OnLive's Epic Plan For a New Type of Video Game 137
Posted
by
timothy
from the it's-everywhere dept.
from the it's-everywhere dept.
An anonymous reader writes "OnLive's had a tough twelve months any way you look at it, but as a new profile of the cloud game streaming service points out, throughout it all, service never dropped, and the number of platforms it's on keeps growing. Up next is the tiny Ouya console, but in a wide-ranging interview, OnLive's general manager talks up plans to bring MMOs to the service, and even a whole new type of video game, one that will run on many servers, not just one PC: 'Look at how CGI has changed cinema over the last few years — you can do CGI essentially realtime. It could completely change what a video game looks like. That leads us to new technologies. Then game designers say, "What could I really do with a computing platform that is so powerful but also available across so many devices?" You're no longer constrained by computing power — that has tremendous opportunity.'"
Re:Not constrained (Score:5, Insightful)
Forget constrained by bandwidth, the real problem is latency. Unless they can put a data center in every city they plan to service they can basically forget about it.
Re:Not constrained (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Not constrained (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't think so small. You could write a real-time ray-tracer using LOGO and turtle graphics. Talk about geek cred!
Re:Not constrained (Score:4, Insightful)
if he can't make the finances work by renting one pc for a guy.
This is the best question about their whole business model. The stereotypical gamer is supposed to be a lumbering herd animal, right? Everyone plays the same game at the same time together online? So you can't make money off over subscription. So instead of the user directly financing a gaming PC, they'll intermediate themselves in between that transaction by providing .... Um...
I can't see the health club model working either, where you get people to sign up for new years resolution and then never see them again.
So when you strip away the tech angle, what is their business model exactly?
Re:Not constrained (Score:5, Insightful)
Guess: They have sold a lie to investors and are stuck in it.
Re:Bridge for Sale (Score:4, Insightful)
Uhhh...what EXACTLY is there to understand? The guy said that movie quality CGI is possible in real time and looking at the football stadium full of computers required to render "The Lord Of The Rings" which is over 16 years old shows that to be total bullshit.
I mean sure if you had infinite money to build a high rise filled with nothing but tesla cards sure it would be POSSIBLE, but it sure as hell ain't gonna be done by this company or any other and actually make a cent in profit as the cost of all those machines (plus power and cooling) will be more than they could ever make selling the service.
So sorry but he is full of shit unless you count "movie CGI" to be on the level of the first Tron from 1982, anything made in the early 90s or later is just gonna take more horse than is possible for this company to muster.