With Microsoft releasing their newest operating system Windows 10 today they’ve taken a large step in changing how we game. For the longest time you could only game on the go with portable devices or with PC games. That’s all changed with Windows 10.
As a beta tester for Windows 10 I’ve been able to enjoy the feature for a little bit. Windows 10 comes with an Xbox App already installed. Once you login with your Xbox Profile you have the ability to view your friends list, gaming achievements, and more.
The best feature is the option to connect to your Xbox One system from your PC. As long as your PC and Xbox are on the same network you can connect and stream directly from your Xbox to your PC. This allows you to play on your Desktop, Laptop, and Tablet anywhere in your home without being stuck in the same room as your Xbox.
This is great for households with one TV that everyone has to watch. While your other family members are watching whatever sitcom they enjoy you have the ability to play on your laptop and sit in the same room with them. So no more telling your friends that you can’t get online, because your wife/kids have control of the TV.
One down fall to the feature is that you can’t stream Netflix on the Xbox to your TV and game on your laptop at the same time.
With such a cool feature like this many people are probably asking… Can I leave my Xbox at home and game outside of my home network? The answer is Yes and No. In order to use the streaming feature in the Xbox App you have to be on the same network as your Xbox, but there is a work around. One that I’ve used myself is that I created a VPN connection to my home network on my PC giving me the ability to game from anywhere. The issue with this is you could experience some lag based on your home network and the network you’re connected to from your PC, but it’s possible to play from anywhere.
While the ongoing battle between Xbox and PlayStation rages on this could be a huge factor in a lot of gamers choosing Xbox as their main system. PlayStation can’t offer something like this since they don’t have their own computer operating system, and I have a hard time seeing Microsoft supporting a PlayStation App that offers this feature.
This feature will have its glitches and issues, but this is just the first step in Microsoft’s plan to revolutionize the gaming experience.
So what do you think about the Xbox App and the potential? Let us know in the comments below.
