Cloud Gaming. The future?

[big10p]

As part of a Prime subscription, you get access to a few games on Luna (Amazon's cloud gaming service), so thought I'd take a look. I was interested to see how well (or badly) it works, particularly when it comes to control input lag. Inevitably, there is detectable lag, if you look for it, but not quite as bad as I feared it would be. The few games I've tried are still very playable.

There's currently a pretty nice, retro side scroller (action/platformer) on there called Steel Assault.

I can't help but think that cloud gaming is probably the future of mainstream gaming? No more expensive consoles? Curious to hear other people's experience and thoughts on cloud gaming.

 

[jimmerd]

At the end of the day both the game video has to be encoded and sent to you and your input on the controller returned, so it's down to how good the link is to the server is, on the public internet probably not perfect. Even if a few ms delay each way it all adds up.

It can work very well ( or good enough ), but it's prone to drifting in and out of sync compared to what we have come to expect with local hardware.

When a game is designed to be cloud native, then there are lot's of tricks it can do to composite for the loss of sync (such as trying to predict what you are going to do and roll back/forward as needed).

I had the 'OnLive" console about a decade ago, and they had dedicated servers in London, which with a low ping was pretty similar to todays cloud gaming and a good way to play lot's of expensive PC games on a £60 system, it was great on a FPS like Duke Nukem 3D, because a bit of lag did not really affect gameplay to much, but is was terrible on platform/arcade type games, only needs one slow response every 5 minutes - tap the button then you miss your jump etc..They went bust because allegedly were needing to buy a full PC for every two people playing the game or something!

I've not tried the new online play recently, but expect the same reason google failed with cloud gaming. I should give it a go right, maybe its fixed now?

So for me probably a good way to discover games and casual gaming, but if I'm serious about the experience being good all the time I would rather just spend 5 minutes to download.

 

[big10p]

At the end of the day both the game video has to be encoded and sent to you and your input on the controller returned, so it's down to how good the link is to the server is, on the public internet probably not perfect. Even if a few ms delay each way it all adds up.

It can work very well ( or good enough ), but it's prone to drifting in and out of sync compared to what we have come to expect with local hardware.

When a game is designed to be cloud native, then there are lot's of tricks it can do to composite for the loss of sync (such as trying to predict what you are going to do and roll back/forward as needed).

I had the 'OnLive" console about a decade ago, and they had dedicated servers in London, which with a low ping was pretty similar to todays cloud gaming and a good way to play lot's of expensive PC games on a £60 system, it was great on a FPS like Duke Nukem 3D, because a bit of lag did not really affect gameplay to much, but is was terrible on platform/arcade type games, only needs one slow response every 5 minutes - tap the button then you miss your jump etc..They went bust because apparently they were needing to buy a full PC for every two people playing the game or something!

I've not tried the new online play recently, but expect the same reason google failed with cloud gaming. I should give it a go right, maybe its fixed now?

So for me probably a good way to discover games and casual gaming, but if I'm serious about the experience being good all the time I would rather just spend 5 minutes to download.

This is my first experience of cloud gaming, so I don't know if things have improved. Luna can be controlled using Xbox/PS5 controllers I think, but as I don't have one of those, I got a dedicated Luna controller in the Black Friday sale. It connnects directly over wi-fi to the cloud, independently of the streaming device. I can't say if this helps to reduce lag. It also means I can switch to playing on pretty much any device, easily (it can also be used as a regular wired or bluetooth PC controller, which is a nice bonus).

 

[jimmerd]

Sounds like they are trying a slightly diffrent approach, I will certainly give it go to be able to give a comparison.

maybe somebody should look at JAMMA/JVS over the internet next? I would love to digitally borrow somebody else's expensive PCB's

 

[deadendthrills]

Appreciate this is more about WAN streaming but Moonlight is working extremely well for people streaming local CGA games from PC to Pi-based cabs.

 

[kingtreelo]

cloud gaming is absolute shite, terrible input lag on any game that requires some decent timing

few people i have spoken to over the past few weeks have said GTA5 is cloud on gamepass and said it is often completely unplayable, now imagine that on a game that requires precise inputs

not for me, i played some snowboarding game on gamepass and it was dreadful

 

[big10p]

cloud gaming is absolute shite, terrible input lag on any game that requires some decent timing

few people i have spoken to over the past few weeks have said GTA5 is cloud on gamepass and said it is often completely unplayable, now imagine that on a game that requires precise inputs

not for me, i played some snowboarding game on gamepass and it was dreadful

I can't comment on gamepass as I've never used it. It's not perfect on Luna but it's not shite. I've just been trying a few games on it using the free trial, including a racer (Horizon Chase) and a few others, and it's very playable.

Still early days for cloud gaming, but I really think it's going to be big in the future. But what do I know...

 

[TheDaddy]

I am very old fashioned and love my physical copies. I had xbox one and turned it on a hand full of times and hated it so never bothered with game pass thing although my son swears by it.

Is gamepass cloud or does it download a physical copy ?? What constitutes 'cloud' to me it means running the exe remote, but could be wrong.

I have only just downloaded steam due to prices and lack of physical copies, i now just play on my PC. First time i fired it up on faming pc i could not log in , captcha shit not working and i found it a complete nightmare , proper stressed me out ! Worried if i cant log in i lost all games i have paid for.

I am no big gamer at all by the way ! Just my 10p worth.

Dave.

 

[big10p]

I am very old fashioned and love my physical copies. I had xbox one and turned it on a hand full of times and hated it so never bothered with game pass thing although my son swears by it.

Is gamepass cloud or does it download a physical copy ?? What constitutes 'cloud' to me it means running the exe remote, but could be wrong.

I have only just downloaded steam due to prices and lack of physical copies, i now just play on my PC. First time i fired it up on faming pc i could not log in , captcha shit not working and i found it a complete nightmare , proper stressed me out ! Worried if i cant log in i lost all games i have paid for.

I am no big gamer at all by the way ! Just my 10p worth.

Dave.

No idea about game pass, TBH. I gave up on consoles after my ps3 rarely got used. Well, apart from Nintendo Switch, which is great.

I have a gaming PC but only really use it for pcvr. Maybe it's my age, but sitting in front of a pc to play games doesn't appeal to me anymore. That's one of the things I'm liking about cloud gaming - I can play on whatever device I feel like, and even pause a game and carry on playing on another device.

 

[CMYKhazi-Dan]

I have a gaming PC but only really use it for pcvr. Maybe it's my age

Yep, all about the vr porn these days 😆

 

[TheDaddy]

Yep, all about the vr porn these days 😆

Er vr porn !!!! I got an oculus about 8 months ago and not even looked it yet. Tell me more my friend !

I looked at half life VR but its £50 and i am way to tight to spend that sort of money.

I have the pc mainly for Flight sim but play on golf (not purchased for pc yet , had it on xbox) and first person stuff. Just finished return to castle wolfenstein and moved on too new order. Difference in graphics are staggering but i still enjoy the old ones. Proper enjoying playing them , had it for xbox but not the same. I have lost my soldier of fortune 2 need to purchase another, want to play that again.

Then there is worms Armageddon !!! Forgot that one, trying back into it. Still seems to be a good onlone community.

No clue what good games there are for VR i realy need to grab some and try it , there is a golf one i have seen.

Sorry big10p i am hijacking your thread here......

Dave.

 

[CMYKhazi-Dan]

Er vr porn !!!! I got an oculus about 8 months ago and not even looked it yet. Tell me more my friend !

I looked at half life VR but its £50 and i am way to tight to spend that sort of money.

I have the pc mainly for Flight sim but play on golf (not purchased for pc yet , had it on xbox) and first person stuff. Just finished return to castle wolfenstein and moved on too new order. Difference in graphics are staggering but i still enjoy the old ones. Proper enjoying playing them , had it for xbox but not the same. I have lost my soldier of fortune 2 need to purchase another, want to play that again.

Then there is worms Armageddon !!! Forgot that one, trying back into it. Still seems to be a good onlone community.

No clue what good games there are for VR i realy need to grab some and try it , there is a golf one i have seen.

Sorry big10p i am hijacking your thread here......

Dave.

I've never found that USB stick I ripped out the PS5 when there was a knock at the door!

 

[Shun]

I used to have a Stadia account and bought Sekiro and that was pretty playable. Gave up towards the end and was intending to go back to it at some point, but then Google killed Stadia off and I got a full refund on my purchase.
I've recently been trying X Cloud and that's pretty good. Completed Lies of P on that. Runs nicely at 60fps and minimal lag. Looks even better on the Edge browser (that's the only thing I've ever used Edge for 😅 ). I would recommend giving X Cloud a try for a month to see how you get on.

I've also got a small form factor low powered Dell machine that sits hidden away in the Arcade/Office. It's mostly used as a Plex machine, but I can use that for Steam Remote Play and stream games from that machine to my MacBook. It works ok, but that does lag a little bit. Apparently Moonlight is much better but I need to upgrade my GPU to be able to work with that.

Cloud gaming is great for someone like me who doesn't have a gaming PC or one of the latest consoles to play the latest games (with the exception of the Switch). I just don't want a bulky PC or Console box in the living room anymore. Would rather put that somewhere else in the house or use a cloud service.

 

[Sbdesign]

No more expensive consoles?

Once I became an arcade collector, I felt the price of consoles were 2 a penny

 

[TheDaddy]

I've never found that USB stick I ripped out the PS5 when there was a knock at the door!

Jesus how young were they ! lol

Dave.

 

[CMYKhazi-Dan]

Jesus how young were they ! lol

Dave.

Was Jehovah witnesses, probably mid 70s to 80s 😆

 

[_Matt_]

Er vr porn !!!! I got an oculus about 8 months ago and not even looked it yet. Tell me more my friend !

I looked at half life VR but its £50 and i am way to tight to spend that sort of money.

I have the pc mainly for Flight sim but play on golf (not purchased for pc yet , had it on xbox) and first person stuff. Just finished return to castle wolfenstein and moved on too new order. Difference in graphics are staggering but i still enjoy the old ones. Proper enjoying playing them , had it for xbox but not the same. I have lost my soldier of fortune 2 need to purchase another, want to play that again.

Then there is worms Armageddon !!! Forgot that one, trying back into it. Still seems to be a good onlone community.

No clue what good games there are for VR i realy need to grab some and try it , there is a golf one i have seen.

Sorry big10p i am hijacking your thread here......

Dave.

Half Life Alyx was on sale recently for £16 but back to £50 now although it will be back on sale again so keep an eye out as it's worth every penny. There is another pcvr steam sale on right now until the 11th. Try something like Superhot VR (on sale £7.99) or Half Life 2 and get the free VR mod from steam.

 

[kingtreelo]

I can't comment on gamepass as I've never used it. It's not perfect on Luna but it's not shite. I've just been trying a few games on it using the free trial, including a racer (Horizon Chase) and a few others, and it's very playable.

Still early days for cloud gaming, but I really think it's going to be big in the future. But what do I know...

it isnt...its awful

 

[CMYKhazi-Dan]

it isnt...its awful

It is...its awful

 

[Venom]

I don't really buy any games now as use the just about legal trick to get xbox ultimate for same price as normal gold, done that for last 6 years. I tried a couple of their cloud based games but was not a wow factor, so still tend to download them. I have not bothered with the newer ps5 or xbox. Fancy getting a switch if or when they do a new one, as seems quite a lot of money for what it is, rather buy it newer if a newer model does come out...