14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft demonstrated the power of cloud computing in April, by showcasing the live destruction of a building with over 35k simulated pieces falling all over the place without the demo missing a beat, a feature which the company said could be implemented on "a collection of devices."
The demo showed two versions of the physics simulation, working in parallel on a high-end PC and on the cloud, with the high-end PC one eventually slowing to a crawl, at 2 frames per second, while the one using cloud computing maintaining a steady 30+ frames per second for the same scene.
The demo looked impressive and very promising, and in the meantime the company has revealed that the demo was actually part of the early development process for the upcoming Crackdown reboot.
Xbox division chief Phil Spencer has taken to Twitter to explain to Xbox fans that the company is planning another demo, where more specific details will be revealed, allowing the world a better understanding of the raw power of cloud computing.
"From feedback next showing has to be tech showing specific bandwidth, CPU, latency etc. Team is working on demo plan," Spencer has tweeted.
The technology, however promising, has some hurdles it needs to jump over if it ever wants to have a significant impact on gaming. The first and foremost difficulty is the requirement for a stable Internet connection with generous bandwidth, as there will be a ton of data traveling back and forth across the network.
Following questions regarding whether an Internet connection will be required to play the upcoming game or not, Spencer has mentioned that we still have to wait for quite some time before a firm response on this issue can be formulated.
"We'll discuss more about the game and this question as we get closer to ship date," he has answered.
The cloud computing enhanced destruction demo showcased at Build in April was really impressive, hinting at a future when physics will be calculated in real time, and not pre-calculated and rendered, as they are now for most non-interactive large-scale destruction sequences in games.
Getting some raw data on the feature during the next demo is certainly going to be interesting, showing the extent to which cloud computing could aid in providing more realistic and immersive (not to mention impressive) gameplay experiences.
The connectivity requirement remains a pretty big issue, as a stable and fast connection is paramount to a smooth experience, but hopefully the company will figure out a solution and come with an answer soon enough.
