Well, Microsoft went and did it: you will soon be able to play Xbox One games on PC... and tablets. While this news may have you truly excited about the potential of the platform, it's not entirely what you think.
VG 24/7 has a rundown of the news, explaining how Windows 10 will allow you to play Xbox One games on your PC through the Xbox app, but it's only through local streaming. The news came out of a presentation today that Microsoft held to announce some of the new features of Windows 10, some of which included Microsoft's initiative to allow Xbox games – even including the system's exclusives – to be streamed to PCs running Windows 10. It's also possible to stream Xbox One games to Surface Pro tablets, too.
One of the neat things mentioned about the app is that it's not exclusionary to other digital portal software, but rather inclusionary. The Xbox app for Windows 10 can actually work in conjunction with Steam and other digital storefronts for PC gaming. According to the article, while using the Xbox app on the Windows platform the Steam library showed up alongside the Xbox One game list. This means you can seamlessly switch between playing native PC games or Xbox One games from a single menu. Additionally, you will have access to your Xbox Live friends list, gamertag activity and the ability to comment and chat on gamertag feed activity.
I will have to admit that such a feature is a heck of a lot more thorough than what I was originally expecting from Microsoft. Coming off the Games For Windows Store and Games For Windows Live, both of which have left a sour taste in the mouths of gamers, I wasn't expecting cross-platform compatibility like that.
However, employing a bit of reality is still necessary: you still need to buy the Xbox One and the games for the Xbox One if you want to stream them on your PC. Basically the PC just becomes an extension of the Xbox. PC gamers who don't own an Xbox One aren't getting anything new.
Additionally, they don't mention if PC gamers will be able to upscale the performance of the game or if it will be reliant on how it runs natively on the Xbox One.
Nevertheless, there are still some highlights to the Xbox app that will make a lot of Twitch and YouTube streamers really happy: you can record your gameplay using a new DVR function for both your PC games and your Xbox One games. If you haven't invested into an HD capture device, you won't have to if you have Windows 10. The built-in software app to stream games means you just need a hefty enough PC for streaming without requiring any additional hardware.
In this regards, an Xbox One plus a PC with Windows 10 would be a cheaper route to go for live-streaming as opposed to a PS4 with an HD capture device. But there are still pros and cons to both scenarios.
Additionally, Microsoft finally got around to unveiling DirectX 12... the new API consumes 50% less power than DirectX 11 and offers better and “smoother” performance for rendering. Better performance with less power consumption is always a good thing. It was mentioned before that DirectX 12 wouldn't be fully ready until the holiday season of 2015, so we'll see how that turns out.
You can check out more about the big Windows 10 event over on the thorough and detailed article on VG 24/7.
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