Microsoft Introduces Cross Platform Gaming

Microsoft Introduces Cross Platform Gaming during a keynote presentation at the TechEd Middle East in Dubai. Eric Rudder demonstrates playing a game on the PC, Handheld, and Xbox 360.

[mistajeff]

This is cool, makes me wish Sony did more with the Remote Play feature.

[WildArmed]

They could have easily taken Remote play to a new level with being able to ps3 games on the psp via remote play.
And for the 2nd joystick, they could always introduce a accesory or just a way to plug a controller into ur psp.

Actually if they did that, Sony PSP wouldn't be dead as it is atm.

... I'm sorry, PSP. I still wuvs you *hugs*

I hope we eventually can x-gam MP no matter what console.
That would be the day that all gamers win.

[mistajeff]

Yeah, it would've been awesome. Though this is different in that it seems this game is running on the hardware of each device.. im guessing it just records saves with a steamcloud-ish service. Still, it's another small step in the direction of being able to play home console games remotely, which is a pretty amazing concept.

[dexus]

Remote play trasnfers just video, it is not cross platform gaming.
And it does it poorly, because if you want to send the vid. you have to downscale it. That takes a lot of CPU power.

remote play = good idea, but not now. Maybe in 10 years

[deadreckoning666]

Ummm...MEGATON

[ThanatosDMC]

You can play some select games via Remote Play like Pixel Junk Monsters.

I want Sony to announce PSP2 all ready or have somebody leak it.

[StanLee]

Wow, an article about a new feature being introduced by Microsoft becomes a conversation about Sony's failings. All these comments should be reported as off-topic!

[ryuzu]

Dubai eh? So now your games can be banned on 3 platforms simultaneously lolz

Anyway, what is it with MS and old stuff? I mean, this is hardly a new thing - it's been done (and found to be a little meh) before on multiple occasions. In fact even this example is pretty poor...

MS need to try and solidify their position in the market with some GAMES - leave the gimmicks for later.

r.

[zoks310]

Cross platform between the PSP and PS3 on PS1 titles.

[capnjoe217]

Actually it was Nintendo that did it first. Remember Super Gameboy?

[darkmurder]

This phone OS is gonna kick ass

[Erotic Sheep]

Lair is playable through remote play

[jjohan35]

The nice thing about playing consoles is that the person I'm playing against online is 90% of the time using the same controller as I am, not a keyboard & mouse. It's an unfair disadvantage to 360 gamers if they're playing an online shooter against a point & click PC gamer. I have no problems with keyboard & mouse, but it needs to stay in the PC realm where the ground is even.

[DeadlyFire]

That is all. Sony has patented a cloud titled PS Cloud. So its possible same is in the works for them as well.

[2cents]

im impressed. Im eager to find out if the Windows 7 Series Mobile device is destined to receive the title of "iphone killer" or will we need another mobile company to bring the bacon. Interesting times ahead.

[JonnyBadfinger]

Has everyone forgotten Shadowrun?... Im not surprised. the game was flawed.

Back in 2007 ShadowRun was on both PC and XB360 with cross platform play written on the front cover of the game box. it was obviously because the developers who made the game didnt believe the game would sell at all so they thought combine PC gamers and XB360 gamers to make up the numbers... sadly that still didnt work. Sometimes it took about 20mins to find a game, and when you finally found 1 the lag would break your balls.

I wanna see the day when XBLIVE and PSN merge and then we'll have PS3 PC and XB360 gamers all battling over the gamer crown. PC will probably win with all there mods but, still would be interesting.

[GR8 1]

It's time for u Sony to copy like always.

[OmarJA-N4G]

HAHAHAHAHA! ONLY ONE BUBBLE!

[math]

No excuses not to be gaming anymore!

[DelbertGrady]

I really liked the feature that saves the game state(what level you are on) from one platform to the other.

[2cents]

not sure my wife will be so thrilled!

[R3DD]

All that needs to be done is universal console gaming. Ps3s gamers vs 360 gamers. maybe Wii users too but i doubt it.

[butterfinger]

duplicates constantly get approved? We need stricter requirements for contributors.

http://www.n4g.com/industry...

[RealityCheck]

So do developers need to make 3 similar games using a common save file or do they make one game for the lowest platform and it runs in emulation in the other 2 platforms?

[Ju]

Doesn't look like emulation to me. It compiles to three targets, AFAIS. Visual studio could do this for years (even external compilers, etc (*)). New is, that you can have multiple targets in one solution file. And possibly handle multiple assets (e.g. the guy mentions low res and high res assets in one project).

How successful this can be remains to be seen. For performance hungry games, each platform needs more then just specific control code (e.g. not just accelerometer adjustments - but optimized render code for each).

Nonetheless, it is probably the tightest integration between console, PC and cell phone you can get.

Technically, you can do that with whatever you want today. Just create a post build step for each platform solution, manage the dependencies properly and done. If you go with open APIs, you can (cross)compile for windows and linux, for example.

[SonySoldiers]

KILL MICROBOTS

[plb]

Interesting concept but it's not like there will hardcore games for this. But that's fine I suppose because peggle and plants vs zombies is FTW!

[Enjoi915111]

HELL YEAH PEGGLE FTW I AGREEE..........i wasted so many hours on like 2 challenges that i cant beat lol....but i love peggle

[hoops]

It can be. The code is 90% the same across the board

[jack_burt0n]

gonna be huge for things like public services, and government agencies some really big cloud markets and mobile 7.

[The Maxx]

This seems to also further my predictions about what Bungie's Huge multiplayer bomb could be...

http://www.n4g.com/NewsCom-...

[Mo0eY]

Confirmed: Smartphones can run Xbox 360 games. Xbox 360 = last gen.
Confirmed: Xbox 360 is nothing but a cheap PC.