Microsoft Testing Playing Xbox Games in PC Browsers

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 09/15/2014 09:02 AM | source: | 19 comment(s)

Neowin is reporting that Microsoft is testing out playing Xbox games in a PC browser. A few weeks back, a Microsoft research project showed that the company had built a cloud-based gaming service that reduced the lag by a significant margin. Of course, Microsoft has many research products that never seem to make it out of the labs for one reason or another, but this product is a bit different.

Microsoft is testing out playing games in your browser and not just any games. We're talking Xbox games - and not just last-generation titles either. In fact, even Xbox One titles are currently said to be in the works too.

And don’t think this is some watered-down experience; one source told us that he thought the experience was right around 60FPS, while another stated that this is going to be the company’s next killer gaming feature.

The Xbox 360 games offer up the full experience, including the dashboard running in the browser too. So don't think this is some hacked together project, this is the real deal. The product, as it stands right now, has Xbox branding and works outside the walls of Microsoft.

It makes sense too - think about how quickly you can connect to Microsoft’s Azure platform when using the Xbox One and then apply that to this service. Microsoft has already proven that cloud-based off-loads can work with Titanfall and this is the next extension of that concept.

The service is not perfect as there are many barriers to overcome to bring this product to market. One issue is licensing; Microsoft may have to work with publishers to allow for this type of gameplay as it could cut into their revenue from PC game sales.

The implications here are huge for Microsoft as it removes the console from the equation to tap into the gaming market. Also, by off-loading the processing power needed to run these games, it means that they can run on any type of device. Microsoft’s current solution is not browser-locked either; it runs in Chrome as well as it does in Internet Explorer.

It was about this time last year that Microsoft showed off Halo 4 running in the cloud on various devices at the company’s all-employee meeting, and this project is the on-going work from that demo to bring it to more users. Our understanding is that significant progress has been made from that demo and it is now being rolled out to more users.

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fusion
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Posts: 73
Joined: 2014-05-28

#4913067 Posted on: 09/15/2014 09:39 AM

Honestly makes me wonder why it has taken them this long. How hard is it to imbed a decent 3D engine in a browser anyhow? Internet browsers have become a decrepit fossil of the past, I don't even know why we're still using them. Why doesn't EPIC or ID make a browser with their 3D tech. Anyone with some cash and some clever idea's could wipeout the entire browser market over night if they wanted to. Heck, they're practically giving 3D engines away these days but everyone wants to make another stupid shooter. Such a waste of talent out there.

asturur
Senior Member

Posts: 277
Joined: 2010-05-12

#4913082 Posted on: 09/15/2014 10:19 AM

When they talk about playing in browsers i think that 3d engine is not mentioned.
Is more some youtube.
You press keys, some server catch them, run the game, and send you the "video".
Something like that. In that case lag is the biggest enemy.
am i worng?

Corbus
Senior Member

Posts: 2311
Joined: 2009-04-27

#4913083 Posted on: 09/15/2014 10:24 AM

^ you are correct, but as you've read, their service reduces lag significantly . We just have to wait and see how it goes.

vg24a3
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Posts: 94
Joined: 2013-09-23

#4913124 Posted on: 09/15/2014 11:38 AM

But this way we are going to play on PC and not using their xbox hardware, what is the whole point in that? I mean I would be happy I don't own any console anyway.

Corbus
Senior Member

Posts: 2311
Joined: 2009-04-27

#4913132 Posted on: 09/15/2014 11:48 AM

But this way we are going to play on PC and not using their xbox hardware, what is the whole point in that? I mean I would be happy I don't own any console anyway.

To suck money from pc users for their console games through subscriptions.

AlmondMan
Senior Member

Posts: 439
Joined: 2007-09-03

#4913152 Posted on: 09/15/2014 12:19 PM

Because that's not what anyone is doing. This is game streaming, a.e. all rendering and gamelogic takes place on a remote machine and the result is streamed to whatever device you're hooked up with.

huilun02
Senior Member

Posts: 327
Joined: 2013-10-29

#4913167 Posted on: 09/15/2014 12:36 PM

Only way I see this working is when the client has very fast internet connection, and even then the video being streamed will have to be downsampled. I don't think streaming 2 million pixel-for-pixel at 60fps is practical let alone possible for the vast majority of people with todays internet speeds.

So anyone using this will have to put up with the potential lag on top of the choppy video quality. Not that it will matter for console gamers who are used to choppy next-gen graphics anyway.

FULMTL
Senior Member

Posts: 6704
Joined: 2008-04-03

#4913190 Posted on: 09/15/2014 01:03 PM

Cloud gaming is still not interesting, but better buggy console ports.
Rather have cloud gaming from PS4

deathnite
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Posts: 32
Joined: 2014-07-18

#4913203 Posted on: 09/15/2014 01:22 PM

That browser is called Firefox.
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/03/18/gdc-2014-mozilla-and-partners-prove-the-web-is-the-platform-for-gaming/
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/03/12/mozilla-and-epic-preview-unreal-engine-4-running-in-firefox/
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2013/12/12/first-3d-commercial-web-game-powered-by-asm-js-unveiled/
https://hacks.mozilla.org/2014/05/asm-js-performance-improvements-in-the-latest-version-of-firefox-make-games-fly/
Here are some demos to try.
http://beta.unity3d.com/jonas/AngryBots/
http://beta.unity3d.com/jonas/DT2/
https://developer.mozilla.org/ms/demos/detail/bananabread

Most browsers have support for WebGL now, including Safari in iOS 8. So you can play 3D games right in the browser.
Quake 3
http://www.webgl.com/2011/11/webgl-quake-3-demo/
http://media.tojicode.com/q3bsp/
Quake 2
https://code.google.com/p/quake2-gwt-port/
http://quake2playn.appspot.com/

Denial
Senior Member

Posts: 12115
Joined: 2004-05-16

#4913212 Posted on: 09/15/2014 01:40 PM

schmidtbag
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Joined: 2012-11-10

#4913266 Posted on: 09/15/2014 03:31 PM

There are plenty of 3D engines integrated into browsers but what's the point? You still need a good rig to run the engine. And I don't see how they've become a "decrepit fossil of the past" when literally 99% of people use them to access the internet, unless I missed something and everyone found a new way overnight.

Like what the is the market for a 3D browser engine? I've never sat down and been like "well damn if only I had a 3D engine in my browser I'd have so much fun".

I was thinking the exact same thing. Considering how many people still use a version of IE below 9, and considering the amount of crappy tablet users, I see no need to have a 3D engine.

But, Unreal Engine 3 does have a browser plugin, I think there's also a browser plugin for the Doom 3 engine, and there's a Blender plugin.

Anyway, I really don't understand this sudden interest in streamed gaming. I'd rather the time and money be spent on optimizing games/hardware and use 1 machine locally. Having a crappy machine handle the display and inputs for a good machine over a network just doesn't sound appealing to me.

huilun02
Senior Member

Posts: 327
Joined: 2013-10-29

#4913301 Posted on: 09/15/2014 04:48 PM

Anyway, I really don't understand this sudden interest in streamed gaming. I'd rather the time and money be spent on optimizing games/hardware and use 1 machine locally. Having a crappy machine handle the display and inputs for a good machine over a network just doesn't sound appealing to me.

Streamed gaming offers advantages in terms of convenience and cost of access to games. The client no longer has to deal with download/install times, doesn't require the player to buy/assemble a capable gaming machine and deal with interfering software issues. Also the game won't take up space on the client device and the service provider doesn't have to deal with piracy.

There will be disadvantages such as latency, quality of streamed video. The game would not be moddable and game ownership would be even more questionable than today's always-online DRM. Being able to play the game would boil down to your internet connection.

Streaming services would be a logical future for gaming if we take a look at what made console gaming successful; the human race getting ever lazier.

Asgardi
Senior Member

Posts: 227
Joined: 2010-11-13

#4913317 Posted on: 09/15/2014 05:01 PM

Nah...

To suck money from pc users for their console games through subscriptions.

More like expanding the XBox Live. If you think about it, this would expand the X1 platform to a few billion devices in the world. And in that case the PS4 "lead" in sales would become a joke. That would be a huge opportunity for developers. Im sure X1 and PC would offer better experience in most cases, but that doesn't matter much in the end.

Dch48
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Posts: 1823
Joined: 2011-10-09

#4913332 Posted on: 09/15/2014 05:24 PM

To suck money from pc users for their console games through subscriptions.

Exactly. The console makers make a lot more money from the games than from the machine itself. The consoles are sold at nearly cost or sometimes even below cost. It's a way to sell more games without even having to physically produce the disks.

Prince Valiant
Senior Member

Posts: 678
Joined: 2014-02-23

#4913364 Posted on: 09/15/2014 06:07 PM

Microsoft may have to work with publishers to allow for this type of gameplay as it could cut into their revenue from PC game sales.

Who would they be losing revenue from? I don't imagine anyone with hardware capable of running a game is going to opt to stream it instead, that would be like streaming a movie when you've got the BD.

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