General Games News - The Bear and Badger

digi

Yossarian wrote:

I think that next gen we might have to reconsider how we measure the size of a platform. Consoles sold will only be part of it.

Well yes seeing as Sony made more of there services than consoles sold apparently.

This may also be true for xbone too, though I never read that!

monkey

Yossarian wrote:

monkey wrote:

You think Nintendo will let them stream XBone games through the Switch?

Absolutely. It gives Switch owners access to the AAA multiplats and MS exclusives that they currently miss out on while also giving Microsoft some greater exposure and cash, a cut of which will no doubt be going to Nintendo. It’s a win-win.

Pretty much my only question at this stage is whether or not the partnership will run deep enough to see Nintendo IP on Microsoft hardware. I don’t think it’s likely, but it’s certainly a possibility.

Wot u smokin?

Yossarian

digi wrote:

Yossarian wrote:

I think that next gen we might have to reconsider how we measure the size of a platform. Consoles sold will only be part of it.

Well yes seeing as Sony made more of there services than consoles sold apparently.

This may also be true for xbone too, though I never read that!

I think that’s almost certain for Xbox too, the only hardware company that makes money from hardware is Nintendo.

Yossarian

monkey wrote:

Yossarian wrote:

monkey wrote:

You think Nintendo will let them stream XBone games through the Switch?

Absolutely. It gives Switch owners access to the AAA multiplats and MS exclusives that they currently miss out on while also giving Microsoft some greater exposure and cash, a cut of which will no doubt be going to Nintendo. It’s a win-win.

Pretty much my only question at this stage is whether or not the partnership will run deep enough to see Nintendo IP on Microsoft hardware. I don’t think it’s likely, but it’s certainly a possibility.

Wot u smokin?

Bonus predicto: Nintendo join Microsoft onstage at E3 this year for some reason. Maybe relating to this, maybe relating to Rare characters being added to Smash, but they share a stage.

Blue Swirl

At the very least, I'd love to get Xbox achievements for Android and Switch games, and it'd be top to have a combined Switch/Xbox friends list on Nintendo's handheld. Streaming games holds zero interest for me at the moment, but more features can't be a bad thing, should it come about.

Dinostar77

Bob wrote:

How is it we don't have a Silent Hill thread? Or is it not called the Silent Hill thread?

Anyway turns 20 today.

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-01-31-as-silent-hill-turns-20-we-remember-why-it-was-great

Remember it fondly one of the few games I actually played to completion back in the day.

Shame Konami have lost interest in video gaming. A remake of silent Hill 1 and especially 2 would be fantastic. Never know, the RE2 Remake and its huge sales figures may cause a retro survival horror renaissance.

yourfavouriteuncle

The only problem I can see in Yoss’s assertion that everything will be better for MS next gen because they’re getting in earlier than all the others and this time we just have to believe more is the fact that at E3 last year apple, google and amazon were all touting pretty much the same thing to the same devs and asking for similar back up. It’s a pretty solid rumour that apple are currently trialing a games streaming sub service for a start so yeah, course they’re gonna let MS splurge Live all over that.

I’ve also heard that Mario is going to appear in the next Halo and that basically GOW5 is just a re-skinned Yoshis Wooly World.

Full disclosure; I’d quite like MS to have live on the switch and design a shop that doesn’t become a bigger mess every single week.

Yossarian

Of course there’s going to be competition, but Microsoft are in about the best position to take advantage of the emergence of this market owing to their combination of infrastructure, proven networking capabilities, brand awareness among gamers, plus of course a huge back catalogue that they can bring to bear.

Obviously, how it all pans out remains to be seen, but Microsoft have a hell of a lot more than most going for them in this space.

Bob

Apart from Sony already has streaming tech up and running and if anything a huger back catalogue.

Yossarian

Sony certainly have the games, but the streaming tech isn’t great and they aren’t showing any signs of wanting to break out of their walled garden as yet.

monkey

If Apple are getting into it, that’s bad for MS. They’ve got a history of keeping dev tools locked away for third parties when they’ve got their own software to sell.

Yossarian

I won’t hold my breath on Apple, TBH. They’ve been looking into something for TV for what, 5 years now? A rumour today may not turn out to be anything at all in the long run.

Even if they do go in, it’s difficult to think what could be locked away.

acemuzzy

I remain dubious. I don't think either Ninty or MS will want to relinquish control over revenue streams or quality. Kyoto don't want people complaining because GoW7 is streaming poorly and has swear words. And the tech won't be good enough next gen for their seal of approval. Achievements is a long way short of streaming AAA games, orders of magnitude simpler.

monkey

Yossarian wrote:

Of course there’s going to be competition, but Microsoft are in about the best position to take advantage of the emergence of this market owing to their combination of infrastructure, proven networking capabilities, brand awareness among gamers, plus of course a huge back catalogue that they can bring to bear.

Obviously, how it all pans out remains to be seen, but Microsoft have a hell of a lot more than most going for them in this space.

Well, they haven’t got any hardware. I mean they’ve got the Bone but that’s peanuts in comparison to Apple and Google devices. So they’re entirely reliant on other companies getting on board and helping them, rather than fucking them.

How’s it working on eg Switch. If Nintendo make eg 30% of the sale of software on their device, how does a competitor setting up a games portal that bypasses them ‘win-win’? If they get the same cut from the portal as one of their games, that’s less for MS, the devs and pubs to share between themselves. Now imagine Apple have got their streaming thing and you want want your game on the iPhone? Do you go to MS who will take a cut after Apple or just bypass them and deal straight with Apple?

monkey

Yossarian wrote:

I won’t hold my breath on Apple, TBH. They’ve been looking into something for TV for what, 5 years now? A rumour today may not turn out to be anything at all in the long run.

Even if they do go in, it’s difficult to think what could be locked away.

MS Cloud tech has a fairly long history of failed promises too.

djchump

A bit more out of mainstream sight than their hardware failures and abandonments though.

Yossarian

monkey wrote:

Yossarian wrote:

Of course there’s going to be competition, but Microsoft are in about the best position to take advantage of the emergence of this market owing to their combination of infrastructure, proven networking capabilities, brand awareness among gamers, plus of course a huge back catalogue that they can bring to bear.

Obviously, how it all pans out remains to be seen, but Microsoft have a hell of a lot more than most going for them in this space.

Well, they haven’t got any hardware. I mean they’ve got the Bone but that’s peanuts in comparison to Apple and Google devices. So they’re entirely reliant on other companies getting on board and helping them, rather than fucking them.

How’s it working on eg Switch. If Nintendo make eg 30% of the sale of software on their device, how does a competitor setting up a games portal that bypasses them ‘win-win’? If they get the same cut from the portal as one of their games, that’s less for MS, the devs and pubs to share between themselves. Now imagine Apple have got their streaming thing and you want want your game on the iPhone? Do you go to MS who will take a cut after Apple or just bypass them and deal straight with Apple?

Microsoft won’t be selling games through these portals, they’ll be offering a streaming service. Apple, Nintendo, whoever all get a cut of the sub fees through their devices. Sales are unaffected by this.

Phil Spencer has been saying in interviews that people on gamepass buy more games than those without it. Assuming he’s got the figures to back that up, that’s a decent carrot to dangle.

Bob

What are they going to buy them for?

Yossarian

monkey wrote:

Yossarian wrote:

I won’t hold my breath on Apple, TBH. They’ve been looking into something for TV for what, 5 years now? A rumour today may not turn out to be anything at all in the long run.

Even if they do go in, it’s difficult to think what could be locked away.

MS Cloud tech has a fairly long history of failed promises too.

Fair point, although it’s looking more like delayed than failed at this stage, I guess we’ll know for sure when Crackdown 3 releases.

yourfavouriteuncle

monkey wrote:

How’s it working on eg Switch. If Nintendo make eg 30% of the sale of software on their device, how does a competitor setting up a games portal that bypasses them ‘win-win’? If they get the same cut from the portal as one of their games, that’s less for MS, the devs and pubs to share between themselves. Now imagine Apple have got their streaming thing and you want want your game on the iPhone? Do you go to MS who will take a cut after Apple or just bypass them and deal straight with Apple?

This is what I don’t get tbh. When everyone has devices out there in much bigger numbers than MS why would they then let them take a slice of their pie? I mean google aren’t gonna want them on Android. Apple won’t want them on idevices and Nintendo will probably be back to love hotels and theme parks by then. I don’t get who’s gonna let them onto their device apart from PCs which are running. Windows anyway?

djchump

Oh yeah, feb 15th Crackdown 3 is due. Can’t wait to see all that cloud power.

Yossarian

Bob wrote:

What are they going to buy them for?

I suppose they could offer a purchase scheme through this for games that are leaving the service.

In which case, I fully expect that a chunk of the purchase price would go to the holder of the platform that the purchase is made on.

Yossarian

yourfavouriteuncle wrote:

monkey wrote:

How’s it working on eg Switch. If Nintendo make eg 30% of the sale of software on their device, how does a competitor setting up a games portal that bypasses them ‘win-win’? If they get the same cut from the portal as one of their games, that’s less for MS, the devs and pubs to share between themselves. Now imagine Apple have got their streaming thing and you want want your game on the iPhone? Do you go to MS who will take a cut after Apple or just bypass them and deal straight with Apple?

This is what I don’t get tbh. When everyone has devices out there in much bigger numbers than MS why would they then let them take a slice of their pie? I mean google aren’t gonna want them on Android. Apple won’t want them on idevices and Nintendo will probably be back to love hotels and theme parks by then. I don’t get who’s gonna let them onto their device apart from PCs which are running. Windows anyway?

Because all of these companies get a cut of the money that’s being made.

bad_hair_day

Maybe I’m getting mixed up here, but to stream games you will just need to access www.xcloud.com? (on whatever device) if you have LIVE.

Yossarian

It’s all rumours at the moment, but the streaming tech seems to involve a dedicated piece of client-side software that runs part of the code locally and streams the rest in the background rather than a browser-based interface.

monkey

Yossarian wrote:

yourfavouriteuncle wrote:

monkey wrote:

How’s it working on eg Switch. If Nintendo make eg 30% of the sale of software on their device, how does a competitor setting up a games portal that bypasses them ‘win-win’? If they get the same cut from the portal as one of their games, that’s less for MS, the devs and pubs to share between themselves. Now imagine Apple have got their streaming thing and you want want your game on the iPhone? Do you go to MS who will take a cut after Apple or just bypass them and deal straight with Apple?

This is what I don’t get tbh. When everyone has devices out there in much bigger numbers than MS why would they then let them take a slice of their pie? I mean google aren’t gonna want them on Android. Apple won’t want them on idevices and Nintendo will probably be back to love hotels and theme parks by then. I don’t get who’s gonna let them onto their device apart from PCs which are running. Windows anyway?

Because all of these companies get a cut of the money that’s being made.

But not the same amount as they could have without MS. Cross-platform games can be streamed through a portal rather than bought from Nintendo or Apple or whoever. Or you're so busy streaming games from MS that you buy fewer from Nintendo or Apple or whoever. Either way they'd have let their competitor set up shop on their device and start providing alternative routes for getting stuff. Apple, Sony, MS and Nintendo have never allowed anything like that in the past. Google hasn't exactly encouraged other app stores but can't control them either.

Yossarian

All of those companies have done exactly this with film and music streaming services.

Yossarian

Well, except Nintendo (and maybe Sony?) who doesn’t have its own service for Netflix or Spotify to compete with.

Bob

Yossarian wrote:

Bob wrote:

What are they going to buy them for?

I suppose they could offer a purchase scheme through this for games that are leaving the service.

In which case, I fully expect that a chunk of the purchase price would go to the holder of the platform that the purchase is made on.

You misunderstand.. I’m streaming crackdown 3 on my switch and Marvelling at the cloud...what am I going to buy my copy of crackdown 3 for? The bone I don’t own?

yourfavouriteuncle

Yossarian wrote:

All of those companies have done exactly this with film and music streaming services.

Yes they have but then they don’t invest in making their own films and movies do they? For a pure publisher then your argument is fine. EA want their game on everything. Microsoft only make games as a means to tiring you to their service. It’s a big leap of logic there.

Tbh though I could see this being a big thing for Tvs. Xbox enabled TVs. PlayStation enabled etc etc but the thing is we’re gonna end up back on exclusivity as selling points. Plus Xbox isn’t rocking up on a Sony tv. Or the ones with android as their op system.

The reality is gonna be a future like the pc space at the moment and the issue of epic looking for exclusive titles for their service. Most games will appear across all platforms with the exclusives being the reason for subscription.
Much like we do now with our choice of consoles we’ll look at which service offers the range of games that most suits us. It’ll be no different. We’ll still be arguing about who has the best pad, or who uses shit compression techniques and I’ll still be happy to play Mario whilst you’ll still be happy to be Sea of Theiving.

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