"Azure Servers are the Real Deal". ~ Respawn Engineer

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Sep 11, 2013
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Respawn Engineer Jon Shiring, aka “Slothy”, is grateful for Xbox One’s Xbox Live Compute program built upon Microsoft’s Azure server database, powering a number of the standout features that Titanfall delivers.
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“In sort of the traditional model of dedicated servers is you go to your server and that is your home base and you love it,” he explained. “One of the key things that is interesting about the Xbox Live Compute that runs on Azure is that they’ve commodotised servers so much, that we just don’t care. I can ask for a server, use it for 10 seconds, and then go like, ‘ah we don’t need it anymore’ and throw it out.”
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Shiring admits that Xbox Live Compute has seemingly been shrugged off as a marketing gimmick by many onlookers, but thinks that all that might change with Titanfall: “And I know that the internet is very sceptical that this is real. Hopefully less so now that Titanfall is out and they realize that they really are playing on these servers out there.”
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Someone help me here. After reading this article, it sounds like Microsoft wasnt kidding when they stated that the Azure [Cloud] servers increased the power of the Xbox One. Titnafall is the first game to prove this in the real world. If true, it makes sense. There was a quote earlier last week where a Respawn developer mentioned how other devs saw the Azure Advantage was the real deal, and many of them began beating down Microsofts door. Lets discuss...Shall we mates?

http://mp1st.com/2014/03/16/titanal...compute-internet-sceptical-real/#.UykZoYWega-
 
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I found this post from someone who really gives an interesting perspective on how the Cloud is actually making good on its promise. Seriously sounds amazing! Here's the quote:

I remember once I entered a building and saw a bunch of dead grunts and another one screaming "MY FRIENDS ARE ALL DEAD"


Another time an enemy titan was firing into the interior of a building, and once the titan had gone away I went into the building and saw the only surviving grunt pulling his poor buddies body into a corner, and he sat down next to him and started talking to his friend, telling him he'd be okay, he'd survive.


Another occasion was near the end of a match I was mopping up everything in my Titan and I saw an enemy Grunt. He stared at me for a second and slowly put his gun on the ground and kneeled. He started to put his hands behind his head in the "I surrender" position but then stopped and his hands dropped to his side. He'd given up. He knew he was going to die.


The AI wasn't meant to be incredibly smart, they were meant to be one of two things.


1. Be like Creeps in a MOBA, easy farmable kills that can give you a early edge.


2. Make you feel like you're in a real war. Those situations I described all the time. Pay attention to the backround and the map descriptions. When the Tower falls down in this video:
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You'll notice the monsters start moving in. Well canonically, the tower is what repels the wildlife so when it goes down they move in. Each and every single one of those guys, including things like the tower itself are things powered by the Cloud. I actually think it's quite impressive especially with the grunts and how they react to a player.


If you require more instances, if you call in a Titan friendly grunts will say "Friendly Titan incoming! Move up guys!" and they actually move up. If you kill a enemy killing a friendly grunt his buddy will say "I told you those pilots were amazing!"


I think it really adds to the game. And if they were any smarter and had better aim and reacted better, people would be complaining that they died more from the AI then other players.


They aren't made to win games, they were made to add strategic and cinematic elements to the game.
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Well for starters, you might want to link us to the entire article in question; that'd be nice.

Secondly, I pray Titanfall isn't real world proof that the clouds will increase the power of Xbox One. I mean really it's not doing anything amazing, nor has it helped in any meaningful way graphically unless the bump to 792p from 720p was a result of the cloud...that'd be sad. Don't get me wrong, it's an awesome game, but as a technical tour de force it's really not going to wow anyone.

I think vast majority of people who dismiss "the cloud" are dismissing the idea that it will boost rendering performance of the Xbox One by <insert meaningless PR number here>. Most people are waiting for that "OMG super sweet graphics only possiburu with the cloud yo!" The azure platform for use as servers that can be spun up or down depending on population isn't really anything new nor is it what most people are making fun of/questioning.

And no, having bots in the cloud isn't amazing technology or anything enw. If you ever hopped into a Quake 3 or UT online MP match with bots back in the day then congrats you too have experienced server based AI *mindblown.gif*

And before people troll, the AI in Titanfall is dumb on purpose and that has nothing to do with cloud/server technology.
 
Ketto said:
Well for starters, you might want to link us to the entire article in question; that'd be nice.

Secondly, I pray Titanfall isn't real world proof that the clouds will increase the power of Xbox One. I mean really it's not doing anything amazing, nor has it helped in any meaningful way graphically unless the bump to 792p from 720p was a result of the cloud...that'd be sad. Don't get me wrong, it's an awesome game, but as a technical tour de force it's really not going to wow anyone.

I think vast majority of people who dismiss "the cloud" are dismissing the idea that it will boost rendering performance of the Xbox One by <insert meaningless PR number here>. Most people are waiting for that "OMG super sweet graphics only possiburu with the cloud yo!" The azure platform for use as servers that can be spun up or down depending on population isn't really anything new nor is it what most people are making fun of/questioning.

And no, having bots in the cloud isn't amazing technology or anything enw. If you ever hopped into a Quake 3 or UT online MP match with bots back in the day then congrats you too have experienced server based AI *mindblown.gif*

And before people troll, the AI in Titanfall is dumb on purpose and that has nothing to do with cloud/server technology.
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I disagree. First, I pretty certain the engineer knows more than you about how this works. Secondly, I dont think you can appreciate that this has never been done on a console before. I've certainly never heard of it. So its new to me. Third, if the Cloud is in fact freeing up would be workloads for the developers in any way, it frees them up to be more creative with their games, thus making them more fun. Respawn looks to be the first developers who not only made use of the Azure servers, but gamers are now experiencing that freedom expressed within their first release, that just so happens to be one of the best MP's in recent memory.

Your last statement rings false as well. The grunts are in fact results of the Cloud. Jesus Christ. The length some will go to downplay something they cant understand. And not for nothing, Ketto. It doesnt sound like you do....at all.
 
There's a lot of downplaying when it comes to the Cloud and it's mainly because it's MS who's the messenger.
People are getting wound up in stupid PR quotes ("YZ x more powerful") while overlooking/disregarding the real achievements. There is so much bias and overboarded scepticism towards MS that it's even irrelevant that it's a Respawn employee (!) who is reconfirming that Azure IS amazing.
Remember: This is not a first party dev, it's a dev that wants it's game on PS4 too!

Jesus, yeah we get it - PR is bloomy, it's exaggerated and even sometimes silly or morally questionable.
Does that nullify the effort that's been accomplished, the money the workforce (both MS and Respawn) invested to make (console) gaming better?

And what about that "it's nothing new - look at X PC game from year XY"?
Can't hear that anymore - it's true but the sole purpose is to downplay a great advancement for CONSOLES, an advancement that is once again spearheaded by MS, an advancement that could lead to better multiplayer and persistent worlds for ALL console games.

"But Sony, Nintendo, Amazon, Google and their grandmothers could do it too - it's nothing exclusive to MS!"
Thank you for reminding me!
So basically, because someone does something others potentially could too it's not allowed to praise it?
Just ask yourself these questions:
Why is it MS that once again does what others just could?
Why isn't Sony doing the same on the same scale if it's such a minor task?
Why did Respawn decide to go with MS although they talked with other partners too?

Because MS both has the capabilities (cheap adjustable servers around the world + corresponding software + excellent customer support) and (what's even more important) the will to push this technology.

Titanfall is a real achievement. There have been dedicated servers and cloud controlled bots before but nothing on the same scale as this game. It's a great collaboration between an innovative developer and a forward-looking platform holder resulting in a product that could inspire a new generation of games (akin to what Halo brought to consoles).

I'm so sick and tired of people constantly downplaying every bit of positive news regarding Xbox/MS (yes, companies can do both good and bad!).
If Sony had done the same people would be all over the place that's for sure.
 
TrueBlueHero said:
There's a lot of downplaying when it comes to the Cloud and it's mainly because it's MS who's the messenger.
People are getting wound up in stupid PR quotes ("YZ x more powerful") while overlooking/disregarding the real achievements. There is so much bias and overboarded scepticism towards MS that it's even irrelevant that it's a Respawn employee (!) who is reconfirming that Azure IS amazing.
Remember: This is not a first party dev, it's a dev that wants it's game on PS4 too!

Jesus, yeah we get it - PR is bloomy, it's exaggerated and even sometimes silly or morally questionable.
Does that nullify the effort that's been accomplished, the money the workforce (both MS and Respawn) invested to make (console) gaming better?

And what about that "it's nothing new - look at X PC game from year XY"?
Can't hear that anymore - it's true but the sole purpose is to downplay a great advancement for CONSOLES, an advancement that is once again spearheaded by MS, an advancement that could lead to better multiplayer and persistent worlds for ALL console games.

"But Sony, Nintendo, Amazon, Google and their grandmothers could do it too - it's nothing exclusive to MS!"
Thank you for reminding me!
So basically, because someone does something others potentially could too it's not allowed to praise it?
Just ask yourself these questions:
Why is it MS that once again does what others just could?
Why isn't Sony doing the same on the same scale if it's such a minor task?
Why did Respawn decide to go with MS although they talked with other partners too?

Because MS both has the capabilities (cheap adjustable servers around the world + corresponding software + excellent customer support) and (what's even more important) the will to push this technology.

Titanfall is a real achievement. There have been dedicated servers and cloud controlled bots before but nothing on the same scale as this game. It's a great collaboration between an innovative developer and a forward-looking platform holder resulting in a product that could inspire a new generation of games (akin to what Halo brought to consoles).

I'm so sick and tired of people constantly downplaying every bit of positive news regarding Xbox/MS (yes, companies can do both good and bad!).
If Sony had done the same people would be all over the place that's for sure.
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That is how its been from day one.
When the first Xbox came around they mastered the online gaming for console, not Sony. When the x360 came around they mastered achievements and party chat, not Sony. MS comes up with the cloud servers with the Xbox one, not Sony.

People need to wake up that MS is a software company and at times I think MS are years ahead of thinking and people just want to hate or not understand.
 
Nervusbreakdown said:
That is how its been from day one.
When the first Xbox came around they mastered the online gaming for console, not Sony. When the x360 came around they mastered achievements and party chat, not Sony. MS comes up with the cloud servers with the Xbox one, not Sony.

People need to wake up that MS is a software company and at times I think MS are years ahead of thinking and people just want to hate or not understand.
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Too be fair, Microsoft didn't master online gaming until the 360 came around.
 
TrueBlueHero said:
Remember a game called Halo 2?
That game alone made online MP a thing on consoles and practically defined the next generation.
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Yes, I do remember it. I still own it, and an original xbox. Games like that certainly set the foundation for great multiplayer but my point is that Microsoft did not master online gaming until the arrival of the xbox 360.
 
I wouldnt say they mastered online gaming with the OG xbox. But they certainly brought high quality online gaming to consoles, which was a first.. I second that the mastery didnt take place till 360.
 
D-V-ANT said:
Yes, I do remember it. I still own it, and an original xbox. Games like that certainly set the foundation for great multiplayer but my point is that Microsoft did not master online gaming until the arrival of the xbox 360.
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And with that I do not disagree. They perfected multiplayer with 360 but the breakthrough happened on OG Xbox.

Probably we can put it this way:
- OG XBox: Technological foundation and first gaming breakthrough
- Xbox 360: Xbox Live refined and established as the new mass market console standard for MP
 
What has been accomplished with Titan fall is amazing! Pure and simple. To say any different is to show extraordinary bias and lack of understanding, not to mention lack of imagination. I'm far from a tech head and even I can see this is a big deal. I understand that much.
 
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I think what matters is that obviously Respawn is happy with the Azure server setup for Xbox One, and that their opinion is important to the people that matter, not the armchair developers sitting in internet forums. Titanfall is a great thing for both Respawn and Microsoft.
 
Zcythe said:
I think what matters is that obviously Respawn is happy with the Azure server setup for Xbox One, and that their opinion is important to the people that matter, not the armchair developers sitting in internet forums. Titanfall is a great thing for both Respawn and Microsoft.
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Oh hell yes. ;) The cloud has indeed given the Xbox One more power and more freedom to developers thus, creating a farmore enjoyable experience in multiplayer games. That's a game changer in my book.
 
I heard that the computing power behind Live on the Xbox One All-in-one Entertainment System is more than the total computing power available in the whole world in 1999 with over 300,000 connected servers. The Matrix came out in 1999, so it is like plugging in to the Matrix while Prince sings 1999 with the New Power Generation and the Y2K bug is being falsely reported. Then the Phantom Menace comes out and ruins everything.
 
Troublegum said:
I heard that the computing power behind Live on the Xbox One All-in-one Entertainment System is more than the total computing power available in the whole world in 1999 with over 300,000 connected servers. The Matrix came out in 1999, so it is like plugging in to the Matrix while Prince sings 1999 with the New Power Generation and the Y2K bug is being falsely reported. Then the Phantom Menace comes out and ruins everything.
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1118.gif
 
More downplaying... Its alright though. :) I understand it hurts for arm chair developers to learn that your degree in Arm Chair developing amounts to no more than a free coupon for a free small fry with every purchase of a cheese burger. ;)
 
Mcmasters said:
More downplaying... Its alright though. :) I understand it hurts for arm chair developers to learn that your degree in Arm Chair developing amounts to no more than a free coupon for a free small fry with every purchase of a cheese burger. ;)
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Come on man. What the hell would an actual software engineer that works for respawn know anyway? You need to get with the program son. Our panel of engineers here on our form know their stuff.
 
Thats a shame when actual engineers comment on their experience with certain technology and forum dwellers actually think they know more than the engineers themselves. Gat Dayyuum!

Dat....dat dont make no sense. o_O

IN OTHER NEWS...

Im sure we'll hear more from developers opting to use the Azure servers in their games after Titanfall. Cant wait until some arm chair devs show us what they can do too. I heard they got dat Steven Hawkins s***!

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You really should buy an Xbox One, Mcmasters, I think you would get a lot of enjoyment from it.

I'm still on the fence as they haven't made a white one available yet and it is still quite expensive.
 
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