With Xbox One X, we are finally entering an era where a lot of games will be able to run in true, native 4K- but you know what the problem with that is? True, native 4K games are extremely heavy. They take up a lot of storage space. With Microsoft’s games routinely approaching the 100GB mark in terms of storage requirement, an absurd number given the storage that comes on board with the Xbox One, as well as modern internet infrastructure, Microsoft believes it may have an idea to circumvent the idea in the future.
“On the platform side [we’re] looking at things like what we call internally ‘Intelligent Delivery’,” Microsoft’s Mike Ybarra said to GamesRadar. Intelligent Delivery, described by Ybarra, is a mechanism where the more important bits are the ones that are automatically picked off of the servers and downloaded to your system, while more peripheral data is kept on the cloud, for your console to access as you play games.
This has three results- your game takes up less space on the hard drive, because not all of it has to be downloaded; you need to be connected to the internet to play your game, because you will not be able to access important files otherwise; and you are using the cloud to power your games. The former is something that is undoubtedly beneficial to games and gamers- the latter probably hit too close to the original vision for the Xbox One, which was roundly rejected by gamers not that long ago.
That said, it is extremely important to note that this technology is neither new, nor Xbox exclusive- for instance, Apple employs a version of this for bigger iOS apps on the App Store as well. Whether or not it can be as accepted in the gaming realm remains to be seen.
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