What will the implications of the cloud be...

i_Elite_BoB · October 17, 2013, 8:17pm

What will the implications of the cloud be…
on Halo XB1?

Destiny (and other games), the maps will be a lot bigger thanks to it…
Forza, your driver will learn how you drive and race when you’re not playing…
The xbox one will generally be 3 times more powerful thanks to it…

In this short clip, we hear that next gen Halo will be enhanced by the cloud at E3

IGN

So if we had current-gen powered by the cloud, and it was three times more powerful thanks to it, then we could see a map 3 times the size of forge world, 3 times the budget and three times the player count etc.

Now obviously the cloud can only be utilised if you are connected to the internet, so the campaign won’t be more than the xbox can handle, but MM? Spops?

I heard (somewhere) that there will be a slight delay with the cloud anyway so games/matches cannot be processed with them, just things like maps. But does anyone know the kinda things that we can expect?

weird_stealth · October 17, 2013, 9:21pm

I wouldn’t hold my breath on 3X bigger forge and budget, the budget alone isn’t 100% memory usage, but also graphical usage, networking, and other things.

In Gmod, I can any number of items spawning and moving about on my screen in solo with very little issues, in an online match, I’m limited because of networking, the more things going on in/on the map, the more the platforms need to talk to each other.

xboxdigger_94 · October 17, 2013, 9:34pm

The cloud is going to get held back by internet bandwidth. The DDR3 in Xbox 1 is rated around 68.000 megabyte per second while a normal broadband hovers around 1 megabyte per second.

Which means:

The xbox one will generally be 3 times more powerful thanks to it… No
Destiny (and other games), the maps will be a lot bigger thanks to it… No
Forza, your driver will learn how you drive and race when you’re not playing…? Possibly.

Using the cloud was only a miserable trick to believe that you could not play offline, thus letting them control everything.

Read more here:

Ozzy_Onya_A2Z · October 17, 2013, 11:42pm

A few cloud speculations off the top of my head:

No host migration & no black screen waiting while host changes. There is no host to quit out.
No interrupted game statistics, all your Waypoint statistics will be accurate and not inaccurate due to host migrations or host quitting etc.
More interactive maps as the synchronisation between players is easier with cloud/dedicated servers.
Faster updates to playlists/game settings, potentially even behind the scenes with no waiting to download updates by players.
Far less host advantage in game.
Improved regional player matching and therefore higher quality game experiences.
Far more simultaneous player per game e.g. 32 or 64 or 128 players in one match.
Coop play could reduce or eliminate input latency e.g. campaign coop or spartan ops or firefight could be buttery smooth while allowing far more detail in maps or interactive elements.
Seamless matchmaking like Destiny done in game in real time.
“Smart Match” background matchmaking as X1 advertise so you can do other things while searching for specific games/modes etc.
Potentially a custom playlist search or community published content in real time.
Potentially cloud processing of background AI, persistent or shared world(s).
Potentially cloud processing of graphics using a Level of Detail (LOD) system so things in use or on screen or close to the player or done on the console where all other things about to come into view or off screen etc are preloaded or calculated by the cloud.
Things like ghost players e.g. mario kart time trials or Forza Drivatar etc.
New game settings, tweaks, patches, content, maps, playlists etc can be added by developers in real time without the need for patches or download waiting etc.
Far less cheating e.g. no host bridging, no bandwidth throttling, no standby, no purposeful host quitting, anti-boosting/banhammer improvements etc.
In game ranks meaning far more e.g. statistics are far more accurate do to accuracy and reliability of no client host or host migrations or split games etc.
There is also potential for a hybrid system with cloud hosting and P2P (peer to peer e.g. Xbox Live on 360). This is being done with Call of Duty Ghosts and could likely appear in Halo as well. Just in case the cloud Azure datacentres and Content Distribution Networks (CDNs) aren’t local to you it may benefit some international players to remain on P2P in place of overseas dedicated servers.
Automated clip saving in the cloud, save game sharing, access from multiple devices, game streaming to tablets or mobiles.
Spin off games like Spartan Assault or RTS that contribute in real time back to a Halo FPS multiplayer game e.g. Dust/Eve online.
Dedicated servers are just that, fixed into a location with specific resources, settings and geolocation etc. Cloud based systems to the global scale of Azure/Compute provide redundancy (no fall back playlists), scalable performance as needed and where (e.g. Australia get lots of players online at differing times/days to the USA and this will automatically be catered for). Servers don’t need to go offline like Halo 2 PC servers as cloud scales up or down as needed.
Potentially shared party viewing of saved games or screenshots etc. Cloud or dedicated servers enable these sorts of services far better than P2P. So being in a party with 3 other mates you could watch your campaign or multiplayer game together without the slow loading or skipping of frames etc. This could be a real benefit.
Far more storage for saving or potentially editing game videos to the cloud. Again could access this from multiple devices or view with multiple people on multiple devices etc.