Rumor: Windows 8 will allow for Xbox 360 games to be played on PC's

[Duder1no]

The title says it all, you will be able to play Xbox360 games on your PC with Windows 8, Microsoft’s latest and greatest operating system.

Although there isn’t much information about the features or limitations, one thing is for sure: You are able to play Xbox360 games by simply placing the game disk into your DVD tray.

Remember, this is Microsoft we’re talking about. Something this generous doesn’t come without a price tag. To play your Xbox360 games online, you need to dish out some cash to access a ‘live’ feature, something similar to Xbox Live, but more tuned for PC’s.

With the declining number of Xbox exclusives, this is a step in the right direction for Microsoft in terms of economics. Opening up an entirely new market without having to spend a cent is by far the most lucrative thing Microsoft has announced and here’s why:

No reproduction – Microsoft doesn’t have to produce new game disks or cases for its new platform. Players can simply buy new or used Xbox360 games. Future games will just have a new graphic on them stating it’s ‘Windows 8 compatible’

Subscriptions – Xbox Live alone makes up the majority of revenue for Microsoft. If the company can get the service on not only 1, but 2 platforms, profits can double. Pair that up with a DRM platform similar to Steam and EA’s Origin and your product line is guaranteed to earn profits.

Marketing – Microsoft is no stranger to marketing, having spent over $500m on Kinect marketing alone, you can expect Windows 8 to have an extreme presence in the media in the upcoming year. Announcing the compatibility of Xbox360 games on the PC via OS purchase is enough to pull a large chunk of the gamer demographic.

Although there’s a lot of speculation, there’s even more questions being asked. “Why would you buy Xbox360 consoles if games work on PC?” “Why would I want to buy the Xbox360 version of games?” Although I don’t have any information upon Microsoft’s new console, I can safely say that the Xbox360 is being put aside and a next generation console is in the works. So, if you have a large 360 collection and a mighty PC, you’re going to enjoy Windows 8. Stay tuned for more information.

http://www.teknylate.com/2011/07/05/xbox360-games-on-p/

Added 'Rumor:' to the headline because that is what this is right now.

ATCG Mod
Queasy

 

[Stuxnet]

Sounds like MS is tired of losing money on the console itself. Also sounds like it could splinter the Live community a bit.

 

[Gunslinger08]

If this is true and they somehow let you map mouse/keyword to the controls and it actually works well, I'll be buying a lot more 360 games. I'm terrible at first person games on consoles.

 

[Tristicus]

Maybe I don't need to buy a 360 for the three games I want on it...

When is it rumored to be released?

 

[RedRooster]

Oh God, I hope this is fake. If PC users can get on Live with mice and keyboards, I'm done with XBox. Nothing against PC players, and I hate to seem apocolyptical, but this would completely ruin Live.

 

[Ross Ridge]

If there's any truth to this rumour then it'll be limited to new games that have both the Xbox 360 and PC version on the same disc. Either that or something like OnLive. Even the most powerful PCs today aren't even remotely capable of emulating Xbox 360 hardware in software.

 

[Todd33]

What PC GPUs could emulate the 360 GPU with its 10MB EDRAM?

 

[Garou24]

I wonder if they will allow you to play the Xbox360 games on PC, but might require the player to use an Xbox controller connected to the PC. That would prevent the mice and keyboard player effect.

 

[purbeast0]

I wonder if they will allow you to play the Xbox360 games on PC, but might require the player to use an Xbox controller connected to the PC. That would prevent the mice and keyboard player effect.

this is the most likely scenario, not sure why everyone is jumping to conclusions that this means there will now be kb/m support for 360 games.

they said they are doing it to get "free" customers basically (if it's even true that is). adding kb/m support wouldn't make it "free" it would make it more work.

 

[Queasy]

Magic 8-ball says: Doubtful

I think some are confusing the rebranding of Gaming for Windows LIVE to Xbox LIVE and the plans to integrate that into Windows 8. It'll still be two separate platforms with the same games developed on both platforms.

 

[Anubis]

I wonder if they will allow you to play the Xbox360 games on PC, but might require the player to use an Xbox controller connected to the PC. That would prevent the mice and keyboard player effect.

TBH they only really need to require that for FPS games, for basicially any other type of game the KB/M does not hold any advantage

actually KB/M is at a dissadvantage at some games (platformers & IMO sports games)

 

[American Gunner]

I wonder how long it will be until all the Sony fanboys crash this thread.

 

[Beev]

I wonder how long it will be until all the Sony fanboys crash this thread.

They have nothing to crash. This is a great feature for Windows 8. Really there's nothing negative to be said unless, like stated above, they let PC players use kb+m, but I would be one of them if they did

 

[Aikouka]

TBH they only really need to require that for FPS games, for basicially any other type of game the KB/M does not hold any advantage

RTS is probably the only other type. Possibly MMORPGs as well since they simply have too many abilities for a controller.

 

[crisium]

Microsoft will probably make it 360 controller only, to the one guy complaining.

I hope this is true, but I doubt it.

 

[Duder1no]

sounds too good to be true IMO

 

[zerocool84]

No way at all. It takes a ton of horse power to emulate a 360 or a PS3, and with it coming out next year, I don't see it at all. How many 360 or PS3 emulators do you see out in the wild? It just requires too much power.

 

[RedRooster]

No way at all. It takes a ton of horse power to emulate a 360 or a PS3, and with it coming out next year, I don't see it at all. How many 360 or PS3 emulators do you see out in the wild? It just requires too much power.

To be fair, Microsoft hasn't taken a crack at it yet.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

If this is true I will at the least be buying single player games like Final Fantasy XIII. Probably a lot more that I don't know of because I don't have an Xbox.

 

[gorcorps]

No way at all. It takes a ton of horse power to emulate a 360 or a PS3, and with it coming out next year, I don't see it at all. How many 360 or PS3 emulators do you see out in the wild? It just requires too much power.

Well... tbh you're comparing 3rd party un-paid devs making free emulators from a basement in their free time to the company that knows the inner workings of their console from the ground up. That said both consoles this gen have had their fair share of issues emulating their own consoles from the previous gen so who knows.

 

[Skel]

Magic 8-ball says: Doubtful

I think some are confusing the rebranding of Gaming for Windows LIVE to Xbox LIVE and the plans to integrate that into Windows 8. It'll still be two separate platforms with the same games developed on both platforms.

Prob this.. but with MS no longer having the DOJ watching them all the time, who knows what services they're interlocking again.

 

[Mr. President]

I don't believe it for a second. I'm not sure that regular PC drives can even read the discs without modified firmwares.

That aside, just emulating the CPU is problematic in itself. Throw in bandwidth issues with eDRAM, FSB, PCIe, and associated latencies and it becomes pretty much impossible on current PCs without significantly reworking the games themselves.

Also, consider how much CPU power you need to play Gamecube/Wii games on Dolphin. That's a single core 32-bit 700mhz PowerPC in the Wii compared to a triple core dual threaded 64-bit PowerPC at 3.2ghz in the 360.

 

[BoberFett]

Not gonna happen. Emulation needs a massive increase in horsepower over the target machine, whether it's done by Microsoft or not.

 

[Ross Ridge]

Well... tbh you're comparing 3rd party un-paid devs making free emulators from a basement in their free time to the company that knows the inner workings of their console from the ground up. That said both consoles this gen have had their fair share of issues emulating their own consoles from the previous gen so who knows.

If Microsoft can emulate a 3.2 GHz PowerPC core at anything close to normal speed on a 4 GHz Intel CPU then it would an incredible groundbreaking technical achievement. It would also be a serious threat to the Intel monoply. It would mean you could emulate Intel CPU on a PowerPC or other chip architecture without the huge performance loss that's plagued previous attempts. Including Intel's own on the Itanium.

The other thing to consider is that this would open a big wide hole for piracy. The DVD-ROM drives in your PC doesn't have the custom Microsoft firmware that identify authentic Xbox 360 discs. It's possible that the new disc format that they came up with the for the 360 might also include a PC compatible copy protection scheme, but that would still leave a big piracy hole. And the vast majority of 360 titles older disc format.

 

[Anubis]

RTS is probably the only other type. Possibly MMORPGs as well since they simply have too many abilities for a controller.

yea but MMOs other then FF14 dont exist on consoles and RTS games are few and far between