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

 

[zoogie]

>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

 

[Jayro]

Okay boys, this is the nail in gaming's coffin... DO NOT BUY THIS AT ANY COST!!!

 

[Rob Blou]

Yep ... I hate this concept and I truly hope it will never replace standard consoles. Only one thing will shape the fate of gaming ... our money.

 

[Foxi4]

That's kind of why they're (supposedly) working on two consoles - a full-cost stand-alone box for core gamers and a cheap online box for on-off gamers. It doesn't box gamers in, but it does provide two different paths to access the same software. It makes sense and goes in line with their recent Play Anywhere initiative, so I'd say this might be credible, but right now we really have nothing official besides Microsoft's confirmation that they're working on new hardware, which isn't a surprise - so is Sony.

 

[Treeko]

It failed before its even been revealed!!!!!

A new low for microsoft confirmed.

 

[Deleted User]

snip

 

[CORE]

Okay boys, this is the nail in gaming's coffin... DO NOT BUY THIS AT ANY COST!!!

I have to agree for me WiiU was the last Games Console XBOXONE and PS4 just restricted HTPCs and Switch just going the way of Tablets but to give Nintendo Credit I like the AIO Console approach Handheld and Home Console.

Aslong as you can still buy PC parts and or Mini PC Pi etc , build ur own ur ok But Game Consoles are Dead.

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I been a Gamer since 16Bit era 90s kid and Games and consoles dont have that excitement anymore.

 

[Foxi4]

I have to agree for me WiiU was the last Games Console XBOXONE and PS4 just restricted HTPCs and Switch just going the way of Tablets but to give Nintendo Credit I like the AIO Console approach Handheld and Home Console.

Aslong as you can still buy PC parts and or Mini PC Pi etc , build ur own ur ok But Game Consoles are Dead.

I've had this argument more times than I could count. Consoles and PC's have always used the same pool of parts, the PS4 and Xbox One are no exception and they are as custom as any other console. Your Gamecube is powered by the same ATi Radeon graphics technology your old PC was. Your N64 is basically a cut-down SGI Indy. In fact, your NES and the Apple II are distant cousins, they're both running on MOS 6520 derivatives. There has never been a time in history when PC's and consoles were not using the same hardware, this argument is moot.

 

[Rob Blou]

That's kind of why they're (supposedly) working on two consoles - a full-cost stand-alone box for core gamers and a cheap online box for on-off gamers. It makes total sense since it doesn't box gamers in, but it does provide two different paths to access the same software. It makes sense and goes in line with their recent Play Anywhere initiative, so I'd say this might be credible, but right now we really have nothing official besides Microsoft's confirmation that they're working on new hardware, which isn't a surprise - so is Sony.

You're right but they're doing a smooth transition not to repeat the Xbox one DRM and power of the cloud fiasco. If people jump in, the gen after might be streamin only. I'm in audio and I contested when companies like Slate started also having a subscription services ... they said: but you have both options. Turns out it's all just a transition period and sooner or later you can't buy them normally anymore.

 

[Deleted User]

This definitely is not for me

 

[SG854]

It's obvious game companies would eventually go down the Netflix path and offer cheap streaming hardware akin to Firestick.
I'm not bothered by this at all.

Wouldn't surprise me if streaming replaces physical/digital as the dominant market when Internet speeds become faster and more reliable.
There are people that play games once and never touch them again. So this is for them. With thousands of games available and more are being pumped out every year more people are having that attitude.

 

[Foxi4]

You're right but they're doing a smooth transition not to repeat the Xbox one DRM and power of the cloud fiasco. If people jump in, the gen after might be streamin only. I'm in audio and I contested when companies like Slate started also having a subscription services ... they said: but you have both options. Turns out it's all just a transition period and sooner or later you can't buy them normally anymore.

Judging by the PC market the days of disc-based console software are numbered either way and streaming for 50 million users at the same time is not a sustainable business model, it would require a tremendous amount of processing power and Microsoft would have to eat that cost. I see streaming as an alternative to local computing and I'm certainly not a fan of cloud computing for domestic purposes myself. Moreover, I don't think this is going to be a particularly successful product. What I do think is that it opens a cheaper avenue for gamers that exclusively play FIFA and only buy a console to play that one game, or for parents who are buying young children their first system and don't want to spend a fortune on the latest gadget when they don't know if it'll work out. It's good as an alternative, but it won't replace the stand-alone box, we're not quite there yet.

 

[CORE]

Im fine with Digital as long as I have an offline copy on my Storage Device.

 

[Rob Blou]

Judging by the PC market the days of disc-based console software are numbered either way and streaming for 50 million users at the same time is not a sustainable business model, it would require a tremendous amount of processing power and Microsoft would have to eat that cost. I see streaming as an alternative to local computing and I'm certainly not a fan of cloud computing for domestic purposes myself. Moreover, I don't think this is going to be a particularly successful product. What I do think is that it opens a cheaper avenue for gamers that exclusively play FIFA and only buy a console to play that one game, or to parents who are buying young children their first system and don't want to spend a fortune on the latest gadget when they don't know if it'll work out. It's good as an alternative, but it won't replace the stand-alone box, we're not quite there yet.

I sure hope you're right

 

[x65943]

Judging by the PC market the days of disc-based console software are numbered either way and streaming for 50 million users at the same time is not a sustainable business model, it would require a tremendous amount of processing power and Microsoft would have to eat that cost. I see streaming as an alternative to local computing and I'm certainly not a fan of cloud computing for domestic purposes myself. Moreover, I don't think this is going to be a particularly successful product. What I do think is that it opens a cheaper avenue for gamers that exclusively play FIFA and only buy a console to play that one game, or to parents who are buying young children their first system and don't want to spend a fortune on the latest gadget when they don't know if it'll work out. It's good as an alternative, but it won't replace the stand-alone box, we're not quite there yet.

What you have to factor in is that everyone is not playing at the same time - and often these things are gonna be collecting dust.

So even if they have a huge install base, they are probably only gonna have enough machines to stream to a fraction of these "consoles" at any one time.

 

[KingVamp]

Considering that they already tried to do an online console only, this sounds believable. They really should let you play the cloud version, if you have the physical/digital version.

For me personality, no. I rather go all digital for gaming than cloud only.

 

[Foxi4]

What you have to factor in is that everyone is not playing at the same time - and often these things are gonna be collecting dust.

So even if they have a huge install base, they are probably only gonna have enough machines to stream to a fraction of these "consoles" at any one time.

That's true to a certain extent, however when designing a server farm for that purpose you account for a level of overhead - you can't have an outage or the whole system goes down. Again, let's be realistic - the next generation will be the generation of native 4K, each virtual console will require access to resources in excess of 6 Teraflops currently provided by the Xbox One X, probably around 10-ish, 12-ish if we apply Moore's law. Let's say that the next gen roll-out will commence in 2020, do you think it is sustainable to offer that level of power to each individual device via cloud given the current state of tech? No, of course it isn't. It's obviously not going to be the go-to solution. Microsoft isn't going to sell you a cheap device just so that they can run an expensive device for you, they have to make money, and while some degree of day 1 loss is acceptable, I don't think that degree wouldn't be considered extreme. They're probably banking on expanding their customer base by releasing a cheap console for casual gamers that would later upgrade, they're trying to catch the Wii genie in the bottle while simultaneously making games for their flagship and just streaming them to the new audience.

 

[Hells Malice]

@Scarlet was a microsoft robot all along...we should've known.

 

[smilodon]

Like it or not, streaming will surely be the future of video games. The subscribtion model is now the norm everywhere.

 

[ScarletDreamz]

So its a monitor? lol