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
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246 Comments on New On-Demand Gaming Platform Threatens to Kill Gaming PC Upgrades

#176
mdm-adph
TheMailMan78IM NOT PAYING A DIME SO YOU CAN GAME BUDDY!
You can and you will, if some politician can lump some capital for this into the "2011 SAVE THE CHILDREN FROM ONLINE PREDATORS BY BRINGING CLOUD COMPUTERS TO THE THIRD WORLD" act.

If you vote against it means you hate children!
Posted on Reply
#177
DrPepper
The Doctor is in the house
mdm-adphYou can and you will, if some politician can lump some capital for this into the "2011 SAVE THE CHILDREN FROM ONLINE PREDATORS BY BRINGING CLOUD COMPUTERS TO THE THIRD WORLD" act.

If you vote against it means you hate children!
I'd vote against it.
BOSEIs your face purple yet?
:( <--
Posted on Reply
#178
erocker
*
DrPepperI'd vote against it.
Me too. I admitedly hate children. :)
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#179
DrPepper
The Doctor is in the house
erockerMe too. I admitedly hate children. :)
Prepares for flaming from parents :p
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#180
BOSE
mdm-adphYou can and you will, if some politician can lump some capital for this into the "2011 SAVE THE CHILDREN FROM ONLINE PREDATORS BY BRINGING CLOUD COMPUTERS TO THE THIRD WORLD" act.

If you vote against it means you hate children!
That wouldnt work, because we all know that Video Games turn kids in to violent killers. :slap:



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?
Posted on Reply
#181
DrPepper
The Doctor is in the house
BOSEThat wouldnt work, because we all know that Video Games turn kids in to violent killers. :slap:



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?
Garry Glitter.
Posted on Reply
#182
BOSE
Yeah.. i dont get the joke.
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#183
DrPepper
The Doctor is in the house
BOSEYeah.. i dont get the joke.
The brits who watch the news will ... I hope.
Posted on Reply
#184
pentastar111
DrPepperGarry Glitter.
Now that was sarcastic humor at it'd finest! LOL :toast:
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#185
mdm-adph
DrPepperI'd vote against it.
erockerMe too. I admitedly hate children. :)
Neither one of you are politicians. If you were a politician, you'd vote for it. That's how government works. ;)
Posted on Reply
#186
DrPepper
The Doctor is in the house
mdm-adphNeither one of you are politicians. If you were a politician, you'd vote for it. That's how government works. ;)
How do you know we're not :p Erocker is actually barack obama and I'm gorden brown (damn I pulled the short straw)
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#187
Wile E
Power User
erockerMe too. I admitedly hate children. :)
Me too. I have 3 kids. lol.
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#188
Silverel
Kids smell funny, cover things in goo, and have no qualms about playing in their own poo.

Then there's 3rd world country kids...

I'd vote no. :p
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#189
zCexVe
This is the future.We just have the interface where all the processing is at the moon perhaps...
Posted on Reply
#190
ShadowFold
zCexVeThis is the future.We just have the interface where all the processing is at the moon perhaps...
This certainly is not the future
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#191
phanbuey
ShadowFoldThis certainly is not the future
for sure not...

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.
Posted on Reply
#192
DrPepper
The Doctor is in the house
phanbueyfor sure not...

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.
Indeed. Also what about cpu calculations, They can't all be done on a gpu which is what I believe the server is based on. Massive gpu farms all calculating away but what about cpu instructions for physics. Surely you would need at least one core per user and thats alot of cpu's even quads or i7's also not to mention the cpu's to provide instructions to the gpu's and the hard drives constantly sending tons of data to the gpu's. It isn't economically possible considering hardware breakdown, cooling and unlike normal mail servers the massive increase in electricity and the backup for these servers.
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#193
CDdude55
Crazy 4 TPU!!!
Even in the future will still have problems, and then we will be saying again ''this definitely isn't the future''. Tech just isn't going to stop one day and we all say ''ok tech is as far as is going to go''(unless the world ends,lol). So there really isn't a ''future'' in the tech world as it will always be advancing.
Posted on Reply
#194
phanbuey
DrPepperIndeed. Also what about cpu calculations, They can't all be done on a gpu which is what I believe the server is based on. Massive gpu farms all calculating away but what about cpu instructions for physics. Surely you would need at least one core per user and thats alot of cpu's even quads or i7's also not to mention the cpu's to provide instructions to the gpu's and the hard drives constantly sending tons of data to the gpu's. It isn't economically possible considering hardware breakdown, cooling and unlike normal mail servers the massive increase in electricity and the backup for these servers.
That's exactly what I was thinking... even if they found a way to make it 90% cheaper... all the heat and the electricity, the maintenance, used to support even a relatively tiny (100,000 users) all playing something like Crysis would just skyrocket the overhead costs... I wont even consider upgrade costs.
Posted on Reply
#195
BOSE
One thing that is good about this, and one thing only. This will stop people from cheating/hacking at online games, but only for those that use this device/service.

And no, they wont find a way around it, because they wont have any direct access to the PC from which data is streaming.
Posted on Reply
#196
DrPepper
The Doctor is in the house
phanbueyThat's exactly what I was thinking... even if they found a way to make it 90% cheaper... all the heat and the electricity, the maintenance, used to support even a relatively tiny (100,000 users) all playing something like Crysis would just skyrocket the overhead costs... I wont even consider upgrade costs.
Its interesting to think imagine they used dunningtons. 6 Core monsters that consumes 130w. Say that server has 30 4870's at 250 watts max (assuming they can fit that many) 24/7. Say that serves 60 people so no doubt that server will have a ups and an extensive hard drive raid setup. Then think about how many other servers there will have to be in order to maintain a customer base of a thousand people.
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#197
tkpenalty
Sigh... the only place in the world where this system would work would be korea, where the internet infrastructure is consistently good.
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#198
ShogoXT
Agreed TK, its not going to work for PC and the ISPs are never going to go with it.
"You want to make it so we have much higher usage all the time!?!? NO WAY!!"
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#199
Ongaku
"spend hundreds to even thousands of Dollars regularly to keep our PCs up to date, to be able to play the latest PC games."

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
Posted on Reply
#200
Mussels
Freshwater Moderator
ongaku:
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!
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