Bill Gates wants to combine the worlds of Xbox and PC.

[Matrixo2]

www.tweaktown.com/news/28614/bill-gates-talks-about-the-current-microsoft-ceo-s-performance-talks-of-their-mistakes-with-the-mobile-market-and-more/index.html

"I think the big change that Microsoft will go through - well, I hope they do anyway - is Xbox. I hope they really push the platform and not forget the PC this time. If they were to combine these worlds, they would be truly unstoppable - not only against Apple, but Google, Sony and Nintendo."

Thoughts people?

[sebastianoswell]

Makes sense, depends on how they sell the new xbox though I guess. And does that mean cross platform play, unification of the 2 platforms or just better integration between the two. Could be interesting!

[Blankie440]

Bah, Windows 8 isn't great and even if they brought cross platform multiplayer and such I just don't see myself leaping into any of it for some time. What would be stupendous is if they released a software program that allowed you to use your computer as a console, or rather go into an Xbox environment on your Windows OS and play your games there. They have had 360 controllers available for PC for a long time and it seems like a logical step to get away from the restrictions that console components brings and broaden it to allow anyone with a gaming machine to operate their computer as a console and interact with console gamers through multiplayer. Otherwise consoles are in the past for me as there isn't much they can bring to the table that we haven't already seen. Just my two cents.

[Puppet]

Yeah I can see this becoming a "thing", ideas like steambox definitely would have gotten them thinking, and they have a clear advantage over Sony in this department.

[Helepolis]

What I'm wondering is why all developers couldn't suck it up and understand that we all wanted a unified gaming experience right from the beginning regardless of platform.

[Baxterz]

What I'm wondering is why all developers couldn't suck it up and understand that we all wanted a unified gaming experience right from the beginning regardless of platform.

Couldn't agree more with this. I wanted them to be integrated in some way right from the beginning Probably not integrated with something competitive but something cooperative would be lots of fun to play with people on the opposite system as you.

[Agons]

If Microsoft really want to push console gaming with PC they need to combine what Steam and Sony are doing. They should make the new xbox x86-x64 based. In all honesty a console is just a computer with the sole purpose of gaming on a TV. Then do what Steam is with the Steam box idea. Make your xbox XXX whatever an OS based on X86 or X64 then have a standard of minimum requirements needed for your hardware. Boom! Everyone can make there own Xbox box lol, they could just sell the OS and people could, in theory Overclock there Xbox XD for better performance just like a normal desktop. Then they could sell there own minimum Microsoft branded Xbox that would provide compatibility with all games that comes out for it without question.

[IdeaStormer]

All gaming consoles should be platform independent and be sold as software/peripheral packages, its all going to run on x86 so who cares what the hardware is/looks like? Sure you want something decent but this way you can run what you can afford. Having N number of gaming consoles just makes it so developers have more restrictions on what they can develop for. Keep it all on one platform and then they can just develop for one and we would get all possible games, so in the end they'd sell more games. Running it on x86 would mean it runs on what ever game console and PC's.

[EChondo]

I would love this idea. As a person with multiple friends that own a console, but can't afford a gaming PC(I'm trying to talk them into it) this would be just marvelous to have consoles and PCs talking to each other and having independent servers or P2P connections. I wonder if Bungie's new game "Destiny" will have some sort of cross platform play between the PS4 and Steam, just like what Valve did with Portal 2.

Can't wait! Hopefully we will have full functionality and support of this by 2020.

[GoodBytes]

Microsoft was talking about this since Vista in development, hence why it had XBox 360 controller support... but while we got that... we got the broken, unfinished, Games for Windows Live.

And a game folder that was unfinished (its suppose to inform you about updates in your games, shows you states about the game when you click on it, and of course, save your games in the SAVED GAMES folder which, up to today, no development have seam to heard about it, despite being in front of their face, and just dump all their crap in your documents and hope you'll figure it out with your files. In Vista it was also intergrated both platform, and also support the ability to play your games like a console on your PC. You insert the game, Windows would load a secure sandbox environment and play your games (assuming that the game support this feature of course).

Sadly we saw none of that.. Hopefully Microsoft will be more serious about it this time around.

[-ism]

EChondo nailed it right on the head. I have an assload of friends at school who think "PS4 is the future" and that PC gaming is retarded. I've convinced two people to actually build PCs though which in itself is a victory for me. I honestly don't really care what the consoles do, but if they could play with PCs instead of just stuck with Xbox or PS4 then it would be pretty nice, so at least I can enjoy the nice graphics while my friends who didn't jump to PC can still enjoy their silly controllers, sitting far from a TV, all that jazz.

[elevul]

Nvm, my mistake.

[LapX]

If that means that I can play my games on PC with my friends who are on Xbox, HELL YEAH.

[w_km]

Bill is considering the long-term strategies. And he is right. The PC-Console merge begins with these next-gen consoles and I expect an effectively full merge at the next go-around. By 2020, developers will have a multitude of new tools, including vastly improved lighting effects such as ray-tracing, 4K (and 8K) retina displays, and virtual-reality headsets. Games will soon look as good as the trailers of today. Sure, you're probably thinking "not so fast," but think about how far we've come since 2005. Those gains are not going to slow down, in fact they are speeding up because we're reaching the point at which new games are eerily life-like. Though most graphics aren't of that quality, some tidbits at max-settings are already stunning. Once developers master the replication of real-world physics, we will have full games of awing content. And we can thank Intel and Microsoft now. Hopefully we can thank Sony too for pushing the 4K content too, but I'm not so sure they will deliver.