They say that this could eventually mean we’ll no longer need consoles, but honestly? Playing on an actual console or PC is what makes it.
Initially launched in beta testing on the 14th of November 2019, Microsoft has been hard at work to bring us the next best thing in gaming convenience…and not so much convenience for work; the service was later released on the 15th of September 2020 for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers, which is of no extra cost to said subscribers.
Xbox Cloud Gaming, or simply xCloud, is an ambitious project taken on by Microsoft using their state of the art technology to bring over one hundred various games of all genres to multiple device platforms, as long as you have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and a compatible controller. This allows you to enjoy the console games with whoever you’d like to play along with on various devices while keeping all of your data across each of these devices, all on the Xbox Game Pass application or Xbox.com. The majority of the Xbox Game Pass library is available for xCloud.
Taking The Experience Even Further
Although not an official title, the new ambitious project that is underway by Nordic studio, Mainframe, is going by PaxDei (which is the Latin term for “Peace & Truce of God” which was a Catholic-led movement in the Middle Ages). Do not despair, things are certainly seeming quite official for this title at this point, as seen on the below image, PaxDei was filed for trademark registration in June and set to start this October of 2021 right through to June of 2031.
This game is being developed with the purpose of unveiling the full experience of what xCloud has to offer up to the current point of its existence, by giving access to the same game, with the same save data across any and all of your connected devices, from console to computer to smartphone, each with their own relevant features to allow playability while keeping it in such a way that it’s made sure that you will make use of the full potential and availability of resources.
Each platform will have its own scale of complexity for the cloud-based mechanics. This is to say that you’ll launch the full game on your console but on your smartphone, you’ll only carry out the more simplistic tasks such as farming and crafting consumables while you’re sitting at work or waiting for your pizza order. These additionally crafted and farmed resources from your spare time will be readily available when you launch the full game again.
PaxDei is going to be somewhat more of an official tester in terms of the core development tools of the cloud-based mechanics, but it’s not just a tester, this will be a full-blown massive multiplayer online game with immense potential.
To top off this intriguing concept of a game, Hideo Kojima (director of games such as the Metal Gear series, Death Stranding, P.T, Snatcher and the previously cancelled Silent Hills…of which the latter is supposedly making a return to development stages at some point for new-gen consoles) is being pulled in to assist with the development of PaxDei.
The minimum Xbox console requirements are as follows for proper, smooth running along with required Xbox Game Pass Ultimate:
Device: Xbox One, Xbox One S, Xbox One X, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X
Xbox Update Preview Rings: Alpha, Alpha Skip-Ahead, Beta
Bandwidth: 20 Mbps or higher
Controller and Input: An Xbox Wireless Controller is recommended.
Membership: Cloud Gaming requires Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Supported devices are as follows (note that on the official site it is stipulated that the Sony DualShock 4 is compatible, however, there is no further elaboration thereof just yet):
iPhones
iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max
IPads
IPad Air (3rd Gen), iPad Air (4th Gen), iPad Pro 11 2nd Gen, iPad Mini 5th Gen, iPad 8th Gen
Windows Devices
Surface Go, Surface Go 2, Surface Pro 6, Surface Pro X, Surface Pro 7+, Surface Laptop, Surface Laptop 3, Surface Book 2
Specifications and Setup for each device can be found by following this link.