Microsoft reveals Xbox Live cross – It Network Support
Being able to play online with other gamers on the same console network as you is a huge thing for game enthusiasts and developers alike. Till recently, Microsoft gamers were only able to play with other Xbox Live connected gamers and we thought that was awesome in as far as adrenalin and competition is concerned. But we were only just getting started – Microsoft has surprised it’s compatible game developers and the millions of players that users of Xbox Live can now connect to other game networks and experience more games and new challengers.
This is a huge development, considering how private the Xbox Live and even Playstation 4 gaming networks were. Play across all platforms is also now open for developers to integrate in their titles updates.
The next move however will still be left to developers to try out the portability and see how the market reacts. It is not safe to assume the worst, game industries were changed for the better with the mere introduction of game networks allowing online players to team up and spend billions each preceding year. The impact this could have is beyond any game title release we have had in the past.
This ground breaking news was released by the program director at Xbox, Chris Charla.
The first game development studio to try this out will be Psyonix, they are looking to break the boundary between Xbox One and the Steam run PC versions of their title; Rocket League. If I were a developer, I’d be adding the new technology to my titles and waiting for a reaction before sending out massive updates and expanding my gamers’ abilities.
Microsoft is extending the invitation to all developers on all platforms to bring the virtual worlds of online gaming together. This could mean being able to play your favourite game on their Xbox Live network and continue while on the run through a mobile device of your choice; Android or iOS. The ability to play even the simplest titles like Clash of Clans across these platform has been headache inducing for players who tried this. Now imagine how easier our gaming lives will get.
At the moment everyone is just digesting the announcement, not a lot of developers have taken the bold move and announced their plans to include the new lines of code or whatever plugins so that their games can be played on all strategic platforms. If the drive for players to try new worlds is the same engine that developers work on, a safe prediction is that more developers will be lining up before the big sale dates we all know get gamers spending huge amounts come.
Users of Windows 10 will have the cross-play capabilities between their PCs and Xbox One console networks as one of the many default features. Perhaps that will be the first point to monitor how wild the reaction to a near universal gaming world will be.