Is Cloud Gaming the future?

Obviously one of the most talked about topics for the next-generation of consoles and beyond, is the subject of Cloud Gaming and digital downloads. Cloud gaming allows devices to stream video games from a remote server that perform heavy-duty processing before sending compressed audio and video back to the users device. Digital downloads are pretty self-explanatory as we’ve already been witness to it this generation with things like Games OnDemand for the Xbox 360 and PSN Day 1 Digital on Playstation 3.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

The future is in the clouds.

Just need to get past the bandwidth problems.

[Neko_Mega]

I ant to play it now!!!

[BDSE]

No, the future isn't a cloud and/or digital only future. It's been over 10 years since the 'death of cd's' and cd album sales still out pace digital albums.

[Catoplepas]

That's only because 95% of music downloaded is done so illegally, and therefore not tracked.

[whitesoxfalife1976]

exactly catoplepas

[sly-Famous]

Far from it, its no doubt part of the future but consumers still want to be able to handle their software/hardware.

[Bladesfist]

PC has chosen digital, I give it 2 gens till consoles follow suit. Here is a little pros vs cons.

Pros
- Free to manufacture
- The above opens up the industry to small independent developers which leads to more games.
- Savings can be passed on to consumers.
- Good for the environment.
- Developers can work up until launch and then pass the updated build to the distributors.
- No damaged discs.
- No used game sales (Publishers are pushing for this already).
- HDDs read faster than DVD or Blu Ray drives so less loading / texture pop in.

Cons
- No selling your game (excluding Europe if that new law gets enforced).
- No physical item (This is only a con if you like collecting discs).

Feel free to expand it if you like but this is all I could think of. In my opinion digital is inevitable. Cloud is too new for me to decide.

[AtomicGerbil]

Major con: At the mercy of extortionate publisher pricing. Look at some of the digital prices that Activision and EA are putting out there, £59.99 (that's $96.97 to our U.S brethren) for games I can buy new in the shops for less than half that.

I understand that publishers right now want to avoid rocking the boat with retailers who are selling disc based games, but these prices are a joke and certainly not a sign that savings will be passed on to the consumer. In fact I fear it will be quite the reverse with the greedier of publishers.

[Bladesfist]

Good point, but most games on steam are priced well and there are a lot of sales. It just seems like consoles need a good service. Most new releases on steam (dishonored and xcom for example) release at £30. Take a look at what competition does for digital sales here: www.cheapshark.com

[MWH]

the future yes.. like in the Judgement Day.

call me old fashioned, i like to have my media where i can see and hold them.

[kingeo]

There are still people who are naive.You think that EA,Activision,Sony,Microsoft etc will passed on the savings of the manufacturing cost to you?How much of a fool are you?

And you're forgetting that those services(Digital and Cloud)will have only the new games and when the games become 5+ years old they will be removed,they won't stay there forever.What will you do then? And Blu Ray discs don't get damaged.

[Bladesfist]

We both know that is a load of crap, retail stores only stock new games. GOG.com has games from the 90s. Where can I find that at retail? Blu ray discs don't get damaged. Since when did scratch resistance make things invulnerable. No competition in prices eh? then what is www.cheapshark.com, what psn and xbox live offer maybe crap. But PC has got it all working fine. Digital has unlimited stock space. Steam has over 1500 games stocked. How many does gamestop stock? 100?

[kingeo]

Also if there in no competition in prices and the only way to get your games are services like PSN and XBOX LIve then what keep them from selling the games for 60-70 euros/dollars forever?

[hazelamy]

if gaming's future is the cloud, i'm gonna need a new hobby.

[Bobbo44]

I think everyone has been missing an important aspect of this whole cloud gaming idea. If consumers aren't paying for the hardware to run these games and it's up to Sony, for example, to provide very high end servers to process the games for you, I imagine there is going to be an extremely hefty fee associated with cloud gaming. Xbox Live already charges about 15 dollars per month for a service that does next to nothing. I can't imagine how much they would charge if they had servers running your games for you. And that fee would be to Sony or Microsoft, to stream your games to you, I would imagine game developers would still charge you full price, if not more, for the "next-gen" games. If it takes high end hardware in a console to run today's games, imagine how much hardware it would take to run games for like hundreds of thousands of people.

I agree with hazelamy, if video games switch to cloud gaming that's pretty much game over for me. They've already ruined the atmosphere of many games by constantly badgering you to buy this DLC or that useless junk.

I could still see Sony doing something similar to EA's Origin service. Using cloud gaming primarily for demos to promote games. That seems unlikely though.

One thing I like to keep in mind is that any time I want I can pull out my Sega Genesis and play some old school games. A lot of the games being made today will die out and never be seen again once their servers go offline. Not to mention my PS3 probably won't last longer than a few years.