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Richard_Feynman on 13 June 2014
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EpicRandy said:
Richard_Feynman said:
Machiavellian said:
Richard_Feynman said:
So if my internet connection goes down then it'll be less impressive?

What if my internet connection isn't fast enough to ensure "full cloud compute" for this game? Are they going to make it scalable?

Just two questions that I believe make this whole thing very impractical and not worth it.

I don't buy it - sorry.

Lets think of this in another way.  If you are playing a MMO or a game that requires you connected to the internet like Titanfall, The Division, Destiney Playstation Now and a few more games I cannot remember that are coming out.  If you internet fail what happens when playing any of those games.

So if Crackdown is a game that requires an internet connection what is the difference??

If your internet is not fast enough just like any game that depends on the internet I am sure they would list that as a requirement for the game.  People are really trying hard to think of scenerios where cloud compute has any issues outside of what we already see for games today that require internet.  On the client end which is your PC or console, there is nothing new that cloud compute will introduce then any other scenerio that rely on an internet connection.

The problem here is that you aren't think hard enough about what I am saying.

Cloud compute differs substantially from streaming a full game and online play. SUBSTANTIALLY.

Yes but the differences is all win. Cloud compute require lesser bandwith, it isn't dependant on lag or latency issue. Microsoft already stated that with a connection of 1.5 Mbps you would be fine. The world-wide average bandwith is about 2.9Mbps.http://www.examiner.com/article/xbox-one-has-a-1-5mbps-download-speed-internet-requirement

  So what's the big deal?


It IS a big deal. 

"Yes but the differences is all win."

No! With full game streaming and online gaming the dev makes a single specification for how those things would work. The only factor then is the lag - which is directly dependent on the network conditions.

With this cloud compute, there is a partial set of calculations which are chosen do be done online. The whole problem comes down to this choice. This choice has to be made scalable - i.e. it changes as network conditions change. So now it is a situation where a dev decides (or is forced) to do a certain aspect of their rendering through cloud compute. But what happens if network conditions fail during rendering? Moreover, what happens to the offline player?

What you end up with is SERIOUS fragmentation. How many sets of rendering would there be? What will the offline gamer loose? Can't sacrifice AI or physics for those without cloud compute, or can we?

Headaches for devs. That's what this is. Serious, serious headaches. And for what!?

10% better performance half the time? 20%? 

You don't need to be a tech guru to be able to stare down this rabbit hole. It is ugly. It is very deep and very ugly.

 

*note, features such as driveatar are not part of this problem whatsoever. Online (and offtime!) calculations are a fantastic idea and I think driveatars are awesome. But this is hardly new.