One of the biggest pluses-at least on paper-Xbox Xbox One is the Cloud, i.e. the immense battery of virtual server platform Azure based which allow developers to increase the computational capabilities of its titles, as well as serve as cloud storage or multiplayer server. In fact, today there are very few games that exploit this possibility: titles such as Titanfall, for multiplayer, and Forza Motorsport 5 for multiplayer and Drivatar retention.

In a discussion on this subject emerged on NeoGAF, one third-party developer explained now that his own studio (which did not want to reveal the identity) is working on a title not yet announced set for release in 2015, which is heavily reliant on the Cloud for Xbox physical processing (vegetation, grass and water affected by wind and other interactions between objects) that would otherwise have been impossible using only the console's CPU.

For example, showed a tech demo created at the beginning of the development of the project, which shows how passing a ball on grass affects the position of each single strand, leaving a trace behind: all calculations required for this effect are made in real time (approximately 12 times per second) on the Cloud, while Xbox without connection to Cloud the effect would simply be absent or much less realistic.

The developer was extremely enthusiastic about the system of Microsoft explaining that, while Xbox Cloud can hardly intervene on rendering real (Visual effects, filters, shaders, and so on) because it's all that processing must take place in real time on the console, still managed to improve tremendously the Visual rendering of the game. He explained that the team is currently engaged in ensuring that the title, as single player, can turn both with connection to Live, thereby leveraging the Cloud, that without, and differences between the two situations are huge.

Connecting to Xbox Cloud the game features fully simulated dynamics related to wind, vegetation that moves realistically, fingerprints that remain on the ground for hours without disappearing as usually happens, fauna present in greater quantity and so forth, without impact the CPU. The game simply appears connectionless more static and less realistic, so that the team is seriously considering the possibility of making the game online-only while being a single player, but are aware of what players think of the obligation to connect online and therefore have not yet taken a final decision.

The developer has finally concluded by saying that games like Titanfall use just 5% of what the Cloud can offer, and that Microsoft itself will show the potential of the system with some games in development, one of which is the new Crackdown .

It seems then that things start to move to the front of the exploitation of the Xbox, and that Cloud of one or two years we will be able to see the first fruits. It's definitely a long wait, but hopefully worth it. Today begins the GDC Europe in Cologne, pre-Gamescom event devoted solely to developers: If there will be news about you communicate.