Do you guys think that Smart TV's will be the future of gaming?

[Regal]

until people learn the hard way that local processing and autonomy is superior to a centralized experience over which you have no control

I don't know man. People said the same thing about DVDs vs Netflix. We all know who won that battle. I legit think there is a world where there start being "gamephiles" who are considered the extreme nerds who choose to spend tons of money on local hardware to get the best experience. Just like audiophiles, cinephiles, etc today.

A low-cost experience that is convenient and "good enough" always wins. Game streaming is in that category. Yeah we on Agora might not be the target demographic but best believe that this is the future.

Microsoft isn't buying up all these companies for fun. They are doing it to make their game streaming service the best. They lost the console wars but have a huge lead on the game streaming wars.

 

[passerby]

it's all a matter of whether or not companies are able to keep up with server costs i guess, + whether or not they put in the effort to make the thing accessible to normies, corporations like pushing for subscription based services where consumers don't own anything anymore cloud gaming really is the next step

what i can see happening is like someone like Netflix adding cloud gaming to their app and this becoming the Next Big Thing™, it has to be preinstalled on the TV somehow or else it won't take off, normies won't just search up an app on the TV's play store, and the TVs should come bundled with some kind of bluetooth gamepad, without that normies won't bother and will still buy consoles because that's what they're used to, that's the path of least resistance to them

Good points. These days, I think access matters more than the actual gaming medium. With so much IP consolidation, even streaming giants like Netflix likely don't have the cash to acquire entire libraries of exclusive content from Sony, Microsoft, et al. As such, they won't compete with console stores anytime soon.

 

[HammerKoopa]

Yessss. This is a great point. Unfortunately, though, TV manufacturing is now dominated by a handful of companies that increasingly want long-term control over user data, not just at the point of sale. That means ending the production of traditional TV setups. It's realllly hard to find a non-smart TV in the typical size and price point consumers want. I recently made a whole Substack post (or rant, lol) about the exact point you made here (https://shannoncuthrell.substack.com/p/the-illusion-of-consumer-choice).

Great and incredibly dystopian article. I was not aware Google had its own ISP on your side of the hemisphere, that is really disconcerting and just seems like part of a long term plan to choke hold and monopolize as much of the internet experience as they can.

" I like the relationship executed at the point of sale, not forever latched on via the mountain of legal agreements required in the setup process. "
We should of read the terms and agreements on the installation wizard when we had the chance bro!

To answer to the thread, while i do believe consoles are nearing their obsolesce, Smart TVs are not the future for them. It is and has always been the PC, the original purpose of consoles was to have a dedicated machine that could play games and have features the average home computer could not possess without skyrocketing in price. However that has not been the case for a long time now, your average GAMER COMPUTER RIG and your last PlayBox tend to share internal components to a point you could even see getting a console as a downgrade if you can set up a PC to handle it and console exclusive games becoming more of an oddity. Case exception being Nintendo that still include a gimmick to their console to build the games around and keeping IPs exclusive to the console as well. I agree with previous points that cloud gaming will remain a choice, but it wont be the console killer.

 

[Regal]

Great and incredibly dystopian article. I was not aware Google had its own ISP on your side of the hemisphere, that is really disconcerting and just seems like part of a long term plan to choke hold and monopolize as much of the internet experience as they can.

This is off-topic but boy do I have a rabbit hole for you about how Africa, India, and many other countries have been taken advantage of: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/01/facebook-free-basics-internet-africa-mark-zuckerberg

https://www.wired.com/2014/02/whatsapp-rules-rest-world/

 

[HammerKoopa]

This is off-topic but boy do I have a rabbit hole for you about how Africa, India, and many other countries have been taken advantage of: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/01/facebook-free-basics-internet-africa-mark-zuckerberg

This dystopian cyberpunk future we are headed towards is going to provide the sweetest threads

 

[passerby]

Great and incredibly dystopian article. I was not aware Google had its own ISP on your side of the hemisphere, that is really disconcerting and just seems like part of a long term plan to choke hold and monopolize as much of the internet experience as they can.

" I like the relationship executed at the point of sale, not forever latched on via the mountain of legal agreements required in the setup process. "
We should of read the terms and agreements on the installation wizard when we had the chance bro!

To answer to the thread, while i do believe consoles are nearing their obsolesce, Smart TVs are not the future for them. It is and has always been the PC, the original purpose of consoles was to have a dedicated machine that could play games and have features the average home computer could not possess without skyrocketing in price. However that has not been the case for a long time now, your average GAMER COMPUTER RIG and your last PlayBox tend to share internal components to a point you could even see getting a console as a downgrade if you can set up a PC to handle it and console exclusive games becoming more of an oddity. Case exception being Nintendo that still include a gimmick to their console to build the games around and keeping IPs exclusive to the console as well. I agree with previous points that cloud gaming will remain a choice, but it wont be the console killer.

Thank you! I appreciate you reading it. And true, true. PCs will probably remain king for a while, but that also depends on whether gaming uptake grows beyond its current levels. Smart TVs may replace consoles and PCs when the market graduates from niche to mass-audience scale.

 

[ryan]

Smart TVs are very powerful nowadays.It would have been unheard of to be able to browse the web or access a basically infinite library of videos on your TV 20 years ago. I don't think it'll happen. Although the slow death of disc-based games is sad.

If smart tvs are so powerful then why does every one I have the misfortune of using run like dogshit with 3 mins of input delay?

In regards to cloud gaming, if games move to the cloud then I no longer play new games. Plenty in my backlog to keep me busy for the rest of my life.

 

[GENOSAD]

Even if it doesn't take off, I guarantee you that corporations are going to try like Hell to make it work. Tech has always been going in the direction of "the one device" that can do everything; a smartphone that renders your MP3 player, landline, pager, watch, and handheld console useless. It's always going to be cheaper to integrate as many features as possible into one device, even if it means constant updates and half-assed products.
If anyone's going to fall for the subscription-based no-console-necessary scheme, I think it's going to be the console market. Microsoft already has people hooked on their Xbox gamepass, and even if you don't have an Xbox, Microsoft loves nagging Windows users to get one so that they can play Minecraft or Solitaire. Supposing Microsoft wanted to pull this (which I honestly don't see happening), it wouldn't be too hard for them.
If the console market doesn't bite into it, then the next best thing to bank off of is children. "Hey parents! You're confused by today's state of games, aren't you? Just get this TV with built-in games and let your kid play without having to constantly buy games for them!" In a few years' time, those kids will have been conditioned to know cloud gaming as their only experience.
I think it's possible, but honestly I don't see it happening for another few decades or so, if at all.

 

[Yabba]

Look, all in one smart tv gaming isn't going to take off because charging for two overpriced boxes is always better than one.

 

[Enrofflesss]

Maybe jacking a Ferrite SSVGA connector into the side of my neck wasn't Such a great idea...maybe you're on to something.

 

[vulonkaaz]

smart tvs are among the most harmful electronics ever made, they are the very reason why normies have to use streaming services and can't pirate anymore because they don't have a single clue how to play a simple video file on their TVs

the end game of tech companies is to have the majority of people not have a single clue how computers work anymore, not a single x86 machine in people's household, work machines being replaced with iPads and chromebooks wherever possible, google docs instead of ms word, office 365 instead of the desktop version, cloud storage, people are slowly forgetting what a file is, some of them have already forgotten, people will see usb flash drives in store and scratch their head wondering what this could even be for, or won't scratch their head at all cause people have that wonderful capacity to literally not see what isn't part of their own life

wouldn't they be shooting themselves in the foot by making their own workforce become increasingly incompetent ? maybe that's the reason why they're pushing AI so much

my own dad knew how to download in 2007 using eMule and knew how to burn disks. now ? well at least he still know what a file is

I kinda wanna see the total consoomer dystopia win it would be fun in 2040 to have to buy Dell Optiplex on the used market just to be able to play games lmao

am I getting off topic here ? i'm pretty sure i'm off topic
to say something relevant to the thread, replacing consoles with an app on the TV would contribute to their dystopia by making people slowly forget what an HDMI is

 

[miku]

I reject using any kind of locked down ecosystem.
I also dislike the term "smart" device in general.
They're just stuffing computers into everything and make it seem like some crazy innovation.
As long as it's an x86-64 board, I can run anything on it.

I recently hooked up a caseless build I was troubleshooting to a living room TV for testing & the parents asked me since when their TV had 'Internet'...

How do these people even manage to setup their TV in the first place? What do they think a traditional reciever is for?
Do they even realise that there is no major difference between hooking stuff up to a TV and a monitor?
This tech has been around for quite some time after all...

God, everytime I'm confronted with people like this a part inside of me dies a painful death.

I really wish the internet would've stayed a noncommercial niche.
Those are the kinds of people that ruined the Internet with their mere presence as easily exploitable wallets to drain.

 

[Digital Cheese]

For gaming? Not for at least 10 years, and more like 20 to 30. It's likely to be eaten up by the normies whenever it does happen. Honestly, smart TVs in general are terrible. I am using an old family TV which I just realized has a built-in DVD player on top of 2 HDMIs, an AVI, and a VGA port. Old TV supremacy. I only keep a TV for gaming consoles anyways, so its not like having 30 TVs is useful. Hell, its better to keep a small TV for myself because thats all I need, and since it has a DVD player, even if I literally had nothing better to do and couldnt just go onto Agora, I could just go find or buy another shitty DVD and watch something idfk. Best TV ever, 10/10

 

[vulonkaaz]

I kinda wanna see the total consoomer dystopia win it would be fun in 2040 to have to buy Dell Optiplex on the used market just to be able to play games lmao

I'm still always confusing Dell Optiplex and Dell PowerEdge

I meant Dell PowerEdge like big fat computers you find in datacenter with fans louder than motorcycles

 

[elia925-6]

Most of the games available on smart tv app stores are just mobile shovelware and most countries have bad internet infustructure (including mine) which makes the cloud gaming a daunting task. And consoles have streaming platforms

 

[Some_porcupine]

the-illusion-of-consumer-choice)

didnt read, but yeah... "i will get you when i want you to have" 1984

(shitpost in thread, dont react)

 

[RisingThumb]

Microsoft isn't buying up all these companies for fun. They are doing it to make their game streaming service the best. They lost the console wars but have a huge lead on the game streaming wars.

Agreed on the point you made that it's too early to tell. Lots of people are really certain on it being too early to tell. In my opinion, I think the issue with Game Streaming is one of input latency. Game streaming is already really cool and useful if you've used Steam's Remote Play and Remote Play together. Additionally, there was also Nvidia's Geforce now which I gave a try like 2 years back, but the games I played were FPS games and had too much input latency to be worth playing.

The technical problem is input latency, and the benefits aren't exclusive to games, but also to remote control of anything(Drones, rockets, etc). For streaming movies, it was a question of buffering all the data and compressing it down, and you had a predictable consistent video. Video Games and unpredictable inconsistent video, the same for audio and the same for inputs. This issue is worsened if you play multiplayer games too, as you are extending the input latency for you, adding network latency to the data center's server, and adding network latency to the game servers.

Some people would say input latency isn't very important, but something to consider is that a lot of apple devices are sold on this promise of low input latency, as android(thanks Chinesium software) and Microsoft(with their old line of phones, idk if they still do any(as another point, this is another thing about Microsoft. They buy the advantage and majorly drop the ball all the time)) have comparable worse input latency despite being more featureful. You also see this in how people who go 30fps -> 60fps -> 120fps -> 144fps etc struggle to go back as it feels choppier to them. It's also more points of failure, but that's the same argument for DVD vs Netflix.

That said, there is a massive class of Gamers who aren't very picky in their games. To the point some game developers hunt these whales in the google play store... and with how money talks...