Sweet Baby Jesus Yes!
Right then folks, it's time for everyone to sit down. It seems that the unthinkable is about to happen, it seems that all your dreams are maybe just about to come through, it seems like Microsoft has picked up the multiplayer ball and kicked it firmly from the Xbox Live side of the court straight into the face of Sony on the PlayStation Network side of the court. Microsoft has made cross network play between Xbox Live and PSN possible. That's right, things are just about to get a whole lot more interesting in the world of multiplayer gaming.
Now maybe some of you out there remember the 360 game Shadowrun, it allowed players on PC and 360 play together in an online environment, if you do remember Shadowrun chances are you do so because it was a shocking, broken, terrible mess that didn't do justice to the whole cross platform multiplayer goal it was trying to achieve. That was then and this is now, stuff has moved on and since Microsoft blurred the line between PC and Xbox One by using Windows 10 as the operating system for both, cross platform play between PC and Xbox One is now becoming a very real and working possibility.
So, how has all this come about you ask? Has hell frozen over? Are pigs starting to fly? No, the answer lies in a well known Indie game that was first released on the PS4, and just recently has being released on the Xbox One. This game is of course Rocket League and it has just smashed through the million player mark on the Xbox One. When Rocket League first hit the PS4, it allowed players on both the console and PC play against each other, but when it got its Xbox One release it only allowed for Xbox players to compete against each other. That is until now. Chris Charla, director for Microsoft's independent games initiative ID@Xbox made the following comments regarding the multiplayer aspects of the brilliant Rocket League and in doing so he might just of changed the world of online gaming forever.
“Players on Xbox One and Windows 10 using Xbox Live will be able to play with players on different online multiplayer networks—including other console and PC networks.”
“We’re thrilled to confirm that Psyonix’s Rocket League will be one of the first games to take advantage of this new capability by enabling cross-network play between Xbox One and PC players, with an open invitation for other networks to participate as well,” Charla said.
I really can't overstate how massive this announcement is, it's going to take Sony to play ball of course and it's going to take developers to look at online multiplayer in a brand new way but surly this is to amazing, to absolutely incredible be left as a non runner. Come on Sony, come on Microsoft, this has to happen now, players on both consoles want this, we want to shoot each other in the face, we want to beat each other to death, we want to race at 200mph around the worlds best race tracks together, we want to finally put our joypads where our mouth's are, we want to see which console comes out on top when it comes to the gamers who play on them. We want this, that in itself is reason enough for this to happen. Sony, Microsoft, it's time for you guys to start playing together, in doing so, it means we all get to play together.
Video By IGN