A game ideal that could save consumers money

[ObakeTora]

I had this english assignment due today. It sounds like a good idea to me what do you think?

Imagine someday where home consoles will only consist of some memory a motherboard and a cpu, sharing data across an intranet that game companies can charge a monthly service for. Games can be distributed like a cable service.

I posted this idea on DCemulation.com but I got limited responses. ANyway what do you guys think?

Distributed Gaming​

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It's happened to virtually everyone involved in an intensive shared gaming experience. You've fought bravely to your target, your scope zooms into a perfect area on your target's forehead and your ready to take your shot, however to your dismay nothing happens when you press the trigger. Your on-screen character isn't responding to your mouse movements, and you scream in agony because your character has just been killed. While not uncommon, this tragedy is most likely attributed to server lag time. Many clients are requesting packets, however your client's request gets passed up due to excessive information requests. Fear not brave gamers, for I have a solution that will revolutionize everyone's gaming experience, reducing server lag to a thing of the past, and it's name is distributed gaming.
Recently an organization called SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Life) introduced a concept that would allow average PC users to share in the intensive calculations needed to intercept and analyze radio frequencies from space. This concept is also known as computer clustering, whereas two or more computers with varying processing power can be attached to each other to form one large super computer. In the IT field, cluster based computers are used for web servers, network load balancing, and component load balancing, whereas individual resources used to operate a typical computer application (such as Word or Excel) can be divided amongst other computers to ease the workload off of an underpowered computer. My ideal focuses heavily on component load balancing.
The problem with todays peer to peer games is there are too many clients trying to access the same resource. Usually the protocol used to share or transfer information is UDP (user datagram protocol). UDP is designed to allow for large chunks of streaming data to be sent between workstations. These chunks of data are usually broad casted to every workstation in the wan or lan, there is no error correction and most of the times these chunks are lost in transit. Thus we have the infamous lag time, where gamers encounter horrifying problems such as screen freeze, ultimately resulting in the game and time being lost.
My solution is simple, every participant in the game whether it be over a wide or local area network will have the option to set their computer up as a component balancing client. Their entire computer will handle one specific process of the game. For example, the calculations that are used for geometry coordinates can be large and processor intensive, yet these calculations can be separated and divided up and sent to each gamer on the network. The resources needed to display high level graphics can also be shared. I believe this will eliminate server lag time and increase the game's function with more people signing on the game network.
The main problem I see with this concept is the amount of programming knowledge needed to partake such an undertaking. There are many games that are open sourced, meaning that the code use to make the game is freely available for anyone to augment. The time and money involved to reconfigure preexisting games to use my component balancing idea could be costly. The other problem I see is the reluctance for gamers to allow their computer to be configured as a component balancing client. The requirement for a super-cluster gaming environment is that some level of control be surrendered to the main server. Many PC owners are too afraid of hacker intrusions over the Internet, and the level of control taken away from the PC user is high. However through time and consumer product knowledge, home gaming console manufacturers can capitalize on this problem by operating the shared client resources over an intranet.
An intranet is similar in concept to the inter-net except that the two are not attached to each other. An intranet is a privatized connection operating over a connection format separated from the Internet. Over a regulated, private, connection, the threat of hacker intrusions can be minimal to non-existent, and special technologies can be put in place to allow for the effective development of a distributed computing network. Game companies can see a nice profit by charging end users a reasonable fee per month to allow use of this connection.
In contrast to the gamer of yesterday, the gamer of today has become very knowledgeable in current market trends and technology. For many years gamers have demanded a better product, however high priced consoles or computer components have become the main drawback. Game companies can produce and distribute low end consoles that only carry the resources to work with my component idea, thus reducing the price of home consoles exponentially.

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[lars573]

Impractical. Your idea would just teach kids why Stalinist/Maoist collectivization don't work. That kind of decentralization would require that anyone who uses this needs broadband internet, and that the game box isn't under the control of the end user. It also would require that you need at least 2-4 people to have a game preform at all. Taken alone any one would be a deal breaker for someone like M$ or $ony. Taken together your idea goes into Communist fantasy land.

 

[ObakeTora]

Impractical. Your idea would just teach kids why Stalinist/Maoist collectivization don't work. That kind of decentralization would require that anyone who uses this needs broadband internet, and that the game box isn't under the control of the end user. It also would require that you need at least 2-4 people to have a game preform at all. Taken alone any one would be a deal breaker for someone like M$ or $ony. Taken together your idea goes into Communist fantasy land.

I undersand you up until the stalinist mao point, but come on is it more impractical to shell out over 600 bucks for a game console (ps3) that will be outdated in few years with current technology?

The broadband service can be free when you think about it. People will only be paying a fee to download the games to play. That in turn will pay for the broadband service. Plus if big companies werent so greedy, (like Adelphia ) they could implement a low priced intranet service. The games you download can pay for it. Since weve eliminated the physical media such as cds or dvds, games can be as low as 5 bucks that can be conveniently purchased through paypal or whatever online bank you use. People will be downloading games at a very fast rate, I can already see the profit potential in this. This way more money can be spent developing better quality games, instead of trying to 1 up intel.

Now when you say giving up control to the end user, remember Ive modified my point to focus on game consoles, and I also allowed users to be granted a choice. Initially I will have several huge server clusters that dispense the game and attract new users. In a short time the users will increase in number and so will the processing power.

Secondly these are game consoles, if you want functionality buy a PC instead of an overpriced peice of crap that serves only to monopolize the game market (by kicking out Sega ) with crappy extras like dvd gps and toaster toasting capability. Pcs can do all that, this will save a battle between game consoles and pcs. I just want better @#$%^ing games!!!



[EDIT]

Well if you still can't see my point, let me tell you about the prototype Im working on.

Im building a cheap server cluster. I have over 45 xboxes in my garage, whats 45 x 800 mhz?

I build the cluster, advertise, and implement the intranet.

if all goes well, I'll begin marketing a console (similar specs as the xbox) for only 45.00

the console is bare bones with only cpu, memory, and a motherboard.

http://www.benheck.com/


I have all the resources do to this, I just need to look for a vacuum press machine, then I have a prototype!!


oh and one last thing. Windows XP has remote assistance capabilities. It wouldnt be too much to have a small flash bios partition on my prototype console that allows you to connect to your pc anywhere you want. LCD screen will be extra, but fits conveniently on top of the console. Thats if you want to use your 3 gig monster computer at home waiting for the bus.

 

[Darkdd]

Interesting idea.You might just be the next big thing.Word of advice,wait a while until all the next gen fever is gone.Or wait until the begining of the new next gen.