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Xbox Smart Delivery Turned Out To Be A Pretty Big Deal

Gerdav

Member
But... This is not what smart delivery is, what you are talking about with the smartphones also already existed on consoles, heck moving from an xb1 to an x|s preserves all your settings just like "moving from an old iphone to a new one", but that's not smart delivery.

Smart delivery is what ms calls having the most suitable version of the game for your system, this causes the game files to update instead of downloading a completely different version.
Games with smart delivery then make it impossible to have several versions of the game because it is seen as one version. This is why you can't have to xb1 and x|s versions of the game at the same time, whereas a ps5 version will always be seen as a new game, so you need the ps4 version as well to do save migration if needed.
And because it's seen as only one version with smart delivery, your save is required to be compatible; if the dev can't make that work then they can't implement smart delivery.

You also missed out one more step on the PS5, you have to go into the store and "purchase" the PS5 version, albeit for free when it works, otherwise you will just continue playing the PS4 version for all eternity.
 

Mmnow

Member
Don't forget Quick Resume, Free/Automatic Cloud Saves, and multi-generation backwards compatibility.
Not to mention better video/photo sharing via the app, and of course Game Pass.

PlayStation has the card system which could come into its own, and the better offerings in PS Plus (compared to Gold).

Point being, ultimately, one of these consoles starts to feel more well-rounded than the other at the system level. That doesn't matter usually, but when a Avengers situation comes up, that image becomes important.
 
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DrAspirino

Banned
Microsoft has been doing this since the early days of Backwards Compatibility on Xbone. I still remember when I put the Gears 3 disc on my Xbone and my saves just synced, no questions asked. I didn't have to convert saves or some clunky shit. I could play with my friends right away, while keeping achievements, saves, etc.

Smart delivery is just that, moving it up and above.

I'm really surprised Sony didn't have something like that. I expected that from Nintendo though....
 

MaulerX

Member
yIT3Lsy.jpg



This guy proves time and again that he doesn't know jack.
 

Pallas

Member
This is not a knock against Sony, they did create and engineer an incredible system but Microsoft excels in certain things and it shows. This isn’t to say Sony can’t develop something similar in the future, but smart delivery for Xbox from what I’ve seen is pretty awesome.

It’s unfortunate that not all devs use it but you can’t help or force them.
 

Pantz

Gold Member
Only negative thing about it I see so far is that they could be advertising the next-gen versions release on the store but they don't. Seems like it wouldn't be a problem because if anyone was confused it would say that you already owned the product.
 

SSfox

Member
Well i'm pretty sure they didnt buy the studios for them to just sit there doing nothing. Something tells me they are possibly making games.
We have yet to see the games, and the games has yet to be appealing (to me at least), and it's still blurry if the games are exclusive or multi.

So i guess as usual with MS since 8 years, we wait and see
1466366261-risitas51.png
 

Mmnow

Member
We have yet to see the games, and the games has yet to be appealing (to me at least), and it's still blurry if the games are exclusive or multi.

So i guess as usual with MS since 8 years, we wait and see
1466366261-risitas51.png
I'm sorry, your judgement here is based on the presumption that 23+ game studios won't make games, that none of them will be appealing to you (because that's the metric of a good game, that it's appealing to you specifically) and that "exclusive to places where Gamepass is" is too vague for you.

Fair enough.
 

SSfox

Member
I'm sorry, your judgement here is based on the presumption that 23+ game studios won't make games

huh?

that none of them will be appealing to you


Heh?

Fair enough.

Translating other people say on your own isn't the way to go. Everything you said is totally not what what i said. I hope for you at least that English isn't you 1st language cause if it's the case that would be scary lmao
 
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sainraja

Member
But... This is not what smart delivery is, what you are talking about with the smartphones also already existed on consoles, heck moving from an xb1 to an x|s preserves all your settings just like "moving from an old iphone to a new one", but that's not smart delivery.

Smart delivery is what ms calls having the most suitable version of the game for your system, this causes the game files to update instead of downloading a completely different version.
Games with smart delivery then make it impossible to have several versions of the game because it is seen as one version. This is why you can't have to xb1 and x|s versions of the game at the same time, whereas a ps5 version will always be seen as a new game, so you need the ps4 version as well to do save migration if needed.
And because it's seen as only one version with smart delivery, your save is required to be compatible; if the dev can't make that work then they can't implement smart delivery.
No, that's exactly what smart delivery is. The end user experience is exactly the same so it doesn't matter what needs to happen technically in order to have it. You are obsessing a little too much on what Microsoft needed to do in order give people the same experience. If that's what you want to do or how you want to see is fine by me but it doesn't take anything away from what I am saying.

Microsoft's main goal was to make the transition from the previous console to the next one without any hiccups. That is exactly what happens on the iPhone. Everything that you had moves with you and the process can go even quicker if you have your old phone with you when setting up.

I don't know why so many are getting triggered by what I am saying but I haven't said anything negative about 'smart delivery'.
 
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Mmnow

Member
huh?




Heh?



Translating other people say on your own isn't the way to go. Everything you said is totally not what what i said. I hope for you at least that English isn't you 1st language cause if it's the case that would be scary lmao
"Translating other people say on your own isn't the way to go"

Maybe the problem here isn't me. Maybe you're just not being particularly clear in how you write.

On the positive side, at least you didn't try and justify the ludicrous idea that they weren't being clear on exclusivity.
 

AgentP

Thinks mods influence posters politics. Promoted to QAnon Editor.
There was nothing I enjoyed more when Destiny 2 upgraded to the 60 FPS version than having to download two 70+gb files on PS5.
Two? I had one. I also never installed two versions of Avengers to get the PS5 version, lots of cheerleading and FUD in this thread.
 

Stuart360

Member
I still cant tell which version of those COD cases is the 'next gen' version. I think its the one on the right, but even the one on the left says 'Xbox One and Series'
 

Jaysen

Banned
Two? I had one. I also never installed two versions of Avengers to get the PS5 version, lots of cheerleading and FUD in this thread.
Everyone had 2 on the day it released. Call it FUD because you think Sony's named is being besmirched all you want, but go ahead and read the upgrade threads on Reddit from the day it released. People like me on PS5 were greeted with two downloads that day. Both over 70gb. And that was also the day I learned how to tell the difference between the PS4 version of a game and the PS5 version (on the main UI Sony marks PS4 games with 'PS4' near the game icon. I know corporation fanboys can't comprehend that some of us love gaming more than the corporations who make the consoles, but we exist, and we have no problem pointing out areas where one console is doing something better than the others. When it comes to game upgrades, MS is kicking the living shit out of Sony.
 

SSfox

Member
"Translating other people say on your own isn't the way to go"

Maybe the problem here isn't me. Maybe you're just not being particularly clear in how you write.

On the positive side, at least you didn't try and justify the ludicrous idea that they weren't being clear on exclusivity.

What i say is clear, games have to be shown, and then have to be good. If you don't get that i don't now what to tell you then. Never sell a bear pelt before killing the bear.

It's also not like we don't have history on this, MS bought Rare that did KI, Donkey Kong just to name those, a bunch of dope games, then did pretty much nothing after being bought by MS, and recently they did that online cartoon pirate game. I mean if you like it that's cool for you but i had higher expectation for the game studio that used to be one of the best game dev and made some of the best games.

It's still not clear on how game exclusivity is gonna work for Beth games, if you have link on where MS confirm clearly that TES6 is Xbox exclusive then you're welcome to show a link. If not then it's as i said, still blurry when it comes to beth games and exclusivity around it.
 
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Mmnow

Member
and recently they did that online cartoon pirate game. I mean if you like it that's cool for you but i had higher expectation for the game studio that used to be one of the best game dev and made some of the best games.
That cartoon pirate game that just hit 20m+ players and is Rare's most successful game of all time? The one that, even in 2018, was its fastest shipping game since tracking began?

I see why you feel so sorry for them. Must be hell.

It's still not clear on how game exclusivity is gonna work for Beth games, if you have link on where MS confirm clearly that TES6 is Xbox exclusive then you're welcome to show a link. If not then it's as i said, blurry communication.
That game specifically? That's the foot in the door you're going to just jam in there?

You're right. We haven't been told it's not yet even though they very clearly said exclusive to places Gamepass is and haven't spoken about the game at all, so maybe there's still hope.

It's just $500, man. Games consoles are cheap. Don't spend the next however many years desperately clinging onto this weakest of links. You'll be disappointed.
 

Iced Arcade

Member
What i say is clear, games have to be shown, and then have to be good. If you don't get that i don't now what to tell you then. Never sell a bear pelt before killing the bear.

It's also not like we don't have history on this, MS bought Rare that did KI, Donkey Kong just to name those, a bunch of dope games, then did pretty much nothing after being bought by MS, and recently they did that online cartoon pirate game. I mean if you like it that's cool for you but i had higher expectation for the game studio that used to be one of the best game dev and made some of the best games.

It's still not clear on how game exclusivity is gonna work for Beth games, if you have link on where MS confirm clearly that TES6 is Xbox exclusive then you're welcome to show a link. If not then it's as i said, still blurry when it comes to beth games and exclusivity around it.
literally, nothing you are typing has anything to do with the topic "smart delivery".
 

CatLady

Selfishly plays on Xbox Purr-ies X
What i say is clear, games have to be shown, and then have to be good. If you don't get that i don't now what to tell you then. Never sell a bear pelt before killing the bear.

It's also not like we don't have history on this, MS bought Rare that did KI, Donkey Kong just to name those, a bunch of dope games, then did pretty much nothing after being bought by MS, and recently they did that online cartoon pirate game. I mean if you like it that's cool for you but i had higher expectation for the game studio that used to be one of the best game dev and made some of the best games.

It's still not clear on how game exclusivity is gonna work for Beth games, if you have link on where MS confirm clearly that TES6 is Xbox exclusive then you're welcome to show a link. If not then it's as i said, still blurry when it comes to beth games and exclusivity around it.
Maybe you didn't like " that online cartoon pirate game" but apparently PC players LOVE it since it's been in the Steam top 20 for ages, unlike the Sony exclusives with HZD being the highest at #49. Dreams, Death Stranding, Detroit etc all even lower on the Steam charts.
 

SSfox

Member
Maybe you didn't like " that online cartoon pirate game" but apparently PC players LOVE it since it's been in the Steam top 20 for ages, unlike the Sony exclusives with HZD being the highest at #49. Dreams, Death Stranding, Detroit etc all even lower on the Steam charts.
As i said i don't like the game, but i didn't say it's not fine/it's wrong to like it, i was speaking for me. I though it was obvious.

I don't like all Sony games actually, i actually sold Infamous the day i bought it, and didn't like much Killzone games outside of KZ2. I bet this is ok for MS fanboys if i say i don't like a specific Sony games but they got instant triggred when i say i don't like specific MS game for some reasons, being a fanboy can be rough i guess.

When it comes to MS i actually love the first 3 Gears games, and also the first season of KI. And of course NG1&2 (they're not exclusive anymore but used to be)

literally, nothing you are typing has anything to do with the topic "smart delivery".
I answered a reply.

That cartoon pirate game that just hit 20m+ players and is Rare's most successful game of all time? The one that, even in 2018, was its fastest shipping game since tracking began?

I see why you feel so sorry for them. Must be hell.


That game specifically? That's the foot in the door you're going to just jam in there?

You're right. We haven't been told it's not yet even though they very clearly said exclusive to places Gamepass is and haven't spoken about the game at all, so maybe there's still hope.

It's just $500, man. Games consoles are cheap. Don't spend the next however many years desperately clinging onto this weakest of links. You'll be disappointed.

If games quality and games should play based of playerbase numbers we should all go play Fortnite and COD then. What a nonsens logic lmao

I fucking love Donkey Kong games by Rare, i still play them on retro sometimes, i love KI, Banjo and Conker were great too, but that sea of thieves game is aweful and trash. Again (reminder in case) that's my opinion and i don't care if 1 billion people play it, billions of people also play on mobile and imo gaming on mobile is trash.

I said that i don't find this game appealing, why does it upset you this much? And i also don't remember talking trash about the people that like it., You need to chill seriously.

The rest of you post is just bunch of nonsens.
 
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Blade2.0

Member
It is nice, but they also have a problem with allowing you access to your cloud saves. I'd like to go through my cloud storage manually but I can't find an option for that on Xbox, but on playstation it's very easy to access cloud storage and delete things.
 

Gatox

Banned
It is nice, but they also have a problem with allowing you access to your cloud saves. I'd like to go through my cloud storage manually but I can't find an option for that on Xbox, but on playstation it's very easy to access cloud storage and delete things.
I don't understand what you mean by manage it, you can delete or sync any game date in the "manage game" part on xbox.
 

Elios83

Member
Honestly the only big deal for me is not paying for upgrades or being forced to buy PS5 specific versions of old PS4 games and here luckily there are no differences.
Sony also supports cross platform save games so it's up to developers to implement them. It's good for MS if they made developers life easier on this aspect but it's not like Sony does not support the feature.
The rest is kinda irrelevant and hopefully we won't have to play with upgraded PS4 games for much longer, once the next gen development pipeline is in place and running no one is going to give a fuck about cross gen or upgrading PS4 games, people will buy PS5 conceived games.
 
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Reizo Ryuu

Member
You are obsessing a little too much on what Microsoft needed to do in order give people the same experience.
Nobody is "obsessing" or getting "triggered, what you are saying simply isn't comparable because the transfer of settings already existed and literally isn't what smart delivery is.

And what you're saying about smartphone transfer is much too simplified.
When creating a backup of your device via iTunes or iCloud, the App itself is not backed-up per se - instead, the backup contains a record of the installed backup. When restored, this backup-record causes the device to attempt to download the App from App Store servers; restoring the App is only possible if the App is both available and compatible with the target device.

In regards to iOS, pretty much all 32 bit apps were discontinued in 10 and up. So if you came from 9, and the app wasn't updated, you weren't getting it restored period.

I play several mobile games, and pretty much every time there's a major update to iOS or android, at least one of them breaks and the dev has to fix it.
This is because there's only one version of the app in the stores deployed at all times, and it's either compatible with your device, or it isn't.

On consoles there's obviously several versions of games because of the different SDKs needed when deploying them, smart delivery takes care of having these different versions in the marketplace, by simply detecting your device and downloading the best version for it.
 

Alright

Banned
Unless you have OCD or no patience, it's a pretty pointless feature. Especially considering how fast things load.
 

Jaysen

Banned
It is nice, but they also have a problem with allowing you access to your cloud saves. I'd like to go through my cloud storage manually but I can't find an option for that on Xbox, but on playstation it's very easy to access cloud storage and delete things.
You most definitely can manually manage your game saves.
 

sainraja

Member
Nobody is "obsessing" or getting "triggered, what you are saying simply isn't comparable because the transfer of settings already existed and literally isn't what smart delivery is.

And what you're saying about smartphone transfer is much too simplified.
When creating a backup of your device via iTunes or iCloud, the App itself is not backed-up per se - instead, the backup contains a record of the installed backup. When restored, this backup-record causes the device to attempt to download the App from App Store servers; restoring the App is only possible if the App is both available and compatible with the target device.

In regards to iOS, pretty much all 32 bit apps were discontinued in 10 and up. So if you came from 9, and the app wasn't updated, you weren't getting it restored period.

I play several mobile games, and pretty much every time there's a major update to iOS or android, at least one of them breaks and the dev has to fix it.
This is because there's only one version of the app in the stores deployed at all times, and it's either compatible with your device, or it isn't.

On consoles there's obviously several versions of games because of the different SDKs needed when deploying them, smart delivery takes care of having these different versions in the marketplace, by simply detecting your device and downloading the best version for it.
My point simply was that the process of migrating from your current phone to the next is pretty straight-forward, same as it is with the Xbox (the how does not matter since the devices in question are not the same and don't serve the exact same purpose - I know there is some overlap and I am only mentioning this just so you don't try to take the conversation somewhere else.) The detail that you are now focusing on (with a backup) is if you wanted your phone back in the exact state your old phone was with your messages and everything which is an option everyone has but it doesn't matter for the point that I was making and I wasn't pointing this out to downplay what smart delivery is. The two things don't need to be mirrors of each other. The end result is of convenience and Microsoft basically wanted to brand that under the term 'smart delivery' so it is a marketing word they are using to describe this process. Apple/Android both have similar processes and they are not branded. Not saying one is better than the other. But the point I was originally responding to was that of smart delivery being that.

BTW, I upgraded from my old iPhone to the new one without using any back ups and all my apps and everything I cared for came with it and that is essentially what we have with Xbox this time around (with some gaming specific things).

I wasn't referring to you when I said "being" triggered. But you are obsessing over things that we don't really need to go through....I know one is a gaming device and the other is a phone. It was simply a comparison I was making to illustrate a point.

I personally don't think they needed to brand it but they clearly wanted to do that and I also understand why they would want to brand it.
 
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ManaByte

Member
It is nice, but they also have a problem with allowing you access to your cloud saves. I'd like to go through my cloud storage manually but I can't find an option for that on Xbox, but on playstation it's very easy to access cloud storage and delete things.

There's no need to manage it on Xbox because you have UNLIMITED cloud storage for saves.
 

sainraja

Member
Honestly the only big deal for me is not paying for upgrades or being forced to buy PS5 specific versions of old PS4 games and here luckily there are no differences.
Sony also supports cross platform save games so it's up to developers to implement them. It's good for MS if they made developers life easier on this aspect but it's not like Sony does not support the feature.
The rest is kinda irrelevant and hopefully we won't have to play with upgraded PS4 games for much longer, once the next gen development pipeline is in place and running no one is going to give a fuck about cross gen or upgrading PS4 games, people will buy PS5 conceived games.
I think the process of upgrading from PS4 to PS5 will hopefully or should definitely become easier but it's not too much of a hassle to go through it. I just went through it myself.
 
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sainraja

Member
Sony has been the absolute KING in terms of marketing terms. “Emotion Engine”..... “Reality Synthesizer”. It sometimes, just sometimes words are needed to describe something or how it works. “Smart delivery” describes that to a tee. It’s amazing how it keeps coming back to, it really does just work. “Emotion Engine” or “Reality Synthesizer” don’t describe anything. They are phrases to make people believe Something is greater than it is. IE; Marketing.

It’s all just business though. In this instance however anyone wants to spin it, Smart delivery perfectly describes what is actually happening.
I know they all do it and I don't think I was saying otherwise or crucifying Microsoft for doing it. I was responding to people who were taking the label of marketing as a negative thing. There is no need for that. I agree with what you are saying and that's been my point.
 
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Jaysen

Banned
When you go to storage there's no option for cloud storage.
Xbox doesn’t differentiate cloud and local storage. It’s the same thing. Go into manage software for any game and you’ll find all of your saves for that game. It will allow you to delete the cloud save though, or the local one if you choose to.
 
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Reizo Ryuu

Member
Apple/Android both have similar processes and they are not branded
Read my post again, no they don't; the version of the app in the store is one version and it's compatible with your device or it isn't, this is how apps are deployed and is the reason why they often break compatibilty with a major update to the operating system.
Console games require different SDKs for deploying the game, so the marketplace will simply segregate content based on the hardware.
Smart delivery makes this a behind the scenes operation so you can never have the wrong version, this is completely incomparable to smartphone appstores, there's only every one version there.
In other words, it's impossible for them to have similar processes, because they literally aren't doing the same thing, because even if your phone is "underpowered", all the store does is check if you have the right OS and region, you'd still be able to run a game on a low end phone, even if it will run like shit at ~10fps; because there isn't a version made specifically for other specs, the app is either "compatible" or it isn't, because there's always only one global version of it deployed.

Smart delivery will then overwrite files where needed, like the update for avengers was 106.9gb, but it didn't require that. It only required 40gb since the rest of the files were overwritten, this is a pretty big deal when dealing with several different SDKs; normally you'd have to manually download the other version.

BTW, I upgraded from my old iPhone to the new one without using any back ups and all my apps and everything I cared for came with it and that is essentially what we have with Xbox this time around (with some gaming specific things).
No, it isn't, that's just the "record" of what you own/have access to. This "record" also exists on xbox and is how you transfer from an xb1 to a series x|s, and yes that's similar to smartphones, but it has nothing to do with smart delivery; smart delivery only ensures you have the right version of what's in your "record", and this is important because of the SDK differences, the versions are made with different specs in mind.
 
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