15 Nov, 2011
With GDC China in full gear halfway across the world, we’re starting to hear of many a great thing coming from Shanghai. Among them is the possibility of cloud tech for the next-gen Xbox.
Taking the stage at GDC China, Microsoft’s Tech Evangelist Brian Price said that there could be “a distant future of gaming in the cloud,” adding that services like Onlive and Gaikai have some limitations, but are ultimately on the right track.
Price pointed out problems with both of these cloud-gaming services, saying that they have a heavy focus on triple-A PC titles, and that gamers must have a constant connection to the internet in order for the service to work. “That’s fine if you live in a city, but most of America doesn’t live in a city, for example,” said Price.
Pointing towards the Microsoft Azure SDK, Price says that the cloud service will let developers to save game states. This will allow players to stop, and then resume playing across devices from consoles, to iOS devices, to browsers.
While Price still couldn’t comment on cloud gaming on an Xbox, he did say that we “will be seeing things in the Xbox platform that’s cloud-specific.”
“I’m already doing it,” added Price. “It’s really exciting, but I can’t tell you about it or else I’ll get fired.”
Recent Comments