Is this what it's come to?
I'm not that young.
I remember HUNDREDS of forum threads in 2005 and 2006 telling me how Cell processors could network together to offload performance onto the "mesh" (as it was then called) to theoretically boost performance. It was how Sony fans in those days gave themselves the psychological distance from the depressing truth; that it would come down to the actual development culture of games.
The same is true today. There will not be significant cloud-processing in console games in these consoles. Anecdotal, but I work in a University down the hall from cloud-processing researchers with whom I have lunch three-four times a week. Their reaction to this stuff has been good; they are keen to see it take shape and for thin clients to become more viable. But they laugh off - laugh - the idea of significant compute or graphics calculations happening any time soon.
Here's what "Cloud Computing" will amount to this generation:
1. Truly Persistent Environments - hopefully starting with Destiny 1 / 2, a merging of the MMO systems of something like Planetside, and a distributed data set across phone, tablet and web. Actually useful multi-device gameplay, letting me do non-synchronous gameplay with a persistent user account. Letting that data set interact freely when I'm asleep.
2. The beginnings of game streaming to the television - Gaikai will take ages to get working and we all know it. Come E3 2015, if we haven't heard anything, we should expect nothing. It will begin with limited time-based access to some games. Where it will TRULY be great will be instant low-and-medium res streams of demos. That's bigger than most people realise.
What won't happen: Actual cloud calculations. The fundamental value of a console is an equal experience no matter where you play. People forget, but that's what consoles were at first. Play the game at home! We can all own the same games! A game company (let's say Bungie, with Destiny - who would have a lot to gain) is going to mess with something that literally alters the environment differently based on where you are? Because there's so much latency overhead to go around, right? Or perhaps we can say cloud computing is meant for improving single player games? None of this makes sense. What does a game development company have to actually gain from this; at BEST and AS PLANNED this fragments the userbase of a game depending on network speed. Australians will play less attractive games than Americans - even as they add the servers they just announced. It's unrealistic and doesn't fit the model of production that's being built right now.
Microsoft will still be overwhelmingly capable in all aspects of game-centric network capabilities. Nobody seriously believes Gaikai / PSN can come close to a fully integrated Windows / Xbox Live / Windows Mobile activated Azure Cloud system, nor should they. MS have the mastery there. What they don't have is compelling use cases, compelling design cases and compelling business cases. They had a shot this week to peel back the curtain, and all we saw was the wizard taking a dump. The onus is on Microsoft to demonstrate why cloud computing and an always-online game system can work together. They need to work quickly. This isn't year two-three stuff.
Sony need to prove they aren't talking shit, but they have the compelling business case and user cases sold to the public. They've promised streaming of legacy console games, streaming of PS4 demos, streaming of other user's games, and a lot more. Their big problem is that Microsoft can match some of these features if they choose - so there is very little room for error.
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