User:Apa5230/Cloud gaming

What is Cloud Gaming?

The Google Stadia is one of the most popular providers for Cloud Gaming.

Cloud gaming is essentially having the capabilities of what would normally be on a physical gaming console, is gaming that is taking place in the cloud in datacenters full of servers. Every time you control and make a movement from your controller, this would then be sent to a remote server. After, it tells the game what you’ve done and then finally sends you a new video frame that shows you the result of the control that you have made from the game. Cloud gaming functions from data centers full of servers that sometimes be thousands of miles away from the device. You stream games, like you would stream a Netflix video, as a series of compressed video frames. Now, those videos are reacting to your inputs and every time you press a button for your character to jump, that input gets sent to a remote server. This then tells the game what you’ve done, and sends you a new video frame that shows you the result. More of these being sent simultaneously would then be fully converted in to a video that the user is able to view.

Payment and Accessibility

In particular to the Stadia, which is a cloud gaming service developed by Google, there multiple ways for having to get access to games in order for the user to start gaming using the cloud. In particular for Stadia, there is a subscription that gives you just a limited library of games to begin with. There is also the option to buy Stadia games for full price on top of your subscription until when the subscription is no longer required. Finally, you are able to sign up for additional subscriptions, similar to how you can subscribe to HBO through Hulu, to get access to a variety of different games. Other cloud gaming providers that operate in a similar manner include PlayStation Now from Sony and xCloud from Microsoft. In order to have access to all the games these cloud providers have, you have to pay for the full subscription in order to get all games. Content owners and publishers will pick and choose where to place their games, and there’s bound to be games that will only be available on select platforms.

Advantages

Some advantages of cloud gaming include:

• Do not need to update hardware- Many gamers focus on trying to get the most up-to-date equipment in order for their device to be compatible with games. There is no need for this since it all operates within the same console and eliminates extra costs of other hardware that you would need in order for someone to get the gaming experience.
• Game launches instantly- The games can be very large in terms of memory size. However, all it takes the download a couple hours to finish and then the user is able to access the download immediately after it finishes.
• Independence of location- Allows the gamer to have access to gaming platforms at any location as long as there is internet access. This is very useful especially for users that are unable to bring their expensive gaming equipment around while traveling.
• Cross-platform accessibility- Having access to PC games and other platforms on your device. Regardless of the platform, cloud gaming allows all of these games that are typically in other devices, are now accessed through these cloud gaming platform providers.
• Integration with other devices- Potentially, the user is able to implement cloud gaming to some televisions and monitors. They are also able to run on most mobile devices that have access to internet connection.

Concerns

Some concerns for cloud gaming include:

• Similar to other streaming services, users won’t own the games anymore and there’s nothing that necessarily keeps them from going away.
• When users are streaming with 4K resolution, they are usually not getting that 4K look with the advanced pixels. This is due to streaming platforms right now, they tend to compress images and makes it difficult sometimes to clearly see objects within the game.
• Cloud gaming tends to use a ton of data while streaming these games via the cloud. This could be more than most streaming services now since users are streaming at 60 fps (frames per second) instead of the 24 or 30 that is usually common for videos or movies.

Although, all of the cloud platforms are still in the development stage at the moment. They will only improve as time passes and eventually these concerns would mostly not be much of a concern in the future.

Predictive Input

For platforms such as the Google Stadia, they will begin to use input prediction to reduce game lag. By predicting player input, Google believes Stadia will be quicker than local gaming hardware in just a couple of years. For predictive input, cloud platforms have relied on "negative latency", which essentially allows them to predict what players do before they do it, and that includes the buttons being pressed on controllers. If cloud gaming services can predict your button presses without fault, it can make the game being streamed to your home react more quickly as if there is no lag between the time a button is pressed and what happens on screen. Another technique planned to reduce latency is a rapid increase in the frame rate between button presses and the action playing out on-screen to help the game catch up to the player.