Post by Dan @ 02:31pm 12/07/12 | 17 Comments
The patent application appears to be largely about quality of service (QoS) processes for managing the simultaneous operating of application processes in a multi-tasking capacity -- which Eurogamer remarks has similarities with features outlined in the Xbox 720 leak documents that surfaced a couple of months ago and have been confirmed as genuine (albeit likely outdated) Microsoft documents.
More interestingly however is the reportedly proposed way in which these simultaneously running applications can be afforded more system resources -- with some manner of scalable hardware.
Eurogamer describes the concept as Microsoft proposing a "base architecture" for a new console system, where similar to how PCs are built around core components such as motherboards, CPU, RAM and expansion cards, so to might a console diverge from the traditional "fixed hardware" model.
The principle idea behind the patent is in providing a framework for integrating "platform" and "application" processing into a single system where both systems can run concurrently, but the overriding concept is the scalable architecture that allows for more advanced hardware revisions (with improved CPUs or GPUs for example) to be rolled out over time. One diagram even adds a third CPU/GPU set-up - shared processors that can lend a hand to the other two, for reasons unknown.The analysis concludes with the reminder that such patents are often for legal purposes only, and that what we have heard about the so-called Project Durango so far points to a more traditional fixed hardware system, but it still some tasty food for thought?
What if the next Xbox console contained hardware that could be augmented or swapped out over time with new revisions? It flies in the face of the traditional console model, but as Eurogamer points out, the notion of software disparity between newer models on a shorter lifecycle has worked out ok so far for the Apple iPad.
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Posted 02:42pm 12/7/12
Posted 04:51pm 12/7/12
Posted 06:39pm 12/7/12
Posted 08:05pm 12/7/12
Posted 08:10pm 12/7/12
Means you need to have bought $100 worth of hardware to play X, $200 worth to play Y... and it just becomes a cluster.
Posted 08:40pm 12/7/12
Posted 09:03pm 12/7/12
Welcome to the world of US patents.
Everyone always rags on consoles and there's no doubt in my mind that it's an inferior gaming experience, but consoles and PCs just fill very different roles. There's nothing very comfortable or social about playing games on PC as a group.
What would be totally awesome was if MS made some sort of XBox program for Windows so you could play XBox games on your PC at your desk, or plug a bunch of controllers into an HTPC and play on that, or if you weren't so techy you could still just buy the console itself. As far as I've always understood it, generally the console hardware is usually sold at a loss anyway right? So it seems like something that would actually benefit MS.
I understand that the hardware in the 360 is pretty different architecture than a normal PC, so they should just make the next XBox more PC-like and do this!
Posted 09:26pm 12/7/12
Need I bring up voice chat / webcams / LAN parties / IM's / etc?
Also, anything is as comfortable as the chair you sit in to do it. Buy a comfy chair, all problems solved :P
Posted 10:00pm 12/7/12
Voice chat is social to an extent but it's nothing like 'all sitting around in a group and doing something together' social, for example there's nothing like yelling in someone's face when you win and hitting them when you lose. Not to mention being able to see the looks on people's faces when you pull off some bulls*** fluke move to get a massive win!
Webcams have no place in gaming, at least as it stands today.
LAN parties are getting closer, but you're still isolated in the direct gaming experience, everyone has their own screen and there's nothing comfortable about lugging a PC to a hall and sleeping on the floor under the table, not to mention the massive amount of organisation that needs to go into something like that. The extent of interaction while gaming at a LAN party is either screaming at the top of your lungs so that the person can hear you in spite of their earphones, or resorting to typing/voice chat as though it was the internet anyway (or, you guessed it, on consoles set up at the place).
Aside from email/forums, IM is about as far from actual social interaction as you can get while still communicating with people. But again those things don't really play a part in the gaming experience, stopping to type while playing a game is about the last thing I want to do.
Posted 09:59pm 12/7/12
no installation,no having to download updates to play online, and no having to upgrade hardware in order to play the latest game.oh wait.
Riddle me this mr I can't play my computer in a group. What happens if you hook your PC up to your 50" tv, and add a couple of xbox controllers and smash out some dirt 3 carnage? Are you playing a console? Or are you playing a PC?
Posted 10:28pm 12/7/12
I don't even understand what you're trying to argue here. That was exactly the point of my original post, there needs to be more games that are made for controllers and made for simultaneous group play on PCs. Playing racing games is great, but what about awesome light fun games like LittleBigPlanet and Mario Party or Smash Brothers or any of those kinds of games? They're just not on PCs. I even used to do exactly that (plug PC into TV and play with controllers) with sports games, but they barely even make sports games for PCs anymore.
Or, even better, they could make it so we were able to play ALL console games on PCs... which is exactly what my original point was, it just seems like there would be more chance with MS than the others.
Posted 10:11pm 12/7/12
Posted 10:12pm 12/7/12
Oh right, of course, yeah it sounds simple enough to be obvious now in retrospect doesn't it?
Posted 10:29pm 12/7/12
Even that is still huge amounts more organisation than just turning up at a mates, sitting on the couch and getting straight into gaming, and that still doesn't address the issue that your experience is much more isolated, playing your own game on your own screen, just in the vicinity of your friends.
Don't get me wrong, I love LANs, and still have them 15 or so years later, but I'm not under any false pretenses that they are especially social as compared to genuine group interaction.
Posted 01:47am 14/7/12
It's not isolated if you're in a room together and having fun shooting each other and slinging insults. Infact, it's a better experience than sharing a screen because you don't have the whole "omg I can't see s***" or "omg he's screen cheating!" type BS that goes on with it.
As for voice-chat, that's about as social as sitting next to someone talking anyways. Sure, you're not in the flesh, but you're still talking as if they were next to you *shrug*.
Posted 02:30am 14/7/12
Chuck in a new GPU like it is changing a game cartridge.
Shrug, maybe it's not a bad option for the various giants to make cash and promote the continued growth of games pushing hardware instead of consoles stagnating it.
Posted 07:44am 14/7/12
A social game funded by rewards (see carbon points) and people are encouraged to do the right thing but it is sponsored by corporations/businesses that are rated according to their pollution footprint, power usage, carbon credits?, user rating and it could potentially work two ways with the public rating the company for the life of the person when they are associated with that 'brand' (every sports person is sponsored.) could include usage of interactive displays, knowledge, cloud computing and smart phones for users interaction on a camera level. User to console to phone to public display to phone back to console and human interaction
Long Very Bad English Version:
I was wondering. What about cloud gaming?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2012/05/25/sony-files-patent-for-in-game-advertising/ - SONY did some patent work on in-game advertising
http://www.officialplaystationmagazine.co.uk/2012/07/04/sonys-gaikai-acquisition-will-focus-on-game-machines/
- If you saw the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 & Hawken and the whole cloud gaming presentation, then yeah. SONY now has a cloud gaming system which would be more TV based and streamable.
DICE TALK 2010
The Pleasure Revolution.
I was thinking what there is more emphasis on:
1. Putting people 'in' the game.
2. Games involved augmented iphone/samsung 3G reality (Remember the virtual TF2 being played on google street view) with the iphone/samsung 3G and the console/pc interaction or looking through the phone.
3. More gaming in the real world taking it out of the lounge room and putting it in the real world. So you just stumble upon the gaming experience in real life, the shopping center, the restaurant, the train station and its just controllable with movement, eye reading, etc
But I'm not thinking small apps that are games like the game goes from your phone to the public screen to the phone and home again.
Finally an idea I came up in 2006/7 was the "Generational MMOG" think of it like a game that spans over generations of your family with rewards and not so great rewards. Its in human nature to be compete with one another.
Which brings me to the DICE TALK in 2010.
http://www.g4tv.com/videos/44277/DICE-2010-Design-Outside-the-Box-Presentation/
and finally to some degree of everyone has a thing for corporate identification. Which brings me to my final idea. Gaming in a mass cloud of information through corporate generational massive multi-user benevolent & altruistic reward system because no one likes to pay tax towards a resource system and being reward with fly-by's is a lot easier if you can see them as an alternative currency to monetary means or adding to monetary purchases. Could tie it into corporate sponsorship. You remember supermarket sweep back in the 1990s? "Good Moral Environmental Brand Consumer 201X" and cause everyone has the social media everyone would keep and eye on everyone else or the phone would be a tracking device.
The whole idea could go wrong though. But for the most part I'd think with the tax on resources as it stands at the moment isn't very popular. We could try and 'do the right thing, and be rewarded for it unfortunately through brand identification."
I just hope I am making sense when writing this. Just my thoughts.