WHAT?! How... does xbox make money?
Just a taste, to get you hooked...
So thinking about the Game Pass PC 'price increase' is probably everyone looking at it the wrong way. More correctly, the beta discount is ending and now we will all be paying the normal price, that has existed since the start.
So thinking about the Game Pass PC 'price increase' is probably everyone looking at it the wrong way. More correctly, the beta discount is ending and now we will all be paying the normal price, that has existed since the start.
I completely agree. A while back, I paid a total of $6 for two months and I played SO MANY games! My only issue with game any sub is that I feel I need to use it enough to get my money's worth. I cancelled because there were too many games I already own that I wanted to get caught up on.
My likely plan is that I'm going to wait a bit for next gen to spin up, also wait for xCloud to come to PC, then pull the trigger on a Series S and GamePass Ultimate.
I’m going to switch to console only pass, I think. I never game on my PC.
I'll probably upgrade to Ultimate from console just because (A) xCloud is something I want to play around with and (B) I'd never play Microsoft Flight Simulator enough to justify the cost, but, well, I could fly around and find my house. I want to fly around and find my house.
After my trial with PC pass I am interested but for that price I want to know the games will work on PC. I canceled after having a few fail to install correctly. For $1.00 I am ok if some big games fail to install. For $10 everything should just work. Otherwise I can wait for a gog/steam sale.
So can I stream xCloud to my PC?
staygold wrote:So can I stream xCloud to my PC?
Annoyingly, no, unless there's some trickery that lets you run Android apps on your PC. Right now, xCloud is only on Android, but I really, really hope that they have PC and console clients for it soon.
FYI, I tried xCloud streaming to my kids' Chromebook. The video quality and framerate seemed very stable. Loading times were longer than I expected. Lag looked like it could be an issue, but I couldn't really tell because neither of the wired controllers I tried mapped correctly. Most of the button inputs were wrong and a bunch were missing.
So, overall, it was that all too common experience of, "Looked like it worked great, but was also unusable."
staygold wrote:So can I stream xCloud to my PC?
Annoyingly, no, unless there's some trickery that lets you run Android apps on your PC. Right now, xCloud is only on Android, but I really, really hope that they have PC and console clients for it soon.
They definitely have a pc client. When/if it launches is still unknown.
staygold wrote:So can I stream xCloud to my PC?
Annoyingly, no, unless there's some trickery that lets you run Android apps on your PC. Right now, xCloud is only on Android, but I really, really hope that they have PC and console clients for it soon.
4 Free Ways to Run Android Apps on Your PC. I've heard of BlueStacks before and seen someone use it - I'm installing now. I've never (really) used Android before, and have no idea how to get the xCloud app installed, but whatever, I'm up for some quirkiness.
Edit: BlueStacks installed. "Xbox Streaming" app installed, but only shows a black screen. Seems it's not quite compatible. Regardless, an xCloud PC client has been confirmed for this year.
merphle wrote:"Xbox Streaming" app installed, but only shows a black screen.
I believe the Xbox Streaming app has been disabled. It was only for the testing phase. You want to install the beta Game Pass app, or wait until tomorrow and install the regular Game Pass app.
The beta app worked! I was able to run Halo 5 streaming from xCloud, using BlueStacks. My wired USB controller didn't quite work, and performance was suboptimal, but it did at least launch.
I'll wait for the Win10 app.
Microsoft announced the launch lineup for xCloud streaming, and as expected, it's everything on console Game Pass:
list of games not including Rare Replay
Seems to be missing the only one I care about.
This may get me to buy an android tablet. Are there any good ones in the same price range as a iPad?
xCloud streaming will (almost certainly) come to iOS (hopefully soon). They were lined up to release it alongside the Android version on Sept 15, but had to pull back in August due to Apple being Apple. Valve was able to figure out how to get the Steam Link app onto iOS last year - Microsoft surely will be able to figure out how to work that out with Apple.
Remember the Android app is currently limited to 720p60. That'll look fine on a phone, but it'll be a little fuzzy on a tablet or chromebook. 60 fps is nice, though. Rumor is the Windows app will be able to go up to 1080p60.
xCloud streaming will (almost certainly) come to iOS (hopefully soon). They were lined up to release it alongside the Android version on Sept 15, but had to pull back in August due to Apple being Apple. Valve was able to figure out how to get the Steam Link app onto iOS last year - Microsoft surely will be able to figure out how to work that out with Apple.
I wouldn't hold your breath. Apple just posted updated App Store guidelines that would technically allow services like xCloud, Stadia, etc, but it requires that every single game be submitted to the App Atore to have its own app page within the store, and so that Apple Could "review" every single game.
That's not how streaming services work. Microsoft basically told them to go spit.
I'm a fan of Apple hardware, but they've never been strong with games, and Apple Arcade is pathetic compared to these other services. They are blatantly attempting to keep them off of iOS to protect their own services business.
The streaming will require ultimate pass? I guess I’m staying with ultimate.
My next phone to be Android based. My next tablet as well.
edit. Or if chrome book just allows Xbox controllers to connect wirelessly then I’m already set.
I'm hoping xCloud might work well on a base Surface Go. Not sure how much power the client would need. (I have a somewhat irrational dislike of all things Google - including Android.)
I've played Xcloud on a Fire HD 10 tablet, significantly cheaper than an iPad of course but worked perfectly fine for Xcloud. They don't have an Amazon version of the app, but you can still download the apk and install it on the tablet.
So I'm not really clear on how to start streaming. I got a notice from my Gamepass android app to start streaming cloud games and I clicked on it. I only see options to queue downloads for my consoles though. The website doesn't provide any more information. Probably missing something obvious. (I do have ultimate).
Edit: It looks like there should be a "cloud" option that isn't appearing.
Edit 2: Forced an app update and there it is! It probably shouldn't have sent me the notification before the app had been updated.
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