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[Dr Bass]

Potential ramifications?

Amazon announces new cloud gaming service called Luna

Another big company jumps into cloud gaming.

www.theverge.com

Interface:

Controller:

The service will be available for an “introductory price” of $5.99 a month during its early access phase, which gives subscribers the ability to play games across two devices simultaneously and offers 4K / 60fps resolution for “select titles.” Naturally, it will be powered by AWS, Amazon’s ubiquitous web platform

How it works:

Luna Controller is Alexa-enabled and connects directly to the cloud to effortlessly control your game, featuring a multiple-antenna design that prioritizes un-interrupted Wi-Fi for lower latency gaming. In fact, our testing showed a reduction in roundtrip latency when playing Luna Controller with Cloud Direct vs. Luna Controller via Bluetooth, with reductions of between 17 to 30 milliseconds among PC, Fire TV, and Mac. Because the Luna Controller connects directly to cloud servers, players can easily switch between screens — such as Fire TV to mobile phone — without additional pairing or configuration changes.

Games:

Amazon says more than 100 games will be available, and launch titles include Resident Evil 7, Control, Panzer Dragoon, A Plague Tale: Innocence, The Surge 2, Yooka-Laylee, GRID, Abzu, and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Amazon says more titles will be added “over time.”

My concern is we are going down a road where cheap and quick is the road games will go down to make stuff like this economically viable. And not to mention the whole latency thing ...

 

[anothertech]

Maybe theyll have gamepass..

 

[lastmessiah]

Cool if you ask me.

 

[FearlessBelgian]

ROFL

 

[chonga]

Quick someone make a Game Pass is dead hot take thread.

 

[Stuart360]

Wow i guess they really like the XSX controllers eh -

 

[leo-j]

But is it $1 a month? And does it have 15 million subscribers?

 

[DonJuanSchlong]

Wow i guess they really like the XSX controllers eh -

Cause asymmetrical stick placement is the best.

 

[Nikana]

Wow i guess they really like the XSX controllers eh -

I get switch pro from that more than xbox personally.

 

[reinking]

But is it $1 a year? And does it have 15 million subscribers?

What services costs $1 a year?

 

[nikolino840]

 

[Stuart360]

Cause asymmetrical stick placement is the best.

Oh for sure, but i meant with the way it looks -

 

[Nikana]

So this sounds like The opposite in the stadia model in that you cant purchase games, you simply subscribe to the library?

 

[Glass Prison]

"The service will be available for an “introductory price” of $5.99 a month during its early access phase, which gives subscribers the ability to play games across two devices simultaneously and offers 4K / 60fps resolution for “select titles.” "

"Amazon says more than 100 games will be available, and launch titles include Resident Evil 7, Control, Panzer Dragoon, A Plague Tale: Innocence, The Surge 2, Yooka-Laylee, GRID, Abzu, and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. "

This is already 100 times better than Google Stadia. I don't know if it's enough to take game streaming off the ground, but it is progress.

 

[THEAP99]

What services costs $1 a year?

gamepass costs 1 dollar a year when u buy diabetes

 

[leo-j]

What services costs $1 a year?

True, had to edit it.

 

[Rikkori]

It was inevitable. The cloud gaming market is in its infancy and all these mega-corps have a chance to carve out a big slice of the pie, and indeed are the only ones to have the infrastructure to try and do it in the first place. If you're worried that this is a threat to consoles/PC - don't be. This is an additional market on the look-out for new gamers and also catering to the core crowd with a cheap option on-the-go or away from home.

 

[pasterpl]

Luna is a subscription service, though it’s not exactly a one-stop shopping experience. Access to the baseline Luna experience, Luna+, is $5.99 a month, and this channel will feature a broad selection of games from various developers. By the end of early access, Amazon is aiming to have around 50 games in Luna+, including Control, Resident Evil 7, Tacoma,Metro Exodus and The Sexy Brutale.

Subscribers will have the option to pay more for additional channels, each of which will support curated or publisher-specific games. The first publisher on the Luna train is Ubisoft, and its channel will have around 50 games in early access, including same-day releases of upcoming titles like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Far Cry 6 and Immortals Fenyx Rising.

Amazon's Luna cloud gaming service arrives next month

Luna will support Fire TV, PC, Mac and iOS devices at first, with Android support coming just “weeks” later.

www.engadget.com

 

[Metnut]

This is why Microsoft bought Bethesda. Not to pwn Sony but to make sure that Amazon/Stadia gamepass thing didn’t make the acquisition.

Microsoft has a huge head start here and google has blown any goodwill they had, but we’re maybe seeing one potential future of gaming.

Personally, I like the way things were last gen with still lots of AAA games that are entirely single player and free of microtransactions. I’ll vote with my wallet for that.

 

[diffusionx]

Stadia am cry

 

[ThaMonkeyClaw]

gamepass costs 1 dollar a year when u buy diabetes

 

[chonga]

What services costs $1 a year?

Pretty sure they refer to changing your Live sub into Game Pass Ultimate sub which only costs $1 and therefore gets you up to 3 years for that dollar.

 

[Coloress_Kafka]

Interesting that Amazon is supporting iOS via a web app, I’ll probably try this out just to see how advanced web apps can be on iOS.

 

[Stuart360]

So this sounds like The opposite in the stadia model in that you cant purchase games, you simply subscribe to the library?

What Stadia should of done from the start, then maybe it would of had a chance.

 

[Aguero9320]

Signed up for early access... Excited to take a look - the big boys are getting serious about shaking up this industry now...

Controller tech sounds fascinating.

 

[Piku_Ringo]

Damn, Amazon coming for that 7.5 billion dollar booty!!!

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Wow i guess they really like the XSX controllers eh -

Bastard lovechild of a the Xbox and Switch pro controllers.

Build quality seems very iffy to me.

As for the service itself, no thanks. Streaming is not for me, native gameplay or bust.

 

[GHG]

Much better model than stadia.

This could get big if they roll it into prime somehow.

 

[Danteyke223]

Annnnd this is why Microsoft bought Bethesda - they need content, and MS does not care what Sony does. Amazon might not be able to get their own gaming studios off the ground (New World lol), but they sure as shit can handle streaming stuff. 6 dollars, for a hundred games, and on Firestick (that shit is a game changer) . Wonder what the performance will be. RIP and Pepperoni Stadia we knew ya well enough to shit on you

 

[Nikana]

What Stadia should of done from the start, then maybe it would of had a chance.

at $6 thats crazy good. Obviously it wont stay that cheap but I would imagine they are aiming in that $11.99-$14.99 range. Same as GPU.

 

[GHG]

Partnership with Ubisoft as well.

OP is severely lacking in info, add some key quotes from the article my man.

 

[lastmessiah]

Annnnd this is why Microsoft bought Bethesda - they need content, and MS does not care what Sony does. Amazon might not be able to get their own gaming studios off the ground (New World lol), but they sure as shit can handle streaming stuff. 6 dollars, for a hundred games, and on Firestick (that shit is a game changer) . Wonder what the performance will be. RIP and Pepperoni Stadia we knew ya well enough to shit on you

Of course. It is laughable to think that a trillion dollar company like MS bought Zenimax to compete with Sony.

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

Let these mega corporations (MS, Google, Amazon) battle each other to get those $5 a month subs whilst Sony and Nintendo sew up the traditional AAA market between them.

 

[Dr Bass]

Partnership with Ubisoft as well.

OP is severely lacking in info, add some key quotes from the article my man.

Will do, sorry, a bit new at actually making threads.

 

[Clear]

I love the smell of MTX in the morning!

 

[reinking]

Pretty sure they refer to changing your Live sub into Game Pass Ultimate sub which only costs $1 and therefore gets you up to 3 years for that dollar.

No. That is not the way that works. You still have to pay for Gold.

 

[ThaMonkeyClaw]

Wow i guess they really like the XSX controllers eh -

I think it is time for Nintendo to fire up those lawyers!

 

[Birdo]

At least they don't have symetrical sticks, like that 90's console.

 

[HaveButOneLife]

Oh for sure, but i meant with the way it looks -

That's what he meant too, it looks mostly like a Switch Pro.

 

[GHG]

This is the first service like this where you don't even have the option to purchase the games right?

I'm not sure I like where we are heading...

 

[Daddy]

I'm not familiar with cloud gaming services like this one or Stadia. Is using their brand of controller required or can you plug in whatever controller you want?

 

[Bradamante3D]

If its free for Amazon Prime subscribers it might work.

 

[spons]

I'm not familiar with cloud gaming services like this one or Stadia. Is using their brand of controller required or can you plug in whatever controller you want?

Xbox and Dualshock should work fine.

 

[LordCBH]

What is it with both Amazon and Google giving their platforms fucking awful names?

 

[Danteyke223]

Xbox and Dualshock should work fine.

Phew... I thought I would have had to buy Amazon's controller .

 

[iJudged]

is there a list of games? Stadia 2.0?

 

[Dr Bass]

This is the first service like this where you don't even have the option to purchase the games right?

I'm not sure I like where we are heading...

I agree. The danger is that this stuff starts having the same effect Spotify and Apple Music had on musicians, or the App Store had on software and software developers. "Good Enough" services that gut the bigger endeavors the traditional model supports. If 90% of the gamer crowd prefers this model, even though there is no way it's as good as local devices with software installed directly ... the economics for bigger games might not exist anymore.

 

[Bernkastel]

100 games at launch. This is why Stadia is judged so hard.

 

[BootsLoader]

 

[lastmessiah]

I agree. The danger is that this stuff starts having the same effect Spotify and Apple Music had on musicians, or the App Store had on software and software developers. "Good Enough" services that gut the bigger endeavors the traditional model supports. If 90% of the gamer crowd prefers this model, even though there is no way it's as good as local devices with software installed directly ... the economics for bigger games might not exist anymore.

If anything this makes "bigger" (if you mean more expensive AAA games) more possible. More money and more resources. These AAA games are incredibly expensive to make and they often have the fate of studios hanging in the balance. Cloud isn't the "end of gaming" it is a new beginning.