[Kong]

@upgrades
I mean both software and hardware (video, memory, cpu but not controllers). And I don't mean just software updates. I mean being able to upgrade from the equivalent of Windows 7 to Windows 8 without the user taking any action.

And by free I mean the cost to the developer to give the upgrade to the customer is nearly free or pure profit. Whether they choose to charge the same price and pocket all the money or pass the savings onto the consumer would be up to them.

@cheap hardware. I mean you can run a PS3 and an XBOX 360 and a Wii game all at the same time on any device capable of playing 3 youtube videos at the same time. Obviously you would rarely want to play 3 games at the same time so a device that can handle a single youtube video, such as nearly any modern phone, could play the most advanced game. That is very cheap hardware. Most phones are free with a 2 year subscription. Once games move fully to the cloud I would expect the same - free hardware with a 2 year service subscription.

but you're assuming a lot of good will on the part of companies to not force you to buy your products on each device.

No, I am expecting a monopoly and for at least 2 console lines to collapse.

@Full back catalog - Partially I meant emulation along the lines of the virtual console for games that are already old. Like with VC there will be licensing issues. But mainly I meant future tense. My assumption is that once games are in the cloud they will remain in the cloud and that the central service will never retire games. Games released on day one would be just as easily available on the very last day and I am assuming there would be multiple decades in between those days. I am making an assumption of good will and smart managers on this. They likely would screw this up.

it's already done for every downloadable game for Xbox Live Arcade.

But not for every game. It isn't anything new, it just would become the standard.

I highly doubt companies will offer such flexibility with their plans- it will probably be a flat fee for monthly/yearly service.

I disagree. But doesn't matter. We are both guessing.

I don't see how this is different than today, most competent online networks already have this.

I'm sure some games/systems do a great job with this. I am assuming it is not yet implemented well on every game/system. I think having everything centralized and online will make it better but there might not be much room for improvement here.

Already done today, and if you refuse the update the service simply locks you out from playing that title online.

Applying them directly server side is still easier and more efficient than anything involving the client side.

Maybe. But don't underestimate the ingenuity of cheaters.

Some cheats would be possible, such as exploiting glitches and having a controller that has programmed combos or turbo. But it should be much easier to handle and fix the majority of cheats when all the user has control over are the key inputs.

@Piracy, you are probably right, but they will never volunteer to do that and they will jump at any opportunity to limit user control and to switch from physical possession to a intangible subscription.

This already happens.........it's called DLC .

I am thinking it would be easier for developers. With current DLC the developer typically needs to plan ahead and know what type of DLC they might add one day and add the hooks for the DLC in the physical game. With a pure cloud they wouldn't have to plan ahead as much.

-Most of the things you mentioned are already implemented or close to being done so today.

I think the one's that could be implemented current gen will be improved. The ones that can not be implemented today are huge.

I'm not trying to say this would be great for gamers. It would have its ups and downs. I don't buy modern games though so I would just be a nerdy outsider and from a technical stand point it would be interesting.

In exchange for all of those features, you're giving up complete control of your product.

I think the direction we are going, you will be giving up the control no matter what.