I hate the term. I have no idea which marketing freak invented it, but it just means "on the internet", you don't need a fluff-word for it.
Diablo III Online Only
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WizardStan
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As near as I know, Microsoft invented the term a couple decades ago, unless someone else was using the term before then. In Visio, the Internet is represented by a cloud. It was a fairly apt representation: the data is somewhere out there in this massive system and we don't really care about where exactly it is. You connect to google.com you have no real idea what the exact host you're connected to is, there's just this single interface into a huge mass of many possible servers, like looking at a cloud as a single entity rather than the water particles that make it up.
If it were me I'd have chosen a forest as the representation, with trees being the individual servers that you probably don't actually care about, but I don't think a forest is as easy to draw and recognize as such as a cloud is.
If it were me I'd have chosen a forest as the representation, with trees being the individual servers that you probably don't actually care about, but I don't think a forest is as easy to draw and recognize as such as a cloud is.
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Blue Protoman
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I wouldn't mind such a method of gaming if you had the option to download the files involved. But no, that would be good for the customer, and we can't have that now, can we?
WizardStan
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Would it surprise you to find out that openpandora.org is hosted on multiple different servers*? By posting your message, you have accessed the cloud that is openpandora.org.
Every time you do a google search, you are accessing the cloud that is google.
Every tweet you send and receive came from the cloud that is twitter.
Upload and watch your favourite clips to youtube? Cloud.
Those cute pictures on icanhaz? Cloud!
You are already in "the cloud" whether you realize it or not. In fact, that's the whole point of the cloud, that it is a single entity that keeps you from realizing it is actually multiple systems behind it. This is just another way that someone has proposed we use "the cloud".
ikreos
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I don't really consider a forum post as a personal file. No I wouldn't be surprised to find out openpandora.org is on multiple servers. Youtube, don't use. Twitter, not. icanhaz? WTF is that? Even though billing info is stored on the sites servers I purchase from, that doesn't bother me as much as storing my local files in the cloud. Talk about atrocious disk access times. I know very well what the cloud is and I am very choosy as to what I put on it.
ON TOPIC: Screw Diablo III where is my Skyrim?????? Can't wait 11.11.11.
ON TOPIC: Screw Diablo III where is my Skyrim?????? Can't wait 11.11.11.
Caine
Hardcore Member
The thing that bothers me most about cloud-gaming is the dual pricing system. I have to pay for games (which I subsequently do not own), but also for the right to have access to the gaming service.
I'm ok with buying games. I'm also okay with renting a month of entertainment. But I'm not okay with buying the right to rent a game. They should just charge me only for a monthly subscription and have developers compete to get a bigger cut of the slice (based on percentage of time spent on their games).
Aside from this, the biggest issue cloud gaming has to deal with is not bandwidth but latency. Some genres, like e.g. fighters, are very sensitive to this and I don't see any solution for this problem at all. It will most likely result in the industry dropping such games just like they almost collectively dropped 2D games and the adventure genre.
I'm ok with buying games. I'm also okay with renting a month of entertainment. But I'm not okay with buying the right to rent a game. They should just charge me only for a monthly subscription and have developers compete to get a bigger cut of the slice (based on percentage of time spent on their games).
Aside from this, the biggest issue cloud gaming has to deal with is not bandwidth but latency. Some genres, like e.g. fighters, are very sensitive to this and I don't see any solution for this problem at all. It will most likely result in the industry dropping such games just like they almost collectively dropped 2D games and the adventure genre.
Blue Protoman
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All in the name of MONEY!
Thorium
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Just wait for the release. I guess it's the same as Starcraft II, which can be played without a internet connection. Magazins and many people are claimed it needs a internet connection for single player, but thats just not true. In the early version there was a bug preventing offline play. It was been fixed with the first patch.
Edit: It's wasnt the first patch, but thats the patch log:
Edit: It's wasnt the first patch, but thats the patch log:
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Yeah, as far as I know Blizzard, they are moving with the trend but they don't forget what players want.
As they announced that SC2 won't have a LAN mode, many were disappointed and were close to boycott all the games from them...
But then, after the game was released, it turned to be not that bad at all, albeit not perfect...
I remember playing a lot SC1 on LAN and it was fun. It was a big event, as it was not that easy to find a proper place for it. And it also was not cheap.
Now we are playing pretty often on the internet through Battle.net, it's more convenient.
Of course it's not the same as to sit in the same room with the guys, with the monitors turned away from the opponent's sight.
But it's more affordable.
I think Blizzard will remove the requirement for having permanent internet connection in single player mode after some time.
Or at least ease it, like it's now in SC2 (you can play offline, but then you can't obtain achievements)
So maybe they'll prohibit to use a character in multiplayer, if it was played offline, who knows...
cheers, Paul
As they announced that SC2 won't have a LAN mode, many were disappointed and were close to boycott all the games from them...
But then, after the game was released, it turned to be not that bad at all, albeit not perfect...
I remember playing a lot SC1 on LAN and it was fun. It was a big event, as it was not that easy to find a proper place for it. And it also was not cheap.
Now we are playing pretty often on the internet through Battle.net, it's more convenient.
Of course it's not the same as to sit in the same room with the guys, with the monitors turned away from the opponent's sight.
But it's more affordable.
I think Blizzard will remove the requirement for having permanent internet connection in single player mode after some time.
Or at least ease it, like it's now in SC2 (you can play offline, but then you can't obtain achievements)
So maybe they'll prohibit to use a character in multiplayer, if it was played offline, who knows...
cheers, Paul
FRZ
Active Member
I didn't understand that at all when I wanted to try world of warcraft. You have to buy the game disc for 20, 40 something dollars but, its comletely useless unless you pay for the their subcription service. Why even make a game disc for a game that only plays online?
Those discs usually come with a month of online play. I don't think I've seen a MMORPG on a shelf without at least come complimentary game time. They have to stock them on shelves, otherwise they're basically ignoring a massive marketing opportunity. Back when WoW first came out, it would have been quite a feat for the average customer to download the whole game. These days... not so much.
This is also the reason why GuildWars is so awesome; buy once, play forever. They sell expansions to keep the servers funded.
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