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Games

Plex Launches Retro Video Game Streaming Service (betanews.com) 52

Posted by msmash from the moving-forward dept.
Brian Fagioli, writing at BetaNews: Today, Plex launches a retro video game streaming service that should make playing older titles even easier. Called "Plex Arcade," it currently only offers games licensed from Atari, so we are talking really old-school stuff here, folks (think Centipede and Combat). At $4.99 month ($2.99 for those with Plex Pass) it is rather affordable. Unfortunately, there is one big catch -- Linux users are being left out.
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Plex Launches Retro Video Game Streaming Service More

Plex Launches Retro Video Game Streaming Service

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  • Who'd pay $5 a month for this? You can probably buy copies of all of these games as part of some kind of collection for $5.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It will suck because if lag. Modern games are designed to incorporate the lag, old games expect zero lag.

      Many of the complications suck because of lag and poor emulation too.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Scutter ( 18425 )

        What lag? Atari 2600 cartridges had like 32k ROM size. You could load that over the internet a hundred times over, keep all copies in RAM, and still never even notice the impact.

        • Latency versus throughput.
          • Yeah, we're talking 8bit graphics at the most. Basically you can just cache the whole game in ram and not worry about it.
            • Depending on implementation, yes. But I think you're assuming that they will use the most technically reasonable approach, while I have doubts.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          It says streaming. I guess the idea is to keep the ROM of of the hands of the users.

          Even local the the emulator needs to be developed for low lag, maybe even rollback.

          • Plex runs your media on a local server. It says your server OS needs to be compatible with the emulator. So theyâ(TM)ll just ship the ROM to your server where you run it over LAN to something like a Roku device or whatever else is compatible.

        • What lag? Atari 2600 cartridges had like 32k ROM size. You could load that over the internet a hundred times over, keep all copies in RAM, and still never even notice the impact.

          From the pictures I was seeing, it looked like these were Atari 7800 games. That makes them like, 5200 better.

    • Windows users?

    • Not to mention all of the old school games (and emulators) have been around as torrents for years. Anyone that would be remotely interested in these games probably already has a huge collection any way. MAME is just one example that comes to mind.
      • It is frequently the lack of a controller that works reasonably like the controller that the old computer systems took for granted, that makes these things far less satisfying than you would think.

        Who has a paddle? The original Pong came with analog paddles, the ColecoVision controllers had analog paddles also, and a numeric keypad plus two side buttons, and the Coleco Adam was compatible and also came with a single controller instead of two. The TRS-80 had analog joysticks that did not return to center a

        • It is frequently the lack of a controller that works reasonably like the controller that the old computer systems took for granted, that makes these things far less satisfying than you would think.

          Any controller that is terrible and hurts my hand a lot, would be perfect replacement for the 2600 controller I used as a kid.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by torkus ( 1133985 )

        Proof that you can make anything, no matter how stupid, a 'service' and charge monthly for it.

        I can see the point of game-pass type services where you just pay monthly and can play whatever new games without buying each.

        But decades-old games? Many of which people have already bought more than once? All of which are trivial to torrent? ... and which often find themselves in retro consoles for sale at mall kiosks for $20 around the holidays?

        60 bucks a year for that seems pretty dumb IMO.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by EmoryM ( 2726097 )
          The 2600 romset is like 10 megabytes and the first result of a Google search, why even torrent that?

      • Not to mention all of the old school games (and emulators) have been around as torrents for years. Anyone that would be remotely interested in these games probably already has a huge collection any way. MAME is just one example that comes to mind.

        Yes, my collection of 2600 games have been eating up a full megabyte of my raid array for years now.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EEPROMS ( 889169 )
      agreed, you can purchase video consoles now with thousands of old roms built in for about USD$30-50 with zero monthly fees.

  • how long till an iOS ban or will apple need to che (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 ) on Tuesday January 26, 2021 @02:27PM (#60994040)

    how long till an iOS ban or will apple need to check each game on this.

    • how long till an iOS ban or will apple need to check each game on this.

      Actually, Apple’s policy specifically permits most of what this announcement covers. The ban Apple has been enforcing recently is against cloud-hosted streaming apps—presumably because the content is outside of the customer’s and Apple’s control—but Apple has allowed self-hosted streaming apps for years. See: Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, Nvidia, etc., all of which allow you to stream your games from a PC or console to your iDevice or Apple TV.

      The one sticking point here might be t

  • Relying on a Parsec-based solution? And at the cost of not supporting Linux, why?

    For Atari/arcade-style games, they are simply better off with emulation at the client/endpoint side - e.g. using something like RetroArch at the endpoint or jsAtari in a web browser. Any system that has the CPU power to run the Plex app is not going to have an issue running an embedded Emulator for an Atari platform -- running the game remotely and trying to stream outputs and inputs seems just a purely unnecessary tech c

  • People purchased Plex Lifetime with the promise future things the service implements would be included. Now they seem to be splitting up their services under different branding each with their own fee.

    Initially they added TIDAL subscriptions for a fee, now this arcade stuff, they've not updated apps in third-party systems (Drobo, Synology etc) for a while. Seems they are looking for more revenue streams.

    • I bought the lifetime pass years ago specifically just for the media server to use with my personal collection. I think that's who they were appealing to with the lifetime pass back then. That said, I bought it years ago before they started adding all of these things (music, live TV, movies, etc) so I had no expectations other than occasional server updates (plus I hide all of that stuff from my menu anyway). I wonder how well they spell it out to new users/subscribers.
      • This - I have no expectation to get their streaming stuff, or free content from them. I paid for plex lifetime to be able to easily stream my content over the net from my home server without worrying about a monthly fee. If I want to stream games I'll use steam thanks.
      • You dont need to deal with the plex mothership at all if you run your own server. They make it "tricky" to set up without a plex account, in that they bury the setup of it behind the default "give us your info" setup.

        Honestly this is one of them "dark patterns" but its excusable because all the other works-like are also tedious to set up correctly and/or they only have limited transcoding abilities to get the proper data into whatever smart device you are trying to view it on (roku especially is problemat

      • You used to be able to plugin MAME and other things in your Plex setup. They disappeared that function in favor of this.

    • To me, the removal of plugin support was a clear sign of their direction. Monetization, monetization, monetization.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jon3k ( 691256 )
        Yeah, I see the same thing. I switched to Jellyfin almost exclusively after the privacy kerfuffle [techcrunch.com] a couple years ago, which is a fork of Emby. I just lost a lot of trust in Plex. I'd say 95% of media works great via Jellyfin, and they have apps for all the major platforms (iOS, Android, Roku). I think the Plex UI is slightly more polished, but Jellyfin development is extremely active and the software is still really good. If you're looking for Plex alternatives, I highly recommend it.
  • Emulation anyone? Why stream old-skool games? Makes little (or no) sense. Sounds like a doomed venture.

  • ...their moves lately have been worrying as they look like moves of an entity desperately trying to carve profitable niches because their main offering is losing money and the business is unsustainable.

  • Full list of games (Score:5, Informative)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Tuesday January 26, 2021 @02:49PM (#60994100)

    For some reason neither the summary, nor the linked to article included the full list of games [www.plex.tv] - which is not that long. They are:

    Arcade:
      Avalanche
      Centipede
      Gravitar
      Lunar Lander
      Major Havoc
      Millipede
      Missile Command
      Sky Diver
      Sky Raider
      Super Breakout

    Atari 2600:
      3D Tic-Tac-Toe
      Adventure
      Aquaventure
      Combat
      Haunted House
      Human Cannonball
      Outlaw - Gunslinger
      Radar Lock
      Solaris

    Atari 7800:
      Basketbrawl
      Dark Chambers
      Desert Falcon
      Fatal Run
      Food Fight
      Motor Psycho
      Ninja Golf
      Planet Smashers

    The collection seems a bit thin to me, even for the low price they are offering...

    Maybe if they had Yars Revenge.

  • Subscribe to Plex if you like feeling like a slow boiled frog. Otherwise, use Emby.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Junta ( 36770 )

      Emby went somewhat closed source, which is a trajectory pretty familiar to Plex users.

      So now:
      https://jellyfin.org/ [jellyfin.org]

      • Thanks for the info, Junta. I don't keep my ears to the ground regarding this stuff. I mainly just want something to work and to continue working without much intervention on my part. I'll look to jellyfin if Emby starts changing for the worse. Thanks for the recommendation, buddy.
    • The boiling point for me was one night when our ISP went tits up and we weren't able to watch movies we had on a hard drive in our house on Plex because Plex couldn't phone home. Goodbye and good riddance to Plex.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by torkus ( 1133985 )

        Welcome to the forced transactional monetization of everything. you. do.

        It doesn't need the interwebs...but let's design in a critical dependency just to make sure we can monetize you. Either by advertising, activity logging, outright spying, or requiring upgrades even if what you have works just fine.

        It's hard to find games that don't require the interwebs...apparently including games that existed before the internet!

      • Ya, piss on that sorta jazz.

  • ... on a genuine Atari 2600 over a genuine Atari modem?

  • I'm surprised. I've had personal home vpn and minidlna for a while now.

  • Retr-no (Score:3)

    by kackle ( 910159 ) on Tuesday January 26, 2021 @03:06PM (#60994172)
    As an old guy who only plays old stuff, it may be "affordable", but worthwhile? Meh. I guess some folks might bite for a little bit...

    And does it have a trackball? I could never enjoy games where the controls didn't match what I was already used to.

    • Re:Retr-no (Score:5, Informative)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 ) <slashdot&worf,net> on Tuesday January 26, 2021 @03:38PM (#60994300)

      As an old guy who only plays old stuff, it may be "affordable", but worthwhile?

      It's neither.

      At $5/month, it's $60/year. I believe you can legitimately get every game in that collection for less - either as an Atari collection in an app, or something from At Games who make the retro console.

      At $36 for those with a subscription, it ain't cheap either for what it gives you.

      It's not worth $5/month.

      Atari's Greatest Hits iOS and Android app gets you 100 games for $10. https://www.atari.com/games/at... [atari.com]

      • Keep in mind that it also allows you to load your own ROMs in and stream them as well, which I suspect will be the biggest selling point for most people in Plex’s demographic. I was already planning to rip all of my games in the next few years and then load them into Steam or GOG Galaxy, but if I can simply drop them into Plex and let it figure everything out for me, that may well be the route I go since I’m already a lifetime Plex Pass owner.

      • Atari's Greatest Hits iOS and Android app gets you 100 games for $10. https://www.atari.com/games/atari-greatest-hits/ [atari.com]

        Android: We're sorry, the requested URL was not found on this server.
        Apple: Can't tell because it doesn't detect iTunes.

        Although I think I do have a PC CD with those games. And just to be legal I even bought an Atari 2-player "Fightstick" which includes a bunch of games running on the Pi. They also have a SD card [microcenter.com] with it

  • I bet it takes more data to send a single frame of gameplay than the complete ROM set of one of those games.

  • Of one week. and it will work both on Windows and Mac Plex servers.

    My Plex server is on a Synology, but being that plex server is free, I may spin one up on my mac, and try the service out.

    Also, if you have plex pass, the price is reduced. I guess is not free, because Plex is partnering with a thrid party, and that third party wants/needs their cut.

  • Once I started getting ads and unwanted premium channels in my home screen, and no more mobile app without registering/paying, Plex was out. Jellyfin is a little less polished but works just fine, and there's always Kodi.
  • Its too WAY too expensive, lacks all the games, and from the article.
    "There are a few limitations you should be aware of: For now, the server only works on Windows and macOS (sorry, Parsec doesn’t offer their libraries on Linux or other platforms currently, meaning it is not available for servers running on Linux, NAS devices, or NVIDIA SHIELD); and gameplay is restricted to Android (mobile and TV), iOS, tvOS, and the Chrome web browser." On top of it being Plex.
    Why would I give up my emus?
  • while in terms of actual cost to my wallet it is affordable, in terms of actual value for money it seems hideously expensive given the content.
  • Linux users left out? All 10 of them?

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