It’s not every day you see someone playing games on their refrigerators screens. A recent tweet demonstrated how you can play any title at xCloud gaming service on your refrigerator. The user managed to get the Xbox Cloud Streaming service up and running on a Samsung Smart Fridge. He even posted a small video showing how good the experience actually was.
This isn’t the first time we’re seeing Doom running at unusual places. Not long also a twitter user Foone posted a video of Doom running on a pregnancy test. They made this work by replacing a few components of the device and porting the game onto it. While there were some obvious limitations to it, it was an interesting job nonetheless.
Twitter user AndyPlaytonic may have been inspired by this event and it led him to play doom on his home refrigerator. It is interesting how he was able to do so. He used Microsoft’s newly launched game streaming platform xCloud for this task. Since the smart fridge was loaded with a version of Android OS, his task was not as hard. He sideloaded the android application for Xbox Game Pass on his fridge and he was good to go.
While the application did have some scaling issues on the screen, it ran in portrait mode because of hardware limitations. The game ran pretty smoothly. Here is a small video of the game running on his refrigerator which he posted on twitter.
Via the power of xCloud, Doom Eternal runs on a Samsung fridge:https://t.co/419Pbzh3Fv pic.twitter.com/UVo3vK8b36
— Andy Robinson (@AndyPlaytonic) October 13, 2020
One interesting thing about this experiment is the diversity of game streaming platforms. Microsoft has previously talked numerous times about how establishing an interconnected ecosystem of devices is their goal for future generations. For Xbox that goal translates to playing your games on whichever device you want without mining on the experience. While Microsoft didn’t plan for gaming on refrigerators they might have to add this to a list of future options.
The xCloud Service:
An interesting fact about this even is that we have Microsoft game service running on refrigerators before it could reach the Apple devices. While you may think it has something to do with slow developers at Microsoft it is actually a fault of Apple themselves. Apple has been blocking services like xCloud and Stadia from iOS and iPadOS actively. Since android is an open-source platform Microsoft was able to develop and deploy its application much faster.
Once the application is out there it can run on pretty much anything that uses Android OS. According to the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer “direct browser-based solution” for xCloud will be available in early 2021. This step will add even more devices to the list for this new service. You can try the service for yourself right now if you own an Android device.
Microsoft says that you need the following things to start playing Xbox games from the cloud with Xbox Game Pass. A smartphone or device with Android version 6.0 or greater, Bluetooth version 4.0+. The Xbox Game Pass app with Ultimate membership obviously. An Xbox or any other compatible wireless game controller. Lastly, you will need a solid internet connection for the optimal gaming experience.
The service is only available to Xbox Game Pass owners so if you don’t have one now might be a good time to get it. Not one does the Xbox Game Pass offer much more and improved options now. Microsoft also has a ton of new game developers working right now for many exclusive games on the platform.