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Microsoft Announces Project Xcloud For Streaming Games To PCs, Consoles, and Mobile Devices (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the cross-platform dept.

Microsoft has unveiled "Project xCloud," its new game streaming service designed to work across consoles, PCs, and mobile devices. "Scaling and building out Project xCloud is a multi-year journey for us," explains Microsoft's cloud gaming chief Kareem Choudhry in a blog post. "We'll begin public trials in 2019 so we can learn and scale with different volumes and locations." The Verge reports: Microsoft has built custom hardware for its datacenters, as The Verge previously exclusively reported, so that existing and future Xbox games will be compatible with the services. Games will be streamed to devices, and Microsoft has been testing the xCloud service with Xbox wireless controllers connected to consoles, mobile devices, and PCs. Microsoft says its research teams are "creating ways to combat latency" via advanced network techniques combined with video encoding and decoding. This should make game streaming viable on 4G networks, too.

3 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. No thanks by TimMD909 · · Score: 2

    Not interested. I'll stick to playing retro games that don't have $300 worth of DLC to buy to be usable, or require an internet connection to function.

    1. Re:No thanks by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 4, Informative

      Oh but Tim, don't you know the new hotness is to rent EVERYTHING in your life? 'Owning things' is SO Last Thursday! Owning things is what OLD PEOPLE who still think AOL is 'the internet'! You do't want people to think you're an OLD PERSON do you? </sarcasm>

      In all seriousness: I think this is what The Rich and Corporations want: make everyone believe that renting everything and owning nothing is somehow better. Lease a car or pay Uber/Lyft all the time, rent your house, rent your computer, rent your OS and applications, and so on. That way you pay, pay, PAY forever, making The Rich richer. Glad to see you aren't falling for it.

    2. Re:No thanks by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 2

      Go research 'feudalism' and 'sharecropper' and tell me there aren't parallels. Also you sit there and tell me that never owning a home, never having the value of that home to borrow against, is somehow better. You're being taken for a fool and you don't even realize it because you only think in the short term.