It"s been just over a year since Microsoft announced Project xCloud, its plan for game streaming. As time progressed, we learned that there would actually be two pieces to the puzzle. Not only would gamers be able to stream their games from the cloud, but they"d also be able to stream games from their home console, using it as a server for gameplay.
Public testing for Project xCloud started two weeks ago, but today Microsoft announced that Console Streaming is live. If you"re on the Preview Alpha or Skip Ahead rings of the Xbox Insider Program, you can test it out today, and you won"t need to download a new build to do it.
As for how to do it, it works similarly to the xCloud preview that"s already out there. It"s only compatible with Android phones for now, and you need to download the Xbox Game Streaming (Preview) app from the Play Store. You also need an Xbox controller that supports Bluetooth, and that controller needs to be paired with your phone. Then, you just need to flip the switch in Settings on your Xbox One console.
There"s some good news and some bad news with this feature. The good news is that it"s more robust that the cloud streaming feature that"s been in testing for the last couple of weeks, in that you can play more games. You can play any Xbox One game that"s on your console, while with the cloud-based service, you can currently only play Halo 5, Gears 5, and a couple of others.
The bad news is that you can"t play your Xbox 360 and original Xbox games at this time. Microsoft didn"t specify whether this capability will be coming in the future, and we"ve reached out for clarification. It does seem likely though, since these games work with the existing streaming functionality that"s baked into Windows 10, and has been for years.
Right now, Console Streaming is exclusive to the Alpha ring and the Skip Ahead subset of the Alpha ring, but Microsoft says it will bring it to more rings over time.