Who knows... Its just a tool for devs to utilize to make a better experience.

In the case of Forza, its supposed to improve AI. Other games can utilize it in a different manner. 

One thing I know for sure, M$ didn't invent cloud computing. As a matter of fact, they are more of a Johnny come lately to the cloud computing scene. Not able to tell you anything else, besides the fact that I have drank the kool-aid and am interested in it. Have not made a buying decision on it at all.

It is a bit more than that.  It is a server taking what you did on the server and doing some crunching on its end, and having a human modded AI that people can race against.  But my question has been: How is this any different than dedicated servers today?

It isn't, and MS didn't invent could computing, it is at least 10 + years away. MS is using their typical BS marketing and hype.

So MS are saying if someone plasy offline they are getting a worse game? When this game launches this myth will be rebunked quickly.

It's ahead of its time. For now, it's a buzzword with very little benefit.

I do not think you are really looking for a real explanation but if you really want to educate yourself; you can use Bing (or Google I guess looking at your post history and the "love" you have for Microsoft) and look at what Microsoft Azure / Amazon S3 or even Google Computing (in preview). Nothing to do with Gaikai or anything like that even if some forum experts claim it is the same.

Computing instances and VCPUs is all about what Microsoft is envisioning, nothing remotely close to what Gaikai or Online are... And YES, computing instances can obviously act as a dedicated servers so it will be mostly used by for that as it does not requires any special codes or synchronization patterns in the games... For every console out there Microsoft is giving the dev. (and the game) 3 vCPUs in the so called cloud (computing instance in their datacenter); and the dev can use those vCPUs to do anything (IA, pre-rendering of lightning for huge scene, pre-processing stuff, on-going calculation of the game world, etc... anything).

This thread will just be another bashing fest anyway, good job we did not have enough of these lately!

The issue is it wont make any diff right now, cloud is 10 years away, Sony and almost every compnay knows this. Nothing is stopping sony from adding servers for the cloud as needed as it grows. Right now it is typical MS bs.

No one said anything about gaikai in this thread........MS didn't invent cloud computing,m nor are they the only ones using it, SOny is already going that way and they have said it is the future, FUTURE being the key word. For gaming right now, it is not going to do muchn of anything.

I think the video is pretty self explanitory. Cloud is virtualized servers...but the scale and availablility is the difference. Also what is wrong with having a cool name like the "cloud", which btw wasn't invented and defined by Microsoft?  Sony calls their components with cool names all the time, when all they are is gimped and diffcult to program for parts of silicone. Emotion Engine, Teh Cell...etc.  

In terms of these virtualized servers, having access to unlimited dedicated servers helps greatly when deploying an online portion of a brand new game. Companies don't have to estimate how many servers they have to dedicate to what region and the cost associated. If a game suddenly takes off in Japan per say 3 months after launch, EA doesn't have to worry about:

1. buying extra servers for that region

2. Shutting down existing servers and allocating the resources to a new game

3. Leaving it as is and having a bad user experience for that game

They just let Microsofts cloud infrastructure handle all this. 

As for in game applications, the "cloud" allows for the forza bot AI and your "drivetar" to learn and change according to your driving patterns. Other games like Dead Rising 3 can utilize it in the same manner where each zombie can have its own AI pattern which is calculated in the cloud, VS on your machine where it would take up CPU computing resources. And we are jsut scratching the surface here...

To be honest, I don't really understand why you are asking these questions. You're quite an intelligent poster and I find all this pretty self explanitory. Cloud computing isn't the be-all/end-all of next gen, but it can add cool perks on the back end for devs to utilize which should improve gaming experiences for end users. 

Perhaps you don't understand the scale of Microsofts cloud services? Microsoft has spent 90% of the R&D budget since 2011 on the "cloud". Other than Oracle and their VMWare, they are pretty much unmatched. 

You posting your oppinion about Microsoft PR bullshit a good amount of time in this thread. We got it the first time... And just stop your hate now; nobody said Microsoft invented "cloud computing", you keep repeating this over and over.

You are right about one thing tho, nothing is preventing game dev. to use Azure/Amazon to do the same on PS4 (and pay for it as it does not come FREE for every Ps4 games like on the Xbox One)... But no, Sony do not have any datacenter able to provide that kind of computing power to million of consoles like Microsoft... You are just plain wrong about that... And the cost to developp such infratructure is way behond what Sony would be willing to do for the PS4. It took 10 years for Microsoft and Amazon to put that up; even you believe Sony is an half-god; this cannot be magicaly done :)

They cloud may be an overused buzzword, but that doesn't negate the advance that Microsoft, and others, are trying to do to bring more future to you now. Don't think of it as a Sony vs Microsoft thing, but as a stand alone vs shared resources kind of thing.

Do you stream Movies, Music and TV? That is using the cloud. Instead of having to drive somewhere to get something that was made somewhere else and shipped to that location. You can simple have the data sent to your location and enjoy the experience.

Have you seen people enjoy World of Warcraft? Everquest? Cal of Duty online? Those are all in the cloud. Some of the game runs far away on a server, and some of it runs on your computer. Both work together to make a bigger, richer better experience.

One of the other things that I think is really cool is how the could can be used to enhance graphics. To make a noticeably visual improvement, you usually have to double the hardware power (or software efficiency). That cloud can be used to do that - think of it like sending complex blueprints to your computer, then your computer used those to render what you get to see. Your computer/console works hard doing it's part, and the servers work hard doing their part - so you get a much better looking looking game than is possible on your system.

You could think of it like this - to render a dinosaur well, they have to calculate first where it is, then the bones, the muscles, then put the skin on top, shadows, translucently, light reflections, etc. Where it is flexing and stretching. A server could do the bones and muscles - which is huge chuck of math - send that to your computer/console which add the skin and some shadows and you get a much more realistic looking game than would be possible just on your console.

Here is a demo of some cloud graphics Nvidia and Microsoft worked on together. Jump to 40 second is you want to skip the technical part.