Stream-Screen in Halo 5 - redefining couch co-op?

Games Halo 5: Guardians
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This topic is split-screen related, but it is not centered around the split-screen multiplayer feature. This is about a different feature of the game, which at this point is either theoretical(possible W.I.P.) or just an idea of mine that could still work for Halo 5. As the title suggests, I call it “Stream-Screen”.

When Windows 10 was announced, Microsoft revealed that you could stream X-Box One games to a PC/Laptop/Tablet(might be wrong about tablet). This is old news by now, but this feature is even more interesting that most people believe, because it opens up huge possibilities. Apart from making console gaming more convenient, this can be used for couch co-op. The idea is simple - stream the other players to other windows 10 devices. This way all players get the couch co-op experience along with the full-screen experience. There is the obvious downside of requiring a windows 10 device, which might not be a problem for 2 players, since I assume the larger part of X-Box owners if not all of them, have PC-s so if this feature is coming, a minimum of 2-player stream-screen is guaranteed. However this feature would probably be best utilized with laptops and/or tablets if the console is generally kept in the living room, but it is still an awesome idea, because it would be a radical change to the way we see couch co-op.

This is a nice idea and all things considered I think that 343 are doing exactly that. Think about it - Halo is X-Box’s flagship title, it’s purpose since it became a flagship title has been to showcase the power and abilities of the X-Box console. It has been pushing visuals, features that improve the experience (split-screen, online multiplayer, x-box live, etc.) and many other things that X-Box has developed to this day. It’s only natural that they are trying to show the awesome possibilities that this feature brings to the Microsoft eco-system. Least of all it’s an interesting way to push out windows 10 devices as well as X-Box consoles.

Whether they come out with this feature or traditional split-screen, I believe couch co-op will be addressed post-launch least of all due to the fact that the windows 10 update for x-box one is coming in November, so until then you wouldn’t be able to stream games at all. Since this is a new feature for x-box and windows 10 there will be technical issues to work out, so we might see it in late November.

Side note: I still think split-screen should be added in the game, because of the obvious downside of stream-screen, which is the need for additional windows 10 devices, as well as split-screen being overall more convenient to setup. It is possible that 343i might add it post launch if they decide to run it with reduced visual quality and framerate(as long as said reduction is limited to split-screen), but that is speculation at this point. End of side note

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The problem is the Xbone is not powerful enough to create two distinct screens of a game of Halo 5’s caliber at the same time. It is literally physically impossible.

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> 2533274803493024;2:
> The problem is the Xbone is not powerful enough to create two distinct screens of a game of Halo 5’s caliber at the same time. It is literally, physically impossible.

I believe the problem was handling several players alongside rendering while on a single screen, if the console streams the data to a windows 10 device, it should be able to handle the rendering itself. Lag wouldn’t be so much of a problem, considering the fact that this is happening on a local network. Yes the console itself cannot handle the multiple screens, which is why stream-screen would be a beautiful concept. Now the console doesn’t have to handle all of it.

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If the extra device was utilised for computing, this could work, although there may be a loss in frame rate, maybe 48, down to 30 even, for both players. Could work, with a bit of thought - well done sir.

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> 2535442610755361;4:
> If the extra device was utilised for computing, this could work, although there may be a loss in frame rate, maybe 48, down to 30 even, for both players. Could work, with a bit of thought - well done sir.

Actually I don’t think that framerate would be harmed since in reality we aren’t talking about all that much data, and keep in mind that the xbone can run background apps that use internet, so this shouldn’t be an issue console-side. And considering that PC have much more computing power, the game should be just as smooth on the other-player screens. There could be latency but it should still be as smooth as playing alone.

The data to be streamed is - current map(one off package on starting the game), player input (location, actions like shooting melee), guns he is holding, AI position and actions for campaign and warzone and data on vehicles. While it is possible to get framerate in warzone(because we know that that mode will be a clusterf**k) there shouldn’t be many problems with this system.

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> 2535463106424241;3:
> > 2533274803493024;2:
> > The problem is the Xbone is not powerful enough to create two distinct screens of a game of Halo 5’s caliber at the same time. It is literally, physically impossible.
>
>
> I believe the problem was handling several players alongside rendering while on a single screen, if the console streams the data to a windows 10 device, it should be able to handle the rendering itself. Lag wouldn’t be so much of a problem, considering the fact that this is happening on a local network. Yes the console itself cannot handle the multiple screens, which is why stream-screen would be a beautiful concept. Now the console doesn’t have to handle all of it.

When playing on a Windows 10 device, even if it’s the most powerful gaming computer in the world, the Xbone is still doing all of the processing and the computer’s monitor is just serving as a television. So the Xbone could never render a game on one television and a different screen at the same time. Another Xbone would still be required.

I don’t understand how you think this could work. If the computer is doing the rendering, than that’s literally two machines running a copy of the same game. So you could have ten people over and all of their computers could run Halo if this magical computational system worked. No publisher would go for that. And a second copy of the game wouldn’t help because pcs can’t by default read Xbone discs.

> 2535463106424241;5:
> > 2535442610755361;4:
> > If the extra device was utilised for computing, this could work, although there may be a loss in frame rate, maybe 48, down to 30 even, for both players. Could work, with a bit of thought - well done sir.
>
>
> Actually I don’t think that framerate would be harmed since in reality we aren’t talking about all that much data, and keep in mind that the xbone can run background apps that use internet, so this shouldn’t be an issue console-side. And considering that PC have much more computing power, the game should be just as smooth on the other-player screens. There could be latency but it should still be as smooth as playing alone.

PCs don’t always have more computing power. I own three laptops, two tablets, and a desktop computer and only one of these is more powerful than my xbone.

In short, I agree that this would be cool. In fairy-tale land. But it can’t and won’t happen, so sorry to burst your bubble.

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Feel free to use the splitscreen thread.