Microsoft Claims "Cloud" Will Quadruple Power of Xbox One

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Microsoft Claims "Cloud" Will Quadruple Power of Xbox One


Microsoft says that every Xbox One console will be backed by the equivalent power of three more Xbox Ones "in the cloud."

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?"

That voice should get a little louder in the wake of comments by Jeff Henshaw, the group manager of Xbox Incubation and Prototyping, who claimed that the power of the cloud will effectively give every XBox One console four times its built-in processing and storage capabilities.

"We're provisioning for developers for every physical Xbox One we build, we're provisioning the CPU and storage equivalent of three Xbox Ones on the cloud," he told OXM. "We're doing that flat out so that any game developer can assume that there's roughly three times the resources immediately available to their game, so they can build bigger, persistent levels that are more inclusive for players. They can do that out of the gate."

Very interesting - but what does it mean? First and foremost, it's pure marketing, promising big things while remaining uselessly vague. And even if we take him at his word - Xbox One here, Xbox One Cubed there - the obvious implication is that some games will be out of the reach of anyone who can't get on the cloud, or if the cloud just happens to float away for awhile for one reason or another. That leads inevitably to another two-tier scenario, similar to that created by the Xbox 360 Core (and later the Arcade), in which Microsoft can claim that a persistent internet connection isn't required - something, for the record, it has already done - but woe betide anyone who tries to use it that way.

Source: OXM [http://www.oxm.co.uk/54748/xbox-one-specs-are-boosted-by-the-equivalent-of-three-xbox-ones-in-the-cloud/]


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Hitchmeister

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Nov 24, 2009
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It's simple. The "cloud" is going to give the Xbox One the awesome computational power to pull off levels of detailed simulation to rival that of SimCity 2013.
 

Vivi22

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"We're provisioning for developers for every physical Xbox One we build, we're provisioning the CPU and storage equivalent of three Xbox Ones on the cloud," he told OXM. "We're doing that flat out so that any game developer can assume that there's roughly three times the resources immediately available to their game, so they can build bigger, persistent levels that are more inclusive for players. They can do that out of the gate."
Except they can't because that would require the player to be always online which I don't think any sane developer is going to assume after the shit storm that was Sim City. I'll call it right now, this will, most likely, be a complete waste of money and resources by Microsoft.
 

Ukomba

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Oct 14, 2010
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Ah yes, I can't wait for all my games to pop up an Error 37 message.
 

Something Amyss

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Dec 3, 2008
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Great, so that means that the games are server reliant and useless without access or when the servers finally die.

They can now literally pull the plug on your back library.

Screw. That.
 

cidbahamut

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The Cloud is still going to be bottlenecked by your internet connection, which is pretty variable across different regions, so it's not something anyone should be counting on.
 

Kmadden2004

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Plus, I'm sure you'll need to pay Microsoft a subscription fee for the privilege of accessing "The Cloud"...
 
Dec 14, 2009
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So even single player titles that use the Cloud are going to be unplayable when the servers eventually die.

Best plan ever ¬_¬
 

NinjaDeathSlap

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Feb 20, 2011
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Zachary Amaranth said:
Great, so that means that the games are server reliant and useless without access or when the servers finally die.

They can now literally pull the plug on your back library.

Screw. That.
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?
 

MiskWisk

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Mar 17, 2012
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I love that they saw the SimCity debacle and went "Gotta get me some o' dat!"

Incidentally, their boast is a little too specific and quite frankly smells very strongly of bullsh*t.
So...

 

PoolCleaningRobot

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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
 

spartandude

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if i took a drink for every piece of good news about this console id be a very sober man indeed
 

Imre Csete

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Jul 8, 2010
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So you no longer own the computing power of your machine, it's being provided for you via external means.

Lack of sense of ownership is always a great experience for the customer. Not to mention it sure does sound future proof, doesn't it?
 

The Artificially Prolonged

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Jul 15, 2008
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Yay more server reliance and more of the fun times had we have had with them in the past all over again. But don't worry about that, think about the power! 4 times the power to be exact! And it is all down to the Almighty Cloud! Praise be to The Cloud! Gaze upon its magnificence and weep glorious tears of joy!

Seriously, given the that this given that all this cloud computation will likely be heavily reliant on a good internet connection, unless The Cloud is Microsoft's codename for its team of wizards I cannot see this being of any use or anyone wanting to be anywhere near a game that uses these systems after Diablo III & SimCity.
 

SurfKansas

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Nov 25, 2008
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This is awesome, Microsoft! Now I can store my games in the cloud, which provides awesome protection from those annoying little discs that can accidentally get loaned to friends or sold at Gamestop.
 

ohnoitsabear

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Daystar Clarion said:
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.
 
Dec 14, 2009
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ohnoitsabear said:
Daystar Clarion said:
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?
 

Reyold

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Jun 18, 2012
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Imre Csete said:
Lack of sense of ownership is always a great experience for the customer. Not to mention it sure does sound future proof, doesn't it?
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.