I think a lot of you are overly optimistic about this possible feature. Sounds to me like it's just Xbox Arcade on PC, and here's why:
The Windows PC market is very different from the avid gamer market. How many Joe-Consumer types buy high powered PC's? Why not take a trip to Best Buy (or the European/Australian equivalent) and take a look at their inventory. What do you see? Netbooks, underpowered laptops, a scattering of mid-range desktops and... AIO's.
What is an AIO? Oh, only the future of consumer-PC's. AIO stands for "All in One," meaning there is no tower and the computer is housed in the monitor case. Have you looked at the specs for AIO's? They're non-customizable, and equivalent to mid/low end laptops in terms of power. Most don't even have dedicated graphics cards, just light, integrated cards.
But look at Windows 8. It's touch based, isn't it? How many of you have touch sensitive monitors (and for that matter who wants fingerprints on their monitor anyway)?
Where are there touch-based monitors? On almost every AIO. THIS is the market that Windows 8 is targeting, and that means that low-power PC's are here to stay.
I highly doubt that Microsoft will waste resources on something that will only work for high end PC users when the market share for those users is so small. How many millions use low-end PC's? How many millions more will invest in an AIO or low end laptop? How many thousands have PC's powerful enough to play Xbox360 games?
It's all about the numbers people, and PC gamers just don't have them.
The Windows PC market is very different from the avid gamer market. How many Joe-Consumer types buy high powered PC's? Why not take a trip to Best Buy (or the European/Australian equivalent) and take a look at their inventory. What do you see? Netbooks, underpowered laptops, a scattering of mid-range desktops and... AIO's.
What is an AIO? Oh, only the future of consumer-PC's. AIO stands for "All in One," meaning there is no tower and the computer is housed in the monitor case. Have you looked at the specs for AIO's? They're non-customizable, and equivalent to mid/low end laptops in terms of power. Most don't even have dedicated graphics cards, just light, integrated cards.
But look at Windows 8. It's touch based, isn't it? How many of you have touch sensitive monitors (and for that matter who wants fingerprints on their monitor anyway)?
Where are there touch-based monitors? On almost every AIO. THIS is the market that Windows 8 is targeting, and that means that low-power PC's are here to stay.
I highly doubt that Microsoft will waste resources on something that will only work for high end PC users when the market share for those users is so small. How many millions use low-end PC's? How many millions more will invest in an AIO or low end laptop? How many thousands have PC's powerful enough to play Xbox360 games?
It's all about the numbers people, and PC gamers just don't have them.