There are many people who either do not understand the cloud or wonder what it is. Here is a great article that explains it. Also, here is an infographic that visually explains it. In a nutshell:
– There will be 300,000 servers to power your games
– These servers will be dedicates. That means that microsoft will host matches so there will be less lag and less pauses in game from a host switch. Current PS3/xbox360 relies on p2p or host matches.
– There will be unlimited cloud storage for xbox live users
– Worlds will continue when you stop playing. So just like WoW on the PC, there will be a world on the server and gameplay will continue even when you are not on.
How does this compare to Sony’s cloud? Well Sony has been rather quiet about it. We do know:
– It releases in 2014
– They are using Gaikai but this is only for streaming ps1-3 games. – Will they have the same functionality as xbox 1? We honestly do not know. Rumors are that they will not. This comes from the titanfall developer who said ps4 does not have the technology to play their game. Whether that is true or not remains to be seen but Sony really needs to make it clear what their cloud is and is not. Unfortunately if it was more than what we know I am sure they would have said so. Better to not say anything when its not as good.