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Geek Culture / the future of gaming?

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Virtual Nomad
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Joined: 14th Dec 2005
Location: SF Bay Area, USA
Posted: 6th Sep 2020 04:50 Edited at: 6th Sep 2020 05:01
i'm not much of a gamer anymore but am curious to see/hear about what's out there from a tech standpoint.

i came across AirConsole which touts "AirConsole is an online video game console. Your smartphones are the gamepads. Your browser is the console".
it's interesting and i tried it out (it was quick and stable) but Local Multiplayer-only as "online" = it already feels dated for a newer Start-up.

i'd heard about Stadia some time ago. it was hyped up quite a bit courtesy of google-bucks but initial reviews were less-than-impressive noting near-crippling latency for most.
where i haven't seen an Ad for it in some time, i assume it's in hibernation? or, will 5G help it live up to the hype?

meanwhile, anything you've come across or have been watching as a potential future for gaming? please share.

i should clarify the question: what gaming tech (that most of us don't already know about such as AR/VR) is on the more-distant horizon?
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Phaelax
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Location: Metropia
Posted: 7th Sep 2020 20:53
That airconsole is kinda neat, worked pretty flawlessly for me.
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JLMoondog
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Posted: 7th Nov 2020 18:42
If you want to try an actually good streaming game service, tryout NVIDIA GeForce Now. They have a free account or a 6USD/month account. My computer can't handle higher graphic settings so I play Destiny 2 on it, max settings, at 1440p, looks amazing and in the 1+ years of use I've yet to experience lag of any kind. Blows Stadia out of the water.
Phaelax
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Posted: 30th Dec 2020 04:31
I thought geforce now was considered a failure after so many titles withdrew from their service?
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Raven
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Location: Hertfordshire, England
Posted: 3rd Jan 2021 22:31
GeForce Now isn't a failure per-se... but it's a weird and complicated Licensing situation.
Not that I care much as you can only use GeForce Now via the GeForce Experience App that in turn is only available with GeForce Hardware.

I have none, so it's hard to care.

Stadia on the other hand is an abject failure.
Likely because the Latency wasn't great... the Interface is a bit clunky... you REQUIRE an Android (Phone or Firestick) Device in order to actually use the service, before any subscriptions and the subscription itself doesn't cover all the games... with most being available as Purchasable Options (and at Full Retail Price).

It's frankly too expensive, too exclusive and not overall a good experience.
The irony being that Microsoft use the EXACT same infrastructure (from AMD) for XCloud (which is now part of Game Pass)... and whatever Microsoft did to the infrastructure for the actual networking., it has better latency, fully supports 4K/HDR on all games even without High-End Internet being a requirement; and all the games on Game Pass are supported (174 at present) and part of the subscription charge.

Now in fairness I've not really used it outside of the Insider Program, while I was helping test it... as frankly I don't see the need / point.
It makes sense on Mobile Devices (Tablet, Phone) to be able to play High-End Games that it'd never be able to run; esp. my own which barely plays most mobile games given it's weak Mediatek CPU/GPU Combo... but then most games suck on such a small screen; being difficult to impossible to really enjoy ... and on-the-go via 3G/4G/5G., it's not ideal as Gaming / Streaming is a serious bandwidth hog with most places you'd want to play (Train / Plain for example) not exactly having great service coverage.

PlayStation Now is in a similar situation., it works fine and has an excellent library of games; but again... it solves a problem that no one really had, and doesn't solve the technical issues with said problem.



People oft hype over Cloud Gaming as the Future., but most have never used it... or if they have rarely go back to using it.
The reality is... it isn't good enough, and frankly can never be good enough to replace Physical Hardware; and as Physical Hardware is always getting faster, smaller and better.
I mean if I'm on the Train or a Flight., I have my Switch with a USB-C Charger Kit and Battery Pack.

It's just a BETTER solution.
I'd love to see an Xbox Portable., or a PS Vita 3... as competition to said Console; taking a similar "Home" and "Travel" approach to a Console; but neither Microsoft or Sony really take the Portable / Low-End Market _as_ seriously as they should.

I mean look at the size of the Xbox Series S., it's a powerful console but not much larger than the Switch overall... it likely could be engineered to fill a similar Portable / Low-End Gaming Role.
Sony also need to get out of their own arrogance to always be pushing Hardware Boundaries... I mean a major killer of the Vita was the price of the Device given it's limited scope and lack of Software; again Sony could have a similar "PS4 Pro" Performance Semi-Portable with a similar footprint.

They would be excellent devices; and if you ask me... THAT is more the future of Gaming, the idea of the Multi-Purpose Gaming Device.
It's the major leap that Mobile Phones made., to become "Smart" Phone; there's little smart about them, they just expanded what they could do into the Software and more General Purpose Design.

Microsoft dropping their Mobile Phone Division was mistake., Sony giving up on theirs (more or less, I mean atleast they still make them; but they're not exactly "Sony" anymore) again was too.
As they didn't fail because they were bad, but because neither was willing to continue evolving, adapting and thinking forward.
And that's perhaps even more important now; given both Apple and Google have become stagnant... they're not longer "Evolving"

I think Windows Dual-Screen is going to be kind of in the right direction., but still it's not a consolidation to focused more into one device but they've begun to segment further - which isn't what people want.
Again look back to why a Smart Phone worked.

It's because we don't want to carry a Phone, Camera, Digital Music Player, Digital Video Player, Laptop, etc.
Instead now we have a Single Device that consolidates all that into something you can fit in your pocket.

The Switch is the same... I don't need a 3DS and Wii U., instead now I just have a Switch.
Now imagine that the Switch also had inside-out tracking for the Controller Pads and folded out a conversion to be Wearable for VR... that'd be one more device it'd replace. (and a device that many do STILL want but generally can't afford)

francisbaud
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Posted: 24th Mar 2021 22:29
There's ray tracing that is expected to be a small revolution in the way scenes are rendered in real-time, but if I'm correct the visual differences between normal rendering and ray tracing isn't worth it considering the hit on performances. In most scenes I can barely tell when RTX is on or off in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4HkXEzzcRw Sure when the light does bounce on surface like water or high gloss it looks more vivid but that's about it imo. Other than that advances in VR and cloud gaming, as they were mentioned earlier. I think those two technologies, however, have fundamental flaws (dizziness/headache for VR, latency for cloud gaming) that will be hard to overcome. I think the sales for those two products are pretty disappointing so far.
LukeChester
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Posted: 23rd May 2021 12:30
As I see, AR/VR isn't on the more distant horizon, if these technologies started to implement not only for the gaming industry but also in the medical/science field, etc. A couple of years ago I couldn't even imagine it. I think AR/VR also will be used widely for people with different disabilities to get new opportunities they couldn't access earlier.

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