Sony recently revealed new details about the Gaikai cloud service for the PlayStation 4, which will bring PlayStation 3 and other console titles to the PlayStation 4 beginning in 2014. Well now Microsoft appears to be preparing to bring their own cloud service to the Xbox One. As The Verge reports, the company has a prototype up and running.
Microsoft revealed the prototype at an internal company meeting, which played Halo 4 from the cloud. The game was streamed to a Windows Phone in addition to the PC. Early reports indicate that the Halo 4 played without any major hiccups on both platforms, with Microsoft reducing the latency on a Lumia 520 to a very small 45ms.
The demo of the Microsoft cloud streaming service is reported to have happened on a low end hybrid PC, as well as a unique setup for a Windows Phone. The demonstration had Halo 4 running on a Windows Phone, which had a Xbox controller plugged into it as an accessory.
This demo is in the early stages of the service, and it is unclear what Microsoft will bring to the service. Presumably, Microsoft would use this cloud service to bring older games to the Xbox One, so that the console (which is not backwards compatible) can play older games. Also, in addition to bringing back old games, players can stream games to other devices as evidenced by this demo.
Microsoft sent a statement about the news to The Seattle Times, though they did not share any specifics about the unnamed cloud service and when players can expect to see this service rolled out.
"The Microsoft Company Meeting is a great place to demonstrate many exciting possibilities, but we don't have any specific plans to share at this time," said Microsoft in the statement.
Sony, meanwhile, acquired Gaikai cloud streaming and plan on using the service to build a library of PlayStation 3 titles that will be available on the PlayStation 4. The service will not be available at launch for the PlayStation 4, but will be available sometime in 2014. The service will also eventually come to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita after the PlayStation 4 gets the service.
It will be interesting to see what games and other media Microsoft and Sony bring to their respective cloud services, and how many gamers take advantage of this service to play classic games on the next generation of consoles.