Is cloud gaming the future?

[Carnaby]

I've tried OnLive recently. I think that in the future, if we get faster connections, and assuming we can keep the net providers from jacking up prices, It really could work. It had some slight lag and I have a 10Mb connection. So it was very playable for games like Batman and things like that, but I don't think the COD fans would like the slow reaction time.

It's a nice concept and as it evolves it could overtime become better. So I guess it's up in the air at this point. Too many variables though at this time so I voted no.

[Cuchulainn]

Cloud gaming is already here, it's called Steam. It's a great thing and makes gaming far more accessible, granted you have a bank account. The only problem is there are still companies who won't work with cloud gaming tools like Steam *coughBlizzardcough*.

[Ryme]

Utterly depends on how well ISPs play their cards, right now it's not a really feasible solution due to average network speeds, but in the next decade or so this could certainly be the foremost way to play.

[Deleted]

http://www.onlive.co.uk/

It works...
Only thing is what TB said, not sure who it's aimed at (messing with it a bit myself, laptop is REALLY dated and used the "first game for £1" offer to try it).

Wow just checked this out, first time I have heard of this service and I have to say it seems to good to be true, If this works like it says it will then I think they are in for making a shit load of money.

Just looking at the games library as well it has some huge titles on there, looks like some major game studios are supporting this, I might d/l and give it a try.

[Suggs]

Looking at everyones replies, id say this poll/thread is useless, i dont mean it in a bad way but apart from 1 person that posted the onlive link no one else here is educated on what coming out and what can be done with this cloud system.
Shame really, i played onlive at eurogamer, watched the presentation etc etc, looks sweet like having a proper console but the box is like a little big bigger than a credit card and thicker, same quality as console just streamed to your tv , only obsticle is having a good connection at your house.
If its a big hit in house holds....consoles should be shitting themselves tbh.
I missed out on a free onlive box on the friday at eurogamer, bit pissed off tbh as i was queuing for swtor, if i had know they was a limit on how many they had i would of got one, although if you go on ebay you will find peopole trying to sell the ones that they got from eurogamer which also pisses me off as there was many many people that actually wanted one rather than, 'hey lets sell it on ebay' tossers.

[Daedius]

STEAM uses cloud - and it's a pretty damn successful system.

[Deleted]

Cloud gaming is already here, it's called Steam. It's a great thing and makes gaming far more accessible, granted you have a bank account. The only problem is there are still companies who won't work with cloud gaming tools like Steam *coughBlizzardcough*.

Forgive me if im wrong but isnt Steam just a ''game library'' that lets you pay and download games? depending on your hardware you may not be able to play some games due to high requirements, Cloud gaming pretty much runs from there server so you can almost play a top end game on any system or tv.

[Deleted]

Cloud gaming is already here, it's called Steam. It's a great thing and makes gaming far more accessible, granted you have a bank account. The only problem is there are still companies who won't work with cloud gaming tools like Steam *coughBlizzardcough*.

Steam isn't cloud. It's digital distribution.

Cloud gaming, also called gaming on demand, is a type of online gaming that allows direct and on-demand streaming of games onto a computer through the use of a thin client, in which the actual game is stored on the operator's or game company's server and is streamed directly to computers accessing the server through the client. This allows access to games without the need of a console and largely makes the capability of the user's computer unimportant, as the server is the system that is running the processing needs.[1][2] The controls and button presses from the user are transmitted directly to the server, where they are recorded, and the server then sends back the game's response to the input controls. This process works swiftly without notable latency allowing interactive high action game play. Furthermore, a low-level internet connection will also work with the server connection, with only a "DSL connection of 1.5 mbps" needed for a standard-definition television.[3]

Online distribution, digital distribution, or electronic software distribution (ESD) is the practice of delivering content without the use of physical media, typically by downloading via the internet directly to a consumer's device. Online distribution bypasses conventional physical distribution media, such as paper or DVDs. The term online distribution is typically applied to freestanding products; downloadable add-ons for other products are more commonly known as downloadable content. A website for distribution of application software is usually called application stote or app store.

[Suggs]

Wow just checked this out, first time I have heard of this service and I have to say it seems to good to be true, If this works like it says it will then I think they are in for making a shit load of money.

Just looking at the games library as well it has some huge titles on there, looks like some major game studios are supporting this, I might d/l and give it a try.

It worked at eurogamer 100%, looked no diff than a console plugged into a tv . Like i said as long as they keep up to date titles on it and what not this could be quite a hit on the gaming market, oh and peoples net connections but tbh thats down to yourself in quite a few ways , not there problem your net to your home might be crappy if you think about it but its something they really need to have to look into reguardless, i dont know the way its coded to stream bla bla bla

[nixcookies]

I'm not sure but I hope it's not.

The user would need a lot of bandwidth and have a decent connection, and assuming ISP invest all that money into their infrastructure their prices for such a service will be so expensive it will just price people out of such an option.

[videotape]

And herein lies the problem with the "cloud" word. Nobody understands what it is. It's not magic pixie dust. It's not even a tightly-defined system. It's a very general idea involving the pooling of multiple distributed computing resources for any given purpose. Any sufficiently large website is "on the cloud" - i.e., it is a cloud.

Amazon servers? Cloud. Google servers: Cloud. Blizzard's servers? Cloud. Steam's servers? Cloud.

These alternative and overly-specific definitions are thrown around by marketing people and salesmen.

Also, I played with OnLive at GDC last year. It sure does work a lot better when you have a direct pipe to an OnLive CDN, but in the "real world," it's a damn sight from being a marketable product. There are too many technological constraints over which they do not have direct control, so it's going to be many years before they ever really get off the ground - if they can stay funded that long. (I hope they do, but it's a cruel world).

[Deleted]

Just to clear up some things with pricing.

There's NO flat subscription fee, for the UK version the first game was £1 (might have been a limited time offer for their release here) and the other games are pretty much standard price.

Alot of games have "rent for 1 day" or 3/5 day options. A few are just buys though (all can be bought for no time limit).

There's a Play Pack for £6.99 a month with 100-150 titles in it that you can play with no time limit. If you subscribe to the Play Pack you get 30% off other purchases.

Many games have a 30min free trial that's just a time limit on the full game.

[Deleted]

Ya I should have phrased that better. I meant as replacing traditional on-drive storage for games and programs, not replacing your actual system. Afaik, streaming games via a cloud service would still take advantage of PC hardware. If not, then ya I doubt it would usurp PCs.

Well ... i guess that consoles like the Xbox or PS3 won't die because of cloud gaming.
I think that microsoft and sony are brightwitted enough to jump onto the train of cloud gaming ... making similar offers like onlive only that in this case the games will be streamed to your console and installed on the fly while you're playing. it would have the advantage of good controls (e.g. gamepad), it would have the community (eg xbox live), if the games are stream-installed they can be played "offline" (while in the background the game is being further installed) so there won't be input lag etc ... (e.g. world of warcraft already uses an installation system that makes it possible to play the game even if it isn't fully installed / updated while the install / update process will complete in the background).

i could perfectly imagine playing like this with huge hard drives getting cheaper (eg. 2TB for about 70€) and SSD drives being used as system chache (like with the new Z-chips from intel - i think they are called that but not quite sure). with the huge hard drive games would only be purchased online and downloaded instead of bought at the shop were you have the disc lying about at home ... when thinking about games like world of warcraft which uses about 25-30gb of your hard drive atm you would be able to save up to 70 games on your hard disk. important game files which are used often would be cached on the ssd drive for faster loading times ... also i could imagine the system being smart enough to delete games that you haven't been playing for a while to make room for a new purchase automatically. of course the deleted game would stay on your account so that you can download it again whenever you want to ...

to conculde that statement: i think that PCs as well as consoles will keep their place in living rooms and bed rooms as the number one gaming platform they are today. but they will be better, purchasing and storing games will be easier and the community will - as ever - grow, while simpler games like Farmville on Facebook (and so on) will continue drawing even more gamers and finally making them aware of console cloud gaming (as i would call it for now). so the cicle would be complete for hardcore gamers like me there wouldn't be great of a change ... buy the next gen console, get a faster internet connection ... and well thats the same change that has been going on the last 10 years *G*

[Deleted]

Just downloaded the Onlive app...and within 3 mins im playing Borderlands as if the game was on a disc and installed on my computer...pretty impressive so far and they are offering any new tittles for £1 atm as a welcome gift.

Most games have a trial mode as well that lets you play it for 30 mins free of charge, I suggest you guys check it out you might be surprised.

[Deleted]

Just downloaded the Onlive app...and within 3 mins im playing Borderlands as if the game was on a disc and installed on my computer...pretty impressive so far and they are offering any new tittle for £1 atm as a welcome gift.

Most games have a trial mode as well that lets you play it for 30 mins free of charge, I suggest you guys check it out you might be surprised.

If you do get bordelands for £1 make sure you get the GotY edition, it has all the dlc included

[Deleted]

um what is cloud gaming? You mean Final fantasy 7?

Not sure if you really mean this, or if you have been living under a rock for the past few years. =P

[Pappahealar]

Cloud based services is the future. Gaming included. It's just so much more convenient for everyone.
Having all your games available at all time. All personal data on your phone is simply just streamed so you can lock it if stealed and easily regain it on another phone if you buy a new one. Gmail and cloud mail is already here. Spotify is already here, it's half cloud though since it needs the file on your computer/phone still. Your OS and all the apps on your computer will probably be cloud based as well in the future. So you can be on a stationary computer, a laptop, or a phone just as well since Hardware won't be as important with could based services. Just imagine the possibilities with Ipv6 and could based computing. You can basically have a computer in your fridge which analyzes your inventory and plan a shopping list which you can instantly move to your phone just by hovering your phone over the fridge via the use of NFC(near field communication) which you then can pay with at the store with google wallet, also using NFC technology. You have no idea how important our phones are gonna get in the future, if you think they are important now. Then you're in for a ride

[Solidito]

No it isn't, you get blury graphics no matter how good the internet (especially more blury on bigger monitors). Takes up bandwidth and isn't good for people with crappy internet.

[zaoly]

Cloud is just a fancy name for when data/information is not stored locally on your system.

Steam uses Cloud service to store your save game data
WoW uses Cloud service to store your character data
Dropbox is a Cloud service

[Pony Soldier]

Sadly and unfortunately yes i think it will be the future in gaming maybe not 5 years from now but i see it being the normal way we all play games or at least similar to Cloud. I really dont want games going in this direction as i like buying games on disc rather than buying a download only game. I find download only games to be very unreliable and just too much of a hassle, like say you download a game and then something happens to your hard drive that it corrupts the games on it then you have to go through the hassle of downloading it again if you can even get it back, when you could just put a disc in and start playing and you'll always have the game. Also all these download only games will not be playable forever in, im gonna say, maybe 10 years or so from now maybe even sooner there will be newer systems and most likely different download services like Cloud that won't have the games you downloaded in the past they might have some but not all of them then your going to wonder what happened to them, well im going to tell you what's going to happen to them either the company that made the games will finally realize putting these games on disc will preserve them so everyone can play them no matter how old they are (which will never happen because they're too stupid to realize that) or they will just be thrown away in cyber space forever forgotten and no one will be able to play it ever again unless somebody makes a ROM for them and you can play it like that, if you can even find a ROM that even works properly. I've been saying this so many times to people and they fail to realize that having games be download only is like THE worst idea for video games like its fine to have them downloadable but they also need to make the game on a disc. I actually hope something happens where people who have all download or online only games can't play their games because there hard drive gets corrupted or the servers for the online games goes down because maybe then they'll finally see that having a game on disc is a lot more convenient than they thought. Look what they did to Splosion Man, Limbo and Trials HD they made a triple pack collection on disc why can't they do that more often, so now since those are on disc people that buy it will ALWAYS have it and never have to worry about those games being taken away or having to go through downloading it again. So yes while Cloud gaming and digital based games might be the future (hopefully not) i HATE this idea and hope to the video game god that disc games will continue being made or else this digital gaming will ruin the way i play games and most likely won't be buying newer games in the future ill just play on my older systems.