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The Future of Gaming!

Started by gengoro, March 24, 2009, 10:51:40 PM

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gengoro

Or say they say.  I think its great in theory but theres no way in hell it'll be lag free.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/965/965535p1.html

Uncle Yuan

"But there's no use crying over every mistake
You just keep on trying 'till you run out of cake
And the science gets done, and you make a neat gun
For the people who are still alive."

tommyboy

ummm...what sort of processing and graphics power do you imagine will be necessary to allow 100, or 1000, or 10,000 people to play games? Let me answer. The same amount that would be necessary to let 100, 1000 or 10000 people play now. Which is to say, 100, or 1000 or 10000 pcs. So either pay for a pc or console in your house that you own and can play whenever you want, or rent time on a pc that is elsewhere. This is basically the "thin client" model applied to gaming, and there are good reasons why dumb terminals were superseded  by stand alone machines.
I suppose it might somehow work, but as things stand, and have stood for 20 years, I doubt it.

GogglesPizanno

My problem with anything "cloud" related is that its all realtive to internet bandwidth.
I live in a small town where the internet is mediocre at the best of times. Even though the dsl company offers "up to" 15MB speed that is nullified by the bottleneck that is the cap the town has at the main router junction.

Between 5 and 11pm I dont get consistent enough throughput to watch the lowest quality netflix streaming without buffering. So anything like this that relies heavily on bandwidth is a dead idea to me.

Talavar

Yeah, this isn't going to catch on in a big way anytime too soon for a few reasons.

1.  Console & other hardware manufacturers have a vested interest in this not succeeding.  Sure, the game companies might not care, but Microsoft, Sony & Nintendo probably will.  And while they don't make most of their money on the hardware itself, they do make a lot on the exclusivity of games to their systems, and the fees game developers pay to make games for their systems. 

2.  Pricing.  the article mentions that 'pricing is undecided at this point' but there's going to be a monthly fee of some sort (or maybe a usage fee), and then you'll have to buy or rent access to the various games, so I doubt it's going to end up any cheaper than owning a system.  Sure, there's no large front-end investment, but as an example, I've had my X-box 360 for 3 years so far, and it cost approximately $300.  If the usage fee for this service was $10 a month (and I doubt it'll be that cheap), over 3 years that's more expensive than the X-box cost.  And I can use my X-box without an internet connection.

3.  Pre-existing hardware.  Most gamers already own an Xbox, a PS3 or a Wii.  To get lots of users to subscribe to a service that doesn't require expensive hardware is fine - but not if the potential users already own the hardware.

4.  Bandwidth - others have already got this argument covered.  In a lot of places in North America, internet connections aren't that great.

It's fine to say this is the future of gaming, and maybe it will be someday, but then, so will holodecks.

catwhowalksbyhimself

You're forgetting one important thing.  This a PC/Mac application.

That's a big deal for PC users who want to play PC games and who can't afford high-end systems to play things like Crysis.  I also means that Macs can play all sorts of games that they can't otherwise.
I am the cat that walks by himself, all ways are alike to me.

lugaru

Yup, it is a great idea that has failed in the past, but each year technology gets better so the odds it will work get better too.

catwhowalksbyhimself

I forgot to mention that it's also a big deal when it comes to compatibility.  One of the problems with PC games is that there are millions of possible setups meaning the number of quirks and bugs that can pop up is almost infinite.  By running it all through a central server system, you eliminate all those problems, making game development much easier.
I am the cat that walks by himself, all ways are alike to me.

Uncle Yuan

Quote from: catwhowalksbyhimself on March 27, 2009, 05:36:17 AM
I forgot to mention that it's also a big deal when it comes to compatibility.  One of the problems with PC games is that there are millions of possible setups meaning the number of quirks and bugs that can pop up is almost infinite.  By running it all through a central server system, you eliminate all those problems, making game development much easier.

This is very true.  And I'm optimistic.  It comes down to computing power and bandwidth.  The first is still growing exponentially.  Bandwidth is as much an infrastructure issue as it is a tech one, though.   That will be where the weak link is.
"But there's no use crying over every mistake
You just keep on trying 'till you run out of cake
And the science gets done, and you make a neat gun
For the people who are still alive."

JeyNyce

I believe they will be having beta testers soon.  I sign up for it.  Hey you never know.

http://www.onlive.com/
I don't call for tech support, I AM TECH SUPPORT!
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