Yes, but

Post #367,357 by jay 12/5/12 10:20:37 PM Reply	Yes, but Yes, but Microsoft will be nothing but a shadow long before the applications go away. Another company that will live for years doing nothing but supporting a slowly fading user base. They could also end up another entertainment company, based on the XBox franchise. That won't be easy though, as that is a risky and highly competitive market. The XBox only succeeded because MS could afford to subsidize it for so long and they happened to buy the Halo franchise at the right moment.
Post #367,374 by folkert 12/6/12 9:13:53 AM Reply	On Halo... It really was the ONLY really successful game on the Original XBOX... until. Microsoft used Bungee to so called "lead the way" with techniques to EEK out performance. Like the whole rendering illusions they pulled off, giving you incredibly good looking graphics on nv7 video chipset and an 800MHz processor. They used the "detail up close" "less at 10 foot" "blurred at 100ft" kinds of alogs for looking at things... it really made the difference between a fast good looking game with excellent game play and a clunky game. Microsoft also used "pre-optimized" instructions that removed a bulk of cumputations and still gave the "mostly correct" answer. This was only a problem on some games with "long ranges" in them, like snipers or viewable hits from bombs... or various things like TV screens capturing the final moments from a distance. Things that took computations away from the current screen. One game, can't remember its name, sniper shots worked better in fog or partially obstructed, than if you could clearly see them. Meh. They did get lucky. They entered late, competing against some well established players... and cut their own throat cutting into the PC gaming industry and forcing it to go Console. Lets just see how well this apparent Windows 8 "hegemony" plays out. -- greg@gregfolkert.net PGP key 1024D/B524687C 2003-08-05 Fingerprint: E1D3 E3D7 5850 957E FED0 2B3A ED66 6971 B524 687C
Post #367,386 by static 12/6/12 8:43:12 PM Reply	It was also an attack against fragmentation. Game makers and Microsoft both were annoyed at supporting the diversity of PC gaming hardware. The Xbox was Microsoft making a console out of PC hardware, basically. Vastly over-simplifying it, of course. And yes, it ran at a loss for years. And we also know that Valve really does not like the prospect of PC gaming under Windows 8. Microsoft might not, either, TBH but I haven't heard anything in the press that says they have even voiced an opinion. They've always liked the closed-ecosystem that a gaming console provides. Wade. Just Add Story http://justaddstory.wordpress.com/
Post #367,409 by pwhysall 12/7/12 1:20:49 AM Reply	Bloody Valve. Less (ridiculously hyperbolic) talk about Windows 8, Valve, and more work on Half-Life 3, plzkthx.

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