Microsoft Makes Xbox-Centered Living Room Push with SmartGlass Wireless Streaming and More

[jaw04005]

Paul Thurrott posted a new article about SmartGlass. Apparently, it's an updated version of the Companion.app already out for iOS, Android and Windows 8.

The second screen stuff only works with new games that take advantage of that developer API (although I expect Microsoft will update some of their first party titles)

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/xbox-360/xbox-360-xbox-smartglass-preview-143334

 

[faroZ06]

Yeah, right. I suppose if you like games on multiple discs that you have to switch mid-game, then DVD is PERFECT

What game uses multiple discs? A DVD holds 4.7GB, which is plenty. The Gamecube uses miniature discs and has poor graphics (compared to new games) but the best games

If anything, we need a console that takes the games from the internet or from installation disc(s) and stores them. Playing a game off of optical media seems a bit slow for newer games that have extremely detailed graphics.

 

[NAG]

Yeah the UI has had some pretty big improvements in the past few years. I saw the biggest improvement was when they switch off the blade set up to what they use now but that was like 3-4 years ago now.
The windows Medai extender has been in there for a long time. Vista played really well with it and 7 even better.
Add in all the streaming services yeah Apple has a LONG ways to go.

Lets see the 360 plays more media file types. Works with more devices and more streaming servers. The only thing the Apple TV has over is playing files from iTunes. Other wise the Apple TV has pretty much nothing.

Eh, the interface before last was pretty bad too (looked like coverflow). It hid so much information and was very easy to get lost in. They finally decided to stop obscuring the navigation with the more Metro look. As far as services, I think Apple is playing a different game. The Xbox is very PC centric. I think Apple is trying to move away from that but they have no clue how. As we know about Apple, they try not to do anything until they have a reasonable idea how to do it (e.g. cut and paste on iOS).

I think Airplay was an attempt but ultimately will not be a killer feature for them. Ultimately, what Microsoft showed off today was in the same category as Airplay but with more features (who knows about UX until we actually get to use it). So yeah, not sure if what they showed today is anywhere Apple is going.

(and before anyone jumps on me, no I'm not implying Microsoft copied Airplay)

What game uses multiple discs? A DVD holds 4.7GB, which is plenty.

Mass Effect 2 and 3.

 

[designgeek]

Why do I feel like Microsoft will execute this similar to the HDDVD thing? With loads of unnecessary information and crap and such.

 

[lifeguard90]

screw Microsoft , notice how Mac news has trickled out today and MR has not posted. I'm sticking with 9to5 from now on, maybe AppleInsider. I do like MR is because of the buyers guide and helpful forums, but they seem to be third out of the ones i mentioned in regards to timely reporting and frequency at pm hours and weekends.

how would you rate the different mac rumor sites, which do you like

 

[Jovian9]

The example with Madden is pretty awesome.

I'd love to be able to choose a play without a friend seeing my three choices.

Plus, you could choose a play while the game is showing a replay, this speeding up the entire experience.

I'd love to see this come to fruition with Madden and NCAA football games in the future.

Yeah. This is what the DreamCast used to let you do. Surprised it's taken this long for someone else to integrate it in some way.

 

[kiljoy616]

The page has been deviating from Apple-related articles for awhile.

In this news front, if it's another AirPlay copy...forget it.

Maybe the reason the news has been deviating is that Apple cool tech has not really been coming out. Either way this is big for iOS users after all we are moving in a different directions and MacRumors is in the business of staying in business.

 

[budselectjr]

What game uses multiple discs? A DVD holds 4.7GB, which is plenty. The Gamecube uses miniature discs and has poor graphics (compared to new games) but the best games

La noire, Max Payne 3, Battlefield 3 off the top of my head. Should I continue?

 

[kiljoy616]

Nice...makes me wonder WTF Sony has been doing for the last 5 years with the PS3.

PS3 is so far behind 360 at this point.

You really can't blame them, unlike Microsoft which is a software juggernaut and has the resources Sony is not that kind of company. If your asking what have they been spending money on, well how about technology that you use but never see.

Here is what Sony is up to http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/201205/12-076E/index.html
Cool for those who just have to have eye candy galore.

Your right in that Sony needs to start to change what it thinks it is or like RIM may find them selves out of business or at least just becoming a FAB house for others.

 

[nokuchikushi]

Just like "Smart" playlists?



w00master

Smart playlists are not products.

 

[pdjudd]

What game uses multiple discs? A DVD holds 4.7GB, which is plenty. The Gamecube uses miniature discs and has poor graphics (compared to new games) but the best games

DVD’s on the Xbox actually can be as big as 8.5 for dual layer - thats been supported since the days of the PS2. Furthermore there are several games that require multiple discs - LA Noire is one of them - it has 3 discs.

If anything, we need a console that takes the games from the internet or from installation disc(s) and stores them. Playing a game off of optical media seems a bit slow for newer games that have extremely detailed graphics.

You can actually install games on the XBox 360 and the PS3 - it is targeted to reduce wear and tear on the DVD tray and doesn’t really increase performance or anything - they are already optimally designed for the consoles hardware. Trouble is, these games are huge - PS3 uses games on BlueRay which can go up to 50 gigabytes. Broadband just isn’t reliable or available enough to deliver those sizes. Not to mention when you have ISP’s that are doing all they can to restrict bandwidth availability.

Right now you have to have discs anyway, and really the most you have to worry about is load time, something that isn’t as big of a deal nowadays - developers try to make the most out of load times to work the story or gameplay around it. You don’t really need installers though - it’s not all that optimal for consoles where drives are not large.

 

[lifeguard90]

screw Microsoft , notice how Mac news has trickled out today and MR has not posted. I'm sticking with 9to5 from now on, maybe AppleInsider. I do like MR is because of the buyers guide and helpful forums, but they seem to be third out of the ones i mentioned in regards to timely reporting and frequency at pm hours and weekends.

how would you rate the different mac rumor sites, which do you like

Why downvote, its true fact thats all.

 

[JAT]

except apple's version will only work on Mac's and iOS. MS is smart to appeal to the entire market

and they are pulling a nice Siri on google with this

The entire Xbox market. Much different than the horrible proprietary Apple.

Much.

 

[faroZ06]

La noire, Max Payne 3, Battlefield 3 off the top of my head. Should I continue?

Um... those games suck.

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screw Microsoft , notice how Mac news has trickled out today and MR has not posted. I'm sticking with 9to5 from now on, maybe AppleInsider. I do like MR is because of the buyers guide and helpful forums, but they seem to be third out of the ones i mentioned in regards to timely reporting and frequency at pm hours and weekends.

how would you rate the different mac rumor sites, which do you like

I know you hate Microsoft (I do too), but I don't see what's so bad about an article about one of Apple's competitors and one of Apple's devices. Besides, MacRumors isn't exactly "spamming" my RSS feed. We can do with a few extra articles.

 

[lifeguard90]

Um... those games suck.

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I know you hate Microsoft (I do too), but I don't see what's so bad about an article about one of Apple's competitors and one of Apple's devices. Besides, MacRumors isn't exactly "spamming" my RSS feed. We can do with a few extra articles.

No.. Those games are awesome. I played LA Noire and BF3

Go back and play WOW or other RP fairy games

 

[faroZ06]

Nice...makes me wonder WTF Sony has been doing for the last 5 years with the PS3.

PS3 is so far behind 360 at this point.

My XBOX 360 suffers from the Red Ring of Death. If you ask me, my NES is ahead of that piece of poop, and it's from 1985. The XBOX 360 would be great if it wasn't so unreliable that I'm afraid of buying one.

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No.. Those games are awesome. I played LA Noire and BF3

Go back and play WOW or other RP fairy games

Ew, I'm never playing WoW. Would you count Legend of Zelda: Windwaker as an RP fairy game? It's role-playing and features 4 fairies at certain points, but I don't know if that counts.

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Off-topic, but has anyone noticed that the user ranks are CPU names? If I ever get to 68000, I want my rank to stay there. Kiljoy616 has that magic number.

 

[silroc]

As a tech geek this is cool stuff

Picking plays on my iPad for madden could be cool

We can all coexist!

 

[budselectjr]

Um... those games suck.

Great comeback. Was just pointing out your lack of knowledge of the gaming industry. Seeing as you still think games are pressed on single layer dvd's. GTA V also most likely will be multi disc as well for Xbox.

 

[bungiefan89]

Obviously you aren't married or have a spouse that doesn't mind have a giant white controller sitting on the coffee room table.

Also, try to get your mom, dad, wife, babysitter, house guest, etc to navigate a XBOX menu system if they haven't ever used it.

Ugh, do not get me STARTED on how poorly designed the latest Xbox 360 interface is! But that's Microsoft's fault for trying to shoe-horn their lame Windows 8 Metro tablet BS into the design of their game console, which is a completely separate issue.

My beef is with people who seem to insist that everything today MUST have a touch-screen, or MUST function like a Nintendo Wii, out of some starry-eyed notion that it's more "convenient" in every possible way than a physical controller which gives you tactile feedback.

 

[faroZ06]

Great comeback. Was just pointing out your lack of knowledge of the gaming industry. Seeing as you still think games are pressed on single layer dvd's. GTA V also most likely will be multi disc as well for Xbox.

There is also dual-layer, which Mac OS X Leopard was shipped on.

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Ugh, do not get me STARTED on how poorly designed the latest Xbox 360 interface is! But that's Microsoft's fault for trying to shoe-horn their lame Windows 8 Metro tablet BS into the design of their game console, which is a completely separate issue.

My beef is with people who seem to insist that everything today MUST have a touch-screen, or MUST function like a Nintendo Wii, out of some starry-eyed notion that it's more "convenient" in every possible way than a physical controller which gives you tactile feedback.

Yes. The XBOX 360's main menu is annoying. Sometimes, I just want to stick a disc in and play the game. Also, the whole "accounts" thing ticks me off. You have to make an account for each player...

I think it would be neat if the accounts were stored on the controllers themselves and backed up to the console.

 

[bungiefan89]

Simple... Xbox controller requires 2 hands. Normal remote uses 1.

However, anyone who complains about that should have purchased a harmony remote years ago.

Yeah, or if you're really in to supporting Microsoft, they even sell a dedicated one-handed remote specifically for the Xbox 360. But I never had a problem with that because I have both my hands, and have no problem manipulating a wireless device that was intended for gaming, but also functions as a remote control for the game console.

 

[budselectjr]

There is also dual-layer, which Mac OS X Leopard was shipped on.

No idea what you are talking about and how it relates to xbox games. Sounds like you are boxed up. Anyways, back to the original statement by you:

What game uses multiple discs? A DVD holds 4.7GB, which is plenty.

 

[faroZ06]

The entire Xbox market. Much different than the horrible proprietary Apple.

Much.

Apple made a gaming console a while back, and it it failed of course. If you count the iPod as a portable gaming console, it looks like they've made a comeback.

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No idea what you are talking about and how it relates to xbox games. Sounds like you are boxed up. Anyways, back to the original statement by you:

I forgot about dual-layer. Dual-layer DVDs can hold 8.5GB. I think most DVD drives support dual-layer at this point.

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You do have to admit that the 360 pad isn't the best for navigating through menus. Preferably, it'd use a controller that'd fit in one hand.

Anyway, the jist of this entire argument is that Microsoft is copying Apple for a technology they themselves didn't even invent. Like MS never had one of the better PC oriented media center setups readily available as far back as XP, and what we're seeing here isn't an extension of that.

No. Apple has AppleTV. Anything that comes out after that is a shameless ripoff. Excuse me while I sigh and abuse the eyeroll and Apple logo emotes. The discussions going on in this thread are pretty dumb when it comes right down to it.

The Apple TV is basically a Mac that only has iTunes. The original one (I have it, and it sucks) was just a Mac running a modified Mac OS X Tiger. I think Apple's iTunes was a fresh idea. It started as a great jukebox, and they added a store. Was there anything like that before iTunes?

 

[budselectjr]

I forgot about dual-layer. Dual-layer DVDs can hold 8.5GB. I think most DVD drives support dual-layer at this point.

understandable. Just wanted to let you know that a lot of games(excluding blu-ray) now and in the future have and will be using multiple dvd-9 discs. Regardless if you think the games are good or not.

 

[faroZ06]

understandable. Just wanted to let you know that a lot of games(excluding blu-ray) now and in the future have and will be using multiple dvd-9 discs. Regardless if you think the games are good or not.

Multiple dual-layer DVDs? And you have to switch those out mid-game? It should just let you load them all in at first and store the data on a hard drive temporarily.

Or just have multiple DVD drives