Microsoft Claims "Cloud" Will Quadruple Power of Xbox One

[Vivi22]

So even single player titles that use the Cloud are going to be unplayable when the servers eventually die.

Best plan ever ¬_¬

Not that this is a problem specific to cloud games. Because you require to check in with Microsoft's servers every 24 hours, once they decide to shut down the servers for Xbone, nothing is going to be playable anymore.

I'm starting to think this is all just a clever ruse.

Microsoft isn't this fucking dumb, surely.

Right?

*looks at all of Microsoft's other business lines over the last 10-15 years*

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they can be that dumb.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

I'm starting to think this is all just a clever ruse.

Microsoft isn't this fucking dumb, surely.

Right?

I honestly don't know anymore. The sheer amount of ways they've fucked up the Xbone makes me question if any of this is actually real, or if it's just a horrible dream that I'm about to wake up from.

 

[Entitled]

Three or four years now, as they discontinue this turd-parade, all the games that the unfortunate fate to be exlusive to it, will be eternally lost for humankind.

- Hey, Joe, that GOTY 2014, Quantum Break, is that really any good?
- I don't know Bob, it doesn't exist any more.

 

[Octorok]

Using Cloud-based resources to improve end-user performance is a great concept and holds a lot of potential.

Not really. Even if we all had the kind of preposterous bandwidth needed to actually offload work to the cloud, and this bandwidth was somehow cost-effective, this is terrible for three reasons.

1) Even if the ability to do this worked, it is completely impractical. "The cloud" isn't just empty space, and that computer work has to happen on someone's machine. If it isn't the end-user's, it's the provider's. This means paying for the machine, upkeep, server and bandwidth costs etc. It is cheaper to have the end-user run the hardware, rather than keep some kind of gigantic cluster of PCs running 24/7.

2) It's technically impossible. Unless we're talking about running a game on a completely different machine and streaming effectively a video feed, running parts of a game on one machine but parts on another and sharing data between the two is impossible to develop for. It's like trying to design a car with two steering systems. It makes patches and bugs a nightmare. It makes the concept of mods (in fact, there would be no mods) and installation a nightmare. And in the case of hardware failure, or hardware inadequacy, coordinating your machines would be hell.

3) The end result for the user would be an increase in performance in exchange for never, ever being capable of running their game without the cloud help. Putting to one side the constant-failure of online DRM, even if the tech was there and it was efficient it would basically destroy our concept of ownership, with every game becoming always-online. I hope you can see why that might be an issue.

OT: We already did this. SimCity claimed to be running computations in the cloud (to cover their DRM), people said it was impossible, and later tests proved that EA/Maxis were lying. If this guy is making this statement officially, we shall presumably later discover that he is also lying.

"The cloud" isn't magic, and you can't just increase resources without increasing costs, not to mention the disastrous track record of this kind of scheme. I have to assume he's either lying or confused about how games work.

 

[Louzerman102]

How much does Microsoft plan to spend per month on data transmission and server maintenance? For that mater how much is Xbox Live going to cost per month to access the cloud computing space?

 

[RJ 17]

So even single player titles that use the Cloud are going to be unplayable when the servers eventually die.

Best plan ever ¬_¬

Not that this is a problem specific to cloud games. Because you require to check in with Microsoft's servers every 24 hours, once they decide to shut down the servers for Xbone, nothing is going to be playable anymore.

I'm starting to think this is all just a clever ruse.

Microsoft isn't this fucking dumb, surely.

Right?

Windows 8....need I say more?

Seriously, for the current generation, I had absolutely no desire to buy a PS3...for this generation, I've currently got absolutely no desire for an XBone. Really the only chance they've got is a spectacular performance at E3 in which they come out and say "Due to the reception of the Xbox One reveal, we have decided to completely overhaul the system because we value our job security. The console will be delayed in its release so that we can tweak and tune it to better be the GAMING console that our consumer base wants it to be."

 

[FFP2]

What about when the servers inevitably go down? What about people like me that have slow and unstable internet (125kB/s in case you were wondering)?

If you want 4x the power of a console just get a freaking PC. This coming from a person who mainly plays on console.

 

[Naeras]

Being "future-proof" is probably the only good thing about the Xbox One. The faster this thing dies, the better. Seriously, NO ONE, gamers or devs, should be touching this crap with a 10-foot pole. Instead, they should be smashing it to bits with said pole.

Considering you'd have to actually touch the console with the pole to smash it, I think it'd be better to just shoot them damn thing to pieces with an 18th century cannon.

As for the "developers shouldn't touch this crap", look at the facebook-comments to the article, with someone working as a developer stating flat-out that this isn't tempting to work with.

 

[Something Amyss]

I'm half convinced at this point that this is all an elaborate troll (not your post, the Xbone), and that at E3 they're going to come and all like "Oh boy! You totally fell for it, it was hilarious! Now here's our actual next-gen console that doesn't suck..."

I can but hope can't I? Surely a company as huge as Microsoft, greedy they may be, can't have become as sucessful as they are by being this dumb?

"To be honest, we just thought the Wii U needed a little help. Sorry if you thought we were serious."

Yeah, it's a remote hope, but still, yeah. Would be better than this being serious.

 

[Pyrian]

...we shall presumably later discover that he is also lying.

That would be my bet. 3 times as much processing power in their cloud as every single XBone sold? That's a very large investment, for very little gain.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

And yet it still can't play a single Xbox 360 game. Or original Xbox game. Or an Xbox Live Arcade game. Pathetic.

 

[Hagi]

How exactly is that going to work?

I mean the vast majority of any game's calculations are frame-related, wrapped in your typical game-loop.

- Get and process user input.
- Calculate AI reactions and physics.
- Render results.
- Repeat.

And you repeat that if at all possible at least 30 times per second. If you've got 50ms ping, which about as high as can be reasonably expected, then you'll still only manage 20 frames per second even if you have instantaneous results.

Sure, you don't have to recalculate NPC's AI every single frame, but you do want them to immediately react to a changed situation and not keep doing what they were until some server somewhere finally responds with their new behavior. Even with the aforementioned awesome stable 50 ping at all times that's still a real delay, add in that when your request arrives on the cloud it likely won't be processed instantly and it's processing will take some time your local system will be several dozen frames ahead already, by which time the situation could've easily changed and the amazing cloud-computed results are already outdated.

Or, to put it in words I'm sure most will understand, you know the rubberbanding and lag that happens in most multiplayer games? Where you think that Spy is actually in front of you but somehow actually behind you and backstabbing you? Where your friend runs against a wall for two seconds before teleporting somewhere else?

Yeah... That'll happen in single-player games as well with the amazing power of cloud-computing...

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

I thought it would help with loading of levels and faster uptake of graphics when walking through the game world. But then remembered your installing the game onto your hard drive. So have no idea what the point in cloud is. Why dont they just go for digital dl via cloud. Make the games £40 in store and £20 to downloads. That, would enable people no turn away from used games and not even worry about lending games.....because you cant....but hey getting a new game for £20 is worth it.

My captcha said Thats all, folks. lol

 

[uchytjes]

Unless you're someone like me who only gets 10 megabits down and 1 up. There's no way their cloud would be able to improve anything on my network

HAHAHAHAH. Try 1.5 megabits peak. You'd really think the dormitories in a UNIVERSITY would have better internet.

OT: So they're taking the Sim City approach to it all. Except this time it will be for more than one game. This just keeps getting better and better .

 

[Weaver]

Plus, I'm sure you'll need to pay Microsoft a subscription fee for the privilege of accessing "The Cloud"...

This is an excellent point. I very much doubt these features will be accessable to anyone who isn't paying for an XBL subscription.

IMO, gamers just don't want cloud processing involved in their games. Latency times will very obviously become a factor, and not every game is suitable to that kind of thing.

Most game developers are not at all used to offloading calculations or rendering or whatever to a server farm and having a callback hook into the game for it, so they're going to be a bit skittish around the idea I'd imagine, or at least unpracticed at it.

The whole damn thing is just a big, messy, overcomplicated blow out.

People just want consoles that can play games. They just want an easy, no bullshit, no internet system where you put in the game and the damn box plays the damn game. I don't want to be tethered to Microsoft's cloud. Does anyone?

 

[AlwaysPractical]

So now it will suck FOUR times as hard.

See it doesn't require a constant internet connection, only if you want to use it.

I'm pretty sure that if they ever build a fifth XBox, it will have a hardware switch that melts the CPU when you disconnect from the internet. Seems to me to be the next logical step.

 

[Lightknight]

Microsoft Decoded: "Basically, we made the system weaker than expected so that we could push game developers to rely on our cloud processing capabilities to force always online onto the users even though we know they don't want it."

 

[Zeraki]

It is a time of chaos. The great console powers have unsheathed their latest and most powerful weapons, brandishing them at the cowed masses and vowing scarlet tides of great woe and furious wrath for those who fail to bow before them. And yet, from somewhere amidst the sea of grey faces and downcast eyes, a voice calls out:

"What does this mean?"

As I was reading that, all I could hear in my mind was this. It just fits the mood perfectly.

OT: The way they keep building this cloud thing up as some kind of omnipotent machine god, I'm kind of afraid the Xbone will gain self awareness, name itself Deus and proceed to go on a human extermination spree.

EDIT

Not sure I like the cloud processing thing though. That basically means for games that require more processing power, you have to rely on your internet connection doesn't it? I can barely keep my 360 signed into Live long enough to be able to download a patch or DLC(and it's the only machine I have this problem with... which is why I don't use it anymore).

I actually had to hook the 360 up to my laptop via Ethernet cable recently, just so I could use the laptop's wireless to download the Citadel DLC for Mass Effect 3 on the Xbox.

 

[Wolfram23]

Dumbest claim I've ever heard. WTF. Because my 2MB/s download rate is so superior to the 2GB/s available over the internal bus. DDR3 can move 15GB/s (XBone), GDDR5 can move 48GB/s (PS4)... a HDD can move a 100MB/s or so, depending on many factors. SSDs can be over 500MB/s.

So... how the hell does 2MB/s download rate give me tons of power? Not to mention my ~250kB/s upload rate. Every single part of a computer or next gen console can do vastly more than that.