Microsoft shows off single game running on Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox
By Paul Miller 
posted March 6th 2010 12:55PM
posted March 6th 2010 12:55PM
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted March 6th 2010 12:55PM
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Design & code for the keyboard+mouse, and touch+accelerometer, and the 360 controller. There are so many flaws in that, I don't even know where to start.
First - the game would need to come out on ALL platforms at the same time for this to work. No point in picking up where you left off if you've had the game on Xbox for a year, beat it, and they just released the Phone version.
Second - you would need to have three different teams, designing essentially three different games.
Third - the game will either work really well with one set of controls and be bad on the others, or it will work so-so on all three.
Sure, the 1st party games might be all that, but I doubt most developers are going to pour resources into something like this.
The concept is great, but I really don't see it happening.
@trainwrecka It's happening I'm thinking. BUT...and I quote from another post on Giz...(don't flame now ;-)) "To get the most out of the Xbox360, you need to be a licensed Xbox360 developer with access to the full Xbox 360 development kit (hardware and SDK), and develop in native C++ rather than .NET/C#. That is costly. "
So yeah, you are correct, but I still think it's happening and I hope so, it'll open a whole new competitive market and the consumer usually wins when they start that. More competition equals more option, cheaper bang for the buck.
@trainwrecka
O ye, of little faith.let us wait for MIX 10
@trainwrecka
"First - the game would need to come out on ALL platforms at the same time for this to work. No point in picking up where you left off if you've had the game on Xbox for a year, beat it, and they just released the Phone version."
But the code is 90% the same across all platforms, only 10% for controls etc it to be changed for each platform.
"Second - you would need to have three different teams, designing essentially three different games."
Please refer to above comment, 90% same source code.
"Third - the game will either work really well with one set of controls and be bad on the others, or it will work so-so on all three."
This could be true, but it's about giving the consumer the choice. The developers will have to work hard to ensure the controls are good for all three platforms.
"The concept is great, but I really don't see it happening."
Judging by the rest of your comments on this story i can see why...
@nabberuk
"But the code is 90% the same across all platforms, only 10% for controls etc it to be changed for each platform."
Seriously? Do you understand how games are coded? If this were true games wouldn't need to be "remade" for systems. Think how the Wii, DS, PSP, and iPhone all have different versions from the 360/PS3. The PS3 and 360 are similar because the system capabilities are the same, and the controls are similar. But even in those two realms, developers almost always design for the 360 since it has lower power than the PS3.
"The developers will have to work hard to ensure the controls are good for all three platforms."
Yes, that's the problem.
I said: "The concept is great, but I really don't see it happening."
You said: "Judging by the rest of your comments on this story i can see why..."
Was it the comment about the VMU being a failure (it was), agreeing with another poster about trolling, not liking vaporware without delivery? Those all seem like legit comments. I love the concept, but the amount of support this will require to pull off is crazy. Sure it could happen - heck, they demoed it - but it is totally different to get this in the hands of consumers. Please revisit this comment this time next year, and see where this stands --- heck, revisit in 2012 and see where this stands.
@trainwrecka
"Seriously? Do you understand how games are coded? If this were true games wouldn't need to be "remade" for systems. Think how the Wii, DS, PSP, and iPhone all have different versions from the 360/PS3. The PS3 and 360 are similar because the system capabilities are the same, and the controls are similar. But even in those two realms, developers almost always design for the 360 since it has lower power than the PS3."
You clearly don't understand games are coded.
Wii, DS, PSP, iPhone, 360 and PS3 end up with significantly different versions because their hardware and SDKs differ dramatically in practically all imaginable ways, input method being one of the smaller and easier things to deal with. In fact 360 and PS3 differ dramatically (though you think they are 'the same') - most developers deal with this via middleware or inhouse engine development. Which are both very expensive and certainly bigger than 10%.
That encapsulation job - even for 2 platforms you think are similar - is exactly part of the reason why only 10% different is indeed very important.
If all I had to worry about across such differing platforms as Windows, 360 and WP7 was resolution differences, slotting in different asset level of detail and rebuilding the control mechanism and all the rest of the code was the same - that IS a huge step forward. A control mechanism is a small job compared to the differences in hardware between PS3 and 360 - trust me.
And 360 is not 'lower power' than the PS3. There are arguments for and against both machines. Go read about SPUs and multicore, or the difference in GPU power between the machines.
@cullenskink The PS3 is more powerful than the XBOX 360. Not sure why you think this isn't the case. I think the 360 is the better platform (for now), but the PS3 is a beast. That's not my words - those are from actual developers.
It's a long, long, long time in the making, but it's hear. Very glad to hear that. If you can transfer all my info from Hexic between my 360, PC, Zune, and WP7 device, I would be one happy man.
I'm just learning visual studio, im making a sniper game for my zune HD, guess it could run on this too.
This is fine and dandy, but when are the phones coming out? Is everything going to be on a standstill till the end of this year? This is the same problem with WinMo... I mean WinPho Classic. 6.5 was announced early last year, and we didn't see devices with it till just couple of months ago (and some are still coming soon). For example, who wants to spend $$$ for the HD2 now? There are reasons why even Google did the Nexus One. Sometimes you just have to do it yourself.
if castle crashers comes to WinPho7, I will buy one. that makes this OS irresistable.
NICE!!!
Man! "7" is definitely the number to beat so far, this is going to get fun! The more competition, the more options, the cheaper the prices etc. etc. (consumers LOVE when these guys compete, and this opens a whole new door to mobile gaming) Now if the damn ETF fees could somehow be lowered and/or even completely out of the equation that'd be nice, a ton of options for true gaming phones without ETFs on the cell end, ahhh dreams :/
Wow this actually does seem really cool!
I like how both Apple and Microsoft come up with really nice ideas that sort of cater to everyone in their own way.
@Colrath Newsflash, we are living in 2010. For about 9.75 more months.
This = WIN
But this better include the courier device. I wonder if this has anything to do with the strangely close release dates for natal and WP7S.
@YvesOfWinter
And I hope this means that we will see some steam titles ported to WP7S (Braid, Eufloria, Osmos).
Im hearing the Indiana Jones Theme playing in my head while I wait for WP7S to come out... :-D
This game was made for the zune hd as an xna game a month after the zune hd came out
Microsoft is taking over the world again!
@TRRosen
Nope. Hello, you are wrong.
The simulator only works with the code. You can't take an AppStore app/game and run it in the simulator. You need the original source code. The simulator compiles it natively for X86, but when compiled for the iPhone/iPod it's compiled for ARM. The simulator is only of use for development, and besides without a multitouch screen and an accelerometer on your development mac, the simulator would be useless for playing a game anyway.
Having said all this, this game looks crap! But at least it's possible. Just like the first iPhone games were total rubbish it will come in time.
man. why is microsoft making me thinking of getting a win7 series phone. i'm a 360 gamer at heart so now that my gaming doesn't have to be over when i need to go to work is too cool. now just give me one with a full qwerty physical keyboard and you have my $$$$ microsoft
@coopere Keeping watching...
@coopere
because of this 8 bit game they showed? LMFAO..
It's like Steam Cloud taken to the next level
So he died within 2 seconds on both games and he's like "Oh it remembers what level I'm on"
Yeah, dude
the game sucks, the controls suck and it remembers that you suck at playing it, so you're still....on the first level.
Microsoft
Where did you want to go Yesterday
Just lost the game...
@drange
I dislike it when people compare gaming on the iPhone to gaming on a PSP (or DS, at least most of the time). I agree that this won't do much to entice people from PSP's or DS's, but this is definitely a step above iPhone gaming. Now, as long as they make these games good and a bit lengthier than the ones on the iPhone, Microsoft has got themselves a winner on their hands.
I hate ms ,this thing is only being hyped like vista was ,it's gonna suck when it's released.
...my god if your update the PGR game on the zune you could have moblie multiplayer gaming that dosnt involve games that suck
OK OK, Ill save my moneys for you my Precious.
Now, I am waiting for L4D3 on my WP7.
Make it so!
This is beautiful.
I got a feeling this is the year we see Apple slide, MS re-awke and reinvent themselves a little and Palm and Blackberry producing no real innovation.
Right now MS seem so exciting.
Great features ... but i don't like it very much ...
@futurerheza You mean the iphone that runs OS X with a different UI layer so apps can be ported very easily using XCode?
The reason you don't notice more of this already happening is that it's largely a dumb idea running a side scroller on a mobile and an XBox or PC and not a situation you'd come across in practice.
You buy an XBox or PC for the performance and mobile for the portability. Very rarely will you get games that will work well on both platforms.
I am betting that this new OS is going to be the one to challenge apple where i counts. Video games are a big part of why iphones are so popular . Now with xbox live on the phone who knows how crazy this can get. i just hope verizon comes out with nice hardware to compliment the software.
This is why I always felt the iPhone while being a great device would see its long term as being a niche product much like Apple computers are today. Apple does a great job at innovating but I feel they are faster to market because they are concerned with the end product. MS on the other hand wants to develop the framework for which these products are built on like establishing Silverlight, .NET, XNA so on. The end result is Apple is quicker to market and gets out on an early lead but in 5 years I still think the iPhone will be some where between 10-15% of the smartphone market share. Whereas companies like Microsoft and Google who can build frameworks will hold the lion share of the market.
Whoa! This is an XNA game for the Zune that came out in like October.
I can also see a slide out phone that has Xbox buttons as opposed to a keyboard for serious gamers who want a more conventional Xbox experience. The code could run off of the xbox code.
@Kuruption
A compact Xbox? *snickers...
this will lead to a much larger revenue stream for MS & its many independent developers, the sky is now the limit, visual studio 2010 is sure to be a tremendous success, well done
Cross platform integration is looking good but I'm still waiting on a gaming specific hand held device from Microsoft, like the conceptual Origami.
What have you done with the real Microsoft?!
I can already do that between my iphone and my computers (both mac and pc)
Adding an xbox can't be that hard
What about Zune HD?!?!?
@Giorgos a) It was a joke.
b) They already sold some of them off before this whole budget disaster.