Opinion: Can Xbox Live and Windows 8 Work Together?

Opinion: Can Pc gamers and x-box 360 gamers co-exit under the same platform?

Has it been confirmed that Windows 8 is going to be sold on desktop PCs? I'm still under the assumption Windows 8, (which is really just Windows 7 + a touch screen interface), is intended solely for tablets and/or laptops with touch screens. It seems to make more sense to sell tablets and laptops that have touch screens with Windows 8, and all non touch interfaced PC's such as desktops with Windows 7.

I sure as hell have no interest in fingerprinting the crap out of my desktop monitor. I'm so OCD against fingerprints that I haven't once touched the screen of my Samsung 23" LED monitor since I bought it last year.

So I can't coexist with myself? I mean, I play both and am going to own BF3 in both PC and 360. 360 is my sports channel to gaming and PC is more my RTS channel to gaming.

You can turn off the tile interface and use a desktop similar to Windows 7. Of course Windows 8 is going on Desktop PCs.

Fundamentally changing a successful product like Windows 7 is a bad idea. Yes, it could be a success. It could also be a complete and utter failure.

Instead of trying to reshape Windows as a whole, why not build on what we already have, instead? Everyone loves Windows 7. At least that's what I'm seeing. So why are we deviating away from what we know is a success? Improve on the foundation you already have instead of adding gimmicks that you're not sure will even work.

I know already I won't be buying Windows 8, just because I don't have any problems whatsoever with Windows 7. It's easy, fast, sleek, and functional... and maybe that's exactly why Microsoft is doing this. They know people won't want to upgrade and so feel they need to change something in order for people to feel it's a useful investment. And that's just not the right way to look at it - changing things for no good reason is NEVER a good idea.

At this point, it appears as if they've run out of worthwhile improvements and are just trying to release something as soon as possible to get a new product on the market. That is exactly why it's going to fail.

Just my $0.02 for what it's worth.
-Matt

Well, as said a zillion times before ppl can still use keyboard and mouse to use the interface (and turn it off btw)
The real question is: Can we finally use a gamepad to play some console exclusive games in win8?
Maybe the future its a "steamlike" (in this case xboxlive cross platform with really good console/pc/mobile games?
I dont mean ALL the games should be played crossplatform in the same servers (ex: fps)
But and the other games? beat'em'ups, platforms, rpg's etc why not? that would be awesome!

I think he is referring to cross-platform gaming not just simply being in the same community. Last time microsoft tried this experiment PC gamers' mice whipped the 360s gamers' controllers so bad they discontinued the idea.

I heard they are leaving Win 8 with DX11. If so, why bother upgrading to Windows 8?

They should just make a Windows 7.5 as an upgrade. People and businesses are still stuck in XP. They are making the change cycle to fast. Windows 7 still feels fresh to me.

8 will have the ability to mount .iso images. Tell me how many times you've had to do that with a tablet. Windows 8 will definitely be released for the PC- but its focus will be tablets. Frankly I think Microsoft is running out of ideas for new features to be added to their OSes. Besides new APIs (everyone loves those) and optimizing their code further there really isn't anything else you can do to Windows besides make it run on more platforms.

It's been confirmed from day one it's intended for desktops as well as tablets/laptops. The Metro UI can be disabled.

Everyone said the exact same things about XP. Microsoft can't afford to just stand still for the sake of people that are afraid of change.

Microsoft is missing the point, pc gamers don't want the xbox live experience as much as they want the xbox 360 games. Pushing the windows platform while choosing not to publish their AAA games on the PC is just schizophrenic.

I think wolfgang was hired to stir up a lil controversy on tomshardware. Controversy is great for getting people to comment on the articles and draw people in because people always like to argue.

As with what everyone else is saying about metro... It can be turned off. I don't see it as being a primarily used on desktops.

What would be great is if they made an LCD or OLED touchscreen designed to sit on a desk like a keyboard. I think metro would be great as a secondary control interface. Think Nintendo DS style. Could even design it to tilt on an angle, so that you could place it between the main screen and the keyboard and mouse. I could think of many uses for it.

As far as the XBOX live. At first I wasn't to keen on it, but the idea is starting to grow on me, as many of my games (even some steam games) use the windows live client. I heard you will actually be able to play Xbox 360 (xbox 720?) games on it. So if thats true, I think it's a good idea. Not only will it allow cross platform gaming (which should have been out years ago with "games for windows") but it will also slowly draw customers from the console to the pc. Which I think is great as the more people play PC gaming, the more developers are likely to take PC serious and stop porting garbage. Also, hopefully they will integrate the wireless xbox 360 controller drivers into windows so I don't have to download them anymore.

I'm actually looking forward to windows 8. If I don't like it when it's released, and can always go back to windows 7 ultimate. Been working flawlessly anyways since I put it on my pc.

One thing I would like in windows 8 would be the ability to back up the whole computer, programs and all, onto a small flashdrive or something. Doesn't have to save "Everything" on the flashdrive. Give windows the ability to save games, apps, ver. and settings, and when you do a restore, have it download all the apps, drivers, ect. for you, like steam or ninite does, then apply your settings and save files, ect, pics. BUT PLEASE, NO SYNCING LIKE ITUNES, what a pain in the arse, how come they cant have drag and drop?

Anyways, sorry bout the rant..

MattMock got it right we want xbox games on pc, we don't want xbox live experience, plain and simple

Touch-screen and Xbawks. What is Microsoft turning into.

I've tested win8, and they have a layer which looks like your average win7/vista desktop. In other words, you're not letting go of the desktop background.

My only complaint would be that you can't disable the themes!
The installation screen and icon screen look ugly in the ugly green, and in desktop-mode you're forced with a win7/8/vista theme!

I prefer the classic looks of win 98/2k/ME!

I'm installing the Alpha later today. Until then:

No Comment

I installed build 8102,
it has faster boot time than windows 7 and more responsive explorer
about touch screen interface, you can disable it, very easy.

What would be cool, is if you could control your XBOX 360 (or whatever system comes next) with your computer, thus effectively turning a 360 game into a PC game.

Not if I have to pay for it

Harsh, but... well... you're right. *sigh*

I guess having been around since the beginning, it just hurts me to see Windows steering away from the feel I've come to know. Windows 95 is my home, honestly... WinXP improved on that while keeping the same feel, and Win7 pushed it further. Yet in essence, it feels the same. Yes, there have been changes to this and changes to that, but it's Windows at heart.

Once you push something like Metro into the market, it changes all of that. It's like going from Windows 3.1 to 95. Yes, I know you can revert to something similar to Win7, but that's not the point. The point is that Microsoft is transitioning away from the Windows I've known and loved from the start. I'm just afraid that when Windows 10 rolls around, it'll be like Android with Windows tacked on. And 11 will completely take away that option.

I guess my time of sitting happily by my desktop running Windows 95 has passed. Sorry for the short-sightedness of someone who doesn't want it to fade away.

God, that just made me really sad...

allow across platform games and online play
more and more continent games franchise of xbox360 even 3rd party red dead redemption.... forza not bullshit
add record screen bench fps tester share screen
optimize pc to x86 and dx 11.1 acceleration like gpgpu apk c++ for dx 9 10 cards

I hate windows 8 its faster and gives better benchmark scores then 7 but it interface should be for touch screens only. sucks on a mouse and keyboard.

where i could not find the option.

For me to want windows 8, i would have to be able to play my xbox games directly on windows 8 in my computer. Otherwise i ain't touching 8. Its the only way i would want to leave 7.

To answer one of the questions you've asked, Wolfgang, I'm one person who doesn't give a crap about 'the social' aspect of a potential Xbox Live interface for Windows PCs. Until a day comes where Games for Windows Live and Xbox Live players can actually play games with/against each other, that social aspect is already answered by numerous other programs anyway; including but not limited to, Xfire, Steam, Comrade, any messenger service (Skype, AIM, MSN, Yahoo), and even Facebook. If Microsoft were to remove the boundary dividing Xbox and PC gamers, then the social aspect of Xbox Live Metro could finally provide that 'must have' feature you seek. Otherwise, it's just another means to send Xbox buddies a message while not at your Xbox, which is already answered by many other software solutions for various devices.

look at #19

Sory here the link

Would be nice to be able to play with my xboxlive friends while on my PC so that I can get more use out of my xboxlive subscription, but like the others are saying, it's more important to get the xbox exclusives on the PC as well, and not just as shitty ports.

You guys dont understand how consoles work versus PC's. Consoles are awful closed systems. They are just as terrible as apple products. Aka, no mods in your games, no customized UI mods, no custom utilities or tools, or editors. Content takes forever to show up, patches take forever too (monday night combat patched in 2 days on pc, took 2 months on xbox). Imagine minecraft without mods, i wouldnt play it. Same with most games i have. I wouldnt have bought HL2 again if not for the fact i could use the cinematic mod. And then there's the issue of control schemes, and a tons and tons of other custom stuff that is only available on pc. Consoles tell you what you can get, what you can do with it and when you can do it. Want to upgrade your graphics well you cant buy a new card for that 360, you are stuck with that crap old time tech, you upgrade when they say you can. The simple fact is, with consoles they own you and run your gaming life. Sorry, but no thanks. My xbox rarely gets played, and anytime i can get it on pc i always do.

yeah , the metro can be turned off, but, I really don't think many people will turn it of, I've been on Win 8 since it came out, sitting time on win 8 must be barely 10hrs though. And it's already growing on me. I already have my imagination running as to what would I like to see on the Metro when it just stands there, a fully customizable interface would be great, even if I don't have a touch screen, the mouse is perfectly fine.
Like for the news section, I like the idea where I have all the Toms, Techs and BBC stuff just out on the screen all in one glance.....

And when I want to work, I have the tile of the desktop with stuff that is already left halfway through to continue with.....
And the best part of all this is the optimization that they have come up with, the system is really fast and literally takes no load.
Booting from a restart is like 5 to 7 seconds, I couldn't expect that with Vista or Win 7.....