ABOVE We
encountered a
couple of small
stutters in
Halo 5, but they
were far from
game-breaking.
INSIDER HANDS-ON WITH XCLOUD
Riding high
on the xCloud
We go hands-on with Microsoft’s
streaming service in our living room
phase, so we played Gears 5, Halo 5,
Sea Of Thieves, plus Killer Instinct. The
picture quality is phenomenal using
our home Wi-Fi. At no point does our
image become blurred. Sure, there
are a few moments where the action
stutters but it’s mostly a smooth
experience. That said, input lag
(though slight) is noticeable.
Still, there’s no denying Microsoft
has made a great impression with the
streaming beta. The underlying tech
may not offer console-level quality
just yet, but the future looks searingly
bright. Aside from some tiny lag
issues, the sky’s the limit for xCloud. QIn September Microsoft opened up
registration for its Project xCloud beta.
This was the first time the service,
which aims to let you play any Xbox
game, at any time, on any device over
a Wi-Fi or mobile network, has been
made available to the general public.
Team OXM went hands-on with the
streaming tech to see just how well the
service copes in the wild. So far we’re
impressed. The beta is only available on
Android devices with an OS of version 6.
or later, though the service will also run
on Apple devices on full release. Using
xCloud requires a Bluetooth Xbox One
controller, and you also need an internet
speed of at least 10Mbps.Moment of truth
There was always going to be a
level of scepticism over how Project
xCloud would work in the real world,
where broadband speeds and Wi-Fi
connections can be less than perfect.
However, after spending just a short
time with it, the outlook for Microsoft’s
latest innovation looks granite-strong.
Only certain titles were chosen to
demonstrate xCloud during the betaSILVER
LININGBARREL
WATCH
GAMING’S FAVOURITE
PROP RATED BY OUR
RESIDENT COOPERAtlas
These barrels
once saw a kid
fall down this
well, but
instead of
calling for help they just
encouraged people to throw coins
down at the poor sod. Heartless.The Outer
Worlds
Oddly, barrels
are the only
thing you can
hear scream in
space. You just don’t get to hear
them because they welcome death
like a long lost family member.Ghost Recon
Breakpoint
There are so
many barrels
around now
that some are
struggling to find full-time work.
Just look at this one: it’s serving
drinks just to get by.Trine 4
This is utterly
outrageous. All
these barrels
were doing was
having a nice
game of leapfrog when a bumbling
knight came along and brutally cut
them all down.Yooka-Laylee
And The
Impossible Lair
An unexplained
phenomenon
that’s puzzled
historians for decades is just why,
when barrels enter cartoon-like
worlds, they suddenly look janky.013 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE