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The early days of video gaming, of Pong and Pac-Man,
are long gone. video game companies now offer
games with impeccable graphics and wide-ranging
storylines and playing options. Consoles are now able
to recognise the movements of the player and use
them in the game. Games are moving ever further
away from linear playing styles and give players a
great deal of choice about how they want to play the
game. One of the more recent developments in the
gaming world is the advent of cloud gaming. A great
deal of recent technology news has focused on this
and what it might mean for the video game industry.
But what actually is cloud gaming? And what are the
potential advantages and disadvantages of this new
method of playing video games?
Cloud gaming is a form of online gaming that utilises
cloud hosting in order to work. You may already play
a number of multiplayer games online through your
computer’s internet connection or through Xbox Live
or the PlayStation Network. However, this still involves
owning a physical copy of the game and a console to
play it on. The difference with cloud gaming is that
the game itself and the processing power needed to
play it is all hosted in ‘the cloud’. In order to use it, all
you need is an internet connection and cloud gaming
service. The games are directly streamed onto your
computer, tablet or console and the powerful servers
used by the cloud gaming provider will carry out all
the rendering and processing necessary. Your button
presses are sent to the cloud, which processes the
information and sends back the game’s response. It
is essentially very similar to the video-on-demand
services on offer, such as 4oD or iPlayer, but for games.
You do not have to own a physical copy of the game
in order to play on it.
Cloud gaming does have a number of important
advantages. It is instant, you do not have to go out
and buy a physical copy of the game nor do you have
to spend time downloading it. The game is already
there and instantly playable through your internet
connection. It also reduces the need for computers
with high processing and graphical capabilities. Your
computer does not need to have the highest specs in
order to play the latest games; the cloud servers will
do that for you. This can also potentially reduce the
cost of gaming, you will not need to splash out on
expensive equipment and the cost of cloud gaming
packages is negligible when compared with the cost
of actually buying the games. Another advantage
of cloud gaming is that it brings some elements of
platform independence, through using this service
you can play a PC or a specific console game on an
android or iOS tablet.
There are, however, some disadvantages to cloud
gaming. The problem of ‘ownership’ is one of them.
Many potential users of cloud gaming services dislike
the idea of not actually owning a copy of a game they
have paid. If the company goes out of business or
the servers go down, you are left with no game, even
though you paid for it. The services on offer at the
moment are still fairly new technology so there may
also be a number of ‘teething problems’ - technical
issues and the like - that users may have to put up
with. Another disadvantage is that if cloud gaming
really took off the second hand game market would
completely disappear. Finally, the fact that gaming
from the cloud is such a new development means that
the services may not yet be available to everyone in all
areas of the country. It is possible too that multiplayer
games may be lacking in other players to compete
against.
CloudGamingandthe
FutureofVideoGames
Is gaming in the cloud part of the future for video
games? It definitely has the potential to become
widely used and popular as it offers a great deal
of advantages over current methods. However, as
of right now, the United Kingdom does not have
the internet structure to be able to fully utilise
the cloud for video games. The average speed of
broadband is around 8Mbit/s for cities and 3Mbit/s
for rural areas. Many people still do not have good
enough broadband to meet the recommended
speed of 5Mbit/s for cloud gaming. As a result a
number of people who have tried these services
have complained of lags - something that can ruin a
gaming experience. It is unlikely that cloud gaming
will completely overrule buying physical copies in the
near future. Many people still prefer to buy a copy of
their favourite films rather than rely on the internet
to provide it virtually. It will not be until broadband
speeds throughout the UK are improved that using
cloud hosting for gaming will really take off.
Izzy Evans
Author: Izzy Evans
If you would like to find out more about ‘the cloud’ then you can visit: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Izzy_Evans