How Sunset Overdrive uses Xbox One cloud

Insomniac Games' Sunset Overdrive is an Xbox One exclusive published by Microsoft. So of course it's going to use that fancy Xbox Live Cloud that Microsoft's been so keen to talk about. So, how does Sunset Overdrive take advantage of all that internet-based computing power?

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Insomniac Games' Sunset Overdrive is an Xbox One exclusive published by Microsoft. So of course it's going to use that fancy Xbox Live Cloud that Microsoft's been so keen to talk about. So, how does Sunset Overdrive take advantage of all that internet-based computing power? Studio head Ted Price explains.

"We are going to be relying on heavy backend services to churn through the data we get from players to understand what they're telling us and what they're doing in the game," Price said. "Some of the hardcore data collection, correlation, and translation that we expect to do is difficult and takes a lot of horsepower, and that is one aspect of the cloud that is attractive to us."

Ah, collecting real-time player metrics. It's something that SIN Episodes attempted to do... in 2006. On PC. However, unlike that example, it appears Insomniac won't track player data in single-player. "Our intent is that you will be able to play the single-player without an online connection," Price added.

While it appears neither Sunset Overdrive nor Titanfall take advantage of the cloud in a way that's unique to Xbox One, Price tells Game Informer that "the potential of the cloud for console developers is pretty large. Over the next five or six years, it's one of those technologies that will change in meaning as we see more games come out and take innovative approach to the more and more offline processing that's available."

Here's the concept video they showed off at E3 earlier this year:

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    July 3, 2013 10:15 AM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, How Sunset Overdrive uses Xbox One cloud.

    Insomniac Games' Sunset Overdrive is an Xbox One exclusive published by Microsoft. So of course it's going to use that fancy Xbox Live Cloud that Microsoft's been so keen to talk about. So, how does Sunset Overdrive take advantage of all that internet-based computing power?

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      July 3, 2013 10:16 AM

      Insomniac? Are they going to use The Dalton Allocator?

      http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/194772/dirty_game_development_tricks.php?page=2

      (I just got around to reading this article from a few days ago, and had noticed Insomniac)

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      July 3, 2013 10:28 AM

      [deleted]

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        July 3, 2013 10:36 AM

        Yeah, for sure ... not sure I would like it based on that video.

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      July 3, 2013 10:44 AM

      [deleted]

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      July 3, 2013 12:30 PM

      I knew Andrew wrote this article before I even looked at the author. There's a particular brand of disdain and skepticism that can only be found when it's Yoon talking about cloud gaming on the One.

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        July 3, 2013 12:34 PM

        He bought that stock early, and it's been rising.

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        July 3, 2013 1:10 PM

        It's a little tiresome. If I want "jaded, pessimist game news" I would read RPS

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        July 3, 2013 5:59 PM

        If MS is going to bust out the marketing hyperbole on the cloud thing, they should expect people to point out when the implementation isn't exactly revolutionary.

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          July 3, 2013 6:38 PM

          [deleted]

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            July 3, 2013 7:14 PM

            I'm not seeing where he contradicted the developer. The developer said they were using the cloud for dedicated servers to save themselves from having to figure out the hosting themselves. Very cool and I'm sure Azure rocks for this, but it seems like pretty standard cloud stuff?

            Is Titanfall actually using the cloud for other computations?

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            July 3, 2013 8:27 PM

            What did I blatantly contradict? I would like some evidence!

            And yes, of course I'm calling Microsoft out on their claims on Xbox One's cloud. *As it is right now,* it does not provide anything unique to games, nor is it even exclusive to Xbox One. Do I hope that it changes in the future? Of course! But don't just drink the Kool-Aid. Wait until they actually prove themselves!

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              July 3, 2013 8:31 PM

              [deleted]

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                July 3, 2013 8:36 PM

                Anyone can do the same. It's like BF3 or L4D which we have thousands of servers running (by the community). They can say they're having a problem, but the only reason it's a problem is because they won't give out the server code so the community can help.

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                July 3, 2013 8:56 PM

                It's just the 2013 version of http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2000/10/23 . It's pretty disgusting to see Ted Price do this, because we saw what happened with the relationship between Just Add Water and Microsoft: http://www.shacknews.com/article/71992/oddworld-munchs-oddysee-hd-coming-to-ps3-vita-in-q2

                EA runs their own server farm for their games that connect to EA.com, and Valve integrated PS3 games via Steam.

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                  July 3, 2013 9:02 PM

                  [deleted]

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                    July 3, 2013 9:08 PM

                    He tore apart Ted Price's marketing spiel, and compared it to previous industry offerings; that's what journalists are supposed to do. It seems almost like you have a fanboyistic allegiance to either Insomniac or Microsoft, or to the marketing hype of cloud computing, versus the reality of what it really is (hint: it's just a bunch of CPUs, RAM and storage processing most of what servers do, in a slightly different topology).

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                      July 3, 2013 9:12 PM

                      [deleted]

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                        July 3, 2013 9:23 PM

                        Who is saying it is anything more than that? Ted Price.

                        Seriously, compare this segment... "Over the next five or six years, it's one of those technologies that will change in meaning as we see more games come out and take innovative approach to the more and more offline processing that's available."

                        ...with some of the language used in promoting VRML and X3D a decade ago: http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/cubes-spheres-cones.php

                        "There is a genuine pent-up demand for this stuff," analyst Peddie said. "What's out there now is primitive and not very satisfying, but that's partly because the people putting them out have to develop them from scratch. If they could get the same level of support and functionality with 3D that they do with XML, you would see amazing new developments."

                        Ugh, it's like they both put the Web Economy Bullshit Generator on infinite loop. http://www.dack.com/web/bullshit.html

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                July 4, 2013 1:17 AM

                [deleted]

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              July 3, 2013 8:45 PM

              Fret not. If this was Alice they'd be giving you a pass.

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                July 3, 2013 10:05 PM

                Insomniac Games' Sunset Overdrive is an Xbox One exclusive Cloud 'em up...

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              July 3, 2013 8:54 PM

              [deleted]

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              July 3, 2013 9:09 PM

              The cloud will allow your washing machine to augment your gaming experience!

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              July 3, 2013 9:23 PM

              I'm having a hard time understanding what it is about this "cloud" stuff that is being so heavily discussed instead of other things that gamers might actually care about. There just hasn't been any compelling information about what it will offer to gamers, despite what the devs find interesting. I understand it will allow them to "spool up servers". I get that they can "view stats". And? How does that translate to a better overall gaming experience? Just tell us! Don't make it a connect the dots issue and just lay it all out and why we should care, as Yoon has pointed out, these "benefits" could have been touted by many others for years and it just hasn't brought forth any real concrete benefits that have altered gaming. More servers.. Is that really a problem? Isn't the problem a lack of people playing the games after X months or until a new game comes out?

              Does it do some bombastic data manipulation that then feeds the system better graphics? Does it equal larger maps and more players? The ability for the 'cloud' to handle any real gameplay enhancing benefits beyond just making more servers and stats available as it stands right now with no speculation either way into the future?

              I find reporters that hold the bullshit PR speak to task quite refreshing instead of just reporters passing along said PR speak that doesn't mean shit onto their readers which is what of course any PR would want. Don't question, just hype. Tired of that.

              More questions about the cloud, will the cloud services render the game unplayable if it's no longer supported 4-5 years out EA style? Are games THAT reliant on the system - is it such an important part of the equation that it is reliant upon it? Or is it just a side thing that is kinda cool to have? It's hard to wrap any sort of care around the information coming out as it's just so devoid of any actual meat that gamers gives two shits about. No matter how much PR and others insist that it's actually something.

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                July 3, 2013 10:45 PM

                The cloud stuff in the case of Xbox One is supposed to allow offloading of some of the more latency-agnostic (or whatever) computations which theoretically frees up cycles for improving the gaming experience.

                To hear the Respawn guys talk during the Giant Bomb E3 thing it sounded like they had some of this serious voodoo going on in cloudspace (in addition to the "spinning up servers" stuff). Stuff that would make the PC port difficult and not as good an experience. But everything that's come out since E3 has indicated that isn't necessarily the case. The dedicated server stuff in the cloud is certainly nice for them, but it apparently isn't doing any of the fancy cloud magic that MS had been boasting about. Doesn't mean they can't do it, but they're not doing it yet.

                So Shack writer points that out and apparently Shacknews is now going to hell.

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                July 4, 2013 1:15 AM

                [deleted]

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      July 3, 2013 12:33 PM

      did they get Murakami's permission to use his style of artwork in the game?
      http://www.designboom.com/cms/images/--Z88/mp2.jpg

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      July 3, 2013 12:40 PM

      I expect any game by Insomniac to contain much alcohol, some strip clubs, and off-color-non-sequitur jokes.

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      July 3, 2013 1:31 PM

      Hey you get off of my cloud!

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      July 3, 2013 4:51 PM

      [deleted]

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        July 3, 2013 4:58 PM

        I believe both of those data points are things Valve have talked about before as being pretty valuable in their own analytics. I'm sure there's plenty more too.

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          July 3, 2013 5:52 PM

          [deleted]

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            July 3, 2013 6:30 PM

            I haven't seen a whole lot of developers talking about their analytics driven development outside places with ridiculous money like Valve and Bungie. I don't find it all that surprising that a bunch of launch titles aren't necessarily setting the world on fire with features that haven't been easily available before, or aren't excited to talk in depth about it like 6+ months before release.

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            July 3, 2013 7:11 PM

            Using the Kinect sensor to analyze your behavior IRL.

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              July 3, 2013 7:46 PM

              Judging rage faces the player makes while performing QTEs

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        July 3, 2013 6:42 PM

        [deleted]

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      July 3, 2013 7:13 PM

      I hope this game is good 'cause it looks cool imho.

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        July 3, 2013 8:01 PM

        Hopefully it is, because the last two Insomniac games (Fuse and Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault) got 60's in Metacritic.

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          July 3, 2013 9:03 PM

          ...actually, I had not seen anything on Sunset Overdrive until I played this video. Epic called; they want their Fortnite back.

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      July 3, 2013 9:59 PM

      So, will this benefit the players in any way whatsoever?

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      July 4, 2013 12:54 AM

      I'm intrigued. I'm just totally curious about this cloud stuff and I don't want my curiosity to be crushed!

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