WEBVTT - What exactly is cloud gaming? 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:08.760 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:12.879 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot Com. Join Josh 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:15.280 and Chuck, the guys who bring you stuff you should know, 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:17.680 as they take a trip around the world to help 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.720 you get smarter in a topsy turv economy. Check out 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:23.439 the all News super Stuff Guide to the Economy from 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:31.240 how stuff works dot Com, available now exclusively on iTunes. Hello, everybody, 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:34.480 Welcome to the podcast. My name is Chris Polette. I'm 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:36.400 the an editor here at how stuff works dot Com, 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:39.320 and sitting next to me, as usual at the text 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:45.159 Stuff News desk is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. No, we're 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:48.159 not talking about networking today. Well, we are kind of 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:50.040 kind of Yeah, I guess we can't get away from 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:53.680 that no matter what. Huh. No, sadly, but we are 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:56.560 here to talk about gaming. Yes, gaming, something I am 0:00:56.600 --> 0:00:59.160 passionate about, despite the fact that I don't own any well, 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:01.520 I own a Wee that's the only current generation console 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:05.160 I don't need to know. Yeah, however, I'd like to 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:09.160 share anyway, we are talking about networks and gaming. We 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:12.840 did those go together again? Well, of course, networks and 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:17.040 gaming aren't new. We've been networking and gaming for years 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:20.279 and years now. But what we wanted to talk about 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:24.480 was a new kind of networked gaming where the network 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:28.440 is doing all the the the number crunching and graphics 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:31.640 processing and all that kind of stuff on its end, 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:34.280 and so you just need a very thin client to 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:37.640 access those games. So again, this is taking us back 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:41.240 to one of our favorite topics here at Tech Stuff, 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:45.240 that would be cloud computing. This is my wireless router. 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:49.560 There are many like it, but this nice, nice full 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:54.880 metal jacket reference because I'm not mistaken. Um, this is 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:58.800 my router. This is my gun. Okay, So uh, first, 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:00.920 before we get it too far into this, UM, I 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:04.040 wanted to kind of talk about reasons why some of 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:07.360 us are a little skeptical about the whole cloud gaming thing. 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:12.320 And um, it's because in recent years we've seen some companies, 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:16.320 UM One in particular, does really make a claim about 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:21.200 an upcoming console that it wasn't so much a cloud 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:25.240 computing console, but was a console promising these these really 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:31.240 big big results, and um and nothing ever came of it. Why, Jonathan, 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:34.400 I don't know what you could mean. I could mean, 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:38.520 the Phantom Game Console, one of the most aptly named 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:43.119 consoles ever to come out of anyone's imagination. Yeah. Honestly, 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:47.000 when you're when you're thinking about the Phantom Console and 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:50.440 how it never appeared, you would think, wait a minute, 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:52.560 did they know they were going to put one over 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:55.520 on me? Yeah, with a name like that, you're thinking 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:57.799 they did that on purpose, So at least I am. 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:00.679 The Phantom Game Console was an idea that out of 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:05.320 a company called Infinium Labs, and the basic concept behind 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:08.240 the console was that you would have a console that 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:12.240 was always hooked up to the the Internet, uh through 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:16.040 a high speed internet connection to broadband connection, and you 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:19.920 would download games from the Internet onto this console and 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:23.440 it would have all the software on the console necessary 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:27.640 to play games that were meant for PCs for other 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:30.600 game consoles I think they mentioned like the PS two 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:34.400 and the Xbox and all the Nintendo games. So it 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:37.240 was kind of this pie in the sky unified game 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:39.480 console where you could suddenly have access to all these 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:42.360 different games using one machine, which is kind of the 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:44.280 thing that a lot of gamers have wanted for a 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:46.520 really long time because despite the fact that you have 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:50.120 fan boys of every single gaming device out there, who 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:54.920 will claim to their to their grave that their favorite 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:58.520 console is the best one. Ultimately, every single one of 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:02.320 those fan boys has a game that he or she 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:04.560 I guess I could put fan girls in there too. 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:08.680 UH wants to really play, but it's on another console 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:13.560 like E T for the that Why are you trying 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:17.600 to trying to derail me? No one wants to play 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:20.120 ET for the twenty. If you do want to play 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:23.320 ET for the talk to me, because I might have 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:27.040 a copy somewhere, you know. I'm I'm very sorry that 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:29.800 those of you listening can't see the vein that throbs 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:34.800 for that game. I want a horrible game. No, no, no, 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:39.200 I'm talking about Okay, So let's say that I'm an 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:43.680 Xbox owner and I really want to access Oh gosh, 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:46.240 what's a good PS two game or PS three game 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:50.480 that's that's only for that system. UM. I was gonna 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:53.680 say Grand Theft Auto, but that change to Uh, I 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:56.440 might say Ratchet and Clink. Okay, Ratchet and Clink. All right. 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:59.200 Let's say let's say that there's a game that's specifically 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:01.920 for one console you own the other one. You would 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:04.159 have to go out and either buy or rent the 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:07.160 other console before you could play that game, which big bummer. 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:10.160 So the Phantom Game Console was promising, Hey, you're gonna 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:12.120 be able to play any game you want on this 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:16.640 one system, very very uh kind of enticing idea. Um, 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:19.520 there's a little problem. Oh yeah, there was no evidence 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:21.960 that the thing actually existed. There were some pictures, but 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:25.440 the pictures weren't really conclusive. Uh. Some people did some 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.960 investigating and found that the address for the company led 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:32.040 to like a little empty office building or I guess 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:33.840 it was actually an empty office in a strip mall. 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:36.200 And then it was I think it was like a 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:39.279 hundred square feet with um, a desk and two phones, 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:43.920 and that wasn't So people were immediately skeptical of this 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:47.560 and a lot of people were calling shenanigans and I 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:50.159 believe it was seconded so they got the brooms out. 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:53.279 Um that's a reference for the South Park fans out there. 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:57.320 So anyway, it did turn out that the the Infinium 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:00.440 Labs eventually kind of backed away from this whole game 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:03.000 console thing. They do have a product out now, Um 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:07.120 it's a keyboard, and they they change their name, yes, 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:12.240 And they apparently lost about sixty two point seven million 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.640 dollars between two thousand two and two thousand five. Yeah, 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:18.320 I'm betting that's not on that hundred square foot office space. 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:21.560 Probably not so. At any rate, there were a lot 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:24.600 of charges of fraud and stuff being bandied about during 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:28.120 that whole time, so that has understandably made people a 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:31.960 little skeptical about other gaming systems that aren't coming from 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:35.279 one of the big names. Um that you know, most 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:37.160 people think like, okay, either it's not gonna make an 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:41.719 impact at all, uh, it doesn't really exist, or um, 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:44.520 you know the guys crazy you know, Yeah, I mean 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:47.640 it's you know, You've got your your sagas and Nintendo's 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:51.280 and Atari's and people who you know have the wherewithal 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:54.480 and expertise doing this stuff. And then somebody else, like 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:58.479 say Microsoft, wants to join in. You go, well, okay, 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:01.200 sure they can throw hundreds of millions of dollars at 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:04.000 doing this, so okay, ye, I'll believe that they're doing that. 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:06.680 But you know, Joe comes up and say, yeah, I've 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:08.760 started Joe's games. I'll have a console out next year. 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:11.560 You're going, hey, okay, I'm sorry, who are you again? Right, 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:14.960 But in this case, we're talking about someone who actually 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:17.640 is well known who has come out with this, uh, 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:20.040 this new proposed gaming system. And we should add that 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:23.360 the one we're about to talk about is not necessarily 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:27.040 the only cloud gaming system in development right now. It's 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:28.920 just the one that's made the biggest splash as of 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:32.040 the recording of this podcast. Yeah, it's made quite a 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:34.360 few recent headlines, right and we're talking about the on 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:39.160 Live system, which was unveiled at the Game Developers Conference 0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:43.280 in San Francisco in March two thousand nine. And this 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:46.360 is sort of the brainchild of Steve Pearlman, who you 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:50.360 may know from such wonderful uh projects as web TV 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:54.760 and quick Time. So so not a non unknown no, 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:57.640 not not in the least his uh. His company reared 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:03.040 in UM I believe a reference to uh Atlas Shrugged, Yes, 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:08.160 got Old and rand Um and if if one thing 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:10.440 can make me matter than e T for the ay 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:15.160 it's an rand all right then let um. Yeah, it's 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:17.280 At one point the company was named Reard and Steele 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:20.000 and uh that was about the time that the Maxi 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:23.440 Digital video recorder was part of the company and is 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:26.080 now spun off. It is part of Digio. UM but 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:28.520 you know, these are these are some serious projects. This 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:32.120 is not an unknown quantity in the least and by 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:35.000 night operation. And if you look at the console, it's 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:37.920 very very simple. Actually it's not even tiny, not even 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:40.679 necessarily a console. It depends on which version you're looking at. 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:44.240 A micro console. Yeah, um, and that's again just one 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:47.679 version of it. So here's the thing, uh, he introduced 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:51.960 on Live UM at the Game Developers Conference UH and 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:55.080 said that it's been in development for UM for for 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:59.560 seven years. So there are three different versions of this thing. 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:03.400 There's one that connects to your television. Then there is 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.880 a software that you would have on your PC or 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.160 software you would have on your Mac. Thank you. So 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:14.680 for once, Mac users are not left out of the game. However, 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:19.600 I should point out only for max that have Intel processors. Well, 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:24.000 it's for all intents and purposes, the modern map, right, 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:25.720 If you don't if you own it, if you own 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:27.960 an old, old Mac, then you may not be able 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:30.560 to run this well work on my power book. Yeah, 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:33.120 you're gonna need an Intel based Mac running a current 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:37.320 version of the operating system. But otherwise you can run 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:40.600 this software on a PC or a Mac. And for 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:43.760 the TV because you can't run software on a TV. 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:47.880 Yet they have this little mini console. Yeah, it looks 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:50.920 about the size of a like an iPhone really, I 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:53.200 mean it's tiny. Well, it doesn't have any of the 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:56.480 parts that you would associate with a traditional console, with 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:59.680 traditional the modern console, so it's not It doesn't have 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:03.080 a hard on it. It doesn't have any moving parts. 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:04.559 Well I don't think there are any moving parts. It 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:07.760 doesn't have a hard doesn't have a disc player in it. Uh, 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:09.599 so you know you're not gonna be looking at a 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:13.080 Blu ray player. But then again, it's supposed to be 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:15.240 a lot cheaper, although they haven't really announced a lot 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:17.960 of pricing for the thing yet. Right so, right now, 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:20.400 it's got what what it does have the console that 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:23.840 is it um it has support for up to four 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:29.920 wireless controllers, Bluetooth, Bluetooth support for four headsets. Um it 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:34.600 has two USB ports for physical connections to a controller, 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:37.800 a keyboard or mouse or whatever. Um It's got U 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:41.680 an S optical output Ethernet port. That's of course, where 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:44.280 you would plug it up to your high speed Internet 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:48.240 UH connection, because like the Phantom, this requires an Internet 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:52.280 connection UH as a video audio outport, and a micro 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:56.760 USB power port. That's it. That's that, this little bitty box, 0:10:56.760 --> 0:10:58.719 that's all it has on it. And then you if 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:00.000 you plug all that up and you hook it up 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.320 to your TV, you got hooked up to your internet 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:06.000 broadband service. Uh. Theoretically, you would then have access to 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:08.040 all the games that are on its system, and you 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:10.679 would purchase games the way you normally would accept. Of course, 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:13.559 you wouldn't own a physical copy of the game. You 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:17.120 would essentially own Yeah, you would own access to the 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:20.520 game really because you wouldn't have They wouldn't send you 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:23.160 any files. They wouldn't send you a CD or anything. 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:26.160 You would log into the system and you would access 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:29.559 the game that exists on these servers in the cloud, 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:31.600 and then you could play the game through that. And 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:35.240 all the graphics processing, all of the number crunching, all 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:38.240 of that goes on in the cloud. So it doesn't 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:41.520 matter how powerful a machine you have. If you have 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:45.120 a PC or a MAC that meets the minimum specifications, 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:49.000 which are really low, really minimal. I mean, if you 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:52.199 have just an old Windows machine that's running Windows XP, 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:55.480 you can use this. You don't supporting to on live. 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:58.520 You don't even have to, sorry, you don't even have 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:02.079 to have the latest Apple operating system. I believe it 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:04.120 runs on ten point four and and maybe even ten 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:06.079 point three. It does run on ten point three, so 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:08.520 I mean, we're not these are operating systems that are 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:11.640 several years old. Yes, So it's it's you know, it 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:14.200 doesn't have to have bleeding edge hardware for it to work. 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:16.600 And for for a lot of gamers, this is, um 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:18.319 this is kind of a dream come true. I mean, 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:20.679 I don't know about you, Chris, but I was a 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:25.280 big computer gamer when during the eighties and early nineties. Okay, 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:27.679 I really loved computer games. But right around the time 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:31.240 of the early nineties, that's when games started coming out 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:38.000 that required um uh a more um powerful video processor. Right, 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:40.120 so it started to feel like if you didn't go 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:42.520 out and buy a new video card every six months 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:45.520 or so, you couldn't play the latest games. And video 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:48.640 cards cost around two hundred bucks. So you're talking about Okay, 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:50.760 I'm going to spend two d sixty dollars to play 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:52.680 the sixty dollar game, because before I can play it, 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:54.960 I have to get a new video card. I was 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:57.120 not willing to do that. I that is the point 0:12:57.120 --> 0:12:59.800 where I dropped out of playing computer games. So for 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:03.600 the last fifteen years or so, I haven't really been 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:06.160 playing computer games that often, at least not ones that 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:11.040 required a you know, high powered video card. So I 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:13.680 switched back to consoles, and a lot of people did 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:15.840 because console you know, you knew it was good for 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:18.040 a few years. Then you didn't have to worry about 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:21.160 upgrades and things like the the Xbox that we the 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:24.280 PS two and three, you can connect us to the 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:27.640 network and actually get patches through the network. So if 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:30.280 even in that case, you know your your machine is 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:32.679 getting upgraded, but you don't have to buy new components 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:35.440 for it to make it so, so that stays in 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:39.720 working condition. Right, So this thing with theoretically pull that 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:42.920 out completely because it doesn't. All it does is function 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:46.360 as a you know, I go between a proxy between 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:48.520 you and the cloud. It doesn't have to be updated 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:50.400 and at least, you know, maybe a little firmware every 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:52.120 once in a wheah. It's all. It's all updated on 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:55.079 the back end, like to say, and occasionally might get 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:57.280 a patch to whatever the software you're running on your 0:13:57.360 --> 0:13:59.600 machine to in order to access this. I assume it's 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:02.679 something like a browser. Um, the thing is this has 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:05.600 This is right now, it's in internal beta. It's supposed 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:08.880 to go to a wider beta this summer, and then 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:12.640 according to on Live, it should be ready for for 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:16.840 consumers by winner of two thousand nine, which I'm really 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:18.719 excited about. I mean, the idea of being able to 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:21.840 play this on my television or on a computer. I 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:27.760 really like this idea. And and it supports networked games, 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:31.560 so you can play with or against other people online. Uh. 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:34.120 You know, all of this sounds great. They've got some 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:37.680 great partners. They've got e A Games, Ubisoft, Take Two, Interactive, 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:43.640 um Boy, Leaders of World of Google, Atari th h Q, 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:46.160 which by the way produced one of my favorite pro 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:49.440 wrestling video games of all time, WrestleMania two thousand and 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:53.560 uh for the sixty four and Um that's not that 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:56.800 I'm biased. Those were awesome video games. Okay. Anyone who 0:14:56.880 --> 0:15:00.000 ever played any of those old in sixty four wrestling 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:03.520 games will agree with me anyway. So they have these 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:06.440 great partners there, and more will will surely join them. 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:10.280 Because think about this, guys. When you build a video game, 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:13.000 the expense of building it isn't just in the development, 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:16.960 it's in the production. I mean, you have to produce boxes. 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:19.560 You have to produce you know, whatever media you're going 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:21.960 to you know, encode the game on, whether it's a 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:24.840 cartridge and disc whatever, to pay for distribution. You have 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:27.040 to pay for distribution. Yet, yeah, exactly, there are all 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:29.720 these things you have to pay for. There's extra marketing costs. 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:33.800 This cuts out a lot of those considerations. So now 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:36.600 developers now they're like, well, this is great because now 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:38.640 we won't have to pay for all this this production. 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:43.520 We can get a larger return our investment. I wouldn't 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:47.920 necessarily expect this to make video games cheaper, because if 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:50.320 the market is going to bear a fifty dollar or 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:52.880 sixty dollar video game, there's no reason for them to 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:56.920 charge less. That's true, although they may do what some 0:15:56.960 --> 0:16:00.680 of the other digital distribution markets have done in trim 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:04.240 the price a little bit. Uh, you know, because there 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:08.680 is still the matter of having to pay the developers. Developers, developers, 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:11.880 um and um. You know, there are there are a 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:14.120 lot of other costs overhead. You know, if you've got 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:17.600 a lot of people in one building developing, they require 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:21.600 a lot of mountain dew. Um, So there tabin mountain 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:28.560 dew and Frito's. Uh so. Um, so you know there 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:30.920 are some serious costs that that do have to be 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:33.440 taking care of, and of course then there's that whole 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:37.080 profit motive. Um, but you know they might trim that. 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:39.760 There is one neat advantage though, that this will have 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:43.400 that other game consoles don't unless of course, you're you know, 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:45.680 going to rent the video games, and that is that 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:48.120 they're going to let you try this out on the website. 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:50.000 It actually says, hey, you'll be able to try some 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:52.400 of these out and if you like to keep going 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:56.800 with that, you could purchase the game. Yeah, which is 0:16:56.840 --> 0:16:59.680 which is great because you know, other than renting, until 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:02.840 renting became popular, and that was that was a real 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:05.320 pain in the neck. You found you spent fiftys in 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:07.640 a game and went, man, this thing is junk right. 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:09.359 And there are a couple of other really cool things 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:13.639 for developers too, if you think about it. For one, um, 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:16.880 you don't have to worry about resale. That's a big 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:19.919 thorn and computer game company sides right now is the 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:22.480 fact that people get tired of games, they can go 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:24.359 and trade them in for other games, and then those 0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:27.200 those old games can be sold again. While the game 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:29.720 company doesn't see any of that money. You know, they 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:32.120 would rather sell a new game every single time. Well, 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:34.680 if it's all you know, you're accessing, If you're buying 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:40.920 access to a game, you can't resale, resale, resell that resale. Sorry, 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:45.520 I am from the South and occasionally looks through, um 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:48.600 and uh, you know it's the other nice thing is 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:51.399 that you only developed for one platform. You know, you 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:54.479 don't have to develop for the If you have a 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:56.720 game and you want to make it available to every 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.159 single console, that means you have to go through the 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:02.520 development process us well essentially three times if we're talking 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:06.960 about the three major consoles right right, that costs money exactly, 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:09.000 and that costs That costs money, and it takes time 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:13.160 and uh, you know you think about it, that divides 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:16.560 your resources by three or four amounts. You know. This way, 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:20.320 you're developing for one platform. Anyone who's using a PC, 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:24.080 Mac or television can access it. I mean there, that's 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:26.560 almost a no brainer. Plus you might be able to 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:30.240 uh go back and release older titles and continue to 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:33.240 you know, long tail it stuff over. Yeah, you might 0:18:33.280 --> 0:18:35.800 even be able to find I mean our partner maybe 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:39.080 they'll release e t now why do you do this 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:44.479 to me? There's um, there are some problems. The biggest 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:47.280 problem is that if you do not have a reliable 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:52.040 internet broadband connection, you could experience what is called latency. Yes, 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:55.600 that's when you Latency is very bad. That's when you 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:57.720 try and do something in the game, and then a 0:18:57.760 --> 0:19:00.720 second or two later, your character's movement reflect what you 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:02.920 just did. So, like you pressed the jump button and 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:08.240 then when one Mississippi to Mississippi Mario jumps. That's not good. Um. 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:11.200 It does not make for a fun gaming experience. You're 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:14.560 almost guaranteed to fail miserably every time you game. Um. 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:16.880 There are other problems as well. Some first person shooters, 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:20.320 when you have latency issues, the computer itself will allow 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:23.040 your character to keep running in whatever direction he she 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:26.160 was running in at the time, and then when you reconnect, 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:29.080 it will suddenly say, oops, he's actually across the map 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:31.359 on the other side, which immediately makes everyone on the 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:35.600 opposing team think that you cheated. Hey, what happened? Hey 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:39.560 what happened? Yeah? That uh, that happened to me. Actually, 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:42.399 that's how I stopped playing Xbox Life because my internet 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:46.440 broadband connection was so poor I couldn't maintain a game, 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:48.359 and uh, I had a lot of people accusing me 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:51.720 of cheating using standby, and I was not. I will 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:53.760 have I want to go on the record, it was 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:57.439 my lousy internet connection. So at any rate, if I 0:19:57.480 --> 0:19:59.840 had this system, if I had the system at home 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.240 and my internet connection was acting up, then my experience 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:06.560 would not be very pleasant. The other big problem is 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:10.240 if anything major happens to on Live, like the company 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:13.520 goes out of business, Uh, you've lost all those games. 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:18.200 If somehow Sony went out of business tomorrow, you would 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:21.160 still have your Sony PS two or p S three 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:23.000 and all the games you had bought, and you could 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:25.480 play those for as long as the machine would run 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:27.919 and as long as those disks could could. You know, 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:31.320 we're in good shape. But if on Live goes belly up, 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:35.919 then you have no more games. So there are some risks, 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:39.600 and those are common throughout all cloud computing applications, not 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:42.840 just gaming. It also is a is bad news for 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:48.840 the PC market because, um, what you know, gaming rigs, 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:52.040 that's what some of the highest end computer systems that 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:55.920 that are that are available for personal computers. Right. Um, 0:20:55.960 --> 0:20:59.800 if suddenly the demand for that drops through the ground, Uh, 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:03.120 companies aren't don't have the incentive to develop these really 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:06.240 super fast processors. Um, and so we might actually see 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:09.159 Moore's law come to an end. Yeah, because you think 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:11.480 about it, like, if all the computing is being done 0:21:11.480 --> 0:21:13.360 on the cloud and I don't need a powerful computer, 0:21:14.680 --> 0:21:17.600 you stop fueling into that cycle of let's develop even 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:20.520 faster processors. There would be no financial incentive for them 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:23.040 to do so. And then cats and dogs living together 0:21:23.760 --> 0:21:27.600 mass hysteria. How many more movie quotes are we gonna 0:21:27.880 --> 0:21:29.880 squeeze into this post? That's gonna be it, because I'm 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:37.359 gonna I'm gonna move on to listener mail. Okay, totally 0:21:37.359 --> 0:21:39.680 caught in one. That one. Okay, So today's listener mail 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:42.879 comes from Sonny, and Sonny says, I recently subscribe to 0:21:42.880 --> 0:21:44.879 your podcast and have just caught up with all of 0:21:44.920 --> 0:21:48.160 the episodes. In the recent episode on how nanotechnology works, 0:21:48.160 --> 0:21:50.399