Integration of PC and future Xbox

The one feature I'd like to see from Microsoft's next console would be integration of PC games and Xbox games. By that I mean any game you purchase for your Xbox, you can play on your PC (although they couldn't guarentee the opposite). Hear me out.

We've got the technology. Managed DirectX has been shown to be virtually just as fast as native code. Managed C++ allows somewhat painfree porting from older code. Keeping the actual game code compiled in MSIL libraries means that the same game can be played on the PC (given, of course, that the PC has the required referenced libraries).

Does anyone else see this as a good idea? It instantly turns a whole generation of users onto .NET and begins creating a vast library of managed software (perfect for a movement such as Singularity). Backwards compatibility can be achieved easily by including older versions of the framework.

The console then becomes, literally, a cheap computer with a limited operating system. The benefit to this is that all of the console's resources can be devoted to playing the game instead of running background processes like today's operating systems do while in game.

Of course there are some possible bottlenecks. Just how well would managed code run on a console? How much managed code would have to be JIT compiled when the game loads on the console (this could be solved by requiring a hard drive and caching the JIT compiled assembly). Just how easily could developers transition to managed code?

Any thoughts?

Wouldn't a major problem be different architectre, With the XBOX's PowerPC being little endian where as your PC being big endian, or are they other way around? Either way the current XBOX is a lot more different to the origional compared to PC's

My thoughts?
It would be neat.

Custa1200 wrote:

Wouldn't a major problem be different architectre, With the XBOX's PowerPC being little endian where as your PC being big endian, or are they other way around? Either way the current XBOX is a lot more different to the origional compared to PC's

That's the idea behind managed code. It's compiled down to an architecture independent state (MSIL), which the JIT (just-in-time) compiler compiles down at launch to the specific architecture. It's how .NET code written on Windows can run on a Mac.

See XNA Framework announcement from GDC in February, this is exactly what is being currently worked on. Other than an announcement few details are known about how it will work and when it is availalbe but its likely this will change at GameFest in August.

Yes this does require developers use MDX and yes this probably means none of the big games will be done this way. But the technology is being built.

if apple were to make osx for pc avail (unlikely) then ms's next move would be to make xbox a computer

for now though - ms would have to be dragged kicking and screaming into making xbox a pc - because of the partner/oem contracts

to be honest this is the greatest thread ever posted on c9

dell - your dead. gateway, hp all of you gone. MS is like apple now - here's our machine - xbox

oh - by the way Dell, hp, gateway- want to manufacture Xbox?  ..to our EXACT specs?

did we mention its co-brandable
(just need a mom-pop store version too)

?

ps.... please tell me youve secured the rights to XPhone  or XTalk

(no i didnt google)

Xtalks and Xbox?  edit  Xtox?talkx? talkbox?

jmacdonagh wrote:



The console then becomes, literally, a cheap computer with a limited operating system. The benefit to this is that all of the console's resources can be devoted to playing the game instead of running background processes like today's operating systems do while in game.

So the only benefit of this is that the "console" won't have many background processes? Wow that would revolutionise the gaming industry, just imagine a console that only plays games, woah!

I just realised another benefit, what if you get bored playing the same game on your PC for a while? No worries, just fire up the XBox and play it there instead. :O

It would be like having two computers to play one game.

Or if you wanted to be able to play games but couldn't afford a computer, just buy an XBox, because then you wouldn't need the computer to play the games. :O