I’ll answer the cloud portion because we are seeing parellels to today. Cloud hybridization which is what MS is pitching right now is ALWAYS worse than a pure cloud or a pure local localized solution except in very specific situations.
For gaming specifically it is always best to keep non-gameplay computational as processes which can be offloaded to the cloud. Things I would consider having cloud rendered:
Hair/clothing physics not impacted by gameplay where “floatiness” would be appropriate.
AI routes
Ray tracing for Global illumination
Things you shouldn’t do in cloud:
Physics that impact game play
Graphics
Anything that requires immediate gameplay reaction
The problem with Crackdown 3 is that it was touted as the showcase for “The Cloud” but not only is it coming at the end of the generation that it was supposedly heralding but it’s main selling points from its tech demos are so poorly implemented that it makes people question “cloud” gaming. MS are preparing to release an entire platform based on the same marketing pitch they used for Crackdown 3, they either have to nail it create hype for cloud gaming or save face to prevent damaging perceive of their future xCloud service.
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