aegiskleais: On a side note, I REALLY hope that remote game-rending cloud-based services like GeForce Now and Google's Project Stream take off and become affordable.
I game on Windows, but that's only because it's where the games are; My heart belongs to OS X as far as the work I do, and I wish I could just buy a Mac for my gaming needs, but aside from it being ridiculously expensive and locked into a small selection of options, developers just don't build for OS X.
Imagine instead, the server-side runs whatever OS the game can run on and then renders the video output for you despite the platform. I'm really hoping this is the future as server farms gets less expensive and codecs for compresing video get better.
As it stands right now, the biggest barrier to entry is the ~$1/hr cost as well as the bandwidth needs and any ISP caps/overage charges. But if it kicks in, those costs will go down. Especially as other competitors enter the field.
you've made a real good point. and if thers is anything to add - considering play consoles - there be so many "ëxclusive" games for xbox, ps, pc, ns ...if "cloud play" is real then we no need to buy a console just for one must-play exclusive game any more. so far as i hope, Tencent Instant Play is one of the most expectable cloud play platform, as microsoft is also working on similar things. hopefully, we can have that soon.