That what is called AI bots.

As long as we're taking out the "rubbish", for the love of GOD, can we please end this myth that the Azure "cloud" is going to be offloading in-game AI and physics processing? 'Cause it WON'T.

The MS cloud provides scalable backend servers for multiplayer (that's a very good thing by the way) and, as in the case of Forza, the cloud can collect data related to driver performance, calculate some AI parameters (outside of the game, not in real time) and then send those computed AI profiles back to your local copy of Forza so that the in-game engine running on your Xbox can adjust the AI.

The AI processing is NOT PERFORMED IN REAL-TIME BY THE CLOUD.

Also, there will be NO REAL-TIME PHYSICS PROCESSING IN THE CLOUD.

(sorry for yelling, but really, this b.s. about the cloud improving graphics and such is just ludicrous)

The cloud will be great for backend server infrastructure and for performing out-of-band (i.e. out-of-game) processing of large data sets, but it will not, in any way, shape, or form be offloading real-time graphics/physics or AI processing from the XBox GPU/CPU. That is just not possible given current technology.

So will this game be powered by actual clouds? If so I might consider collecting some rain water for concentrated power.

1. It is not clear PC will use Azure or MS Cloud... it will use Dedicated Servers... if they are the MS Azure or not is not official yet... and the AI Bots won't be processed in the Azure/MS Cloud it will be in your PC, Xbone or 360.

2. There is no campaing... there is a Multiplaye Story mode.

3. There are AI Bots.

Sounds like an MMOFPS just more contained battles with a smaller amount of things to shoot running around and not stupid amounts like some MMOFPS have. The confusion arrives when the developers don't give all the information I'd guess. Like when Bungie said 'We'll have clans in Destiny', all I could thing it was an MMO of sorts but it's not... really. 

It's EA, having an Origin account seems likely the only extra thing you'd need.

Titanfall Dev Explains Xbox One's Azure Cloud Benefits

Good things are coming.

Titanfall engineer Jon Shiring explained on Respawn.com how his team's game -- as well as other Xbox One and PC titles -- will take advantage of Microsoft's Azure cloud service.

When Respawn couldn't afford the cash or manpower to acquire the "hundreds of thousands of servers" necessary to put players in dedicated servers, "The Xbox group came back to us with a way for us to run all of these Titanfall dedicated servers" in the form of the cloud. Shiring says that also "lets us push games with more server CPU and higher bandwidth, which lets us have a bigger world, more physics, lots of AI, and potentially a lot more than that!"

So what are the advantages of dedicated servers vs. player-hosted environments? Shiring explains:

• You can get even more CPU on your dedicated servers to do new things like dozens of AI and giant autopilot titans!
• Suddenly you have no more host advantage!
• Bandwidth for the servers is guaranteed from the hosting provider!
• You can use all of the available CPU and memory on the player machines for awesome visuals and audio!
• Hacked-host cheating isn’t an issue!
• Matchmaking can be lightning fast since it’s guaranteed that everyone can connect to your servers.
• And since the servers aren’t going to go disconnect to watch Netflix, you don’t need to migrate hosts anymore!

The cloud can "scale up and down automatically as players come and go. We can upload new programs for them to run and they handle the deployment for us. And they’ll host our game servers for other platforms, too!" This applies to all three versions ofTitanfall -- Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC.

Shiring also refers to Forza Motorsport 5's "Drivatar" system, which stores player behavior in the cloud to create an A.I. racer to compete against other Xbox Live players.

"This is a really big deal, and it can make online games better," Shiring says. "This is something that we are really excited about. The Xbox Live Cloud lets us to do things inTitanfall that no player-hosted multiplayer game can do. That has allowed us to push the boundaries in online multiplayer and that’s awesome. We want to try new ideas and let the player do things they’ve never been able to do before!"

Respawn expects the cloud to be something that "lets us drive all sorts of new ideas in online games for years to come."

Mitch Dyer is an Associate Editor at IGN. He’s also quite Canadian. Read his ramblings on Twitter and follow him on IGN.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/06/25/titanfall-dev-explains-xbox-ones-azure-cloud-benefits

Have you read the OP? This is in the OP.

"The Xbox group came back to us with a way for us to run all of these Titanfall dedicated servers and that lets us push games with more server CPU and higher bandwidth, which lets us have a bigger world, more physics, lots of AI, and potentially a lot more than that!"

"But it’s not just for dedicated servers – Microsoft thought about our problem in a bigger way. Developers aren’t going to just want dedicated servers – they’ll have all kinds of features that need a server to do some kind of work to make games better. Look at Forza 5, which studies your driving style in order to create custom AI that behaves like you do. That’s totally different from what Titanfall uses it for, and it’s really cool! So it’s not accurate to say that the Xbox Live Cloud is simply a system for running dedicated servers – it can do a lot more than that!"

"With the Xbox Live Cloud, we don’t have to worry about estimating how many servers we’ll need on launch day. We don’t have to find ISPs all over the globe and rent servers from each one. We don’t have to maintain the servers or copy new builds to every server. That lets us focus on things that make our game more fun. And best yet, Microsoft has datacenters all over the world, so everyone playing our game should have a consistent, low latency connection to their local datacenter."

Off Respawns official website.

What more proof do you want?

Yeah, the devs say they're not bots but the devs are clearly wrong. Or just have some weird definition of bots

Why?

Xbox LIVE multiplayer on PC is and always has been free.

I play Xbox LIVE games via PC relatively frequently, both Windows 8 specific games, and older Games for Windows games.  Haven't paid a dime for Xbox LIVE gold to play those games.

Gee golly do I believe ethomaz, Lord of Gran Turismo on the interpretation of AI, or the people who actually developed the game? Oh man this is quite the pickle I am in.