Planetside 2 and Cloud Gaming ?

KaB · 2012-07-02, 07:11 AM

http://kotaku.com/5922775/sony-buys-...gaming-service

I just found this new article from Kotaku talking about Sony going to buy a cloud gaming service. If you don't know what is Cloud Gaming and want to try it, search OnLive on google, sign up and download it.
To make a long story short, the Cloud Gaming makes the game running somewhere on earth on a very big and powerful computer, and through its connexion the player will receive images from this big computer and will control it with its peripherals.

Planetside 2 isn't mentionned in the article. But even if sony is a huge company, its Planetside 2 might become one of its biggest game ever with this growing up success from the social networks. And I started to believe that it could be just awesome because Cloud Gaming allow players to play any kind of game on any kind of computer/device having a good internet connexion. So people who don't have a powerful computer will be able to play the game with best graphics without any lag.
It'll also settle the hacker problem as the players won't have any access to the game files.

Now the question is : will it be financially advantageous for Sony ? Especially for a F2P ?

ChipMHazard · 2012-07-02, 07:17 AM

I could see this possibility being a very profitable one, if PS2 ends up being popular.
The ability for those with fiber, or just very good connection, to be able to play PS2 without having to invest in an expensive system would open up the market even more. The more players you have playing the game the more players you have that could be converted into buyers. Also with the money they saved they might be more inclined to purchase ingame... stuff.
Of course the amount of consumers able to use cloud services to an acceptable degree is still limited, but growing.

Edit: As has been pointed out in latter posts I am being a wee bit too optimistic about cloud gaming and it's current viability in certain genres.

Vanath · 2012-07-02, 07:20 AM

PS2 could be one of SOE's largest games, but probably not a large part of Sony's revenue. They have far more services that will pay for this. I'm not very sure PS2 will even use it. It sounds like they more intend to use it for handheld devices. Whatever Sony plans to do with it i'm sure it will pay for itself.

Relevant article: http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...or-380-million

ChipMHazard · 2012-07-02, 07:41 AM

Originally Posted by Vanath

PS2 could be one of SOE's largest games, but probably not a large part of Sony's revenue. They have far more services that will pay for this. I'm not very sure PS2 will even use it. It sounds like they more intend to use it for handheld devices. Whatever Sony plans to do with it i'm sure it will pay for itself.

Relevant article: http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...or-380-million

Aye Sony's main interest lie in their consoles and handhelds, not the pc market. Atleast not until they can make the pc market into a more viable console experience, which cloud services could do in the future.

xnorb · 2012-07-02, 07:44 AM

Originally Posted by KaB

So people who don't have a powerful computer will be able to play the game with best graphics without any lag.

That's so LOL.

a) OnlIve offers only 720p resolution (In contrary to my 1920x1200)
b) You need a good network connection with enough bandwidth and low
enough latency to get an acceptable result.

So funny, i know when TFTs hit the market, FPS gamers worried about
the high reaction times of the monitors and now FPS gamers are supposed
to accept input lag to up to 100ms ? LOL

People with low specs computers usually also don't invest a lot in their
internet connection - so most likely don't have the low latency, high speed
internet that's strongly advised for such services.

On a side note:
Lag is network related, only many misuse it when they encounter frame
drops or CPU hangs. So it's up to your connection if there's lag or not.

Vreki · 2012-07-02, 07:45 AM

I dont think you will see this with an FPS game.
In a "traditional" game your avatar still responds at once regardless of latency, because you have zero latency to your own client.
But with this concept, every mouse movement have to make it to the server, then the server calculates how your movements looks and send them back.

It might be possible if the servers are hosted really close to where you live so there is very minimal latency.

Imagine that you live in Australia, but a friend lives next to where PS is hosted. So you Remote Desktop to his PC and plays PS on it. Does that sound like a pleasant experience.?

Shogun · 2012-07-02, 07:49 AM

wouldn´t a cloud service solve the hardware problems of the ps3?

sony could link the ps3 to a cloud gaming service and it would be able to run games like planetside 2 with no problems. the playstation would not have to handle the full game, but only the cloudgaming client and maybe the voip part.
give the cloudgaming client full keyboard and mouse support and link it to the playstation plus service, and you have a powerful gaming solution for a wide audience.

Vreki · 2012-07-02, 08:01 AM

Originally Posted by Shogun

give the cloudgaming client full keyboard and mouse support and link it to the playstation plus service, and you have a powerful gaming solution for a wide audience.

I fear that "wide audience" would be limited to people with fibre-optic connections living less than 20 miles from the hosting center.

Chess in the cloud? Sure, no problem. MMOFPS? I doubt, because of the reason stated in the posts above.

KaB · 2012-07-02, 08:02 AM

OnLive looks terrible I agree. But it's only the beginning !

When everybody will have a fiber at 100mbps connexion speed around the world we'll start to see some interesting stuff.

Shade Millith · 2012-07-02, 08:05 AM

Originally Posted by Shogun

wouldn´t a cloud service solve the hardware problems of the ps3?

sony could link the ps3 to a cloud gaming service and it would be able to run games like planetside 2 with no problems. the playstation would not have to handle the full game, but only the cloudgaming client and maybe the voip part.
give the cloudgaming client full keyboard and mouse support and link it to the playstation plus service, and you have a powerful gaming solution for a wide audience.

Cloud gaming is for those with poor spec systems, and those situated very close to the servers.

For everyone else, it's going to be a much worse experience than simply running the thing from your own unit. Low resolutions, latency everywhere.

ChipMHazard · 2012-07-02, 08:08 AM

Originally Posted by Vreki

I fear that "wide audience" would be limited to people with fibre-optic connections living less than 20 miles from the hosting center.

Chess in the cloud? Sure, no problem. MMOFPS? I doubt, because of the reason stated in the posts above.

Very true. The potential playerbase almost certainly won't grow fast enough for the service to become part of PS2, even years after launch.

Originally Posted by KaB

When everybody will have a fiber at 100mbps connexion speed around the world we'll start to see some interesting stuff.

For that to happen we will have to wait many, many years.

Cosmical · 2012-07-02, 08:09 AM

Cloud gaming is fine for single player games like Batman Arkham City. Games where you can just enjoy and play.

Competative multiplayer though, i dont think so. Although the ping is barely noticable, add onto that server delay, and differing player packet deliveries, it would be nigh unplayable.

That being said, if you are willing to lose a fair fight through no fault of your own, then not having to spend a grand on a new PC may be totally worth it. Plus i put up with alot worse than DELAY when i first started playing PS1 on my dial up that cut me off every two hours.

EDIT - Cloud gaming is like looking down at someone from on high and trying to command them to dodge cars via a mobile phone.

And cloud competative gaming is like giving someone else the commands to dodge the cars, and then them having to shout it accross the street.

Vreki · 2012-07-02, 08:19 AM

Originally Posted by KaB

OnLive looks terrible I agree. But it's only the beginning !

When everybody will have a fiber at 100mbps connexion speed around the world we'll start to see some interesting stuff.

Unfortunately, that is just an increase in bandwitdh, not a decrease in latency.
So while they may be able to send 999999 times as many mouseclicks a second as we do today., those mouseclicks still have 100ms travel time to the server.

I got a 30Mb/s fibre connection, and I got just as much lag as anybody else.
Steam games arrives almost instantly though

Molkien · 2012-07-02, 08:50 AM

OnLive cordons off players from the regular PC users, so for instance if you are playing Assassin's Creed Multiplayer, you are only playing against other OnLive users. So unless they make a separate server in PS2 for OnLive users, I don't see it happening.

Sirisian · 2012-07-02, 09:00 AM

Would be nice to play Planetside 2 at work. At my university I get an 8 ms latency to their server making playing any game feel local on an integrated graphics computer. I'm sure many university students would appreciate being able to play using a lab computer. That and anyone with the bandwidth in chicago or texas since they have 4 ms type latency to the OnLive servers.

Edit, I've used Gaikai before. Seemed like a lower quality version of OnLive. That was over a year ago though when I tried it. I assume they've expanded a lot by now.