End of "graphics card era"?

[T_rac3]

Good news or *bad news for gamers?
https://www.techradar.com/news/stad...-to-know-about-googles-game-streaming-service
I think with this, if it is true (and looks legit) our quest for "the best" graphic card is over. All you need is a "thick" network cable and a big 4k screen. No GTX or RTX, no nothing.
Also this could be the death strike to console manufacturers.
Have anyone try this technology when was in beta?
I saw now you could play Assassin's Creed Odysee in Project Stream.
What also I can see it is *one annual subscription we have to pay to play. (
I totally disagree the fact you can't buy your software and you must pay an annual subscription. Recently I looked up for a good antivirus, and all are free or annual subscription)
And now (soon) we couldn't buy even our hardware, just rent it
It is good or it is bad?
For sure it is something else.

 

[Kenny Paton]

If you'd told me 12 - 15 years ago that all the videogame boxes cluttering up my shelves would not be about soon and that the vast bulk of my PC games would be digital "services" I would have laughed. So this may be the next step, and I wouldn't like to bet against it becoming the norm, after all Microsoft announced a non disc streaming X-box.
With my tinfoil hat on, bad, I worry that gamers are being stripped of their choices and directed down a path where more control is in the hands of a few corporations, but with my fiscal hat on, good, I like the idea that I don't have to spend a small fortune to enjoy my gaming.
Of course it will depend on how well it all functions in the real world, but Google don't normally make many missteps.
As an afterthought this could also benefit VR as I'm sure that the processing power would allow for cheaper headsets with better resolution.

 

[Miguel Batista]

If you'd told me 12 - 15 years ago that all the videogame boxes cluttering up my shelves would not be about soon and that the vast bulk of my PC games would be digital "services" I would have laughed. So this may be the next step, and I wouldn't like to bet against it becoming the norm, after all Microsoft announced a non disc streaming X-box.
With my tinfoil hat on, bad, I worry that gamers are being stripped of their choices and directed down a path where more control is in the hands of a few corporations, but with my fiscal hat on, good, I like the idea that I don't have to spend a small fortune to enjoy my gaming.
Of course it will depend on how well it all functions in the real world, but Google don't normally make many missteps.
As an afterthought this could also benefit VR as I'm sure that the processing power would allow for cheaper headsets with better resolution.

Not so fasT with VR. latency is a major issue in VR and There are no shortcuts here. If you are in spain or Portugal and the server is in the netherlands 30ms of latency will be noticed. It will also translate in conteoller input meaning that steering wheels will have input lag.

 

[Kenny Paton]

It will also translate in conteoller input meaning that steering wheels will have input lag.

I suspect that Google will not be too concerned about our little corner of the gaming world.
As to VR as a non user I'm not familiar with the details of it's problems.

 

[Miguel Batista]

I suspect that Google will not be too concerned about our little corner of the gaming world.
As to VR as a non user I'm not familiar with the details of it's problems.

Well, not our corner per se. But this extends to competitive fps games too. The problem with latency in VR is that you get sick really quick. Imagine turning your head and your eyes take 30ms to follow. It will get a bit vomity very quickly.

 

[Kenny Paton]

Miguel Batista Thanks for the info, you are probably correct, I did say it was an afterthought.

 

[T_rac3]

Yes, here are also a lot of e-sports where the speed of reaction it is very important and (for me at least very, very impressive). I didn't want to upset any simracer here, but looks like for them it is more important don't have any lag. And there are thousands of users, so Google have to be very careful .

 

[Miguel Batista]

Yes, here are also a lot of e-sports where the speed of reaction it is very important and (for me at least very, very impressive). I didn't want to upset any simracer here, but looks like for them it is more important don't have any lag. And there are thousands of users, so Google have to be very careful .

And There is nothing you can do about it. Light has a finite speed so you will always have lag. But again, for games like assassin's creed or Witcher 3 it will make no difference whatsoever imho so this will have its niche.

 

[Kenny Paton]

Yes, here are also a lot of e-sports where the speed of reaction it is very important and (for me at least very, very impressive). I didn't want to upset any simracer here, but looks like for them it is more important don't have any lag. And there are thousands of users, so Google have to be very careful .

So maybe not as straightforward as I imagined, although I think they will have thought of this, after all they have some of the top IT experts.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

People are whining about lag from VSync, and lag with this is huge as reported by GDC attendies.
If they could solve that, the only blocking factor would be super speed fiber network, that is not available everywhere. I am using remote desktop on daily basis, and lag is barely passable.
I am sure they will figure something out, cloud is the future.

 

[dud]

The speed of light puts a limit on how good the experience can be here. Light can be annoyingly slow when you need lots of really fast turnarounds.

 

[Miguel Batista]

Now this is interesting:

https://m.hexus.net/tech/news/graph...raphics-nears-amd-vega-8-perf-aots-benchmark/

Basically next gen on-board Intel graphics show results comparable to Vega 8 which is the graphics chip on the 2200 APU. I recently built a system using the 2400G APU and that thing provides slightly more power than a PS4 when overclocked properly. The 2200G s close in performance but lags behind a bit (so best case around a PS4 level of power though normally more around 95% of the power of a PS4). what is interesting about this is that next gen AMD APUs will likely come in the 7nm manufacturing node making them more powerful (maybe a Vega 20...) and since this current gen already has the power of a PS4, can we run the PSVR headset from a 2400G system? I will definitely buy a second hand one and try it out. If you can that is impressively cheap for VR.

 

[Sim Strata]

Input lag would be horrendous!

 

[Nick Gregory]

I think it'll be a bad thing for consumers. The big publishers see everyone as a dollar sign, and being able to control the game in every circumstance is their wet dream. If this is a commercial success, and others go streaming exclusively, say goodbye to mods, and being able to actually own games. You'll probably even be locked down to what ever controller(s) they say you can use, and there won't be a way around it.

 

[Deleted member 197115]

That"s what consoles do today anyway, biggest gaming market so far.

 

[T_rac3]

That"s what consoles do today anyway

That's why we are not on console

 

[Deleted member 197115]

That's why we are not on console

You mean me, you, and your buddy?
PC segment is shrinking, unfortunatelly, for most publisher releasing game for PC is in the best case afterthought, or super low or even non existing priority. We are just irrelevant to their revenue.

 

[Please Stop This]

if you shortly think about it, cloud-sim-racing will not be a thing

 

[Kenny Paton]

That"s what consoles do today anyway, biggest gaming market so far.

Consoles are plug n' play, that's the beauty of them, pc's not so much

 

[Miguel Batista]

Consoles are plug n' play, that's the beauty of them, pc's not so much

Depends. Computers can be plug and play as well. That is what steam machines were supposed to be. However, they were dragged down by choice of hardware and OS imho.

As for console market being the biggest, well for a lot of AAA studios, yes. But the most popular games in the World (World of Warcraft, MOBAs, Fortnight, etc) have a far greater following on PC. There are more Steam Accounts than Consoles in the world etc. It is a matter of having a perceived difficulty of entering the hobby together with a lot of misinformation from console people as well. Only thing I have against consoles is the anti consumer practices they bring to the hobby (exclusives, locked systems, etc). Which Epic Store is attempting to bring to the PC. That is why I will not buy anything from the Epic Store.