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Microsoft to be present "in full force" at GDC 2015

by Mark Tyson on 16 February 2015, 10:05

Tags: Windows 10, PC

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Microsoft has officially announced that it will have a strong presence at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2015 in San Francisco. The GDC 2015 takes place from 2nd to 6th March and Microsoft will host a special presentation slap bang in the middle of the show schedule, on 4th March (11am PST/2pm EST/7pm UK), called 'The Future of Gaming Across the Microsoft Ecosystems'.

Head of Xbox Phil Spencer will host the special presentation, as you might expect. From the Windows 10 announcements a few weeks back we know that Xbox branded gaming and Xbox Live will be part of the Windows 10 experience on PCs, tablets and mobiles. The new Xbox app is an important part of the desktop PC Windows 10 experience, for example.

DirectX 12 will be a hot topic at GDC and it will be detailed more thoroughly in the presentation and over a number of other Microsoft hosted sessions (there will be 16 in total) at the GDC. New development tools and new features coming to both Xbox One and Windows 10 are promised. Cross-device gaming and multiplayer will be an obvious topic to be discussed further as part of the 'one Windows' push.

As well as its keynote presentation and developer sessions Microsoft will have a robust booth presence and two lounges at the Moscone Centre showing off the latest and greatest games. There won't be a live stream of the special 4th March event but a little later in the day the keynote session presented by Phil Spencer will be available to watch online on the Xbox Wire Blog, Channel 9 and on YouTube.

We will be watching the news with interest, especially on the PC side of things, hoping for more DirectX 12 technical details and demonstrations. Also at GDC we expect to see/hear some important announcements and developments from Valve concerning the glNext API and Steam Machines.



HEXUS Forums :: 5 Comments

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Is it just me that finds it depressing that the head of Xbox Phil Spencer is talking about gaming on Windows ?
Corky34
Is it just me that finds it depressing that the head of Xbox Phil Spencer is talking about gaming on Windows ?
It seams strange to me, i don't want the restrictions of Xbox to impact my PC gaming experience, i don't really see why they are pushing Xbox are pushing windows gaming, i can see the social aspects but not as a unified platform.
Pros
Xbox has a fixed hardware - game likely to work

Cons
Windows will be everything from phone to desktop PC - game likely does not work (see high % 1 star reviews)
Windows official game app - ad supported (no thanks)
Microsoft's own games - ad supported (no thanks)
Click to buy - links through to windows store (check negative reviews - nagging microtransactions - more ads - incompatability with surface 2, 3 etc)
Option to buy game outright - NO
Total cost of in-app purchases - unknown
Refunds when game does not work on random windows device - probably not
Game exists to microtransaction you and deliver ads - probably yes
Microsoft encouraging opportunistic devs - yes desperate for more apps and more profit
Microsoft app store engaged in mis selling - apps described as FREE are likely a trial or free to try or nagging in-app purchases..
Poor track record on vetting apps - allowing scammy fake apps into the store.
Consumer friendly store - no. It is impossible to shop based on what hardware you own.
Consumer friendly store - no. Compatible with x86 ARM ZX81 means nothing to non-techies.
Corky34
Is it just me that finds it depressing that the head of Xbox Phil Spencer is talking about gaming on Windows ?

I think it's too good to be true.
I think it's a sign of the times. EVERYTHING is going cross-platform, Microsoft now has to start treating platforms equally.