Microsoft Bringing New “Game Mode” To Windows 10 For Enhanced PC Gaming Experience

[DPI]

Microsoft has stated that 'Windows 10 is the last Windows.' They could care less about compatibility.

Marketing departments and PR firms say a lot of things.

With Windows 10 adoption flat again in December, and a bad rep simmering like what happened to Windows 8, I wouldn't be surprised if their next rebrand is to drop the version number altogether and call it just plain "Windows".

 

[westrock2000]

It will be a derivative of DirectX. It will allow the game developers direct access to hardware. They will be able to run the game without any layer of Windows between them. Developers will be able to write drivers that uniquely control their hardware. You have not seen anything like this in the last 20 years, even going back all the way to Windows 95. You won't even have to load Windows, you will be able to load right into a game from bootup. It will be marvelous! Just think how great it will be when each hardware manufacturer is able to create their own hardware drivers!

Right now it's being called DirectOperatingSystem, but eventually an easier name will be officially given.

 

[tetris42]

DOSBox is an emulator. I don't expect t be able to 'emulate' a high end Windows 7 gaming environment on current hardware.

My solution to the old games problem is to keep one Windows 7 machine running with my steam library installed. I can stream to any of the Linux boxes or my laptop. Works great. Windows 10 is 'the last Windows' according to Microsoft, so no need to upgrade. It'll just be my old games repository.

Most of the time when I'm at home I'm watching my kids and playing Stellaris or Civ V/Beyond Earth on my laptop. When I actually have time to play at the desktop it's Kerbal Space Program, Cities: Skylines, or Mount and Blade. I have more, but it's at the point where I'm saturated and I have more games than I can play. KotoR II is Linux native and I haven't had time to replay it, same with a couple Total War Games.

I'm not saying it has to be through direct emulation, I'm saying that's the level of COMPATIBILITY that's needed to bring over gamers. If Linux can't do that, then it's not a realistic solution for a lot of gamers, it's that simple. That's a lot of why it has less than 1% of gaming marketshare. If it works for you, great, but there's way, way too many games left off the table for everyone to consider it seriously.

EDIT:

In your own words:

You don't need Windows any more.

My solution to the old games problem is to keep one Windows 7 machine running with my steam library installed.

So you don't need Windows, except when you do. I don't like it anymore than you do, but I'm not going to delude myself over the situation either.

 

[heatlesssun]

I'm not saying it has to be through direct emulation, I'm saying that's the level of COMPATIBILITY that's needed to bring over gamers. If Linux can't do that, then it's not a realistic solution for a lot of gamers, it's that simple. That's a lot of why it has less than 1% of gaming marketshare. If it works for you, great, but there's way, way too many games left off the table for everyone to consider it seriously.

I get that some people don't like Windows for various reasons, the sentiment isn't at all new. But practically speaking PC gaming is Windows gaming. Yes, there's macOS and Linux but neither one comes close to supporting all PC games and now we're entering into new stuff like VR and almost all of that is Windows based now. The Steam hardware survey for November 2016 (December 2016 numbers will be out soon) puts Windows at 95.40% of all Steam clients. Maybe that number is way off but assuming that it's a realistic number, it's hard to imagine how other platforms for PC gaming will ever get the support of Windows until those numbers change significantly.

 

[ManofGod]

I get that some people don't like Windows for various reasons, the sentiment isn't at all new. But practically speaking PC gaming is Windows gaming. Yes, there's macOS and Linux but neither one comes close to supporting all PC games and now we're entering into new stuff like VR and almost all of that is Windows based now. The Steam hardware survey for November 2016 (December 2016 numbers will be out soon) puts Windows at 95.40% of all Steam clients. Maybe that number is way off but assuming that it's a realistic number, it's hard to imagine how other platforms for PC gaming will ever get the support of Windows until those numbers change significantly.

I know what you mean. There are folks who keep claiming that PC Gaming is not dead and, of course, it is not. Then the turn right around and what the OS that makes PC Gaming good to die in a fire. Talk about not seeing things as they really are.

 

[Hagrid]

I know what you mean. There are folks who keep claiming that PC Gaming is not dead and, of course, it is not. Then the turn right around and what the OS that makes PC Gaming good to die in a fire. Talk about not seeing things as they really are.

The PC beats the consoles. You can use the controllers on the PC. I am not sure why people buy a PS4 or Xbox. As for OS, I think 7 and 8.1 are pretty good.(8.1 with classic shell, same with 10 plus all the other virus removing stuff)

 

[heatlesssun]

I am not sure why people buy a PS4 or Xbox.

Cost and complexity.

 

[ChoGGi]

and exclusives

 

[blkt]

It will be a derivative of DirectX. It will allow the game developers direct access to hardware. They will be able to run the game without any layer of Windows between them. Developers will be able to write drivers that uniquely control their hardware. You have not seen anything like this in the last 20 years, even going back all the way to Windows 95. You won't even have to load Windows, you will be able to load right into a game from bootup. It will be marvelous! Just think how great it will be when each hardware manufacturer is able to create their own hardware drivers!

Right now it's being called DirectOperatingSystem, but eventually an easier name will be officially given.

So.. DOS?

 

[DeathFromBelow]

So you don't need Windows, except when you do. I don't like it anymore than you do, but I'm not going to delude myself over the situation either.

I still have an N64. I even set it up and play StarFox 64 once in a blue moon. That's nostalgia, not a need.

You don't need Windows. 1/3 of my Steam library is Linux native. All my favorite games are Linux native. All my hardware just works. I already have so many Linux-native games on Steam that I don't have enough free time to play them all. For people making the transition who still want their old Windows library fully available you can keep one Windows box and conveniently stream to any other machine. Works great and reduces the hassle of trying to keep Windows updated on multiple machines.

The point is that Linux is now a viable desktop OS. Anyone who hasn't tried it lately needs to load up their favorite distro and give it a spin. It's never been easier to transition off of Windows.

Marketing departments and PR firms say a lot of things.

With Windows 10 adoption flat again in December, and a bad rep simmering like what happened to Windows 8, I wouldn't be surprised if their next rebrand is to drop the version number altogether and call it just plain "Windows".

We'll see. I don't expect anything to change. That's why I gave up on Windows. Even if they came out with something that was actually an upgrade or sidegrade from 7 I'm not sure I would want to go back, Linux Mint is great.

 

[tetris42]

I still have an N64. I even set it up and play StarFox 64 once in a blue moon. That's nostalgia, not a need.

You don't need Windows.

So if I have a job where part of it is related to games, I of course still don't need Windows? Seems like the only way that would be true would be is if Linux can run all the same games. I mean by your logic, you don't really NEED a computer, you can't eat it.

Or let's say someone is an active gamer who wants to be able to run a wide variety of games, many of them on the PC. Well if Linux CAN'T RUN THEM, then the person NEEDS Windows in order to run all his games. He doesn't need it for his personal survival, but he needs it to play the damn game. Is this so difficult to understand? I mean even in your N64 example, you don't NEED the N64 to run the games because there are emulators that can do so. Linux can't do that for a lot of windows games. And hey, let's not pretend this is ONLY for old games. There's plenty of new ones Linux can't handle either. Even Windows 7 means you're missing out on a few titles now.

1/3 of my Steam library is Linux native. All my favorite games are Linux native. All my hardware just works. I already have so many Linux-native games on Steam that I don't have enough free time to play them all. For people making the transition who still want their old Windows library fully available you can keep one Windows box and conveniently stream to any other machine. Works great and reduces the hassle of trying to keep Windows updated on multiple machines.

Well you're making an excellent argument why YOU PERSONALLY don't need Windows. I'm still not hearing anything about how avid gamers don't need Windows to run all their PC games.

The point is that Linux is now a viable desktop OS. Anyone who hasn't tried it lately needs to load up their favorite distro and give it a spin. It's never been easier to transition off of Windows.

I'm not arguing that. I'm arguing you saying Mint Linux is for gaming, so much so, that I, as a gamer, don't need Windows to run my games. I think that's pure friggin' denial and you're not doing your favorite OS any favors by trying to sell it as something it's not. I've seen Linux zealots singing a similar song for maybe 15 years and it all comes down to the same thing: I still won't be able to run a bunch of my games. Believe me, I hope the situation changes, but I'm talking TODAY.

 

[DeathFromBelow]

I think that's pure friggin' denial and you're not doing your favorite OS any favors by trying to sell it as something it's not.

It really is thanks to Heatlessun and ManofGod and yourself that I decided to try Linux Mint again after a couple years just to see what was new.

I was blown away. All my hardware 'just works,' even my Highpoint RAID card and Creative SoundBlaster Z. All my favorite games are Linux native. 1/3 of my steam library is Linux native. I have more than enough games to completely fill my free time. This is tremendous improvement from last time I tried Linux. It's actually possible to transition to Linux now with very little effort.

It's a solid desktop OS platform that respects your settings and privacy. That makes the transition worth it. I'd love to see another '30 Days with Linux' experience on [H]OCP, I bet the experience would be a lot like mine.

 

[AndreRio]

then the pc, will turn into a true console. i like that. maybe if this fully works thats the end of the need for consoles?

 

[ManofGod]

It really is thanks to Heatlessun and ManofGod and yourself that I decided to try Linux Mint again after a couple years just to see what was new.

I was blown away. All my hardware 'just works,' even my Highpoint RAID card and Creative SoundBlaster Z. All my favorite games are Linux native. 1/3 of my steam library is Linux native. I have more than enough games to completely fill my free time. This is tremendous improvement from last time I tried Linux. It's actually possible to transition to Linux now with very little effort.

It's a solid desktop OS platform that respects your settings and privacy. That makes the transition worth it. I'd love to see another '30 Days with Linux' experience on [H]OCP, I bet the experience would be a lot like mine.

Cool dude, you are welcome, Linux Elitist going on and on and on and on.,........ (Linux evangelists. Going out of the way to show the rest of the world how little they know about computers one post at a time. - Credit goes to Osirus.) Sorry dude but, I have been trying Linux since lo before you were born in the PC world. It was fun back in the day to try it out but, it is not and will never be my host OS, it is just too limiting. Fun but limiting.

Back on topic though: It will be interesting to see if there really is a game mode or not. I honestly thought that back when XP was released, they would have a game mode like the Amiga where you could directly run the games without the OS running.

 

[heatlesssun]

It really is thanks to Heatlessun and ManofGod and yourself that I decided to try Linux Mint again after a couple years just to see what was new.

I was blown away. All my hardware 'just works,' even my Highpoint RAID card and Creative SoundBlaster Z. All my favorite games are Linux native. 1/3 of my steam library is Linux native. I have more than enough games to completely fill my free time. This is tremendous improvement from last time I tried Linux. It's actually possible to transition to Linux now with very little effort.

When I started using Linux almost 20 years ago, Red Hat was the distro of choice then, installing it and getting audio & video working wasn't any more difficult than Windows even then, at least on the hardware I was using at the time. Transitioning to Linux hasn't necessarily been hard however I think it's difficult to make the case that about how great it is to move to Linux when all does is install well and support a fraction of one's software.

It's a solid desktop OS platform that respects your settings and privacy. That makes the transition worth it. I'd love to see another '30 Days with Linux' experience on [H]OCP, I bet the experience would be a lot like mine.

And everything has it's tradeoffs. I certainly understand the appeal of Linux over Windows when you look at the weaknesses of Windows. But Windows has its strengths as well and Linux still has a long way to go to effectively compete against those strengths. A support of 1/3rd of a gamers library isn't good enough for people who simply want to play their games and isn't motivated by a political agenda. We'll see where 2017 goes. Looks like a lot of interesting stuff is in the pipeline for PCs this year, new AMD high end stuff, evolution of VR/AR, etc. And we'll see how Windows 10 updates go and if they address problems. It looks like users will have the ability to at least delay updates for up to 35 days. I doubt Microsoft will ever have a simply system for users to entirely disable updating, but better control of when does help.

 

[DeathFromBelow]

Me, Vista, 8... No Windows OS survives a bad reputation. Windows 10 has flatlined with less market share than a 7 year old operating system. Windows 7 grew twice as much as 10 did in December. Windows 10 is dead.

Microsoft has also claimed that Windows 10 is 'the last Windows' and they're clearly trying to ditch the desktop as we know it. Users can't stay on Windows 7 forever, the next logical step is Linux. 1/3 of my steam library and growing is Linux native, I already have too many games to play. All my hardware works. The ball is rolling, its time for power users to switch.

You ignored me when I explained the problems with Windows 8. You ignored me when I said 10 would fail. 'Game Mode' marketing stunts and letting people delay updates wont fix this train wreck.

 

[heatlesssun]

Me, Vista, 8... No Windows OS survives a bad reputation. Windows 10 has flatlined with less market share than a 7 year old operating system. Windows 7 grew twice as much as 10 did in December. Windows 10 is dead.

There are three surveys that I track, Netmarketshare, GS Statcounter and the Steam Hardware Survey. People will debate the legitimacy of all of them, particularly if they don't tell a story that one likes, but I think keeping all three in mind is a better way to look at it. They're are just snapshots in time and you have to look at the trends over time and in that regard they tend to tell similar stories. But one thing to keep in mind, Netmarketshare showed a dip in Linux and a big drop in macOS. I'd suspect those aren't permanent trends anymore than a big spike in Windows 7.

The Steam Hardware Survey now shows Windows 10 breaking 50%, Windows 10 64 bit is crushing Windows 7 64 bit in that survey by over 20 points now. But Windows 7 32 bit has a much larger user base in the Steam survey than Windows 10 so that narrows the aggregate total quite a bit. But 32 bit systems are pretty much not big gaming systems and those Windows 7 32 bit systems are probably very much long in the tooth.

In any case, the next period of sustained and consistent growth won't come until the enterprise starts migrations, and that's just a matter of time now. So yes, Windows 10 has it's problems but the writing is on the wall. And the fact that 7 is pretty much dying off in gaming is a leading indicator.

Microsoft has also claimed that Windows 10 is 'the last Windows' and they're clearly trying to ditch the desktop as we know it. Users can't stay on Windows 7 forever, the next logical step is Linux. 1/3 of my steam library and growing is Linux native, I already have too many games to play. All my hardware works. The ball is rolling, its time for power users to switch.

Windows 10 is the last version of Windows, until there's another version. I think that "last version" got misinterpreted. The point of that really is that Windows will be updated incrementally and faster, like all other major OSes and not in three year big bang releases.

And one point about it being time for power users switch. Well, there's tons of caveats to that. Gamers that spend a lot of money on hardware and games for instance. HardOCP has been very much into reviewing VR the last several months. And that's the thing. It's not so much Windows that makes it hard to use Linux, it's EVERYTHING else. If you have a software and hardware setup that works with Linux, great, this is place that has a lot of people that don't.

You ignored me when I explained the problems with Windows 8. You ignored me when I said 10 would fail. 'Game Mode' marketing stunts and letting people delay updates wont fix this train wreck.

You may think that Microsoft ignored you but they didn't ignore all of the major issues with 8. Full screen Start Menu, apps running in a Windows, Start Button (that was changed in 8.1), better high DPI scaling, etc. Certainly there are things that Microsoft didn't change, they just didn't drop everything in 8.x and go back to a keyboard and mouse only desktop OS and that's obviously an issue for many that don't care for 10.[/QUOTE]

 

[Jim Kim]

No, this "news" is just pure speculation started by a Twitter user who found a file called gamemode.dll in a W10 new build. His original post showed that he doesn't have a clue how Windows or games work, and yet that didn't stop this from spreading.

The sad thing is it literally takes just a few minutes to understand what that file is if someone who had a clue inspected the exports and dependencies. But instead we just get this ignorant speculation repackaged as "news".

Now it's pure fact, https://majornelson.com/2017/01/13/...atures-are-coming-to-xbox-one-and-windows-10/
Are you ready for that extra 1/10th frame per second of pure windows game mode goodness.

 

[htpc_user]

Microsoft has stated that 'Windows 10 is the last Windows.' They could care less about compatibility.

The market share of Linux on the desktop surpassed Vista in 2015 and doubled again in 2016. In only a few years we've gone from essentially no games to 1/4 of the Steam catalog and growing. I go weeks at a time without using Windows now. Linux is going to take over the desktop just like it took over enterprise and servers if Microsoft doesn't get it together.

The last Windows? So what would Microsoft do then? And everyone is just going to run Windows 10 forever? Or move to Linux or Mac?

 

[Exavior]

The last Windows? So what would Microsoft do then? And everyone is just going to run Windows 10 forever? Or move to Linux or Mac?

OS X (10) was the last version of the Mac OS. That is doesn't mean what you think it does. They like you have with OS X the idea is kind of much smaller free upgrades every year that over time change the entire system. Just like how OS X and OS X 10.9 are very different and 10.11 (or whatever the current one is) is different from 10.9. They are just releasing updates that are more focused. So last one modified the start menu and a few other visual things, they will have a gaming focus update, the creator focused update. And just like with OS X certain programs require certain updates. Like right now some things require anniversary update (10.1 if you want to call it that), some will require the creators update (10.2) and so on.

 

[Nenu]

The last Windows? So what would Microsoft do then? And everyone is just going to run Windows 10 forever? Or move to Linux or Mac?

They are taking all the excitement out of PCs, they must have a reason.
They made a horrible looking OS that doesnt let you do what you want, makes simple tasks trickier, steals private data, tries to trick you into using a microsoft account so its easier to use the store, points you to the store, causes problems with games bought from the store, shows adverts, doesnt give you a worthwhile start button, removes/disables the tweaks you added to try and stop it looking/behaving so crap, ... ...
Then they make it the last OS so you cant even look forward to a new improved Windows which you might actually want.

There must be a master plan that doesnt include PCs.

 

[ShuttleLuv]

MS Game Mode .... Geforce Experience .... "twilight zone music que"

 

[heatlesssun]

All I know is that I have more hardware and software running under Windows 10 than any prior version of Windows, and the experience is just over the damned top. The amount of things that Windows 10 supports is amazing. I've thought a great deal about the criticisms of 10 and there are legitimate issues. But there's not a single OS that can begin to replicate it's support on x86 devices, not even Windows 7.

 

[heatlesssun]

Some more info on what this Game Mode might be about: https://www.neowin.net/news/microso...ures-and-enhancements-for-the-xbox-one-and-pc

 

[Comixbooks]

console killer sounds great