Amazon announces cloud gaming service

[Artman2004]

Who is the customer base for this, anyways? Why not play on a PC or console?

[Gokuma]

15 hours ago, NoXion said:

If the bastards could privatise the atmosphere and then sell you a subscription for oxygen, they'd do it without a twinge of conscience. It's fucking shit.

 

*cough cough* the end goal of carbon taxes *cough cough*

[Cacodemon345]

7 hours ago, Artman2004 said:

Who is the customer base for this, anyways? Why not play on a PC or console?

Dumb gamer zombies, apparently.

[NoXion]

5 hours ago, Gokuma said:

*cough cough* the end goal of carbon taxes *cough cough*

Nah, carbon taxes are just a way for corporations to shirk their responsibilities regarding carbon emissions, by throwing money at governments instead of actually changing their processes to emit less CO2.

In effect, they are paying relatively small sums out of their vast ill-gotten gains so that they can continue trashing the atmosphere we all have to live in.
 

 

7 hours ago, Artman2004 said:

Who is the customer base for this, anyways? Why not play on a PC or console?

I honestly wonder what the real motive is behind these companies pushing cloud gaming. Obviously they must have done some market research, but since we're not privy to their findings, we can't honestly be sure about what exactly were the goals and motivation behind that research. So the idea that there must be some genuine market for this kinda crap seems like a specious argument.

[Graf Zahl]

7 hours ago, Artman2004 said:

Who is the customer base for this, anyways? Why not play on a PC or console?

 

Those people who, according to the industy, "have no need for a real computer". The story probably goes like "Hey, in order to play new games you constantly have to buy upgrades to your home computer. Why not come to us? - all you need is some cheap hardware that's capable of decoding a video stream."

 

43 minutes ago, NoXion said:

I honestly wonder what the real motive is behind these companies pushing cloud gaming. Obviously they must have done some market research, but since we're not privy to their findings, we can't honestly be sure about what exactly were the goals and motivation behind that research. So the idea that there must be some genuine market for this kinda crap seems like a specious argument.

 

"If there is no market, we will create one."

Sometimes there's a genuine Cloud-Cuckoo-Land mentality around there, it's very clear that these IT guys often have no idea how real people tick.

I think a big part of the master plan is to take control of as much as possible before our dear politicians finally wake up and try to combat the monster the had allowed to grow.

 

But seriously, there's definitely a market for gaming subscriptions. The problem is that streaming is not the solution for it because it simply cannot work due to the technical limitations.

 

 

[NoXion]

28 minutes ago, Graf Zahl said:

"If there is no market, we will create one."

Sometimes there's a genuine Cloud-Cuckoo-Land mentality around there, it's very clear that these IT guys often have no idea how real people tick.

I think a big part of the master plan is to take control of as much as possible before our dear politicians finally wake up and try to combat the monster the had allowed to grow.

 

But seriously, there's definitely a market for gaming subscriptions. The problem is that streaming is not the solution for it because it simply cannot work due to the technical limitations.

How do you think the Amazon/Google model compares with the Microsoft one? One of my friends has an Xbox Game Pass subscription that he claims gives him cheap access to new(ish?) games, most of which he has no real desire to hold onto. I don't think he would like services like Stadia or this Amazon one, but I don't think I've talked with him about it. Microsoft have at least 10 million subscribers so there's at least a market for it, but a quick Googling seems to imply that Game Pass is a loss maker? I think the recent acquisition of ZeniMax might indicate a longer-term strategy.

[Mr. Freeze]

57 minutes ago, NoXion said:

Nah, carbon taxes are just a way for corporations to shirk their responsibilities regarding carbon emissions, by throwing money at governments instead of actually changing their processes to emit less CO2.

In effect, they are paying relatively small sums out of their vast ill-gotten gains so that they can continue trashing the atmosphere we all have to live in.
 

 

Carbon taxes aren't meant to exist in a vacuum, they're meant to create an incentive for corporations to change their emissions while helping green energy in the meantime. Start it out low, and then increase it so you can avoid placing too much burden on people while eventually being able to stop larger companies from taking advantage of the tax.

 

31 minutes ago, Graf Zahl said:

 

"If there is no market, we will create one."

Sometimes there's a genuine Cloud-Cuckoo-Land mentality around there, it's very clear that these IT guys often have no idea how real people tick.

I think a big part of the master plan is to take control of as much as possible before our dear politicians finally wake up and try to combat the monster the had allowed to grow.

 

If I were a betting man, I'd wager that the games-as-a-service startup companies are:

 

A: Aware that people are spending less, and that they may prefer a monthly subscription to Gaming Service instead of $599 for a console and $70 games. 

B: Praying that by the time this stuff releases, the internet speeds around the country will have increased so latency is a small factor. 

C: Hoping to be the Next Big Tech Company and that this is their inroad.

[NoXion]

Just now, Mr. Freeze said:

 

Carbon taxes aren't meant to exist in a vacuum, they're meant to create an incentive for corporations to change their emissions while helping green energy in the meantime. Start it out low, and then increase it so you can avoid placing too much burden on people while eventually being able to stop larger companies from taking advantage of the tax.

Yeah, that's the sales pitch for carbon taxes. But I'm skeptical that perverse incentives won't arise, whether it be through deliberate sabotage from the private sector and the governments they effectively own, or just through massive multi-nationals using their vast resources to run legal rings around entire countries with GDPs smaller than their profit and loss performance.

I don't think it's beyond the wit of legislators to come up with better ideas, but I think a lot of people can see that the problem is at root a political one, not technical or legislative. Even if no two of them can ever entirely agree on the nature of the political problem.

 

 

8 minutes ago, Mr. Freeze said:

If I were a betting man, I'd wager that the games-as-a-service startup companies are:

 

A: Aware that people are spending less, and that they may prefer a monthly subscription to Gaming Service instead of $599 for a console and $70 games. 

B: Praying that by the time this stuff releases, the internet speeds around the country will have increased so latency is a small factor. 

C: Hoping to be the Next Big Tech Company and that this is their inroad.

Which start-ups are involved in games-as-a-service? As far as I can see it's being pushed by the present order of tech giants such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon.

[Mr. Freeze]

I was thinking of two things when I wrote that: Shadow and the Phantom...which led me to an embarrassing Gaming Boomer Moment when I realized upon reading your post that the Phantom never released and it's from 2006. 

[NoXion]

4 minutes ago, Mr. Freeze said:

I was thinking of two things when I wrote that: Shadow and the Phantom...which led me to an embarrassing Gaming Boomer Moment when I realized upon reading your post that the Phantom never released and it's from 2006. 

Looks like the Tech Giants have been stealing Shadow's lunch, because that's an article from 2019 and I'd never heard of them until now. I guess that's inevitable considering the vast disparity in advertising budgets.

[Graf Zahl]

1 hour ago, NoXion said:

How do you think the Amazon/Google model compares with the Microsoft one? One of my friends has an Xbox Game Pass subscription that he claims gives him cheap access to new(ish?) games, most of which he has no real desire to hold onto. I don't think he would like services like Stadia or this Amazon one, but I don't think I've talked with him about it. Microsoft have at least 10 million subscribers so there's at least a market for it, but a quick Googling seems to imply that Game Pass is a loss maker? I think the recent acquisition of ZeniMax might indicate a longer-term strategy.

 

The Microsoft model depends on local play, it's not just an interactive video stream. As such, it's a business model I'd find more interesting than buying renting DRM-crippled games but pay full price. At least it is honest about its intentions.

 

57 minutes ago, Mr. Freeze said:

B: Praying that by the time this stuff releases, the internet speeds around the country will have increased so latency is a small factor. 

 

Too bad then that the speeds that need increasing can't be. The problem is not a question of bandwidth - it's a question of how long a single bit from your system takes to reach the server, and like I pointed out, that's subject to physical limitations - the further away your server farm is from your customers, the longer the bits take to travel back and forth between your system and the server and the more lag the customer will experience.

 

[Gez]

3 hours ago, NoXion said:

Nah, carbon taxes are just a way for corporations to shirk their responsibilities regarding carbon emissions, by throwing money at governments instead of actually changing their processes to emit less CO2.

Correction: carbon taxes are just a way for corporation to make a lot of money by trading carbon and by cheating fiscal services. Especially in the European Union where the whole carousel fraud system has been created specially for that (basically: pretend you've paid the same tax in two countries, so that you get "refunded"; you didn't actually pay the tax anywhere).

[Gokuma]

I was just joking about literally being taxed on the air we breath, but they would do it if they could.  But good there on exposing the real corruption in carbon taxes and the European Union (an idea sold, set up, and scammed by elite banks).   The way I understand it, the whole time Al Gore is flying around on his private jet burning way more fuel than any of us "normal" people, he was trying to set things up for some of that carbon tax money to go into his pocket though I'm not sure how, all while he was more of an oil boy than Bush ever was.   Freaking totally embarrassed I voted for Gore+Lieberman, but fortunately no guilt since they lost (at least officially).   Would feel freaking embarrassed AND guilty if I voted for Bush+Cheney.

[SYS]

It's irrelevant whether it succeeds or fails. Presumably it's leveraging AWS so they can easily scale it. 

 

If they were to bundle it into a Prime Membership like they do with Prime Video, adoption rates for the service would be a no brainer. 

 

Twitch Streamers can stream the stream of their game stream as they stream. 

[seed]

12 hours ago, SYS said:

Twitch Streamers can stream the stream of their game stream as they stream. 

 

Which I am sure will come at no performance cost. That would be borderline unplayable.