If Xbox One can be used offline, then was the Cloud a lie?

[alphamalet]

One of the reasons Microsoft was forcing you to constantly connect to the internet was to reap the benefits of Xbox One's cloud computation. It was supposed to future-proof the system, handling tasks that theoretically exceeded the current hardware of the Xbox One, and bring us into the future of video game...

Now Microsoft tells us that we can play our games offline. If so, then how in the world can the Cloud be utilized to any serious degree if developers can't be sure whether or not people will be connected to the internet? They can't. So does this prove that Microsoft was lying about the Cloud and its benefits, or does the DRM reversal hamper what could have been an impressive feature of the Xbox One.

 

[BrotherRool]

I assume their cloud features are massively over-rated, especially since you're dealing with latency problems in Poland, Brazil etc. It's probably largely PR BS to get over the fact the Xbone is reportedly less powerful than the PS4 and because Cloud is a Buzzword.

But I imagine they will continue. It's Microsofts get of a jail free card. 'We removed the offline capabilities but these developers chose to use cloud features so I guess this game is online'

I mean that's Sony's policy right? If a developer wants to use the cloud to make an online focused game they can it's just that, unlike the One, they aren't being forced/strong-armed to. I imagine MS will now be the same (although probably still strong-arming developers).



It sucks because I like being able to play games years after release and that capability will probably be killed off if Ccloud catches on too fast.

 

[ThriKreen]

Well, you'll have to define what the cloud would be used for first, as there's a ton of ways you can utilize distributed computers - mass storage, calculations and processing, hosted servers, distributed hosted servers.

Doesn't mean they're lying, just what you think the cloud is for is different than what they were thinking.

 

[Rickin10]

But...but, i thought the power of The Cloud was infinite?

That's what Don said.

 

[Requia]

The cloud is optional, devs need to actually pay MS to use it, so most games probably won't have it. Games that do have it will probably need a constant connection.

 

[nevarran]

Shit, publishers started pushing always-online at E3 with games like The Division, The Crew and Titanfall, and everybody lapped it up.

These were online multiplayer games. You're saying it as if people are happy to have crappy DRM a la Diablo III and Sim City.

 

[nevarran]

Congratulations. You've just worked out how publishers are going to push for games to be always-online in future. By selling everything as an MMO. Isn't that exactly what EA did with SimCity?

If something is an MMO, it's only right to sell it as an MMO.
I understand if the online part is just some gimmick in between the single player experience, that's crap.
But Titanfall is a multiplayer shooter. The Devision is an MMO game. And The Crew is a racing game with heavy emphasis on co-op. I don't see how any of these games could've worked in an offline environment. Probably The Crew, to a degree...

IF you're saying that devs are making online games, because online games are difficult to pirate. Then I agree. But that's not the only reason, online games are popular, for some reason.

 

[BrotherRool]

Congratulations. You've just worked out how publishers are going to push for games to be always-online in future. By selling everything as an MMO. Isn't that exactly what EA did with SimCity?

If something is an MMO, it's only right to sell it as an MMO.
I understand if the online part is just some gimmick in between the single player experience, that's crap.
But Titanfall is a multiplayer shooter. The Devision is an MMO game. And The Crew is a racing game with heavy emphasis on co-op. I don't see how any of these games could've worked in an offline environment. Probably The Crew, to a degree...

IF you're saying that devs are making online games, because online games are difficult to pirate. Then I agree. But that's not the only reason, online games are popular, for some reason.

It's clouding the definitions, but Titanfall has a completely single-player mode that still requires an online connection. Descriptions of The Division have been conflicting but it sounds like it's also entirely possible to play it single-player but presumably still with an online connection (each world is sharded to be unique to one user from some descriptions and then the multiplayer aspect is just drop in co-op)

And I thought the Crew was an evolution on Burnout Paradise and Demons Souls which were single-player games, but I#d completely lost interest by the umpteenth car game so I might have gotten this one severely wrong

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

Shit, publishers started pushing always-online at E3 with games like The Division, The Crew and Titanfall, and everybody lapped it up.

Yeah, I was complaining about that, since now every game with an online element, even optional, will probably force people to be online anyway. Single player should not have any online requirement, full stop.

 

[nevarran]

It's clouding the definitions, but Titanfall has a completely single-player mode that still requires an online connection. Descriptions of The Division have been conflicting but it sounds like it's also entirely possible to play it single-player but presumably still with an online connection (each world is sharded to be unique to one user from some descriptions and then the multiplayer aspect is just drop in co-op)

And I thought the Crew was an evolution on Burnout Paradise and Demons Souls which were single-player games, but I#d completely lost interest by the umpteenth car game so I might have gotten this one severely wrong

I didn't knew Titanfall has a single player mode, hm... shame then, it appears you were right about this one.
The Division sounded pretty much like and MMO to me. Of course, you can play some mission alone, just like you can play alone in WoW and Guild Wars, if you feel like it.
If there's any fun in The Crew, it'll be with friends, so I don't feel cheated there. That game's nothing if not co-op open world experience.

I see your point tho'.

 

[josemlopes]

They'll still force you to go online for games like Halo. Only this time, they'll say it's the game which requires online, not the console.

Shit, publishers started pushing always-online at E3 with games like The Division, The Crew and Titanfall, and everybody lapped it up.

The Division is like Dark Souls where the multiplayer is connected to the singleplayer but you can still play offline, The Crew is like Test Drive Unlimited and Titanfall is like Call of Duty. They are all quite playable alone

 

[Lusty]

Yes, it turned out that the INFINITE POWER OF THE CLOUD was a lie. Same thing with SimCity, they said the cloud would be handling all these extra calculations etc, and then someone got the game to work perfectly offline so it turned out to be a lie.

Someone really needs to put this question to Microsoft.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

Game processes require highly reliable and virtually instantaneous transmission. The notion that you could offload these processes to a remote computer network (or cloud durrr), run them there, and then download them back to your local system, to any benefit in performance, is laughable. The download speeds in this country (and most others) are nowhere near that fast outside of completely isolated pockets.

Eventually, when all of the connections are fast enough, no one will own any hardware. But that day is a ways off yet, and Microsoft's product wasn't going to be any more future-proof than anything else in that regard.

So yeah, more of MS trying to lay bizarre claim on the invention of something that has existed for several years. Like digital distribution. Maybe time is circular at MS headquarters?

 

[CannibalCorpses]

Something occurs to me. If you don't have online access and a game needs the magical cloud to make it work properly...will the game be forced by law to tell you that truth before you can purchase it? Kinda reminds me when games became joystick only on the commodore 64 and yet the games didn't always tell you that. Yes, i'm looking at you Pneumatic hammer! You literally conned me out of my money...until i bought a joystick

 

[BrotherRool]

It's clouding the definitions, but Titanfall has a completely single-player mode that still requires an online connection. Descriptions of The Division have been conflicting but it sounds like it's also entirely possible to play it single-player but presumably still with an online connection (each world is sharded to be unique to one user from some descriptions and then the multiplayer aspect is just drop in co-op)

And I thought the Crew was an evolution on Burnout Paradise and Demons Souls which were single-player games, but I#d completely lost interest by the umpteenth car game so I might have gotten this one severely wrong

I didn't knew Titanfall has a single player mode, hm... shame then, it appears you were right about this one.
The Division sounded pretty much like and MMO to me. Of course, you can play some mission alone, just like you can play alone in WoW and Guild Wars, if you feel like it.
If there's any fun in The Crew, it'll be with friends, so I don't feel cheated there. That game's nothing if not co-op open world experience.

I see your point tho'.

I'm interested to see what the Division will be like, the way some people talked about it it sounded like an MMO. But the way other people talked about it it sounded like you have a GTA size world and then your friends can drop into it and play co-op with you (and other people can invade it?) or you can drop into your friends world and play with them. Or it might be an actual MMO, I couldn't work out from any of the write-ups

 

[Chris Tian]

The Cloud stuff was bs from the word go. Its just a buzzword they like to throw around willy nilly, like "vibrant".

The 24h-checkin couldn't have anything to do with "the cloud", since if you want to outsource calculations you have to be online the whole time you are doing that (obviously). Its not like the XB1 would have recharged its mystic powers of "The Cloud" once every 24 hours.

So if some dev would develope a game that needs the cloud it would have to be a always online game, and we all know how well those things go over as single player games.
It also would have inherently different demands on your internet connection than the 24-checkin of the XB1, so nothing really changed in that regard.

MS did not take anything from the XB1, they just removed the checkins, a game that relys on cloud computing is still possible for the same number of people as it was before. The only difference is now even people without constant internet connection can use the XB1.

 

[Poetic Nova]

Cloud computing M$ was talking about was just a made up reason to have DRM. That said there's something fishy about it that they have changed their thoughts on it.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Yeah, the whole "cloud" thing was bull from the start. It's not surprising, technology companies have been using the word "cloud" as a buzzword to make mundane task seem impressive. Basically the whole idea was to have normally client-sided processes would be run server-sided to reduce the load on the console itself. Ironically, this is actually quite similiar to Sony's upcoming Genkai streaming service. Really though, this sort of cloud computing wouldn't have required 24-hour checkins to begin with. The worst that could happen is certain single-player campaigns that require it may have been online only, theoretically an internet connection would have been completely unnecessary while not gaming.