Express
yourselfInstinct. While offering a broad range
of experiences, these titles have
different computational demands, and
testing how they work in the wild is
imperative to the program.On cloud nine
Should you be lucky enough to be
invited into the program, you’ll need
a number of things. At the moment
the service will only run on Android
devices with an operating system ofversion 6.0 or greater. You’ll require
a wireless Xbox One controller with
Bluetooth built-in, which is every
Xbox One Controller made for the Xbox
One S and after. Elite controllers and
controllers bundled with the original
launch console won’t work. The
service will work on both a Wi-Fi or
mobile connection, and you’ll need a
Microsoft account and Xbox profile.
The experience will vary depending
on your environment. With our hands-
on time with the service, which we
were assured were under no specialcircumstances or conditions, our
experience was an extremely positive
one. We played a variety of different
titles, such as Halo 5: Guardians,
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and Forza
Horizon 4 to name just a few, and
we experienced no noticeable input
lag, all the while maintaining a good
overall image quality.
Microsoft’s Project xCloud is just
one part of its overall streaming
strategy for the future. The other is
Xbox Console Streaming, which will
enable you to play any game installed
on your home console using your
mobile device. Where xCloud relies
on data centres around the globe,
Console Streaming essentially turns
your Xbox into your own personal data
centre. Microsoft is making all the right
moves when it comes to streaming,
and we're looking forward to getting to
grips with the new services soon. QUp in the clouds
Microsoft announces plans for the public to
try out its Project xCloud streaming service
BLUE-SKY
THINKINGMicrosoft’s vision
of a connected
future, where
you can “play
the games you
want, with the
people you
want, whenever you want, wherever
you are, and on any device of your
choosing”, is taking its first big steps
to becoming a reality.
At the end of September Microsoft
revealed it would be allowing gamers
to sign up and take part in the Project
xCloud program, an Xbox service that
will let you stream and play games on
your mobile device or tablet. Until now,
the service has only been available to
Microsoft employees but the company
is now taking the plunge and letting
the public try it out.
The preview will be invite-only, so
signing up doesn’t guarantee that
you’ll get entered into the program,
and the first round of invites will go
to a small group initially. This will
eventually expand to add more people
over time. For now, the service will only
be available to those within the United
States, United Kingdom and Korea.
The purpose of the program is
to gather large amounts of user
feedback so Microsoft can improve
xCloud so that it’s the best it can be
when it’s rolled out globally. As such,
there will be a handful of games to
start with that you’ll be able to use
to test the service – Gears 5, Sea Of
Thieves, Halo 5: Guardians and Killer
Microsoft has been
releasing special
edition controllers for
years, but these are
only usually seen at
home. That’s set to
change, however.
With the rise of
xCloud and Xbox
Console Streaming,
we’ll likely see people
looking to show off
which controller they
own as they play
games out in the wild.
Conveniently,
Microsoft has Xbox
Design Lab, its very
own website where
you can create your
own custom
controller.INSIDER PROJECT XCLOUD
“Until now, the
service has only
been available
to Microsoft
employees”
ABOVE It feels
crazy that we’ll
soon be able to
play Gears 5 on
a bus.
RIGHT Playing
together as a
Sea Of Thieves
crew all in the
same room will
be a little
easier thanks to
xCloud.EXCITED? HORRIFIED? LET THE WORLD KNOW AT WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/OXMUK
012 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE