Can’t we all just get along? If we’re asking this question in reference to Windows Live and Xbox Live cross-platform gaming matches, some reports are stating that Microsoft has decided that the answer is definitely, “No.”
There have been rumors circulating that Microsoft had been working on a project to create a link between games that have been built for both Windows and Xbox 360 over their respective Live gaming platforms. After some time in development and testing with console and PC games, it seems that Microsoft may have decided to back away from the project.
If you’re an avid gamer who has played the same games on both PC and console platforms, you probably already assume the alleged reason for the project’s demise. As Voodoo PC founder Rahul Sood eloquently writes in his recent blog about the rumored project, “The console players got destroyed every time. So much so that it would be embarrassing to the Xbox team in general had Microsoft launched this initiative.”
Whether a keyboard and mouse or a console controller is a better means with which to play any particular game is a matter that has been debated amongst members of the gaming community for several years. Each side vigorously defends their own opinion, citing experience of better speed and accuracy with their chosen method.
While it may be true that the Xbox and PC use very different control methods that are difficult to compare head-to-head, Sood contends that the project to bridge the two Live environments should never have ended with such a disparity between the two camps. Instead, he suggests that Microsoft should have used the experience as a chance to improve aspects of both platforms, encourage developers to keep the PC gaming industry alive, and possibly even combine the PC and console experiences down the line.
Alas, cross-platform development might not really be dead… at least not yet. A commenter at the Guardian.co.uk article on the subject points out that, “There are actually 3 games (Shadowrun, Lost Planet and Universe at War) that use the cross platform technology and there is another in the works called Calamity Trigger. So the technology was never scrapped, [and] it looks as though it's present in the devkits and can be used by whichever developer wants to use it.”
I would think that what happens to the possibilities of cross platform gaming down the line depends more on the path that developers choose to take, and whether gamers care about the ability enough to use it. The story about Microsoft’s cross-platform test may be true, or may simply be rumor. Either way, I think it’s a good thing that it’s getting the web buzzing more about game development in this respect. In fact, I suspect that Sood may have had that intention all along. At the end of his widely-publicized post, he makes a call to developers to maximize the hardware available on systems for better gaming experiences, and also suggests considering developing titles for WebOS in the future. If waking up game developers by fanning the flames of a platform war was indeed Sood’s intention, I say “Well played, Sir.”
