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Machiavellian on 22 June 2014
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thismeintiel said:
Machiavellian said:
thismeintiel said:
I'd say they just stumbled a bit. It cost them Titanfall 1 sales, but TF 2 will probably be fine. I'm sure it will sell the most on the PS4, regardless of the XBox exclusivity for the first game. What I find more interesting is that TF2 will prove that the cloud is just a bunch of PR nonsense. I doubt they will use any kind of cloud processing for TF2, instead using the HW to do AI, and the game will end up better looking and run smoother than the first game. I just hope that Respawn makes a much more fleshed out single-player campaign.

Actually how will Titanfall 2 prove the cloud is nonsense.  You have absolutly no clue how Titanfall 2 will be developed.  You also have no clue if EA/Respawn use Azure or some other cloud platform for the PS4.  What you do not understand is that the AI is the least of the reason why you need a cloud platform for Titanfall.  The ability to spawn a dedicated server anywhere within the world close enough to gamers to keep pings low is the reason for the cloud platform.  Before anyone says dedicated servers are not part of a cloud infrastructure, do some research and understand what PaaS is.  The thing is, Sony will either need to provide the same ability or EA/Respawn will need to eat the cost.  If EA/Respawn does not eat thge cost then you just might not have dedicated servers on the PS4.  They could do P3P just like now.

Because MS has been using the cloud as PR jargin, and nothing more.  They only do this to try and confuse people not in the know, or are just Xbox fanatics, into believing that the cloud will close the performance gap.  The truth is, everything thing they are using the cloud for, processing-wise, can be done on local HW.  Poor AI in Titanfall, drivators in Forza, and explosions in Crackdown.  Really, I just see it as a way to sneakingly bring back a form of online DRM, without actually saying its DRM.  I mean, are purchasers of Xbox One games who don't have the internet, or have poor internet, not going to be getting the full single-player package in Forza 5, Crackdown 3, and others?  Guess so.

As for servers, they will just use the same methods online games have been using for the entirety of last gen and before.  They will use dedicated servers or P2P, without all the cloud jargin.

Yes MS has being using the cloud for PR.  They are the only company that is giving developers and publishers free dedicated servers for all of their games.  Its a selling point not only for game development for the X1 but also for people who play MP games.

 I will agree that the cloud will not close any straight up performance gap but it might provide some interesting games depending on how developers use the resource.

@BOLDED: Well of course everything the cloud can do can be done on local hardware.  What the cloud provides is a means to off load those task so that the local hardware can dedicate those resources to other task.  Thats just fundamental Client/Server tech.  The cloud is just a fancy buzz word to market but the underline technology is older than I am.  

Using Titanfall AI as a measure of offloading local processing is not gonna get you anywhere.  The AI in Titanfall is poor on purpose.  They are fodder and easy kills for newbies entering the game so that they can be at least successful in killing something before getting owned by more experience pilots.  Offloading the Ai just makes sense if you have dedicated hardware to make it happen.

Well, if Crackdown require the internet then it probably would be good not to purchase that game if you have poor or no internet.  Its a purchase decision more than anything else.  As long as those requirements are listed on the box who can really complain.  Titanfall, Destiny, The Division and a few other games will be coming out internet only.  If having to have the internet to play those games is a problem I am sure people will not purchase those games.

2nd Bolded:  There is a difference between dedicated servers which must be running all the time and PaaS dedicated servers which can be brought up and down based on demand.  The 2nd one is a cloud based infrastructure which saves a company resources and money while the other one is costly to maintain and is prone to being dropped when the developer/publisher run out of money, resources or low demand.  Without understanding the technology you do not see the benefits.  Not having to fork over your own money you do not see the savings.  How many 3rd party developers do you know of runnign their own servers.  Its not EA that eats that cost, its Respawn.  Last but not least, if you are playing a MP only game, you probably want to have a dedicated server hosting then P2P.  Either way we will see how things turn out.  I am interested to see how Respawn follow up with Titanfall 2 and what the solution will be.