Panorama = Beginning of Live Anywhere
Had a couple of emails from folks asking about this post from Shacknews about “Panorama”. To quote:
“Shacknews has learned from reputable sources who wish to remain nameless that Microsoft plans to introduce what seems to be a Windows gaming service called “Panorama.” Apparently, Panorama will be a part of Windows Vista and will act essentially as Xbox Live Arcade for Windows. PC gamers will be able to not only play Live Arcade games, but will also be able to engage in multiplayer gaming versus gamers playing on the Xbox 360 version of the service. It does not appear that Panorama emulates the Xbox 360 environment, which suggests that developers creating cross-platform compatible Live Arcade games may have to release two versions, one for each platform. However, Microsoft tools such as XNA should expedite this process.”
Not sure where this theory came from, but I can tell you that Panorama is simply a codename. As we announced at E3, we’re looking to extend the Xbox Live community and services to other platforms; Panorama is simply the first stage of that, where we extend Xbox Live services to Windows. Nothing more, nothing less. I wouldn’t read too much into this myself. 
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Now the question is, will these xbox live services that are being extended to the pc carry the same pricetag?
Unfortunately nothing has been announced on this, so obviously I can’t comment. Sorry about that.
That said, what are your thoughts? Do you find value in the Xbox Live subscription on the Xbox 360?
I find a lot of value in the Xbox Live subscription. I just worry about the computer mods vs. the Xbox 360.
I’m a little angry since this is the feature I love the most about my $400 investment and now it will be available for my stupid PC I had in the first place
Ozy: If I had one subscription that allowed me access to all of the Live platforms (Xbox360, PC, or cell phone), then that would be great value! I love how it is right now, but adding the ability to use the service on the other platforms with the same price would make getting Live almost mandatory in my mind
this is a very good idea. i just hope we will be able to use our gamertags on vista and not have to pay twice for the same (FLASH) game.
and we better see this stuff on the zune too. talk about ANYWHERE… cant wait. now wheres the PocketPC liveanywhere flashgames? lol we just can’t get enough! bring it microsoft BRING IT
I think that Live provides a valuable service for console players. There isn’t really anything like that on the competition from Nintendo or Sony, yet. For a monthly fee you not only get acess to the marketplace but also a well developped matchmaking system and internet multiplay (mind you with MMO’s costing more on top of that).
Subscription based multiplayer is why I don’t own a 360 and also why I let my xbox sub lapse. I only play for multiplayer, but I don’t play that often, so a recurring monthly doesnt make sense. I suppose I could tolerate a super easy pay by day system.
PC multiplayer, excepting MMOs, is currently free online play. I can also extend my play experience with user mods.
If something like this comes on Windows it will be not too long before mods are offered for $$ Horse Armor. Then to protect the revenue stream the devs will omit support for user created content. And shortly thereafter playing a good game on my PC will require a monthly sub to MS even if its not an MMO?
The marketplace feature set is good, but the consequences of it to user generated content are bad.
And Live really needs some kind of intermittent play support.
Don’t forgt, Your 360 was about 4-500ish, and Vista ultimate will be about 3-400ish or more [retail] + the cost of the PC that is strong enough to RUN Vista and now your price tag just exploded. I would hope that gamergags and accounts would be interchangable, or else I think there is going to be a lot of broke parents and kids of all ages.
This has been what I’ve been hoping for since I beta tested Live on the orginal XBox. Honestly I’ve been more of a PC gamer all these years but still love my Live! action. I talked to you last year (Ozy) at PAX about this whole concept and we discussed in lenght the implications of having a cross platform online gaming service.
I would love to be able to tie in my gamertag from Live! right into the PC platform and join up with my friends who perfer the XBox.
There really shouldnt be a worry about porting games from Xbox to PC and vice-versa, its all about selling the software, not the hardware. MS takes a hit with every system sold simply to move the games, and why not consider Windows the same way, simply to move the software. I think more games should be PC and XBox compatible. Now MS just has to work on getting more 3rd party gamer to do this.
Re: "I would hope that gamergags and accounts would be interchangable, or else I think there is going to be a lot of broke parents and kids of all ages."
We did show this in the demo at the E3 keynote – you will indeed be able to use your same account (ie, Gamertag) on multiple platforms. So "Ozymandias" will be able to use Live Anywhere on Xbox 360, Windows, and other future platforms such as cell phones. I’m also pretty stoked about the eventual ability to communicate with friends on Messenger… you can see a bit of it here: http://www.eurogamer.net/tv_video.php?playlist_id=459&s=l
Re: "This has been what I’ve been hoping for since I beta tested Live on the orginal XBox. Honestly I’ve been more of a PC gamer all these years but still love my Live! action. I talked to you last year (Ozy) at PAX about this whole concept and we discussed in lenght the implications of having a cross platform online gaming service.
I would love to be able to tie in my gamertag from Live! right into the PC platform and join up with my friends who perfer the XBox."
That’s right – I remember chatting after the panel discussion. Must be fun to see some of the things we discussed coming to fruition, no? I know I’m enjoying it! Hope to see you at PAX this year!
RE: "That’s right – I remember chatting after the panel discussion. Must be fun to see some of the things we discussed coming to fruition, no? I know I’m enjoying it! Hope to see you at PAX this year!"
I’m gearing up already for my trip!
Are you going to be doing any of the panels again? If (even if not) let me know, maybe we can get another conversation in.
Thanks!
This seems like a really dumb idea. I’m a Japanese-style game fan(fighting games, action, rpg), so I do not own a Xbox or 360. Due to this fact my exposure to Live is limited. With that said, here is why I think it is a bad idea. I’ve read reports about the "broken" nature of many Live Arcade games (SF2: Hyper Fighting being the most recent example). Why would anyone pay for a service you can get free and also works better on your PC? Emulation on PC is refined to the point that M$ is playing catch-up(This goes for Nintendo and Sony too). You can have the entire library of SNES, NES, Genesis, TG16, PSX, older Capcom fighters, and classic arcade games work on your PC w/o having to give M$ a dime for some bogus proprietary service. In respect to the original Live Arcade games(Geometry Wars): Its called the friggin’ internet. You don’t need some damn M$ service to distribute/receive software. It seems like the only ‘benefit’ Live Arcade on PC gives you is your 360 Gamertag.
Notice the above argument is in relation to the PC version of Live Arcade. I have a little more tolerance for M$ taking advantage of the idiots that absolutely must have these games on their console. Which is to say I think Live Arcade on the console was/is a good idea.
Xbox Live is worth the money, but only for multiplayer games. The rest of the stuff like patches and DLC on Marketplace can be gotten with a silver account anyway.
For the downloadable content, I wouldn’t hook my 360 up to the internet. So far I haven’t found a single XBLA game that I just had to buy because the demo wasn’t enough for me (yet I did buy a few), and a lot of XBLA games play much easier on a PC via shockwave.com or similar sites. Zuma comes to mind.
The Marketplace is nice, but too slow in expansions. Why can’t there be more content added more frequently?
Why do we get trailers and such days or weeks after they’ve been put online on sites like IGN or Apple’s trailers site?
Where’s the user-created content Microsoft bragged about? There’s even an option to prevent downloading user-created content in the settings, but there isn’t any…
So to re-cap: XBL gold is, IMO, worth the money, but not if you don’t play online a lot.
I can’t really comment on Live Anywhere though since I haven’t read enough about it. All I know is that I’m afraid PC gamers will rule shooters unless there’s some way to even the playing field between controller-based and mouse/keyboard players.
What i would like to know is, will ALL of these cool stuff (panorama and what not) be available at the ready from day one when Vista launches?
Please don’t mess up XBL. It’s one of the greatest thing happened to console gaming.
In few words:
Paying subscription for basic features like online playing? No thanks, I won’t ever go into that
Free subscription with basic features and paying subscription for other advanced stuff? Ok. I would prefer a full featured service for free with ad-suported banners (like messenger does today) but I guess the company won’t like to develop such a thing with just that revenue
There was also some talk at E3 about opening up the platforms to independent, 3rd party developers. The coming XNA framework will have the capability to compile executables that can target Xbox360, Vista, and Windows Mobile so it seems like that would be a logical progression.
I understand the quality control issues in opening the platform up but it seems with some editorial control, a lower barrier of entry to the Live Arcade platform wuld make a lot of developers very happy indeed
Re: "There was also some talk at E3 about opening up the platforms to independent, 3rd party developers. The coming XNA framework will have the capability to compile executables that can target Xbox360, Vista, and Windows Mobile so it seems like that would be a logical progression.
I understand the quality control issues in opening the platform up but it seems with some editorial control, a lower barrier of entry to the Live Arcade platform wuld make a lot of developers very happy indeed
"
The XNA framework is one of the cooler things coming down the pipe… I agree. I’m really hoping people will try to do some cool cross-platform sorts of things, where people will be able to play the same game (or different modes of the same game) while on different platforms. You’ve gotta think there are some great game ideas that can fall out of that.
Is Live anywhere a gaming only initiative??? What I really want to know is how Zune and the Zune live service ties into the Live anywhere concept. Or is it even a part of it? IMO, to leave music out of this live anywhere concept would be a big mistake. I’d really like a music service on my 360… Networking the 360 to my media center is not going so smoothly. Some type of digial music locker where I could download all of my tracks to the 360 would be cool. We really need the music to be physically on the device because as it is now, there are too many quirks with the networking solutions provided by MS.
You know, I did some thinking, and why exactly do we pay for our live gold subscription? PC gamers get free online play AND pay less for their games (Xbox 360 games are — for some reason I have yet to figure out — on average 20% more expensive than their PC counterparts).
I’m seriously considering not renewing my Live Gold subscription when the time comes. Sure I’ll miss online gaming, but why spend money for a service that doesn’t guarantee stable, working servers while not giving anything you don’t also get without paying?
"You know, I did some thinking, and why exactly do we pay for our live gold subscription?"
You get a centrally hosted game server, integrated voice chat, and a global player pool and leaderboards. You also have a persistent identity across all the titles, giving you (and everyone else) a reputation. Additionally, you’re paying to have a ‘closed system’, ideally free from the cheats, hacks, and other problems that plague PC online games. Plus you know that any multiplayer game is just going to work, with minimal effort. At least in theory – how that works out tends to vary a bit, but it’s usually pretty close.
For $50 a year, that’s a bargain to me, compared to the often-pain-in-the-ass method of multiplayer in PC games. The only ones that tend to ‘just work’ are MMOs, which you’re also generally paying for anyway. Everything else and you usually end up having to screw around with router settings, dig through server lists trying to find one that has room and a good connection, running things like Punkbuster to filter out the kiddies, and other hoops.
My main worry is that opening up ‘Live’ to PCs will allow some of the anti-cheating protections that it currently offers to go away for cross-platform titles, or at least on their PC versions.