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XboxScorpioSoC

Microsoft has been teasing its E3 prove for the past calendar week or so, with hints about Project Scorpio. Now, nosotros know the company is possibly looking to emphasize VR or AR with a new trademark filing for DirectReality. The single-word trademark describes itself as applying to "Computer software; calculator game software; computer software for holographic applications… Online computer software; online computer game software; online computer software for holographic applications; Software as a Service (SaaS)."

There's been a lot of chatter about whether this means VR, AR, or something birthday dissimilar. On the surface, it invites comparison to DirectX, Microsoft's API for tasks related to multimedia programming, including video playback, gaming, 2D graphics, and GPU compute. The name "DirectReality" aligns well with the names of these other components. Direct3D (which is what nearly people mean when they reference DirectX) is a single give-and-take, as is Direct2D, DirectWrite, and DirectCompute. The API has besides been critical to Microsoft'south console efforts in the by; the entire Xbox brand derives from DirectXbox.

DirectReality

The link to the trademark expires relatively quickly due to existence classified as a search result, and so here's an image. You tin try the link here.

That said, at that place are some interesting omissions here equally well. Media speculation has been that this new DirectReality trademark could refer to programs for both VR and AR. Merely information technology'south also possible Microsoft is only trademarking a proper name that will permit it to advertise when a game supports certain non-traditional gaming modes, in much the same way that a GPU might advertise DirectX 12 back up. In this reading, "DirectReality" would hateful that a game offers certain gameplay options, rather than beingness an API for developers to utilize to improve their games.

Microsoft's actual trademark application makes no mention of VR, though it does speak about "computer software for holographic applications," verbiage that aligns more closely with the fashion Microsoft talks virtually HoloLens than whatsoever VR project. Microsoft has talked about VR and Project Scorpio earlier, merely the company doesn't seem to be putting much emphasis behind that move. There will exist no VR headsets at E3, and Microsoft has also stated that Windows 10 is its master focus as a mixed reality driver. In a recent interview with Polygon, Microsoft Technical Swain Alex Kipman had this to say:

Our primary focus is making our mixed reality experiences a success on Windows x PCs," Alex Kipman, technical fellow at Microsoft, told Polygon today. "We believe that correct at present a Windows PC is the best platform for mixed reality as its open ecosystem and enormous installed base offering the best opportunity for developers, and Windows offers the well-nigh choices for consumers.

"Windows has been the birthplace of a multifariousness of technologies, and we believe this will hold for mixed reality too. Given the efforts nosotros have underway on Windows for mixed reality, and our conventionalities that panel VR should exist wireless, right now nosotros are focused on developing mixed reality experiences for the PC, not on the panel."

That interview is only two days old and it suggests how this will play out. The cheap VR headsets that Windows ten is meant to enable may well be matched by API support, branding initiatives, or both to brand buying into the PC ecosystem more attractive to consumers and easier for developers to back up. And it explains why the Project Scorpio evolution boards nosotros've seen lack actress HDMI outputs or the other capabilities required to support wired VR with today'south Oculus Rift or HTC Vive — Microsoft wants a wireless VR (or a meliorate AR) solution and it sees this as a fundamental requirement for the platform. The impact the emphasis on wireless will have on VR, and the need for bombardment-draining Wi-Fi speeds and local processing to run VR/AR workloads, is withal unknown.