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Microsoft: Scarlett games will work across the whole Xbox family

This is actually a pretty great long term strategy. Microsoft is turning Xbox hardware into the equivalent of PC's iterative nature. I've got games on Steam from 10 years ago that still run great on my modern PC that's probably 10x more powerful than my PC was 10 years ago. There are new games that run okay on my current setup that I know will run amazing the next time I upgrade my PC. Not everyone can afford the latest graphics card, the fastest memory, the newest CPU, etc.

For everyone here saying "So a game that could be run on Xbox1S cannot be next gen, no matter how pretty you can make it look on Scarlet. " I present to you Red Dead Redemption 2 for PC:

WCCFreddeadredemption241-2060x1159.jpg


red-dead-pc-low-settings.jpg


This is the same game, running the same code.
It isn't about prettiness. It is about fundamental core of the game. Draw distance, number of objects, how quests are designed, how big the game area is.

One famous example is when Bethesda decided to make Oblivion. They need it to fit into a console, so they took out flying from the game and forced everything into individual cells. You used to be able to literally jump from one side of the world to the other using magic spells, because it was one whole world. But Bethesda decided TES needed to run on Xbox and thus we lose spell creation and flying in our TES games.

Yes, i am still bitter about it, how could you tell?
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
Of course, I understand. What if the very thing about your game is taking advantage of something that just won’t be possible on older hardware, something that just couldn’t work no matter how much you lowered settings. You can’t release a game called “4096 man gangbang” and then
on the older hardware only render 64... that’s not enough penis.

Well in those cases, and I must stress these are special fringe cases that 99.9% of the time won’t come into play, you would need to do something different.

Is it really that fringe though? It seems that over time those fringe cases become more common, especially as games arrive on hardware with more memory, faster processors, etc. it just seems like games get designed with these higher requirements. Like, look at Jedi Fallen Order - the game's minimum specs didn't exist in 2013. True it is market driven to a large extent, as better hardware is more common, but I would think that the devs also positioned the minimum specs to a point where they are happy with the way the game looks and plays on that hardware.

True the game does run on a Xbox One, according to DF, it runs at 720p and drops to 540p, has freezing and hitches, and an unstable framerate. Sounds awful TBH. Clearly the game is doing things the Xbox One isn't designed for, and I doubt this is the experience Respawn/EA want to sell to their customers. Of course we don't know if or what Respawn did to the game to get it working on One, which affected all platforms. No sure why MS would want to keep going down this path.
 
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jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
It isn't about prettiness. It is about fundamental core of the game. Draw distance, number of objects, how quests are designed, how big the game area is.

One famous example is when Bethesda decided to make Oblivion. They need it to fit into a console, so they took out flying from the game and forced everything into individual cells. You used to be able to literally jump from one side of the world to the other using magic spells, because it was one whole world. But Bethesda decided TES needed to run on Xbox and thus we lose spell creation and flying in our TES games.

Yes, i am still bitter about it, how could you tell?
And you don't think game development has advanced in the last 13 years?
 

ManaByte

Gold Member
So they are creating games with XBone as the base and just releasing them on Scarlett as well?

Then why would anyone buy a Scarlett if they already have an XBone?

No they're making Scarlet games and downgrading them for older hardware.

And you don't think game development has advanced in the last 13 years?

Some people don't think it's changed in 20 years.
 
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And you don't think game development has advanced in the last 13 years?
You advance by abandoning old hardware. i am not against advancement, I advocate the opposite.

No, I think it will be similar to previous generations, eventually support will end
Sony's game plan had not changed. Every game they have announced for PS4 up to now will be cross gen, but every 1st party game they deliberately held back and not announcing, are PS5 exclusives. That was why they were so silent about game develop this whol year with nothing neew to report. We all know Horizon 2 is coming, but Sony had not announced it because it is reserved for a console that had not officially been showcased yet.
 
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onQ123

Member
You said:



MS is not investing money in new hardware they're not going to make games for.


Are you reading the thread title?


I responded to someone who sarcastically said

Well this isn't going to make Xbox Two games look bad in comparison to PS5 exclusives at all.


I was saying that it's not going to hold back games visually & it would only prevent them from making a game based on Scarletts hardware meaning that they are not going to make a game that's only playable on Scarlett.
 

Gavin Stevens

Formerly 'o'dium'
Is it really that fringe though? It seems that over time those fringe cases become more common, especially as games arrive on hardware with more memory, faster processors, etc. it just seems like games get designed with these higher requirements. Like, look at Jedi Fallen Order - the game's minimum specs didn't exist in 2013. True it is market driven to a large extent, as better hardware is more common, but I would think that the devs also positioned the minimum specs to a point where they are happy with the way the game looks and plays on that hardware.

True the game does run on a Xbox One, according to DF, it runs at 720p and drops to 540p, has freezing and hitches, and an unstable framerate. Sounds awful TBH. Clearly the game is doing things the Xbox One isn't designed for, and I doubt this is the experience Respawn/EA want to sell to their customers. Of course we don't know if or what Respawn did to the game to get it working on One, which affected all platforms. No sure why MS would want to keep going down this path.

Ive played through most of Fallen Order, and there’s nothing in it that couldn’t run on, let’s say a 360. With things disabled, and lowered, and removed? Nothing.

Now I totally get the point made, that some things just won’t be possible, no matter how hard you try. Well that’s where you have to start getting creative in ways you wouldn’t usually, maybe adding loading pauses when moving over terrain, or rag doll bodies no longer having physics, etc. There is always a way, always.
 

Deanington

Member
It isn't about prettiness. It is about fundamental core of the game. Draw distance, number of objects, how quests are designed, how big the game area is.

One famous example is when Bethesda decided to make Oblivion. They need it to fit into a console, so they took out flying from the game and forced everything into individual cells. You used to be able to literally jump from one side of the world to the other using magic spells, because it was one whole world. But Bethesda decided TES needed to run on Xbox and thus we lose spell creation and flying in our TES games.

Yes, i am still bitter about it, how could you tell?

But Morrowind was on the Xbox and played like the pc version. What you are having a problem with is PC games being dumbed down for consoles? The inferior consoles will have the dumbed down port of Scarlet games. So buy the Scarlet version or maybe the pc version if its better? What is your argument? Youre hung up on next gen games being dumbed down for older consoles, which there isnt any indication that thats how this is going to be. Oblivion could have been just like Morrowind game play wise but Beth decided to be lazy.
 
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CeeJay

Member
What he's really saying is that all scarlett games are playable across all other xboxes through streaming.. Only scarlett hardware can play these games natively.
Did you miss an /s?

Xcloud is made up of XboxOneS machines so there is not going to be any streaming Scarlett server blades for quite some time after it launches.
 

Hulk_Smash

Banned
Not every game, just a select few titles during the transition period.

Even so that didn't matter much as a Wii was basically a GameCube with new controls and the Switch and Wii U are also very close in power as well.

But maybe that’s why they’re thinking with the next Xbox.
Although XBOX OG and 360 shared no exclusives so there is that.
 

RaySoft

Member
Did you miss an /s?

Xcloud is made up of XboxOneS machines so there is not going to be any streaming Scarlett server blades for quite some time after it launches.
MS is not so utterly dumb that they gimp their own nextgen games by making sure everything has to run natively on a Xbox One S. let's be real here. Given that, what is the only alternative left?
(edit)
 
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GymWolf

Gold Member
This is actually a pretty great long term strategy. Microsoft is turning Xbox hardware into the equivalent of PC's iterative nature. I've got games on Steam from 10 years ago that still run great on my modern PC that's probably 10x more powerful than my PC was 10 years ago. There are new games that run okay on my current setup that I know will run amazing the next time I upgrade my PC. Not everyone can afford the latest graphics card, the fastest memory, the newest CPU, etc.

For everyone here saying "So a game that could be run on Xbox1S cannot be next gen, no matter how pretty you can make it look on Scarlet. " I present to you Red Dead Redemption 2 for PC:

WCCFreddeadredemption241-2060x1159.jpg


red-dead-pc-low-settings.jpg


This is the same game, running the same code.
Do you understand that people who are worried are not talking only about raw graphics?

Rdr2 with potato graphic quality is still the same game with the same physics, ia, density, enviromentl interaction etc.

It's not an hard concept to understand and it's what people are discussing here.

We all now thet raw graphics can be downgraded or upgraded for necessity, but not the core of the game.

If a game is developed with a certain hardware in mind the core is gonna be wildly different than a game developed for 2 largely different hardware.


Name 10 games where the difference on pc are not only better graphics and framerate but really game changing differences and we can have a discussion, until then my doubts remains intact.


I mean, do people really think that all the physics, animation syatem, interaction between npc, number of ia etc. Would be the same if the game was developed on ps3?? Like really??
 
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But Morrowind was on the Xbox and played like the pc version. What you are having a problem with is PC games being dumbed down for consoles? The inferior consoles will have the dumbed down port of Scarlet games. So buy the Scarlet version or maybe the pc version if its better? What is your argument?
Morrowind was ported to consoles. But Oblivion was made on Xbox360 and then ported to PC. The difference is stark.

In any case, I am surprised at the number of people willing to support Microsoft on this decision. Because from where i am standing it looks like it would lead to a marketing disaster, when Sony would by default have the strongest possible 1st party line up for PS5.

You go you. But reality would hit in 2020. And it doesn't matter how powerful Scarlet is, if it couldn't have launch titles tailored to it. it would suffer against the competition in a direct comparison.
 
Do you understand that people who are worried are not talking only about raw graphics?

Rdr2 with potato graphic quality is still the same game with the same physics, ia, density, enviromentl interaction etc.

It's not an hard concept to understand and it's what people are discussing here.

We all now thet raw graphics can be downgraded or upgraded for necessity, but not the core of the game.

If a game is developed with a certain hardware in mind the core is gonna be wildly different than a game developed for 2 largely different hardware.


Name 10 games where the difference on pc are more than graphic but really game changing things and we can have a discussion, until then my doubts remains intact.


I mean, do people really think that all the physics, animation syatem, interaction between npc, number of ia etc. Would be the same if the game was developed on ps3?? Like really??
Do you think that Scarlett is going to have some gross feature sets which the X and S will not which makes operation not possible? No, it's going to be the same fundamental hardware features. This isn't like a PS4 to PS3 situation and vice versa, the hardware will be near identical in terms of feature capability simply with an extrapolated power profile.
 
Do you think that Scarlett is going to have some gross feature sets which the X and S will not which makes operation not possible? No, it's going to be the same fundamental hardware features. This isn't like a PS4 to PS3 situation and vice versa, the hardware will be near identical in terms of feature capability simply with an extrapolated power profile.
Sony is certainly going to make PS5 games that couldn't run on the PS4. Like they always did every new gen. If MS doesn't want to match them then that's their loss.
 
So all this years of some pc gamers bullying console gamer for "consoles are holding back graphics, they were lying ?

All that suffer in vain, bruh 😢
 
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GymWolf

Gold Member
Do you think that Scarlett is going to have some gross feature sets which the X and S will not which makes operation not possible? No, it's going to be the same fundamental hardware features. This isn't like a PS4 to PS3 situation and vice versa, the hardware will be near identical in terms of feature capability simply with an extrapolated power profile.
We will see, but in my eyes, a nextgen console not doing anything that an old ass console can't do is the literal meaning of being slowed down by an inferior hardware during the developing process of a game.

I will make some clear example:

Halo 6 on scarlett: better physics, fully destructible environment (or better than what we have now), more enemies\npc\vehicles on screen, more and better ia on screen, bigger maps, bigger boss who can destroy the scenery, and all the things where you can expect from a nextgen jump.

Halo 6 on xone: good luck on achieving 1\10 of that with an old ass system.
 
Sony is certainly going to make PS5 games that couldn't run on the PS4. Like they always did every new gen. If MS doesn't want to match them then that's their loss.
Sony has never had a shared architecture system, they could literally create nothing for PS5 that couldn't be run on the PS4.

The PS5 is just an evolution of PS4 hardware by and large.

We will see, but in my eyes, a nextgen console not doing anything that an old ass console can't do is the literal meaning of being slowed down by an inferior hardware during the developing process of a game.

I will make some clear example:

Halo 6 on scarlett: better physics, fully destructible environment (or better than what we have now), more enemies\npc\vehicles on screen, more and better ia on screen, bigger maps, bigger boss who can destroy the scenery, and all the things where you can expect from a nextgen jump.

Halo 6 on xone: good luck on achieving 1\10 of that with an old ass system.
Even if that were the case it doesn't mean it can't be done, could it be a fundamentally different build of a game? Sure, does that mean it will in any way impact the top end? No.
 
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CeeJay

Member
MS is not so utterly dumb that they gimp their own nextgen games by making sure everything has to run natively on a Xbox One S. let's be real here. Given that, what is the only alternative left?
(edit)
Have you not read any of the replies in this thread or the things that MS themselves have been saying? Previous generations (before the current one) have also coincided with a considerable change in architecture which made the generational leap a lot more defined, not so this time. MS have said for a lot of years now that they were moving away from defined generations to a more iterative model as seen with phones and PC, do you think they just meant that for a single mid gen refresh (the X)? No, they meant it for all Xbox consoles from then onwards. None of this should come as a surprise to anyone. This methodology means that as a consumer you can have confidence that If you buy a new console at any point throughout its product lifecycle (even on the day before a new console gets launched) you can be rest assured that its going to be able to play all the latest games for years to come, it provides a more steady and stable userbase. The downside is that we don't get that next gen day one moment where you fire up your new machine and get to play lots of shiny new games that you can't play anywhere else.
 

GymWolf

Gold Member
Sony has never had a shared architecture system, they could literally create nothing for PS5 that couldn't be run on the PS4.

The PS5 is just an evolution of PS4 hardware by and large.

Even if that were the case it doesn't mean it can't be done, could it be a fundamentally different build of a game? Sure, does that mean it will in any way impact the top end? No.
You make everything simple.

For a dev, creating 2 completely different version of the same game and not only different in graphics, but in core feature is a nightmare, is literally double the job in the creative process and everything.

Also good luck on selling halo 6 pezzent edition to the halo fanbase after they see the scarlet next gen version...
 
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You make everything simple.

For a dev, creating 2 completely different version of the same game and not only different in graphics, but in core feature is a nightmare is literally double the job in the creative process and everything.

Also good luck on selling halo 6 pezzent edition to the halo y fanbase after they see the scarlet next gen version...
You greatly overestimate the leap in hardware here and don't understand how the lack of architectural difference factors in.
 
Have you not read any of the replies in this thread or the things that MS themselves have been saying? Previous generations (before the current one) have also coincided with a considerable change in architecture which made the generational leap a lot more defined, not so this time. MS have said for a lot of years now that they were moving away from defined generations to a more iterative model as seen with phones and PC, do you think they just meant that for a single mid gen refresh (the X)? No, they meant it for all Xbox consoles from then onwards. None of this should come as a surprise to anyone. This methodology means that as a consumer you can have confidence that If you buy a new console at any point throughout its product lifecycle (even on the day before a new console gets launched) you can be rest assured that its going to be able to play all the latest games for years to come, it provides a more steady and stable userbase. The downside is that we don't get that next gen day one moment where you fire up your new machine and get to play lots of shiny new games that you can't play anywhere else.
What you are describing doesn't actually benefit Microsoft at all. You are saying Microsoft doesn't care that less people buy Scarlet because there would be no game that requires it.

Well, if Ms truly doesn't care to sell consoles, they are certainly doing a good job of following through. But that would lead to long term issues... Like 3rd party games selling less on Scarlet because there are less Scarlet owners than the PS5.
 
is there any game built from the ground up for xbox one X ? I think the jump from 1.3 TFLOP to 6 TFLOP is friggin huge! The One X is seriously underutilized.
 

Klart

Member
So Scarlett will launch without a single Scarlett exclusive and will not have one for 'the foreseeable future'.

There goes the incentive to buy one day one, then.

I understand that this fits their "games as a service" model, but I love buying a console day one and "playing lots of shiny new games that you can't play anywhere else".
 
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ManaByte

Gold Member
So Scarlett will launch without a single Scarlett exclusive and will not have one for 'the foreseeable future'.

There goes the incentive to buy one day one, then.

I understand that this fits their "games as a service" model, but I love buying a console day one and "playing lots of shiny new games that you can't play anywhere else".

Why? Does that make you feel special? I thought it was more about the games than being in a gaming safe space.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
is there any game built from the ground up for xbox one X ? I think the jump from 1.3 TFLOP to 6 TFLOP is friggin huge! The One X is seriously underutilized.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order seems that way. Dynamic resolution means the X runs it at 1440p (at best) and can scale all the way down to 900p under heavy load. Meanwhile the S runs it at 720p and can scale down to 540p under heavy load.

Meanwhile it'll probably run at 4K (and maybe scale down to 1440p under load) on Scarlett. Presumably.
 
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order seems that way. Dynamic resolution means the X runs it at 1440p (at best) and can scale all the way down to 900p under heavy load. Meanwhile the S runs it at 720p and can scale down to 540p under heavy load.

Meanwhile it'll probably run at 4K (and maybe scale down to 1440p under load) on Scarlett. Presumably.
Gonna need to see receipts for this
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.

GymWolf

Gold Member
Sure it's a big jump but is the CPU fundamentally different from the Jaguar? No, is Navi fundamentally different from Vega, Polaris and Bonaire and the Southern Islands? No.
For now we can only speculate, i just hope that we are understanding the news wrong.

I have a pc, i WANT some good next gen games from microsoft, i don't give a shit about internal battles between sony and M fans, mine is non concerned trolling, if the news was aboit sony doing the same thing i would be even more furious because this gen i enjoyed their games more, but that's just that.

They will need to stop me with a gun if sony make horizon 2 crossgen because i'm gonna set on fire guerrila games studios during my next amsterdam trip :ROFLMAO:
 
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Here ya go:

That's in performance mode, also that game has a lot of issues with resolution even at 30 FPS. It's puzzling that it's so low.
 

Klart

Member
Why? Does that make you feel special? I thought it was more about the games than being in a gaming safe space.

Why?

I guess you never bought or got a brand new console?

Nothing as great (well in videogaming) as getting a brand new Dreamcast with Soul Calibur or a SNES with Super Mario World.

I hardly gave my old consoles and games a look when I got a new one.

And that "it's all about the games" is exactly what I am saying.

Why should I buy a new console when I can play the game on my old console? Because it looks/plays somewhat better?
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
I remember Bungie saying the PS360 held back some things with Destiny in interviews. Enemy counts on screen, how the game loaded into the hubs, etc..

I would imagine this would have more of an impact with cross-gen multiplayer games in that regards to scale.
 

ManaByte

Gold Member
Why?

I guess you never bought or got a brand new console?

Nothing as great (well in videogaming) as getting a brand new Dreamcast with Soul Calibur or a SNES with Super Mario World.

I hardly gave my old consoles and games a look when I got a new one.

And that "it's all about the games" is exactly what I am saying.

Why should I buy a new console when I can play the game on my old console? Because it looks/plays somewhat better?

This isn't 1991 or 1999. This is 2019. The gaming market has changed.

Why do you think Fortnite is the biggest game on the planet? It's not because you can play it on the PS4 or the Xbox. It's because you can play it on anything you want and your progress carries over to where you are.

Mobile gaming is bigger than console gaming now, and it's not because the iPhone 11 has exclusive games. It's because you can play games on any device you have.

That's where the gaming market is going, and the console makers either need to evolve to adapt to it or die like the Vita.
 
I want to see the receipts (proof)
Wait, you are serious?
Why do you think there was no new Sony 1st party game announcement in 2019? Why they skipped E3 entirely? They are making games, but they can't talk about them. Not when they need the PS5 properly revealed first.

This isn't 1991 or 1999. This is 2019. The gaming market has changed.

Why do you think Fortnite is the biggest game on the planet? It's not because you can play it on the PS4 or the Xbox. It's because you can play it on anything you want and your progress carries over to where you are.

Mobile gaming is bigger than console gaming now, and it's not because the iPhone 11 has exclusive games. It's because you can play games on any device you have.

That's where the gaming market is going, and the console makers either need to evolve to adapt to it or die like the Vita.
Of course mobile games are bigger than console games. But you can't sell console games on mobile, and you can't sell mobile games on console. Each are designed for different kinds of customers who have entirely different gaming habits. Gaming market is not going anywhere, and the record sales of PS4 really disagrees with you.

FtP games are meant to be on as many devices as possible, because they depend on quantity of players over anything else. But consoles exist because they offer games that couldn't be gotten elsewhere. The 1st party exclusives is what keeps any game console alive, just ask Nintendo.
 
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Klart

Member
Well, I agree that that is the current state of the videogames market & that everyone needs to adapt.

But I also think that launching a new console without a single exclusive gives little incentive to buy one.
 
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order seems that way. Dynamic resolution means the X runs it at 1440p (at best) and can scale all the way down to 900p under heavy load. Meanwhile the S runs it at 720p and can scale down to 540p under heavy load.

Meanwhile it'll probably run at 4K (and maybe scale down to 1440p under load) on Scarlett. Presumably.

But isn't it still being made for Base One, One S in mind? Is there any game out there exclusive for One X and NOT for Vanailla One S?
 
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jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
But isn't it still being made for Base One, One S in mind? Is there any game out there exclusive for One X and NOT for Vanailla One S?
No because that's not how this works. They can develop a game that targets a device (like the One X) and will scale to the hardware it's playing on, if it's less powerful. In this case, it looks like their hardware target was the X but the game is still playable (with reduced visuals, slower loading, etc) on the One S.

They're just saying it'll work like this with Scarlett also. Developers will have a hardware target (Scarlett) and the games will scale down (Xbox One) or up (Xbox Three) depending on what piece of hardware you're playing on.
 

pr0cs

Member
That was what they did the last three times. What made you think they would stop now?
They are finally stopping their stupid chasing of exotic hardware and are using X86, there is no reason for them to chop off their feet (and a Huge audience) by saying "we don't support PS4 anymore".

Does that mean they won't make PS5 specific games, probably not, but ALL their games? Nah, they'll still chase that huge PS4 audience whenever feasible.. Just like MS
 
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