kmtrain83

@CallMeDuraSouka
I’m also in the health field and except for Dr. McCoy on Star Trek most futuristic healthcare is either robot android hologram or combination. It’s what science fiction has always held as the future for healthcare professionals.

@Millionski

I am mildly interested in this hand held device since I do own Nintendo but so far nothing in the PC or Steam Deck space. I will wait for reviews.

I also look at the console as still the best option for people who invest heavily in a large TV and surround sound system. The typical Windows PC is not optimized for that set up.

PC console and mobile remain multi billion dollar markets, so hopefully they will remain viable, and not go the way of arcades.

Yeah, it’s interesting. They keep saying they’re making a console with AMD but people still doubt.
If we’re in speculation mode, then I wonder what will be the price, power, and release date relative to PS5 Pro which could presumably still be Sony‘s flagship at the time.
The current Series X is not competitive in terms of power vs price, and the latter seems to be a choice that was made recently.

It must be a slow news day to ask about this after “almost “two years maybe just wait for the exact two year anniversary.

I haven’t tried it yet. The Series S has a limited hard drive capacity so I have to be choosy.

@BAMozzy
Hello. You brought up a couple of technical points that are quite interesting. I don't quite understand the concept you stated " games on Steam that require MS Windows and MS Direct X API's to work, which really impacts them negatively on Steamdeck and can make them unplayable (don't work well with the Proton Layer)," but it kind of reminds me how Microsoft used it's position in the 1980's to dominate over Apple/McIntosh. Might they pull this over on PC against the other platforms by making them wonky in Windows?

The other mention is since it is Prime Day in the US, I forked over $35 for a Fire Stick 4K Max, and I'm eager to try out Gamepass this weekend on my bedroom TV, since we keep the Series S in the basement TV room.

@SeaDaVie
Yes, I get it. Corporate double-speak can be grating. They say how great you are while handing you a pink slip. I don't think this is limited to the gaming industry.

It's interesting they mention "sources... tell me.... microtransactions." I wonder how much of it is microtransactions, since that seems to be the bulk of what my kids ask for, when I reach into my wallet.

@Millionski

Maybe that is what the industry needs right now is to reconnect to creativity and gameplay, rather than the technology arms race.

When I was growing up, we all wanted better graphics, but my kids today like everything to look pixelated. They have been conditioned by Minecraft and Roblox.

I’m won’t be rushing out to buy a 16K TV anytime soon.

@PushButtons
Compared to the Xbox, PS2, GameCube generation, I’m rather enjoying the slightly different lanes they have taken. I am extremely fortunate to have all the consoles. We use the PS5 as our AAA device on the big TV. There’s also a Series S for Gamepass offerings. I played Indiana Jones over the holidays, and I thought it was great. The Switch 2 is in my kids room on an older TV (not 4K). However, we brought it on the airplane / hotel for two player tabletop MK World last week, and it was real fun that I couldn’t have had with the others. I can understand the frustration then when each console seems a compromise, if you can only pick one.

@BaldB3lper78
Well said. I do wonder if we’ll ever get true photorealism, and break out of the uncanny valley in my lifetime. And even if we do, when we get there, will we feel like it was worth it? I look at stuff like Balatro, which was one of my top games last year, and think that it does not have to be cinema to be fun.

It will likely remain 3 markets, with some overlap
1- mobile: mostly quick and ubiquitous experiences
2- console mostly TV/sofa with some handheld
3- PC desk and chair, mouse / keyboard

Judging by my kids tastes, they play Minecraft, Roblox, and Fortnite mostly on PC, and sometimes on mobile when they can’t access the PC. Where the console version exists, they have only dabbled in it as a novelty.

Console is the most superfluous of the three, and may be eventually replaced when gaming on the TV via cloud is technologically close enough to having a dedicated box.

Of the big three console manufacturers, Microsoft is the best suited to build in the direction that makes the most financial sense, except perhaps mobile, where Apple/Google are dominant.

@Ricky-Spanish
Ah yes, the early days of online, when we thought it was utopia with no bad actors

I bet since then if you ever did a face to face transaction ever again, you would insist that it take place in a police station

@Kraven
Yes, they have nobody to blame but themselves.

@EVIL-C
At least Canada Day was nice

@RZ-Atom
When you say we won’t need hardware anymore do you mean that the smart TV and mobile phone gaming apps will be sufficient for AAA experience?

@Gabrie
Ya it’s too much of the “ everything you want anytime you want wherever you want just whatever you want, OK?

@VoidPunk
I was with you until that last bit. I have not played Avowed, but what’s the harm in keeping it on Gamepass?

@Questionable_Duck
When you put it that way, the outlook does not seem very good. By the time the Call of Duty multi platform deal ends, and Elder Scrolls 6 comes out as Xbox exclusive, there may not be an Xbox.

@Neither_scene
I asked on the other for him as well

Maybe someone with more business background can answer but how is the $70 billion ABK acquisition structured in terms of yearly profit and loss. Like I know it’s a big amount, but it also gets added to Microsoft net worth so it’s not like completely in the negative column.

Television streaming services are also running into problems in terms of production cost versus subscriber revenue. It seems like no one really understands this business model.

@datamonkey
It took me like 45 minutes online refreshing after midnight to secure a single Switch 2 at launch. I wonder how they got so many for all of their employees. I don’t believe they work with Nintendo directly in any products.

I don't know about this rumor, after they just reiterated their vision to "play the games you want, across devices, anywhere you are..." except Prague.

@WildConcept6
I think the Xbox is less important for $3 trillion Microsoft than PlayStation is for Sony, and Nintendo is obviously wholly dependent on console sales.
I could easily see Microsoft jettisoning their Xbox console division if it becomes a money loser, due to shareholder demand. The smaller Xbox gets relative to Microsoft as a whole the more likely they’ll just decide to move on. Otherwise, if it’s just about having bank and force of will, Windows Phone, Cortana, and Zune would still be around.

The only hardware I was tempted to get was last year was when they had an Amazon Fire-stick, and Xbox controller on Black Friday sale, and that was mainly for the controller part. The Fire Stick would’ve just been a cheap experiment in cloud gaming. I didn’t see any mention of that series recently. I don’t think I’m in the market for the ROG Ally or Oculus with an Xbox UI.

@Gabrie
I agree that but mainly because Microsoft is about 20 times the size of Sony, and not because of any kind of particular strategy they have, nor insight as to what video games will be like in two decades. Microsoft is a big player in cloud services and so if video games is forced into being cloud based, then I guess they win. That’s not what I want, though. Thankfully by then I’ll be too old to care.

Wow, I was not expecting this. So does that mean when they bring Gamepass to PlayStation there will be a PS6 Xbox edition?

I came across this negative take on a blog

https://gardinerbryant.com/xbox-is-dead-windows-isnt-far-behind/amp/

There again I keep hearing the word "hybrid," but I'm afraid it is confusing because it seems to mean different things to different people. I'm better off waiting for the actual hardware reveal, pricing, and reviews than this random conversation. It is fun to imagine future tech, but this is too discombobulating. I must be getting old...

@NishimuraX
Yeah, the more I think about it the more I wonder what is going on at corporate, since they just had a showcase with actual games, and now they release this weirdly phrased PR video. People are reading what they want into it and writing very detailed explanations, but who can explain why they just did what they did with this video.

@Millionski
Do you expect this Xbox label on Windows devices will be required to have the Xbox experience? Or could I still just get a traditional gaming PC such as HP or Lenovo, and run the same software. What makes it an "Xbox PC" and not just a gaming computer?

@Kaloudz
I don't know. I mean Series X was already "better" than PS 5 in terms of technical prowess, but they are still losing to Sony. Backwards compatibility is fine, but not forward focused enough to make we want to invest in new hardware.

@StonyKL
I'm also struggling with this. I keep hearing about a "hybrid Xbox/PC," but what exactly is that? I own a PC with an NVIDIA GPU with Steam, EPIC, EA, GOG, Amazon, DVD-ROM, and I own a Series S. I hardly use the Xbox Windows app. What am I actually going to stick in my home in 2028, and what will it be plugged into? I don't have an engineering or design background, so maybe I just don't have the vision that they do.

@johnedwin
Very interesting philosophy. I wonder which one is more efficient? You would figure with all the PC graphics cards out there they’ve nailed down what it takes to do the various modes.

@Ernie
Yeah, it looks like another “impossible port “ coming to Switch 2 in a few years

I guess that could work. I don’t know, my PC is in the home office and my Xbox is in the basement connected to an 85 inch TV.
I’m thinking I’ll probably just have a Switch 2 and PS6 in a few years, and then maybe have Gamepass for PC if it’s cost-effective.

@M4DUBUS
Yes, I hear a lot of comments about them making a hybrid console/PC but don’t you really just mean making another Xbox? Like I’m having trouble picturing what makes it ” hybrid.”

@Sol4ris
It will be interesting to see in the next few years if Microsoft can bridge the divide between console and PC gaming. If anyone can do it, it is them based on their size and history with Windows.

That being said, if the next Xbox is just a PC then I’m not buying it, because I already have a PC, as well as Nintendo and Sony PlayStation.

@BAMozzy
I think we are hoping to “save them” from becoming an amalgamation of Sega post Dreamcast, Netflix, and Steam when those already exist, and it could be argued, do it better.

We all know Microsoft corporation is a behemoth, but we’re not fans of that; we just like the Xbox part.

@BAMozzy
That was a long and well-thought-out argument. I imagine anybody willing to spend that much energy thinking about this topic would basically find the money to afford however many platforms bring them joy.

@Millionski
I reckon this is true. Maybe it will force the developers to be more creative rather than just go for a pure photo realism. I look at things like remake of the Last of Us Part 2, or Horizon Zero Dawn, and wonder if it’s worth all the millions of dollars to see freckles better.

@Kaloudz
Yes, the whole concept ended when Moore‘s Law died. Now everything is incremental at best. Once in a while, you will see a leap, like when flatscreen became the norm over CRT, or when SSD replaced HDD.

@Dm9982
I’d like Fable to come to Nintendo. I enjoyed it on original Xbox.

@GuyinPA75

I wonder if there’s any information if the PlayStation Portal is profitable, and if something like that would satisfy the smallish number of Xbox owners who want console quality games in a handheld format, and who don’t already have an iPad / controller set up, or gaming laptop PC. It really is a niche market when you look at all the comparisons. It’s also makes it more baffling how Nintendo Switch was an all-time best seller, when its predecessor, Wii U failed so miserably. It can’t just be the software because Wii U had roughly the same quality of Nintendo exclusives.

@Medic_alert
Surface line is not a great analogy since the PC clones have been out there for decades, and so they have fierce competition. Xbox is more or less a duopoly with PS5, with each side having some exclusivity. I do worry that if the higher ups at Microsoft think Xbox is akin to Surface, then it may indeed lightly fade into the background.

I look at the Series S for $380 vs the PS 5 digital Call of Duty Bundle $400 at Best Buy and wonder, what are we doing? Or look at the Astro Bot bundle with PS 5 slim, or PS5 Pro is less than the 2 TB Series X

Would we still be fans if they just went full software, like spinning off from Microsoft into something called Activision Blizzard Xbox (ABX)? Would this website still exist to discuss a developer/publisher?

Not jumping into handheld is not the same as exiting the console business.

Series S was debated as a 3rd option after getting a Switch then PS5, and it remains the 3rd option.... We like to buy physical, so it is more of a Gamepass machine. We were able to stack Gamepass for 36 months. When that runs out, we are probably going off this brand, and will likely be PC/ Nintendo only, depending on how PS 6 compares.

I already had a Switch and PS5 when I got the Series S on sale at Target for $250 a couple of years ago. For $380 as a third console which is played the least overall, I just wouldn’t have done it..

My son will be in college by next gen, so other than Switch 2 preorder for his birthday, I will take a wait and see approach to future consoles, and maybe gravitate more towards retro and PC.

I loved Morrowind on Xbox, and even now periodically long to replay it. I specifically bought a desktop PC that could handle Oblivion when it came out. I eventually completed Oblivion years later on a different laptop PC, with all the DLC. For whatever reason, I have no desire to revisit Oblivion. I also never got very far into Skyrim. Something was lost after Morrowind, and I’m not sure what.