Cloud driven games, if your Xbox One is offline?

So the Respawn guys specifically said (on an E3 Bombcast) that they were using cloud server to power visuals/technical functionality within the game. They seemed to portray that without cloud services the game could not be what they envisioned.

Since then Xbox One can now be used offline. Does this mean that they now have to build an offline mode that will not have the same polish as a cloud connected version? E.g Offline Multiplayer/Single Player.

It also makes me think about if there were any single player games that were going to use the cloud technology but now have to keep in consideration that people may player their games not connected to the internet.

Love to here peoples insight on this.

Nope, it just means that certain games will be always online. Think about it as a multiplayer only game.

@karlpilkington: Ok, so online multiplayer games can still use the service.

But what about single player games that are already in production that may have been designed around the service? Surely those games if they exist are now in a predicament.

@vivek: I suppose they are, they could just make them singleplayer games that require you to be online.

Do we know of any games like this? All of the ones I've hear of so far seem to be a mix of singleplayer and multiplayer.

The power of the cloud is greatly exaggerated. It won't make your game look any better or have better AI on account of the latency. Maybe if MS had dedicated data centers in every region like Onlive tried, but we all know how that turned out...

Does Titanfall have a single player component? I thought it was an online only game right from the start.

In any case, the Xbox One was always going to allow offline play, it just required an online check-in every 24 hours. Games that rely on cloud stuff were always going to have to have an alternative for players not connected to Xbox live. Either that or they'll have to only allow play when connected to Xbox live. But nothing has fundamentally changed with the removal of the 24 hour online check.

@vivek not necessarily. Like @karlpilkington said, if they use the "cloud" (god, I hate that word...been in IT for 6+ years, still can't stand it) to power part of the single-player game, then you have to think of it like an always-online MMO or multiplayer game. If you're not connected to the internet, you're not playing it, or it'll have reduced functionality or whatever the dev comes up with. At least that's my theory considering what Respawn was talking about on the e3 show, and I think I heard the same thing when they had the Forza interview on the dumptruck with regards to the Drivatars. If you're not connected, you don't have the latest drivatars that are stored in the cloud, you just have the last ones you downloaded to your console the last time you were connected.

That make sense?

Even with MS dropping the 24 hour online check in requirement, "always online" still seems like it is going to be a major part of many next gen games. Off the top of my head, Titanfall, Watch Dogs, The Division, Need for Speed Rivals, and The Crew are either always online or have diminished features without an online connection. Even Destiny has also been confirmed by Bungie to require an online connection on all platforms, even for single player.

Sooooo, I'm assuming games that use MS cloud tech for whatever the hell it actually does will be in the same boat, they will either be required to be online at all times or lose those features when offline. Just because a platform holder isn't requiring online connections anymore doesn't mean that game devs wont be making it requirement of their specific games, in fact they seem to be way on board with the idea.

@mattyftm:

Titan Fall is online only.

Watch Dogs has a Dark Souls like thing with people drop into your games. I assume that is the only real online feature.

Until i see a game actually need it, I don't really believe it.

@ahaisthisourchance: MS has already said that any computation that wasn't needed in less time than 100 milliseconds could be moved off-box.

Also...if it couldn't be done, how is Gaikai going to work? Did you miss the 300,000 server announcement...sounds exactly like "local" server clusters to me. Let's not say what can and can't be done in the cloud until we see, eh? It could be "blast processing" (great idea, never really realized)...or it could be great but the bottom line is that anything at this point, good or bad, is pure speculation.

I do not think any will NEED it. The cloud seems more like it will off load tasks like AI and physics to the servers. Course if this is true it might free up more power inside the X1 for graphics. And if this is true people who buy games and play offline might see a difference in quality...

It also seems a fancy word for Internet really. Nothing that I have heard makes it seems different then what we have today. Unless its a super advanced version of "Onlive" and really can add power to your system and some how account for latency.

No one is going to redesign their game because of the always online reversal by MS, lol.

Put it this way, more or less than half of Xbone games will require an online connection to play(at least some modes)in the intro year and, in a year or two most games will because features and modes are being designed around the online persistence and the cloud. The always online console game train is already rolling...no stopping or reversing now.

I doubt there would have been an alternative for disconnected players; they could have reasonably taken it as a given that you were connected. Now they can't.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few developers out there cursing Microsoft for moving the goalposts. Probably not too many though, because realistically, how many multi-plat devs were ever seriously considering using that functionality anyway.

@the_laughing_man: ah okay, after hearing it discussed I was unclear on exactly what Watch Dogs online component was, but the Dark Souls comparison makes sense. I guess that game then falls into the "maybe potentially better with online who knows" category. It will be interesting to see if online connected worlds/online requirements really become "the thing" that defines this next gen or if it's just a fad that devs are trying out with the first wave of games.

I have one thing to say about these games that "need" the 'cloud'...

Sim City.

Well even if thats the case, that's still worrisome. Even if you're always online, what if you hit a lagspike or something, does the AI get dumber? does the physics start acting funky?

I'd rather have lesser graphics than have the gameplay take a hit.

No one knows because we are not given a straight answer (Or at least that I can find) I am assuming thats why they are adding more servers so you can have places to ping off of all over the place.

Why do we have to say the "cloud"? Can't we just say internet? I mean, I'm a little ignorant and I know companies will use the term but people on here seem pissed as they use the word a bunch, so why don't we all just say internet or online connected games? I don't understand why we have to use a new marketing term for something that's been around since the early 90's.

Well maybe "Cloud" also means dedicated servers. But aside from that I have heard nothing else that makes it different from the normal internet.

@brendan: The Internet is a broadly used term for connected devices, that are attached to a network. The idea of the Cloud is a centralised source of powerful computing power or data storage that can be accessed anywhere through multiple gateways. In other words the Internet allows us to connect to "clouds".

If the cloud is used to compute AI or physics then you need to be connected to it. My point being that now the X1 no longer is always online, will games that had that feature in mind lose features due to the fact that people now have the choice to play them offline.