Cloud gaming

[UCyborg]

Change is the only constant, they say. Didn't know earliest attempts date back to two decades ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_gaming

https://www.howtogeek.com/811640/why-i-prefer-cloud-gaming-over-a-pc-or-console/

https://www.reddit.com/r/cloudygamer/

No special reason for this post, but if anyone has any thoughts on the subject, feel free to add them. Oh, and experiences too, of course.

Edited September 19, 2023 by UCyborg

[Tripredacus]

I'm not particularly interested in cloud gaming as it is, forgetting multiplayer already having issues with server latency that has a real effect on games, putting it into cloud doesn't actually help that. Of course, the companies who do make these services are not interested in this experience or preservation, only to make a buck.

So for ported titles (aka things on PC or console already) there is no no big whoop about it. When it comes to exclusive things, that is where the problem lies. There are games that were on the Gaikai platform before Sony bought them that are lost forever. Some of them have physical client versions that are unusable. All online only or required titles have this same fate eventually, they will get lost to time or be unusable at some point.

[UCyborg]

I thought that guy on howtogeek.com is a bit over-excited. Those packets transmitting game state have latency, now you add a constant latency to get the image through and your input regardless of whether you're playing solo or with others. Though games really did explode in size, I think early 2000s up-to early 2010s were most balanced in graphical detail/overall storage space. So you may not have as much newer stuff installed on a disk compared to older stuff.

Maybe cloud would be more OK for certain scenarios, like the idea for trying out demos that way. Being tied to some online service is problematic as-is without involving cloud gaming concept (preservation you mention and sure some find it a plus or taken for granted (me included) if it just works without having to login to some online service). Take the DRM requirement to have the CD in the drive, which in some cases these days have turned into always requiring internet connection for playing single-player. Steam has offline mode at least.

There's more points we could debate, though in that howtogeek.com article, one thing that caught my attention, hardware maintenance. My PC seems to get by fine with just occasional dust blowing. HDDs seem to be on the more problematic side when it comes to failure and I guess you'd have to upgrade more often if you always wanted max details at max frame rates as newer more complex games come out.

Edited September 20, 2023 by UCyborg