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Crackdown 3 uses cloud-based physics processing to enable environmental destruction

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mocoworm

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New article on GamesRadar. Probably controversial, but we like that on GAF ... right? They have a full preview up later today.

'Crackdown 3 effectively turns your Xbox One into the most powerful console ever made.' - GAMESRADAR

http://www.gamesradar.com/crackdown-3-effectively-turns-your-xbox-one-most-powerful-console-ever-made/

So, Crackdown 3 might be the most impressive demo I've ever seen. We'll have a full preview up later today, but suffice it to say that all that bluster about "leveraging the Cloud" to bring hitherto unseen levels of physics-based destruction is totally accurate. That moment in the CG teaser trailer where an Agent collapses a building into another building to kill the naughty crime boss inside? You can do that. Easily. I've seen it happen. I have seen such things.

You'd think this would require an immense internet connection to keep it rolling, not least when four players (this is the current maximum size for a multiplayer party, although it could increase) are doing the same thing in four separate corners of the city, but the relative ease of swapping information between Xbox and server means the strain is fairly small. Jones says that his team are optimising the game for a 2-4mbps connection.

So, I ask the question - does this technology make the Xbox One more powerful? Jones nods. Does it, effectively, make it the most powerful console ever made while those servers are running? Jones nods. While Crackdown utilises it purely for physics, the opportunity here is clear. Who knows what another company could make with this, given the time? For the moment, though, I'm not entirely bothered - I just knocked a penthouse balcony off its moorings and watched it take 20 others out on its way to the ground. I'm still smiling.
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http://metro.co.uk/2015/08/05/crack...he-xbox-one-killer-app-5329378/#ixzz3i31sTbtw

It was only the first proper day of Gamescom today, but Crackdown 3 was easily the most impressive thing we saw – and that included a hands-off demo of Fallout 4 and the destruction-filled Just Cause 3 (we’ll write those previews up later). In fact amongst our excited demands for the final game we insisted that Jones and his team licence the tech out so we can finally get a decent Superman and Godzilla game.

But what really has us so excited is that this is not technology for technology’s sake. Developer Reagent Games haven’t spent years inventing ways to make slightly more realistic looking moustaches (yes, that was a dig at The Order: 1886), they’ve used it to create something that would’ve been completely impossible in the previous generation. That’s what we’ve been waiting for, and we couldn’t be more excited to see Crackdown 3 finally destroy any lingering disappointment with the current generation.
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Gamescom Demo

https://youtu.be/rFWIpAPvF-Q

IGN Demo

http://uk.ign.com/videos/2015/08/06/17-minutes-of-explosive-crackdown-3-gameplay-gamescom-2015
 
Oh boy. This won't end well.

giphy.gif


Still, it's awesome to see that Microsoft's controversial "vision" is now coming to fruition. And it's great for the players too!
 
Haven't we had full level destruction on Ps2's red faction already? Why is Crackdown the first next gen game to take it a step further?
 
sankt-Antonio said:
Haven't we had full level destruction on Ps2's red faction already? Why is Crackdown the first next gen game to take it a step further?
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Its not close to the same level. Every single piece of debris is calculated, rotates, and collides independently of one another.
 
This thread should be a nice graveyard for users.

I'm interested in seeing what Crackdown will finally look like and perform. I'm having a hard time believing it will make it the most powerful console in that context though.
 
Game looks incredible, and there's immense potential here, but what happens when the servers go down in 20 years? Just wondering, not gonna knock the statement for it.
 
I am going to believe this. Yes. Cloud power. Power of clouds.

Black Pewter said:
what happens when the servers go down in 20 years?
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Publishers care very little about that kind of thing these days. In this case, you'd have to switch to the offline mode with reduced physics calculations. There's another thread with more information.
 
I don't know if we can call it the most powerful console if it needs an internet connection by default to leverage that extra power.

Should be what you get straight out the box.

But it's good to finally see something actually tangible come out of "the cloud" for XBone.
 
It remains to be seen how this will function once actually shipped and in end users hands.

If this kind of tech is viable for games (which I remain to be entirely convinced of), there is nothing stopping any other console manufacturer, or dev shipping a game across multiple platforms, from using it.

Yes Microsoft have a lot of servers but servers are not a thing that are in any way exclusive to Xbox One.

Certainly "the cloud" is not going to mitigate the performance deficit of he Xbox One compared to other platforms like the PS4 and mid/high end PCs.
 
Lock it down, it maybe the most impressive game based on sheer compute power thanks to server side physics calculations. But an xbox is still and xbox, it didn't transform.
 
FWIW Joe Skrebels (the author of this post) is a decent journalist who knows his stuff, so, for me at least, this is credible. I'm sure other impressions, and opinions, are available...
 
In terms of processing, I agree. I'm now legitimately more excited as to how developers will handle this as opposed to traditional games.
 
No, it makes it the best used cloud computing to date, which has nothing to do with XB1 hardware. You could leverage the same tech for the Vita if you really wanted to. Hell, the same tech is leveraged in your cellphone, it is called Siri. "The power of the cloud" is what allows that rapid speech processing to happen. It is like putting your Civic on the bed of an 18 wheeler and saying, "This Civic has the most torque ever!"
 
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