Streaming is mainstream now.
Something that’s so common today, would’ve been prohibitively expensive and slow just a decade back. Hell, it was still problematic five or so years ago.
It’s only recently with the wide proliferation of fibre broadband and 4G networks that bandwidth became available for decent media streams, no matter where you are.
Microsoft’s hoping that streaming’s the way of the future, for gaming at least.
Its Project xCloud is designed to provide an Xbox gaming experience to any mobile device that has a network connection. Smartphones and tablets may soon play host to Halo 6, streamed from an Xbox and playable on the go.
While Halo 6 (currently called Halo: Infinite) is still far from complete, Microsoft’s shown the tech in action with a title that’s currently available; Forza Horizon 4.
It’s pretty similar to Sony’s Remote Play feature, except hopefully with less latency and connectivity issues. Honestly, we love using Remote Play but to have it playing smoothly with no playback issues is near impossible.
Here’s hoping with Microsoft’s expertise, hardware and almost limitless coffers, Project xCloud (why not call it xStream though?) may finally make quality console game streaming a reality.
The best news is we don’t even have to wait that long to see if the tech delivers. Project xCloud is slated to begin public trials sometime this year!
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
