Microsoft, Where’s My Option For The Cloud

22 Apr, 2011

In its last firmware update for the PS3, Sony did something that was a godsend to those of us that tend to jump from platform to platform, by adding the ability to save to the cloud. It seems like such a trivial thing to the average user, having the ability to take a save game and posts it up to a location outside of your console. I mean, who really needs to do something like that? Why would anyone want to do that? But for the hardcore user, these questions are moot, as it gives the ability to jump from one PS3 to another and pick up progress right where you left off, no restart or complex thumb drive transfer to mess with, just hit the cloud, grab the save and go. It has even made me eyeball a PlayStation Plus membership if only to access this save feature. But the bigger question that gamers should be asking is why Microsoft has not jumped on this bandwagon and offered up the service to its users.

Right now, when you buy an Xbox 360, you have three options for storage. You could buy a 360 that includes a hard drive from the get go and have 250GB of storage to use as you please. Or, you might opt for a hard drive-less 360 and use USB thumb drives that can store up to 16GB of space for 360 content and downloads. Of course that option does require that the drives meet a minimum transfer rate, but spend a few extra bucks on your thumb drive and you should be just fine. The third and final option would be to use the internal 4GB of memory in the base unit, but you will have to skip out on most downloadable items, as you will run out of space really quick. Sure it seems like an easy decision, just get the one with the hard drive, but some will balk at the extra $100 that it takes to get a hard drive enabled console, instead opting for one of the lesser known items.

An option that is lacking however are the all-important cloud saves. It seems idiotic that Microsoft has never felt the need to use this feature in any of its devices, because most LIVE enabled users probably already have access to a cloud saving system from Microsoft already, but they just don’t know it.
If you were to step away from that lovely 360 device, and move to that less than fashionable PC that is in your house, you might realize that your Windows Live account grants you access to a little item called SkyDrive. For those unaware, SkyDrive is a cloud based storage system that offers basic users a free 25GB storage facility for things like Office documents, pictures and so much more. This storage can be set up with shares for friends to access these items as well.

So why doesn’t Microsoft find a way to link this to your Xbox Live account. I mean, I have my Windows Live account tied to my Xbox account, so the links are already there. I can’t think that it is that difficult to link the Xbox 360 to this SkyDrive and allow me to save my games to this space so I can access them in other locations. More importantly, it would allow me to back up saves, for those times when your hard drive or console dies. Sure drives don’t go out all that often, but it just adds better protection for those events.

Microsoft has made a huge push with Windows 7 to talk about “the cloud” and how it relates to the Windows operating system. Same thing goes for the latest version of Office which has built-in hooks to get to the cloud from inside the application, sans some sort of interface link as they used in the past. The Xbox 360 should have this natural extension as well. Microsoft has decided on their internal roadmap that the Internet is a huge part of their push in this decade, so why not add the Xbox 360 to that road map.

Part of me thinks the resistance to this might come down to an old fashioned excuse – money. Right now, SkyDrive is free for the first 25GB of space, whereas a Microsoft branded thumb drive costs $50, and the add-on hard drive is a ridiculous $120. There is no money to be made by Microsoft with this free cloud based storage. They could tie it to your Gold Account, as Sony has done with their cloud storage system, which would guarantee that you pay something for the convenience, and I am fine with that. But something tells me that it is more about wanting to make money off of peripherals rather than the convenience of the user.

It could also be that I am just in the minority and that cloud based storage is lacking demand by the user base. I stand in the minority as someone that has had a console die with no way to recover the saves from that console, essentially losing progress on every game I own. Studies also show that people don’t back up storage on any platform, even when presented with the risks. Even in my day job, I recommend to many people that they should back things up to either external or cloud based storage devices, and when their machines break, I find out they have never done this.

It just seems like the whole thing is a moot point, and that cloud based storage, which is where the future is heading, should become part of the Xbox 360 roadmap. Maybe it is, and will come sooner than later, but as of right now, it is a slap to the face every time I see a stupid “To The Cloud” commercial from Microsoft.