Let’s talk about the Xbox Live Cloud

Jon Shirin:I’m an engineer working with the Cloud technology that you’ve heard about for Respawn’s game Titanfall. I have seen a lot of confusion online and I think it’s worth explaining more about what we’re doing on Titanfall and also more generally about Cloud computing and dedicated servers.

[NYC_Gamer]

This article should answer peoples questions on how Cloud is working for Respawn

[HammadTheBeast]

All I saw was a list of why player hosted servers suck and why dedicated servers are great.

Where is the whole "10 Xbox One's in one CLOWDD!" stuff?

[YNWA96]

Cloud computing starts when Sony says so.... Funny when people inside the fvckin industry tells you how it is, its BS, but total noobs, fanboys on both sides and whatever that have no idea, they believe in the shlt that they spew.... Funny.... Never seen such a bunch of idiots like I have the last few weeks.... You people even turning on Kojima.... Unreal....

[FamilyGuy]

So from what I'm getting is that Xbox's Cloud can be used as dedicated servers but it can also be used to offload some processing which frees up your console to not be downgraded while playing online.

Think of it like this:
You know how many games don't look as good when playing multiplayer in comparison to their single player campaigns? MSs Cloud fixes this.

When a server is hosting a game the computing is done on that server rather than needing your systems power to do all the processing. In the case of "The Cloud" that will still be true but those servers will have stronger processors than what is available on someone console and devs are able to feed it more applications as well allowing it to do extra stuff the console can't.

Console will be free to play the game at the best of its ability. The server (Cloud) will allow an overlay of extra abilities to be seen on your system.

It IS basically a glorified dedicated server. It can do more but it's not going to make your system "3 times as powerful". It lets you have more of your systems power and sends you extra things that the devs program it to show you. Forza is pretty much letting you play against an AI enhanced version of your friends ghost, another game might place smarter enemies on a battlefield than what your console could natively interpret.

[HammadTheBeast]

DAMN the Xbox fan boys are in full force. Please, respond to my comment with proper arguments instead of bitching about people who like PS4 on N4G.

Lol. Delusional fan boys. Just last week they were telling us how amazing DRM was.

Pathetic.

[georgeenoob]

You gotta admit, this is a HUGE advantage for developers and MS.

[xHeavYx]

It's an advantage for next-gen consoles, since Sony said they can do this too.

Look at the stealth disagrees, Why not disagree and explain yourselves? Some fanboys are just pathetic

[creatchee]

@xHeavYx

They theoretically can, but it would require them purchasing, maintaining, housing, connecting and coordinating an additional couple of hundred thousand servers. There's no way they'd have that kind of infrastructure up in the next couple of years, let alone at launch. Also, The One was built around the concept, where Sony would be tacking it on.

Edit: perhaps "tacking it on" isn't the best way to state it because it sounds negative and I don't want it to. Maybe "retrofitting"?

[AngelicIceDiamond]

@Heavy Sony can, but its not used directly to enhance gaming. But for storage, BC streams with PS4 and apparently PS2.

Its not used the same way as MS.

EDIT: @gaff

I agree it remains to be seen. We have to wait and see when the consoles launch.

But I disagree with the rest of your statement. "A pipedream" This pipe dream seems to hold some weight. There's just far too much info about the cloud to consider it "fake."

[gaffyh]

@angelic - WTF are you talking about?? It remains to be seen on BOTH platforms! Saying 300,000 servers and 5 billion transistors means nothing until you actually see the results, and so far it looks like the "power of the cloud" on the Xbone is just dedicated servers. Guess what, dedicated servers have existed for games for YEARS on PC, and PS3 has had them for several games!

There's nothing new, cloud computing is a pipe dream until internet connections are actually fast enough. 5Mb/s isn't going to cut it for real cloud computing, you need much more than that.

[HammadTheBeast]

Lol this is hilarious you guys are repeating BS that MS said in interviews and PR and you don't even know what it means LOL.

ANYTHING AND ANYONE CAN DO CLOUD COMPUTING. PC HAS HAD THIS STUFF SINCE 2003.

[Chaostar]

I hear the infinite power of the cloud can cure cancer and pull kittens out of burning buildings. Also if the magical properties of the cloud were a part of gaming in 1996 that cheat to make Lara's clothes fall off in Tomb Raider 2 would have worked.

Seriously though this article did clear a few things up. Like that there won't be dedicated servers for ALL Xb One titles, the developers have to buy/rent them from MS.

[Loki86]

Honestly, why are you still allowed to post, nothing you say ever adds anything to the conversation, just mindless drivel.

There are so many links and proof I have posted and shown just completely tired of wasting my time. Wait a few years till devs program for this. You will be eating some serious crow.

[Chaostar]

Woah easy man, come on there's no law against making fun of PR statements on the internet... yet. What exactly did I say that upset you?

From the article:

"Most importantly to us, Microsoft priced it so that it’s far more affordable than other hosting options – their goal here is to get more awesome games, not to nickel-and-dime developers. So because of this, dedicated servers are much more of a realistic option for developers who don’t want to make compromises on their player experience, and it opens up a lot more things that we can do in an online game."

Much more of a realistic OPTION.

[darx]

What's funny is it almost sounds like the Cell processor all over again. The Cell can do this and the Cell can do that.

[Chaostar]

Yeah, I've heard that comparison all over and it really does.

"powah of teh cell"

is now

"powah of teh cloud"

it's official (not official).

[strifeblade]

but the cell gave us uncharted and last of us? maybe cloud can give us some amazing and unexpected- naughty dog came out of the blue this generation- maybemsybe msoft has something similar

[AznGaara]

Finally! It's sad how it took a 3rd party developer to clear things up instead of ... You know... The company who's actually making the console. -_-

"Let me explain this simply: when companies talk about their cloud, all they are saying is that they have a huge amount of servers ready to run whatever you need them to run. That’s all."
Like MS couldn't say that?

[HammadTheBeast]

Well they have to make the specs of the Xbox One look good in comparison to PS4 somehow.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

@Gaara Lol I agree, its pretty pathetic on MS part.

[GiggMan]

Amen. Also notice how he was honest and didn't say anything about the cloud "magically" making your machine more powerful. Smarter AI is definitely a possibility but a more powerful system is not lol

[GameCents]

All I'm hearing is, "I don't want it to be more powerful"

[Elit3Nick]

I don't see why people are unable to believe that cloud processing exists, with Onlive ALL the processing power came from the cloud, not just certain tasks like Azure is doing...

[GiggMan]

All I'm saying is bravo for him telling the truth and putting it into perspective. Microsofts cloud will be able to do some cool things like match making, smarter AI, scalability.

Increasing the power of the system, what MS want's you to believe, is false. Apparently they are doing a good job of convincing people it seems. I'm (well my son) is getting one and it's already been pre-ordered. I'm sure MS will sell plenty of them on merit alone. I just hate when companies resort to BS that's all.

[GodGinrai]

@AznGarra

but when MS says this stuff the internet calls bull...people would have still wanted a specific number or found something else to moan about.

just saying

[Ashlen]

The cloud has already been in games. It's what they use to serve ads to you in games. And thats probably mostly what it will do next gen also.

[georgeenoob]

@familyguy

If a platform can run games with better AI, better multiplayer experiences, and a lot more don't you think it makes the system more powerful?

[AngelicIceDiamond]

So the 360 will have dedicated servers as well. I didn't know that actually.

That's really good to hear. Sounds like the experience will be smooth across all platforms.

[No_Limit]

Can't wait for Titanfall to drop on my Xbox One next Spring.

"The Xbox Live Cloud lets us to do things in Titanfall that no player-hosted multiplayer game can do. That has allowed us to push the boundaries in online multiplayer and that’s awesome."
This is why Respawn is making the game exclusive to MS because of Azure. Looking forward of playing this game.

[Unicron]

Exclusive to MS... for 12 months.

[No_Limit]

LOL, Even if it is, so what? I get to play it first while you wait, and wait. Just like I got to play Resident Evil 4 on Gamecube first before it arrives on PS2 or Mass Effect 1/2 before it arrives on PS3. I plan to own all 3 consoles eventually so it is a moot point to me.

[Unicron]

Oh I wasn't commenting on your preferences, more that EA is involved. And EA luvs $.

Also, I need to bring my Gamecube out and play some of my backlog on there. I remember when RE4 came out... such a creepy/amazing game.

[Biggest]

"This is why Respawn is making the game exclusive to MS because of Azure. Looking forward of playing this game"

"LOL, Even if it is, so what? I get to play it first while you wait, and wait"

So is it that the game can only be made with Azure in mind, or is it that you get to play it first that you're excited. The first option is obviously false.

[Unicron]

Biggest... it's clearly as Respawn said. This game can ONLY be done on the One with the "power of teh cloud."

And on 360. And PC. But only the One.

[Lvl_up_gamer]

You should read the article.

PS4 won't be able to handle Titanfall because it doesn't have the infrastructure like MS has. MS's cloud computing is way beyond what Sony has right now. This is why you will see Titanfall on XB1 but not on a PS4 console. Sony just doesn't have the capabilities.

Also, note Respawn stated that it will be on the PC but the XB1 version will be better simply because of the MS cloud infrastructure.

Titanfall will NEVER find it's way onto the PS4 until Sony once again plays catchup to MS and upscale their cloud to do more then what it is right now only capable of doing.

Familyguy just below gives a great read up on why MS and the XB1 are better designed to hands cloud computing and why Sony is not, hence why you won't see Titanfall on a Sony consoles.

The PS4 just can't handle a game like Titanfall...unless ofcourse it's seriously downgraded and stupified.

[Unicron]

So PS4 "can't ever handle it" because it lacks "teh cloud."

But the PC can handle it, despite also lacking "teh cloud?" And the 360 can handle it... running on XBLive?

Gotcha. MS PR has done its work, clearly. This is just as bad as "teh powah of teh cell" malarky.

[No_Limit]

Com on Unicorn, if you just read the article, you would know that Respawn had stated that both the Xbox360 and PC versions of the game will also run on the Xbox Live cloud because those platforms also belong to MS.
"We can upload new programs for them to run and they handle the deployment for us. And they’ll host our game servers for other platforms, too! Titanfall uses the Xbox Live Cloud to run dedicated servers for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox 360."

But of course the PS4 would not be able to take advantage of that for obvious reason. End of story.

[Unicron]

So its a scalable dedicated server. That's it. That's.... depressing. It's nice to see that the creators of the biggest P2P franchise are finally going with dedicated servers, but there's no magic here that prevents it from being done on the PS4.

Heck, the very fact that they are planning to spin up support for the PC and 360 proves this isn't Xbox One specific tech.

[denawayne]

@Unicorn - Right, it's not Xbox One specific tech but a tech that the Xbox one will take advantage of. I bet the PS4 would be capable of using it if MS allowed it.

[ma1asiah]

Awesome, Thanks Jon Shirin and Respawn. Really good explanation of how the Cloud will work, great read to.

So looking forward to Titanfall. Just a shame that it is not a launch title. Some may not agree but I am sure if it had been then this alone could have moved a truck load of X1's by itself. Just my opinion but Titanfalls launch can't come around soon enough.

[GodGinrai]

probaby the game i want most, along with destiny and forza 5

[VonBraunschweigg]

I call it a cloud when I see it rain in Forza 5, untill then it's marketing bs. Passing data through internet can not even remotely be compared to passing data through internal components, and the new Xbox is lacking in that department compared to the PS4.

Edit: ok should have read it properly, for online gaming it can help just like dedicated servers. But that's not really news now is it?

[vsigma]

I work with cloud infrastructure for a living and I can say this guy has it right. Except his assessment of Amazon's cloud is incorrect - they do IAAS similar to Azure so their cloud is actually very similar to Azure except that it doesn't run only MSFT Windows virtual servers, it runs anything you want. That said, Azure is a powerful IAAS and proven cloud and is the best choice obviously for running Xbox's cloud. PSN will never catch up to its sophistication there are only a small handful of players in the IAAS market. They *could* rent IAAS from Rackspace or Amazon , however, if you've used either one you know that their offerings can be very expensive and that would make them at a huge cost disadvantage to MSFT whom already owns massive IAAS infrastructure deployed all over the world. For me the smoking gun is when I first bought my PS3 and my Xbox360. I remember for the first 1-2 years, PSN's dashboard looked like an HTML1.0 page from 1999 and it was plagued with problems that simple page wouldn't load 90% of the time. The multiplayer was terrible for a very long time as well and then when it finally got to be worth using at all (years later), it was then plagued with outages due to incompetent administration as well as being DOS'd and hacked. I think you all remember that. To think Sony has any ability to come close to compete with MSFT on the internet level no matter which technology you're talking about whether basic connectivity or cutting edge cloud deployment , would be laughable. That said, I've preordered both but I already know how this is going to play out.

[Godmars290]

You know what would shut people up more than dozens and dozens of articles saying such is possible? Footage showing how its possible. A actual stage presentation even if the servers are on stage with the game being played.

As is all that's being looked at is a coming train wreck while MS and Respawn try to get things to work near any fashion they've promised.

[Lvl_up_gamer]

Or they can just shut people up like you who don't want to believe MS actually have a great opportunity here with their XB1 to outclass the competition by showing it in their games.

It's coming soon enough. You will see.

[Godmars290]

Yes exactly. They could shut me and others up right now. It shouldn't even be about what the competition is doing.

Nevermind that they've got gamers like yourself expecting that an untested online application will improve an online game beyond its abilities, when its only playable online.

Edit:
Actually for all this cloud benefit talk, has anyone questioned whether or not you'll need XBL Gold?

You're buying a game which only has online multiplayer, offers "benefits" via cloud computing, but in addition to spending $60, you *MUST* whatever XBL cost per month to play it?

[Cyfyxtfg]

great article

[ceed911]

Great read. Summary:

1. Microsoft is offering cheap dedicated servers to developers.

2. Microsoft is letting them focus on maxing out on audio/video without worrying about internet connections running it.

3. Different studios are utilizing it to store other data i.e. Forza storing player's racing AI.

Great way to move us into the future of lag-free gaming.

[Donnyskillz]

it wouldnt matter if microsoft showed how it works in a video....they would say the video is photoshoped, or tampered with and not real,....people are delusional, the make themselves believe what they want to believe, prime example, my girlfriends nephew wanted a PS4, thats all his friends and him would talk about, because all they did was read the internet stuff, i explained the truth to him about both consoles not bad mouthing either one...they are changed their preorders except the nephew whos father hasnt preordered yet, but thats all he keeps asking for now...my point is...in a few years when and if this shows to be true , and even after people see it for themselves, your still gonna get a few idiots that will say and i quote, (thats not real)...in closing im gonna say once that it was established that the ps3 has better graphics and it showed in the exclusives, there was no denying it...and not once did i write or disagree with it...because it was true....if it wasnt true sony would have never said...we can do that too...think about it

[ceed911]

Yeah the article basically says the word "cloud" means shit and what Sony, Microsoft, Amazon, are trying to say is, "we have a lot of servers".

Then detailed on how Microsoft is using those "lot of servers".

But by all means I can't wait for the 14 year old kids to claim this was a conspiracy and they have proof because they also discovered the moon landing was just a sound stage.

[Npugz7]

PS4 has Gaikai and Xbox has cloud so they both will be able to take advantage of these features!

[vsigma]

Gaikai is a video streaming service cloud for games similar to the now defunct OnLive service. That is not what this article is about. Video game streaming is a great idea for the future, but that would mean it's more of a replacement for a PS4 altogether, not necessarily an enhancement for the next gen consoles like Xbox1 and PS4. That's because the tech would be hardware agnostic for example you could use your ipad to play PS4 games, since all it's doing is streaming the video from a datacenter to any compute device with a screen.

[slampunk]

MS haven't had a good start to this gen in most areas, but their upgrade in online infrastructure for XB1 should be a huge selling point for any gamer who plays mostly online....like me.

Titanfall and Forza are looking to use the cloud in great ways.....Destiny and The Division are also online required games that could certainly benefit a lot....Be interesting to see how Halo uses this too....

If you play online games, you need to at least be excited by the prospects of this......

Will BF4 and COD Ghosts have dedicated servers on XB1?

[Sm00thNinja]

Most intelligent discussion I've seen on N4G about the Xbox one ever