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The Xbox Ecosystem is truly something so unique and just incredibly convenient at this point. I'm playing more games than ever.
- Thread starter VinFTW
- Start date
I jump between my PC, X1X, XSX, and xCloud. It's amazing how it really is starting to feel like a single big ecosystem. The free automatic synced saves and how things just work together really brings it all together.
It provides a lot of options and convince to gaming and I'm in the same boat. With hose conveniences and the lack of risk when trying games on game pass, I'm playing more games than ever.
It provides a lot of options and convince to gaming and I'm in the same boat. With hose conveniences and the lack of risk when trying games on game pass, I'm playing more games than ever.
Honestly the only real way they can improve is if they do more to get save compatibility for a lot more games between the PC Xbox store and console Xbox games. It would be absolutely incredible if I could play some Fallout 4 on my computer and then later grab a controller and play it on the Xbox. Same with other games like Control or Prey or a multitude of other games. I don't even really need Play Anywhere support, I just really wish they could do something with their wizardry to allow developers to do it easily.
Playing ReCore, Gears 4/5, Celeste, RE7 and Dragon Quest 11 has been amazing for this exact reason. I love being able to play it on my PC and then decide to pick up seamlessly on my Xbox as well if I so choose. It was something that was really missing with Control and Dishonored DE and Fallout 4 honestly.
Hopefully most, if not all, first party games will be Play Anywhere or at least have automatic cross save in the future
Playing ReCore, Gears 4/5, Celeste, RE7 and Dragon Quest 11 has been amazing for this exact reason. I love being able to play it on my PC and then decide to pick up seamlessly on my Xbox as well if I so choose. It was something that was really missing with Control and Dishonored DE and Fallout 4 honestly.
Hopefully most, if not all, first party games will be Play Anywhere or at least have automatic cross save in the future
Nice, sounds like it's the totally the opposite of the Xbox One X. Sometimes I can resume a game after putting it in rest mode, and other times it just totally quits the game for no reason when I go back into it. At least I can rely on sleep mode on PS4 and Switch, but I don't trust it on the One X at all.
The resume functionality on the previous gen consoles was different than Quick Resume - those features just held the game state in the system memory. In Xbox's case I found if you started up the system and spent too much time in other apps and stuff before resuming your game, it would drop the game state. So I made a habit of immediately going into whatever game I planned to resume upon turning on the console, and THEN going to YouTube or whatever I actually wanted to use at the moment.
Quick Resume, AFAICT on the other hand, actually dumps the RAM data for several games to the SSD storage, and then restores it at will. Less volatile than last-gen "resume" features, and also allows it to persist through things like unplugging the console.
Right now the problem with Quick Resume is just that last-gen "support" for the feature is still a little spotty depending on the game. Presumably that'll fade as a problem as time goes on.
The Series X (and PS5) also still do that last-gen style "resume" feature for whatever the most recent game you played was, that is still faster than Quick Resume, because it's sitting in the RAM rather than the SSD.
I'll be well and truly impressed with the Xbox ecosystem and how it seamlessly traverses hardware borders and stuff, when the following is true:
- They've upgraded xCloud to next-gen blades, upped the resolution/framerate above 1080p, and ironed out a lot of the latency issues on par with a service like Stadia.
- When xCloud lets you access your purchased games, not just a sub-selection of titles on Game Pass.
- When the PC Xbox application has been upgraded to not be ass (sounds like this is in the works, thankfully), and to be at least as open as Steam is regarding modding and whatnot.
None of the above is really a criticism - this is all a process, and xCloud is still called a beta for a reason - but right now I couldn't see myself using xCloud for more than checking vendors in Destiny 2, or other forms of "non-playing" playtime like that.
A future where I could have a Series X in my main gaming room, and a series of "Xbox sticks" plugged into other TVs around the house where I can seamlessly pick up my session - either beamed from a datacentre, or directly from my console - is exciting. I hope they fully get there.
But yes, right now I'll gladly take the smart cloud save implementation and whatnot.
- They've upgraded xCloud to next-gen blades, upped the resolution/framerate above 1080p, and ironed out a lot of the latency issues on par with a service like Stadia.
- When xCloud lets you access your purchased games, not just a sub-selection of titles on Game Pass.
- When the PC Xbox application has been upgraded to not be ass (sounds like this is in the works, thankfully), and to be at least as open as Steam is regarding modding and whatnot.
None of the above is really a criticism - this is all a process, and xCloud is still called a beta for a reason - but right now I couldn't see myself using xCloud for more than checking vendors in Destiny 2, or other forms of "non-playing" playtime like that.
A future where I could have a Series X in my main gaming room, and a series of "Xbox sticks" plugged into other TVs around the house where I can seamlessly pick up my session - either beamed from a datacentre, or directly from my console - is exciting. I hope they fully get there.
But yes, right now I'll gladly take the smart cloud save implementation and whatnot.
Oh yeah, I know what the difference of them are, although not near in-depth, thanks!
Problem I'm having is that I played some Banjo-Kazooie and then I held the Xbox button and turned off the console (into rest mode), but when I turned it back on and went back into Banjo-Kazooie it acted like I never had it opened. I never did anything else in between. Now, next time I tried it, it worked fine and resumed it instantly.
More often than not though I found it quit the game I was in without anything else in RAM.
On PS4/Switch I can always resume a game after putting it into sleep. It never quits it unless I go into something else, especially not just for going into rest/sleep and waking up.
Seeing that they pretty much fixed that with using the SSD (depending on the game as you said) is pretty cool, and also way better than any system before it.
Yeah, I haven't gotten into the ios xcloud beta yet, but a weird realization happened to me when I was messing around with simply streaming the Series X to my phone. At first, I thought it was neat, but couldn't imagine a use case for me to choose that over the TV. But then I noticed a bunch of games on Game Pass (like Gato Roboto) which seemed super cool and scaled well to a more mobile experience. These would have struggled to win time when I had a 55" screen and Apex or Prey or something beckoning to me, but they are awesome as games to play away from the tv or if the tv is occupied. Like a way better apple arcade, especially when you ad something like a Backbone controller.
TLDR - The future is crazy and I'm here for it.
Very fair points. The PC store one is definitely a sore point and it's a shame it's taken so long to resolve, but their new store they're working on should fix this (fingers crossed)
I think xCloud goes nuclear when the Series X blades are installed. The experience right now is being held back by ancient xbox one S hardware. I don't think there's any secret sauce Stadia has, it's just better, more recent hardware with more robust support for better codecs. Hopefully they're able to swap out the hardware this year as promised.
There's quite a lot still work in progress. From the PC store, to xCloud, to the first party games. But it looks like they're on the right path to solving most of these.
I agree, I have all platforms and have a specific fondness for Nintendo and Sony's first party efforts, but I actually spend most of my gaming time on my Series X and on PC Gamepass nowadays thanks to the convenience and variety of Gamepass Ultimate and the comfort of quick resume and cross-plateform saving.
An amazing job at MS to make gaming extremely convenient.
An amazing job at MS to make gaming extremely convenient.
Yeah, I love it. I purchased a Series X (for the mancave) and a Series S (family system in the living room) and I prepaid 3 years of GamePass (using the gold upgrade trick) and these last few months have been some of my favorite and most memorable periods of gaming ever. From playing games with my wife and kids in the living room (i.e. Minecraft Dungeons, Overcooked, Octodad, Battletoads, Lovers in a Dangerous Space Time, etc.) or late night gaming sessions getting caught up on underated XB1 gems that I never played (i.e. Sunset Overdrive, Gears 4 & 5, Quantum Break, Tell Me Why) to finally getting into a Racing game again (Forza Horizon 4) after not really enjoying the genre for years, it has been amazing.
The profile system, the cloud saves, using GamePass on my PC, Android Tablet now iPhone in addition to the Xbox with saves syncing seamlessly.
it gives me that Apple Vibe where the ecosystem is so seamless that I will gladly fully commit to that ecosystem because the tradeoffs are worth it.
The profile system, the cloud saves, using GamePass on my PC, Android Tablet now iPhone in addition to the Xbox with saves syncing seamlessly.
it gives me that Apple Vibe where the ecosystem is so seamless that I will gladly fully commit to that ecosystem because the tradeoffs are worth it.
Things like resolution are definitely being held back by hardware, but I'm not sure Series X hardware will instantly clear up stuff like input latency. Stadia's attempted solution to this was to have the controller connected to your network as a separate device. It'll be interesting to see how good and consistent Microsoft can make it. Stadia, if absolutely nothing else, has very solid streaming tech.
It sounds like a great service - though I never get these invites for some reason.
It's the same with the Microsoft Rewards emails - I have all marketing preferences switched on and never get anything from either them or Xbox.
It's the same with the Microsoft Rewards emails - I have all marketing preferences switched on and never get anything from either them or Xbox.
It is really quite impressive. In this cross-gen lull for lack of a better term, Series X is easily getting the most play in large part because of Game Pass and the ecosystem. I then turn on my Laptop and continue games right there. Or my phone. It's really bloody cool.
I'm excited to see MS's gameplan play out this gen. I'm a believer and I can't wait to get my grubby little paws on all their new games. Gonna reup Game Pass another year in July as well to last me up to '24.
I'm excited to see MS's gameplan play out this gen. I'm a believer and I can't wait to get my grubby little paws on all their new games. Gonna reup Game Pass another year in July as well to last me up to '24.
100% agreed here. Just to put my own perspective on things. I was often fairly limited in buying new games, I tried to rely on sales. because of that I had this mentality of not buying certain genres and types of games, I tended to stick to the 'safe bets'.
Thanks to Game Pass, I've got back into so many different types of games, especially JRPGs I've played the below and put many, many hours into them,
- Tale of Vesperia (playing now)
- Octopath Traveller
- Dragon Quest XI S
- State of Decay 2
- Gears 5
And the list goes on. In short, magnificent service owing to the sheer depth of content.
Thanks to Game Pass, I've got back into so many different types of games, especially JRPGs I've played the below and put many, many hours into them,
- Tale of Vesperia (playing now)
- Octopath Traveller
- Dragon Quest XI S
- State of Decay 2
- Gears 5
And the list goes on. In short, magnificent service owing to the sheer depth of content.
I'm always confused when I see people post this. Microsoft didn't even support Kinect games on the very next generation, let alone beyond that. I don't blame them for making that decision at all, it's just weird to see people pretend that it never happened.
If you mean between the 360 and Xbox One, it was because they literally couldn't. They tried adding support for it but found that they couldn't make it work with the Xbox One Kinect at all due to the difference in how the devices worked. I believe the Series X still technically supports the Xbox One Kinect if you have the USB adapter for it (though I haven't found anyone who has actually tried).
That's such a strange excuse. If all it requires is an adaptor, why not just ship it to existing customers? That's literally what Sony did with the PSVR.
I think the pretty obvious answer is that people consider Kinect an exception because it was a very "unique" peripheral, and was effectively defunct by about 2015 - with the last nail in the coffin being the One S not even including the Kinect port on the back. One of those people you quote also specified "multi-platform", which would decidedly mean not a Kinect game.
I also think it's likely people legitimately are forgetting the Kinect ever happened, because Microsoft themselves are eager to do the same. You can agree or disagree with making that exception for the handful of Kinect titles, or that it should be grounds for an asterisk on their BC claims, but I don't think there's anything inherently weird about it.
They did back in like 2016 and for some time afterward. You could request one, and they'd send it to you. They don't make them any more, because Kinect has been defunct for at least 4 years and they aren't going to fabricate adapters in the name of backward compatibility with a dead device no one really cares about. The difference with PSVR is that Sony are still invested in that peripheral, and are indeed making another one.
The way saves work is especially something Sony and Nintendo should look at and learn because their implementation sucks hard.
That's kind of my point though, it's weird to post about how great Microsoft is at supporting their old hardware when the Kinect is already an unsupported piece of Microsoft hardware that didn't even make it to the following gen. As I said, I don't blame them for making that decision, just surprised that people ignore it or forget it.
They did- when they stopped making models with the actual port 5 years ago
This is not getting enough attention lol. WTF that's crazy hahahaha
That perception of the Xbox ecosystem typically comes from a more holistic view of their BC efforts - bringing forth all of their hardware to be fully functional on next-gen beyond just BC (sans Kinect), taking more expansive efforts to bring forward games from their first two generations of Xbox, and to not just make games compatible but to actually make them BETTER than they were where possible.
They've also actively expressed an interest in preserving older games and bringing forward that history, and messaged to that effect publicly.
This is me. I'm impressed that they can pull this all off but it's just not a selling point for me.
Seems like it's not just the adaptor that's the issue:
Yes! I had a similar experience with ePES 2021, where I think I gave it a whirl when I got my SX at launch in order to see how quickly it got into a match. I stopped and continued checking other games out and forgot about it for a few months, then fancied a game and it QR'ed exactly where I left off in the 8th minute.
People ignore it because it's such a niche, edge case and relatively insignificant in comparison to their other efforts at game preservation.
They've worked hard to bring BC for a decent collection of xbox and 360 games, enhanced some of the crowd favorites, kept decades old game saves and pushed in AutoHDR.
I think in the face of that, it's not seen as a massive deal that Dance Central 3 (for example) won't work on the Series consoles.
Xbox convenience is amazing
It hit me somehow when I was trying to share a video from Xbox and it had emojis that I could add and thought man that's nice . That led me into thinking about all the little convenient things I have noticed lately . Being able to use Alexa to turn my console off/on or volume up or down , Using...
www.resetera.com
seems like convenience is their thing
Thats the Kinect for the xbox 360. It was dropped completely in the transition to the Xbox One.
It should have been obvious that this conversation is about the Kinect for Xbox One.
I thought it was about how well Microsoft supports generations, my bad.
Yup, I am playing more and more. Wife getting somewhat fed up even.
I have played games I would have not played otherwise - Outriders, NBA 2K (although did not get the hang of it), Control, Octopath, DQ XI. It's just amazing and games that have same save/progress on Xbox and PC are even better, I can game while attending boring meetings!
I have played games I would have not played otherwise - Outriders, NBA 2K (although did not get the hang of it), Control, Octopath, DQ XI. It's just amazing and games that have same save/progress on Xbox and PC are even better, I can game while attending boring meetings!
You weren't clued in on the generation of Kinect when people started talking about the adapter? lol
Gah, the thread was going so well with a lot of positivity and then we've gone down the Kinect rabbit hole :-(
I've used the save sync feature forever, travelling between two places with two xboxes. Basically any physical hardware you log into becomes "yours" all your settings, background, access to agmes etc is there.
BC and xcloud etc is also great - and it's really nice to read examples of it being used in different ways.
www.reddit.com
Going further OT, if anyone wants help in getting the gaming quests for points, then TA have started doing handy guides on them. Most are obvious but some, like the "avoid the alien for 5 minutes" are much easier once you know about the alternate game mode.
www.trueachievements.com
I've used the save sync feature forever, travelling between two places with two xboxes. Basically any physical hardware you log into becomes "yours" all your settings, background, access to agmes etc is there.
BC and xcloud etc is also great - and it's really nice to read examples of it being used in different ways.
Slihgtly OT but if you want to access microsoft reward points the subreddit is pretty active. Everytime they send out an email with a quiz, or secret points or whatever people post the link there, so you don't need the email. You can dip in every so often and just pick out links/offers that apply to you and get hold of them.
Reddit - Dive into anything
www.reddit.com
Going further OT, if anyone wants help in getting the gaming quests for points, then TA have started doing handy guides on them. Most are obvious but some, like the "avoid the alien for 5 minutes" are much easier once you know about the alternate game mode.
Game Pass Quests: How to complete December's Quests
Here are all of the TA community's top tips and tricks to help you unlock the latest batch of Xbox Game Pass Quests and nab those sweet Microsoft Rewards Points.
I completely agree about the more games parts. It's only April and I've beaten more games than I did last year (granted last year was a shit show to say the least). Im feeling the whole "lowering barriers" thing they always talk about. I have access to way more games, they load in fast as hell, quick resume is a godsend(really helps with my retention) and I just got access to xcloud via iOS. They've seriously set up a games first approach that cannot be ignored.
Game Pass is coming to iOS, right? I am actually not a member of Game Pass yet but seriously considering now that it's coming to iOS. I just downloaded the app, lol. Except I'm a little confused because it says it's been on the App Store for 4+ years??
That is the app to help discover and install games to your XBox or PC. The actual streaming part is being done through a web app which is currently in limited beta.
