3D Cloud Gaming?

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Zloth
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3D Cloud Gaming?

Post by Zloth »

Looks like NVIDIA has been pushing toward cloud based technology for gaming. I'm not sure what native resolution OnLive is using (it scales to fit whatever resolution you use) but it sure isn't 1920x1080. There's no way current internet speeds in the USA will be able to handle full HD in 3D.

But current internet speeds are about to get squashed, going from 5-10 megabits to 1000. Will that be enough to send 1920x1080 for two eyes? What about 3 HD screens in 3D? What about that 4K thing? Google fiber is fast and clever compression schemes can help a ton but that's a massive ton of data to push.

Even if it is enough, is there much chance that the client programs will be designed to take the S3D image pairs and turn them into something 3D Vision or a 3D TV understands?
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cybereality
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Re: 3D Cloud Gaming?

Post by cybereality »

3D cloud gaming could work today if they use SBS. Certainly I don't think there is the bandwidth for full 1080P 3D gaming just yet. But if you are talking lower res and frame-compatible formats (ie 720P SBS) then sure, they could do it.

To be honest, though, the quality and experience of stuff I've tried really is no where close to the quality of current PC gaming. Just check out "Gaikai" on Facebook. They have a number of games you can try. While its somewhat playable, the video is overly compressed and the frame-rate is sub-par (around 24FPS). I haven't tried OnLive yet, but I assume it has similar issues based on what I've read. So I think we are still a few years off from having something that is close to native rendering. But I could understand if you are on Mac or Linux, or have a low-end netbook, this might be a great way to play games on your machine. But for anyone with a real gaming rig, keep moving along.
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Zloth
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Re: 3D Cloud Gaming?

Post by Zloth »

Well, I wouldn't COMPLETELY move on - those places are great for demos. You can go from "hmm, I wonder if that's fun" to trying it out in just a few seconds with no worries about what junk the demo will install on your PC.

I don't expect 'thin client' gaming to beat 'thick client' until the publishers simply stop making games for PC and video card companies stop bothering to invent new high-end gamer graphics cards. Those publishers are going to be pretty eager to switch, too. Piracy will be 0, used game sales will be very low, and they won't have to deal with people who have installed half a dozen codec packs. Video card companies likely won't be so happy but crying about it doesn't make it profitable - which I suppose is why NVIDIA is working on the technology.
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ceashure
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Re: 3D Cloud Gaming?

Post by ceashure »

Wouldn't there be a noticeable input lag due to the inherit latency of a network connection? I wonder how they get around that issue. With any hard core gamer, milliseconds matter. I just don't see this becoming anything more than for demo's.
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Zloth
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Re: 3D Cloud Gaming?

Post by Zloth »

No, milliseconds do not matter for any hard core gamer. It very much depends on the game.

From the looks of testing, lag is going to hang around 200ms. The company founder was claiming more like 50ms. Those could actually both be right if the founder was just measuring the time it takes for the signal to get from your machine to their machines while the test measured the time it took between you pressing a button and something happening on the screen. I'll go with the 200, though.

So, will a fifth of a second affect your game? If it's a first person shooter where your target can jump out and back into cover in half a second, yes. If it's a turn based strategy game, obviously not. If it's a WW2 flight sim where it takes several seconds to line up a target, then maybe a little but probably not enough to justify buying a $1500 machine of your own instead of paying $10/month to use somebody else's dedicated server.

For a hard core shooter fan, this kind of system is the devil. For a hard core 4X gamer, it's fine. For a hard core RPG fan it's fine (lag wise, anyway - the lack of mods is another story). For a hard core RPG/Shooter hybrid fan, it's not so good but it's better than giving up gaming completely for lack of funds.
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Dudebro
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Re: 3D Cloud Gaming?

Post by Dudebro »

IIRC Onlive uses 720p, but it's so compressed it feels like it's lower than that (personal opinion)

If they can do 1080p they could do 3D with a lower def, but even today with 720p I got some problems getting Onlive to work as advertised, same with other similar services

It really is better for tablets and ultrabook types, but with carriers killing unlimited dataplans (just 5GB now) you are limited to non-overcrowded wifi hotspots (not gonna find one where I live :cry: )

Besides at computex some ultrabooks were packing discrete graphics, nothing fancy but enough to run most games at 720p, making cloud gaming kinda redudant
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Re: 3D Cloud Gaming?

Post by Zloth »

5 gigabyte limit!? That's just... just.... WRONG!!

OnLive said they were going to go to 1080p early this year but I don't think it ever happened.
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