Windows 8 and Multi-Monitor: Wild Unfounded Speculation

News has been ricocheting around the pipes of the internet today with details of Microsoft's next desktop operating system: Windows 8. Or so you think! In fact, Microsoft are trying to push this as more than just for desktops this time around, as they try and expand the capabilities of their touch screen features to try and keep pace with a market saturated with glossy screens and thumb smudges. Windows touch screen features have been around as early as Windows XP, but with the lack of touch screen devices on the market back when we had shallow, unfulfilled, disconnected lives, these elements were largely left forgotten and unloved. We were far too busy having to endure the torture of reading facial expressions and wondering how the hell we'd ever know what Craig from High School had for lunch today.

But in this magical new world of iPads and HP Touchpad firesales, Microsoft seem to be pushing the touch screen capabilities of Windows 8 right to the front. Dubbed Metro UI, this is an evolution of the Aero graphical swankiness introduced in (whisper it) Vista. Metro UI transforms the desktop into a swathe of multi-coloured squares that Notch himself would be proud of, allowing a greasy thumb or finger to easily open whatever application you so desire. WSGF user Slinky has been awesome enough to provide us with some Windows 8 Eyefinity screenshots to fawn over below. [Original Thread]

Windows 8: Metro UI


Windows 8: Standard Desktop

And, well, that's where it ends. For multi-monitor details at least. Every step we take past this point is pure conjecture syphoned from that over-excited corner of my mind that's used for spending lottery winnings and planning that special evening with Scarlett Johansson. Ahem.

First off, there's the obvious. I'd eat the entire TF2 hat catalogue if the touchscreen capability didn't work across multiple individual monitors, but whether it will work as cleanly when the displays are grouped in EyeFinity or Surround is yet to be seen. I'd imagine support for this would sit firmly at nVidia and AMD's passively cooled feet, so one can only hope they have a vested interest in getting it to work. And where would that interest come from? If the answer you're looking for isn't 'games', you're on the wrong site. While developers are starting to include multi-monitor support in their new titles - albeit at about the same speed as Valve's Half-Life release schedule - the hope for multi-monitor touch screen support seems but a pipe dream at the minute. In fact, the future of PC games even using features of a single touch screen is a murky one, with current titles being basic arcade and parlour games from independent developers. If there is to be any progress on this front, it has to be from the big AAA developers for there to be a real impact on the platform, which is a real shame.

What piqued my interest however, is a recent thread on WSGF about the drawbacks of multi-monitor gaming, which included a post by downtown1 :

No, what's really wrong with multi-monitor gaming is that games don't support multi monitors natively. I want to have separate cameras, one for each monitor. In an FPS this can be as simple as removing the fishbowl effect (ala R Factor), in an RTS this can be having multiple viewpoints simultaneously (ala Supreme Commander), in an RPG it can mean having map/inventory/skills windows open etc on a side window always (I guess you can do this with draggable windows and non-modal UI, but few games have this).

Until that happens the only reason to buy multiple monitors in games is the Hor+

Through my excellent html skills I have emboldened the important bit there. Now bear with me here because I'm going to use a whole lot of "if's". If multi-monitor gaming could become more mainstream, and if developers could start to create games with a specific vision for them to be played on a multi-monitor setup, then maybe an operating system built around touchscreen would actually start to become an extremely tantalising prospect. Imagine the above features mentioned by downtown1, but being touchscreen enabled. While crunching your way through another ogre skull on the main screen, you could be plotting a waypoint with your finger in a single tap on an outer screen. Need I even point out the possibilities for the much neglected Flight Sim?

Windows 8 could be the catalyst in the growth of touchscreen games on the PC, and in turn, beautifully implemented, tactile multi-monitor gaming.

Or it could be Vista 2.0.