Microsoft Explains How Xbox One Cloud Enables Massive Multiplayer Games, Reveals Cloud Flow Diagram

"Microsoft have been hyping up the so called power of the cloud for some time now but besides the one technical demo we haven't actually seen anything that may indicate its use in a practical set up."

[pompombrum]

Here we go again with the cloud crap. Owned my Xbox One since Titanfall and being honest, I've yet to see any serious benefits. So far my only noteworthy experience of the "cloud" in gaming is the damn barsteward stealing my GTA 5 online character.

[mcstorm]

The DriverTars in Forza 5 a good example of how the cloud can be used but not really seen much else used I know the bots in Titan fall use the cloud but they are not the best example.

[dumahim]

Even the Drivatars didn't really feel all that different from the AI in previous games. They still have the same AI driving tendancies that drive people nuts. People would even race against their friend's drivatar and it acted nothing like the real person.

Clearly there was a difference between each of the drivatars on the track, but I don't think it was all it was cracked up to be.

I especially love how so many of them drive on the grass on the long straight on Silverstone.

[sinspirit]

Drivatars are processed on your console, and simply uploaded to the cloud as a file that others can access. It isn't cloud processed.

[snookiegamer]

In the future, games are going to be unbelievable. MS have invested a lot into Cloud tech. I wonder if it'll be ready during Xbox One's lifetime, or is this something for X1's successor?

MS' cloud ambitions are pretty much like Sony' VR. It's something for much later on down the road IMO.

[kayoss]

The Cloud and Sony's VR is not alike. The cloud will be implemented to players if they like or not. It will be implemented even if the consumers do not have the bandwidth to fully utilize it, it may mean that there will be parity between consumers for the same game depending if they have internet connection or not. Sony's VR is an accessory. Its not mandatory for consumers to use it. There are no parity between users.

[snookiegamer]

Learn to read and comprehend! I'm not saying they are the same tech. I know the differences in what they are LOL??

My comment was based around time scales. They are both a ways off....as in it's early days for both future consumer services/products....jeez!

Please don't attempt to use my comment to spread your propaganda next time. Your not nearly as smart as you think you are, I see right through your anti-microsoft comment.

'Where's my common sense'?

I think we're on different pages pal. I never invited any explanations from you, you volunteered, and that's not a problem. But, you're (yada, yada) comment is on a totally different subject to mine. I don't mean to be rude, but you went all convulted on me ;)

[kayoss]

I know how to comprehend what you wrote. What im trying to say to you is VR is much more a reality for everyone else who can afford it. Cloud is not a reality for the majority of the consumers. Why?? Bandwidth is the biggest issue with Cloud computing and cloud gaming. The majority of the people in the united states don't even have high speed internet let alone think about cloud computing. where is your common sense? Why get defensive? when all im trying to do is explain to you. No where in my post I attacked you or said anything vulgar. If you're so sensitive to replies then don't post anything.

[n4rc]

How exactly is a data stream of 1s And 0s bandwidth intensive? We aren't streaming textures or audio etc.. Its instructions

And I'd argue the vast majority of gamers have sufficient bandwidth.. Counting people in the middle of nowhere that wouldn't own a cell phone let alone a brand new gaming system is irrelevant to the topic.

And even so.. Games that use this service will undoubtedly be marketed as online only.. So those few people can simply not buy it

[denawayne]

"The cloud will be implemented to players if they like or not."

So, players are forced to buy a cloud based game they can't play but they have the option to purchase Morpheus?

[Flutterby]

@n4rc

Everything through the Internet is 0 and 1s what are you talking about. Also the download speed of you Internet is not the biggest factor it's the latency , the same thing that has plagued wow players for 10 years. You think MS can make everyone's Internet in the world latency free? Nope so it doesn't matter.

@snookie

Lay off the pixie dust anyone that replies to you and disagrees you have a stroke about it, maybe leave this Web page and go do some research before telling other ppl they aren't smart. Also if you find that the majority of ppl don't understand what your point is its because you aren't very good at making your point clear enough.

[nunley33]

I agree it's gonna be amazing in the future when this tech is ready for public consumption. Sony has invested a lot in it's cloud tech too. We may not see this fully realized till XBONE2 or PS5. And yes VR is in a similar spot and that probably won't be fully realized and come into it's own till years later. but Sony's VR headset appears to be coming within a year or two but who knows.

[kopko]

Well Cloud is starting to be a serious thing. Looks like Microsoft is really investing a lot of time and money into it. Lets see if it pays off, i hope it will so they can redeem themself.

[JBSleek]

For clarification dedicated and cloud servers aren't the same thing. I see many people say dedicated servers is another word for cloud servers and that is simply false.

[TankCrossing]

The cloud can host dedicated servers though.

Let's clarify another misconception, dedicated servers are not limited to simplistic multiplayer game hosting. With a good dedicated server available you could do things like offload AI, maybe physics. Any non-immediate computational requirements would be well-suited to run on dedicated servers.

Now put it all together: Microsoft's Azure cloud can host dedicated servers. Dedicated servers can do the things Microsoft have suggested they can achieve with "the power of the cloud".

[JBSleek]

How can the cloud host dedicated servers when the mere definition of a dedicate server is having its own hardware.

Dedicated servers are actually physical servers while cloud servers are not.

So once again there is no cloud service that can host a dedicated server because that would be false.

[Cherchez La Ghost]

Let me break it down for some. Cloud computing started back since 2001. There are of companies that is using this technology. You have Microsoft, Amazon, Google & Cisco and more big dogs that is using Cloud computing today. And just like MS had little support of HD-DVD because they believed then that digital was more important than physical (which it is currently today). Hell, look at Netflix, iTunes & Apple TV, Google Music & Movies, Amazon Prime Movies, DropBox, OneDrive, Google Drive, Spotify, etc...

It's funny how most people can call Cloud BS, but you use it everyday and they cannot explain how the technology works.

[ThatOneRiggaNob]

People don't understand that you can do various things with it that goes far beyond streaming movies and hosting dedicated servers. So they doubt it just to doubt it. What MS is trying to do for consoles with this technology is going to be amazing if they can pull it off. some people just want MS to fail at everything they do.

[ger2396]

Explain how its going to benefit games in a substantial way. I ask because I don't see how it does.

[ThatOneRiggaNob]

@ger Did you not watch the cloud computing demo they did a couple months ago....? That kinda explains it all right there at what they're trying to do. Using cloud computing to handle destruction and other tasks the hardware itself can't normally do on it's own. Sure it was in a controlled enviroment but that doesn't mean it can't be done outside that. Also to my knowledge I don't remember anyone else ever doing this for consoles. So if MS can pull this off then I'd say that would benefit games in a very substantial way but I guess we will have to see when Crackdown releases since apparently that demo was an early work build for the new installment in the series.

[sin7279]

this is for movies,music etc,not GAMES my friend!

[Golden_Mud]

it's for everything that contains connecting to a network :)

[JBSleek]

Gaming is just another medium for entertainment. Nothing changes.

If you need gaming related examples there's OnLive, PS Now, NVidia Grid, Radeon Sky.

Calling Cloud BS is simply silly as there's practical examples of it working and it only gets better as the internet gets better.

[snookiegamer]

@Cherchez La Ghost

You're absolutely right!!

Including the companies you already mentioned, PS4 owners use cloud based services. Uploads, Music/Video Unlimited, PS Now etc...

We all use cloud tech in one way or another. The hate for cloud tech is ridiculous, and it's coming from both sides, not just from PS fanboys ;/

[blackout]

Microsoft has the #1 cloud service in the world , just took the top spot from amazon last year. The cloud is brewing and some special thing are coming. Not just Microsoft but a lot of major company's are making big investments right now. It will small things at first, but it will be huge with in the next couple of years. Some people don't believe in small steps to see major growth in the future. It's called growth and it takes time just like everything else in life. Just be patient.

[Eonjay]

Well technically, Sony is doing cloud services too with PSNow, which is a cloud game streaming service. Microsoft's main purpose of it Azure services is to leverage their apps to turn them into services. So now you can rent Office on a monthly basis, much in the same way as renting a movie or game. One cool thing about this is that it allows for document collaboration. And when you add in cloud storage, you have a decent solution for small and middle-sized companies. If you are doing a presentation and there is a last minute change you don't here about while on your flight, someone from the office can update the document for you and have it ready by the time you get off the plane.

[hello12]

With Galkai yes, if Sony invested billions technically the could transform their cloud network to be able to do different things, but at the moment Galkai only does video cloud streaming The network is limited too currently only available in the United States at the moment. Europe i heard was next we'll see.

Microsoft, has cloud centres located all across the world, its the reason they'll able to do game physics with the cloud and the xb1. When you boot up a game you'll be connecting to your local data centre and the ping is low. Cloud will be awesome for online mutiplayer games and its only going to get better.

[sinspirit]

@KNWS

It's not the reason they'll be able to do game physics.

The cloud needs strong hardware, and a lot of it, to process physics. Right now it is a bunch of regular servers with many different levels of hardware, not at all suited for calculating physics.

If they decide to build dozens of thousands of graphically oriented servers then sure it could maybe do it if the users connection is perfect, but that wouldn't be making them any money whatsoever and it wouldn't be able to serve millions and millions of players. And, once we get to the next consoles their servers will be highly out-dated for trying to process things like this in your games and will be useless. Microsoft is talking about cloud possibilities to drive hype. This is not at all feasible to coincide with actual hardware and the investment completely degrades in a short amount of time.

[MasterCornholio]

Thats interesting but it isn't what I expected though.

[Ark_]

Even if we assume there is something to it, that really enhances the gaming experience ...

1) It's a mere promise on the future.
2) Should it be a big step forward (for gaming), everyone will follow soon after. Which means: if you get the "power of the cloud" for xbox, it will work for every other platform soon after.

I really appreciate their effort for new ways of using cloud computing, but I despise their constant PR and marketing bullshit. In the moment, and most propably for the next years, there will be no major impact on gaming.

Virtual reality is the next "big" thing within reach. Although, it's plainly just an extension to the way we play games and use media allready. Two tiny portable monitors strapped infront of your eyes.
It will be awesome in the beginning, no doubt, but soon ppl will notice, that they still play the same game types, with the same concepts, and the same (underdevelopt) A.I. We will grow accustomed to it.

And then it will again boil down to "On which platform can I get the best games for my taste?"

[Gamer666]

So what are Drivatars in Forza 5?

Is that not the cloud?

You race, your racing style is analyzed and saved up to the cloud, then when others race solo their driving skills are matched up with your cloud drivatar and your driving drivatar appears in their races.

[sinspirit]

Yes. Saved on the cloud. And that is all. It's the same as Cloud saves on PSN and Steam. It simply takes whatever data was already processed on your console and saves it onto the cloud to be accessed.

This isn't anything special or new whatsoever.

[Gamer666]

@sinspirit.

It can't be just cloud saving because the drivatars react to events within the race dynamically.

There has to be some analysis/processing happening to create AI that "behaves" like the person typically does in the situations that arise within the race.

Also, drivatars are adjusted by difficulty settings you choose.

Drivatars aren't just recordings of your races. They are analysis and patterns of your driving behaviours.

[sinspirit]

@Gamer666

What? That makes no sense.

Your driver behavior is processed through every race on the console and it creates an AI and uploads it.

The analysis/processing is done on the console. The cloud does zero of it. All it does is host a file that contains the persons behaviors inside of it.

The reactions in your races are simply the behavior given to the AI and your console processing that behavior.. The cloud doesn't actively connect to your console and process the AI inside of your races for you..

On PS1 in Metal Gear Solid 1 Psycho Mantis gathered data throughout your entire game in order to change his AI to respond to the players play style and be harder to defeat. Adaptable AI, changed by a players behaviors, has been done a long time ago, just because it is hosted on a cloud server doesn't make it any different.

[Gamer666]

@sinspirit

So, you know for a fact that it is processed on the console and then uploaded?

How do you know that for certain?

What because MGS had a similar feature? LOL...

Oh... Here is the link that explains how Drivatars work...

http://www.digitalspy.ca/ga...

Data from everyone is stored in the cloud... It is analyzed for all racers in the cloud, and then it is incorporated in everyone's games where they have drivatars on.

[Dewitt]

So everyone has the amount of data centers to just follow the leader after MS becomes the pioneer on the compute side of things? Unless there is something we don't know about the Wii U and Sony has a bigger deal then server space with RackSpace I highly doubt anyone has the infrastructure to support what MS is trying to do with the exception of maybe Amazon and Google.

[Ark_]

Citing the article: "The example used in the blue print is Wordament and shows how at the end of each round, players are ranked. The system then outputs a list of optimized results which includes best words, best of the hour, best of the day and best of the week."

Wordament. Okey.

I reiterate what I allready said: cloud computing will not have a major imapact on how we play games and how we experience games for some years to come.

I am not saying that it isn't worth the effort so; they wouldn't pursue that road, if it wouldn't be promising for them.

[sinspirit]

Well, if Microsoft had a server that wasn't just built up of standard server hardware you might of had a point. Without any graphical oriented hardware it is very limited, and all of this hype and tech demos Microsoft brags about are only working under perfect conditions and when Microsoft has the ability to dedicate tons of servers to one demo. Seriously, a high end gaming PC ran the destruction demo dreadfully bad at like 2fps, and their server consists of CPU's that are more worse than that desktop. It likely had dozens of servers dedicated to that demo just to get the 30fps. Even dedicating one server to one console these theoretical features is ridiculous. The amount of consoles far out numbers the servers, and it also wouldn't be cost effective whatsoever to do that.

[n4rc]

They can't..

Ms can justify the massive expenditure because of office, Skype, windows etc.. Nobody would ever build that kind of infrastructure for gaming, even if they wanted to.. Lol

[donnieboy]

*Clickbait

[neoandrew]

Nothing special, they use the term cloud but it is in fact a lot of connected dedicated servers and nothing more, sony can do it also if they want (cmon they need to maintain psn services so they have it already)

Sony can also make it better and faster, m$ is using windows server, but linux is batter for a server, cheaper, faster, more performance, this is the truth, most o websites and server are working on linux software and it is not a coincidence.

[riverstars86]

Sony's servers faster than Microsoft's? Let me know when you wake up from the dream you are currently having.

[2pacalypsenow]

He said they could make it faster not that is faster

[riverstars86]

Thanks for clarifying that for me 2pac.... lol

[neoandrew]

What do you don't understand?

Linux is a better server system, it is smaller, faster, requires less resources, very scalable, it is free.

And is a proved product used by most web servers(not N4G actually) and software servers (like mp game code)

Anyone can buy lots of dedicated servers and connect them, no brainier here.

The term cloud in reality in most cases mean that you can smoothly manage those connected dedicated server parameters.

Create virtual instances based on this hardware, virtual computers to make some processing, run a lobby server, process multilayer data or any other data.

And then if you no more need it just dump the whole instance.

Cloud also means you use only the resources you need, if they are not needed you can disable the servers.

So you really need to understand what this term mean and what cloud always was

A WAY TO MANAGE A LOT OF DEDICATED PC

Nothing less and nothing more.

So sony could easily just buy the same amount of servers or even less because linux is better, and run its own cloud system for ps4, if it is what they need, but i doubt in it because m$ cloud is just a plain PR for gamers and nothing more, but could not really be used for any computational game aspects.

The thing is those processing is not free, those servers don't run for free, if you want make something that a console like xone has no power for and compute it in cloud, then guess what, its need power, and if you could not get it done on xone (more than 200w power supply) then the cost of making it in cloud is to huge to be offered only for the price of game.

So actually it can be used in a game like mmo that charges you monthly for playing, but not in a single player game and with limited usage in mp, just because those server power cost money and no one will pay for the processing power you would use, not in a long term.

So to sum up, it is a solution that everybody can build, you need to keep in mind that sony is already maintains such servers used for PSN services and console functions, so they could easy make their own cloud service, but doubt they will.

[riverstars86]

Sony doesn't have resources available to come close to having the same amount of servers that Microsoft currently has all around the world.

Please don't think that it would be easy for Sony to match the infrastructure that Microsoft has been building long before Xbox One came to fruition.

[neoandrew]

Of course they can, they can simply buy more servers and faster with linux than m$ for THE CLOUD.

You don't understand that no all around world m$ servers are used for this service.

This is a cloud grid build for xone services and it has its limits as everything.

PSN and XLIVE works the same on both consoles, handling similar services so clearly if sony can build the same quality for PSN infrastructure, they can build a dedicated cloud grid for PS games not worse than m$.

It is just not the case, it is easy, just buy servers and you are ready to go, but sony is already using a lot o servers for PSN and not only, they running much more products than only PS and all of them need servers.

M$ is just making glorious CLOUD PR for people like you, which completely don't understand what it is, how it works and for what you can use it.

Those kind of people will just be happy with everything m$ will say and believe them, even if it is complete BS PR that just can't i any way make todays AAA games better.

The truth is that it is worthless, every company that make games already have their own servers, for years devs were hosting their games and solutions on their own.

Every company can make any feature they want, they don't need anybody servers.

PS4 has great games and exclusives not worse than xone and doesn't use some BS PR fake cloud...

[riverstars86]

I respect your opinion, I have both Xbox One & PS4, and I can't tell a difference in online game play. I just expect Microsoft to have the superior cloud service based on how much they've spent on R&D and for the extreme amount of servers they have around the world.

[Kill Crow]

This is NOT a diagram of Microsoft's Cloud platform for the Xbox One!

This is the architecture diagram for a simple word game (Wordament) hosted on Azure ... It's Wordament's implementation of cloud services, nothing more.

The Following Text has been cropped off the top of the actual diagram :

"Wordament is played simultaneously by players around the world in two-minute rounds. At the end of each round, all scores are collected, and all players are ranked. A leaderboard shows top players and their scores along with lists of best words, best of the hour, and best of the day and week"

Download the actual Diagram, titled Gaming, Here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/d...

[2pacalypsenow]

Yes that's why titanfall was 6v6 ...

[Gunstar75]

I thought it was a design choice?

Y'know like massive black bars on The Order and 6v6 on Destiny?

Oh and all that Fog in Infamous SS...

[n4gusername]

No, Titanfall was only possible with the cloud. The cloud allowed the AI to learn and respond to player gameplay. That is why the AI is top notch in Titanfal and getting better every day. So tired of the cloud since half of what is presented is just bull at this point.

[n4gusername]

@Bigfinger: sorry that you were unable to detect the sarcasm in my comment.

[hello12]

Microsoft will demonstrate the cloud doing destruction with crackdown. Then people can judge if it was worth the effort. The game is scheduled for a 2016 release, so its not that far off. We might get even get a beta before then? Microsoft is also promising another demo soon. I don't know why people are doubting this when a game has already been announced. Its not if Microsoft is only talking about it. A game is in the works like i said.

[feraldrgn]

Right, so:
"Microsoft Explains How Xbox One Cloud Enables Massive Multiplayer Games"

Actually translates to (as already admitted by phil),
"Microsoft Explains How Xbox One Dedicated Servers Enables Massive Multiplayer Games"

So essentially it's trying to give it a magical spin again.

[KontryBoy706]

I remember when they were saying "the cloud" would improve graphics and all that they had even said that Watch Dogs pedestrians would be more "life like" with the cloud and the city would feel "more alive"... What happened to that Microsoft? LOL

Example here
http://www.gamingtarget.com...

[SaveFerris]

How will Microsoft's servers keep up with the advances in gaming hardware? The next consoles may be coming out in 5-6 years and likely to be more powerful (apologies for not mentioning PC's) but does anyone know how long MS will continue to support Xbox? This is only their third gen but it surely has been costly for them to finish second or third and so far trailing the PS4 in this gen.

[tommygunzII]

I thought by 2014 every shooter would be a massive multiplayer shooter, but then CoD showed up in 2007 and took us back in time where we have been stuck since. During that back to the future ride many developers that could make a great large scale shooter either disappeared or changed their formula completely. I have zero faith in shooters for the time being because it seems people want 6v6 mobile experiences.

SOCOM 3 had 32 players on PS2 in 2005...

[Flamingsoul]

Microsoft did make cloud storage possible on all internet connected xbox's so why can't they make cloud computing possible its not impossible for it to happen.

[sAVAge_bEaST]

PR campaign, is out in full F0rCE with this one.

Pre-Pare, to p(L)ay,.

"monetization models" & "the shift to Games-as-a-Service"

prepare to Pay, my friends,

Trust M$, pay to play-online-, timed exclusives, drop of support, DRM, & Kinect2.000 /water.cooler?/ ???4.99???GliTcH dEm0 @by M$/EA

(link to "quote" http://n4g.com/news/1544321...

[mixolydian_id]

I already knew all of this.

Cloud is a term used to explain remote servers to simpletons.

The purpose of these servers can be for anything you wish and function best when constructed/programmed to do a desired objective.

It's better then relying on local client computing as the server has vastly more processing power (hence the price) and means that you don't need to sell a person a high end computer to get great results.
Your xbox one purchase includes the use of the suppliers ultra high end, monitored, frequently updated, secure, multimillion dollar network data centres.

The xbox one IS future proof and considering the capabilities of the system, it's an absolute steal.

We all know 1.3-1.8T-flops of peak performance isn't much to brag about in the grander scheme of things.

Back in the P2P model of client and host multiplayer gaming on console. The host console would do all of the processing and everyone else (the clients) would just transmit menial data back and forth. Hence why the host always ran rife.

Cloud compute will transfer host computations to network servers. Thus meaning each client will now be able to use the entire system capabilities to it's maximum.
This is in contrary to the previous model where the host's max processing power was the bottleneck.
i.e the maximum power was limited by what the host console was capable of... slave clients were running at an estimated 30% of the full power. I'm sure you'll understand how inefficient the model really was.
I can only imagine it was used because at the time it was the only logical method of providing the online service to the customer.