(Rumor) Brad Sams: Xbox Scarlett Cloud box information leaked (Next-gen; Traditional system as well)

[Legend]

(Rumor) Brad Sams: Xbox Scarlett Cloud box information leaked (Next-gen; Traditional system as well) | ResetEra

 

Here are some new information about Microsoft's next gen approach coming from Brad Sams (well reputed MS journalist that knows a lot of MS insiders):

 

First, Microsoft is building a traditional console that you would expect from the Xbox brand. I think it's important to point this out so that those who prefer to have all their hardware locally, will have an option with the next generation Xbox.

 As for specs for this device, that's still not known at this time as it's the early days of development for that piece of hardware. But what I am starting to hear more about is the second device, a streaming box that is designed to work with the company's upcoming game streaming platform.

 Scarlett Cloud as one person called it, is the game streaming service that we have all been envisioning ever since Microsoft showed off a demo game streaming at its all-employee meeting back in 2013. But this time, Microsoft has a path to bring it to market.

 The second 'console' that the company is working on is a lower-powered device that is currently planned to ship with the next generation device that is designed for game-streaming. But the catch here is that Microsoft thinks it has figured out how to handle the latency sensitive aspects of gaming.

 The cloud console will have a limited amount of compute locally for specific tasks like controller input, image processing, and importantly, collision detection. The downside of this is that it since more hardware is needed locally, it will raise the price of the streaming box but it will still cost significantly less than what we are accustomed to paying for a new-generation console which should help expand the platform's reach.Click to expand...

The Xbox Scarlett family of devices will feature 2 devices: one classic console (like the Xbox One X for example) and a cloud gaming box.

 Although their cloud gaming technology advancements can let them release the Xbox Scarlett Cloud sooner, Brad thinks that both devices will launch at the same time (2020).

 

The cloud version of Scarlett is further along in the development cycle than the traditional console that will also be released in 2020. This device does make me wonder if it has any relationship to the Xbox Hobart streaming device that was nearly released two years ago but was canceled late in the development cycle.Click to expand...

The Cloud Box will cost around 99-125$, it'll feature a hard drive that will deal with all the collisions and input informations in order to reduce latency, MS really thinks that they have it figured out with that hard drive collecting those infos.

 All "Scarlett" (next gen games) will run both on the "Cloud Box" as well as on the Scarlett Console.

 

When it comes to games, all Scarlett games will run on all Scarlett devices. Meaning, both consoles will be first-class citizens and there is not expected to be an awkward 'this game only runs on the non-cloud Scarlett'.Click to expand...

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5s725FjRH0
https://www.thurrott.com/xbox/163896/details-microsofts-xbox-scarlett-game-streaming-service  

[Legend]

No way is this fully correct imo. You can't just run collision detection locally and call it a day lol.

[the-pi-guy]

The cloud console will have a limited amount of compute locally for specific tasks like controller input, image processing, and importantly, collision detection

And how is that suppose to work?  

[Legend]

And how is that suppose to work?  

Yeah it really doesn't make sense.

I think it's highly unlikely that hybrid streaming solutions will become mainstream before traditional game streaming. If the game is running 100% on the cloud then devs don't need to do anything to port the game to the streaming platform. Otherwise they'd need to design the game around hybrid streaming from day 1 and all its unique limitations.



Plus what does he even mean by local collision detection? Normally that's something that gets offloaded to the cloud. Most posts on resetera are getting confused by some unrelated tech but there was an interesting post about a different hybrid streaming solution. Basically it's a version of async timewarp found in VR. The cloud runs the whole entire game and streams the video to you, but then the local system is also running the game's logic and updates these frames by smudging them around instead of doing local rendering. Would increase bandwidth, require fairly powerful hardware, and have lots of room for image artifacts but it'd get rid of any latency.