Microsoft Project xCloud (Game Streaming), now offering Fortnite free without GPU membership

Arnold Beckenbauer said:
So it`s "only" test app for developers/employees?
xCloud per Windows 10 - Microsoft al lavoro per introdurre le funzionalità di streaming e cloud gaming sull'app Xbox - Aggiornamenti Lumia


(Translated with Edge)
Click to expand...

There is a browser form and a Test app . MS introduces stuff as Dogfood

This is where its at now
"
The PC Game Streaming Preview Client is available from the Show in Store link after joining the "Xbox Game Streaming (Preview)" flight.
The Mobile clients for the MS Internal Xbox Game Streaming Preview can be found at the links below. On your device navigate to the following pages and follow instructions to download and install the Xbox Game Streaming Preview app. You will need to use your MS Corporate e-mail alias when you sign-in to MS App Center."

Previously it was just an executable on aka.ms . But I'm talking almost 2 years ago now from when it first was available.
 
Whoohoo!!

Backward Compatibility Reaches the Clouds for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Members

There’s a magical moment when you open up Kameo, an original launch title for Xbox 360, and it shows you last played in 2008, and you’re able to jump right back into the game like you never left. There’s also a sense of reward when you’re able to go back and complete the whole Gears of War series before starting on Gears 5. Being able to take a trip down memory lane either to relive past memories or make new ones with a classic is delightful and critical to preserving gaming’s history. We’ve enabled this experience through our backward compatibility program, launched in 2015. Since then we’ve launched multiple consoles and are still committed to making games across generations available to you no matter the hardware.

Today we’re embarking on a new journey for the backward compatibility program: Taking it to the cloud. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members can now tap into a collection of favorites from the past in a whole new way — right on mobile devices, turning them into retro handheld game systems. 16 original Xbox and Xbox 360 games are now available on Android phones and tablets, with more games coming soon. We’ve listened to the feedback, going all the way back to our earliest cloud gaming preview, and making games from previous generations available on mobile devices has been one of the most requested features by the community.

So now you’ll be able to play a range of games on mobile, from original Xbox titles like Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, to Xbox 360 hits Banjo-Kazooie, Fable II and Fallout: New Vegas. We’re also enabling touch controls for Jetpac Refuelled, Viva Pinata, and Viva Pinata TIP, allowing you to tend to your garden with ease. With games connected through the Xbox network, you’re able to bring past saves with you and play along with gamers from around the world.

Existing Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members can go back in time and start playing today. If you’re not member but are interested in chipping away at your back-catalog and finally getting to that game you’ve meant to play since 2010, sign up now. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate includes all the benefits of Xbox Live Gold, more than 100 great games on console, PC and Android phones and tablets via Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta), and an EA Play membership.

Backward Compatible Games Playable with Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta)
  • Banjo-Kazooie
  • Banjo-Tooie
  • Double Dragon Neon
  • Fable II
  • Fallout: New Vegas
  • Gears of War 2
  • Gears of War 3
  • Gears of War: Judgment
  • Jetpac Refuelled (touch controls enabled)
  • Kameo
  • Perfect Dark
  • Perfect Dark Zero
  • The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
  • The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
  • Viva Piñata (touch controls enabled)
  • Viva Piñata: TIP (touch controls enabled)
Click to expand...

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2021/03...e-clouds-for-xbox-game-pass-ultimate-members/

Tommy McClain
 
Here's a talk with Craig Duncan, head of Rare about Cloud & Backward Compatibility...

Rare’s Craig Duncan Talks Backward Compatibility and Cloud Gaming

Today, we shared the exciting news that 16 backward compatible titles will be coming to Xbox Cloud Gaming, including classics like Viva Pinata, Fable II, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and Banjo-Kazooie. That’s right: Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members can now tap into a collection of favorites from the past right on their mobile devices, effectively turning them into retro handheld game systems. With that in mind, we figured now would be a great time to talk to one of the developers responsible for creating a number of those classic titles to see what he thinks about bringing these games to a brand-new audience.

So, without further ado, please join us in welcoming Craig Duncan, Studio Head of Rare, as he chats with us about the history of video games, adding touch controls to some classic Rare games, and much more.

Xbox Wire: Did the process of bringing these games to Xbox Game Pass members via the cloud bring back any specific memories for you?

Craig Duncan: I have found memories of all Rare games, both as a player growing up and more recently when we put the Rare Replay collection together back in 2015. Viva Pinata is a game I personally remember putting hours and hours into, growing my garden and Pinatas. I jump back into that from time to time. It’s a super interesting game about nurturing, growing and discovery that was ahead of its time. It’s a lot of fun to jump back into.

Xbox Wire: How important is backward compatibility in terms of preserving video game history?

Craig Duncan: It’s essential. There are just a bunch of inherent complexities when generations and platforms change and being able to relive games you played previously and fondly remember is important. Those games contain memories and moments you can share with others and being able to do that quickly by just selecting the game in Xbox Game Pass is easy and just works with no fuss. The alternative is firing up an older console, finding all the cables, and preserving the discs so they still work (which some collectors do as a passionate hobby). Making the history of games available to everyone and making your game library a click away is awesome!

Xbox Wire: Have you seen many new fans embracing titles like Kameo and Banjo Kazooie in Xbox Game Pass?

Craig Duncan: Rare games have spanned so many generations that there are fans of Rare games of all ages. That is the real beauty of having a game library on every device, including your favorite games from years ago.

Xbox Wire: Do you see backward compatibility on phone and mobile as a way of bringing these titles to a new audience?

Craig Duncan: Being able to play your library of games on the device you want is a wonderful promise, be that on console, PC or on a mobile phone or tablet. I believe it offers real freedom of choice in terms of where you play, but as cloud gaming on mobile grows it’s exciting to think that that might be where someone discovered their first Rare game.

Xbox Wire: Will fans see any notable improvements over the original versions of these games?

Craig Duncan: The backward compatibility team are genuine wizards. Being able to makes games just run better, as the hardware they are on, both on this generation of consoles or in the cloud, is more powerful than the platforms the games were originally on. That means quicker loading times and faster framerates.

Xbox Wire: How did you decide which titles would get the touch control treatment?

Craig Duncan: We took the lead from the Cloud Gaming team, as they did the implementation and shared with us to play and test. It’s always tricky, as touch is different than a controller and certain games with fewer inputs do lend themselves better to a touch experience than others. Jetpac Refuelled is a good example of fewer inputs, but if touch is the way you as a player want to play any game, we want to make sure it works as well as it can. Of course, we also welcome feedback from our players.

Xbox Wire: What do you say to those very smart people that believe Viva Pinata an absolute masterpiece that everyone should play?

Craig Duncan: Lots of people love Viva Pinata so they must be smart people! When it came out there was nothing like it and it still looks and sounds amazing to play today. In the original concept, there was a lot of thinking about playing on the go and the type of game does lend itself to a mobile experience (and back in the day Rare made a version for the Nintendo DS called Pocket Paradise). Now, the thought of people being able to experience the full Xbox 360 version of the original Viva Pinata and the sequel Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise on their phone through the power of backward compatibility and Cloud Gaming is magic. I hope everyone tries it out.
Click to expand...

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2021/03...alks-backward-compatibility-and-cloud-gaming/

Tommy McClain
 
More games having xCloud controls without controller:

EzBthwWVoAYz7k0.jpg
 
Arnold Beckenbauer said:
So it`s "only" test app for developers/employees?
xCloud per Windows 10 - Microsoft al lavoro per introdurre le funzionalità di streaming e cloud gaming sull'app Xbox - Aggiornamenti Lumia


(Translated with Edge)
Click to expand...
I posted how to try it yourself in the PC forum, courtesy of an Ars Technica article detailing how. You end up downloading the beta app from a MS server by teasing out a link with a third-party site. I tried it back on April 4th and it worked (it’s predictably not perfect via wifi, but it’s still cool and probably good enough with non-twitch games).
 
A native Xbox app for Apple TV4/4K? What about iPads with USB-C? It supports alternate modes and with adapters you get native HDMI/Displayport and true second screen support for videos with no latency (and not just mirroring).

But: no xCloud tomorrow and later without an invite?
 
Arnold Beckenbauer said:
A native Xbox app for Apple TV4/4K? What about iPads with USB-C? It supports alternate modes and with adapters you get native HDMI/Displayport and true second screen support for videos with no latency (and not just mirroring).

But: no xCloud tomorrow and later without an invite?
Click to expand...
this is for internal employees and was announced for us Friday. It will most likely be a few weeks before anything comes to consumers if not longer. I don't have an apple tv or any products so I can't test it
 
I had an invite so gave bowser streaming a go for 10 minutes. On a wired PC with wired controller. Played Unruly Heroes just to try out a platformer. It was really responsive to my middle aged reaction times. Might have been the game's art style, but the video quality was good. Need more of a play, but I'd have trouble saying it wasn't running locally.

Loading times were still a bit duff. They really need to remove that friction. I'm still assumed that's coming with the XSX blades.
 
Had a second go after work, this time on Doom Eternal. It started off ok. Image is a little soft, but that's as much to do with the One as the stream. Much more micro blocking. After 30 seconds or went from perfectly controllable to lagging into 90 degree turns.

Played Rain on Your Parade later (via Android streaming) a bit later on and that worked great. Again something that's less lag sensitive, but there were not massive hitches like with Doom.
 
So I tried it today, too:

On my Chuwi tablet I played a little bit Gears of War 4 and it worked fine, but on my iPhone 8 (and my TV over Digital AV) I tried to play Gears of War Ultimate and it started ok, but then I had the same problems like you.

Because of the today's iOS 14.5 release I also tried Geforce Now on my iPhone : I played Portal 2 and it ran much better than GoW on xCloud (1920x1080, 4xMSAA and 16x AF).
 
Saw this on resetera that I thought was interesting, plus did a bit of digging
Microsoft making Xcloud support a requirement indie devs need to allow or risk being removed from Xbox? | ResetEra

Microsoft is making supporting xcloud a requirement for publishing your game on the xbox platform, although the resetera threads OP talks about indie devs I did a bit of digging and EA's publisher agreement includes similiar language

An excerpt from EA's publisher agreement (filed with the SEC)

"Project xCloud Support. Publisher grants Microsoft a worldwide, royalty-free, exclusive, transferrable, sublicensable license, solely as part of Project xCloud, to (a) broadcast, transmit, distribute, host, publicly perform and publicly display, reproduce, make available, communicate to the public, and stream Software Titles and gameplay of Software Titles to Streaming Devices; and (b) provide use, access, and control of the gameplay of a Software Title on any Streaming Device."

Heres the link

Document (sec.gov)



The reason that this part of the agreement has come up is because of the Apple vs Epic case, where documents reveal that this new agreement is required to publish games on the xbox platform is potentially conflicting with the exclusivity agreements that these developers have made with Epic.


unknown.png



Seems that microsoft have had an ace up their sleeve the entire time withe their upcoming geforce now type streaming offering (not xcloud with game pass, but using xcloud to stream games you own digitally) by requiring all games released on the xbox platform to support streaming, it guarantees that they will have the largest library of games available to stream, and all the big new releases.


geforce now may have a larger number of games, but it will never have fifa, xcloud will
 
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