Online gaming has changed dramatically since the birth of Xbox Live, and it's set to evolve even further next generation. Microsoft may have chopped out Xbox One's always-online requirement, but the console's networked features and cloud support represent huge leaps over its predecessor nonetheless. Always-online is a controversial business model - not everybody has a broadband connection, after all, and even those who do generally prefer to keep their options open. But when you think about it, a lot of our games are already best played as always online. Borderlands 2 is exponentially improved with the addition of three other friends, and Dark Souls (and, we assume, Dark Souls 2) makes its subtle multiplayer components crucial to the world lore. It's not just about multiplayer modes, though. Most of us now share our in-game feats continually over the net - footage of victories, Tweets about terrible defeats.

There are a fair few always-online or online-heavy games in the works for Xbox One. Here are the titles we think make the best case for the model.

The Elder Scrolls Online

A no-brainer, this one. The serially single-player series goes MMORPG, meaning we can venture out into the wilds of Tamriel with friends for the first time ever. Developer Zenimax Online Studios is stripping away many typical MMO aspects to fit the Elder Scrolls template, and is also attempting to address the often problematic pairing of MMO game and console platform. Given that we sunk hundreds upon hundreds of hours into Skyrim on our lonesome, we shudder to think how much time TESO could gobble up, given that we can now legitimately pass it off as a social activity.



Destiny

All signs point to "yes please" as Bungie continues to release Destiny gameplay videos. The developer's stated goal is to create the best shooter that you've ever played, and having it always online means Destiny isn't shackled by the genre's traditional linearity. Built as a "co-operative social experience," Destiny gives you reason to revisit and re-explore areas, instead of the hackneyed shooter structure of "clear room, clear bigger room, clear biggest room". It's different every time you play it, supposedly, and the absence of the usual menus and lobbies means the multiplayer elements cohere with the world. The class-based gunplay looks enticing enough, but we're looking forward to heading out and exploring those stunning vistas.



Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Kojima recently promised a "vast" online offering to accompany Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. "The first reason why I wanted to go open-world is because I wanted to create a world that had a lot of freedom and allowed users to create their own gameplay," he said. He's also confirmed that the game would support user-generated content via mobile and tablet devices. So far, so interesting. There's no word yet on what a multiplayer component for MGSV might actually entail, but "freedom to create our own gameplay" suggests something a little different to the usual deathmatch/capture the flag/king of the hill offerings. Here's hoping.



TitanFall

Titanfall is all about about moving seamlessly from on-foot combat to full on mech-on-mech assault and back again in the blink of an eye - appealing stuff, even if you don't like shooters. While it's a multiplayer-centric title, Respawn is keen to make it feel like a single player experience with a strong story that doesn't take a back-seat to the action. "You're not just there with your friends," Respawn's Joel Emslie commented at E3. "You're there in a living breathing world." That's the kind of multiplayer we want - this isn't a mode that has just been tacked on for the sake of it. It's the game's natural, default state.



Forza Motorsport 5

Turn 10 Studios is making the most of the One's cloud processing in a technically amazing albeit slightly scary fashion. The goal is to bring an end to AI through "Drivatars", online personas based on your playstyle, that are downloaded into other player's sessions in place of the usual bots. This means that friends will be able to recruit and race against computer-you, even when physical-you is offline. Now if 80's sci-fi movies have taught us anything, it's that giving computers the capacity to learn is a bad idea, but assuming our Drivatars don't one day overthrow their squishy meatbag overlords, this should be all for the best.



Project Spark

Announced on stage at Microsoft's E3 showcase, Project Spark is built around the ethos of "giving the gift of games to everybody." It's a world-creation sim, where everything, from landscape to AI, can be tailored by the player. Once you've created a world, you can invite friends to come and experience it, or seamlessly upload video footage via Youtube and Twitch.tv. We predict that once Project Spark is released into the wild, player imaginations will take flight and treat the rest of us to a wide variety of game types and settings. But does Project Spark have the chops to rival Little Big Planet in the emergent game creation stakes?



Minecraft: Xbox One Edition

Given the massive success of Minecraft on the Xbox 360, it's hardly a surprise that Xbox One is getting its own version, which is said to include much larger maps and unspecified multiplayer enhancements. It's not clear whether you'll be able to transfer Xbox 360 worlds across right now, but Microsoft and 4J Studios are talking the matter over. Considering what was possible with the 360 version - Beetlejuice roller coasters, Jurassic Park recreations, a to-scale recreation of the Starship Enterprise - we get tingles pondering what an Xbox One version might do with Xbox One's cloud processing support, particularly as befits multiplayer. Rather than updating the game every couple of months, 4J could fiddle with a cloud-based version of it continually, adding mobs, modes and terrain types on the fly.



Tom Clancy's The Division

Billed as a third-person online action RPG with a built-in cover system, The Division features an entirely open world where you'll run into other players as you explore. Never mind the fact that its dystopian vision of a New York struck down by a deadly pandemic is beautiful in a horrendous kind of way - The Division's community features could be ground-breaking on console. Imagine a set-up like apocalyptic PC mod DayZ, where any player you encounter is as likely to kill you for the clothes on your back as they are to pair up for mutual benefit. We're getting uneasy about our canned goods just thinking about it.



The Crew

Customise your vehicle from the bottom up, via tablet if you want, then team up with other players and race around the entirety of North America. Our recent hands-on preview declared The Crew "an open-world beast of monstrous proportions, and a time-sink capable of sapping years from your life". The game's map of the United States spans 5,000 square kilometers - travelling from coast to coast would take several hours. There's nary a loading screen in sight, too, and you can buddy up with friends or strangers for an epic road trip or to complete story missions. That vast expanse of landscape would surely get lonely if it were populated solely by you and a few AI bots - the fact that you can take to the open road with other real-life racers in tow makes The Crew a very enticing prospect indeed.



What are your thoughts on always-online?

Source: Rheena.com