Today I was able to take full advantage of the beta test for XCloud. Let me tell you, I’m impressed. The video you are watching is a video capture using Samsung Flow, trying to make justice on how good the service performed I set the Samsung Flow to transmit at low res.
Important Note About the Video:
This a continuous game play, you will experience the whole process, from tapping the play button, screen set up time, game loading and of course game play flow.
At my house I have a 200 Mbs connection but my boys both were using their Xbox, the Xbox One X at the living room, my oldest using the Xbox One at the entertainment room. My wife connected through WiFi doing here studies in her laptop, Alexa listening to all of our conversations at the living room, the Note 9 of course, my wife S9 streaming her Soap-Oprah, her favorite (Heartland), also my research computer, my gaming laptop running OBS recording the Samsung Flow screen… all that bandwidth has to be taken in consideration.
After all that established, let’s talk business…
During game play I notice some frame drops but nothing that I didn’t experience playing with gaming PC using hard drive. The experience so far is even smooth. But remember, this is a beta preview, so I hope things get better from here.
I have big hopes with this service, at first was a little hesitant, you might call me an agnostic, but now I’m a believer.
Cons: You have to keep in perspective that this service depends highly on connectivity, so if you have a lousy internet at home, you might still want to keep your console or PC.
Pros: XCloud is part of the Xbox family, and everything you do within your profile stays with you. I was able to continue where I left off. This means if the service is interrupted at least your data is safe to the last saved checkpoint.
Conclusion
In conclusion, if you have a good internet connection be excited because this is going to be a huge success in my opinion. We are talking that you are going to be able to play AAA titles anytime anywhere. Pair with your PC and Console you will have the ultimate experience.
What I hope the most is that Microsoft would bundle this. For example, I do have the GamePass Ultimate which includes Xbox Consoles and PC games with hundreds of titles. And not any title, I mean great titles like Gears of War, Tomb Raider, Halo Wars, Destiny 2 and many many more. If we get a bundle that includes XCloud as well, I wonder how Microsoft will call it, we are going to have so much fun playing games and Xbox will be the definitive place for gaming.
Think about it, you will not be limited to a console, you can play on PC, console, cheap tablets, any smartphone and not missing a bit. The downside is that there will be many people calling on sick in masses… LOL, yes that’s a joke.
For game developers, this is going to be a huge market, bigger than what it is now.
Happy Gaming, Happy Designing and Happy Developing. Until next time.