If there was one message the platform holders wanted us to take away
from this year's E3, it's that two screens are better than one. Wii U
builds an entire console launch around the concept and Sony is
increasingly keen on more tightly integrating its Vita handheld with
PlayStation 3. The big surprise of the event was Microsoft SmartGlass -
an attempt to co-opt iOS and Android smartphones and tablets into the
Xbox 360 ecosystem. But what exactly can it do, how does it work and
crucially will it be any use for gaming?
Demos showing SmartGlass in action - a couple of which you'll find embedded into this article - look impressive, leading many to believe that the new Xbox enhancement is a real game-changer. Touch-screen devices can be used as all-purpose media viewers, shunting content between lounge and personal displays, or they can be utilised as remote controls, offering a user-friendly way of accessing music, TV shows, movies - and even the Xbox 360 version of Internet Explorer. SmartGlass works either as a movie-streaming platform, or it can offer companion content - the most famous example of the latter being the E3 demo showing Game of Thrones running on the main screen with a map of Westeros and other info displayed on the tablet.
But crucially for us, it does gameplay too. We saw teaser content from Halo 4 amongst others, but the focus was on a game tailor made for a companion screen: a Madden NFL concept featured a personal playbook with touch-screen controls allowing you to create your own plays.
There's always a danger that support for peripherals will be largely ignored by developers and publishers: resources are limited, and why create content only a minority will actually use? However, in this respect, Microsoft's support for competing technologies in the form of iOS and Android could be viewed as something of a masterstroke. The firm is accepting the ubiquity of these devices in people's homes and is supporting them, rather than making these features exclusive to Windows Phone/Windows 8 devices. The more SmartGlass-capable devices there are, the higher the chances of support in more games.
Some have suggested that this is an effective counter to the dedicated tablet shipped with Wii U, but the reality is that each of the second-screen solutions suggested by Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have their own sets of strengths and weaknesses. Quite how SmartGlass stacks up in these regards remained something of a mystery until recently, when developers finally gained access to the tools for creating content for the new platform. A few weeks on, information on its technical make-up and just how it can support multiple mobile platforms is finally beginning to leak and the reality seems to be that SmartGlass is more orientated towards media than it is towards interactive gaming.
Hit the source to read more!
Source: Eurogamer
Demos showing SmartGlass in action - a couple of which you'll find embedded into this article - look impressive, leading many to believe that the new Xbox enhancement is a real game-changer. Touch-screen devices can be used as all-purpose media viewers, shunting content between lounge and personal displays, or they can be utilised as remote controls, offering a user-friendly way of accessing music, TV shows, movies - and even the Xbox 360 version of Internet Explorer. SmartGlass works either as a movie-streaming platform, or it can offer companion content - the most famous example of the latter being the E3 demo showing Game of Thrones running on the main screen with a map of Westeros and other info displayed on the tablet.
But crucially for us, it does gameplay too. We saw teaser content from Halo 4 amongst others, but the focus was on a game tailor made for a companion screen: a Madden NFL concept featured a personal playbook with touch-screen controls allowing you to create your own plays.
There's always a danger that support for peripherals will be largely ignored by developers and publishers: resources are limited, and why create content only a minority will actually use? However, in this respect, Microsoft's support for competing technologies in the form of iOS and Android could be viewed as something of a masterstroke. The firm is accepting the ubiquity of these devices in people's homes and is supporting them, rather than making these features exclusive to Windows Phone/Windows 8 devices. The more SmartGlass-capable devices there are, the higher the chances of support in more games.
Some have suggested that this is an effective counter to the dedicated tablet shipped with Wii U, but the reality is that each of the second-screen solutions suggested by Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have their own sets of strengths and weaknesses. Quite how SmartGlass stacks up in these regards remained something of a mystery until recently, when developers finally gained access to the tools for creating content for the new platform. A few weeks on, information on its technical make-up and just how it can support multiple mobile platforms is finally beginning to leak and the reality seems to be that SmartGlass is more orientated towards media than it is towards interactive gaming.
Hit the source to read more!
Source: Eurogamer
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