Cloud Computing: A Paradigm Shift For Gaming

[Jazzy]

As Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo promote their upcoming hardware innovations and try to extend the life cycle of this generation of consoles, a burgeoning company called OnLive sits on the show floor of the video game industry’s trade show, sending out the message that dedicated game machines could be a thing of the past.



The idea behind OnLive is simple: Games are stored and played on its centralized servers (the cloud, in tech parlance) and pushed to users via a broadband connection. When you press a button on your controller at home, that action is transmitted virtually instantaneously to the game and reflected on screen.



On the surface, it sounds like a just another delivery method—but what makes OnLive and other upcoming cloud-based gaming services interesting is their ability to transform almost any screen into a high end gaming system.



Core PC gamers spend thousands of dollars to put together systems loaded with RAM and bleeding edge graphics cards to get the most out of their games. But with cloud gaming, a $300 netbook or low-end desktop will be able to play games just as effectively, with optimized graphical and other gameplay settings – since all the processing is done remotely. OnLive will soon launch a peripheral for television sets as well, letting you play in your living room.



Full story link: http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/cloud-computing-a-paradigm-shift-for-gaming/1402424

 

[Wolvendeer]

Sounds like another ploy to stop piracy. I don't really game, but I can barely run RRO, much less some high end game that would have to come completely over a internet connection. Plus, I think that anyone else on the connection would start to detest you if you do that too much.

 

[Evil Eye]

It's an interesting idea for sure...