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[Japo]

Unless this is an April's Fools joke... (it's appeared in many news sources)

http://www.onlive.com/

Basically to play high-end games the only thing you need is Flash. The game is run in a remote server and your machine is simply streamed the video. There's also an option to buy a light "console" you can plug to your TV set, but just the same it will only receive video from a program run "in the cloud".

Huh?

[Tulac]

I don't understand these trends, it's not only with games but also software (cloud computing). Do the really think that I would rather have all of my info stored on some server far away than at the convenience of my home?

To me it's just silly and I hope ideas like those will never see the light of day, although they slowly are.

[Japo]

Sometimes it makes more sense than others. This isn't about storing any data of yours remotely.

It is about playing any game, that may not even have been released for Windows or Linux or Mac, in your Windows or Linux or Mac machine, and regardless of how crummy your hardware is, and of how hardware-demanding the game is.

[Doubler]

Every single forum...
At least I can get away with quoting myself.

<!-- / icon and title --> <!-- message --> I'm not interested personally. I like to customize my experience. Modding, tweaking and other such things. Besides that I prefer physical copies of my games. I don't want to be completely reliable on the continued existance, quality, etc. of such a service or my internet connection.
For that matter, bandwidth isn't exactly free or in limitless supply. I really wonder how that works.

Although I'm sure this works for some folks, if I have to be honest O actually dread the idea that they'll get this to work. Like Steam or GfWL it will probably end up being forced on us.

[a44]

<a href=http://gdc.gamespot.com/video/6206692/>http://gdc.gamespot.com/video/6206692/</a>

This is how it works, you can switch it to higher resolution. If it's true then it looks ambitious but it wouldn't bury PCs, it's just an alternative pocket console when while being in a hotel room u could just take it out of the pocket clip the controler and there u go. There will be always people which would prefer playing and keeping information on their own machines, and it would make easier for indies to take a place in the bussines on PCs and maybe even there.

[Japo]

Originally Posted by Doubler

For that matter, bandwidth isn't exactly free or in limitless supply.

Last time I checked, it was several orders of magnitude cheaper than updating your hardware every few years. If your connection is good enough for high quality streaming video, it will do. (Note that most times the speed of streaming is capped by the server and not on your side; you can usually navigate elsewhere while you wait for the stream to download. Anyway the details about how many bits per second you need are available on their site; and if your connection is not good enough you just play the same game at lower resolution.)

The point is, no matter how sofisticated 3D games are, they always end up rendered as frames of images and sound. If this works, no matter how many years and years pass, you'll be able to play the newest high-end games in the same machine you have now.

They're not forcing anyone, it's just an option. Personally I'm always on sub-par hardware, I don't care because I don't play the newest games, but it's good to know that I'll be able to play any game at any time with a grossly outdated machine.

Originally Posted by a44

it's just an alternative pocket console when while being in a hotel room u could just take it out of the pocket clip the controler and there u go.

That's one option if you prefer not to need a PC and plug it directly into your TV set. But you don't need that console, you can use it in your browser Flash plugin in your PC.

[Doubler]

Lag is probably not as much of a problem (although it might matter that playing a game like this is a two-way affair, unlike video. The input needs to be sent, recieved, decoded, processed and the output needs to be returned, rather then just transmitting a series of static images) as transfer caps. How much data is being sent back and forth?
This service is pointless if it means you can only reasonably play 30 hours every month :bleh:

They're not forcing anyone, it's just an option.

Until the option is either to abstain or conform. Like I said, we're seeing that with Steam and GfWL.

[Japo]

Originally Posted by Doubler

Lag is probably not as much of a problem (although it might matter that playing a game like this is a two-way affair, unlike video) as transfer caps. How much data is being sent back and forth?

The video and your input, period AFAIK. The magnitude of the latter is nothing compared to the former.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Network_Computing

[_r.u.s.s.]

i believe this is not made via VNC network..

anyways, if this is not april's fools then processing hundreds of thousands of the latest demanding games on the highest graphic settings then reencoding the gameplay live in a high resolution while streaming the gygabytes of video data needs fcuking much of processing power

[Doubler]

Wouldn't that essentially require the equivalent of one high-end computer per user just to run every game? Is that even feasible in big numbers?

The video and your input, period AFAIK. The magnitude of the latter is nothing compared to the former.

And aren't we leaving network lag and entering the domain of latency here? That sounds like a lot of small delays to me.