You're no doubt well aware that cloud computing is one of the Xbox One's big selling points. MS reps often tout the advantages
of offloading physics and AI calculations to some server farm located,
er, somewhere. The hope is that, in time, the physical computation
disparity between the Xbox One and PS4 will mean very little, once more
developers tap into the potential of cloud gaming.
Up until now, those claims have been extremely difficult to visualize.
Unless you're a developer--or someone with a deep understanding of how
compute works--you have little choice but to believe what the
aforementioned MS reps have publicly stated: that cloud gaming is a very
good thing. Now, thanks to a presentation at Microsoft's Build 2014
Conference (video below), you can see exactly the sort of benefits that
MS's cloud service, dubbed Azure, provides.
Now, a few things to note about the video above: First, the demo shown is a prototype, not an actual game. Second, the demo is running on a PC, not an Xbox One. But it still serves the purpose of showcasing the power of Azure. Consider the possibilities: what if that exact tech was an integral part of Battlefield 5, and every time you fired a rocket at a building, the impact was calculated to simulate a realistic reaction to the resulting explosion? Pretty nuts, yeah? Too bad it'll never happen unless BF5 ends up being a Microsoft exclusive.
At the moment, we only have two examples of games that really tap into the service: Titanfall and Forza Motosports 5. In addition to the stability provided by dedicated servers, Titanfall benefits from Azure in the form of AI-controlled minions and titans, whose actions are handled by a server farm instead of your Xbox One. Forza 5 has its drivatar system, which imbues AI racers with driving behaviors that simulated uploaded data from other players. As a result, both games require an Internet connection for these systems to work, which has created some brief but noticeable hiccups in the past.
Now, a few things to note about the video above: First, the demo shown is a prototype, not an actual game. Second, the demo is running on a PC, not an Xbox One. But it still serves the purpose of showcasing the power of Azure. Consider the possibilities: what if that exact tech was an integral part of Battlefield 5, and every time you fired a rocket at a building, the impact was calculated to simulate a realistic reaction to the resulting explosion? Pretty nuts, yeah? Too bad it'll never happen unless BF5 ends up being a Microsoft exclusive.
At the moment, we only have two examples of games that really tap into the service: Titanfall and Forza Motosports 5. In addition to the stability provided by dedicated servers, Titanfall benefits from Azure in the form of AI-controlled minions and titans, whose actions are handled by a server farm instead of your Xbox One. Forza 5 has its drivatar system, which imbues AI racers with driving behaviors that simulated uploaded data from other players. As a result, both games require an Internet connection for these systems to work, which has created some brief but noticeable hiccups in the past.
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