Google Stadia

[second exodous]

That used to be the mantra against Netflix, too; streaming meant you didn't own the movies you watched and if it got taken down you'd never be able to watch it again.
But that hasn't happened. It doesn't look like it's ever going to happen. Physical media continues to exist for exactly the reason that sometimes there's a movie that you enjoy and do want to own a piece of that will last "forever". I used to buy movies at $20 to watch them once, and then they go on the shelf. Now I don't. I watch them on Netflix and if it's really good I buy it and put it on the shelf, still shrink wrapped, not because I want to watch it but because I want to own it. I feel like this has saved me hundreds of dollars in buying (and therefore supporting and thus contributing to) bad movies. In aggregate I've probably spent more, but I've also watched more and haven't felt like I wasted $20 on a bad movie.

I never saw netflix as replacing owning media, I saw it as replacing my local rental store(which now I miss going and renting movies). A replacement to physical movies is the code to get a digital copy that is in every bluray now. I know a few people that liked the code and have bought a few movies directly digital. The Simpsons has gone down this path, past a certain season you can't buy a physical season, they stopped making discs, they now just sell digital copies through Amazon and such. And then there is music, mostly hipsters are buying physical media on retro formats such as records/tapes, those formats combined are outselling CDs. CDs have dropped year over year where digital sales have grown.

Right now yes, you can buy physical media but the more and more companies push digital sales they'll disappear. Isn't Disney just about to release a service and they'll end physical media 100%? So no more Marvel or Star Wars physical media.

 

[WizardStan]

they'll end physical media 100%?

Not that I've heard of. This is the first I've even heard it suggested, and I like to pretend I'm pretty well informed about most things. Can't find anything through a few google searches that mention plans to drop physical media.

 

[second exodous]

Not that I've heard of. This is the first I've even heard it suggested, and I like to pretend I'm pretty well informed about most things. Can't find anything through a few google searches that mention plans to drop physical media.

I just read about it on a tech site, they're making their own netflix. If anyone does it Disney would be the first. I know they stopped selling their collected shorts when they put them on a streaming service, I have the Walt Disney Treasures sets and they have released it multiple times but since they started putting them on itunes they stopped selling the sets. It sucks because they messed up on a few with the version I have and with the complete sets they released they fix them, I was just waiting for them to be condensed on bluray but it looks like it will never happen now. . .

 

[WizardStan]

I just read about it on a tech site, they're making their own netflix

Well yes, that's been common knowledge for a while, but again, they make huge amounts of money from physical sales. They're not going to give that up so long as people keep buying. If they stop selling something it's literally only because people stopped buying it.

 

[levi]

I had a quick dig around and I think that the physical single is dead. Ninjatune released some EPs on 10 and 12inch vinyl and cd recently, but I can't find anything sub 4-track with them now (except for some DRM-free download only releases). On bleep I couldn't even find a recent single at all. I've not been in a physical record store yet this year, and back when I was buying cd and 7-inch singles, they moved them around the store practically every other weekend as if they were trying to stop anyone buying them. CD and vinyl albums are still pretty widely available though.

 

[Silent-Hunter]

that is not true at all. if you die without a will, the government will distribute your posessions to your next of kin. so if you have a spouse, they will get your belongings first, after that it would be your children, parents (if alive) and so on. of course the details will differ from country to country, but at least in Germany an the US this is regulated and there is no chance, that your kids wouldn't get "anything". it's the other way around in fact: even if you define in your will, that your kids will not receive jack out of spite, regulations are in place to make sure that they receive at least something (in Germany that is... not sure about the US and elsewhere).

EDIT: Oh and regarding the kids possibly not knowing what would be rightfully theirs: In Germany that is what the notary/notary court is for. Even without a testament/will they will determine the possessions and assets of the deceased, and as long as there are no secret stashes parked on the cayman islands, the will gather all that information.

Good to know! I assumed without a will the government would take everything.

 

[second exodous]

Well yes, that's been common knowledge for a while, but again, they make huge amounts of money from physical sales. They're not going to give that up so long as people keep buying. If they stop selling something it's literally only because people stopped buying it.

Yeah, I agree, but they always put things 'in the vault' where they don't sell it for years and years just to re-release it at a later date and it becomes a top seller. Bluray sales have been going down and to Disney, who owns more media what Netflix even is streaming at any given moment wanted to they could make more with their own service than selling physical media. I'm not saying it will be going this way but it is the most logical direction. Games are becoming digital only and I'm sure movies will also and as Disney by far the biggest owner of video media they'll probably go first.
[doublepost=1553223734,1553223396][/doublepost]

I had a quick dig around and I think that the physical single is dead. Ninjatune released some EPs on 10 and 12inch vinyl and cd recently, but I can't find anything sub 4-track with them now (except for some DRM-free download only releases). On bleep I couldn't even find a recent single at all. I've not been in a physical record store yet this year, and back when I was buying cd and 7-inch singles, they moved them around the store practically every other weekend as if they were trying to stop anyone buying them. CD and vinyl albums are still pretty widely available though.

Yeah, haven't seen singles for a while. I really think buying a disc for a single was pointless. I think Pepsi killed the single, every Pepsi had a code for one free song on itunes that seemed to go on for years. I think the only place where I saw singles though was Hastings but even they didn't have them for years before the one close to me shut down.

Wasn't it Best Buy that stopped selling CDs though?

 

[pmprog]

It didn't die (arguably) but I'm replaying Metroid Prime and have to admit, it's a good game, it looks great and handles ok but only if I judge it by what it is: if I think about the evolution in gameplay in first person adventure games that has occurred over the last 15 years it is, comparatively, a crap game

Funny you should mention Metroid Prime, when this has not long since been out:
Might tickle your interest a little (or might not)

 

[benoitb]

Good to know! I assumed without a will the government would take everything.

In France it only takes about half of the stuff. Will or no will.

If we decided to take 100% and redistribute for example at every 18yo person in the country, that would amount to a package of around 180K€ to get you started in life.

 

[matzesu]

One of the advances of such a System would be that some of my issues i found when i startet to play on my XBOX ONE X (which was my first Modern Homeconsole after the PS2) ditnt apear:
Some of the Games need for installing about 100 gb, like RDR2 or Forza 7,
This takes lots of time, so you cant just put the Disk in your XBOX/Playstation like you dit 20 Yeahrs ago, you have to install every game, ..
On a Streaming Console: You dotnt have to install Games, and you arend stuck whit only a few games because your Internal Space is just 1TB ..
But on the other Side: On the XBOX ONE, you can also play offline if you want,
My Mom is using a Hometrainer from a Teleshoping Channel, and this Thing makes interverences to my Fritzbox, so if this Thing runns, there is no Interent for me, so Google Stadia also wouldnt work..

I ditnt follow the Stadia Thing much, but if this is like Netflix for Games, and the Games run on a Big Gaming PC on the Google Server Park, this could be interessting if the Games are good..

 

[levi]

Funny you should mention Metroid Prime, when this has not long since been out:
Might tickle your interest a little (or might not)

Back then, the 'oh crap, you need to go back through the entire map and seek out these hidden macguffins' moment was a common way of extending the lifespan of a game, and it was still in the days before massive steam/gog/humble bundle/free pnd libraries meaning you might only have a handful of releases per system, so gamplay hours were a significant attribute then. I guess playing the game now, you can therefore count it against the title, but if you're going to criticise every old game for something they did that's no longer current, you're going to dismiss a lot of classics, like Exile (BBC micro, you know what the aim of the game is but almost immediately enter a series of subquests needed to progress, and it's rarely really clear you're doing the right thing) and Tir Na Nog (ZX spectrum, amongst others; perhaps if I had the manual to that it'd be clearer what I was doing, but the gameplay barely hints at an overall aim).

When I played Metroid Prime originally on my Gamecube, the problem that stopped me playing was running out of ammunition against the omega pirate, rather than any overarching game design reasons. If I'd played any game though the to final boss back then, I was normally quite happy to extend the game a little by traipsing back through the map to find bits and pieces.

 

[WizardStan]

Funny you should mention Metroid Prime, when this has not long since been out

Yeah, that video basically sums up my thoughts on it: it was a great game for the time, but it's full of issues in map design and gameplay (mostly because it was a fairly new medium for the genre that was still being explored) that more modern games have learned from and solved.
It's a good game, but it's also a crap game: if it came out today as a new game (as opposed to nostalgia fuel) I feel it would be heavily criticized.

 

[___]

In France it only takes about half of the stuff. Will or no will.

50% of what? Physical goods? So if you die without a will, they'll get half of your house if you own one? I call bullshit. A quick google search shows that there is a very similar regulation in place for who actually gets what in case there is no will. but then again I am not french, so I can only google and speculate. 50% taxation sounds a bit steep aswell. As far as I was able to find out in 5 minutes of reading, the surviving spouse/life partner are completly exempt of taxation and will inherit tax free. Everyone else gets a certain amount tax free and apparently depending on your relation to the deceased, there is progressive taxation after certain thresholds. You need to pay 45% maximum and only if the inherited sum is above 1.805.677 Euro
here is a link (albeit in German, but I am sure there are enough sources in french and english) https://www.erbrecht-ratgeber.de/erbrecht/internationales-erbrecht/erbschaftsteuer-frankreich.html

 

[levi]

In the UK, inheritace tax is taxed at a rate of 40%, although that only applies to an estate worth more than about half a million pounds, with additional protections for the main residence (although I can imagine that a lot of houses in the big cities would hit that, and effectively need to be sold immediately unless additional money can be found)

 

[Nintendo]

Atm, there are 3 brave people who have voted yes to Stadia being the possible future of gaming.

 

[levi]

I'd probably have voted yes, if I hadn't voted other with my intention to enter the discussion instead. Depending on how they price this, and how their promises of low latency turn out, I can see a lot of people preferring this over buying an expensive PC to play the newest games. How it will affect Switch players who want something they can play on the bus or the bog, I really don't know though.

 

[Nintendo]

Well, when I made the poll, I think I enabled "Allow voters to change their votes".

 

[ClockworkCoder]

I can see a lot of people preferring this over buying an expensive PC to play the newest games

I don't see it as being a substitute for a good gaming rig at all. And I and I think that PC gamers are also often enthusiastic about modding. For example, it's amazing what has been managed with Skyrim (and other, older games, eg. Quake 2) with custom mods to completely overhaul its aesthetics.
[doublepost=1553412102,1553411092][/doublepost]Also, I'm nt sure if anyone has mentioned compression artefacting yet (re comparison with local hardware).

 

[Nintendo]

Good for casual gamers.

 

[levi]

I don't see it as being a substitute for a good gaming rig at all. And I and I think that PC gamers are also often enthusiastic about modding. For example, it's amazing what has been managed with Skyrim (and other, older games, eg. Quake 2) with custom mods to completely overhaul its aesthetics.

I'm not sure how many PC gamers are still playing older games any more though, and all of those playing Fortnite and uh, that one that sounds like it's got Aether in the title are basically playing them vanilla. Sometimes they're playing user generated levels, but the characters are all chargeable (or they're rewards for having been playing fortnite for a while), so if you could just download a mod and make you character look like a paid reward, it's be against their business model.