Microsoft prepares cloud gaming service for Japan launch:
TOKYO -- Microsoft is accelerating its push into cloud-based games with plans to bring next-generation gaming to Japan later this year, a sign that competition is heating up among long-established game makers and tech giants.
The U.S. company announced on Thursday that it will roll out cloud gaming in four countries, including Japan and Australia, through its Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, a subscription service that allows gamers to download more than 100 games to their Xboxes or PCs, or play cloud-based games.
The service has been available in the U.S. and Europe since last year, and some test runs have taken place in Japan. Microsoft plans to work on the development of data centers in Japan as it gets ready to launch the full-scale service by the end of 2021.
[...] In Japan, Sony Group helped pioneer the sector, introducing a cloud gaming service in 2014. The entertainment conglomerate, which has tied up with Microsoft in the cloud gaming market, offers a subscription service called PlayStation Now from which users can stream games to their consoles or PCs. The service now has 3.2 million subscribers, up 78% from a year earlier.
[...] In another move toward creating a "Netflix for gaming business," Microsoft revealed that it is developing a dedicated device for cloud-based games that can be connected to a TV or display, as it bids to "reach gamers on any TV or monitor without the need for a console at all."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 12 2021, @03:01PM (3 children)
They promised us flying cars, and we got subscription gaming on televisions.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday June 12 2021, @03:31PM
... but in the game you might be flying in a car. It's like you are almost there ... in VR and with achievements! Much better then reality.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Saturday June 12 2021, @07:25PM (1 child)
When did Microsoft promise flying cars?
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday June 12 2021, @09:10PM
and could they provide us with a car analog--
--never mind.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday June 12 2021, @03:05PM (2 children)
Microsoft Surface Duo 2 specifications, launch date and possible Android 11 release date for the Surface Duo revealed [notebookcheck.net]
Windows 10X dead (but probably merged into future OS), Android lives.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Tork on Saturday June 12 2021, @07:27PM (1 child)
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday June 13 2021, @12:18AM
I hear good things about the Samsung Galaxy Tab series, at least. Meanwhile, iPad Pro is facing a backlash for being an OS-neutered MacBook.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 12 2021, @06:31PM
Make game console-fax combo. You"d be printing money, like, literally.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by fakefuck39 on Saturday June 12 2021, @07:40PM
First off, ps now having 3.2mil "subscribers" is not a lot. I believe the regular ps+ service has 50mil. second, they're counting the free trials - those are not subscribers any more than me grabbing the free piece of cheese on a toothpick from the old lady at the supermarket makes me a cheese consumer (haven't bought any cheese in a decade).
>move toward creating a "Netflix for gaming business
and that business miserably failed in its many iterations. First there was some "cube" thing, I believe involving blockbuster, Steve "eating apples gets you killed by PC" Jobs, and Enron. Yes, that Enron. Netflix itself started mailing DVDs.
There may be some games good for cloud. Ones that are built especially for cloud - download all the media, then only send very small control packets to render locally. This ain't it. Sending keystrokes to a remote server, then it sends you screenshots back over the internet? So like 1-2 second latency from input to screen update? Even for role playing stuff that's not a good solution. Heck, even for armada2525, about the only game I play, in dosbox, the input lag wouldn't be a good solution.
The technology is not there for this service. To get this actually usable, cloud services need to establish may little datacenter cages with compute/gpu farms, so you hit one that's literally a block away.
>Microsoft revealed that it is developing a dedicated device for cloud-based games that can be connected to a TV or display
webtv is back!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSN_TV [wikipedia.org]
Here's the thing. The guy who just has an ipad, is going to just play games on the ipad. He's not going to pay $10/month, to play crap-latency, 10 year old playstation games, on his ipad. This is another great example of Microshaft being completely blind to how consumers use thing and what they want. In the corp world - they're one of the leaders, and they understand it well. Azure is a glaring success, sharepoint and o365 is a success, heck as shit as sql server is, it's a success. On the consumer market, microsoft has been trying to fit a square peg in a round hole since they stopped selling os/2. In fact, the only reason windows on the desktop is what it is, is because they've pounded it in that round hole with a hammer - anything anyone buys comes with it. If it came with something else, that would be what people use. No average user has said "I want to run windows." They did say "I want that shiny laptop."
so here we go, another failed project in the making. go buy your webtv, sit back, and enjoy.