And for something different :

[Dejavu]

For all you video-game lovers. The new age of video games coming in late-2009!

http://www.onlive.com/

( I'd post this in a different, more fitting section, but I can't)

What do you guys think the implications of this kind technology are for the future of not only video games, but computing in general?

I think this will run a lot well entrenched corporations like Microsoft out of business. These are basically the preludes to thin client (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_client) computers where all the processing is handled from a remote super computer. This thin client (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_client) super computer will be able to fit into your pocket like a wallet and you can take it anywhere. Instantly access applications without having to deal with the annoying drivers, graphics cards , processors, downloading, and installation of conventional crap.

The only problem I still see is broadband but fiber optics is already emerging more popular. Google mysteriously bought up a lot of fiber (http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/Google-and-Its-Continuing-Dark-Fiber-Mystery/) not too long ago and I wonder what they plan to do with it? Can we see mass distribution of fiber optics to accompany this new epoch in computing technology? I , for one, hope so. I also think this will change the dynamic of the economy by destroying a lot of businesses and creating new ones.

I think in terms of social utility, this will be a net positive.

Opinions? Comments? Questions?

[Dejavu]

Let me mention also that this will be the end of the traditional internet as we know it. Since applications will be able to be remotely accessed from a dedicated super processor accessing the web will be much like pulling up a program on a super fast personal computer. The internet will be replaced by Grid (http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2001/03/42230) applications.

[Bright Banana Beard]

I think this is awesome and interesting on what we could see in a decade, I see this as progressive. My only question is, how would that ensure to to remove monopoly status like Microsoft? Wouldn't they brag they have better thin client than other? What about development kit for those who wanted to create a game? I think we both know there is many unanswered questions for this new age of video game.

[danyboy27]

wow, that is really really really interresting.

i can easy see this kind of technology being applied for both recreative and scientifics purposes.

the whole terminal/server technology is really ancient, but more recent progress about the high speed internet speed really did the trick to make it great.

[#FF0000]

Hello online libraries. Imagine something like Amazon's Kindle being connected to a database that could effectively store every text ever written.

Every. Book. Ever. Written.

I'd also like to see this used along with the personal computers that already exist. I'd love an MP3 player that just played music from the My Music folder on my computer at home. I'd never leave a typed assignment on my desktop without printing it again. I'd have a pocket gallery of over 3000 LOLcat images. The possibilities~~~

[GPDP]

This is definitely the way of the future. Not just for video games, though, but for all kinds of media.

It might be a bit ahead of its time for now, though. But it's always nice to set a precedent.

[IcarusAngel]

Hello online libraries. Imagine something like Amazon's Kindle being connected to a database that could effectively store every text ever written.

Every. Book. Ever. Written.

Where's the fun in that?

[IcarusAngel]

Something like this really could have been done long before, though. It's because of capitalistic property rights that technology gets withheld back so much. When technology was coming out of the state department, look at how many new ideas were coming into play all at once. Once commercialized, you saw the same thing you always do with industrialization: repeated reinventions of the same idea.

There is no reason this couldn't have been done a while ago, nor is it impossible for there to be other creative ideas like a game machine that runs most platforms. This has actually been floating around for a while (remember Phantom?), but in a communist society it would make sense because you would have different game divisions developing games for a system that would be multiplatform, and the individual machines could still exist and would be more easily available.

In capitalism, competition exists so as to prevent others from advancing (buy outs, patents, copy rights and intellectual trade names, constantly suing other companies in hopes they fail, monopolistic practices) and threatening your market share. The consequences of this are that companies often spend more time filing a patent than they do developing their programs. This is also one of the reasons you see a declining quality in software. In the old days, software did what it was supposed to do. Now, they rarely work right. In regards to entertainment like movies, compare the "classic" King Kong or War of the Worlds to the modern ones. The classics were better and more intellectual, while the others had better special effects (why couldn't good special effects and story coincide). And with video games they used to be more challenging and creative, now the good ones are largely repeats and companies who focus on producing good games rather than mountains of crap are run out of business. Video game developers are usually given pretty strict deadlines, even though predicting how long it will take to make them isn't really an exact science, and every once in a while they are required to develop sequels or games based off on movies or name recognition just to help bring in money.

The idea of "socialist competition", however, is to share your ideas and knowledge with others, and naturally some people will ultimately work much better with given ideas. However, a person might not have gone in a certain direction had it not been for a weaker worker or contributor pushing him that way. In that sense, socialism mirrors science, as this is the kind of "competition" they engage in, such as Einstein's theories being pushed along by Russian mathematicians focused in geometry.

[trivas7]

NPR had a piece recently re the revolution in the non-manned military and how this will effect the nature of war. Superior videogamers are training the military as we speak. In Iraq non-manned airplanes have already changed the complexion of the war and this will only increase in time. Many in the Middle East are decrying this as another form of cowardness from the Americans yet again relying on their superior technology. Robotics is the future of war.

[Conquer or Die]

A current form of exploitation that is both denigrating artistic respectability and wallets is the microtransaction model that has recently appeared through the handful of still profitable video game mega corporations out there. A streaming service of unlimited games for a flat monthly fee could see this model permanently ended. I see this reducing incentives on the part of developers to provide content for publishers to ensure egregious profit gains (see: Oblivion horse armor). Developers would need to ensure the survivability of their products by releasing free and better content in order to guarantee server space and therefore ensure development capital and profit.

edit:
How do I patch or update my games?
OnLive games are patched and updated automatically for you in the OnLive data center. So, games start up the instant you click on them.

This has negative consequences, however.