Xbox Game Streaming Will Land on iOS in 2021 Using Web Workaround (arstechnica.com) 38
Project xCloud, the Microsoft game-streaming service that comes packed as a bonus in certain Xbox Game Pass subscription plans, may finally have a path to working on Apple's range of iOS devices -- well after a public row between the tech giants that put the possibility into question. From a report: The news comes from a report by Business Insider, which claimed that an internal Microsoft meeting on Wednesday included a vote of confidence from Xbox chief Phil Spencer. "We absolutely will end up on iOS," Spencer reportedly said about getting its streamed Project xCloud game content onto iOS devices in "2021." Previously, Apple shot down existing versions of both Project xCloud (which has since been rolled into the "Xbox Game Pass" app) and Google Stadia as iOS apps. Their public statements hinged on "reviewing" the games included in the subscription against App Store guidelines, though the issue could also stem from in-app purchases within both Xbox and Stadia's offerings. Eventually, Apple offered a revised stance on such apps, but this onerous "approval for every separate game" proposal comes with its own headaches, as opposed to a clear path toward a simple subscription service (as you'll find in popular iOS media apps like Netflix and Amazon Video).
ios needs to let any FULL web browser run on phone (Score:1)
ios needs to let any FULL web browser run on there phones.
HTML rendering engine so apple can't block apps go (Score:2)
HTML rendering engine so apple can't block apps going web only
Firefox needs to be in more places.
But Apple cannot block apps going web only... (Score:1)
HTML rendering engine so apple can't block apps going web only
But Apple cannot block apps going web only, this whole article is about Microsoft doing exactly that.
If it runs in Webkit over the web, Apple cannot and will not block it.
Firefox needs to be in more places.
I use Firefox every day on iOS and on desktop - just not their rendering engine.
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HTML rendering engine so apple can't block apps going web only
No, they just deliberately hinder their browser (technically their rendering engine) so companies cannot make a web version and instead have to make a bespoke iOS App to give Apple that sweet reoccurring revenue stream of $$$.
Why and how and when (Score:2)
No, they just deliberately hinder their browser
Apple has never done that.
They wouldn't do that because it would hurt the performance of the browser in other scenarios.
Again, Apple doesn't care what people do on the web, and they want the fastest possible web browser for iOS - putting in performance blocks anywhere makes it lots harder to maintain, and also introduces security bugs.
Apple has always relied on the draw of the large user base of the App Store to bring apps to that platform. They do not need to
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No, they just deliberately hinder their browser
Apple has never done that.
OK, I guess Safari lags behind everyone else (even pre Chromium Edge) simply because their engineers are incompetent then.
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OK, I guess Safari lags behind everyone else
Talk to the WebKit developers who develop the rendering engine, it's open source. Not sure by what metric you consider them incompetent since apparently the browser can handle streaming games just fine?
I use Safari, Chrome and Firefox on a daily basis (on Desktop and IOS). I see no evidence that Safari performs particularly worse than any of them - for sure Safari seems to perform a bit better than Firefox actually, and while Chrome and Safari seem to perform t
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Doesn't this story indicate that Safari works well enough?
Internet Explorer worked "well enough" at the time. I guess it would have been fine in Microsoft forced every browser developed for Windows to use IE's Trident engine, then.
Why not? (Score:1)
I guess it would have been fine in Microsoft forced every browser developed for Windows to use IE's Trident engine, then.
Nope not in Windows - or in MacOS.
But for mobile devices there are very real security and performance benefits gained by having a browser tuned to that hardware. Since that is where a lot of non-technical users will be spending time, I think it's reasonable to say that for most people, the platform browser engine is what they should be stickling to.
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I guess it would have been fine in Microsoft forced every browser developed for Windows to use IE's Trident engine, then.
Nope not in Windows - or in MacOS.
But for mobile devices there are very real security and performance benefits gained by having a browser tuned to that hardware.
It's fine for Safari to be tuned to the hardware, but it's another thing to force all other browsers to use WebKit/V8.
Since that is where a lot of non-technical users will be spending time, I think it's reasonable to say that for most people, the platform browser engine is what they should be stickling to.
and before smartphones, guess where "a lot of non-technical users [spent] time".
So again, should be 100% OK for Microsoft to have done it (and/or do it now?).
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So again, should be 100% OK for Microsoft to have done it (and/or do it now?).
I already said no on Windows, yes on Mobile. It was not as crucial back then as it is now to secure the world for non-technical users as it is today.
Plenty of other devices let users do what you ask. Why do you seek to end the ability of the only system that does not, to try and keep the system more secure in this way? Why is choice not a good thing? If users want deferent rendering engines, they can get an Android device...
Fu
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I already said no on Windows, yes on Mobile. It was not as crucial back then as it is now to secure the world for non-technical users as it is today.
Oh yeah, never was any major security issue dealing with computers when people were on desktops, guess they all happened after 2007.
Why is choice not a good thing?
You tell me. You're the one championing people not having a choice on Apple mobile devices.
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Trump may win because a large percent (approx 5 to 10%) of the democrat voter base may not vote (they are not used to vote by mail, and covid fear/inconvenience to go the ballot box on elelction day). This was very apparent earlier this year. In the special election held for California congressional district 25, according to polls, the Democrat canditate was expected to barely win .. instead the Republican candidate won by 10 points.
Also, USA Today estimates that, in a best case scenario, over 1 million vo
Seems like it should work.. (Score:3)
A web browser is about as optimized as it gets on a phone in terms of delivering streaming video with as high a quality as possible...
The only thing I wonder about is what kind of performance hit you get seeing control data back through a web browser. It doesn't have to do much, just pass along controller input so maybe it will be acceptable compared to a native solution?
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Even if it could work quite fast, I would expect Apple to add a 50-100 ms delay for every ontouchstart/-end event. Just to f**k it up.
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Would make Safari feel slow, don't think so. (Score:1)
I would expect Apple to add a 50-100 ms delay for every ontouchstart/-end event. Just to f**k it up.
I would not expect that at all since it would make Safari feel slower, and they want the browser to feel as fast as possible in all cases...
Apple does not care what you do on the web, it's only when you start leveraging the App Store do they care that they get a cut in return for the access to users that brings.
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As if they have never slowed the CPU down, using power usage and battery safety as an excuse.
They can keep it fast, but after 60 seconds of usage, it can be scaled down to reduce heavy battery load.
A game needs constant high usage, browsing websites, is a go/stop/go affair.
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As if they have never slowed the CPU down, using power usage and battery safety as an excuse.
Having a low-battery device gracefully fail rather than shutting down suddenly ahead of the 1% mark was and is better.
Which is why every other phone maker is doing the
same thing as Apple did then.
A game needs constant high usage, browsing websites, is a go/stop/go affair.
Not used any modern websites have you? The main thing spiking my CPU these days is far more often a browser window than a game. It's enough of an
Re:Seems like it should work.. (Score:4, Informative)
The controllers for Google (Stadia) and Amazon (Luna) connect directly to the game servers over WiFi without going through the client machine so that would be one way to work around that. MS isn't using this method though.
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Interesting I didn't realize those platforms did that, makes a ton of sense. Very curious to see how well the MS stuff performs on an IOS browser. You have to thin they've done enough testing with the existing browser to be sure it is viable before they would make a statement like that.
Apple (Score:4, Funny)
This workaround does bring up an interesting point. As an AAPL investor, you have to wonder why doesn't Apple get a 30% cut from every website's revenue that people with iPhones go to? It seems fair, websites unfairly take advantage of Apple's user base/ecosystems.
Re: Not as much advantage (Score:2)
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You don't need to register a credit card to use the Apple App Store.
Good point, I thought you needed to use that when you set up the APpleID to use with the App Store but it looks like you can skip adding a credit card.
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"1) They can quickly register using sign-in with Apple.
2) They can quickly pay you using ApplePay."
Google has payments too, although they are less popular than apple pay. On the flip side, Google is a much more popular login than apple.
Hypocrites!!! (Score:2)
Microsoft would reject rival xCloud equivalent software on XBOX. They require each software publisher to pay heavy amount for it to run on XBOX. That is why you don't see free games on XBOX. Only expensive paid content. Putting your app on iOS is far less restrictive than putting on XBOX. iOS/iPhone are Apple proprietary in the same manner as XBOX is MS proprietary. You can't keep your system closed from everyone and ask others to open theirs. You are always welcome to create xCloud as a MacOS app.
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Microsoft would reject rival xCloud equivalent software on XBOX. They require each software publisher to pay heavy amount for it to run on XBOX. That is why you don't see free games on XBOX. Only expensive paid content.
Umm... there *are* free games on XBox:
https://www.xbox.com/en-US/gam... [xbox.com]
Putting your app on iOS is far less restrictive than putting on XBOX. iOS/iPhone are Apple proprietary in the same manner as XBOX is MS proprietary. You can't keep your system closed from everyone and ask others to open theirs. You are always welcome to create xCloud as a MacOS app.
Game console != smartphone/tablets
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You make an interesting point. While our inclination is to say that a game console is inherently a closed system, this is really only because we were used to game consoles being closed prior to the Internet (e.g. Sega games did not run on NES). Given that there's less difference now between a game console and a smartphone--both are Internet-connected computers running built-in OSes--it does beg the question how MS can be hypocritical in this way.
Now, without denying that point, I still suspect that there's
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No, Apple has always maintained that if you don't want to deal with the App Store, you're free to make it a web app. You can install web apps too - you tap and select "Install to home screen" and you get an app-like icon that really is just a fancy bookmark.
Apple and other companies have pushed for HTML5 to support many APIs for this - battery API, sensor API,
To each his own? (Score:2)