xbox later this year ), VR, controller, HD , 4k, movies, whatever you want you can have at anytime. the future is now being handed over to the developer and player not the company making the machine. People may disagree with this, and what i said, but i felt that the message was that from MS gaming needs to move forward , not be stuck on old ideas or unwilling to move forward with what the public want. And that is simple freedom, ability to play any game on any device any place how you chose.