Streaming Games from the Cloud

That's the same way PS3 streaming is handled, which isn't great. How many XB1 exclusives are there where you can't run a PC version instead?

 

holy ****. that was fast. and you are fast. nice man!

 

cheap
trade in programs...

but honestly. I imagine this is where they start siphoning their remaining hardware towards streaming and away from selling more xboxes.

Next generation is going to be starting soon for MS.

The question is whether next gen games will be back ported to Xbox One.

 

Anytime bro. This seems like a reaction to Google's Project Stream. Has anyone here been able to join the beta for that one?

 

Indeed. On the other hand, MS may have an advantage regarding QoS where Azure is concerned, and the video also demonstrates how the service will work on mobile devices sans gamepad (something that is not officially supported by Sony, IIRC).

At least in the near future, MS has been ramping up first party efforts (cross-gen, surely), and the whole GAAS mentality ought to be conducive towards having some form of game-access Anywhere.™

 

seems fairly confirmed that xbox controllers will always allow for replaceable batteries now.

 

I have never liked the idea of playing via streaming, as it lacks soul ...., so there is nothing I am enthusiastic about here, . I prefer to have the physical machine, but it is clear that it has its advantages when you are not at home and you want to play your games from a tablet or similar, other than that, and for someone like me with a metered connection (80GB) despite the fact that 40Mb/s is an okay speed, I don't see the point either.
That being said, the point remains, I prefer the physical hardware, I like to touch.

 

When I say "which isn't great," I mean in terms of cost, scalability, and future-proofing. Money sunk into PS3's for streaming is money that can't do anything else. Money sunk into XB1 boards are only going to be used for streaming. They'll likely sit idle for much of the time. More generic server based gaming that uses the cloud servers or somesuch would be vastly more versatile. I guess this is a stepping stone; a patched-in solution until all XB games are UWP and cross-platform and can be run on servers, with emulation eventually streaming BC titles.

 

Well you will still have the controller to touch . Honestly I think this is great, this will lower the barrier of access to games a lot more. I have been playing GeForce Now a lot lately (Shield TV Beta) and ask myself the question of "Would I play a full game like this", while playing games like DMC, Resident Evil 7, Batman Arkham Knight and the answer if often yes. Even though I don't live on a region that is officially supported, the latency is low enough to play and enjoy the games I mentioned. It will only get better from here as TV's reduce the input lag, video compression gets better and bandwidth requirements get lower. Microsoft could also come with some really interesting hybrid rendering solutions if Kahawai is anything to go by.

 

Wired story on XProject.
https://www.wired.com/story/xbox-cloud-gaming-exclusive/

 

Can always trust Wired to publish an fawning puff piece on every new MS initiative.

 

I'm a bit skeptical about these streaming services.
First for the fact that tons of companies will have similar services, and the ones that also double as producers will want to keep their games as exclusives to call clients to the service.
This will fragment the market a lot, and we might even have to loose some games due to the fact that we cannot subscribe all services.
We will also have another problem. A subscription service needs to generate profits to keep all the games it has viable. This is not easy for 10 bucks a month since people will want new games, not episodic content or the same game for years with extra dlc. The low cost will make a requirement for profitability the need of tons of subscribers to the service, but with fierce competition this will be hard, making for the need of hard monetization in games to compensate. AAA games may suffer!
Also, comparing this with netflix or other video streaming service is to forget two basic diferences.
1- Movies can make extra profits on cinema and TV. Games can only make money on sales or by the use of the dreaded monetization ingame.
2- Movies are universal, and only need ro be copied to a media to work. Games are not universal, and a game made for the Switch will not work on PC, Xbox, PS4 or any other system. It requires recompilation, and adaptation, just to work, and even so it will not be optimized for the new platform.
What does this mean? It means that with streaming developers will make a PC only version of the game, and using the universal compatibility of streaming, stream it to all systems. But what about physical sales? Will developers continue to create optimized versions for all platforms, or we simply will not be able to buy the game because it just wasn't made for that platform, forcing us to stream?
Too many questions... and a uncertain future with a non pleasent perspective. I fear for it!

 

This is where Sony is at a big disadvantage. Sony kind of missed the boat when it comes to the cloud. It's definitely the future. I don't think it will replace physical hardware though.

 

How has Sony missed the boat, they already have a streaming service (for years now)?

I'm not too sure what this announcement was meant to achieve. They've already said they're building a streaming service.
It didn't actually tell us anything.
This could've been shown at XO18, and made that show have even more reveals.
That show better have legit things to show now.

Be nice when we hear more about it, but right now I don't see the point of them selling a cheap streaming device, better of putting it on already made devices if there's no specific hardware component.

If anything this may imply next Xbox isn't very close, otherwise why not roll it out with next gen hardware, they've waited long enough, only reason would be that next gen hardware is too far away and they'd miss the boat?

All these new streaming services aren't due before 2019 earliest.

edit : Is google project stream already in wide beta?

 

100% agree. First they should make streaming feasible on hardwired networks and even so, streaming services have existed for years now -like 12 years or so-, this is nothing groundbreaking, more like I too run-in service.

Not to mention you need bandwidth, low latency and a consistent service. Which is not granted.

Low paced games can be decently played that way, and maybe even a simple TV will be able to stream games, expanding its popularism. But that's it.

Other than that, not convinced. As long as hardware doesnt go away... I like to feel what my machine is capable of, the sense of possession, not having a game belonging to cloud engineers, as part of a service that might or might not survive the test of time.

 

I think hardware and streaming will coexist forever or for a very long time. DataCaps will ensure this. I am not conviced by the video for moblie device. Using a pad connected to a smartphone is not very comfortable. And play Halo with touchscreen, WTF...

 

On the general, I’ve found most “exclusive” articles are written in such a manner in exchange for exclusivity.

 

The two don’t seem related. Why wait for next gen? Their goal is to separate content from the device. If they are waiting for next gen then they are binding you back to their hardware which is the opposite of what they are trying to accomplish.

 

Agreed. And likely the hardware variants will be ahead in performance. At least for the foreseeable near future.