Is Forza 5 the first "cloud based" game?

[a5cent]

Ok, definitely understand it might not be ideal for Forza, but the development costs are not as much as you are making them out to be, and something like this could be used for so many games. It would be easy to sell or license the code to other game makers to make up for any costs and even turn a profit.

Keep in mind that I'm talking about "right now" and "Forza 5" only. Something like this will likely find its way into Havoc at some point. But right now, the Forza 5 team would need to do it themselves and those initial development costs certainly are high. They would get much more bang for their buck investing that money somewhere else.

As for an idea more relevant, how about the dynamic damage? There are a lot of areas for dynamic damage, and one area I could see being offloaded to the cloud is the change in aerodynamics.

Absolutely! It is in areas like this where I see the most applicability. Notice how it is neither weather (which was the original question) nor graphics related? :wink:

I'm not sure how much a realistic simulation of drag (air resistance) would actually improve racing gameplay, but at least it is an option.

I can't shake this feeling however, that you and others think I'm trying to discredit this technology in general. I'm not. I'm sure the cloud will be used to host multiplayer races, so Forza 5 definitely has a good use for cloud computing. I just don't see many meaningful uses for the more experimental things we're talking about here, specifically for Forza 5 and specifically at this time.

However, just because this experimental technology isn't universally applicable, doesn't make it a bad idea. I never said it was. To sum up. My main two points are these:

• This technology doesn't apply to rendering (anything typically processed by the GPU)
• Most games can make use of the cloud, but not every game is equally well suited to making use of the more experimental things being discussed here.

On a side note: Drag calculations would be awesome for a game like "Kerbal Space Program" (if you have an engineering mind, then check it out), which doesn't yet simulate aerodynamics or drag during rocket launches. Considering that designing rockets and launching them into space is a core element of gameplay, and that aerodynamics and drag have huge effects while traveling in excess of 150 m/s through the atmosphere (and that even modern PC's can't handle all those calculations without noticeable lag), this would be a great use of cloud compute power.

 

[Robert Carpenter]

I can't shake this feeling however, that you and others think I'm trying to discredit this technology in general. I'm not. I'm sure the cloud will be used to host multiplayer races, so Forza 5 definitely has a good use for cloud computing. I just don't see many meaningful uses for the more experimental things we're talking about here, specifically for Forza 5 and specifically at this time.

I don't think you are discrediting the technology, but I do think you are discrediting the possibilities of it.

Everything about the technology is experimental. I don't think it's possible for us to judge the possibilities of the technology because the possibilities are still being created and explored. Anything that involves the use of the technology is revolutionary and a first, so there's nothing to compare it to. We can't sit here and say this isn't possible and this is because all we have is a tool that has no defined uses. It's our job to engineer new ideas and new ways of thinking to explore the technology and what it can do.

Are you a fan of TED talks? Because I have an awesome one for you (watch it anyway lol): Jay Silver: Hack a banana, make a keyboard! | Video on TED.com

The first couple minutes of the speech is exactly what I'm talking about. We think something has to work a certain way because that's all we know about how it works. But it doesn't mean something can't work differently in new and exciting ways.

I'm excited about the ideas that I'm coming up with myself. But I'm even more excited about the ideas that the developers throughout the industry are going to come up with.

Last year, no one would have thought it was possible for a GPS device to run for over a year with only 2 AA batteries. Now with cloud technology, it's a reality.

 

[a5cent]

I don't think you are discrediting the technology, but I do think you are discrediting the possibilities of it.

Everything about the technology is experimental. I don't think it's possible for us to judge the possibilities of the technology because the possibilities are still being created and explored. Anything that involves the use of the technology is revolutionary and a first, so there's nothing to compare it to. We can't sit here and say this isn't possible and this is because all we have is a tool that has no defined uses. It's our job to engineer new ideas and new ways of thinking to explore the technology and what it can do.

The fact that I'm not doing cartwheels doesn't mean I'm discrediting the possibilities in general. :wink: If everything is as uncertain as you're suggesting (and I believe it is) then it isn't a good bet to expect such experimental features in Forza 5 either (not just for technical, but also for economic reasons and matters of risk). However, at the top of this thread, that was considered a 100% certainty.

Anyway, I felt the unrealistic expectations people were building up had huge potential to disappoint. Microsoft was setting themselves up for another classic over-promise / under-deliver situation, despite the overpromising being based solely on misunderstanding. Typical Microsoft... that is the main reason I started commenting here. I also hoped to explain a few issues related to cloud computing in general, as consumers have no concrete idea of what that actually is, but that attempt got derailed rather early.

Anyway, I'll leave it at that. If my positions and motivations for commenting here aren't clear by now they never will be. :wink:

Are you a fan of TED talks? Because I have an awesome one for you (watch it anyway lol): Jay Silver: Hack a banana, make a keyboard! | Video on TED.com.

Is the sky blue? :smile: Thanks, I'll take a look at it!

 

[Reflexx]

^ I would agree with all of that, possibly excluding the last paragraph about weather simulations. What manner of *non real time* weather simulation calculations would a car racing game solve on the CPU, that are so taxing that offloading them to the cloud would be worthwhile. I can't think of anything.

I don't want to rain on anybody's party. IMHO even without cloud based compute support, the Xone is already a rediculously powerful gaming device which will outclass anything on current gen consoles by miles. It will be great, no matter what. I'm just warning against unrealistic expectations...

Cloud based weather systems could be beneficial if the environment in the game was dynamic. Like if you wanted the weather to match the real weather outside.

Though I agree that it's not likely they'd do that with this game.

 

[smoledman]

I'm not saying there aren't use cases for it, but we'll have to see it proven.