Gaming on AWS

[SKOLLBR]

I like to play games, but I don't like $$$ to keep investing money in a new machine every other year,

So I was looking into some solutions and maybe AWS Cloud could be it.

I found this article https://medium.com/tensoriot/cloud-gaming-on-amazon-web-services-4be806c0051b

 

I believe the idea is very useful, especially for some games that require a lot of resources, or maybe to try some new game that your current PC specs can not run properly. 

 

Did anybody here tried?

[Kisai]

17 minutes ago, SKOLLBR said:

I like to play games, but I don't like $$$ to keep investing money in a new machine every other year,

So I was looking into some solutions and maybe AWS Cloud could be it.

I found this article https://medium.com/tensoriot/cloud-gaming-on-amazon-web-services-4be806c0051b

 

I believe the idea is very useful, especially for some games that require a lot of resources, or maybe to try some new game that your current PC specs can not run properly. 

 

Did anybody here tried?

Try Stadia first and then consider why it's a bad idea.

 

In a nutshell, unless you live super-close to the data center that hosts the instance, the latency will be worse than having a physical machine.

 

But not every game is actually that bad. Platformers, Rhythm, and Fighting games are all very ... hard to play on Stadia. The Adventure/RPG/FPS/TPS type of games however aren't quite as bad except when something is twitchy (eg sniper weapons firing) where that 32ms or two frames of latency might make it harder to play.

 

I've subscribed to Stadia since it started but I've barely played it, and am unwilling to buy games on it because I don't trust google to not pull the welcome mat out when it inevitably fails. But if you just subscribe to it (you can use any game controller and Chrome on Windows to try it, so the investment is basically $20)

 

My experience so far with everything I've tried on Stadia is that the latency is terrible for all but games that you can just shotgun your way through (eg the aiming doesn't matter as much as how often you fire a weapon.) The Steamworld games I was able to play and finish, but those games are very forgiving of Stadia's quirks. Tomb Raider is not nearly so forgiving, Destiny 2 is not very forgiving. Thumper is very unforgiving (it's a Rhythm game.) GYLT is very forgiving as it's more of a stealth game.

[SupaKomputa]

aaand for how much?

[Aimi]

31 minutes ago, SKOLLBR said:

I don't like $$$ to keep investing money in a new machine every other year,

Then build a machine that'll last more than 1-2 years... 

[TheZorch]

There is Shadow which is promoted by a few channels I follow, I think Linus visited their offices once. It gives you a full Windows 10 PC with desktop in the cloud. It is basically a fully accessible PC for running games and apps which you install yourself. What makes them a little different from Stadia and GeForce Now is they're building-out data centers across the country to shorten the distance to their users. The reason why Cloud Gaming hasn't really exploded is due to latency as @Kisai pointed out. The further you are from the data center the higher the latency and this is an issue for FPS and twitchy action games (i.e.; Super Meatboy, Dead Cells, etc). 

 

The best thing though would be to actually build a PC. Yes, PC tech is always advancing but on average you really don't need to upgrade that often. The average lifespan of a good gaming rig is about 4 - 5 years. That's how long it took my old gaming rig (Intel Core i7 4790, 16 GB DDR3, Radeon RX 570 4 GB) to start showing its age. Games don't jump ahead that quickly until there's been a massive CPU/GPU architecture change and even then it is a slow transition. Game Makers want to target as big an audience as they can while also catering to those who like riding the bleeding edge of hardware.

 

TL;DR - If you build a good gaming PC now the games are not going to outpace it in just 1 - 2 years. 

[SKOLLBR]

Thanks for all the replies. I agree with you all.

I believe these latency problems will eventually be surpassed with better remote protocols, I hope at least.

I personally like the idea of renting it instead of owning it. let's see what the future will bring.

 

 

[Guest]

LTT tested "Every game streaming service."

But I haven't upgraded for a while. A solid PC will last a while.