Were you underwhelmed by Microsoft's Kinect-heavy press conference and the notable absence of any long-overdue Xbox Live infrastructure improvements? So were we!
Which is why the legitimately exciting post-conference announcement of "Cloud Storage for Game Saves and Live Profiles" is all the more confusing. Instead of a splashy stage presentation, the reveal was buried in a recap email from Xbox's Marc Whitten. "We are making it easier for you to sign into your Xbox Live account from any console at any time to access your game saves and full profile, including items such as Microsoft Points to make purchases, Achievements and friends," the email reads. "C
loud storage will allow you to enjoy the same great Xbox Live gaming experience even when you're not in your own living room by giving you the option to store your 'game saves' securely in the Xbox Live cloud instead of on a portable memory unit or your console's hard drive."
That means no more clumsy "gamertag recovery" which we're pretty excited about. We have all sorts of other questions about this service – Is it for Gold members only? Does it save revisions of your save files or just one? Is there a limited number of console activations? Can multiple consoles be signed in at once? Is there a size limit? – and we'll try to get them answered as quickly as we can.
Reader Comments (50)
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:26PM PedoJokerBear said
should have been announced, but their focus was on selling more kinect this go around.
Reply
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:29PM CaptainProtonX said
@PedoJokerBear
They were two seconds away from rebranding their system the "Xbox Kinect".
Reply
They were two seconds away from rebranding their system the "Xbox Kinect".
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:27PM CaptainProtonX said
"Is it for Gold members only?"
Well DUH!
The same service is only for PSN Plus users. You DAMN well know MS won't give away services like this.
Reply
Well DUH!
The same service is only for PSN Plus users. You DAMN well know MS won't give away services like this.
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:27PM CleanUndies said
They didnt announce it during the press conference because it has nothing to do with Kinect
Reply
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:27PM Captain Planet Planeteer Power said
The most asked for feature for XBL...WASN'T part of the press conference??
THE HELL??
Reply
THE HELL??
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:36PM R Planteer said
@Captain Planet Planeteer Power
Seriously, where the bloody hell was this news 2 hours ago?
Reply
Seriously, where the bloody hell was this news 2 hours ago?
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:31PM Dance Mofo said
This is good news. What other non-presentation stuff which seems better than the presentation itself does Microsoft have to offer the gaming community?
Reply
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:31PM Stevetrop Man of Mystery said
Xbox system news like this more noteworthy than some kinect shoop da whoop game being released later this year.
I am excited to see the cloud storage system for the 360 and what doors it opens up for saves and what can be saved.
Reply
I am excited to see the cloud storage system for the 360 and what doors it opens up for saves and what can be saved.
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:31PM feedingblasphemy said
I come in peace. I love Sony & just wanna say welcome to "Cloud City" It's an awesome feat guys!! enjoy it! ;)
Reply
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:31PM cantwait2bhome said
This is the kind of information I wanted to hear today! Let's just hope it will be included in the Gold subscription price and you won't have to pay extra for it like most cloud services.
Reply
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:31PM paper said
lol Lackluster do I still have to import my gamer tag every time I play on another console? With all this TV stuff it would be nice to have a second one for the other room but still if I have to have two tags with gold or import every time I want to watch then no thanks.
Reply
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:36PM baby sea tuna said
@K3ViNPwNz
Yeah, how'd it work out for you in May?
Reply
Yeah, how'd it work out for you in May?
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 5:05PM dreadnought1 said
@baby sea tuna
May worked out just fine. My backlog was completely cleared. A blessing in disguise.
Reply
May worked out just fine. My backlog was completely cleared. A blessing in disguise.
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 5:07PM dreadnought1 said
@EJ A
I believe it launched November 11, 2006. Give or take a few days depending on where you live.
Reply
I believe it launched November 11, 2006. Give or take a few days depending on where you live.
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:37PM R Planteer said
Alright. A few days ago I said there wasn't any way MS would do this, and here we are. I was totally, dead wrong about something. (which is a rare treat, let me assure you).
Commence gloating, Joystiq bio-mass!
Reply
Commence gloating, Joystiq bio-mass!
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:43PM Dance Mofo said
@R Planteer It's ok to be wrong, if you pinch yourself and it hurts, then that means you are in fact human. :-)
Reply
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:37PM SuperWoody64 said
I'd rather use a memory card to carry my saves around like I already do.
Reply
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 4:01PM fohf said
@SuperWoody64
Yeah I only want cloud storage to save a COPY of my game saves. That way I'm not screwed if my internet doesn't work or XBL is down or if another location doesn't have the internet.
Give the option to back up and choose which file to load and this will be awesome.
Reply
Yeah I only want cloud storage to save a COPY of my game saves. That way I'm not screwed if my internet doesn't work or XBL is down or if another location doesn't have the internet.
Give the option to back up and choose which file to load and this will be awesome.
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:40PM Still Hidden said
Guess you get the Cloud Storage square in bingo after all...
Reply
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:40PM (Unverified) said
Well, it sounds cool ... we'll see once deployed.
Reply
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:43PM BigFat360 biggerbadderFatter said
Damn, whish they had this available before the Nxe launch. That update corrupted my xboxs harddrive and i had to reformat it causing me to lose all my mass effect (lose hundreds of games and that's the only one i care about lol) game save data sigh
Reply
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:48PM swooded said
I'm likely missing something, but how will this change gamertag recovery? You'd still need to sign into your GT from the other console, which is the most cumbersome part of the whole process ( especially without a type-pad). Once your GT is pulled onto the other console, your Achievements & such are already attached, though not saves...
Reply
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:52PM blackangel209 said
@swooded The gamertag download could take an annoyingly long time and it just gets worse the longer you've been playing.
Reply
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 3:53PM whylekat said
"store your 'game saves' securely in the Xbox Live cloud instead of on a portable memory"
Until they turn the servers off or I stop paying the premium ... Then I lose all my saves? No thank you.
I'm proud to say I can still play all my games from Xbox or Ps2 era with my tangible memory cards.
Reply
Until they turn the servers off or I stop paying the premium ... Then I lose all my saves? No thank you.
I'm proud to say I can still play all my games from Xbox or Ps2 era with my tangible memory cards.
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 4:07PM SuperStition said
@whylekat
It's really supposed to be a back-up. You can still save on your HDD. The cloud storage is for transporting your saves and backing them up in case your drive crashes.
Reply
It's really supposed to be a back-up. You can still save on your HDD. The cloud storage is for transporting your saves and backing them up in case your drive crashes.
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 4:15PM Carruthers said
@whylekat It's quite nice to have a cloud, it makes me feel better that some of my steam game saves are safe. You never know, god forbid the house burn down or get burgled (game saves might be the least of your worries in those cases but go with me here).Like others I was fairly excited and couldn't believe it wasn't part of the conference, but then reading these comments I'm reminded it probably won't be included in the gold package, whereas steams service is a freebie:-(
Reply
Posted: Jun 6th 2011 6:29PM gofish1985 said
Lets all hope that they give the option to save a game than overwrite the data after more gameplay.
Reply
Sorry, you must be logged in to leave a comment.
Featured Stories
Persona 3, Tactics Ogre, and other PSP RPGs that will live on my Vita
Posted on Feb 22nd 2012 5:45PM
The most popular posts
in the last 7 days
- Rumor: Japanese Vita devs jumping ship, Sony responds 124 comments
- Buy 2 get 1 free on select Vita games at GameStop starting today 114 comments
- Sony's Rohde: proprietary Vita cards 'completely necessary' to combat piracy 112 comments
- Sony: Call of Duty blasting onto Vita this fall 89 comments
- Asura's Wrath review: Wrecking the curve 84 comments









