Microsoft needs to 'stop talking and start basically doing something'

War Thunder developer Anton Yudintsev isn't impressed with Microsoft's handling of online gaming, particularly with free-to-play MMOs.

[black0o]

keep b#%*'n about it ppl and we may see another 180

[ShugaCane]

Don't be so rude, you have to acknoledge that 'free-to-play' is probably the most painful thing MS has to deal with.

[Cueil]

specifically free to play mmo's crossplatform play

[Godmars290]

@Cueil:
That and the contradiction of putting F2P behind a paywall.

[BluEx610]

Not only indie games being affected by this. Even MMO's like FFXIV won't be on Xbox consoles.

http://www.ign.com/articles...

I don't understand why they keep their servers closed to cross platform. They own the PC market but yet they keep Xbox Closed. PS4 has a better relationship with PC's than Xbox does. PC and PS4 players can play together and even have updates simutaneously for game fixes or patches etc...

MS is literally giving Sony free exclusives like FF XIV without Sony even shelling out cash. MS policies on crossplatform play is only hurting the gamers and developers.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

He continued, "They need to stop talking and start basically doing something. Because right now you need to certify your servers with Microsoft, you need to make… it’s not yet clear if there will be updates. If you can’t make updates without Microsoft [approval] they ruin the idea of online gaming, basically. They’ve said there’ll be some kind of opportunity [for that] but haven’t yet said quite exactly how it’ll be working."

MS just announced self publishing if he would wait for further details down the line I'm sure everything will be clear.

Its like these indie guys want everything to happen over night.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

I am sure they want to be ahead of the game when it comes to these new consoles.

MS does seem to be resisting F2P so I can see why they are frustrated. MS is once again not being very forthcoming on their plans with a console launch just a couple months away.

[Godmars290]

"MS just announced self publishing if he would wait for further details down the line I'm sure everything will be clear."

That's a lot of the issue: MS just announced that they're doing something with no real details, and people are expecting indie devs and the like to jump on board as if everything's been spelled out. Nevermind that those devs have had bad experiences with MS in the past.

In other words its not them who are expecting everything to happen overnight.

[Groo]

I'm sure everyone is ok with paying $500 to wait for further details down the line... If people are going to gamble (cause its basicly a gamble to buy an XB1 at this point with all the flip flopping) people would probably have better luck at a Casino.

[DigitalRaptor]

These are the people wanting to work with Microsoft, but cannot put their foot forward because that company is not telling them what they want to know. This is not consumers we are talking about. The developers need to know these things, largely in advance, before we need to find out about them.

Microsoft's console comes out in 2 months, and smaller developers are still hazy about their policies?? It should have been happening over the past few months/years. Not right now.

[NatureOfLogic]

I agree. MS only talk to sound more like Sony and hopes that no one notice that they actually don't do what they promise. MS is going down slowly. A sinking ship.

[Rhinoceros]

MS is worth over 100 billion dollars more than Sony. Sinking ship? Time for a little wake up call: http://www.nytimes.com/2013...

Xbox can fail 10x over before they get counted out of a 10 billion dollar industry. It's not like the Xbox One won't pull a PS3. Pre-orders are not the defining factor in the lifespan of a console or its company.

[DEEBO]

why make a weaker system though? they have all this money but made the weaker console.i hope kinect is really worth it.maybe they should spend some of that money on better hardware.

[ICECREAM]

Companies don't work that way, can they sell X1 for 200$ to destroy the competition once and for all because according to you xbox can fail 10 times so it's better to lower the price but the problem is that they won't because they have investors and shareholders and they are answerable to them, business is not that simple.

[Rhinoceros]

I agree with you, DEEBO, I am just saying that calling MS a "sinking ship" is preposterous. MS didn't make all this extra money by giving things away for free, but if that is the direction the industry is going then maybe they'll say "fuggit".

On the other hand, while I don't presume to be a hardware engineer, it seems benefits are only acknowledged when they benefit Sony (on N4G). People act like the cloud, 300,000 dedicated servers, and kinect 2.0 mean nothing to gamers. There are folks on here that would need to read 3,000 pages of feedback from Microsoft's R&D team before they stop underestimating and attempting to invalidate real technologies, while pretending to know it all. I can't speak to the extent of the change we will see as a result of them, but the wise man waits and sees for himself.

lol even if those documents were presented, I reckon that they would be denied.

[iamnsuperman]

Xbox could fail a few times (not saying it will but hypothetically) and Microsoft not feel anything but their shareholders would see something dragging them down and cut it off. Shareholders want to continue to make more money and grow the business.

Now from a purely company level side I think Microsoft will benefit from Balmer departing. His leadership hasn't exactly done wonders for the company as their surface failed, they have lost track in the mobile market by focusing on a loosing web dominance idea (trying to over take google as a search engine which lead to Apple rising in the smart phone market. Balmer lauched at the idea of the iphone), Xbox didn't do well (understandable though), Xbox 360 RROD was a costly thing for Microsoft, Xbox One launch didn't go well Windows 8 isn't being well received. It is lucky the Windows market is a monopoly of sorts but if they are not careful a new system can come in under them. Microsoft needs to get back to what it was like years ago.

[Groo]

If they are worth so much, why not build a better machine to at least be on Par with the competition instead of blowing smoke?

Why do we have to hear all the BS and talk?

The old saying goes, put your money where your mouth is, not put your mouth where the money is"

[ShwankyShpanky]

MS may not be a sinking ship, but they are getting some pressures to unload the Xbox division.

[Death]

It's the weaker of the twoweak systems. Don't believe the hype. Both consoles use a custom AMD combo chip designed for tablets. Once the software ships with the hardware we will have a better idea what the difference is between the two.

[slazer101]

@ Rhinoceros
Once again let me correct you Xbots.
Microsoft is not worth over 100 billion dollars
It's 69.96 billion

http://www.celebritynetwort...

[JackStraw]

@HardTileD_ "When you look at it, Xbox One has a better designed hardware with better data flow then PS4."

i laughed. honestly. must be that hypervisor huh?

[JackStraw]

HardTileD_ 1h ago
HYPER V!
Hypervisor and more, yes indeed!

Hardware Tiling (PRT or Tiled Resrouces) which AMD and John Carmack praises as the next big thing in graphics development. Xbox One's Data Move Engines and ESRAM fast cache for extreme low latency and data flow facilitation. Hardware support for Azure through the DMAs...yeah that much more!

Just make sure you inform yourself by watching the Hot Chips event on Sunday and Monday. Microsoft and AMD will be there.

"i laughed. honestly. must be that hypervisor huh?"

Exactly, goes to show how much you know.

JackStraw 47m ago
Re: HYPER V!
enlighten me on what's in the playstation 4? i'll wait.

HardTileD_ 27m ago
Re: HYPER V!
My arsenal is full my friend, you "enlighten" me?!....If you can.

JackStraw 0m ago
Re: HYPER V!
exactly lol. you made a comparison with no knowledge of what's inside the ps4. you can't possibly know because little has been revealed about it other than what mark cerny divulged in february. nice try though.

as for partially resident textures, it's not exclusive to x1. dunno why you would think that. it's simply a new feature in dx11.2, but it's also in ogl4.4, and is supported by all newer amd gpus (which both consoles have).

yes, the xbox one will more than likely have lower latency than the ps4, but the ps4 also has a much higher bandwidth. the move engines simply make things easier on the xbox one's processors to make up for this.

the xbox one is a factory with a lot of quick workers that work quickly to get the job done, effectively taking the hassle (burden of energy) off of all the workers, and achieving its goal.

the ps4 is a factory with a few brute workers that work as hard (but as efficient) as they can to get the job done, effectively making the job require more energy, but less work in achieving its goal.

it's pretty easy to see that the xbox one will likely have much less power consumption as well based on their design.

does any of this mean it has better designed hardware or better data flow? not necessarily. there are several factors that you're not taking into account that must be looked at before determining which one is better at either of these things. and seeing as not much has been released about the hardware design about the ps4, you really can't accurately compare them.

[Hicken]

Holy crap, HardTiled.

You don't have a freaking clue, do you?

There's so much more information about the PS4 than what you say, and that info tells us the PS4 has far better data flow. It's got faster RAM that's better for gaming(whether or not it's more or the same AMOUNT seems to be up in the air at this time). Everything else aside, this alone would make your statement false, but there's plenty there to increase the difference between the two in the PS4's favor.

Where are your "legit opinions" from, and what makes them more credible than the sources these "Sherlocks" get their info from? Which, by the way, tends to be the architect behind the PS4, and the company producing the hardware for BOTH consoles.

Net worth is more important than market value. End.

As for a "sinking ship," the inference is NOT the company as a whole, but the gaming division. If it doesn't do better, investors will have it gone. So no, the XB1 can't fail any number of times. If it fails once, expect Microsoft to be out of the console business.

Geez, just when I think Xbox fanboys can't get any more delusional...

[ThatCanadianGuy514]

Rhino proves he knows absolutely nothing about how big business's work.

Ever hear of shareholders? Xbox has been nothing but a blight on the company, and the shareholders have been trying to get them to focus back on the things where they excel, like office and windows.They still haven't fully recovered from the billions lost on original xbox and the billions more lost with 360 and RROD.A 3rd console fail will be enough for shareholders to pull them out.ESPECIALLY with balmer stepping down soon, considering he is the most vocal about them putting resources into xbox.

[Belking]

No buddy, you got them confused with Sony. When they start selling buildings and others things to stay afloat then you can say they are sinking. Sony owns that sinking ship title. Don't let all the smiling ps4 PR talk fool you. They are still knee- deep in the shit. Thy knew if they came in at the same price as Xbox-one they would be toast.

[Groo]

You shouldn't quote what you hear on the playground

[Freedomland]

Delusion that is the worst enemy of wisdom.

[DEEBO]

MS are to greedy to do free to play games without xbox live gold.

[sAVAge_bEaST]

PC and Ps4 players , will be playing together,. (that's the problem right there,. M$ would never allow such freedom)

[ThatCanadianGuy514]

Yep.They need to try and be a leader for once instead of just sitting back, waiting for Sony to say something, then come running out days later with "YEAH! US TOO!"

Free 2 play is the big question tho.The concept of allowing people to play, for free, just doesn't computer with the MS peeps.It's just to consumer friendly for xbox.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

I don't see how you can look at XBL and PSN and say MS has been waiting for Sony. They've both borrowed ideas from each other over the years.

Agreed that MS seems to be reluctant to allow F2P.

[Jrxbarrett]

They're in denial. F2p will not help Xbox live. It will only limit it. As soon as we get f2p on live people will be asking for a free service. Then we will look like Sony with poop online play and I don't care I just want free things fan base. How can real gamers be won over by the word free and not moving forward with tech? Smh. This console war boils my bubbles. Lol

[JackStraw]

^that kid doesn't know what free to play is.

[tenacity]

Kind of worried they have not released a launch date yet. Does anyone know if they got the FCC green light yet?

[jessupj]

Would be big news if it did.

It's so close to launch and MS still hasn't released a specific release date. I have a feeling the X1 will be delayed til next year unless we get a release date very soon.

[Jrxbarrett]

F2ps are lame as hell. Look at all these Xbox haters, non believers, nay Sayers and non buyers telling us Xbox preorder holders and loyalists what we want. Gtfoh. If you like f2p then buy a ps4 or something. Since when has gaming been free? The only people that will ruin the industry are you cheap people. Asking for great products but want to have f2p. How does that even work anyways? If its free then it looks like garbage. These are gaming consoles not pcs. MS has got this covered. Just go hide in your corners and play knack on November 15. I really hope they don't get into f2p. I thought Sony want the company cutting costs and closing studios. They should be worried. MS and its consumers are good. Über good.

[torchic]

what?

[DEEBO]

so more games to play is a bad idea?wow! so when i get tired of playing ACBF or BF4,killzone,watchdogs.madden and nba 2k14.(my preorder list) i shouldn't play drive club,DC online, and all the other free to play games sony is offering.yeah that makes perfect sense.

[Groo]

Im so glad you won't be on PSN, the children can stay loyal to their MS daddy

Edit: its not about being cheap, its about not being ripped off. what about all the MMO's that started out not F2P and now are? you wouldn't play them because you arent paying a sub? I guess it makes you feel special to piss away money for nothing and btw, this is the kind of sh!t your MS daddy does as far as limiting
http://www.edge-online.com/...

[DigitalRaptor]

Damn that was a good read. Made no sense, but I still got big laughs from it. I hope to god that was just comical trolling, otherwise you have big problems buddy.

Now I'll go back and continue an epic match in PlanetSide 2.

Options are just magnificent.

[SlavisH2]

i hope m$ gets their stuff together and we see this on x1!