Dear Microsoft. Thanks for showing us the future, and then shitting all over it.

I remember when I first heard about Games for Windows - Live. There was a lot of gnashing of teeth over the Gold membership and how this was ruining online PC gaming. Of course, the notion is complete rubbish, as Silver membership is free and gives you everything that online gaming has now. All that Gold membership did was enable cross-platform play (PC vs 360) and TruSkill matchmaking (assigns players to maps based on their skill to create a more balanced experience). The thing I was excited about, cross platform play. Microsoft opened the world to an idea of new possibilities by proclaiming to bridge the gap between consoles and PCs. The control scheme difference can be corrected through improved leading and auto-aim correction to make up for the joypad's lack of finesse, as they did in Shadowrun. Fuck it, I would have even been willing to go out and buy a damn 360 control pad for my PC if games used Unreal Tournament 3's method of hosting. (which I'll get into later)

Either way you viewed it, good or bad, many were excited about cross platform online play. Notice how I used past tense? That's because no one is excited about it anymore. Microsoft proclaimed to bridge the gap and usher in a new era of online gaming. Then they shat all over it and left it for dead. Believe it or not, but I would have been willing to pay the $49.99 for 12 months subscription. That is, I would have if their were any fucking games to play cross platform then or even now.

How many cross platform games are there, you might ask? Well, between PC and 360: two. Yes, two measly fucking game. The games? Universe At War: Earth Assualt and the aforementioned Shadowrun. Funny thing about Shadowrun... the developers went bankrupt and closed up shop. The PC servers have been teetering on the edge of deletion for several months and it's probably just a matter of time. Which is just dandy for anyone who got duped into buying a Gold account. What's the fucking point? You barely get anything worthwhile with the Games For Windows - Live account and the only reason many did it anyways was to play with their online counterparts. It's now blatantly obvious that Microsoft doesn't give a shit about the only real selling point for GfW - Live. Even with the upcoming rerelease of Lost Planet (dubbed Lost Planet: Colonies), GfW - Live's cross platform multiplayer support is still complete rubbish. With the new Lost Planet, that's now a whopping total of 3 games, 1 of which no one plays anymore and the other two that no one gives a shit about.

Recently it was announced that Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway will support cross platform multiplayer when it's released. The joke: cross platform multiplayer between Playstation 3 and PC ONLY. Yep, PS3 and PC players can go toe to toe fragging each other into historically based gibs, but the 360 is left out in the cold. Why? Who the fuck knows. It seems ludicrously idiotic that at least PC to 360 play isn't included considering Microsoft has the distribution model already in place to enable and promote cross platform. All of this is forgetting all about PS3 to 360 play, which do support similar control schemes, but that issue is more of a hardware one than anything else.

Most cross platform developed games routinely get the "will this have cross platform multiplayer?" question asked. And the answer is routinely, "no." Upcoming online horror/survival FPS Left 4 Dead was rumored to be looking into cross platform multiplayer. Will it have it when Left 4 Dead ships sometimes 3rd quarter of this year? Hell no. For all the hand-wringing that accompanies shouts of "mouse and keyboard gives players an unfair advantage", the argument falls really flat. The cries of disadvantages are real and warranted, however, these can be overcome using the scheme that Unreal Tournament 3 uses for the PS3, which is an option of sequestering PS3 m&k (mouse & keyboard) players from regular joypad players. The PS3 openly supports keyboard and mouse. There are k&m peripherals for the 360 (which would leverage the laying field for cross platform multiplayer), yet Microsoft seems to shit all over that, too, refusing to support any m&k peripherals for anything other than chatting and for interface use. They simply do not want people gaming on their console with m&k. The fact that Epic included m&k support for the PS3 proves that console users are interested in PC-style control schemes.

Speaking of Unreal 3, what a great idea. Now, Unreal 3 does not support cross-platform play. The reasoning was pretty damn weak. Epic said it was because patches for the PS3 require certification and approval , which would delay their release. Epic claims that they didn't want to upset their core PC-user base by requiring them to wait longer for patches due to the PS3. Yeah... whatever. I smell bullshit. But the method to handle m&k support for the PS3 is ingeniously simple and should be used with all games that plan to support cross-platform multiplayer. When hosting a game, you can choose to have only m&k players, only joypad players, or both. This is brilliant. Excpet, Microsoft refuses to support m&k gaming for their console. Still, this means that 360 players could join in on joypad servers. Or, here's a thought, make it so that if you want to play against 360 users on your PC you must use a joypad. Not necessarily the 360 joypad, but a joypad of some sort.

So, why are so few games being released with cross platform multiplayer? Why am I leveraging all of this on Microsoft? Because Microsoft was the one that said, "hey! Check this out! Huh!? Pretty, cool, right?" Then absolutely failed to deliver. If Sony was the one that came out saying cross platform was going to be big, hot, awesome shit, I'd be bitching about Sony. But they didn't, and so I won't. As to why so few games support cross platform multiplayer, it's not a secret. Licensing. There's all sorts of legal wrangling that must occur in order for this to happen. In essence, bureaucratic bullshit from pencil pushers is fucking up everyone's possibility to enjoy these games to their fullest potential. Some whisperings in darkened corners have even said that the big 3 require additional licensing fees if developers wish to enable cross platform. There has been no substantial evidence to support this, as no developer has actually said such a thing. It's all just pure speculation.

Some might wonder, "what's the point? Who cares if PS3, PC and 360 players can all play the same together. The servers are populated enough." Not really. One of the biggest killers for multiplayer console games is that everyone gets wrapped up in the latest game and jumps ship. This limited number of users can be easily alleviated by allowing other console and PC players join in as well. Instead of having a small number from X, Y, and Z only be able to play their respective counterparts (X to X, Y to Y, Z to Z) they can now all pool together and play against each other (Z + Y + Z = AWESOME). Sparse player population solved.

With all that said, it's a shame that cross platform multiplayer is basically regarded as dead. It shouldn't be and Microsoft's lackluster support on the issue is a travesty, especially after they promoted the idea so heavily. It's easy to blame the developers, but when Microsoft is unwilling to support a simple interface that would easily bridge the gap and eliminate such unfairness, you have to begin to wonder where the fault actually lies. Tying the hands of developers and forcing them to gimmick-up their control schemes is stupid and counterproductive. In short: Thank you, Microsoft, for showing us the future of online multiplayer, shitting all over it, abandoning it and leaving the idea to die in the dust.