How Will Clouds Revolutionize Gaming?

HardwarePal : Video games and consoles are evolving, they move with the technology and customer demand, so its no big surprise that as processing equipment gets increasingly more compact and powerful people are expecting the same from their entertainment systems. Though the size difference between the new consoles from Microsoft and Sony is noticeable, both systems are making abundant use of the cloud technology that each company offers, something that we could see getting expanded upon as downloadable content and streaming become the norm.

[Kingthrash360]

so far...sony's cloud is bringing games, as soon as this summer. it was already showcased and announced with hands on time and the like..ms cloud brings AI....umm so yeah. As much as ms has screamed about cloud power it's sony who actually brought cloud power..imo actions speak louder than words.
with x1 costing 25% more than ps4 you would think they'd put something mor impressive the AI when it comes to the cloud. smh i hope ms gets their stuff right soon because so far the bad FAR outweighs the good.
seems sony has out did them on almost every level so far.
cloud-sony
price-sony
power-sony
controller..that a matter of opinion..most opinions say- sony
online services-sony
apps-ms (not gunna lie)
voice commands- none (really both suck)
games in total announced for 2014 and released- sony
sales-sony (pre japan numbers will only widen that gap)
f2p games-sony (ms has no free to play games..they are all behind pay wall)
device connections- sony
"resolution gate"- sony
hype-sony
party chat-sony
messaging- sony
customization- sony (HDD)
microtransactions-ms
camera-ms
game streaming/recording- sony
indie games- sony
ps+ vs xblive -sony

[Nocando]

Your entire list-Opinion.

[ShinMaster]

Sure, if you ignore some of the facts.

[Belking]

Sorry bud but sony only has cloud streaming. MS has actual cloud computing. xbl compute is the future. MS, google, amazon and Rackspace have cloud computing and they didn't have to buy out anyone to get it. Their cloud services are up,running and worldwide today and sony is just barely going into beta with limited services for limited areas.

[Chevalier]

Up and running but nothing to show gotcha!

[GarrusVakarian]

"MS has actual cloud computing. xbl compute is the future. "

So why isn't anyone using it? "All X1 games with use MS dedicated servers at launch", that's what MS said. But they don't.......Just another buzzword for people like you to cling to when you have no idea what it actually means. All that's going to happen is devs using the cloud for small tasks when they don't really need to....like Respawn, they didn't NEED to use the cloud for the AI, it could have been done other ways, they just used it so MS can promote the use of it. Buzzwords and misinformation. "An X1 connected to the cloud is 3 times more powerful"......and guys like you lap it up. Hilarious.

"they didn't have to buy out anyone to get it"

Lol, you wanna talk about buying people out? You do realise you are a MS supporter, right? Your beloved Titanfall wasn't even meant to be exclusive, the DEVS wanted a multiplat release, but greedy, slimey MS made the deal with EA behind Respawns back. Disgusting way of doing business.

Every comment of yours is just so desperately grabbing at straws to bash on Sony, look how many times you have been marked down the past few days, you are getting so bitter and angry. If you were so confident in your brand of choice you would be chilled out..........

[scott182]

"MS, google, amazon and Rackspace have cloud computing"

You do understand that Sony is also using Openstack, which is part of Rackspace, right?

[ShinMaster]

Gaikai had been up and running for years. It's been proven.

[Nocando]

It's as if they are covering their ears going "lalala cant hear you lalala". All of the hatred and downplaying of Xbox Cloud is born out of fear. They pray that it can't do what MS says it will be capable of.

[Pogmathoin]

Online multiplayer quality, easily MS, worth more than 90% of your 'opinion'

[ShinMaster]

How? People have been saying that since 360 but did not explain the lagfest that was Gears of War 2 among other games.

So how is online multiplayer much better on XBL than PSN?
Cross-game party chat was one of the reasons given, but even that is now available free on PS4.

[mcgrottys]

there is a difference between cloud computing and streaming a game from the cloud. And MS has larger infrastructure for cloud computing with azure which is in the top 3 for best cloud computing firms. They have been doing this stuff for years.

Here (#3):
http://talkincloud.com/talk...

I have a feeling this E3 you will see the difference it makes.

[nukeitall]

Sony cloud yielded P2P with proxy server on their flagship game for PS4 i.e. KillZone i.e. no real dedicated servers.

PSN+ has great value, but it ain't in the cloud!

Playstation NOW will not be a good experience for many with so strict requirements for a long time either.

So Sony cloud so far is inconsequential. They should just fix their servers first so it doesn't constatnly have to be out of operation for maintenaince. That is like 2005.

[Chevalier]

You know because you've used Now? Please show us how the cloud is so great? Proof? Right still NOTHING so MS cloud compute = inconsequential.

[ShinMaster]

I haven't heard of Killzone: SF's multiplayer suffering in any way because of it.

Warzone is great.

[LogicStomper]

Hey uhh... Don't know if you've realised but, this article is about what the cloud will be used for, not PS4 vs Xbox One.

[XiSasukeUchiha]

Sony Cloud FTW

[Mikelarry]

as for now all i see are words / theories of how cloud can improve gaming while they all sound good on paper and in closed controlled environments i will wait to make my judgement on this one.

[Volkama]

For me MS's cloud offering is more interesting. Simply because it offers new possibilities, and the potential to push new boundaries in games.

Sony's offering is a new way to distribute the content we're already familiar with. I don't mean to downplay PlayStation Now, because I do think game streaming is a big deal for the wider audience (particularly that whole stream to a Bravia TV bit).

I also expect that within 2 or 3 years both companies will offer both streaming and cloud compute. And 3rd parties will set up their own compute services too.

[starchild]

Well said. That's a balanced and sensible perspective.

[SpideySpeakz]

Wait, what is MS exactly offering with the Cloud anyway? It's been months since release, and we still don't know what MS's cloud powa will do. They've been dancing around that question for months. Please, don't tell me smarter AI because after seeing Titanfall, MS's cloud is nothing but PR marketing.

Bring older PS1,2,&3 games for streaming sounds a lot better than slighter more AI characters (which most games won't even use or need). And even IF so, the casual gamer won't even notice or care about Cloud compute. It's vastly insignificant, and just marketing.

[ChickenOfTheCaveMan]

Have we seen a first offering of those new and more interesting possibilities yet of the M$ cloud computing in games?

If not, I'd rather have a debate about who would win in a fight between Godzilla and a giant mutated sasquatch.

[Volkama]

If it helps try replacing the MS/Sony names from the topic and just call them company A and B, or something that doesn't make you all emotional.

It's not hard to see how a virtually unlimited number of AI for example could be enabled by external processing, and the applications of that are quite interesting. Even if MS are full of hot air and nothing good materialises, cloud compute is stil an interesting prospect.

It is hard to see how a streamed version of an existing game will offer anything besides a convenient way to access the same content

If you think the convenience and availability of streamed games will benefit you that's great. Good for you. I'm not tryin to take it away or make it sound like a bad thing.
Personally I am unlikely to stream a game if there is anything less than perfect parity with a local copy. So for me cloud compute is more interesting. Or in other words, what I said the first time.

[Chevalier]

At least with Sony it's not all talk, MS has talked on and on and we've seen NOTHING so it's hard not to think it's PR BS. Your choosing to believe the company that told you that in NO way could the camera be disconnected because it was built into the system and now you want to believe Cloud as well?

[Volkama]

Calm your anguished heart. Company A. Company B.

I don't care about the PR approach to either idea. I don't object to Sony's controlled demo, and I don't object to Microsoft's enthusiastic but currently empty promises.

I care about what could be achieved in gaming with more CPU resource, and how much of that potential can realistically be achieved if that resource is remote.

I care about the persistence than could be enabled by having that resource "always-on" even if the console isn't.

I can personally come up with some ideas that this remote compute would enable, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. That's why this approach is more interesting to me than streaming existing games.

And as I said, I anticipate this kind of resource will be available across both platforms within the next 2 or 3 years. It doesn't need to be Microsoft's "cloud", it's just server-side resource.

Hell they might even get totally drunk and design a game that uses scaling resources across multiple servers AND streams the result to your playstation. The ideas don't oppose each other.

[hiptanaka]

They won't.

[5eriously]

The power of the Cloudz, up to 8* powerboost for the one console only. /s

So far the prove of the cloudz pudding was very stale!

[KillrateOmega]

That is, if our internet infrastructure gets the upgrade that it so sorely needs. Fiber optics, mofo.

[ricochetmg]

With net neutrality pretty much out the window ...who wants that.

[Matt666]

I rather have a hard copy of a game then rather downloading it, that way it takes up less space on my HDD and I don't have to wait for it to download.