regmcfly wrote:

So games eh

The reason we all frequented this here place.
I'm drunk reggie hold me!

RedDave2 wrote:

Well, yeah, i only consider it odd because you’re excited for a future that arrived 5 years ago. I mean, it really is a golden age we’re living through with so much choice.

That's like knocking people who are excited about vr because it's been around for ages. The key thing is obviously things have improved and streaming , like vr, is in a much better state than it was 5 years ago.

Well, no, it's not. It's like pointing out that VR is already here and readily available to someone saying "I can't wait until VR comes out! It'll be revolutionary when it does!"

RedDave2 wrote:

Taking the companies involved, what's the problem with streaming if tech is reasonably solid though? The biggest issue for me with gamepass is I only have so much space on the hard drive so I can't just drop in and out on games like I can on say Netflix with a TV series. Streaming solves that.

The problems for streaming have always been infrastructure (broadband in the uk sucks) and financial (does the cost and pros outweigh the cons for the consumers and the hardware platform owners).

Infastrucutee aside (for me that falls under tech) the financial one is interesting. I certainly feel now that as an adult something like gamepass is right up my street. 10 euro a month, good range of games etc. I'm not sure if that suits all people and it doesn't seem like a model that will appeal to casual people as easily as the netflix/ spotify thing.

TBH I think the most significant financial barriers are the ones that the platform holders face - they've got to either source their own hardware or spin up VMs on AWS or some other cloud provider. These days virtualisation is a lot better established so load-balancing should hopefully mean that there won't be any queueing problems at peak times. But even then the kind of processing that AAA games like Battlefield etc need to produce nice visuals is fairly significant.
Whether that kind of availability can be offered at a price point that is acceptable to the punters but also pulls in enough profit (after platform and content-provider cuts) is what I figure has been the main stumbling block for streaming anything. The grunt needed for gaming is orders of magnitude more than serving up media content for Spotify/Netflix etc.

djchump wrote:

RedDave2 wrote:

Well, yeah, i only consider it odd because you’re excited for a future that arrived 5 years ago. I mean, it really is a golden age we’re living through with so much choice.

That's like knocking people who are excited about vr because it's been around for ages. The key thing is obviously things have improved and streaming , like vr, is in a much better state than it was 5 years ago.

Well, no, it's not. It's like pointing out that VR is already here and readily available to someone saying "I can't wait until VR comes out! It'll be revolutionary when it does!"

But yoss isn't excited about streaming being a new thing, he is excited that it's looking likely that he will have a streaming service that isn't tied to a single console brand.

And with vr, most of us had dismissed it until the last few years where it has taken off because of the games being produced, the tech being both affordable and reliable and the concept really starting to gain ground. Not because it's new.

How about a streaming service that works on devices I own now and am likely to own in the future?

Yossarian wrote:

I’m amused by the implication that nobody was excited about VR in the many years that the Oculus Rift was still being developed.

You've confused yourself. There was absolutely no implication of that in my analogy.

Yossarian wrote:

How about a streaming service that works on devices I own now and am likely to own in the future?

Dont wanna start a format war but only fair I answer Digi.

Onlive.
Never used it but never heard much good about it beyond concept.

PSNow
Did a trial 12-18 months ago so it may have changed, they have certainly bolstered the PS4 library.
Everything was 720p max, I dont think that is good enough and wont be good enough for whatever MS/Google/Amazon are planning, if they are planning on targeting console gamers.

Input lag was awful. It made some games just poorer than on hardware but others it broke. GoW Ascension was a nightmare at times, with Quicktime events with randomly assigned buttons, took tens of tries to do things I would have nailed first or second attempt normally.

I have a good internet connection (100mb Virgin, only me living here, good download, good upload for domestic fibre and decent ping).
When I looked into it forums suggested it was very hit and miss with a decent connection not necessarily producing a decent result.
My experience was consistent over different days and times as well so not due to high traffic or anything like that.


I think the difference with MS and/or Google is they are much more established in terms of the logistics of data delivery. Their platforms and data gathering, given they each own some of the most used operating systems, mean they will have a very strong idea of the connections speeds people have and the goals they need to reach for the average user.

Infrastructure is indeed the biggest barrier but it is always improving. In the past decade I have moved to various places but gone from 8mb, to 40mb, to 60mb, now 100mb. That isn't the case for everyone #pray4gman, but fibre is becoming more and more common.
The issues really are at their end now and MS/Google are much better setup than Sony or the OnLive guys are/were. Not only that but the weight they can put behind the projects is far superior.
Google have infinite money, MS less so but seem fully dedicated to this where PSNow always felt like a side project.

djchump wrote:

Yossarian wrote:

How about a streaming service that works on devices I own now and am likely to own in the future?

https://www.utomik.com  ?
https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce/products/geforce-now/   ?

Kinda depends what devices you have really. Zune and Window Phone not supported

I don’t see much support there apart from Mac in the second one. Am I missing something?

Shadow is ya 2019 OnLive.
Here is Linus Tech Tips on it. He seems to like it but is in their office soooooo....



Like I say though, what is interesting is that MS/Google/Amazon have the heft to make it work.
If they go for the dedicated hardware per person like Shadow, I'm not sure, I dont think so.

Streaming just opens the door to every game as a [jim sterling voice] "liiiive serrvice".

No thanks.

Yossarian wrote:

It does, but mentioning competition in relation to a point made in this thread which was on topic is a bit different to jumping in with unconnected console war-isms.

Woo woo thread police.

What. A. Cunt. You're one of the most knee jerk console-warry persons around. Which is super weird btw.

What a bizarre case of pot calls kettle black.

Since streaming is probably going to be the new next gen battleground, we should probably get used to this horseshit about the quality of the respective services. Either that or clamp down now by punching it in the fuck early doors.

I assume streaming is rank for VR so that might be something the established players double down on to differentiate themselves a bit.

My ‘worry’ is a full Spotifysation of the games market which will, in turn, affect the types of games produced and probably not for the better eg devs get paid per hour of playtime. So now they’re even more grindy, even more IAPs, Indie devs get even more lost in the crowd, the economics of making a 3 or 4 hour game becoming even more untenable.

monkey wrote:

My ‘worry’ is a full Spotifysation of the games market which will, in turn, affect the types of games produced and probably not for the better eg devs get paid per hour of playtime. So now they’re even more grindy, even more IAPs, Indie devs get even more lost in the crowd, the economics of making a 3 or 4 hour game becoming even more untenable.

That's a great point, and I think my worry too.  TBH, I think there will be a spit, at least to start with - streaming being low-fi, lower FPS, not-targeted-at-gamers games (so mass-market, leading to proliferation), with home console market for the likes of us a thing for a good few years yet.  I think they'll be some attempts to get AAA down the pipe, but they'll continue to struggle for a while yet.  There'll be a watershed moment soon after December 2024.

It’ll usher in a whole new era for lag.