Kenpachii
Member
Hey kids, who'd like some lag in their single player games?
Like most kids care, they are playing currently shooters with a controller. Quality isn't a concern of them even remotely.
Hey kids, who'd like some lag in their single player games?
The loss of high resolution graphics, latency, input lag, monthly payments. No thanks. I'm ready for next gen console.
Streaming is actually VRs biggest step. If you can stream to a wireless headset (even your phone) imagine the cheaper google cardboard type headsets with good tracking and no wires to connect and disconnect. Latency would be headache inducing though. Not much worse than youtube VR.
Also getting to bigger picture. How do you get a large amount of people to pay for services? Look at Google(search, maps), Facebook, Whatsapp, LINE. Nobody pays for these things. Cultural we do not accept the idea of paying for a social network or messaging service. We view that as being lower than content. We do pay for content in the form of VOD services(HBO, Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, Comcast, Sky, etc...) or games(Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, iOS games).
What if Microsoft's big plan is for xCloud to gain 200 million paying users across all the devices(XBox, PC, smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes) to mitigate the console-only problem they have with Sony & Nintendo? Also even bigger picture, Google is getting into game streaming and so will Amazon and possibly others(Apple, Facebook, Netflix). Microsoft already sees a gigantic game streaming market in 5-7 years that Sony isn't seeing.
Now imagine $20/month for xCloud. $20 x 200 million * 12= $48 billion revenue PER YEAR on top of everything they currently do(Office, Azure, Personal Computing). This is a massive deal to the Microsoft Board and why Nadella said 'gaming is important' to them.
So while Sony & Nintendo think the game is about selling the most boxes, Microsoft is thinking services, services, services and 'oh we'll sell a few boxes too'.
Bottom line - if you're losing the current paradigm, shift it.
People act like Netflix, music streaming whatever are indicative of this "inevitability" but the part being left out is the interactivity of games.
If your movie is 1 second behind, big deal. Then the movie starts one second later, and ends one second later. If your game is one second behind, then you have one second of control lag the whole game.
1 second is an extreme example and the reality is far more complex than the above, but I'm going for simplicity to demonstrate a point. Actually, video/music is only a one-way street as it downloads. Games on the other hand, also must upload your inputs. I can't even stand input lag issues on local machines, this would make the problem a joke.
Big business can push streaming all they want, but tech and infrastructure is so far off from anyone wanting to deal with it, it's just silly. Come on.
The thing with MS is I don't think they have the content to maintain a good hold on streaming. 3rd parties are not going to stay exclusive to MS service. Either they make their own like most of the big guys probably will (EA/UBI/ACTIVISON etc..) or they can go to Google/Amazon etc...
So unless MS can all of a sudden start producing that type of 1st party content I see this plan biting them in the butt.
If anything Nintendo might have the most to gain from this. They could still do dedicated hardware for their own software. And offer 3rd parties/Google/Amazon heck even MS to stream on their system. Nintendo actually has 2 streaming games on their system already. Its Japan only but its something 3rd parties are trying. AC is actually streaming in Japan on Switch right now (at least it was scheduled too). Who knows it might be possible that google could launch their service on the Switch when PS5 and XBOX 2X launches.
Streaming is actually VRs biggest step. If you can stream to a wireless headset (even your phone) imagine the cheaper google cardboard type headsets with good tracking and no wires to connect and disconnect. Latency would be headache inducing though. Not much worse than youtube VR.
Gaming is going toward a streaming future full tilt. I can't believe all the bellyaching and naysaying here. It's laughably obvious this is the future. So you are a lag snob that will tolerate ZERO latency? Who cares? MS, Google, Amazon, etc., will stream gaming to the rest of the 99% of humanity.
Microsoft, who owns Windows real estate on the vast majority of PCs around the world, intends on creating the streaming seamless cloud desktop in the PC space. All your settings, docs, photos, apps, files, etc., available on any device anywhere in the world to you can get online. Just log in and bam, there you and all of your content are, exactly as you left it (including your XCloud games/saves/settings). It's brilliant and it's coming. Computing, gaming, movies/television and music is all going to the cloud. There is no stopping this train. Like it or not, it doesn't really matter when market giants are both capable and fiercely determined to make it happen. It's already begun.
You can log into your Xbox account from any internet capable device in the world and resume gameplay? Obviously not.You mean like I can do with all my games on my computer, PS4, or Xbox already? I don't understand the value proposition at all. There is zero chance a streaming service for games is the future of gaming. None.
While you can upgrade the storage in modern consoles many don't know how (I'm not one of them but just saying), the amount of storage you get is simply not adequate going forward (my PS4 I believe has 500GB and I only have a handful of games yet and having to delete games to install new ones).
If you have the internet speeds that can handle this kind of service it's very good for gamers, moving to a Netflix type subscription where you can play hundreds of games with no commitment is quite appealing, and storage no longer is an issue. I'm competitive in my online games so I'd never want to use this type of service for an online game (But I'd also not play competitive games on consoles given the choice), but I see no reason why I would not play a single player game this way. I tried Googles Project stream on my laptop and it was flawless.. I want to play the game it loads up in an instant.. it's impressive.
Early on such services were horrid (Onlive comes to mind) but ever since PSNow and Geforce Now they have been quite impressive, if you get a solid selection of games for a good monthly price, this can be huge.
developers will design around that. Thats what developers have done since the dawn of gaming, develop around limitations until they eventually push past those limitations.
Phone games don't have physical buttons so it cant compare to console/PC gaming, yet Phone games are huge business with some of the biggest game companies being phone game companies.
Gaming takes on all different kind of forms and adapts to different hardware. PC gaming can be vastly different than console gaming. And those can be different than Phone games.
Smells like Kinect all over againI expect Microsoft to dominate the next generation. Playstation and Nintendo won't be able to compete. Game hardware will be steadily phased out in the next ten years.
All the naysaying in here, it's ridiculous. It's happening because Microsoft, Google and Amazon are doing it. It doesn't matter what you think.
They already do with Netflix.Seriously doubt Sony will ever permit a competing store on their console. The whole point of selling the console is to direct customers to your store.
You mean like I can do with all my games on my computer, PS4, or Xbox already? I don't understand the value proposition at all. There is zero chance a streaming service for games is the future of gaming. None.
The loss of high resolution graphics, latency, input lag, monthly payments. No thanks. I'm ready for next gen console.
Most of Australia couldn't stream 4K 60 which is a target of next gen, where I live we have the newly built national network and its only 30 down 10 up at full speed where I live which is barely enough for 4k 30 so good luck to anyone else at home that wants to use the internet while I play. I love playing games at high res now, no way am I going to watch laggy low res single player games. This shit is a long fucking way off here. No matter how much money a company has you can't just make every household have amazing internet. Also I don't want to subscribe monthly. I already hate playstation plus as, I don't want more of this subscription shit or I'm done with gaming.
Why delist old games?Theoretically you could buy a cheap $75 device and play any AAA game you wanted on it as part of your subscription for as long as you want.
Reality? Not a lot of value to you- this is really so companies can keep you buying games and delist older games.
The future is steadily approaching ...
Can't tell if you're just trolling, or if you're actually that fucking dumb.
I can’t differ between the “amount of stupidity” in either of your posts.
Funny Sony will be bringing 8th gen XBox features to their 9th gen. So innovative.
SO FREAKING TRUE! Why we acting as if Sony hasn't dominated this market for years. Yeah it has many flaws, but that's what streaming is like at the moment. It's weird when people ignore it, yet act like Google doing this BETA is such a big deal.
They already do with Netflix.
Why delist old games?
Sony is bigger than just games. Netflix competes with them in other levels. If your going to make silly comments then don’t reply back. If you want to discuss how they allow other services in their platforms to compete with them fine. I feel stream from Xbox live could be another service that Sony could allow to sell more hardware while competing with psnow.Wasn’t aware Netflix sold video games. What’s Crysis running for over there these days?
Why delist old games?
There probably won't be THE ONE streaming service for games. There will be at least 2-4 if not more. If you want to replay a game you already played some years ago, it might not be there anymore because of a catalog refresh.Same reason they do now. If I'm still playing Final Fantasy 5 they can't force me to buy Final Fantasy 15.
Theoretically you could buy a cheap $75 device and play any AAA game you wanted on it as part of your subscription for as long as you want.
Reality? Not a lot of value to you- this is really so companies can keep you buying games and delist older games.
Hey kids, who'd like some lag in their single player games?
When I was a kid, we still had rotary phones. It's not much of a leap to say that those issues will be relatively quickly overcome.The loss of high resolution graphics, latency, input lag, monthly payments. No thanks. I'm ready for next gen console.