Bamba wrote:
To me, the selling point of a service like this is two-fold:
- Being able to play games on a machine that wouldn't actually be able to play the game 'properly' and;
- Being able to instantly play games on any machine without having to carry install media around with you or download massive files (i.e. Steam).
Both of those are factors that piracy, and the traditional sale model, just can't touch.
Agreed.
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I'm not sure though how many people's circumstances really require that set up though. I don't spend enough time moving between inferior machines to care about this kind of thing, especially when you factor in the need for an always-on net connection with a certain level of speed/stability for the service to function at all.
Well, I went through my thoughts on this with AE a fair bit back. Your market is basically
1) PC gamers who want to get out of the hardware/drivers upgrade rat race (not huge)
2) Console gamers who want better graphics than what they've got, and instant-on gaming rather than having to buy from a shop or the console vendor's download store (larger, I think). Also, no need to buy new console hardware.
Broadband connections are getting faster, constantly. Particularly in metropolitan areas, which is where the majority of people live.