Rumor: Windows 8 will support XBOX360 games

[theofilosz]

If true, I am soooo lucky! I will play Forza 4 on my PC with my logitech G27 and with the pc drivers I bet it will be awesome! This opens so many possibilities!

Source: http://tbreak.com/megamers/32259/blog/rumor-windows-8-will-allow-xbox-360-games-to-be-played-on-pcs/

Forthcoming OS from Microsoft will be reportedly able to play current console games via a new subscription service.

A stubborn batch of rumors from the tech world suggests that Microsoft’s next operating system, Windows 8, will allow users to play Xbox 360 games on their computers.
A website called teknylate.com is reporting that the next version of Windows will include a function that allows users to play Xbox 360 games on PCs by simply popping console discs into a computer tower’s DVD-ROM, and loading them up as if it’s the case on the home platform.
Gamers will be given the ability to access their Xbox 360 dashboard and Xbox Live Marketplace via the supposed Windows 8 feature.
Not so much is mentioned, but apparently, according to the rumor, the feature gets unlocked via a paid subscription service. However, it’s unknown if Xbox Live Gold members are granted access to the PC service, or whether Microsoft will charge via a separate fee.
While Microsoft has yet to nail down a release date for Windows 8, the software giant is expected to unveil more of the system features in the next few months, and hopefully we’ll know whether this bit of info is legitimate. As for now, this should be certainly taken with nothing but a grain of salt.

 

[MagpieRacer]

If that is true that would be amazing.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

If it's true, Forza will no longer be confined by the limits of a console...it might have a shot at the next great SIMULATOR!!! o mang

 

[Robin]

That would be EPIC, I presume it would be some sort of steam setup but that's fine with me, anything to avoid the pitfalls of console hardware.

I wonder though whether the games would be scalable or whether they would be fixed to the X360's specs regardless of what machine specs you have. TBH I wouldn't mind if they were a fixed level.

If you could buy the same retail boxed games that the console guys have and simply stick it in your DVD drive it would be even better.

 

[Vince_Fiero]

It seems logical since the PC evolution goes faster then the console one.

Might end up playing Forza after all, was against buying an X-Box for that.

 

[jjaisli]

Given the PPC processor based nature of the Xbox 360, I'm more than a little skeptical of this. Don't get your hopes up.

 

[Owen.C93]

Yeah it's very unlikely. And it certainly wont be for 360 games.

 

[theofilosz]

I hope you guys prove wrong!

If this happens I am the luckiest bastard ever! Since I just made a cockpit right next to the PC desk!

Seriously the best advantage if this happens is that you can use ANY WHEEL YOU HAVE and add the superior PC drivers with a lot more configuration choices and all!

We shall see!!!

 

[pay2021]

Imagine Forza or PGR or Ace Combat, Dragon Ball!! with the fast calculations of a PC, and of course, the graphics!! AA at full, anisotropic at full

edit: if i can play Forza in my PC with DFGT... ill never play another thing.

 

[fatkrakr]

I dont think this will happen. Why would microsoft kill there own console? It is a nice idea from a consumer stand point but for a company its suicide.

 

[Bonefork]

This is the worst rumor ever, it's technically impossible (Xbox uses PowerPC architecture instead of Intel like PCs), it's legally impossible (publishing rights), and there would be no financial incentive for any of it.

Don't believe things you read on the internet, most people just make up stupid **** to get page views and ad traffic.

 

[Northstar]

I dont think this will happen. Why would microsoft kill there own console? It is a nice idea from a consumer stand point but for a company its suicide.

1) Chances are by the time W8 comes out the next XBOX will at least be unveiled if not already out.

2) PC gamers for the most part avoid consoles as they already have a gaming PC that is probably better than consoles anyways. Basically they are 2 totally yet similar markets.

This is the worst rumor ever, it's technically impossible, it's legally impossible, and there would be no financial incentive for any of it.

Don't believe things you read on the internet, most people just make up stupid **** to get page views and ad traffic.

It's possible, it's legal as they own the rights and there is financial incentive.

 

[Bonefork]

It's possible, it's legal as they own the rights and there is financial incentive.

When you publish a game you secure rights to publish on specific platforms. There's a contract between the publisher and Microsoft, and another one between the developers and the publishers. Microsoft can't just violate thousands of contracts.

And like many have pointed out, the chipset is entirely different. Even if you have the very best computer parts you still won't have the power needed to emulate a 3-core 1ghz PowerPC embedded system. Each and every game would need to be ported (if we're pretending the licensing isn't an issue), again, the costs of which would far exceed any potential sales boost for Windows 8, which is going to sell just fine regardless.

Even going from Xbox to Xbox 360 you can see that Backwards Compatibility was a difficult challenge for Microsoft that they never overcame and those had similar architecture. Speaking of, why no original Xbox games on Windows? Oh yeah, because it's a terrible idea and not possible.

It's just impossible, I'm sorry to inform you. Even if it was possible, it would be incredibly stupid for a business that makes a huge profit from selling consoles and licensing the right to publish games on it to give consumers a reason not to buy one. This rumor is far beyond stupid, anyone with even the slightest knowledge of licensing or software development could identify this as bogus.

(PS I'm not calling anyone stupid, just the rumor.)

 

[Tornado]

This is the worst rumor ever, it's technically impossible (Xbox uses PowerPC architecture instead of Intel like PCs), it's legally impossible (publishing rights), and there would be no financial incentive for any of it.

Don't believe things you read on the internet, most people just make up stupid **** to get page views and ad traffic.

This is all that needs to be said on this topic.

 

[Crispy]

Say, didn't Windows 7 JUST come out recently?

 

[Robin]

1) Chances are by the time W8 comes out the next XBOX will at least be unveiled if not already out.

Exactly, which is why its plausible (even if its unlikely). 360 games and hardware will no longer be the focus... they may even stop producing the console altogether (unlike Sony who still produce the PS2). This is a way for MS to eek more money out of the huge back catalogue of games and bring them to a whole new crowd who maybe didn't want to embrace console gaming before. Plus they are going to get XBL subscriptions off those people which means even more $$.

It's not suicide because by then MS won't care about the 360 anymore, those who are still console fans will still go out and buy the next Xbox anyway so its not like they are cannibalizing sales from anything else.

If Sony did this and released software to run's PS2 games on PC it would probably generate more revenue than still selling the actual console because it would have a wider appeal. They have taken the different route which is to 'HD collection' release everything again on Blu Ray.

As for 'technically impossible' anything is possible on anything else through good emulation, look at all the devices which can play gameboy, snes, 64 games through emulators perfectly fine. Even the later PS3's plays PS2 games through emulation and the architecture between the two are totally different.

Say, didn't Windows 7 JUST come out recently?

MS is going for quicker releases now to put it more in line with OSX's schedule.

Robin.

 

[Tornado]

As for 'technically impossible' anything is possible on anything else through good emulation, look at all the devices which can play gameboy, snes, 64 games through emulators perfectly fine.

Consistent, purely-software emulation takes hardware exponentially more powerful than what you are trying to emulate for even the most well-coded emulators. The 360 is far too powerful for pure emulation of it to happen any time soon.

Even the laters PS3's plays PS2 games through emulation and the architecture between the two are totally different.

Except for the fact that said PS3s play PS2 games using the PS2 architecture built into those PS3s (which basically makes it hardware-assisted virtualization rather than emulation), so it is in fact absolutely nothing like what is suggested in the OP.

 

[Robin]

Consistent, purely-software emulation takes hardware exponentially more powerful than what you are trying to emulate for even the most well-coded emulators. The 360 is far too powerful for pure emulation of it to happen any time soon.

Well it is more than 5 years old, so I don't see how a modern gaming rig could not play these games at 360 level with well coded emulation although I do understand the larger requirements needed for it. The reason why all PS2 emulators for example don't work well even today is not because people don't have good enough hardware, its because these programs are not official. As for how soon, I think none of this will happen till the next XB is out so a couple of years yet.

Except for the fact that said PS3s play PS2 games using the PS2 architecture built into those PS3s (which basically makes it hardware-assisted virtualization rather than emulation), so it is in fact absolutely nothing like what is suggested in the OP.

I'm pretty sure the 80GB didn't have any PS2 hardware in it and was 100% software emultion before it was pulled altogether.

Robin.

 

[F1GTR]

This is the worst rumor ever, it's technically impossible (Xbox uses PowerPC architecture instead of Intel like PCs), it's legally impossible (publishing rights), and there would be no financial incentive for any of it.

Don't believe things you read on the internet, most people just make up stupid **** to get page views and ad traffic.

It's unlikely that this will happen, but given the frequency of 360 to PC ports I doubt a huge amount of time is needed to ensure that 360 titles can run natively in a Windows environment. 360 titles are developed on PCs after all.

Personally I think it's pretty pointless, all the best 360 titles get ported to PC eventually (or are announced at the same time as the 360 version) anyway. For titles that don't get a PC port, 360s aren't that expensive any more, just plug it into your monitor and you're sorted.

 

[Luminis]

I'm pretty sure the 80GB didn't have any PS2 hardw are in it and was 100% software emultion before it was pulled altogether.

Robin.

No, there was no pure software emulation. At first, the PS3 came with both the 'Emotion Engine' and the 'Graphics Synthesizer' of the PS2, for full hardware support.

Later, the 'Emotion Engine' was pulled and only the 'Graphics Synthesizer' was left, aided by software emulation. Newer models don't have either chip and don't have the backwards compatiblity anymore. And even with that '50%' software emulation, there were quite a lot of problems at first, as many of the PS2's games weren't running properly.

Now, as for pure software emulation... Take a look at the PS2/GameCube emulators around. Considering the hardware they're emulating, you need a huge amount of processing power to run them. And you'd need much, much more to emulate an Xbox360...

 

[Tornado]

Well it is more than 5 years old, so I don't see how a modern gaming rig could not play these games at 360 level with well coded emulation although I do understand the larger requirements needed for it.

Because there hasn't been the required advances in computing in the past 5 years. Straight software emulation requires comprehensively more powerful system hardware to do. The only way to shortcut it is if you use specialized hardware to lower the amount of things you need to emulate.

The reason why all PS2 emulators for example don't work well even today is not because people don't have good enough hardware, its because these programs are not official.

Officialness has nothing to do with it. The best Sega Genesis emulator, the one which far outstrips any of the ones Sega has developed themselves, is an unofficial one.
PS2 emulators are so buggy because the PS2 was a complex and annoying thing to program games for because some of the components used in it were highly specialized. It is that same complexity that makes it so hard to develop an emulator for, and it is that same complexity that makes it so an emulator needs to be run on really powerful hardware to work.

It was the same situation the previous generation. The PSX used straightforward chipsets and technology that was relatively easy to emulate, so it was so easy to do that there were software emulators for the system on the Dreamcast. The N64 and (especially) the Saturn used complex architecture and were difficult to program for, so the system requirements to emulate them properly are much higher (Saturn emulators needing more power to run than Dreamcast emulators do).

I'm pretty sure the 80GB didn't have any PS2 hardware in it and was 100% software emultion before it was pulled altogether.

If it was pure software emulation, there wouldn't be any reason for Sony to not let later versions of the PS3 do the same thing.
Original PS3s basically had an entire PS2 inside them for PS2 playback. Second generation PS3s had the GPU from the PS2 in them, and faked the CPU using software emulation, but that is still hardware-backed emulation. Third generation and up PS3s have neither, and the system isn't powerful enough without help to purely emulate the PS2 in software.

It's unlikely that this will happen, but given the frequency of 360 to PC ports I doubt a huge amount of time is needed to ensure that 360 titles can run natively in a Windows environment. 360 titles are developed on PCs after all.

360 titles that are developed with the 360 in mind are generally developed using XBox 360 development kits. Not PCs.

 

[Bonefork]

This rumor is driving me mad, it's all over the internet and an alarming number of people believe it.

As someone who's been involved in game development for Xbox 360, I assure you this is just not possible. When you compile software you compile it against a specific architecture, and the more generic the architecture you compile it for, the worse it will run. Most of these games are houses of cards that barely run correctly on the Xbox 360 itself.

When you make an Xbox game you compile it to run on a very specific architecture with Xbox's custom API and graphics routines. Emulating it on another architecture is an extremely complicated and processor intensive task. It's not just speed, either, games make direct calls to GPUs and controllers and everything else.

 

[F1GTR]

360 titles that are developed with the 360 in mind are generally developed using XBox 360 development kits. Not PCs.

Thanks, however I do remember reading that a few developers developed on the PC first and then optimised the code for the 360.

Again, I don't believe it would happen, but I would like to see Microsoft bring Windows and Xbox closer to each other in a similar way that Sony allowed Valve to run Steam on PS3s. Cross platform play would be amazing.

 

[Luminis]

Thanks, however I do remember reading that a few developers developed on the PC first and then optimised the code for the 360.

I'm not the most knowledgable person in that department, but I would assume that altering and re-compiling the code (is that how it's called?) of an Xbox360 game to run on the PC to be completely different from emulating the Xbox360 on your computer - for one thing, it would only have to be done once and not in real time. I... think...?

 

[Robin]

Officialness has nothing to do with it. The best Sega Genesis emulator, the one which far outstrips any of the ones Sega has developed themselves, is an unofficial one.
PS2 emulators are so buggy because the PS2 was a complex and annoying thing to program games for because some of the components used in it were highly specialized. It is that same complexity that makes it so hard to develop an emulator for, and it is that same complexity that makes it so an emulator needs to be run on really powerful hardware to work.

Well these unofficial guys must be really clever to develop excellent emulators without having any access to official documentation on the architecture or schematics of the system (which are very closely guarded secrets). So hats off the them but the majority out there are pretty poor.

However I do feel that if someone, official or not was given all the proper info on the PS2 they could do a decent software based emulation even on PC hardware available today which is miles more powerful than the PS2 by now.

If it was pure software emulation, there wouldn't be any reason for Sony to not let later versions of the PS3 do the same thing.
Original PS3s basically had an entire PS2 inside them for PS2 playback. Second generation PS3s had the GPU from the PS2 in them, and faked the CPU using software emulation, but that is still hardware-backed emulation. Third generation and up PS3s have neither, and the system isn't powerful enough without help to purely emulate the PS2 in software.

I've seen now that the 80GB did indeed have the GS so fair enough. You say there wouldn't be any reason for Sony to not let later versions of the PS3 do the same thing but there are quite a few even if it was possible.

Firstly the PS2 which is still produced makes a decent amount of money especially as the profit margin is ginormous on a system where the components now cost hardly anything. They would rather you go out and buy a PS2 than ask for BC on the PS3 so it ensures there is no cannibalization of PS2 sales (yes it does sell pretty well).

Secondly Sony want to resell the PS3 crowd all those PS2 titles again repackaged as 'HD Collections', they really caught on to this fact that if it was remastered and added trophies they could makes some extra cash whereas if someone bought used PS2 games they get no cut.

I'm well aware that 20 and 60Gb have basically the entire PS2 chipset inside, I've got one and even seen them when I've opened it but I never use them because I have 2 PS2's. I don't really understand why people don't have a PS2 if they have a huge PS2 games collection, its bizarre. Did they all sell them the minute the PS3 was announced

 

[kimi123]

No one is going to get Windows8 to play handful of 360 games or XBL, definitely not paid serivce

I think it will probably be cross game between 360 and PC, using Windows8 or something like that.

If it's true, Forza will no longer be confined by the limits of a console...it might have a shot at the next great SIMULATOR!!! o mang

Imagine Forza or PGR or Ace Combat, Dragon Ball!! with the fast calculations of a PC, and of course, the graphics!! AA at full, anisotropic at full

edit: if i can play Forza in my PC with DFGT... ill never play another thing.

lol there are way superior sims on PC.

rfactor2 and GTR3 are in developments too:



What PC sims need are good graphics and SP mode. Online is pretty good as well.

 

[ZeGermanBastorD]

If true, I am soooo lucky! I will play Forza 4 on my PC with my logitech G27 and with the pc drivers I bet it will be awesome! This opens so many possibilities!

Yea, the possibilities for more HAX.

I don't know how hacked the 360 already is, but if they make the 360 games playable on PC, good night guys.

 

[F1GTR]

I'm not the most knowledgable person in that department, but I would assume that altering and re-compiling the code (is that how it's called?) of an Xbox360 game to run on the PC to be completely different from emulating the Xbox360 on your computer - for one thing, it would only have to be done once and not in real time. I... think...?

Yes they're completely different things, but I see no need for emulation if porting it would give better results, especially if studios already use PCs as a developing platform (the studio I'm thinking about is Square Enix, they decided to develop on PC first for FF XIII and they said it was a faster way of working with things). Studios could simply produce a PC version from PC created assets and then publishers could digitally distribute these ports through the Live Marketplace. The effort in creating a perfect emulator for the PC must surely be greater than that.

 

[pay2021]

lol there are way superior sims on PC.

rfactor2 and GTR3 are in developments too:

What PC sims need are good graphics and SP mode. Online is pretty good as well.

I play rfactor non stop for at least 1 1/2 year, im pretty tired, looking foward to rF2, Forza in PC must be awesome, but its still some arcadey.👍

 

[Bonefork]

However I do feel that if someone, official or not was given all the proper info on the PS2 they could do a decent software based emulation even on PC hardware available today which is miles more powerful than the PS2 by now.

The problem is deeper. You have software running on it that you can't see the source for. You don't know what weird routines they're running through the chipsets.

It's like physics - we can't explain why a bumble bee is able to fly, since our understanding of physics implies that the bee is too heavy to fly - but physics finds a way. In an emulator, that bee wouldn't be able to fly. Sadly, a lot of code works the same way.

Yes they're completely different things, but I see no need for emulation if porting it would give better results, especially if studios already use PCs as a developing platform (the studio I'm thinking about is Square Enix, they decided to develop on PC first for FF XIII and they said it was a faster way of working with things). Studios could simply produce a PC version from PC created assets and then publishers could digitally distribute these ports through the Live Marketplace. The effort in creating a perfect emulator for the PC must surely be greater than that.

Making a game that runs on the developer's PC setups for the purpose of porting to consoles is a lot different than compiling a game for generic architecture and graphic cards. And why bother porting Xbox games executables when you could instead just release a PC version without paying all of Microsoft's certification fees and publishing fees and every other thing you have to do to publish on a console?

There isn't a single argument in favor of this rumor that makes any sense.