So, a recent http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/leaked-xbox-720-roadmap-document-alleges-2013-launch-174556733.html about the "Xbox 720" says that it could possibly include always-online and cloud gaming.


Let us imagine, for a moment, that this eventually spreads to all platforms. MS/Sony/Nintendo require authentication to their servers, while PC developers do the same (or, for all we know, Microsoft could implement something similar in Windows 8).


Do you support/have an issue with it?

I support the concept of cloud computing, but it doesn't do much good unless it's paired with improvements in rural infrastructure and a willingness on the part of ISPs to rethink bandwidth caps that, given current trends, will verge on draconian. The 'always-on' also means that security is a continual concern.

My thoughts as well.

Not to mention that everyone has internet issues at some point. Also, I'm personally a fan of physical media (in most cases), so I'm not too much of a fan. And, in my rural area, the fastest DL speeds you're going to find are around 500-700 kB/s. An average game demo takes 2-3 hours. An entire game? No thanks.

Cloud? Does that mean it requires a constant Internet connection? If so, I hate it. My net is very quick, but extremely unstable, so I would be thrown out of my games instantly.
For multiplayer games I don't mind, but for singleplayer ones it's real annoying.

From what I can gather.

If it forces all to use it then MASSIVE NO! There's enough junk drm as it is. This would just add further insult to injury.

If it's an option for people to use if they wish but has no detrimental effect on other services then COULDN'T CARE LESS. People that want to use it can while those of us that are happy with the existing model can retain its use.

Dude, are you complaining about 500-700 kB/s? Back in my home country more typical speeds are a tenth of that. And that's in urban areas. I've had 1Mb/s speeds for two years and I'm still occasionally shocked by the mere fact.

Definitely not complaining. My speeds were around 50 kB/s until November, when we upgraded.

I'm just saying that, even at those speeds (which some people do find desirable), downloading an entire game is impractical.

It's worth adding that for some reason all these companies that love always online so much are under the impression that the world has Seoul's internet infrastructure.

Exactly.





If you don't mind me asking, what country is that? Those are surprising speeds, especially for cities.

That's definitely an advantage. It's like what what OnLive does now: You basically see a stream of a game being run on a PC in some place rather than on your own console hardware. The advantage is that it can run all games regardless of graphics quality, as the machine itself only needs the power to stream. You could even have previously PC exclusive titles on there if they can be played with a controller. But then there are some issues...

The first disadvantage is the fact that you need to be online all the time, which is a big nono. It probably takes up a lot of bandwidth too, and there's the issue of input lag. Lag could be even worse in a multiplayer game, where the server itself has additional lag on top of the stream lag.

Additionally, even though the graphics can be set to max on a cloud PC, it still shows you a compressed video stream on your screen so the quality isn't the greatest. And internet connections aren't that great yet everywhere, so I imagine that 1080p streaming is out of the question for many people. And 720p with compression artifacts and minor lag in single player is more of a step down than a step up from the current console generation.

Finally there's the issue of not really 'owning' your game since it's up in the cloud.


So I'm on the fence about this. I think it's not really worth trying until internet speeds everywhere are much higher, and even then there are all the other disadvantages.

If the only major "con" is that you have to be online all the time, I'd say it's worth it. I don't really care if I have to be online or not.

That's neat. I didn't know that's how OnLive works.

I prefer offline.. As I don't really care for the online games at all so I don't see how NEEDING to be online to play my offline games has to happen.

If that makes any sense

virgin do a decent 50 meg package, and they're upgrading us to 100 meg some time soon.

Only Windstream is available here.

Malaysia. I'm not tech-savvy but the word on the graqevine is that the major providers are all selling more bandwidth than they have. The state-owned provider, for example, advertises unlimited bandwidth but in practice caps it pretty low. Don't know if there's any truth to this, but this makes sense to me because there's a noticeable slowdown around evening and especially during the weekends.

Huh. I'd always fancied Kuala Lumpur to be relatively technologically advanced, or at least it's fame in architecture led me to believe that.

Are there the same limitations with the maximum telephone exchange speed for transfer rates in the states? By that I mean you could be signed up to an "x mb speed package" but if the maximum that the exchange can handle is "y" then it makes no difference.

To be honest, I'm not sure. My father manages all of that for my family.

Nay......
Sony/ Microsoft = Greedy.....

No. It's horrible, designed to keep you locked in to a specific service, has input lag, eats up bandwidth, can lack fidelity, and a single network hiccup can cause big problems.

Cloud computing in general is something I don't like. EaaS is the worst bit of it (Entertainment as a Service). Cloud Computing is SLA without the A.

I don't even like it if I have to have my saved games stored on a server, let alone the whole game. And if OnLive is representative of cloud gaming, then it definitely sounds like something I don't want.

I'm not fond of cloud anything. As an option? Sure, the more options the better. When it's eventually forced on me is when we have a problem. I already dislike digital distribution because it introduces dependancy issues that weren't present with physical media (i.e. what happens to my content when [company] goes under, changes policies, drops support for legacy platforms, etc.?), but the cloud takes things a step further. You own absolutely nothing. That will never fly with me.

Hopefully physical media remains for as long as I still give a damn about video games. I don't know if I'm losing interest in games at a faster rate than physical media is being phased out though. E3 sure helped.

Let alone Digital Distribution costed people/family loss of jobs.