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[dragonbane]

It is very clever indeed, and it makes use of the fact that, sadly, a lot of people have no clue about how their modern devices actually work. This also means that they have no idea about the intrinsic limitations of cloud computing in the context of a video game. The higher specs of the PS4 or a decent PC in two or three years will vastly outweigh the benefits of whatever they've been cooking up. But the people are easy to please with promises of magical experiences made possible "by the infinite power of the cloud (tm)".

They will see the reality once Digital Foundry starts comparing the games.

E3 is going to be fun this year.

Lots of bans incoming lol

 

[Ravage]

They are really using this 'power of cloud' bullshit to justify online DRM huh? How exactly is it future-proof if it can be rendered useless whenever the online DRM authentication infrastructure is terminated in the future?

And MS can say whatever they want, 3rd parties are not going to turn their multiplatform games into a MMO-like design just for the Xbone.

 

[qwerty2k]

Ever since gaming has become more a 'business' it has sucked more and more. Shills in suits aiming to get their shareholders the best deal and not the gamer

 

[CrunchinJelly]

Haven't you heard? It's all lies, there are no 300,000 servers, it's just 300,000 virtual servers running on Ballmer's laptop.

Jonathan Blow has a similar setup in his basement, I believe.

 

[SRTtoZ]

Yep, that's what got me.
It's bullshit either way, you get always online+cloud, or occasional online (no/little cloud).

Bullshit either way.

The way I read it is the console will always be online but will have a loss of connection timer that will allow you to stay offline for 24 hours if you lose connection. That makes much more sense than staying offline and popping in every 24 hours to see if you have a connection.

 

[Tain]

can anybody talk about the way games are distributed or the way journalists are reacting to it without talking about dicks or fellatio or rape?

or is everybody a shitty little child

 

[razgriz417]

O god, I really how PA brings back these comics for e3

 

[Lord_Byron28]

"Its always Online"

"Its not always Online."

"Its always Online"

"Its not always Online."

"Its always Online"

"Its not always Online."

Etc.

Make up your fucking mind MS. At least be honest that this console is an anti-consumer joke of a system, with paper thin justifications.

Its not always online, it just requires an online connection. What is so hard to understand?

 

[CaptainTiptop]

Looks like you are online to me. Hating MS is the cool thing to do around here. Kind of like hating on Justin Bieber.

What a username.

 

[Mindwipe]

Yawn. Terrible concept is totally fine, honest.

Microsoft have managed to turn me from someone who's pre-ordered most stuff they've put out for the last five years or so to someone who will not touch their new console.

 

[miked808]

I'll be taking your word on this Mr. Mattrick so please don't let me down.

 

[Jake Tower]

Its not always online, it just requires an online connection. What is so hard to understand?

Yeah, learn to doublethink.

 

[razgriz417]

Its not always online, it just requires an online connection. What is so hard to understand?

Right, but for the system to outsource computing to the cloud (harness power of the cloud) you'd have to be online right? Therefore wouldn't that imply for games to do this they'd have to be always online?

 

[misterF]

My god. I'm already fucking tired of hearing "Power of the Cloud". It's not quite as bad as "8GB GDDR5", but it's up there.

So tired of buzzwords.

Bad reveal and all, I'm willing to wait until E3 to give this thing my final judgement, but it's going to take a miracle at this point to make me want to buy one. There's nothing I've heard about this console that makes me want to purchase it from what I know about it so far.

The difference is that "8GB GDDR5" is a a piece of hardware and its advantages can be measured. The "cloud" is such a vague concept that you can't just say that it will boost the console's performance and leave it at that. You just have to compare people's reactions to the RAM reveal and the cloud reveal, people were genuinely surprised and excited for the former.

 

[HiredN00bs]

Microsoft have managed to turn me from someone who's pre-ordered most stuff they've put out for the last five years or so to someone who will not touch their new console.

This.

 

[ypo]

So developers will be coding for PC/PS4 without the POWEZ OF THE CLOUDZ and they will code another version just for the Xbone with the AWESOM CLOUDZ?

 

[REMEMBER CITADEL]

O god, I really how PA brings back these comics for e3

I just went there today for the first time in months. What happened to "funny" in their funnies?

 

[PJV3]

Right, but for the system to outsource computing to the cloud (harness power of the cloud) you'd have to be online right? Therefore wouldn't that imply for games to do this they'd have to be always online?

No, your game will be shittier, but it will still work.

 

[ironcreed]

"unleashed from limitations"= chains for the owner.

Sounds pleasant, does it not?

 

[quest]

My question is how far will they go with all this? Will they intentionally gimp games that are not connected to prove the cloud is all powerful? Like turn down the resolution of any non connected game or cap the frame rate lower until you are connected so you can feel the power of the cloud? I am being serious because they can talk all they want the cloud is not going to make a noticeable difference to anyone unless they rig the game.

 

[Kobalty]

"In the next decade, every great game will tap the power of the cloud to deliver richer, more immersive worlds."

 

[Seanspeed]

So it's either always online required, or this "cloud" PR speak is all bullshit. Every 24 hour check in would not be able to use "the infinite power of the cloud."

It's probably something along the lines of the Xbox not necessarily requiring you to be online all the time to play a game, but if the game in any way relies on cloud computing, then you'll need to be connected 100% of the time to play that game still.

So technically, its not 'always online', but if developers make use of it, they'll make it so its necessary.

 

[jdmonmou]

The more I read about the Xbone the more angrier I become. Calling "always online" a future-proof feature is just downright deceitful. Saying that developers will have to consider the lowest common denominator (those who choose to not keep their consoles online) makes no sense...whatsoever. When was the last time you heard a developer say we chose not to include multiplayer in this game since we know that there are some people out there who have crappy internet connections. Theoretically you could utilize the "power of the cloud" on an Xbox 360 whenever you choose to connect to Xbox Live.

Newsflash Microsoft...people aren't as stupid as you believe them to be. We see this online requirement for what it really is - DRM and a way for you to constantly monitor what we're doing on Xbone.

 

[Loris146]

MS is lost.

 

[aganu]

So developers will be coding for PC/PS4 without the POWEZ OF THE CLOUDZ and they will code another just for the Xbone with the AWESOM CLOUDZ?

as a developer, you are required to sit under a real actual cloud when coding an XB1 game.

 

[NullPointer]

 

[fertygo]

Right, but for the system to outsource computing to the cloud (harness power of the cloud) you'd have to be online right? Therefore wouldn't that imply for games to do this they'd have to be always online?

Yeah if this cloud thing are real, its pretty much always online.

 

[pants]

Don Mattrick's Xbox Live Gold account just went all like:

 

[PaulLFC]

A system that's so future proof that when the servers get shut down in the future you won't be able to play any games.

 

[derFeef]

A system that's so future proof that when the servers get shut down in the future you won't be able to play any games.

Damn you, Gabe!
(I know, I know.)

 

[NullPointer]

A system that's so future proof that when the servers get shut down in the future you won't be able to play any games.

Next Gen ends when Microsoft says it does.

 

[spirity]

"Now, with Xbox One, we're stretching the canvas again so creators can design for the cloud with every game they make," he said. "In the next decade, every great game will tap the power of the cloud to deliver richer, more immersive worlds. We have a great offline game system in Xbox 360 that gets better when it's connected. We could have made another offline console, but then offline would have been the lowest common denominator design point for developers. We chose to take the progressive path."

 

[Heel]

Whoops

 

[forrest]

Tap dat cloud!

 

[PaulLFC]

.

 

[Raide]

A system that's so future proof that when the servers get shut down in the future you won't be able to play any games.

So are you expecting MS to suddenly close all their data centers and drop all their services in a few years?

 

[Graphics Horse]

can anybody talk about the way games are distributed or the way journalists are reacting to it without talking about dicks or fellatio or rape?

or is everybody a shitty little child

This is about the mod-edited thread title, isn't it.

 

[Chie Satonaka]

The difference is that "8GB GDDR5" is a a piece of hardware and its advantages can be measured. The "cloud" is such a vague concept that you can't just say that it will boost the console's performance and leave it at that. You just have to compare people's reactions to the RAM reveal and the cloud reveal, people were genuinely surprised and excited for the former.

Oh, I know. I won't deny one is a thing and one is... Something else.

I'm just one of those people who don't care about tech and buzzwords and want to see games. Obviously there's an audience for these sorts of things, but with the way people were foaming at the mouth for GDDR5 around here, you'd think Chrono Trigger 2 with the original team was announced or something. It was mildly frustrating.

The power of the cloud is much worse though, because this is PR buzzword speak to an extremely negative reaction to their reveal.

We'll see what happens come E3, I suppose.

 

[MikeE21286]

So they're really gonna push this cloud processing as a way to require online always DRM.

Well I guess if you're gonna try to fuck us at least try and give us some lube...

 

[PaulLFC]

So are you expecting MS to suddenly close all their data centers and drop all their services in a few years?

You expect them to keep them running until the end of time?

 

[AOC83]

So are you expecting MS to suddenly close all their data centers and drop all their services in a few years?

It´s certanly possible that they drop out of the console/gaming business in the next 10 years.

 

[REMEMBER CITADEL]

Right, but for the system to outsource computing to the cloud (harness power of the cloud) you'd have to be online right? Therefore wouldn't that imply for games to do this they'd have to be always online?

As far as I'm concerned, the only shitty thing about always-online is the inability to play the game at all when your connection is dropped (or at least the inability to save your progress). Speaking of cloud processing, Mattrick or someone said that they won't mandate anything, but that they hope developers would take possible connection drops into account when designing their games. So it sounds like it will depend on the implementation and vary from game to game.

To be honest, I expect the exact same thing from PS4. Haven't some multiplatform games already been confirmed as always-online?

 

[Tain]

This is about the mod-edited thread title, isn't it.

it's everywhere I open my eyes when it comes to this subject

 

[Raide]

You expect them to keep them running until the end of time?

Until they are no longer needed yes.

It´s certanly possible that they drop out of the console/gaming business in the next 10 years.

Same goes for Sony and Nintendo I guess.

 

[somesayyea]

I'm not interested in this type of "future proofing"

 

[EmCeeGramr]

I just went there today for the first time in months. What happened to "funny" in their funnies?

This topic reminded me of PA's response to always-online doubts about Diablo III, in which they eloquently portrayed everyone complaining as a fat lifeless nerd who had no real argument. Cut to months later when they were wondering why Diablo III couldn't be played at launch and made jokes about SimCity's always-online being a disaster because the issue was finally affecting them personally.

 

[Usual Suspect]

every great game will tap the power of the cloud to deliver richer, more immersive worlds

Can´t wait for the new and immersive worlds of Tetris.

 

[PJV3]

You expect them to keep them running until the end of time?

These servers are being used to charge game retailers and enforce drm, so 50/50 they will outlast the sun.

 

[PaulLFC]

Until they are no longer needed yes.

And who gets to decide when they are no longer needed?

 

[FireVoa]

So Don is basically a messenger traveled back from the future to inform the present that some people without internet wont stop Xbone success, you cant stop the future.