Cloud/Virtual gaming console

ryanator

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Not that this is something of a revolutionary idea as I'm sure it will come in the future, but when do you think you will see high graphic gaming coming over the internet? Obviously the advancement of super high speed internet along with powerful enough central servers to host "consoles" that people would just log into and play any game they paid for.
 
It could definitely be done today. MS demo'ed a concept of this with playing 360 games from the cloud on the Xbox One. I don't know that it would happen anytime real soon though. The technology and speed is there, but there's still too many caps on plans, and what is realistic in some countries isn't elsewhere.

I no longer have a cap on my internet data usage per month, but they do have a 300GB / month "guideline" which basically means if I exceed said guideline too many times they will make me move up to a more expensive plan with a higher guideline. Today's online games use very little bandwidth to track where each player is and when buttons are pressed and such. To actually stream a game would use much more. Netflix is a good example. With my 50MB connection, I know that if I watch a season of some TV show or a few movies at the highest rate they can stream it to me, that I'll eat 100GB or so of bandwidth usage. For a casual gamer they might not exceed their limits too quickly, but for the amount I play I'd be way passed the guideline well before a month was up.

Then there's the advent of 3D and/or 4K streaming. I believe Netflix does 3D in limited markets today, 4K is supposed to start in the next year as well. It's a very cool concept, and one that could be done today, and we may see it start showing up before too long.

 
Basically the same concept as a Cloud "OS". You basically have a small little box, when you log in you would log into Microsoft's servers where they manage the hardware, and your basically just streaming. I think with gaming it would be a little bit more tough because of the streaming data needed for the intense graphics. But impossible? No. I think it's doable just not quit there yet. This is kinda what the Xbox one wanted to do though. Eliminate the needs for disks. Well you say what people thought of that. I don't think this is to far off maybe next gen consoles? Say 5 years down the road?
 
I don't think this will happen in a wide spread way until there is some active regulation by FCC. Sure, the rich people will be able to afford it, and the cool kids in Google, Kansas or wherever that was. Its technically possible now, but there is too much money to be made selling fiber to the home at DSL rates like they do around Outpost 5.

We are "POLARized" up here.

 
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