Why Game Streaming Needs 5G

In the initial reviews of Google's Stadia platform, many cite latency as a significant issue for the quality of the experience, especially over a wireless signal. This was the downfall of many previous game streaming services, including one of the first live game streaming services, OnLive. Even the ones currently in existence don't do very well with latency-sensitive games like FPS. You can get away with some of the latency with casual fighting games, sports games and racing games, but the reality is that fundamentally, gaming is much more about latency than it is about bandwidth.

The issue is that latency is introduced in virtually every step of the process—from the wireless input of the user's controller into the ‘console,' all the way to the latency it takes to render a frame on the GPU inside of the Google Datacenter. The networks of today still have too much latency to stream games without noticing the problem. There are techniques to mitigate latency, but nothing Google does seems to be effective. Both 4G cellular and broadband wireline internet services still carry about 50-60ms of latency end to end, and that doesn't even account for the controller's input latency. All of this said, what's to be done?

5G to save the day

To lower the latency, the streaming infrastructure will need to get closer and closer to the edge of the network and closer to the user. A component of this is edge computing, or physically bringing the processing capability closer to the user near the edge of the network. The arrival of standalone 5G networks could provide that lower latency needed for gaming titles like FPS. That's not the kind of 5G networks that we have today, which are non-standalone and heavily leverage 4G infrastructure to power 5G radios to get 5G to consumers faster. Standalone networks already show latencies below 30ms, but I believe we need to go below 10ms to really have a solid experience. Another opportunity to lower latency inside the 5G network may lie in network slicing, in which a specific piece of the network can be provisioned and optimized for game streaming services. This in theory could deliver exactly enough bandwidth and latency for a good user experience.

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Another thing that's holding back game streaming is the amount of bandwidth that it takes to stream content at HD and 4K resolutions. Gaming for hours on end could result in consumers blowing through their data caps, which unfortunately exist for both home broadband and cellular connections. This should theoretically be less of a problem with 5G, as data caps get bigger and some operators move towards unlimited. Some operators have even launched their own game streaming services in an attempt to get around the bandwidth issue while simultaneously increasing their ARPU.

Others will enter the market, like Microsoft and its Project xCloud. People's experiences seem to be better with xCloud, but it remains to be seen if it's a worthy substitute for an actual Xbox console. Microsoft's messaging indicates we're not quite there yet.

In Russia, Putin Inspires New Fashions

Thinking about a fashion makeover this season? In Russia, the style-conscious (and perhaps politically aware) need look no further than a new collection inspired by the President, Vladimir Putin.

The range, entitled "Team Putin," has gone on sale at a boutique on central Moscow's fashionable Bolshaya Dmitrovka street. The site was formerly occupied by a Christian Louboutin store. The designs have been produced by Russian internet retailer Aizel.

Patriotic shoppers might be drawn to the raincoat with the Russian double-headed eagle crest on the back. The crest was for centuries the symbol of the power of Russian tsars. During the communist era of the last century, it disappeared from official buildings and documents, only to enjoy a revival after the end of the Soviet Union.

'Guild Wars 2' Dragon Bash Is Now Live With Mount Races And Arena Battles

Last week ArenaNet invited me to check out an early build of Guild Wars 2 that included this week's new Dragon Bash content. It had been a long time since I'd last played Guild Wars 2 since most of my MMO time has shifted to Elder Scrolls Online, but I was happy to sink back into what felt like a comfortable pair of sweat pants or some sort of digital video game comfort food.

It's been years since Tyria last had a Dragon Bash. Now, after the defeat of Mordremoth and Kralkatorrik, as well as the ascension of Aurene, it's time to party again in Hoelbrak, the Norn capital.

The two main features of this year's Dragon Bash that really stood out to me are the Dragon Arena, which is like a parade of intense PvE fights against enormous, hulking holographic beasts, and the mount races that pit players against one another dashing through gates all around the map.

Other activities include busting open dragon pinatas for candies that can be traded in for rewards, betting on moa races (complete with the ability to take the point of view of a mid-race moa,) as well as marveling at all of the festive decorations—such as the massive Kralkatorrik hologram above it all. There's also a Hologram Stampede that happens in other zones surrounding Hoelbrak to keep the action spread out. There are some really nifty rewards planned if you take part in the festivities.

One of World of Warcraft’s classic characters returns next patch

Battle for Azeroth’s story has been fairly predictable so far. Aside from some weird offshoots like the knife from Legion coming to life, the Horde have battled the Alliance just like Blizzard said they would. And it looks like both factions will put aside their differences to handle Void enemies before the expansion finishes, just like players suspected they would.

In the most recent update to the public test realm, where Blizzard is testing the new Rise of Azshara patch, a familiar character has returned to the cast just in time to save his beloved Horde.

[Warning: this post contains major spoilers for World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth patch 8.2, Rise of Azshara]

After a few years of wandering Azeroth, Thrall has returned to aid his people. Thrall was the main protagonist for the Orc campaign in Warcraft 3, and served as the Warchief of the Horde for many years in World of Warcraft. He disappeared shortly after the start of Legion, and players haven’t seen him since.

We’re not entirely sure how Thrall returns to the Horde. After players reach the Nazjatar zone, one of their faction leaders will send them to aid Baine Bloodhoof — a Horde leader that Horde Warchief Sylvanas Windrunner intends to execute. He’s in the dungeons of Orgrimmar, and players will have to fight through areas from the 2013 Siege of Orgrimmar raid.

During the rescue, players will run into a group from the Alliance and Horde. Jaina Proudmoore and Mathias Shaw lead the Alliance, while Saurfang and Thrall make up the Horde rescue team. It seems in his search for allies, Saurfang encountered Thrall and recruited him for the upcoming Horde rebellion. The Horde and Alliance teams bicker, but Thrall encourages the two factions to work together to save their mutual ally.

There are currently several placeholder cutscenes during the rescue attempt, and it’s not entirely clear how it’ll end. The only definitive thing this new mission teaches us is that Thrall is back and has a part to play in the war to come. Depending on what happens to Saurfang in Battle for Azeroth, Thrall could even return to the position of Warchief.

During his original time as Warchief, Thrall helped establish the Horde city of Orgrimmar. Thrall stopped being Warchief to save the planet, and players negatively started referring to him as “Green Jesus.” After Thrall, the position of Warchief went to Garrosh Hellscream. Garrosh was the big-bad for the Mists of Panderia expansion and the final boss in Siege of Orgrimmar.

After Thrall helped players chase Garrosh through time in Warlords of Draenor, Thrall lost his connection to the Elements and gave up his weapon to Shaman players. After that, he disappeared into the wilderness to meditate.

This is the first time Thrall has shown back up in World of Warcraft since 2016. It’s also the first time Blizzard co-founder Chris Metzen has voiced the character since he retired. Metzen did show up during a World of Warcraft panel at BlizzCon 2018 to tease the return of his character.

It’s unclear when Blizzard will release patch 8.2 onto World of Warcraft’s live servers. Players will likely have to wait until the end of May to see Thrall storm the dungeons of Orgrimmar.

What’s happened so far in World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth?

At the end of Legion, the Horde and Alliance united and teamed up to take out Sargeras, the fallen Titan, and the guy who — up until now — has served as the probable end-boss of Warcraft. We got on a spaceship and fought a planet, which was weird. Along the way, we learned that some planets — including Azeroth — have souls, and when those souls are born, they turn into Titans.

We stopped the Burning Legion, the game’s main villains since Warcraft 3, and then locked Sargeras up in space jail. He is imprisoned in the Seat of the Pantheon with all of the other Titans, and Illidan Stormrage stayed behind to act as a jailor. This will probably never come up again and we can consider the matter fully resolved.

Azeroth, the planet, and Azeroth, the Titan, both share a name. Because the Titan is sleeping, she can’t communicate much, and when she does, it’s through Magni Bronzebeard, the Speaker of Azeroth. It also means the Battle for Azeroth is a Battle for ... Azeroth. Makes you think, huh?

However, in his desperation, Sargeras stabbed the planet before we could fully lock him up. That sword is still embedded in Silithus, and it is slowly killing Azeroth. Only by sacrificing our powerful Artifact weapons from Legion were players able to slow the damage. It’s an ongoing issue.

Azeroth is now bleeding Azerite, which is popping up everywhere. It’s a powerful alchemy ingredient that can heal, empower, and, most importantly, be weaponized. The logic and capabilities of Azerite are very vague, but it is essentially able to push warfare to a whole new level.