Wednesday, September 25th 2019
Beta for Microsoft Project xCloud to be Available in October in Select Regions
After continuously testing its Project xCloud streaming gaming service in an internal group, Microsoft is now looking to expand its testing of the service for a broader audience. This will be done via a Beta launch of the service, available at first only for residents in the US and UK (click here, and (South) Korea (click here). The idea is to stress-test the service, since according to Microsoft, "It's time to put Project xCloud to the test in a broader capacity, with a range of gamers, devices, network environments and real-world use-case scenarios, and this is where you come in." There is no end in sight for the Beta: Microsoft wants it to last "until customers are consistently reporting a great, fun experience and the technology meets our internal quality standards."
The only thing that's needed to participate is a Bluetooth Xbox One controller that you can connect to whatever device you want, be it a smartphone, tablet, or other streaming-capable device. The idea here is to test the xCloud service in as broad hardware and network configurations as possible, and it's a Beta, so remember to cool your expectations adequately. You won't be able to play games that are already connected to your account - Microsoft offers a curated selection of titles that includes (for the time being) Halo 5: Guardians, Gears 5, Killer Instinct, and Sea of Thieves.
Source:
TechSpot
The only thing that's needed to participate is a Bluetooth Xbox One controller that you can connect to whatever device you want, be it a smartphone, tablet, or other streaming-capable device. The idea here is to test the xCloud service in as broad hardware and network configurations as possible, and it's a Beta, so remember to cool your expectations adequately. You won't be able to play games that are already connected to your account - Microsoft offers a curated selection of titles that includes (for the time being) Halo 5: Guardians, Gears 5, Killer Instinct, and Sea of Thieves.
24 Comments on Beta for Microsoft Project xCloud to be Available in October in Select Regions
:rockout:
PCMasterRace
Thanks to cloud gaming millions of PC/console gamers will switch to much cheaper devices, so there will be less shortage of desktop CPUs for your high fps machine...
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... just kidding.
Actually this will only mean more stuff made for datacenters and less for consumers.
And because less high-end consumer components will be made, PC gaming will become even more expensive. :-)
Latency is not an issue. The target group of cloud gaming is not concerned. People have been playing server-rendered games *for years*. We have enough datacenters all over the world and enough bandwidth to sustain this concept.
The enthusiast gamers - people that spend thousands of USD on computers and many hours comparing monitor and mouse latencies - will keep doing what they have. The only effect for them is that high-end gaming components will become even more expensive.
Everyone would benefit from improved latency. Enthusiasts, casual gamers, etc. I would love to play on a server around the world (US to Korea) and have sub 30ms.
And you do understand a lot of this lag is due to physical limits, right?This will *never* happen. A local machine will always have an advantage. How small this advantage can become and whether a particular gamer notices a difference - that's another story.
You get 10ms lag for each 1000km of distance between you and the server. That's over fibre with no devices on the way. So it's more like 20ms in "real life". Using a client over WiFi will add a bit as well.
Over a course of many years gaming providers may build many smaller datacenters all over the world.
As of today, this is where Google is most likely to run Stadia:
www.google.com/about/datacenters/location/
I know. Latency is caused by material limitation and distance. Improvements can be made by either reducing the distance (which is not physically feasible) along with better semiconductor material. A local machine will always be faster because it's right there, but being able to just jump on the net and play would be nice for those who don't have the time to build their own machines or spend on a console.I know. I was talking about network latency. Distance is the biggest factor.
Now allowing people to pick what ever platform they want, is a FANTASTIC idea.
5G is pointless -- line of sight is a mother. --
AFAIR they've already said the Xbox platform will be unified, so you'll be able to stream to many types of devices. And for each game on your account you may be able to install and run locally. Of course reality may differ after tests and business decisions.
To be honest, this is not far from how Windows Store and Game Pass work today ("Xbox Play Anywhere").
If I connect to our workstation in Korea directly via IP address (one or two hops), latency is around 220 ms.
If I go through our VPN (which routes through Seattle, Japan then Korea, multiple hops), latency is
240 to 250 ms270 to 280ms.EDIT: Make that around 270 to 280ms for today.
But why would you want to stream from home if a cloud service will be available?
This is a very niche need. I also tried that occasionally and of course it works - if you have very good upload characteristics (rare in consumer connections).
But I'd never do that if I could use someone else's server or cloud.
So maybe you're looking at this from a perspective of someone who doesn't know any alternative and is used to some solution.
And you still have to pay: for the game, for electricity, for the PC, for the faster connection...
Moving to cloud is a long-time investment - just like in enterprise segment.
If you use it in addition to normal local operation, it's obviously an additional cost and complexity. There's no way around it.
Cloud only makes sense when you start to replace your earlier solutions.
The biggest saving is obviously from not having to own an expensive PC.
Since everything is very modern, it's likely you're spending a lot regularly - moving to the latest and greatest.
The fundamental question of moving to cloud is: how much less could you spend on your PC? How much less could you spend from now on?
If you bought all of this for gaming and you could live with a $1000 notebook, savings are huge and $20/month is petty cash.
Even if it turns out 3440x1440 120Hz from cloud would cost you $100, that's still within budget.
If you really need so much oomph for other tasks or you simply like owning an expensive PC, then you aren't in the group that cloud gaming services want to allure. :-)
You should have mentioned that little fact in your original statement :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: