News - Xbox Live coming to Windows 8

[HEXUS]

Microsoft's Xbox Live service to debut on PC with next operating system.

Read more.

[boxerusman]

great news for the live and xbox community however this might have potential threat to sales of xbox consoles. pc games are generally cheap and easy to find. it could cause users to switch to pc instead of xbox consoles.

my point of view.

[razer121]

Does this mean we can game agasint the box gamers

[crossy]

marketplace where Gold subscribers can download the latest games.

Yay, especially if it means that there's one place to go for digital downloads (yes I know Steam exists!) rather than have to wade through each individual publishers ecommerce site. Especially Ubisoft's which is vile.

great news for the live and xbox community however this might have potential threat to sales of xbox consoles. pc games are generally cheap and easy to find. it could cause users to switch to pc instead of xbox consoles. my point of view.

Disagree - a gaming PC costs more than a console - heck a reasonably spec'd graphics card (GTX570 or AMD6970) alone costs more than an XBox/PS3. Plus - if my local Asda/Tesco/Sainsbury's are anything to go by then console's are "where it's at". That said, the local Sainsbury's doesn't even do PC games.

Does this mean we can game agasint the box gamers

Oh great, now I can get shot in the bahookie by a whole new crop of folks...

Windows 8 is looking better and better... (Even if that is bad news for Linux)

[miniyazz]

Disagree - a gaming PC costs more than a console - heck a reasonably spec'd graphics card (GTX570 or AMD6970) alone costs more than an XBox/PS3. Plus - if my local Asda/Tesco/Sainsbury's are anything to go by then console's are "where it's at". That said, the local Sainsbury's doesn't even do PC games.

Oh great, now I can get shot in the bahookie by a whole new crop of folks...

Windows 8 is looking better and better... (Even if that is bad news for Linux)

Once you start comparing like for like it's not so bad. Given that a second-hand GPU costing £30 will outperform the graphics in the 360, and it's not like you need an good (or even mediocre) CPU either.

However I doubt that the PC crowd will be able to compete directly against the Xbox crowd - since the mouse & keyboard is a more accurate and sophisticated gaming interface - meaning it simply wouldn't be fair competition!

[badass]

PC gaming gets cheaper than console gaming once you buy more than ~10 new big games per year.
That includes the regular hardware upgrades needed to stay current, provided you are a self builder.

[crossy]

Once you start comparing like for like it's not so bad. Given that a second-hand GPU costing £30 will outperform the graphics in the 360, and it's not like you need an good (or even mediocre) CPU either.

Yes, but you can't do like-for-like. Take CoD:BO for example - the PC I built at the time I got my XBox fails on just about every requirement. On the other hand the requirement for the XBox version is ... have an XBox. Actually, my original PC's woeful performance in CoD:W@W (10 minutes to load a level, although in-game performance using my then 8800GTX was fine) was one of the reasons that I built myself a new rig last Christmas.

(Which reminds me - I've still got an old SLI'd pair of 7800GT's in the loft that I need to shift/junk sometime...)

However I doubt that the PC crowd will be able to compete directly against the Xbox crowd - since the mouse & keyboard is a more accurate and sophisticated gaming interface - meaning it simply wouldn't be fair competition!

Very true - there's no way I'd want to go up against someone with a Razer mouse and a G15 (for example) when I'm on an XBox. At least in FPS' anyway, not so sure about racing games.

PC gaming gets cheaper than console gaming once you buy more than ~10 new big games per year. That includes the regular hardware upgrades needed to stay current, provided you are a self builder.

I'd love to know what you base that statement on. I just did a quick spot check (using prices at Game) and it would appear that, typically, an XBox game retails for £7-8 more than the PC equivalent. In fact, one of the games I checked - the latest Deus Ex - is actually £7 more expensive on the PC. If you want to check for yourself, the games I chose to look at were CallOfDuty:BlackOps; DeuxEx:HumanRevolution; Driver:SanFrancisco; and Assassin'sCreed:Revelations. In which case you're telling me that the annual upgrade cost is less than £80 - I'd love to know where you do your trade-ins.

One useful point I got from the Game spot-check that I hadn't realised - aren't PC downloads a rip-off - I just can't see the point of charging a premium for not giving you physical media!

[Macman]

In relation to the update for Xbox and Windows 8, there is also this: http://gaming.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=31749

My current pet-hate with the 360 is theme layout. I hate how PS3 have the option change wallpaper to full screen; however with the 360 your theme sort of covers 2/3 of the screen as you have the half white oval at the bottom of the screen.

Most may deem it as minor but it stands out for me, and I should be able to have the wallpaper as to my own prefrence.