Wednesday, March 25th 2009
New On-Demand Gaming Platform Threatens to Kill Gaming PC Upgrades
We all regard PC games, as an entertainment medium, but spend hundreds to even thousands of Dollars regularly, to keep our PCs up to date, to be able to play the latest PC games. Imagine a medium that rids us of that, and we are able to consume PC gaming like any other content, like the TV or radio. Well, that the potential a new on-demand gaming platform holds - to make you never have to buy/upgrade a gaming PC again.
Called OnLive, the on-demand platform consists of a web service, an internet connection, and a thin-client, called "micro-console" that connects your input (game controllers), and output (monitor/TV/HDTV). You control the game - whichever you're subscribed to and playing - the client relays your input to the OnLive servers, that do the processing, including graphics rendering, and send back output to your client. The client then displays the output. Sounds familiar? Cloud computing? Exactly, but for PC gaming. The platform is conceptualized to be advanced-enough to handle any of today's games, Crysis included. The work-model of this platform is what makes it tick with any game, and is far more future-proof than the present mode of PC gaming (where people own expensive hardware that are in requirement of upgrades, the costs of buying games, buying gaming services separate).
For standard definition television quality, a broadband connection of at least 1.5 megabits per second is required. For HDTV resolution, a connection of at least 5 mbps is needed. The service uses patented algorithms that work to counter lag caused by network constraints. The technology is already gaining attention from major publishers, including EA, THQ, Codemasters, Ubisoft, Atari, Warner Bros., Take-Two, and Epic. People can buy or rent a game to play it, the usage fees are expected not to be much more than the subscription fees for Xbox Live.
Source:
Kokatu
Called OnLive, the on-demand platform consists of a web service, an internet connection, and a thin-client, called "micro-console" that connects your input (game controllers), and output (monitor/TV/HDTV). You control the game - whichever you're subscribed to and playing - the client relays your input to the OnLive servers, that do the processing, including graphics rendering, and send back output to your client. The client then displays the output. Sounds familiar? Cloud computing? Exactly, but for PC gaming. The platform is conceptualized to be advanced-enough to handle any of today's games, Crysis included. The work-model of this platform is what makes it tick with any game, and is far more future-proof than the present mode of PC gaming (where people own expensive hardware that are in requirement of upgrades, the costs of buying games, buying gaming services separate).
For standard definition television quality, a broadband connection of at least 1.5 megabits per second is required. For HDTV resolution, a connection of at least 5 mbps is needed. The service uses patented algorithms that work to counter lag caused by network constraints. The technology is already gaining attention from major publishers, including EA, THQ, Codemasters, Ubisoft, Atari, Warner Bros., Take-Two, and Epic. People can buy or rent a game to play it, the usage fees are expected not to be much more than the subscription fees for Xbox Live.
246 Comments on New On-Demand Gaming Platform Threatens to Kill Gaming PC Upgrades
If you vote against it means you hate children!
And i would vote against it as well. Online predators in 3rd world country...heh.. thats funny. Have you seen what the kids look like in 3rd world country? Who would want to take advantage of them?
Then there's 3rd world country kids...
I'd vote no. :p
even if they can deliver 60FPS lag free over the net... doesn't that stuff STILL have to be rendered somehow? if 5,000 people wanna play crysis at 720P on ultra high at a constant 60FPS, don't you still need 5,000 GTX 260's or HD 4870's (or equivalent power) to render it?
how can this make any money, unless it charges out the A$$, is beyond me. And what happens when they need to upgrade?... are we all going to pay $200 to maintain the service? or will we have to buy another $200 network card, so that they can upgrade their server?
Forget it. the technology is not there, nor is it moving in this direction. Thin client is like public transportation - good idea on paper, but inevitably the experience sucks.
And no, they wont find a way around it, because they wont have any direct access to the PC from which data is streaming.
"You want to make it so we have much higher usage all the time!?!? NO WAY!!"
yeah, this is horse sh** right here.
Look at my system specs, yes my GPU is considered pretty damn old for these days. But I can play almost every new game to date at a reasonable frame rate. Crysis is the exception...as it is with most people. The only game I saw that's coming out that I MIGHT not be able to handle is the new Chronicles of Riddick game, but I'll probably even be able to play that on medium-high. This is my first what I consider "real" computer...I got lucky on a few parts but this thing was a one time investment of what a couple hundred dollars? And my next GPU is gonna cost me a whole $100...
I was on spikedhumor and someone uploaded a video about this stupid thing. It was terrible, just a huge sales ploy making seem like the godliest most coolest thing in the universe....720p oooohh that's so awesome..:shadedshu *yawn* that's like what 1024x768 on a normal screen? Yeah, that game is gonna look just fantastic...
I don't know, it's a dumb idea and I just had to say it....this won't work...the amount of powerful computers they will need to have, their servers will have to be crazy fast, the power consumption alone makes my head spin, and it's just plain stupid that I'm playing a STREAMED GAME! :banghead: And I just wonder how much these idiots will charge a month to use this service, plus how much you'll have to pay to "buy" the "game".
lol...when I saw this it kinda reminded me of Sega Channel...but Sega Channel worked :p I don't know if you guys remember it or if your cable service offered it...but you got this cartridge that you plug into the Sega, and the cartridge hooks up to your cable and you got 30 Sega games a month for $15...christ I was like 7 when I got that lol....
two words for this: epic fail
about the 720P thing, i've had a few console obsessed people hear me say my screen is 768P - better than 720P and they've drooled.
Tell a PC user its 1360x768 and they tend to laugh at how low it is.
I played the original unreal tournament at 1280x1024 FFS!