Forget all that, though, because the real question is: what will Windows 10 mean for games and gamers? Here are the key features and how they’ll affect PC and Xbox One owners.
Xbox Live on PC
Windows 10 will place an Xbox Live app on your PC, giving you access to your Xbox friends list, achievements, messages and activity feed, so you’ll be able to keep an eye on your console chums when you’re not actually on your console. Microsoft’s aim is to provide a unified store for developers and publishers, which may one day mean they will be able to upload a single game to Xbox Live which will run on both PC and consoles.
The company is adamant that it isn’t trying to compete with Steam – indeed, in its news piece on the OS, Microsoft’s Wire blog hinted that Steam, GoG, and Battle.net titles will all be visible and accessible in the Xbox app. However, what it definitely is trying to do is make it super convenient for game makers to operate within the Windows 10 ecosystem. The idea of being able to upload one app that can be accessible on console, PC, tablet and smartphone will be an enticing one.
Elsewhere, PC owners will be able to stream games from their Xbox One to their other PCs and Windows tablets via a local wireless network – handy if you want to play Halo 4 but someone else is hogging the TV. The app also provides Microsoft’s Game DVR package which allows players to seamlessly record and share gaming footage. We’re hoping the company takes this chance to streamline this process however, as Xbox One owners currently need to import Game DVR videos into another app, Upload Studio, to record voice-overs before depositing the footage on OneDrive. We do know that you’ll be able to share your saved clips across PC and Xbox One, and you can use it with PC games that you’re playing through Steam and other game services.
Anyway, Windows 10 is also compatible with both the standard Xbox One controller and the new Elite pad. There will also be a wireless adaptor available so you don’t have to plug in a micro USB cable.
Windows 10 on Xbox One
Microsoft’s current console is set to get a big update in the autumn, which will include an improved dashboard design (phew) and better multiplayer matchmaking. Apparently, it will be easier for you to find out useful information about your games (such as achievements and fan-made video clips), as well as discovering new titles that may be of interest based on what you’ve already played.
The system also makes it easier to access stuff like friends list, party invites and messages from within a game. Microsoft is also building the community elements of the dashboard, improving the friends activity feed and adding a “What’s Trending on Xbox Live” section so you know what everyone else in the world is playing together. This is all pretty promising, as the current dashboard is, let’s say, rather obtuse.
Cross-platform multiplayer
Thanks to Windows 10 integration, it will be possible for developers to make games with cross-platform multiplayer, so Xbox One players will be able to take on PC players. This has been available in a few titles in the past, but without major system-level support it’s been a minor feature. That could all change. Micrsoft has named a range of titles including Fable: Legends and free-to-play battle arena game Gigantic that will support this feature. Players will also be able to save their game progress between different machines, so you could play a game all day on your PC, then pick up where you left off on the Xbox One.
Direct X 12
This is the new version of Microsoft’s long-running game development application programming interface (API) and software development kit (SDK) collection, which helps programmers get the most out of PC hardware. The company says Direct X 12 will significantly boost graphics performance on your current hardware, and works with major graphics engines like Unity3D and Unreal Engine 4.4. The benefits are quite technical but they include an update to the Direct3D element of Direct X that will give coders closer access to graphics hardware, which should in turn mean a more optimised performance.
The new API will also includes a new GPI Multiadaptor feature. This allows programmers to improve performance by sharing tasks between the integrated graphics chipset in your PC’s CPU and any discrete graphics accelerator card you install whether its from Intel, AMD or Nvidia. In other words, all your graphics hardware will be able to work together in your system.
Microsoft has claimed that over 100 major developers are already integrating Direct X support, including Gears of War: Ultimate Edition. However, the number of games that implement the features will heavily depend on how many players upgrade to Windows 10 (earlier versions of the OS are unlikely to get much in the way of Direct X implementation).
As for Xbox One, when its Windows 10 implementation arrives, Direct X 12, will open up support for Async shaders which speed up graphics rendering by spreading tasks across multiple threads – PlayStation 4 already supports this technique. It also looks as though Direct X 12 will provide developers with more efficient ways to use the system’s eSRAM system memory, though the benefits of that are not currently unclear.
Android support (and maybe Apple iOS, too)
One unsung but potentially interesting elements of Windows 10 is its support for Android. According to games programmer Byron Atkins Jones, currently working on first-person adventure Caretaker, the OS will allow you to run Android apps on your PC. “They demonstrated this live on stage during the recent Build conference,” he says. “I’m really surprised I’m not seeing this mentioned more because that’s massive – it opens up a whole different world of games to Windows 10.
“Microsoft also has iOS covered - although it’s not as easy as running an APK [Android application file]. They have replicated the iOS APIs in Visual studio which means you can open an iOS app project in Visual Studio and it will convert it to a C++ project and compile straight to Windows. They showed this happening live on the stage during the Build keynote. They hinted during another presentation that this is how King were able to bring their games to Windows 10 so quickly.”
Virtual reality
In June, Oculus announced that its Rift VR headset would launch with native support for Windows 10 (as well as an Xbox One controller, and the ability to stream Xbox One games to a Rift headset) – however, according to one VR developer, the OS won’t work with Rift DK2 until a new Oculus Runtime is released, which should be soon. Later in the same month, Microsoft and Valve hinted at a partnership to ensure Windows 10 compatibility with SteamVR, Valve’s virtual reality platform. What does all that mean? Basically, Microsoft wants Windows 10 to be the operating system of choice for all PC-based virtual reality headsets and technologies.
“What we’re doing with Valve and what we’re doing with Oculus is about making Windows 10 the best VR platform both for developers and for consumers,” Microsoft corporate VP Kudo Tsunoda. “People will be able to get the device they want and have it powered by Windows 10. Through our partnership with Valve, we can start getting to a more standard set of APIs so developers don’t have to constantly reinvent everything they’re trying to do in a the VR space: we can say ‘hey this is an API that solves this particular VR problem [on any headset] .
“The more you can take this kind of work off the developers, the more they can focus on the experiences themselves. That’s going to be best for VR and best for consumers.”
Hololens
Microsoft’s standalone augmented-reality headset will run Windows 10 as standard. Users will have access to a range of holographic apps when the headset tech launches sometime later this year or early next year (the company is being really vague about this). We’ve seen several demos, including Minecraft, and despite a limited viewable area, it’s impressive stuff. Here’s a video demo:
Minecraft
Mojang has announced a new version of its block-building mega-game catchily entitled Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta. It’ll be free to current owners of the PC version of the game and $10 to everyone else. The fresh iteration allows eight-player co-op building over Xbox Live, and will let you build alongside Pocket Edition players via a later update. It’s a smart move from Microsoft, which bought Minecraft developer Mojang for $2.5bn in 2014: if you want people to download a new version of your OS, release it with a new version of a game that has over 100m registered users.
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