| mjk45 said: There was no concern it was a question about how they or anyone else for that matter handle multiple down loads to a single game file since you said that they only need the one , and yes I realise and stated it wouldn't or shouldn't with alll the variables be in the millions, forgive me if I'm wrong but with multiple data centres and server farms would this not mean multiple copies of the game files spread across the system rather than one. |
Yes. Data farms are replicated, so content is available across the globe. However, in terms of quanity, you're looking at less than a dozen compared to 40 million. The point being is that every user who has rights to that game, has access to a single copy of it relative to their geographical location rather than one they've uploaded or specifically copied to their data store. And the reason for this is simple, it cuts down on the amount of storage space required.
I'm guessing the software technology behind it is from SharePoint Portal Server. When someone purchases the game, they're given the right to download it, which in terms of a file system is just a read. But the user doesn't actually see the file in the file system location, they see a list. The list is the same for every user, however based on what games and content they have rights to, the list gets populated. Even when they request the file, they're not directly accessing the OS, they're accessing a reference in a database, that references the file in the file system. That's as opposed to storing it as a blob in a database.
Basically, Xbox LIVE uses some fancy code to hide the file system from the user and present files, like a game download, in a pretty context. Xbox LIVE users might see "My Content" and that might include "My Games" but those games arean't really physically anywhere where they can touch them.
