It all sounds promising in theory. Whether cloud gaming will catch on, though, remains uncertain, for it is technically much more demanding than existing streaming services. Unlike films or music, games are interactive, which means they must respond instantly to a player’s input. The laws of physics impose limits on how quickly a player’s commands can traverse the internet to reach a data-centre to be processed, and then how quickly the resulting video can be sent back. For the twitchy action games that dominate bestseller lists, even delays of a fraction of a second are an irritation for players. Such technical glitches are one reason that previous attempts at cloud gaming, by firms such as OnLive (which launched its service in 2010 but shut down in 2015), failed to catch on.
從理論上講，這一切聽起來都很有希望。不過，仍不確定云游戲是否會流行，因為它在技術上比現有的流媒體服務要求高得多。與電影或音樂不同，游戲是互動的，這意味著它們必須對玩家的輸入做出即時反應。物理定律限制了玩家的命令通過互聯網到達要處理的數據中心的速度，以及由此產生的視頻返回的速度。對于那些在暢銷書排行榜上占據主導地位的動作類游戲來說，哪怕是一眨眼的延遲都會讓玩家感到惱怒。此類技術故障是OnLive(該公司于2010年推出了云游戲服務，但在2015年關閉)等公司此前嘗試的云游戲未能流行起來的原因之一。
The cloud giants insist that times have changed. Microsoft, Amazon and Google have data-centres dotted around the world, which should help keep response times low. Consumer internet connections are faster than ever and data allowances more generous. And although dedicated gamers may turn up their noses at even short timelags, cloud gaming could prove attractive to the less hard-core.
云計算巨頭堅稱時代已經改變。微軟、亞馬遜和谷歌在全球各地都設有數據中心，這應該有助于降低響應時間。消費者上網速度比以往任何時候都快，數據補貼也更慷慨。盡管資深玩家可能會對短時間段里的內容不屑一顧，但事實可能證明，云游戲對不那么鐵桿的玩家具有吸引力。
Cloud computing can be used in other ways, too. Rather than running the whole game remotely, one intermediate option is to use it for tricky calculations that are also relatively insensitive to small delays. ”Crackdown 3”, an action game released for the xbox and PC in February, uses cloud computing for complex physics calculations, allowing players to blow up their environment in a realistic way without overtaxing their computers. An updated version of Microsoft’s “Flight Simulator”, shown at e3, was also, according to its trailer, “powered by Azure”. Cloud computing has already disrupted everything from films to corporate IT departments. Gaming, it seems, is now also in play.
云計算也可以以其他方式使用。與其遠程運行整個游戲，一個中間選擇是使用它進行復雜的計算，這些計算對較小的延遲也相對不敏感。二月份為xbox和個人電腦發行的動作游戲《除暴戰警3》使用云計算進行復雜的物理計算，玩家可以在不增加電腦負擔的情況下以一種現實的方式破壞環境。微軟在e3展上展示的“飛行模擬器”的升級版，根據預告片，也是“由Azure提供動力”的。云計算已經顛覆了從電影到企業信息技術部門的一切。游戲似乎也在發揮作用。
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