| New source of non-stop gamer complaints to ISPs Gamers already heavily complain about ping times(latency) where the games are limited to sending update info compressed in to coordinates. Now with this new service, the game will be sending screen updates and screen handling won't be done purely by a local application. Needless to say latency will be even more critical with this service.
I can just see the customer service call to the ISP. "My game is sucking big time and I keep getting shot and it is all because of your lousy service where my pings are 103 ms. And Onlive Streaming says I am at 999 miles from data center and I should work just fine. So it is all your fault and I am calling my Congressman because you are a crummy monopoly and that is why my ping times suck."
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| Hmmm maybe the complaints would stop if the ISP ever bothered to upgrade their equipment to handle the demand? Maybe they're hoping the squeaky wheel gets the grease? Perhaps they should just think about the stockholder's dividends and just shut up?
Actually 100ms is pretty lousy for only traveling 1,000 miles. Any decent ISP should be able to manage ~50ms over 1,500 miles. One side of the US to the other should be about 100ms.
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| said by truth0:Actually 100ms is pretty lousy for only traveling 1,000 miles. Any decent ISP should be able to manage ~50ms over 1,500 miles. One side of the US to the other should be about 100ms. Those are average numbers. And games live & die on max delay times. Onlive games are by the very nature of their business plan going to deliver a worse service than existing games platforms.
P.S.>> from whois displays of Onlive IP addresses, it appears that Amazon's EC2 cloud service will be providing the infrastructure.
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 DrModemPremium
join:2006-10-19
USA
kudos:1
1 edit | That's 50ms to onlive, on top of 50ms+ more when playing on internet servers.
Now you say, most gamers can play fine with 100ms, and that is true. But for those gamers currently playing with 100ms, it is from whatever machine they are using(PC, console) direct to the server they are playing on. Onlive introduces controller lag, because your controller is 50ms away from the actual gaming machine. And you will feel it. And it will be terrible.
And unless there are special "Onlive Users Only" servers for games, like there are console only servers, it will be an extreme experience in frustration, because all your opponents will not have any controller lag, just net lag, and they will be completely dominating you because of it.
You will even be being beaten by people on dialup.
Most likely anyone who uses onlive will quit it and end up getting a console or a PC, or just stop gaming. And gamers who already have consoles or PCs will not use Onlive period because of what I just detailed. |
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| reply to fAcEtIOUs
Average ping time should be close to what its lowest time is. There shouldn't be any huge fluctuation over time. I get 50ms ping to servers 1,500 miles away and that's consistent over a span of many hours. There shouldn't be fluctuation by more than 10ms at most over a period of time. That is if the ISP cares enough to invest in the network to meet demand - barring anything major like the backbone provider having problems.
Trust me I'm not trying to defend the onlive system because even with a 10-20ms to their server I still think it would be a bad experience. Just wanted to put some accurate numbers with regards to ping and distance out there. |
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| reply to fAcEtIOUs
said by fAcEtIOUs:So it is all your fault and I am calling my Congressman because you are a crummy monopoly and that is why my ping times suck. That sums it up the issue perfectly. |
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 KrKHeavy Artillery For The Little GuyPremium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
 ·AT&T DSL Service
| reply to DrModem
I tend to agree.... I don't see how this is going to work out.
Lag will be an absolute bitch kitty on this setup.
On the positive side, all he pansy-cheating wusses will be SOL.
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"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini
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DrModemPremium
join:2006-10-19
USA
kudos:1 | said by KrK:On the positive side, all he pansy-cheating wusses will be SOL. Lol, how much you wanna bet? There are hacks for everything including consoles and browser games. Onlive shouldn't be any different. Enterprising game hackers will be working round the clock for ego points if anything. |
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KrKHeavy Artillery For The Little GuyPremium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK Reviews:
·AT&T DSL Service
| Well, with all the action happening on the server, and just your control inputs on your end, I see it being hard to cheat. No "Head Shots while flying thru the air spinning by a guy with a pistol across the map." 
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"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini
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