This is honestly one of the least of the store's problems. More important issues include:
-Play Anywhere isn't a requirement so many devs create One, Series, and PC editions for the separate achievement stacks. This enables them to sell the same game several times to achievement hunters/boosters. This led directly to the issue of multiple undifferentiated SKUs bloating up the store. -Game editions and bundles are listed as unowned, even when you own the game(s) and every last scrap of DLC included. -Some editions have exclusive DLC and you don't get credit for stuff you already own like better storefronts and even many in-game DLC stores do. This means you have to spend a fortune buying everything all over again to get the full game.
@TheGiraffe Correct. Cloud gaming uses the Series S versions of games (streaming tops out at 1080p60 anyways, 720p on mobile). Each server blade contains the hardware from four Series X consoles and extra hardware to handle the video encoding. Each set of hardware can support two Series S instances or four One S instances. That's up to 8 (2x4) Series S instances or 16 (4x4) One S instances on each server blade. Supposedly they don't use multiple instances unless more capacity is needed, but there's no way to tell whether you're sharing hardware or not. But this is probably why it can sometimes perform better at times when people are typically at work or asleep.
When streaming from your own console, it runs whatever version of the game you have installed (theoretically utilizing the console's full power) and handles video (scaled to 1080p60) encoding on the console itself (adding overhead and latency).
You'd think running multiple instances would be the problem. But from my experience, streaming from my One S back when cloud gaming ran on One S hardware and only ran one instance per set of hardware, my One S would still often outperform cloud gaming. This points to me that there's possibly a different explanation, but it could be nearly anything.
If there's a One or Series game you want to stream that isn't included in Microsoft's list, you can stream it from from your own One (One games only) or Series (One or Series games) console. A wired connection to your Xbox and a good internet connection is highly recommended, especially when streaming outside your home.
First, enable game streaming on your console: open Settings>Devices & Connections>Remote Features>Enable Remote Features
Then use the Xbox app on PC or mobile, NOT the Game Pass streaming site: -Click/tap the icon between your Gamertag and the notifications icon. (top left on PC, top on mobile) -Select the console you wish to stream from. -You'll be connected to your Xbox and you can use it just like you would in person. Although some Xbox settings may be unavailable while streaming and you can't stream OG or 360 games at this time.
In my experience, games will often stream better from my console (Series X) than from Microsoft's servers (the servers use Series X hardware), although this will probably vary from person to person.
@TheGiraffe That's how PlayStation handles things. Xbox is committed to making games available long after consoles have been retired. You can still download and play games on your 360 since the store shut down and you can even download BC games to your 360 that have been bought recently through the One/Series store. There's no reason to believe that Microsoft will just brick newer consoles in favor of streaming.
@Kalele Why would it matter if the One store was closed? All One games are compatible with Series consoles except ones that require unsupported hardware (like the Kinect) or servers that have been shutdown (so are unplayable anyways).
It's not like the 360 store shutdown or a possible future One store shutdown are going to remove backwards compatible games from sale on Series or future consoles.
@TheLastHarbinger They can't be expected to keep the 360 store open forever. They went far above and beyond their competitors and saved what they could though backwards compatibility.
They did a great job with OG/360 backwards compatibility but licensing mainly got in the way. But still, most of the best games made it into backwards compatibility. They fixed that with licensing for the One onward and backwards compatible OG/360 games were relicensed. Now there's no reason for games not to carry on from console to console, except if they require unsupported hardware or shutdown servers.
I think they're going to run into the same problem as EA. Their target audience is already going to own most of what they're interested in, making a sub worthless. I don't give it much time until it's included in Game Pass.
Auto power use reduction while idling would be nice and the option to lower the resolution and/or fps would be useful if you used a TV that didn't support the higher resolutions and/or fps because you'd get no use from running it full quality anyways. But people with a 4k/60fps+ TV aren't going to want to cripple their gaming experience for maybe $10/year in energy savings.
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Re: Xbox Clamps Down On 'Bundle Spam', Says Developers Are Manipulating The Microsoft Store
This is honestly one of the least of the store's problems. More important issues include:
-Play Anywhere isn't a requirement so many devs create One, Series, and PC editions for the separate achievement stacks. This enables them to sell the same game several times to achievement hunters/boosters. This led directly to the issue of multiple undifferentiated SKUs bloating up the store.
-Game editions and bundles are listed as unowned, even when you own the game(s) and every last scrap of DLC included.
-Some editions have exclusive DLC and you don't get credit for stuff you already own like better storefronts and even many in-game DLC stores do. This means you have to spend a fortune buying everything all over again to get the full game.
Re: Xbox Reveals Five More Games 'Coming Soon' To Streamable Library
@TheGiraffe Correct.
Cloud gaming uses the Series S versions of games (streaming tops out at 1080p60 anyways, 720p on mobile). Each server blade contains the hardware from four Series X consoles and extra hardware to handle the video encoding. Each set of hardware can support two Series S instances or four One S instances. That's up to 8 (2x4) Series S instances or 16 (4x4) One S instances on each server blade.
Supposedly they don't use multiple instances unless more capacity is needed, but there's no way to tell whether you're sharing hardware or not. But this is probably why it can sometimes perform better at times when people are typically at work or asleep.
When streaming from your own console, it runs whatever version of the game you have installed (theoretically utilizing the console's full power) and handles video (scaled to 1080p60) encoding on the console itself (adding overhead and latency).
You'd think running multiple instances would be the problem. But from my experience, streaming from my One S back when cloud gaming ran on One S hardware and only ran one instance per set of hardware, my One S would still often outperform cloud gaming. This points to me that there's possibly a different explanation, but it could be nearly anything.
Re: Xbox Reveals Five More Games 'Coming Soon' To Streamable Library
If there's a One or Series game you want to stream that isn't included in Microsoft's list, you can stream it from from your own One (One games only) or Series (One or Series games) console. A wired connection to your Xbox and a good internet connection is highly recommended, especially when streaming outside your home.
First, enable game streaming on your console: open Settings>Devices & Connections>Remote Features>Enable Remote Features
Then use the Xbox app on PC or mobile, NOT the Game Pass streaming site:
-Click/tap the icon between your Gamertag and the notifications icon. (top left on PC, top on mobile)
-Select the console you wish to stream from.
-You'll be connected to your Xbox and you can use it just like you would in person. Although some Xbox settings may be unavailable while streaming and you can't stream OG or 360 games at this time.
In my experience, games will often stream better from my console (Series X) than from Microsoft's servers (the servers use Series X hardware), although this will probably vary from person to person.
Re: Xbox Reveals Five More Games 'Coming Soon' To Streamable Library
@TheGiraffe That's how PlayStation handles things. Xbox is committed to making games available long after consoles have been retired. You can still download and play games on your 360 since the store shut down and you can even download BC games to your 360 that have been bought recently through the One/Series store. There's no reason to believe that Microsoft will just brick newer consoles in favor of streaming.
Re: Cities: Skylines 2 Dev Struggling To Get Xbox Version Running For Game Pass Release
@oopsiezz
To be clear, this isn't an Xbox only issue or an issue with the Series S. They're having the same problems on PS5 as well.
Re: Time Is Running Out For Hundreds Of Games On The Xbox 360 Store
@Kalele Why would it matter if the One store was closed? All One games are compatible with Series consoles except ones that require unsupported hardware (like the Kinect) or servers that have been shutdown (so are unplayable anyways).
It's not like the 360 store shutdown or a possible future One store shutdown are going to remove backwards compatible games from sale on Series or future consoles.
Re: Time Is Running Out For Hundreds Of Games On The Xbox 360 Store
@TheLastHarbinger They can't be expected to keep the 360 store open forever. They went far above and beyond their competitors and saved what they could though backwards compatibility.
They did a great job with OG/360 backwards compatibility but licensing mainly got in the way. But still, most of the best games made it into backwards compatibility. They fixed that with licensing for the One onward and backwards compatible OG/360 games were relicensed. Now there's no reason for games not to carry on from console to console, except if they require unsupported hardware or shutdown servers.
Re: Ubisoft Plus Gearing Up For Release On Xbox, First 20+ Games Revealed
I think they're going to run into the same problem as EA. Their target audience is already going to own most of what they're interested in, making a sub worthless. I don't give it much time until it's included in Game Pass.
Re: Microsoft Exploring New Graphics Options To Reduce Power Consumption On Xbox
Auto power use reduction while idling would be nice and the option to lower the resolution and/or fps would be useful if you used a TV that didn't support the higher resolutions and/or fps because you'd get no use from running it full quality anyways. But people with a 4k/60fps+ TV aren't going to want to cripple their gaming experience for maybe $10/year in energy savings.