Microsofts vision for PC gaming.

[Vagrant0]

You laugh, but there's serious money to be made in the casual and social games market. Microsoft isn't saying that in the future, all games will be Farmville, not by a long shot.

This... I think that if some people could be bothered to (and stomach) the lighter side of online gaming they would be outright appalled by how much money some people are willing to throw at even substandard games and communities. There is a growing and enormous user base for games directed toward women, children, and social-web culture. It's like Twilight, even something which is horrible beyond words can get a large following simply because it fills a void in the culture.

[Marthos]

Agreed.

 

Perfect example ?

 

That Wii thing, I don't rate it at all but people go mad for it. Saw an advert last night for the latest and greatest game thats just been released for it, bloomin Donkey Kong.

 

The Wii platform is getting away with knocking out more repeats than the BBC and people a lapping it up, and Microsoft aren't shy of jumping on a bandwagon.

[JimboUK]

There is a huge a market for casual games, Cityville for example picked up 22 million users in 7 days. However I don't see where Microsoft fit into this, Facebook, Zynga and others aren't just going to give them a slice of the pie.

 

Agreed.

 

Perfect example ?

 

That Wii thing, I don't rate it at all but people go mad for it. Saw an advert last night for the latest and greatest game thats just been released for it, bloomin Donkey Kong.

 

The Wii platform is getting away with knocking out more repeats than the BBC and people a lapping it up, and Microsoft aren't shy of jumping on a bandwagon.

 

The hardware has been successful but the attachment rate is appalling, that's the reason there are so few decent games on there, it's just not worth investing in a quality title on a platform where they don't sell. It's so bad Electronic Arts have recently downgraded it to a legacy system.

[evilneko]

However I don't see where Microsoft fit into this, Facebook, Zynga and others aren't just going to give them a slice of the pie.

 

Need I remind you who you're talking about here? Microsoft doesn't care if Zynga et. al. are going to give them a slice of the pie, they're going to take the whole pie one way or another. If Microsoft decides they want to compete seriously, there'll probably be a headline in the Wall Street Journal reading "Microsoft to buy Zynga" some months down the road.

 

But that's only part of the fun. You guys all caught that bit with the shooter, right? Microsoft apparently wants to try and bring some of the social aspects of Facebook gaming to "real" gaming. What they will probably do is build a sort of framework (Windoze only, of course) that ties in with Messenger (obviously) and maybe Twitter and Facebook that games can plug into, allowing players to tweet and message directly from the game (no alt-tabbing or having to run windowed) and easily invite others to a particular server. Yeah, Steam has some of this already, but Microsoft would be able to integrate it directly into Windows.

[antonkr]

However I don't see where Microsoft fit into this, Facebook, Zynga and others aren't just going to give them a slice of the pie.

 

Need I remind you who you're talking about here? Microsoft doesn't care if Zynga et. al. are going to give them a slice of the pie, they're going to take the whole pie one way or another. If Microsoft decides they want to compete seriously, there'll probably be a headline in the Wall Street Journal reading "Microsoft to buy Zynga" some months down the road.

 

But that's only part of the fun. You guys all caught that bit with the shooter, right? Microsoft apparently wants to try and bring some of the social aspects of Facebook gaming to "real" gaming. What they will probably do is build a sort of framework (Windoze only, of course) that ties in with Messenger (obviously) and maybe Twitter and Facebook that games can plug into, allowing players to tweet and message directly from the game (no alt-tabbing or having to run windowed) and easily invite others to a particular server. Yeah, Steam has some of this already, but Microsoft would be able to integrate it directly into Windows.

Only 5.99 a month. :rolleyes:

[Fatalmasterpiece]

This reminds me of the Wii + Steam + Facebook. I don't have a Wii, nor a console, and I never will, didn't have Steam until NewVegas (DAMN YOU) made me install it... wishing I didn't have a Facebook either :down:

[DarkNinja13]

I actually gagged when I watched this :sick: .

 

These "great avatars that I can personalize" were implemented on the 360 about two years ago (and they all looked unbearably lame). They forced it on me when I got Final Fantasy XIII - the upgraded dashboard for XBox Live was required to install FFXIII and I had to accept or I couldn't play the game. The thing is...I don't even HAVE XBox Live!!! I hated it then, so why in the frak would I willingly go with it in the future? :yucky:

 

I joke among my friends and say that that was the last time I ever touched my 360, but it is partially true. After that was forced on me, I cannot remember the last time I played anything on my 360 (or any console for that matter). This marred the whole "I got FFXII!" rush and...well, I never even bothered with playing it because I was so disgusted, effectively blowing $55 out my backside. :ermm:

 

Just like has been said here before, hardcore/serious gamers will run for the hills from this while the casual gamers will eat this garbage up. It's shiny, it's pretty, it's new, and it's a new way to social network, so naturally these idiots that'll look at this and say, "Ooooo, ahhhh, wow!" will line up around the block to jump on this bandwagon. We know who they are, they're the same people who we would say suffer from terminal cases of Rectal-Cranial Inversion.

 

But isn't that the way these things always go? We get something great, it stays great for about ten years, and then all the sudden some idiot comes along and drowns it in the mainstream. Crap like this is why I stopped watching anime. I was one of the thousands that helped the industry grow and flourish, and then I blinked and it was everywhere - and not the good stuff either, but Dragonball Z, Naruto, and other perfectly mediocre titles that weren't even worth their weight in....*ahem* natural fertilizer. :down:

 

But in all honesty, when Microsoft bought Sega's "Next Gen" system in '92 (which eventually became their XBox), did anybody not get the feeling that this was going to happen? :rolleyes:

[evilneko]

You've missed quite a bit of good anime then. :whistling:

[Malchus]

To quote too many movies:

 

"I've got a bad feeling about this..."

 

 

I don't really like Steam, though I don't hate it. Though necessitating it has kept me off of New Vegas until now.

 

I do not particularly like windows live, I hate windows messenger and do not want those to be irrevocably tied into my games.

 

I've tried to keep my hands clean of pirated/hacked games since I want to support the industry, but... really Microsoft? REALLY?

 

Overall, I don't like where this could lead...

[JimboUK]

However I don't see where Microsoft fit into this, Facebook, Zynga and others aren't just going to give them a slice of the pie.

 

Need I remind you who you're talking about here? Microsoft doesn't care if Zynga et. al. are going to give them a slice of the pie, they're going to take the whole pie one way or another. If Microsoft decides they want to compete seriously, there'll probably be a headline in the Wall Street Journal reading "Microsoft to buy Zynga" some months down the road.

 

But that's only part of the fun. You guys all caught that bit with the shooter, right? Microsoft apparently wants to try and bring some of the social aspects of Facebook gaming to "real" gaming. What they will probably do is build a sort of framework (Windoze only, of course) that ties in with Messenger (obviously) and maybe Twitter and Facebook that games can plug into, allowing players to tweet and message directly from the game (no alt-tabbing or having to run windowed) and easily invite others to a particular server. Yeah, Steam has some of this already, but Microsoft would be able to integrate it directly into Windows.

 

I think you're rating Modern day Microsoft too highly, it's not the company it was, it's a dinosaur run by accountants. It's only Windows and Office keeping it solvent, the 360 only enjoys the small lead it does because of the unholy mess Sony made of the PS3s launch. Look at the video again and ask yourself how will Microsoft make any money from this? People won't pay to tweet from games, they won't pay for cross game chat when things like X-Fire and Raptr do that already for free and people won't be willing to pay upfront for these games because there are too many free alternatives. We've already had a taste of Microsofts efforts on the PC, GFWL was widely disliked and treated like some evil DRM.

 

There is another problem for Microsoft, mobile use is very important if they want to bring things together and they are only a bit player in a market where Apple, Blackberry and Google dominate. Their tie up with Nokia is widely seen as a disater waiting to happen, putting WinMo on a Nokia is like tying two one legged men together and expecting a world class runner as a result.

 

As for buying Zynga that company is valued between $7bn and $9bn, that's an awful lot of money to recoup through selling avatars.