Sony just did what Microsoft should have done long ago. Step it up Microsoft!

[mparker]

Many of you might have probably read about the new Xperia Z3 tablet compact just announced at IFA 2014, and it's ability to connect to the PlayStation 4 controller and stream games directly from the console itself.

If this were actually a killer feature then the Wii U would have been a more significant player this generation - it came with this feature built-in from the beginning.

 

[HeyCori]

Sony purchased the company along with any patents.

Sony buys Gaikai cloud gaming service for $380 million

Microsoft likely doesn't want to get sued. The only other game in town is OnLive and I don't think they're for sale. Which, IMO, is stupid since that company is going nowhere.

 

[kb4000]

It is also impossible. How do you plan to run a game like Watch Dogs or Titanfall on a tablet or desktop?

Um, Titanfall already exists for desktop....

 

[krox1105]

Sony purchased the company along with any patents.

Sony buys Gaikai cloud gaming service for $380 million

Microsoft likely doesn't want to get sued. The only other game in town is OnLive and I don't think they're for sale. Which, IMO, is stupid since that company is going nowhere.

Microsoft doesn't need it. It has a better solution under the name of Delorean.

Just Bing it and you will know what it is. There was an article here on WPC a little while ago.

 

[krox1105]

Um, Titanfall already exists for desktop....

The man was pointing out the fact that only few laptops and none of the tablets have the processing power to run the games on the Xbox 360/One.

I guess he said that because your original post implies that it would be better if the Xbox, Windows tablets, and Windows PCs had the same gaming library i.e., if these three platforms shared games instead allowing to stream games from the console to the other devices over a network.

 

[Coreldan]

I'd be kinda mad if they wasted resources on crap like this.

That said, I do realize there are some that could use this, but if there ever was a niche market, I think this is one. This even beats the VR goggle stuff in niche

 

[herbertsnow]

No thanks, that looks awful.

 

[gaz5872]

but it will use android!!!!

 

[jonnaver]

Sony is trying to stay afloat cause their phones are dying out. Why you think they added that feature to connect to the tablet and controller ? lol

Inaccurate. Sony's smartphone division has actually risen

Sales were up 14.3 percent year-on-year, which Sony puts down to the weakening of the yen, a "significant" increase in smartphone sales, and the launch of the PlayStation 4. The mobile and gaming divisions respectively brought in 29.6 percent and 38.5 percent more revenue than the previous year ? Sony says the mobile phone business itself turned a profit, but it's joined in the mobile division by the loss-making VAIO unit. The digital camera business reported a sales decrease of 2 percent, owing to an overall contraction in the market, but sales in the home entertainment division were up with Sony highlighting the performance of "high value-added" TVs.

The overall loss is largely down to restructuring costs. Earlier this month Sony*revised its earnings forecast downward*after announcing various charges associated with*selling off its VAIO PC business, as well as a contraction in the physical media market

 

[Skamath]

I get the request from a flexibility standpoint, but realistically, when would you use a controller with a mobile phone? specially when you see that the battery life is like next to nothing more often than not. And if they like to introduce that feature than the controller should be able to charge it or else.. ........

Edit.

 

[DJCBS]

Inaccurate. Sony's smartphone division has actually risen

Sales were up 14.3 percent year-on-year, which Sony puts down to the weakening of the yen, a "significant" increase in smartphone sales, and the launch of the PlayStation 4. The mobile and gaming divisions respectively brought in 29.6 percent and 38.5 percent more revenue than the previous year — Sony says the mobile phone business itself turned a profit, but it's joined in the mobile division by the loss-making VAIO unit. The digital camera business reported a sales decrease of 2 percent, owing to an overall contraction in the market, but sales in the home entertainment division were up with Sony highlighting the performance of "high value-added" TVs.

The overall loss is largely down to restructuring costs. Earlier this month Sony*revised its earnings forecast downward*after announcing various charges associated with*selling off its VAIO PC business, as well as a contraction in the physical media market

True. Not only that, Sony phone are EXTREMELY popular in Europe. With the disappearance of Nokia from the mobile phone space, Sony is one of the companies that will benefit from the ex-Nokia consumers who will be looking for new phones from brands they already know. In Europe, Sony is already one of the big players, selling way more phones than the likes of LG, HTC and Motorola.
Also in India Sony phones have surpassed the sales on the iPhone.

 

[DJCBS]

Sony does a lot of stuff Microsoft should have done.
- Compact flagships
- waterproofing phones
- constant attention to details

The price of that, though, is that Sony releases flagships every 6 months. So the now new Z3 will be replaced by the Z4 in February 2015 at MWC. However, the differences between the Z2 and Z3 are minimal and they'll also be from the Z3 to the Z4. Sony does incremental changes. For example, people were always complaining about the bezels, even on the Z2. Sony listened and the Z3 has really thin bezels. People complained about the darn anti-shatter films that use to give a plastic-y feeling to the phones. So Sony removed them.

Microsoft on the other hand keeps hitting the same nails over and over and over at a very slow pace and doesn't seem to really care about bringing "the best of Microsoft". And the ultimate proof is the way Xbox games were treated on WP.

 

[chinesepiratefood]

This is a very niche feature. Only a very small amount of phone buyers will every even think about using this.

 

[manwe]

Sony = one company.
Microsoft = many different mini companies competing viciously with each other = lack of a single vision.
Microsoft could do with ease but they are just too divided, most likely will never happen.

this exactly. the thing is though, sony being unified is a very new thing; it's only for 3-4 years that they have been able to really start making a comeback by tying their products together more. microsoft on the other hand has been drumming on about 'one microsoft' for years now, and despite being a far more successful company overall, they just cant seem to pull it together

 

[mprebich]

MS are currently working on Windows 9. With that being said they cannot get sidetracked on what Sony is doing , Sony is trying to stay afloat cause their phones are dying out. Why you think they added that feature to connect to the tablet and controller ? lol

Microsoft employs over 100,000 people (even after the announced planned layoff of 18,000). Even if half of them worked on Windows development, which I doubt, that leaves a lot of employees working on hundreds of other product/services. They should be able to find time to improve and upgrade there products.

I'm not saying they should do everything Apple, Google or Sony does, but they do need to be competitive agaist these other companies products. I am a Microsoft product supporter, but I hate that quite too often, they are playing catch up.

 

[kb4000]

The man was pointing out the fact that only few laptops and none of the tablets have the processing power to run the games on the Xbox 360/One.

I guess he said that because your original post implies that it would be better if the Xbox, Windows tablets, and Windows PCs had the same gaming library i.e., if these three platforms shared games instead allowing to stream games from the console to the other devices over a network.

Yeah, but desktop is a horrible example. There are probably more people playing Titanfall on PC than Xbox One. I understand that Titanfall on a tablet or phone sucks, but even my 3 year old HP laptop plays Titanfall fine.

PS, the original post was not by me.

 

[jonnaver]

this exactly. the thing is though, sony being unified is a very new thing; it's only for 3-4 years that they have been able to really start making a comeback by tying their products together more. microsoft on the other hand has been drumming on about 'one microsoft' for years now, and despite being a far more successful company overall, they just cant seem to pull it together

It's unfortunate that many electronics companies always seem to hit peaks and valleys in such short bursts. Whoever is responsible for this upswing at Sony's current mobile division, I hope they stick around for a long while. And also hopefully this rumored Sony WP materializes at some point. As it stands now, Sony Xperias are the only smartphones on the android that finally rival the iPhone in both hardware and software quality IMO. An Xperia WP would be a really fine flagship level device. I would choose a WP version of the Xperia Z2 or Z3 over the Lumia 930 without hesitation.

 

[StephanW]

No thanks, that looks awful.

Also it will be too heavy in your hands and you'll stop playing!
It's really one of those things you won't see in your life, ever.

 

[jargonz]

Wouldn't streaming a high-speed game from a powerful console to a less powerful phone cause significant lag? This lag is the same problem that Microsoft is trying to address in the DeLorean project. Also, I can just imagine the difficulties when a game designed for a big TV screen is displayed on the small phone screen.

If you just want to use a game controller with a Windows Phone, then the Moga Pro controller is already available for that purpose. The Moga Pro looks like an Xbox controller. The Moga Pro Power (which I have) even charges your Windows Phone while you play a game.

Using an Xbox One controller on a Windows PC is already possible since Microsoft released the device drivers 3 months ago. You just use the Xbox One controller in wired mode and plug it into the USB port of the desktop, laptop or tablet PC.

 

[o0Nighthawk0o]

I'm all for new gadgets and cool tech and this does seem cool. However, I personally wouldn't use it much and I can't see many others using it much either. Playing a game that is written for a large screen on such a small screen would be a horrible experience.