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The Tiny Console Killers Taking On the PS4 and Xbox 720

Posted by Soulskill on from the neverending-console-generation dept.

An anonymous reader writes "As the next generation of consoles looms, we've seen a growing trend towards low price, compact alternatives such as the Ouya and GameStick, many of which run on the Android mobile platform. But this article on the trend raises a very good point: through the use of cloud computing and game streaming technology, it's entirely possible these machines will be able to keep pace with the powerhouse technology inside the Sony PS4 and Microsoft Xbox 720, and perhaps even overtake them. After all, if these little boxes can simply stream from powerful servers, how can the stalwarts of gaming keep up?"

13 of 349 comments (clear)

  1. how can the stalwarts of gaming keep up? by Bananatree3 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Rural areas. Dialup and satellite internet suck in this application. 3G? Unless one has a large data cap or uses their console infrequently.

    1. Re:how can the stalwarts of gaming keep up? by Pseudonym · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Rural areas. Dialup and satellite internet suck in this application.

      You already need decent broadband on current consoles for some DRM-laden games.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
  2. simply stream from powerful servers by Osgeld · · Score: 4, Insightful

    yea you know what, my shitty internet has trouble streaming from youtube sometimes

  3. They will fail because by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Most people don't have fast enough internet to stream high quality without lag and a lot of people have data caps. If you can't even stream a Netflix movie without it buffering all the time or using up your data how are you supposed to game for hours on end?

  4. latency by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We've talked about this a thousand times. After your normal input lag gets sent to a server, the video gets rendered and sent back, your latency is so bad that twitchy games are unplayable. I'm sure it would work fine for slow-paced games, but then... what do you need the server for?

    1. Re:latency by Iceykitsune · · Score: 4, Insightful

      i seem to have beaten borderlands just fine over onlive.

      --
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  5. Streamed Games are Awful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Bandwidth use, control lag etc.

    A 6 year old kid can notice the lag in Lego Batman when used on a Smart TV not in Game mode and be irritated by it.

    Even under the best conditions the lag by the 'games streamed entirely from servers' is worse.

    I'd accept PS1 era graphics and tight controls over 'real-life' quality streamed graphics and horrible lag.

  6. I don't understand by TheGoodNamesWereGone · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The console-killer always has been the good old PC. A reasonably specced-out PC with a mid-range graphics card is far, far better than any console. But nobody listens to me. Nobody loves me.

    1. Re:I don't understand by mjwx · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The console-killer always has been the good old PC. A reasonably specced-out PC with a mid-range graphics card is far, far better than any console. But nobody listens to me.

      Well yes and no.

      You may not be old enough to remember but back before the Playstation and Xbox PC-pretenders turned up consoles were about casual, accessible games like Mario Kart. PC's were about in depth games, shooters like Doom and adventure games like Star Control 2. Then the PS/XB pretenders came a long and pretended they could be "hardcore" gaming machines. This was until Nintendo released the Wii and proved that consoles were about casual, accessible games like Mario Kart and made money hand over fist whilst it took the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 half a decade to achieve profitability (the PS3 still hasn't recouped it's investment yet).

      Now mobile is muscling in on the casual game and this is where the "traditional" console is doomed. Casual audiences will be attracted to the cheapness, ease of use and multiplayer capabilities of the tablet-consoles (Tabsoles, Conslets?) and "hardcore" games will come home, back to the PC.

      --
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    2. Re:I don't understand by samkass · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The console-killer always has been the good old PC. A reasonably specced-out PC with a mid-range graphics card is far, far better than any console. But nobody listens to me. Nobody loves me.

      The console killer was the iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad, etc. Apple sells as many iDevices each year than all the consoles that have ever been made, and has more games available in the App Store for its platform than for all consoles that have ever existed combined. They just announced their 40 billionth unique (non-upgrade, non-redownload) app sale, most of them games. Consoles and PC game rigs are both niches now.

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      E pluribus unum
  7. Wrong by BitZtream · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They won't keep up.

    Mommy may want to buy some shitty Ouya console cause its cheap, but little Jimmy won't want to play this shitty half assed games on it.

    Seriously, do you think people WANT to phone quality graphics on a 60" TV? No, they don't even want to see it on a 15" laptop.

    Anyone who thinks streamed games have chance hasn't played a game. Even for turn based games, lag that is noticeable sucks ass, and no ones internet is lag free all the time. Even if the last mile doesnt' lag, there are plenty of other hops to cause problems and introduce lag.

    Consoles, current or next gen, have no worries at all about being beat out by a Gamestick or Ouya console, local or streamed. Anyone who thinks this is utterly disconnected from reality.

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    Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
  8. Worst idea ever by slashmydots · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So it's like the current games but with 100x more financial reason to shut down the multiplayer servers after a couple years. That sounds like a great idea! Just ask PC gamers how much they love that.

  9. Escalation by fredprado · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That is one of the most stupid applications for cloud computing. Centralizing processor hungry processes. Can anyone take a guess how badly it will become as this escalates?