Slashdot Mirror
Live For Windows Coming in May
Several outlets are carrying the news that Live for Windows is coming in May to a PC near you. The announcement carried confirmation of a similar pricetag for Xbox Live, as well as details on some new titles. Halo 2 will be releasing right around the launch of the service (slated to go up May 8th), and Shadowrun will follow quickly sometime in June. Gamasutra has an interview with Xbox Live general manager JJ Richards on the subject, and 1up offers a bit of commentary with the news. Though when asked about it last week Microsoft reps seemed extremely confident, it still remains to be seen whether PC gamers will pay for what they've always gotten for free.
I thought this said "Live without windows for a day"
I got all excited. Maybe it was some kind of contest...
Could be cool if they allow PC v. Windows matchmaking. Watching how the console owners fare compare to their PC brethern would be quite interesting.
--sugarman--
Does it have Punkbuster or something similar?
Libertarian Leaning Political Discussion Forum.
Sounds like it would be way to easy to beat someone playing an FPS with a gamepad if you had a mouse and keyboard. There's just no comparison. I don't know why they don't have games on Consoles you can actually play with a keyboard at mouse (or trackball). It would give them a lot of extra sales I think.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Windows Live lets you play against Xbox 360 Live subscribers.
However, Windows Live is Windows Vista only, so you can't play against people using Windows XP. Well done, what an impressive cross platform system!
I know 10 or so people who I've occasionally played online with on Windows using XP/2k, and don't know a single Live subscriber. I don't have much incentive to get Windows Live, do I? YMMV, of course.
I quit!
Except on the Wii. With the wiimote and nunchuck, it feels more natural than a keyboard and mouse.
If it's a game designed with the pacing and "aim adjustment" that console FPS's have, the guy with the controller is at no disadvantage. IGN found this out by using the 360 USB controller in Halo 1 and promptly owning the mouse-and-keyboard users (of comparable skill level, of course).
UT and other mouse-and-keyboard-oriented games are designed differently because of the interface they support. If a game was meant to support both, then neither should be at any real disadvantage. Halo games I reckon would actually give the guy with the controller an advantage if they are straight ports in terms of how they're controlled and how their pacing is.
I like basketball!!1!
I'm fairly certain that Quake 3 and UT on the Dreamcast were playable with a mouse and keyboard.
On that note, I find the mouse/keyboard combo very uncomfortable but nonetheless better for games that requires large directional changes and 360 degree response (like Quake 3), but I much prefer a gamepad for precision shooting (ghost recon, rainbow 6 types of games). If I precise shoot for a while with a mouse, my whole arm cramps up, similar to what happens if I'm doing pixel-editing/tweaking in photoshop for too long. The gamepad makes precise targeting feel a lot more natural, but I usually over-adjust if I try to make an accurate large turn or large vertical move with one.
Since consoles have been getting more and more competitive with the PC lately, I've almost quit playing PC games simply because I don't like my arms cramped (though I hate gamepad rumble, fortunately its easy to turn off).
I sure hope you can choose to NOT play with PC users. The WHOLE reason I don't play on-line with my PC anymore is half the people used super bots and/or tricked out keyboard/mice. Consoles level the playing field and make it about skill again. Just my 2 cents.
so now we have to pay m$ $50 a year unlock all things in there new games. To get stuff that in the past you just need to buy the game to get.
M$ better not do the same thing to a MMORPG game I don't thing that people will want to pay for vista + $60 for the game + $15 a month + $50 a year + pay for points to get some in game content.
we are supposed to pay even more for Live?
Nuh uh.
Too much fluff, not enough there.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
So, FF XI doesn't need a gamepad. In fact I have no idea how people can continuously switch between keyboard and gamepad while playing.
And I thought Valve launched it two years ago.
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
Microsoft is coming out with all kinds of excuses for force people to buy Vista. They are trying to make anything new they create artificially incompatible with XP. Xbox Live, DirectX 10, HDCP... There is no technical reason why these things can't work on XP, they just don't. It is very frustrating. Frankly, it is what makes the Mac look attractive. Apple goes out of their way to ensure compatibility. Microsoft goes out of their way to ensure INcompatibility. I wonder how long before somebody makes a hack that lets these things run on XP?
...that pc gamers around the world will ban together and tell Microsoft that no, we will not pay for what we used to get for free. But I have huge doubts this will happen, as a high enough precentage of MS's audience isn't even spending their own money, but spending their parent's money...Even if they only have 25% of the market pick up the service, then it will have paid for itself and set a business model for others. *sigh*
For instance, voice across the entire system (not just in-game chat) without having to worry whether the person is using TeamSpeak, Ventrillo, or Skype.
A single username across the entire system, meaning you can be sure the "HappyGodzilla" you play in Halo 3 is the same "HappyGodzilla" you got teamed up with in Shadowrun. This also greatly assists with getting rid of griefers and jerks.
I'm not necessarily saying it's worth $50, but to say that Xbox Live offers nothing is disingenuous if not outright wrong.
Comment of the year
I'll assume that you meant PC vs. console. :) There are several games where friends and relatives of mine have a mixture of PC and console versions and would love to hook up together.
I know that EA is at least considering the idea. I subscribe to several, on-line surveys. Last year I got one that was specific to EA asking me a bunch of questions regarding my feelings about connectivity between consoles and PCs -- what kinds of games would I play in such an environment, how often would I play, the obligatory question on whether I'd pay more to go on-line against console users as well as PC users, and so forth. All of the questions were specific to on-line connectivity between various architectures.
But even before that, some friends of mine and I were wondering why PC/console connectivity hasn't really become an option yet. As long as the maps and gameplay are the same and both the PC and console use the same "language" to talk to each other, there's no reason why it couldn't happen.
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
For instance, voice across the entire system (not just in-game chat) without having to worry whether the person is using TeamSpeak, Ventrillo, Skype or Live.
Microsoft doesn't have a monopoly like on their console. They may be offering something slightly better but with such a price and already developed and estabilished alternative solutions they'll have a hard time getting marketshare.
For instance, voice across the entire system (not just in-game chat) without having to worry whether the person is using TeamSpeak, Ventrillo, or Skype.
Nope, but for $50 we can worry about if they are using TeamSpeak, Ventrillo, Skype or Live.
Wait, what? I played at 1600x1200 and the game looked gorgeous, very crisp.
Also, I actually REALLY liked using a PS2ish controller to play it, and was disappointed when I got into WoW and found that I couldn't use one.
I can pay $50 a year and get this "no worry" situation you talk about, OR, I can download two free programs for games that don't have voice chat built in.
And who cares if the username is consistent across games? The only way it matters is if you're trying to keep your friends together and in that case you'll know their "new" username anyway.
While Live is novel for consoles (feature previously only heard of in PC games), WE ALREADY HAVE IT ON THE PC. The fact of the matter is that the ONLY thing that MIGHT be worth looking at it for is the skill matching, and that's not worth $50 a year. If they want wide adoptation on the PC, they're going to have to lower the price by about half.
The next UT game is going to have KB/Mouse support on the PS3.
It wouldn't be as easy as you think. Practically all FPSs on consoles "help" the player aim in one way or another to make up for the fact that the accuracy, precision, and even the consistency from controller to controller are ridiculously low. If the mouse and keyboard version of the game don't have the same aids, you may actually be at a disadvantage even though the controller is provably less precise.
That's actually a feature in my book.... Well not the "worrying" part. I don't worry about it.
I just don't talk to anybody through voice chat unless we're logged into the same private server. I don't want to talk to any random squeaker who doesn't know what 'noob' means, but uses the term ever 20 seconds because they're fairly sure it's derogatory.
I have been waiting for this day for many, many years. Now I can shove a virtual rocket down the throats of everyone who's ever claimed that in an FPS game, they could beat a keyboard & mouse player with a joystick. That might be worth the price of admission right there.
So if a game is available for both Windows and Linux and the Windows version support Windows Live would linux and windows folks still be able to play together? I don't mean Windows Live support for Linux but will they just be able to play on the same servers together?
On another note, I wish different consoles could play together when the same game is released for them.
Lame, no Linux drivers!
please excuse my apathy
...is to finally put to rest the raging "is a keyboard and mouse better than a gamepad" FPS flame wars.
:)
If Halo2 PC is compatible with the Xbox/Xbox360 version, you're going to see a lot of very pissed off Xbox/360 players getting pounded into the ground by a 15 year old with a mouse.
hookers and grits.
Xfire is free. It automatically downloads updates/patches for your games. It automatically tells you when your friends are online, what server they're on, what teamspeak server they're on. It lets you automatically join your friend's gameserver. It lets you automatically join your friend's teamspeak server. It lets you voice chat or text chat with your friends.
I'm just saying. I will not be spending $50 to get what I already get for free. BTW, some games (Battlefield2, etc) have very good voice chat built in. For those that don't, I love teamspeak (Speex codec sounds great at 12kbps)
Wait a second. You want their new software with new enhancements to run on an older system that didn't have any of them? That isn't backwords compatibility, that would be forwards capacity for XP. MS can run programs that were written as far back as the DOS age. That's backwords compatability.
Can programs written for MAC OSX be run from a computer running Mac 9? That's what we're talking about.
Oh wait, that's Windows Live OneCare. Seriously, though, if they call all their products "Live", who's going to be able to tell what's what?
I know 10 or so people who I've occasionally played online with on Windows using XP/2k, and don't know a single Live subscriber. I don't have much incentive to get Windows Live, do I? YMMV, of course.
This may be due to the fact that you play on Windows, and that Live, as in TFA, not being released until May. YMMV, of course.
3laws: No freebies, no backsies, GTFO.
I think the poster is referring to Xbox Live subscribers.
Well, I'm not really keen on trash-talking by other players, or spam selling on the trade channels, no.
I can see how it's nice to have voice chat, but having seen what passes for chat in most games, I think I'll pass. I get sick and tired of using Ignore, quite frankly.
Don't see why I should have to pay extra for that.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
How do they expect Lunix and the Apple monopoly to catch up when they just keep improving their product like this... and FOR FREE?
The whole point of Live is that you pay a monthly fee to use it.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
You're not looking hard enough. In theory that thing won't work with anything older than XP either but in reality there's opensource drivers available for it.
Of course there's little reason to buy it because most games that can use a gamepad on the PC are designed for digital control and the 360 controller is awful for that. Of course a gamepad only makes sense over a keyboard if the game has lots of buttons. Most 2d PC games seem to use only 2-3 buttons, the keyboard is best for that because it's more precise than any other controller save maybe a Nintendo or Sega gamepad with a USB adapter (the Sega USB pad sucks from what I heard).
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.