Streaming Games from the Cloud

DSoup said:
Uhmm.. Nvidia? By all accounts, it's pretty good.
Click to expand...

I knew there was at least one other big name player that I simply couldn't remember. Thanks for that.

The Blade company will be showing their Shadow technology at CES. They're based in France and will be offering services to Germany and the UK and will start their offerings to the US in California. Their model is monthly rental of PCs with fairly beefy specifications for discounted price of $420 a year, slightly more expensive is done in 3 month signups or month to month.

I'm curious to see more of the nitty-gritty-techy on their offering and how it compares to the rest of the field.
 
Shifty Geezer said:
Sounds pricey. PSNow is $100 a year.
Click to expand...

Yes, by that comparison, but PSNow is only providing you with a game console (PS2/PS3/PS4 depending on the game) which is substantially less expensive than the beefy PC.

From what Blade said, their Shadow technology and PC rental model can be used for productivity tools such as Photo and Video Editing or any standard WinOS application and will work with various level of clients running WinOS, MacOS, and Android with iOS soon, meaning low level clients like tablets or phones.

Blade PC Specifications:
  • 8 Dedicated Threads on Intel Xeon equivalent to Core i7
  • 12 GB DDR4 RAM
  • 256 GB storage
  • high-end NVIDIA graphics card for a perfect image in 1080p at 144fps or 4K at 60fps. (GeForce 1080 GTX ?)
 
I wonder if they'd let you running GPU CryptoCurrency Mining software on it. That seems very cheap by comparison, spend $35 a month to mine hundreds.

:runaway:
 
BRiT said:
Yes, by that comparison, but PSNow is only providing you with a game console (PS2/PS3/PS4 depending on the game) which is substantially less expensive than the beefy PC.

From what Blade said, their Shadow technology and PC rental model can be used for productivity tools such as Photo and Video Editing or any standard WinOS application and will work with various level of clients running WinOS, MacOS, and Android with iOS soon, meaning low level clients like tablets or phones.

Blade PC Specifications:
  • 8 Dedicated Threads on Intel Xeon equivalent to Core i7
  • 12 GB DDR4 RAM
  • 256 GB storage
  • high-end NVIDIA graphics card for a perfect image in 1080p at 144fps or 4K at 60fps. (GeForce 1080 GTX ?)
Click to expand...
How does video editing work? I upload 200 GBs of video footage before they can edit it locally? Is that 256 GBs of SSD or HDD, because if the latter, it'll be rubbish for high end productivity. What's the software like? I need separate Adobe Creative licenses etc.? In fact even games - how does one get one's Steam Library on there? I read that you basically download and install to the PC.

I can't see this being economical for the business. The PC spec costs 4 years worth of subscription. They need enough spec for everyone to log on, conceptually. Presently there's 5000 users in France. Not that many, and easily enough who'll all want to be on on a Friday night playing PUBG (incidentally how does an online stream of an online game work? Must be laggy). Even if they have half as many PCs and only half can use it at a time, they're not getting a lot of money back. Add on the whole setup costs and running costs, and the supposed commitment to upgrading the hardware as you go, the costs are way beyond the revenue. That's a recipe for another belly-up! Only way around that I can see is either using downtime on PCs to make money somehow, or to take additional fees for software and the like.
 
Maybe Blade's Business plan is to be bought out or technology purchased from a larger company within the companies first 5 years?

EDIT: Or maybe Blade run CryptoMining software on the hardware when they're not in use by the customers?
 
That sort of thing is an option, but is there enough money in that? Is it a realistic, stable future? I think the business plan currently is get loads of venture capitalists to throw money at it, directors take huge salaries, and then go under. It's the preferred model for high-tech startups.
 
BRiT said:
PC ownership is dead. The future of PCs is subscription-based, just like Netflix.
Click to expand...
Lol in their dreams... PC gamers are too individualistic to go down that route. For me, renting my games, I'd be like, over my dead body.

Renting is of course just another scheme, like loot boxes, to bilk you out of more money than you would otherwise have paid.
 
Here's DF's first look at Blade's Shadow streaming technology: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2018-shadow-gtx-1080-cloud-gaming-pc-revealed

The Shadow website talks about zero latency, which is - of course - impossible. Latency in a cloud gaming system is essentially defined by the time taken for your inputs to be sent across to the server, for the game logic to parse them, and then for the output frame to be generated, encoded, transmitted back to the user and then decoded and presented on-screen. Blade acknowledges this and during our session even pulled out its own camera-based latency measurement tool - dubbed 'Betty' - that is pressed onto the screen. A USB button beams over input, and a bespoke tool installed on the cloud PC changes the colour of window on-screen from black to white and back again once input is received. The time taken from the button press to the colour changing is a more than acceptable method of measuring lag, reminiscent of similar systems used to measure display latency on flat panel screens.

On an entry-level 1080p 60Hz AOC screen with Shadow working over an internet shared with scores of staff in hired offices in Shoreditch, complete end-to-end latency (including the display lag and programming logic in the app) came in at 106ms using the Betty device. Of course, a good proportion of that lag will be down to the display and the app code, but it's still a strong result overall - one that I look forward to re-testing on my own connection and displays when review hardware arrives. The real test here will be to use the Betty device on both a local system and then Shadow, connected to the same display, and to compare the difference in the respective latency measurements to give a more complete view of Shadow's overhead.
 
You'll need to determine the ms response time from their server ideally to subtract from the result to give an indicator of their tech.
 
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/201...ng-a-game-streaming-service-console-hardware/
Google is working on a subscription-based gaming streaming service. The service is codenamed "Yeti," and it would be similar to streaming services like PlayStation Now—users would pay a subscription fee to access a collection of games, which are run on a remote device and streamed over the Internet. The Information notes that "an early version" of this service was designed to work over a Chromecast, which is interesting since it's unclear how a game controller would ever hook up to a Chromecast. More recently, Google has reportedly started experimenting with a Google-developed game console and controller. The project is being led by two Google hardware executives—Mario Queiroz, VP of product management, and Majd Bakar, VP of engineering—so if this ever sees the light of day, new hardware seems likely.
Click to expand...
So it begins...maybe...big players want to go for Games-As-Service streaming platform.
 
whome0 said:
So it begins...maybe...big players want to go for Games-As-Service streaming platform.
Click to expand...

Investing in a new Google hardware platform is decidedly risky. For the right reasons, Google aren't afraid to kill, stone cold dead, anything that isn't working for them. Look at the TV manufacturer's they threw under the bus with the earlier TV OS platforms.
 
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Interesting

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/resident-evil-7-confirmed-for-switch-in-japan-as-a/1100-6459080/

Resident Evil 7 Confirmed For Switch In Japan As A Streaming-Only Game

"Resident Evil 7 is on the way to Nintendo Switch. Capcom confirmed today that a "Cloud Version" of the horror game is headed to Nintendo's hybrid system in Japan on May 24.

According to Nintendo Everything, it's called the Cloud Version because the game plays via the cloud, with a required download of only 45 MB. As such, you will need an internet connection to play this version of the game. Nintendo Everything added that you can play the game for up to 15 minutes for free, but after that, you have to pay ¥2,000 (~$18 USD) for a "ticket" that lets you play for 180 days."

Will it be a regional thing? Those countries with a really broadband penetration, like japan, Korea, will get the cloud version and a proper cartridge version in the rest of the world.

I´d like to know if Nvidia tech is involved, Was Capcom working in a streaming solution?

Looking forward for the reviews of this cloud version, latency and such.


 
Michellstar said:
Interesting

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/resident-evil-7-confirmed-for-switch-in-japan-as-a/1100-6459080/

Resident Evil 7 Confirmed For Switch In Japan As A Streaming-Only Game

"Resident Evil 7 is on the way to Nintendo Switch. Capcom confirmed today that a "Cloud Version" of the horror game is headed to Nintendo's hybrid system in Japan on May 24.

According to Nintendo Everything, it's called the Cloud Version because the game plays via the cloud, with a required download of only 45 MB. As such, you will need an internet connection to play this version of the game. Nintendo Everything added that you can play the game for up to 15 minutes for free, but after that, you have to pay ¥2,000 (~$18 USD) for a "ticket" that lets you play for 180 days."

Will it be a regional thing? Those countries with a really broadband penetration, like japan, Korea, will get the cloud version and a proper cartridge version in the rest of the world.

I´d like to know if Nvidia tech is involved, Was Capcom working in a streaming solution?

Looking forward for the reviews of this cloud version, latency and such.
Click to expand...


Came here to post this.

I wonder if this is the Switch's actual future in the longer term for 3rd party titles, with the gen 9 consoles launching and creating a significantly larger gap between them and Nintendo's offering.
Then we have a console that was supposed to be good for playing on the go, but ends up being stuck to playing at home.

At least they're making use of TX1's H265 decoding capabilities. I hope.
 
Another major publisher making moves towards cloud gaming (streaming in this case)

Electronic Arts Acquires Cloud Gaming Technology & Talent
http://news.ea.com/press-release/co...-arts-acquires-cloud-gaming-technology-talent

"REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) announced today it has acquired the cloud gaming technology assets and personnel of a wholly owned subsidiary of GameFly, Inc. Based in Israel, the acquired technology and team members deepen EA’s capabilities and expertise in cloud gaming, and enable the company to continue exploring new ways for players to access and experience games from any device.

“Cloud gaming is an exciting frontier that will help us to give even more players the ability to experience games on any device from anywhere,” said Ken Moss, Chief Technology Officer of Electronic Arts. “We’re thrilled to bring this talented team’s expertise into EA as we continue to innovate and expand the future of games and play.”

Cloud gaming opens up new possibilities to expand the reach of games by streaming high-quality entertainment to more players, on more devices, in more geographic regions of the world. With this acquisition, EA is adding to its strategic focus on advanced technologies that will give players more freedom to access the games they want, and enable the delivery of next-generation experiences at scale.

The team based in Caesarea, Israel, will join EA’s functional teams, including the central technology organization that is responsible for developing and operating the cutting-edge platform that powers EA’s leading games and services.

The acquisition closed in May 2018"



One thing I didn´t realize the other day, when talking about RE7 for the switch which will be streamed, it´s that probably it isn´t a port., It´s the pc version. So, they save the process of porting the game, and the associated expenses. They could in the future do the match, what´s worth porting the game to one machine or ramping up some servers.

One way or another, The industry is moving towards this solutions. Sony, EA, Ms, Capcom

Would 5G be enough for decent gaming??
 
I don't think 'moving towards' is the right term. They are adding it as an option, but there's still lots of reasons not to go with thin-client gaming as a norm.
 
In my opinion, it needs to be a standard option come the next generation, as digital becomes more prevalent.

Easy demos.
Play whilst you download/update.
Play when not installed.

Should all come with a higher tier of PS+ instead of in addition to it.

Moreover, they should use this tech in a revival of Home.
 
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