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Nintendo and Microsoft Team Up To Promote Cross-Play, While Sony Remains Silent (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the odd-ball-out dept.

Minecraft for the Nintendo Switch is getting a big update today that will enable cross-play with PC, Xbox One, and smartphones -- but notably not the PlayStation 4. "Sony is blocking cross-play for Fortnite, Rocket League, and Minecraft so PS4 players can't play against Xbox One or Nintendo Switch owners," reports The Verge. "Meanwhile, Nintendo and Microsoft are partnering to utilize cross-play as a marketing weapon today." From the report: The Minecraft cross-play trailer specifically focuses on the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch being able to play together. It also includes the rare sight of an Xbox One controller in a Switch commercial. If that's not enough of a partnership, the ad even encourages players to create, explore, and survive together in Minecraft on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

41 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. Cross-Play? by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    Uh, I hope they know what "cross-play" means.

    I promise to actually pay for my copy of Microsoft Office if Gates or Nadella put that on. Deal?

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  2. Are we sure it's a good idea? by AlanBDee · · Score: 1

    What happened to the competitive advantage of one system over another; isn't it bad to mix players from different systems? I remember PC players having a huge advantage over console players in the past. I haven't played fortnite, it's not my type of game, so why is it different?

    1. Re:Are we sure it's a good idea? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      1. I think most of the advantage is in having a Mouse so a console could just add support for that.

      2. it is Minecraft. That means, I suspect, the advantage is not as pronounced as it would be in more conventional, fast-paced, FPS.

      3. It's Minecraft - the emphasis is on co-operative everything against the environment (PvE), rather than PvP. That means that PC advantages over Console simply mean the PC people are more capable, not that they beat the console players. It isn't a competition.

      (Imagine something like Civilization - the advantage of a mouse just makes your turns easier for you to input; but doesn't actually put you at a disadvantage as speed of input doesn't affect the game.)

      So, yes, I think in PvP FPSs, I think you've got a point. In slower paced games and PvE, I suspect it's a lot less of a deal.

    2. Re:Are we sure it's a good idea? by dohzer · · Score: 1

      If they do add keyboard and mouse support, then how am I meant to keep hating on consoles? Surely inferior hardware isn't enough of a reason alone.

    3. Re:Are we sure it's a good idea? by MtHuurne · · Score: 1

      Many games already have matchmaking algorithms that try to pit players with similar skill level against each other. It probably doesn't matter whether a skill difference is caused by practice or by using a superior input method.

    4. Re:Are we sure it's a good idea? by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      What happened to the competitive advantage of one system over another; isn't it bad to mix players from different systems? I remember PC players having a huge advantage over console players in the past. I haven't played fortnite, it's not my type of game, so why is it different?

      Well, I suspect the rounds are so short that in the end the advantage gets pretty small. Plus, platform differences mustn't be a huge deal, because you apparently can play with just a touchscreen on mobile. So I suspect on a lot of modern games, it really doesn't matter. Plus I'm sure Microsoft and even Nintendo will allow mouse and keyboard soon enough if they need to.

      However, this cross marketing could be very interesting - Microsoft never really had a portable system, and Nintendo was generally lacking on the home console department. I suspect this could lead to interesting developments since Microsoft and Nintendo have a system the other lacks. If it succeeds, I still thing we'll have two separate companies, but we may get some interesting intermingling of games and services - Microsoft providing the home console and online network Nintendo never could build (Super Smash Bros, Mario Kart and Mario Party on Microsoft, anyone? Online play and cross play with Switch). And likewise, we'd probably see a bunch of interesting portable gaming - Halo on Switch would be fairly intriguing, with cross play to home console users.

    5. Re: Are we sure it's a good idea? by reanjr · · Score: 1

      The thing about games with rebindable controls is that sometimes they don't bother even coming up with a reasonable default. That's when they lose me.

  3. PS4 won this generation by rsilvergun · · Score: 3, Informative

    by leaps and bounds. The Switch and XBox are playing catch up so it's too their advantage right now to support cross play. If the position was reversed either way they'd be the ones blocking cross play while the other two allowed it.

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    1. Re:PS4 won this generation by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You can pretty much count on whichever console maker is in the lead to act like a raging a-hole. You should have seen the way Sony treated developers during the PS2 heyday. They would basically dictate design decisions, even on third party titles. Oh, but if you were developing a PSP title, they were your best buddy, of course, because Nintendo was still kicking their asses in the handheld market.

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    2. Re:PS4 won this generation by PingSpike · · Score: 1
      The situation was reversed last generation, and Microsoft acted exactly the same as Sony.
      https://www.engadget.com/2012/...

      In the Microsoft spokesman response:

      We have a high level of expectation for our game developers to ensure that all Live experiences remain top notch. Because we can't guarantee this level of quality, or control the player experience on other consoles or gaming networks, we currently do not open our network to games that allow this cross-over capability.

    3. Re:PS4 won this generation by mccalli · · Score: 1

      Not really sure that's true with the Switch. It's much newer so has had less time to embed, plus arguably operates in a different segment to the PS4.and XBox. Am not really sure a direct comparison is there to be made.

    4. Re:PS4 won this generation by SScorpio · · Score: 1

      Which was complete BS back then to. All those Call of Duty games were running off peer to peer. They had no way to guarantee quality of connections.

  4. it's not just cross-play.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    sony blocks use of a game's player account on any other platform. even without cross play. want to use your fortnite account that's linked to ps4 account on a different platform... or move to it completely... even though you can't cross play? 'fuck you', says sony. all that progress and all those cosmetics, etc you bought are going to sit and rot on the ps4 if you want to switch.

    cross play is secondary. THIS is the main gripe players have. not being able to move their shit from one platform to another.. when the game developer otherwise permits such a move. some don't (because there may be competitive differences or advantages between platforms) but many do or would.

    1. Re:it's not just cross-play.. by FFOMelchior · · Score: 4, Informative

      Mod parent up. Lack of cross-play is nothing new. This is erupting now due to the Epic/Fortnite account locks that Sony places. Login once on PS4, and without any warning, your 3rd party Epic account is now locked to Sony. Doesn't matter what you bought/unlocked -- you can't ever use any of that again on PC/Xbox/Switch.

    2. Re: it's not just cross-play.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It works fine on PC, as I can attest to. The initial article announcing it also stated that they could log on to XBOX just fine.

      What you cannot do is:
      1- party with anyone not on PC or PS4
      2- ever log on in switch

      The first is dumb, the second is disgusting.

    3. Re:it's not just cross-play.. by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Oh you can move the stuff. You can move it from the Switch or Xbox TO your Playstation account. But just like a shitty marriage expect to end up in court if you want to leave again.

  5. This is going to be bad... by JoeDuncan · · Score: 1

    ... for the console players until the console producers start making mouse & keyboard peripherals for them.

    Without out that, all the console 12yr olds are going to get slaughtered by people using PCs with mouse and keyboard

    1. Re:This is going to be bad... by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 3, Informative

      all the console 12yr olds are going to get slaughtered by people using PCs with mouse and keyboard

      Wrong. All the 15-year-olds using PCs who have dedicated six months to mastering a specific game are going to slaughter everyone.

      This is how online gaming has always worked... but now they just trash-talk you through a voice pitch changer.

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    2. Re: This is going to be bad... by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

      And Final Fantasy XIV is one of those rare PS4/PC cross-platform game.

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    3. Re:This is going to be bad... by Yosho · · Score: 1

      ... for the console players until the console producers start making mouse & keyboard peripherals for them.

      Dude, consoles have had USB ports since somewhere around the PlayStation 2 era.

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    4. Re:This is going to be bad... by JoeDuncan · · Score: 1

      ...consoles have had USB ports since somewhere around the PlayStation 2 era.

      Tell it to Microsoft: https://hardware.slashdot.org/...

      ...or did you miss the part where this article was about Microsoft and Nintendo only?

  6. Apple also is silent by manu0601 · · Score: 1

    Minecraft for the Nintendo Switch is getting a big update today that will enable cross-play with PC, Xbox One, and smartphones -- but notably not the PlayStation 4.

    Mac is also absent.

    1. Re:Apple also is silent by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      A Mac is not a PC in that its operating system is not what people mean when they say PC. That's why there's PC and Mac, two distinct platforms.

      Of course, if you're booting Windows on your Mac, I'm not even considering it a Mac anymore.

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    2. Re:Apple also is silent by BorgDrone · · Score: 1

      Firstly, a Mac is a PC.

      A Mac is most definitely NOT a PC. Just because it uses an x86 processor doesn't make it a PC.

      The term PC is short for 'IBM PC Compatible' , meaning a computer compatible with the IBM 5150 Personal Computer. That is: it has to be able to run Microsoft PC DOS 1.0 and apps developed for that. Modern Mac's certainly can't run PC DOS 1.0 without emulation/virtualisation, they lack a lot of legacy PC stuff.

    3. Re:Apple also is silent by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      A Mac is not a PC in that its operating system is not what people mean when they say PC.

      And yet you can quite happily run Windows on a Mac. Don't redefine words at whim.

    4. Re:Apple also is silent by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      The initialism PC is short for many things, but none of them are compatibility with the IBM PC. It meant personal computer before BM made it, and today's pc-compatible (which Macs are) will produce indeterminate results if you try to treat it like one. Hell, modern PCs don't even have a cassette port, how can you suggest they are compatible with the IBM PC?

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    5. Re:Apple also is silent by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      When you run Windows on a Mac then it's not a Mac anymore, it's a Windows PC.

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    6. Re:Apple also is silent by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      it's not a Mac anymore

      To quote myself:

      Don't redefine words at whim.

    7. Re:Apple also is silent by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      A Mac is not only one thing: it's both hardware AND software. As soon as you remove one, it becomes not a Mac.

      That's also the reason a non-Apple computer running OS X/macOS is called a Hackintosh and not a Mac.

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    8. Re:Apple also is silent by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      A Mac is not only one thing: it's both hardware AND software.

      A Mac is not software.

      *sigh* Don't redefine words at whim.

    9. Re:Apple also is silent by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      I'm not redefining words, you're the one who's not understanding what a Mac actually is.

      A Mac is a combination of hardware and software. Without both, it's not a Mac.

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    10. Re:Apple also is silent by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I'm not redefining words

      Says the person redefining what a mac is. Please go and tell people who own macs that they don't own macs. I'm sure you'll be met with the complete understanding of a person who is making sense and using words the way everyone else is too. /sarcasm

      Garbz out.

  7. Re:TCP/IP? by AHuxley · · Score: 2, Informative

    Think of all the fun ways only a Microsoft can make simple networking more work.

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    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  8. Luigi and Peach in Super Mario Adventures by tepples · · Score: 2

    Nintendo has used that sort of cross-play as a plot point. Super Mario Adventures , a graphic novel first serialized across 12 issues of Nintendo Power in 1992, has an arc where Luigi and Peach swap outfits. Scenes in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Super Mario Odyssey call back to this swap.

  9. Just not with the Java version of Minecraft by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

    The 'cross play' will of course be with the 'new' version of Minecraft that Microsoft has emphasized since they purchased Mojang. They are dead-set on marooning the Java version that most people I know play on. Which is actually and authentically cross-platform, running on any platform with a JVM.

  10. Just do not get "married" by mapkinase · · Score: 1

    You know how it goes. Give them a finger, they will bite the whole hand

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    1. Re:Just do not get "married" by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Yeah... I think you got married to a zombie or something.

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  11. Re:TCP/IP? by Luckyo · · Score: 1

    No, it's just that it got utterly crushed in this console generation. This is two losers of the current generation's console competition teaming together to get audience comparable in size to winner's audience alone.

  12. Re:TCP/IP? by Merk42 · · Score: 1

    Ah Slashdot, where in an article showing that Microsoft is actively working together with a competitor, as opposed to a different company, they are still the bad guy.

  13. Wait...didn't MS try this at one point? by autlycus · · Score: 1

    I thought that MS tried this with an FPS back when the original Xbox came out, and PC players owned console players so bad they had to disable it so the console players could enjoy the game...

  14. Re:TCP/IP? by Luckyo · · Score: 1

    While partially true, when it comes to the same games, they most certainly are.

    And this is a discussion of cross-play, a function of playing the same game on different platforms. At that point they are by definition in competition with other platforms running the same game. And fortnite is most certainly one of those massive games that sell consoles.