The recent reports regarding Microsoft are getting more and more interesting by the minute. If murmurs in the industry are to be trusted, the company is currently engaged in designing not one, but two next gen conoles - a stand-alone box as well as a dedicated cloud-based console codenamed "Scarlett". Certain aspects of gameplay such as the controls, collision detection and simple game logic could be processed locally while the bulk of the processing would be offloaded to Microsoft's servers, enabling end-users to purchase a significantly cheaper system at the cost of being always online. Rumour has it that Microsoft has been working hard to diminish the obvious problems springing from lag and managed to provide an acceptable player experience on their new low-power hardware, similarly to how Sony delivers PS3 games over their PS Now streaming service. While not necessarily appealing to hardcore gamers, such a low-cost alternative would provide an entry level gaming device for those who only play a handful of games.

What are your thoughts? Would you trade your stand-alone box for an online only console provided it gave you the same experience at a fraction of the price? Have you ever used any game streaming services? Discuss!

Source

 

[KingVamp]

As for disc becoming obsolete, what are the chances that they will switch to game carts, instead getting rid of physical games altogether?

well here and in spain all you see is this

some have the specific game image but they are tiny and smaller than your hand lol

Well, if they are forced to, they could just start putting more download codes in boxes. They have no reason to do so now.

As a plus, they could possibly turn many existing consoles units into next-gen units with this technology. Not only backwards compatible but forward compatible too. Well this is exciting.

Doubt they would do that. They would want you to buy the new consoles.

people forget if gaming becomes a streaming service overall all gaming pc will die, because what is the point of having the best pc with best cpu and gpu if its streaming its locked on the side in resolution and FPS, so the entire pc master race will die becuase they wont have games that look better by having better pc parts lol.

You do have a point. I see no reason why PC would be the exception.

srs if streaming is the thing then pc developers will die since a simple cpu and gpu is all you need, you wont need a 2000$ cpu+gpu combo since you wont be able to make the game look better, i can see the streaming services having several payment plans where you pay more for more resolution and fps and such.

To be fair, the companies that are doing streaming services would need those $2000 components instead.

Another reason why streaming only is a bad idea (for me at least). They could do any number of price changes and raise the price at any point, just because they can. You already see that with pay online.

I hope not.... I've got a 4K TV myself but yes, realistically we're gonna get a maximum of 12TF, if we're lucky, with the next gen, assuming it arrives in 2020.... even 12TF is only gonna be enough to render current gen graphics at 4K, especially if we factor in the push for 60fps... I would prefer to see a PS4 Pro checkerboard style, and up the graphics, otherwise what's the point of next gen?

They could give performance choices.

 

[MikaDubbz]

>Bout to deliver the Final Blow to the End Boss on the game I've been playing for 300 hours and...

Buffering ... please wait

nothanks

I get the complaint, but eventually, eventually, we will see powerful, fast, reliable wi-fi available everywhere worldwide. It'll be a ways, but eventually such a console will actually be a pretty viable product. I don't think next gen will we be at such a place, but I'd be shocked if we're not there only 20 years from now.

 

[Xzi]

Kinda lost in all this debate is the fact that Microsoft consistently falls third in hardware sales numbers on a monthly basis. Does anybody really believe that dividing their hardware sales between two different devices is going to improve their numbers for next gen? Because I'd bet on the opposite. They'll lag even further behind PS5 and Switch2 as long as those systems market to their exclusives, where Game Pass offers 99% multi-platform releases. Not to mention any potato PC can stream, there's no need to buy new hardware for that purpose.

 

[SG854]

I've never been a big fan of the idea of "cloud-only" gaming and that's mostly because I don't trust it. There's no real guarantee that the game(s) will always be there or that the marketplace will always be there. History has shown that it's just one copyright issue (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game being the best example of this,) one dispute with the publisher, or other issues and the game is simply gone forever and there's no easy way to get it back. There's of course the issue with future proofing the system, how long will that network stay up? Will I be able to play my games 3 or 5 years down the road after the system was replaced? Of course then there's the issue with the network, can I trust that the network will always be stable? This is why I prefer physical games whenever possible or at least games that I can download and are stored on the system. I can always trust that they will be there or that I can replace them by buying another copy of the game (for physical games.)

Game preservation is going to be a problem not only for 5 yrs down but for 500+ yrs from now. How many games exist in the world right now? How many are be created yearly. List keeps growing and growing. Thats way too many games to look through and play. People barely have time to play the ones we have right now. What about movie preservation and music. Its grown so much that many people ignore the old stuff besides a few. Thats only with 100 yrs. Imagine 5,000 yrs from now. People have gone now to just play a game once and never touch it again so they can have time for others games and not miss out.

 

[sarkwalvein]

Kinda lost in all this debate is the fact that Microsoft consistently falls third in hardware sales numbers on a monthly basis. Does anybody really believe that dividing their hardware sales between two different devices is going to improve their numbers for next gen? Because I'd bet on the opposite. They'll lag even further behind PS5 and Switch2 as long as those systems market to their exclusives, where Game Pass offers 99% multi-platform releases. Not to mention any potato PC can stream, there's no need to buy new hardware for that purpose.

Perhaps that itself is the reason of this move.
They may be trying to make their games as a service product the one that takes flight.
And their "cheap console" the entry to it for massive consumers.
But perhaps they would like to later make the system compatible with all type of devices, be it PCs or even smart TVs.
So, in case they make the service popular enough (through the console at the beginning), and later it becomes available everywhere including smart TVs (that perhaps would only require you to buy a compatible gamepad), then they will solve the "not enough consoles sold" problem.

I mean, they probably don't want to sell consoles at all, but the streaming subscription.

 

[pedro702]

Perhaps that itself is the reason of this move.
They may be trying to make their games as a service product the one that takes flight.
And their "cheap console" the entry to it for massive consumers.
But perhaps they would like to later make the system compatible with all type of devices, be it PCs or even smart TVs.
So, in case they make the service popular enough (through the console at the beginning), and later it becomes available everywhere including smart TVs (that perhaps would only require you to buy a compatible gamepad), then they will solve the "not enough consoles sold" problem.

I mean, they probably don't want to sell consoles at all, but the streaming subscription.

if microsoft didnt want to sell consoles they wouldnt be in the console market, they could just release their games on pc and ps4 if they choosed to, tbh i dont know why Microsoft went into console gaming at all, when they already have every pc gamer mostly.

 

[sarkwalvein]

if microsoft didnt want to sell consoles they wouldnt be in the console market, they could just release their games on pc and ps4 if they choosed to, tbh i dont know why Microsoft went into console gaming at all, when they already have every pc gamer mostly.

Nobody wants to sell consoles, including Sony.
Well, perhaps Nintendo wants to sell consoles.

You know most console makers sell consoles at a loss in order to establish a market, and then get the money back through game licensing and game sales.
Well, that last part is what they really want.
The market an the license fees.
And being the owner of a store service that is popular (like e.g. Steam) gives you the market and the fees.
So what they really want is to be the owners of the popular platform, store or service. The consoles are just a (cumbersome) mean for it.

 

[Xzi]

I mean, they probably don't want to sell consoles at all, but the streaming subscription.

I'm sure they'd like to transition to this entirely, but it seems like it's still about ~10 years too early. Broadband coverage is still poor in many countries/states, so even despite eliminating the need for specific hardware, you'd still be limiting your customer base to those that can pay out for good internet. For that reason it seems like there's a lot of backlash whenever a game is revealed to be online-only (unless its an MMO).

 

[Vieela]

This seems like a very bad idea... It's just way too much workload i'd guess. The costs to keep the powerful hardware to run the games and the entire online thing is a lot. Not to forget the awesome internet connection you must have to run this decently.

 

[Deleted User]

We all laughed at OnLive (well those of us who knew what it was) but I think the time might be right for this device. PSNow works, and with new tech, it will probably get even better.

PS now is god fucking awful

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I am sure game companies will look at the stats and figure they care about as much for the people in the sticks about as much as the people running all those nice theatres in big cities care about said same.

Similarly I imagine we will see maybe not cabinet level servers but in/adjacent to exchange type servers in cities to power them -- we already saw a bit of it with the video and whatnot streaming services to dodge the backhaul fees and whining from some of the ISPs, or if you want a crazier example see some of the stuff done for high frequency trading. Latency becomes far less of an issue if it is just at an exchange a couple of km and maybe one hop away.

That said I was hoping it would go the other way and graphics would be said to have plateaued (see also what a lot of the various android game box people thought) and things went that way.

Either way I hope if and when the downloadable game is the only way thing comes to pass that they get nailed to the wall until such a time as they allow resale of games purchased on the service wherever and however I like. The rulings already seem to have happened but things seem a bit slow in being developed.


That's a bit sad really. MS have done some great stuff over the years and if you dodged it you likely missed out on some fine games.

MS hasn't done anything great since the Original Xbox.

 

[chartube12]

No rumors here. Microsoft announced at E3 their Xbox cloud gaming platform is nearly complete. They also announced new Xbox systems are far into development.

 

[FAST6191]

As for disc becoming obsolete, what are the chances that they will switch to game carts, instead getting rid of physical games altogether?

I have variously ran the numbers, usually using flash memory. Cost wise it is more or less viable. Space and speed wise... compared to optical then random read speeds of flash was better than straight reads of optical. Space wise things have started to taper so I am not sure what goes there.
What I might like to see is something that the music industry booed before it died. That was the ability to wander into a shop with a SD card/USB drive and have things downloaded in the shop. Such a thing also dodges the internet issue for while there are not many in the village with fibre connections if you saddle up the pony and take a trek into town you can at least find someone.

MS hasn't done anything great since the Original Xbox.

I would say the 360 was one of the best times I have had in gaming. I don't know if that is because the PS4/xbone have been so bitterly disappointing (Nintendo has not even been in the race since the DS and possibly SNES, though despite its failure the N64 for the time produced some amusing stuff, as far as I am concerned) or some other factors. I guess towards the end the PS3 managed to just about match things and today it is "whatever one you enjoy the controllers of" but if you were there at the time it was very much second fiddle to the 360.

 

[Thunder Hawk]

View attachment 136916​

The recent reports regarding Microsoft are getting more and more interesting by the minute. If murmurs in the industry are to be trusted, the company is currently engaged in designing not one, but two next gen conoles - a stand-alone box as well as a dedicated cloud-based console codenamed "Scarlett". Certain aspects of gameplay such as the controls, collision detection and simple game logic could be processed locally while the bulk of the processing would be offloaded to Microsoft's servers, enabling end-users to purchase a significantly cheaper system at the cost of being always online. Rumour has it that Microsoft has been working hard to diminish the obvious problems springing from lag and managed to provide an acceptable player experience on their new low-power hardware, similarly to how Sony delivers PS3 games over their PS Now streaming service. While not necessarily appealing to hardcore gamers, such a low-cost alternative would provide an entry level gaming device for those who only play a handful of games.

What are your thoughts? Would you trade your stand-alone box for an online only console provided it gave you the same experience at a fraction of the price? Have you ever used any game streaming services? Discuss!

Source

Useless unless Internet speeds, prices, availability, etc. here match South Korea, Norway, Sweden, etc. We are REALLY lagging behind because of greedy and corrupt companies and corporations. Even if that happened, this will only end up 'streaming' money into their finely lined pockets. (You can bet Skyrim will come to this device as well. xD)
Always online is shit. It's anti-consumer DRM, just like Denuvo. If this rumor is true, speak with your wallet and don't buy this 'console' or its games.

 

[Deleted User]

digital is one thing, streaming/always online is something completely different

fuck that shit

 

[tiamat999]

The gaming apacolypse has begun download the single player games fast

 

[OldGnashburg]

These guys clearly sold their soul to ISP's to make these unusable unless you spend at least $300/month to not have a cap on your bandwidth.

 

[FAST6191]

The gaming apacolypse has begun download the single player games fast

Even if that were the case *points to the site we are on*. No worries about things going away any time soon.

 

[KingVamp]

I'm sure they'd like to transition to this entirely, but it seems like it's still about ~10 years too early. Broadband coverage is still poor in many countries/states, so even despite eliminating the need for specific hardware, you'd still be limiting your customer base to those that can pay out for good internet. For that reason it seems like there's a lot of backlash whenever a game is revealed to be online-only (unless its an MMO).

Well, even MMOs can have an offline mode and private severs.

 

[Foxi4]

I'm interested in the technological aspect of this implementation of cloud gaming. It's nothing like Onlive or PS Now, the games are supposed to run on the system besides the heavy tasks, like rendering. I can see how that would be a good idea that basically eliminates input lag - the local hardware would run game logic, AI, hitboxes and so on using basic low-poly models, and at the end of each frame it would ask for the rendered visuals, a little bit like Resident Evil used to use pre-rendered graphics in the past, except in real time. It's a novel idea, and to be fair, they wanted to introduce this technology back when the Xbox One originally launched.

 

[Lazyt]

Such a waste..there are stll huge percent of people sll around the world with bad internet connection