Don't laugh at GameStop Retro. If it turns into anything like the United Kingdom's CeX, it might be onto something.
Alex Hutchinson talks about Google Stadia, how Xbox compares, and what cloud gaming needs to move forward.
Cloud gaming still has too many flaws. Fast stable internet, extra costs/subscription services, not ideal for mobile data and why play over cloud via wifi when you have a console/pc that has no input delay and other issues, why buy a game on a cloud service (will always need online even if it's a single player game) when you can actually own it on console/pc...at the same price. Cloud gaming should only ever stay as an option to gaming and playing your games that you already own. Never as the only option.
I disagree, in the sense that the flaws are and have been these same known quantities for some time. You know you need fast and stable internet for the best experience. You know it isn't just free beyond Remote Play. Ownership - you know what ecosystem you're in.
Cloud Gaming is awesome when it's there as the most viable option at the time and works. For me, it was like this morning on my laptop playing Pentiment waiting for my car service to finish. For others it's to quick demo a new game before thinking of hard drive space. Maybe Mac users with gigabit internet want to play GeForce Now and buy a game off Steam only to play it that way.
As long as latency exists, cloud gaming will never thrive no matter how much they advertise that there's low latency or no latency that always ends up being a load of crap
I quite enjoy cloud streaming now. I find it the quickest way to testing if a game is worth committing download time or even $ to buy it. And using dedicated devices like the portal and gcloud makes it all the better.
But like Goodguy says... it's an option, and not the only one. If people understand that, they may start to appreciate this convenience.
I think Xbox is doing Cloud Streaming right, even if I think its only because they're doing hardware wrong.
By enabling xCloud on The Xbox One and Series S they enable players to buy the cheaper console but play games in better resolutions through xCould.
Take the recent Oblivion release for instance. If you play it locally on a Series S it's rendered at 630P and upscaled using FSR to 1260P with a 30FPS cap.
But if you play it on xCloud on the Series S, it's at 1080P native 60 FPS.
So you can get better performance using xCloud then playing local (on the Series S and Xbox One).
It shouldn’t have required a subscription service. Like do the Steam model and just take the % on software sales or have a sub tier where you pay monthly or annually and get perks.
I’m not opposed to the idea of being able to stream games in the highest quality, but Stadia was so poorly handled it turned into a massive sh*t show.
"It shouldn’t have required a subscription service."
It didn't
"Like do the Steam model and just take the % on software sales or have a sub tier where you pay monthly or annually and get perks."
That's literally what it was. Stadia pro gave 2 free games a month (similar to PS+), 4K visuals, and 5.1 Surround Sound. But if you didn't want to pay you could simply buy the games and play them in 1080P. The core service was free.
But google massively screwed up the marketing which led to people thinking it needed a sub to use.
Google Stadia failed largely in part because of the massive campaign Microsoft launch against it. It didn't have the massive support of PlayStation, Nintendo, or even Apple to withstand the negativity campaign Microsoft launch against it.
Sony has launched the PlayStation Indies sale this week, offering steep discounts on over 2,000 games from indie developers.
The Epic Games Store has a AAA Freebie this week, and another to put a smile on your face.
Eh, I have a love/hate relationship with CeX. We have several dozen of them here in Portugal.
I've found some really good deals sometimes, especially like PSP games. But at the same time, it's absolutely insane that they charge full price for a number of used consoles. I've read the reasoning is, they're made for people who are trading in stuff and can turn around and use their credit towards them. As a Walk-In though, it's absolutely crazy. I went in a bit over a week ago to look at the Playstation Portals. They had them priced at €220 used! I walked away and found them brand new on a Sale for €175 at FNAC, so I finally picked one up.
Gamestop Retro could do good by looking at stores like CeX, learning what they do well, but also acknowledging where they lack, and try to improve upon it. It's funny, I was working at Gamestop in the States back in 2005 when we were removing all the Retro product from the store, and we were even ordered to field destroy a ton of low value games, such as old PS1 sports games. (They actually had us snip the discs, then throw them in the dumpster) my, how we've come full circle now with Gamestop Retro!
Honestly don't know how CEX are still in business. Half the shop window you can go out and buy the same things new for cheaper most of the time 😂
I don't think it can work at all in any way tbh. They are mostly just trying whatever they could to get people into their stores and retro gaming is a bit of a enthusiast hobby. Anyone who wants anything related to retro gaming won't consider going into a GameStop.