Now I have to be honest, I have largely been in the dark recently with regards to server based gaming, unintentionally dismissing it as a window of opportunity of 3D chess lovers and Doom fanatics seeking a more sociable platform to play together and coexist with modern systems.
Imagine the shock then when I read that using the median of the imminent OnLive (albeit for US games only) I could potentially play Crysis through my TV with little more than an internet connection, therefore cutting out the fat, expensive, fragile middle man with a short lifespan that is any tangible hardware to run my favourite titles. I tell you, it was like a frying pan to the face.
A cool glass of water and a few minutes sat down later, I identified the inevitable holes my fantasy of high spec gaming for the masses, and came to the conclusion that although the concept of cloud gaming is sound, there exist both technical and financial constraints which for the more immediate future at least hamper its development into the mainstream of gaming and ultimately surpassing the console/PC giants as the primary interface to interactive entertainment.
The first Goomba to waddle towards me came in the form of the inevitable cost of such a wondrous arrangement. Already the monthly subscription is a provisional 15 dollars, almost certainly set to rise, as well as a probable one off charge for each game you wish to play. The system allocates GPU power to games, with most likely a single processor to higher end titles, while games with lower system requirements could feasibly be run to multiple players off the same chip. This would put processing power at a premium and in the end the better games you might want to play (and let’s face it, this is exactly the type of person they need to target to become a success) the more you will have to pay. In the long run you might find yourself spending far more than you ever did on Mister fat and fragile hardware, and chances are you will be pushed around with special offers and pricing rules, restricting you as to what, when and how you want to play your games. It is definitely a case of power shifting to the Cloud. Want to take your new game to a mate’s house and play some co-op? Ask the Cloud. Want to play at 4 in the morning with no internet connection? Better send the Cloud a letter. Want to quit your job, dump your girlfriend and start a new career? You guessed it. Cloud.
The second major issue for me is the technical capacity requires for practically lag free multiplayer systems. Already anybody who has played any sort of high tempo shooter online will be familiar with the sound of your shotgun discharging into Xx_Sn1P3r4EvA_Xx’s chest at point blank range, only with no animation to follow and the swift agonisingly humiliating arrival of the kill-cam giving you front row seats to the teabag fest that is your dead body and his itchy crouch controls. Now OnLive synchronises and renders games, sending them to your monitor or TV, through your internet connection, loading your already slightly laggy multiplayer with more information. It goes without saying the connection would have to be top notch and OnLive themselves say any user would have to be within 1000 miles of one of their “data centres”. Of course this wouldn’t be a problem for us Brits on our tiny little island, but travelling abroad and/or to a larger country may cause problems, on top of the fact that the 1000 mile claim is probably an optimistic figure, as ever with specs relating to any sort of new hardware.
In all then I certainly don’t condemn Cloud Gaming to the depths of HD-DVD and the Dreamcast, I do however think it is relatively premature to start eyeing our consoles and PCs as a waste of time and money. The UK release Date for OnLive remains ominously elusive, although I would regard the US release as more of a guinea pig strategy than a coveted exclusivity. In my opinion Cloud Gaming through OnLive and its already rising competitors is a genuine glimpse through the porthole of the future, though technically and financially not viable for a few years yet. It seems then that the fat middleman still has its uses after all, even after glimpsing its hotter younger (if slightly air headed and high maintenance) sister.