This is actually one of the major selling points for Cloud Gaming. Although it still has a lot of issues to be adressed before getting into the mainstream, this is exactly what it promises. Just sending your friends an invite link and get them to sign up is a much more pleasant experience than downloading 100+GBs of game files before being able to join the session.
I also enjoy seing browser implementations of popular games. My favorite recent example is the classic version of Minecraft running in the browser [0]. The browser is obviously a much more restrictive environment than a native app, but I can still imagine plenty of useful examples for performant 3D graphics in a browser. After all, Games are often just used as a showcase for the capabilities of new Apis and performance improvements.
That doesn’t work well for games with lots of modern assets.
> Native 1.6 doesn't even run on my computer at all.
That is strange, it works on the latest Windows.
> I think browser ports are the only hope that old games have at coming back.
Why? Steam, GoG, DOSBox, Proton, DXVK, emulators, VMs, etc. all give you access to almost every game that has been produced, today.
Many of those have thriving online communities, too.
But regardless of this particular game, it is not a valid complaint. It is like complaining your phone or your toaster cannot run a given game because it was never designed for them.
> Why does HN love to rag on web technologies so much?
HN is quite pro-web and there are dozens of startups based on the web.
Nevertheless, my counter is: why does "the web" try to recreate existing technologies and operating systems?
Why not? Why is it so offensive to you? You know you can just ignore it and move on, right? You don't have to be an asshole and shit on everything you see.
And, in terms of downloading gigs from afar, you're already doing that, but instead of being able to play games while downloading you have to wait to download 60gb of COD updates, consume your entire PS4 drive with a single game. And while that is happening, you're just sitting there not using your PS4 because opening another application pauses the download.
We are starting to see more cross platform support for games between PS4, XBO, and PC. But older games won't ever support cross platform between Windows, OSX, and *Nix. A browser port could easily change that.
> Why does "the web" try to recreate existing technologies and operating systems?
It's the same trend we've had since basically the dawn of computers. We move things into deeper abstraction layers. Why is this an issue in your opinion? Isn't more options better? Isn't ideal to adapt old concepts to new implementations? At the very least does it not provide potential educational value?
That makes no sense. Before Steam there were many gaming online communities, all games were native and were marvels of technology for the time, etc.
> There is no reason a platform like Stadia can't work in the future as these things get better.
Stadia does not run games on web tech. Quite the opposite. They are native Linux Vulkan binaries.
> you're already doing that
There is a big difference between downloading a game once vs every time.
If you mention offline web storage, that is exactly the same solution as Steam and others do. A good example of the web reinventing the wheel.
> consume your entire PS4 drive with a single game
Not the case with a PC with terabytes of space.
> you're just sitting there not using your PS4
Not the case with Steam/PC. > We are starting to see more cross platform support for games between PS4, XBO, and PC. But older games won't ever support cross platform between Windows, OSX, and Nix.
That has nothing to do with technology. It is a matter of licensing, finances and support.
The overwhelming majority of games use engines which target all platforms, from PC to mobile to console.
> A browser port could easily change that.
No, because it has nothing to do with technical issues.
> Why is this an issue in your opinion?
I have never claimed it is an issue.
> Isn't ideal to adapt old concepts to new implementations?
A new implementation does not imply a better implementation.
GameSpy.
The average non-technical person isn't installing unsigned software on Mac or Windows, and the average person isn't using Linux at all so it's not worth considering in this conversation.
For all intents and purposes, approved windows applications and mac app store apps are what they get.
False. The average non-technical person is installing unsigned software from Steam and other cross-platform game stores.
In fact, the vast majority of all PC/Mac users play games downloaded from Steam and similar stores, not from the Microsoft/Apple stores.
> the average person isn't using Linux at all so it's not worth considering in this conversation.
The average gamer isn’t using Mac at all either (4% vs. 1% according to Steam), so I guess it is "not worth considering in this conversation" either.
Which leaves us with Windows. So porting to the browser is irrelevant since all games are played in a single platform, according to your own logic.
Was your exact statement so I'm not talking about just games and limiting it to them after the fact is disingenuous.
When I was a kid I heard about a group of hippies that would have parties deep into the desert, far from roads or civilization. They had a "list", and if you were on it you'd get invited to the parties. Long story short, I figured out how to get on the list and one of the coolest things about those parties was how much effort everyone who attended went through to get there, both in however they managed to get invited and how much of a potential ordeal the journey was just to show up. The friends I made there put me on my current life course and now I'm surrounded by great people and a good tribe, which is really hard to find once you finish university. All because I put in the effort to get on the list and attend.
Sure, not making things super easy creates slightly less inclusive communities and they are definitely smaller, but they're longer lasting, have some shared plight to bond around, and are generally of much higher quality. Allowing any old yokel easy access kills community because there are too many tourists
Are you really suggesting that you bond with fellow gamers because of how hard setting up the game was?
There's nothing preventing these type easy-access browser based games from having "elite" servers for high ranked players.
The browser "port" is here: https://playnox.xyz/ (200mb) -- Whether online play is available or not can be hit or miss. The single player campaign does work as well -- worth it for insta-nostalgia.
I say "port" in quotes because it's not just a matter of `cat nox.exe | emscripten > nox.js` of course. The creator posts in the subreddit / the nox community forums and has some really interesting technical comments where he explains some of the challenges.
People who can pull off something like this (talk about cross-cutting engineering skills) really blow me away.
How about being able to play with your friends after just handing them a link? Native 1.6 doesn't even run on my computer at all.
I think browser ports are the only hope that old games have at coming back. The other month I played Nox's quest mode with my friend on a browser emscripten port (plus a lot of custom code / networking to get it online). And it's a game I thought I'd never get to play again. Gog.com sells Nox for Windows but of course the servers are long offline.
The adolescent glee over how much worse browser applications run really misses the big picture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nox_(video_game)