I just wish the next XBOX is built in a way that no additional work is needed to port games to PC. On top of that, I wish Windows finally gets what Phil has been talking about: XBOX-like experience on PC hardware.
I wish my kids would appreciate an HTPC with Bazzite OS for our living room TV, but without FIFA or Fortnite support, that’s simply not going to happen anytime soon.
LaunchBox (on Windows), in combination with AutoHotkey for skipping launchers, is absolutely viable. I do this with an HTPC myself, its fantastic.
Windows will do Windows things, and eventually… A Windows dialogue with ads, an update, an error, a CMD window, will popup. That doesnt happen on XBOX or on Steam OS. That’s what I look for.
I’ve had mine running for 5 years now without a single issue like that. If you install Windows with a debloater tool, you can disable most of that nonsense. Set up for it to auto-restart every day (I set mine for 3am) and I have only ever had a problem once, and thats because a RAM stick finally went bad in it and needed to be replaced.
I am pretty sure ads do appear on SteamOS, but they are for games in the Steam store. Xbox has ads literally right on the home screen and I complain about them all the time. My HTPC I setup hasn’t shown me a single ad for anything in the last 5 years, because I disabled notifications and don’t ever use Explorer unless I want to add/remove games to the frontend. Its fully controller compatible, I highly recommend it.
Digital Foundry guys speculate that something like Windows-derived Xbox OS for certified pre-built PCs and vanilla Xbox could be the answer to this. Microsoft must see that Steam Deck and inevitable diversification from x86 is going to threaten their hegemony but are definitely preparing for this.
Microsoft saying that Xbox games are going to be taken care of when time comes is a solid strategy. They have the best track record on ensuring backwards compatibility. At the same time Valve seems to be woefully unprepared for ARM switch and has proven that they’re going to leave their customers dry when they lose interest - just look at the state of Steam on Macs.
Great. They’re adding AI, aren’t they?
AI to customise specially tailored micro payments for each user.
Microsoft: because fuck you.
I hope they lean into the new tech. I feel like this generation was a lot of hedged bets that led to there not being much reason to have any of the consoles vs a good computer.
I don’t want paid exclusives, mind you, but I miss games that were developed because the hardware made it possible.
Personally, the idea of a hybrid cloud console is one I don’t like. As long as the console is more powerful than the Series X by default and the cloud can enhance that, I don’t mind it. But I dont want to buy a console, or anything really, that must be tethered to the internet.
I am 100% sure this is a way to get customers to buy into their system which will have price hikes and limitations set in a few years after widespread adoption
Then they better wait a few more years
PLEASE I WANT MORE MARKETING
Thank God I don’t have to remind everyone and you did it for me. If Microsoft won’t put advertising in the file explorer I won’t be upgrading…
I wonder if this means you don’t need to be online to set up the console 🤔
All those journalism outlets writing those articles like Xbox was quitting hardware probably FUMING right now.
Games Preservation Team? Say less, but also tell me more!
Phil has been telling the press for months now that the Xbox hardware is not going away. People saw that MS was porting titles over to other platforms, and they started jumping to conclusions.
Microsoft has a history of creating cross platform software to build a large community for certain products.
Yeah, I know. The journalists were being very selective with what they chose to write about, but its sad that they continue to choose to put out literally wrong information simply because they don’t like Xbox, even when they try to claim otherwise.
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