Microsoft surprised a lot of people by announcing that Halo, via the Master Chief Collection, will be taking its first trip off of an Xbox console and showing up on PC. More than that, it’s not just locked behind the Windows 10 Store, but will be showing up on Steam as well. Sadly, it’s not a cross-buy title, so if you already have it on Xbox One (like I do), you’ll have to buy it again on PC. It also won’t be releasing with everything on PC, but instead is going to start with Reach and release all the other shooters, through Halo 4 (5 remains its own thing an a console exclusive).
I’m by no means a Halo super-fan… I’ve played all of them, and tend to play the story, do a bit of multiplayer, and move on. They’re fun as a social game among friends, but I have no inkling to go play multiplayer without a party.
This remains one of the last games that’s exclusive to the Xbox One (other than the old original Xbox and 360 backwards compatible stuff) and not also on the PC. Makes you sort of wonder if Microsoft is moving on from their console or what, but it is a weird move.
Not one to be outdone, rumors started to fly that Google was entering the market, and they tweeted about their keynote on the “Future of Gaming” at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) that kicks off next week. That’s… basically all we have. Google, themselves, are no stranger to GDC, given that Android is the largest gaming platform in the world. Of course, if you take off the scams, shovelware, knockoffs, and spyware games you have like thirty titles (seriously, the Play store suuuuucks)… but there are still a lot of Android devices out there.
That being said, this doesn’t look like it’s playing with that, directly. There have been other Android “consoles” released, and they’ve all failed pretty miserably. The mobile gaming model does not translate well to the big screen (or vice versa). Streaming gaming tech and subscription services seem to be all the rage as of late, it could be Google trying to introduce a competing platform into a crowded space that will stand against the Xbox Game Pass, Sony’s Playstation Now, Origin, and whatever else is out there.
Gonna admit, not really all that excited. It’s already a crowded market, I don’t like steaming subscriptions in general, and Google is rather infamous (it means more than famous) for pulling the rug out from a product without warning. I don’t want yet another box that’s going to stream games when I have other games and platforms available to me. Still, I’m curious, so I guess we’ll find out next Tuesday…
