Will Windows 8 Play Xbox 360 Games?
Microsoft’s support of the PC market these past few years has been seen by many as little more than afterthought, with very few of its games coming out on PC exclusively, if at all. Popular Xbox 360 titles like Halo 3, Halo Reach and Gears of War 2, all published by Microsoft Game Studios, have all but skipped the PC entirely. Add to this the fact that the Games For Windows Live service pales in comparison to superior services like Steam and Microsoft’s own Xbox Live, it’s become easier and easier to simply ignore Microsoft on a PC.
Fortunately, it seems Microsoft may have finally taken notice of the fact that its gaming division has become largely obsolete in the PC market and has decided to do something about it. If the rumors posted on Insideris turn out to be true, PC users will be able to run Xbox 360 games directly through Windows 8 for a nominal fee.
As the first step toward this initiative, Microsoft recently merged its Games For Windows Marketplace with Xbox.com in an effort to give their PC download service greater visibility. If Xbox 360 games indeed turn out to be playable on a Windows 8 PC, it could drastically increase their userbase as well as allowing Microsoft to continue supporting the Xbox 360 long after they’ve moved onto its inevitable successor. I imagine though that it won’t be as simple as popping an Xbox game into your current PC, so we’d likely start seeing “Xbox-branded” PCs coming out that essentially have the 360 hardware built in.
Even though Microsoft may be looking to turn the PC and the Xbox 360 into a single unit, you won’t be able to play an Xbox 360 game on PC against someone who is playing on an actual Xbox. This is mostly due to the enormous advantage a mouse and keyboard has over a controller, as well as the fact that the games running on PC will be played over Games For Windows, rather than Xbox Live. So it’s not perfect, but it’s definitely an interesting step for Microsoft to take. I wouldn’t be surprised if they phased out the standalone 360 entirely in favor of this hybrid solution once they’ve unveiled their next console. Only time will tell.
My gut tells me this won’t happen. It seems unnecessary to make Windows compatible with XBOX 360 games when the majority of the good ones have already been released on the PC.
The counter argument is: if it’s relatively ‘easy’ to do, why wouldn’t they? Microsoft’s most profitable product, far and away, is Windows (with Office coming in at a close second). If this is another bow in their Windows quiver, why not? Then again, the PC game library far outshines any other OS library so why bother?
I really don’t know what to make of this news. Truly, it confuses me.
Yeah, “bow” was supposed to be “arrow”. I feel stupid.
i can see it now! windows 8 and 360 burning on the streets! gamers rioting and plundering gamestops everywhere! (gamestop deserves it lol)
I really doubt they will add the function to play 360 games on the PC. I mean, if Microsoft do that it would be way easier for people to pirate the games and it will lose money since some people will stop buying the console.
I’m pretty sure that by having xbox, they mean that they changed Games for Windows Live to Xbox Live.
I fear this will cause developers to spend even less time porting games from 360 to PC. In the past, some “ports” were nearly unplayable with mouse and keyboard (Saints Row, GTA IV). Heck, even Borderlands had menus that were barely usable with a mouse.
I really don’t want to have to start using a controller. I play exclusively on the PC because I prefer the quick accuracy of the mouse and keyboard.
You may be onto to something there.
It’s a no-brainer that Microsoft is going to push Kinect use with Windows 8 – that interface seems tailor-made for it. And then why not support Xbox Console games too? It’s the logical next step.
I can imagine the game disk permitting installation on either platform, but then being locked to that particular device via online DRM.
None of the above appeals to me, though. I will not be partaking.