Microsoft Cloud Gaming - coming to Samsung TVs

[Sarlaccfood]

Chances of this coming to my piece-of-shit 2020 Samsung TV?

[TehStu]

1 hour ago, Sarlaccfood said:

Chances of this coming to my piece-of-shit 2020 Samsung TV?

This article goes into more detail

 

https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/9/23159460/microsoft-xbox-tv-app-samsung-2022-tv-xbox-cloud-gaming-streaming

 

I guess they're looking at it, makes sense it comes to be models first, I guess. Sounds like it'll work with a range of pads, too. Good chance of you have one of these TVs and pads lying around, you can be straight in streaming Fortnite for nowt.

[Sarlaccfood]

15 minutes ago, TehStu said:

This article goes into more detail

 

https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/9/23159460/microsoft-xbox-tv-app-samsung-2022-tv-xbox-cloud-gaming-streaming

 

I guess they're looking at it, makes sense it comes to be models first, I guess. Sounds like it'll work with a range of pads, too. Good chance of you have one of these TVs and pads lying around, you can be straight in streaming Fortnite for nowt.

Nice.
 

I’m looking to have less shit under the telly and seeing as Xcloud has worked flawlessly for me plus being able to play the games I’ve paid for will mean I feel better about selling my Series S. 

[bear]

https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/2/23288386/logitech-g-cloud-gaming-handheld-xbox-cloud-gaming-nvidia-geforce-now

 

Quote

Logitech G is working with Tencent Games to launch a dedicated cloud gaming handheld later this year. The new hardware will be designed for cloud gaming services, offering a dedicated device with controls instead of the typical cases you attach to phones. The cloud gaming handheld will support Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia’s GeForce Now service, and Logitech and Tencent are both working with Microsoft and Nvidia on the hardware.

Logitech and Tencent are simply teasing the device today, and there’s no mention of a release date, pricing, or even what the cloud gaming handheld looks like. Logitech will obviously be leaning on its experience building PC and console gaming accessories, while Tencent looks to be more of an operations partner.

 

You can sign up for more information here. 

Logitech Gaming handheld link thingamajig

 

I'm a little interested in this. I'm guessing it'll be some sort of Android device so in theory you could run emulators and the likes on it but I'm just interested in to see what a dedicated cloud handheld could look like. Maybe weedy enough hardware but with great battery life? 

[fattakin]

I like the sound of it, if it has a decent screen i can see it being handy for 'watching TV' with the missus about on the couch or late night gaming.  Should be quiet and light?  If it didnt have a fan that would be class.

 

Has anyone actually got the Samsung app? I have a 2021 Samsung sadly. 

[TehStu]

I've noticed a lot more titles are now touch controls enabled. Even if they don't have custom layouts, they seem to have a generic mobile game pad layout going on. Makes it easier to phone in game pass quests.

[tobert]

Playing on my chromebook, I have tried playing on the android app and through the chrome browser. To my eyes the chrome browser stream looked noticeably better, would be interested to see if anyone else can test to see if this is consistent

 

Update: playing on xbox.com/play on my android phone (rather than using the Xbox gamepass app) also seem better

 

 

[TehStu]

I just realized that as we have Stadia veterans looking for a new home, a cheap way to buy in to xcloud would be a second hand XB1. Must be going for peanuts these days. I appreciate it takes up slightly more space than a chromecast.

[fattakin]

2021 Samsung TV's getting this rolled out today

https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/16/23462052/samsung-xbox-cloud-gaming-nvidia-geforce-now-2021-smart-tvs

 

Does anyone have 'the frame' TV in 55"/65"?- i think its code is LS03A?

I have the 32" in my bedroom but looks like its code is slightly different, QE32LS03TCUXXU

Just had a look on app store and no xbox. Sad Face - Probably no point in looking again until someone else with the big brother frame can spot it in the store

[TehStu]

The streaming stick (box?) has been cancelled, apparently. Phil says the device would be too expensive. I guess there was a bit more to it than a Fire TV/Roku style streaming stick with pad support. Shame they couldn't do some sort of deal with a subscription. The roll out to TVs is probably going to be glacial.

 

https://www.vg247.com/microsofts-streaming-device-keystone-shelved-because-it-was-too-expensive-says-spencer

[Sarlaccfood]

1 hour ago, TehStu said:

The streaming stick (box?) has been cancelled, apparently. Phil says the device would be too expensive. I guess there was a bit more to it than a Fire TV/Roku style streaming stick with pad support. Shame they couldn't do some sort of deal with a subscription. The roll out to TVs is probably going to be glacial.

 

https://www.vg247.com/microsofts-streaming-device-keystone-shelved-because-it-was-too-expensive-says-spencer

I guess if they put too much in it basically becomes a Series S anyway, certainly cost wise. 

[Uncle Mike]

It seems very odd to me that they couldn't make the streaming stick fit the budget. I know the controller part wouldn't be standard Bluetooth, but even so. A Chromecast is what, £60?

[thesnwmn]

Just now, Uncle Mike said:

It seems very odd to me that they couldn't make the streaming stick fit the budget. I know the controller part wouldn't be standard Bluetooth, but even so. A Chromecast is what, £60?

 

As i was saying in another thread... What's the real audience for the stick?

 

If you own an Xbox do you need one? If you don't do you want a dedicated stick if you could buy a Series S for probably not that much more.

 

Maybe it works if the stick also has all the other media apps on it. But can they get that? Else it's just a streaming thing and has to be super super cheap.

[Uncle Mike]

I guess what I'm saying is that I don't understand why they couldn't indeed make it for £60-100. Which is a lot less than an S. It could have the apps and a Bluetooth chip, WiFi chip and an HDMI port for that.

[Paulando]

A streaming stick/box is pointless. I don’t think anyone needs another box under their TV. I certainly don’t!

 

Just make a Google TV app pls.

[Sarlaccfood]

2 minutes ago, Uncle Mike said:

I guess what I'm saying is that I don't understand why they couldn't indeed make it for £60-100. Which is a lot less than an S. It could have the apps and a Bluetooth chip, WiFi chip and an HDMI port for that.

Don’t Amazon make a huge loss on hardware and Google then probably had to match the fire sticks’s price?

[thesnwmn]

1 minute ago, Uncle Mike said:

I guess what I'm saying is that I don't understand why they couldn't indeed make it for £60-100. Which is a lot less than an S. It could have the apps and a Bluetooth chip, WiFi chip and an HDMI port for that.

 

How does it have the apps? That isn't their choice. That takes getting the service owners to write and maintain something for whatever OS you run it on.

 

If that's Windows then I'd be amazed if it performs that well. Same with Xbox OS.

 

If it's Android why not just make an app for an existing stick (particularly Chromecast with Google TV now stadia is dead).

 

And they don't care until you have a user base or you pay them to do it. Again, how many users to make it worth it?

 

And again who is the stick audience? Is it big enough to justify that expense.

[thesnwmn]

And agreed, I'd love or see them simply build Appa for every platform under the sun, and do it much faster than their current glacial pace.

[Uncle Mike]

I'm not really arguing whether it's a good or a bad idea. Just that I'm surprised they couldn't make a box that they could sell for <£100.

 

5 minutes ago, Paulando said:

A streaming stick/box is pointless. I don’t think anyone needs another box under their TV.

 

This is the point of the streaming stick though, isn't it? It's not a box under the TV, it's a small unit dangling out of the HDMI port. Amazon Fire Stick style.

 

Getting the apps would be straightforwards for MS.

 

Whether it's worth it is a whole different question. I could see the argument either way on that. Yes, could write the apps for the TVs, but how many TVs can talk to your controller, how many of them have sufficiently performant internal gubbins that they don't introduce unacceptable extra latency, how many apps are you as MS going to have to maintain?

 

How many people are interested enough in gaming to want to buy your stick, but not sufficiently interested to buy a Series S?

 

I do tend to agree that getting the Cloud onto a Chromecast and Fire Stick is a better use of money. Just surprised they're quoting the cost of the hardware as the limiting factor and not the opportunity cost of bothering to do so.

[Sarlaccfood]

It wouldn’t just be the stick either. Controller alone would add 50/60 quid. 

[Paulando]

9 minutes ago, Uncle Mike said:

This is the point of the streaming stick though, isn't it? It's not a box under the TV, it's a small unit dangling out of the HDMI port. Amazon Fire Stick style.

But most people already have one that works just fine? Given that MS make the cash from subs, it surely just makes sense to release an app for as many platforms as they can. Even Apple have done this in recent years.

[Uncle Mike]

Once again, I'm not arguing that it was or wasn't a good idea. I'm just surprised it was the cost of the hardware that apparently stopped them and not, for example, all the other things people are saying.

[Paulando]

But it’s such a crowded space, with sticks available for as little as £20, probably sold at a loss from companies pushing their own app stores and video services (which MS don’t have).

 

It just doesn’t make sense for them to enter that market, and I can totally see why they binned it off.

[Uncle Mike]

I can't work out whether it's my writing or others' reading comprehension that's at fault here.

[Uncle Mike]

Phil Spencer says, as the primary cited reason that they abandoned their own stick, that they couldn't make it for a good price. He says

Quote

A "right price," says Spencer, would fall into the ballpark of around $129 or $99 for it "to make sense."

 

And you can see why! The S is what, £250? It would need to be substantially less than that.

 

And all I'm saying is that I find the failure to achieve that pricepoint surprising. Not that it's a good idea! It's clearly easier for them to develop an Xcloud app for Fire Stick and Chromecast.

 

7 minutes ago, Paulando said:

probably sold at a loss from companies pushing their own app stores and video services (which MS don’t have).

Well, they'd have games sales and Game Pass.

 

 

(Out of interest, if you download the Xcloud app on your Samsung, does the Xbox controller pair to the TV? I don't know.)

[fattakin]

1 hour ago, thesnwmn said:

 

As i was saying in another thread... What's the real audience for the stick?

 

If you own an Xbox do you need one? If you don't do you want a dedicated stick if you could buy a Series S for probably not that much more.

 

Maybe it works if the stick also has all the other media apps on it. But can they get that? Else it's just a streaming thing and has to be super super cheap.

 

We have 2 xboxs in the house, me and the 2 kids.  I would have got a streaming stick for the bedroom purely to muck about. We sometimes move the old xbox upstairs if one kid has his mates round and they make the younger kid 'go away'  or when someone is sick.  

 

Realistically i know it'll barely be used as it's only a 32" TV and i can't see any detail from the bed.  (no plans to upgrade to fit the 'astetic'  )

 

But id have bought a streaming stick either new or a few months later 2nd hand just to try.  It's a 2021 Samsung TV and im hoping the app will be supported.  I have a spare controller ready to go.   Cmon, someone is bound to have the 2021 frame in 55/65?

[bear]

I'm wondering if the reason the device ended up being relatively pricey compared to a chormecast or what have you is that they wanted it to support the Xbox wireless stuff instead of Bluetooth? That'd mean a certain amount of bespoke hardware but it'd also justify an Xbox streaming sticks existence as it'd offer a better experience than the TV apps. 

 

Or maybe the hardware had to be relatively beefy in order to support the app store that's on the current console. 

[thesnwmn]

Worth noting if you try to compare to Chromecast plus Stadia that I believe the controller there connects to web service directly, not via the streaming stick. So it didn't need anything fancy to try to get the lowest input latency through shitty hardware.

[Sarlaccfood]

The controller alone takes it out of that magic price Spencer mentions.

[TehStu]

18 hours ago, Sarlaccfood said:

Don’t Amazon make a huge loss on hardware and Google then probably had to match the fire sticks’s price?

That makes sense, given half of Roku's revenue is peddling data on users now. Figures the sticks would be subsidized.