The upcoming free Microsoft console

Genesis5 - 515 days 11 hours ago

I don't think you can say Microsoft and anything free in the same sentence. If they did do this I'm sure they would find a way to over charge for it.

Agree(18) | Disagree(1) | Report

JsonHenry - 515 days 10 hours ago

So if server based gaming has grown FASTER than console gaming in the past couple of years... wouldn't that make the whole "the PC is in trouble" theory dead in the water?

Agree(4) | Disagree(0) | Report

superaktieboy - 515 days 9 hours ago

"Microsoft offers free Windows Vista with purchase of every new computer.."

oh wait..
hmm
*thinks*

"Microsoft is a free compa..."
meh

*thinks further*

'Microsoft Loves free open source stuff'

erm naah.. still not

*thinks even more*

'Microsoft... Free..'

well there ya go!!

Agree(7) | Disagree(3) | Report

Tomdc - 515 days 9 hours ago

they would to make more money in the long run! With MS Dos they practically handed it away free just to get a foothold in the OS market and charge them more when they want there OS for new systems... I watched a documentry about microsoft yesterday =P

Agree(3) | Disagree(0) | Report

Genesis5 - 515 days 7 hours ago

OMG You did it. Good work. Now say toy boat 5 times fast.

Agree(0) | Disagree(1) | Report

shine1396 - 515 days 6 hours ago

how did this get through?
I don't want site censorship but this isn't news for gamers or anything like it...

Agree(5) | Disagree(2) | Report

xhairs9 - 515 days 5 hours ago

That was basically Microsoft prior to having any money.

Agree(2) | Disagree(1) | Report

player911 - 515 days 3 hours ago

They say free because there isn't any hardware to buy on the client side. Basically they have servers setup running virtual environments (multiple concurrent OS's running simultaneously) each able to play games.

So what you would do is remote desktop into this virtual OS and run the game from there. The local controls are sent to the server, which streams back the real time video of the game output.

So basically the hardware is all at a central location. The software is in place. What lacks is the required bandwidth to do such tasks currently.

Think of it as being able to control a streaming video game, live.

This is the same as remoting into another PC and playing solitare on it... except the remote PC in this case will have graphics cards and are beefier systems.

Agree(0) | Disagree(0) | Report

ravinash - 514 days 23 hours ago

Remember when MS killed off Netscape by first releasing Internet explorer for free and then making it part of windows so your forced to use it.

Agree(0) | Disagree(0) | Report

The Mikester - 514 days 14 hours ago

lol now that was a funny thing to say

Agree(0) | Disagree(0) | Report

Bruceongames - 515 days 8 hours ago

The Microsoft project for this is called "Media Galaxy" and last year they spent 94 million Yuan buying a stake in a Chinese TV manufacturer as part of it.

There are server based games other than Bingo and Poker. There are lots of very sophisticated 3D Flash games. And browser based MMOs like Runescape and Ikariam, both of which are excellent.

Many in the industry think that we have no option but to go to server based gaming. With increasing bandwidth and hardware compression you can play very sophisticated games.

If you look at the comments on the blog itself you can see that industry professionals agree with what the article says and one of them gives a very good example of what can already be done.

Agree(5) | Disagree(19) | Report

Ju - 515 days 6 hours ago

That's kind of interesting. Server based will be expanded in the future in the Casino market to support video slots as well. Internet gaming is something to come, too (allowed in Europe but not quiet there yet in the US). Interesting because that's a project I am working on (or with). Server based gaming for us means complete new machines. Machines, which are even faster then anything we have on the market now.

What Bruce fails to see, is, that the application still runs on the client. For Casino gaming, there are various thoughts how to connect to a server, one way is to have the math on the server and distribute rng results only (IMO I don't think this will work efficiently), the other solution is to download the whole game and content (couple of 100+MB per game). Bingo and others are easier, because different rules apply to those games, slots are way more difficult and restricted compliance wise.

If Bruce thinks, because now the games are hosted (- and no, they will actually never directly run on the server -) the "thin" client is a toned down pc, well, then he's wrong. Not only do you need a new high performance network infra structure (faster internet) you also need a faster client machine. An 360 or PS3 could probably do it. You could save some costs in removing the DVD/BD drive, but you'd need bigger HDDs instead (even the new slot machines have HDDs these days, dual core, 2Gig RAM, etc).

Agree(3) | Disagree(2) | Report

xhairs9 - 515 days 5 hours ago

Lol, I like how he calls them, "industry professionals". They are random people who comment on your crap of a post. That's ok though keep on submitting your own blog for more comments that's a tad bit ridiculous. What happened to the 360 polygons vs the ps3 polygons during the interview with all those developers on Sony's E3 saying that they just didn't understand the cell and now they do and can pull off the most amazing graphics ever? I believe you were wrong and should sit in a corner with a sock in your mouth.

Shut Bruce Up! Shut Bruce Up! Shut Bruce Up!

Agree(7) | Disagree(5) | Report

Omegasyde - 515 days 5 hours ago

2 things:
1-Internet gambling may be come soon illegal. There is 0 control over it and no country can subsidize tax rights/laws or cashflows. There are lobbyist around the world whom are trying to combat internet gambling.

2-A server Side machine would not work in this day and age or for the foreseeable 10 years. The amount of content required in getting games too the next level is increasing disc space. You can't really stream a game or download one lickity split. Unless you want a console with PSN-XBL quality games.

IF thats the case Bruce, the gaming industry would be actually de-evolovling in which is bad for the current fans of gamings.

Also what happens if the console breaks? Since the system is free how would faulty hardware come into play? Would people "HAVE TO" require to buy a warranty? That would challenge the concept of free as well. I highly doubt a company would break even with just selling it's online service and offering free hardware that is capable of producing the amount of quality in today's games. They would have to bombard their service with so many Ads that it would be difficult to actually find the :download game button:.

Agree(2) | Disagree(1) | Report

titntin - 515 days 5 hours ago

Well kudos to Bruce on not rising to my bait, despite blatant provocation.

In reply:

Flash runs on the client machine though, so its not an example that demonstrates what your article is proposing at all.

The fact that you can find people who will agree any assertion on the net is really not much of a supporting argument. You can find people all over the net who will go to great lengths to show you that the moon landings never happened, that the US blew its own twin towers up, or that the British royal family are actually lizards. As someone who's worked 16 years in the industry myself I've met all kinds of weird and wonderful people who believe all sorts of stuff. Most of the time, they are proven to be very wrong, so having two posts from people who've probably worked less time in the industry than myself, is not gonna convince me the hypothesis will ever reach fruition.

Ignoring the real issues, problems and general daftness of running the calculations on central server for a minute, the issue of connectivity is one that firmly puts closure on this suggestion for the foreseeable future.
To be successful, this strategy would need to be able to be taken up by the vast bulk of consumers to whom its aimed at. Mega fast stable reliable broadband is still dream for most. Speeds have been static here in the UK for ages, with extreme usage limits imposed for most, and 'line profiling' occurring for those on so called unlimited deals, which seriously hampers speeds. As Broadband penetration increases, the demands on the bandwidth mean that even in the states they are starting to impose limits and introduce ever more vigorous line profiling to reduce load. The days of super fast unlimited broadband enjoyed by the majority are still a very long way off.
Consider: The 360 is widely considered to be a 'hardcore' machine which you really need to have online to get the most from. Yet a third of users are not even online with it. Now thats a core audience. Any new proposition needs to be able to reach a broad casual world wide demographic, and it will be a very long time before the infrastructure exists that could support this.

So no, I just don't see any possible future for this in the near term. Once we're talking about 15 years or so, its will be quite possible to give away machines with the power of a 360 or a PS3 as they will be dead cheap, and a subscription model would easily pay for the hardware (think of the mobile phone hardware model).
So by the time an infrastructure might exist to support it, the hardware for rendering decent HD titles in your home can almost be at give away prices anyway. Which means the bulk of calculation and processing will occur at the client end, free from the issues of server overloading ,where it belongs.
Moving away from distributed processing is like trying to turn back all the progress we've made in IT since the 70's, and I've not heard a single technical reason why you would ever want to do it, it simply doesn't make sense.

Agree(6) | Disagree(2) | Report

Merritt - 515 days 5 hours ago

Spectrux:

I'm afraid you're wrong Microsoft loves to make money. As does Sony and Nintendo, if you don't think they do and Sony isn't a big gargantuan company that bought up most of the entertainment industry for profit then you're mistaken.

Nintendo didn't release a cheap mass producible console with a control gimmick to make money then you're wrong there as well.

If you think the presidents of either Sony or Nintendo donate as much money to charity as Bill gates does you're mistaken there.

So, while yes MS may be the bad guys because it's slick to bash them do some research on who you're supporting as well.

Agree(1) | Disagree(2) | Report

SPECTRUX - 514 days 15 hours ago

let me clarify. by saying microsoft least of all i meant microsoft is the least likely to give away free stuff because they are the greediest. thats not to say that i think sony and nintendo are saints either.

Agree(0) | Disagree(0) | Report

Julia Bond - 514 days 14 hours ago

F A I L

Agree(0) | Disagree(0) | Report

Fart In Your Mouth - 515 days ago

You think that only Americans buy Windows? Its the number one OS in the world...are you saying that most computers are in the US only? You're an idiot...its that simple.

Enjoy your Mac idiot: http://www.thebestpageinthe...

Agree(1) | Disagree(3) | Report