Some questions before purchase

I have some questions before purchasing an X Box One S.

What do I need in order to play a game on the X Box in the living room and then continue playing the game on my Surface Pro?

• Have them both connected to the same network
• An X Box One controller
• ….? What else?

I read somewhere that you need X Box Gold gamepass in order to stream games from X Box to Windows 10. Is that right?

Can I just disconnect the controller from the X Box and then connect it to my Surface Pro? (It's bluetooth, right?

Does an X Box controller have enough signal power to be used through a concrete wall?

If I stream a game from my X Box to a Windows 10 machine, can I use keyboard and mouse to play the game? Some games are just better using keyboard and mouse.

Can all games be streamed from X Box to Windows 10?

Reason for my questions: I'd like to play a game occasionally, but I have kids. So I want to be able to play in the living room when the kids are in bed and play that same game on a Windows 10 device somewhere else in the house if the kids are awake.

:)

 

Questions Before Purchase

Good idea. Thank you. Thank you all for your feedback. If it's similar with few improvements like the Naval battles which look intense and epic as well as a new story. I'm sold.

 

Questions Before Purchase

Hunting and tracking wild animals,

A Bow and Arrow,

Combat has changed, some say for the better others say for the worse,

Tree climbing and the ability to go across the map using the tree branches,

The economy has changed, you can now send trade caravans out,

A few new mini games like drafts but very different (TBH I haven't figured these out yet)

Quick Time Events, like hit B and then A to counter say a wolf attacking you.

Lock Picking as you mentioned already,

 

In order to be able to stream your Xbox games to the Surface Pro, you just need a fast enough home network. Everything else is already included in the purchase of your Surface and Xbox One console (provided, it's a newer Surface Pro with Windows 10, and
not the older Windows 8 Surface Pro. You would have to install Windows 10 on that).

You do NOT need Xbox Live Gold or Game Pass in order to stream to your Surface. Xbox Live Gold is needed, if you want to play online multiplayer on your Xbox console, or Party chat on the Xbox console.

If you're streaming to your Windows 10 PC, you can use the Party chat with the Windows 10 Xbox App without a Gold membership. However, since the game is running on the console itself, you would
need a Gold membership, if you want to play online Multiplayer on the game you stream to your Surface.

And Game Pass simply allows you to play a selection of over 100 games with a monthly subscription. It's basically the "Netflix" for videogames. If you already have a collection of games, that you are pleased with, you would not necessarily need the GamePass.
However, since you got the console new, you could have a game library of over 100 games with a low monthly payment, including brand new games from Microsoft like Sea of Thieves, Forza Horizon 4, Gears of War, Halo etc. and also top notch older games like Fallout
4, and a lot of Xbox 360 classics. You can see
a list of what's included in GamePass here.

While you could re-bind the controller each time to the console, then to the PC, then again to the console, I find that a bit cumbersome, as the controller only "learns" one device.

Instead, the purchase of a second dedicated controller for the PC would be a wise investment. But for now, you can simply use the bind button on the front of the controller to bind the controller to the console and PC each time you switch over.

As for the signal power: It depends on the concrete wall, and how far the devices are apart with the wall in between. For example, if the console is right behind the concrete wall, and you are standing on the exact other side of the concrete wall, meaning
you are about half a meter away from the device, it should work, as long as there is not a lot of metallic rebar in the concrete.

If the console is away from the wall in the other room, and you are also at the other end of the room from the concrete wall, then it probably won't work.

And it doesn't have to, since you are streaming to your PC, you simply connect the controller locally to your Surface device via Bluetooth, or more quickly with a Micro USB cable.

You can't (yet) use Keyboard and Mouse on games that are streamed to the PC. While Keyboard and Mouse control is coming to the Xbox on a game by game basis, the feature is currently in beta testing, and the only supported game for keyboard and mouse is Warframe,
which is tested right now.

Keep in mind, that while keyboard and mouse support will come to the Xbox One family, it's up to the game designer to decide if their game should support keyboard and mouse. If the game designer refuses to let you use keyboard and mouse, you're stuck with
a controller.

All games can be streamed to Windows 10. Be it Xbox One games, emulated Xbox 360 and original Xbox games. The only thing you can not stream, are video apps like Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime video and the likes.

Since you mention kids:

A lot of parents make the mistake and allow their kids to play with their parent account. Do NOT do that. If you let kids play with your own (adult) account, these kids are regarded as adults, and can do everything on the console unrestricted: Buy "unlimited"
stuff with your credit card, play mature, adult oriented games, talk to internet strangers etc.

So if you want to create a kid-safe environment on the Xbox as well, create for each kid a dedicated account, and add that to your Microsoft Family at
Microsoft account | Your family.

That way you can set certain restrictions to your kid's accounts, tailored to the specific kid, like age restrictions, play time restrictions, allow them to talk to only known people from their friend list and so on.

 

In order to be able to stream your Xbox games to the Surface Pro, you just need a fast enough home network. Everything else is already included in the purchase of your Surface and Xbox One console (provided, it's a newer Surface Pro with Windows
10, and not the older Windows 8 Surface Pro. You would have to install Windows 10 on that).

Great, most devices are on gigabit, so I'm good there! And I don't think I have anything left running Windows 8

Good to know about the game pass. That is something for later on. When I start playing games I'll first start with some older games. I like Assassin's Creed very much and I started playing it on my PC. That PC is way underpowered, so it is hard to
play the game on that.

Since then I bought my Surface Pro 2017. It is a i5/8GB/256GB version. On a different note: how would gaming on that machine be compared to gaming on an X Box One S? If that is comparable I can also purchase games for the Surface Pro and play games
on that. When I want to play downstairs then I just have to connect the SP to my TV. Perhaps you have some link to a comparison of gaming on a SP 2017 vs an X Box One S?

With regards to the signal I'll just try it. The X Box will be just on the other side of the wall.

Since you mention kids:

A lot of parents make the mistake and allow their kids to play with their parent account. Do NOT do that. If you let kids play with your own (adult) account, these kids are regarded as adults, and can do everything on the console
unrestricted: Buy "unlimited" stuff with your credit card, play mature, adult oriented games, talk to internet strangers etc.

So if you want to create a kid-safe environment on the Xbox as well, create for each kid a dedicated account, and add that to your Microsoft Family at
Microsoft account | Your family.

That way you can set certain restrictions to your kid's accounts, tailored to the specific kid, like age restrictions, play time restrictions, allow them to talk to only known people from their friend list and so on.

Way ahead of you Right after both of our kids were born I created an Outlook account for them and added them to our family. I really love that. I get a weekly insight in what my daughter is doing. Too bad the two Windows 10 Mobile devices we have for
them will not be supported for long and no new Windows 10 Mobile devices will come out. So in the long run they will end up using Android.

 

I dived a little deeper into why I am interested in an X Box One S in the first place and perhaps I should first better explore how it is compared to gaming on my Surface Pro 2017 i5/8/256. Therefore I also created a topic on Surfaceforums.net specifically
for that. Let me share that here as well:

Hi,

I have a Surface Pro 2017 i5/8/256 and I am looking for ways to start casual gaming. I don't have the time to do a lot of games, but every now and then I would like to play something. I'm very interested in for example Assassin's
Creed and like to start at the beginning and play it from the first game onwards. Also games like Quake, Command and Conquer, Lucky Tail etc have my interest.

I started playing Assassin's Creed on my current desktop and on the HTPC. And that has some downsides: the desktop is way underpowered and the HTPC I cannot use when the kids are downstairs or my wife wants to watch TV. Next to that: all accomplishments
on the HTPC are gone when I continue the game on my desktop.

That's why I decided an X Box One S may be a good option. I can play downstairs and stream to my desktop or SP for playing upstairs.

However, I can also use my SP for gaming and connect it to the TV while downstairs and to my monitors when playing upstairs. Main advantage would be I keep my accomplishments and I can play strategy games using mouse and keyboard.
Main question is: how is gaming on an X Box One S compared to gaming on a Surface Pro 2017 i5/8/256?
Thanks in advance for you responses!

 

Well, I own a first Generation Surface Pro and a Xbox One and Xbox One X at home.

First of all, be aware that the Surface Pro "only" has the processor internal Intel Graphics, that are unsuitable for very "modern" games. However, you mention "casual" games and Assassins Creed, which is comparably old and from the Xbox 360 era (unless
you mean the modern Assassins Creeds like Origin and the likes).

My old first generation Surface Pro is perfectly capable of playing casual games, and older 3D games like Portal 2 and various other "classic" Steam games.

It really depends on the graphical complexity of the game. While you can't expect to be able to run Forza Horizon 4 on your Surface Pro, 3D games from the Xbox 360 time era (i.e. up to about 2010-ish) should more or less work on your Surface. When it comes
to casual games or Strategy games which are less graphics intensive your Surface should work as well. Your mileage may vary however, depending on how high you'll turn up the graphical settings.

As for the Xbox One S: The Xbox One has a custom SoC (System on a Chip) that combines graphics hardware and main CPU, similar to the Intel i5 processor of your Surface, with the difference, that it's an AMD processor, and a much more powerful graphics hardware
comparable to a dedicated graphics card in a desktop PC or the Surface Book's power base.

Therefore the Xbox One S is still capable of running more modern games like the just released Forza Horizon 4 for example, while your Intel graphics chip in the Surface wouldn't. But you would be able to stream these games from the Xbox One to your Surface
no problem, as the Xbox would do the heavy lifting of the 3D graphics, and then sending a compressed video stream to your Surface, where the Surface simply has to decompress a 2D Video stream instead of complex real time 3D graphics.

 

Thanks! Sounds like the Xbox One S is the best solution after all!

Of course if I have enough time and finish the first few Assassin's Creed games I want to continue with the rest. Then the Surface Pro is a no go. And I can always still use the Surface Pro for the strategy games that I want to play using keyboard and mouse.
I don't want to play those in the living room anyway.