The big thing I learned from this article was actually news from a couple years ago. I'm not sure how I missed hearing about this. A lot of the issues I had with the store were really issues with...
The big thing I learned from this article was actually news from a couple years ago.
Microsoft finally started supporting traditional win32 games in its store a couple of years ago (link), but this change alone hasn’t helped the Windows store compete with Steam.
I'm not sure how I missed hearing about this. A lot of the issues I had with the store were really issues with UWP apps. It's probably worth another look, especially if the lower cut ends up translating to lower prices. I'm still opposed to linking my windows login to a Microsoft account though, and tbh I normally use Win10 LTSC, where installing Store is a giant PITA.
Anyway, this is a big move to try and draw people to their store. I have to wonder if this is some desperate last-ditch all-or-nothing play in the last of Store's death throes. Aside from Forza and Office, I can't recall ever meeting anyone who bought anything from the Windows Store. It's funny to think now about how Valve ended up creating their own OS and encouraged a dozen PC manufacturers to make consolized PCs running SteamOS because they were so worried about the Windows Store being overwhelmingly successful.
You can log in to the Windows Store with your Microsoft account and still use your local Windows user account for your system. The store itself is still a dumpster fire though. Downloads are...
You can log in to the Windows Store with your Microsoft account and still use your local Windows user account for your system.
The store itself is still a dumpster fire though. Downloads are buggy, and I don't think the win32 apps distributed through it actually function any better than UWP. I put up with it for Game Pass, but I have no desire to actually buy games this way.
I actually don't have a problem with UWP itself. Shipping apps in a self-contained package and running in a secure sandbox is probably how most software should be distributed. But I get why it rubs some people the wrong way, since modifying UWP games can be difficult if the developer does not explicitly allow for it.
Seconded. If there's a killer app for the Windows store then Game Pass is it, but even then it has that slightly disjointed thing going on where games are presented as part of the Windows store...
I put up with it for Game Pass, but I have no desire to actually buy games this way.
Seconded. If there's a killer app for the Windows store then Game Pass is it, but even then it has that slightly disjointed thing going on where games are presented as part of the Windows store and the Xbox app simultaneously.
I've been using Playnite to pull all the store fronts on the system into a unified interface, so my interaction with Xbox/Steam/Epic/GOG is solely for buying & installing new games, but it's probably not a great sign for usability that I feel the need to use a third party program to avoid them.
Speaking as the previous owner of two Windows-powered smart-phones: This kind of user experience is a proud Microsoft tradition at this point. Both phones came pre-installed with an Xbox app,...
it has that slightly disjointed thing going on where games are presented as part of the Windows store and the Xbox app simultaneously.
Speaking as the previous owner of two Windows-powered smart-phones: This kind of user experience is a proud Microsoft tradition at this point. Both phones came pre-installed with an Xbox app, which probably had some neat integration with Xbox that I never bothered explore, but also operated as a separate (and completely unnecessary) game-focused app store.
I think both then and now Microsoft has overestimated the power of the Xbox brand. It did little to prevent their phone business from toppling, and I imagine it does even less good for their desktop OS. At worst, they may be diluting the brand by using it in places it has no business being.
Game Pass is awesome though. I'm not currently subscribed, but I was back when I was playing Sea of Thieves. I think Microsoft should focus more on the user experience than on killer apps. If they can make installing Steam seem like an unnecessary chore compared to using the Windows Store, then they can really make a dent in the gaming market. Game pass might help with that strategy.
The store sucks functionally but it's not a bad concept, really. It allows for the sale of some applications that integrate into Windows and extend the OS in ways that applications installed...
The store sucks functionally but it's not a bad concept, really. It allows for the sale of some applications that integrate into Windows and extend the OS in ways that applications installed traditionally can't do without installing things like services that run at startup. I've got two I like:
Dolby Atmos for Headphones
EarTrumpet
Both of these integrate into Windows' sound menu. Dolby Atmos for Headphones allows me to turn spatial sound on and off system-wide with just a switch, and when on it automatically integrates with games that use it, or apps that require it to enable spatial audio (i.e. Netflix's Windows app).
EarTrumpet is bit simpler, it basically adds a better per-app volume control that's more easily accessible. It also has better shortcuts to Windows sound menus than the default Windows speaker.
Of course, neither of these are perfect. They don't integrate with each other! I can't turn Dolby Atmos or control Windows' spatial audio options from EarTrumpet's handy shortcut. Meanwhile when I turn off Dolby Atmos, Windows turns my sound settings to 5.1 surround for some dumb reason instead of back to Stereo.
EarTrumpet looks pretty neat, I might have to give that a shot. I've been using the audio widget in the Xbox Game Bar or whatever it's called for volume control for a while, since it has sliders...
EarTrumpet looks pretty neat, I might have to give that a shot. I've been using the audio widget in the Xbox Game Bar or whatever it's called for volume control for a while, since it has sliders for each app, you can pin certain apps to always be at the top, and you can pull it up anytime with Win+G. I like that EarTrumpet shows which apps are actually producing sound though, that would definitely be nice to have sometimes.
Yeah, I think the Game Bar added EarTrumpet's features a few years after ET's release, but my Game Bar was actually glitched out for years. It only started working for me since I installed this...
Yeah, I think the Game Bar added EarTrumpet's features a few years after ET's release, but my Game Bar was actually glitched out for years. It only started working for me since I installed this dev build of W10 to try out Auto HDR, weirdly.
Even having both, I find EarTrumpet generally lets me get into the volume controls a lot quicker since it sites in my system tray and doesn't require me to pull up an overlay. EarTrumpet really shines if you have multiple audio output devices, though, as it allows you to control the volume per app, per device very quickly.
I bought Age of Empires Definitive Edition from the store, but that was it. The remaster was honestly a bit shit though and I didn't play it for long. All they added aside from substantially...
I bought Age of Empires Definitive Edition from the store, but that was it. The remaster was honestly a bit shit though and I didn't play it for long. All they added aside from substantially improving the graphics was the ability to attack-move and have higher control/population limits, which were oddly disabled when you played with legacy graphics.
Not saying that the changes they made aren't welcome, but they needed to do so much more to fix the hot mess that the original game and RoR expansion were. Among other things adding rebindable hotkeys to upgrades was a damn necessity that even other RTS games around the same period didn't mess up.
They also didn't fix the many balance issues that the game had, nor the fact that the meta was basically spamming chariot archers. If the entire meta revolves around a single unit then it's a sign that it won't succeed as a competitive game experience. And that stuff is far more important than you'd think for the casual player.
AoE2 is a far more beloved game because unit compositions are far more balanced and have more clearly defined counters. Unlike AoE1 where chariot archers had no counter, their AoE2 equivalent were countered by both skirmishers and pikemen, along with a few unique units designed specifically to counter archers or cavalry.
The big thing I learned from this article was actually news from a couple years ago.
I'm not sure how I missed hearing about this. A lot of the issues I had with the store were really issues with UWP apps. It's probably worth another look, especially if the lower cut ends up translating to lower prices. I'm still opposed to linking my windows login to a Microsoft account though, and tbh I normally use Win10 LTSC, where installing Store is a giant PITA.
Anyway, this is a big move to try and draw people to their store. I have to wonder if this is some desperate last-ditch all-or-nothing play in the last of Store's death throes. Aside from Forza and Office, I can't recall ever meeting anyone who bought anything from the Windows Store. It's funny to think now about how Valve ended up creating their own OS and encouraged a dozen PC manufacturers to make consolized PCs running SteamOS because they were so worried about the Windows Store being overwhelmingly successful.
You can log in to the Windows Store with your Microsoft account and still use your local Windows user account for your system.
The store itself is still a dumpster fire though. Downloads are buggy, and I don't think the win32 apps distributed through it actually function any better than UWP. I put up with it for Game Pass, but I have no desire to actually buy games this way.
I actually don't have a problem with UWP itself. Shipping apps in a self-contained package and running in a secure sandbox is probably how most software should be distributed. But I get why it rubs some people the wrong way, since modifying UWP games can be difficult if the developer does not explicitly allow for it.
Seconded. If there's a killer app for the Windows store then Game Pass is it, but even then it has that slightly disjointed thing going on where games are presented as part of the Windows store and the Xbox app simultaneously.
I've been using Playnite to pull all the store fronts on the system into a unified interface, so my interaction with Xbox/Steam/Epic/GOG is solely for buying & installing new games, but it's probably not a great sign for usability that I feel the need to use a third party program to avoid them.
Speaking as the previous owner of two Windows-powered smart-phones: This kind of user experience is a proud Microsoft tradition at this point. Both phones came pre-installed with an Xbox app, which probably had some neat integration with Xbox that I never bothered explore, but also operated as a separate (and completely unnecessary) game-focused app store.
I think both then and now Microsoft has overestimated the power of the Xbox brand. It did little to prevent their phone business from toppling, and I imagine it does even less good for their desktop OS. At worst, they may be diluting the brand by using it in places it has no business being.
Game Pass is awesome though. I'm not currently subscribed, but I was back when I was playing Sea of Thieves. I think Microsoft should focus more on the user experience than on killer apps. If they can make installing Steam seem like an unnecessary chore compared to using the Windows Store, then they can really make a dent in the gaming market. Game pass might help with that strategy.
The store sucks functionally but it's not a bad concept, really. It allows for the sale of some applications that integrate into Windows and extend the OS in ways that applications installed traditionally can't do without installing things like services that run at startup. I've got two I like:
Both of these integrate into Windows' sound menu. Dolby Atmos for Headphones allows me to turn spatial sound on and off system-wide with just a switch, and when on it automatically integrates with games that use it, or apps that require it to enable spatial audio (i.e. Netflix's Windows app).
EarTrumpet is bit simpler, it basically adds a better per-app volume control that's more easily accessible. It also has better shortcuts to Windows sound menus than the default Windows speaker.
Of course, neither of these are perfect. They don't integrate with each other! I can't turn Dolby Atmos or control Windows' spatial audio options from EarTrumpet's handy shortcut. Meanwhile when I turn off Dolby Atmos, Windows turns my sound settings to 5.1 surround for some dumb reason instead of back to Stereo.
EarTrumpet looks pretty neat, I might have to give that a shot. I've been using the audio widget in the Xbox Game Bar or whatever it's called for volume control for a while, since it has sliders for each app, you can pin certain apps to always be at the top, and you can pull it up anytime with Win+G. I like that EarTrumpet shows which apps are actually producing sound though, that would definitely be nice to have sometimes.
Yeah, I think the Game Bar added EarTrumpet's features a few years after ET's release, but my Game Bar was actually glitched out for years. It only started working for me since I installed this dev build of W10 to try out Auto HDR, weirdly.
Even having both, I find EarTrumpet generally lets me get into the volume controls a lot quicker since it sites in my system tray and doesn't require me to pull up an overlay. EarTrumpet really shines if you have multiple audio output devices, though, as it allows you to control the volume per app, per device very quickly.
I bought Age of Empires Definitive Edition from the store, but that was it. The remaster was honestly a bit shit though and I didn't play it for long. All they added aside from substantially improving the graphics was the ability to attack-move and have higher control/population limits, which were oddly disabled when you played with legacy graphics.
Not saying that the changes they made aren't welcome, but they needed to do so much more to fix the hot mess that the original game and RoR expansion were. Among other things adding rebindable hotkeys to upgrades was a damn necessity that even other RTS games around the same period didn't mess up.
They also didn't fix the many balance issues that the game had, nor the fact that the meta was basically spamming chariot archers. If the entire meta revolves around a single unit then it's a sign that it won't succeed as a competitive game experience. And that stuff is far more important than you'd think for the casual player.
AoE2 is a far more beloved game because unit compositions are far more balanced and have more clearly defined counters. Unlike AoE1 where chariot archers had no counter, their AoE2 equivalent were countered by both skirmishers and pikemen, along with a few unique units designed specifically to counter archers or cavalry.