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Forums > Home› Star Trek Online General Discussion

Xbox

phantomz07phantomz07 Member Posts: 3 Arc User
in Star Trek Online General Discussion
Why aren't they releasing it to the Xbox 360? I'll stick to online personally but would be fun to check out.

Comments

  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,696 Arc User
    edited September 2016
    Because the X 360 is old, weak, nearing end-of-life, and most importantly is not a laptop PC in disguise like the X1 and PS4 are.

    It doesn't make sense to develop and maintain the game client for many years for a console that was replaced over two years ago.

    The 360 is much weaker in RAM and graphics power than the X1 / PS4. That's why many other AAA titles now skip the 360.

    The X1 / PS4 have PC type "x86" processors instead of PowerPC, have 8 GB total RAM, and have modern graphics cards. Development for them is very similar to development for PCs and it is much easier to share the work across platforms.
  • leemwatsonleemwatson Member Posts: 5,518 Arc User
    davefenestrator wrote: »
    Because the X 360 is old, weak, nearing end-of-life, and most importantly is not a laptop PC in disguise like the X1 and PS4 are.

    It doesn't make sense to develop and maintain the game client for many years for a console that was replaced over two years ago.

    The 360 is much weaker in RAM and graphics power than the X1 / PS4. That's why many other AAA titles now skip the 360.

    The X1 / PS4 have PC type "x86" processors instead of PowerPC, have 8 GB total RAM, and have modern graphics cards. Development for them is very similar to development for PCs and it is much easier to share the work across platforms.

    Sorry, but that's NOT the reason why it isn't on the 360. The 360 can comfortably run STO. Cryptic were well on with developing it and had it running on the 360 (it's in the forums somewhere about this fact). The reason for why it was never finished is MS didn't think it would get enough pick up as the XB1 was in the run up for release at the time.
    "You don't want to patrol!? You don't want to escort!? You don't want to defend the Federation's Starbases!? Then why are you flying my Starships!? If you were a Klingon you'd be killed on the spot, but lucky for you.....you WERE in Starfleet. Let's see how New Zealand Penal Colony suits you." Adm A. Necheyev.
  • gavinrunebladegavinruneblade Member Posts: 3,894 Arc User
    As of April 20, 2016 even microsoft is done with the 360. i would assume this is the main reason.

    http://news.xbox.com/2016/04/20/xbox-360-celebrating-10-years/

    Technically the announcement was stopping manufacturing, realistically they moved the team to Xbox One and said you can keep doing what you are already doing, but there's basically nothing new happening for the 360 any more.
  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,696 Arc User
    edited September 2016
    You skimmed past this part:

    It doesn't make sense to develop and maintain the game client for many years for a console that was replaced over two years ago.

    Also, they had some version in development back in 2013-14, but without the new lighting and such that a 360 is probably not capable of running. I was explaining why they are not releasing a 360 version now.
  • leemwatsonleemwatson Member Posts: 5,518 Arc User
    davefenestrator wrote: »
    You skimmed past this part:

    It doesn't make sense to develop and maintain the game client for many years for a console that was replaced over two years ago.

    Also, they had some version in development, but before the new lighting and such that a 360 is probably not capable of running.

    They had a running version of this on the 360....what part did you not understand.....and yes, I'll wager my life it's more than capable still of running the new lighting systems as they are not that complex and if you'd actually played any decent game on the 360 that caters for reflections and beacons (Dead Space 2, NFS Rivals...list goes on) you should already know this is true. You obviously aren't a console user...no offence.
    "You don't want to patrol!? You don't want to escort!? You don't want to defend the Federation's Starbases!? Then why are you flying my Starships!? If you were a Klingon you'd be killed on the spot, but lucky for you.....you WERE in Starfleet. Let's see how New Zealand Penal Colony suits you." Adm A. Necheyev.
  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,696 Arc User
    edited September 2016
    I own a 360, PS3, PS2. If Crackdown 3 is decent (unlike the disappointing 2) I'll buy an X1.

    The 360 version they were working on is missing 2-3 years of code changes from when they abandoned it. They would have needed to add missing code AND commit to maintaining it for years. And possibly another server if they couldn't keep the client in lock-step with the X1.

    The 360 has 512 shared MB RAM total, vs. 8 GB for the X1. The 360 has a GPU from 2005, the X1 has a GPU from 2014. The 360 is not guaranteed to have a hard drive. The 360 struggles to render 720p, the X1 struggles to render 1080p.
  • jaguarskxjaguarskx Member Posts: 5,945 Arc User
    phantomz07 wrote: »
    Why aren't they releasing it to the Xbox 360? I'll stick to online personally but would be fun to check out.

    The Xbox 360 is pretty ancient and by today's standard it is basically obsolete; technology advances fairly quickly more so if there is a lot of competition. It uses an IBM manufactured PowerPC CPU much like Macs back in the day. Not sure how compared to the Intel Pentium D series during the time, but IBM ultimately decided to shutter the PowerPC CPU. Additionally, the Xbox 360 does not run any variation of Windows OS. It is like it's own little technology ecosystem that does not really share anything in common with anything else.

    If Cryptic were to release STO for Xbox 360, then that basically means Cryptic would need to support STO on 4 different platforms. One of which would be obsolete where the player base is going to contract over time as Xbox 360 owners either decided, they have grown out of playing console games, decide to purchase a PS4 or Xbox One to play more modern games, maybe switch over to PC gaming, or their Xbox 360 finally gives up the ghost and the cost to repair or replace it with another Xbox 360 is not worth the cost. So... in other words a shrinking player base that is destined to eventually die.

    It seems your Xbox 360 is still very much alive and that is great a long as there are still games out there for it that you enjoy playing / re-playing. But essentially speaking other console players have moved onto greener pastures. There is also the release of the PS4 Neo and Xbox "Project Scorpio" that are coming out next year which are refreshes of the PS4 and Xbox One because when those consoles were released they were already behind the performance curve; especially the Xbox One. Neither Microsoft or Sony can say that all the games for those console are rendered at 1080p resolution. The PS4 has more games that are rendered at 1080p compared to the Xbox One because of slightly more powerful hardware though.

    PS4 Neo and Xbox "Project Scorpio" should bring the consoles up to speed were games released for them can be render at 1080p instead of 720p resolution and then stretched to fill a 1080p screen. I believe PC gamers enjoyed the 1920x1200 resolution standard (higher than 1080p) since 2005 if not before.

  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,696 Arc User
    They'd also have 360 owners griping about not being able to transfer over to X1 and PS4 when they bought a new console :)

    I can keep upgrading and buying new PCs forever, while consoles run in generations and the 360 is now a geezer waiting for his dirt nap.
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