The next entry to the Crackdown series, Crackdown 3, was recently revealed at the Xbox Gamescom 2015 press conference. On stage, a new trailer was debuted, showcasing the fully destructible environments, using the power of the cloud to process them. Processing is offloaded to servers, allowing many events to occur on screen simultaneously, while still maintaining a stable framerate.
While this technology has amazed many, a major concern of the public has been the bandwidth required to use this technology. The concept shows astounding results, with a stable and high speed internet connection, but those who are less fortunate may be left in the dark.
Today, it has been reported that the game is being optimised to run using a 2-4 megabit bandwidth. This is larger than the average online multiplayer title, due to the computational data being transferred between the console, and the servers.
Dave Jones for Reagent Games explained that this is not massive, and only up to four times the average required to play most online games.
“It’s not significantly more (bandwidth than a regular multiplayer game), it’s maybe two to four times as much. A standard is maybe around 1mbit, so it’s a little bit more, yes.”
It was expected that the internet speeds required to use the cloud technology would be higher than average, however if the statements from Jones are truthful of the final product, the optimisation of the technology is impressive. While the Xbox One hardware restricts the possibilities of the console, this new technology, if implemented into more titles, could see a massively improved output. Offloading to the cloud allows a large percentage of processing to be executed off-site, almost removing hardware limitations of the console. Theoretically, if implemented more heavily, servers with a larger capability could outperform a high-end PC gaming setup.
Sadly for those with slower internet speeds at home, like me, the multiplayer processing may be off limits. Even though this is frustrating, technology is moving towards streaming and offloading in the modern age.
This technology will only be available in the multiplayer gamemodes, where 100% destructible environments will be offered. Singleplayer processing will all be handled by the console itself.
Source: VideoGamer UK
Matt was a regular ICXM contributor in 2015, publishing 110 articles across game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news. Their work focused on hands-on reviews, platform commentary, and breaking-news reporting during the Xbox One’s first full year of post-launch coverage, including the early days of Backwards Compatibility and Windows 10 gaming. They post on X as @RTEnvi.