Nintendo and Microsoft Team Up To Promote Cross-Play, While Sony Remains Silent (theverge.com) 75
Minecraft for the Nintendo Switch is getting a big update today that will enable cross-play with PC, Xbox One, and smartphones -- but notably not the PlayStation 4. "Sony is blocking cross-play for Fortnite, Rocket League, and Minecraft so PS4 players can't play against Xbox One or Nintendo Switch owners," reports The Verge. "Meanwhile, Nintendo and Microsoft are partnering to utilize cross-play as a marketing weapon today." From the report: The Minecraft cross-play trailer specifically focuses on the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch being able to play together. It also includes the rare sight of an Xbox One controller in a Switch commercial. If that's not enough of a partnership, the ad even encourages players to create, explore, and survive together in Minecraft on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
No, it's just that it got utterly crushed in this console generation. This is two losers of the current generation's console competition teaming together to get audience comparable in size to winner's audience alone.
Re: (Score:2)
While partially true, when it comes to the same games, they most certainly are.
And this is a discussion of cross-play, a function of playing the same game on different platforms. At that point they are by definition in competition with other platforms running the same game. And fortnite is most certainly one of those massive games that sell consoles.
Re: (Score:2)
Cross-Play? (Score:1)
Uh, I hope they know what "cross-play" means. [amazingstoriesmag.com]
I promise to actually pay for my copy of Microsoft Office if Gates or Nadella put that on. Deal?
Luigi and Peach in Super Mario Adventures (Score:3)
Nintendo has used that sort of cross-play as a plot point. Super Mario Adventures [mariowiki.com], a graphic novel first serialized across 12 issues of Nintendo Power in 1992, has an arc where Luigi and Peach swap outfits. Scenes in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Super Mario Odyssey call back to this swap.
Are we sure it's a good idea? (Score:2)
What happened to the competitive advantage of one system over another; isn't it bad to mix players from different systems? I remember PC players having a huge advantage over console players in the past. I haven't played fortnite, it's not my type of game, so why is it different?
PS4 won this generation (Score:4, Informative)
Re:PS4 won this generation (Score:4, Insightful)
You can pretty much count on whichever console maker is in the lead to act like a raging a-hole. You should have seen the way Sony treated developers during the PS2 heyday. They would basically dictate design decisions, even on third party titles. Oh, but if you were developing a PSP title, they were your best buddy, of course, because Nintendo was still kicking their asses in the handheld market.
Re: (Score:2)
https://www.engadget.com/2012/... [engadget.com]
In the Microsoft spokesman response:
We have a high level of expectation for our game developers to ensure that all Live experiences remain top notch. Because we can't guarantee this level of quality, or control the player experience on other consoles or gaming networks, we currently do not open our network to games that allow this cross-over capability.
Re: (Score:2)
Which was complete BS back then to. All those Call of Duty games were running off peer to peer. They had no way to guarantee quality of connections.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
1. I think most of the advantage is in having a Mouse so a console could just add support for that.
2. it is Minecraft. That means, I suspect, the advantage is not as pronounced as it would be in more conventional, fast-paced, FPS.
3. It's Minecraft - the emphasis is on co-operative everything against the environment (PvE), rather than PvP. That means that PC advantages over Console simply mean the PC people are more capable, not that they beat the console players. It isn't a competition.
(Imagine something
Re: (Score:2)
If they do add keyboard and mouse support, then how am I meant to keep hating on consoles? Surely inferior hardware isn't enough of a reason alone.
Re: Are we sure it's a good idea? (Score:2)
The thing about games with rebindable controls is that sometimes they don't bother even coming up with a reasonable default. That's when they lose me.
Re: (Score:2)
Many games already have matchmaking algorithms that try to pit players with similar skill level against each other. It probably doesn't matter whether a skill difference is caused by practice or by using a superior input method.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, I suspect the rounds are so short that in the end the advantage gets pretty small. Plus, platform differences mustn't be a huge deal, because you apparently can play with just a touchscreen on mobile. So I suspect on a lot of m
it's not just cross-play.. (Score:5, Insightful)
sony blocks use of a game's player account on any other platform. even without cross play. want to use your fortnite account that's linked to ps4 account on a different platform... or move to it completely... even though you can't cross play? 'fuck you', says sony. all that progress and all those cosmetics, etc you bought are going to sit and rot on the ps4 if you want to switch.
cross play is secondary. THIS is the main gripe players have. not being able to move their shit from one platform to another.. when the game developer otherwise permits such a move. some don't (because there may be competitive differences or advantages between platforms) but many do or would.
Re:it's not just cross-play.. (Score:5, Informative)
Re: it's not just cross-play.. (Score:1)
It works fine on PC, as I can attest to. The initial article announcing it also stated that they could log on to XBOX just fine.
What you cannot do is:
1- party with anyone not on PC or PS4
2- ever log on in switch
The first is dumb, the second is disgusting.
Re: (Score:2)
Oh you can move the stuff. You can move it from the Switch or Xbox TO your Playstation account. But just like a shitty marriage expect to end up in court if you want to leave again.
This is going to be bad... (Score:2)
... for the console players until the console producers start making mouse & keyboard peripherals for them.
Without out that, all the console 12yr olds are going to get slaughtered by people using PCs with mouse and keyboard
Re: (Score:3)
And Final Fantasy XIV is one of those rare PS4/PC cross-platform game.
Re:This is going to be bad... (Score:4, Informative)
all the console 12yr olds are going to get slaughtered by people using PCs with mouse and keyboard
Wrong. All the 15-year-olds using PCs who have dedicated six months to mastering a specific game are going to slaughter everyone.
This is how online gaming has always worked... but now they just trash-talk you through a voice pitch changer.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
...consoles have had USB ports since somewhere around the PlayStation 2 era.
Tell it to Microsoft: https://hardware.slashdot.org/... [slashdot.org]
...or did you miss the part where this article was about Microsoft and Nintendo only?
Apple also is silent (Score:2)
Minecraft for the Nintendo Switch is getting a big update today that will enable cross-play with PC, Xbox One, and smartphones -- but notably not the PlayStation 4.
Mac is also absent.
Re: (Score:2)
A Mac is not a PC in that its operating system is not what people mean when they say PC. That's why there's PC and Mac, two distinct platforms.
Of course, if you're booting Windows on your Mac, I'm not even considering it a Mac anymore.
Re: (Score:2)
A Mac is not a PC in that its operating system is not what people mean when they say PC.
And yet you can quite happily run Windows on a Mac. Don't redefine words at whim.
Re: (Score:2)
When you run Windows on a Mac then it's not a Mac anymore, it's a Windows PC.
Re: (Score:2)
it's not a Mac anymore
To quote myself:
Don't redefine words at whim.
Re: (Score:2)
A Mac is not only one thing: it's both hardware AND software. As soon as you remove one, it becomes not a Mac.
That's also the reason a non-Apple computer running OS X/macOS is called a Hackintosh and not a Mac.
Re: (Score:2)
A Mac is not only one thing: it's both hardware AND software.
A Mac is not software.
*sigh* Don't redefine words at whim.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not redefining words, you're the one who's not understanding what a Mac actually is.
A Mac is a combination of hardware and software. Without both, it's not a Mac.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not redefining words
Says the person redefining what a mac is. Please go and tell people who own macs that they don't own macs. I'm sure you'll be met with the complete understanding of a person who is making sense and using words the way everyone else is too. /sarcasm
Garbz out.
Re: (Score:1)
Firstly, a Mac is a PC.
A Mac is most definitely NOT a PC. Just because it uses an x86 processor doesn't make it a PC.
The term PC is short for 'IBM PC Compatible' , meaning a computer compatible with the IBM 5150 Personal Computer. That is: it has to be able to run Microsoft PC DOS 1.0 and apps developed for that. Modern Mac's certainly can't run PC DOS 1.0 without emulation/virtualisation, they lack a lot of legacy PC stuff.
Re: (Score:2)
The initialism PC is short for many things, but none of them are compatibility with the IBM PC. It meant personal computer before BM made it, and today's pc-compatible (which Macs are) will produce indeterminate results if you try to treat it like one. Hell, modern PCs don't even have a cassette port, how can you suggest they are compatible with the IBM PC?
Just not with the Java version of Minecraft (Score:1)
The 'cross play' will of course be with the 'new' version of Minecraft that Microsoft has emphasized since they purchased Mojang. They are dead-set on marooning the Java version that most people I know play on. Which is actually and authentically cross-platform, running on any platform with a JVM.
Just do not get "married" (Score:2)
You know how it goes. Give them a finger, they will bite the whole hand
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah... I think you got married to a zombie or something.
Wait...didn't MS try this at one point? (Score:1)