Lenovo X220 T tablet test no.7 : GAIKAI used to play Dragon Age 2 with pen and touch

Dave Perry`s Gaikai is a work of genius , but then so was Three Weeks In Paradise  .. Dave has always been ahead of the curve , while other would be game designer maestros , like our beloved Mr Molyneux promise many things , Mr Perry just goes about delivering very cool games that actually do live up to the hype even the tessellation and infinitely improving graphics engine of Messiah ( the graphics get better with better hardware ... yeah  remember falling for that one?) ...Anhyoo Gaikai as you know lets you demo full PC games streamed in browser windows  .. as well as advertise them as an affiliate or publisher ...  Similar to Onlive but in need of more work , none the less it is on it`s way to change the way we game  , here I am using it to test the Lenovo X220T , mostly the Internet connection stability as Gaikai and Onlive require a steady constant Internet stream . This is played over wireless N , 50 Meg Broadband . This test also shows how you can play Dragon Age 2 with Pen , Touch , keyboard and track pad

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Lenovo X220T tablet test no.8 : Dead Space 2 played on Gaikai over wifi with the Pen WITHOUT touching the screen!

So how then to  stress test the Wifi N modem in mine Lenovo X220T ? But of course Herr Professor I hear you say  ....by using an IE9 browser window to play Dead Space 2 instantly using Herr Perry`s shiny new Gaikai ... 


Dead Space 2 as you can see is quite the impressive demo for Gaikai , it is the most stable , and the most graphically intact and impressive of the Gaikai demos . .you can easily play this in full screen ... you can also play with Pen on the Lenovo X220T , you know with us lot playing through games in shorter spaces of time than youtubed episodes of reality tv ...we need challenges ... so playing through Dead Space 2 with Pen is going to be one of mine... heck I may even use it to make Modern Warfare last longer than it`s commercial this time.... 


Look at the video and you will see the Pen is never touching the screen ! wait till I splice one of these with one of my fingers! Cyberpunk yay...  This discovery calls for testing some classic Jedi Knight games ... 


On another note  this being a weekend of free Brink play , I was shocked to realise that the game cannot run on integrated gpu laptops ... or if it can I cannot be bothered to work around ... but using streaming and cloud based services it could run on any device instantly... so why bother getting the Steam version ....and publishers why bother limiting yourself to Steam and the minority core gamer market when using streaming you can play the most high spec game on the lowliest of netbooks or tablets  ( even iOS and Android!) ? Gaikai and onlive are the only true evolution in gaming in a decade ..changing where how and when you play ... ..let freedom reign! .... all the rest ... all the rest is just hardware.....

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Lenovo X220T Tablet Test No. 12 : Playing 2 games simultaneously : Mass Effect 2 +The Witcher 2 and Mass Effect 2 vs Spore

Time to stress Gaikai , why not use it to play two games at once , yes you can , Gaikai requires no login unlike Onlive and Steam , without the shackles of an account system you can have more than one window open each playing a different game near instantly . As you can see in the video below  Gaikai is coming along in leaps and bounds , and remember you can just as easily do this on a $199 netbook , for me this is a groovy way of testing the wifi on the  Lenovo X220T . Now if Dave Perry could do something about the queues.....

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Play Crysis 2 , The Witcher 2 , Battlefield BC2 and more in your browser using Gaikai now

If you  do not mind waiting in a server queue , Dave Perry`s Gaikai has updated it`s instantly.. in your browser gaming service , to include the likes of Crysis 2 , The Witcher 2 , Bulletstorm and many more  not least of which is Battlefield Bad Company 2 check them out here

Videos to follow right now I am too busy queuing for a server to play a game.


Whilst we wait , ( joined the queue yet ?) ok whilst we wait  ,  why not check out  signs of Dave Perry`s early genius in  Three Weeks in Paradise .If you  want to play without the signature  ZX Spectrum colour  clash go for the Amstrad CPC  version. You need to play this game sometime in your life even if it  is just whilst you are waiting for server space to free up so you can play your instant in your browser demo of Crysis 2 ..

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Gaikai used to play Crysis 2 on the Lenovo X220 T tablet PC

Hey I just clicked on Crysis 2 on Gaikai , and what do you know it fired up and suddenly I am playing Crysis 2 through java streamed by Gaikai  , the game is running in what looks like ultra high settings and the speed .. whoa . I downloaded litecam 3.0 to film the game play as I am too tired to fire up my old vga cam .. Thegameveda cannot wait until someone lets Dave Perry stream full games this way , it is interersting to note that whilst EA seem to be at odds with Steam , they are quite happy to allow streaming demos through Gaikai .  

I experienced a lot of server queuing yesterday on Gaikai , asked Dave to do something about that , and it looks like he listened , although I may just be suffering from a delusion that he did .. any way what are you waiting for get on over to Gaikai and you too can play Crysis 2 maxed out from a humble netbook:  like this
 

check out litecam3.0 , also consider that the video shows 16 minutes of constant gameplay without a drop in the stream , no network problems and zero lag , most impressive ... and this is on wifi !

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Using Onlive and Gaikai to play Warhammer Space Marine and Dragon Age 2 simultaneously on the Lenovo X220T

Witness a little of the promise of the cloud running on a full Windows 7 OS tablet , whilst iOS and Android dream about multitasking and talk up switching between apps  , or for that matter your gaming rig struggles to run video whilst you game in another screen or window  , thanks to Gaikai and Onlives stream power , you can play 2 AAA PC games on 1 screen without any slow down , drop in framerate. For  as you can see from the video below Gaikai and Onlive can be run together on one device, as long as it is a full OS device.   I am playing Warhammer Space Marine using Onlive in the top window using a Xbox 360 pad , and Gaikai is used to play Dragon Age 2 using pen and touch in the bottom window. This is the vertical tablet orientation of the X220T .

With Windows 8 Beta rumoured to be releasing next week , it will be very interesting to see how the new OS is geared towards exploiting cloud and stream based code , acceleration and optimisation of these two things is of far greater significance now than the cpu gpu or all that other hardware jazz of the old days .. as you can see by the simple yet impossible to produce on hardware alone test of playing 2 AAA games at once on a laptop with just an Intel HD3000 GPU ... in fact how long before we see dedicated Stream acceleration hardware and instructions in our silicon?


   

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Windows 8 Cloud gaming : Playing Dead Rising 2 GAIKAI and Lord Of the Rings War in the North onlive whilst messing around with Windows 8 Apps

Mae govannen...And so it came to pass  thegameveda , Dark Lord of Cloud gaming , sought solace from boredom one cold Autumnal night , and presently clicked on the magic Gaikai rune firing up the undead Dead Rising  2 demo from an IE10 browser, all the while fighting the craving for more gaming by messing with Windows 8 metro Apps . Still the precious called out , and so it came to pass that presently the Dark Lord was drawn to a golden ring of power on the Windows 8 taskbar instantly launching Lord Of the Rings War In the North demo on onlive ... playing two games instantly with the power of the Cloud .. The Dark Lord  found his craving for gaming slightly satiated... for now and even started humming his favourite Hobbit song .." there is a Inn a merry old Inn....."


This is a multi tasking test for Windows 8 on the Lenovo X200T , here we play 2 games with 0 install at the same time whilst messing with Windows 8 Metro Apps . Using pen and touch. Welcome to the cloud... and what are you waiting for you could have been playing both games and getting some work done on your Windows 8 tablet pc .

Dead Rising 2 is a great sequel to the original Xbox 360 classic , and Lord Of the Rings War In the North is really a must have for anyone who likes giant Eagles , and can pronounce Dunedain correctly with a straight face or can spell it correctly... it acutally comes alive when you play multiplayer , with 2 comrades in tow who usually tend to run off to the other end of the map or take on a boss without waiting for you , it is hilarious fun when they call out for help but you are too far off to help them or knee deep in orc blood ...Co op really makes this game  something different to every other action RPG , so if you have a friend or two and they are partial to their Tolkien this is going to be an excellent journey into part of the Lord of Rings saga that even the books only touch on , and did I mention the giant Eagles ? The onlive version also removes the pesky need for installing , or upgrading hardware . 

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Windows 8 CP on a dual Screen Acer Iconia test 3 multiscreening in landscape mode

And now let's throw the dual screens of the Acer 6120 into landscape mode and see how Windows 8 CP changes our lives :

There is much confusion re Windows 8 multitasking , rest assured you can open all the browsers feeds messaging windows and generally do all the things you were used to calling multitasking in Windows 7 , but now we have the cloud delivering games with 0 installs , instant starts , with Gaikai  and Onlive , we have apps accessing the internet without ever going into a browser , games running through apps and again bypassing browser use . See a pattern yet? Windows 8 shines in multi tasking both traditionally and in a new sense whether it is using the multi app pane interface , or the new app selection panel swipe from the left of a screen . To do all this would take the horsepower of your traditional desktop , but what Windows 8 brings is the ability to do all of these things on the pc of choice which is the laptop , netbook or tablet , and really as you can see above it shines on tablets , the Iconia is a completely new machine . If you had told me 2 years ago that my favourite machines would be an atom powered joojoo and an i5 intel GMA Gpud dual screen tablet , and that these would mean I put my old skull trail multi gpu and screen desktop and my biannual hardware update on hold I would never have believed it.

There is nothing as elegant or striking as a full OS tablet that runs java , Flash , HTML 5 , your old DOS games and your new Steam games as well as all those wonderful Unity based MMOS , that  brings together the ease of use of our iPads and the grown up freedom of a full OS that let`s you do anything you like ...with or without resorting to Apps .

More to follow in my Windows 8 tablet tests , just wish Microsoft would remove that 1024 by 768 res restriction on the apps , because I have a Toshiba Libretto dying to run the Metro UI on it's two 7 inch touch screens...

 

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Sony blows 380 million Dollars putting a silver lining on Gaikai's cloud whilst missing a golden onlive one..

Well the web has been speculating for a while that Sony would try to acquire itself out of the Kutaragi/Harai rut it found itself in. 


Once the Apple of the tech world, Sony is now considered more as an ageing Ninja Turtle ,and one the competition has effortlessly managed to tip over onto it's half shell. This is largely due to Sony's blindness to the evolving tech world around it, an insistence on 10 year hardware upgrade cycles , a reliance on now finally retiring or soon to be retired first party franchises and out of touch CEOs..


Und so Sony's acquisition of Dave Perry's GAIKAI cloud game demoing service bares closer examination than that afforded it by current gaming journos screaming about the Fourth coming of the PlayStation being heralded by Mr Perry's most excellent Java fuelled GAIKAI cloud game demo service...


This acquisition is the latest desperate act by Sony to stay relevant in a environment where they are no more relevant than any other hardware manufacturer and far less relevant than new Platform holders as the industry likes to label them.


For in today's industry, a hardware manufacturers rise and fall depends on content providers .The old model of drip fed pre announced platform exclusives is consigned to history. The content providers dictate the way their games are delivered , across platforms and in increasing numbers digitally. 

Success is also dependent on content delivery , which on the PC thanks to Steam , Desura, Get Games , and GOG makes for a thriving gaming retail industry. And over on mobile platforms iOS and Android stores deliver content to millions of new gamers , success which Sony and Nintendo are largely just coming out of denial of...  The PSN , Xbox live and Nintendo Wiiware stores are amateur in their execution by comparison.


So you can see how Sony are desperate to not miss the next wave.


One possible future wave is supposed to be cloud based streaming , and currently there is only one effective existing working full retail game cloud gaming service , and it happens to be the one that Sony DID NOT PURCHASE ...or failed to ... I talk of course about onlive...


But credit where credit is due and congrats to our Dave , it is not every company who can get $380 million for a game demoing service. 


The service GAIKAI delivers is really no different to all those old pre Web 2.0 game download sites ,but it comes with the kudos of streaming games instantly .GAIKAI would like to argue that the technology is hardware agnostic , but the truth is you will need a mid end laptop with the fastest dual band wifi n card and or Ethernet connected to a decent broadband speed way above average , I still get blips in service with 100 meg ! And however fast your hardware ,you will still have to stand behind everyone else in the  server queue and constantly keep that annoying Java applet updated . 

I am a great fan of GAIKAI ,from the very first few game demos listed on the site.I have been using it for months on different hardware. All the possibilities seem very enticing ..at first , with people considering Sony streaming PlayStation games from all 3 generations and possibly even the PS4 .This not going to happen. 


GAIKAI for all it's benefits running in a java enabled browser , running with far crisper visuals than rival onlive has major shortfalls. 


Onlive was designed to provide a full gaming and retail experience , and carries this off quite competently, it feels especially awesome to demo a AAA  game AND buy it AND play it instantly, film it , share it  and call your friends virtually over to join in...  


GAIKAI of course can only let you demo a game .Other GAIKAI failings include the inevitable server queue , that annoying java game loading bar that often completes and then sends you back to the homepage asking you to try again. 


Onlive at present clearly have the server issue sorted. GAIKAI needs more server storage and it needs to offer a store with full games not just 16 minute demos with infrequent but very frustrating when they happen dropouts . 


All the great demos you see of me playing GAIKAI are over a 100 to 120 meg connection 5ghz wifi N .Playing GAIKAI demos is not possible over the old PS3 Wifi G or through the browser as of yet. Nor is it possible on the PS Vitas browser ,your iOS or Android device. 
The java code it uses will not run on a PS3s Opera based browser. And if Sony allows it will open the floodgates to every Java app and game , just as Apple or Microsoft cannot afford to do so on their walled garden hardware and consoles...


Onlive already has an Android App and stands as much chance of making it to IOS as Sony does with GAIKAI. So I wonder with all the pre E3 hype being about Sony buying Onlive and now going for GAIKAI whether this is a post E3 shotgun Vegas wedding ala Rachel and what was Schwimmers character called again .. oh yes Ross ...  don't click here  if you value your street cred...


GAIKAI clearly have never had the hardware funding or aim  to run full games ,in fact it is highly unlikely that outside a decent modern Windows 7 or 8 pc ,laptop or surface that you can run a GAIKAI demo. Even then you will want to be wired to your broadband and use the service when every one else is sleeping or get ready to queue .In reality you can download games in completion by the time you get your java updated , your browser settings correct , wait for a time when every one in Germany is sleeping , and manage to launch and play a  game demo on Gaikai , for it then to cut out telling you your 120meg wired connection is not good enough ... as you can tell this has happened to me a few times . 


Even though I love the idea of Gaikai , the sheer audacity of it , I am totally objectively aware I can download a full AAA game from Steam in less than 10 minutes  a demo in 2 minutes using  a 120 meg connection and you know this speed is going to increase with time , so the thrill of instant demos or gaming via the cloud is negated by the harsh facts that you need to maintain a steady connection between you and their server,always be connected and you are just waiting for that server quality to fluctuate enough to be kicked to the back of the queue.

The strangest thing I find about this acquisition is the fact the Gaikai comes with no community ,no established user base ,no social media functions even though it can be played via Facebook , there is no core gaming community as on Steam , or rival cloud service onlive. 


The more I look at it from the point of view of a company looking to get a foot hold in the cloud gaming business the more I see onlive as the company to acquire.  Full retail games , instant purchases and gaming , a community of gamers that you can watch or join or invite into your gaming sessions , Android apps , iOS apps on hold , a stand alone console , and dare I say it again full games to play with near 0 queueing. 


This is because onlive spent time building those servers , and this is where GAIKAI needs to improve ,if it remains a game demoing service alone , then frankly this is 380 million Dollars  totally wasted. 


Cloud gaming relies on the idea that you get a kick out of instant gaming because you would spend hours downloading or walking ( or being driven by mom) to your game store and then spend hours downloading the game once you get home and note you have no dvd drive on your nice new Retina displayed Win 8 Surface book pro .. 


But using cloud based gaming you are always conscious of the major flaws of streaming that you constantly need to maintain a steady fast Internet connection above a minimum level or your game just stops and you get kicked off and sent to the back of the server queue . 


Anything and everything can cause such fluctuations in Interweb  quality...


When you download on Steam a dip in yours or their broadband efficacy may slow the download down a bit , but with streaming similar fluctuations end your game. 

Not acceptable , and so I demo onlive and Gaikai gaming a lot  , I own quite a few onlive games , but mad gamer that I am I always end up purchasing the Steam or Desura versions too , because short of my pod of pcs all melting down nothing is going to stop me gaming . 


As a collector you also have to think of the lifespan of a cloud based gaming service . The games are only playable as long as GAIKAI and onlive maintain servers , how long will that be for ? No one can say . And what if you are into some obscure game that no one else but some nice Tokyo otariiman play at early hours of the morning. Is Gaikai or onlive going to maintain servers just for the two of you?  


There is another hope though:


This time next year there will be peer to peer cloud gaming in the same way people stream video and music today , so frankly I consider Sony have thrown  380 million away.


GAIKAI is excellent but a year after beta still has no retail store ,no full game playing functionality and no gaming community, the ability to stream is in no way unique or tied to one company , the ability to stream content games and video is going to be available through thousands of avenues , just like radio stations today. 


This is where Sony miscalculated .What happens when EA and other softcos decide they want to stream from their own clouds. EAs Origin already shook the Valve Steam tree by denying content and holding it exclusively for launch on their own digital delivery system. 


A company the size of EA could just as easily set up its own cloud streaming service just as easily as it has set up Origin to rival Steam.


What happens when EA deny GAIKAI the option of streaming their games , no more instant Crysis 2 ? 


And what happens when someone at Valve has the cajones to wake up Gabe and get Steam streaming our Steam collections?

Then consider the power of our devices is increasing every day , you can stream your PC to your iOS or Android device with Splashtop , how much longer until we get the equivalent of a utorrent but for streaming games , any and all games from our own dedicated servers , whether they are our macs , pcs , or iOS and Android devices. 

So congrats Mr Perry now known as the 380 million dollar man, hats off to you sir . As they say in the US of A you build it and they will come !  And please invest some of that 380 million into bringing us an updated Wally Week or Pyjamarama game. Download of course ..


Meanwhile Sony , need to get GAIKAI delivering full games ASAP ,for as all the cool cats  know Microsoft or P Diddy will be throwing down 500 million for onlive very soon...


Gaikai have upped the number of games to demo check them out here , and rival onlive are ready and able to sell you full games instantly here 


It is going to be very interesting to see if Sony evolves GAIKAI'S true potential or puts it on ice to avoid perceived damage to the upcoming disc based PS4. 


Who knows in the topsy turvey world of gaming maybe GAIKAI will pull a PIXAR and end up buying it's parent company ... and the PS4 launches as the  GAISTATION ... and peoples it's pronounced GUY-STATION fyi....





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How the Sony PlayStation 4 will end the PC and console hardware upgrade cycle once and 4 all!

Consoles and your gaming rig are obsolete by the time the money left your Paypal account to pay for them .. upgrading, constantly upgrading  is the bane of today's gamer  and software /hardware developer alike ...Nintendo have not done too great recently have they ? 

The PlayStation 4 is going to be unlike other PC or console hardware ... because it will never be obsolete , never fall behind the latest and greatest PC gaming hardware , it may even allow cross platform gaming, doing away with the need for a PC or Steam Box or Nvidia Shield  altogether.

We all know what is coming around the Sony mountain on 20.02.2013 now don't we? With not long to go to the reveal , this  is thegamevedas take on how Sony may conquer all with the  PS4. 

Learning from the PS3 

The PS3 was a fashion and hardware led design with the father of the PlayStation famously spending time and money chasing rights to the Spider Man font to adorn our old beautifully curved then next gen console. When it launched the PS3 , Sony had as they say game,  a 10 year product life cycle ..sit back and rake in the money right ? Then the game changed ...but then again so has Sony...rolling necessary heads when necessary and learning from mistakes.

There are two prongs to Sony's PS4 attack , none of which rely on the hardware in the console itself. PlayStation Plus and GAIKAI ..

PlayStation Plus + GAIKAI = PlayStation 4 's Grooveshark for Gamers 

Want to listen to a song...any song ...just Google Grooveshark and you are there , listening to Barry Manillow in seconds ... no downloads, no installs, no mp3 or media players... and no iTunes... Likewise who needs video Blurays, or downloads when you can instantly watch video through streaming?

When PS4 hits you are going to be able to game just as easily and this is how the PS4 is really evolving the gaming/media arena...And Sony owns the rights to a lot of that game , film and music ..all of which can be offered as exclusives through it's PS4 services ...

Over the last year of the PS3's  shelf life Sony has steadily been weening it's fan base onto the cloud  with PlayStation Home , some amazing free game offers,demos,cross platform gaming with betas like DUST 514 ,cloud saves introduced with PlayStation Plus ,which incidentally also hit the mobile Vita platform giving us instant game collections of real games many times the value of the paltry £39.99 yearly sub... The reason I have a new PS3 slim with a 500gb drive is to cater for this year of PlayStation Plus goodies ... Right now the coolest thing to happen to world of console or PC gaming is the PlayStation Plus sub model , it is like Steam really oughta should be  with free AAA games ( as well as free to play games) , automated downloads  and cross platform gaming. Now if Sony could just move into the PC gaming space too , just think we could have access to cross console,handheld , tablet , phone and PC gaming from one account and service. And for one sub fee you would get very real AAA games across all these devices..  As cool as this is , far better things are on the way from Sony , things that can and will make the likes of personal  cloud streaming devices like Valves Steambox concept and Nvidia's not named after a contraceptive Shield look stale.

GAIKAI the Kingslayer


The old king of digital game distribution, no not Pirate Bay, but Steam is itself a stagnant , catatonic, stale and outdated dinosaur of a distribution service. Only recently has GabeN even contemplated ideas like Streaming or cloud services and having 1000s of games in your Steam account to download over and over again every time your PC dies or you move to another one just renders it a nice game collection archiving mechanism.... I know I own those games ( or do I ?) but I cannot be bothered to download them any more... 


The PS4 is very much a beast of future times, look past the already obsolete hardware specs  and you will see how Sony is making sure the PS4 will actually keep up with and run faster than the hottest gaming rig PCs way into the future ..... and it has nothing to do with the hardware.. in the console ...but out there in the cloud (read server farm in some dormant Icelandic Volcano...or Siberian mine shaft...)

For not so long ago Sony made Dave Perry an offer he could not refuse for his wonderful GAIKAI , the most capable cloud streaming service to date. GAIKAI makes hardware irrelevant .  GAIKAI is going to be a major selling point for the PS4 as it will allow you to play any game from PC or console on your home console instantly. 0 installs . Instant demos , instant gaming. And this is the important part , 5 years from now your PS4 will look very old but through streaming it will still run games as fast your 2018 10K gaming rig ... that you will not need to purchase as your $300 console can run games just as well on your 1 gig or terabyte by then wifi connection...

We already know how powerful GAIKAI is , even the lowliest of PCs can run the most hardware intensive games ... 

I can use GAIKAI to play Battlefield 3 on a Pentium Powered Toshiba Libretto , playing the game in one screen whilst surfing the web in another : Instantly 0 install ! When people worry about lag , or wifi streaming just point them to this video and consider the hardware in the PS4 and by that I mean wifi and streaming acceleration is going to be several generations ahead of the demos below.

Cloud gaming is not something the old PC hands like GabeN, or the Kinect happy Microsoft gaming supremos  can either understand or control , they talk the talk of course ... but I say just let the people play ..so where Gabe would say Onlive and GAIKAI are not the way and it would take serious hardware like the Steam Box concept or Nvidia Shield to actually make even personal cloud gaming viable.. I say that is a complete and quite deliberate  insult to your intended audience ..and we may have taken all that walled garden nonsense from Steve ..but Gabe come on ..you don't even have a mother ship HQ now do you ?  mkay ?  I have been cloud gaming on Atom and Intel GMA HD GPU  and Ion powered tablets at gaming rig speeds and simultaneously too, even with 3 year old tech it is possible to use more than one cloud gaming service at one time on one machine irrespective of it's hardware with 0 perceived lag or slowdown...

So let's check this out and play Darksiders 2 using onlive and play Battlefield 3 at the same time, now just think about the stress that doing something like that would place even on a 10K worth gaming rig . With the cloud and what I call asymmetric cloud gaming we can use a low powered device to stream from a more powerful cloud server in this case  on a dual screen tablet with a now ancient i5 first gen cpu and nothing but Intel GMA HD gpu... way below the specs of Nvidia Shields or the Steam Box basic config...and certainly way below the specs of the gaming rigs actually running the games...

Moving to a customer benefiting subscription model like PlayStation Plus and combining it with cloud based services for instantly streaming games is going to be essential for PS4 to stay relevant. Current hardware developers are following a terminal sales model  .. even the mighty Apple is lost .. one two ,three , four hardware upgrades and models a year for what was once a New iPad .. none of which is raising the share price or  in the slightest way approaching a Steve Jobs or as I like to remember him Harry Seldon moment... 

In today's cloud happy world with so much content available for users , platform holders have to fight for our time and money, not just money. So cloud based instant gaming , with real tangible benefits if you pay for a sub ( as opposed to just paying for Xbox Live to be allowed onto a network) are the way to go , it is not enough to simply pack in faster hotter hardware and say you can connect to the Internet in some neutered fashion ... just look at the Nintendo Wii U gathering dust in the corner of your room ...

When the PS3 launched the Internet , cloud and gamers were not in the evolved state they are now , frankly I do not care in the slightest what GPU or CPU the PS4 uses ,I would like to see a display port and support of multiple displays and of course upgradeable wifi/ethernet . What I need  to see is the easiest transfer from current PSN to the PS4 PSN of PlaySation Plus services and also Sony implementing and exploiting GAIKAI to it`s fullest potential...

I still see Sony eventually doing away with hardware altogether and just becoming a content distribution service ...across all our devices... any time any where...with GAIKAI the game you play on your PS4 is the same game , exactly the same game your will stream to your PS Vita 2 ..where ever you are ..and it will run as fast as your 2018 Gaming Rig ( or Steam Box if GabeN has his way with you.... ) ... all the technology is already in place , gamers are getting used to not owning their games ( thanks to Steam ) and the cloud is ready to serve...

And for the love of God ...just think ..never having to install another Metal Gear Solid game for 5 hours again..or wait for 2 hour long cut scenes to complete whilst the game installs or loads the next level....who am I kidding I love it really ...yes Sunny make those eggs over easy .....SHIIIIIIIINNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!

this content is © and originated from thegameveda http://the-games-veda.blogspot.com/  if you are reading it from any other site that has not provided a link back it has been leached 

Sony PlayStation 4 Meeting: Episode I The Phantom PC Console Menace...

The PlayStation 4 is so cool it didn't even  show up to it's own launch party ... 

As another Sony presentation passes  I ponder at what point I fell asleep , I would say around the 1 hour 30 mark ...an improvement on the last one .. Falling asleep meant I missed out on missing the lack of show of the actual console. I awoke the next morning blissfully unaware that the PS4 was a no show at it's own show...  I was comfortably at home though ..spare a thought for those flown thousands of miles to witness the unveiling of  the PlayStation 4... Dualshock 4 .....joypad.... 

Well that would be the cynical sarcastic view ..a lot of the media is taking right now. But to follow that train of thought would be to miss the genius that is behind the PS4 concept.  Check out many tech blogs now and the header image is the new controller not the console ! This is Sony taking control back from the media, this is a company after all famous for ads that have no sign of the console they are selling ...this is because PlayStation is a brand as much as it is hardware ..sold and marketed like fashion as a lifestyle choice ...

So let's take a look at the PS4 through  thegameveda looking glass ... 


Hardware : the Sony PC PlayStation Concept 

The PS3 was full of exotic hardware cell cpus, 8 cores, one magic redundant one, fast RAM, but too little to match the ever evolving PC gaming scene. So exotic that only now at the end of it's life are coders actually getting to grips with the architecture. Impossible to upgrade due to cost .. and design issues ..

For PS4 Sony looked around and chose wisely to go for X86 hardware, a stock gpu ( with a little customization) and retained a little flair by opting for GPU RAM as system RAM.  

So to all intents and purposes the PS4 is a PC, which is cool , the first thing I will try is to run Windows 8 off a usb stick ..no really.. having PC architecture has benefits and I mean other than making it simpler to code for . The price of PC components usually halves by the time you have them fired up to do anything , so the cost of production of PS4 consoles will decrease over time, at an exponential rate . The PS4 will thus be making Sony profit far longer than the exotic expensive chips used in the PS3 or PS2 for that matter. Secondly PC components are easy to replace, the same motherboard setup could have faster CPU , more RAM and GPUS added to it for little extra cost , allowing Sony to have an upgrade cycle that is yearly not 5 or 10 yearly. So your PS4 Slim launching December 2014 ( one year after your PS4 phat launching this December) can not only be slimmer , but have a faster X86 CPU and GPU AND still run all your PS4 software ... and still have a drop in price too ..

What will matter to Sony in this age of tablets, phones, PCs and Macs is for the PS4 to stay relevant to your gaming life .. something which the present gen of consoles is finding it harder and harder to do.. 

Dave Perry the father of PlayStation 4 and the Ghost in the new Sony Machine ?

First and foremost what I was expecting from the Sony  announcement was a heavy dose of GAIKAI and cloud shenanigans and this I got right from the horses mouth Mr "Herbet's Dummy Run" Dave Perry himself , whose verbal delivery the more astute among you will notice has an interesting Anglo/American vibe.... and if you know what Herbert's Dummy Run  is then you know why .... Mr Perry is a legend to the first gen of gamers (*and continues to be so for subsequent generations!) 

I have stated before that  the stage we are at with cloud technology today , makes hardware  largely irrelevant and  what I would love to see in PC and console hardware is not just CPU, GPU and RAM acceleration but also dedicated cloud/streaming  acceleration. Valve and Nvidia have picked up on this in the PC arena but Sony are way ahead of them...in ambition at least. 

I game asymmetrically ( !) using completely non gaming hardware to stream from more powerful gaming hardware all the time..because I do not need to be sitting in front of a jet engine sounding gaming rig chained to a desk any more .. thanks to the cloud power of Splashtop and with GAIKAI  I can do so without even having any gaming hardware . The potential is endless:

Sony is doing this in two ways that I see :

Firstly in hardware : The PS4 with the PSVita are the first console devices that are going to be optimised for cloud gaming and GAIKAI is the ghost in Sony's machine that will let us play any game ( from PS1 to PS4 on our PS4s , PCs, Vitas , tablets and phones ... ) 

Secondly : by building the server and cloud highway that will enable propel cloud gaming past me harping on about it in my blog or you tube videos and into the train riding average gamers phone holding hands so they can carry on playing Crysis 4 without carrying their computers, rigs , consoles or even tablets with them .. Sony by buying and investing in GAIKAI have a head start over rivals.

A couple of years from now when the console is truly obsolete as a gaming platform , we will all be gaming from the cloud across devices and operating systems , as Dave says everywhere . The thing people do not see yet is that PS4, or the PlayStation is evolving from physically  hardware dependent  into a set of  hardware independent cloud based services.

By moving gaming to the cloud, in the beginning introducing gamers to it by leveraging the magic of instant in game viewing, demos and more . 

PS4 It does games too 

The games themselves were throwaway, par for the course, which is to be expected right now the most exciting games being developed tend to be smaller independent fare anyhow so touting Unreal Engine 4 or Killzone 4 is not really in any way awe inspiring . Although you will get no argument from me for more Killzone, Final Fantasy (VII) or God of War ... but you know these are hardly going to move gaming forward now are they?

PS4 : The West is the best ..get over here and we'll d....

Throughout the meeting there was a distinct lack of past dependence on our Nihon game developing cousins, with a few Capcom and Square mumblings in what looked like the minimum of efforts  to satiate the Japanese audience. Well what do you expect? A significant proportion of Japanese coders have proclaimed their own development industry dead. Being outsold and defeated in what was your arena by a bunch of catapulted Angry Birds has caused untold damage to ego of many great name Japanese coders. Thus  Sony seems to be pushing hard to conquer the West again, perhaps this is because gaming has moved and with it games development to a Western gamer led model but more than that Sony need to appeal to the untold wealth awaiting games developers who are successful in India, China , Russia and Brazil.. which no one has really done in 4 decades or so of console or game development. 

All in all it went pretty much as I suspected and predicted here in a treatise entitled " How the Sony PlayStation 4 will end the PC and console hardware upgrade cycle once and 4 all!

Cui bono?

.. the one thing missing for me is the inevitable announcement of how PlayStation Plus will factor in and it will factor in , combining PlayStation Plus subscription with instant GAIKAI cross platform gaming is Sony's killer app , hardware ? who needs hardware ...if Dave Perry and Sony can get the GAIKAI cloud platform working we will be playing PS1 , PS2 , PS3 , PS4  and any other platform games on any device any where ... that runs GAIKAI ...which Sony owns.....

Capiche?

In creating the original PlayStation Sony took it's CDROM tech that Nintendo shrugged at and  went on to dominate the console industry , today with it's PlayStation Plus gaming subscription service and the cloud power of instant gaming with GAIKAI ,sensible and cheap ( to make) hardware selection as well as waking up to it's fanbase outside of Japan places the PS4 in a uniquely strengthened position amongst console manufacturers. Nintendo are on their way out , Microsoft would rather you Windows 8 than Xbox 720 (which will lose them money ). 

I should probably go back and watch the last 30 minutes of the meeting that I missed while snoozing but as far as I can see Sony did what it needed to so instead I shall go play some of Dave Perry's Herbert's Dummy Run  ...

Oh and Dave if you are reading please release GAIKAI back to the PC masses ..and how about firing up the old Speccy and coding some more Wally Week in your spare time?

this content is © and originated from thegameveda http://the-games-veda.blogspot.com/  if you are reading it from any other site that has not provided a link back it has been leached