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New Teslas might lose Steam
(www.theverge.com)
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this post was submitted on 18 May 2024
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Why is a car capable of playing games in the first place. I understand it’s not going to allow people to play while they drive but still. That just seems like an odd/bad idea.
It's just a computer... Why not? As long as it cannot be running while the car is driving I don't particularly see an issue.
Would be great if I could fire up a game while waiting in cell parking at the airport for my family that comes into town for example. Gotta remember that this isn't new. We had minivans with built in n64s and shit before.
And don’t forget, depending on the charger, you could need to burn 15 to 45 min filling you battery up on a trip. The games and videos are primarily there to make the charging experience suck less.
Honestly I actually had not thought about people sitting around waiting to charge. In my area there are tons of chargers at task oriented locations. Almost all Grocery stores, Costco, the mall, movie theaters. My experience had been that people would charge while doing other things. Thanks for the insight into a good use for it.
Why not bring a Steam Deck or Switch along? Or just play on the phone in your pocket? Are people really spending so much time in their cars that it really needs conveniences like that?
I'm primarily a PC gamer... The only game on my phone is Bloons TD6. Which I open maybe once a month.
But why not use the computer that's literally in front of me rather than settling for the lesser experience?
Note: I should clarify, I don't have a Tesla and don't care for them at all. I just view this feature as probably one of the better ones.
How is bloons td6? I loved 4 and 5. Would be fine tossing some dollars at ninja kiwi if 6 is up to par. I've also seen it in Netflix and confused about how I feel about that.
Oh it's a decent time killer. I don't really do mobile games. I only did this one strictly because of the nostalgia (Original on library computers in high school sort of thing) and because it was on a sale. I haven't regretted the purchase and they don't make the in app purchases super necessary. Overall I'd give it a thumbs up. I don't do any of the multiplayer stuff either.
And I don't know anything about Netflix in regards to td6.. I did see that Mr.Beast did a sponsorship with them...
Right, and that computer is your phone. Get a controller adapter for your phone and you can play anywhere, in your car, at home, etc. Install a couple emulators and the world is your oyster.
The car is obviously only viable if you're in it, and you still need a controller anyway. Why install games to your car that you can only play in your car when you can use your phone or a handheld console that you can bring with you?
I get that it's "cool," I just don't see anyone actually using it more than as a gimmick to show off from time to time.
For some a tiny phone screen is not a possibility. Also phone games are not equal to steam games. And some would not want to own a Steam Deck or Switch and pack it around with them in case they need to charge. It certainly isnt a priority, but if your car has a computer capable, why not?
I honestly don't think cars should have a computer that capable. I don't like self-driving features, constant tracking of everything I do, etc. But that's kind of beside the point.
If it works for you, great. I just honestly couldn't see myself using it because the number of times where I'm in the car with enough time to play a game is almost zero. The only time it might work is when charging, but honestly, I just wouldn't buy an EV if waiting 30+ min to charge would be a regular occurrence. Cars should charge overnight, charging stations should very much be rarely used. That's the big sell of an EV for me.
I'm not opposed to it existing (provided they can't be played while driving), I just don't see the point.
I have a steam deck, and while its somewhat portable, I wouldn't want to carry one just to use at a charging station, considering the alternative is a controller stashed away in the glovebox. Probably also would want to carry the deck whenever leaving the vehicle too, considering how common it is in certain regions for some tesla models to be broken into and boot emptied out (apparently preventable with a 3d printed shim).
With the crazy powerful GPUs in these cars IMO it's practically free to enable this functionality for the user when the car is stationary, on a screen that is much, much larger and with a nicer sound system compared to any handheld or phone
This is Tesla... So only as long as the state enforces it...
That’s a fair point. I honestly had not thought about the “waiting for” aspect.
Why a bad idea? Why an odd idea? It's a powerful computer with a decent size monitor in a place where sometimes people have to sit and wait. What am I missing because seems like a logical / good idea to me?
Honestly I actually had not thought about people sitting around waiting to charge. In my area there are tons of chargers, grocery store, Costco, the mall, movie theaters. My experience had been that people would charge while doing other things. Thanks for the insight into a good use for it.
Not even just waiting to charge. Picking someone up, but your schedule gets you there 15 minutes before they're available? Why not put that computer to use?
Why can’t it wait until you get home? We took ashtrays out of cars, so why would we put another addictive and distracting thing in there?
I play games too, but I also recognize that they can overwhelm some people.
Lol, games are far far far less addictive than cigarettes. Cigarettes has nicotine which is an actual addictive drug. Games are fun.
Even comparing them at all is fairly disingenuous.
It's not distracting anyone, I doubt it could even be played if you are in a queue that is moving at 0,3 m/s
I’m not trying to compare them on a chemical or scientific level.
I’m just saying that I was able to quit cigarettes and I have had some friends who are not able to quit video games, so it is at least a little addictive for some people, and those people would not be better served by one more place to play.
I quit heroin but I have friends that can't give up coffee...we should remove cupholders from cars while we are at it.
Hey, congrats! I’m 14 years clean from heroin myself.
Ok, I can see my opinion is in the minority here. Games in cars seems like a bad idea to me, but I’m not the king of cars.
Well, you didn't explain why they're bad, that's probably why
As others pointed out it's incredibly nice for the times when you're not doing anything but are in your car, anyway. If the ability to play games is disabled while driving then is there actually an issue?
Seems like a great way to kill time while plugged into a charger to me, I already do it with my steam deck when I charge my car
Yes, games can be addictive for some people but it's comparably very rare. "Punishing" the huge majority of non gaming addicts based on that seems extreme. And I don't think it would matter for addicts anyway.
Addicts would find a computer to play on anyway because they are addicted. In some ways it could be argued that it might even help addicts because using this thing they could get away from their homes and so stuff outside while still having easy access to something they like.
Another difference between smoking and gaming is that smoking harms and annoys everyone around you, while gaming doesn't actually harm anyone. Except if you refuse to eat or something but that would be even more rare.
Electric cars have a very legit use case for this… extended charge times. The video games and streaming apps are so you can kill time.
Telsa’s have pretty fast charge times, but even those are slower than a gasoline fill up. Moreover, if you get cursed with charging at a non-Telsa station, you could be there for quite a bit.
A lot of people camp in them too.
Honestly I actually had not thought about people sitting around waiting to charge. In my area there are tons of chargers, grocery store, Costco, the mall, movie theaters. My experience had been that people would charge while doing other things. Thanks for the insight into a good use for it.
Yeah, sometimes you’re in BFE and there isn’t much around. Other times you just want to eat fast food in your car like an animal and watch a TV show that is too embarrassing to watch on the couch with your significant other.
People are so used to megacorporations controlling what specific software they can run on their general-purpose computers that they are now... in favor of it? Every day it seems more and more the case that Apple's anti-sideloading propaganda is successful.
I don't want a general-purpose computer in my car. I want a screen to do the federally-mandated backup camera and physical buttons for everything else.
Buying a Tesla would be a huge mistake then
I'm in the same boat. I fucking hate modern cars. There are no acceptable options so I just walk and use public transit... the data collection is so extensive I feel uncomfortable even catching a ride in a friends car.
As someone without an electric car, i always assumed it was for something to do while charging.
The cars already have decent GPUs to process the camera data for driving assistance features, so someone at the company probably just thought it would be neat to do something with that computing power when it's not being used for driving.
Wasn't it marketed as something to do while the car charges originally?
Ah yes, run the battery down while charging.
Yes, I know the scale is vastly different between driving charge and game lmaying charge, but it still sounds like revving your engine wile filling with gas.
I mean, literal orders of magnitude difference.
Playing a game uses such a ridiculously small amount of electricity compared to the amount that is pumped in through a supercharger, I would honestly be shocked if the difference between playing a game while charging versus not playing while charging was in the minutes.
Well, depending on state of charge, supercharging goes up to 250kW. A state of the art PC (4090, Ryzen 9 etc) draws about 850-900 watts on full load. That means such a computer would use 0.004% of available power thus extremely negligible. And the APU (Ryzen-based media system) inside Tesla’s probably uses more around 200-400 watts under full load.
Because Elon is a child.
Do you mean to suggest that videogames are for children? I don't really see where you're coming from here.
No, nothing like that. I’m just calling Elon a petulant man-child.
Not videogames, but the idea that a car should also be a video game console sounds very childish.
...why, unless video games are for children...?
Why concern yourself with how things sound?
I never wait around while the car is charging (generally only charge at home), but this has been useful for waiting to board a ferry, actually being in the car on a ferry, and waiting for road closures to clear.
I also do have a steam deck, and this is basically the same thing but with a bigger screen.
Probably similar to why you can make the turn indicator make fart noises or have the car "dance" by flashing lights and opening doors and such. The hardware is there so why not. Utterly pointless features but atleast it's something the competition isn't doing I guess.
Tho I must admit that it was quite funny when I once heard a guy lock the doors on his Tesla and instead of the generick "click click" it said "quack" instead.
Nothing wrong with a little Cuphead while I'm speeding intoxicated through a school zone at 2:35 PM.
Edit: looks at her downvotes
Did... Did no one understand this was sarcasm?
So you can play a racing game in your car, while letting the autopilot kill you.
And so that the manufacturer can sell you a new car, so that you can play newer games.